My Weblog

There must be a trick to it.......

Keeping track of my mother in a hospital 3000 miles away isn't as easy as you might like it to be. When I talked to folks there this morning, they had a bed reserved for her in a rehab facility and she would be transferred there today.

I went on the internet and researched the rehab facility's phone number, called it and it is disconnected! So, I called the hospital to get their "real" number. On a hunch, I asked for her room and she's still in the hospital. This is in spite of the fact that she and my aunt had to fight to get her admitted for even one night. Confusing, no?

Anyway, the nurse last night told me that she specifically asked mom about her level of pain. According to her, mom told her it was a "5" on a scale of 1-10. Mom denies that completely. She says she told the nurse that it didn't hurt when she was lying down but was very painful when she sat up and tried to take a deep breath.

Oh, and mom she says she overheard a conversation from the nurses station to the effect that she couldn't be released until she could breathe without pain. This was this morning which is when I was told she was being moved. And only a few hours after they had to beg to get her admitted! I'm thinking you just keep calling and asking questions until you get an answer you like, LOL. However, when the answers change, that's puzzling.

Mom also said they have her on IV percoset. That's some fairly heavy duty stuff. So, that calls that whole "5" thing into question as well. The nurse made it sound like she would be fine in 2-3 days.

Based on that and the fact that we were dealing with "sore" and not broken or needs surgery, I made the decision not to go. After all, just to get from here to there, between plane and ground transportation, you burn a whole day. And I would have had to borrow hundreds of dollars which I am not in a position to repay. My aunt offered to give me a credit card # from my mother's purse. I checked with a client who has worked for the car rental agencies here for several years. The answer I got was that there would be no way I could rent a car without a credit card with a matching photo ID. A scrap of paper with 16 digits on it in someone else's name wouldn't have worked.

I will say that the people I've talked to at the hospital have all been very nice and polite and seemed to be doing their best to give me information. Like I told my mother, within any large organization, communication is always the hardest thing to manage. So, I think the people I've talked to may all know a small piece of the pie, or think they do, and they tell me what they think is going on. Kinda like the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing......... Typical, but not all that helpful. It would be nice if all those computers in hospitals made the sharing of information more efficient..........

But we shall see what tomorrow brings.

It's been an adventure digging in that freezer today. I have one more shelf to finish and then some odd stuff I haven't decided about yet. It's quite a mixture.

The last time I attempted this was not too long after Joe died. I was really scared in those days. Scared I'd lose my house. Scared there wouldn't be money for food. Scared I'd be sitting here with no heat and no electricity because I couldn't pay the bills. And, I kept a lot of stuff I should have pitched then. But God has proven Himself faithful! Yes, He has. I haven't missed a meal, I'm still in the house and all of the have-to bills have been paid. Late sometimes, but paid. So, this time I am able to approach the task without fear. And with the knowledge that some of this stuff is REALLY old. And in an emotional state that allows me to "reason", something I wasn't doing too well at after the emotional trauma.

I am pulling out things that were labeled by Joe. Joe's been gone 34 months now. If he labeled the package, then whatever it is is most likely at least 3 years old. Stuff doesn't last that long and stay edible in the freezer. I've been pulling things out of there that are mystery meat of some kind, unlabeled. I RARELY do that, with the possible exception being chicken. That's pretty distinguishable because of the shapes involved so sometimes I don't label it. So, I'm pretty sure the stuff with no label is left over from 3 years ago. There is stuff in there from stores at which I don't shop. For example, Joe was a big fan of Albertson's. I am not. So, if I pull out something from Albertson's, I pretty well know it is at least 3 years old. And, so the process goes. I pulled out some vegetarian stuff. I know this came from DD's house when it was discovered that DGS2 has Celiacs. Joe was still alive then and would have threatened revolution if I'd tried to feed that to him. He ate it when we went to her house to be polite, but that was pretty much his limit. I thought I could talk him into it, but that was a total no-go. He was a meat and potatoes (and PLENTY of both) all the way kind of guy.The oldest thing I've found so far had a sell by date of 2006! Yep, that's gone, LOL.

I feel like I'm on another version of an archeological dig. Or, maybe in training for some sort of investigative assignment. Like it's a test: "See how much old, inedible stuff you can find. If you find it all, you pass." Anyway, there should be plenty of room for organizing when this process is done, LOL.

So, so far, I have 7 copy paper boxes full of stuff I'll probably keep, and one cooler. And I have 5 plastic bags (grocery store size or somewhat larger ones) filled with stuff that has to go away. I really do hate wasting food. It upsets me so much because I know there are folks out there that are hungry. But, it's time to stop wrapping myself in a cocoon of food I can't or shouldn't eat and get some better quality stuff in here. I guess my body deserves that. At least, I'm going to act like it does.

