Pokey Peas Challenge for February 2020

Got home about half an hour ago from a weekend that included some hockey, a birthday party, and an afternoon movie today. Going to try to get caught up over the next couple of days. But need to get to bed soon, as I have a morning appointment for an ultrasound. Having a cup of tea tonight, and then nothing to eat or drink until after the appointment.

Dh picked up the dishwasher on Friday and it is sitting in the middle of the walkway between the living room and the kitchen. We have hired our usual plumbing/heating guy to install it, and if there are no emergencies elsewhere he has to address, he plans to do that tomorrow. I am hoping it will be all installed by the time I get home. Dh was complaining about how much work it has been to remove the old one and bring this one into the house to get it ready for the plumber, and was not impressed when I was not very sympathetic. (He had made me call the store and cancel the delivery/removal/setup service they provide for a fee, because "I can do that myself".)

Okay. Off to bed...

Happy Monday! We had a nice weekend. I got to the optometrist on Sat and so glad to be getting new glasses. It's been a while since I had been and it felt good to finally go. I hope I like my new frames. LOL! I picked them out and felt good. But when I got home, I was hoping i made a good choice.

nylene- Yes, it is feeling like Spring here but not sure if it will fluctuate between temps. Thanks SO much for all your sweet support on my blog and in the gallery on Scrapbook dot com. I was so surprised to see all your cheers in my gallery. I am feeling so much better and looking forward to creating more this year.
Pace yourself with these challenges. We can't have you getting "burnt out." We need you!

grammadee- Hope your ultrasound went well. I hope you are on the road to better health. Hang in there!

Waving hello to all you gals! Have a good Tuesday!

Hooray for your Selphie working, sleepingbooty! I have one, but don't often use it. Mine does not accept photos from my phone, and if I use the camera card, there is no option for editing, other than colour.

Hope you love your new glasses frames as much as you thought you would when you picked them out, kellyr21. Glad the flu has flown away from your house.

nylene, you may be having a scrap hangover after this month. You have been a crafting machine! Have really loved all the cards and pages you created; how they have your unique style, yet you have used so many different techniques and taken on so many challenges. You go, Girl!!!

Glad you had a good weekend with Rudy, joyfulnana, and that you have some down time now to recuperate from all the energy that weekend took! I, too, love to have them here, but really need some quiet time after they leave.

I did a little scrapping today before dh got home from town early. Got one page finished and another lying in pieces on the scrap counter. The good news is that the dishwasher is now installed and I used it to wash the day's dishes tonight. Still needs to be attached to the counter and dh's tools are still in the kitchen, but better than it was before. I even used some sb supplies in the set up. We have a black dishwasher, and dh pointed out that the cupboard door handle may mark it up when the cupboard is open. I went to my scrap room and returned with a piece of magnet that I had been using in a die package before the dies were moved into the die cabinet. It was the perfect size to protect from the cupboard door handle, and it is black so barely shows!

The ultrasound went fairly quickly: not much wait time, and the tech took lots of shots. No results until I see the surgeon next week. The tech was surprised I "still had that thing IN" me. I guess she had looked at the results of the last scan before my appointment. I am feeling well this week, seem to be hungry all the time. Guess I am making up for a couple of weeks of little appetite. And my gut has been kind to me.

I was hoping the pokey turtles would be back dancing again today, but sadly, they are still off on vacation I guess. ABCreations, did you change the location of the files?

grammadee Crossing my fingers that the results for the ultrasound! I'm glad to read you're feeling a bit better appetite-wise. Congrats on the new dishwasher! So jealous, never had one (but it's just the two of us so there isn't much of a reason for one).    My Selphy has helped me so much since there is nowhere I can place a print order from for in-store pick-up here. So, I like to wait to place a "proper" order (shipping costs and all that jazz). But that has led me so far astray in the past few months. With the Selphy working again, I can already fill in my memory-keeping Happy Planner which is such a huge help for scrappy projects down the line! I do edit all my photos on my laptop before sending them to my Selphy so I don't actually use any colour-editing functions on it. Do you know which Selphy you have? I'm surprise you can't edit using a memory card. I'm sure I can with mine and have when I tried a few times in the past. 

kellyr21 Congratulations on the new glasses! They're such an integral part of the face so it's always exciting when one of my friends/family members changes theirs. Do you have an online link to your new frames?

nylene Had to laugh at the husband/golf course thinking it's spring mention! Any excuse to get back on the green, right? Kudos to you for scrapbooking so hard this month. You deserve a weekend off next month (before all the warmer weather + Easter photos).    Thanks so much for your concern. My mother is back home but yes, she was in intensive care last week and it was super scary. I think I lived in a state of robot-processing-medical-information for a couple of days there. So glad she's well now and resting at home again. 

joyfulnana Joining you on the front of enjoying the warmer weather although I find it still far too chilly! Can't wait for actual spring. We've stopped heating our apartment as it's 18°C/64°F indoors day and night now. We have our felt wool slippers + the sweaters my mother has knitted for us on. I'll drop the winter coat when we hit 25°C/77°F! 

