Heidi

Might have to watch it today with Vivian ❤️ Is it not too large? If not, then hooray! Currently I use a small oblong thing called the Loaf Nest for my crusty bread, and I really like it. I’ve been thinking about trying a baguette pan to see if my no-touch quasi-sourdough recipe works for baguettes, because baguettes are amazing. I took soup over to Nic’s, fully intending to just drop it and a book off and shoo back home to let him rest. We ended up talking, then relocating to the Loft and eating the soup that was still in the pan, and continued catching up until the wee hours. Vivian showed up and wanted nothing more than a quiet morning, so we each grabbed an end of the Library Chaise and a book and now we’re eating a brunch near each other. She has a meat-laden biscuit (the size of a dinner plate) and French Toast, and I’m having fried apples and they are delicious. It’s going to be a restful, introverted day, and we’re both super-content. ❤️

Solidarity, sister. When I was going through some of my worst work stress related mental shenangians in 2017, I found that working out for at least thirty minutes made a huge difference in the overall bandwidth that I had available to devote to negative self-talk and negative thought patterns. I would lift, then row, then swim, (and then sauna becuase wow, the sauna). THEN I would shower and get dressed for work, and this was just such an amazing disruption to all the talk in my head that I started referring to it as being gym-stupid, and I only had the mental bandwidth for whatever task I had on my plate at the moment. I don't know if this would work, and no matter what your approach, I believe in you and I continue to stand in solidarity while being impressed. Keep on keeping on, Warrior Druid! ❤️

Dangitol! And here I was finally fewer than a hundred miles behind you on the way to Mordor! But ooooooers. . . spreadsheets and trackers and colors! I need to ask about your rating system for calories please. Are you hoping for 1000 calorie deficit every day? Because 7000 calorie deficit every week seems like a lot, but maybe it works for you. I would pass out. Oh, this makes my little Druid heart happy. How many co-workers are participating? May yo have fair skies, Friend. ❤️

space I scrolled past this title, then backed up and dropped in, the soundtrack already playing loud and proud between my ears. Same. ❤️ As for goals: I think this is really solid, given that you are looking to build a quality foundation. I know it feels unsatisfying, but this semester is flying by, and the school calendar will change before you know it. Haivng the habit of 'park' when not in school is an excellent mindset foundation. A lot of us have been haphazard lately. Welcome back to the fold!! And happy eclipse season!

Wow, okay, that's a lot. Sending good vibes and waves of peace. Remember to breathe and stay hydrated ☯️ 🌊 I haven't seen Ladyhawke in this century, and this sounds like exaclty the post-Easter break that I need. Let's find a time and streaming format that works. Work is going well today. Please join me in a moment of gratitude for the Team Lead. Nic will be back in town tonight, a full 32 hours earlier than originally scheduled. I'm kind of pleased about this overall, but I don't know if he'll be feeling up for having/being company, since he'll have driven in from across the country and is still recovering from illness, though he says it's just the last bit these days and he hasn't had a fever since Thursday. If we get to hang out for chicken soup and conversation, tonights probably the best night for it until after Easter. That Alliances calendar is filling up fast. I am making simmered chicken soup, with potatoes instead of noodles so that it's more like a stew. Anything that doesn't get eaten this evening can be served to Vivian when she visits, and I might make a second batch (with some crusty bread) for Emily & Landon's visit on Thursday. I love my large round dutch oven. It's 6 & 1/2 quarts, and seems to work with anything and everything, and I use it as a stock pot as often as anything else. (mine is a deeper brick red than this one, but I hear that any color works fine. ) It's nice to have a kitchen and be cooking for friends again.

