Having a ball

We slept in after the alarm. In fact we slept too late for Chris to attend the Catholic service. We got up around 9. I drank water, but not as much as usual. I glanced at e-mail and did my exercises. I got washed up for church. It took me awhile to get dressed. I wanted to wear a dress, but figured pants were better because of the cold and Jane wanting to go to lunch. I could not find the dress pants I wanted. I boiled water for soaking nuts. I found the pants I wanted so I changed my outfit. I bundled up and walked to church, bringing flats in a bag for later. Jane was waiting for me in church. She introduced me to So Yong, and the two of them wanted me to show them how to get to Daegu on the bus. Friday, they said. But after the service, Jane changed it to Wednesday. We made tentative plans to meet at the bus station. Then Chris met us outside the theater. We walked to the front gate. On the way, I told Jane that I wasn't sure I could find the bus station on my own. So she said to meet her at the front gate on Wednesday. Outside the gate, a man from church gave us a ride down the street to the Korean church. We got out and thanked him. Jane said we could wait for the service to end. She had us stand by the wall and took our pic, then had Chris take her photo with me. So Yong came with her family. I told her we wanted to start a group for sewing and she said to put her name on the list. What a great name – So Yong. And she remembered my name from Charlotte's Web. When the doors to the lunch room were opened, we went in and took off our shoes. Jane got us a place at a low table. Then we stood in line to get a meal a lot like last week's. We met more people. So Yong invited me to go swimming with her sometime. But it was at a place past Lotte Mart so it won't be a regular thing. After lunch, Sook was waiting for her husband. We were talking about kimchi and she handed me a bag with a fresh kimchi cabbage in it. She said it was easy for her to get more kimchi. Chris and I walked back to base, and uphill to our place. We read e-mail and I jotted notes for my blog. I attached the shelf in the bathroom to the wall with suction cup hooks. I sent messages to Myra and Nela in case they wanted to go to Daegu also. I made and ate breakfast. I took my supplements. Then we bundled up and walked to the commissary. Nela was there and we talked to her and her husband. We met the head of the commissary and she talked about getting foods from Daegu for those who let her know. We paid for our groceries and walked home with them. After putting them away, we sat at our laptops. I looked for quite some time at a map of bus stops in Jinhae. Using Google Translate, I navigated the site somewhat. I did not find a way to display the route of any particular bus, but I could click on bus stops and see which buses stop there. Then I spent some time folding green squares into diamonds and gluing them into a ball. I took a break to make a salad and eat it. I watched a video interview with a doctor who was talking about endoscopes and sigmoidoscopes being improperly cleaned between patients. He said paracetic acid is the only effective decontamination chemical. We watched an episode of Sharpe's Rifles. Then Chris went to bed and I stayed up just long enough to post to my blog.

Spectre

We woke up with the alarm. We had some cuddle time. Then he got up to have breakfast and I took a shower, beginning and ending with cold water. The cold water is getting easier to handle. Then I drank a quart of water while reading e-mail I swished and exercised. I made and ate breakfast while reading e-mail. I meditated. I looked at sewing projects online. I did a tapping video. I read an article that said that changes in humor may be an early sign of Alzheimers. I made up a week's worth of supplement doses. We read e-mail, and Chris took breaks to do two loads of laundry. We bundled up and went for a walk up the trail. Chris said it was too cold to run, but I would think running would make us warmer – not that I wanted to run. It was a good walk. When we got back, I folded all the Sudoku papers from this week. I worked on the Sudoku puzzle for this weekend. But before I finished, Chris asked if I wanted to go to the movie that started in 15 minutes. It was Spectre – a James Bond film. So I put on my shoes and bundled up. We walked down to the theater. Chris bought the tickets and we found seats. Very few people were there. During the movie I had to close my eyes several times. Some times because of the violence and some times because the ever-changing camera angles made me queasy. When the movie was over, we bundled up again for the walk back. But the commander and his wife offered us a ride, which was news to my ears. They let us off at the duplex next door because of the fence. After unbundling, I checked e-mail and performed the next step of gluing for the petals I made earlier. I posted to my blog and intended to go to bed.
* This is the flower I folded yesterday. Not for beginners *

