April 13 through 15

[chochiyo_sama]

Tuesday, April 13

Last night I took the last percoset left over from the kidney stone surgery.  Every part of my body hurt all day yesterday.  The arthritis formula Tylenol didn’t touch the pain.  I went to bed and slept restlessly till the middle of the night when I just couldn’t take it any more.  I took the percoset.  It took about 20 minutes to kick in, and then the pain just vanished.  I didn’t realize how exhausted I was due to the pain making it hard to sleep.  I took the pill around 3 am, and I slept till nearly noon today.  I felt so much better when I woke up.

Lily came over and dragged my recycling bin back up to the house and brought my mail.  Nothing too exciting in the mail.  I got my Culligan bill and my Minnesota Energy bill.  Neither was terribly expensive.

I was very pleased to have figured out how to fix the toilet seat.  It had made a loud SNAP! And the toilet set came loose from the lid.  I thought that the plastic had broken.  But after I looked it over, I discovered that the little “pin” things had just wiggled out of the holes they fit in.  So, I snapped them back into place and rejoiced that I did not have to buy a new toilet seat.

I didn’t accomplish a ton today, but I did clean the litterboxes.  It was a cool and quiet spring day.  The neighbor’s yard is already raked and is getting almost long enough to mow. 

 

Wednesday, April 14

I took a shower this morning and used the pulse setting to hammer all the spots on my body that are riddled with arthritis with the hottest water I could stand.  That seems to help with the pain.  I think the pain causes my muscles to tighten, and that in turn makes the pain worse.  I wish I had a bathtub.  Then I could soak away the pain in a hot tub with Epsom Salts.  That always seems to help. 

I had ordered a refill of my Eloquis prescription on Sunday, but it still had not been delivered.  I will have to fill my pill caddy next Sunday, so I called the pharmacy to see if they had sent it yet.  They looked it up and said that they had attempted to deliver it today and would try again tomorrow.  

This was irritating as they have always just put the package between the screen door and the regular door in the past.  So I will have to get up early tomorrow to be sure I don’t miss them.  You never know when they will show up.  Then I wrote up my grocery order and called it in to the local grocery store.  I ordered the ingredients I need to make spaghetti.  I’ve been hungry for some good spaghetti for quite a while.

I have not been doing so well at making food for myself, so having a big pot of spaghetti in the fridge that I can just warm up in the microwave would be a wonderful thing.  All I had to eat today was a few Hershey’s Kisses and a can of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup with crackers.  I have tons of food in the house.  I just do not feel like cooking. 

 

Thursday, April 15

I was up and dressed by 8 am this morning which is like HORRIFIC for me.  I like to sleep till 10 am if I can. Often my mother will call me at 9 because if SHE is up, then obviously EVERYONE should be up.  LOL.  I have been working on the massive clutter disaster in my living room on the days when I have a shred of motivation and stamina.  I worked hard in there today.  I went through several piles of stuff and put them away.  I finally found the bottle of multiple vitamins I had ordered probably a month ago along with some doll clothes and shoes I had ordered from Etsy.  I really need to go to Target or Walmart or somewhere to get more totes to store my many doll clothes in. 

Lily came over to bring me a bowl of beef and barley stew she had made along with a homemade bun and a bowl of apple dumpling.  Her granddaughter Rachelle and her two little girls were supposed to be here in time for lunch with her today, but Ryan, Rachelle’s husband, had gotten very sick from his CV19 shot, so they were delayed in their departure.  Rachelle is on her way to Iowa to visit one of her childhood friends who just learned that she is pregnant with a little girl.  She and the girls are bringing her a bunch of baby clothes as Rachelle is done with babies now. 

It was wonderful to have a delicious homemade meal delivered to my door, still piping hot. 

I had three of the Barbie sized Harry Potter series dolls which I ordered months ago, so today I unpackaged them—Luna Lovegood, Cho Chang, and Professor Snape.  I already have Dumbledore, Professor McGonnigal, Hagrid, Harry, Ron, Hermoine, Ginny, Draco Malfoy, and Cedric Diggory.  I do hope they will continue this line.  I want the Weasley twins, Fred and George, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Neville Longbottom, Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley, Percy Weasley, Argus Filch (and Mrs. Norris, his cat), Professor Flitwick, Sybill Trelawney, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew,  Deloris Umbridge, Dudley Dursley, Aunt Petunia, and Uncle Vernon Dursley, Dobby, Firenze, and as many more as possible.  I doubt they will make them all. 

