Seabright

Mon, Jan 11 Oh dear. What happened? I woke up this morning feeling seriously down, and I'm getting downer by the minute. Taking various drug-like substances to try to address the coughing and what-not, a long sleepless night, over-sleeping so I didn't have time to do a single morning-routine-related thing, general social unrest, and a message from company leadership this am basically saying 'business as usual' starting in August---whoa. Wow. I think maybe the drug-like substances are contributing to all of this, but, well, I can't remember the last time I felt like this. Ahem. Onward! Time to gird my loins and show up! Shake off the crushing weight of this strange, strange feeling and get 'er done. Diet - Breakfast - eggs with spinach and bell peppers. - Lunch - the last of the chicken-chili-and-broc cookup. - Snack - 2 mandarin oranges. - Dinner - grilled chicken and ratatouille that I made my own self. Exercise - Wonderful brisk walk. 20 mins, but kept up a nice pace the whole time. A first! Fun - Pet the neighbor's cat. He seems to love our yard, so I decided it was time we became better friends. Side quests - Print evac plan and put in folder. Partly done. - Respond to the LinkedIn stuff. DONE!

Fri, Jan 8 Well my oh my. Weren't the last two days somethin'? I ended up walking down to the beach after work, just to make sure. And, yes, the sea and the far-off hills are where they've always been. Diet - Breakfast - veggie scramble with chicken-apple sausage mixed in. thank you Harbor Cafe takeout! - Lunch - chicken chili with broc. - Dinner - chicken w/veggies. It was fabulous. Exercise - Gentle stretching throughout the day. - Felt the need to take it easy this first day of taking, you know, drugs. Fun - Knocking off early to go for a drive up Highway 1. The ocean awaits! Side quests - Consult with doc on the coughing. You know, again. DONE! Got some stuff to try, starting today. - Distribute trust stuff to back-up trustees. DONE! - Send out New Year's cards. DONE! - Finalize evac plan, print, and put in folder. Partly done. Finalized the thing, now need to print and file somewhere grab-able.

Wed, Jan 6 Ooooh! Super-chilly here this morning. I am a trained professional, though, and this did not phase me. Diet - Breakfast - eggs with spinach and red bell peppers and a leftover salmon cake. - Lunch - chicken chili with broc - Dinner - turkey burger with zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes and carmelized onions, a dish I made up out of my very own head. Exercise - Meditation and a little chi kung before breakfast. - Short form (to the right) at my mid-morning break. Got tangled up towards the end, but this is the best I've done this one so far. - Longer walk after work down to the beach and back. About 30 minutes. Felt the difference in length. Fun - Made a stress-reduction plan to go in effect on Jan 21, as follows: - Starting Jan 21, no Facebook and no Google News. - Starting Jan 21, the phone is on the dining room table for the night, instead of by my bedside. - Starting Feb 1, the NYT daily briefing is filtered out of my inbox and into a separate folder. - Stood on the cliff above the beach and gazed at the waves. Side quests - Consult with doc on the coughing. You know, again. Appt set up for Thursday! - Distribute trust stuff to back-up trustees. - Send out New Year's cards. - Finalize evac plan, print, and put in folder.

Tues, Jan 5 Freezing cold and wet here at the ol' ranch this morning. A bit tricky to get going, but I girded my loins and got out of bed. In the dark. Before the cat walked on my bladder. Win! Diet - Breakfast - eggs with spinach and red bell peppers. - Lunch - chicken chili with broccoli. - Dinner - salmon cakes with broccoli - I made 'em my own self. Exercise - Meditation and a little chi kung before breakfast. - Short form at my mid-morning break. - 20-minute walk around the neighborhood at lunchtime. - 20-minute walk through the redwoods at the end of the day. Fun - Stood in the cold morning and watched the zillions of pine siskins zooming around. - Knocked off early and drove up to Henry Cowell. Side quests - Did the thing and made a doc appointment. There may not be anything additional that I could be doing, but there may be, and it's time to find out. - Other stuff that's pending: - Distributed trust stuff to back-up trustees. - Send out New Year's cards. - Finalize evac plan, print, and put in folder.

GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAALS! Yay for 2021! I feel like I ended 2020 in a really good mental place. Calmer than I've been in a long time. I've got things I'd like to work on, but more importantly, I think I figured out what I don't really want to work on. Har har. So, let's get 'er done! I've picked ONE goal, and articulated 3 ways to get there. Then, I've picked ONE power word to help me focus all year long. GOAL FOR 2021: Find my way back to the Tai Chi Me! I did some Deep Thinking in the last 2 weeks of 2020, and thought about the last time I felt REALLY good, body, mind, and spirit. My mind drifted back to the Before Time days, back back back, before the tech world, before systems and process and levels and driving and striving, back to the days I made my living as a Tai Chi instructor. I'm going to spend 2021 finding my way back to those feelings, physical and mental. I'll do this by leaning in to my health as my number one priority this year. 1. The Tai Chi Me and Diet I'm STILL dealing with this nagging cough and the Tai Chi Me never had this problem. Eating right will help me get there. I'll follow the Paleo way of eating, sticking with the things that make me feel great, and eliminate the things that don't. If I can eventually fit in to my Goal Pants (or even my Tai Chi pants from long ago), that's great. But the point is to get healthy. I'll track stuff here in my battle log. 2. The Tai Chi Me and Exercise Tai Chi FTW! Standing meditation, chi kung, open hand forms, and the two weapons I know. Something every day. Yoga FTW, too, as well, also! On rain days, or to change things up, a little yoga before breakfast is just the thing. Walking and hiking, too -- anything gentle that opens up my lungs and puts some gentle pressure on my breathing. 3. The Tai Chi Me and Fun We had so much fun at the Golden Lion Martial Arts school! Fooling around, pushing hands, working on our forms, learning new things. I was working there when i got together with the spousal unit, and when I really got good playing the guitar and learned a lot of songs. My heart was light then, and things seemed easy. Something I've been thinking about lately is that the spousal unit is a bit older than i am. I don't want to waste a single extra second stressing about work or putting work first and not doing stuff together. That's over. So we'll do things that are fun in 2021, and we won't take anything too seriously. Learn to pull a trailer and back it up. Go down to the beach and watch the sun set now and then. Cook a nice meal. Do an online yoga retreat. Play the guitar now and then. Maybe revisit the ol' mandolin, if that seems fun. Gentle things, no pressure, no pushing. Gentle and flowing. Go where the spirit moves me. POWER WORD FOR 2021: Health In the last 4 years, I've done the toughest thing I've ever done. I learned a lot--and it was an honor--but I skipped my own doc appts and check-ups and ignored the growing lung issues. This year my health is my Number 1 priority. Everything I do will first be prefaced by: Is this good for my health? The Tai Chi Me enjoyed buoyant good health, which paves the way for so many other things: patience, discipline, kindness, fortitude, strength and truth. And a bit of bravery, too. --------------------------------- Okie dokie! That's it! Other things may come along throughout the year, and I can have little sub-goals for those, but everything needs to speak to one of the three above. This will keep my focus on my health, and help me to move that forward at all times. Yay! Let's do some Tai Chi in 2021!

Dec 31, 2020 End of year wrap! Well well well well well. WELL. For this year, I decided to let it all slide. All the Jan 1st, 2020 first-entry-of-the-battle-log excitement, yep, all of that, just letting it go this year. Instead, a recap of how things ended up during the last 2 weeks of the year. Sooooooooooooooo...in no particular order: Health Quit coffee in the last week. Now I'm just a person that doesn't drink caffeinated drinks. A+ Good nutrition. Ended the year strong, with the occasional fish taco on a flour tortilla and a few chips being the main transgressions. B+ Started Tai Chi again. Very excited about this! Got inspired watching Sun do a rooftop form on Sense8. I also thought to myself: When did I feel the best that I can remember? The lightest of heart, the most relaxed, and with no stress or coughing? When I was teaching Tai Chi for a living. The short form was there at my fingertips, but the 40 is going to take some work to recover from the ol' brainwaves. The sword? Feggitabawtit. Found a good vid, though, and looking forward to polishing up my sword and starting anew. A+ Coughing a lot still. Time to call the doc. Have been too chicken. D- Life Music. Bought a little bluetooth speaker and started listening to music again. Sang in the shower for the first time in months. Have been looking at my guitar. C+ Estate planning. Pretty much done, can you believe it? Some loose ends to clean up, but all the big paperwork-y stuff is done. A+ Writing. Did my morning pages pretty consistently. Wrote to my cousin, to the Las Rocas owners (returned, but I did it), wrote a Christmas letter, wrote a presentation for work, wrote an article for the style guide for work. A+ Thinking. It took me the first 10 of my 16 days off to relax. I've been thinking a lot about stress, where it comes from (me), and how to let go of some things. Reminding myself of the Tai Chi Me has been an essential part of this. I've spent the last 4 years bearing so much stress I've forgotten what normal feels like. I feel like my year ended with my head in a really good place, as far as calming down, savoring the moment, and letting go of some big stuff. I'm really looking forward to carrying this over to the next year in ways that I haven't experienced in many years. A+ So there we go! i don't know how this all adds up numerically, but i feel like I'm in a much better place mentally than I have been in years. Therefore, I'm giving myself an A+ Yay for me! See you in 2021, Rebels!

