I overworked myself yesterday. Today I hurt all over, my feet and ankles especially! I could hardly walk around in my work shoes today, I think my feet may actually be swollen. My legs ache, my arm and shoulder ache too.

In spite of that, I changed out the bed clothes from Winter to Spring. Washed everything I took off the bed before putting away into the armoire, including the duvet cover. The heavy Wooly-Bully comforter I left on a chair to air out. I'll choose a sunny day to hang it outside on the line. Then wrestled the mattress to get the fresh fitted and flat sheets on. Bought brand new pillows on sale at Elder Beerman, suppose to be cooler than most pillows. We shall see.

After I did that, I finished removing some items from the barn before a crew comes tomorrow to work on the foundation. I left two concrete pieces and the huge, heavy cast iron school bell as there was no way I was going to attempt to move those. The men will have to help me when they come tomorrow.

By this time my legs are feeling like lead weights! so I put on the tea kettle to make time to just sit and relax. I had the last of the Yorkshire Gold.

But I couldn't stand to look at the dirty sheers on the door and window in the livingroom and the one in the bedroom any longer so jumped up and washed, dried, and hung those back up. UGH. I think I'm done for today!

I went in circles looking for a long dead ancestor. I'm no farther ahead tonight than I was this morning.

While I was down in the cellar cleaning cat boxes, I heard the phone ring upstairs. I had a funny feeling. So there's a message that the guy and his crew that were suppose to be here today to start the foundation repair is canceling and won't be here until Friday. :( All that rushing around and making sure to get last minute items moved out of the barn, etc. Tees me off. And it's suppose to rain both Friday and Saturday so I can easily bet they won't be here then either.

He said he had to "order a jack". Barn repair is his business and he told me he was super busy these days. Wouldn't he have the jacks he needed? Hope this isn't foreboding as to how the job is going to go. Oh well. Not the first time contractors have done this. It's hurry up and wait.

School, Hope things go better for you. Lovely tea presentation.

Maybe all the jacks he has are in use. Yeah. I bet. Did he say which Friday?

I love that picture!!! It would look great hanging in my kitchen!!

Eld thanks for starting the tea thread. I am sorry I am so late to party. I just been busy with my mosaic and house work. Mosaic is now installed on the side of the bathroom cabinet and the house is clean laundry done. Still need to do some garage things like get the mower going and the chains off the Ranger. UGH.

School I am so sorry about your foundation people jacking you around. Not at all fun. I hope they decided to come on Friday. I really am not happy when I get all ready on my end and the other end lets me down.

ImHappy I hope that dead relative quits running away from you.

I have the dog yard mostly put back together. Still working on the patio paving. It is going to be awhile. It is storming again and I am not working in the rain I do need to go out and put a simple fence up to keep the dog away from where I am working. It is going to get muddy with the rains. Until I can get it done and the ground cover filled in in the empty squares I will just keep it fenced off. Dog still has plenty of room out beyond the kitty kennel.

The green tarp is a for now thing as I knew it was going to rain. YES the roof is flat over the sink and dog house but it is small and I can easily clear it off. I will also re-enforce it from below to help carry the weight and later I will put a tin roof up there. With braces under with supports holding them. And of course the cement slabs are all messed up . I am taking them from the old to make the new and this is just as far as I got before I gave out. I am doing well after my fall and almost healed up but still sore from jamming my head into the floor.

You've made a lot of progress, Shades.

I finally got into cleaning mode about 2:00. Two TV sets to the basement. A LOT of dust moved around. I need to keep going. See you guys later.

Shades, tea is 24/7. You are never late for the Small Homes tea party.

Glad you are making progress and feeling better.

Here I am, so glad to have the tea ready.

I've been moving stuff around, throwing things out, enjoying the warming weather and calling the grackles everything I could think of. They are here about six weeks early this year. Grrrrrr.

I will be back this evening. As soon as I sat down to visit the water for the tortellini began boiling.

