Sunday

It is going to be hot today.  Maybe not by most people's standards, but for Pinedale.  The temp at the airport at noon is 81° and my outdoor sensor says it's 80°.  I know that's not hot to my desert dwelling friends.  I took the fan out of the closet and turned it on.

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This beautiful oil painting of the Tetons is down the hall from me, by the dining room door.  I think the artist is Nethercott. There is so much artwork hanging in the halls of this place it boggles my mind.  My hall seems to be mostly large jigsaw puzzles that have been framed under glass.

 

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I'm in trouble.  There's a nice selection of books in the lounge room down the hall.  I browsed through them while waiting to use the dryer in the laundry room.  And of course I brought two books back to the room. I found a book I have been looking for, "Island".  I read it years ago and wanted to read it again.  It is by the same man who wrote "Jaws". I hope I can remember how to hold a book and turn pages, after reading so much on my Kindle.

 

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I have been attempting to experiment with the gluten free flour with poor results.  Alice, if you are wanting muffins or biscuits while you are here, please bring your own.  Also, I have a few pounds of gluten free flour I will give you! 

 





Saturday

I am disenchanted with the wildlife here.  I don't know what kind of bird it is, but it is loud and sits outside my window and sings the same song, over, and over, and over, and over again.  Aren't all good birds supposed to be busy feeding their babies? I am calling this a "dead beat" bird. 

And I have another wasp in the living room window.  I know wasps can get into very tight spaces, and they are getting inside.  This is the third one, or maybe it's the same one who keeps coming back through a tiny hole, looking for a place to build a nest.  I have been putting a glass over them, trapping them, and turning them loose outside. 

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o

 

Does anyone remember their kids making Melmac plates?  We used to order a kit, which came with round drawing paper and special markers.  After the design was finished, you sent them into the factory and got these great plates back.  Tracy made nine of them, and I still have them.  (Just warning you, Tracy, they are going to Colorado with you!)

 

The top one shows Tracy and me, and our dog Jemima, in front of the trailer house we lived in when I first came to Pinedale.

 

The other plate shows my parents' Winnebago motor home, and their Boston Terrier, Louie.

 

 



Friday

Barrie left the garage door open yesterday so I could get in the house.  I went up and brought back a few things - clean shirts and hangers, some spices, a few books, drawing materials, a tripod, etc.  I thought it was just a few things, but it still took me two trips from the pickup to get it all in the apartment.

I was up and down the stairs at the house three times.  Then when I got ready to leave, I found I had left my glasses somewhere in the house.  So I made yet another trip up and down two flights of stairs. 

 

 Barrie took this picture for me when she was in Montana.  This is Toston, a little town off the Interstate where we once were run out of town by packs of dogs.  The town looks pretty well deserted, lots of old buildings, and we only saw one person. I remember that turquoise house in the background.  It was one of the few buildings in town that looked like someone lived there, and one of the few buildings that was painted. Barrie said she didn't see one dog when she drove through town!

Barrie said Jeremy's house wasn't very big.  It looks big to me - there are two couches in the living room, a recliner chair, two big dog kennels, and a monster dog -- and it doesn't even look crowded.

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A very irritating bird was outside my window yesterday.  He didn't sing, he didn't chirp, he just had a sharp, shrill whistle.  And he whistled all day long.  I sure hope he doesn't come back today.

 

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I brought some gluten free wheat flour, hoping I could make something my sister-in-law can eat while they're here.  I'm not sure how it's going to work.  Sounds like I need to add some chemical to it?  Guess I'll do some research on it today.

 

 

 



Wednesday

The Activities Director here knocked on my door yesterday and asked me when my birthday was.  Why do I have qualms about telling her?  What do they do to you on your birthday here?

Many, many years ago when I was in college, the girls in my dorm all ate in the dormitory cafeteria.  They always had a special desert for monthly birthdays.  So I thought I was being clever, and held up my hand when they asked who had a birthday in October.  My birthday is in January.  Everyone else got yummy strawberry shortcake for desert.  Those of us with October birthdays got a dried up brownie, on which the cook had mistakenly sprinkled flour instead of powdered sugar.

