People keep dying and bad news doesn't take a day off...

Hey,

George Michales died Christmas night. Reminded me that mom died a year ago to the day. I'm not as bummed about it as you might think. It's just that so many people have died recently/this year, then I heard that my sister most likely will get evicted because, for whatever reason, she didn't try to take possession of mom's apt until like a month ago and hasn't paid rent since the middle of the year, so they, the people that own the building, sent a $6,000 bill to my sister here, since she use to guaranty when mom fell behind a month or two.

Why in god's name did they let it slide for 6 months when they were on mom's case after 2 months never mind 3 when they use to ignore the check for month's 2 and 3 when 2 showed up a little late?

Well, at least she's be homeless with family. Outside of who is staying with her in the apt, another family member just lost his place too due to the same reason. The sister I live with can't believe he lost the apt. It was his mother's before he got it. She died 3ish, maybe 4 by now, years ago. She lived there for over 30 years. In fact, my sister thought that our aunt had bought her apt years ago since she thought the building was co-op now. It turned out not to be so. We don't know what his excuse is or the situation around that for him, but we can guess for the other sister.

Before you get totally down, Christmas wasn't a complete wash. I told you how I sold one fractal print to the lady upstairs right? Well, she sent down her daughter Christmas Eve with a 12x18 frame and asked if I had anything to fit it. I went through all that I thought I had and sent the girl back up without finding anything. Everything was just a little bigger. I then found one tube that had one fractal in it and it was 2 inches smaller on the long side. So I texted her and told her that I found something. With my sister, Ms. Pricesion's help, I centered it in the frame and sent it back up. I told her to tell her mom that it wasn't free. I wasn't going to charge much. $15 maybe. Anyway, she had already sent me a Christmas gift, if you overlook the fact that other than the pretzels, everything had milk and chocolate in or on it. :) Thanks to her I almost finished my first box of lactose pills.

Anyway, I had felt bad, when I first got it, that I didn't have a gift for her. I had a gift for no one. I have only given maybe 2 Christmas gifts in my life, and I can only remember one of them. Back when I was 17 or 18 and babysitting for my fav Aunt. I used some of my money to get my mom a stand mixer. It wasn't anything great, but I think it was the first time I bought something, with my own money, for someone else, for Christmas.

Now that I think about it, I may have gotten a few things for my niece when she was younger. The one that grew up with me and came with us from St.Kitts. I'm pretty sure I said her name before, but I'm trying hard not say people names on here anymore for some reason.

Anyway, I will be seeing said child tomorrow. She's coming over for a day or two. At first, I wanted her to come over for Tuesday so we could go movies, but then I found out that I would have the girl from upstairs for the week since school is now out.

Ok, back to fractals. yeah, there is more there. So after the girl left, with the message for her mom, that it wasn't free, which I realize now was a bit harsh maybe, I texted her that it was a gift and that to forget about the message about it being not free. She laughed and thanked me.

Then I was up late, like ways, and was asleep when my brother called me and then the sister shows up asking to use our oven to bake some big piece of meat. At first, I thought it was ox tail, but it turned out to be ham. I happened to still be on the phone with my brother who called up to see how things were. He turned out to have a cold. I thought it was odd since I was normally the one sick somehow.

So, I had him on hold while I was doing this with the girl. Turning on the oven and setting the timer and then when I thought she was leaving, she asked to see my prints. I asked her now? Christmas Day? She said yes. So I told my brother that I had to go and we went through what I had and she ended up picking two fractals.

This time I did compare prices with what I told her and what the price was on DA. I didn't gain a profit, just because they are our neighbours and friends and the first ones to buy anything from me. It's odd. My family in Canada didn't get my fractals at all, but they said I was pretty good with my photos. They won't give me one of their cams that they aren't really using, but they think that my photos are good enough to sell. And it's not that I hadn't hinted that I would love to get one of their far more professional cams considering I have a pocket point and shoot thing.

I know, I was suppose to get one with the money from mom's pension, but after helping my sister pay back who we borrowed money from to bury mom and then pay for part of her trip to a convention in Vagas, I didn't have the money anymore. I'll come back and gripe about that later I'm sure.

Currently, I'm still reading the collection of John Carter of Mars books. There are seven and I'm to 4 now. This man went through a heck of a lot in the third book, not to mention the first two and now it seems to be his kid's turn. Maybe I'm slow. Or maybe the books are long. Or it's a mix of both. I think I hit my stride in the third book, but when I realized that the 4th was about his kid I kinda slowed down for a bit, but they are having almost the same, but new issues that he did. And I mean general issues. He, the author, has managed to make new situations throughout the books.

Now, I don't remember what prompted me to get the collection, but overall I'm glad I did. I keep forgetting how dated some things may seem/be when it's being held up as such a great story. At the start of the first book I thought that the movie was keeping kind close to the source, then I read bits that I wish I had seen and realized how they just about invented other bits in the movie as the story continued. For that I'm disappointed. I was also left wondering how they even planned to continue the movie considering how they ended the first one.

Granted, the immediate continuation where the nephew gets the letter is safe, but I'm talking about what happens on Mars when he gets back. I heard that there was going to be a second movie, but it was dropped because not enough people saw the first one to cover the cost of making it.

In the defense of the movie making people, a stand I don't take too often, if they had stayed closer to the book, the rating would have to be changed because it would have been a darker movie than what you saw. Which I don't mind. I don't think that all movies should be made into mass audience pieces because they want as much money as humanly possible. But considering how much they spent on making it, they may have thought it was the only way to get back that money.

Other than the rampant death and gore they omitted, the lady in distress theme that ran the length of three books, they may have thought was too outdated to be believed never mind watched.

Actually, I'm going to stop there. I think I'll give this its own post since I have once again strayed from the fractals and the lady from upstairs.

Long story short, if that is possible for me, she got two fractal prints. I got more money back into my pocket, and my tally has now risen to 3 for the number of works sold. :)

They sent down some of their food for me to eat because I passed out just as she came down the last, and third time to check on the meat. Around that time my sister came back home. She went to deliver the cake to an old cousin of ours. She had given it to out sister to take to her since they both lived in Brooklyn, but come Christmas, they still had it. so she went all the way over there to deliver it herself to find out that our cousin was out visiting one of her friends. So she found the cake hanging from her doorknob when she got home.

Once again I learned that upstairs doesn't know how to make anything without pepper in it. And I'm not talking black pepper. I'm talking hot sauce. Scotch bonnet peppers. But it was good, not overly hot this time. The spread was nothing much. Rice and peas. Stewed ox tail. Fried chicken. Potato salad and a mix leafy salad that I'm slowly eating. :) If I had done it right, I would have eaten it with the rice since it had peppery gravy on it. Oh well.

Now come Sunday night and my sister is baking again. Cheese Cakes and Tiramisus. I, of course, had to help since I was once again up reading, working a little on my story and not falling asleep until sunrise. Again. So we spent time together and it didn't take that long. We were only up late because she took so long to get started. In fact, she boiled me out of bed.

There I was, sleeping away under my nice warm comforter and bit by bit I'm starting to over heat. I didn't turn the heat on. I didn't have to, but someone did. When I got up to complain, she said that I could turn it off now. She was cold earlier. I told her she did it just to get me up and help her bake. She's done it before. Not bake until I was there to help her that is. We watched Superman while we were making the tiramisus, then I made her watch Superman v Batman when we were done so she could stop saying that Batman killed Superman.

Then I left her around 2am to finish rendering out some large fractals for prints on DA and where ever else they may end up.

I'm at it again today and that was my Christmas. How was yours?

And we are done!

Four are from the night before. 😊

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Hey...

Not much going on on my end.

I tried to make Johny Cakes aka fried 'Jamaican' dumplings. I think I didn't let the dough rest and that I used the wrong flour. 

