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I did go and it was completely fine.  I swam 1km  with no negative effects other than a dry throat.   It's a perfect spring day today.  I am wearing a big, formal damask skirt for no reason other than it makes me happy while I read a book on the garden bench.  Bliss.

Progress is happening.   Dumbledore purchased the wedding presents. I found a dress that I can wear. I figured out the mistake I made in the accounting software and got my checkbook to balance. I cleaned the kitchen compost bin.   I started reading A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind by Shoukei Matsumoto. So far, I am not impressed. I understand how his advice would apply if I was living in a monastic community where the work was shared by a group of people. In theory, I can see how getting up early and having a clean house to start the day would be a fine thing. In real life, chances are good that if the house is clean first thing in the morning, Elf will have made a mess in the kitchen by the time I get home. Yesterday was better than some because Dumbledore put away clean dishes from the dishwasher and loaded the dirty dishes. He also took out the trash. The young people have not been doing their chores. Getting everyone in the community on board with the effort is something that Matsumoto takes for granted.   My problem is not that I dislike cleaning. My attitude is just fine. My issue is triaging all the things that need to be done and staying on top of the things that will make the biggest difference. This is why the boxes in the garage have sat there for years. They do not interfere with daily life and it takes a lot of effort to sort and get rid of things. That effort could be spent getting rid of cobwebs or scrubbing the floor, which would cut down on visual clutter in a space I see every day.   Elf tried to tell me that they do not want to go to the wedding this weekend because they are still exhausted all the time. I pushed back, saying that all they have to do is be awake for breakfast on Saturday and the main event Saturday afternoon. They do not need to talk to people or get up and dance. They can sleep in the car on the way there and back. They can sleep in the hotel room most of the time we are out of town. This is no more effort than staying in their room at home and napping, with the occasional break for meals. I am going to hold the line on this one. It is my side of the family and I want Elf to be there.  I want Elf to be a real part of our family, even though Dumbledore is close to giving up on that.   Cleo is optional, but she is really not safe on her own right now. She is having too much trouble with vertigo. She is being tested for POTS this week.  Cleo is doing a better job than Elf about communicating with us. I am not sure how she is feeling about being a member of the household. She does not have any other options. That has to color her perception quite a bit.   I feel like we have taken in two badly traumatized strays. I want them to recover so they can go back to the wild and live on their own as functioning adults. No one knows how long that is going to take. I also feel that it is important for them to exercise agency in dealing with their situation. They are adults, not children. So I am doing what I can to make my daily life sustainable without counting on them for anything. It would help a lot if they talked to Dumbledore more so that he was happy about having them as part of the household.  

the smile and the jelly fish are giving me life!

We've all been there haha - call it a cremation win maybe?

Good for you and H taking a much-needed evening off. That sounds lovely. 💓

As we are trying to post fails. I just cremated a pan of tomatos and peppers in the Rayburn so badly i think i may have written off the pan. Moral of story, set a timer.   

Non-scale victory: My jellyfish shirt fits again!!  

Many many thanks. It was needed for sure. Thank you, Dearest ❤️ I had it but it wasn't easy, that's for sure.   Quick update.   Been busy this morning. A bit better of a wakeup but still was quite groggy and dreading getting out of bed. Easier than yesterday and once I was up and moving, I felt better. Yesterday it took until nearly lunchtime to feel somewhat alive and coherent (just in time for madness to hit and hit all at once it did). Knocked out a back workout. I upped a couple exercises a tiny bit on the last set just for a bit of progress/progressive overload, but honestly I've nearly found my max for those sets/reps on back. Doesn't help my upper back has been horribly sore since Tuesday and I'm not sure why. Oh well. Arms tomorrow and I think the Man goes back Friday for a shorter legs part 2 workout that I might join him on. Maybe I can finally get on the machines I missed and knock out some hip thrusts I haven't been able to squeeze in like I wanted.   Food is good so far. Hitting macros even if the meals aren't so veggie filled. I'm learning what the balance looks/feels like in my body and next week I can get healthier recipes on the docket. That's assuming I don't travel which there's a good chance I will. It's still up in the air right now so I'm not sure if it's only a couple days or the full week. Will need to be flexible and quick reacting to whatever comes up. Hope I'll know before the weekend since I don't want to buy a bunch of groceries for them all to go bad because I'm not here to eat them. I have a tentative meal plan for the week but I may adjust it further to balance out waste (example: I'm using 1/2lb of ground chicken but it only comes as 1lb packs so I'm "wasting" 1/2lb of chicken if I don't find a way to sneak it into another meal). I hate this part of the job - last minute travel never goes smooth in the personal life.    I didn't have a lunch break yesterday and had to stuff my face with lunch (so quickly my stomach hurt for 20 minutes after) between meetings (10 mins or less to prep/heat and eat). Ended up finally finishing up calls and tasks enough I could take a walking break at 330pm with the dogs. Due to the stress and the sheer amount of madness, meditation did not happen. I tried. Oh did I try. It just did NOT go well. Too much floating around. It did help recenter me, though, and I was able to come back to the computer a little more focused and alert. I got everything except Meditation and Full Moon Ritual done yesterday, though. Whew. Today I've knocked out Rune/Oracle and my Full Moon Tarot spread. I still need to "read" the spread, but the time consuming part is done. Will Greet the Day once I hit post and go let the dogs inside. Trying to walk during lunch again and hopefully can properly meditate today.   No MBA stuff. I worked late since the only time to have a call was after 5pm and then dinner. The Man wasn't happy but I gotta get this project done. Hopefully I can get something started tonight with him.   Budget is good. I'm going to the bank today to get the money to pay back Fam. My new credit card came in the mail so I activated it and immediately blocked the card so it cannot be used (by others or myself because I don't need to be increasing credit card debt any more!)   I think that's really all I have. I hope the lights aren't too bright but not too dim for you ❤️

Fingers crossed for good news! (Whether that means you keep your position, you get a new position in the company, or just that you get a decent redundancy package that suits you.)         Art and relaxation sounds wonderful; I hope you have a lovely time of it.

One of the newer people on my team was a tenured professor. He gave that up for an industry job that lets him use his professional expertise in a position that is actually 40 hours a week. No weekends or overtime, no committee meetings. He is brilliant and we all feel lucky to have him. It says something about academia that it no longer provides a good environment for brilliant people to teach and do research.     Yep. This is why I am so happy that Dumbledore gave up being an adjunct professor. I swear he was spending more on supplies and going out for coffee with students than he was making. He is vastly happier now.     I am really glad to hear that. I love that you are exploring a new model of sharing philosophy with a broader range of people.