Productivity

socks, shorts, top & pants ... all fixed!

It feels good when several small things can be crossed off a list that’s been neglected for far too long. That was today. While I did not get quite as much done as I’d hoped, I did accomplish a few things that have either needed to be done or just should be done, for some time.

I have this weird thing about a sewing (machine) phobia. I can’t quite explain it, but its there. Stupid, silly, unnecessary … yeah, I know. I’ve talked to several people about it. Apparently I’m not completely alone in this one. While I have all these fun ideas in my head to try out for a new avenue for Nicole’s Visions, I have a fear of things not coming out perfect or just making mistakes. Kinda sucks. Today I took a step in the right direction. I took the small pile on the sewing table that I could hand mend, & did it. Now I have 3 things left that need machine mending. I figure its just our clothes & if I goof or mess up, its not as big a deal. Then the desk will be clear & I can cut into some practice fabric & get some sewing done. Hopefully, then there will be no stopping me!

few of the containers in the storage room

Another thing I managed this morning was finally playing with my new label maker. I bought it months ago when it was 50% off on sale. So, I finally got some labels put on containers. I love it. The business containers will also get some detail labels below the names. That of course, means I need to actually make sure the contents are more organized within them! LOL It wont be too bad as they are already semi organized. Whew!

   I also went thru some of hubby’s wood working magazines that he decided he only wanted an article out of them, not the whole mag. So, I took care of that small stack today too. All nice & organized in a 3 ring binder!

these need details labels still, but its a start!

Then … I kinda stopped. I did manage to get a load of clothes hung out on the new metal rod clotheslines hubby got put up last weekend for me. I love being able to put the laundry back outside to dry again.You can see them in the picture, if you look close. Neat thing is I can remove them & lay them down in the grass along the edge when not in use. that way we dont hang ourselves & the birds dont rest there & poop everywhere!

rods hung between posts.

So now here I am telling the world about what I managed to get done today… tomorrow morning I plan to get the sewing machine mending done … a few errands & maybe even get one of the new project items cut out!

Welcome to November

So here we are already into November. Where does the time go these days? It seems to pass so slowly as it happens, yet when we look back we wonder how it flew so fast.

Samhain passed without any flair this year. I had begun to try planning some small something for the evening on the 31st but had little interest from my hubby so it just passed. There was much thought in my mind & heart tho as the evening went along.

I did some reading on the history of Samhain & Halloween. It was all very interesting & will help me in years to come.

Another something we had wanted to do was a Pagan style vow renewal for our 10th Wedding Anniversary. That special day is November 5th. It seems to have gotten pushed aside but with good reason. I'm sure the right time will present itself & we will do it then.

The good reason was a move that came up suddenly. After so long hunting for a place to live, one was presented that we never thought of as an option. So we had to move super fast to take advantage & make it all come together. We moved one building over & to a downstairs unit.

We did a really nice simple cleansing before we moved in. This was the first time we (myself, hubby & oldest daughter) have been able to do something like this at the actual move in time. It felt good too! We then moved the salt in first, before anything else was carried in. It feels good to be here & amazingly different than the old upstairs unit.

When we spend time inside here, it feels like the outside world just goes away. It is warm, inviting & so comfy. Spiritually, it feels so much better than the other place. We feel at home here.

I am looking forward to my spiritual side growing while we are here. I feel it already!

A new month already

So here it is February already. It amazes me how as the days are happening, they go by so slow sometimes but when we look back, the time has flown. And when this month has passed, I will be another year older. Wow. My baby will be 22. I’ll be 44. Amazing.

I’m really enjoying doing this research stuff on Vinegar & Baking Soda. I’m amazed at how much this stuff can do. Hubby & I have tried several things & been pleasantly surprised when they work!! I just love the fact I don’t have to look at the myriad of cleaning products anymore. No more clipping coupons for them. Watching to see what is on sale where to save a little money. No more “trying a new thing” to see if it will work better for whatever purpose. I really love having this newfound freedom. To think that I can replace so many products with 2 things. 2 things that are all natural. No longer will I be contributing a chemical mess down my drains that water treatment plants will have to filter out. It fels good to know I am doing my part towards a better world.

Another step has been to eliminate a few ingredients from the food we eat. This has been challenging to say the least. Some things have been easy to change or eliminate. Other things are a bit harder. The main ingredients being focused on right now are artificial sweeteners & high fructose corn syrup. I've written more about it in my blog Naturally Me if you wanna read more. (2-12-12 update ... just use the Naturally Me tag to find all entries that used to be in the separate blog.)

