CB called. He wants his tree back.

I heard the alarm go off at 8 but I needed a few more minutes. When I got up, I swished, and read e-mail. I made breakfast while listening to an audio on the desktop. I couldn't really hear it. I forgot to exercise, but I showered, dressed in a hurry, and memorized the grocery list. I grabbed the grocery bag and choir folder, and hurried to church in my car. The children were practicing for the Christmas play. My pew buddy wished me a happy birthday. He also said I get prettier all the time. I wish my mirror would say that. The choir ladies practiced their song and we waited for the service to begin. A number of other people wished me a happy birthday, and then I found out it was in the bulletin. I also found out that we are supposed to wrap the gifts for the angel tree. In the bulletin it said the gifts were for seniors, but my angel is in her late 40's, younger than me, and I know I am not a senior, so how can she be? I should have made notes during the announcements of all the things to remember. The ladies sang “The Holly and the Ivy” after the greens had been presented. After church I looked for Jennifer to ask if she needed me to make stoles for the Christmas play next week, but she was gone. I thanked Cecelia for the birthday card she sent. I went to Publix for groceries. The bagger that Chris usually speaks French to, put all my groceries in my pink Publix sack. He offered to take it to my car but I did it myself. When I got home, I hunted up the blue one they gave me months ago. At least next time the food can be divided between two sacks for a balanced load. I changed my clothes and put the groceries away. I got a jarful of water from the bucket out back, ran it through a coffee filter to get out any fly larvae and watered my indoor plants. I dug up some garlic from the back yard and minced it onto the remaining turkey burger. I ate it with pickled peppers. Peter Piper was not present. I checked e-mail. My dentist sent me a pic of a cake made of flowers. That was nice. I turned off the heat and opened the windows. I laid down for awhile. I wanted to put up my tree and get the Christmas season started. So I moved the stereo system to the coffee table, and put in 5 Christmas CD's. When the music started, I went into the basement to get the tree. I brought up the parts as I found them. But I did not find them all. I searched the whole basement, and garage, and tornado room, and the upstairs. But most of the branches remained missing. I shut off the music. I had so looked forward to setting up the tree and decorating it beautifully. What I got was a Charlie Brown tree. I went into the computer room to watch the two remaining X-files episodes. Halfway through the second one, Chris called me on Skype. I paused the DVD to talk to him. When I told him about the missing branches, he said he couldn't believe we moved half a tree. Then it occurred to me that the rest of it could be in Pinehurst. He suggested I could buy another tree and found one on Amazon for less than $50. The reviews were iffy, so I kept looking after he hung up. But then I decided to finish the episode and post to my blog so I could go to bed.

Rhombicuboctahedron (and other polygons)

I heard the alarm go off, but stayed in bed to do a little mental programming. When I got up, I read a book for 20 minutes while sitting beside the HappyLight. There was no sun out this morning. I swished and ate a leaf of kale that I picked from my window garden. Then I exercised, and juiced. I ate one of the kiwis. I read e-mail. I loaded and ran dishwasher before going to Target for 9-volt and 6-volt batteries, which I saw on their website. They did not have the 6-volt, however. I came home and made breakfast. I looked for 6-volt batteries on Amazon. I read the reviews, and found related videos on Youtube. Then I saw how to recondition bad rechargeaables. I tried it on the DeWalt drill battery and it worked. I looked up the Ryobi to see what kind of battery it was. I realized that my original objective was to order a lantern battery. They also had videos about reviving laptop batteries, but since mine was in the shop, I could not try the procedure (with my old battery of course). One video showed how to put new batteries with an old battery so that the charge will equalize. I put one of the old 9-volts (had a charge of 8) against one terminal of the 6-volt. That should raise it to 4 volts, right? I put new 9-volts in the smoke alarm and re-installed it in the hallway. It resumed beeping so I sent an e-mail to Chris. I noticed daylight fading so I went outside to rake in the back yard. There were leaves all over the property and I wasn't sure where to rake, but consoled myself that eventually they will all be raked up and I will wonder what to do next. I came in, read Chris' reply and then realized I still hadn't ordered a battery. I boiled water to melt some butter to put on a sweet potato. While it melted, I unloaded the dishwasher. I ate the potato with pumpkin seeds while watching X-Files. When the DVD started skipping, I took a break to gather up the laundry and the bedsheet. I did the load of towels and bedding first. Then I finished the episode and watched a second one. I was looking at quilts on Pinterest and ended up on a math site trying to understand what a rhombic hexecontahedron was. Someone quilted one so I want to do one, too. That led to other polyhedra formed by stellating the regular ones. I made what is called a small rhombicuboctahedron once but did not know that was its name. I was feeling tired so I laid down until the laundry was done. Then I got up to dress the bed. I went back to studying polyhedra until Chris skyped me and Michele joined the conversation. We talked until she had to go do her laundry. Then we all hung up and those of us on central time went to bed.

Sleep - more important than we thought

I heard the alarm go off at 8 but wasn't quite ready to get up since I was up so late playing the game last night. Actually, it is more of a puzzle-solving activity. I sat in the sunshine for 20 minutes listening to an audio on GMO's. I wrote a check to the handyman, but obsessed over what note to send with it. I wrote back and forth with Chris about it. I exercised, and placed a Swanson's order. I juiced while waiting for Chris to respond. I got dressed for the gym. I took niacin and got a royal flush. I listened to an interview on protecting oneself from radiation and geopathic stress. Then I headed out to post, stopping at the mailbox to put in the check. On Drake I turned around to go back and get my watch and the mailman had already picked it up. I went to the gym, and sat in the sauna for 90 minutes. The heat was turned all the way up and I did not turn it down because other people came in and out. No one stayed long. It occurred to me that the voice in my head has a weak point, it gets dizzy. Near the end, I heard talking outside the sauna and could not identify the language. A combination of Russian, French and Japanese? When I got out, I asked the ladies, and they said they were from Russia. I said I was afraid I had had a stroke and couldn't understand English any more. (But, hey, the voice in my head speaks English and I had no trouble understanding it.) I took a shower and headed home. I stopped at DATAC for more memory for the old computer, but they were closed. (Old computer keeps saying “Feed me, Damour.”) When I got home, I checked mail and got a lovely birthday card from my father.  I made breakfast and ate it. I also ate a frozen banana after it defrosted a little. I got in some raking before darkness settled. I listened to an audio on the importance of sleep: sleep and stress-reduction are more important than diet and exercise.  If everyone got more sleep, society would be vastly improved, he said  The audio was punctuated by the chirping of the smoke alarm. Having been reminded of “Little Shop of Horrors”, I watched the 1960's version on Youtube. I covered a turkey burger with fresh garlic and ate it. After the movie, I finished the sleep audio, and then returned to the ball puzzles. Until I saw that Michele was online. I skyped with Chris and we worked out how to stop the beeping of the smoke alarm. Then Chris brought Michele into the call. When Chris hung up, the group call dissolved. Michele got us watching re-made trailers and then I spent way too much time watching “Honest Trailers: ” Some are pretty funny, but all of them made the movie sound like a waste of time. It got to be really late and since I just heard an audio on the value of sleep, I had better go get some.

