I got picked up by my co-worker this morning. It’s an easy 15-minute ride to work. She agreed that having some company made the ride more pleasant, so it seems to be working out fine.
My boss came in today and, although he had a few meetings and conference calls, he gave me a few projects and I had some other projects from other members of the team, so I was very busy today – which is great! I also offered to help the woman who taught me how to do the expense reports, and she gave me some typing (which is my favorite thing to do). The day flew by!
I even got to do some shopping! One of the guys on the team wanted me to buy 16 copies of a book on AMAZON.COM and have them sent to people all over the world – U.S., Canada, England, Switzerland. That took me a while, so the time passed quickly, and I always love to shop!
I got dropped off home a little before 5:30pm. When I got in the apartment Eric was vacuuming the living room wearing full bicycle gear. The last couple of times he rode he didn’t even gear up, so I was very surprised. I said, “Are these your new vacuuming clothes?” He laughed and said, “I figure I should wear them to do SOMETHING!” I didn’t press him on the subject, but obviously he went on a ride today. He rode a little yesterday, too. Imagine that! And I’m not even bothering him about it. In fact, I don’t mention riding at all and told him I couldn’t care less if he rode or not. It was totally his decision. I guess backing off was a good idea!
Eric finally got a call from his boss today and he said to come in on Monday, so I guess he’ll have tomorrow off and then go back to work on Monday. We’ll see how long it lasts. I told him I’m “cautiously optimistic!”
I had a NUTRISYSTEM pasta primavera with tofu, which was actually delicious! Eric had NUTRISYSTEM macaroni and cheese, which doesn’t match up to KRAFT, but he said it was pretty good!
I weighed in at 128.4 this morning, so the numbers went down again, but just barely. I really don’t think I’m losing any weight, and I know why – I haven’t been exercising. I have to work on that!
I got a lovely letter from my friend, Kaja, who celebrated her 94th birthday on January 16th. Can you imagine – she’s 94 and she’s hand-writing us a long letter. Her penmanship is beautiful and she filled me in on everything going on and also did my numbers. Kaja is psychic and does palm reading, numerology, etc. She’s fabulous – mystical and magical. She told me I’m in a “1” year (a “1 vibration”, as she puts it) and that there will be new ideas, and a taste of everything different. She advised me to wear red (one of my favorite colors). She said last year (a 9 year) was a good year to get rid of things, which we certainly did for our move to SD.
She also enclosed an article about cranes, since she knows I love Asian art, which often features these long-necked birds and – believe it or not – a page of dirty jokes. She’s 94, but you can talk to her like she’s 20, because nothing’s off limits with Kaja!
Kaja is so special. She lived across the street from us on Leggett Place. She lived in that house for 65 years. Can you imagine? 65 years. She saw Whitestone grow from apple orchards, farms and a few houses to the suburb it is today. We became friends soon after we moved onto the block in 1986, when Kaja was 72. She looked like she was 50. She was gorgeous then and she’s gorgeous now. I have seen pictures of her when she was young and she looked like a movie star. She’s Norwegian and has blonde hair and blue eyes – eyes so blue and striking that you can’t take your eyes off hers.
Kaja has always been popular. Whenever there’s a party, you will see a crowd of people and you can bet that Kaja is in the middle of the crowd. She attracts people like flies to honey.
She told me, in her latest letter, that she received 80 cards for her 94th birthday – cards from all over the world. Kaja has traveled the entire world and made friends on every continent. She has friends in every state, every city. Everybody loves Kaja.
Kaja is also an unbelievable artist – she specializes in ceramics and pottery, but also paints on glass (and then bakes it in a kiln), and paints on canvas with charcoal, watercolors and oils, too. She was a teacher for many years, traveling the world and teaching her arts. I took marbleizing classes with Kaja – right in her driveway. You mix water in a big tub with a substance that makes the water like gelatin. Then, you drip paint on top. Since it is “thick water” the paint sits on top and you use a stick to move the paint around into designs. Then, you put a piece of paper, or a piece of silk on top and the paint immediately sticks to it. And that’s how marbleized paper and fabric is made! We had such fun!
Kaja also ALWAYS had visitors – always. Since she knew people all of the world and everybody likes to visit New York, when they came they inevitably stayed with Kaja in her beautiful house, which I called "Kaja's Museum." Her house was filled with her own art and the art of those she was friends with, or got to know through her world travels.
Eric and I got to meet such interesting people, because Kaja would always have us over for dinner when she had guests. And what a hostess she is! She had many sets of dishes and would set the table in all pinks and purples, or black and gold, or silver and blue, and had matching napkins, placemats, glasses, and dishes. She is a great cook and would spend the entire day preparing a meal that we would devour in minutes.
She had a fabulous garden and tended to it so lovingly. She always had fresh flowers everywhere in the house, which she picked from her own garden. She would always tell me to come over and pick flowers, so we could have fresh flowers in our house, too.
Kaja moved into a nursing home a few years ago. She enjoys it, because she loves to socialize and there are always people around, but unfortunately most of the other residents are not as sharp or as “together” as Kaja is, so she’s kind of lonely in that regard. After all, the people who work there really don’t have much time to spend talking with her, although people from all over the building come to get their palms read. Yes, even in the nursing home Kaja attracts people. They all love her.
While we were traveling all over the country I knew Kaja wouldn’t be able to keep in touch through the blog, so we’d send her postcards from almost every city. My phone would ring while we were driving the RV, or relaxing in the morning, and it was Kaja, calling to say she loved the postcards, she was so happy we were traveling, and she missed us and loved us. She told us that she has all the postcards from all over the country on her closet doors and that they tell the story of our adventure across the States. What a beautiful friend. How I miss her.
The love of our friends and family have sustained us these many months and kept us going on many an occasion. We are so grateful to you all. We have been on some emotional and spiritual roller coasters lately, but we are hanging in there, clinging to each other (both literally and figuratively). Knowing that you are all there, just an email or a phone call away, thinking of us, and praying for us, really keeps us going. Thank you!