Reading

Wednesday

None of the three pairs of shoes that I got yesterday was a winner. BUT, I am probably keeping one pair because I love them. They fit nicely and feel good but have no arch support and don't work with an insert. But I do love them. I guess I need to go to that shoe store after all. But, no rush.

I returned the other two yesterday and stopped by QFC to get a poke bowl. The raw fish counter is at the front of the store. It was as good this time as last. I do need to get some poke sauce. The sauce it comes with is too spicy hot for me. But, it's a winner for dinner for sure.

My new phone arrives tomorrow! I'm giving serious thot to no case. Naked carry. With the fancy insurance. The only issue is my Timber Ridge card. We have one card that gets us inside from some of the outside doors, into our apartments (I never keep mine locked so no need there) and, into some places outside of business hours - like the pool. Bam. So I have to carry it. It's now tucked between my phone and the case. But, I'm thinking, I'll glue a magnetic sheet onto it and slap it onto the phone. Or try a magnetic wallet. I've got ideas. But I also bought a cheap case just in case...

Today we have our quarterly Resident Update Meeting (RUN). All of the department heads report on what's been happening and what's planned. Mostly they just stand at the podium and read the words on their power point presentations. But, sometimes, you get a decent nugget of news. It's worth an hour.

John is still hanging in. Hazel was just here for an update. Things are kind of getting into a regular routine. And she got her hair cut yesterday so she even looks less frazzled.

Halloween production has begun.

Entry tags:

wednesday

Water Striders. On our daily walks to the creek we always see the water striders dimpling the water and making their little circles. My attempt to capture it.

After we got back from Dave getting his eye shot yesterday I went over to my shed and worked for a while. Glued stained glass down on 3 mirrors. Shed pictures: ( Read more... )

I've been thinking about that shit dream that I had yesterday. I really didn't know what to make of it when I first woke up from it. But this morning the words "faux pas" came to me as I was lying in bed waking up. FAUX PAS was what got me up this morning - I needed to look up its meaning. And then I started to think that the karen character in that dream might have been me too. I do think that when I'm analyzing dreams it's good to think that all the characters can be me, to look at things from all the angles. Maybe that dream was warning me to not be so judgemental. Maybe I'm the one who's been saving up wrongs that others have done to me.

Another free day today. I'll probably work in my shed. Though it's chilly out there. We're only supposed to have a high in the mid 60s today. I charged the batteries in my hand warmers yesterday and put them in my pockets. That extra warmth was nice.

Entry tags:

tuesday

"It's Raining". Quite possibly one of the dumbest pictures I've ever made. I used one of those prepainted cards that I made for reverse coloring. I was sitting in the truck yesterday waiting for Dave to talk to someone when I started to draw on it and finished it today.

The book The Artist's Way keeps coming to my mind lately so I started to read a sample on kindle this morning. I had bought the actual book years ago but couldn't find it and I wanted to refresh my memory. Write your Morning Pages. Make an Artist Date with yourself. I really liked doing art-a-day back when I was doing that. I felt accomplished, just doing the one little artwork, no matter how dumb it was. When I get these mosaic mirrors done I think I will go back to that again.

I keep having David Z in my dreams. I had another one last night. I think it's because he's a person I know who had a pacemaker and I'm starting to wonder now if that is what I'm going to need. I can't remember much of the dream now except that he wanted me to get something from his room. It was very dark and there were no lights that could be turned on. Other people were sleeping in the room and I didn't want to wake them. He told me where to look and I was feeling around on a dresser to find whatever it was. I couldn't find it. In another part of the dream I was at a convention and I shit myself in the hotel lobby. I was naked and running to the bathroom and didn't make it. So shit fell on the floor. I went back with some toilet paper to clean it up. By then I had my clothes on. There was a lady there taking a photo of the shit on the floor. She was taking the picture because she was disgusted and wanted to publish it online to show what a shitty hotel it was. But then I came up and took responsibility for it and was cleaning it up and that took the wind out of her sails - she was embarrassed that she had been such a karen. Shit happens.