*  This is the newer motherboard, rather photogenic I think  *

Thanksgiving - a delightful day

I got up at 8, which was pretty good since I stayed up 'till after midnight to play the Rubik's ball game. I had fond memories of playing it with Michele. That couldn't have been more than 10 years ago and yet the configurations seemed new. I started my day with swishing but then I ate some leftover pumpkin seeds which threw the pre-breakfast supplements off. I tried to price memory cards online but could not find any for the old computer. I checked e-mail. There was one explaining that citric acid is usually made by growing a GM mold on GM corn sugar. And there was one from a neighbor who wants me to hire another neighbor by the hour to do all the yard work at the house in Pinehurst. So the voice in my head started up with all the reasons this was a bad idea and I should tell them so. I tried to do my exercises, but the voice kept hijacking my thoughts and driving me nuts. Finally I wrote a nicely-worded e-mail thanking them but saying we couldn't afford yard work right now. Then, as I exercised the voice was telling me I should have written it differently, added this, subtracted that, etc. Grr. When the exercises were done, I turned to juicing. Trying to separate veggies between a salad and juice kept stonewalling me. It just shouldn't have been that hard, but I messed with the schedule and that confused everything. So I fixed the salad first, and then juiced what was left. The salad needed color in the center and all I could find was half a lemon. Then I drizzled olive oil on it and added pumpkin seeds. I wrapped it in plastic and realized it was bigger than I intended. Then I put a turkey burger in a small container to bring along. I took a shower and dressed. I hunted up some yarn and a hook. What I found was the beginning of a crocheted scarf from a year or two ago. I looked up the weather and changed to a long-sleeved shirt. I got in Chris' car and drove towards Harvest. But when I got to University, there was an accident. I called Terry to find an alternate route to her house. She said to take the highway past JoAnns. So I did that. Going down University was much easier than Drake and Jordan because the lights were in sync. Then being on the highway was good, too because of the lack of traffic lights. I reached her house with no problem but stalled in the driveway. I did not relish the drive home.  She had the table set on the glassed-in porch, and her mother was seated at the table in a wheelchair. The food was ready, so Terry said the prayer and then we ate. I tried her pickled okra and found it went really well with my turkey burger. She made me some hot tomato juice with celery and it was good, too. We had a good time chatting. After lunch, her husband showed me their rainwater collection system. Impressive. Then we went into the living room to visit. Chris called to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving. They told me about their house, and I told them about mine. She showed me her sewing room and some of her quilts. About 5:30 I got up to go. She offered to drive me home and I couldn't resist her generous proposal. Her husband needed a few minutes, so she let me play her electric piano. Then she took her mother back to the home and her husband drove me home in Chris' car. He drove better than I could have. We discussed the finer points of driving stick shift. She came by my house to pick him up. Then I called Dad to wish him a Happy Thanksgiving. I ate the rest of my salad while reading e-mail and then Chris skyped me. After the call, I was supposed to write to my blog and go to bed, but somehow the Rubik's ball game came back up and I executed a few more rounds. Go me!

*  Terry's quilt looks even better than in the picture.  *  

More memory

I got up a little before 8. I swished and read for 20 minutes sitting in the sunshine. I exercised and took pre-breakfast vitamins. I checked e-mail. I learned that lycopene absorption goes up when the food is blended, fats are added, and it is heated to taste. Water is more hydrating when it is warm.

I boiled water and coffee, and jumped on the rebounder. I did the detox, and listened to an audio of Wayne Dyer. I read e-mail. Cecily sent me a virtual advent calendar. So I got to decorated a tree on a Jackie Lawson vignette. I juiced carrots, sprouts, apples, and peppers. The peppers were not organic, but they looked fresher than the organic ones. I cleaned up the juicer and took a meditation break. I packed my gym bag, went to the bathroom one more time, and got in Chris' car. I was glad to make it to the gym before 2, but they closed at 2 because of the holiday, so I just left. I stopped at the computer place on Triana. There was a broken jar under my car, so I suspected I had just driven over it. I went inside, and showed the guy the memory stick from my older computer. We mused how 4MG used to mean something. He did not have another 256MG stick, but he found some old memory sticks and gave me 2 64's for free. He said if they did not work, I could bring them back and buy a 512M for $20. I asked for an empty plastic bag before I left. I picked up the shards of glass under my car and most of the marinated vegetable matter that had been in the jar. Then I wiped my hands, and drove home, only stalling once. I put the memory sticks in the old computer and turned it on. I checked e-mail waiting for it to boot up. I made breakfast, and tried to run D-Link installation software, but it said there was a file missing. I didn't think it was rated for Windows 98 anyway. It was getting dark so I raked leaves in the back yard, and lined wheelbarrow with packing paper and used it to pick up all the bricks that were holding the tarp in place over the tent. I checked my phone, and listened to a message from Parker. But the answering service cut it short. Chris skyped me. We talked until he had to go find someone. I put some frozen pineapple in a bowl, put a sweet potato over it and poured coconut oil and pumpkin seeds over that. It was pretty good. I rebooted the old computer and tried to install D-Link again, no go. Parker called, and told me that Ralph was expecting a call from me and that he understood how bad the job had been done. So I called his house. His wife answered and I could tell she wasn't happy, probably because we hadn't paid her husband. When I talked to him, he said he could not fix all the errors in a week and agreed that I would have to pay someone else to fix it, but he would do what he could. He was very disappointed in his men, but could not get his money back. I said I would pay him half now and we could discuss the rest. After the call, I added up the figures he gave me. My total did not match his, so I wondered which one I should take half of. I decided to talk to Chris first. The doorbell rang, signifying that a package had arrived. It was a present from my mother-in-law. When I unwrapped it, it was a skillet, like the one that broke in Korea. I couldn't wait to use it, but did not have anything to cook at the moment. I started clearing the kitchen floor so I could wash it. But stopped to write my mother-in-law a thankyou e-mail. Then I got hooked into a live chat with the phone people again. I washed the kitchen floor. I dried it with a towel. I got hooked on videos on eating raw garlic. Some are not for the faint of heart. I decided to play one of the Rubik's games, but then noticed it was after 10: time to blog and go to bed.

*  This is Alice's quilt in progress from Monday  *

Good bye tent

I was kept awake last night by the sound of something scratching in the attic. It was larger than a roach but smaller than a dog. I got a broom to tap on the ceiling. I tried cat sounds, and screeching like a hawk. That only worked for a minute. I put strongly scented essential oils on a cotton ball and threw it into the attic stairway. That worked for awhile, but I guess the smell wore off.

At some point I fell asleep because I woke up with my mind churning over the problems in Pinehurst. I tried imagining what it must feel like to earn a million dollars a week like Taylor Swift (actual earnings are slightly higher). Then I got out of bed to send Chris a message about the varmint. While sitting in the sun, I spent 20 minutes reading “Ageless Body, Timeless Mind” by Deepak Chopra.

Then I swished, and took some glutathione, and exercised. Then I took the vit C and B. I watched a video interview on a cell phone movie called Mobilize. I looked up handsets for cell phones. I juiced, and then called Jane to make sure we had quilting today. We did, so I got dressed and went to quilting. Jane had made a beautiful quilt. I talked to Beverly who has a sewing machine much like mine. I promised a lady I would bring my d-link next week to see if that is what she needed to get her laptop on the internet. When everyone was gone, I drove out a different driveway to avoid starting on a hill (because I was in Chris' car). I went to the Asian store for kimbap and sprouts. On the way home, someone beeped at me for taking so long to get started at a light. When I got home, I ate the kimbap with kimchi. I found a bait station in the garage. The one outside looked like something was nesting in it. I put the smaller one in the attic, but there was one already there. It was surrounded by rodent droppings. I boiled lemon peels and mashed them. Some of the mash went on a lid which I put it the attic because I read that rodents don't like the smell of citrus.