The world here is starting to look alive and fresh again after the very humid autumn and winter we've had. Such a green version of the Mediterranean! The almond trees have been blossoming for a couple of weeks already. Looks like the cherry tree blossoms are about to come out. This is such a psychological boost to beat the winter blues... I'm in contemplation mode! Alas, we're next door to the European coronavirus epicentre in Italy. It is putting a serious damper on the usual early spring atmosphere. The director of epidemiology of the Institut Louis Pasteur here in France announced yesterday it was likely several confinement zones would happen in France and to prepare for it. I've got a sneaky feeling this is going to be a hawt mess. My compatriots have a bit of a rebellious streak.    

Not gonna lie. I feel a bit self-conscious about posting my Happy Planner pages. It's a lot of typed-out journaling, some photos and a few scrappy touches likes stamping + tiny phrase stickers. Should I just go for it? 

If it's any consolation: we're right by the north of Italy and there's no stocking up madness here at all. Nothing's missing in the supermarkets. The French media are not telling people to stock up on food and toiletries. We're just nowhere near the prepper levels of the USA despite having been in the middle of two world war centres. The only missing thing are the special masks. They were so expensive when I asked my pharmacist about them in January that I decided against buying more than two just in case. He told me the little supply he had is gone now and the government's holding back stocks for the actual crisis zones should there be any (which is the right thing to do). Eh, it's not like I was willing to pay the price for them now anyway. 

I have literally ZERO canned goods in the house right now. And we only have a small under-the-counter fridge due to our apartment's size with tiny kitchen. I can't stock up any frozen goods.  I might buy three or four normal-sized cans and an extra tablet of dark chocolate at the supermarket today. But that's it. That's our emergency food supply. We live in a city so we are easily accessible for governmental rations should confinement strike. What's the point? I have one kitchen cupboard. One. I'm not going to panic stock baked beans, lentils and whatnot just in case. We'll be stuck eating those for the next couple of years if there's no confinement (statistically far more likely).  No, thanks.    I'll wait for the government's rations of fresh fruit and veg instead... That French hedonism kicking in! 

All I've heard today is the chloroquine claim which has been discussed for days but is only now going into clinical study in China and Japan. It looks promising to treat the symptoms of the disease (Covid-19) but not the actual virus (SARS-CoV-2) which might still mutate (or already has and we haven't figured it out yet). So, it's not the miracle some media are making it out to be. Still super hopeful it could treat the symptoms of those ill, however. 

I was reading at least every other day last week here and stopped about a week ago. Finally caught up today.

ABCreations, sorry you’re dealing with the flu. Hope everyone will be feeling well soon.

sleepingbooty, glad your mom is home and recovering.

grammadee, glad you are feeling better. When do you meet with the surgeon? I laughed at your DH and your no sympathy for him. He meant he could do it himself with your help to clean up after him, I bet. At least that would be my DH. Lol.

kellyr21, I hope you like your new glasses. I always have that period of angst before getting something I ordered as well.

kitbop, do you need a new eye glass prescription? DS just replaces the lenses of his glasses which he loves (I think it’s more he doesn’t like change). It might be a cheaper option for you if you need new lenses.

joyfulnana, glad the sketchy people are gone, and life is back to “normal”. If there is such a thing as normal.

nylene, it’s awesome that you are getting so many layouts finished. I need to go check the gallery. I have been thinking of kellyr21’s fabulous wreath making abilities and wondering if I should even try to make a spring wreath for my door. I did pull out some spring placemats the other day.

Waving hello to @elaynef, msliz, knutschen, patin, & Linda & anyone else I may have forgotten.

What’s this talk of spring?? I have about 3 inches of snow in the last two days and it’s still snowing off and on. Of course, it was around 50 degrees on Sunday. It’s been really a mild winter with the snow melting off to see grass when we do get it. Glad to have moved a few hours south. At the farm, the layer of snow has remained on the ground but still far less than a normal winter.

As to our life, DH is still having issues getting the cold out of his chest. He is on his 3rd, heavier dose now, of steroids and 2nd round of antibiotics. Still taking cough syrup. The Dr. told him this week; rest would be good. Luckily, his company just placed a travel ban on all international travel, discouraged large group meetings, and said to travel domestically with care. For me, this is awesome as he just came back from a week-long trip and this is usually the start of not seeing him except the weekends (and sometimes less than 24 hours on a weekend) until the end of May. His busiest travel time of the year. Maybe sleeping in his own bed will help get him over this for good.

I did some clean up around here of things started before Christmas. My sister came for a visit. I started skimming my drywall in the living room. (still need to do one section of hallway). Then I’ll have to sand, prime, and paint, but have finally decided the whole main floor color scheme so I’m excited. YAY! The living room and the halls where the main source of indecision, so a good thing I started the wallpaper removal there. duh. I’m still going so slowly though. Wish I had the energy of my 30-year-old self.

