Rainy day turns sunny after all

I got up soon after the alarm. My mouth tasted funny again, so I gargled with hydrogen peroxide (food grade) and brushed with activated charcoal. I sat on the guest bed and looked through a piece of music I hadn't seen in years but found in with papers and folders and such. It looked difficult, and it was. I played it in college, but I could not play it now. I turned on the router and laptop. I came out to the kitchen. The dust was undisturbed and my black socks were still black. It seemed like another gray and rainy day. The box of cushions with mold or mildew on the box (that I had set out at the street) was gone and I did not hear the garbage truck yet. That boded well for the rest of my collection of things that need to go bye-bye. So I think someone must have taken it. I drank some water with added minerals, and swished with coconut oil and frankincense. I exercised, and juiced. I tried to meditate but a bird kept tapping on the house. I made and ate breakfast while listening to the last dental health audio. I filled Chris' car with all the bags of batting (who needs air bags?) and some fabric and magazines. I drove to quilting. I carried it all inside in a number of trips while they were eating lunch. Dinah asked if they could take me out to lunch on Friday ( a restaurant called I Love Sushi which I had always wanted to try.) I put out the goat cheese that I brought for Lauri. I worked on Kurt's quilt until 2. Then I hauled all the batting back to the car (I think someone took 2 bags), and the fabric and the magazines. I bid everyone who was left farewell. When I returned home, I found a bill in the mail and a very nice anniversary card from my dad. The sun was shining and I was so excited to see it. I sunbathed in the back yard. Then I made a salad. I saw MaryAnn had skyped so I skyped her back. Then I e-mailed Alice to see if she was still interested in buying my car. I put the leftover soup on the stove to heat. I went to the donation pile for details on objects I wanted to post on Freecycle, and then posted them on Freecycle. I tried to dress up with Pat's wrap dress, but the top part was too big and I could not hold it on while seeing how the rest could tie or drape. I put it on the ping pong table to trace, but it was way bigger than any paper I had. So I made notes, drawings, and measurements. Then I put it back on its hanger, ready to be returned. I taped up the labels on my submissions for the quilt show. They need to be delivered tomorrow. As I looked around I was thinking I needed more boxes. When I checked the front porch, there were two more: Amazon and Swanson. I ate two bowls of soup. I watched a tapping video and it was followed by an episode of Star Trek Renegades. I decided that if I was going to watch a show it should be Castle. So I stopped the video and called up the next episode and watched that. I ate a third bowl of soup and some frozen blueberries. The blueberries seemed like a good idea until I remembered that I have a dental appt tomorrow. Then I put on 60' and 70's music on Youtube. I let it play loudly as I worked in my sewing room downstairs, making hand embroidered pillow panels into pillow cases. It is a project the pastor's wife gave me months ago. As I worked, I wondered if it was the last thing I would sew before the machine was packed up. I came up a little after 9:30 to see if Chris was on skype. He wasn't on yet, so I filled the soup pot with hot, soapy water and washed all the utensils. I heard the skype sound and Chris called me. We talked for a short time. His computer had crashed and that used up most of the time he had to talk. He told me how he had sent me a series of cards, one a week, ending with an anniversary card, but since I did not get any of others (yet?), he did not think the anniversary card would come by tomorrow. I was touched just knowing he had sent them, whether they are their way or lost at sea. Then he had to go. The place I order shampoo from was having a sale, so I ordered a bottle and had it sent to Chris' address. Coming from Canada, the shipping was a little expensive. I looked for my Freecycle postings, but none of them had gone out yet. I wrote up my blog notes. I finished washing dishes. I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* this is the quilt that I finished the binding on yesterday *

