Hi Subclinical
Thank you.
The laundry finished drying nicely on the rack.

WTG! for ordering that teacher's guide and workbook.
Sounds like something that has the bones and you get to add all the meat & potatoes.
Happy you let go of doing it all from scratch.

Today I let go of some worry.
Was worried about Jack. He was not eating and seemed to have pain.
Would want me to pet him but then frantically run away and cower.
This morning He showed up for breakfast was his old self again and ate his food.
He looked good and was his happy purring self again.
Think he may have had a burr in his mouth but managed to work it out.

Gave up some guilt that no matter how hard I may try I am just a failure at taking care of the cats.
No matter what I could do I am helpless against cancers, kidney failure and other such diseases that take them.

Tillie, I am sorry about your laundry. Hopefully tomorrow will be dry.

What did you let go of today?

I let go of trying to do all my lesson plans from scratch and I ordered a book with a teacher's guide and workbook for my least favorite class. It looks like a very good book, and I won't just do the workbook, but it will give me something solid and structured to riff on.

YEA!
Guess that possum didn't like the goat invasion. 😀

That's very good reasoning on tying up loose ends on what you have going on there.
Your priorities are spot on.

WTG! for another pottery class! 😀

Well....
It sprinkled.
Laundry was almost dry so I have it on the rack inside to finish up.

Reviewing my life chores & have-tos
I am doing alright and am on schedule.
My tasks are all manageable since I minimized what I have to and want to do.
The garden is still a joy but so much easier to maintain.
My expectations of what I should be doing are no longer hard and exhausting.
Using "the Gentle Art Of Swedish Cleaning has helped me to better evaluate what things I feel that I need to keep.
Like nobody around to share cookies with so I have eliminated the cookie cutters and cookie press that I used to make fancy decorated time consuming cookies with.
Drop cookies are just fine if I need cookies.
I no longer cook for anybody but myself so I no longer feel that I need to cook anything elaborate.
I am happy with simple dishes.
The kitchen and pantry easily hold what I need.
All my clothing, linens, bedding, craft supplies, etc. fit easily in my room.
All so easy to keep clean and tidy.

And here I sit with this massive filthy dangerous hoard surrounding me.
Nothing I can do about any of that.
So I will just focus on what I have control over.

Well, the possum was gone this morning and everything was alive. But I forgot to chain a gate and the goat were loose in the barn all night, so everything was chaos.

It is sunny and 40s today, so I cleared a few more blackberries. I also worked on stuff for my favorite class (order and preparation) but I promised myself 20 minutes on the least favorite and I need to write my thank you notes.

I felt like I had so much time and now I feel like I have none!

Tatoulia, maybe you should wash your dollar gloves and tuck them in a drawer at work at the end of the season.

Another board I read sometimes has a thread about "what three things do you want to finish this year?" I thought about it a little - the number of unfinished projects in my life is legion, but I won't join the thread. For one thing, it's already 4 pages long and veering off topic(I can't keep up with that!), and for another, I think this is like dehoarding my house. FIRST I need to stop starting new things.

I am already committed to my most important and exciting new roll this year - caring for my grandchild on Mondays. And I have already asked for three classes I have never taught before, although two are super simple and one is dear to my heart. But there are many places I can stop.

I can not start any new knitting projects until I finish or give away the started ones.

I can not clear any new land or start any new garden beds until I finish reclaiming the old ones and have them under control.

I already signed up for a pottery class in two weeks, and I will have to buy some new clay for it because of temperature demands, but I can focus on using up clay and glaze that I have whenever possible. And I can definitely use the toys and tools I already have!

And no matter how good an idea I have, I can not bring home materials, even free materials, for projects that are not started. And that includes books with ideas!

Good Morning Everybody
Wrote a nice long post but internet hiccupped and swallowed it.
Power went out just as I was getting up this morning for about an hour too.

Hi Subclinical
Wishing you tons of sunshine today (((HUG)))
Hope you find a good solution for the possum.

Hi Tatoulia
Happy you had such a lovely evening.
Maybe you need "idiot gloves"? The ones with the string that holds them on together through the jacket sleeves.

So sweet of him to mention that your place is so clean you would have noticed the gloves there.

Linens are on the clothesline.
Cats had their breakfast and are now napping.
Kitchen counter is clear and clean but I will need to cook sometime today but will clean it up again.

Happy New Year! It's almost 1PM. Just finished my coffee and a bagel. It's bright outside but I still used my therapy lamp!