I swept out the tent, and started folding it up. There was water in some of the poles which got on the tent so I dried it with a towel. I folded up the tarp into a long strip. I used it to haul the pile clippings to the street. I got an e-mail from our agent saying the water is leaking in the house in Pinehurst and the paint job is so bad that she wants me to come up there to see just how bad it is because pictures don't do it justice, and that it will all have to be redone because she doubts the guys who did it are able to fix it. I forwarded her messages to Chris. I called the handyman who said he would turn the water off. I cooked turkey burgers in the oven. Ralph called back to say he turned it off and it wasn't leaking. We talked about the number of hours his workers billed for the job and he indicated that it seemed like a lot, but that the older guy was like a son to him and wouldn't cheat anyone. I ate one burger and put the rest away, and put the lemon mash away. It was only midafternoon, so I made breakfast, and worried about whether I was handling the situation in the right way. I looked at my phone for a headset port and could not find one, so I looked at my former phone and saw the headphone mark but not the hole. So I went to the website to look it up and got in a live chat. Then Chris skyped me, so I had two conversations going. Then the chat ended and Chris got my full attention. With his help, I tried to load software to install D-Link on the old computer so it can access the internet wirelessly. But that was too much for the old girl and she crashed. I removed her memory stick and put it in a case to take to the computer store tomorrow and match it with two new sticks. (Rx for an ailing computer: Take two memory sticks and call me in the morning.)

Then Parker called. She talked for hours about all the things she found wrong with the house that she hadn't seen last week: paint on the screens, broken door lock, ceiling only partially painted, peeling paint painted over, nastiness in the masterbathroom toilet. The good news was, after all the rain they had, the basement was totally dry! And most of the ceiling fans can be saved. So her plan now is to meet the handyman tomorrow to point out these things, and see what he is willing to do to put them right. We considered that he may not be capable of doing things right and we will have to pay someone else to make it all right again. After she hung up, I cleaned up a little in the kitchen and posted to my blog, hoping to sleep without distraction from 'the critter'.

*  Jane's quilt is a panel print with embroidered birds, butterflies and birdbath.  *

Memory's

I went to bed trying to stop the voice in my head that kept hijacking my thoughts. I had found it hard to concentrate on the audio because the voice was screaming at me. And when I went to bed, it was louder. I tried to distract myself and I started wondering where the air from the vents in the basement go since the air return is upstairs. That prompted me to open the basement door. No point in my valuable heat getting pushed into the garage. Then I let out some real emotion. I won't go into it, but it seemed like a good idea.

Got up when the alarm went off. Sat out in the sun, reading, brought in the water collection tubs, there was not enough to be worth filtering, so I put it in a jar to water plants. I wanted to use the tarp to drag the bush clippings to the street for pick up today, but my back was in no mood for such a things. But I did not like the idea of them sitting there harming the grass for a whole weed. I unloaded the dishwasher, rearranged a few dishes so I could reach them better. I checked e-mail, computer shut down while I was looking for the number for the computer repair place. I had to boot up and reboot 4 times before the software would respond to the mouse. I called the repair place and no one answered. I exercised, and called again. This time someone answered. The tech wanted me to bring in one of the memory sticks in my desktop to match it. He said not to shut it down, but not to unplug it before opening the case. I wrote to Chris while I made and ate breakfast. Chris said it was alright to leave it plugged in, and to shut down the power strip if I was worried. So I shut it down and turned the case around, but there was a light inside and the screen said something about a memory test. I cut off the power strip which got rid of both of those. I had to unplug several somethings in order to get to the memory sticks. I removed one and put it in a static-free bag (which happened to have a hard drive already in it). I put the laptop and memory in the laptop case. I opened the windows and turned off the heat. I loaded my sewing stuff in the back of Chris' car. I drove to the computer place, passing the entrance and turning around. On the way I got a phone call but could not talk on the phone while shifting gears. I presented the laptop and memory stick to the lady at the counter. She accepted the laptop and the tech brought out two new, faster memory sticks. He laughed at mine. Their credit card machine wasn't working, so they put the memory on my tab. I left, and returned Terry's call. But when I tried to drive away, the key would not turn in the ignition. I tried it every which way. The manual said the key might be dirty. I cleaned it. I was certain this was a 'feature', but could not find it. Finally I called Dinah. She came from quilting to help. She could not start it either, but when she read the manual, she looked under 'locked steering wheel' and pulled it to the left, harder than I had tried. Then the key worked and she followed me to the church. The ladies were finishing up lunch. Several were working by hand on Bertha's quilt. I set up my machine but did so much talking that I did not get started for some time. I worked on the quilt pattern for October. When I sewed all I could, and needed a larger ruler for trimming, I packed up to come home. The key gave me no trouble. I brought my stuff in from the car. I spread out the tarp to dry. I used three towels to dry out the tent, then left it to air out. I hung the towels on the fence to dry. I laid the computer tower on its side. I vacuumed the fan ports. I replaced the memory stick and added the two new ones. I turned on the computer and checked to see that it recognized the added GBs. I checked e-mail and finished an audio from yesterday. I had a bite to eat and then tried calling Parker. No answer so I left a message. I booted up the old computer to see how much memory it had. I had to do it several times before I got it running right. Either it was 1 GB  or 256 MB.  Chris skyped me and I talked to him for awhile. I copied files to the flashdrive and it looked like it worked, but what was on the stick was garbled. I played a game that I haven't seen in years called Collapse. I searched the old computer for embroidery files of crosses. The one design I liked was too small. So I used the newer desktop to search the internet. I found a better one, but wasn't sure it would run on my 16 yo machine. So I signed up for one of their free designs as a test. I tried to use the old computer to download the file so I could write it to the card writer, but it could not find e-mail. Then I realized that it wasn't connected to the internet. But it was too late, so I shelved the idea for another day. 

*  This is one of the quilts from the guild meeting.  I am too tired to download what I took today.  * 

Weeds and what-not

It rained last night, and the tarp, which was laid out flat with bricks on the corners, was blown into a heap. I read from a book with my HappyLight. I made breakfast, and loaded the dishwasher. Unable to find my dark green towel, I showered with the greenest towel I could find, wondering if it was my towel and I just remember the color incorrectly. I got dressed, and checked e-mail quickly. I was going to drive Chris' car, but the weather was bad, and I did not want to make the trip any more stressful. I arrived 15 minutes early. I watched the children practicing for the play. Tim told me Art agreed that after church some Sunday he would show me what he does with the offering, and suggested I attend stewardship meetings. The service started, and during it I realized that my bulletin did not have all the inserts. The communion bread was crumbly and I was sure it was mine. After church I asked to be taken off the bread baking list and she said the committee was thinking of abolishing that program because every Sunday there were crumbs to be swept up and she did not like the idea of sweeping up Jesus. I never thought of it that way. Jennifer Q talked to me about making stoles for the Christmas program. I went to Publix in the rain. Lots of people were there too. I got what I needed and ran it out to my car in the downpour. I drove home and brought it in the house. I checked e-mail and then took notes for my blog. I remember to put groceries away. I was very scattered. The ants were back in force so I put out more ant poison, being sure to shake it up good first. I went back to reading e-mail. I watched videos on the pojagi technique, which I learned in Korea but seemingly they left something out. I washed my rain collection tubs and put them out. I minced fresh garlic into some hummus so I could eat it. Have you ever done something and then immediately wanted to roll the film backwards to undo it? I Bing-ed better ways to eat raw garlic. I made up a weeks worth of supplements, finding only one that needed to be reordered. I divided up the 20 lbs of raw cacao into containers that fit in the cupboard. I wondered as I worked, if I made a 'weeds and what-not' salad to bring for lunch tomorrow if anyone besides me would eat it. I read the transcript of an interview on brain-gut axis. He gave exercises, and supplement suggestions. I put the air purifier in the basement and folded the blankets from the tent, which were still mounded on the pingpong table. I read e-mail again. I ate a sweet potato with a handful of pumpkin seeds. I ran the dishwasher, finally. Ralph called and answered all my questions. God bless him. I added up all the hours he reported for himself, his men and the cleaning crew he hired. Chris skyped me and I divulged my results. I talked to Chris for hours, and looked up date nut ball recipes since he remembered me making one a long time ago. Back to e-mail. I listened to part of an audio. I had to stop it at 10 to blog and go to bed.