I had a few of those teeny tiny toys that are basically made as key chains that I unpackaged as well.  I have the four He-Man, Masters of the Universe toys, but they are actually too small for the  LeeAnn dolls that I am focusing on, so I am going to give them to the twin boys (Todd dolls) in one of my Barbie families.  They are the perfect size for action figures for Barbie sized children.  I also had an Operation game, a Pictionary game,  Gumby and Pokey, and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, and Barrel of Monkeys game, all very tiny to be perfect toys for 10-11” dolls.  There are tiny Barbies, GI Joes, and other small toys that I hope to get before they are no longer available.  I have had most of them for months but just never bothered to cut them out of their heavy plastic packages.

I have way too much fun collecting little accessories for my dolls.

Comments

[the_godiva]

You've made your pain pills last so long. Do you have any doctor that would prescribe you a few more, just to see how long you can make them last? It's not like you're an addict or abuse them. You need them.

I think as long as the company is making money and has the license they will continue to make those Harry Potter dolls. But you have most of them so if they stopped now you'd be good. Although if they have a Snape and Sirius Black, you should get them next.

Steiff has keychains and they are the perfect size for Ursel, Daisy Kingdom and American Girl, although some are pricey. You can get some just stuffed cloth for under $20 but if you want a mohair bear key chain it can run up to $60-$70 which is kinda pricey for a toy for your doll. I find keychains and Christmas ornaments perfect for finding accessories for the larger dolls. I got Muffy some stuff that way.

Now that I've finished the Will, health care directive and power of atty (last night) and revised the trust, I'm thinking I should be going through the house and getting rid of some stuff. Stuff that isn't in the trust and downsizing some that is. Sell it on Etsy maybe. And start to pay down the credit cards. I need to start thinking about making money so that if I do move into an Independent place I'll be able to afford the buy in which will be over $100,000 up front. Maybe a lot more, given this is Southern California. I'd sure like to do it without selling my house but I might have to. If I do, I'd have to downsize a lot as that place is smaller and no storage like my garage and attic. If they don't let me take any furniture, then there is that much more I have to get rid of. I know I just bought two Steiff pieces but I have to stop the collecting, go through what I have and decide what has to be kept and what can go. The one thing I will not do is estate sales. People won't pay a good price for anything. They want to buy it for a dollar and then sell it on eBay for $50. I haven't even finished cataloging my Steiff collection yet. If I ever do, I might ask Jean at Bear Attack if she would be interested in buying on consignment or just outright buying anything. I have everything back to the first Steiff club bear. I should really pare down my Muffy collection too. Keep the major stuff with the really nice accessories and get rid of the other stuff that is just outfits or doesn't mean as much. You maybe finding a few things arriving in the mail now and then over the next few years.

[chochiyo_sama]

I already have Snape. The only one I don't have that they make is Voldemort.

I need to go through my Barbie collection and get rid of the cheap ugly doll furniture and perhaps some of the duplicate dolls. I just hate to get rid of any of the vintage stuff. And the Skipper sized dolls are my favorites, so it is hard for me to let go of any of them, even though I have about 300 of them.

You have inspired me to start inventorying my hobby materials and collections. I am starting to do a photo inventory of my doll collections and their wardrobes.

[the_godiva]

When you excess the duplicate vintage stuff, make sure you get top dollar. You know what they are worth. Go ahead and cut discount deals for your doll collector friends, but for others, don't short sell as they will likely turn around the sell them for a healthy profit on eBay. It's why I stopped selling at my Mom's garage sales. They want to buy something for $1 and then sell it for $20 on eBay.

Not sure I want to go the eBay route but I will put the excess watercolor stuff on the Wet Canvas website and the jewelry and other stuff on Etsy. I need to pair down my flower vases too. I don't need them all and many don't have any sort of sentimental value. I will keep a lot of the small ones as they are perfect for my miniature roses which I will always have, even if I have to grow them in pots on the balcony of the retirement place.

I might even try to reactivate my sellers account on amazon as I'll not only have books to sell but stuff that doesn't lend itself to Etsy.

I'm only half way through my Steiff inventory but I might just start listing stuff I know I'm not keeping. It so hurts to give up one bear but some I have a true attachment to, like my Black Forest Girl I went to Germany to pick up at the Steiff Club Anniversary trip and some are just "cute". I will likely keep the pincushions and the egg cosies, key chains and jewelry. It's small. The bigger pieces I'll have to pick and choose. Keeping all of the Winnie black bears and anything on wheels, plus my Camel. So many bears some will have to go. On the fence about the cows and sheep.
But I have ten years. I can start small, then in a few years, look again. And keep doing that and slowly shrink the collection.

The hardest part will be not to add to it.