I need to gain more control of my surroundings this year! Keep moving forward! I am excited about all of it.

We had a lovely dinner last night, got home about 2AM. Lovely evening. Just my sweetheart and me; the way I am happiest on NYE. Now I'm in my jammies and have a tiny cat next to me. She's brought me intense joy since 2005.

Tillie that bored and lonely feeling is terrible. I get cranky with myself when I feel that way.

Well despite not wanting to do this, I am getting dressed and going to go outside.

SubC I am so excited that the cabinets went to Habitat! Fantastic!

I've lost all my gloves this year. All of them. Cheap, expensive, and all in between. BF checked my car and his car for them last night, as I was really cold on way in and home from work yesterday. And he said, my house is so clean I would've noticed if they were there. I love him so much.

They could still be at mom's. My ear muffs are missing too. I only gave the ear muffs that are too old and ratty looking. I'll wear them, but they are slated for goodwill. BF said he'll order me a dozen of those foolish dollar gloves for me to keep at work. He did that a few years ago and it was incredibly helpful, then I washed them up and donated them once I was done.

Tillie, I am sorry your year ended bored and lonely!

I hope you do get into town and you figure out the eating mystery.

I am not a huge fan of "drive it out into the country" I am the country. There's an even chance catch and release is how the possum or it's momma got here in the first place. I think I should drive it into the suburbs where it can eat garbage and not bother anybody. (Kidding, but not entirely)

I grew up in suburbs that people considered country (4 acre lots, chip surfaced roads, neighbor farmed the 8 acres across the street) and was taught to love possums. They eat ticks and don't bother anybody. My dad (who owns a truck farm and a wood lot in the real country near where I grew up) would always get excited and come get us when he found wildlife. Bats, possums, skunks raccoons, turtles, snakes, tree frogs, so many birds, and of course rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, toads etc.

The only creatures he had it in for were groundhogs and deer. He couldn't coexist with them because they destroyed everything in their path.

The sun might come out today.

We'll see how I do.

CM, take your medicine. I forgot mine last night.

10:30pm December 31st. 2019

I am bored and a bit lonely.
Scooter just decided to snuggle with me, it's nice.

This morning after the sun had warmed up the world a little
I went outside and removed all the spent dried out seed pods from the lilac bushes.
Also trimmed some new branches off that were too tall.
About 8/9 feet is tall enough and when they grow too tall they tend to be scrawny and I want/need fuller bushes to help stop the dust clouds blowing in.

Might get out and cut the honeysuckle down tomorrow.
Starts to look ratty when you don't remove the thin tentacles to allow the new growth take over next Spring.

Will be hanging out sheets and pillow cases tomorrow morning.
Scant chance of rain and temps predicted to be upper 40s.

Definitely need to go into town later this week.
Need to find and talk to friendly people, the human type.
Also need to figure out what kind of food I should eat.
For a while now so many things just make me feel ill. :p

Happy New Year Subclinical

WTG! old kitchen cabinets off to habitat!!!
WTG! for organizing evaluation information and recycling lots of paper!

If you don't have a humane trap see if a veterinarian or the wildlife department have one they will lend you.

Bait it with something tasty and place it out near the cat carrier.
Check it regularly and when you catch her take her for a long drive out into the country.
Trap & release is a win win for all involved.

Happy new year!

A few years ago my neighbor blew up a car.

It's quiet tonight except for the coyotes though.

I have a big fat possum living in my barn. She took over an empty cat carrier with no door for her home. I don't know what to do about her - I don't want her to eat my chicks. I also don't want to get bitten by a possum or have dh shoot her.

I forgot to tell that dh took all the old kitchen cabinets to habitat today.

I worked on organizing information for evaluations for my least favorite class and recycled a lot of paper, but I did not get done what I had planned and so am not as far along as I would like to be. Dh was gone and I got overwhelmed and felt like I couldn't breathe and watched videos.

Good Evening Everyone

Good luck and best wishes getting a schedule that meets your needs and wants! 🙂

WAY TO GO!
Three puppets is great!
Remember they do not have feelings and will not feel rejection or sorrow.. (((HUG)))

Sitting here at 6:30pm.
Cats sleeping all around me, makes me sleepy too.
Hope idiots don't shoot off guns into the air.
What goes up MUST come down, idiot people.

I got a reply from my boss.

She gave me the answer I was hoping for about the age groups.

