One Task Semi-Accomplished - A Quick Drive to the County Courthouse

I found myself with a window of open time yesterday, and decided to drive to the County Courthouse and see about getting papers filed for my name change. For those who may not know, I'm trying to eliminate my given first name which I haven't used since I was twelve, so that there are only three names that I need to deal with - my preferred name, my last name and my married name. That's quite enough, thank you. I've never been fond of my given name, and I haven't voluntarily used it since I entered 7th grade. Getting rid of it seems much more sensible and will allow me to get a "Real ID" and the other myriad official ID things without difficulty. 

This two-story+ high marble statue called "Vision of Peace" is 
the centerpiece of the Ramsey County Court House. It's truly 
stunning. I was walking towards the entry from the car park, and 
was on the second floor passing it. It still was taller than my level. 
It's a great building - tons of stuff to see and perfect post-Depression 
era architecture with art-deco decor. 

It was a good thing I had been there so many times for Jury Duty more than a year ago, I knew just where I wanted to park, and knew the way through the skyways to get to the courthouse. I filled out the paperwork, gave them my credit card for the $350 fee (ouch!) and my case has now been assigned to Judge Leonardo Castro. I don't have a date yet, but it will be a Zoom call instead of in-person. I'll get in touch with my two "witnesses" later today and let them know what's happening. I wish I had a date - that would be even easier - but at least I'll be able to be scheduled onto the calendar. Baby steps. 

The actual court hearing will take about 30 minutes on Zoom. 
My two witnesses will also need to be available on Zoom. I'll 
speak to Chickie about whether her Mom is comfortable with 
that format. I'm sure my eldest niece is. If not, since it's a Zoom 
meeting, I can call upon other people who aren't local to 
be my witnesses. Sharon comes to mind. 

I'm feeling rather uninspired for my daily post today, however, and will cut it short here. You don't need paragraphs about normality, and I'm looking at a desk full of paperwork that has to be dealt with. *sigh* I hope all of you have a truly fabulous weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

Google - I Love to Hate It and Spring Snow for a Busy Day

Google has been playing password games with me over the past 24 hours and it's frustrating, to say the least. A lot of my life is ruled by Google - my personal blog, which used to be BlogSpot and then was Blogger (or was that the other way around?), was bought out by Google. My phone is a Pixel 6, so Google again. I use Google practically every day to look something up or check something out. But yesterday I needed to do something with Google Pay, and it required a lot of different sign-in attempts. In other words, it was a total PITA. 

Google's logo has undergone quite a bit of 
change over the years, ending with the 
bottom right - the newest iteration in 
"futura" font. Google is the app you 
love to hate, but I do love my Google 
phones. 

As a consequence, however, when I wanted to write my blog this morning, it told me I had changed my password and needed to sign in again. Fortunately it only took two tries to find out which password it had decided was mine this time, and I've now changed my blog's password to be unique for it once again. Argh. Just ARGH. That was something I truly didn't need at 3:30 am. But ... crisis averted. 

In this illustration of "A Very Busy Day" from the 
Strand, I only wonder what the guy is doing 
up near the lamp post. But I do agree - it looks like 
a very busy day indeed. 

I'm hoping to start work on the photos for the 6mm cubes today. Everything has to run very smoothly for that to happen, and there's a Zoom call today that I'd like to attend, so ... photos may be Friday. If I don't get to the photos, I'm going to look over the 8mm cubes a final time and then bring them live. I have my master list with me - corrected and totally up-to-date - and I'll go through it one-by-one to make sure I caught all of the items I want listed in that category. One more look through for possible typos, making sure part numbers are accurate, and then I can release them. Enter the Kraken! LOL 

If everything checks out (for the umpteenth time), I'll 
activate the 8mm crystal cubes section of Etsy today. 
Then I can start the next phase of getting the 6mm 
cubes photographed and ready to go live. 

We've been getting rain, but we'll probably have slush for a few hours early this morning, then it will leave. The grass might be covered with white, but I doubt it will stay on the sidewalks and parking lots. It's raining right now, but it isn't cold enough to freeze, so we'll luck out for a change. Since there's nothing much worse than driving on ice, I'm all for early Spring rain with above freezing temps. 

The problem with Spring snow isn't the amount - we're 
rarely getting multiple inches of snow in the 
Spring - it's the amount of water in the snow. It's 
HEAVY snow. and clearing the walk and driveway 
can be a chore because of the weight alone. 

Have a truly excellent day today. I'll be doing the usual grocery shopping and Ogre Juice making, I'll have to figure out what I want for Friday's dinner and in general, I'll be out and about for a bit today. I hope you stay safe and warm and think thoughts of peace. We need every bit of peace we can get these days. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Today Will Be a VERY Busy Day - A Long List of Things To Do

I'm hoping today will go a bit smoother than yesterday, which was stumbly from the time I awakened until the time I went to bed. It was a crazy, busy day and I was fighting the clock all day. I won, but it was by a hare's whisker. But, on to today, which is packed tight with two zoom calls, grocery shopping, getting the first Etsy grouping live - trade beads for today - and getting things arranged for my appointment with my accountant tonight for our personal income tax return. I'm still fighting for access to one piece of information he needs - the website changed platforms and isn't accepting my sign-in information. I'll have to phone them and try to get a new log-in established that way *sigh*. 