The sky in Chinhae

I slept in way past the alarm since I kept waking up in the middle of the night for no reason. I got up at 8:45, but when I saw the sun in the guest room I laid down in there for awhile, basking in the glow. Then I turned on the laptop and router, drank water, swished and exercised. I boiled the water for breakfast, and sat down to read e-mail. I saw that the Freecycle posting finally went out. There were two responses so far, but I had no time for that this morning. I showered, then made breakfast and ate part of it. I put two kefir grains in a jar of fresh goat milk for Jennifer. When I got to church, I gave Art a small pot of essential oil cream that someone had given me. And I gave Jen the kefir. She had her college age son with her. I think she was going to give him one of the kefir grains. One of our retired pastors did the service. I offered Jen the papaya tree, but she did not give me a clear answer. I confirmed with Art that we would be counting at 4:30. Then I went to grocery store and bought the usual food for me and some for Chris. I saw that my back tire was low. When I got home, I put the food away. I called the first respondent and alerted the second one. I finished my breakfast and wrote check for church. I changed my clothes, and pumped up my tire. I went quilting. Their iron wasn't very hot and did not hold water, so I ironed and ironed, trying to make a backing for the top I had brought. The first respondent called back. I met him at the house. He had a cute little girl with him. He was so happy to have the mower. I went back to church. I finished binding a quilt that someone had started. Then it was after 4. So I packed up, and went home to change cars. I went to church to count the offering. I came home to have lunch; finishing the eggs. I made a salad, and ate cashews with butter. I read e-mail. I saw a delicious chocolate avocado pudding recipe and wished I had bought avocados. Then I worked in the basement to sort, sort, sort, while listening to more dental health audios. I learned that Vit C very important, and that it is easy to have infections in the mouth that aren't noticable. Fluoride and amalgam fillings (mercury) are bad. I sorted through quilting magazines, batting, and wallpaper rolls. I came up when the laptop battery ran down. Chris was on skype. I talked to him, and he sent me a picture of the clear blue sky in Chinhae. I needed to see some blue sky for a change. I played one last audio while I made up a week's worth of vitamins and cleaned up in the kitchen. I posted to my blog, then dusted the kitchen floor with DE. I put on black socks and went to bed. (The DE and black socks should show if someone is in my kitchen during the night, even if its me)

Gloom, despair and agony on me

I was so cold last night, even at 73 degrees, that I had to wear pajamas to bed. And then my hands were cold. And I had a hard time getting to sleep because I kept hearing a drip-drip noise but could not tell where it was coming from.
In the morning, I heard the alarm but did not get up right away. Even though I had swished with hydrogen peroxide last night, my mouth still tasted awful this morning. I brushed with activated charcoal, and then swished with coconut oil after added some essential oils. Then I used the charcoal again. I read e-mail and drank a quart of water. I was chilly. The inside temp was still 73. I decided to have some hot tea, but I had just drunk the last of the distilled water. But I had a large jar of bone broth, so I heated that up on the stove. I drank several mugs of it while looking up info. Soon after 11, I remembered my sewing machine. I searched the USPS website to find out when the post office closed on Saturdays. I hurried to get dressed and used a rolling cart to wheel my machine out to the car. When I got to the post office, I rolled it inside, and there was no line. But he gave me a customs form to fill out and then there was someone behind me, so I got out of the way. But I had so much trouble writing on the form that I asked the clerk for help. He said he could not do that. But a lady in line offered to help. I cannot say why I could not write in the blocks, but I could not. She had no trouble. The line got considerably longer. I waited for the next clerk. He punched in the weight and options came up on the little customer screen. Naturally I picked the lowest one, but he said it only applied to books. I paid $48, and he agonized over the form. Each line had to have a number of items in it and I had no number for 'sewing materials.' Finally the ordeal was over and I came home. I got the mail, including Netflix. My soup was still keeping warm on the stove. I made and ate breakfast while watching two videos on tumeric. I listened for the drip-drip noise but could not locate it. I hope it isn't in the walls. I listened to several audios from the holistic dental health summit while taking down pictures and selecting tablecloths and such to go to Korea. I put the curtains in the dryer to fluff and dust off, then folded them to go as well. I stacked and ran the dishwasher. I taped a piece of paper to the wall in the garage and traced the image shown by the overhead projector. Then I cleared much of the ping pong table in preparation to fold it up and make space for a bigger donation pile. I was surprised that no one responded to my posting of the mower. But then I never saw the post appear so maybe it didn't go through somehow. Then I was overcome with depression, likely from the living and dining rooms being denuded. The place no longer feels like home, so I don't have that comfortable reassurance anymore. I drank some water I found in the fridge. It tasted like stored food. I felt tired all of a sudden so I laid down, but to no avail. All I did was cry. Finally I remembered Netflix and decided to watch an episode of Castle. Most of the way through, Chris called so I paused it to talk to him. He was as supportive as he knew how to be. He said I could stay here if moving made me so miserable. He said he honestly thinks it will be better for me when we are together again. (I needed a good laugh.) Anyway, I was feeling a little better when he signed off so I could finish Castle. When it was over, I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* This is a strip quilt that Pat was making on Thursday *

I finally did it!