I reminded myself that I want a day off next year, I probably need a day off next year, and I choose to believe that if I get it I will make good use of it. Then I sent her my schedule and class proposals and I am going to let go of that for the next two months while she assembles the schedule. What will be will be.

Also I found three puppets to let go of while I was working in the basement a little, so so far so good.

OK, been thinking about this and think I have come up with a good challenge.

For every day in January
let go of one thing.

Can be a physical item

an app on the phone or computer you don't use

a bad feeling about something, like guilt

a long put off repulsive task that really isn't that hard, it's just repulsive

a bad habit, like being too critical of yourself or others, etc...

Just find one thing every day to get rid of.
Not looking for perfection or anything hard or emotionally trying.

So, what do you all think? 😀

OK, this is a non negotiable order...
Everybody is to test their smoke detectors either today or tomorrow.
Fresh batteries installed if needed.

I do not want to hear any lame excuses.

Good Morning Everybody
"Clink!"

So many wonderful posts!!!

Hi CriticalMass
Thank you 😀
I too vote for replacing the paper magazines with cyber images.
Try doing a google type search for 2000 prom dress images to see how you like it?

Have fun today with all your plans. 🙂

Hi Tatoulia
Love that question, are my bills paid?
Online shopping can be fun as long as we keep deleting our carts. 😉
And if something lays in the cart unbought for several weeks we can look back and say "well, I didn't need that after all".
WTG! starting another donation bag!
Stay safe in that icy cold weather.

Hi Subclinical
I can sure relate to your dirt driveway and sidewalk paths that don't really go anywhere. LOL 😀

WAY TO GO! for getting the class proposals ready!

Bet your basement is a lot easier to get a handle on now since you spent a LOT of time organizing this past Summer.
You did fantastic decluttering and rearranging down there.

Almost 6am here.
Been awake since 4am. Don't know why.
Nice to be awake when it's dark and quiet and I'm the only human in the world. ;p
No real plans for today. Thinking I will go into town on the 2nd or 3rd.
They should all be done with their post holiday frenzies by then.

Last day of 2019
Time to look back at all the goals we have accomplished and give ourselves a big "WAY TO GO!"
😀

Good morning Goid morning!

Tatoulia, I got caught up on your instagram account. I enjoy your pictures and imagining your life. So different from here. Right now I am thinking about how much pavement you have. Because I have so much mud. Even my driveway isn't paved, just a little piece in front of the Garage. And I have a sidewalk to the barn.

When we were looking for a new house, I kept focusing on barns and fencing. Sometimes I would say something like "but don't you love that barn?" And dh would say "I like sidewalks." When we found this place, one of the kids said "it's perfect. It has a barn for mom and a sidewalk for dad." And dh said "I kind of hoped the sidewalk would go somewhere else."

I❤️Your cleaning fairies.

Cm, I agree that it was goid to check out your dolls before you went. Be careful at the fabric store.

Part of me has been wanting to do a little after Christmas shopping, but I am mostly happy not having to leave my house. Dh went out to get a piece of hardware to fix something, and I asked him to see if the lights we bought last year were on sale (the new lights are on the bottom half of the tree and the old lights are on the top and it looks a little strange to me because the old lights are spaced out more.) they weren't in the store, so he just ordered them online. Next year I will, have enough new lights to do the whole tree but I am keeping the small strings to put other places until they burn out.

I did spend twenty cents on some pdf files of game material I want to use in one of my classes. It was an "after Christmas flash sale" down from $2.

I like the photo idea for the dresses. I have files of pottery photos saved on my teacher account for inspiration for me and my students.

Yesterday I got my class proposals for next year pretty much done. I am going to sit on them for a few days because they are not due yet, and because I asked my boss a question she has not replied to (she is on vacation too.) I am hoping to go to a slightly reduced schedule next year - if the scheduling works out, I will drop from 16 class periods to 14. It will take 2.5 hours a week out of my paycheck, but it will also give me a whole day off and cut two hours of driving out of my week, so it is a good trade. If my boss can't fit all of my base classes on three days, I may actually add hours (up to as much as 20 class periods) because I'd rather have full days than partial. No matter what I am not doing another core English class next year.

The hard thing is that I have 9 absolutely certain classes, which will hopefully expand to 11 (what age levels are being included is the question I asked) so I wrote up additional class proposals that can take me to 14 or 20. Now I am excited about my new classes and want to teach all of them, but if I get the schedule I requested, they won't all fit. I am trying to hoard classes! It is good that I already talked to my boss about my schedule request.