Alabama Clipper Massacre

   

I got up around 7, swished and read a book with the HappyLight for 20 minutes.
I have been feeling SAD (seasonal affective disorder) coming on. I looked for my green bath towel, and was unable to find it anywhere. I just washed it yesterday so the dryer must have eaten it. I called Parker to ask about the pics she send of the shoddy paint job. She said she would take the handyman on a walkthru but that I should call him and say it was my idea. I called the computer repair place that Chris' friend recommended, but they are not open on Saturdays. I guess my laptop will have to wait. I looked up how to sort by my inbox by name, and then I printed out the handyman's e-mails to me and mine to him. I looked up Kilz paint to see what it is formulated to do. I juiced and ate breakfast, and cleaned up in kitchen. I made lists of things to discuss with the handyman, and looked for notebook to organize all my questions in. The postman rang the doorbell with a package and some mail. As he left, I remembered some misdelivered mail from two days ago and I ran it out to him. I e-mailed a bill to Chris. I wrote out a tentative script then called both of the handyman's numbers and had to leave messages when no one answered. I sent him an e-mail. I laid my cell phone near an open window and worked outside. I cut the hydrangea way back. I cut down a few more four o'clocks. I pulled out another sweet potato vine, I could not tell if the long thick string from underground counted as a potato or not. I raked leaves near the tent. Dillon came over with his dog Minnie, and she left me a 'present'. Sigh. I pulled out the tomato cage in the compost pile and put it with the others for the winter. Feeling powerful with long-handled clippers in my hand, I cut back the small flowering tree in the back yard. We had a falling out. I came in to get my camera which was in front of the computer and ended up reading e-mail. And then it was back to the Alabama clipper massacre. Another tree and a shrub. As Jim Carey said, Somebody stop me! I needed the tarp to carry the clippings to the street, but it was over the tent. I came in for some salad and to check the phone for messages. I listened to more of an audio from yesterday. I pulled the tarp off of the tent and spread it on the ground to dry out the corners. I looked up how to change my homepage from MSN. It turned out to be easier to change it to Bing because they had a link I could click and it was done. I watched the third episode of Lone Gunmen, but there was some disconnect with the DVD player on my desktop for playing the special effects. I looked up one of the actors and got into Gilligan's Island videos on Youtube. Chris skyped me and we talked for two hours. Then I took the DVD downstairs to watch the special effects. Turns out they are nothing more than turning on commentary and rewatching the episodes. I watched one and nearly fell asleep on the couch. I imagined tapping. Then I got up, put the DVD back in its sleeve, turned everything off and posted to my blog so I could go to bed.
   

Look what I pulled up!

I had a hard time getting to sleep last night night. But the air was so much better with the purifier. I had turned it off in the middle of the night, but turned it back on in the morning. My headache was still with me, so I drank several glasses of water and swished. While I swished, I mended a pair of underwear, and shortened the sleeves on a nightgown. I did my exercises, and checked e-mail. I called my in-laws for advice. Then I called Parker for a list of problems left behind. She said she would go over and make a list of things done improperly. I e-mailed Chris a synopsis of the conversation. I worried about what I should say to the handyman and how I should say it. I juiced, and did laundry. I listened to part of an audio. I had to pause it because I could not hear it when I was in the kitchen. I made breakfast and ate it. I called to get a toll-free number for Chris for the moving company. I tapped for all the anger and betrayal and expectation that it will only get worse. I hemmed the sleeves of the nightgown, and heard more of the audio. I got the mail, and the bill said our gas usage went from 800 to 7700, so I called the utility company to ask for a leak check. It was a warm afternoon. I turned off the heat and opened the windows. I raked up leaves and cones under the magnolia tree. I noticed that the outside air was still better than the purified air inside. I clipped off the dead flowers and carted the plants away. I pulled up a dead vine and found three sweet potatoes. I put two in jars to sprout, and the last one I added to the bag I bought on Sunday. I washed them, rubbed them with coconut oil, and baked them for an hour and 20 minutes. Denise came over and showed me her sauerkraut. I showed her mine and we tasted them. I gave her some of mine. We talked for a bit but then she had to go home. I shut the windows and turned on the heat and purifier. I put away the laundry. I did some tapping, then watched a DVD of Lone Gunmen. I finished second episode and Chris was on skype. Our call was interrupted by the utility company checking for gas and carbon monoxide leaks. They found nothing. The man said his sister owns a quilt shop in Athens. I finished talking to Chris. We talked about adding memory to the desk top to make it more stable. It only has 2GB. I remember when 1GB was a LOT of memory. I got caught up in watching videos of how to install more memory and then a chat box on which memory stick to order. Then I looked up whether brand matters... Finally I realized it was after 10 and time to go to bed.

A breath of fresh air

I had a hard time getting to sleep last night feeling so helpless to make things go right in Pinehurst. When I woke up, the troubling thoughts came back to haunt me. I got up thinking it was late, but the alarm hadn't gone off. My phone said I had a missed call 10 minutes ago, but when I called her back, it was 12 hours ago. I don't know why I did not hear it then. I got out the vacuum to sweep up crumbs in the kitchen. Then I moved to the computer room. I swept behind the small dresser, then moved it back to where it belongs. I put the drawers back in. Then I used the vac to sweep my laptop fan ports again, just in case there was a lodged particle. But when I booted it up, there was still no fan activity. I turned to the desktop. It had rebooted itself from last night. When I connected it to the internet, I got a message saying Windows had updated and rebooted my computer. How in the world did it do that when I had the router turned off? ESP?