So before I wasted all the dough that way, I rolled up some of it into small balls and tossed them into the chicken soup. 

The mom for the girl took forever to get home, kinda, Friday. I don't really mind that she was that late outside of the fact that she didn't tell me she was going to be so late. 

We got snow. I think it was Friday night Saturday morning. It looked good before the cars started to leave tire tracks in it. Saturday afternoon or night it got warm enough that it rained so just about none of it is left now.

My sister got me one of those copper frying pans. So far so good, but I think it was smaller than what she was expecting, and it a little smaller than the size I normally use, but I'm getting used to it. I used it Saturday and Sunday for dinner.

The girl's mother talked about buying one of my photos/fractals for someone and she was suppose to come look at them on the computer last week, but then called up a few days ago asking about them again like shipping should have it on our doorstep before christmas. It was the 15th or 16th then. She didn't show up to look at anything until the 18th. Clearly, this woman believes in miracles.

So without my glasses, I tried showing her a few things on the computer and explaining that there would be 2-4 days of a quality check for anything she got from DA unless she got one that I bought when I thought I would be doing this gallery thing. 

Then we saw prices like this for the ones that came with a frame. She wanted a frame too. 

The crossed out price is the base price plus the what I would be paid. The bold price is just the base price. So I'm not getting rich unless I get like 10 sold each day. And that's not even rich. That's ok. 

Anyway, she wasn't paying that or close to it, so she asked about the prints that I bought. Because she has this thing of having it ready by Christmas and I already had some on me that I weren't using. She ended up picking the one that her sister liked, and since I knew she didn't want to pay much and more than likely won't pay the base price I just about gave it to her for $30. And that is how I made my first sale. 

So sad. But you have to start somewhere. 

Then she told me that she would have to drop the girl off early in the morning because her sister wasn't going to be home. So I stayed up the night waiting for her to show up at 7:25 am. Or just about that. Then we went downstairs around 7:40 to wait for the school bus with the temp being around 23 degrees. 

I hate winter. I don't mind seeing the snow, but I despise the cold. Since sitting in the closed in porch was just as bad as being outside on the street, I took down the trash that I should have taken out yesterday, and brought the trash can back into the yard from the curb. They picked up the trash that morning around 4:30 am, along with the paper recycling. 

I then came back in once she was picked up about 10 mins later and mostly stayed asleep until 3pm.

Oh, I forgot something. The cakes. You already saw the pic below. 

For some reason, my sister felt like making cakes for a whole bunch of people this year. She's shipping one to my brother and his family at Fort Drum in upstate NY. And one is going to our half sister in Canada. The rest are local, but she's handing them off to other people to deliver. Those are the first 8. I think it was eight. We just made 4 more tonight and she says she still has about 20 more to make. 

Who are all those going to, outside of her coworkers? I don't know. Since I'm helping, I'll find out. Most will be done tomorrow. We ran out of supplies tonight or it would have been another double batch at least. Personally, I don't think she has enough soaking fruit to make all that she said she is going to do.

I made my quick chili tonight and I put it with baked steak fries. It came out quite well. Even with the chili tasting of ginger and garlic with sesame seeds. 😆 I used an Asian seasoning mix for the meat and veggies. 😋 I packed some of it with some bread slices and cheese slices, without fries, for my sister to have as lunch tomorrow. 

So, back to photos and frames. After the girl's mother asked about where to get it framed, she is hung up on getting it framed, that I looked up how much it would be to really get the size she got framed. Granted, it all depends on the look you are going for and such. 

And it seems that my taste is pricey. 😆 When I found a frame that I like and what she could afford considering the print she got was 20x30 inches, it was over at a place called 'Art to Frame' and it was just shy of $30. For my taste. For just a good dark frame that fits that size, I saw one for just under $20. I went back to check just now. 😊

I guess I could use that one too. If I priced it right, I wouldn't care if they got their own frame for it and they wouldn't think twice about getting a new frame if they really didn't like the one it was in. Ok, there's something. 

Oh, I read down the site a bit more and saw that they are coming out of Brooklyn. How cool. Oh, and it comes with hanging implements and a 'glass' of some kind to protect what you are framing. You get three options. I'll have to tell the mother about this. 

Oh, one of my aunts called last night. Lucky me I just "sold" something and could pass that on to keep from feeling like a failure. Yeah for timing. 😏

I'm out. I'm still reading John Carter Of Mars. 

What the Christmas season looks like for me.

Fruit cake, or black cake, or Christmas cake since we only bake it around this time and try to soak the fruit bits for a whole year.

Yep, soaked in rum or .. Something else.

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An there is dinner.

Told you I could do it. I was halfway done by the time my sister came home. But she didn't get to eat at work so she brought her lunch home and is eating that now

I may have started late, but everything worked out. I even got to make some Kool-Aid.😃

Later.

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Cake?

It was someone's birthday today so my sister started this cake last night.

I woke up before 8 due to a nightmare I was having and stuck around to keep her from going crazy over the fact she didn't have enough butter cream to cover the cake.

I then helped with the fondant circles and arranging the gumpaste balls covered in fondant that we did last night.

I think it looks good.

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Adventures at the laundromat

I took my sweet ass time leaving the house today. I had no energy at all. It took effort to pour a bowl of cold cereal.

As I was packing things the sun was almost done setting. I saw darkness when I walked pass my window to get dressed which just made it feel later than it was. But I was going to leave before 5:15.

Which is why when I went to get a packet of ground beef out of the freezer, I left it when I realized that it was behind things. I've cooked it from a frozen state before and I can do it again.

I had to lift up the cart and clothes and slowly walked down the staircase that I really don't like to make it out of the house. Once I was outside I pushed myself up the hill. My poor heart.

It hurt going up, but once I was on level ground I think I recovered faster than I did the last time. Maybe.

Like I expected, the place was empty. Very few people are here on Mondays. Besides finding my hand almost frozen to the handle of the cart, everything went well until I tried to use this card the machines require.

First my card wouldn't work. I tried like six times. I got nothing but an error message on the read out screen. Then I tried to get a new card and the machine won't take my money. First time ever. Well maybe not ever. But you know what I mean.

So after a while of trying, with the attendant, I just gave her the money and she used her card to start my machine. Then when I was writing this the first time, I realized that I had missed the wash cycle to put in the Clorox 2 and had to start this post all back over again after I got some water to wash the Clorox 2 down into the machine.

Now they are ready for the dryers. And while they are in there I'm going to the store to get some corn meal and potatoes.

Later. Also. I wrote all this without my glasses. So I'll fix it later tonight.

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... Just fixed it. :)

Hey...

I know I forgot to post on Thursday and Friday just past me by. I think I was still recovering from Thursday.

So Thursday I got three sockets changed out. One was worst than the rest when he opened it up, and that was the one that lead the way to getting the other three changed in the first place because it cracked on me.

My sister's ceiling got fixed too. They scraped off the peeling, dried, cracked plaster and paint and patched it with new plaster and painted over that once it was finished drying. They helped the process along by using a heat gun.

I was told they were going to be there early morning, but I didn't see them until after 2 pm.

I was also asked to prep for my sister so she could make a carrot cake. I grated the carrots for her. Took out her frozen buttercream frosting and I watched my light go out in my room when I was done.

There was also the burning of the circular saw that set off the smoke detector while I was in the kitchen grating.

Then when my sister got home, the little girl had already left and she kept pulling me into helping her make the cakes. Yep. Cakes. She was now doing two. I got away without doing much, but when the Egg Nog Cheese Cakes cooled I had to put it in the fridge. A big one and four small ones. The same for the carrot cake. One big one and four small ones. Those could stay out until she took them took work.

But before that, when my sister was still awake and waiting for them to finish baking, she brought up that she forgot to tell our landlord that we might need to have the hand railings taken down so the fridge would fit.

