I was inspired by St. Patrick's Day to create a NEW icon -- something I don't do very often anymore... So first off, Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody! I hope you all had a good day! My icon shows a pot of gold -- and I wish you all much 'gold' in your lives. (smile) Gold comes in many forms, after all...

Some of you may recall when I had quite a bit more 'spare' time -- and I used to make icons constantly! I was involved with an icon community and it was great fun! I miss it. Too bad I never seem to have the time to do that these days.

As for me, my hip was better this morning, if not 100%. And this evening I'm walking without a limp, which is fabulous. I'm hopeful it will be even better by tomorrow.

In spite of the pain, I did manage to get some steps in today, thankfully. I'm pretty convinced that we need to WALK every single day of our lives, no matter how much we hurt (and even when we're sick, if at all possible). So often exercise is the only answer to staying healthy! It's often very hard, but we need to force ourselves. And it does get better if we can stick with it.

I worked with Christine on the website today. We were doing more concert pages for the RoZone. I 'took control' of Christine's computer Remotely (using TeamViewer). She gets such a kick out of that! So I do that via my computer, and then we chat on the phone about what we're doing.

We did one of the pages together, then she took over and did the second page on her own.

I love the way Christine will run with this stuff once I show her how it's done.

The next step is for me to WRITE OUT some detailed pages on HOW we do this more complicated stuff at the website. It's a daunting task some days, I have to admit. I need to have a certain mindset going to even try to tackle it. People are so used to me just grinding this stuff out. I don't think most of our staff at the festival realizes how difficult I find it. (sigh) I've been doing it for years now...

I started a lot of my 'how to' writing back when I used to do tutorials for various Paint Shop Pro communities here at LiveJournal. Well, I have things that pre-date that, but I certainly got a lot of practice with the PSP communities! I wrote up so much detailed stuff back then.

But I guess I've been doing tutorials forever. I used to write up simple versions of computer instructions. In fact, back when I did computer consulting, I'd take complicated manuals and make up a sheet or two that boiled down the important steps...

I do enjoy it, but it's probably a lot harder than it sounds. It's about making things easy to understand, and NOT leaving out any of the steps of how things are done. When a person knows HOW to do something, they'll often take certain aspects for granted -- and forget to include them. I remember when I, myself, was learning certain things how FRUSTRATING I would find it when several steps ended up left out.

And Microsoft is notorious for leaving out steps of HOW things are done using their Operating Systems and softwares! I've always said to be sure to use SOME OTHER WEBSITE when seeking HOW something is done for Microsoft stuff! Hahaha. Funny, that's for sure!

I was having a HUNGRY day, today. I just couldn't seem to get enough to eat! I ate some leftover meat and green beans early on, then also had a bowl of cereal. For lunch I had a frozen spaghetti dinner. And I snacked on some roasted peanuts. Then had cheese and crackers and dill pickles for dinner. Just so hungry. I'm not sure WHY...

I was also tired today...

I did talk to sister Sue more than once. She wants 'us' (meaning Marilyn, I suppose) to take her to more than one doctor appointment next week (she has THREE). The problem is that Marilyn's schedule is really SET far in advance. And it's one thing for Marilyn to meet her at an appointment (join her there) and take notes and so on. But another entirely for Marilyn to get away so she can go and get Sue, take her to the appointment, be there for it, then take her back again and head back to work. That's HOURS out of Marilyn's work day.

It would be helpful if one of Sue's kids could pick Sue up and take her to and from the appointment. (Neither one begins to work the hours that Marilyn works.) But I somehow doubt that's going to happen.

Sue also wants us both to take her to Patsy's 'memorial' gathering at a pub next Sunday. Mainly because Candy wants to be able to stay and drink at the event, and Sue just wants to make a brief appearance. Marilyn agreed that we'll take her -- it's at 2:00 until 6:00 (I think). We usually pretty tired by Sunday, but we want to help Sue if we can, of course.

Marilyn is already having trouble fitting her own medical and dental appointments into her schedule. And now she's talking about delaying stuff so she can help out Sue. She always puts Sue and me FIRST, and herself last. And it worries me! She needs to take care of herself, too. And there are only so many hours in a day.