It amazes me how many of our food items contain the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It’s in almost everything!! I changed the mayo I use because it had HFCS. Kraft Miracle Whip was MY mayo. Well, not anymore. I’ll try a few others before deciding on one. Right now we’re using regular Kraft Mayo. I may even learn to make my own.

I’ve given up my Yoplait Whips. & I quit buying the cheap yogurt for hubby. I’m changing the spaghetti sauce I buy. When I go shopping now or even when I fix the food I have at home, I’m reading labels. It’s a bit time consuming but very eye opening.

what a dreary day outside

I see I missed a few days. Not much tho. Not much exciting happened either. Last night tho, we went to Joy’s for the group meeting. It was nice. We caught up a bit then got into talking about 2012. The topic provided for much conversation as there are many views on what may happen when the time comes. I put out feelers for the group I want to get going & some seemed interested so that’s cool. I think it’ll be a lot of fun to learn in a group environment.

So hubby got his paycheck that covered his time off. Yuck! I have no idea exactly how we’ll make it until the next check, but somehow we always do.

I mentioned my daughter getting us a gym membership for Christmas. Well, it was purchased before she went on nights. Since then we’ve tried to figure out how we can go together. It’s just not working out. We talked about her seeing if she could get her money back & we’d put it towards home gym stuff instead. She is not one to confront people, so that went nowhere too. She knows that I would love to go to a gym, but hey, I’ll be flexible & do whatever. So the latest mention was for me to see if one of a couple friends would wanna go with me. I had 2 people to choose from. Amy & Cindy. I approached Cindy first because she deals with depression & my thought was maybe something positive like this would help her. And she wants to lose some weight too. She has said yes, so we’ll see if it works out. If something falls thru, I’ll be asking Amy. I was really torn in who to choose. I want to spend more time with Amy. I am really enjoying our friendship. But, I also want to spend more time with Cindy. I miss our friendship as we don’t see each other as much. So, I guess choosing Cindy was the right choice. Especially if we get to move forward with the combining of our households with Amy.

*insert break for breakfast, then some out & about time with the hubby.

Hubby is now over at Joe’s for a bit. I’m just kinda here. Sitting around with one of those ‘eh’ moods. I hate those. I should be doing several things, but don’t feel like doing any of them. I think part of it is the gloomy day outside today. And it could also be the fact I’ve been off my pills for some time now.

Our herb order came the other day, but I have not sat & made more pills yet. I think that is because it seems to be such a daunting task since I’m all out. I’ll have to just make some every 2 weeks or maybe even every week so it’s not so big of a task.

I changed our sheets. Oh yay. I stood looking at the bedroom for a bit. It’s messy because things get piled in there. And I was looking at moving things around again too. Mainly to get the bed off the shared wall with the daughter’s room. That way, if the bed . . . ‘ahem’ . . . moves, it wont be hitting her wall. I opted to just leave things alone for the moment tho, since several things don’t belong in there & I should get those moved to a better place before tackling moving everything.

Well, guess I can see what I can find to occupy my time in front of this thing for a while.

Friday evening & I’m sitting here enjoying a beer

My honey is on the laptop playing pool with Joe. He’ll have his new to him computer whenever we have the space ready. Joe is even giving him a desk. Tim is really blown away with all Joe is doing for him. So am I.

The car is packed for the market in the morning. I’m going lighter than normal. My heart may not be in the market anymore, but I’ll give it my all to sell what I do bring.

I took a few shots of the full moon tonite too. Joe had mentioned that he was reading up on shooting the moon last month. Said the first thing to do with a camera like mine is to turn off the auto focus. So I did. I still had to play with my settings, but hand held, they did come out better. I was impressed. I’ll have to try tomorrow nite with the longer lens & the tripod.

Now I’m sitting here taking a break form making a few more magnets for tomorrow. I have several of my “Celebrate Life … it has an expiration date” fireworks pictures. I made them wallet sized some time ago to use as keychain pictures. Well, that didn’t go so well; so I had pix left. Now I’m adding some matstock backing to them along with a magnet strip. Poof! A nifty fridge magnet.

Earlier Tim got the dryer control panel thing taken apart & put back together. The dryer works now!!! Woo Hoo … I get to do more laundry now. Yay? Yes… yay. I’m gonna play with the panel guts tho. Maybe take a few close up pix of it or something. Might be fun.

