July 7, 2025 Monday--5am

Good morning!

Was the time of the month for me to work on banking, getting my rent check down to the office and my bullet journal ready for July.  Same kind of week with hot days, rain, cooler days...but it seems to have leveled off for now keeping the temps in the 70s--whoohoo!

I noticed a lost rain cloud one day.

And what did I do this past week?  I started packing!!  

Allie loves to sharpen her imaginary claws on cardboard boxes, so she was very happy to see random boxes about.

I rolled in my little flatbed cart into the studio.  Using it to roll the filled boxes down the hall into the bedroom.

Moved the little table out of the way so I could start with the heaviest bookcase to unload and pack up...the paper/cardstock one. 

The tallest metal shelves I attacked first.  

The metal shelves went in the large boxes.

The cardstock went into the smallest "book" boxes.

Then I have two plastic shelves for 12 X 12 paper.  They are more fragile.

And the paper was too big for the book boxes.

There were many breaks.

I pulled the last of the paper supply out of the bookcase...

...but even doing it by baby steps for short periods of time...I was done in for two days middle of the week.

And then there was the re-packing.  I had squeezed the plastic shelves into a medium sized box, but then I worried they would get cracked when moved...so I had to haul them back into the studio and unpack these two boxes.

Took the plastic shelves apart and packed them in with the metal shelves in the bigger boxes.

One step forward, two steps back--lol!

Meanwhile...I ordered something this month.  A complete splurge!  (I did check with Leah that they would work.)

Hand painted, bright, colorful, every-one-different knobs for the hutches in the living room and the studio!  I LOVE THEM!!  *happy dancing*

They are bigger than I thought, so I hope they will fit okay.  I have been thinking about these and had them in my cart for months.  Well, more like two years--LOL!

Allie wasn't impressed, even though I let her smell them.  LOL!

I kept plugging away.  Finally finished later on Saturday night.  Six boxes--three sizes--all sealed and labeled.

One down.  Three bookcases to go.

Well, and a lot of drawers and wall shelves to empty, too...and a few things on the closet floor to sort through.  But I am very happy to have the worst bookcase to pack all done.  The others don't have as much (already took a few things off of them to top off these first boxes) but there's a lot of oddly shaped things and odd sizes.  Glad I have some brown packing paper I actually bought for using with art projects years ago. 

No, I haven't heard there's a moving date yet.  But I am very happy to have accomplished something this last week.  It feels soooo good to be doing something.  My internal-endless-waiting-pause state of sadness has been broken...regardless as to when I ever move.  It has lifted my spirits just to have something to do. It did sound like they were going to try to set up the movers for the second or third weekend in August.  So, we'll see.  

Meanwhile--I shall be packing.  I will keep going through everything again.  Get down to the bare minimum of what I need for daily existence and pack the rest away.  My daily requirement for existence is quite a bit of stuff as it is--lol!   I need to have my letter writing supplies available...but I could pack up a good part of them, I'm sure.  I do have a lot.  But letter writing is important to me.  Even if I haven't been as steady of a pen pal recently--lol!  :)  Then a few creative supplies to dabble with if I happen to finish going through everything I own for the second time before I move...and I'll be all set.

Anyways, that's what's happening up here.  It has been beautiful and cooler.  Patio door open fairly often.  Occasional thunder.  (Love thunder!)  I am focusing on all the little things I am grateful for.  More baby steps and recovery time ahead.  Till next week, my friends...

June 30, 2025 Monday--5am

Good morning!

Gradually feeling better physically.  We've had rain here and there...some brief thunderstorms.

Keanna came to clean on Tuesday and after she left I changed the shower curtain--lol!  Brighter and wildflowers this time. :)

Allie keeps me company when I am working up at the table.

Cats always sleep so peacefully.  I have cat-sleep-envy.

Dagan came by to drop off some groceries Wednesday night.  He stayed to chat a while.  Were talking about what's left to do before the move.  He suggested we should just decide on a mover and set a moving date to push them to get all the final things done.  Great!  Since we don't have to move right at the end of a month it will probably be easier to get movers scheduled for during the month.  So mid-July or mid-August...I don't care.  I just want a date!  Dagan said Leah hadn't researched movers yet, but he'd talk to her about it.  

After he left I kept thinking about how stagnant I have felt for so long!  My life has been on pause, you know?  Well, I made the decision to pack up the rest of the studio.  I have had no creative momentum anyways, for goodness sakes.  I can keep something little out for if I get antsy--like the colorbooks.  But I don't think I would need to really.  Because I got excited about packing!!  Just HAVING SOMETHING TO DO!!!

I already have drug into the studio the two bigger boxes...

