Last massage

I had trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep. So when the alarm went off at 7:30, I got up.
I got dressed and went next door for two pitchers of Berkey water. I drank a quart of lemon water while looking at e-mail. Then I finished binding the QOV while listening to audios from the headache and migraine summit.
I had a piece of fabric that was ironed to two pieces of freezer paper. I had printed small quilt labels on it before. But it was in rough shape. So I ironed another piece of freezer paper to the bottom of it. I ran it through the printer to get an image of a quilt of valor label. It printed very nicely, but there were ink smudges near the printing. So frustrating. I tried to get the spots off with rubbing alcohol and then bleach, but neither one worked. I looked up ink removal online and someone recommended hand sanitizer. But that did not get the smudges off either. So I left it to dry.
I searched high and low for a particular fabric that I wanted to use for a QOV pillowcase. Chris asked me what I was looking for and I told him a piece of fabric was missing. There was a moment of silence and then he said “How can you tell?” Unable to find it, I had to choose another fabric. I made a pillowcase with red and blue fabrics. Then I gathered up a bag of old clothes that I was keeping for scraps. I threw some of it out.
I put my bag of chocolates in the freezer. I made and ate breakfast. The label was dry so I turned the edges under as far as I could so the smudges wouldn't be so noticeable. I ironed the edges to hold them down. Then I looked for label placement instructions on the QOV site but did not find any. I got out two little decorative boxes. I put a piece of cotton ball in each one. I took the two best pieces of chocolate and wrapped each one in plastic wrap. Then I covered them with another layer of cotton ball to keep them cold. I tied each box with a piece of the gold string that came with the package of boxes.
I filled a small container with Epsom salts. I put all the stuff in my market bag and went to my massage. The regular lady was not there. It was a different one who got the foot soak ready for me. I gave her the boxes to put in her fridge so they would not melt. She had to wake the man up three times before he came out to rub my feet. It was a good massage and I tried not to think about it being my last. When it was over, I took a pic of him and me together. I tried to explain that I was not coming back. He used his phone translation app and I used mine. Then the lady tried hers as well. He wanted to be my Facebook friend but his phone wouldn't do what he wanted. The lady tried to help, and then another lady came who spoke some English. I tried to explain that if he wrote his Facebook name for me that I would accept his friend request. But there was still some problem apparently. Then the first lady showed me her Facebook icon so I could accept her request when I got back to my laptop.
I finally went to market. I called Myra with a few questions. Then I made a deal on footies, although not as good a deal as I wanted. I went to the fabric booth and stocked up on 10 colors of seam binding. I found some oi, which is is their word for cucumber. I bought some in two places. But I could not find good lettuce. Either all the good lettuce was at the 5 day market, or the season was over. I stopped by two more markets on the way home and still no luck.
Then I stopped at Myra's house on the way up the hill. She handed me some nail polish remover so I could try it on the tape stuck to the wall. We talked for a little while. We said hello to Hakim as he was coming home from work.
Then I went home. I ate some watermelon, and laid down, hot and tired. Later I went out to water the plants. I came in to have some pork and rice and kimchi for supper; I jotted notes for my blog later. Chris washed three plums for each of us. We watched three episodes of The 100. Then he went to bed and I stayed up to take my evening supplements and post to my blog.