So much as gone wrong with this fridge.

We first went to BestBuy to have a look at it, then we went to P.C. Richards to see if they could do one better. We walked along a highway because we could see the sign from BestBuy. That was a few weeks back. After we got an Uber home that night, she went online. She really wanted to buy the fridge and freezer that day.

After she paid for everything, she found out her card declined everything because it was unusual for her to spend so much money at once. Well yeah. How often do people buy new fridges and freezers?

So the next day she is trying to get everything straightened out. That took a few hours and the reordering of things. So, fast forward to Friday 3am and I'm looking first at the appointment notice from BestBuy telling me that we have an appointment for delivery for between 8am and 12 noon. Then I get a new e-mail. "Your purchase has been canceled" What?! Ok... I check the ticket number to make sure it's the same one and it is, so ... What do I do? I print both out, place them on her bed for her to see in the morning. Put up the cakes, and came back to my computer to play two games on my computer before going to bed around maybe 5 am.

Now it's 7:55am, the sun is up and my sister is waking me up. At first, I thought it was because of the fridge and it kinda was. They were going to be here in minutes. I didn't understand. I then said that maybe the system glitched and it meant to say that the order was processed since it was being delivered that day.

So now I'm left unloading the fridge since my sister had to take a bath to get ready for work. I got everything out by the time we heard them arrive.

There was a little talking here, a little talking there. A few doors came off, my sister helped to move the tv and cable box to my room, which I put back on my own in the end, and $20 later there was a new freezerless fridge in my kitchen and the old fridge was downstairs on the porch where the landlord wanted it. Why? don't know. Maybe he's selling it for scrap.

My sister was gushing over the freezer when it arrived, but I was more impressed with the fridge as I now put stuff back and tossed stuff out.

Once I cleaned up the puddle that showed up while the old fridge was sitting in the living room, I was back in bed until 3:30 when I got up to wait for the girl to come home from school.

Thursday night was leftovers and I made some newly cooked chicken and veggies. Mostly radishes. That is what I packed up for my sister to take to work since she ate the lunch I gave for her late that day. I had the last of the pasta with a hot dog since I ate before the chicken was cooked.

Tonight was even simpler. Back to the hot dogs again and I had it on an onion bagel with pickled red cabbage and ketchup. She had a hot dog too and bread, but I don't know what she had on it. We split up since she was baking again and I didn't want to help again.

I think you have now been caught up. 😊

Later.

It has to grow on me

The first handful doesn't taste that great or even close to what you expected, but as you eat more, it's not as bad as you first thought it was.

 

It's like how the wilderness isn't so wild once you aren't the first heading out there.

 

Even now. I remember how well it started to taste good, so when I get some more hours later, because I just have to eat popcorn, I'm asking myself why I thought this tasted good, but by my second handful, I start to find reasons again. 😊

 

My love hate relationship with Pumpkin Spice Popcorn continues. 😊

 

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Guess what I have done?

I ordered 3 gallons of a popcorn flavor that I've never had and I don't like it.

I have never not liked a favor that I've ordered so I can't say this happened before so I'm getting a small amount first.

So it will either go with my sister to the office or I'm going to make brittle with this stuff.

So disappointed.

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Finally. Dinner.

I cleaned two packs of chicken, so I won't have to do it again tomorrow,  after I cleaned the kitchen. I also ended up going easy on myself  as to what I was going to roast. I did only the squash and it's covered in curry powder. Along with salt, spray Pam. There might be some powered garlic on them too.

I pan seared the chicken before taking them out and slightly sautéing some frozen peppers and onions in the coconut oil. Then I put the chicken back in, put on the cover and parked it in the oven at 450 until I was sure the meat was cooked completely through.

The rice is brown with kale, spinach and broccoli that were added near the end to steam.

Bye, bye. 😊

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I'll Make This Quick

Hey,

It seems yesterday was the worst of my condition and the start of the end. I had a good sleep, even if it was from sunrise until 3:15 pm. Just 7 hours.

I woke up feeling pretty good and when I picked up the girl, I didn't have to keep her because her Aunt was home, but I also found out that she doesn't have school tomorrow.

It was around 45 degrees out, so I didn't walk out to the bus driver to find out why. Not that it really matters. Knowing why she's home, won't change that is.

He aunt called down and asked for some kidney beans and said that she wants to come down and look at my fractals. I've been waiting for her to come look at them for honestly months now. But it seems she wants them for gifts so now she's coming down. That made me clean up my room a bit. I still have a questionable corner, but on the whole, my desk and the area around it is good and Fribreezed. :)

I was going to start cooking at 6, but since I had to clean up my room, I'm going to start now. Not as early as I would have liked, but it should be too bad. I had the chicken out defrosting since morning. :)

What's for dinner? I'm thinking roasted veggies by way of broccoli, radishes, and bristle sprouts. And perhaps the squash sitting on the table before I find out it went bad later. The chicken is going to be baked too and I think rice is safe bet.

Ok. I'm out.

Later.  :)

Darkness...

Most of today I felt like a swirling mass of chemicals and pain that just made me sleep.

Yet!

Yet, I was up at 7:15 to get Khloe and take her down to wait for her bus at 7:50 which didn't show up until 8:20. I was cold and nodding off most of the time. Khloe just slept in the chair until they showed up.

Then I dragged my body that felt like it should melting down into the toilet, and waited in the cold stairwell for her to come home for almost an hour. I was sitting on the step breathing through pain when her mother called to let me know that Khloe was still at the school at 3:50. I had already been waiting 30 mins at this point.

She was going to call the bus people and have them know that they school was closing and they had to go pick up her daughter now.

I somehow talked myself into staying there another 20 or mins until the bus brought her home. I went to the bathroom and by the time I came out, Khloe was already asleep for her nap.

I felt wretched. I wanted to and should have eaten something but at the same time I didn't want any food at all and my body, I'm sure, was even in more pain because of it.

I was able to somehow get her to do her homework and start some other homework that she didn't do at all. I think it might have been some part of the set that she just left at school so she wouldn't have to do it. She mostly shut herself down once I told her she was going this. She played, she did anything but pay attention to what she was suppose to do.

She brought me the paper and the very first mark she made was wrong. I then just jumped down to the first part of all of them, and they were all the same, and they were wrong.

So when her mom came, I told her that I just remembered telling Khloe that I won't let her use my pencils anymore. These aren't normal pencils. I paid a few dollars for each one. I have drafting pencils. They aren't meant to be used by a 7-year-old to do their homework that they aren't any way invested in. And I know. What 7 year old is invested in their homework? But she seems to invent ways of showing she doesn't want to try.

I won't bail her out anymore. If she doesn't have a pencil when she gets home, she will do her homework when her mom get's home.

A few mins later my sister came home and she brought chicken home. I put some fries in the oven and we stood and watched "Hero's of Tomorrow" as we ate. The fries took a while to crisp up, so when they were done, I came in here and my sister tried, once more, to watch a show on Netflix.

And now you have caught up... kinda...

I just remembered something. But to see that little bit of something. Click on the slideshow of my work on the side. Then go to view the blue spiral fractal. It has more to do with that site, so to read it go there.

Later

Movies!

Sunday my sister and I went to the movies, before and after we went to ShopRite. :)

We went there to get something to eat at the movies, then we did a more proper shopping trip afterwards.

A number of things happened. First the good stuff. It was a great movie. I lived in a fractal movie for almost 2 hours. :) I'm talking about Dr. Strange. :)

It's a great, movie. I didn't know much about Dr. Strange, and that might be why I'm not picking anything apart like I did for Superman vs. Batman, but I know I'm not the only one that thinks it's great. I repeat. It's a great movie and a must see. Now to get around to watching Civil War. I know. I jumped a movie.

