Bean attended my 11:00 class. Then we had lunch. His mommy picked him up at 1:00. Daddy's fever broke, so they kept him.

I got some of what I wanted done today.

My life has increased by two seed catalogs and 17 pages of paper today. I may try to find the energy to address that after dinner. But I am tired and not fully ready for tomorrow. This is how things build up.

Good morning!

I got almost six hours of Broken sleep last night.

We moved Bean up to the office room that opens into our room with no door because Dd was worried that if he got sick during the night we wouldn't hear him.

I got to bed around 11, but my feet and sheets were cold so I couldn't fall asleep. Dh came to bed freezing just as I was drifting off.

Bean woke up and quietly protested something at 1:30. If he had been in his own room, he would probably have just gone back to sleep, but I am hyper vigilant when he is here, and got up, touched him to check for fever, straightened his blankets, reassured him, and sat with my hand on his back for a few minutes before going back to bed.

A storm rolled in around 4 and woke me again.

Now it is a bit past 5, I am very tired, drinking coffee, It is pouring rain, I need to do my chores before Bean wakes up because it is too much to manage (too slow) if I wait for him. I'm trying to get ready to go to school taking Bean along at least to clean up, and I don't know if I'm actually teaching today.

This is not how I planned to start this school year.

Mice and men as the poets says.

I hope road is resting and recovering, Lila is enjoying her cousin, Tatoulia has her wreathes down and still feels better, and CM is still moving forward - poco a poco.

I did not put up Dh paper houses this year because we didn't have a good place to put them away from Bean and dogs.

I still have Bean. His daddy is very sick with a high fever. If his momma doesn't think she can take him back tomorrow, I will need to take the day off. Except I left my room such a mess I think Bean and I will have to go clean it up before the sub takes over.

I made some progress on the house today, but have not been able to get entirely ready for school. I may be up late tonight.

Oh dear Road, I am sorry you had to have surgery! Please write when you can! We care about you and your family a lot. I hole they were able to do the surgery laparoscopically so that your recovery will be somewhat better. But still a recovery to be sure. Please know I am holding you in my thoughts.

SubC, I like the concept of owning down debt. Of course my mind cannot quite grasp it in terms of lower interest rate vs higher interest rate vis a vis spaces but you know,and that's what matters.

It is trash night tonight. I need to shower and look alive. My friend Emiko came by and I was still in my pjs. She didn't mind. It was good to see her.

Bf heading down soon so I need to shower. Back to work tomorrow. No more lounging in bed til noon.

After I shower and get dressed, I will take my wreaths down for pickup tomorrow. I have taken down the Christmas scene in th e common area hallway. . I'm leaving out my paper houses because I love them so. I'll work on some of the other decorations later tonight.

Yes it's 5 PM and I'm just now looking alive.

Oh, I had no ginger ale or crackers the last two days and I do not feel nauseated. I wonder if they were contributing to my nausea.

Good morning!

Road, I am sorry you had to have surgery, but I am hopeful that now the cause of the problem is gone and it will not come back! Rest and recover.

Woke to a note from Bean's mommy that his daddy was up sick all night. Hopefully he caught whatever it was hanging out with his friend on Saturday and Bean is not sick.

Today is baking and playing with Bean, and getting ready for school this week. Should also put the laundry away and keep working on the scullery.

I have been thinking - my spaces are liked debt, except instead of money, it is time and energy I have to pay. The idea is to pay just the minimum (keep up with any new messes and items) on most of them, and then throw any extra at the one with the highest interest rate (most impact on my life)

Only, since I am moving somethings into my basement, it's more like I am still using the lowest interest card so that I can pay as much as possible on the highest interest one.

But the point is, that like ccs, this should get easier with every space I clear and defend.

Hi all,

Ended up getting gall bladder removed today. I had a stone obstructing the pancreas in worst spot. They said that's the most dangerous complication of gb so that's why I was so sick. That resolved itself but had to get gb removed to keep it from happening again . Gall bladder wasn't diagnosed til they did this imaging I guess because pain was referring center left instead of center right. ?? Still not sure why it wasn't even on the radar.