Mowing and sewing

I had trouble sleeping last night. It was not unusual. But, at some point just after the first rays of dawn, sleeping got a lot easier. Although I awoke several times after that, I was drowsy enough to go back to sleep. So I took advantage and did. I slept until 9:30.
I covered my hair with a chunk of thawed conditioner that I made last year. I put a shower cap over my hair so it would not get on the couch. I drank a quart of water while checking e-mail. Then I got dressed and took off the shower cap. I mowed our lawn and Dynee's lawn. Terri stopped by, while walking her dogs. I stopped mowing and showed her the gardening stuff I wanted to get rid of. She promised to take all but the plastic plant pots.
I finished mowing, and took a shower, rinsing off the coconut milk conditioner. I was sweating and could not dry off fast enough to get dressed. So I ate some seed crackers while the sweating receded. Then I got dressed. I watered Dynee's plants in back of her house because I had seen them wilting when I mowed her back yard.
I picked up all the stuff I had set aside for sewing class. I brought my rolling cart, too. I went to Housing for sewing class. There were fewer ladies today. I handed out all the remaining ornaments. I worked on the QOV while watching So Young and talking to Lacee. I explained to So Young as she worked on the class project that the fabric needed to advance at only the rate of the feed dogs and not to help them. Myra told me later that So Young was still rushing the fabric through.
The ladies were shocked to hear how soon we are leaving. The decision was made not to have a trip to Daegu next week but to have class instead.
Maria the treasurer came with her two little boys. I asked her about turning the FRG cash into checks for donations and she said the bank would charge us for it. I spoke to Monica of the Navy Ball committee about donating FRG funds for childcare. She left early with me and came to my house where I gave her the leftover cups, spoons and coffee stirrers. Then she left with the boxes for a committee meeting. Perfect.
I ate a lot of watermelon, and checked e-mail. I listened to audios from the headache summit. I made and ate breakfast. Then I started bagging up things in the sewing room. I remember talking to Myra, but I don't remember why I called her.
Some of the stuff in the corner of the sewing room felt damp. I hung them up to dry. I bagged stuff from the drawers, mostly craft stuff and lace and ribbon. I looked up how to remove sticky stuff, and tried to get double-sided tape off of the wall above the mantle. I tried peanut butter, and alcohol, and a hair dryer. None of it worked.
It was getting late so I went outside to water the potted plants, and trim the hedges. I got the electric wand and caused major casualties to the mosquito population.
When I came in, I ate a can of stewed tomatoes. I jotted notes for my blog as Chris cued up The 100. We watched three episodes. Then Chris went to bed and as usual, I stayed up to write down all that happened today, so far as I can remember.

Getting my sewing stuff ready to pack

I had a hard time sleeping through the night. The sounds from the AC kept waking me up, as well as my unstable internal temperature control. When I finally got up, it was after 8. I got dressed and read e-mail. I drank a quart of water.
At first I sewed binding on the second Quilt of Valor while watching a video from the headache summit. I decided to save it for class tomorrow. Then I watched a video on wrist exercises for ganglion cysts.
I was sewing scraps of batting into squares (in case we needed them for class), when Myra called. She said she was just checking in on me. She was taking a break from quilting. She was upset that we are leaving. But the way I figure it, a good job will come up in Alabama and being there and able to start immediately will tip the balance in Chris' favor.
Later I realized that she and I had planned to go out today, but I forgot and I guess she was busy.
While organizing and packing I played a video that was supposed to be 5 hours long. I stopped it when Chris came home for lunch. He had a paper from Housing detailing all the stuff they expect us to do before we leave- like trimming the bushes, spackling holes in the walls, cleaning all marks from the walls and doors, cleaning the oven hood, damp mop floors and shampoo carpets and upholstery, etc. Since I'm pretty sure they intend to replace the carpets like they have done for all the other empty units, I am not going to worry about the carpet.
While I was organizing fabric in the sewing room, I found something that might belong to Myra. So I called her, but she said she was pretty sure she already had it. I put carefully folded slinky fabrics into bags to keep them folded. I took a break to eat a cucumber. I put some of it on my cyst to keep it cool, then did more sorting. I took another break to listen to another audio from headache summit. I wrote a synopsis of an open window file so I could close it. My laptop was getting slow, so I rebooted it.
I went outside to check the plants. I pulled dead leaves from the geraniums and picked three cherry tomatoes. I brought the ornaments in from the shed, hoping to pass them all out tomorrow in class.
I re-folded all the green and orange fabrics. I packed my specialty rotary rulers in a bin. I rolled up decorative papers into tubes to protect them during the move.
I found a strip of leftover fabric that matched my rolling cart bag. I doubled it to make it wider, then sewed the strip onto my rolling cart bag to cover the one that did not match.
I washed three plums and ate one. Chris ate the other two. We watched two episodes of Travelers, then season 1 ran out and for some reason season 2 was not available. So then we finished our evening with one episode of The 100.
Chris went to bed. I stayed up to finish up, then went to bed myself.
* a bush we saw on our walk to the market on Saturday. *

The movie vs reality?