So, before the movie, I met my sister at the store. I took my Bluetooth earbuds with me just to get some use out of them after having them charge for like 4 days. I plugged them in and just left them there. So I turned them off and draped them over my neck as I went into the supermarket. We got a sandwich and apple cider along with a bag of chips and got two small soup bowls to use as cups.

Everything is fine, but the place is packed. We ask the cashier and she tells us that it was welfare check day. I did not know. Learned something new. The 4th of every month and the 5th I'm sure, will be the busiest days of the months for this supermarket.

So we got to catch the bus to Cityplex. It doesn't take long. We get off, we go in, I pay for the tickets, $22 odd, and head in. We are the only ones there, and I'm not surprised. But we are so early, 20 odd mins, that not even the pre-show things are being shown on the screen.

So I'm getting comfy, taking off my coat, trying to get and catch my earbuds, and they are nowhere to be found. They are gone. I dropped them somewhere and someone got an early Christmas gift. I managed to forget about them until we leave and head back to ShopRite.

We get there and I went towards Customer Service, but they were busy, so we walked around and got stuff instead. I was kind trying to keep the number of stuff low, but once she said that she was getting us and Uber to go home, we ended up getting some juice that was going to leave behind. I just didn't want to walk up or down a hill with milk and juice cutting into my hands. At the end of it all, I went back to Customer Service and asked, as kindly as I could, if anyone turned in a pair of Bluetooth earbuds. My answer was, of course, no.

My sister said that I would be more upset if I had paid for them, and she's right. She paid for them, and she thought there were broken and she took so long to send them back that she had already written them off when I got them to kinda work for me. It was better than nothing, but it had glitches and I think the battery life was kinda short.

I still wish I had them, but they are gone now and there isn't anything I can do about it. Now the other 'bad' thing. My sister first went to the store to get one thing in particular. And we didn't get it. We were in the store twice and we didn't remember until after we got home. We spent over $80 and we didn't get one thing that we needed.

So ... that was mostly my Sunday.

I Feel Like....

... I don't know what I feel like. Everything I pick doesn't feel right. I do know that I feel in pain and like I shouldn't wake up.

I was starting to feel out of sorts like three days ago, but yesterday I realized it was because of my cycle. As I've gotten older it's just gotten mentally worst. Before it was just pain that lasted a full week on heavy flow.

Now there are chemicals mixed in. I feel depressed. I feel like not doing anything. I still feel the pain but now I feel like I'm going to throw up sometimes. When I was younger I was able to eat and that would give my stomach pain something else to do and leave me alone for a little bit.

Now I mostly starve myself and that's no fun.

So while my body is dealing with all that, my sister asks me to roasts some veggies for the office. She's been doing this week long baking event for the office because a friend of her's is leaving. On Friday, today, they are having something of a potluck lunch. She made a carrot cake with buttercream icing. She wanted me to do the roasted veggies. Which was a mix of Honey Nut squash, Brussels sprouts, another squash of some kind, three different kinds of small potatoes and some radishes. It was something to get the cake into the fridge to keep until she left, so I work up at 4 am and did the veggies.

I never really remember everything I do each time I make something, so there was a little tinkering and I think thanks to my sister opening the open during the last 20 mins saved them for burning. I was awake and in my room waiting for the timer to go off, but I had turned up the heat but gave it too long. She opened the open to see how things were going when she work up and it set off the fire alarm.

Nothing was wrong. The alarm is just a little sensitive. :) I checked the oven anyway to make sure, and they were done. Almost a little too crispy, but done. I took out the two pans because I needed everything to lay flat in the pan to get crispy sides, Once again I think I should have put in the Brussel Sprouts in later than everything else.

Anyway, I put them in the pan she was taking them in, Left it open to cool, with the window now open and went back to bed once I told her.

I then just wouldn't get up until it was time for the girl to come home from school. I did get out bed before then to go to the bathroom. A number of times. But I just ended back up in bed and trying to sleep it all away.

Even when the girl got here. I made sure she had something to eat and she took her nap afterwards like normal. I was in bed before she was asleep. I felt a little bad sleeping while she was here, but I just could not lay down.

We then had a round with her homework. The English wasn't too bad. But we got into it with her math. There are times when I'm not sure if she is trying to appear dumb, care so little to remember to do it correctly, or wants to see how long it will take until I spank her. No, I don't believe that doesn't know she has to do, since we have been doing it for two days already and it was covered in school for at least two already also.

I finally got around to cooking dinner. I did something close to steamed fish, but not something Americans would recognize as steamed fish. I sauteed some onions and peppers, added broth, to get rid of it instead of using water. Seasoned it with adobe, then added some slices of frozen fish in the liquid and let it boil for about 10 - 15 mins. It should be called boiled fish I guess. I haven't done it in a while.

I was about to make some rice and kale to go with it, but it just seemed wrong. So I hunted down a recipe for dumplings. West Indan dumplings and it was when I forming them, my sister and the girl's mother came home.

I think I could cut down on the salt used, but other than that, dinner came out fine. My sister came home with a 'sandwich'. It was a fish sandwich from Micky D's. Along with an 'apple pie'. She got two, I think she thought of giving me one, but then realized the amount of butter in the crust and didn't bother.

So now done eating, my stomach aches and I think I'm going to crawl into bed because I'm also cold. I should go turn on the heat. My sister is already asleep.

I was going to say a little more, but it can keep.

Later.

The Universe didn't like...

...my plans for the rest of my day.

Somewhere around 6:15 or so this afternoon my sister calls to let me know that she was notified that the freezer was ready to be picked up.

In case I forgot to say, we got a new freezer because we got a new fridge. The fridge is just a fridge. There is no freezer part.

So now I had to unload the freezer and defrost it before it could go upstairs. No big. I do that. Wash some dishes, heat up some of the food. Some of what I put into the oven concerned me, but I put it in anyway. Then I decided to make some lemonade.

This is when the universe started to spit on me.

I had 'The 100' on, turned to watch it after I had the sugar and lemon juice in the container. I was shaking it help mix everything up and help to dissolve the sugar. Anyway, I turn around shaking it and three seconds after I look up to see what was going it, the container broke, fell from my grasp and exploded on the floor.

I stood there in shock for few seconds before reaching for the broken thing and then running into the bathroom to get some to absorb all this liquid. I was less worried about getting everywhere and more worried about it leaking to downstairs. And there is the fact that I don't own a mop and bucket. So I'm dabbing and pushing my sister's uniforms around the floor trying to get them to soak up the sugary liquid. The container was only half full at the time.

So when I think I got most of it, I called upstairs to see if they had a mop and bucket to borrow. And to think, on Monday I saw both at the discount store but didn't get them because my sister doesn't like them. I'm getting them the next time I go there. Which most likely will be sometime this week.

So the tub is filled with hot water and the mat that was under the splash is at the far end hanging over the rim. I then preceded to wash out everything that I just did to them so they could dry and not smell like dirty floor or lime or be sticky with sugar. I would have done a better job if I had more time, and I wasn't worried about my back giving out on me as I'm bent over the tub.

I still have a hot pot of water in the freezer melting away the ice that is clinging to the shelves. I go back to that, catch some water that was dripping out. Mopped that up, rung out the towels that I had in there to catch the water and ice and then preceded to pull the freezer out of it's 'nook', out of the kitchen and in out of the way of the new freezer and into the living room.
I then got the few hangers I could find and was about hang up some of the shirts that I washed out when my sister called. She was downstairs. Great. I called up to have her come down and help since they were getting our old one. I then went to get dressed and as I slip on my shoes I hear my sister along with someone else, pulling or pushing the freezer up the stairs. I open the door just in time to see as the freezer was flipped over end and onto our landing/floor. She then went back down to maybe talk to the driver and lock up. I hauled the freezer into the kitchen myself. It wasn't very, very heavy.

