In a class by myself

I woke up hearing the front door close as Chris left for work. I would like to think I slept a solid 8 hours, but I know I woke up at least twice during the night and had trouble getting back to sleep. I got up, ready to prepare my quart of water, but then I noticed the recyclables. I threw all the plastic in a bag and all the cans in a bag. There was more, but that was the bulk of it. I put on my pajama pants and threw on a coat. I carried the bags out to the curb, hoping not to be noticed. But in a small community like this, someone is always walking by. He waved and said hello so I responded in a like manner. Then I went in, fired up my laptop and drank my water. I got caught up in following links and ran out of time. I ate a few bites of a seed cracker. Then I went to yoga, carrying my mat and stuff for sewing class. Anna passed me on her bike. So she arrived at the room before I did. It was cold, but she had turned on the heat and plugged her tablet into the sound system. She did not have the cord for video, and neither did I. We unrolled our mats and followed the video as best we could. Although it was marked as a beginner class, there wasn't much warm up so it was hard for me. Anna would come behind me occasionally and put down on my shoulders or back for a deeper stretch. I wasn't certain that was a good idea. Anyway, when it was over, we gave each other scalp massages. Then she got a phone call from Suzanne who needed to heat something in the oven. I went home to gather more materials for class. I also ate an apple and grabbed some hot pads for Suzanne. I went back carrying the giant snowflake. But no one seemed interested in making it. Lots of ladies were there. Some worked on stuff they started last week or earlier. Others made Christmas crackers with the toilet paper tubes. In fact, they used them all. Evelin cut strips to sew onto a white fabric to make a tablecloth. Akia and Anna were making dog scoots: an elasticized tube for holding a dog's ears out of his bowl. Lacey was making underwear. Interestingly, they all packed up around 1. Some went home and others went to lunch. I went home to check e-mail and make breakfast. Chris was just finishing lunch. He had put the ham in the oven and it smelled so good. Later, I cut a chunk out for a taste. I jotted notes for my blog. I did today's puzzle. I found my lists of how to pack for a move and added Christmas lights and the box of laces and trims to the 'to pack' list. I sprayed several pieces of paper together to make a stiff pattern for a stuffed Christmas tree. And I was going to make one, too, but Mrs. Kim called to schedule a Wednesday practice, so I told her today would work. I ironed some Christmas fabric for class tonight. I practiced Sleigh Ride a few times, but hopefully not too much. Chris came by (not sure why) to tell me the car did not need a new part; that they opened the dash, popped the button back in place and told him not to push it so hard next time. All for $10! I packed up my trombone and music. I drove to the chapel to meet Mrs. Kim. I had to wait. I did not realize that she was walking down the hill from a lesson near the top. I could have given her a ride! Anyway we practiced Sleigh Ride. For some reason I had more trouble with the accidenals at the chapel than I did at home. She looked at the other songs in my book. She asked if we could play “Santa Claus is coming to Town”. It seemed like an odd request, but she liked the music. Then the chaplain came in. He wanted to have Santa show up during the caroling. It seemed so perfect. Mrs. Kim had the man in the office make copies of the music for her and one for Janelle. Then we left and went our separate ways. I drove home and parked the car. Inside the house, the ham smelled so good that I cut a piece off and ate it. I also made a salad. I ate most of it but ran out of time. I bundled up and walked to Housing. I turned on the outside and inside lights. The machines were still set up from the earlier class. One machine still had its light on. I had made sure all the lights were off when I left so...did someone come back and use the machine? No one was there, so I busied myself making a stuffed tree. Just cutting out the six tree shapes took longer than I thought. I called Dynee to see if she was coming, but she was baking with other ladies. I sewed my six trees together into three pairs. I trimmed the corners and turned them right side out, but realized I had forgotten to clip the inner corners. So I did that, but in doing so, clipped a little too far. I had to re-sew parts. Anna finally arrived. She plugged her tablet into the sound system and we had Christmas music. We chatted as she worked on her project and I worked on mine. I stuffed the three tress lightly and tried to sew them all together down the center. That didn't work, so I sewed two together and then tried to add the third one. Anna said the two together was enough, but three was cuter. And then it was 8:30. So we packed up the fabric, and machines, tables and chairs. Then I took all my stuff home and she did the same. I gave her the music to give to Janelle. I walked home. Chris was there and he told me I was lucky there was ham left. He had it sitting on top of the stove. I ate some, dipped in the juice, and it was very tasty. I finished my salad and read e-mail. Then we watched two episodes of Xena Princess Warrior. Chris went to bed, but I stayed up to blog and answer Facebook messages.
* the third tree is pinned on *

