CM, yes, there is so much to learn from such a variety of faith traditions. I enjoyed your sharings. I spent most of my life living in shame and guilt, as that was how I was raised in a cult of fear. It's only in the last 7 years or so that I understood mercy. I remember hearing that Jesus had paid the price and I could not work my way to heaven, I could not "earn" the free gift of salvation, and I was so floored. All the heaviness of trying to be good enough for God melted away. Now I am free.

My dinner went well. There were only 5 of us and so it was small and easy. I enjoyed visiting and getting to know them more. Today is my day off and I am very inclined to continue to sit, rest, read, do little. I may end up doing just that. After all, work is looming.

I will, though, try to create some order in my bedroom. What I find difficult is that as much as I love living with my grands, and adore their family, there is a distinct lack of being able to control my environment. I cannot keep up with cleaning. I cannot create and maintain order in the living area. I cannot keep up with the numerous spills on the kitchen floor and the carpet. And it is usually quite noisy. I am sure when I get my new house, I will miss them all terribly, though, so I try to think about that and how this is a special time with my grandkids.

Off to get some things done. I mean, drink coffee.

Thank you Lila, but apparently what was happening was that my mail isn't all on my iPad, it's on the server. So when I scrolled down looking for things to delete, I was loading more mail from the server.

I deleted my online banking app since all I ever do is check that my paycheck arrived and pay my credit card balance - I can log on through their portal once or twice a month to do that. Now the iPad works again.

Dh says I need a new iPad with more storage. I've had this one less than 2.5 years!

How did your dinner go?

I'm sorry about the privacy thing. I don't know the answer. For me it's just that I struggle with people in "my" space. People rarely make sense to me, and I don't seem to make sense to them, and I always expect them to suddenly do something "bad" I can't cope with or can't fix. And you can't argue me out of it, because I have over 50 years of experience that that is exactly what they do. - for example, you are trying to get a piece of essential machinery to my house, but there is limited space- do you cut back a small wild tree - creating a permanent, more open space for all future access, or do you drive across my "lawn", tear up the "grass" and leave ruts? "Normal" people (utility companies) cut back the tree. Which is stupid. The "lawn" (which is made up of whatever seeds itself and survives mowing) will fix itself in months. The tree will recover in years if ever. And if I have to talk to you about something you are doing, I will probably make you annoyed at best. The cable guys were really nice about the reroute though.

CM, I hope you have fun with the bunnies. We ? You (lol)

It is pouring rain here. I stayed up much too late last night and then slept almost nine hours. Dh and I are going to a concert tonight, so my "day" will be very short. I think I am going to try to focus on my pottery studio.

Two of the books I ordered are supposed to arrive today, so I am e cited about that, but also thinking maybe I should look over bookshelves again..

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!

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 ? ? ?

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.

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.

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.

Yay CM! I'm glad your boring paperwork is done! Congrats! Also, when we had a Cold Stone Creamery, my favorite was the cheesecake ice cream with chocolate chips mixed in, in a cone. I miss that!

Today I was still sick so stayed home. However, I am better enough that I could do some work at home, called, texts, planning, updating documents, writing schedules, making reservations. It was productive but wow, my brain is tired.

I didn't do much else. However, I had a new thought process.

It is my belief that we are to be a reflection of our creator to bring him glory. Of course, nobody is a great reflection. But my new thought process went something like this, when I was praying.

I want to be a reflection of him and his goodness. I don't want to be a reflection of chaos, dirtiness, disorder, and indulgence. I look around my bedroom, especially, and see complete disarray. It really is the opposite of what I want to reflect. Perhaps if I think about this as I work on my room, I can ask myself, "does this item add something good, or add to the chaos and disorder?" Then get rid of it if it is an agent of disorder.

I am tired.

I GOT MY BORING PAPERWORK THING DONE!!!

HAPPY DANCE!

The weather is lousy, but I had the foresight to obtain ice cream from the grocery store, which will do in lieu of Cold Stone Creamery.

Now, with that deadline thing out of the way, I guess I can start doing some more focused decluttering, among other things.

Good morning.

CM, I hope your computer thing goes smoothly.

We have about an inch of snow on the ground this morning. It's supposed to warm up and rain all afternoon though.

Lila, keep resting!

My soda habit is store brand diet cola. It's one of the things I've been tracking. I'm allowing myself two a day, but find with the tracking, and drinking more tea - which is free at school, I'm averaging seven a week. I can't really decide which is healthier (less unhealthy?) the soda, or the sugary thing I would probably replace it with. I have a significant caffeine habit. If the aluminum tariffs raise the price of canned soda, maybe I will quit. (Soda, not caffeine)

Tatoulia, I hope your mother's china finds a place where it will be loved.

I actually have china. We used it when we were younger, and then we had kids and only used it on very rare occasions, and then it just became something displayed in the china cabinet. Dh would like to get rid of it. I would like to get back to using it. The trouble is that it has gold edging and has to be hand washed.

I ordered more books last night, but they are not here yet, so I will count them later. I was tired and shopped online instead of doing things I should have been doing, and then when I did go to bed, the moon on the snow was too bright and I had trouble falling asleep. Now I am tired again, and not ready for school.

Step one - get off the couch.

Love reading your posts!

Today at work a woman who manages our London office told me she's moving to a bigger office and that she's going to decorate it and maybe bring in some tea cups. And I said, I have beautiful teacups that were my mother's and I'll bring two in. So I just washed two very precious floral cups from the 1940s. They are beautiful. So two cups and two saucers going out! She also asked about my mother's china, saying she'll buy it but when we looked it up, it's much whiter than the china set she has. My mother's is white with silver and her china is white with silver, and we were hoping the patterns will work well together. I would never sell it but if she can make it work, I'll give it to her. So some movement there.