My sister comes back in and proceeds to cut the plastic ties over the box. But the time the girls come down from upstairs, the driver is already gone and I'm looking for a box cutter. I didn't even know that the mom was back. She must have shown up when I was in the bathroom washing.

I'm so upset that happened. If only I hadn't turned around. I'm not upset the container was not faulty. I'm a little upset at the lost of the ingredients. And the floor I don't even actually mopping. It's the fact that I had to use my sister's uniforms to soak up the mess. I haven't told her that is what I did. She would flip. I hope the smell 'normal' tomorrow. She hasn't asked me what happened, so I think she thinks I washed her some of her clothes for her. It was raining all day and just yesterday she said that she had less uniforms to wear than she thought a day ago. So I could have washed some on hand for her.

It's not impossible. I spent the better part of my first 15 years alive washing clothes by hand. So once again I hope they smell fine in the morning. If not, I'll just have to take them to laundry and wash them again. I just hate going up the hill. It hurts my back too much. I've been taking my calcium pills to help strengthen my bones, but I'm already 40, In a month and a half, So I feel like I'm just maintaining instead of building anything at this point. But I was able to lean over the tub longer than I could have before, so maybe going up the hill this week won't be the chore I'm dreading it to be.

Oh, the part of the food that I heated up before was bad like I thought. I tossed it. I didn't need food poisoning tonight too. I restocked the freezer. I had to take care of the plastic bag issue and sorted the paper bags from the other reusable bags that we have. And we do have a lot it seems. Everything that was on that side of the kitchen I put back and put all the stuff that was around the freezer by the door so that when my sister came down from helping them upstairs with their new freezer, she could take them out.

I turned on the heat, so at the moment there are two of her paints in here with me, getting very toasty and dry. I'm tempted to get about two more and put them on the radiator out in the living room.

Ok, I'm yawning here.

Later.

The bowls.

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Tuesday was a given... then a wash.

I was told that Khloe would be let out from school around 12:45 today. Great. I was planning on going to the movies to see Dr. Strange.

Then Khloe said that her aunt would be home today. I confirmed it. So yeah, I could go to the movies after all.

I woke up a little late, but no so bad. What made it worst was the pure downpour of rain. I am cold enough in the movies without being wet too. I don't need to be that cold and wet to boot.

So I made an omelet and then came online after checking to see when would be a good time to go see the movie. The good slot was 2:30pm. But no. Still raining, and I'm cold now.

So ... going to fill the rest of my day somehow.

Later.

Not Much Happened Monday

Before I get to Monday, I would like to say that I did indeed end up making the stuffing Sunday night. :)

It had cranberries, mushrooms, and pecan pieces. :) I wasn't going to bake it, but my sister insisted. It came out quite well. The girl upstairs that wanted her share didn't come home until 'late' Monday night, so I had it heated up for her, for when she came to pick up Khloe.

In fact, Sunday was more exciting than Monday. Sunday I cleaned out part of the kitchen that I haven't gotten around to cleaning for months. In the process, I was reminded of some frying pans that I hadn't seen in ages, and I found a whole box of 6 boxes of chicken stock. I think I might have gotten them last thanksgiving. I really don't remember.

That whole place looks so much better now. Next, I have to tackle the growing plastic bag holding area that is growing out of bounds.

Now Monday.

I didn't get up early. In fact, I haven't since I stayed up to make sure my sister got home from some thanksgiving type party Saturday night/Sunday morning. As for going out for my walk, I ended up doing it later in the day. I was hoping to make it longer, but I just couldn't get myself to move that quickly. I got up, took a bath, and oiled up my skin so the cold wouldn't kill it and keep my feet from badly drying out, but I couldn't get myself dressed and out in good time to get back before Khloe got home from school.

I hate not getting back here in time for her drop off. Heck, I hate having them honk to get my attention when I am home, so I'm downstairs waiting for them to show up to keep that from happening.

So, I dumped all the stuff that I cleaned out of the kitchen on Sunday, normal trash, and some recycling. Then when Khloe got home, we took that walk. We went to the discount store. So we went downhill, three blocks. Walked a long block under the highway. We walked around Popeye's, then down three blocks.

Now I just didn't walk there because I wanted a walk and didn't want to take Khloe too far. My sister said that she wanted some of those big mixing bowls that look like mini bathtubs for babies. She is going to be making so much black cake, aka Christmas cake, for the office, that she can't use the blender. In fact, with all the cut fruit in there, the blade or paddle can't even move. So you will be doing it by hand in the end anyway.

So I got two of those big bowls for her. I should have taken a pic. Anyway. I also got an air spray, some birthday candles, because my sister keeps thinking that we have some for when she makes birthday cakes for the office. But we never do. So I got about 25. I got a 5 set of trick candles. I almost told my sister, but nah.. let her find out herself. :)

I got some cookies for Khloe, she picked them, since she didn't have any snacks left over from school. Normally she does, and she eats what she has before taking her nap. There was something else, I think, but I can't remember.

So on the walk back, I started to feel like getting a sandwich. So we went to White Castle, Yep, White Castle. It's across the street from Popeye's. We got green bean fries, and sweet potato fries. I got the veggie slider and I got a normal one with cheese for Khloe. Making her eat green bean and apparently sweet potato fries for the first time was enough.

She didn't get any of the cookies. I wouldn't be surprised if she forgot we got them. I'm not eating them in case you were wondering. They are chocolate chips. I don't like chocolate at all. I'll eat it in a Snicker just to get to the nuts. It's something I put up with, not go looking for. She'll get some when she comes by next time.

Homework wasn't that great. I even left her to it at 8 so I could start dinner. Which was a simple fare. I had ground beef with diced tomatoes, and three kinds of beans. That went with some pasta and veggies that I tossed in near the end to defrost and cook a little. That was it, but it was good.

To end off my day, I logged into Netflix on the computer and edited my account. A few days ago I started to see all these movies popping up in my recently watched list, which I would never, never watch. So I'm sure someone got into the account somehow. I cleaned them out. Changed the password and logged out all devices.

I then ended the night watching Poldark and playing Township. :)

Did you know about this?

This is going to sound very contradictory, but I don't care that they are dating each other, but it was a surprise for me to find out.

I saw alot of Katy Perry due to her involvement with the Clinton campaign and I watched alot of behind the scenes of the hobbit movies in the last month so both are fresh in my mind so to speak and now I find out they are an item.

I saw two worlds colliding and I just thought that it was something.

Congrats to them, even though it's abit late, and I really hope it lasts.

Sent from my Windows Phone

The state of my mouth

I had something alot longer, but I lost it when the dentist came back.

My teeth feel like I cracked them. I have this dull aching pain that comes at me in waves.

Almost home now. On the bus now.

Night.

Sent from my Windows Phone

See? Grey.

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Grey skies

No blue sky shots today. Good thing I was planing mostly inside shots today. I'm heading to Macy's after my crowning.

And with all the pain in my feet and legs, I'll be taking my time doing the rounds.

I saw holiday lane and it looks ... Well that is why I'm going back to take pics.

Later.

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So late...

Just got on the bus to go back home. My feet and back hurt. I didn't see myself doing stuffing tonight.

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We got a few things

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I'm talking about November 23rd...

Tuesday I didn't go out for my walk, as you know. I did some in-house exercises. Come Wednesday, my thighs hurt like I actually had sex again. Sorry if that was a little crude. But the last time my thighs hurt like this, I had sex for the first time back when I was 23.

I was late by choice. And I should really say vaginal intercourse. I've been with guys before and we did a lot of other things, but I never did anything that was designed to get a girl pregnant until then. Anyway, I was fine the day that happened too, then as I work up in the morning and just tried moving ... the burn in my thighs.