😮 WHAAAAT?!? We need a viewing party double feature, since I had never heard of Hearts & Armour before. We'll need to have tasty, glutenfree, plant snacks, and now I really want to be able to have a virtual film fest with you all, despite the timezones and miles apart. ❤️ Good lord, that would have this Introvert running for the hills. Sending grounding vibes and solidarity. ❤️ Welcome everyone, it's so good to see you all again! With all this support and camaraderie, I know this will be an excellent challenge. @Sepherina, please feel free to poke me about the goals if I slack on updates. Last night I didn't fall asleep until 11:30, then woke up at 1:30 and was all turned around until 3. It turns out this was exactly the window of the lunar eclipse in my time zone, and while it might be coincidence, I woke up at 8 this morning with a full draft of this week's paper banging around in my head. So I made tea, logged in to work, wrote the draft, and retooled it as my initial post assignment (that was due yesterday, but dont pay attentino to that just now please, thanks, bai). Im doing my work, and doing it well, but there's a whole little studious space to the side in which Im contemplating issues of War & Peace (policies and world events, not the book). Recent headlines feel very similar to some of the upheaval and cultural shift of the 60s, and overall I think this is a positive shift, despite the sense of urgency and disruption that the present moment has. My soul hopes that this turbulence helps us rediscover solidarity, something I believe we've lost in the last 25 years or so, the lack of which seems to me to underpin so many of the mental health crises we are experiencing collectively and individually. I seem incapable of writing a superficial sentence today. Upon reflection, it might be like this for a while. Grab the popcorn and your journals, if you are inclined. 🖇️✍️

I have gone through the Mines of Moria and managed to survive yet another attack. I’ve stopped for a rest and bit of a meal, and currently, I can hear Gollum-noises nearby. 344 miles since Rivendell, with 117 to go before reaching Lothlórien. I’ve picked up the pace in the last month, and especially in the last fortnight, and am hoping to keep the stride.

The Table I’m hesitant to increase the skills/ ability score, and at this point I think I’m ready to start looking at actual level. Currently, I’m a Level 12 Philosopher and level 11 Librarian (built on the Monk class, with a training path in The Way of the Cobalt Soul).

New Challenge

Eclipses are fun and funny things, wildcard messengers, trippy events when the lights converge and one seems to blot out the other, showing us what had been hidden or unseen, and possibly even unsuspected. Eclipses, for me, will always call to mind Ladyhawke, that underrated fantasy film of the mid-80s, where curses are broken, paths revealed, separation and isolation is repaired, and souls are mended. There’s a lot that might happen in the upcoming weeks, and this round I’m holding space for the possibilities. While I’m listening with my soul to what might be revealed, I’m also interested in making the space I inhabit as wonderful and settled as possible; making the body I inhabit as whole as it can be; and nurturing the alliances that hold me well. Everything else will happen, as it does; I am good and competent; the Universe loves me and wants me to be happy. Just for fun: there’s a lunar eclipse on March 25, the first day of the challenge the solar eclipse happens mere hours before my birthday. the school term ends April 28th Stay tuned, Friends. I suspect that there’s plenty of messages and possibly even a miracle in the works.

This is such a great challenge, and I love how you blended it all into the lyrics. ❤️ Solid goals, solid song, and as a GenX with made-for-the-80s mop, I’m gonna need to see that hair you know. This absolutely made my day, @TimovieMan. Thank you from the bottom of my GenX heart. ❤️

I have this same experience with foods that cause a severe migraine/neurological episode — the delayed response made it difficult to diagnose, and even harder to change course, initially, but now that I’ve inhabited the no-crappy-for-me-foods land for about a year, it has become natural-feeling. I wish you much success on this journey of redirection and wise navigation. I believe in you, and I’m not surprised that the Cedar Chariot cards have been coming to you. The InScan data is doing a lot of positive reinforcement on the wheat thing, and I’m glad you have it. Sending love. ❤️

It’s actually two chaise lounges put together long ways, with the large cushion moved to set against the wall (and then it gets moved back again, or wherever we need it in the moment. Bonus: It comes in a bunch of different lovely colors. Vivian and I had a lovely visit. I really like how we are together, and she does too. There was music (sax and violins!!) and Oculus shenanigans, and good food and conversation about everything. It was excellent, and she comes back on Tuesday morning, and we’re both looking forward to it. New challenge will likely go up on Monday.

Okay, that a lot of accounts. 🙂

Second chair came and I put it together. And my house is clean and my homework is done and I did the dishes and I'm going to take a bath and not think and maybe sleep for a week.