Sitting at the moment in my car writing this on my phone while I wait for Dave to get his eye shot. Drinking a McD's iced coffee. I get so sleepy while I wait for him. Thought it would help, and it did.

Shoe hopes

Today I have 3 pairs of shoes coming from Amazon. I'm hoping against hope that one of them will be comfortable enough to wear a lot. If not, I do know how to return Amazon purchases.

So last week, after aqua yoga, I sent the Fitness Director a note explaining why I wasn't going to go back (boring, cold because no movement, too much breathing, not enough stretching). She responded by asking if they class made changes would I reconsider? I told her I'd try it once.

Honestly, I could tell within the first 5 minutes that I would be a class regular again. Lots of stretching and moving. My back felt really energized and so did I. 200% better. But, of course, next Monday is Labor Day, so no class. Sigh.

This morning was the first volleyball morning that I really needed to have lights on when I got up. Nice. It's still hot out but at least it's hot for a shorter period of time.

Today is house cleaner day and also time to start making some Halloween themed dolls and creatures. Steve asked me this morning if I'd ramped that up yet and I guess now is the time.

Two ball games but the first isn't until 4.

Entry tags:

rain,
rainy

hidey hole rainy

*****
It just started raining. The weather has changed to being chilly now. I'll need to take my umbrella when I go to the shed.

The shoe hunt continues

I'm still looking for my best shoes. Shoes that I can pop on any day, wear with socks and walk whereever/whenever I want that are NOT athletic shoes or sneakers. They need to fit well so I don't walk out of them and look decent (and my 'decent' gets broader and more inclusive every day). I have two pair of sandal-y shoes that I can actually wear every day all day and walk a fair bit in. I wore a pair of those the other day with socks and it worked out ok but not great.

Amazon is bringing me some more options later this week. And I still have one shoe store - the one my podiatrist recommended - that I haven't tried yet. If this week's Amazon selections don't work, I'll be heading over there to that store.

Otherwise, things are kind of on a good keel right now. I'm not on hold because of anything outside of my control - like SteveTheLawyer or the IRS. SteveTheLawyer has yet to settle the now 3.5 year old very simple trust. His last promise was to get it done by early 2025. Whatfuckingever.

The IRS still owes me money but it is clear that the chances of my living long enough to get it are growing slimmer every day. I went on their website this past weekend to check my transcript to see if there was any progress (none) and they asked me if I would take a survey. Sure. First question. Based on your visit today, how much do you trust the IRS. Hahahahaha. That was my giggle of the day.

It was a year ago that I switched financial advisors from the outfit I had used for more than 25 years to a new one. I am still delighted about that decision.

Two ballgames today - this afternoon. Aqua yoga this afternoon. I'll probably go out and puzzle some this morning and see if I can capture any hallway news.

Entry tags:

monday

I went through my tubs of stained glass yesterday and matched up stained glass colors with individual mirrors. Then I set all the stained glass containers to the side and now I can work my way through doing the individual mirrors.

Jules, Noah and Sebastian posing for a picture with Sebastian's new motorcycle as they were getting ready to leave after dinner last night. He picked it up on Saturday. I like that orange and black look.

Rainy early this morning in her hallway closet hidey hole. She is very easy to overlook when she's in there. I liked how her ear was standing up so big.

A free day today. I hope to get lots done in the goat shed with gluing glass down on the mirrors.

A new day for pix with more details than anyone but me could ever care about

I take a fair number of photos. All are automagically saved in Google Photo which is a great photo app but it has one fatal flaw. There is no way to embed a photo from Google Photo to this journal. You can link to the page but not show the photo in the entry.

You can, of course do that with Dreamwidth's Images but, honestly, as much as I love Dreamwidth, their Images situation sucks on several levels.