Fri, Dec 18 For the trust stuff, we all just gave up. They are mailing me an application. For the health stuff, the deepening cough is worse at night. I feel like I'm not doing enough to kick it (witness the cookie-box-faceplant-action). The next 2 weeks are all about my health. This is my last day of work for the next 2 weeks, and I plan to sign off as early as possible. Challenges are: - Getting off coffee and staying off coffee. - Following a plan of regular, gentle exercise. - Finding alone time to write. - Pinpointing ambient stress triggers and getting rid of 'em. - Spending as much time outdoors as possible, given, you know, winter. - Staying strong in the face of general fatigue. Eating paleo: Breakfast - coffee and a muffin. this shall be the last. Lunch - turkey chili and broc. Dinner - grilled chicken and veggies. Snack - 2 little thingies of applesauce. Daily exercise: Walk pending. Update: Walk not done. Focus: Changing up today's focus list a bit. Make progress on one thing. Side challenges: Move brokerage firm to trust. Almost there! Bailed on doing it online and just sent in the forms. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Take pictures of everything for insurance. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Write letter to current owners. Done!

Wed, Dec 16 Yesterday ended with no joy from Vanguard (after being on hold for over an hour), along with a payment overdue notice from the state tax board for a payment I made in October. 'Agitated' doesn't begin to describe how I was feeling. I had forgotten -- all this stuff takes time. Things go wrong, emails don't get sent, follow-up calls have to happen, calls get transferred and dropped, you are sent down the wrong path and then have to start again. This is the process. I had forgotten: Just settle in for the ride. It's expected. It may take weeks. But it will get done. Eating paleo: Breakfast - scrambled eggs and sausage. Lunch - turkey chili and broc. Dinner - turkey burger and a mountain o' broc. Snacks - the last of the Christmas cookies. my work here is done. Daily exercise: None. From first thing in the am to the end of the day, every free moment spent on hold on in a file, trying to figure it all out. Focus: Focus this week will be on getting through this nagging to-do list of stuff. Stuff that's been hanging on. I'd like to make progress on at least one thing each day. Create new V account in the name of the trust. (Not done. Another round of being-on-hold-foreverness.) Actually put the family addresses on the beneficiary list. (Not done. Got 'em all, just not done.) Write to cousin Jimmy. DONE! Side challenges: Move brokerage firm to trust. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Take pictures of everything for insurance. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Tue, Dec 15 On hold with Vanguard for, like 23 minutes now. Thought I'd post an update since I'm just freakin' sitting here. Eating paleo: Breakfast - veggie scramble with turkey sausages. Lunch - turkey chili and broc Dinner - fish tacos--just the fish. left the tortillas alone. had some chips, too. Snacks - tons and tons and tons of Christmas cookies. Note: by the end of the day, felt horrible. Agitated and weepy and blech-y. Daily exercise: Yoga - 15 minutes twists and general stretching. Brisk walk - would normally be doing that right now, but I'm sitting here on freakin' hold with freakin' Vanguard in-freakin'-stead. Focus: Focus this week will be on getting through this nagging to-do list of stuff. Stuff that's been hanging on. I'd like to make progress on at least one thing each day. Create new V account in the name of the trust. Actually put the family addresses on the beneficiary list. Send out the last of the Christmas cards. DONE! Write to cousin Jimmy. Side challenges: Move brokerage firm to trust. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Take pictures of everything for insurance. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Mon, Dec 14 My cousin sent me a box of cookies. A BIG box of cookies. Oh dear. Also, super-busy week on-deck, so decided to stop caffeine this coming Friday. I may just be telling myself stories, but I felt that this was not the week to be all cranky and snappy at people. Eating paleo: Breakfast - veggie scramble with turkey sausages. Lunch - turkey chili and broc Dinner - grilled chicken and veggies. Snack - like, a million cookies. Daily exercise: Brisk walk - a little farther and a little steadier at a slightly brisker pace than last week's walks. Seriously out of breath and sweating when I got back to the house. So weird. Oh well. The road to recovery is sometimes a long 'un. Just gotta keep on keepin' on! Focus: Focus this week will be on getting through this nagging to-do list of stuff. Stuff that's been hanging on. I'd like to make progress on at least one thing each day. Finalized hotel rates, made a reservation, and communicate to the brothers. DONE! Checked in on title insurance in the name of the trust. DONE! Checked in on homeowner's insurance in the name of the trust. DONE! Tried to create new V account in the name of the trust with no joy. Tried to talk to a human and ended up sending a note to tech support. Got the rest of the family addresses for list of beneficiaries.DONE! Side challenges: Move brokerage firm to trust. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Take pictures of everything for insurance. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Fri, Dec 11 Okay. Did the preso. Termed the Masters. Had 2 days of crappy eating centering on the spousal unit's german chocolate birthday cake. Leftover cake thrown out. First no-coffee day scheduled for tomorrow. About 50 Christmas cards to go. Deep, deep chesty cough, but pretty sure it is cake-related. Walked basically every other day, which is about right at this point. Digging out 'No Need for Speed' and will adapt to a walking program. Feeling ready!! Eating paleo: Breakfast - veggie scramble with 3 sausage patties. Lunch - the most amazing pear ever, i shit you not. Dinner - grilled chicken and veggies. Daily exercise: None. Wiped out on all levels. Focus: Focus this week will be on reintroducing my morning routine habits, one-at-a-time-ish. I'm feeling good about this. When time was tight, I just shortened things, rather than skipping entirely. I really LOVE the way I feel in the morning after I do all of this, mentally and physically. Next week, I'll focus on adding a little bit more time here and there. Will also come up with an end-of-the-day routing of some kind. Side challenges: Move brokerage firm to trust. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Take pictures of everything for insurance. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

I stood up for someone today. And I did it respectfully. And I had a rationale that could be understood by others. And I didn't back down. I stood up for someone today. And it felt good.

Tues, Dec 8 Meltdown when I wasn't able to order the cake I wanted for my spousal unit's birthday from the bakery I've been getting it from for the last 20 years. Pandemic-related process issues. I hung up the phone and actually cried. I think I'm more stressed out about stuff than I realized. Doh! Took a breath, ordered something else. It will be awesome. And will look back and say, 'Hey, remember that year when we had a different cake? Remember, during the pandemic when we had German chocolate instead of the cappuccino cheesecake? Oh, yeah! I remember -- it was so good! It was so good we switched cakes!' Or some such. 😉 Eating paleo: Breakfast - eggs w/spinach and bells, 2 turkey sausage. Lunch - cobb no cheese. Dinner - pending. Daily exercise: Yoga - more. some standing stuff this time. Walk - 15-minute out-and-back. same distance but faster. Focus: Focus this week will be on reintroducing my morning routine habits, one-at-a-time-ish. Add one thing back to my morning. DONE! All added back as of this morning. Just tiny bits. Now, to lengthen the amount of time. Share the thing with the leadership team and don't choke. DONE! Side challenges: Move brokerage firm to trust. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Take pictures of everything for insurance. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Mon, Dec 7 Made a big decision this weekend. My true north? Health -- Family -- Career In that order. That has guided decision-making for years. I only just now remembered that. Right now, I think I have to admit that I'm a long-hauler. The random heart palpitations and shortness of breath give it away. My health HAS to be my #1 priority for the foreseeable future. Eating right, gentle (gentle!) cardio walking, yoga, stress reduction, and getting off coffee (again!), since that just makes everything worse. The other thing I looked in the face was the age difference between me and my husband. I don't want to waste a second of our time together. I also asked myself, 'If I won the lottery today, how would that change things?' After looking at that unflinchingly, it was easy. I'm dropping the efforts to get the Masters. The thing that really pushed it over the edge? The lottery thing. If I won the lottery, I wouldn't do it. 