A day to stay in

As soon as I laid down, my back got tight. It was hard to roll over in bed and I was worried that I might not be able to get out of bed in the morning. I woke up at 7 to go to the bathroom. I had very little discomfort getting on my feet. I went back to bed and saw that Chris did not wake up. But at 7:30, he heard the alarm. I let him get up first, then I got up. I checked e-mail while he was eating breakfast. Kurt and Dad were on skype, so I texted them, then called Dad on video and later invited Kurt to the call. It lasted over an hour. After the call, I exercised, then made and ate breakfast while checking e-mail. I pulled the decorator sticker sheet out from it's flat place. I peeled off the stickers and assembled them on the wall next to the fireplace, similar to the picture on the front of the package. Then I put on several audio interviews and ironed fabric. I heard the word 'estrobolome' and had to look it up, including how to spell it. I took several breaks while ironing to have snacks, or check e-mail, or meditate. By 4 I had finished it all. Chris called while I was meditating to ask if I wanted to go to a party with him next Saturday. I made myself a salad with lettuce, a large carrot, grape tomatoes, a yellow pepper, olives and sunflower seeds. I was looking at origami tutorials when Chris came home from work. He fixed himself a burrito and a salad. I finally found a tutorial of the right skill level and made one floret. I could see how 12 of them would make a ball, but that seemed to be an awful lot of work. I tried making another one in black and white while watching an episode of Sanford and Son. Somehow it did not work out the same as the first. Then we watched an episode of Sharpe's Rifles. I sprayed myself with the probiotic body spray. Then it was time to post to my blog and go to bed.
* Decorative stickers by the fireplace *

Washing, drying and ironing

I slept pretty well last night. I only got up twice and was able to go back to sleep each time. I even woke up before the alarm. I swished and exercised. I got an e-mail from Chris' sister asking for our street address and his phone number. I found that in some e-mails from October. Kathy called to say the order was in and my part was ready. I told her I would call her when I had the cash. I made breakfast and ate part of it before I ran out to meet Myra and Nela. Nela was running behind so Myra showed me how she does planks and some yoga positions. I tried. Then Nela came and we walked up the hill behind our duplex to where we left off cleaning the path. We found our rushes where we left them. It was slow going. We needed better equipment. After we had done the steepest part, we walked the rest of the path and ended up near Nela's place. She had to go because school let out early today. Then Myra and I went to Housing to borrow brooms. We saw they had a leaf blower and they said we could borrow it after it was gassed up. So we took a broom and a rake. We cleaned the exercise station near Myra's house. It was still slow going and the leaf blower would have been ever so much faster. Then I left for home. I finished my breakfast. I checked a little e-mail. Then I walked down to MWR – or would have, but Mauricio offered me a ride. He parked by the post office. I went in to check the mail. A man helped me this time. All we got was a box, but it was the probiotic body spray that I ordered last week. That came fast! Then I went to the ATM to get the cash I needed. I stopped in at the bank to chat with the tellers. And to tell them that they were right – the Daegu fabric market was MUCH better than the Busan fabric market. So then I called Kathy and she was home. I walked over to her house and she handed me a bag with the order. I forgot what it was. Soap nuts and stuff. We chatted a little and then I went home. I had some lunch and took a shower. I sprayed myself with the probiotic then sat on the floor to cut little corners off my fabrics. I separated them into three piles of about 20 yards each: light, medium, dark. I washed the light fabric and put it in the dryer. Sadly it was too dry when I went to get it out. I washed the next load and when it was done, used some of the wet pieces to iron over the dry fabric. Some of the dry pieces went into the dryer with the wet stuff. When the dryer finished, all the fabric had just the right moisture. I kept ironing. I did some meditation. I had some supper. I caught up on the Sudoku puzzles for the week. I read some e-mail. I washed the dishes. I put on an audio and went back to ironing. I saw a taxi pulled up outside so I turned on the outside light. I ironed until he came up to the door. Then I opened it for him. He rolled his suitcases to the back and unpacked. He hardboiled some eggs for his breakfast tomorrow. I finished a piece of fabric and jotted notes for my blog. Chris cued up the next episode of Sharpe's Rifles. We watched it, stopping now and then for Chris to explain to me what was going on. When it was over, he went to bed and I stayed up to post to my blog.
* This was my salad yesterday. Look at the size of that carrot. *

We hit the mother load!