Today is Tuesday. I have exactly one week before classes start again. I am going to focus some time on prep for my Tuesday classes.

Btw, my scale budged this morning. It looks like my new not snacking at night plan might be working. I will update when it has been a week. I have also decided to drink only water, coffee, or tea from Monday morning to after school Friday - no milk, juice, wine, etc. Dh was a little sad last night because he wanted wine with dinner. I told him to go ahead, but he said that if he opened the bottle it would go off before he finished it himself. So I guess he is giving up wine on M/T/W.

Dsil brought back two empty bins yesterday because they had put the things out/away in the baby's room. He showed me a picture. I am SO proud of him! Also, I have two empty bins and space for them on my rack. So I might do some organizing in the basement this week - get some of the things that are piled around binned and racked.

Hello everyone! Torrential rains, sleet, at times hail, freezing rain, etc. very slippery. My jacket was soaked through, so I washed it and it's in the dryer now.

Gathered up all the garbage this AM so I would take it out tonight when I got home. All set.

I have also been doing some post-Christmas sale shopping, but only in line, and then I delete my cart. It's much easier this way for me, CM. When I'm in the stores, I don't feel the pull right now. But online I feel like shopping. Are my bills paid? No, they are not. And that stops me from spending any increment of money. I will continue to do so in the coming year. Cm I'm glad you thought to take an inventory of your dolls before shopping! I hope that felt like a victory for you! That behavior pattern is very useful.

With regard to the fashion magazines, would you consider photographing the fashions you like and then post them to Instagram or Pinterest? That way they will live on in the digital world and wouldn't be subject to the ups and downs of our devices.

Tillie shall we discuss the cat named Butter Bean? I think that was the name! Something cute like that! You are so lucky to have cats come to you. What a gift.

Well I am ready for bed. Just need to get my laundry from the dryer.

I have started a bag of donations.

Happy New Year's Eve Eve!

Happy Birthday Tillie!

Today was an errands + fun runaround day for me and my roommate. We took a ginormous defunct computer CPU of hers - sucker weighed about as much as a neutron star - to the recycling place.

Then we went to the Walmart that is "way up north," that has a more small town feel to it despite its being pretty big like any Walmart. I found three Chelsea dolls (little Barbie sister about 5" high). They were priced half of what those usually are because they were a special basic series for stocking stuffers. I'll get more doll pics up on IG when I get caught up on computer and new cell phone etc.

Before we went, I did go in and look at the Chelsea dolls I had, to get a feel for whether it was okay to add these. I like the child dolls as well as the Barbie and Ken - gives a family feeling to collecting. Glam for Barbie is fun too, especially when I have things organized and can sew.

I had collected prom magazines in the 00s for evening wear inspiration. As I'm downsizing I may let some of those go, haven't decided. The dresses were very pretty then; I don't care as much for those of the 10s.

So anyway, we shopped today, got household stuff, cell phone case for her (mine is going to have to be ordered online; stores don't seem to carry them). Holders for the phones while driving.

Yesterday I had looked at Christmas clearance a couple places, and it was fun to look but I didn't buy anything extravagant. The grocery had these big barrels with 101 plastic cookie cutters - alphabet, numbers, and all seasons.

I'd been keeping an eye on them, they were down to $5-6 before Christmas. I knew with the size, the store wouldn't want to keep them taking up space and they might go down further. Sure enough, down to $2.50! I have been getting rid of metal cookie cutters because they rust. So now I should have any cookie cutter I'll ever need, LOL!

It was fun to shop the after Christmas sale these extra few days out, when it wasn't crazy. Maybe less selection, but more than enough; too much would tempt me more than I need.

Tomorrow I'm going to be at church from morning till evening, quilting, holy hour at 3:00 (may buzz down to the library in between). And New Year's Eve holyday vigil Mass at 6:00. I'll enjoy the solitude and hopefully getting to do some writing in the afternoon.

On Wednesday, my roommate wants to go back to that local fabric store - that's their last day. I don't plan to buy much - just want to check notions and ribbon as they have a few things that no one else does but I promise I will be selective and not go overboard. I'll take Badger.

Then Thursday she returns to work, so that'll probably be a day to resume paper sorting and whatever else - and Friday is payday runaround day. So that's my week as I foresee it so far.

Good Morning Everyone

WTG! Subclinical!
Great start on achieving your goals. 😀

Welcome back Tatoulia
Thank you (((HUG))) 😀

Sounds like you have been having a busy and fun time, except for the little bit of GI upset.