I haven't mentioned today that it is Halloween. Well, yes, it is. I have no candy to give out. I have some baked goods in the freezer that I made recently. Many years ago, you could have given something like that out and it would have been well received. But, I think with all the crazies in the world that like to poison or maim children, most folks wouldn't let their kids eat that stuff anyway these days. That crazy stuff was just starting when DD was a kid, but I wouldn't have let her eat anything like that.

Our church is just a block away and they always have some sort of family event each year. When Joe was alive, we contributed candy to that and put up a sign to go there. However, now they are charging admission. I think that is just wrong! The whole idea is a community outreach so why are we charging the community for admission? And though our contributions were sometimes pretty measley, I would have even less to contribute this year. So, I'm sitting here in the dark, LOL. I feel bad about that but at least I don't have to deal with trying to lock the dogs up somewhere or trying to get past two relatively large dogs dancing expectantly in front of the door. A person could get hurt that way!

The other day, I was celebrating that someone from my DGC's day care facility was going to come by and pick up a bunch of gallon milk containers I've been saving for them. The day we arranged for that was today. I guess we were both kinda silly. I'm sure she probably has kiddos who would want to go trick or treating but it must have slipped her mind that Halloween was Thursday. And I was no smarter or I'd have caught it and double checked it with her! Well, I guess I'll keep those containers a few days longer, LOL.

 

When life hands you lemons.........

make lemonade. So, I've started my "declutter" project in the freezer. The freezer is unplugged and I am offloading "stuff". Much to my surprise, I discovered that I can't get to most of the coolers I own. One is on a very high shelf with stuff piled down below, making it impossible to reach. Another is buried under a pile of boxes......... I haven't even spotted the other one. What to do?

Well, it occurs to me that heavy duty cardboard boxes are good insulators. And due to my ongoing declutter efforts, I have LOTS of those. Stackable heavy duty copy paper boxes. Yes, thank you, those will do nicely. It is cool in the garage today, so not much danger of anything at all thawing. So, I'm working on the second box. I grabbed a nasty high carb something off the second shelf and had that for lunch. Something tells me I will burn off every stinking gram of carbs in that thing before this day is over! Besides if it's edible, I need to eat it and get it out of my life!

I did indeed find two of those dishpans I used to use to keep stuff sorted in the freezer in the pile of stuff I've gathered up to take to DD as a result of my decluttering efforts. I moved the stuff into a box and will wash those up and see if this idea still works. It occurs to me that, depending on the spacing of the shelves in the freezer (they are not adjustable) I might like the cardboard box even better. After all, they are bigger and deeper. When the frost is melted, I'll have to check how they fit. I'm sure I can find an acceptable way to label them.

Well, I'm running back-ups here. Making decent progress, considering I'm running in and out of the garage in the meantime. But, there's more to do than I realized. I sincerely doubt, no matter how hard I try, that I will get all the backups for October done. But, at least, I'll know exactly where to start tomorrow when November rolls around.

Alrighty. I ate my high-carb thing (which was, incidentally packed with wheat flour (can you say "STUPID, STUPID, STUPID?) and now I have a blazing headache. May also have something to do with getting about 4.5 hours of sleep due to working very late last night. I'm off to find the ibuprofen bottle......Later

 

Crisis averted..........

Well, first thing this morning I called my mother at the hospital. Now, it was "first thing this morning" here, but about 10AM there. I think she was either having a real good time on the pain meds or she had been asleep when I called. Normally, she is pretty much "with it" when I call her. A lot of the time, she doesn't remember what she told me the last time and I get to sit through it again, but if you ask a question, you pretty much get an on-point answer. However, the later in the day you catch her, the less "with it" she becomes. And if she's been asleep, it gets tough. This morning I was asking her specific questions and I was getting "on point" questions only about 75% of the time.

Next, I called Case Management. They think she will be released today but the doctor has to look at her before that decision is made. However, the story I got this morning was quite different from the one I got last night. They are planning on releasing her to a rehab facility. They seem to think she is in too much pain to be able to take care of herself at this point. They have found her a bed in a facility that happens to be located right down the street from the hospital.

Then I called my daughter but got her voicemail. Still waiting for a call back from her. She probably either has appointments this morning or she's teaching..........

Then I called my Aunt. Apparently she didn't sleep last night, up worrying. I tried to tease her a little by telling her that she didn't need to do that, that God was gonna be up all night anyway. I don't think she appreciated my attempt at humor! Anyway, she had heard from the hospital a few minutes earlier. I had hoped we could compare notes on what had been said to each of us to see if there were any conflicts. But, she was busy with something.

So, I do not have to try to figure out the care routine for the next few days from here. This is a relief. And, truthfully, I'll be happier knowing she'll be getting some sort of "professional" care. And, this is her choice as well. The lady I talked to in Case Management think she'll be at the rehab facility for about a week.

So, it will be life as usual here with the exception of trying to stay in touch with her daily to see how she is doing.