So I use Flickr. But Flickr's default for uploaded images was restricted to Private, it required more steps to make the images work here. So I had another app that took every photo, screenshot, video on my phone and sent them to Flockr and loaded them so they are Public. This system has worked fine for years and years. I snapped all day and then, when I'm ready to put them into an entry, they are all in Flickr ready to go.

The only flaw in that plan was that every single photo I took with my phone got loaded into Flickr viewable by everyone. I had to remember this if I took a photo of a check or a credit card or anything else sensitive. And it was hard to remember so I just rarely did that.

Lately, I've had occasion where I really needed to do just that. So this morning, I looked into how to switch it all around and I discovered that Flickr now allows your to 'share' photos as Public by default. So I can now upload easily OR not and keep them private and still have a backup copy on Google Photos (which is all private).

Cool!

Also, the Mariners catcher, who happens to be a very cool guy who's from Culawee, NC - a fabulous little mountain town, just tied the record for homers by a catcher in a single season. Then, two innings later, he breaks that record. And the game is only in the 3rd inning!

Here's the test photo.

Entry tags:

quote

a quote i came across

"I am not what happened to me,
I am what I choose to become".
- Carl Jung

Tile matching is killing me

Every once in a while, I find a mindless phone/computer/tablet game that sucks me in and won't let go. Most of the time, I can amuse myself by one game of majong solitaire and a couple of rounds of spider a day. And I can go years without getting sucked into anything more. But, not, apparently this year. I'm deeply, madly, irrevocably sucked into this stupid tile matching game. I cannot quit playing it and just that fact is driving me nuts. I will not be controlled by a game, except when I am. Sigh.

Last year, when I was having to feed the cats that overly pricey cat prescription food, I bought it mostly from Chewy. Amazon would run out and/or fiddle with their delivery processes and the stuff was so expensive it easily cleared Chewy's free shipping hurdle. But, then, when we got to go back to cheap stuff, that free shipping hurdle became an issue. And I get 5% back off Amazon purchases. And toilet paper, toothpaste, kleenex, cat stuff... subscribe and save. And I let Chewy go. Really out of laziness. They each have about the same number of items on the 'Pro' list - where one is good, the other is not - and not too much on the 'Con'. So Amazon wins because I'm lazy.

But, then yesterday. They sent my brother flowers and a lovely note.

I immediately cancelled all my Amazon subscribe and saves and set up everything for autoship on Chewy. We are now, officially, Chewy all the way. No regrets. No second thoughts. Flowers. They sent flowers.

Yesterday, I ran into Hazel and her son and his wife in the hallway on their way down to get something notarized. BUT I'm a notary until the 3rd of November. So I did it. Hazel has never liked her daughter in law and now I get it. She was all consumed with setting up Hazels sad old Samsung tablet with audio books. Except. Hazel will never be able to use them and won't enjoy audio books at all. But there was no dissuading her. Also, she had no idea what she was doing. I showed her how to log in and why it was set up with no password and no credit card (so Hazel can click on anything she wants and not get charged). She had no idea how to overcome that obstacle so I just left her to it.

They left and Hazel sat down to chat with me. It was nice. She said she had been stopping at Joan's every day to report which I know Joan just loves and it's so nice of Hazel to do. She said that Dick and Jan (who barely even know her) had been popping their heads in every night to check on her. She said that John was ready to die and hopes it is soon. And noted that it probably will be since he's not eating. She said she was so grateful for this time that they have now. We've just been talking and reminiscing and visiting and it's really been nice. We haven't even had the TV on. She's very calm and cool and together about it all.

I was going to get up and swim this morning but, when I got up, I remembered why I stopped doing laps in the mornings. The fucking sun. There is a 20 foot floor to ceiling wall of windows at the pool and they face east. The glare is exacerbated by the water. Dark goggles help but not much. It's just not fun. I could go later but even now I already for 5,769 reasons why not. Sigh. So I'll do aqua yoga at least one more time tomorrow.