I checked e-mail and looked up ceiling fans. I did my exercises. Denise called and I talked to her until Sharon called to offer me the options of a better furnace filter and two air filter units. Then I called Denise back and she said she will visit me tomorrow. I called William. I juiced and drank it, then Bob and Darren came by. He brought in my pkg from Nuts' com which I did not know was sitting on the porch. Bob and Darren checked the filter and left to get new one. I straightened up the bathroom and bedroom, and got dressed. I went to quilting, and made a star from strips of folded fabric. When I came home, I practiced starting off on an uphill slope. I made breakfast, and ate breakfast, reading e-mail. I had a headache, so I went outside to mow the front yard. Then I raked the side yard. Darren showed up with a room air filter and a 25x25 Filtrete 1900. He hooked up the air filter unit in the bedroom. Then he exchanged the 1000 filter for the 1900. I showed him how the basement door won't latch with the plate on. He got a chisel out and fixed that. I showed him the bathroom ceiling which I wanted to have tested for mold and he calculated how much material it would take to replace it. Then he left. I finished raking and then mowed what was raked. I came in to work on the survey for guild. I priced more ceiling fans. I e-mailed those links to Parker. I printed out the survey. I scrambled the duck eggs for supper. I also ate a few pepitas (pumpkin seeds) which came with my raw cacao order. I called Denise to see if she wanted me to donate her quilt top tonight. I found my nametag. When I went downstairs to get her quilt top, the stairwell light burnt out. After I found it, I put some fabric away, and opened a flashlight to see if the battery was corroded. I ran out of time, so then I went to quilting in Chris' car. I parked in the lot on a slope so I engaged the parking brake. But it rolled forward when I lifted my feet. So I had to put it in gear. When I got inside I was handed a number for the round robin ornament demonstration. I turned in my survey, and sat with Jodi until the link for tickets shortened. It was a short meeting, with showntell, and comfy quilts. Not many were turned in. Then we gathered at 6 different tables for our round robin for ornaments. Standing at each one got painful. So I went home, and had no problems driving. I ate more pumpkin seeds, and skyped with Chris. He was exhausted. Then I read a few more e-mails, posted to my blog and went to bed, hoping the new air filter unit would make a difference.

*  This is not a great picture, but you can see one of the ornaments in the top left corner, and you can see the lady giving her presentation of mats made from plastic bags for the homeless.  *

A hot time in no time

Blogger (or Firefox) gave me trouble last night when I tried to post to my blog. But I still made it to bed by 10. Sleep did not come as easily. I tapped for a friend. But then I slept through the night. When I woke up, I stayed in bed ruminating, and got up about 7:30. I started swishing while I read e-mail with my special light. I did most of my exercises, and boiled water for coffee.  I drybrushed and rebounded.  The laptop shut down with no warning, so I checked the power settings but nothing had changed.  I finished detoxing, and cleaned up around the house.  I tried to move furniture back into position.  I listened to an audio, and juiced with headphones on but still couldn't hear the audio. I started preparing breakfast but then remembered to clean up the juicer.  After I did that, I filled 3 water bottles, and finished making breakfast.  I ate breakfast while reading e-mail, the computer getting slower and slower.  I tried using the desktop, and it was slow too.  So I decided to reboot laptop.  It said the fan wasn't working and not to start it back up.  So I put on my suit, packed my gym bag, and drove Chris' car to the arsenal.  I thought it was the caffeine that gave me the confidence to drive.  I hoped it would not wear off in the sauna.  I spent an hour and 40 minutes in the sauna drinking water and doing Sudoku puzzles.  Then I took a shower and came home.  I had a bad moment at the light at Whitesburg.  I was stopped heading uphill and rolled back a little as I tried to go forward. But there was enough room that I did not hit anyone.  At home, I unpacked all the wet stuff.  I started a recipe of communion bread.  I kept running out of space. I guess I should have cleaned and ordered the kitchen before I started, but there just wasn't time.  It was  a sticky mess and I wondered why in the world anyone would pick this recipe.  I made two batches.  The first one went in a ziplock bag for church.  The other needed to cool.  But I just had time to dust myself off and go pick up Roz for choir.  She said she lived in the last house on the street.  But when I got there, it was a set of condos and I could not remember her address.  I called her number but she did not answer.  So I walked up and down the street looking for names or someone peering out of a window.  I called Jennifer but could not reach her.  Finally Roz called me.  She was only one door down from where I parked.  We got in my car and went to church.  The children were still practicing.  I hid my crumby bread in the communion freezer.  We had practice as usual, but the men got to leave early while the women practiced for the sunday after Thanksgiving.  Then I took Roz home.  I waited until she opened her door before I left.  When I got to the light at Whitesburg, I was on a hill again and was glad I had driven my car.  When I got home, I minced some garlic and ate it with hummus.  I also ate some fermented cabbage.  I listened to an audio and cleaned up in the kitchen while waiting for Chris to skype.  When he did, he could not see me.  The camera on the desktop read too dark.  Chris looked up a website that would show me how to replace the fan.  He could order one for only $12, but it would still need installation.  He e-mailed some of his friends in Huntsville.  Then we talked about Parker's pictures of how the men left our house - full of stuff and garbage.  Chris was tired so he went to bed.  I will go too, as soon as I finish this.   
*  This is a tree that I passed yesterday.  Without taking my eyes off the road, I reached into my purse, took out my camera, turned it on, and snapped a pic as I passed.  I am surprised I caught part of the tree.  This is the fastest photo I have ever taken.  *

Cleaner air?

I got up before 7, having had a little bit of trouble falling asleep, then remembered to turn off the router. I am not sure if that helped or not. I checked e-mail with my HappyLight, and saw message from our agent asking what she could do to help. I left her a voicemail saying it would help if she returned my calls. I drank lots of water, and exercised. I was almost ready to leave when the duct-cleaning people called and wanted to come in 10 minutes rather than this afternoon. I hemmed and hawed but finally capitulated. So then I rushed around hiding things from the bathroom that I didn't want on display when the vent people came, knowing that they will be in every room of the house. Just then Parker called. I talked to her until the men knocked on my door. One man came in and asked to be shown all the registers. He lifted them up and pointed to something he called mold, said it caused the rust. He also reached inside and pulled out handfuls of debris and carpet shag. He said the system needed to be sanitized. He was not wearing gloves or a mask. I called Sharon, the rental agent, and she said that is what these companies do: tell them to submit their findings. So one man cleaned the registers while the other one tried to sell me more intensive services. He gave me a form to sign. Reading the small print, it said I agreed to everything on the b,ack. So I read the back. Whoever typed it up did not proofread it. The two things that stood out were agreeing that I had read the MSDS on any chemicals they used, and that I would pay today when they were finished. The helper told me I needed a larger air filter, 25x25. He threw the old one out. When they were finished, I called Sharon and she said they could come by the office and she would write them a check. This did not sit well with the 'spokesman' but I handed the phone to him and she convinced him. After they left, I sat down at the laptop to find a source for a nearby new filter. It turned out to be Target. Parker called, said to ask for mold inspection, and then we talked about getting someone to do what Ralph hadn't. I went in my car to get kimbap and sprouts. When I got back, I took Chris' car to Target to get the new filter. On the way I stopped at the intersection for the light in the left turn lane. I thought I was in first gear, but must have been in 3^rd cause the car stalled when I let off the clutch. Then I put it in reverse by mistake. (It may be fool-proof, but it isn't Fern-proof). I got it running and just made it through the light, so no one behind me got to go. When I got back with the filter, it was such a tight fit that I had to fiddle and fiddle to get it in. Then it would not go all the way down. The screws on the front were so tight that I could not get them off. Of course the guys used a power drill. William gave me one, but it wasn't charged. So I put the battery in the charger. I sat down at the computer to look up filters on-line, get a better one since Target only had one kind. But then I wasn't sure if I wanted the 25x25 or if I would be happier with the 24x24. I decided that that decision could wait until I got the cover off and saw how the 25x25 really fit. Sharon called back and promised to have someone more professional come out to inspect for mold. Then I remembered seeing watches at Target so I went through the ones on Amazon and put one on my wish list. I started feeling faint. I supposed it was something stirred up by the cleaning, so I went outside to mow leaves in the front yard. I came in for a hot cup of tea. I read e-mail, and watched a 20 minute video on how we are depleting ground water much faster than it can be replaced. I rested in the chair next to the salt lamp. The temp in the house was lowering. I checked the drill battery, and the green light was on, so I attached it to the drill, but nothing happened. Plan B – corded drill. It got the first screw out, but the cord was too short to reach the second screw. I got an extension cord, but it did not help. The screw was in too tight and it just rounded out. But I was able to bend the cover back just far enough to determine that the filter was covering the hole so it was ok to turn the heat back on. I searched again for better filters, then narrowed it to Filtrete 2200. Chris called me on Skype so we talked for half an hour. Then I went to condense my search windows because I have too many windows open to manage. I posed to my blog and hoped to be in bed by 10.