Fun thing: We made homemade sausages on Sunday. DH & DD had done this before, but we all got involved this time. We made a venison sausage, a hunter sausage, and bratwurst. I still have a few things I want to make but that was a lot for our 1st and 2nd times. DS is our smoker and griller in the family. We had brats that night and had the other sausages and cheese last night for dinner. They were awesome. I'll have to go freeze the rest today. I can’t find sausages DD can have normally. But it was easier than I thought it would be. DD thinks I’m going to go homemade Charcuterie crazy. She may be right. I hope to brine a pancetta soon. Also, I'll be taking the fat content down of the sausages as they still upset her stomach. She has issues with fat.

I've only created 4 layouts this month. I started another one last night. I think I'll be going to the farm at the end of next week as I have some things to take care of up there. If I do, I should be able to pop in the the megacrop for a bit on Sunday.

Hope everyone has a happy healthy March.

sleepingbooty so glad to hear your mom is doing well! I can't even imagine how scary that would have been. And so sorry to hear you are near the coronavirus epicenter in Italy I say yes, post your pages! (you may have already, I haven't checked the sharing thread yet lol)

LisaDV I hope being forced to stay home with help DH finally shake that cough and cold. Your sausage making sounds pretty awesome. I don't think I've ever had any thing but store bought sausage and I'm sure yours has to be better than that! I had to chuckle at your "only 4 layouts" that's pretty much my monthly average, no matter how often I scrap lol.

grammadee fingers crossed for good news on your scan, but it sounds like it's time to get it out. I would fight that every step of the way if it were me, I just know I would. Congrats on getting the dishwasher! I was without for a week a few months ago and that was one of the longest weeks ever lol.

kellyr21 I love that color you chose for the hat. I can't wait to see it when it's done. Lucky you having VSP eye insurance! It's the best! I'm way overdue for new glasses and had decided this is the year.

nylene that's awesome that you are keeping up with the challenges! I know I haven't seen all of your creations yet. I could see getting burned out, so ease up next month if needed.

justjac, do you usually complete every LOAD? I have been eyeing that Cocoa Vanilla line, but I really don't neeed it lol.

My job has been ridiculously busy this week. It's too early in the year for it grrrr. I have several hours OT coming on my next check though and I will like that, even if I haven't liked working so much. That's $$ for fun stuff
No pandemic prepping here, but we haven't had an outbreak in this area yet either. I know it's just a matter of time.

I need get my sorry self to bed. Hope everyone is having good week!

just posted this on nsbr but thought the pokeys might be interested also

If you're in southern New England - and have any interest in antiques or collectibles from around the US and around Europe - check out this estate sale tomorrow - or if you're just nosy about what was left AFTER a gazzillion trips to the donation centre, the dumpster, and over 100 boxes of books went to the library AND my sister, son and I all took home a BUNCH of stuff


www.estatesales.net/RI/Middletown/02842/2486292

LisaDV, hear hear! on a healthy March! I hope your DH gets a restful weekend. My DD is prone to things settling in her chest. This winter was the best one of her life for health, things to be thankful for!

nylene, Katie started ballet at age 3. She loved it. She was quickly invited to join the "competitive team" at the studio, but we declined at age 5 because it felt so young. She was invited again at age 8, and we accepted... and... wow... for the cost I'm glad we did. The benefits: fitness, skill, discipline, work (she teaches now), friends, "family", grace. And impressive make-up skills She doesn't wear make-up to school. I think she doesn't feel the need to wear too much makeup everyday because she's had the chance to play "dress up" on stage all her life! She's 16 and I dread her leaving home but it's so close.

Re: glasses: I don't need a new prescription this year, but I want new frames because I live in fear of them breaking. DS lost his glasses in a river last year. We were paddle boarding and didn't think he would fall in...so of course he fell in That was an uncomfortable few days of camping for him, half-blind.

I can't believe we're moving on to March. But my Mom informs me that the cherry blossoms are erupting in BC, so it must be!

And one more month ends. I wanted to thank the wonderful Pokey Peas for helping me jump back into memory-keeping. Granted, I only kicked my scrappy derrière into action in the final week but I'm making projects again and it feels great.

I'm happy to leave February behind. My mother's been so unfortunate this month. She called me on Thursday night crying because her youngest cat was sent home from the vet after being there on observation for a few days and she was quickly growing worse. In a matter of hours, she was lethargic. I rushed over in the middle of the night and helped her take the kitty to the night emergency vet. It was terrible. Limp body in my arms, crying every time there was a bump in the road, I rocked her and sang softly to calm her down. She passed away on Friday. I came back over to bury her because my mother didn't have it in her to hold her dead body. Heartbreaking stuff. I am hoping for better things and the arrival of spring in March. Life isn't easy and winter, especially, is harsh. Here's to moving on and recollecting the good stuff when the going gets tough.

sleepingbooty, I'm sorry about your pet loss. Hugs for your momma. I hope she has a much happier and healthier March.