So, an oddly nice memory that I could have done without the pain. So I didn't do anything that day even though it was playing in my head that I should somehow work through the pain or it could be harder for me to get going again. Since Khloe was coming home early, I decided that we were going to go down the hill, three blocks, then walk along Elizabeth, about 5 long blocks, to the discount store and get a few things since I had some money on me.

We got there and took our time looking for stuff. I knew I had to get a tension rod for one of the windows. And perhaps a curtain. And some hand soap for the bathroom. The potato masher was a remembered thing. The mattress cover was something I knew I had to get but never remembered. I picked up a baby bottle brush, to help clean my dish rack, but I ended up putting it back. It had this bend in the handle I didn't like.

I got two more wooden spoons. I tried to get some curtains, but they just had those two piece frilly messes with frilly tie backs. You may like them, but I never have. I got some red wine vinegar and two over the door hooks for my coats and bags, I had tried some stuck on ones... they are all lies. They can't hold anything, at least not for long. One my way out I grabbed a vapor rub.

I spent quite a while thinking about taking a comforter. They only had a full king and queen sizes. I didn't remember that I borrowed my sisters when she was at the convention out of town and I had no issues with it being as big as it was until I was home again. So I'm getting the next one I see once the price is right.

I know I said I was going to get an electric blanket, but I haven't looked that hard and when I did see some, they weren't the brand I wanted.

So Khloe and I came back with the stuff and we stopped off to DD to get some donuts. She got something with sprinkles on it and had pink frosting all over it. I asked for a simple crawler and the lady didn't know what I meant. I described it to her as I looked for it on the shelf behind her. It wasn't there. That could be one reason she didn't know, but does this mean that in the time she has been working there, they have never had crawlers?

I checked the spelling. The full name is French Cruller. The ones that look like big truck tires?

They are like the only donuts that I really like and mostly only eat these days.

After we got back, Khloe said she wasn't tired, so we did some reading of some things she brought home from school. Things were ok until we got the fourth and final one. She started to have a meltdown over how to use 'corporation' in a sentence. So I sent to her nap after I got something correct out of her.

I think I messed with photos and such for a bit before starting dinner early. I had already decided to make potato salad with roasted hotdogs, but when I was prepping, I decided to toss in some radishes and some sunchokes into the mix. I didn't have much peeling since everything was one the small side, expect a few of the radishes and the sunchokes that needed peeling.

So there I was, scraping the skin off the sunchoke when my sister called to ask if I started cooking yet. I told her that nothing was hot, even though I had the eggs sitting in water on the cold stove. She got sandwiches. Great. I finished peeling everything and washed them off before I dumped the water out of the pot and put everything in until today. :)

Then I realized that I was only suppose to roast some veggies, make stuffing and do the chicken we got from the store for today. But my sister it was ok to have the salad there too.

After Khloe left and my sister came home and we ate, I was into the fractal making and photo editing. I got some good stuff. :) It felt odd and familiar to be working in Apo again after all this time. I have so much to remember with that program. Then I fell into trying to find the opening song from an anime I'm watching. I've been attacked and lied to by websites for at least 30 mins before I gave up and bought a cover of the song. I faved the vid over at youtube since I can't download the whole song that I want. The only place that may really have the song I want is iTunes. But I'm not going there.

There are some pieces of software that I don't want to install on here. At least not yet, if ever and iTunes is one of them.

It is a great song and I'll live with the cover I have of it, from Amazon, that I paid 89 cents for. :)

I'm heading out with my sister to  Manhattan on Thursday. JC Penny is selling a slow cooker for $7 at 3pm and we are taking the 107 bus over. It's going to cost us $6 that way, but that isn't so bad. :) We may get some curtains while I'm there. A comforter would be nice too.

I'll cook what ever when I get back.

Later.

I Give You The "Pecapplekin Pie"!

http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2016/11/17/pecapplekin-pie:-3-thanksgiving-pies-1/94012740/

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A Bit Happened Today...

Let's see. I went sleep a little late last night. But I still got up at 6 am. I was able to give my sister some stuff that she needed to do for me in Manhattan. So I didn't have my bank card today. But I had $44 on me. :)

I planned to go to the movies and I did, after I exercised. I didn't go out today. I have a smart tv so I got a fitness app and followed as best I could for just over 15 mins, then I stopped to save my heart. I was quite happy that I worked up a sweat and moved a few new parts.

I then went back to reading my new book after eating some milkless apple pie. :) I ended up needing and using most if not all of those calories once I got outside.

I knew it was cold, but the wind I wasn't prepared for. It just about pushed me back up the hill once I got down there. Oh, because I was reading my book, I got a slightly late start to leaving. I was hoping to go up the hill and catch the 39 to Newark Penn Station where I would get a sandwich, new/more bus tickets and catch the 1 or 25 bus to the Cityplex

By the time I got out there and on a bus half frozen, I didn't have time to do to Penn for anything, But I knew that when I left the house so I went down the hill instead of going up. I got the 1 and made it in time for the next showing at 12:15pm. And movie do you think I saw? :)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. :D

I actually expected to find more people there even though it was in the middle of the day. But no. It was just me and a couple. Today it seemed sad, but it's mostly that way when I go. Me and one or two or three other people. The only them I was new true, was when I went to watch Batman vs. Superman. That day the place was decently packed.

The movie felt a little familiar and I'm not talking about the opening theme that will make you remember every Harry Potter movie you watched. :)

Colin Farrell and the era had me remembering another movie I saw him not that long ago. Well, it doesn't feel that long ago. :) Winter's Tale. He was the good guy there but ... memory games and such...but I did enjoy this new movie. :)

I question what happened to his friend, but I had to look at it as 'history' and I was a less upset about it, especially after they ... I won't say anymore. :D

So the movie is now over and I have to rush home for Khloe, but I thought I had time to get that sandwich and tickets. I needed the tickets. But once I got the bus, after hiding from the wind behind the shelter, I knew I wasn't going to make it back here in time for her drop off. So I sent a text off to her mom, then once I was abit further along, I remembered that her aunt said that they call her too, so I sent her the same note. A few mins later she texts me and asked where I was and how long I thought I would be.

I didn't have a real clue. Taking the bus always takes forever when you actually have some place to be. I estimated 12 mins. If god forbid I had my own car, I would have been there in under 10.

So 15 mins later I'm getting off the bus and briskly walking towards the street that I had to walk down 5 blocks in 30-ish degree weather with a strong wind making it feel like 20 degrees. I got a text from the aunt asking where I was, So I told her I just got off the bus and was walking down. I'm two blocks from home, without turning the corner and walking the half a block to get there when my phone pings again. I left it alone thinking I'll be there soon enough.

I look over and there is the drop-off fan slowing down to pick me up. I did not expect that at all. I guess they felt bad for me out in that weather. I told them thank you and sorry for being late at the same time. When we got out, she tells me that Khloe is getting out early tomorrow. She will be home at 1. I asked if she knew why. She said that she thinks it has something to do with Thanksgiving.

Oh yeah, Thanksgiving. I get to make stuffing. :) I liked that stuff before I moved to the US. My mom got it for us when we were little, well younger and I've liked it ever since. :) I have been known to eat it out of season. :)

Anyway, we got out of the cold since the porch is enclosed and there are packages there. They both have my sister's name on it, but I don't think she ordered anything. I could be wrong, but she didn't tell me to expect anything and she does. I'm sure they are for Canada.

Did I tell you about the 12 or so packages that showed up here over the course of two weeks for us to ship to Canada? I might one of these days. If I do, I may back date it. :)

So we bring the packages in and put them in my sister's room and I start on the oatmeal. I was cold and I was going to have oatmeal. I did get something to eat while I was out. I got some curly fries from the Cityplex. A small serving for almost $5. If I wasn't hungry I would have considered it robbery. As it was, I just considered them alittle pricey but they seemed a bit more than I thought at first as I ate them. So all was good.