Life as usual here today isn't all that "usual". I'm planning on tackling that freezer today. Will be pulling together my attack kit momentarily--Mitt type hot pads to keep my fingers from frostbite, hairdryer for melting frost off the freezer innards, large trash can for whatever needs to go bye-bye, and my entire stock of coolers to hold whatever is staying til the freezer is defrosted. I am looking forward to being to put that thing back together in some sort of organized manner!

Before I called it a night, I managed to get the entire first layer of what I want out of the store at ACOT taken care of. Woot! I worked my way through more than 100 products yesterday. It would not upset me in the least if I could do the same today......... But, I intend to celebrate whatever I can accomplish. And I'm hurriedly working my way through what's left of backups for October. Actually, "hurriedly" is incorrect. There is no way I can "hurry" that. Maybe doggedly is a better word for it........

So, that's where I'm at today and what I have planned. Let's do some eyecandy and I'll get on with that freezer thing.

Here's a darling layout from Lori. Wow, I like this. Love that horizontal grouping of elements across the bottom. That makes for some border! She is also giving us a good look at that web-embossed paper. Great composition here! Yay for Lori!

Here's a good 'un from Deanna. Seven circles decorate this page, used to frame her photos and also as a show place back ground for some elements. Deanna, too, has done a good lookin' border for us. I especially like that she chose to place her journaling in one of those circular frames. Such great continuity in this page! Deanna, you did great!

Okay, so there are a couple of pages for your viewing pleasure, created with Bats in my Belfry in the HotFlashDesigns store at A Cherry on Top. Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did, LOL. I'm off to gather the rest of my equipment for the "great" freezer defrost. YOU be BLESSED today. Throw a very sincere "Thank you" heavenward today!

 

 

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Well, now she's gone and done it!

Whoa, Nellie!

There isn't much........

Excitement at Tara.........

Just a little less than two hours ago, my phone rang. It was my Aunt who lives in Florida near my mom. She and mom had gone to the grocery store this evening about 5 PM their time. Mom got out of the car and started walking around the front of the car. Well, the parking lot has those concrete things that keep you from pulling your car in too far and Mom fell over one. My poor aunt said she was in the parking lot yelling for help. Finally a store employee came and helped get Mom into the store and the store called an ambulance.

Well, the good news is that she's been cat scanned and x-rayed from head to toe, almost. There are no broken bones. However, she will probably find herself bruised--on the head, in the rib area, and also the knees. But, there's not even any broken skin. I guess the hospital wanted to send her home but Mom and my Aunt objected strenuously to that so she is spending the night.

I talked to Mom and she was pretty lucid even though I found out later that she is getting some sort of IV pain meds. She said her pastor had already been in to visit.

Everyone's primary concern is what to do about her when she is released tomorrow! Well, I also called and spoke to the night shift nurse. Her name is Cindy Hodges and she is a hero. She is one of those people you don't meet very often who goes above and beyond. God be praised! I so appreciate her help because my Aunt can't deal with much more and I'm 3000 miles away. I need all the help I can get.

According to Nurse Hodges, she asked Mom to rate her pain on a scale of 1 - 10. Mom rated it at a 5. Of course, none of us can compare our "5" to anyone else's "5" with any accuracy. For me, a "5" would mean I would keep washing floors and designing and whatever else had to be done. And, Mom is a trooper so I think she'll do what she can as well.

She said that Mom has only reported being in pain when she tries to take a deep breath. Well, I suppose the answer to that is "don't take a deep breath". I remember not taking a lot of deep breaths I'd have liked to have taken when I had pneumonia years ago and a small child to care for. They wanted to put me in the hospital but I had no one to care for my child. I was on my own....... The hospital does, however, have her on oxygen, just to make sure her oxygen level doesn't go too low.

So, the primary concern at this point is what to do about her when they throw her out of the hospital tomorrow. According to the nurse, to heal she will need rest and to move. The movement will be important so she doesn't stiffen up which will just make movement worse later. The primary concerns are: making sure she has food, making sure she has access to water, and making sure someone sorts out her pills so she doesn't think she is taking a pain pill when she's really taking a vitamin (her vision is bad).

My Aunt was concerned about HOW to get her home from the hospital. I guess when she left the hospital it seemed like Mom was in so much pain she wouldn't be able to get into anyone's car. The nurse tells me she thinks Mom WILL be able to go home in a car, particularly considering she is on pain meds. But, she says "Case Management" will arrange for an ambulance if they deem that necessary. I'll be talking to "case management" in the morning!

Another concern was just getting whatever meds Mom needs. She doesn't drive......... God bless Ms. Hodges, she found out that the hospital has a program, in association with Walgreens, that will see to it that Mom's take-home meds are delivered to her at the hospital before she goes home. Ms. Hodges, you are a hero!

