Jump to content

What are you up to today? This week?


heidiiiii

Recommended Posts

I finished work on my stone house this evening by gluing leaf clusters onto a viny looking tree. Trying to work on the house this past couple of weeks has been exasperating. I had a cataract removed from my left eye 4 weeks ago and now none of my glasses work right. I saw the optometrist yesterday and ordered a new pair of progresives and a pair of sunglasses, but I have to wait about a week to get them. Right now the only glasses I can see through well enough to drive are a pair I bought around 1985. Thank goodness I held on to them all these years just in case I might be desperate for a spare pair. For the last few years I've been keeping an old pair of reading glasses in my workroom for miniatures or sewing, but I've discovered that they just don't cut the mustard anymore. Being severely nearsighted taking my glasses off altogether doesn't do the trick very well either, the way it used to. Obviously I need a couple pair of new reading glasses too. I hope the cataract in my right eye takes its own sweet time before it gets any worse. The doctor said there's no way of telling if it'll last 6 months or 6 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Goodness how frustrating! I do admire your perseverance. I've resorted to stacking different strength readers to create a stronger power but it doesn't work lol. Time for eye exam. All that doggone overtime ( I work from home coding medical records on a computer) has strained my peepers but it does add to the minis budget! And here I sit squinting at my phone reading posts. Good grief! Hope your new glasses are ready ahead of schedule & that other cataract just disappears. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, havanaholly said:

The hubs got us a gently used tandem kayak partly for his birthday last week and partly for our anniversary tomorrow, and we're going to celebrate with a test launch & paddle.

How fun is that?? I haven't been kayaking for a decade or longer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been using a lot of my free time lately to getting things in order for my daughter's baby shower in early September.  Mini work has been suspended for now.  This past week I have been experimenting with making sugar cookies for the favors  :chef: .... first batch was goofed up, but they tasted ok.  Second batch last nite I mixed correctly, but the dough was rather dry and the cookies did taste "flour-y".  :glare:  SO, for my next batch I am going to just try to duplicate what I did the first time!  LOL  My co-workers certainly don't mind helping me get rid of my goofs!    :drool2::ohyeah:

I will have to post a pic when I get them done.  The shower is a honey bee theme, and their last name starts with a B, so I am making B-shaped cookies!  :D

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For some weird reason we lost our internet connection at home Friday AM whilst trying to check the weather radar before going for our paddle, so we crossed our fingers and went anyway.  The new put-in on the FL side of the US 90 bridge includes a lovely "canoe launch" (hand-launch ramp).  We haven't been on the water in nearly three years, so it was wonderful, but we only got about 45 minutes upstream before realizing we had better turn around and head back, and we were in pretty seedy shape when we got back.  We weren't able to wrestle the kayak back onto the rack on the car's roof, but the hubs had brought the extender so we could carry it home in the back of the car.  The rain came about an hour after we got back home.  I'm a tad sore in a couple of places today, but not near as bad as I feared, and I can't wait to go again!  We didn't see many critters because it was so hot, but a couple of turtles had crawled onto logs and quite a few of them were out swimming and checked us out.  We only encountered two power boats, but there are enough snags in that section of the Perdido River that only fishermen and careful boaters are going to go speeding up that way, and we only encountered courteous motor boaters.

Today we went to the Jazz Brunch at Seville Quarter to hear our friend Kathy Lyon perform. Her new CD is out, although not yet officially released, and we got a copy and played it this afternoon when we got home.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I have been reading, but not posting in awhile.  It has been awhile, but Holly, I think you mentioned you had broken your arm three times.  I hope my first broken bone is my last broken bone.  Broke my humerus in June.  The bones are healing with new alignment and shoulder did shift so new muscles are having to learn to work, but thankfully, had no surgery.  Still cannot lift heavy weight on that arm.  Doing Range of Motion physical therapy for now.

Had to stop work on my 10 room Arrow Dream (that I am making into a 5 room).  Found it too difficult to move it around.  Bought a cute little Laurel that someone had hot glued together.  It is lightweight so will start working on taking that apart soon, I hope.  Love the porch on the Laurel, but finding it difficult to find enough space for furniture in those rooms.

The big news is that my daughter, son-in-law and my two almost adult grandsons are moving from Germany to stay with us for awhile.  Son-in-law is retiring from the Air Force and looking for civilian employment.  As a result, I am slowly moving all my dollhouse stuff down to the basement and think it shall become my workspace from now on (even with the dreadful spiders).  I don't think I shall ever move it all back up those stairs -- getting too old for that.

We have my grandson's 3D printer so maybe between school work and drivers education, he will find time to print me some minis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, thriftymini said:

We have my grandson's 3D printer so maybe between school work and drivers education, he will find time to print me some minis.

Great news that your family is coming home. The 3D printer is lagniappe! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, thriftymini said:

...Holly, I think you mentioned you had broken your arm three times...