😉 So there we go. I've got an appointment with my academic advisor later this week. It's going to mean eating some dollars, but the trade-off is worth it in peace of mind and being able to focus 100% on my health. Done. Eating paleo: Breakfast - eggs w/spinach and bells, 2 turkey sausage. Lunch - cobb no cheese. Dinner - turkey burger with no-cheese ratatouille. awesomeness all over the place. Snack - unsweetened applesauce. Daily exercise: Yoga - tiny bit but felt good. starting to be able to turn my head again. back feels better. Walk - 15-minute out-and-back. Farther than usual. Focus: Focus this week will be on reintroducing my morning routine habits, one-at-a-time-ish. Add one thing back to my morning. DONE! Added yoga. Move that preso to a better-looking template. Doesn't have to be fabulous. Just has to be not-bad. DONE! Side challenges: Move brokerage firm to trust. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Take pictures of everything for insurance. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Wed, Dec 2 Staying focused today. Eating paleo: Breakfast - eggs w/spinach and bells, 2 turkey sausage. Lunch - cobb salad, no cheese. again. Dinner - grilled chicken and veggies. Snack - applesauce (unsweetened). Daily exercise: Cow-cats - 5 of 'em. Walked around the block. Yay for me. Focus: Focus this week will be on reintroducing my morning routine habits, one-at-a-time-ish. Add one thing back to my morning. DONE! Added short meditation. Share that thing with one other leader. DONE! got some good feedback, too. Move forward on one other writing project. Not done. Boo. Side challenges: Move brokerage firm to trust. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Take pictures of everything for insurance. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Tues, Dec 1 Back went out, then was better, then had some skin surgery which turned out to be sort of a big deal, then was recovering from that and couldn't really turn my head, took lots of naps, and threw everything out the window while I got through the thing until the stitches came out yesterday. AND NOW BACK ON TRACK!! Considering doing the holiday challenge that starts on Dec 6. I would make that about recovering my good habits, building some new good habits, and finishing the year strong. Thinking.... Eating paleo: Breakfast - eggs w/spinach and bells, 2 turkey sausage. Lunch - cobb salad, no cheese. Dinner - turkey burger, steamed broc. Daily exercise: Zombies pending. We'll see. Update: Walked! Just around a couple of blocks, but...walked! Focus: Focus this week will be on reintroducing my morning routine habits, one-at-a-time-ish. Add one thing back to my morning. DONE! Added back nets pot. Move forward on one writing project today. DONE! Shared out that thing. Side challenges: Hey! The estate plan is done and signed and notarized!! Now, on to funding the thing and doing all the other things. Next up: file house deed in the name of the trust. DONE! Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Take pictures of everything for insurance. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Mon, Nov 16 Jeez. Back went out on Nov 6. Still out. Walking has been out. Sitting has been out. Standing has been out. Boo. I went through that thing where you just feel like you can't catch a freakin' break. It's been a little bit tough to be awesome. Then I went and saw that back quack, and now am feeling more hopeful. Woke up today being able to stand a tad straighter. I'll take it. Awesomeness just ahead!! So....Zombies have been out for a while. If today goes well, I'll take a tiny turn around the block tomorrow and we'll see what we'll see. Otherwise, staying strong with the eating! Yay for me! And my pants fit better. Double yay! Eating paleo: Breakfast - eggs w/spinach and bells, 2 turkey sausage. Lunch - Daily exercise: Zombies pending. We'll see. Focus: My ONLY focus for November are these 2 things. The ONLY focus. Zombies Run, 3 days x week. Stay on Whole30 with tiny forays into reintroduction territory. Side challenges: Take the next step and meet with the lawyer on November 9. DONE!! Next up: review the plan w/the lawyer later this week. Take the important documents down to the safe deposit box, like and adult and stuff. Pending. Hoping to get this done after my dentist appt today. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Take pictures of everything for insurance. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Mon, Nov 2 Nice weekend! Allowed myself some FB time yesterday in celebration of finishing my self-challenge. Was surprised how my brain responded---it was as if I had finally gotten a fix after being dry. Weird. Tells me to keep an eye on this. For realsies. It feels like eating better is now a habit. I've got a neck again. I think its time for a new focus! New focus: For the month of November, Zombies Run. Eating paleo: Breakfast - eggs w/spinach and bells, 2 turkey sausage. Lunch - salad. Dinner - chicken fajita w/extra veggies. Snack - 2 dates. Daily exercise: Zombies - Done! Focus: My ONLY focus for November are these 2 things. The ONLY focus. Zombies Run, 3 days x week. Stay on Whole30 with tiny forays into reintroduction territory. Side challenges: Take the next step and meet with the lawyer on November 9. Take the important documents down to the safe deposit box, like and adult and stuff. In progress: documents gathered, keys stored in easy-to-find places, box list of items on file. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Take pictures of everything for insurance. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Fri, Oct 30 Doing good! Yay for me! Still social-media and news-feed-free. Still Whole30'ing with the aforementioned forays. (Note to self: sweet potatoes make me cough.) Started Zombies, Run! With, you know, walking. Because lungs. Moving forward. All is bueno! Eating paleo: Breakfast - veggie scramble with sausage. Lunch - cobb salad sans cheese. Dinner - turkey burger with avocado and broc. Snack - applesauce. Daily exercise: Walking a consistent 30 minutes now. Woo hoo! Focus: My ONLY focus for the rest of the month are these 2 things. The ONLY focus. No FB, other social, and Google news feed. Stay on Whole30 with tiny forays into reintroduction territory. Side challenges: Take the next step and meet with the lawyer. IN PROGRESS. HAVE AN APPT FOR NOV 9. Take the important documents down to the safe deposit box, like and adult and stuff. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Wed, Oct 21 Have now been social-media- and google-news-feed-free for one week. There have been times when I've reached for 'em both but thought, wait. No. But then thought, how am I going to occupy my mind while I'm waiting/sitting here/falling asleep/what-not? And then I thought, 'I've got an entire mind here that can occupy itself!' and then I thought about other things. And had more energy at the end of the day. And far less stress and feeling like my brain was going to explode. So, definitely positive. In fact, positive enough to keep this going through the end of the month. That's all. Just to the end of the month. Then we'll see. Eating paleo: Breakfast - eggs with spinach and bells. Lunch - the last of the turkey-chili-and-broc cook-up. Dinner - turkey burger lettuce wrap w/avocado, no sauce, yes to the sweet potato fries. Snack - applesauce. Daily exercise: Pending. Would like to start up Zombies Run again, but with walking instead of running. Update: Went for a drive up Hwy 1 after work and found a lovely spot to take a short hike down to the beach. It was pretty steep (for moi and my recovering lungs), so we stopped about 1/2 way to rest, then came back up. Definitely felt it, but what a lovely evening! Focus: My ONLY focus for the rest of the month are these 2 things. The ONLY focus. No FB, other social, and Google news feed. Stay on Whole30 with tiny forays into reintroduction territory. Side challenges: Take the next step and meet with the lawyer. IN PROGRESS. Followed-up with Lawyer on Mond and asked for an appointment time. (As of this morning, no response.) Take the important documents down to the safe deposit box, like and adult and stuff. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Mon, Oct 19 Some stuff in no particular order: Doing well with the eating, but started back up on caffeine w/ half a cup. Half cup of coffee seemed to be enough to get me moving and out of my funk. Feeling like I want to stay steady here, but need guardrails. No FB or Google News for 5 full days. Leaving the phone out in the dining room at night. Sleeping better and feeling steadier. Tried 1/2 glass of red wine and it made me feel icky. So, not ready to bring that back. Tried 1 glass of champagne and felt okay, but didn't sleep well that night. Not ready to bring that back, either. I feel like I'm ready to add back in an exercise goal. Will think of something to start up on Wednesday, after being social-media-free for one full week. Eating paleo: Breakfast - eggs with spinach and bells. Lunch - cobb salad, no cheese. Dinner - turkey meatballs on a bed of zucchini noodles with romesco sauce. Snack - applesauce. Daily exercise: Early am: Tiny bit of stretching. During a Zoom call: Yoga for 20 mins. Focus: My ONLY focus for the next week are these 2 things. The ONLY focus. No FB, other social, and Google news feed. Stay on Whole30 with tiny forays into reintroduction territory. Side challenges: Take the next step and meet with the lawyer. IN PROGRESS. Followed-up with Lawyer and asked for an appointment time. Find and corral all the loose important personal documents into one folder. DONE! Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Wed, Oct 14 I am here to announce that I have hereby officially finished 30 days of Whole30-ness. Yay for me! I'm going to keep it going, though. The spousal unit has dropped 10 pounds, has so much more energy, and his life outlook has shifted towards the positive in a way I haven't seen from him in years. For me, my cough is sloooowly going away, and my energy is sloooooooowly coming back. I think my immune system has been--and still is--pretty busy. I'm not sleeping well, and my digestion is also, well, um, you know, slow. The Whole30 program is helping me, though, and the structure is something we both clearly need. Starting today, we'll pivot slightly to the reintroduction phase, but for us it's going to be about incorporating paleo-friendly or Whole30-friendly treats, and the occasional glass of red wine. And that's it for now. We'll stay on that for another 2 weeks. So, I'm staying on track. And I'm ready to incorporate another little tiny goal to focus on for a month. I'm waffling between eliminating social and news feed time, or focusing on getting in some exercise each day. Hmm. Okay. I'm going to go with eliminating the social-and-news stuff. Let's start with 1 week. The theory here is that clearing my brain of all the noise will impact my health overall. So, just for one week. And let's put some teeth into it. If I slip, my week has to start over. Yowzah. So, just for one entire unbroken 7 days. One week. Just one. That's it. Starting...now. Eating paleo: Breakfast - eggs with spinach and bells. Lunch - cobb salad, no cheese. Dinner - turkey meatballs on a bed of zucchini noodles with romesco sauce. Snack - applesauce. Daily exercise: Early am: Tiny bit of stretching. During a Zoom call: Yoga for 20 mins. Focus: My ONLY focus for the next week are these 2 things. The ONLY focus. No FB, other social, and Google news feed. Stay off caffeine and stay on the Whole30. Side challenges: Take the next step and meet with the lawyer. Find and corral all the loose important personal documents into one folder. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Thurs, Oct 8 Getting smoky again. Was feeling better, then not feeling better, then feeling better again. We all have them kinda days. Eating paleo: Breakfast - eggs with spinach and bells, 2 turkey sausages. Lunch - cobb salad, no cheese. Dinner - shrimp cooked in clarified butter and garlic, served on a bed of zucchini noodles and covered with romesco sauce. i know, right? look at ME. I COOKED!! Daily exercise: Nada. Sheesh. Focus: The ONLY goal for the next 30 days is to stay off of caffeine and to stay on the Whole30. That's it. That's the ONLY goal. You heard it here. Side challenges: Fill out those documents and send back to the lawyer. DONE! Find and corral all the loose important personal documents into one folder. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Mon, Oct 5 Whoa. Another seriously smoky week last week. Started to clear up yesterday, but I guess I'm now in that super-sensitive group that feels the effects. I always used to think, 'Oh, those poor bastards.' Doh! Purlpleair is my friend. Waiting for the green dots to come our way! Oh! Almost forgot - Weekend Win! I COOKED STUFF! Yes, my darling little Rebels, you heard that right. I bought a spiralizer and made zucchini noodles and only slashed my thumb knuckle once. Cooked some shrimp in a bath of clarified butter, onions, and garlic, and then topped the whole thing with this KILLER freakin' awesomely deliciously romesco sauce made of crushed almonds, onion, garlic and chopped tomatoes - and, of course, all cooked in more clarified butter. Because butter. Eating paleo: Breakfast - veggie scramble, no cheese, side of sausage. Lunch - the last of the chicken and green beans cook-up. Dinner - turkey burgers and broc with leftover sauce from yesterday. Daily exercise: Yoga - just a bit, but felt good. Walk - 15 mins around the block. Focus: The ONLY goal for the next 30 days is to stay off of caffeine and to stay on the Whole30. That's it. That's the ONLY goal. You heard it here. Side challenges: Fill out those documents and send back to the lawyer. Find and corral all the loose important personal documents into one folder. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.

Tue, Sept 29 Still feeling fatigued but things seem better today. Baby steps. Eating paleo: Breakfast - eggs with spinach and bell pepper, 2 sausage patties. Lunch - chicken, zucchini, roasted red bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, all mixed together with avocado on top. i made this my own self Dinner - turkey burger lettuce wrap, no sauce, and sweet potato fries. Daily exercise: Walked 15 mins. A different route. Keeping it up! Focus: The ONLY goal for the next 30 days is to stay off of caffeine and to stay on the Whole30. That's it. That's the ONLY goal. You heard it here. Side challenges: Fill out those documents and send back to the lawyer. Find and corral all the loose important personal documents into one folder. Finalize evac plan, print, post, and file. Call art restoration lady about restoring portrait of GG Louise. Work on draft of letter to current owners.