I found out that Sunday afternoon there is a big send off thing for some of our Guard troops. We were told by one of the photo group ladies, whose son is one of the ones leaving. She said it might be a cool photo opp for anyone who wanted to come. I think I might like to go. I know I’ll get all emotional, but too bad. It’s not like in Pensacola where we lived in a military town & cool things like this were happening all the time. Not that our troops leaving is a cool thing mind you … but you know what I mean.

Have I mentioned I am happy the dryer is fixed? I’m so thankful that replacing that part worked. If only everything were that easy to fix. I should go toss in a load & get it in the dryer before bed.

Ok, done.

I guess I should go back to making those magnets. I’m just relaxed …. Yeah .. we got some together time earlier tonite. I’d rather just go to sleep afterwards … but sometimes you gotta just go with it when it starts …

Here I am again.

Still feeling rather weird. But, as with everything, we deal.

So today my honey comes home saying he has news. Well, instinct makes ya blurt out “uh-oh” without thinking. I mean, consider the news we’ve had recently with his job. So he tells me his schedule is being changed, effective Friday. In my mind, I said oh shit. Then he tells me “now wait, it’s not that bad. It’s kinda good actually”. Ok. They are gonna try having him & another guy do a slightly later shift, but still working 9 hours. Hmm… ok, that doesn’t sound too bad. At least he still has some OT. So his new hours are from 8 to 545. He now gets to sleep in til 630. We can get up together! Nice. He can go to bed around 10. Again, nice. So all considering, not too bad.

Then earlier this evening I spent some time online trying to find out some ownership info on that house we’re looking at. There might be hope yet. I found out a little. Seems we should have most of the bargaining room we need. We’ll see how bad they want to sell. I told our realtor & she’ll do more research. She’ll get back to me by Monday. Cool. Meanwhile, there is still hope of renting the house my girlfriend has. No idea when the guy will finish his house & move out tho. But, it’s something to keep in the back of our minds.

EDIT: got email back from her with not too positive news, but, we’ll see.

Our friend Joe is building a computer for Tim. It’s something, which even given all his physical limitations, he can still reasonably do. It’s to repay him for all the help he has given them. We try to tell him it’s what friends do, but who are we to argue a free computer for him? So looks like we need to do some rearranging around here and find a small desk for him. So far he’s been using my laptop & been just fine. But now, he’ll have a desk top to use & be able to start playing his Flight Simulator game with Joe. I know he’ll have a great time with it. A little rearranging now, and some more when we move. No biggie right?

So anyways… I get to go pick up the dryer control panel part Friday morning. Hopefully it won’t take long for the hubby to install it. Then in the evening I get to load the car for market Saturday morning. I’ve been feeling really weird about that whole thing too. I think I may have to insert my foot in my mouth & clear the air somehow. I’m not always the best at figuring out how to approach things like this, so no telling how it’ll turn out. Worst thing? I leave the market. Not all that bad in my eyes anymore, but …. Yeah.

Ok, I started this at 1030. It’s now 1115. I think I’m done.

Just Monday ramblings

Why is it that when people don’t reply to your posts you feel lost? Or forgotten? I don’t know. Really. Most people I know who have an online journal, write for themselves. So who cares if anyone replies? Allot of people tho, blog for interaction with others. I think I’m somewhere in between. I enjoy the interaction with my online “friends” but I also write to get the thoughts out of my head. It allows me to keep track of the daily goings on in my life where I otherwise might forget them. Then why do I get the little feelings every now & then of … why do they get all kinds of comments & I get none? Am I an outcast with my online people too? I know, it’s dumb. Sometimes I envy the fact that it appears that several people seem to have a real connection with the people on their friends list. I used to feel that way about a few. These days, it seems I am all alone again. How sad is that?

I have been doing way too much thinking lately I guess. Way more than I could ever take the time to write out on here for the world to see. But anyways ….

So the weekend was alright. We ended up not doing the market Saturday morning. Photography & rainy weather are not a good match. We ended up down there saying hello to several of our people & they all commented on the bad weather in the morning. Glad we skipped it. Was nice to stop & visit with some of them tho.

The 3 of us went out & hit a few yard sales instead. What fun we had. I think we all found a few treasures for way cheap. Been a long time since we got to enjoy going, much less actually finding fun stuff for cheap.

With Tim now being online, we didn’t spend much alone together time Saturday. It’s okay tho, I know the newness & novelty of the computer will wear off for him in awhile. He now has a Facebook page tho. I’m wondering if MySpace is next. We’ll see. He does enjoy being able to chat with his friend Joe on there. Next thing you know, they’ll be playing the Flight Simulator game together. We just need to get him a better system put together from the parts around here to handle the gaming stuff better.

