I think carrying the protein bars is an excellent idea! They've got to be better for you that fast food, and definitely cheaper because you already bought them. They are ultraprocessed though, so maybe slowly switch to something else - I carry nuts, apples, and/or dried veggies.

I cleared the counter of doom both days this weekend! (Although the box of items from pre-Christmas is still in the cupboard, I need to start working on that.)

I slept my usual seven hours last night and woke up before my alarm. I was up for almost 45 minutes before coughing! Maybe I am finally at the end of this.

We had a bad ice and snow storm yesterday and well into the night. Dh is about to try to go to the gym and let me know if I will be able to get my boys this morning. The schools are already closed, so we can't tell how bad the roads are. the biggest concern is our driveway.

Well, it's the subc show today!

My weather was all over the place - light rain, clouds, bright sun, 1cm hail, assorted hail up to the size of a quarter, down pours - all more than once (except the hail, that was two separate sustained periods) and mixed all around in order. The ducks actually rushed out of the barn to play in the smaller hail storm and didn't come in until it was over! Ducks are weird!

I got 1/4 of the garden tarped, a feed bag full of trash (torn pieces of tarp, feed bags that didn't work as path mulch, old plant tags, twine.) cleaned up out of the garden, a stall cleaned out, a new chicken pen set up, and one group of chickens moved. Now I have to take the chicken pen they were in apart, clean that stall, and have it ready for the ducks and chicks that could arrive as early as Tuesday!

After I finish my tea, I plan to finish cleaning off the counter of doom (it's a parking spot. It will never STAY clean, it just needs to be cleared regularly - like the dining table , the kitchen counters, the sinks, the laundry basket..) and call it a night.

Good to hear you have eggs! I am so worried about the bird flu and glad you are keeping the chickens safe and toasty!

I do hope you have strength to work and go to your pottery class!

I am much improved today. Thank goodness. My house is a terrible mess.i cannot keep living like this. You would all find it very messy. It's terrible. Chaotic. I think I'll see if I can make myself some dinner and determine if I have what it takes to get my place cleaned up. I canceled the cleaners this week because she's I cannot get them sick.they'd probably be okay if they came on Friday but I have an electrician coming on Friday. I need some outlets replaced.

So I will endeavor to be productive and I'll get back to you to record my progress.

Hello CM and Lila and Road!

Lila, good for you maintaining your nightstand!

I would say keep focusing on the meds - in a house with small children they are a concern, and also they are expensive things that you need.

I taught four classes and unloaded and loaded the kiln yesterday. The kiln requires multiple trips up and down three extra tall flights of stairs. I got winded and tired. I got home with nothing left after the classes. I have shinsplints and sore shoulders. And my ddil scared me to death last night. She called crying, and I asked if she was ok. Backstory - there was a very big overwhelming mess in her house involving Birdy, a bowl of curry and the dog, and she was tired and overwhelmed and home with just Birdy.

So, when I asked if she was ok, she said "no". And I forgot that I did not raise this child. Because all of mine would have said "yes, but..." as in "Hi Mom, I'm ok, but I think I broke my collarbone" (she did) "hi mom, I'm ok, but I totaled my car." "Hi mom, I'm ok, but I'm definitely losing the baby."- times when my kids were "not ok" included a severe panic attack when I had to drop everything and show up, eight shattered adult teeth, the loss of a young friend, and the end of a first serious relationship that my child thought was approaching marriage. Stained carpet, furniture, and paint are not a crisis. For a long minute, I thought something really bad had happened to Birdy or my son.

Anyway, I talked to her until she was calmed down and told her to just put the now clean and wet dog in her crate and get herself and Birdy clean and then take Birdy and the dog to a clean room and wait for my son to come home and finish the clean up. Then I messaged him. When he got home, he messaged me "thanks mom, everything is ok here."

Anyway, I got nine hours of sleep last night and I am still tired and I have a crashing headache. I would like very much for this to be over.

My original intent for today was to do yoga, finish cleaning up dishes and laundry and various messes in the house, and plan my garden, and start seeds, and do pottery, and organize some school stuff, and work on the barn because it's about to get cold again.