I turned on the ceiling fan and lowered the temp in our room last night. But I still had hot flashes and did not sleep well. Chris didn't, either.
He got up extra early. I saw him sitting at the dining room table at 7 and went back to bed. When I got up again, he had left for work. The bump on my wrist was larger than yesterday. I was mildly alarmed and took a pic of it.
It was a typical Monday meditation coffee morning – at least up until the power went out. It did not bother me that much since I was just tapping anyway. And it came back on 10 minutes later. But before I had finished, Chris came home early for lunch. The electricity in his office building was still out and the locks wouldn't open and he was not able to get back into his office.
I cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms while he ate lunch. After he left, I made and ate breakfast. The lump was smaller and I didn't know why. Nevertheless, I was glad about that.
I washed up and went to Terri's house. Her dogs were there and Lulu growled at me. I don't know why. Terri made us some almond milk and ginger tea. We had a nice chat. She said she would take all my unwanted gardening stuff. She showed me stuff her husband is working on. Then the Housing people came to fix her AC, so she shut the dogs in one of the bedrooms. I took my leave so she could talk to the men.
I walked home in the rain. I worked on sections of the QOV hashtag quilt. I wanted to get it ready to work on for Wednesday, when I can cut but probably not sew. I also organized the scraps of the previous QOV so next time I saw them I would know what they were and could use them for a future QOV.
I had some pork and kimchi for supper, as well as a cucumber. I read e-mail as I ate. Chris wanted to start watching TV early because it was a 3 hour movie. He made a mixer-bowl full of popcorn. Then we watched The Last Emperor, courtesy of Netflix. It is a shame it took so long to get the DVD, because I wanted to compare it with what we were told in China. But now I don't remember. Chris says we saw the movie together a long time ago, but I didn't remember it at all.
Chris went to bed and I stayed up to blog. I had written nothing during the day, so I had to try to remember it all at the end.
* Some interesting flowers we saw on Saturday. *

We are not alone

I got up a little early and noticed Chris was already up. I drank lemon water and checked e-mail. He got dressed and went to church. Around 10 I took a shower and put on a dress and nice shoes. I had a bite to eat. Then I called up the chapel Facebook page and watched the Protestant service live. Someone else was watching, too. But during the sermon, the chaplains mike kept cutting out. Whoever the second person was, they gave up. I stuck it out, as frustrating as it was. When the service was over, I messaged the chapel so they would know about the short in the microphone.
I changed clothes and we went to the commissary. We shopped and came home. I brought in the food waste container, but Chris took it out back to dry out. We put the groceries away. Chris put pork in the oven to cook. I read e-mail for awhile. I looked up urim and thummim because the chaplain had mentioned them in the sermon as something God had the early priests put in their breastplates to help with decision-making.
Then I felt sleepy, so I went into my sewing room to clean. But instead I started sewing. I put strips together and cut blocks from the sets. It was a project I had brought from Huntsville to work on and just got around to it.
Then I took a break outside. I put Miracle-gro in 5 milk jugs of water and fertilized all of my plants and Dynee's plants. I did some trimming and pulled weeds. I also staked some tomatoes that were falling over and picked three.
Then I decided to work on QOV. I cut some strips, but the math was not working out well for efficient use. I looked up the QOV requirements. I needed to wash the quilt, make a pillowcase for it, and create a label. I composed one on the laptop and sent it to the desktop for printing, but did not get around to it.
The pork came out of the oven and we each had a bowl of it with rice. I had some with kimchi. Then Chris wanted to start watching TV early.
So, we saw like 5 episodes of Travelers. I had hot flashes and chewed on ice. Off and on we heard crunching noises from the laundry room. But each time I walked over there, the noise would stop. After the last episode, I went over and the crunching continued. Chris pointed to a square cover in the ceiling. I suggested he open it, so he got the small folding steps and opened the cover. Whatever it was, must have run off because all we could see was tin foil around the edge and rafters above. So he put it back.
Chris went to bed, leaving his laptops on because one was talking to the other. I stayed up to post to my blog and hope the crunching would not keep me awake.

Sweating at the five-day market

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I stayed up late again doing Sudoku before going to bed. I turned on the ceiling fan in the bedroom and lowered the thermostat to 24. In the cool room, I slept fairly well. But apparently Chris did not. He was gone when I woke up. He had been in the guest room trying not to wake me up and then he got on his laptop.
I had thrown a packet of raspberry tea in a pitcher of water. I poured out a quart and squeezed some lemon in it and drank it. I ate some seed crackers with hummus and raw garlic. I checked e-mail and listened to an audio.
Chris went to work to clean out his office. I tried to print out a spread sheet of stuff we shipped when we moved here. But I had to send it to the old laptop to be able to work with it. I deleted things I did not care about, then sent it to the desktop so I could print it. I also sat down and typed a thankyou note to Myra. I was going to write it in a card, but it got long and wouldn't fit so I just printed it out and put the paper in the card. I made and ate breakfast.
I called Myra several times and messaged her on Facebook. She answered about 1pm. I asked if she wanted to go to the 5-day market, and she did. So I threw the laundry in the dryer and started another load. 10 minutes later I met her by her house. I gave her the card and the leftover facepaints. Then we headed out.
I needed to walk, so we decided to walk to the market and take the bus back. We thought we would take a back route but that did not work well. We ended up walking nearly the same route as the time we walked to the party store. I guess all the blind alleys force foot traffic in that direction.
Anyway, we got there. She said she didn't need anything, but she bought plums and peppers and cucumbers and such. I got almonds and cacao nibs, but did not find the footies I was looking for. I also got some dried fruit and pineapple.
We walked to the bus station, dripping with sweat from the muggy heat. We had to wait for the bus and I ate some of the pineapple chunks. Then we board the bus and it dropped us off by the main gate. We walked uphill to her place, and I continued on to mine.
Chris was back and folding laundry. I ate some chicken and kimchi and dried fruit. Then I did some Sudoku. When I put that down, I decided to watch the remainder of the episode of Travelers that I had started days ago. When Chris caught wind of it, he said he would watch it with me if I started it over again. But he was still eating supper. So I watched a couple of shorter videos until he was ready.
Then we watched 4 episodes. I was happy about the lack of bad words and gore. But the story for some reason was not as compelling as The 100.
Chris went to bed and I stayed up to blog, as usual.
* A pic from the market - a selection of fungi and flowers. Perhaps a medicinal plant stand? *