Having cleaning fairies is so wonderful for taking a load off your mind.
You can do all the other things and not have to worry about when will the bathroom and floors ever get cleaned.
Hope BF takes advantage of their services.

Another frigid dark dreary day here.
Just could not get warm yesterday, worried that I may have caught a virus.
Plan for today is to stay bundled up inside and drink plenty of fluids.
Maybe nap again with some cats cuddled on me. 😉

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎉🎁🎊🎈🎂 my dear TIllie. My dear friend and #1 cheerleader. You've really kept me together and gotten me where I am today. You are a solid part of my progress. I just stopped by one day, made a post, LR answered warmly, and now I've moved in.

Thank you TIllie for being here for me. It's not easy and yet you stand by my side.

I am grateful you got your burger and fries! I love diner food. It tastes right.

Yoo-hoo!!!

No idea where I've been or what I've been doing!!

Okay: so I think I told you that my lovely cleaning fairies cleaned the BF's house on Christmas Eve morning. He had them do the kitchen, bathroom and living/dining. No bedrooms. And when we walked in, it was magical. Not a lot of clutter, they had decorated with Christmas things (including my mom's candlesticks from 50+ years ago). Well last night he was home for a bit and he called me to say how peaceful it is being home and without any clutter. I'm glad he felt that peace. He's been buying a lot of stuff for our next business adventure and it's started to wear on him. So I think I have him agreeing to have them once a month. He knows it will be good for him mentally and emotionally. Although he's very even-tempered and well-grounded (opposites attract!), I'm thrilled to see that something small like this gave him a sense of relief and peace. I need him to feel what I feel.

I'm not caught up on posts. We are expecting a big rain/freezing rainstorm tmr. I'm going in to office and I'm good with it. Right now my house is a little messy but I'm equal to the task. I am getting things in order for the new year. Mentally in order.

Went to the Museum of Fine Arts with two girlfriends today. We had brunch and enjoyed the exhibits. CM I think you would particularly enjoy the Kay Nielsen Exhibit. I'll post a picture or two on Instagram.

The food made me sick and I had to come home and lay down. I think the quiche was a little undercooked.

I'm sorry I'm not up to date on your posts. But I am grateful for you.

I cleaned off my scullery counter and started my teaching proposal.

G'night

Good Afternoon Everyone

WOOHOO Tatoulia...

Hi Subclinical
That sounds like a perfect way to spend a dark overcast rainy day.

Yes, so true, things fluff up so much and take up more space than before.

Such a happy way for you to revisit your memories of having little ones and another little tyke now in your future. 🙂

Weather forecast was not exactly correct for today.
Much cloudier than anticipated.
That's the problem with living next to the Sierra Nevada mountain range, storms can come up with little to no advance notice.
So far no rain or snow and the sheets are getting dry, slowly but surely.

I have finished sorting the baby clothes!

I have a whole bin worth of unisex <12m for Dd to look through, but due to the expansion of fabric that has been folded and binned for a long time, I do not have an empty bin. That is ok.

I have 4 bins that are girl only clothes (mostly dresses) from birth to a few special items as large as size 8. And I have two bins that are unisex larger than 12m and a few boy only items.

Dd may send some of my "unisex" items back to gendered bins, but that is ok. I was just trying to limit how much she has to sort through at once. My larger "unisex" bin includes the 3t hot pink snow coat that all three of my children wore and a 4t black sweatshirt with a bulldozer on the front (Dd wears a lot of black and works in construction)

It was really fun to see some of these things again. And I did find a couple more items to let go of.

It is raining here today. Dark and overcast, but too warm for a fire. Fortunately dh is home (he is hanging his speaker on the wall over the corner table, then we will take a picture and send it to my mom.) so he is trying to help me not fall down the rabbit hole.

Good Morning Everybody

WAY TO GO! Subclinical's SIL!!!
That's a really BIG move on his part.

YEA! Subclinical for sorting out the baby clothes!
That must be a trip down memory lane looking at those tiny outfits. 🙂

WTG! for stopping the snacking at 8pm!
Great start on building that new habit.

That's so nice to have the music corner all upgraded with better looking furnishings.
The old stuff was "good enough" but now that area is pleasant to see. 😀

At 9am I will get outside and hang some sheets and stuff on the clothesline.
Should be just above 32 degrees by then.
Only other plan for today is to wash my hair but I will also get back into puttering around here doing more of this & that.

Dd sent out a picture to the family last night of a turntable and four huge speakers. She was asking if anyone wanted it. She and sil are "making room for the nugget" I am really proud of him. He is doing hard work.

