Free-form Friday 20190215

While my friends in Carson City and Reno were showing me their sudden snow and near blizzards, I took this out my front window. It was windy but we didn’t get the snow predicted either yesterday (except that sideways bit around midnight) or today. Forecasts yesterday for the 10-day had us under snow except for Sunday and Monday. NOW we have no snow until next Wednesday. Life is looking good!

Meanwhile, still making toys and hats and nearly finished with my brother’s first sock! I know once the weather is warmer I will be out walking. And I think the chair yoga with Adrienne and gentle chair yoga that I do with my husband should have me ready to get out there more. Then knitting will be done less often.

You know, I often get discouraged in that I expected this part of my life to be like the Jetsons. We don’t have folding flying cars. We do have robotic vacuum cleaners and video phoning. I can talk to two friends and at the same time! Even when they aren’t in the same location. I can talk to my adult children on holidays even though the roads make it impossible to visit in person. Today was one of those days when my friends and I chatted for hours.

Our newest idea? To try and communicate to each other in Spanish, even if it is only in written form. One of the friends was in Guatemala for a few years so she is far more advanced but rusty. I have blogged about learning from Duolingo. I’ve dropped all but Spanish and German. At one point I was up to Japanese, French, and High Valarian besides the other two. But I felt I wasn’t doing any of them justice. I can’t give up on either Spanish or German as I have had classes in each. The trouble is I often translate to the wrong one. Die-s and la-s and Der-s and el-s get messed up.

My goal is to keep my mind alive. If I can learn to communicate well with others in these other languages all the better. My biggest dream/nightmare is when my mind goes and I’m trying to communicate with the nursing staff I end up saying something in either or both those languages instead of English. LOL! Okay, maybe not so funny if I really need to say something important like my head hurts or I have a broken leg.

Anyway, I think I need to go to the library and pick up something about letter writing in either language. Any suggestions? Have any of you done the Duolingo or another system of language learning? How’s your weather? Is it Spring yet?

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Festive Friday 20190208

What do you do with a Friday that didn’t work out as planned?

I couldn’t take the trip to town, Flare. Body predicting cold snowy weather. Husband and son volunteer. But snow would be coming too soon. Canceled. But need groceries. Even as we discussed what to do flurries were gathering on the banister of the porch.

Yeah, the old snow never melted so this coming week should be interesting.

DH and brother drive to little town. Get necessities which in the case of the snow that had started celebratory pizza.

While they were gone my friends and I got together over the internet and laughed and talked for hours. Friends are great!  They made me feel like this:

This evening while trying to figure out what to share here, Teddy came to visit with me.

“Mom, I’m bored.”

“Wanna play?”

“Nah.”

Then he marched off my bed to see what other mischiefs he could get into.

More snow expected over the next week. It is pretty. But worry about Kali and her outside times. Much deeper and she will disappear.

Friends, family, furballs, pizza. Who could ask for more? Snowed in? What do you do?

Snow Sunset

I just had to share what I saw from my recliner. Sunset in the snow clouds. I had to put down the loom and the little hat I’m making and grab my phone. I think this would be a cool book cover!

Just Jot It January Prompt: Final and Best 20190131

WOW!

 

A whole month of blogging! A whole month of chair yoga and the beginning of little walks. A whole month of Spanish and German lessons. Okay, I might have missed a day on each but only that so that means 30 days. The amount of a NaNo month! And only a month between NaNo and JusJoJan! I do have discipline! But as of today, I have to figure out how to maintain until the alphabet month.

Meanwhile, besides bragging rights the prompt calls for which blog was my favorite. I only this month discovered that I didn’t need to save YouTubes to my Media file and could just share the URL and the tubie would show up. Wahoo! So I think that’s a thing, too!

I have a couple favorite prompts and the blogs came out keeping me in suspense as to what else those words could produce. I think ‘cathartic‘, ‘serendipity‘, and ‘zoomies‘. I think there is more to explore there. Zoomies, just because it’s fun.

Thank you, Linda, for this great challenge! And to all of you who came up with these cool prompts to help us all get some writing into our day another big  THANK YOU!

 

Just Jot It January Prompt: Serendipity 20190120

I can remember the first time I heard the word ‘Serendipity’. I don’t know why I learned it or even the year. What I remember is an excitement to know the word. Then I remember watching for it to happen. And it happened a lot!

It was years later that the movie came out.

I liked it so much I bought the DVD. But somehow their serendipitous adventure paled to many of mine at the time. Mine were not romantic encounters but manifestations I felt, in part, I drew to me.

As much as I want to give you a list of these happenings, I feel my brain is not up to that task right now. The closest I can come is how a few years ago when I lived in Reno, I couldn’t afford yarn. My fibromyalgia was worse in Reno. Again, I don’t know why. But I found that if I could keep my hands busy I could distract myself from the pain. So I started making things of plarn.

Stacking containers for folded plastic bags or sliced strips to crochet with and plarn balls.

The bag-bag chair. Was a laundry bag but the cats like it so much when I filled it with plastic bags for future projects when we moved. It is similar to a bean bag chair in size and comfort. But like I said, this belongs to the cats now.

This is one of the small containers I use for little bits.

If you look back into this blog and on my Ravelry page you’ll see a lot of fun ideas that kept me feeling less pain. Until crocheting itself started hurting. I still have a lot of those projects and they are still in use. Nice to know all those stupid bags became useful items.

Then we moved here and I learned of the Hat Huggers who have tons of donated yarn for donated comfort items. The leader taught me to loom knit and the rest is history. Someone else’s comfort is the result of my own comfort. I think of this as a serendipitous adventure. Though I could still work with plarn and I have lots made into balls ready for crochet (loom knitting it isn’t as easy, nor is needle knitting it as workable.) And maybe if I get bored I will go back and make a few things. Until then I’m looming a 10-stitch blanket, socks for my brother and lots more hats and toys.