We got a little of our alone time on Sunday. Wasn’t the same, but nice. We totally ended up not doing much of anything all weekend other than the Saturday morning outings. In a way, it was nice.

On the house front, the news is not promising. Well, not in the way we’d hoped. We got all the info to the mortgage guy. He ran credit reports, numbers & figures. We can’t go VA like we’d hoped. We’d have to go FHA. To do that we’d need at least 3% down. There are 2 programs that offer assistance with that. We’d have to get the seller to agree to stuff to be able to use that. You know how the legal mumbo jumbo goes. Funny thing.. with our combined incomes, we can qualify for that house we’re looking at. The house payments would be .. are you ready? Oh, only about 1300. Yes, One thousand and three hundred dollars. A month. I don’t think so. Nice to think the bank thinks we can handle it tho. That in itself is actually cool. To get the payments down to where we’d feel comfortable, we’d have to get the sellers to come down about 40 grand. And pay the closing costs. Right. I don’t see that happening. I know it’s been empty a long time, but I don’t think they’ll come down that far. But …. You never know till you ask I guess.

So, we’ll either keep looking for another place that’s smaller & cheaper, or just tough it out here until the place that Kati has is ready. I’ll email her about it again tonite too I think. We got the letter that says our rent went up effective with the September payment. Another $25 a month. May not seem like much, but when you watch the units around you get remodeled, and you still have the same old crap … it doesn’t feel right to pay more. I really would understand the yearly hikes if we got some improvements.

Oh, to make today a real Monday, I had dryer issues. Yup. Did a load of the man's work pants. Went to put them in the dryer. Closed the door. Hit the start button. Nothing. After finding out it was the washer we had the extended warranty on, I made an appt with the place we bought them from to come out & fix it on Tuesday. Told the man when he got home. He says let's see if we can find out where the possible part is that could be the problem. get online, Search. Find part. He proceeds to try to remove it only to have it be the wrong part. Hehe... I show him what looks like the right part. He gets that out. we try what another repair place said to try. Nothing. Dammit. So, canceled the appt with the first repair place & made one with this other guy. The other guy was much more helpful even on the phone, and more friendly. Oh, and cheaper. So yeah ... I've listed a few things on our local craigslist to see about trying to get the cash to cover the repair bill. We're all in the wrong business. They get anywhere from $80 to $100 just to come to your house. Finding & telling you what’s wrong, is more. Installing it .... more. Geez.

I’m really getting hopeful about the whole mall store thing. I hope that I can sell a bit more before then to make some cash to buy more stuff to make more stuff with for the holidays. Think positive …

I’d love for any of you who read this far to go check out my Etsy shop. See the stuff I’ve listed… do some shopping? Tell your friends? I’m working on promoting … it’s hard on a $0 budget tho. Free is good, but without it seeming like a full time job in itself, it’s next to impossible.

Ok, enough for now I think.

Monday again already?

Wow… I’m really slacking. I don’t even know what to write or where to start. I just figured it’s about time I write a little something.

**And just after I wrote that, the man came home. I had figured I had at least 20 minutes before he got home. Was nice to see him a few minutes early. So now we’ve showered & had dinner. Wrestling is on the TV. He’s relaxing with an iced coffee & watching it. I’m back here where I can just glance over & catch a bit here & there. Another 40 minutes & he’ll be off to bed.

I’ve had a fairly busy day today. I spent well over an hour this morning vacuuming. No, our place is not that big. We have one of those bagless vacs. Well, apparently I’ve neglected the floors a bit too long. I had to stop & empty the cup numerous times. I’d see how full the cup was, empty it and go vacuum over the area again. I went over the living area 4 times, the entry way 3 times, the hallway twice, and our bedroom & bath area 2+ times. Teach me to let the vacuuming go. I swept the kitchen too & stuck the rugs in the wash. I spent some time going thru our rather large closet in the bedroom too. I packed up some winter stuff. I pulled out & rearranged boxes to make more room. Even added a couple things to the yardsale box. So now I have a place to store some more packed boxes. I don’t have any more packed yet, but at least now I have a place to put them when I do. I like that.

As for the past week that I haven’t written about … I don’t know what to say. Guess I’ll leave it alone for now. Even market politics suck.