My new intent is to put on clothes, do my chores, attempt one of those things, eat a vegetable, and get to bed early.

I'll be back later.

Good job CM!

Lila, my first thought is that that is a very Benedictine (to work is to pray) or Shaker (hands to work, hearts to god) approach. My second thought is that many religions have an equally practical approach to "blessing" with work. I don't share your specific religious community (I'm not even sure exactly what it is), but I do feel like god is where you look for him, and anywhere you find god is a sacred space - so if you are asking god to come into your life more - treating the spaces where you are spending time as sacred space makes sense.

I made it through the school day successfully. In the end I was over planned again. I tend to do that. I was also really tired and unable to make good use of my evening again - I did my chores and a load of laundry.

Today my intent is to stay home, rest, and make some slow, gentle progress on my life. I'm a little concerned though because we couldn't get the incubator to an appropriate humidity level yesterday. One of the science teachers promised to check it for me today and if it's still way too high, I'm going to have to make a decision about driving in.

I'm also going to have people here working all day installing fiber optic cable for internet, which makes me feel edgy and unsettled.

Lol Tatoulia - I think your idea of mess and chaos is likely fairly tame. Borrow a 4 year old some time.

We are in the home stretch. Today we stay home together, Dh has a guitar lesson after work, so he will be home late (after bedtime)

Tomorrow we go to school (yay school!) and Dh says we can all go out to Skyline to celebrate for dinner (Bean is very excited about that - Skyline is his pinnacle of dining. - if you have never heard of it, try google. "Skyline Chili", remember, he's four.)

Saturday morning we get up, get in the car (no breakfast required - light buffet available at teacher workshop, no one will begrudge a 4 y.o. A muffin) drive down to the pottery studio, and mommy whisks him away while I spend the day at the pottery studio learning fun new lesson plan ideas with other teachers. Objects will probably come home.

Sunday I may go back to the studio for the monthly coffee and clay social. The theme for February (they skipped January) is "setting and keeping goals and resolutions in your clay practice"

Good afternoon.

By the new metric I am doing very well. I put on my clothes, did my chores, added some straw to one of the chicken pens (barn attempt), took the compost out and spread out one of the garden tarps (garden attempt?), and spent 20 minutes just picking stuff up in my studio and putting it away or with like items (pottery attempt?)

Now I am cooking some rice and some broccoli so I can eat a vegetable.

So, I am doing really badly with the cable people being here. And I had to go out and talk to them because I realized they were about to trench through the roots of my cherry tree, and we came up with a different plan for the cable layout, and I'm really hoping my Dh isn't mad at me and it doesn't cost a bunch of extra money, but it is done now.

I can't get away from the sound of the trenching.

Anyway, I've been huddled on the couch trying to clean out my mailbox and messages and photos because 1) my iPad is basically full, and sometimes it tells me it is too full to do what I need it to do, and 2) when the trench people are done Dh is going to get new internet I don't need, and I'm going to get a new email address I don't want, and I'm going to lose my old email account and access to all the emails, which are basically my correspondence with my friends for the last 16 years, and how mad do you think Dh is going to be if I print out 5000 pages?

But also, it's very clear I don't understand computers at all because I have deleted hundreds of messages and emails and photos and it says my storage is more full than it was when I started.

hello friends. I can't believe I have not been here in three weeks. I have had a terrible time. My dog almost died after surgery and has been in and out of vet ICU for 3 weeks. It has been a nightmare. Now my car is broken down and I've been not feeling well. My dog is going to need re-checks as well so now I am stressed out trying to get my car fixed in case he needs to go in urgently. The hospital he was in that saved him in a couple hours away. The local hospital was basically ready to give up and let him die. I am kind of traumatized. But, I am trying to get it together and go back to work and start cleaning up my house which is a mess.

I am glad Buddy's surgery went well. What a relief. I'm sorry you've been sick, SubC... I read the other posts also and want to say hi, Tatoulia, CM... my brain is running on fumes.