I just don't know how she does it. Her schedule is so exhausting. I couldn't begin to cover all she does here in my blog...

I also talked to June today. I always enjoy our chats...

And Rose (our neighbor across the street) came by while I was on a phone call to see me. So I called her tonight and we were on the phone for around an hour. She wanted to chat about the work she's having done -- and apologize about her construction guy David blocking the driveway this morning...

I'm forgetting things, but need to go do the garbage and recycling. So that's pretty much it for today!

Fitbit update: Marilyn got 9,000 steps (she got right up on the treadmill tonight!), and I got 3,071 steps, just walking around the house today. (I only went outside long enough to MOVE the guy who was blocking the driveway when Marilyn needed to leave for work. Otherwise I was inside, in spite of the lovely, sunny weather.)

Donn is due in tomorrow and I have a busy day at the office. So hopefully I'll get to bed before long...

Sleep well, friends!

Sister Sue's close friend, Patsy, passed away in the very early hours of the day (around 1:00 a.m. last night -- I think). Sue's daughter, Candy, phoned me early this morning to tell me. Actually, not to tell me, per se. But to ask that if I'd seen this news at Facebook I not phone Sue and tell her about it. Candy wanted to go to see Sue in person and tell her the news.

I agreed, of course, that she should be told in person. In fact, I suggested I go along when Candy told her. But I got an 'odd' vibe when I made that suggestion: I didn't think Candy wanted me to be there, for whatever reason.

Anyway, my dear friend (and next door neighbor) June insisted on taking me to my dental appointment at noon today -- which was very, very kind of her! She's getting over that terrible flu, and still has the runny nose and cough. But she's over the fever and not contagious. And it was pouring down rain all day, so I agreed (I had planned to walk there).

June's husband (also our dear friend) is still very sick with the flu -- he took me to the dentist last week when June was so bad off. We agreed that he's clearly bad because he admits to being sick -- and he won't normally do that!

I went over to her house around twenty to 12:00. Jim was up and around (and fully dressed), but obviously miserable. So June and I left and she drove us up in Jim's car to St. Johns.

Mary (my dentist) agreed to work on the tooth most bothering me, which was one near the front (on the upper left) that I'd found was actually broken. Marilyn and I had wondered if it would need a crown or something, but happily no! I was pleased to get it done. She only gave me one shot, so after it was done June and I went to her bank (drive through), then over to Starbuck's where we both had Flat Whites. (smile)

We spent several hours there chatting and drinking our coffee, until I said I needed to get home for the princess announcement.

I got that done just around 3:00 p.m. (for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). Today it was Jefferson's girl.

I was waiting all day to hear from Candy. But I'd told Marilyn on the phone that I had a strong feeling she didn't want to include me in her visit to see her mom (my sister Sue). Guess what? I was right! I finally texted Candy just before 6:00 p.m. and found out she'd gone to see her mother at noon to tell her. At noon. And I waited all day long NOT CALLING SUE because she'd asked me not to.

So guess what, my friends? That is the LAST TIME I'm going to ever wait to talk to Sue because Candy asks me to. The last time ever.

But like I said, I was NOT surprised.

Here's the thing: Neither Candy nor her brother Larry have bothered to phone us or text us since Sue was sent from the hospital to her current location. Then didn't tell us about the appointment with the doctors that took place while she was still IN the hospital, either. I'm the one who told Marilyn. So when Marilyn showed up for that meeting, apparently both of them were quite surprised she was there. Of course they were! They obviously didn't want us included, so they never bothered telling us the meeting was happening. Even though it's Marilyn who knows all about Sue's medical conditions -- and has been attending appointments with her FOR YEARS since her gastric bypass surgery 12 years ago...

They never bothered to let us know when she was moved. We found out for ourselves. We're not even sure that if Sue died they'd take the time to tell us right away.

I get that the two of them are more able right now to be there for Sue on a daily basis. But I have a strong hunch -- maybe I'm wrong, who knows? -- that they're deliberately excluding us. I can't see why that would be true. But it's a sign to me... It's certainly a sign.