I'm going to see if I can do anything tonight. Already late since I had trouble getting home and my feet were hurting so each step felt like an eternity, I'm afraid

Good afternoon.

Tatoulia, I know there are people who would love your mom's china. From what I understand, most people my age and younger don't have, and have never had, china. I do have two friends who have china and they invite us over and do tea parties. I LOVE it. I think there are other young folks who would enjoy having china for parties and such. I bet someone will love it! Maybe post it for sale cheap on Facebook Marketplace or something.

I am home sick again today, missing a big quarterly 5 hour long meeting, and I would have liked to be there, but I am just not well enough and might have even gotten everyone sick. I am enjoying a quiet day with my dog.

Tatoulia also, no worries, our city has a prescription/drug disposal bin at the police station. We just take all the old meds there and put it in, and they dispose of it properly. I would not want to harm our rivers and groundwater!

SubC, what a great way to get positive feedback! It's nice your dh is able to do this with you. I think most of us crave positive feedback. I know I do, and the only place I get it for home/clutter stuff is here. That's why I have all these threads about cleaning surfaces or items or daily tally... it is good when someone sees my progress, so thank you for the nice things you all say! Your point is not lost on me that getting better and resting is the most important goal - that was good feedback from your dh.

Mainly I am laying around. I decided not to turn on the tv all day like I've gotten into the habit of doing. I miss it, but I am doing more restful things. Baked a package of muffins. Made a treat for my dog. Clipped his nails, went outside to look at squirrels with him multiple times. Did some reading and thinking and gentle playing with the dog too.

I am soooo far behind on work that I am not sure how to handle it. I am too sick and brain-fogged to get any of it done WELL right now, so I'm waiting.

CM, boring tasks are the worst. But you'll feel good when you get it done! Also, I love Coke! I don't really care for soda except for a good cold Coke once in awhile, ahhhh. When I was heavier I would drink it every day. But now it is maybe 2 or 3 times a month, max.

It is so quiet. Everyone is gone from the house which is highly unusual, so it is good to have the tv off and be in the quiet. I can turn it on when everyone comes home and it is loud in here and I want to drown out all the noise!

p.s., I did unload and load the dishwasher today, too.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

post 2 today -

Well as sick as I am, I still got some things on my list done. I cleaned the kitchen counters. I started to sort my meds - took them out of the bags and consolidated them.

I also made soup, and rested.

I hope you all are having a good day.

hi CM, nice to hear from you! Thank you for coming and posting! It is nice to come here and see familiar 'faces,' so to speak. I hope for new ones, too. Hi Tatoulia and SubC.

I am on my days off again finally. My dog is doing much better. I am sick now though, with a head cold that started yesterday. I'm very congested and tired. But, the grandkids are all off visiting a friend today, so it is quiet, and I will be trying to accomplish a few goals.

I have an abbreviated list, too, SubC. I will share it here, since it has been in my planner for over a week with no real progress.

- do something with all the tea that Star flung everywhere (tea bags, boxes, etc from a drawer, all mixed up, need sorting and a container and a new place to be)

- clean off the kitchen counters so there is space for things and for food prep. The counters are a disaster!! Stuff everywhere including like 10 different meds for the dog strewn around.

- clean off the bar/counter, which is piled higher than I am tall, for the same reasons

- work on my bedroom, which is a wide assortment of piles and stacks on every flat surface EXCEPT for the nightstand that I cleared last month and promised I would not re-clutter any newly cleared space. (It looks so nice, an oasis of order in a sea of chaos!)

- work on my master bathroom, another sea of chaos

- sort my meds. I have bottles of prescriptions everywhere and bags of newly filled bottles all over the place.

That is my planner list. I hope to do some of that today.

I also want to trim my dog's nails today.

Today I have:
- loaded and run the dishwasher
- called and reported income and household changes on my medicaid application
- cooked breakfast, watched tv, read for awhile

I really need to get some of this stuff done because the piles are awful.

Good morning.

Even that shortened list of goals proved too much. The counter is still a mess and I need to gather my thoughts for today's lessons. I also must go to the feed store on my way to school this morning.

Dh says my focus for this week should be getting healthy.

CM, I think now might be a very good time to focus on pantry eating. The whole tariff thing is likely to have effects on food pricing. I can only cross my fingers that it will encourage the use of farmers markets and local, in season eating as that becomes available.

I need to go back and read some recent posts, but just wanted to say hello.

Thanks for the Candlemas wishes, SubC! It was nice that it fell on Sunday because I don't always get to weekday Mass on the day. Very nice with symbolism of Jesus being "a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and glory to my people Israel." Beautiful. Also, of course, Groundhog Day but as someone pointed out, if he sees his shadow winter lasts about six weeks either way. It's hard to believe it's February already, what with bad weather and being sick January was sort of a time warp. Super Bowl coming up, though I'm not into football but KC sure has been in a lot of them in recent years - Wichita has a lot of Chiefs fans.

Today was payday for me, so I ran errands. Not too many. I'm trying to not buy many groceries and stuff, eat up the backlog groceries here that I stockpiled for winter, and I hope that I can get the very wonky pantry back to neatness and order eventually. Things are piled in crazy ways, a situation which just devolved over time. It's another one of those things where there's not a whole lot of space, and I have thought of holders and baskets, even tried some in the past, but I end up buying different things in different shape or size boxes or cans, so that standardization just doesn't seem to happen. Oh well. I do still think thinning it out will help me perhaps envision some solution. And it will help me think about what items I use more efficiently and consistently vs. impulse buys that I don't always like when I get them home and they languish.

Right now I'm going to make beef with noodles for a late lunch.

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.

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.

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.