Let it snow

I got up before 8, just as Chris was leaving. I drank a quart of water and read e-mail. I did my exercises while listening to an audio or two. They were very interesting but now I can't remember what they talked about. I made a batch of seed crackers. I worked today's puzzle. I cleaned my brush. There was a lot of gray hair. Conclusion: someone is using my brush. I printed up a list of things I wanted the acupuncturist to know. I printed it in purple since we are out of black ink. I washed up and got dressed. I put a seed cracker in a baggie. I bundled up and left the house, but then came right back to get the yoga blocks. I walked down to the bus stop to catch the bus. 317 came first, so I took it. I had no trouble getting off at the right place because lots of people were going to the 5-day market. As I wandered down the street, I saw cashews for sale and picked up a bag. Then I walked up to the acupuncturist' office. I was early and they usually take me early, but not today. I waited about 15 minutes. Then the nurse showed me to a bed. I enjoyed the air pump leg massage. Then I did stretches until the doctor came. I gave him the sheet. He read it closely and slowly. One of the questions was “Should I eat yin foods or yang foods”? But he never answered the question directly even though I brought it up several times. He just said he would print out a list of foods. (I hope they are meeguk foods.) I also put on the sheet that my right side was tighter than my left. So he had me sit facing the wall and he stuck needles in the back of my neck. The last one hurt, and since he was sticking it into my spine, it was scary as well. But he pulled my right arm overhead toward the left and seemed satisfied with the range of motion. He pulled the needles out and had me lie down. Then he put needles in my right leg and stomach and neck: as usual. He said the tightness on my right side was causing the itching and the tongue chewing. It all came from my right tmj. He left. I laid there for 15 minutes until the nurse came to take the needles out. Then I paid at the front desk and left. As I made my way toward the main road, I bought veggies here and there: cucumbers, broccoli, sweet potatoes and carrots. Just as I walked up to the bus stop, bus 305 appeared. The timing was perfect. I hopped on and rode it back to the base. From that bus stop, I walked to the corner market for sprouts. They didn't have the ones I wanted, but I got the next best package. My shoulders sagged under the weight of all the bags I was carrying. But I made it up the mountain to our place. I walked in, pushed off my shoes and took the veggies into the kitchen. Chris walked in just then and I wondered if he had been behind me all the way up the hill. I put the veggies away while Chris put a ham on the counter to defrost and left. He had also brought the mail, which included a card from my friend MaryAnn. The calligraphy was impressive. I cleared e-mail and found something to listen to. Whatever it was, put me to sleep. And I slept for hours. When I woke up, I saw a message from Amber on Facebook. I replied and she replied, and after our conversation was over, I composed a post to the community page about our sewing classes tomorrow. I made and ate breakfast. Chris came home from confessing. Apparently a priest came to the base just for that purpose, but not many people showed up. I don't know if this is a special day or if it just worked out that space was available. I was reading e-mail and found instructions for a 3D paper snowflake. I couldn't resist making one out of packing paper. I had to iron the paper first, but it worked out ok. From 6 8-inch squares, the final snowflake was about 22 inches from tip to tip. I updated my Pinterest pages with projects I made in the last 3 months. Then I jotted notes for my blog. We watched the next episode of Rockford Files. Chris went back to his game and I finished my blog post so I could either go to bed or make a sample of something for tomorrow.

The last strawberry?