...from behind the bedroom door.  (I will need some more of the smallest ones from the garage.)

My first baby step will be packing up these metal paper racks...hence the biggest boxes we had gotten long ago.

I told Dagan and Leah about my decision to pack up the rest of the studio...and that I also wanted to make it over there this weekend because I'm doing better.  Dagan had said they were planning on mounting the TV onto the wall on the weekend.  Said Sunday would be best for me to come because they had Chris and Robin coming over on Saturday.  Okie dokie.

So, I had to not overdo before Sunday.  Knew I'd be shot and sore on Monday...so will start actually packing again probably on Tuesday...or Wednesday.  Whenever I feel decent.  But it will be this week.  I know how very slow I am and how little I can do at a time (baby steps).  I have had 16 months of practice.  But deciding to take some action has lifted my spirits considerably just to know I have something constructive to do.  Forward movement, you know?  I have been really low the past few months...between health stuff, the not moving, and politics...AWK!  Life has been quite gray and lifeless.

We had some cooler weather for several days.  Was so nice!  Hot days and storms, too.  But when the patio door can be opened...Miss Allie is right there.  She will miss this.

Me, too.  I'll miss the Critter Cafe all winter.

Another thunderstorm came through on Saturday and cooled it off a bit.

Much to my surprise...Leah texted me asking how much room I needed under the TV for my DVD player and VHS player.  They were mounting the TV.  I thought it was just her and Dagan doing it.

Then she sent me another picture.  Chris had brought his fancy laser level!

They were working on that all afternoon.  The new bigger TV is up on the wall!!

TaDa!!

And my shower bench was put together!

It will probably go on one end or the other and not in the middle, but I'll find out when I'm actually using it.  :)

And they got together the little chair/step stool (library chair) that I bought to help Allie be able to get up on the dresser by the window...and also for me in case I need to escape out the window well one day. ;)

Have you seen these before?  You flip them and they turn into some steps.  I'll take a picture when I am there on Sunday.  :)

There were lots of texts and photos going back and forth.  Leah even letting me decide where the toilet roll holder should go--lol!

I'm not sure what all they got done.  I am writing this late on Saturday night because I am heading over tomorrow afternoon and will be really tired and sore when I get home.  I will have more pictures, of course...but we'll see how exhausted I am.  Otherwise I'll show them next week.

I've been slowly purging clothes since I switched from winter to summer clothes and have this huge trash bag full of clothes and other donations.  Too heavy for me to carry so it is in the bedroom.  When they come over to pick me up on Sunday I warned them I had donations and such to go to the garage.

I have some other things to go to the garage in the pantry.  The white trash bag has Christmas stuff to keep.  The rest are donations.

I also need some more of the smallest packing boxes to be brought inside from the garage...and we need to load up the rug I used to have in the studio here that's rolled up out in the garage so we can see if it would work over there or not.  If not--can donate that, too.

We have furniture to get in final positions to attach to the walls.  I've taken a bunch of measurements of things here to see if they will fit and where...like the hooks in my hallway...

...and my beloved magnetic chalkboard, for example!  :)

Well, if there are no more pictures...you'll know I was way too shot to add them when I got home Sunday night and just set this to post Monday morning.

Miss Allie is still keeping an eye on me, but isn't as concerned as she was.  She can tell I am feeling a little better every day.  But if I get up to do weird things like point my phone around the place...this is the look I get.

Wait till I start packing this week!  She's forgotten what that was like--lol!  Haven't been doing that for a year and a half!  Does make me a bit more interesting, though.  Our life is generally so quiet and uneventful--lol! 

        .........................................................................

Turned out I didn't go over there.  They were shopping at Costco and pretty busy.  So they stopped over here for a while so they could bring things to the garage, bring in small packing boxes, and load up the rug I want to try in the studio.  We did talk about the move.  They agreed...mid-July or mid-August.  I don't care.  I just want a date.  Dagan is checking into the movers, so maybe I will hear pretty soon?

Since I am going to be packing up the rest of the studio and piling boxes in front of the first wall of boxes in the bedroom, I asked them to re-tape the boxes on top where the tape had dried up and the boxes popped open.  Got them all re-taped.  (I've been trying to avoid climbing stools.)

Then they started to tape the packing boxes together for me.

Nice!

I even took pictures down off the walls.

Which Allie had to inspect, of course.

So...it turned out to be a productive day after all.  I didn't do a lot...so plan to start with packing the studio today--Monday!

I hope I get a lot done this week.  I hope we get a moving date soon!  I hope this move will actually happen...for real!

“Hope” is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

--Emily Dickinson

Till next time.  Thank you for being on this long strange journey with me.  We may finally reach the end...and there will finally be a new beginning.  :)