I called the church Mom has been a member of for years. Of course, it was long past the time someone there would be answering the phone. And her pastor had already been to the hospital to visit her. Darn, I wish I would have known a half hour earlier so I could have talked to him then! But, I left a message on the church's voicemail and I also e-mailed them as well. I am hoping they might have someone who could help out for a day or two. Mom also gave me three names of people who might be able to help out. No phone #'s though. That's gonna be tough. I'll try the white pages via the internet, and we'll see how that turns out.

My poor Aunt. She was stressed out and had plans to go to bed right then! And, I could tell she was frustrated, worried and so on. She has blood pressure stuff to contend with and this "excitement" isn't good for her!

It's long past time for sane folks to be in bed in Florida, so there's not much more I can do from here tonight. I will get up and hit it again in the morning...........

Meanwhile, I am just now getting dinner. I had started my beef and quinoa soup earlier. It tastes really good. I'm grateful to have found a low carb something to substitute for refined carbs. I didn't have a whole lot of beef and only one can of beef broth. Honestly this is more like carrots n quinoa because the beef bites (tiny little bites) are far outnumbered by the chopped carrots. But, it seems to have worked out okay, helped out with some water and some beef bouillion. Hey, carrots are good for you too, right? There is something of a logistical problem I haven't worked out.

I am not all that familiar with the care and handling of quinoa. I purposely prepared that separately and have just ladled some of my "soup" over it. I guess my real concern is what happens if I mix the quinoa in with the brothy stuff. Will it blow up like a balloon? I dunno. I guess I'll have to risk it.

In my spare time (between cutting beef into tiny little pieces and chopping carrots and onions for the soup) I have removed 80 products from my ACOT store today. Have I removed enough not to break the store when I try to put the rest on sale for DSD? I don't have a clue.

That whole "retiring" process is something else. First I have to check my computer and make sure whether or not I have the kit or if it's been lost through a crash of some sort. If I have it, I can forge ahead. If I don't, then I have to download whatever I can from the store. Once I have whatever I can get for my files. I can make the kit disappear in the store. Then I have to move the file on my computer from where ever it happens to be to the "retired kits" file. If I've had to download from the store, then I have to unzip what I've downloaded before it can be moved. So, it all takes a while. And, it doesn't work out to be very time effective if I get interrupted anywhere in the process because then I have to stop and figure out what I have and haven't done!

You can bet I'll be keeping a much closer watch on my in-store inventory from now on!

Well, it's been a stressful night. Hard to know what to do when a problem arises 3000 miles away! I sure hope my cell minutes hold out! I have the lowest number of minutes possible to save money. In the meantime, if you could spare a few minutes to pray for Mom's healing process, I'd appreciate it.

Productive morning.........

Well, all 4 of those alphas are now in their separate folders and in the kit file, everything saved! That's good news.

The bathroom sinks, countertops, and bathtubs are looking all sparkly and clean.

Twenty-seven items have disappeared from the ACOT store into my "retired kits" file. Quite a few I had to download the kits before I could "retire" them. The kit contents AND the working files had been eaten in a few EHD crashes along the way. At least, now, I have the actual kits!

And a multitude of soup containers have been labeled and repositioned in the freezer in the garage. God bless that freezer. I bought it in 1978. I trucked it across country from Missouri to Nevada in 1979. Its first home here was in the second bedroom of a two-bedroom apartment. It has lived in various garages ever since. And it just keeps going. I love that thing!

Speaking of the freezer, it's due for defrosting. The frost build up isn't awful yet, but I know there's stuff in there that's not fit to eat anymore. In a life prior to the 90's my freezer was so very organized. I want that freezer back! In the 90's I was dealing with a teenager, a divorce (and loss of my best friend--yeah, you guessed it right, the loss of my home and the loss of my business), and a broken engagement when I learned that once again I'd been cheated on. In the early 2000's another broken engagement, and then marriage to Joe who had no idea how to organize anything but who insisted things be done his way.............I started a freezer inventory during the Joe years and he lost the inventory....... I'll probably find it buried somewhere in the garage when I really get to working out there, LOL.

Now, provided I can avert my eyes upon the approach of every male who crosses my path, I have a chance at organizing that freezer again. THAT will be a cause to celebrate.

Actually, I think I may have to break stride on everything else and clean out that freezer today or tomorrow. Now, that's a life threatening proposition. However, it really needs it and the longer I wait the colder it will be in the garage and the longer it will take to defrost. I don't want Tupperware/Rubbermaid/etc containers of soup toppling out of there when I open the door! There are just so many hours I want to spend, using my blow dryer in the insides of that freezer, LOL.

During the days of proper organization, I had a lifetime supply of plastic dishpans, properly labeled. One for beef, one for pork, one for chicken, and so on. At the moment, I might be able to find 3 of them. I know one is on my kitchen table. I think I may have unearthed 2 in the sewing room as I've sorted in there. If I transfer the contents of whatever is in those, I could reuse them in the freezer! Maybe if I look really hard in the garage, I could find more. If not, I have some copy paper boxes that don't have lids. I have no clue what happened to the lids. But I could use those in a pinch, right?