SubC, put on clothes and eat a vegetable is about my speed for a list today! New metrics are okay when you're exhausted, or sick. Or stressed from dealing with what you thought was a crisis but wasn't! Do you not have an elevator you can use for emptying the kiln? 3 flights!

I am pretty sick, not doing much. Drinking coffee and soup. Watching it snow. Reading and paying bills. That's enough.

I have the meds all consolidated in my master bathroom now, so they are safe, just cluttery. I tend to hang on to old meds for YEARS because "what if" I lose insurance, or get sick, or want to take something without having to see a dr (like UTI meds, you know... nothing major). I even still have some of Teen's meds from years back. All of those old meds are in a lockbox, but really, it is kind of ridiculous to hang onto most of them. I will sort them so there is room for newer meds in the lockbox, when I feel well enough.

Oh, and I have one load of towels in the dryer and my clothes in the washer. That is about the max I can handle for today. Although, if someone brought me some good, chewy, homemade brownies, I might find the energy to do something else.

Empty your trash, SubC! (on the computer) - in your emails hit "empty trash" and then you can also, on your computer if it is windows, type in Disk Cleanup and just put a check next to the recycle bin and temporary files and it will clean it up and optimize it.

I am Christian/protestant and am interested in all faiths. I was raised in a very cultlike small religion, very sheltered, which I no longer subscribe to. But I do think our work can be a prayer and a blessing, to us and others. I read a book by a monk, maybe Augustine? about walking in meditative prayer, and it impacted me a lot.

I understand about having people working on/around the house. It feels like being on edge to me, always wondering if they are going to need something or come and ask me something or want to use my bathroom or whatever. I don't like it. In fact, yesterday I started looking at houses online, since I do plan to buy a smaller house sometime this year. I was very dismayed at how all the lots are small and houses right on top of each other with almost no trees. I spent a lot of time making my yard private and forest like, planted 7 trees over twenty years ago so they are nice now, plus one big old tree that was here when I bought the place. This way, even though I have only a quarter acre lot in a suburb, in the spring/summer/fall, you look out the windows or go out on the deck and all you see is trees. Not people, not people's windows. I don't think I can handle being in a house without trees and no space, with people right there... I don't know how I will reconcile this. I don't have time to plant trees again because it will take 20 years for them to get big.

I have a snow day today and just have been sitting around reading and drinking coffee. I am going to do some laundry and work on my bedroom. I am invited to a small dinner with a group of ladies tonight, and since I was just lamenting that I never get invited anywhere, I've decided to go. Wish me luck.

Poor Lila! Poor doggie! I'm so sorry you have been going through this and now the car is on the Fritz! I am thinking about you! Sending warm wishes.

Subc I have to laugh at "pinnacle of fine dining". I could go for a chili dog right now! We used to love Howard Johnson's when I was a kid.

Friend came over, put the Christmas stuff into the closet, and I convinced her to take all of my lovely glass ornaments. She packed them in a box but it is pouring rain so she'll get them one night next week. Giant weight off of my shoulders. They are so beautiful and so perfect, but I will never be able to have a tree while I have cats.

So I am feeling better. I spent an hour cleaning up before she got here so I feel significantly less chaotic. Still more to go but an excellent start.

Lila, I wish I could bring you brownies.

Ate the broccoli. Put away the clean laundry and don't need to do another load, also caught up on dishes (the dishwasher is running). Watered my plants. Read and watched YouTube. Had healthy food for dinner. Did my evening chores. Ordered recycled toilet paper to try out.

Thinking about taking a bath.

Cold and windy, quiet Valentine's Day. Hope you all have a happy one.

We're in for another nasty arctic week next week, yuck. However, the week after that shows temps in the 50s! I sincerely hope that will just trend right on into spring weather. A few of roommate's daffodils are already pushing little green spears up through the snow. They're braver than I am, as are the little puffed out birds we see around the feeder.

We have a bunny group event on Sunday, which is supposed to be less cold than today or tomorrow. But I'm not sure if I'll take my bunnies to play with the other bunnies, due to their age and their arthritis. My 12, almost 12-1/2 year old guy since around New Years has lost some function in the back legs but is responding to medication and supplements. Still, I wouldnn't want him to get bowled over by the young bouncy bunnies at an event. I'm hoping when spring weather comes to take him and my girl out for sunshine in the pet stroller.