Maybe that's why I still have a problem telling anyone when my birthday is.

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I stayed for lunch at Rendezvous Pointe after art group today.  They had some soup that was unique and delicious.  It was apple/bacon/tomato soup.

I worked some on the pencil drawing of the wild horse, and am not sure how to finish it.  He was a dapple gray stud, so had some faint markings on him.  He also had lots of scars from fighting, making him look like an Appaloosa.  I don't know how much of the marks to put on him.  I guess that's why they invented erasers. 

There were three girls out behind the kitchen when I left this morning, on a cigarette break.  I visited with them a bit.  I quit smoking many years ago, and I love the smell of cigarette smoke, especially when it's outdoors.  I just don't like the smell when it penetrated into photo albums or books thirty years ago. 

 

Teachers can be so narrow minded!

 

 

Tuesday

I'm afraid I'm not fitting into the retirement community very well.  Yesterday the woman who lives across the hall caught me and told me I missed the ice cream social.  That they have an ice cream social after Bingo, and everyone comes. 

The woman who is in the apartment next to me told me I should eat some meals in the dining room, because that is how the people here get to know each other.

And this morning a girl knocked on my door and told me today is the day residents go out for lunch, and wondered if I would be joining them.  I was making pancakes at the time.

I'm not really anti-social.  Well, maybe a little.  But I am busy arranging pictures on the wall (still), looking for things I know I put away somewhere logical, reading, and drawing.  Now that I have my table for watercolor, I am trying to set things up so I will actually use it. 

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Bill and Alice will be here Monday to visit for a day.  They are on their way to Idaho for their granddaughter's wedding.  (Nicki)  The wedding is Saturday.

 

 And this is Nicki and David.

 

And here are Hadley and Sophie.  Hadley is hers, Sophie is his.  Pretty darned cute, huh?  They are excited they are going to be sisters.

 





Monday

I thought the skies looked like we would have rain today, but I guess not.  The forecast says a 20% or 30% chance of rain.  Not too promising.

I cashed all the checks I got from the things I sold, and forgot one check.  So I went to the bank with it this morning.  I got behind a pickup at one of the drive through lines, and waited and waited.  Finally they turned the "closed" sign on.  The pickup gave no indication of moving, so I backed up and got behind the truck in the other line.  Finally got the check cashed, and it only took 45 minutes!!  I guess I should have just parked in front and gone in.

When I drove by the Food Basket today, it looked like someone had cleaned out four or five houses and left everything there.  My poor friend Judi will work herself to death finding a place for it all.  The couches and chairs looked like nice ones, and there was much more.

I'm still working on lists of things I want from the house - all small items, but things I should have. 

 

Paul and Tracy are camping at Steamboat Lake, and she sent me this picture of Daisy after a hard day of hiking, fishing, and being harassed by deer.

Sunday

Barrie brought me two more loads of stuff yesterday -- two trunks, picture mats, the Christmas Cactus, folding table for painting, photo paper, my laundry,and things to hang on the wall.  The more things I put in it, the smaller the place gets.   But I think I've got all the furniture I wanted.

 

The cat liked sitting on this table, so she is not happy the Christmas Cactus is here.  She has nice wide window sills to sit in, though, so she'll survive. 

 

 



This is one of the trunks Barrie brought, along with the pine needle basket and the Navajo rug. My mother made the basket years ago.  That woman had more crafts than I can count.

The trunk dismayed me.  I had forgotten what was in it.  It has at least three quilt tops, all put together with the backing and batting, ready to be quilted.  What was I thinking?  The other trunk has finished quilts - five or six of them.  It's in the bedroom.

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Mandy L. was just here, doing the weekend resident check - to see if I'm still kicking, I guess.  I asked her about the guy who usually does it and wondered why he was always wearing rubber gloves.  She said he's got a germ phobia, and even wears rubber gloves while he folds clean laundry.  We both chuckled over it.

 



Saturday

What a beautiful day today.  Sun is shining, it is not hot, and the wind is not blowing.  (Not yet, anyway.)