I came back in the house from stashing soup in the freezer, carrying what's left of a bag of pot stickers. The last time I ate those things, they REALLY upset my stomach. I think it may be whatever is used to make the dough. In any case, I'm going to boil those up this afternoon and use them for puppy treats. I don't think the pups have stomach problems with dough, LOL. And, anything to keep their tummies full!

Well, there are still MANY more kits to "retire" before I will be satisfied with the size of the ACOT store. And, now the prospect of defrosting the freezer has reared it's ugly head! I need to get on with the program. Later.........

In spite of total exhaustion..........

I lived to tell the story, LOL. Here it is Wednesday morning and after a decent night's sleep, I'm ready for another go at it.

I do not think I am making that beef soup today. I seem to be missing an ingredient or two. I'll do a better inventory when I'm done here. I think I'm missing tomato paste....... Who knew you had to have that to make beef barley soup? Well, maybe you knew, but you didn't tell me and I didn't know. I need to go to El Cheapo anyway sometime in the next two days because the dog food supply is running low. Maybe I can talk myself into a quick trip today?

It got even colder, temperature-wise, last night than the night before. It went down to 45. But, we're supposed to get up to 66 today. No need to huddle in the house today--no rain, no sleet, no snow, no wind. It's gonna be a pretty day!

I finally got that darned duvet mess straightened out. And I finally got the rest of the meat (all but a few tidbits) off those bones and into the soup. Man, I was wiped out when I crawled into bed. But, I had a nice fresh duvet to comfort me, LOL. I wanted to do some dusting last night, but I don't think I could have motivated myself to do one more thing if I were expecting the king of Saudi Arabia to visit today.

I'm finishing up my 4th alpha for that kit today. I had one done that was striped and one in red and one in navy. I decided to do a white one since white runs throughout the kit. The finish on the white one is slightly different as the one that came with the alpha template just made the white look dirty around the edges. I didn't like using a different finish on just one alpha, but I felt like I had to. The one I chose has ended up giving the white alpha a rounded, puffy look. It may be different, but it looks good. I have 13 files left to save. I desperately want to do more alphas, but I don't have it in me. Besides, I'm supposed to be making Christmas kits, LOL!

So, before I can call this kit done, I have to do the raw preview for the alphas and then "wrap" all the previews. I don't much like doing raw alpha previews, but I'm stuck with it on every kit. I may as well adjust, LOL.

I had hoped to retire a bunch more kits from the ACOT store this week. I want to put the store on sale for this weekend. However, I MUST get more kits out of that store before I try that again. My store is HUGE. The last time I tried to put the whole thing on sale, I locked down the store's server! I don't want to do that again! I'm toying with the idea of just setting up a coupon code so everyone can use that to get the appropriate discount that way. I don't know what's best to do. If I don't do the coupon code and I don't manage to get a bunch of stuff out of the store now, it will take me hours to set up the sale, setting sale prices a few kits at a time. DO NOT want to do that. Maybe I'll try to concentrate today on retiring kits and see how far I get. Then I can decide tonight and get it done tomorrow.

Well, let's do some eye candy. Then I can get started on that "retiring kits" thing.

Here's a contribution by Laura. I looked at this and giggled. I've wanted to do a Mardi Gras kit for years, but it (Mardi Gras) always sneaks up on me. I thought, as I looked at this, how much this looks like a Mardi Gras kit--perfect colors for it, LOL. However, the occasion photographed was during the summer. So, couldn't have been Mardi Gras! Laura has some fun paper layering going on here. And she created her own layered flower. I like that a lot. I try to include in my kit lots of stuff so folks can make their own layered flowers. That's one reason why you'll usually find each flower in every color in the kit. I do layered flowers too, but because of size limitations I can never do as many as I'd like. Thanks, Laura, for showing how it's done!

Here's another page done by Sherry. I think Sherry used the kit 3 times! Wow! as a Creative Team member, I only ask for 1 layout. I'm impressed that she liked it enough to use it over and over. She shows us a fall layout here. Interesting how she's reduced the opacity on the tree, and the fence. You just get a "hint" of them. And there she goes with another of those REALLY PRETTY clusters, behind the photo. Besides being gorgeous, it draws the eye right to the photo. Great work, Sherry.

Okay, ladies. You know I've got a big job ahead of me in addition to writing that "CPA letter" for my client and cleaning sinks, tubs and countertops in the bathroom. I must run for now. I'll most likely be back when I need a little rest. In the meantime, YOU be BLESSED. And, mind your manners--say "Thanks".

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The day before whatever..........

Sunday Morning

Guess I wasn't a bad girl after all........