Lila, I wanted to comment a little on your spiritual reflections - I think it is a good thing to want to have a clean environment and that it does reflect a positive desire - the key is probably to use that as a motivator and remember that God is merciful with us and it's a work in progress, so approach it with optimism rather than shame (not saying you expressed shame but just that it can be a temptation and that could actually be the devil's way of discouraging us). Remember Poco a Poco to get to where we really want to be. And SubC, yes, I love the Benedictines' Ora et Labora - there are so many flavors of spirituality in my faith tradition and I've often wondered which one I fit with the most. Years ago I would've said contemplative Carmelite, maybe a little Franciscan, and I appreciate the logic and science mindedness of the Jesuits. I think most likely I'm a mixture of several. The Benedictine motto is something that does come to mind when I'm working - like on the parts of decluttering or housework that are not heavy on decision making - and I can just let my mind wander to prayer while my hands do the tasks.

So anyway, mostly we will be hunkering against the cold on the days it comes. I was thankful that last night we did make it to the library for the digital art class, and learned a few things which I'll keep practicing on. I know I get a lot of ideas, and not all of them practical, but I have wondered if I could learn Inkscape well enough to create vector stock art (like clipart) to sell online. I know it wouldn't make tons of money, but it might be a little bit, and it could be enjoyable. Well, poco a poco on that too; first I must learn the software, then I'll know what might be possible.

I need to do a few more tedious tasks, such as sort through my Rx's too and shred the old pharmacy papers, and refill my daily vitamin containers. I don't have a lot of backlog with old Rx's, but it's just having to keep up with the new ones each month. These are things that aren't that hard but they are fiddly, and I don't like fiddly. Right now the dining room table is relatively clear so I might bring the project there instead of in my room where clutter impedes getting it done.

This spring I really hope will be "my year" in terms of making a significant dent in clutter across the board. I believe it can happen. I have hope, and enough of a direction left over from when I was making progress last year to know where I can make a beginning. Some areas are more gnarly than others, but I gotta have faith that even those scary ones I can tackle and win the battle with.

? ? ? HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY ? ? ?

Oh Lila, I have been worried about your dog! I'm so sorry you are dealing with these struggles.

I am still post- Covid tired with a throat clearing cough. I nearly lost my voice at school yesterday, but it was good to be back.

Bean enjoyed his last evening with us and then got a bit overwhelmed at bedtime. He was teary and didn't want to go to bed. Change is overwhelming for him. He told me he will come back "Sunday night" but I told him Mommy and Daddy want to keep him longer than that because they miss him, and Buddy misses him. (And also, Grammie is planning to go to bed early Sunday night and sleep late!) We are going to skip the Monday visit this week, but I'm going to find some time to go by their house and see Buddy.

It actually feels strange that I will not be eating dinner before 6:00 tonight, and my evening won't include an hour of pajamas, tooth brushing, potty trips, stories, and cuddles.

This morning I need to gather up the many things that need to go home with Bean, and then this evening I will tidy away all the toys we have just left out everywhere.

My director sent me my proposed schedule for next year (I gave her a lot of leeway in what classes I would teach -I told her to just use me in whatever slots she needed as long as it was two full days) I'm going to be teaching mostly elementary/middle school Wednesdays and Fridays. It's a total of 10.5 hours. This year I have 11.5 hours, but it is spread out over three days with an extra lunch and two more hours of commute. I'll probably end up with a roomate again because I am only teaching two days.

Oh - the kiln - there's an elevator for the ware cart, but I take the stairs. Very fragile stuff has to be hand carried because the elevator shakes and jars. I had two trips of that Friday.

I keep trying to find some way to make cute characters in my posts since this site stopped working with emojis. I thought I'd gotten little hearts around my Happy Valentine's Day using Alt-3 but instead when it posted, it yielded question marks. So in case you were puzzled that's the explanation. Haha!

hi SubC, thank you for the good thoughts. It is fun having littles around, but a lot of work! Enjoy your sleep. Hi to you too Tatoulia. I am feeling a bit better today. TotsDad is working on my car and found and additional problem but he things he has that fixed as well. I probably will take it for an oil change at the dealership and ask them to double check that nothing else is wrong.