I surveyed the kitchen before I went to bed so no food or dirty dishes were left out. I was dressing for bed when my phone rang. It was some fast food joint thinking I had ordered food from them. When I said no, he asked if someone had used my phone. Nope. That reminded me of Chris' comment that the phone company sent him an e-mail saying we had gone over our monthly allotment of minutes. Is it possible someone is using my number on their phone?
In the morning, I turned on the laptop and router. I closed the windows and turned on the heat since the inside temp went down to 68. When I got to the kitchen, I saw food and dirty dishes left lying on the counter top. Since this keeps happening, I wondered about my sanity. I exercised while listening to Philosopher's Notes. My tapping buddy called and we did a session. It added a new technique to my toolbox. Then I caught up on my Sudoku for the week while listening to another audio. I juiced, and meditated. I made and ate breakfast. I listened to an audio on breathing techniques. I brought in the mail. I scanned a page of the auto policy for Chris to view. I had found a sheet of transparency in a box two nights ago. I ran it through the printer with the image I wanted to enlarge. It worked like a charm! I tried it on the overhead, and it was fantastic! I wasn't planning on bringing the overhead to Korea, but now... If I knew the lightbulb would be ok, I would ship in in a heartbeat. I used a table saw to trim up a warped cutting mat to the size of the sewing machine box. The table saw was heating it too much, so I stopped and finished the job with a sabre saw. Then I tried to sand the edges with a sanding wheel, but it was in an awkward place so did not work well. I put the mat in the box and as many notions as I could. When the box was packed, I got some tape and paper to seal and label it. Then my phone rang. It was Denise. While we were talking, I shoved some heavy boxes of books over to a corner. My back was not happy about that. After the call, I had salad for lunch. I taped the box, but was not sure I should lift it. I put on my new shoes and went for a walk to make my back feel better. When I got back, Beverly called. Her daughter got me a license plate in New Orleans! I had to plug in my phone to recharge after the call. Then Chris skyped me early, because it was Saturday for him. We had a nice long chat. I posted the mower to Freecycle and it got rejected initially for having too many capital letters in the location, only 20% allowed. ??? So instead of writing SE Huntsville, I had to write out Southeast. I separated stuff into boxes and put them in opposite corners of the basement while listening to the holistic dental health summit. After two presentations, the laptop battery was low. For some reason it would shut down if I closed the lid. And the screen was supposed to shut down after 3 minutes when it ran on battery, but it stayed on the whole time. So I came up to plug in. I listened to another one as I did the weekend Sudoku puzzle and drank copious amounts of water. I posted to my blog, checked the kitchen, and went to bed.