Whoever heard of a Catcerto?

I had a good night's rest, and got up at 8 with the alarm even though I was already awake. I turned on the router and laptop. I was expecting a lady to arrive at 9 to pick up the boxes, so I exercised right away, and got dressed. I brought in the rainwater and started processing it. Bertha called at 9 and I thought it was the Freecycle lady. Bertha asked me to bring some quilting books to our meeting today. But I could not find the best one and wondered if I had lent it to someone. At 9:30 I e-mailed the lady. She arrived soon after. She had been waiting at the intersection, not having realized that I had sent her my address and phone number. She was very happy to have the boxes, which just barely fit in her car. I finished processing the rainwater and juiced cucumber, carrots, and cranberries. I meditated. I put Netflix in the mail. I took out the garbage, but did not roll it to the street because there was only the one bag. I read e-mail with my HappyLight on. I made and ate breakfast. I went to Nuts.com to order raw cacao, but ran out of time. I put on a coat and rolled my sewing stuff out to Chris' car, picking up the quilting books as I went. When I got to the church, some of the ladies were still eating lunch. I had a bowl of Jodi's vegetable soup. Bertha, Rebecca and I talked about how to quilt Bertha's quilt. After we decided, they left and I made the Do.Good.Stitches block for this month. I also finished Denise's quilt and the blue Linus quilt (from July). Most of the ladies had left by then, but I stayed and cut up scraps for rugs, just to be sociable for awhile longer. But at 4 I packed up to go home. When I got there, I unloaded the car, and took it in the house. I checked the mail – none. I brought in all of the bedding from the tent. It smelled musty in there, and I think water got between the layers of vinyl tablecloth. I dried the tent floor with a towel. It was so cold and getting dark. I came in to check e-mail. I ate an avocado, and some cheese. I read about the chocolate shortage. Then I finished my chocolate order before the price could up. They had an offer for a free pecan pie. I had trouble getting it through checkout because of the script blockers. Instead it wanted to give me $10 off shipping, but the pie is more expensive so I kept at it until the pie was free. I won't eat it, but I am sure it will come in handy for some event. Two years ago, I got one and sent it to Michele. But that avenue is closed now. I started moving things away from the vent in the diningroom. I heard the Skype sounds, so I talked with Chris. Then I read part of an e-book book, and listen to a meditation. Then I resumed moving things away from vents in the diningroom, livingroom, and computer room. I took a break to check e-mail. I came across a link to Catcerto, a lovely tune for cat and orchestra. I found a tapping script at the end of Brad Yates newsletter on “won'ts”. I thought about driving Chris' car on that one. I decided to post to my blog and then go back to clearing the vents.

Raindrops keep fallin'

I woke up to the sound of rain. I went to the garage to be sure it wasn't flooding the boxes I listed on Freecycle last night. Nope. I put coconut oil on my hair. I turned on the router and my laptop. I checked e-mail, then looked for my rain collection tubs. I even looked where they belonged, but could only find one. So I washed out the basin that I used for a magnesium soak and put it out with the other tub on the patio table. I went downstairs to get a towel and brought up the laundry. I put on my coat and went out to the tent to wick up water, but it didn't look wet, so I just zipped the cover securely and left it. I folded the laundry and put it away. I found a pair of underwear that needed mending. I was well under way when I realized that I did not have my watch on and time tends to get away from me when I am sewing. So I came upstairs to make and eat breakfast while reading e-mail. I meditated and I took a shower and got dressed. I was all ready to pick up my choir folder and leave, when I noticed my new Publix bag. I decided to put the styrofoam recyclables in it and take it along. When I got to church and exited my car, I realized that I had forgotten both my choir folder and an umbrella. Inside, Linda was preparing an angel tree. She encouraged me to take a bundle, which contained a paper with a code number and gift suggestions on the back, a card, and a plastic bag for the gifts. I listened to the children's choir warm up. Then the adult choir practiced. Roz shared her music with me. Then I sat in a pew with Doris. She fixed the button I could not reach on the back of my dress. We talked about the joys of living alone. The Luthermen sang at the beginning of the service. They did well. After the service, I looked for Jennifer to tell her about diaphragmatic breathing being a massage for the liver. But I could not find her right away, so I ended up talking to a lot of other people in the meantime. She was wearing a cute curly scarf which she said she made with 6 yo's. I had used 9 in mine and it was hard to get the length right. She also asked me to give Roz a ride this week and she would find someone else for December. Then I drove to Publix, dropped off the styrofoam trays, and shopped. When I checked out, the bagger got most of my groceries in the sack. But not the jug of water. So when I carried it out, my water got wet. Ha, ha. I brought it all home, and put the produce away. I looked again for my collection tubs. I got out my HappyLight to brighten my day as I read e-mail and listened to an audio on nutrition for anxiety and depression. I heated some heart broth for lunch, and put some fermented cabbage in it. I finished the audio and looked up fleece again, then gave up when I was finding it priced by the kilogram. Then I looked up hand crank flashlights because the church is looking for items for the homeless. There was another audio on nutrition. I nearly fell asleep. I laid down on the couch for awhile, until the audio finished. Then I put on the Effortless Efficiency CD. I am not certain now exactly what my original purpose was. I cleaned out Chris' closet so that the duct people could get to the air return. But I also cleaned my closet, packed up all the clothes lying on the bed in the guest room, vacuumed around the bed, found some towels that I bought years ago to embroider on, dealt with bags of 'stuff' from nightstands and dusty corners, and packed up the desk area in the den. When I checked my e-mail again, Chris had skyped me. So I responded and we talked for some time. After he hung up, I played a Netflix DVD called “Source Code”. I think I have seen it before so I don't know why I put it in the queue. Or did I? Anyway, when the movie was over, I spent way too long looking at the content of the special effects. And then I went to bed.