I really thought I'd been bad and was going to have to go to bed without dinner. I went to work on those ham hocks when I signed off here last. It was really hard. That musta been the oldest, meanest hog on the farm. That's all I can say. I worked at it for a while and then kinda gave up. I put the ham hocks back in the soup pot and let them cook for several more hours. Just about 20 minutes ago, I pulled them out again. Better. Easier. STILL not as tender as last time. Last time, I could literally pull the meat apart with a fork. That isn't happening this time and I let those things cook a good 6 hours! Can you believe it?

Anyway, I was despairing of getting anything to eat tonight, but I finally ladled off a little of the soup. In spite of all the trouble, it's tasty. But, would you believe, I still have to spend more time on those ham hocks. I cut up more of the meat and threw it in the pot before I took some, but there's more meat on those things so I have to deal with that.........

In the meantime, I needed to reassemble the bed (duvet and comforter). Have you ever seen those ladies on QVC demonstrate how "easy" it is to put a duvet on a comforter? I swear they use trick cameras. I've spent 10 minutes wrestling with that mess this evening and the comforter is still at least partially wadded up within the duvet. I love my comforter, I really do. I thank God for it just about every night when I go to bed. But, this process I hate!

I am really worn out. I've worked solidly all day. I'm now on my 4th alpha, each with 72 separate files to color and save. If I ever get a stupid idea like this again, someone PLEASE stop me! I've deleted e-mail all afternoon and evening as well. And, I'm still ahead of where I was yesterday. And, it's only going to get worse, the closer we get to the weekend.......... I dread it! Every designer and every design store is going to be sending me e-mail announcing their fun and games and sales for this weekend.

I do not think I'm making yogurt tonight. Unless some sort of miracle happens when that split pea soup gets part way through the digestive cycle and some of the nutrients recharge my batteries, I am just not going to have enough left to do it. I have been working solidly now for 14 hours with more hours before I can give up and go to bed. I tried to lie down for a while this afternoon, but, once again, sleep eluded me. So, I got back up and started working again.

I had a surprise this evening. The quinoa was delivered today. Found it lying outside my front door! It wasn't due til tomorrow! I love Amazon and their shipping. This is not the first time their stuff has gotten here earlier than promised.

I got a new candle catalogue. Last year I started on Christmas kits in October. There seemed to be absolutely NOTHING that would help me get in the mood for Christmas in October. Finally, I gave up and ordered some candles, thinking some sort of holiday scent would help. The funny thing was, they arrived the day I finished the last Christmas kit. Oh, well, my house smelled good throughout the Christmas season and well beyond. They have their buy two, get two free special on right now. I'd love to take advantage of it, but I'm going to have to take a look in all my pockets and see if I can spare the money. These are Old Yankee candles and I love that their scent permeates the house. I've had cheaper candles, but they're not like Old Yankee candles!

Last year I ordered their Holiday Bayberry scent. So fresh. I liked it a lot. This year I'm leaning toward Hollyberry, if I order any at all. I do love that scent and I'd use it all year round if I could. And I couldn't care less who makes fun of me at Easter because I'm still buring scented candles from Christmas!

Well, the back door is closed for the night. Once the sun went down, it chilled off very quickly. And, the wind kicked up a bit again too. Seemed a good idea to lock up and save on the gas bill.

Another sale I'm fighting with myself over tonight: for today only, JoAnne has their canning jars on half price. Part of what keeps me from doing some canning is the investment in jars. Half-price sounds pretty good, but then I have to store them til next year and where in the world would I store them? I have no clue. I guess I will shine this sale on and hope to catch one maybe next year. And, maybe not until the year after. I may still be cleaning the garage and the closets/cupboards/drawers this time next fall. Yeah, there's that much to work through. NOTHING else is going to be taken on, in terms of stuff that will take my time, until that is done.

Okay, I really don't feel like it, but I'm going back to work. Ham hocks and duvet to deal with....... I doubt I'll be back tonight.........

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When we were here together last,

Leftovers......

Just call me Julie.........

Do you remember the movie Julie and Julia? Yeah, well I think I'm Julie in a budget remake of that movie. Day before yesterday, I made that yummy potato soup. Today, I have split pea soup simmering on the stove. Tonight I'll start a batch of Greek yogurt. And tomorrow my quinoa arrives and I'm going to try making a version of beef and barley soup, substituting quinoa for the barley. We'll see how that goes. And, somewhere I ran across a recipe for potato and ham soup. I may have to try that just to use up all those taters I have left over.

Leftovers are the primary reason for the Greek yogurt tonight too. I have leftover half-n-half from the potato soup. I do not want it to spoil in the fridge. That's why I had yogurt for lunch and the reason I'm making more yogurt tonight. Of course, I'll just put it together tonight and tomorrow the straining process will take place.