I washed up all the dishes and put up a few things with Khloe's help. I even made enough oatmeal so we both could get some. But since it was too hot, she put it aside while she took her nap.

Outside of answering one or two things over at DA and reading two articles of news, that is how I got to be here writing this with Khloe behind me doing her homework. :)

See? I'm getting back into my groove of posting on here. :)

Later.

It wasn't that much

 

 

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Do You Remember Winamp?

I do and I clicked on the link I had at the bottom of the page and saw that they are ... going through something. See for yourself.

http://www.winamp.com/

I had and used the program up until my computer rolled over and died on me. But it might be actually on it's way out since no one really downloads mp3 anymore. I tried to get back Banana Rama today because for some reason the one song I have from them stopped working, I don't know how and everywhere I went either tried to get me to pay for it and have it streamed to me over the established companies or tried to infect me with something.

I haven't tried to get a mp3 in a few years, 2-ish maybe. I have or had a streaming radio until a few weeks ago. I still do, but they won't play on my phone anymore unless I pay for it now. Everywhere else I can still play it for free, but for them to keep playing on my window's phone, where I mostly play it, I have to pay for it.

Since getting mp3s are no longer possible, I'm going to go see how much they are asking. If I can do it, I'll do it. I'll still have my mp3s on my phone for when I'm somewhere I can't get a signal.

Oh, my radio? Slacker Radio. :)

It Snowed??

 So I went out for my walk today and I looked up at the house that gotten solar panels and saw white stuff. I almost stopped when I saw it. I knew it was cold and 34 or so and I think I thought it rained, but this makes me think that it snowed instead.

That alone was interesting.

The wind was cold and blowing, but I did all my 4 laps. I took these shots on my 4th time around and near the end.

I also got a picture the sign in case anyone was interested looking it up. I wouldn't suggest getting it in the winter, but here's a note anyway and you can look into it now for when it warms up. :)

I Got A New Computer!

This is the first time I've gotten a new, out of the box, just for me, new computer. :)

It cost me ... $500 from Costco. Of all places, Costco. I wonder if I could find the ad? Be Right Back....


Back. Found it. :)

I was hoping it wouldn't have the mouse and keyboard, but it turns out that I needed a new keyboard because the one I was using had the old P2 connection and this computer didn't have any of those. :)

So it was set up last night and today I've been going to my sites and getting passwords in and during the last 2 hours I've been getting software installed and getting ready to start working on photos or making fractals again. I have one of the two fractal programs downloaded, I haven't tried to use it yet or really set it up.

But I have gotten Gimp and got to use it to update my watermark and tag that I have. I seemed to have believed that I copied the newest versions to my external drive, but I was wrong. But doing the update was easy. If anything, it reminded me that I have at least two font families that I need to copy over for the moment. The other 200 can wait. :)

What? I've been collecting Fonts for years.

On another front, I've gotten a jump on my new year's resolution without thinking that I was. I started going for a morning walk. I've been at it for four days now. :)

There are a few reason why this is a big deal. One, I hate the cold. I have been hiding in my bed trying to stay warm since the temp dropped below 74 degrees. Then there was the fact that I slowly ended up being awake until sunrise so I was just too tired to do anything, never mind get up, until the girl I babysat comes home from school.

But last week, for the second time that week, I was asked to see her onto the bus because her aunt who normally does, wasn't home to do it that day. Then there was the fact that I been worried that I was stuck in bed, never mind the apartment, too much. And the slight pain in my chest that I felt the day before didn't do anything good for me mentally. So that was it.

I made up my mind. The first thing I do in the morning is get dressed in my sweats, whatever shirt I've picked to wear, my heavy winter coat, and a long scarf to go around my face and head and I walk around my block 4 times. I may walk around a fifth time to take pics of things I might have noticed during my walk.

At this point, I just want to get up and go out and a walk around my block isn't that easy. At least not for me. I live on a hill and I'm going up and down even when I'm walking across. So I'm normally good for the first two laps, then by the time I'm done with my forth, I'm trying to catch my breath and my heart is beating a mile a minute. I don't even feel the wild beating until I've slowed down or stopped this morning. Maybe I'm getting better already. I have told myself that I won't see any improvements for a week at least. So if that is true, not bad, but I won't expect anything else for a while still.

I alternate the blocks I walk around so people don't have to see me every day. I walk around the block I'm physically on, then I walk around the one across the street from me. Both are steep on the sides, but that other block has more uneven cross streets.

Now let's see if I can make it to my birthday. And to help me get to that goal, I got 'rubber chains' with metal 'spikes' for my shoes for when it's icy or snowing outside. I plan to keep going. Oh, another part of my plan is to not be up after midnight. That is actually the hardest part for me so far. I've always been a night owl. I admit that saying up until sunrise was pushing it even for me, but to get up and do the things I have to do and get my walking in before 11am I need to go to sleep before midnight. And having the sun set around 5pm is messing with my sense of time at the moment.

I have never liked how it gets so dark during winter up here.

Get This...

Two days ago I tried to turn on my computer. Yep. Tried. I walked over to it and I lifted my foot about 3 inches off the ground to push the power button on my CPU with my big toe. I heard the click... and then nothing. No beep, no light, no fan whirling. Nothing.

I bent down and pushed it again. And again and again. I walked away to do something else and when I came back I cracked the case open as I remember smelling something burning a few days ago and I didn't know where I was coming from.

I know you think that's odd. But it could have been a leftover smell from the popcorn or someone else had burned something and it slowly worked its way into our apartment. It has happened before. In the summer time, we are under constant threat of b.b.q. fire smoke.

Anyway, I'm thinking that something burned out in my computer as I open up the case. Once I have it open I start to think it's the power supply. I pulled out my power cord and pushed it back in. I checked where it was plugged in and it was getting power. I tried to turn it on again and still nothing. So I really think my power supply died. Nothing is turning on, so power isn't getting by, never mind into it.

Then guess what? Hours later my computer came on by itself. I just realized that I was hearing the fans and stuff and looked over. There was the nice blue light around my power button. I was thinking that I would just leave it on then since I didn't think it would turn back on again when I turn it off. But the first thing I did when I got back on was back up my new stuff. I had already taken most of my stuff off of it since I was going to reinstall the OS. I just hadn't gotten the CD yet.

After I got what I needed and did one or two things online, I left the computer on, but I couldn't leave it running. I never could and after a few hours, I told it to run a system clean and check and turn itself off. Of course, 10 hours later when I went to use it again it wouldn't turn on. I pushed the button a few times thinking there might be some sort of short I could jump if I did that. Nothing happened. I went to the bathroom and when I came back, it was humming again. I backed up my faves by syncing my Chrome and Opera accounts.

 I'm now typing this on my sister's mostly discarded laptop since my computer has not shown signs of life since. I'm tempted to take my CPU to another room and see if that does anything, even if my tv is plugged into the same place and is still ok.

Of course, this happens when two of the comics I help out with, in totally different ways, start posting again. So that is really why I'm brushing off this laptop again. It has two, but really one issue. The second being its OS. It's Vista. Yeah, a vista computer. I've never used this OS outside of this computer. The real big reason is that I have to tell the BIOS what day and time it is every single time I turn it on. Unless I leave it plugged in. Oh, another reason that I forgot about. I have to leave it plugged in just for power. The battery doesn't hold a charge anymore.

I have almost never used a laptop without it having to be plugged in since I've never had a new one to my name, so it doesn't bug me at all.

That's it really. I had bronchitis for like two weeks. I say I got it from my sister, she says I got it from Khloe and her mom. Currently, I'm being torn physically and mentally apart my cycle so I'm getting off the laptop now.

Later.