*  These are the boxes for Freecycle.  *

An estate sale - 'cause I need more 'stuff' in my house

I slept well and woke up wondering if I had slept late. But no, it was only somewhat after 7. I considered going back to bed. But then I started unloading the dishwasher. I swished while I packed Chris' box of toys for the orphanage. Then I looked up his address for the shipping label and customs. I tried to weigh the package, but the food scale gave me an error message, and the floor scale wasn't accurate enough. I did my exercises and checked e-mail. Then I pushed myself away from the computer, got dressed, and took the box to the post office. There was very little traffic and I could have taken Chris' car. The postal man told me my customs form was out of date. He also said it would have been a little cheaper to use a medium flat rate box. I picked up a flat rate box and new custom forms on the way out. I stopped on the way back to pay the bill at the eye center. I also turned off at an estate sale. When I found myself parked on a hill, I thought it was a good thing I did not take Chris' car. I bought some water glasses that matched mine, and a rolling walker. I brought the stuff home, then went back in Chris' car, parking it at the bottom of the hill. This time I looked through all the books, CD's and clothes. There were lots of history ones that I think Chris would have liked. I found myself hanging up the clothes on the floor and organizing the books and CDs. Old habits die hard. I came home the back way, up and down hills. When I got to my house, I continued on and went around the block for a little more practice. I parked in the carport and brought my bags of books in. Craig was picking up the leaves in our shared area with his riding mower. We talked about leaves and then chickens. I went in to make breakfast, check e-mail, and listen to an audio on liver function. I mowed the leaves in the front yard, then put the mower away and made a stack of boxes in the garage for Freecycle. I was surprised how clean my pingpong/cutting table was after I cleared all the empty boxes. I brought in the mail. Maryann sent me a card with leaves on it – leaves that don't need raking or mowing. I got a new power cord in the mail. Apparently the old one is subject to spontaneous combustion. Pictured are the instructions that came with it; suitable for all languages. There was some daylight left, so I raked leaves inside the fence and pulled up the dead four o'clocks. There must have been a hard frost last night because the tomato and pepper plants were dead, too. The remaining tomatoes were just sacks of green juice, and not very tasty green juice either. The kale looked good, though. I cleaned up the dead stalks in the garden, collecting the fabric strips that held them up, and putting the cages by the apple tree for the winter. The air was so fresh, that I stayed out longer to rake leaves by the apple tree. I stayed out longer than I wanted to because I suspect that mysterious rash on my forehead from last winter is coming back. It must be in the heating system since it appeared in January when the unit was replaced, and disappeared in late April/early May when we turned off the heat for good. I made extra juice, and did twice the usual time meditating. I was listening to an audio when Chris skyped me. While we talked, he folded his laundry which reminded me that I needed to do that too. Parker e-mailed us some pictures so I shared them with Chris and we talked about flooring. After our chat, I picked up laundry from here and there and put it all in the washer. I repaired a pair of pants. Then I finished my audio and read e-mail. I took a box down to the pile, and moved the wet laundry to the dryer. I read more e-mail, and watched a short audio on the blue pigment in food. He mentioned that a moon rainbow is black and white with shades of gray. My hands were really dry, so I rubbed them with coconut oil, and drank water and tea to rehydrate. I watched the Smarter in 7 minutes video, then wrote up my blog post for today.

A new kind of block

I slept in my own bed, sideways again. I don't know why that helps. All the tapping I did beforehand really paid off. I slept soon and I slept well. I woke a little after 7. I went back to bed to await the alarm, doing visualization. At the sound, I got up to perform my abbreviated version of a routine. I took a

shower while I swished. It was freezing outside so I skipped the notion of a cold shower. I sucked down the Vit C while I made breakfast. I read e-mail while I ate breakfast. I could see leaves falling like rain outside my window. I looked through three closets before I found my coat from Korea. Then I found the circle scarf that I had worn with it. When I was ready to pull my cart out through the garage, I remembered my intention to pack a lunch. But looking at my watch convinced me otherwise. I drove to the church and was 15 minutes late. But Jodi did not seem to mind. I helped her set up and wondered who would come out when it was so cold – Korea cold. A few other ladies did come by throughout the day. Jodi cut strips for binding, and I sewed them together and stitched them on three quilts which other people took home to finish. Julie machine-quilted a donated top. I trimmed it and used the trimmings to bind it. I sewed it on both sides. Then Denise brought some blocks from home that she intended to donate. She planned how to make them into a small quilt and, with a little help from another lady I don't know, she cut all the setting pieces, and brought me blocks and strips to sew. I had one seam left when she brought me the borders. But it was late and we had to pack up so another group could come in. I was given a large stack of leftovers from an Accuquilt Go cutter for making rugs. Jodi gave me some of the donated fabric to bring home. I had brought a tub because I thought there would be more. When I got home, I had to carry the fabric into the garage. I got the mail. I ate some sprouts and put a few pieces of heart in the toaster oven. I read e-mail, and watched an online movie called “Origins”. After the movie, I loaded the dishwasher and fed the ants (why aren't they dead yet?)  I went down to try a new kind of block. I was working from the memory of a pic I saw on Pinterest. And it did not turn out all that well. Then I came upstairs to start an audio. 12 minutes in, Chris called on Skype. The audio refused to pause so I turned down the volume so I could talk to Chris. He helped me uninstall Dropbox because it kept syncing and I don't know what that means and don't want it anyway. We did not have a lot to talk about and he was falling asleep, so we hung up. I resumed listening to the audio. I paused it to make a tub of hot water with magnesium flakes. I ran water through the coffee maker to get it really hot. I poured that in the white tub with some extra epsom salts. I laid my laptop on the counter so I could listen while my feet soaked. After a while the water cooled off, and I dried my feet and put my socks back on. I finished the audio in the den. It was about the physical causes of anxiety that are often misdiagnosed as pwychological. She said Miralax can cause neurological problems, as can many other otc drugs. When that was over, I posted to my blog and went to bed.

pf

Double trouble

I went to bed inside. I slept sideways and got a good nights rest. I awoke with the alarm, but delayed getting up for a few minutes. I turned on the router and laptop. I moved the laptop to the dining room. It connected to the router, but insisted that the router was not connected to the internet. So I went to the desktop, and it was connected to the internet. I checked e-mail there and found one from our handyman detailing a huge bill for the painting which he and his men haven't even finished yet. He also said he hadn't heard from the moving company, but then none of us can reach him by phone, so I think the problem must be with his phone. I forwarded the e-mail to our agent. I stressed. I checked the laptop and it wanted to reboot after loading a Windows update. So I did that, and then it connected to the internet. I got dressed and took out the recyclables. I e-mailed the handyman to stop work until he talks to Chris. I got a long skype from Maryann.  I juiced as quickly as possible (a cucumber and a zucchini), then grabbed my purse and a project, and headed out in Chris' car to Stitch'Its. They asked if I spent last night in the tent. I told them no. Marjorie strongly encouraged me to ask for a mold inspection even though I have not actually seen mold. One lady suggested I ask the duct people to stop if they see any mold and let me take a picture. Susan said to run a paper towel around a duct to see what it would pick up.  I left at 2:15 to come home. I felt a little more comfortable driving Chris car, and downshifting to turn corners. I read e-mail and found out that the large bill is actually double what I thought it was! Yikes! I tried calling the rental agent again. She did not answer. I made breakfast, but stopped in the middle to go look for mold. Sometimes I feel like a ball in a pinball machine, bouncing from one thought or idea to another. I looked for mold in the garage and took some pics of discolored insulation. I loosened the ceiling in the basement bathroom and ran a piece of tp along the edge but it did not pick up any visible mold. I took a pic of the corner where there was a water stain. Inconclusive. I finished making and eating breakfast while listening to an audio (which refused to pause).  I got an e-mail from the rental agent with a list of things that still needed doing, but not addressing anything else. I wrote back. I listened to an audio on my laptop in my laptop backpack so I could rake leaves off of the porch and patio. It was bitterly cold and my hands froze. No tent tonight for me. I went in and sat down to listen, tap, and check intermittently for e-mail from Chris or Parker. I went to the garage to look for a small jar of paint that we might have brought back from Pinehurst. But it was not there. I did find an Inglenook cookbook which I thought was my mom's. I kept tapping. It felt like all the years of scrimping and saving to have nice things one day have been suddenly sucked away by one bad decision. All that sacrifice wasted. All my efforts to spend wisely, save money and do without: down the drain. I felt sick, and despondent, and angry. Knowing that I have to be at the stitch-in tomorrow by 9, I pre-made tomorrow's breakfast as much as I could.   I looked up cabinet hardware at Home Depot 'cause their e-mail said they are having a sale. While I was looking, Chris skyped me. We talked for a bit, but since he hadn't read my e-mails yet, we hung up so he could read them and I could vacuum. I called him back when I finished. We talked about what to do to about the large bill. We also discovered that e-mails I thought I had sent to Parker actually went to Chris. Some issue with Gmail's conversation feature which groups e-mails. After his call, I went into the kitchen for a bite to eat. I fed the ants, then listened to an audio on parasites. Did you know you can get parasites from your spouse? Your pets? Your kitchen? Some people get them from overseas, but most get them right in their own country. Some parasites are helpful. He recommended spicy food, sleep, and cold showers (among other things).