Ow, Christine; a broken humerus is no fun at all!  Actually I broke the proximal end of my right ulna (the long bone in the forearm) three different times; the second time the cast came off my doctor made me a half cast "for the next time" and son of a gun if I didn't go and bust it again in another fall a couple of years later! and just ace-wrapped that half cast onto my arm for the six weeks of letting it heal.  How nice to have your son and family coming home.

Saturday we took the new kayak and joined a group of fellow paddlers on Murder Creek and paddled ten miles downstream back into Brewton, AL.  For a mostly shallow creek the current was really fast and within the first twenty or thirty minutes we got slammed into a strainer we weren't fast enough to avoid and the nice man who helped get us off had to roll our boat to help get us out because of the angle it had hit the obstacle; we were soaked anyway, as the cockpit filled with water.  My hat and one of the water bottles fell out, but we got the water bottle back.  About halfway down we passed a sandbar with three blank signs on it' the man leading the paddle apparently got out to read the signs, because when we passed some of the faster paddlers who had stopped to get out and sit in the water to cool off he told them what the signs had said on their nonblank sides and that killed getting into the water for anyone else, as there had been a sewage spill!  I said something about posting the signs so that people ON the water could read them, too...  By the time we stopped for lunch I realized I wasn't nearly as tired as I'd expected, but both of us were really seedy by the time we got to the take out and got the boat and our gear back in the car.

Today I went in for my quarterly pacemaker check and when she asked I told the tech about our adventures.  Her son has just arrived at Boot Camp (at Parris Island; OOORAH!).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had to share!  I got a tattoo today!!  This is a called a 'water colour' tattoo - just the colours used etc and is of course based on our birman cats.  It's on my ankle!  This will probably be the only one I ever get but I've always wanted one so feeling pretty happy with it tonight.  Of course it will settle down and look better when completely healed in about a month.

tattoo (1).jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As you all know by now, Photobucket is charging for access to everyone's account. The free account is some ridiculously low number of photos and over the years I accrued somewhere between 2500 and 3000 photos there. Naturally, my account was "restricted". It wouldn't even let me in without making me buy one month's worth of service.

So last week I did a runaround and sneaked into my account (without paying - yeah, I know it's only $4.99 for one month, but I'm cheap) and started downloading all my dollhouse photos to my computer. Pretty much everything else I deleted. But tonight I just finished downloading almost 1000 photos of dollhouses alone and that follows downloading maybe another 500 or so pics of rooms and staircases, furniture, etc, from the other night. I feel like I have tendonitis in my index finger. Wow. Sore.

Meanwhile, bedbugs are still here. The second spraying was last Tuesday and there will be an inspection this Tuesday. I don't know what they're going to do. At this point, I'm going to ask them to spray the rooms on either side of me. I guess they weren't doing that for whatever reason.

Tuesday is also the last day for me to go into the housing department and requalify for subsidized housing and then next week it's down to Social Services to requalify for food stamps, all $15 a month. There are some people who think all you do is show up and all this "free" stuff is just handed to you. I'd love to drag those people along with me and let them see the hoops I get to jump through.

Trailer still hasn't sold. This week I call about the water - again, although this time I have the name of someone who can do the water if the guy who's going to put it in flakes again.

The last two days have been horrible. The Art Fair set up right underneath our building and they had live music set up right across the street from my window. So I've spent the last two days in 85° heat with the window shut tight so I don't have to listen to the music blaring from 10am to 7pm. But they won't be here for tomorrow - halleluija!

Or however you spell it.

OK, I'm done complaining. Now I'm trying to motivate myself to head to the store. I'm out of toilet paper.

Just as an aside, WWII started 80 years ago today when Germany invaded Poland. I just finished a book two days ago called While Still We Live by Helen MacInnes, about the first 3 months of WWII in Poland. It really makes me think about how lucky we are in the US, despite so many bad things going on.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/26/2019, 11:59:10, Shareb said:

Had to share!  I got a tattoo today!!  This is a called a 'water colour' tattoo - just the colours used etc and is of course based on our birman cats.  It's on my ankle!  This will probably be the only one I ever get but I've always wanted one so feeling pretty happy with it tonight.  Of course it will settle down and look better when completely healed in about a month.

tattoo (1).jpg

That sure is pretty! Is that permanent?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@rodentraiser it sure is permanent!  Apparently the watercolours do tend to fade more quickly than a heavy black and grey tattoo.  This pic was immediately after - in fact while I was still on the table!  As it heals - which apparently can take up to a month, it is changing.  I've got cream that I keep rubbing in which apparently also helps.  It's been an interesting experience!  Not exactly what I was after - if you search watercolour tattoos you'll find some incredible pics.  However it was finding someone local who can do them - turns out it was my tattoo artist's wife who does the watercolour and she's had a baby recently.  I may go back in a few months and get her to touch it up but I'll see how it looks in a month or so.  Love the cat - it's been blended to look like our birmans.  I designed the tattoo - it was up to the artist to put the paint 'splotches' in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, rodentraiser said:

I generally don't like tattoos, but yours is definitely making me rethink my opinions on them. I really like it!