Shades, I always love seeing your progress in your yard. I love all of the 'rooms' in your yard! it's like a whole 'nother living space of rooms.

I had my 3rd doc appt yesterday. that was to measure my eye and go over some pre- surgery things. He said I was a 'teaching tool'. he taped some things to a sheet of paper (notes? printout? I don't know) and asked the woman at the counter to make copies to give to everyone so he could go over it with them all. Seems my 'case' is one of those he's told them about - and i'm it in living matter.... ha! so, all the techs, eye machine man-ers, measurers, etc will get a lesson on what's different about my eye. I wonder if I should get a royalty or something for being the 'teaching tool' of the day?

the tech gave me an option of a shot in the eye (full of all the meds it'd need for a month or so) or doing drops (3 kinds, 3 x a day each) - I went with the shot (to get it over with). however, the doc disagreed... seems normally people get a choice, I don't. (I wonder if that was really 'normal people' get a choice and I don't?) He says not with my eye.... actually, he did say that he's not real sure what he'll run into 'in there'. the other doc said the same thing. They can't even 'see' past a certain point to know what's happening with the retina.

Someone is supposed to call today to set the surgery date. no call yet.

by the time I got home yesterday I was soooo zapped. I came in, dropped things around me and crawled into bed for an hour or so. It was a 3 + hr trip there, appt and back. I was with techs or doc for a good hour of the time. ran into construction coming and going... even tho I took a different way home (in hopes of bypassing the construction). no such luck for me.

Today I spent a few hours fighting the new computer - or really the new software. I paid for a yr of Office 365 and after 3 months, it locked me out. I can't figure out how to 'register' it showing I have paid. It keeps wanting a 'key number' of some kind (25 numbers/letters) and my invoice has no such # on it.

I sent an email to the tech guy to call me tonight - I'll let him figure it out with the Office programs.

So, i'm not doing much else today. I'll do dishes and a few other things.

I think my 'friend' is going to come tomorrow or Sat to help with things here. It might scare her away tho... it scares me.

I think I need a nap before I do dishes...

Hoping your eye surgery goes well. Steph. I had to do the drops three times a day. Was never offered the shot. I use open office and it is free. I refuse to pay for some thing I can get for free. It is almost the same program with word and excel. I was doing a big time back up on my little lap top. Some times it will do some thing wonky so not totally trusting it. As long as I am backed up to thumb drive I am not worried now. I am letting my tablet do the newer windows 10 update to see how it is. I am not doing anything on my lappy until I see how the tablet does.

Imhappy can a person store an LED TV in the garage where it gets really freezing cold i winter hot in summer? I have not used my TV in a few months and thinking of moving it out of here. I do have the box it came in to store it in.

Yippiee Caroling. Cleaning and purging is always good.

Well I grouted my bathroom cabinet. I still have some more clean up to do then I will get a photo. It really brightened up the dark guest bath.

thx shades. i'm sure it'll all go smoothly. my sister will take me and bring me home. i'm planning to buy some 'to go' food to have in the fridge to last me several days. I've been looking online at menus to local restaurants. Don't really see much I care to try. Especially at their prices. I do need to remind myself that 1 of their 'meals' makes about 4 for me. Of course, if I don't like it, i'm out the $s and hungry - lol! I'll probably just make me up some spaghetti here the day or 2 in advance to have in the fridge also.

they gave me a sheet to mark off each eye drop 3x a day - I'll just make copies of it to use for following weeks. I would rather have had the shot and have it done with, but I'll survive it. those drops are expensive too.

After this is done and healed up enough, I'll be able to get new glasses. I know I've needed those for some time - like the past few yrs!