I don't have any quilt fabric left, and I have a couple quilt tops that need to be put together and quilted by someone other than me.  But I did decide to finish this quilt.  It is quilted, the binding has been sewn on, and all that is left is the hand work.  So I am working on it. 

 

This is the "Drunkard's Path" pattern, made of assorted calico print fabric.

 

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I mentioned to Tracy that towels and sheets took up a lot of drawer space in my dresser.  She said "Don't you have a linen closet of something?"  Yes, I have a wonderful linen closet.  It has four big shelves, and two deep drawers.  And it is filled with art supplies and food.  Ridiculous, isn't it?

 

 



Friday

The apartment was cleaned yesterday, and I did my laundry last night.  Not much else to say.

I've been forgetting to mention the fire drills they have here.  They had one last week.  The instructions are to stay in your apartment, and if you need to leave the building, someone will come notify you.  Strange way to conduct a fire drill, but they don't want us out in the hallway because if the firemen are here, we might get run over or knocked down.  Okay.

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Tracy called yesterday and we had a nice long visit.  She wasn't at work, she was home supervising the construction.  The electrician was there.  They are getting a completely new kitchen.

 

This is what their kitchen used to look like.

 

This is what it looked like after the first layer had been removed.



And this is down to the bare wall.

 

The new cabinets are stacked in the garage.

She is getting all new stainless steel appliances and is switching from an electric stove to a gas one.  Pretty exciting.  In the meantime, she's not doing much cooking!

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Well, I'll be darned!  I didn't know Calvin lived in Pinedale!





Wednesday

Whew!  Hard day today!  I decided to take my little shopping thing on wheels and go to Ridley's after art group today.  Got carried away, and it took two trips packing stuff into the apartment.  I didn't need that many groceries, but I always have this feeling that I might not be back for quite a while.  I know that comes from living 50 miles or so from the nearest store so many years of my life!

Only 5 of us at art group this morning, but we had visitors stop in and visit.  Some days are like that.  Dee C came in to visit with two of her grandkids, and Hugh and his wife spent some time visiting with us.  Hugh painted with us last year until winter arrived and drove them back to Tucson.  He will be back to paint next week.

Judi has cleared out about half of our magazine collection.  Yeah Judi!  None of the rest of us have the nerve to throw things out, but I am getting better at it.

Barrie plans to move more of my things out of the house this weekend, so I should be able to get permanently settled in here.  And might have more than three shirts!

Who remembers this guy on TV?  Yes, he turned mistakes into birds, and painted "happy trees."

 



Tuesday

 

Ah, the new battery is in the clock, and it is hanging on the living room wall.  Took a while to get the chimes synched with the time.  Love the Westminster chimes.  If Barrie was here, she would turn them off in a minute!

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I usually turn the TV on once or twice a day and flip through channels to see if there is anything to watch.  This morning, "The Dirty Dozen" was on, and I thought I'd watched it.  (I had missed the beginning.)  I checked on Amazon to see if it was available on Instant Video and found it is a prime movie, which means it is free.  So I put it on my "watch list" and turned the TV off.  I've never been able to watch the soaps, but maybe I should give it a try. And there are the judge shows.  Love that nasty Judge Judy!

 

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While listening to my iPod yesterday, the Kingston Trio playlist came up, and I listened to the song about the Boston MTA.  You know the one, where they increased the price and poor Charley has to ride forever beneath the streets of Boston because he can't get off the train.  His wife goes to the station each day and hands him a sandwich as the train goes through.  Now this has bothered me for years.  Why the heck didn't his wife hand him a nickel instead of a sandwich so he could get off the darned train?

 



Monday

Barrie had a wonderful trip to Montana, saw lots of old friends, and started to make arrangements for moving her kennel up there.  She even checked out one school in Helena, but she said no one was there but a janitor. 

I'm VERY happy for her, and excited that she is moving on with her life. 

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If Kat had a thumb, she would be thumbing her nose at me.  She started sleeping in this chair, so I put the footstool in the chair to discourage her.  This is the way she dealt with it. 

I later took the footstool out and put her round cat bed in the chair.  Last night, she curled up in the cat bed and seemed happy.