Yesterday was a whole long day. The dental appointment went well; work was a circus; the meeting with Philosopher James was very good; the jazz barbecue fundraiser was a ball. I got home around 8:30 and did a round of Beat Saber and felt like I could sleep for a week. At the barbecue, there was music trivia bingo, and afterwards there was just a great playlist of all the songs that had been part of the trivia. When "Bohemian Rhapsody" came on, the parents all started singing along and doing huge hand movements and it was a whole GenX moment, and then the bad director stopped the song in the middle and I thought the parents would riot. He turned it back on and I dug out my lighter, flicked it on and held it high. It was a good night. Vivian was on the 8th grade field trip to the state capital, so she wasn't able to make the event, and she was feeling left out, so I sent texts and pictures and post-concert revelry by the band, especially the seniors, who she is already starting to miss. After Beat Saber I started getting ready for bed and realized I hadn't eaten yet that day, so I put together a small anitpasto plate and settled in with the first bit of Damsel to eat and wait for the field trip bus to finally land in Roanoke. Vivian was texting through the ride, and by the time they got back, I was ready to turn out the light and be done with a lovely day. Nic has come down with Covid in Texas, the poor thing. He hasn't mentioned it, but I'm starting to wonder if he will feel well enough to start driving back on Sunday. David finally wrote about Spring Break and offered (in a take-it-or-leave it sort of way) Tuesday and Wednesday. I notified my team, and it's all good. I'm looking forward to the time together. Today is a full-on full-court press at work. The team lead is surly, but surly on our behalf and not surly at us. This is good and exactly how things should be. I'm almost so saturated at this point that I'm not making sense, but that's the way of these weird deep dive project pushes at the last minute. I'm glad well be out of the weeds on this next week. The after-work schedule is filling up fast with a bunch of Wellness and Alliance items. This is good, and it also means I need to ask Philospher James for some alternate meeting times. Lunchtime doesn't work for him since he needs to do faculty things, so I've asked for some times that work for him that I can take to my team lead as an offset lunch. This, too, is all good. This is the Way.

Holy moly, did i read that wrong -- i got it in my head that it was a spice: Black Pepper mixed with dried orange peel (and now I have to make some).

I'm guessing that once you get these 2024 house items priced that it will be easier to hit the target. I completely understand about the little things creeping up and taking a toll. Have you considered creating an account for home maintenance? I find that if I can choose to skip eating out and put that smallish bit in the maintenance fund, that it adds up quickly and I also have the feeling that I've made a good choice, instead of it just getting lost in the noise of everyday life.

I too like quinoa as a substitute for couscous, and heartily agree with @sarakingdom and @Mistr. I apologize for the confusion around wheat / no-wheat -- I tend to think of all pastas (couscous is pasta) as non-wheat, even though this is obviously not true. This sounds amazing, and thank you for sharing. I needed a not-yet-spring quinoa recipe, and the fact that this includes lentils made my heart happy. I've never heard of orange pepper, but I'm a big fan of lemon pepper, and now this is definitely on my "let's try it" list. I make a lovely quinoa taboouli in the summertime that is amazing.

Hooray for Spring Dental Appointments! All the better to smile with. I was minding my own buisiness, kind of coasting at work and thinking about Women's Pinball League Things, when the phone rang. It was a delivery person. I went to the lobby and: I don't think anyone has sent me flowers in nearly a lifetime. ❤️