Watching a tree fall

I heard the alarm go off at 8, but I stayed in bed to say some affirmations...and fell asleep. I got up at 9. I turned on the router and laptop. I had to turn the fan off because the temp went down to 70 and I was cold. I swished while reading e-mail. Suddenly I heard the recycle truck across the street. So I flew into action, crushing water jugs and stuffing them into a plastic bag. The other recyclables were already bagged and I ran them out to the road. I took three packets of Vitamin C. I am trying 3 packets every three days to see if that works any better than one packet a day. I exercised, then juiced a very large zucchini. By itself, it made almost twice the juice I normally drink. Then I meditated. I watched a video interview as I made and ate breakfast. Netflix told me they received my last DVD, but had not yet shipped the next one. I checked my queue and saw that all I had in there were two episodes of a series that Lauri warned me not to get. So I quickly looked for other things to put in there. Castle seemed like a safe choice. I drove to quilting in Chris' car. I brought Kurt's quilt along to work on, but did not get to it. I showed Pat my afghan that had some holes in it. She showed me one of the crocheted potholders that she makes, and a dress she made a long time ago. She didn't have the pattern anymore, but it was just a large rectangle with a triangle sewn to it. Apparently it can be worn a lot of different ways. She let me borrow it for a week to copy it. I told everyone that next week would be my last meeting to attend. Pat showed me a strip quilt that she was making for a church family with health problems. I left soon after two to come home. I ate the rest of the fried spleen with kimchee. I listened to an audio while I anchored the ribbon on the hexecontehedron with stitches into the seams and a bead in the middle. Then I went down to find the smallest box that the hexecontehedron would fit into. I measured it and made a cloth bag to fit it. The boy next door came over to say his dad was about to cut down a tree that would fall in our yard. So of course I got out my camera. When it was down, he assured me that he would get it cleaned up by dark. That seemed a little ambitious to me. I brought him a jar of goat cheese. I gave it to his son and suggested he put it in the refrigerator but he seemed not to hear that part. I made a salad and ate it while listening to interviews from the Holistic Oral Health Summit. I sewed a label on the bag around the box. I went downstairs to sort stuff into piles called 'donate', 'throw', 'ship' and 'store'. I swept up dead bugs and chased not-so-dead ones. I selected some batting to give Pat. When I came up to look for Chris, he was already on Skype. We talked and then he added Michele. So the three of us had a good chat before Chris had to go back to work. When he signed off, it ended the call for all of us. I posted to my blog and went to bed.

But I'm much better now

It was a rough night. I won't go into detail, but I had put a surgical drape on the bed, covered with a towel, and as it turned out, I needed it. I threw the towel in the shower to deal with in the morning. I got another piece of plastic and a towel, but did not need it. I got up often to make sure it did not happen again. In the morning, my back was a little better but still iffy. I did some self-hypnosis to relax the muscles and heal whatever the problem was. The alarm sounded and shut off. I got up when I was ready. I turned on the laptop and router. I cleaned my touch pad. I got out my detox sheet to follow it. I noticed that my timer would stop ticking every so often so I had to tap it to start it again. I wondered if Wednesday mornings were taking longer because the timer was inaccurate. I got out another timer. I listened to several audios on the desktop because it has louder speakers. I wish I could run the laptop sound through the sound system in the living room. I ate the apple I set out last night. I took a shower and put all the towels in the wash. I drank a quart of water and filled a water bottle for later. I got dressed and listened to another audio until it was time to go. I went to my massage therapist. Even though I went to the bathroom to begin with, I had to go again in the middle of it. She used hot stones on my back and legs, highlighting my lower back. We had a nice talk afterward. Then I went straight home. I ate some fried spleen with ghee: nah. It was better with goat cheese, and outstanding with kimchee. I gave the grains fresh milk. I got the fry pan out of the fridge and heated it up. I peeled and sliced and fried the other jicama, then added a few eggs for good measure. I left it covered to cook while I checked e-mail. I changed my shorts for pants because the weather was cooler and kind of rainy. I dug up the avocado tree from the compost pile and put it in a pot. I watered it and some other plants. I noticed that my squash was gone. It wasn't ripe but I guess I should have picked it anyway. I brought up a bag of Jen's things and put her tapping book in it. I took it to the car along with the avocado tree. When I got to choir, I left them in the car. The choir was already gathered so maybe my watch was late. We spent most of our time on one song for two weeks from now. Then we sang Happy Birthday to Mary, our organist. Ed brought a cake. Elaine and I did not partake. After practice, I left Jen's stuff by her car and came home. There were no spiders waiting for me. I jotted notes for my blog. Cecily had forwarded a copy of Christy's obit, but I had trouble reading it. I browsed TEDx talks waiting for Chris to skype me. I starting with one on the 4th state of water, and it was so interesting that I just kept watching others that came up. Then he came on, late from a meeting. We hadn't talked long when the call dropped. I called back but he did not answer. His computer had crashed. When it came back up, I called him. We talked for a short while, but by then he had another meeting to go to. I gave him my best 'sad face' but it did no good. After the call, I finished the last TED talk, then posted to my blog and went to bed.

