Diva Discourse, March 2021

This made me giggle out loud!  But I will admit that last night when the brain wasn't willing to start something from scratch, I used up the three left-over patterned papers that I did the Lefse layout with.  You know the ones that I asked on Sunday if they went together?  Now the patterned papers are used up as 7 Christmas cards.  That means I have 32 ready for December 2021!  Only 70 or so more to go, very doable in the next 8 months!

DH and DS got home last night at 10:45 . . . they decided to drive it in one shot, 16 hours for DH!  But it was really too cold to stay in Klamath Falls, and it's only 2.5 hours from home.  I did odd jobs until they got home.  I asked, so when you drive in the only thing you are going to do is park the motor home in the garage and come in and go to bed, right?  Yep!  Whew!  So today was unload day, laundry day, start to clean-up motor home.  DS had a good trip, so thankful.  Few days of school for him then spring break.  Oh, and I think he grew another 1/2 inch while he was gone. 

BUT I will admit that I've been shopping for new stuff at Heartfelt Creations, because you know I need to make a new project for Imagine DT, and I want to use the stuff from Heartfelt.  Good thing my budget for this month since I stayed pretty frozen last month isn't an issue!

I am now up to 5 priority envelopes shipped using our business name and address that were returned to sender.  It is definitely a scam, so I will call the postal inspector and report it tomorrow.  I went to the PO today and they said no one in their office could investigate fraud.  I also sent an email last Friday, but all I got in response was a survey as to my satisfaction of the resolution.  NO resolution you nimrods!

Not the surgery part, or the special dog going over the rainbow bridge.  But yeah for a scrapping retreat.  Where in the world are they able to have these?  Have fun!

Wow, after the online crop I kinda dropped out of sight here!  I am happy with what I accomplished during the crop even though it wasn't a lot.  I finished one more double page layout afterwards.  I didn't do page kits ahead of time and that is one way to get great deal done, but then it is also prep time.  When I went on my scrappy cruise in Nov 2019 I had page kits that I actually got done, then had more than a dozen to work on once I got home.  I guess that was the silver lining.  All that prep time kept me going after I got home when the rest of my mojo was tired!

Been in my greenhouse this week, first ever spring with my new greenhouse now ahead.  Harvested the potatoes, cleaned up the pea vines, then spent time cleaning the grow bags. Still have some fresh carrots to harvest, and a few more lettuce plants that are due for the compost pile.  DS15 helped me with cleaning the grow bags.  He also moved all of the compost out of the tumbler into the raised beds in the outdoor garden.  I loosen soil and used a turning fork to mix it in.  The compost is still pretty hot, so I needed to mix it in well.  Still a few clumps of steer manure I'll have to watch out for as I plant in a month or two.

All of my shelves in my the green house now have freshly planted seeds for all my veggies that need a head start, or that I will grow to maturity in the greenhouse, like the first round of cucumbers & broccoli, more lettuce, herbs etc.  Tomatoes are started, as are chives, parsely, basil, rosemary, spinach, kale, cilantro.  I think I remember them all!  For flowers I have Columbine, two varieties of snapdragons (I like them short and tall!), dahlias, foxglove, nasturtium, African Daisy, and a entire flat of wave petunias.  I harvested my seeds from my petunias from last year.  Now to patiently wait from them to sprout! 

I did make 12 Easter cards last night, soon to be posted as well!  My own version of sheetload so to speak.   Since the greenhouse is set for awhile, I will have time to craft tomorrow?  Unless outdoor gardening of bulbs and such call, depending on weather and mojo. 

Oh and good news, our taxes are done at the account, so they are off the plate too!  Also some positive news about DS21, but nothing really solid yet, just a reassurance that others are on his team.  DS15 had a friend over that he hasn't seen in a year, and that was great for him!  We found out yesterday that our kiddos are going back to school FULL TIME 5 DAYS a week on 4/12!  Our state legislature sends out a email newsletter, it had links to the Covid stats for our state.  With a population of about 4.22 Million, we had less than 2,500 deaths due to Covid.  Currently in our state we have 9 on ventilators and 122 hospitalized with positive Covid tests.  Based on those stats that means death due to Covid in our state has been 0.06%.  Other good news is that DD24 and ICU nurse in the Seattle area finally got her jab . . . she had waited as she didn't want to get sick as other's on her unit were after the vaccination, and the hospital asked the staff to spread out the the process.  One of her colleagues called her and said, "hey we have a left-over, do you want it?" just tonight.  So she's got number one out of the way.  She also thinks she's already had Covid, as does her SO but they didn't test.  She young and super healthy, so no surprise that she would have a minor case if she did.  So she might have a reaction to this first vaccination. 

That's what DH and I are thinking too.  We are stats people, he as an engineer, and I as a science teacher that has done research in a biotech lab.  Risk versus benefit analysis, and so on.

I am concerned for those with mental health and addiction issues, as the Covid lock-down has just exacerbated all of these things!  I wonder if anyone will dare do a study comparing deaths due to Covid and deaths due to suicide increase during lock-down.  Again morbid, but it would be an interesting comparison. 

Your layout that had what you considered "low-importance" that took so much time.  Here is the real question?  Did you enjoy making the layout?  I kind of feel that way about one of my recent layouts, that the time it took to make the layout was more than the importance of the photos.  BUT I had fun and really liked the end product!  (Gymnastics Fun for DS21)

kitbop I think my grand total is 2746, but will check back in later after the Yahtzee game to make sure I've counted everything properly. I've been using the spreadsheet and that really helps!

I don't think any crafting will happen tonight.  I'm super tired.  We've had another go around of FASD brain lying and contraband in the last 48 hours.  Still making progress on his Independent Support Plan, and have an appointment to establish him as a patient with a new MD who is on his health plan.  But I am exhausted, sometimes I wonder when the stress will end while care-taking a DS15 who behaves as a 8-10 year old.  Sorry to vent here, it's just be a day.