I got up soon after 8 when Chris left for work. I boiled water for coffee. I drank a quart of water and swished. I did my exercises. I meditated and tapped. The tapping went really well. When coffee morning was over, I cleaned the kitchen counters and mopped the floor. Chris came home for lunch. He brought a package that contained my gift from Cecily. He asked me to get his shoes re-soled next time I walked out to the traditional market. I swept and mopped the floors. Chris had to leave so I could mop the floor by the front door. I cleaned both bathrooms, and mopped those floors as well. I cleaned out some plastic bags. I found a red bow so I put it on top of the Christmas tree. I put a piece of fabric around the base for a skirt. I worked today's puzzle. I sewed two pieces of ironing fabric together to add to a kit. I picked Christmas songs for three possible accompanists. I scanned the music for Sleigh Ride. I wanted to print it out but was out of black ink. I thought I could easily changed the black to another color so I could print it out, but there was no way in the software to do that. But on the scanner itself, there was a button for printing in color. I didn't think it would work with a black and white image, but it did. I wish I had tried it an hour earlier. It was about 54 outside and I figured it wasn't getting any warmer. So I opened some windows and turned off the heat. I raked up the small leaves in the front yard. I was going to use them to cover the strawberry bed, but I discovered two strawberries, or rather one and a half. The whole one wasn't quite ripe, which is probably why it hadn't been half eaten. I put it on the window sill to ripen. I found a tomato with just a touch of orange to it. I put it in the window sill too. I made and ate a salad. I looked up more Christmas activities for parties. Chris came home from work and made himself supper. I wanted to cover a small glass bottle with a piece of fabric and twine. I would then add essential oils and skewers. It really looked cute in my head. But when I finished it, I was disappointed. I practiced my trombone. Then Chris and I sat down to watch TV on Netflix. We were going to watch one of the movies made from Nicholas Sparks, but all of them were DVD only. So we chose Marvel's Luke Cage because Michele liked it. But after a while I decided it just wasn't my kind of movie. So we switched to Rockford files. After that, Chris put out the food waste for tomorrow and then played his game. I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* My would-be essential oil diffuser *

Car problems

I heard my phone alarm go off, but Chris did not get up until probably 8. I usually wait until he leaves just before 9, but I gut up about 8:30. I checked e-mail and drank water. He left. I went through some tapping articles. Then I took my shower and got dressed. I waited for a short while, then got bundled up to go to church. Chris came home just in time to drive me there. I insisted on driving there, let myself out, and he drove himself home. I went into the church and sat with Jane. I hadn't listened to the praise song links that Shi- Uk had sent me. But I made it through. We had the passing of the peace, and then communion. I barely made it to the back for that because I was talking to Ms. Kim about Christmas Eve (right after talking to Chang Young). Then the chaplain spoke about the hope candle and lit it on the advent wreath. When the service was over, I spoke to the chaplain about the caroling after the Christmas Eve service. Then I looked for Chris. I didn't see him so I went outside to wait. I called and he said he was in the back and hung up while I was asking “in back of what?”. I sat there for awhile, then got up to check parking spaces behind the school. Just then Chris arrived, said he had been in the back of the church. He thought I had hung up on him, so I guess the call got dropped somehow. We walked to the car which was parked in front of the commissary. He stood in front of it and stared at it angrily. I wondered if someone had hit it. But no, the flashers were on and he couldn't shut them off. Apparently he had pulled two fuses earlier to stop the flashing but not all the indicators had turned off. The firechief came over to lend a hand. They looked under the hood for awhile, and then he went to the fire station to google flasher problems with Chevy's. Chris finally found the right fuse and pulled it. The dash indicators stopped. He went to the fire house to tell the chief. I had to go to the bathroom. I called Chris and he did not answer the phone, but he came out of the fire station. Finally I ran into the commissary which had just opened and used their restroom. Chris was waiting for me when I got out. He said his phone was still on silent. He drove us home so I could change. In the process, we discovered that the power steering was also on one of those fuses. After I changed, we went back to the commissary to shop, then gave the new head of child services a ride back to her hotel room. Then we went home. We put away the groceries and Chris went to meet the fire chief to take the car somewhere. I called Myra and she said to come over. She was packing for her trip. She gave me stuff to use while she was gone: for sewing class and for the FRG party. She also gave me cookies, two quarts of canned tomatoes, and a big red bow that she had made for my wreath. I thanked her and went home. Chris was home and had no luck finding a place to fix the car. I made a to-do list. I put the bow on my wreath. I got my unread e-mail down to less than 50. Chris brought in the Christmas tree from the shed. I made and ate breakfast. I put chocolates in a bag and left them on Myra's door. Then, on my way back, I called her to make sure she found them before her husband did. When I got back, I decorated the tree. I started practicing my trombone. But my blood pressure kept spiking because I was having a niacin flush. I decided it could wait. I looked up Christmas activities to propose for the upcoming party. Chris made a bowl of popcorn and settled down to watch Netflix. He was tired of House, so we watched two episodes of Rockford Files, and two of Kolchak. I was so very tired, so I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* This is the tree in our front yard. Isn't it beautiful? *