Last week Office Depot had a sale on their color copies. .29 instead of .49 each sheet. Add .06 for each sheet of card stock & I was on my way to get some book marks printed. I also had a coupon for 15% off my print order. Well, I made 30 book marks. I got 20 of each one printed. They came out fabulous. I am happy with them for sure. I didn’t get them cut & laminated in time for the market on Saturday tho. I did make a sneak peak folder thing so people could see what was coming. Cute & clever idea… but only a couple people stopped to look. No matter. The fact anyone looked made me happy. I’ll be working on cutting them apart & laminating them this week. I hope to at least have a few ready for Saturday.

Monday ramblings

Six days since I wrote. Again. I think about it all the time, yet always find myself distracted & then the day is gone.

Last Tuesday Connie & I went back up to Chelan. This time we spent our time in a fun shop called Spirals, & then headed to the Wal-Mart Super Center. We don’t have one here in town. Over a hundred bucks later for each of us, we headed home. I did get a nice new pair of earrings and a nifty rock called Modavite. Oh the money I could have spent in Spirals. Wal-Mart… well, we split the bill since it was mostly food, & each of us spent about $100. Money sure goes quick these days.

I don’t recall what I did last Wednesday. That’s sad.

Last week on Thursday I got together with a friend for some girl time. We got to know each other a little more, which was nice. We learned we have more in common than either of us ever thought. Kinda cool.

Friday my honey had the day off. Nice. We ended up having to replace the starter on his car that morning. Finally, it runs right again. Then he worked on replacing the fuel hose on the bike. Oh what an ordeal buying that thing was. Installing it was easy in comparison. I had taken the formed hose down to the Honda shop. They couldn’t find the hose in their computers. We had tried ordering the 2 formed hoses that the computer showed, but they ended up being the wrong ones. We finally just got plain old bulk fuel hose & used that. Thankfully, it made the bends we needed it to make without a problem. So now the bike runs well again too.

Friday evening we went to a friends for a small BBQ party. Come fireworks time, we ended up along the river in a fairly decent spot to watch. Was nice, without crowds or traffic issues. Granted it would have been allot nicer if it had been just me & my man, but all in all, it was okay. We had our own fireworks Saturday night so that made up for it somewhat. J

Saturday morning Connie & I went to the market. We both sold almost the same amount. I was happy for her that she sold some of her wood burning stuff. I sold more cards(7) & book marks(4) than I have in quite awhile. Still only made like $34, but even that was better in relative terms than the whole Chelan weekend. And I had more people wander thru & look in the first 2 hours than I did all weekend in Chelan. Granted, we had a beautiful day weather wise too. In all, not a bad market. Not great or truly worth the time, but not bad.

After getting home & unloaded, we relaxed a bit. Connie headed off to work & we headed out to take some pictures & just be together. I took some of the dam, so I hope they came out decent. I haven’t looked yet. Bad huh?

Sunday Tim went off on a motorcycle ride. He figured he’d only be gone a couple hours. No biggie, we’d do something together when he got back. Well his 2 hours turned into 4 ½. He ended up visiting a bit longer than expected with a few artists we know up in Leavenworth. He had a good time tho, & that’s what matters. I just kinda hung out here & relaxed. After he got home we decided neither of us felt like cooking, so we went out to have Chinese. Then afterwards, we tried finding me a new bathing suit. Yeah, that was fun. Not. There’s nothing left. It’s only July & the suits along with all other summer things, are already on clearance & going fast. What the heck? Even some of the stores garden centers are clearing out stuff. Marketing people are crazy. Back to school stuff is on the shelves already. Sigh.

So there is a quick rundown of the past week. I spent some time today packing some boxes. No, we don’t have a move date yet. But some things we just don’t need out, so they can get packed now. I didn’t feel like sitting here all day so I figured I should be constructive. 9 various sized boxes later, I’m good. Almost all my nick knacks are packed. The photo albums are packed. The bar stuff, a few kitchen things, all packed. Hey it’s a start. A small one but a start.

Well, now it’s just about time for the man to get home. So a shower, and some dinner then relaxing & he’ll be off to bed just after 8. Not sure what I plan to do with the rest of my evening.

*cough* *cough*

As I sit here sucking on a menthol cough/throat drop, I should be in bed already (it's 11pm). I’m still kinda awake tho. Guess that’s a sign I’m getting better. I don’t feel quite so exhausted. Now I’m just afraid to overdo it so I didn’t do too much today, but did get a few things done. I took hubby into work, at 530 this morning. Came home, checked email real quick & laid back down in bed. I ended up sleeping almost 2 hours. That was nice. I guess I do still need my rest.