If I'd have remembered 'open office', I wouldn't have pd to get this. I won't use most of what it is. Just wanted something to be able to type up a letter now and again and paste recipes to and save. things like that. I won't renew it next yr. But since I did pay for it, I wanted it. they give you a 3 month trial time and that expired and locked up some word screens on my monitor. Even the tech guy had a bit of a time finding the right # to put in to extend it for my year and then getting it to work. such a pain. I am glad I paid to have access to the tech svc. This was my 3rd or 4th call to them. Told him I'd probably call again in a week or 2! I also don't like that MS is continually 'updating' my computer. heaven knows what they're putting on here (and everyone else's) to spy on us.

I'll put the 'open office' on the laptop for my friend.

hey! the circle with the arrow up in it is back! (in lower right corner)

Yeah!!! I didn't notice until you pointed it out. Thanks!

I'm wishing you the very best with your eye surgery and healing.

I didn't see the arrow up either. Got used to it not being there.

I use open office, too. And I still have the old, old Word that I still use. I have all the books from all the the old software so I can at least use it.

The rain should stop and the sun should come out any minute. I planted lilac twigs that I dug up today from two different cousins and I didn't water them. The ones I planted last year are budded. I hope I get a hedge before I die.

>can a person store an LED TV in the garage where it gets really freezing cold i winter hot in summer?<

Both of mine were the tube kind and I put them in the basement. Whenever I have a question about freezing I remember that the delivery truck they came in was not heated.

Steph I had no trouble cooking dinner for us when I had my eyes done. Having some thing in the fridge for you like Spaghetti would be a very simple solution. Much easier than trying to figure menus for to go food.

I will see about googling about the TV storage. I can not think of a place to put it in the house it would not be in my way. Maybe I can find some one to trade this 32 inch for a smaller one. A 19 inch would be perfect for me.

I finally finished my guest bath mosaic project. Put on your sun glasses before you scroll too far. LOL

'Yeah!!! I didn't notice until you pointed it out. Thanks!

I'm wishing you the very best with your eye surgery and healing.'

I've missed that thing! was so happy to look over to the right and see it there again. I wish we had one to go downward too... ok, I'll just be grateful the up one is back...

thx for the well wishes on the eyeball. i'm going into this figuring it'll all end up good.

shades - that's good to know you could do that after the surgery. I can get a lot of meals out of spaghetti - and I haven't had it lately. And I think the day before I'll pick up a CFA sandwich or LJS meal and figure that's good. that should do me for a few days. I was surprised that most of what I saw on the menus didn't interest me. I also remembered that the first time after they put eye drops in my eye, food tasted yucky anyway. the drops will increase again with the surgery. cardboard would probably be fine...

I bet if you asked around (like the family with kids) you'd find someone wishing they could afford to move up to a 32" and make you a trade. I like my 32". I was happy with my old 24" tube tv, but I do like this one now. and I'll be able to add a speaker and dvd player to it. couldn't do that on my old one.

love all your glass work! but I think it'd add more to cleaning? i'm allergic to that - lol!

i'm happy - I remembered that the computer guy put word on my old computer 4 yrs ago when he replaced the drive, so, i'm gonna ask him if he can take it off of there and put on here. I really don't need/won't use all that came with this one. This one is good for a year now, so I'll figure out which way to go before next April.

Shades! That came out great. I hope that's not a south facing bathroom ;-)

I almost got a load of towels dry before it rained again. We've had everything from a gully washer to nothing and everything in between. The new lilacs might be really happy. I have picked up a little bit of old garden stuff but it's really a crap shoot how long before it rains again. My gutter was overflowing last night so as soon as it slowed down enough I got the ladder out and cleaned the end out. Water flows!

Steph with my limited way of eating, eating out does not appeal to me much. I hope you can find some thing that will taste good to you.

I will ask around on the TV. I watch it so rarely I almost feel I could do with out. I have not turned it on in months now. No desire. I do have the DVD and VHS player hooked up to it. I did notice when I was dusting one of the HDMI cords is unplugged. Need to deal with that.