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I'm waiting to receive the C battery I ordered for the big clock.  It was on the wall, but wouldn't run.  It's on the floor, still chiming on the hour - - - -it's just not the right hour.

 



Saturday

 

Another colored pencil drawing I just completed.  I took this little guy's picture in Shoshoni a few years ago. 

 

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I posted a new blog yesterday, but now it is gone?????

 

 

I got the new ink cartridges for the printer yesterday and put them in - and the printer wouldn't work.  It worked the day before with the old cartridges, just printed out ugly color.  I downloaded a new driver, did all kinds of resetting, unplugging and plugging back in, etc.  Finally a message came up on the screen that no ink cartridges were detected, and told me to check and make sure they were installed, and that I had pulled off the plastic tape.  Duh!  Yeah, I had forgotten that little step. 

 

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Listening to Alaska's Hobo Jim on my iPod right now.  Good music!  Now playing, "The Iditarod Trail".

 

I had the cable TV turned on, and I will probably cancel it.  I have yet to find anything to watch on it, and I hate the commercials.  I have two DVD's here to watch that have been loaned to me, about a man who moved to Alaska and built a cabin in the wilderness and lived there.

 

 

 

 

 



Thursday

My life is sure uninteresting.  Even the cat is bored.  She is finally relaxing here enough to "cat nap" during the day.  I guess she'll survive the move.

 

Linda returned from parts unknown to paint with us yesterday at art group.  She and Laurinda are going through the machine embroidery thread I took in for them to share.

The girl came to clean my apartment today and launder the bedding and towels.  It's kind of a strange feeling --- I've never had my house cleaned before.  Except for when I hurt my foot and Barrie spoiled me for a while.  I could get used to this!

I did a load of laundry last night.  Someone was using the normal washing machine, so I tried to use the big front loader, which looked like it came from the Jetsons.  I never saw so many buttons and flashing lights.  At least it didn't talk to me.  Some woman from an apartment down the hall helped
me, and between the two of us, I guess I ended up with clean clothes.

 

I've been working on this colored pencil drawing of a chipmunk for some time, and today I'm calling it finished.

 



 

Wednesday

I went to art group this morning, and Kat seemed to do okay on her own.  When I walked down the hall to do laundry the other day, I could hear her meowing in the room.  But today she seems to be settled down.  Can't say the same for the computer, however.  All of a sudden, I can't create a new folder.  I Googled the problem, and it seems a lot of people have the same problem but no one had a solution that would fix it.  How do computers do that to themselves?  Or did Kat do it while I was gone?

My solution -- copy an existing folder and delete everything in it.  Then rename the folder to what you want.  Kind of a round about way, but it works.



 

This morning I opened the top drawer of my bedside stand, and guess what I found?  I found the clean socks I have been missing (after I bought some new ones) and also found these little items which I have been missing.  The little vase was made by a friend of mine who was in the Seedskadee Artisans Guild with me.  The little glass bluebird was a gift from a kindergartner years ago.  I'm sure glad I found them - and had them stashed away so safely.

 

 

 Also found these charger plugs for cameras, hand held scanner, and something else I'm not sure of right now.  But I'm sure it's for something important, and I was glad to find them.

 

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I'm making hamburger buns (dough cycle on the bread machine.)  It's easier to make them than it is to go to Ridley's to buy them.  I'll never make hamburgers as good as Barrie makes, but I'm going to try.



Tuesday

 

I got all the DVDs in the rack yesterday.  Shall I alphabetize them?  (That's a joke.)

The little blue sign on the wall says "wall".  I found it among some books.  It's a joke for my friend Heidi from the days we taught kindergarten together.  You had to be there.  I took this picture for her.  The "no whining" sign was also a gift from Heidi.

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I did my laundry Sunday.  The laundry room is just down the hall and around a corner.  It's a very nice room, and nice machines. 

 

Kevin worked hard to get my big clock on the wall, and then it stopped.  I tried to take it down and ended up pulling the screw out of the wall and leaving a hole.  I'll put a new battery in it, and have Barrie bring the nail, or screw, or whatever I had hanging it up at home. 