Biggie is not a lap cat. He wants to be on my lap but will not settle. He walks back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. I give him 3 times and then put him on the ground. Once in a while, he tries to sneak on. Very very very slowly, he starts with one paw and then just as slowly, he adds another. It cracks me up. He did it just now so he's now standing on my lap with his belly on my arms while I type. Oh Biggie, you are a weirdo.

I have a podiatrist appointment this week but I am to cancel it if everything is working. Both issues are clearly better. The peeling hard skin feet with ugly ass nails is totally on the mend. The nails will take 6 months or so to get 100% but they are on the way for sure. The other - the nerve thing - I'm not sure about. It's way better but still twinges now and then. But, I think I'm going to cancel for now and then go back if it gets worse.

The Phils play at 10:30 and the Mariners at 1. And there will be laundry doings. And probably some puzzling.

Entry tags:

art a day,
dream

sunday

I dreamed I was outside a library. Something to do with artifacts buried near the foundation. I was one of many people digging them up. They were small rounded stones with inscriptions carved in them. I wanted to get a picture of them but I couldn't get my cellphone camera to work right. It kept taking pictures that were all distorted with added elements that weren't really there and garish colors. I heard that Barack Obama was coming to the library for a visit. For some reason I knew he'd know what to adjust in my phone to get my camera back to a normal camera. Without me going up to him, he approached me and introduced himself so I asked him if he could help. He was very gracious and went into the settings of the phone and fixed it for me. As he was leaving he was tired and stopped to lean his forehead against the wall of the library for a moment, like he was communing with it.

Saturday

I check my investment balance every day which they say you should never do. But, 'they' are then boss of me. Anyway. On days when the total is down, I happily blame the current regime and just know that there are only 3 more years. (Yes, it might not get better but whatever.) But, when my balance is up, as it is today, substantially, I do not give credit but, instead, just guiltily enjoy the bonus.

My phone and my watch got upgrades - software - and both are now doing new things. Not bad things but doing things differently and it's disconcerting. My new phone arrives at the end of this week which is kind of cool. In the past, Google had 3 or 4 weeks between pre-order and delivery. This is much better. Amazon delivered my case yesterday but I think I can probably use the case I've already got. They do appear to be the same.

Jo Jo Moyes has a new book out. I really enjoyed a lot of her books but the one before this latest one was way too romantic novel for me. I used to buy them automatically but after the last one, I decided I'd just wait in line at the library even though her queues are generally years long. Last night I finished my current book and went to settle on the next one and saw her new one in Audible so I went to Libby to see if it was in the library yet. And, yes, it was - apparently arrived minutes ago because there were 10 copies and 0 checked out!! Ha! So now, I can read it for free and if I don't like it I can 'gift' the next person in the queue.

It's supposed to be stupid hot for the next forever days so I'm not going anywhere. Sorry new car battery. You'll just have to hold up on your own.

Time now to go get dressed for Elbow Coffee. Could be an interesting one today. If so, dets here, I promise.

Entry tags:

saturday

I like how the prayer flags in front of the goat shed are weathering. I was over there early this morning looking for my tea mug. I misplace it at least once a day it seems. I checked the goat shed just in case it was there. It wasn't. It was in my car. I hadn't taken it out yesterday when I got back from the paint and sip.

I had a struggle dream last night. I can't remember all the preceding parts of the dream now but I was with some other people. David Z was one of them. We had traveled a distance to go to a house that I owned to look for a big mixing bowl. Someone in David's family needed the mixing bowl to stir up red dye to dye their shoes for a special occasion like a wedding. I did find the bowl for them and told them to go on ahead but I wanted to go back to the house to make sure the door was locked. I went back and checked - it was locked - but when I turned around to follow them they were totally gone. I was making my way across the front yard, a field with lots of junk and many obstacles, little board bridges that needed crossed over deep holes. I ended up falling into the underworld. I wasn't hurt but I didn't see any way to get back out. I doubted that they would return for me because to them I was viewed as a healthy strong person who wouldn't need help. I suppose this has to do with the heart issue. Even though it seemed like a "bad" dream I'm glad I had it. Somehow it makes me more connected to myself and that feels hopeful.