The pea soup is almost done. All the veggies and spices are added. I have the ham hocks cooling on the cutting board and shortly I will attack those. I need to de-bone them and add the meat to the soup. I'm hungry NOW and I'm not sure what to do about that, LOL. I don't expect to get the de-boning process done all that quickly, and I still want the meat to cook a while with the other ingredients to intensify the smoky ham flavor.

So, I have pretty much spent my "house" time this afternoon in the kitchen. And my right arm grows ever stronger with all the chopping, LOL. Today, a large onion, 3 carrots, 1 potato. Tomorrow, the world. No, hold that last part. Tomorrow I'll be using the electric knife to cut some beef for that beef and quinoa soup. Anyway, this house should be well provisioned with soups shortly. I feel a bit like a squirrel hiding nuts for the winter, LOL.

For as cold as it was early this morning, the day warmed up nicely. AND, the wind stopped blowing. It's been nice enough to have the back door open for hours. Love that.

Okay, I've caught my breath. Now I'm off to work on those ham hocks. What yummy food are YOU cooking today?

I'm gonna win.......

in this game of life today! I have pretty much finished the vacuuming. I did not do the guest room or the sewing room as those are really infrequently used and I did them last week. I still have the hard floors to do and I need to do my bedroom as well. But, other than that, I'm done vacuuming for the day.

I tried something "new" with the vacuuming today. I tried policing myself to stand up straight and just use my arm. I think it helped. Many many times, I vacuum for a few minutes and then I HAVE to sit down. I am not hurting like I usually do after vacuuming! That's a blessing of major proportions.

Looks like we'll be making Greek yogurt tonight. I just ate the last serving. I have a BIG bag of frozen blueberries. I kinda wish I didn't. I don't really like them raw. And I can't be making blueberry cobbler very often because the sugar and flour involved do not belong in a low carb lifestyle. I decided to try them in my yogurt today. They were okay. (They are not real high on my list of favorite berries anyway). First, since they were frozen, I put some into my bowl and nuked them for a minute. This got them thawed and rendered up some juice. I added a teaspoon of sugar, some yogurt, stirred the whole mess up and ate it. I still WAY prefer the cherry stuff I put together, but I can probably talk myself into blueberry for at least one serving out of every batch. Gotta work on that BIG bag.......

That load of laundry is dried and most of it is folded. I spent some time tugging the duvet off the comforter and it is now awaiting space in the dryer. If it weren't open, like a giant pillowcase, I'd put it in the dryer and let 'er go, but stuff you don't know about gets down in there........ I don't want to lose my favorite shirt or a coupla pairs of undies just because they're hiding in the bottom of the duvet. So, I'm holding off on the dryer thing til I get it completely empty.

I finished saving all 72 files of that striped alpha and, now, like a crazy person, I'm working on a red one. Geez.......I guess one wasn't enough punishment, LOL.

Hey, have you ever read the Left Behind series of books? Do you remember what the Christians were called in those books???  Huh, huh????? Well, in case you don't remember, they were called "haters". Did you see that at both Fort Hood and a base in South Carolina, soldiers received OFFICIAL briefings from the military labeling Christians "domestic hate groups"? Kinda rings a bell with me. We edge ever closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ for his saints. I'm spit polishing my wings. I want to be READY, clean and doing the tasks that lie before me. Apparently, there is a survey that has been released that about 77% of the general population of the US think that we are in the last days. Kinda makes you wonder if THEY are polishing their wings and cleaning up their lives in preparation? Makes you wonder if their pastors have bothered to preach the Gospel from their pulpits...... Wonder if they know you don't get a free pass to go unless you've turned your life over to Jesus........ I hope so. The article I read says that many evangelists (big name folks like Reinhard Bohnke) are turning their attention to the US. Thank God!

Do you remember I found a pair of jeans packed in boxes in the guest room? Guess what? They fit! In fact, they're a little baggy through the thighs. But I've worn them and now I've washed and dried them. They are definitely going into rotation of things to wear. Maybe now I can get rid of the worst of the jeans "leggings"/"riding breeches"? Whaddaya think? I was eyeballing buying a new pair, but they're $30 plus shipping. I don't guess that's going to happen anytime soon........

Surge protectors die. Did you know that? I went to use my Sonicare toothbrush the other day and it barely hummed or moved. I was in a panic. I tried mucking with the GFI reset button a couple of times but it didn't help much. I only have one electrical outlet in my bathroom--STUPID STUPID design. SO, lots of stuff is plugged into a surge protector. I unplugged the toothbrush from the surge protector and plugged it straight into the wall and it is back to normal as the battery gets charged up. Another blessing. I surely did NOT want to buy a new Sonicare toothbrush and once you've used one, you don't want to use anything else........

Well, all that was pretty random. Sorry 'bout that. And, I'm outta words for the moment. Don't worry, my word stash will supply as my battery recharges while I go about my work, LOL. Can't say I didn't warn you! Later, my friends!

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Calling it quits for a while.........

Forty eight..........