 

The lady in the apartment next to me heard me hammering, and came over to check on me to see if I was alright.  She was afraid I was banging on the wall for help.  That was nice of her, but it's going to take a while for me to get used to people being around so close.  Guess I'm going to have to get dressed in the mornings~

 

And there is one thing I am missing about the house.  I miss the sound of all the frogs

Monday

 

This nest building is hard work!  Kevin, the guy in charge of housekeeping, hung my clock, a metal horse, and three paintings for me today.  He would have done more, but I'm still undecided where to put everything.

 

He also took the boxes I had piled up by the door.

Barrie brought the printer cart yesterday and I got the printer set up.  It did a beautiful job  on a document, but a lousy job on a photo.  There is a separate ink cartridge for photos.  I presume you use it in place of the tri color cartridge, so I ordered one today.  If it won't print decent photos, I may keep the old HP printer, and make my brother and his wife take this one!!

Barrie also got the CD storage rack put together for me, so I got all the DVDs organized.  I have dozens of music CDs at the house, but it's for sure I'm not bringing them here!

Barrie is on her way to Montana in my truck, hauling her 8 ft. Philodendron.  (It took me 15 minutes to get that word spelled!)

Saturday

 

What do you do when you are sick and tired of trying to find a place to stash art supplies?  You get some of them out and paint a picture.  This only took about 45 minutes, at the most.  Pretty simplistic, but it's the first watercolor I've done in over a month.

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I finally got something hung on the wall.  My mother got me the Navajo weaving of the corn people years ago.  The petroglyphs are done on a very light weight material that looks like rock.  I found them online some time ago.

 

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Kat is not a happy camper.  She wants to go home, I guess.  All of a sudden she won't calm down at night, and she prowls around meowing softly.  Today I opened the door to the hallway and she shot out.  I put her back in the apartment, and she stayed at the door, wanting out. 

 

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I woke up at 6:00 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep.  I finally got up, got dressed, made the bed, made some coffee, and got some watercolors out and painted.  Bet I take a nap today!

 

Barrie was just here.  She brought me the form from the post office to have my mail forwarded.  She has to work today to train a girl who will be taking her place at work next week.  Kasey is in Evanston with her dad.

 

Barrie remembered to put the saddle on the front porch for Tracy's dad to pick up.  And she is going to take the desktop computer with her and maybe the scanner.  She also has the darned 8ft. plant to get to Montana.  That's all she's planning to take this trip.  Later, she will be moving the kennel and all the dogs, and also all her things.  I feel like we'll never get that house cleaned out, but she's not worried.

 

 

 







Lost Tooth

4

 

The long awaited event!  Kasey lost her first tooth! Barrie put in in a small box under Kasey's pillow.  When she went to look for it after Kasey was asleep, she couldn't find it.  I guess it was a long night for Barrie, but everything turned out alright.

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Yay!  Barrie brought me a few clean shirts this morning, my purse and a sheet set so I'll have a set for the couch. She also brought me some small nails and picture hanging hooks.  That didn't go well at all.  I now have a few tiny holes in the wall where I hung my moccasins and  feathers, and didn't like them in that place.  Maybe I'll wait for another day to hang some things. Or maybe I better hang the large things first, and then decide where to put the little stuff.  I have lots of wall space!

 

I decided to try the cable TV and had it turned on.  I got the TV programmed this morning to pick up the available channels, and kind of browsed through them.  Some news, some talk shows, and of course commercials.  I don't know if I'll watch it, but really want to be able to watch things like the NFR, The Kentucky Derby, to name a couple.

 



Thursday

I just met the girl who will be cleaning my apartment every week.  She is a little 4 ft-something girl from China.  She carries a little electronic translator with her. I would guess her to be about 16, but she is 41 and has an 11 year old son in China. Don't know what the story is about her being here, but if I understand correctly, she will be going home soon.  I can't even pronounce her name.

Went down the hallway to check my mailbox.  Nothing there, but then I haven't left a forwarding address at the post office yet.  I met Kevin, the head of housekeeping, in the hallway.  He said he would come to see me soon to talk about the rules.  He made me feel a little like I was a kid in school. 