Test

Sent from my Windows Phone

Foggy Week... But Eventuful

I can't seem to remember really how the week really began, on Sunday/Monday, but I think Tuesday was interesting.

I got one of those pension checks that we filled out a bunch of paperwork for, after mom died. That is when my week really began outside the fact that Khole was back in town. She was gone the week before for the whole week. She was in FL with her mom and aunt.

Oh, Khole is the girl I 'babysit'. I didn't miss her at all. I don't miss having kids. I said I didn't want any for years now and taking care of this child has not changed my point of view on that subject. Sure I can take care of them, but I don't want one.

Anyway. The check that showed up had me dreaming of paying off my credit cards that I've been slowly paying off all this time. I'm one of the lucky people that only had $1000 limit. My newest one, that I got, intentionally, is over $500.

But I needed to go to the supermarket first and get some stuff. Like milk and onions and bread and apple sauce to eat with my popcorners chips. :) I didn't do a spending spree even if it felt like one to me. It was just the first time in years that I've spent more than $40 never mind $50 on a shopping trip to the supermarket. I almost bit my nails thinking I made it to $100 as I told myself I could afford it this time. I ended up hitting $79 in the end.

So first was the supermarket. Next was Eat-a-ly. I knew of the one in the FlatIron building that opened years ago, but when the rest of the Pen Station opened a few weeks ago, my sister found that they had a branch in there too. For how she described it, it was the best thing there.

So after trying to find my there, through all the new hallways and shops, we entered a very happy and well-organized place. But then I realized, I would be rather happy too to have gotten a new job. That whole new hub supported hundreds of new jobs and dozens of new stores. Most were clothing stores, so the food ones stood out. Oh, they have An Apple store in there too.

Anyway, we took our time walking around, both Eataly, that my sister finally had time to take pics of and then other parts of the hub. There are still a few stores left to open, but most opened the same day back on the 16th of August I think.

I got some different onions then, some dry and fresh pasta. Some pesto and one piece of desert for me. All that butter, milk and cream almost makes me fearful of Italian food.

Oh, the onion reminded me. I went to Eataly before I went to the supermarket.I also had to pay off one of the last people that helped to pay for mom's burial. That was over a $1000 up in smoke. Then I was asked to ship some packages to Canada for my cousin who shipped them to us because they wouldn't ship them to her. She sent a money order, but I couldn't get it. It was sent to my sister. So I paid out of pocket to ship it and it came up to $80 to ship that big box.

Yep, it was big. I had something with wheels that I strapped the box to and walked down to the post with. Now, before that, I was having issues with my cam and the chip in the cam. I thought I fixed it at this point and believed my photos and the video I took of the cops outside my house, to be lost.

So after I dropped off the box I walked for an hour and a half taking photos, getting bit my mosquitos and almost getting rained on. I stopped off to get some salt, OJ, baking soda and few other kitchen needs. This is also before my shopping at the supermarket. I guess I remembered the supermarket the most because it was one of the last things I did.

The next day I went to the supermarket. I took the same wheeled thing with me since I was a bit concerned about hurting my hands when bringing everything home. It was very heavy.

Then we took a trip to BestBuy. That took way longer than I thought it was going to be and my legs still hurt from working over 2 miles. Just under two to get there, Then we walked around BestBuy, Target. I would stay Whole Foods too, but we took a direct route to the buffet to get something to eat before sitting down for a while.

We stopped at a furniture store since my sister has her heart set on getting a couch. We just have to figure out if it's going to be a sectional, or a sofa bed. We should get a sofa bed, but she has always wanted a sectional.

When we arrived at BestBuy we saw Target, Whole Foods and B.B,Q. But not a chain I knew of. My sister wanted to go there, but after we at Whole Foods, we forgot and I used my free Uber ride to get us home. :) When I got to BestBuy we also saw the 70 bus. All that walking and there was a bus. :shaking head: At least we found the furniture place. They had good prices. A Labour Day sale that going to last until the 9th.

In the last 24ish hours, I've actually gotten around to paying off two of my credit cards. One was under $700 and another was under $400. I paid our cell bill of $70 for the month. I also had to transfer just shy of $700 to ... and unofficial sister. We all have to give her a share so we all end up with the same amount. I paid for new fractal software that I've been using for months now in free mode.

Oh, I forgot about what happened in BestBuy. I took my old hard drives that I had issues with, but had information on, to have them copied to the external I bought on sale a while ago and had copied all my work and most of my files too. I was getting ready for when I got a Win7 disk from my brother so I could reinstall the computer and fix my issues with running Apo.

I also took them little chip from my cam. I seemingly lost all 250 files from that day when I tried to copy them to the laptop. But I ran a defrag program, ran a repair program and did just a simple undelete scan of the chip to try and get something back or to just fix the chip before trying to use it again. What I found is that I may still get my photos back. The chip was almost full, but telling me that it was empty at the same time.

I gave that to the Geek Squad too. He gave it back to me after I walked around the store and got a new memory stick, saying that it was indeed corrupted, but they couldn't retrieve or it was a procedure, to send it to a data recovery place. That started at $500. I told him thank you and no thank you. Then he told me at the same time I thought it, that I could try using some data recovery programs on it myself. I was a bit surprised that I hadn't tried that myself. I've being sent e-mail updates as to the progress of my repair from the Geek Squad. I think I'll get it/them back come Tuesday. They can keep the old hard drives. I just need my external back intact and working.

I'm so jumpy about losing that thing, but I know they will try to take care of it. Perhaps if I had backup of what on there I wouldn't be so scared of losing it.

So now here I am. Watching Star Trek: Voyager and thinking of all money I've spent in a week's span and hoping I get my external hard drive back. I'm also thinking of getting a new desktop. Just the tower. I'm quite happy with my monitor and mouse.

I'm thinking HP and not over $600. I can even show you the model I'm interested in. I tried seeing what BestBuy had in way of desktops, but every time I told someone the specks of what I was looking for, they started to walk towards the laptops. It was actually funny. :)

Now I'm going to read a book I just downloaded. I was actually looking forward to now having to think about paying the $4 since I was always upset with myself for having to think about spending that little for a book.

There are other things, but I'll tell you about them since I've mostly caught you up for now. I'll be back in less than a week. I promise. :)

It goes down the drain

I looked out earlier and I didn't see anyone. Now the cops are back and standing back...so they won't get wet.

Sent from my Windows Phone

How you get rid of blood

3 am and they are here. The fire truck just showed up. I think I can smell the blood now. 😓

Sent from my Windows Phone

Yes, it is currently 11pm at night.

No, I did not move to the city.

That is a police flood light outside my window, and Yes, someone was killed.

I was just sitting here watching YouTube on my tv when I heard 6 shots outside. They were really loud and for a second I thought they were firecrackers. I think that was me not wanting believe that it was gunfire.

All the same I got up and moved away from my window and want I believed to be thin walls. I moved to another window that was less in what I thought of being the line of fire. I couldn't see anything until a white big van truck thing came up from my right and a guy looked down our parking space before driving off.

I then went to find my sister and found her upstairs. They had just gotten back and she went to get milk. We talked for a bit and they thought it was firecrackers. When I came back down I saw the guy that drove by directing cops to something in the parking place that is in between the houses, which I might add is right behind my bed and my back.

I watched and saw a body laying on the ground. That lead to me getting my phone to call upstairs to let them know I was right and that someone died. She didn't pick up after 3 tries, that all went to voicemail, so I gave up and set up my pocket cam to record and then ran upstairs to tell them what was going on.

But by the time I got up there we had already heard sirens. When I got up there, they we looking out the window and were shocked when I told them someone was killed. One of them came down to see better.

As for the lights, they showed up while I was in the kitchen getting a sandwich.

So yeah, interesting way to end a Saturday.

Sent from my Windows Phone