I'm all in favor of passwords, etc, and use a 
LOT of them. But ... when they require me 
to renew things every three months or so, 
I can lose track of that. I try not to have that 
problem on federal websites, but there are 
some lesser ones that I miss. This is one of 
those, and I need the information for my 
tax appointment tonight. 

I had a great swim yesterday, and I'm already looking forward to my swim today. But, I lost my wall locker key. I hope someone found it and turned it in, but if not, I'll have to switch over to a different wall locker which would be a PITA because I'm short and had been using one that was good for my height. 

I'm not talking about the larger locker I use for my 
coat and clothes. Just the little one where I put my 
keys and cellphone for safety. These are key-operated 
with the key on a large safety pin. I don't know where 
my key went after I removed it from my swim 
suit, but it was nowhere to be found. 

The wall locker is not the main locker in the locker room. It's a small, key-operated locker where I keep my cell phone and car keys. The key has a pin attached to it, which I pin to the inside of my bathing suit. For some reason or other, between the time I removed it, and the time I was leaving, it moved into another dimension. Even though I spent almost 30 minutes looking for the key, I never found it. I had to ask the Gate Gargoyle to please use the master key to allow my access to my phone and keys. Problem solved, he was able to do that, but I'm hoping the key turned up and is back in the usual position today. 

The larger locker where I put my coat and clothes 
while I swim is fastened by my own combination 
lock. That one doesn't get lost - LOL. It's either 
in the lock or in my bag. The only problem with that 
one is remembering the combination for the lock, and 
I have a GREAT combination for this lock. 

OK, that's it. Short and sweet on a VERY busy day. I hope all of you have a wonderful Wednesday, I'll be writing, reading, cleaning, organizing, and listening to lots of things on the laptop. I'll also be shopping, making ogre juice, making my chicken for tonight (which will have to be put into a warming oven while we're at the accountant's tonight), talking with Aearwen, and generally being BUSY today. I'll be back tomorrow. Peace! 

Today is a Busy, Busy, Busy Day!

A super fast post today for a super busy "day off". I heard the snow plow go by as I was settling into my daily meditation, so I know I'll have to shovel at least the end of the driveway. The snow yesterday wasn't a massive amount, but the WIND! OMG! It was hard and strong, coming from the Northwest and a good clip, and the snow was blowing almost parallel with the ground. It was crazy. 

It was crazy windy yesterday, and the snow, instead 
of falling down from the sky, was blowing in 
horizontally, parallel with the ground. It was snowing 
consistently all day, so we did definitely get some 
accumulation, and it was a total PITA, so I closed 
early so we'd be safe on the drive home. 

I shoveled at the shop, of course, but within five minutes it looked almost untouched. We actually didn't get a lot of snow, but the wind made everything miserable. I only had one person in the store all day, and we didn't even get any phone calls. What a mess! So, I closed 30 minutes early to let Chickie and me have plenty of time to brush off our cars and head home while it was still light out. 

It's going to be a day of phone calls, and a lot of 
computer work today. I have a ton of stuff to try 
and get done, and it's not going to do itself, as much 
as I might want that. 

Today will be super busy - a day off to be sure, so I'll be shopping at some point. But I have my quarterly convo with my broker at 9:00 am, a WildFit Check In Zoom call at 2:00 pm, and my weekly convo with Aearwen at 4:00 pm. Then I have a 6:30 pm appointment with my accountant for the corporate income taxes. I actually had to write everything down so I wouldn't forget it. Crazy! 

Once again I'm "Busy, busy, busy!" It's going to be 
a packed day - errands and tasks galore. 

So I'm making this very short, wrapping it up and heading out to shovel and swim. I'll need to rush home, then run to the store and get my groceries so that I'm home before Tom calls at 9:00 am. I'll try to take a breath around noon - LOL. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Today Will Be A High Wind Day and Interactions With Eric Edmeades & Old Friends

I'm going to try to get all of my errands completed before noon today, and I also have an 11:00 am Zoom call, so it's going to be a condensed morning filled with this and that, here and there. We have high wind warnings in effect starting at 3:00 pm and continuing for 12 hours. High winds with gusts of 60 mph or more can cause havoc with tree branches and junk carried along by the winds. It's trash day, so the bins will be at the curb. Fortunately my trash collectors usually have mine picked up by noon. My next door neighbor, however, often won't have his picked up until late afternoon. I can already visualize his trash strewn across his yard and maybe some into my own. 