Doctor Strange - an excuse for FX

I woke up while it was dark. I laid still so I would not wake Chris, but then discovered he was gone. It was not unusual for me to wake up early, and then try to go back to sleep. I wanted to know what time it was because different systems peak at certain times. I checked the microwave – it read 6:47. 5am to 7am is the time slot of the large intestine. I laid on the couch and put on a BWE CD. I wore headphones and an eye mask. I heard Chris come in sometime after 7. Then my phone alarm went off at 7:30. Chris had gone back to bed. When my CD ended, I joined him there. I did not go back to sleep. Later I got up to work on birthday presents for the party later in the day. I had already decided to give the girls vials of lip balm, since they had already packed out and couldn't take much with them. But I thought tissue packets would be nice, too. I looked up pics of what the girls made in class to get an idea of what colors they would like. In looking up the pics, I ended up on the internet and Pinterest and wasting a lot of time. Finally I stopped waffling and chose black and pink for Kayle and red and pink butterflies for Jasmine. I put one in a gift bag I bought, but it was too big to tie shut. AND I discovered that I had inadvertently cut off one corner while I was cutting the fabric. I had some leftover birthday paper so I wrapped each one in that. Then I decided to give a lip balm to their younger sister who wasn't having a birthday but might enjoy getting something as well. I made a little blue bag to put it in, then 'wrapped' it in a gift bag. I started making breakfast and realized I hadn't done my exercises, not for days. I put on an audio and did my exercises, then made and ate breakfast. I had cut off the corners of all my new fabrics earlier and thrown half in the wash. I washed the other half and started ironing the first half. It took all afternoon. Then I washed up and got dressed. I put Kelly's fabrics and the gifts in a bag and walked down to her house. The house was already full of people. I talked to Amber and Liam and later Kathy and Bernie. I put the gifts on the mantel with the others. Kelly was still working in the kitchen to get food ready. She paid me for the fabric. Other people brought food and I wondered if I was supposed to also. But there was plenty. It was served buffet style. I had a good time. Later Kelly lit candles on the cake and the two girls blew them out as we sang Happy Birthday. Then the girls opened their presents. Some people gave them money. I think they enjoyed getting lip balm. Around 6 I prepared to leave. She told me to fix a plate for Chris, so I did, and carried it home. Chris was playing his game. I checked e-mail and covered the tomatoes and eggplant.

We drove to the theater to see Doctor Strange. Our next door neighbors were there, too. The movie was full of special effects. In fact, it seemed to me that it was written just to maximize the opportunity to display their prowess at special effects. It was also the movie that never ends, though not as bad as The Hobbit. We sat through at least two sets of credits and extra footage. Then we drove hone.