I would like a newer car, one that is reliable. I am asking God to provide whatever I need. I am happy with whatever.

I did a bit of cleanup and laundry. Am spending time with my dog and and going to enjoy my days at home. There is a lot I would like to do, but little energy to do it.

Actually I would like someone to make me a nice comforting casserole for dinner.

SubC, I think I know what you mean by "attempts." I do that too. And hey, it fits with Poco a Poco! We make our tentative, amorphous attempts and then when our energy and focus return we will do more structured and bigger things.

I've wondered if you and I have had some Covid variant that really kicks the butt energy wise, and you seem to have been hit particularly hard. I've been back in the saddle for awhile now, yet I would tire sooner in the day or over less than normal. But basically out in society again. Yesterday I had a fun time going around with my former roommate to little shops that we like - two Catholic gift shops including the one where I used to work, because I wanted some patron saint medals and cards.

And two crafty places - one secondhand fabric shop which I hadn't been to in awhile. The place is cool in that it is like fabric recycling - for example, it's not all yardage, there are scraps which would be fine for quiltmaking, fill a bag for $3. However, I didn't buy any fabric myself because I honestly can say I do not desire to buy any. I am very eager to start my new plan of using up my quilting fabric making blocks to go in quilts to go to the church and out of my life. But I still enjoyed poking around for a bit.

The other crafty place was one that has oodles of vintage stuff for jewelry making and paper crafting, steampunk, rubber stamping, you name it. My girlfriend has been doing a little jewelry making so she bought stuff but I refrained. I figure I'm helping out a small business by bringing in a customer. And there are shop cats there who needed to be petted. Let the record show that I did not shirk my duty in that area.

She wanted to go to the bookstores at the library (I got one 25 cent quilting magazine) and another one (I found a DVD of Young Sheldon - roommate and I have been watching Big Bang Theory and wanting to start Young Sheldon afterward). But otherwise I have much more resistance to purchasing books and media than I have most of my life.

The outing started with brunch and ended late afternoon - it was good, I think the fun and the getting to chat with my friend were very healthy things for me. Today I felt more energy although I am also wanting a little nap. We have more bad weather coming in this week, starting tomorrow. Snow, and I hope not ice but who knows, and an arctic dip in temperatures midweek. Thursday evening roommate and I have scheduled another digital art class at the library, and I hope we will be able to make it. I'm such a weather wimp but I'm willing to bundle up and try for this one since it's a newly developed class that builds on the ones we've already taken, with our favorite guy teaching. Really hope we can make it, because if we don't, who knows when he might get to schedule it again - might be summertime or even fall.

This year got off to such a slow start that it was only this past week that I finally got Christmas decor changed to Valentine's, and some stuff still needs to be put away. I have a boring paperwork thing to do which I dread, but will try to coax myself to do that this coming week. Had hoped to reward myself for doing it with the Valentine's strawberry ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery, but that may not pan out. Although... certainly Cold Stone has a few other flavors that I MIGHT be able to reconcile myself to in lieu of the strawberry, LOL.

This past week was full of small tasks and it was sometimes annoying trying to fit them in, but I did get several done, so that's a relief. Hoping after the bad weather week (which dare I hope will be the last bad weather week but I'm not holding my breath just yet) and with my energy returning, that once I get the Dreaded Boring Task done, accomplishments will start to flow more regularly and consistently, and results be readily apparent and satisfying.

I would love to make you a casserole! I cannot remember if you are vegetarian. In any event, I'll make you something comforting with no meat.

I had soup for dinner, which I found very comforting. It was from a can but did the trick.