But that's my exciting news.

Will try to catch up when my eyeballs are cooperating again?

Lol Tatoulia, I suppose you read, but then no more post..

Today I did not keep up with the actual food packaging, but I washed or rinsed and set out to dry more food packaging than we created. And I started the fire with a paper egg carton.

I still have too much milk stockpiled in the fridge and am not managing it well (using oldest first) but I used more than I got today - even if I did give some that was sour to the chickens. Not optimal use, but it cuts down on chicken feed.

I found four little toy animals (Bean has nicer ones) and some arts and crafts sponges to add to the donate pile.

The weather didn't turn out as promised, but I got two loads of bedding out of the barn and onto cardboard in the garden. And I cleaned up and organized and worked on some projects in the studio for two hours. So, progress.

I have a big box of things set aside for a one way trip to school.

And Bean tucked in bed and our fruit soaking and squash thawing for tomorrow's baking.

Happy New Year!

Now to read the posts!

So, I have been thinking today - there are 5 ways things leave my possession:

Used up:
Consumed
Composted
Burned
Made into something else (which is then kept, given away, or sold)

Given away:
As gifts
Donated

Sold (includes returns - which are rare)

Recycled

Garbage

I try to pay attention on the front end to minimize that last one.

A lot of those are food and food packaging related. So, my plan is to try to keep on top of the food and food packaging related stuff and net one non-food related out every day. "Made into something else" only counts if it is not a kept thing.

Items will be counted when they are categorized, not dropped off (so I can put something in a donate box and count it but not take the box until it is full. No credit for dropping the box off.)

Report later.

White rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit! 🐇 (Depending on your browser and which emoji set it uses, the rabbits may be white or they may be brown. In any case, they're cute.)

And Happy New Year. 🎉 🥳 May it bring renewed hope, peace, prosperity, and all those good things. And little beanlets and a peanut or whatever Lila decides to call the successor of Acorn. 😉

Road, I hope and pray that you are already feeling a lot better after your bad spell.

Lila, when I have the newsletter from the senior center in front of me - new one just came last week - I'll see if I can find you some good ideas. I'm pretty new there myself and because of life craziness then catching the Rona, I haven't gotten there much. For me, its role is that of a resource center, a place to go and do things like the open crafting days to catch up on my projects. And some of the quieter interactive things like board games. Fitness too - I am interested in stretching type classes, and casual pickleball (because although I never really got serious about tennis, I used to enjoy whacking a ball with a racket). Not that I don't want to meet people and make friends, I do, but it'll probably happen secondary to doing things that interest me. That's just how I am, as an introvert.

So things like the dances and parties I'm not sure if will be my interest, and the craft classes where a set project is assigned, unless it would be something I've wanted to learn about. I may be more focused on my own agenda, but if I observe something I think might be what you're looking for in terms of ideas I'll pass it on.

Well, a new year stretches ahead, and I sure hope it'll be an improvement on the previous one. I have some optimism. My anxiety seems less, I think I'll be more disciplined in doing fitness which will further calm me, and I feel less intimidated and lost regarding the decluttering. In fact, rather eager to get started.

I hope my roommate will have a much happier and calmer time too; she hasn't gotten to really settle into retirement and enjoy it because of crazy happenings around here - things impacting her directly, and helping me navigate through some of mine (bless her for her willingness - I need to make more of a point of expressing gratitude, and doing something to reciprocate).

Live long and prosper, my friends! 🖖

Happy new year!
White rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits.

I have almost all of the dishes and most of the laundry done from the Christmas chaos. The laundry is not put away.

I am leaving the decorations up at least this week.

Today I got up at a reasonable hour.

The weather is supposed to be good, so I want to work in my barn.

I have less a plan or even list of goals for this year, and more a random collection of thoughts.

We'll see how that goes.

Keeping road in my thoughts, and hoping everyone else is doing well. Shout out to any lurkers or newbies - come say hi!