Thanks Kelly - I really appreciate that!!  It's itching something bad at the moment but should only be a couple of days of this - it's changing as the skin heals and flakes etc.  An interesting process!!

We've got the tree guys here at the moment.  As NZ is heading into Spring thought I'd get some pruning done before it heats up too much.  Amazing how cutting a few branches here and there tidies things up!  

My 17yr old son did his first BIG drive yesterday!  He drove from here to our closest town and back again - in the rain!  He's driving me again today which should be interesting!  Nice that he's feeling so much better about driving.  Obviously the right time for him now.  My daughter took 2 years to get her license.  Our roads are here are 'open road' so the highest NZ speed limit of 100km - country driving for about 20mins until you get into town.  The roads are exceptionally busy now though - heaps of trucks coming and going!

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I am off to clear out a storage unit to get rid of that bill. More money for minis! The stinking car has already gotten an inkling of the increase in funds though because the A/C quit! Always something. One of the things in the locker is a dolly/platform that my Dad made for my old cardboard condo. The condo is long gone but the dolly is the perfect size for the Spanish Ranch/Coventry. Times a wasting hope to get everything done today so I can go to Atlanta Miniatures Show tomorrow! That would be a long ride in a hot car but it is what I worked my hours ahead for this week. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been busy painting the hallway over the past few weeks. (It needed it, badly). It's slow going though as I have pain in my joints and get stiff if I over do things. It's almost done now but I've not been able to finish it due to the weather. It's been raining most of the week and I've not been able to move things outside that are in the way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well....hubby has been off work for 2 1/2 weeks now.  :ermm:  Got to the specialist on Weds and after MRI and xrays he's been told that he has a massive blow out of a disk near the bottom of his spine.  The protrusion is putting the sciatic nerve under pressure which leads to excruciating pain.  Couple that with his FSH muscular dystrophy and he's pretty damn helpless.  He needs an operation and has his initial apt with the surgeon on the 1st Nov.  He's on different drugs which will hopefully help.  He is in pain standing, walking and sitting straight on.  He has to sit leaning towards one side and lie on one side as well.  I've been having to help with pretty much everything....there is a reason I didn't become a nurse. :doctor:

Beginning to feel irritable to say the least.  But the stress is also having an effect on my fibromyalgia and I just feel utterly blooming exhausted all the time.  I'm going to make the effort now to get out to my craft cottage.  Even if I just sit there listening to music it's got to be better than sitting on the couch listening to hubby talk on phone or watch Turbo channel!  :crazyeyes:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hubby and I just got back from a 2-week vacation in the southwest.  We did "The Grand Circle": touring the 5 National Parks in southern Utah.  It was a wonderful trip- and thanks to a round of steroids and a knee brace, I was able to walk enough to see the sights in each park.  I did not find any minis on this trip - but I did find some lovely turquoise necklaces for my daughters & daughter-in-law.  And of course, some cute little t-shirts for my grandbabies! 

On our way back to Pennsylvania my hubby asks...."So, do we HAVE to work?"   :)  And then last night he asked again "So, where do you want to go next? And when?"  I answered "Can we leave for Maine on Monday?"  LOL  Well...we've got replacement windows to pay for, so I don't think we will be retiring quite yet. Darn.

IMG_20191007_142247.jpg

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a nice photo. Jackie.

My hubby is tickled to death,:cucumber:  he's awaiting delivery of a huge snowblower with higher handles (he's 6'4). He was going to sell our present snowblower, but has decided that maybe he should hold on to it as a backup snowblower in case of snowblower :cry: malfunction. Watch this be one of those winters with little snow this year.:dunno:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't anyone take this as a criticism, but when I see photos of any of you - well, let's just say I always wonder who those people are. In my mind, you all are young and not one of you is over 30. You know, I hate reality sometimes. LOL (Glad you had a good time, Jackie!)

 

Well, the guy who did my water has a trailer he offered to sell to me. I saw it yesterday and it's gorgeous. Small, but it doesn't leak, it's clean, and it feels like there's a lot more room than there really is. It will be hauled up to the lot on Monday and then I have three days to bring all the kitchen stuff up and then clean the kitchenette here. Today I'm cleaning out my closet and taking a much needed break right now. When I finally get the boxes out of the closet and into storage, I'll be done with the bedroom anyway.

I got half a mailbox put up yesterday but didn't get the mailbox itself on the base because I forgot the screwdriver. So tomorrow I'll go up and finish that. We've had two beautiful days and now it's raining again. Sheesh.

OK, back to the closet.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...