So honey talked to his mom & step dad on Sunday about the stuff that happened this past week. They said they’d get him some money to help out. There is no arguing with them, & we need the help. With that, I was able to go get him a new welding helmet today. Oh I didn’t mention that yet. Friday afternoon he dropped his welding helmet & it landed just right to crack the main lens. Not a good thing. When I called about it today, I found out there was only about a $20 difference between the new helmet & just a new lens part. Wow. So there went almost $300 of the money they sent. I’m so glad we didn’t have to pay for that out of pocket.

Tuesday I get to call the Honda shop about his carburetor. And we get to find out how much another very small part will be to replace. Last fall we bought this tiny gasket set that was $100. I took a pic of it cuz it cost so much. This time we need a new diaphragm for the carburetor. We’ll see.

If I can find someone who can get the starter off his car, I’ll see about getting that tested for him this week too. I’d love to surprise him with that. Just have to see if there is someone around who could do that while he’s at work.

Now that I’m beginning to feel better again, all sorts of thoughts, ideas & whatnot are running thru my head again. One of the big ones … is to rearrange things in here. I had expected us to be moved or at least getting ready to move by now. I figure there was no point in moving stuff around if we were just gonna move soon. Well, now who knows. So I’m thinking about packing up some stuff I know we wont use, or just don’t need ‘out’ anymore. Then I’ll see about moving some stuff around. Maybe that will help get more motivation going for me too. Nothing like a new view on things to help get things stirred up.

Ok, my little lozenge is about gone. I should get to bed now that its almost 1130. At least tomorrow I don’t have to be up at 515.

Friday afternoon thoughts

It's just after 1pm on a sunny Friday afternoon & I’m sitting here in front of the computer, wondering what to get into, if anything. My mind has been going a mile a minute lately. What’s new tho. My soaps are on. I’m not sitting there watching them while doing nothing. They’re on, & I kinda watch.

I was going to take my framed pictures & take pictures of them. But, the glass glares. I’d have to take them apart, take pix, & put them back together. Right then, it was more effort than I wanted to put out. Sad. Might have to bite the bullet tho, & do it. I’d hate to sell one & not have a picture of it. I’m weird like that, wanting pix of my stuff, even after it’s gone. MI may never again mat & frame it the same, but I like having a record of things.

I need to take new pix of my finished coasters too. I want to list them on Etsy & such. I’m not quite totally happy with the pix I have taken. When I use a black background, they turn out to dark. When I use white, the colors wash out too much. I want a solid something, so when I put them on my new site, they will look good. Maybe I need to find a neutral something & just color the background black to match the site. I dunno.

Thursday Connie had the day off. We spent some time together & went back up to Leavenworth. It’s fun to go see the river in all it’s fury. We walked along a path for awhile, took several pix of the river from the bridge, & generally had a good time. We brought the dog, & she too, had a blast. It was a nice afternoon.

On the way home, we stopped at a local bakery, known for it’s yummy treats. What are the odds, that as we sat down to enjoy a snack, Lorie & her daughter should walk in? It was awkward. We hugged, but it was weird. No mention of anything said via email, which was the right thing to do of course. But it was just strange. The last time I hugged her, was when she came to see me at the market. Then, as this day, I hugged with all of me. It’s the only way I hug. They didn’t stay long, just long enough to get something & be gone. It’s such a weird feeling. I still don’t know what to say to her. If I should say anything at all. I still think about her, & us, everyday. I wonder what to say. What to do. I know we’ll never be the same. I can only hope that the answers come.

Tuesday I spent some time planting stuff. I cleaned out containers, replanted some plants & it felt so good. I swept up around the bottom of the steps, the steps & the walkway leading to the door. That’s where a couple baskets now hang, and several pots sit. It looks nice & I hope we have somewhere just as nice to move everything to when we move.

Speaking of that … I got to talk to my friend Kati, who owns the house we’re going to move into. She feels confident that the current (extended family) people living there will have the house finished (& be moved in) that they are building, by mid June. So now we just need to see if we can be in there by July 1 or August 1. That will depend on whether or not she has anything that needs to be done to the house that cant be done while we live there. I’m hoping we find out some of that tonite. She is supposed to come into town after work, so hopefully, she’ll have a chance to stop by here & chat with us too.

Ok, now I’m losing focus. I guess I need to wind this up for now & find something more productive to do. There is after all, a long list I can choose from.