I am happy with how my house is looking. I have a new mental trick I am playing. I tend to do things halfway or three quarters of the way. I'm forcing myself to complete the tasks. For example, getting the dishes in the dishwasher but leaving a random thing that I'll do later. What is wrong with me? So I'm finishing the tasks and I feel good. I swept up before friend came last night and that felt good, too. I changed my sheets today because I canceled the cleaners this week because I was sick and I don't want to wait til they are here for clean sheets. So as I was putting the cleaners sheets on and making my bed, I started to walk away before putting the pillowcases on, thinking I could do later. WHAT? An extra 60 seconds and the bed was made and looking tidy.

So that's my new battle for myself. Feeling strong.

I did zero today btw. But I'll get outside tmr. I've been cooped up all week and my lungs feel good enough to be in the cold. I did some online shopping which I now have to return everything. That was a stupid exercise.

Good evening!

Yeah CM, it's like, "i did something, but not really a defined thing that you could bother to check off of a list or anything." Like walking to the mailbox - not really exercise, but also not sitting on the couch...

I did finally clear off my studio work table, wash my brushes, and set up for two tasks I want to do - finishing the three pieces from the teacher workshop, and making some sprig molds.

Good job petting the cats!

I think excursions like that are a really good way to help you see your own materials in a new way and jumpstart your creativity.

I've been trying to add something every month this year rather than start with a bunch of "resolutions". In January I added yoga back into my routine, although being sick (and having Bean here) has made it hard to do every day. But the only week I didn't do at least 4 days was the week I was sick and Bean was here and sick.

I'm adding too much in February and need to pick just one thing to focus on. I want to go to a library every week (I have cards for 4 different library systems that range from 9 to 30 miles from my house due to where I live. Ironically, the 30 mile one is my county library in my county seat.) we also have a school library, and there is a lending library of pottery books at the pottery studio, plus multiple little free libraries.

I also want to get into a pottery routine. I started the library in January, but the pottery not really until the 7th. I think those are the two main ones.

And I got inspired by a book I checked out to start a collage journal. - basically a collage of ephemera from your day with notes, sketches, quotes, whatever and a few lines on the page to summarize accomplishments or activities or focus. Maybe I will do that in March.

Anyway, Good luck with your tasks.

Good morning!

Happy Candlemas CM!

Tatoulia, I think I am the only vegetarian in our group?

Lila, how are you today? I'm glad Totsdad can fix your car!

Tatoulia, it's the finishing the tasks that always gets me too.

Bean was very happy to be home yesterday, and I was very happy to get to hold Buddy! He is really a different baby now. He has a follow up appointment on Valentine's Day to check his healing, and then he will be able to visit my house with Bean!

I thought I would get a lot more sleep last night, but I slept terribly.

I went by the library after the teacher workshop, joined the winter reading challenge, and checked out sone books. Last night I stayed up until nearly 11 reading one of them. I read the whole book. Then when I did go to bed, I woke up over and over again. I finally got up at 5:30. Maybe I will be able to catch up on sleep tonight.

The workshop was delightful yesterday. Very inspirational. I got some work done and socialized with adults. I got to talk with a fellow I still think of as "a lovely young man" even though he is well into in his 40's now. He went to school with Dh cousin back when we were adults with kids and they were boys with dreams. Both of them have become gifted artists and teachers, but Kirk is one of the kindest, most compassionate people I know and it was an interesting experience to tell him about my month. The care and concern just flowed across his face and when I said "couldn't go home because his brother had just had major lung surgery" he actually teared up. After awhile you just start accepting things as normal, and it was a relief to have someone acknowledge that no, this was not normal. This was awful.

I brought home three pieces of finished work from my fall class, two pieces of unfinished work from my fall class, four pieces of unfinished work from the workshop, a handmade tool from the workshop, literature, a cork coaster, two pens, two really nice brushes, and three containers of consumable surface finishing materials. I have no idea how to track all of that. I've been keeping track of the pottery I make separately and somewhat loosely, and I feel like other than the brushes, it is all ephemera. I don't count pens out when they run out of ink and I drop them in the recycling box at school..

This morning is the brunch, and then I have been invited to come back to Bean's house to spend time with the boys, and then I will come home and get my house in order for the week.