Chris brought in the tree from the shed. It had no lights on it and I did not find any in the closet with the Christmas decorations. I can't believe I packed the tree and not the lights. I typed up my blog post for the day. I cleared some e-mail and looked for anti-fungal essential oils. I downloaded pics from my camera and then posted to my blog.
* The birthday party *

We had the notion to buy fabric

I barely heard the first alarm go off this morning at 6:50. It was cold and dark. I got up to take a shower. The tile floor was cold. I wanted to go back to the warm bed. But I didn't. I had a small cut on my elbow which looked like it might be infected. I put coconut oil on it. We didn't have any regular band-aids, so I put a piece of cotton ball on it and had Chris strap it on with medical tape. It was overkill, but all we had. I put band-aids on the grocery list. I made and ate breakfast hoping my hair would dry. There wasn't time to drink a quart of water and no place to go if I had. I got dressed up for cold weather, put seed crackers in my market bag. I grabbed my rolling cart with it's newly modified bag and headed out. It was already 5 after 8. The bus was parked in front of the commissary. But I wasn't the last person to arrive. We waited for two other people. Some ladies brought their husbands. There were enough people on the bus that the price was reduced to $10 per person. However, those who already paid $15 were not issued a refund. Instead, Myra kept the extra money to buy class supplies at the market. And then we were on our way. Myra and I made lists of notions to buy for the class. She gave me $20 for my two extra thread stands for the class. Chaun gave me a chuck of shea butter. I gave her a baggie with two chocolates and a lip balm. Then I handed out three lip balms to three ladies that hadn't gotten any before. That left me with one more, and there were three more ladies on the bus that had not gotten any but they were toward the back so I I just held off until another day. Chelsea had morning sickness. We had to pull off to let her heave. We offered her gum, a candy cane, peppermint essential oil, cookies, baby wipes, etc. It was not a good trip for her. And the bus did not go directly to the market. It went to the army base in Daegu to drop off the two husbands. Then we were driven to the market and let off. I guess we followed Suzanne into the market to find the fabric building. One of the buildings had burned, but we did not see which one. Then we split into groups, checking out different things on different floors. I found a stall selling solids for $2 a yard. And they were good quality, so I called Myra to see what we needed for the class. She didn't know. So I got 2 yards each of 11 or 12 different colors, mostly for my own cache, but willing to share when necessary. I caught up with my group at the $2 a yard guy who sells prints. The sewing group was like a hoard of locusts descending on the flatfolds, scarfing them up and leaving the rest in disarray. Okay, maybe not so bad, but we did make him look really popular. I went with Mandy to find some fabric for a bag she saw hanging up. I helped her order the cut, and get some material for the bottom. Then we rejoined the group. They wandered off to another place but I hadn't bought yet from the man. I saw some fabric like Kelly wanted so I texted her a pic. While I waited for a reply, I picked out three fabrics for myself. She asked for 4 yards. But he showed me two three yard pieces. I found three more fabrics I wanted before her reply. I got her four yards and mine, then looked for the group. Eventually I found myself on the 4th floor where Myra's group was. I found a Christmas print with Santa and brass instruments. I didn't know Santa could play french horn. I got a yard of it. Then the others went to the basement for lunch. I told them I only had fabric money, not lunch money. Myra and I continued to inspect fabrics. We found some fabric that we thought Evelin would like, so we texted her a pic. I found another one that I thought Kelly would like, so I texted her a pic and she replied to buy a yard. Presently the group appeared as we found the notions booth. Again, our numbers made the place look popular. Myra picked up a bunch of notions, as did several others. I got some stabilizer. Then we went looking for a few last things. I ended up guarding the bags with Dynee. I slipped around the corner to find a lace and ribbon shop. I picked up two yards of red. Then we all trouped out to find the bus. I found a pomegranate on the way. We had to wait a little bit, but we were all there when the bus arrived. I put mine overstuffed rolling cart in the trunk of the bus. Then we resumed our previous seats. It was an uneventful trip back. Chelsea managed to hold on to her lunch. I took a nap because I couldn't make out the conversation anyway. Akia passed her baby to Anna who loves babies. We pulled up to base about 4pm. When we debarked, Myra went to get her car. When it arrived, Scott was driving. They took me home and Scott carried my fabrics to my front door. I thanked them and they left. I got myself a drink, then pulled all the fabric from the bags, separating mine from Kelly's. I had something to eat. I watered the plants outside, covered the eggplant and then watered the plants inside. I read e-mail and looked for more info on yang foods. Chris came home from work. I did today's puzzle. I melted some coconut oil and mixed castor oil into it. I find castor oil too thick and sticky to use easily. Finally we sat down to watch two episodes of House in season 1. Chris went back to his game and I wrote this really long blog post,hoping I did not leave anything out.
* This is the notions booth *