The second Candy sent me the text, I went to the phone and called Sue, so we could talk about Patsy. Marilyn and I, too, have known her since before the kids (Candy, Larry and Patsy's daughter Stacey) were even born.

Sue is taking the news really well. Patsy has been dying for more than two years. Stacey gave Sue a constant bad time that she didn't want to visit Patsy anymore, because Patsy didn't recognize her when she was with her. Sue would spend her entire visits sitting and crying, because it was clear that even though Patsy wasn't gone yet, she was dead -- at least the person Sue had always known was dead.

So I chatted for a bit with my sister and then went back to work. It's a very busy time and there's so much to do.

And of course Marilyn didn't get home for ages and was very tired when she did get here. I didn't even make any dinner at all tonight. She was eating peanut butter out of a jar -- and then so did I.

Finally I went in for a nap, hoping to read a bit. I was out like a light and didn't wake up until well past midnight (this is backdated).

Fitbit update: I hardly got any steps today. It was way too rainy and cold to be outside much, so I only had 2,279 steps. Marilyn got on the treadmill tonight, and she got 6,656 steps. Good for her!!!

She also washed her hair.

We were having a storm alert today. Winds on the coast (where our beach house in Seaside is located) were around 65 miles per hour -- with gusts at 85 miles! And we were due to have high winds HERE in Portland from midnight on -- and into tomorrow. With lots of rain.

June had called to warn me, and I went out to check the tarp out back. The last thing we want during a big storm with rain is to have that tarp come free from the house! We certainly do not want to flood... But everything was snug -- so hopefully we'll be okay.

Patsy's son Alan shot himself years ago. It really hurt her and I'm not sure she ever got over it. Her son Hugh hasn't done well in recent years. He's living on property that Larry (Sue's son) owns and rents to other people (who aren't happy to have him there). I like to think of Patsy reunited at last with Alan and Stella and all the people who went before her. Sue and I agreed that we will see her again someday -- and she'll be the Patsy we knew and loved (and not the woman of recent years).

The princess announcement went really well today.

I talked with Rich in the afternoon about the upcoming press releases (he'd told me we had one about SMART -- and I knew we were supposed to have another about the RoZone performers that Carol had told me). I wanted to split them up between two days, and he agreed with me. But Marilyn told me the SMART announcement HAD to happen Friday -- as they're announcing at an event Thursday night! And she said the RoZone thing is probably NOT happening on Friday anyway.

It's HARD FOR ME when I'm not in the actual festival office to stay on top of these things. And of course because I put up all the News items for the website, it's essential that I actually do know. (sigh) I just have to try and do the best I can.

I also talked to Christine today and told her about the 'how to' website work that I'd gotten done for the website instructions. She was so nice about it! And she was happy to have all of that there for people to use.

Kate reminded me that her password for her land phone in the office wasn't working. I had to Remote in to fix it (you can't do our phones unless you're 'in' the office). It was no big deal once I was able to Remote in (not that easy to do right now!). I had to call Donn about that!

I was trying to figure out WHY the password wouldn't be the default -- then remembered that I hadn't made a 'new' phone entry for Kate. I just used Allison's because it was already set up (and that was the one Kate needed). So obviously Alli's had changed the password, even though she was told not to.

Here's Christine's and my reasoning: Nobody can use the password unless they're in the office. But if she and I need to check somebody's phone messages for some reason, we need to know the password! So why not leave it at the default? Most messages would be about work anyway... So we ask everyone to leave the password at the default for that reason. Oh well. It is an easy fix (once I can get my hands on it, of course!).

And just another sign how some people hate to follow instructions, for whatever reason.

Marilyn mentioned there would be a personnel change tomorrow. I need to be aware of these, because I have to immediately change passwords on the Server when they take place. (And normally I'm there for these, as well.)

I wonder if Marilyn wants me to go to work in the morning??? I should have asked her! I better set an alarm, just in case.

I have piles of work to get done, that's for sure!

I'm tired, so I'd better get off to bed now... Sleep well, my dear friends.