You guys are doing good with your bits and pieces. Every accomplishment, even walking to the mailbox, is something. Better than sitting around all day. CM, I enjoyed reading about your outings/plans. I have always struggled with stuff like that, maybe because I rarely get invited, but also I rarely make plans and invite people. I will go to coffee with people. Occasionally even lunch. But rarely anything else. I would like to have more friends who do real stuff with me.

Yesterday I went to urgent care and got antibiotics. This morning I had to go in to work and I was so dragging. I took a lot of cold meds and went in and spent an hour setting up and prepping for an event I direct. But my team thought I looked pretty unwell and do sound sick, so we all agreed I would go home before the people started arriving, so I came home and left my wonderful team to do the rest. I have felt brain foggy and am sitting around a lot.

Today I unloaded the dishwasher. That's something.

I would like to do more but I feel like I have a boulder in my lap and can't get up.

What a beautiful post, SubC. Warmed my heart in every way.

Ladies! You've all been so sick! I'm so sorry! And very impressed by what you've been able to accomplish!

I'm pretty disgusted with myself these days. I don't know why I still have too much stuff. I don't have a plan for 1/2 of mom's china. My friend will take me to habitat for humanity in May. So that will be good. We picked the hazardous waste day and we will drop off electronics, she has boxes of shredding, and afterward we'll go to habitat for humanity.

I did two loads of laundry today and two over the weekend. I'm keeping up with folding and putting away.

I went to the museum on Saturday after which my friend and I had dinner.

Garbage and recycling is out and both cats have clean litter boxes. CM I bet seeing the cats was fun! SubC I'm sorry your ddil was suffering and I'm so glad she has you. Lila I'm glad your office sent you home. If you do find some meds to dispose of, take them to your pharmacy instead of putting down the drain.
This weekend my neighbor needed me to unlock their door (my cleaners were going to be cleaning their place) and I walked up and down three flights four times trying various keys and I'm shocked at how rubbery my legs felt! Even though I walk a lot, I don't have many stairs in my life.

Okay I'm going to shower and try to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Hi everyone! I forced myself out of the house today and I am glad for that. I returned stuff at two stores, picked up my prescription, glad about that.

I'm going to watch the news now and then I have a list of things to do tonight. Hoping to get the garbage together and the cat boxes cleaned so I will be ready for trash night when I get home from work tmr.

I think the washer is in use but I may try to do a wash load.

Good morning!

Lila, I have been having trouble holding myself accountable. I crave feedback. There are a lot of things that I have a really hard time doing if I don't get positive reinforcement, and I tend to be overly critical. So I made myself a "workbook" Once a week I sit down with Dh, go over the things I am tracking, and set a focus, projects and tasks for the week. Dh helps me be realistic and give myself credit for the things I am doing well.

All of this is long backstory that last week he told me I had one focus - get better. I wasn't allowed to put any projects or tasks on the list. I think you need to do the same this week.

Tatoulia, you absorbed a second apartment of stuff. It is going to take you a while to get back to where you were. As long as you are moving in the right direction, you are ok.

I am still moving in the wrong direction, but I am very happy with the five books I bought from the library warehouse yesterday. I got very lost on the way there,(I do not have any form of in car navigation) but I did not give up. I am proud of myself for doing it. I got home fine and decided that next time I go, I am not going to try to take the "short way" that has several confusing intersections it should have saved me five minutes, but cost me 20 instead.

Today I teach. I am going to take some of my porcelain clay in for a student to use. He is very talented and is working on a project that should be in porcelain. I am just going to give it to him because porcelain is too expensive to buy a box with my school budget. But I will put my own stuff in with the firing at school because he will need a separate firing and otherwise the kiln will be mostly empty. So I will probably come out even, and the school won't notice the electricity because it is such a small portion for them.

I took the food I bought for Bean that we do not eat and I do not need for his Monday lunch to his house yesterday. So points on managing the fridge.

hello friends. I am feeling better tonight. Thank you for the casserole thoughts, Tatoulia! I will take it! Yes I am vegetarian (surprise, SubC!) although technically I am pescatarian since I eat fish maybe 2 or 3 times a month. However, I get tired of explaining it to people in real life plus I have a shellfish allergy, so I generally say vegetarian, and that gets me by.