The view out my living room window.  If you know me, you  know that quakies are my favorite trees.  Love them!

 

Another view out my windows.  Nice, huh?

 



Wednesday

I may be in new surroundings, but all I have to do is look out the window to know I am still in Pinedale.  This pile of moose turds was on the lawn in front of my window yesterday.

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I'm not sure where Barrie found all the things she put in my kitchen cupboards.  I had grits yesterday morning.  And somehow, a bunch of blueberry muffins got in my freezer.  They made a good breakfast.

 

This morning I got the cat box, and litter tucked away behind the bathroom door.  Well, it's behind the door when the door is open.  There's a door that leads to the hallway there, and it makes a little nook just right for the cat stuff.  The door's not used. Also poured the new sack of cat food into the big can.  One more little corner organized.

 

I went through some of the things I have put away.  All my chargers are missing - for my phone and camera batteries, anyway.  Where ever they are, they are together.  I hope they're still at the house.

 



Tuesday

Took a shower in my new place this morning, and I don't have any soap.  Oh well, shampoo will work.  When I started to get ready for bed Sunday night, I realized I didn't have any clothes - not a stitch!  Barrie to the rescue, again!

The bed looks great in the new apartment.  This is an old iron bed I found in  one of the abandoned buildings by my house.  I took it to a body shop in Big Piney to have them sand blast it and paint it white.  When I got a mattress for it, we discovered the rails had broken off at some time in the past, and someone had welded them on wrong so the mattress would fall through.  My brother came up with a solution and made me a plywood platform in two sections that fit over the railings, and the mattress rests on that.  Genius brother!

 

 The rest of the bedroom doesn't look so good!

Monday

Monday!  I know I have worked at least two full days in the apartment.  I've actually made a dent in things.

 

Looks like I bought a lot of food when I wasn't even looking!  Thank you, Barrie, for moving stuff and for grocery shopping for me!



 

Boxes, Boxes, and more boxes!   Barrie brought some more things today and hauled all these empty ones off.  Barrie and KC brought the cat yesterday.  I guess they had quite a rodeo, and Barrie had a few wounds.  She said later, I am delighted to all this for you, Mom, except that f----ing cat!"  No love lost there.

I left Kat in the pet carrier for an hour or two.  She came out and went right under the bed.  She's explored quite a bit, but still doesn't feel comfortable.  Right now she's in the corner behind the TV stand.  Barrie brought the cable I need to hook the TV up to cable.  Haven't tried it yet, but I know the DVD player works.

She also brought the router, so I am on the Internet again.  Wires and cords are almost unmanageable!





Sunday

I sold the antique hutch I had in the dining room.  I just posted it in the morning, and someone came and took it in the afternoon. Yay, one more big heavy thing gone

 

Here  is the picture KC drew.  I meant to post it yesterday.  I think it would look great on the refrigerator door in my apartment.

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No phone at the house yesterday, but we still have Internet (DSL).  Who can figure.  Maybe I won't have Internet at the apartment.  I'll find out today.

 

Plan to catch the cat today, put her in a carrier, and go to the new apartment.  We will spend the night there.  I have to get the litter box cleaned.  I have another load of things upstairs for Barrie to take.  So many little things right now, and I am running out of steam.  But now I see an end in sight.  Unless Barrie quits on me, that is!

 



I didn't go to the apartment either yesterday or today.  Barrie says it is ready for me to move in, she even made the bed.  And she is buying groceries for me right now.

She also said there is not space for me to put the FoodSaver on top of the microwave like I do here, so I guess I won't take it.   I'm also getting a new, smaller, coffee pot.  The 12 cup one is too big.  It fits under the cabinets, but you can't open it to put water in without moving it.

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Saturday

 

Where shall I sleep tonight?

 



Things are looking pretty serious around here.  Barrie has worked her tail off getting me moved.  I thought I was going to go work in the apartment today, but she is moving more today and needs the pickup.  I still have plenty of sorting and piling to do here.

 

Duke came to help Barrie move the mattress.  The table and chairs are moved, and the shelves from the dining room.

I found some poster board in with my watercolor paper and gave it to Kasey.  She got out her markers and made me a great picture!