busy & scheduled finally ...

   A productive few days ... I got my Halloween tree put up.  Once again, I was surprised by what wasn't in the box than what was.  I had limited the decorations I could take with me to just small tubs and left 98% of my seasonal decorations in Wisconsin with the intent of going back to get them.  The person who bought the contents of my storage unit at auction got some very good holiday decorations, many of them irreplaceable.  Oh well.  It is what it is.

  The buzzard is the newest addition to the Halloween box, and it feels very appropriate for me this year.  I thought about looking for new ornaments to fill up the tree but have decided to wait and see what next year brings.  It isn't my most favorite holiday, and the only reason I have these ornaments is that Hallmark started creating some in of their Beauty of Birds Christmas line that I've been collecting for 20some years now.

  I was gifted a gold loveseat in a crushed velvet fabric as part of a furniture swap my friend Nancy did to get a larger sofa for her house.  The cats seem to like it, and I'm sure it will be nice and cozy in the winter because it is in the room that gets the best heat downstairs.  We've already had some cold mornings, lots of thick fog, and I caught the girls snuggling on their window seat.  It's not really built for the weight of both of them, and Lucy has been hogging it lately.  I guess her mom had enough of that and moved in on her.  Hard to believe that Lucy will turn five on October 1st.

 The mandala decal for the dresser arrived and looks amazing.  I can't wait for the handles to arrive so I can complete it and put the decor I've selected on top.  The shelves I had ordered (on sale!) arrived and I will get them hung on the wall above this weekend.  I was going to paint them in matching paint, but will leave them white since much of what will go on them will be the aqua/teal colors and I don't want to overwhelm the corner with that color palette.   I found a short black lamp with a chicken wire shade that I will weave fabric through, and will use the bottom to hang my dangle earrings.

  I also picked up an old chair in need of some repair and upcycling that will be the new "throne" for my peace lily in the living room.  The way the cushion is on the chair that it currently sits on makes it a little unstable if bumped, and I'd rather have it firmly flat.  I put some wood screws in the legs and crossbars to make them sturdier and sanded all the loose varnish off the seat from where rain and weather had damaged it.  The legs and back are hunter green, and I decided to just leave it as is without painting any of it.  I might at some point get a courser sanding block and sand it again, but for now, it looks just fine the way it is.

  Tuesday evening I swapped out the showerhead for a different one with a hand-held attachment.  It has an extra-long hose on it which will make giving Charlie a bath much easier.  I've come to the conclusion that he must not be a full-blooded Shih Tzu because his hair does not grow as long as the show dogs do.  I will probably continue to trim his hair as needed and bathe him on the same day (so long as he doesn't chase any more skunks).

  When this publishes at 330a on Thursday, Sept 30th I will be climbing into a car for a three-ish-hour drive to WVU to have my liver biopsy done.  I got tired of being nice and patient, so I called the radiology department and politely demanded to be put on the schedule.  It worked, and I didn't even have to use my cranky teacher voice.  The procedure is scheduled for 730a and should take 4-5 hours total, including recovery time.  I'm hoping to be home by 5p to update everyone.  I doubt that I will have any results, other than the fact that I survived it.  I'm praying and claiming that when they take the CT scan to mark the location that there will be nothing there for them to biopsy.