Making progress

I was programming my mind for the day when the alarm went off. From the moment I got out of bed I could tell that my back was not happy. But I couldn't think of anything I had done to it. It seemed to say “If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you.” I drank several glasses of salt water. I turned on the router and laptop. I swished. I checked e-mail. I tried to answer a question from a lady in Yongsan about the Yongsan Quilters group, but found that I had been 'dismembered'. (There must be a better word but I can't think of it now). I looked up the price of external floppy drives on Amazon, surprized to find out that they still sell them and they are USB. I read an article by Nick Ortner. I exercised as best I could while listening to Brian Johnson. I drank coconut water while taking notes for my blog. I got dressed and put on my new shoes to take Netflix out to the mail box. The shoes were surprisingly uncomfortable. The only way I could account for it was that the clerk must have tightened the laces differently than I did. So I tighened them differently and they were more comfortable after that. I juiced squash and forgot to clean up. I headed out to quilting. I talked with the usual people, and told them that next week would be my last week. On the way home, I went to the Asian store for kimbap and kimchi. I ate it when I got home. I skimmed the cheese and gave fresh milk to the kefir grains. I put what was left in a jar and washed the last goat milk jar. I put it in the insulated tote for the farmer's market. Then I called Linda at the church to ask about the fund for the dinner. She warned me that the system files were missing but I could come take a look anyway. So I did. First the intern computer and then the office computer. I tried the new version of the software and then went to the old version of the software. But the files seemed to be gone. The envelop numbers were not assigned to anyone and recent members were not accounted for. I looked for a restore point, but there wasn't one on that computer. Oh well. I shut the computers down and came home. I made a list of things on the donation pile that could be Freecycled. I looked through the tornado room for items that could be donated. Then it was time for the farmer's market. It rained while I was there, but only when I was standing at a stall with some protection. I bought goat milk first, having the man pour the milk in the jar I brought because I will not be able to return his jars. Then I got three bunches of lettuce from the hydroponic farm. I went to the meat stand and talked to them, explaining how I cooked the spleen and what it took to make it edible. I bought tomatoes and zucchini at another stand and peppers at a fourth stand. Then I bought some tea mix from the place on the end. The sample I had gotten months ago was so good, but I could not remember which one it was, so I got two. Then I shouldered my insulated cart, and walked back to my car. It was heavy and my back protested some. On the way home, my rear windshield wiper activated. I don't know why and I could not stop it. Since it was not raining on the way home, the window got dry and it squeaked. When I parked in the carport, I got out the manual, but it was no help. It claimed that position 7 of the wiper arm would activate it, but the picture did not make clear what that was. I brought the food in and put it away. Then I made breakfast and ate while listening to David Perlmutter talk about gut health affecting the brain. I went into the basement to get flattened boxes. As it turns out, they were flattened and taped that way to hold large paper items, like posters. I condensed two down to one and made the other into a 3-D box. I went through boxes in the corner of the basement to clear space for amassing things that should go in storage. I found all of Michele's baby blankets, some crocheted by her grandmothers. And her school book, report cards, Girl Scout sashes and patches, etc. Sigh. She won't want them. MaryAnn skyped me and we talked for some time. Then I went back down to open more boxes. The bottom box in the corner held replacement couch cushions. And when I pulled it out, the corner of the wall and the box were black. Was it mold, mildew or camel cricket dung? I carefully moved the box to the garage, not letting that corner touch anything. It was a good box otherwise and I wanted to keep it, but did not want any of my stuff contaminated, and that would not be appropriate to donate either. I went up to see if Chris had skyped. He hadn't but I cleared a few e-mails and started a new Swansons order since they had a one-day deal on free shipping and 20% off. He said things were crazy over there because congress does not understand that October 1 comes early over there and the people need to know soon if they are allowed to work tomorrow. After the call, I finished my Swanson's order and posted to my blog. I put an apple by the bed in case I need to take my meds (with food) in the morning. I rubbed magnesium oil on my back and took a magnesium supplement. I hope to be better in the morning.
* My new shoes - pretty tame compared to the other shoes in the store *