Today: OA, and then clean house. I hope I have time to finish putting ceramic and fimo clay elements on the last 4 mirror frames today. I want to move onto the next step as soon as possible. I'd like to be done gluing stuff down by the middle of Sept when I leave for Florida.

Entry tags:

friday

Looking out the kitchen window as the sun was going down tonight.

Jan and I went to Chloe's Paint and Sip today after walking the bike trail by the river in Oil City. I had a couple episodes of the slow heart rate thing happen while walking. The painting that Chloe had for us to do today was a barn with pumpkins beside it but I got carried away with the drawing of the barn and never got around to any painting. "Rhythm". I've been thinking lately of how I'd like to illustrate my heart issue and in my mind I see a long tube with bumps passing along it. So I just drew that coming out of the barn. :-)

I had a neat dream this morning. Dave and I were in a house behind mom and dad's house, in the spot where I used to have a little trailer. There were some other people there but I don't know who they were. Dave pointed out the window and said, "look". I saw just the tail end of a dragon flying through the sky. I was going to the door to look out so I could see better when Hazel popped out to scare me (she likes to do that to get a laugh from me). She threw a snake skin at me. It was patterned like Indian corn and the scales were orange, purple, brown and blue kernels. It was beautiful. I took the skin and continued out the door and looked at the sky. There were many tetradactyl type birds flying in the sky, around in circles the way buzzards do. It seemed like a very special thing to see.

I've had other dreams that this reminded me of. Dreams where there were strange and awesome things in the sky. Constellations of stars in shapes that we have never seen before. The feeling is the same. There is something special coming.

Slanted

I got the new rug to keep the cables running out of the table from tripping me. Works great. Looks fine. EXCEPT. The carpet is deep enough that when the table sits on the run it dips down and the rug cups around the legs. Ugly. So I put thin boards under the table legs. Perfect. EXCEPT now the table slants.

It looks fine in the picture I took but very slanty in real life. I've decided not to worry about it. For now. Maybe later.

Starting today and going pretty much through Labor Day, it's going to be hot AF around here. Unrelenting sun. But knowing it's the end of this shit for at least 9 months AND the night's worth of cool are longer, helps the attitude. Also, the a/c is fabulous and I live in the best place.

Today there are two ballgames but the first one isn't until 4. I think the car is fine so no errands needed. My Costco run, yesterday, was great. They have a lot of new stuff and I didn't get much but made notes for the future. I got coffee and cupcakes and ham and cheese croissants and a couple of other critical items. $85. I was proud. I'd forgotten how very nice our Costco is. BIG aisles. You can easily maneuver even when a family of 7 is in the middle of the aisle having a family meeting. It is just across the street from the Costco corporate headquarters so it gets a lot of management scrutiny and shopping there shows that.

It is new menu day so I guess I'll get in some steps and go pick mine up from the cubbies.

Entry tags:

goat shed,
mosaic

thursday

My Happy Place right now. I only have 4 left to put ceramic decorative elements on. Then I will open up the tubs of stained glass and fill them in with that. It was starting to get dark and I was quitting for the day when I took this pic.

So where will I go today?

I have nothing on my calendar for today. Not even a ballgame. But, I feel like I need to take the car out for a battery run. I do have an Amazon return (of course) but I'm also thinking Costco. I let my Costco expire last February but I miss it. And I miss the experience. It makes me walk steps. Plus I'm low on coffee and I do not like Amazon's options. So I think that's today's destination. Costco.

Google added an insurance option to the Pixel watch last year and I've been paying $4 a month ever since. I swear that is the only thing that has kept it going. I've had plenty of chances to crack it, to drown it and even once to lose it. Although the insurance does not cover theft or loss, more's the pity. They have never offered insurance for the phone. Yes, I could use my homeowners except, ooops, no home, no homeowners. I don't have renters insurance.