Great job CM!

I would so love to see you not have a "box of sad" in your life! I hope that can happen for you this year.

I hope Mass was lovely and fed your spirit.

Progress on my goals today included sorting two and a half bins of baby clothes. I found a couple of things to get rid of and have a big crate of 0-12m unisex for Dd to look through. I have two bins of girl clothes, a partial bin of unisex over 12m, and three more bins to sort (although I put the boy clothes back into one of the three "unsorted" bins because I didn't have another empty bin.)

I also mulched a strawberry bed to kill the weeds.

And I was eating a snack when I realized it was 8:00, so I wrapped the rest up and put it away.

Other progress not related to my goals - dh took me to a local shop this afternoon and we used Christmas money from my parents to buy a little corner table. He arranged his stereo equipment on/under it and gave me back my crummy two drawer chest to return to the basement. Dd gave him a beautiful wooden music stand for Christmas to replace the metal high school discard, and with that and the table, the "music corner" looks so much better!

Plus, I have an empty two drawer chest for my basement stuff.

Good Late Afternoon/Early Evening Everyone

CriticalMass
I would so love for you to purge all those painful sad unneeded papers from your life.
((((HUGS))))

WAY TO GO! for lightening your paper burden! 😀
You have been doing great.

My fingers are crossed that you get that tooth taken care of soon, very soon.

Hope all the kitties and bunnies did their job of comforting you. 😉

Hi Subclinical
That's the good kind of stiff and sore. Honestly earned from work outdoors. 😉

Very good goals and they are achievable.

Guess you have a few months before you have to see the dentist.

No, I did not know that about melons and squash.
Good thing I never had them close enough together.

Spent the day puttering around doing a lot of this & that.
Tying up loose ends and creating order out of chaos.

Another 3" or so stack of papers into recycling except for personal bits that got cut off and shredded. Filled the shredder, started a new bag, and that is half full!

As for emotional burdens, it feels like 50 pounds off my back. These were papers from the food stamp years of the late 00s to 2015-16 when it was reduced to $16 a month and I quit bothering. Copies of yearly applications, in which I had to detail my mental issues, the foreclosure - fun times. Not!

I probably would've gotten rid of them a year or two ago, I just was sidetracked and now I've just decided to start with this particular clutter cache. It is such a spiritual unburdening. Those years were SO stressful and uncertain. Things may be far from perfect now, but some of those chapters are feeling blessedly more and more remote.

But the BEST thing -

I think this is going to segue into dealing with some papers in the storage too - one in particular I labeled the Box of Sad. The legal papers about the foreclosure. A veritable cookbook of recipes for depression and shame. Well. I am not bound to carry it around, literally or figuratively, any longer. God's got my back, and maybe there's hope in the offing, I can't know. I sense there might be. But what I do know, no matter what, is that I need to be free of those old ugly memories to move forward.

I'm tearing up a little here. But I'll be okay. I have cats and bunnies to talk to and hug, Christmas music streaming on YouTube, and soon I'll eat a late lunch, and get ready for Mass at 5:30. It has rained generously here yesterday and today, and been grey. We have needed rain. And according to the radar the edge of it is just passing through town, so we will see some sun before nightfall.

Iced tea clinks!

Good morning!

I am stiff and sore today but I feel good about it.

Yay Tillie!
I'm glad you got your birthday burger. And fries! I love fries!

I have had some pretty interesting things volunteer from the squash family.

Did you know you have to separate squashes and melons? or the melons get fertilized by the squashes and taste squashy.

CM,
Papers are hard. Anytime you feel like doing papers, you should dig in! They may not take up much physical space, but they are a big mental drain.

I hope things go smoothly with your dental journey.

Dd told me I can't see the baby until I go to the dentist for a checkup. She says "I have power now."

I no longer make New Years resolutions. Years are too long. I have been setting my goals by the quarters and cross quarters. The cross quarter after solstice is February 4th.

My goals (including things I have to do) are:
Turn in my teaching proposal for next year
Do my evaluations
Plan my garden and order seeds
Sort out the baby clothes
Pack away all the Christmas stuff

I will also be returning to swimming, starting a pottery class on Monday afternoons, and trying to establish some habits that will stop my runaway weight gain - the first one is going to be not eating after 8pm unless dinner is that late.

Plus, I want to continue having the counter in the scullery clear at some point every weekend.

My guiding themes will be "order" and "preparation".