As far as cleaning in the bathroom it is a lot easier to spray and wipe down with windex than deal with the paper sided cabinet. And mixed 50/50 with alcohol I feel it becomes more sanitary. I do not mind cleaning at all. I feel a satisfaction when my house is nice and clean. I think I might be a little too clean some times. With all these animals in the house I do feel I need to always keep on top of it. I feel cleaning is only as bad as you make it. I usually turn up the music and enjoy myself.

GRRRR I left the Blazer key in the wrong spot and killed the battery. I have the charger on it. Of course it is a day I NEED to move it out of the way. hoping it has time to charge up before they arrive to get the snow mobile. If not they will have to jumper it.

Yes, I often threaten to spray glue the dog... to keep her fur on... I just cleaned my keyboard and by the time I got to the numeric pad, the left side had hairs on it again. I need a giant suction vent in the ceiling to suck it all up and out.

I clean a bit. just changed my sheet (bottom) and sorted thru clothes to wash later today. my friend is coming over I think and I thought I should clean the keyboard from my grubby cookie crumb fingerprints... if I could keep going like I have this past hour, something would look like things were done here too.

but, it just gets away from me. always more to do than I can do. I hope she isn't scared away when she gets here...

Desertsteph, sending healing thoughts to you.

Shades, I don't know where you get the patience to do those mosaics!

" if I could keep going like I have this past hour,"

You're singing my song! I sang it yesterday. Or was it the day before? But I quit singing way too soon!

I did pull back a corner of the old, old carpet upstairs and yes, it's old wide boards under it. That's fine. I hope I don't run into glue but I don't think I will. That project will be the first or second day I can have the windows open. I have GOT to get motivated!

eld - Desertsteph, sending healing thoughts to you.

Shades, I don't know where you get the patience to do those mosaics!

Thx Eld! I appreciate (and need) all the good thoughts. I'll post when it's gonna happen. they haven't set a date yet.

and I agree on the mosaics that Shades does. I can't do close / tight hand work anymore with my hands. These days, I'd be happy if I could write out a grocery list and be able to read it when I got to the store!

Thanks Eld. the doctor told me to keep my hands moving for as long as I can. I can feel bones grinding together with every movement. Some times it is very painful other times not so much. So not only do I enjoy mosaics it is therapy for me.

Once again I am up way too early. Ray did show up yesterday to get his stuff finally. Only took him 8 months. Or will be 8 months in 3 days. I guess now my brain is working on claiming my garage totally. Trying to decide how I want to arrange it. I do think I will bring down from the loft the things I go up there often to get. Put the least used things to store up in the loft. Other than that I am not sure where I am going with the organization. I did purge some stuff and can stack those boxes on an empty shelf for now until I can take them to their destination.

I am so thankful I still have energy and the physical ability to do things. I know I am slowing down quite a bit. I still have all those pavers to get moved in my patio area and hope to do that before it dries out too much. Maybe I can do a little in the garage and a little in the patio today. Try not to over do it.

I've found a half hour at a time is easy. Sometimes even an hour or two. If I still have the umph at that point, I will keep going. But the plan is half an hour at a time.

I'm glad you are still having tea! Sorry I've been gone so long...got caught up in writing and promoting books and the LONG winter we had. Now, that it's finally starting to feel like spring, I thought I'd check in and see how everyone is doing. :)

Shades- Love the bathroom!

Lass so good to see you back here. YES the winter was brutal here too. WOW This is why this summer I am doing some changes to make next winter easier on me to handle alone. so far the kitty kennel change is the biggest issue and getting closer to being done on it and they love their new cat walk out to their run. I LOVE having my bedroom windows open with out kennel in front of them. win win.

I hope your books are doing well. And also we see more of you. thanks on the bathroom. It was in my mind to do for a long time. Anxious to get going on the master bath but for now the yard is calling me. And it stays light for so long in the evenings by the time I come in it is time to shower and go to bed.