Tomorrow I go back to work, and I am glad and also nervous, but I plan to go in for about 3 hours and then come home to feed and check on my dog and take a break. Then unless my afternoon meeting gets cancelled I will go back in after 3 hours, for a 2 hour meeting. Feels like a lot after 3 weeks off. I have wanted a long stretch of time off to get things done, but nothing got done since I was dealing with crisis after crisis. But it's ok, I just have to roll with what is.

I do think I will be exhausted tomorrow, though.

I am looking forward to getting things done on my days off.

I am glad you are enjoying your grandsons, SubC, what a delight.

Awww... don't any of you ladies feel bad about being a little behind these days, y'hear? Winter is a slog even if one is well. I'm sitting here waiting for our nasty snowstorm to roll in this evening. Actually we are on the southern edge of predictions in terms of snow amounts; northern KS is going to get slammed with a lot more, and OK may get ice, which... let's just say I'll take our few inches of snow as the best in a less than delightful array of options.

Lila, my outings with my friend just sort of evolved in the past year from a more occasional thing into a semi-regular thing. It's been nice, as I need incentives to get out, and I need the fun and relaxation. We like a lot of the same things - bookstores and cute little thrift stores, etc. (and I've been good about not buying much of anything, mainly just looking, and petting cats).

SubC, the collage/ephemera journal you mentioned earlier sounds fun. This little shop we went to with the cats is full of that sort of thing and that's one of the things the owner teaches classes on. I have a portfolio full of collage materials among my art stuff and I did try an art journal at one time but it was kind of meh because I was new at it and was trying to use up hoarded ephemera in a hurry rather than really spending a little extra time and using some of my better quality art supplies to make it look more professional and finished. It would be fun to do some of that again and go for quality over quantity. Whether it's a book or a series of separate pieces. It's in my mental creativity list, which contains a myriad of projects of course.

Well, I am trying to decide, as it's already getting on towards 4:00 p.m., whether to try and push myself to work on the Boring Computer Online Form Submission Task - I did do some of the preliminaries yesterday which at least gives me an idea where to start and an approximation how long it will take. But I'm best if I start in the morning at that sort of thing, when my mind's the freshest. Yesterday I almost would've gotten there, but my lunch got delayed and I get the worst post-lunch slumps sometimes, with sleepiness. This may change as the days get longer, I think.

Today I went to eat with the intention of having some Coca-Cola hoping the caffeine would help. Alas, I needed the ladies' room before ordering my food and it was being cleaned so once again everything got delayed. I finally got my small burger and small fries, though, not a big heavy meal. But lost a chunk of time in there, and had misc. tasks to do back at the house, so here we are.

I'm not going to fret about it if I don't get it done till tomorrow. But I'd really like to get it done then. The deadline (gotta love how the word has "dead" in it) is in March. It shouldn't take more than an hour. But I want to be fresh when I tackle it. Hoping there won't be any glitches. It's a thing that comes once a year, so one must try and remember the steps (I wrote notes last time) and hope they accept previous passwords to logon, etc. Sometimes there are frustrations, other times it goes smoothly. Hope the latter.

Good mor Ning. Tatoulia, I'm glad you got out of the house.

Lila, don't get too exhausted. I think I remember now that we had this conversation. I also am technically a pescatarian, but only rarely eat fish - I was raised on the coast fishing with my dad and so eat fresh seafood when I am home, along with occasional tuna or salmon as encouraged by my doctor (a few times a year, not the every week suggested) and now and then a fish from our pond.

I am still up and down. I did get 8 hours of sleep last night. I could have used more, but Dh got up to go work out, made no attempt to be quiet, and left the lights on. My head is very stuffy and my energy level is low.

I had a very impressive list of goals when I went to bed last night, but right now I am thinking that laundry, planning for my classes this week, clearing the counter back off, and putting away the last of the things I got out for Bean could be enough.

I do really need to do some clean up work in the barn...maybe my energy will improve. I will try to eat some healthy food - my appetite is gone again this morning as well. All I want is cinnamon tea.