I set an extra alarm to ring at 6:50am last night. I woke in the middle of the night to go potty. Then I had trouble getting back to sleep because of the rls feeling. I did some stretches and eventually went back to sleep. I woke up hearing the alarm. I got up and brushed my teeth. I took my vit C packets, and drank most of a quart of water. Then I finished making breakfast. I washed up the the sink because I did not want wet hair going outside. I ate breakfast and read and answered e-mail. I unplugged some appliances because the electricity will be down today. I decided not to put the recyclables out since there were so few of them. I did some mental programming for the day. Kurt skyped me. I had to cut it short to throw on my coat, grab my rolling cart and head out to Duffy's. I met Sue and Chaun. Nela and Myra were not far behind. Sue mentioned taking a taxi to the bus stop, but Myra said we could walk. It was further than I thought. We hustled to get to to the bus station in half an hour. Sue helped us buy tickets to Daegu. Then we sat back for the almost-two-hour ride. There were two stops and I used one for a potty break. That was good because the others went after we arrived in Daegu and the bathrooms were not as nice. Then we had to ride the subway to the market. Chaun and I had our bus cards, but the others did not bring theirs so they had to buy chits from the machine. Then we rode the train 5 stops to the market. And it was right there. So convenient. We walked through what looked a lot like Dongdaemun. Stopping for directions here and there, we found our way to the fabric floors, and then to a booth on the third floor selling flatfolds for 2000 won per yard. Quilting fabric for $1.80? You know I cleaned up. I don't know how that man made any profit at that price. So I tried to help him out by buying over 50 yards. I was glad for my rolling cart. We wandered around little. We found several more places selling fabric for 3500 won/yard. I even got some Eric Carle dot fabric! One lady looked at my patchwork purse and told Sue that those squares came from Daegu. Finally, we went down to the basement where little restaurants were set up. Sue asked around and found a place selling kimbap and bibimbap. They also gave us a collection of kimchis. It was delicious. Then we came up to street level and kept looking. I wanted to take pics but my hands were full of fabric bags. Myra stopped at a store full of Christmas decorations and bought a 100 yard roll of ribbon to make bows from. Then it was almost 3:30 and we thought to catch the 4:45 bus back to Daegu. But luck was with us. As soon as we got into the subway terminal, the car arrived. We rode it back to the bus terminal, and the 3:35 bus was late. We bought tickets and it arrived a minute after we walked out to wait. We had a nice ride back to Chinhae. We talked about taking a city bus back to base, but did not see it, so we walked. The other ladies helped me carry my fabric. We got back to Duffy's and two husbands were waiting. Sue's husband put my fabric in the back of his van and drove me up the hill to our place. It was so appreciated. I dropped my bags on the floor in the entrance. I made myself a salad and ate it in front of my laptop. I played around with the Jackie Lawson Advent Calendar; decorating the tree, the church windows and reading the books associated with days 1 and 2. When I noticed the time blinking on the stove, I knew the power had been out. I was glad to have been gone since having no lights, no heat, no internet, no sewing machine would have made for a much less enjoyable day. I went around checking the thermostats to see if they were back on. When I checked the one in the bedroom, I could not resist laying down for a few minutes. I roused myself to go back to the laptop. I read some more, and ate a piece of chicken. I read e-mail and watched episodes of Sanford and Son. All too soon it was time for bed.