I’m not so good at directing serendipity or manifesting. Because if I could, I wouldn’t mind making enough money to have my own yarn to make things for me. The donated yarn can go to my family and friends as long as I make sure to claim it on the rosters. Still, I want to go to a store and pick out the soft stuff and know it will be my own hat or my dog’s sweater. Or my own sweater? Or money to buy one– or more skeins of yarn.

Or meet the next teacher of my path. Maybe they’ll have yarn?

So this was a yarn about serendipity. For some reason, I feel I should apologize. I wish I was more alert today as I know I have stories of cars and houses that happened and lots of new friends. Just not specific ones for now. When I think of them I’ll post them, okay?

Thank you, Linda, for Jotting fun. Thank you, Jill, for another chance to remember a beautiful word, Serendipity, full of blessings.

 

 

Just Jot It January Prompt: Memento 20190107

What is all this? These are some of my mementos of Christmas 2018.

One of my friends (and I have some fantastic friends, just saying) had a cute idea this year. She decided that it would be fun to send me “Advent” presents. I don’t think I have had this much fun in December in a long, long time!

When you live in such a rural place that there isn’t door-to-door delivery, mail seems to become even more exciting. UPS does come straight to the house but other forms we have to drive to the post office to pick up.

Anyway, the first box included the first week and a half so that my birthday present was in it. Only on that box could I open more than one package. Woo-hoo!

Look, this is what was the best about this. My friend had to keep down costs. She’s on a fixed income like me. So for a while, she picked up goodies that were very inexpensive, you know like sales items or Dollar Store kinds of things.

I don’t know why but I nearly cried every day as I opened the proper present. Even for the cute little plastic frog or the heart-shaped pencil sharpener. There were some more expensive items. My pal said even those were bargains. That lovely fan, the fragrant sachets, the soft socks (two pairs), pattern books (four including crochet, and knitting), two small canvases for painting on, a cute purple picture frame, a couple tablets (journals) with pens, a glow in the dark wand, silly putty, play dough, a bottle of bubbles, a rock she actually painted (so adorable!), did I mention the little candle, chocolate, a tiny wonderful jar of Nutella, soft yarn, Magic Sniff a small container of tissues, a pen that says “I’m a Beautiful Snowflake a dolphin bookmark. I hope I got it all in this list.

At any rate, as good as it made me feel to open something every day, I think I may want to follow her lead and start doing this for her and other loved ones. It was truly the gift that keeps on giving, at least for 25 days.

I was thinking this might be a fun thing to do for elder friends and family. Heck, they probably already have all they need but stuck at home or in the rest home or hospital, etc. This process of opening a little something helps one to feel the love. And I can store these in a small box so it doesn’t make it hard to decide where to store everything. The only things not in the box are the chocolate and the Nutella. They disappeared within! 😀

Christmas was fun all around for me.  These momentoes will be in my heart and I feel loved.

Thank you, Linda G. Hill for Just Jot It January. Thank you, Tara, for a chance to use the prompt, Memento.

Just Jot It January Prompt: Master 20190106

Just Jot It January is Linda G. Hill’s gem. The prompt “Master” is brought to us by Sadje of Keep It Alive.

When I saw the prompt I went musical. “It’s a lot/It’s a lot…” With Depeche Mode. Then I found myself in Les Miz with om pah pah om pah Enter Monsieur

 

Since it is January and everyone is talking about resolutions or possibilities of healthy living I thought how many things I want to master. Like I’d like to move without pain. Eat, drink, and move with a mastery of self and pain. I think it is possible. I’ll keep trying.

The other day I found that Udemy is having a sale on classes for editing. It was such a good bargain (and I hope they are good people). So, I’d like to master my writing.

Okay, maybe mastery is too perfect. I want proficiency to the point that I like what I’m doing and unafraid to share with others. What I have learned over my life is that perfection is lonely and never fun. It can send me running away if I find myself working in that mindset. On the other hand, not trying will never  get you there. Finding a balance of trying and being happy in the attempt seems the only way I can do anything.

Does that make sense? I was raised by someone that wanted perfection. Wouldn’t let me leave the piano until I could play a phrase or song perfectly. The bed needed to be made perfectly, the house should be cleaned perfectly. But that parent was bipolar. The house would be so clean you could eat off the bathroom floor, or she’d be laying on the sofa in complete depression. So as an adult, I had a hard time finding my own levels.

I needed to find how to be happy playing the piano. Singing helped. I needed to find how to clean and thought I had it down to happy until the fibro hit. Then I found I had to be happy with whatever my body allowed that moment. Delegate and be happy with how they do it–or don’t.

It seems that nowadays I have to look at every movement for every job and goal. Oh, and maybe the word happy isn’t it. I think I could happy my way back to weeks in bed. When I really get into something, say working on a pair of socks, I can enjoy it too much. Hands hurting for weeks but nice to have the socks done? The trade-off is too off. So the aim is to do just short of the goal. Be happy with the results later. Not the way we have been taught. But maybe more the master of life by knowing limitations?

You would think at 69 I’d have this whole concept mastered. Live and learn. Have you found mastery of life easy?

 

The moon was shining in the backyard.

In the front yard.

 

I know all the fires contribute to the beauty. So it is a bittersweet scene.

Did I mention, I love the sunsets here!

One-Liner Wednesday February 7, 2018

When enjoying the craft group shortens the walk. (Too much fun and warm weather–but met a cute new puppy on the street.)

She looked like this. Kali hated her but I wanted to keep her. She followed us home but left after we went into the house to crash.

1-Liner Wednesday = Linda G. Hill