Wednesday afternoon

Except for waking up at 4 or 4:30 and having to transfer to the recliner to finish my sleep (achy left hip again), my day has been halfway decent. Well, the morning was okay. This afternoon, not so much. I ran to Safeway and picked up a few items. Was going to try and go off coffee and I did for quite a while with no problem. Drank tea instead.  Then I thought I'd have a coffee now and then and use non-fat milk instead of vanilla creamer. I did that for  a while too without too much problem. Used splenda instead of sugar as I never did get accustomed to black coffee.  Not sure what my problem was today but while at Safeway, I stood in front of the dairy case staring at vanilla creamer.  Decided at age 74, I'm probably not going to be drinking a lot of coffee for that many more years so I might as well drink it the way I like it!  I have noticed that I use my age as an excuse to do a lot of things. Or not do things.

On the plus side, I avoided all desserts including ice cream and all breads.  I even bought spinach to make salads and sandwiches with.  My trips to Safeway are often a contest in the parking lot. I want to get as close as I can to the door and to the area where you return carts.  Most of the time I struggle to carry my bags to the car so I don't have to push the cart to the holding stand and then walk back to my car again. If I was walking with a walking stick, it probably wouldn't be that big a deal but you can't always manage your groceries and a walking stick too.  And some days I'm fit as a fiddle and can walk myself around that parking lot with no problem.  On those days when my various joints are cold and miserable, walking becomes an issue.  I suspect my problem today is just plain old cold weather.  I understand the rains are due next week and while that doesn't excite me, I am rather tired of being cold.

I showered and dressed this morning and while I didn't have too much on my agenda, I did get one more gift wrapped (although I kinda' thought I was done last week)  Once the mailman arrived and I knew I didn't need to go outside anymore, I promptly got into my Minnie Mouse fleece pants with long underwear underneath.  Put on a thermal top underwear as well.  Just can't warm up even with a sweater.

I moved my sewing machine and material back into this room  that looks out on the street and is also my office.  Was just too unhandy having to walk back and forth whenever I needed something else in the way of sewing materials. Plus the kitchen was getting messier and messier.  One good thing about this room is that it's smaller and if the heat is on, it warms up quickly.  One bad thing is that it warms up too much at times. Just no pleasing me!  Activity across the street has picked up on the two houses directly across from me.  Large trucks with cranes, cement trucks, etc. are coming and going and the construction guys are parked all the way down the street.  It amazes me to see all those folks over there day after day no matter what the weather. Some of the women are moving slow and you can tell they're not thrilled and I can't blame them. Course they are going to have a house. There's always that.

I worked steadily on finishing a quilt yesterday and it came out pretty good.  Decided to use the quick method of sewing it all up inside out, turning it, and then top stitching. You can't always do that if it's a large quilt but this one was maybe twin size, only square.  Plus I used a flannel sheet for the batting instead of the fluffy white stuff.

Gave it to my Port Angeles pal, Joyce, as an early Christmas present.

I brought out a few more Christmas decorations from the garage so at least it's looking a little more festive in here.  My little artificial tree (maybe 2' high) is in need of more lights so I may go shopping tomorrow and see if I can find a really short string. Don't even want 50 lights but I wonder if they even make short strands. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I'm not doing any sewing today but will begin again tomorrow on piecing quilt squares and doing easy fun stuff.  For now I'm going to head out the craft table in the corner of the kitchen and practice wrapping copper wire around rocks.  I've been tired all day and tried to take a noon time nap but couldn't quite manage it. Maybe I'll try again now that it's mid afternoon.  I hope I'm not getting sick.  I am going to have to step it up as far as stretching goes.  I had a charlie horse night before last and I haven't been bothered with them for some time.  Have had ankle and toe cramping real bad but none in the calf.  Damn thing still feels sore and tight.  This ole body is just plain wearing out, I suppose.

Had the Hulu channel on this morning as I dressed in the bedroom and tuned in the Christmas special of Gwen Stefani.  Oh brother!  What a tasteless display!  Every outfit was sexy and provocative and all the songs were "about her."  Not impressed!

Well, the hammering is getting on my nerves again so I think I'll switch to activities on the other side of the house.  Gonna hook up my humidifier too. I've got this little cough that comes and goes and while it doesn't feel like a cold, it's getting on my nerves and I assume it's the dry heat.