Early day 1

 Here is the tiny dictator in his lap pose… arms fully extended so his tummy is well-exposed and if I don’t respond quickly enough, I’ll get slapped by one of those long legs!  He’s leaping around without problems, except when he decides he wants to milk sympathy and then — puppy dog eyes and nose butting.  He’s due for his grooming in a week or so.  I had an early appointment today and another one in the mid-afternoon, so I took advantage of the timing and had a short nap for about an hour which helped me feel refreshed.  Tomorrow is a very early start, as we’ll be out of the house by 7:30, so an early night is in the cards tonight.  Alarm set already!  Jerry has been getting into all kinds of mischief today, which I understand.  He’s getting spring fever, and sadly I don’t have the energy to take him for an outing that will reduce his fidgets.  I’ll be walking him this week, with the intent of reinforcing my ability to do longer walks.  Don has been having some pain in his arm; I’m not sure of the cause, but he’s resting up and hopefully it will improve soon.  (It might be sadness due to his team’s most recent loss, but I don’t know!)

I had a long (for us) talk with my dad today, and he’s doing well.  I’m thankful for that, and it’s great.  He said that he’s able to do his exercises (mostly gentle stretches) and it makes him feel better; I encouraged him to continue.  Normally he just talks for a minute or so, but today he felt chatty; I had spoken with my sister and niece before, so a quick family catch up.  

My crochet project continues, and I’m of the view that it’s an under a Sorcerer’s Apprentice curse!  It seems to just keep GROWING!  According to the pattern, I’ve used the amount of yarn expected, but I’ve still got about a third to go!  It’s not large, but the stitches are a bit more intricate than I expected, so it’s a lot slower than planned!  At least I’m learning some complex stitches which I may (or may not) use in future items.  

I bought myself an ultrasonic jewellery cleaner so that my collection of rings / bracelets etc. can be cleaned quickly.  At least, that’s the plan.  I gave it a trial run last night (it arrived in the afternoon) and the reviews are mixed.  Some small pieces look shinier, my Pandora bracelet looks unchanged, and I was warned in advance that it doesn’t remove tarnish from silver.  That’s likely to be a 2- to 3-stage process.  Stand by for updates.  It discourages cleaning pearls, emeralds and opal as they’re described as “porous” stones and could be damaged by the ultrasound; plus the silk that’s used to string my pearls might snap.  I don’t want that, I don’t want to have to pay for repairs to those items.  Can you imagine the conversation with the jeweller where I explain that I put them into an ultrasonic cleaner against the manufacturer’s instructions and could they please fix my silliness?  They’ll add a laughter tax! I’ll try again tonight, for the “thorough” clean (add 1-2 drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid to the water) and run for 3 minutes.

Jerry is taxing my energy tonight.  He’s in a mood where he’s barking at everything, so I’m running out of energy getting him to try to settle down, which he strenuously refuses to do.  Before my neighbours arrive to complain that he’s disturbing them, I’d better go deal with this stubborn little monster!  Good night!