Getting ready for tomorrow

I slept ok, only waking a few times due to heat. I heard the alarm at 7:30 but did not get up until 8. Then I rushed to get the food waste container out to the street. I drank vinegar water and turned on my laptop. I deleted a bunch of e-mail and exercised. I swished and made breakfast. I ate breakfast, intending to only eat part of it then go meet my friends at 9:30. But Skype told me my dad was online. This was a first, so of course I sent them a message that I would be late and called my father. At first I could hear him but he couldn't hear me. He poked around and managed to turn the sound off so I couldn't hear him either. I sent messages to family members on the east coast who could call him, but they were not online. So I wrote on the back of an envelope that he should call Kurt for help. He hung with me then, so presumably he did call. Then I called Nela. They were uphill from me, brushing the path with bamboo rushes. I walked down there. Nela found me a rush and we all brushed leave and needles and acorns from the path. They had swept it yesterday so it wasn't bad. Myra said if the base had a leaf blower she would clear the path every day. The problem was that the pine needles get wet and make the path slick. In some places it is very steep and so not safe when slick. We swept all the way up the hill to behind my place. Then we walked down the steps behind my house. I stayed but they went back to get Myra's coffee cup. I told Myra to call me when she wanted her hair cut. I went inside to get my camera. I wanted to show Linda next door the pic of baskets we saw at E-Mart. I deleted the pics in front of it on my camera, but went one too far. Sigh. So I got a pad of paper and went next door. She gave me her e-mail and phone number. We talked a little about the baskets. Then I came home and e-mailed her the picture. I had a snack and took the rest of my supplements. I checked e-mail. I meditated. I took several bags and headed to the bank. It was closed. I tried the ATM, but I memorized the pin number incorrectly. I went to the commissary for pickles, garlic and chia seed. Then I went to the post office. I put the brick on the step stool. It was just enough so I could see the numbers on the combination lock on the mailbox. I put in the combination but it didn't open. I did it again. The lady at the desk caught my attention. She had two boxes for me. She came out and asked me for the combination. Then she opened my box and handed me the mail. Why it did not work for me was a mystery. I carried my boxes up the hill toward home. Patricia was driving down the hill. She stopped to offer me a ride and we talked about going to Daegu and Changwon. Then she went on and I went home. I put the groceries away. I looked all over the place for the paper with the pin number on it. When I found it, it was quite similar to what I had typed in. I did some tapping with an audio in today's e-mail. I walked to the secondary ATM to get cash for tomorrow. Instead, it told me the account was not authorized. So I went to the primary ATM. Same message. But the bank was open. So I went in and spoke to the teller. She checked and said we did not have a checking account, only a savings one. So I went back to the ATM and selected savings account. Then it gave me the cash I requested. I walked home. I brought in the food waste container (which must have been emptied sometime in the afternoon) . I tied the sofa ends together with twine. I cut a piece to use for securing a box on my rolling cart for tomorrow. I filled a bowl with hot soapy water and washed dishes. I minced several garlic cloves and added it to the hummus. I put some mystery berries in a coffee pot of water to make tea. I ate the rest of the celery with hummus. I looked at handmade ornaments online. I shredded some kohlrabi. Most of it went into a jar with the kimchi, which I cut up with scissors. Then I shredded one of the large Korean carrots. I mixed in leafy greens and small tomatoes and some red bell pepper. I put sesame oil and vinegar on it, then topped it with sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. I ate that while watching episodes of Sanford and Son. I cleaned off half of the dining room table and got out some fabric and my small cutting mat and Myra's ruler. I pulled out the drawing I had made of the wallhanging I had seen online. But I was unable to find three fabrics that fit the requirements for blending and contrast. I eliminated more e-mail. I partially assembled breakfast so I could be ready to go to Daegu by 8:30. I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* I didn't take any pictures today, so here is one of my ornament before I glued it together. *

Beautiful weather

I wore earplugs to bed last night and turned off the heater in the bedroom. That made it fairly quiet. But I kept waking up: either too hot or that restless leg feeling. I got up a little after the alarm and decided to have a coffee morning. I exercised and drybrushed. I boiled water for coffee. I listened to two audios: the first was just a sales pitch and the second sounded like preaching. After the detox, I made and ate breakfast. I put together an Old Navy order since the cyber Monday deal was so good. I got three long sleeved tops for $13, shipped. I dug up a brick from the paving in the front yard. I wrapped it in a plastic bag and took it to the post office. I was going to put the brick on top of the footstool so I would be tall enough to open the mailbox. Someone was using it to sit on to open a very low mailbox. While I waited, I bought stamps and mailed a car title. The staff offered to get my mail because the inspectors weren't here yet. I accepted. On the way back, I called Myra. I stopped by her place to talk and to borrow a square ruler. Then I went home to drop off my mail and the brick. I changed shoes, then met Myra by her apt, and we met Nela coming down from her place. We walked to Daiso, and saw fish being skinned alive in the market. We each got stuff at Daiso, mine included a yoga mat. Then we went to another housewares place and I got haircut scissors. The weather had been a glorious 70, but then the temperature dropped. I got cold so Myra lent me her jacket. We walked back to base, then we split up, and I came home. I found a paper in the door saying the power would be out from 9 to 5 on Wednesday. We had tentatively planned a trip to Daegu that day. I rinsed the nuts from breakfast and ate them. I read e-mail and spent way too long researching lypospheric GSH. Finally I placed an order. I ate two apples. I finished the turkey from Thanksgiving. I put on music from Youtube – a collection of tv show themes. I made hummus. But I couldn't find any garlic. I used some garlic powder, but it wasn't the same. I added some turmeric, which was good. But it really needed fresh garlic. So I left it in the blender container until I could get to the commissary. I made and refilled mixtures of seeds, and spices. I played another collection of TV show themes, stopping occasionally to look up a show or a cast member. Chris skyped me from DC, said he'd be working from Marie's house all day. I watched an episode of something with Nell Carter singing with Andy Gibb. Then I posted to my blog and went to bed (with earplugs).
* Here is a pic from the lunch after church *
Happy birthday to me
I'm now 53
This year I contrive
to look 35