I love this. The new-patient dentist appointment yesterday was great. I like the dentist, and she told me that my fears were basically unfounded -- depsite taking far too long off from dental appointments, my mouth is not, in fact, garbage. We also discussed options for fixing the chip and addressing the damage that some seizures introduced and then neglect has allowed to worsen. It's not always a straightforward path, and we're going to try a few things first to see if we can have some lower interventions before we head off to more invasive options. I hadn't eaten before the appointment (I have a strong gag reflex with the xray plates), and when I got home I was exhausted. The dentist also noticed so much tension in my jaw and neck that she gave me a referral to a massage therapist. It's likely that I'm not grinding my teeth but am clenching them at night in reponse to the stress, which is makng everything harder. I had no energy to cook so I set up another anitpasto plate and fell asleep after rinsing the dishes -- Fitbit says I slept about two hours. I woke up and made tea and logged into the Oculus to play minigolf with Nic, a cute little virtual date that was somehow actually fun. He has the Labyrinth course, and I am definitely buying that, and we also played a course called Widow's Walkabout that was weird and sppoky in a cartoon and nonscary way. We talked a lot during the golfing, as one does, and he ended up asking about the Belles & Chimes chapter. I hadn't mentioned it much since it's his actual job, and can a man have a vacation? But he didn't know how a chapter worked, and so we talked about that, which ended up leading pretty organically to the Ben things, and he said "hey you know I can open the museum whenever I want right? Like, I know the Executive Director." Friends, he is the Executive Director. "Well, yes, but wouldn't you like to have at least one day off? I'm not trying to make work for you." He explained that he doesn't much deal with operating desk schedules other than to make certain that they are covered, and he's happy to have a dedicated time to handle paperwork things for a couple hours on every other Monday night. He went on to talk about how having a Women's League is something he thinks is really important, becuase soft power is always drowned out by hard power, even while being made available and supported by soft power. This was an unexpected sense of being seen, and I really liked it, and told him so. He was all set to make an announcement on Facebook frmo the Pinball Museum account, and I asked for a few days to get the "official chapter" logo from the national group and set up a web page etc. so that there was something to link to, and he thought that was a fine idea. I'm still waiting on the official Roanoke Chapter logo, but here's what I have so far. We were online until 11, which is far too late, and so we signed off. I was up another hour or so letting my mind and body settle. I am a little sleep deprived but overall am fine. I don't want to do anything at work today, but that's not exactly news. May you have peaec this day.

OYEZ OYEZ!! Let me be part of the community that wakes you from your introspection and helps welcome you out of the cave and into the warmth of Spring! Perhaps it's your turn to be the Bear. ❤️

I hope it's as yummy as you imagine. All this dentistry love is perfect since I have a dentist appointment this afternoon and I'm being sqeamish about it in ways that I am usually not. It's a new dentist; I haven't been to a dentist since before the pandemic; there's a lot of work to do; somehow I lost the habit of flossing during the pandemic and haven't picked it back up, and so I'm embarassed. This morning I woke up with "Seven Nation Army" rocking through my head so loudly I thought it was actually on some set of speakers somewhere. This is probably becuase I didn't play the Oculus at all yesterday, and it was weird but once I understood it was internal, it settled right down. I logged into work and did my morning settle in and setup routines, then went to make tea. While the kettle boiled, I slipped on the Oculus and played Beat Saber Seven Nation Army on hard mode (woo hoo! I'm up to a D!) and it was the perfect amount of time for the kettle to boil. I poured the water into the teapot and played a second round, which is just the right amount of time for the tea to steep, and since then the music has been nonexistent. This is a little weird and sci-fi feeling -- am I reprogramming my brain to need to log into the Oculus?? -- but otherwise is all good. Honestly, I think my body missed moving more than anything, and the soreness from yesterday is mostly gone, which is lovely. Work is a circus, but it's smoothening out. This is good. This is the Way. I'm probably not going to log in after I get back from the detist, since there won't be much of the workday left, and I really need to spend some time just chilling. I was asleep within ten minutes of logging out yesterday and slept for two hours, then woke up ravenous and made an antipasto plate and watched Poor Things -- a very trippy movie that somehow I also loved. I signed up to be the founder of a local chapter of Belles & Chimes, the national Women's Pinball League, and now I'll need to set up everything that goes with that (online presence, league play and event schedule, etc etc). I'm pretty excited, but also feeling a little tenuous about pushback from Ben. We'll see how all that goes. I'm still sitting with this challenge and reflecting on what I want to carry forward, and what I want to leave behind. I think I definitely want to focus on leaning into Spatial Upgrade, but the Wellness and Alliances, which were such a huge new landscape this round and really opened new worlds. Finishing classes feels like closing a chapter, and I'm glad of it, honestly. I'm ready to have an extended calendar with No Classes At This Time, which is different from being done with classes forever.

You are powerful. ❤️

I hear you. This was a whole thing for me, and it would actually derail my rhythm, which then took several weeks to reover from. UGH. So a few challenges ago I started having a Reflection Week at the end of a challenge instead of a Zero Week before the challenge. This has helped me a lot. Sorry to hear about the "haunting the forums thing." I totally get it. Glad the dentist went well, and I think 2.7 pounds of fat loss is a real win. Good job! ❤️