Starting to pack

I stayed up too last last night trying to catch up on Sudoku, which I haven't done in a month. I was hoping it would help me sleep, but when I went to bed, I still laid awake. I turned on the fan and lowered the thermostat, but I still kept having hot flashes and waking up.
I heard Chris' alarm go off and he got up and went to work early for his 5am call.
I dozed on and off until I decided just to get up. It was 20 after 8 and raining. I checked my e-mail and there was one from Chris saying that unless he gets a formal job offer in the next 10 days, we are going back to Huntsville. Good news for me, but not for him, or rather, not for his career.
I wanted to go next door for Burkey water, but it was raining and I didn't want to track mud on her floor. So I got some water from the shower filter and drank that with a squeeze of lemon.
I got dressed and moved my laptop to the side chair. I read a few more e-mails waiting for my tapping buddy to skype me. When she did, we tapped on my issues and then talked. We were on for about 2 hours and I felt better.
We had coffee and creamer and bottles of shaved ice syrup in FRG boxes in our shed. Myra said to throw all the food items away. So I took the coffee from the FRG stores in our shed and sprinkled it over the flowerbeds. I put the bottles in the trash. I asked Chris if I should sprinkle the creamer over the flowerbeds or throw it out and he took it to work after lunch.
I poured the lemonade from the pitcher into an empty water jug. I added the rest of the thawed lemonade to it and wrote Kelsey's name on it. I put the Keurig coffee pot and coffee cup holder in a bag for Kelsey. I also put in one FRG Christmas ornament.
I did some more tapping, to accept the situation as it is without trying to change it.
I called Christine to ask if she wanted the costumes. She came by and I gave her the costumes and the cups and stuff that the FRG inherited from the PTO. She was glad to get it for the CYP and I was glad to have it out of my shed. I put the FRG notebooks together in order, though no one will care now.
I played my trombone one last time and then packed it up. I filed the music with the other books of music. I pulled out the fading flowers from the lemon bouquet.
I searched my old laptop for the moving lists I made when I packed to move here. I had added to the lists the stuff I wished I had brought as well. So it is a great resource. I could not find it on the old laptop, but I was able to locate the set of lists on my new laptop because Chris backed it up. I wanted to print them out but how to do that from a laptop?
I spent the afternoon cleaning up around the house; mostly moving stuff from one room to another so when it all gets packed, similar objects will be together. As I picked up fabric scraps, I cut them into usable shapes and grouped them together.
Chris came home from work a little early. He played the game on his laptop while I scurried around, organizing.
At 5:35, we carried the coffee maker and the lemonade to Security. No one answered the door. Chris tried another door while I stood inside the first one. I waited. Finally he came back and said to just leave the lemonade on the chair. So I did. We walked to the theater and bought tickets, then entered the auditorium.
The movie started late due to technical problems. But then we settled in to watch Wonder Woman. The lead actress was absolutely beautiful, and looked just like one of the wives on base. The movie was somewhat interesting but so unbelievable. And sadly, violent. I had to close my eyes a few times. When it was over, we sat through all the credits in case there was one last scene, but there wasn't.
After a bathroom break, we walked home. I cut up a cucumber and ate it while we watched one episode of The 100. Still gory. He went back to his laptop. Then we went to bed early because he got up so early. After he went to sleep, I got up again to write to my blog.
* I didn't take any pics today, so here is one from sewing class. *