Locker #6

I got up when Chris finished his shower. I filled three containers with water from the shower filter. He left for work. I picked up my phone to check the alarm. As usual, it said 'silenced after 1 minute'. I don't know what that means but I have to meet a bus at the commissary at 8 tomorrow to go to the fabric market. So I programmed three more alarms into my phone for tomorrow. I checked e-mail and drank a quart of water. I wrapped up two small trays of chocolates for Michele and Marie. I wasn't sure how they would travel in the mail, so I left them in the molds and wrapped them with plastic wrap and sealed them in a zip-lock bag and then into a box with puff-its. I got dressed and sat at my old laptop, trying to find and activate Skype. With a phone call to Chris, I succeeded. My tapping buddy was having trouble too, but we finally got connected. We had a really good session. Afterward, I called Myra. She said to come over after I had breakfast. So I made and ate breakfast. Chris came home early for lunch. I saw that Courtney had posted to the group page looking for boxes. I pulled some from the shed and tied them with twine and left them on the front porch. I guess I lost track of time because it was 12:30 till I got to Myra's house. She had some venting to do and so did I. But then we decided to go to the 5 day market. Myra and I walked to Security to get her car. She drove me to Home Plus. From there we walked to the five-day market. As quickly as we could, we located kiwi, lettuce, pomegranates, cucumbers, and apples. I put them in the rolling cart and we headed back to the Home Plus parking deck. My appointment time was 6 minutes away, so she dropped me off across the street and went back to base. I walked into the Foot Shop and had to wait while the person ahead of me checked in. Then it was my turn. I pulled a locker key and traded my shoes for the slippers. But when I got to the changing room, there was no locker #6, just 2-5 and 7-10. I went back and the young clerk told me to take locker #4. I changed clothes and went to the foot soak. I was relaxing and listening to two people getting slapped with the flats of hands. When they came out, I realized I knew them: Linda and Kathy. We had a chat before they got dressed and went back to base. Then it was my turn to get massaged. But I had ordered a foot massage, so I sat in a laid back chair while she rubbed my feet and calves. An hour later, I changed and paid. Embarrassingly I handed him a 5000 won note instead of a 50,000 won note. For some reason they are the same color. I looked at him expecting change and he looked at me expecting more money. Finally I realized what I had done, took the 5000 back and handed him the right bill. From there, I walked to the Chinese massage place. The desk clerk was not there. They said he was resting today. So I made an appointment for next week. Then I went to Daiso. I got spray bottles and gift bags. Then I went to a nearby store and bought more styrofoam balls. I walked back to base because it was getting dark and cold. When I got home, I saw Myra had left my cart with all its fruit and veggies on my doorstep. Courtney had picked up the boxes. I went in and put all the produce in clear bags and into the fridge. Then I made myself a salad and added one of my tomatoes. Chris came home from mass. He made himself supper while I did Sudoku and read about yang foods. From what I read, raw food is out, as are probiotics and fermented foods. Ditto for nightshades and most fruits. Coconut is not a yang food, and chocolate was only mentioned in passing (and not as a healthy food). I looked for other sources of info on yang foods. It was getting on in the evening. Chris was ready to watch TV. I asked him if he would mail the package tomorrow since I will be on the trip to Daegu. But he did not like the box I was re-using. So I wrapped it in brown paper, then realized the label I had written was only good for Priority Mail packages. So I got a Priority Mail box, threw the package in and added more brown paper. Then he taped it all up for me and I put the label on and filled out the customs form. Then we sat down to watch one episode of House.
* Chong shows off the ironing caddy that she finished Wednesday night. *