*  this is our neighbor's tree  *

Too cold tonight

I went to bed in the tent (and the rain).  The sound of the rain made it even more difficult to tell what sounds I was hearing.  I swear something was trying to scratch its way into the tent.  Thoughts like that made it difficult to sleep.  But I did.  I woke up once but did not have to get up.  Then I slept until after 7.  I came inside then and fired up the laptop and juiced 4 lemons.  I drank some lemon water and jumped on the rebounder.  I put the lemon peels in a pot to boil.  I exercised and drybrushed.  I printed out the coffee detox. I listened to several audios.  When my laptop made the low battery sound, I plugged it back in within a minute, but it had already shut down.  There should have been more time.  The local rental agent called, returning my call.  I mentioned the electrical check up, and  she said she would mention it to the owner, but that whoever came would recommend having the whole house rewired.  I also mentioned having the air ducts cleaned at my expense.  She said I should send her the bill and she would pay it. I made an appointment for Tuesday with the air duct people.  I made a mental note to move furniture away from the ducts.  Later Durham called, and asked about trimming the yard.  He gave me his e-mail address, and I sent him Parker’s e-mail and that she wanted a detailed estimate.  When I finished with the coffee, I juiced.  I made double because I missed juicing yesterday and will miss it again on Friday.  I finished a Donna Eden audio from yesterday.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with all the audios that come in each day.  I would say there are at least 6 and I delete most of them.

  Denise called to say we were back on for this afternoon.  i finished cleaning the juicer, and packed my gym bag.  I drove to the Arsenal to the gym.  I sat in the sauna drinking water and doing Sudoku puzzles.  I did some stretches at first to get the sweat going.  At 3 I came out and took a shower.  Then I dressed and combed my hair.   I went to front of building to meet Denise, and put bag in my car.  We drove to a parking lot across the street.  I let her borrow my magnesium oil.  Then we walked and talked. We passed tree where little plums were smooshed on the ground, but on closer examination, they were small persimmons.  We knocked some out of the tree, to eat and to save as  seeds.  After 2 miles, we stopped to go to the bathroom, then walked back.  We went our separate ways.   When I got home, I brought in the mail, hung up my wet stuff, and put some heart in the toaster oven.  Then I remembered breakfast.  So I made breakfast, and ate most of it by the time the timer went off.  But the oven wasn’t plugged it, so the beef was still cold.  I plugged it in and reset the timer.  When it was done, I ate as much as I could and put the rest back in the fridge.  It was time to go pick up Roz.  But she called while I was brushing my teeth and said she was canceling.  So I changed my shirt and then went to choir practice.  When Jennifer asked about Roz, I said that she did not want to drive at night so I told her to walk.  Jen did not buy that for a second.  Practice went well.  Afterward, the pastor asked me about buying fabric for the SS kids to make blankets.  The task was his and he did not know what to get or how much to get, only that he could not spend more than $10 per blanket.  The intern came along and she knew they wanted fleece.  So we discussed options for buying sale fleece or cheap fleece blankets.  When I got home, Chris wasn’t on yet, so I went online to look up fleece.  For a 5’ by 6’ blanket, we would need 4 yards each, so $2.50/yard.  Only place had it that cheap and they wanted almost half again in shipping.  Joanns had something close, but not more than 2 or 3 yards of each color.  When Chris got in, he skyped me, and we talked.  Then he signed off, and I went on looking, but finally decided to quit and blog.  Since the temp is expected to drop to 20, I think I will stay inside tonight.

*  This is my little bed in the tent.  *

A carpet of leaves

I have lost all my notes so this is the best I can remember:

I went to bed in the tent last night.  It was a quiet night, but I awoke in the middle of it, hearing things I could not identify.  I kept telling myself they were leaves falling from the trees.  I went back to sleep.  When I was awake enough to come in, it was 8:45.  That is late for a Tuesday, so I tried to run through my routine quickly, but the internet slowed me down.  I got an e-mail from Parker saying she would call me this morning.  I only got as far as exercising before I had to dress and go to quilting.  When I got there, the church was closed for Veterans Day.  So I proceeded to the Asian store for kimbap and mung bean sprouts.  She remarked that I was early.  I then went to the gas station on Drake.  I only put in 5 gallons so I guess I didn’t really need gas. I went home and proceeded to eat the kimbap with kimchi that I have had for a long time now.  But soon, I will have to buy another jar.  I checked e-mail.  Parker hadn’t called yet, but I wanted to go out into the sunshine.  So I laid my phone on the picnic table and raked, barefoot.  The leaves in the backyard are so beautiful this time of year.  The ones in the front yard don’t fall until they are dead.  I took pics of the leaves, and of my ‘boat’.  I also watered the kale.  I came in to call Terry and make sure she wasn’t waiting for me to go hiking.  While we were talking, Parker called.  She said she couldn’t talk until 2:30, but would call me then.  I got an e-mail from Chris about the old computer.  So I wrestled with the file problem, and listened to an audio on using BEMER technology to promote blood flow (which confers incredible health benefits apparently).  Parker called back and we talked about flooring in the den, and other fix up related stuff.  I found our rental agreement and scanned it into the computer and sent that to Parker. I opened the windows and turned on the fan.  I needed to get the old computer online, but have the laptop online too, so I rewired the set up to enable the wifi  so everything could be online at once. Still, the old one would not surf.  And then my laptop would not surf so I was reduced to the desktop.  I think I had to turn off the laptop and then it recovered when it came back up, but not the old one.  I called an electrical company for an electric checkup for the house. But they said only the owner can ask for such a thing.  So I called our local rental agent to ask about it, but only got voicemail so I left a message. Then Roz called, asking if I could pick her up for choir practice now that darkness comes so early.  She said Jennifer told her to call me.  So I started composing a message to Jennifer.  It started out not very nice, but I tapped, and it got better.  Denise called to say she could not meet with me tomorrow and wanted to reschedule.  But nothing fit both our calendars. Then I went back to listening, and getting occasional e-mails from Chris and Kurt.  That audio ended and I went on to one on magnesium deficiency.  I looked through all my BOM files for one that I could send to Do.Good.Stitches for December.  I had forgotten that I signed up to do that, but got a reminder today.  I found one that seemed doable and sent it off.  Chris skyped me and we talked.  He tried to talk me through getting files on the thumbdrive.  Rebooting the old computer while it was plugged into the internet enabled it to surf.  I was able to download the driver for the flashdrive, and install it.  After another reboot or two, we were ready to transfer files.  But that shut down the computer somehow and when it came back up, it no longer recognized the flash drive.  Grr!  Chris was tired and went to bed.  I sat down to write my blog and realized that all my notes were gone.  So I recreated what I could and just knew the rest would show up in my head after I went to bed.