I first met Eric Edmeades through his WildFit food program, 
which uses the seasons and the six human hungers (among 
other things) to allow a person to gain control of their food 
intake, understand nutrition and the needs of the body, and 
generally give the body what it needs for healthy living. 
It worked for me - I haven't felt this good in decades and 
I'm keeping the weight off very comfortably. 

I'm taking a five-day Zoom course guided by Eric Edmeades called "Limiting Beliefs". It's a course designed to help you recognize and knock down the barriers you've created around yourself during the course of your life. It's excellent, as all of his courses are; one of a two-pack of new courses he is releasing over the next few months. They always leave me with a great deal to think about, and they push me to recognize the boxes I've built around myself and how to move them out of my way. I'd love to be home for today's live Zoom today instead of catching it on replay. I caught most of yesterday's at the shop, but Monday's I had to watch later. 

I'm sorry about the noise in the photo. Eric doesn't have 
an official splash screen for "Limiting Beliefs" yet. We're 
the first class, and it's not an "official" part of his roster 
yet, but will be within the next year. So far I'm pretty 
impressed with the course. It's making me think about 
beliefs I've held since I was a child and how those 
beliefs have influenced my interaction with the larger world. 

It's bee lovely to get some holiday cards from people I haven't heard from for a while. I got cards from my overseas friends Hans Meevis and Iris Schmidt on Monday. Iris loves reindeer, so there are always some reindeer on every card she sends. I used to do Beta reading for her Tolkien-based stories, we grew to be good friends during those days. I don't perform that task for her any more, but we're still in touch over the Holidays and it's always lovely to hear from her. 

Hans is an amazingly talented jeweler, as you can 
see in one of his creations here. I've been fortunate 
to know him on-line for many years now, and his 
skill just gets better and better. 

Hans is another overseas friend whom I've never met in person. He's an extremely talented jeweler, based in the Netherlands. When I first came across him, he was in the Caribbean, then he moved to Germany for a few years, and finally returned to his home base in Eygelshoven, The Netherlands. I love hearing from old friends and acquaintances over the holiday season, it's what makes things bright and happy for me. 

When Hans is not making jewelry, he's making Steampunk
Dinosaur weapons and fantastic futuristic scenarios from 
copper and bronze. Here is one of his T-Rex dinosaurs  
ready to set out on a campaign. The sculptures are large, 
upwards of six inches or more, depending on the dino 
design. For a jeweler, that's huge. The weapons all 
work, and the dino can actually move across the 
landscape. Such a creative mind, my friend Hans has. 
It's an honor to be a friend of his. 

I'm going to plug in some photos, get this posted, and maybe catch up on a few other things before I have to head out to the swimming pool. Have a wonderful and excellent Wednesday and, if I don't blow away to Oz, I'll be back tomorrow. 

It's Wednesday, It's a "Day Off", and I'll Be Busy (As Usual)

It's going to be a very busy "day off" today. I have a long list of things to accomplish today, and I have a 2:00 pm Zoom call to listen in on. I suspect I'll be blending my next four batches of ogre juice while I'm on the Zoom, so I'll be listening and chopping veggies, but not broadcasting. The sound of the blender is unnecessary to share via Zoom, but I want to listen to the various topics that will be discussed. 

It's such a relief to have my Alkagizers (ogre juice) again. 
I really missed them during that week when I was 
without them. Salads just weren't cutting it as a 
substitute. I love my veggie smoothies. 

I'll be dropping another three bags to Goodwill - sweaters this time. I had two large plastic bins of sweaters that I tried on last week. I'm donating anything that I was absolutely swimming in. I kept eight sweaters out of almost 50. There are some lovely ones in my donations. I hope someone else enjoys them as much as I have. 

I love giving gently used clothing items 
to Goodwill, and I enjoy purchasing items 
from them as well. It's one form of 
recycling I've supported throughout my 
life. 

I'm also heading to the builder's supply store for a new flashlight. It's essential for us to have one working flashlight. I have a heavy-duty one which sits next to my desk at all times. Unfortunately, it died over the weekend, so I need to get a new one. It doesn't make me happy, they're not inexpensive, but it's a necessity. When we lose power, which does happen every now and again, we need something non-flammable that will provide light. 

I have a large heavy-duty flashlight similar to 
this one, but it broke over the weekend. Time to 
get a new one. We can't be without a flashlight. 

Of course I'll be doing my usual three loads of laundry, housecleaning, and continuing work cleaning the clutter in Sharon's room. I can't let down my efforts there. I have a box of books to take to Half-Price Books, but I probably have one more almost ready, so I'll try to get that one completed and take both to Half Price on Friday, right away. I'll have my graduation celebration for WilderBody at 11:00 am on Friday, so I want to be home and on my computer for that. 

I think I'd probably better cut off here. I'm rambling, and really, I don't have a lot to say - LOL. But I managed to fill my blog despite a lack of substantive material. Good grief! I certainly can chat about nothing, can't I - LOL? Have an excellent day, be kind and stay safe. I'll be back tomorrow.