But this time, when I bought the new phone, it had an insurance option. I didn't click it. But this morning I went back and did. $200 for 2 years - $0 deductible for screen cracks and battery fixes and it includes theft and loss. This will ensure the screen on my new phone will stay uncracked!

The Food and Beverage meeting was way more interesting than usual. The director spilled all of the plans for new dining. Starting now and going through the end of next year, they are going to redo everything. And provide a lot more options - particularly options that I am interested in. They are adding an all day coffee shop with pastries and a 24/7 grab and go place. They are making a lot of physical moves and changes. It all sounded pretty fabulous to me. Now we'll see how it pans out.

Hazel popped in last night to report that John is all settled into his new room in the nursing wing. She is greatly relieved. He has hospice care. Apparently, he can no longer eat much of anything so it won't be too long, I don't think. She'll be as ok as she can be and has a lot of friends and helpers. She is not fearful or fretful about what's going on or will happen or what will happen after. She's pretty chill now that he's back here.

I'd forgotten

One of the things I abandoned when I left Live Journal was all the spam. I'd forgotten. Well, it apparently has finally found its way to Dreamwidth. I'm getting subscribes and mail from people who joined that day and have 0 friends and 0 everything else. At least banning is easy. I hope they give up soon.

Entry tags:

wednesday

At the creek, another two chairs that Dave and I like to sit on. They believe in "lean on me" too.

Today was the first time I have climbed the hill from walking down to the creek when I didn't have my heart act up. Usually as I climb the hill my heart rate goes down instead of up - weird - which makes me feel very shaky and light headed. But today, now that I have the heart monitor attached to my chest it didn't happen. Figures - makes me look like a liar just wanting attention. But I did start the new med last night and cut back on the metoprolol so maybe that's it. That would be great if it was the end of this worrisome issue.

IMG_20250820_115903661[1].jpg

I took this pic today for my sister

motherofearth45 so she could see how big the mirror mosaics are going to be. She thought they would be much bigger. No, just small. I got another 20 wooden frames today and plan to make 40 in all now. I am very into thinking up different combinations of decorative elements to go with colors of stained glass tessera. I want to do as many as I have concepts for. I have no idea what I will do with them all but so what? They will exist. And they'll eventually find homes I'm sure.

now it is 11:10 am

Let's recap. So far today:

Laundry done and put away.
Phone ordered.
Car fixed.

Now it is 4th inning and the Mariners are losing... again.

The battery guy was weird but very efficient. He says batteries last about 5 years and the fact that since I moved here, I take the car out far less frequently, makes my dead battery a noble soldier. He put the new battery in without even a snark about having to work in the tiny, inconvenient space that the Smart Car has.

Everything sprung to life the minute he connected it. Started right up. He said to start it up and run it 5 to 10 minutes every other week, at least.

The only wrinkle was paying him. He wanted cash, check or zelle. I could not bring up zelle on my phone. I was using the BECU app and I think maybe I needed the Zelle app. He then suggested we go to an ATM. Which we did and it was fine.

And, no, I did not feel sketchy at all as an old woman withdrawing hundred dollar bills to hand off to a young kid. Not sketchy at all.

It was fine and he was really sweet and I'm all fixed and it's not even noon!

I did stop by Taco Time so early lunch while I was the Phils increase their lead.

As long as they are done by 1:30. Food and Bev meeting.

Tonight is fried chicken night at the buffet. If it looks good, I might buy dinner for two and put the second dinner in the freezer.

P.S. When I bought the car, the salesman explained there was no spare tire but there was a can of air in the car that would, hopefully, get enough tire to get to help. I never questioned. I never looked. I never found any can of air.

Yesterday, when pulling back the carpet to get to the battery, I found a little cubby with the cutest little air pressure machine in it and a bottle of what appears to be tire hole plugging juice. The instructions are in German. I've only had the car for 14 years. As my brother pointed out, could be time to read the manual and see what other secrets it is hiding.