That's the temperature right now in sunny Las Vegas! Brrrr. For us desert rats, that feels pretty cold. I did set the thermostat at 72 when I went to bed last night. I probably should have set it lower, but it was the first time for heat this year. Next time, I'll probably go for 68 and see how that works. After all, it's warm and cozy in my bed under a down comforter and I can always raise the temp when I get up.

I'm excited. My DGD's pre-school is building an "igloo" out of plastic gallon milk containers. I've been saving them and I have 8 to contribute. One nice lady from the school has volunteered to pick them up from me. That will save me some time, some gasoline, and, ultimately, some $$$$. Her school is across town so by the time I get there and get back it would eat about an hour and a half. And now I get to see the top of my kitchen table again. Whoopee!

I shot myself in the foot, kind of, on the design side last night. I found myself searching for an alpha to use on the latest kit and fell in love with one that has everything in separate .png files. I usually offer a minimum of 3 alphas per kit. Figure an alpha has 26 lower case letters, 26 upper case letters, 10 numerals and this one has 10 punctuation/symbols. That's 26 + 26 + 20 = 72 separate files to save. Let me tell you, that takes some time! This is why I usually do Full Sheet alphas--because I can do more, more quickly. But, I couldn't satisfy myself with any other alpha. So, I'm plugging away, saving alpha files. I'm not sure if I can offer more than one, and, for sure, I can't do as many as I would if I were working with full sheet presentation. But, oh my goodness, is it looking good!

Well, I kicked the heat up a degree or two. And, now, my hands are warming up. Hopefully that means I can type better/faster........

For today, on the design side, I have to do that spreadsheet for the store or else. This is the one thing I would have done last night if I weren't so tired I couldn't see straight.

On the accounting/tax side, one of my clients needs a "CPA letter"--one of those "I've been doing tax returns for this dude for 354 years and, yes, indeed he is self-employed as a gutter cleaner".

Here in the house, it's vacuuming day. And Satan read my to do list so I woke up with a sore back. However, God is bigger and more powerful than Satan, so as I've moved around a little this morning, the soreness has faded. I think I can, I think I can......... I want to spend at least 15 minutes on this desk today (today, tomorrow, everyday). I have laundry that needs dried. I have part of the fridge still to clean. And, I need to tack some dusting onto the end of all that, if I can, to make up for not doing as much as I had hoped yesterday.

On the computer, I finished defragging my hard drive. I have not finished my October backups and I need to do that. I realized just this week that the files from at least two kits are missing from my EHD. I suppose that is a function of the last EHD crash. I can get the actual kits from my store, but I will still be missing all the design files. I hate this!

My e-mail account shut down yesterday afternoon with my freaky internet and I didn't get it back up until I was ready to drag myself off to bed. So, instead of the contents of my inbox going down, they went up. Must delete e-mail. Bah! And, it seems like for every one I delete, 2 come in. And, to make it even more fun, my freaky e-mail will not allow me to open any links in e-mail without sending up error messages. I am so tired of this.

I haven't unzipped files or organized unzipped files in days and days. This is not helping the situation, particularly with DSD in the offing. With the big time sales that happen over DSD weekend, I'm likely to make some purchases for design. I hate buying more stuff when I have been negligent in processing what I've already bought.

Hey, I almost forgot to tell you--my icemaker is working again! Glory Hallelujah. For months, I've only had ice when I've remembered to flip the lever in my freezer. And then it releases a measley 8 ice cubes and will not do any more til I have come along and flipped the lever again. Then the cycle has repeated. I woke up this morning to a full bin of ice cubes. THIS is luxury folks! Don't know for how long it will work, but I'm grateful for every minute it works! I had the full amount of ice for my frappuccino this morning for the first time in a LONG time! Wowee!

Alrighty, you can see my to do list stretches for endless hours into the future. I wish I could stop the clock and just work on this list. Can't do it so I need to stop blogging and get moving. Let's do eye candy and move on, okay?

Karla came through with this cute page. Not only that, she designed and made the costume her son is wearing. How's that for talent? Karla has a scrapping style that leads toward minimalist, but she always seems to have just enough embellishment. Have you noticed that? Love the columns of squares that edge the page--so appropriate to go along with the photo. I'm amazed at the color match between the green paper and the green in the photo. I love the combination of the bat swarm, the green ribbon, and the tree! So pretty together. Great job!

Nancy did not actually scrap a Halloween page with this kit, though she did scrap a photo of a bat! Imagine finding THIS in your scrap room! No thank you! I can assure you, the last thing on my mind if I found this in my house would be taking a photo, LOL. It turns out that though this is a Halloween kit, the bats in the kit worked perfectly with her photo. Nancy can make even a photo of a bat look good!

That's it for now. YOU be BLESSED today. Don't forget your "thank yous" today!

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I have pushed hard........

Quiet now..........

New stuffs, week of 4/13/2013

New Stuffs, Week of 9/1/13