All Activity

I don't know how to do things, otherwise. I have a weekly and monthly check-in with This Week's List and the Master List, but other than that, I can't hold all the everything in my head while also working on what's right in front of me. I hope you find some clarity, balance, and peace. I think you're doing great. WOW! I had never heard of this before either. It sounds like a blend with alpaca will be gorgeous. What weight will it be when spun up? Also, I love this fiber craft. I don't spin, but I swear I could watch someone spin for hours. It's like a hearth fire for my soul. I do, and am doing, this too. Right now I have four (five?) bags of ToBeSorted items stacked in front of my bedroom door in the hopes that they will get in the way enough to get sorted. Most stuff needs to get donated. The sad truth is that these moving bags all sat under my bed in the previous apartment for a couple years, and clearly I wasn't using anything in them, so in theory I could just walk them wholesale to a donation spot and be done with it, and never miss what's inside. Having sat for so long, I I have no clue what is in them and I'm intimidated to even open the bag's zipper. Thank you for your reveiw of A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind by Shoukei Matsumoto. It was on my TBR list, and the assumptions you point out are disappointing and, in what I've read of many such books, all too common. Concensus is hard work, and it seems to take daily shoring up, which is its own full time job. It's exhausting, and so often it's less work to just be the one to clean up instead of making everyone else fall in line with their chores. I'm cheering you on and commisserating with you in equal measure.

Same! I love the jellyfish non-scale win. Looking forward to Sovalis Washi tape doodles, if that inspiration hits. ❤️

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.

I am going to try to keep the number of days down to a “reasonable” amount but I can definitely tell this is my subconscious trying to take care of my residual stress through eating and those are pathways I don’t want to encourage. I want that goblin’s cake! Thanks, EG! ❤️ If I were kinda sorta fitting macros I’d feel less bad about it. But I made myself eat decently for supper and lunch yesterday and had less sugar so I think I am starting to get on track again. More Swords today and yeah, the burnout and “you might cut yourself”-ness of all of this feels very real. I am so weary despite sleeping well and enough and it’s got to be the burnout from Houseguest’s visit combined with the work I am putting in to get my house back in order now that the Houseguest and Dave are both gone. I am managing, but feel like I’d be managing better if I had a week off right now. *lol* Good to know. I thought it was just my general lack of tech savvy, but maybe not. I will stay on the desktop for now and see if that improves things a bit more. Thank you. ❤️ Hi Friends, More Swords this morning (well, Intelligence) - Two of Intelligence, which stands for how our inner monologue causes confusion and we must learn to listen to our heart. I was confused about this as I like to think I am pretty good at listening to my heart. Biddy Tarot (a website I use to look up cards when I want more information) suggests drawing two more clarifying cards when you draw the Two of Swords if you don’t know what is going on. I drew the Ten of Strength (Make sure to speak up, delegate, express yourself) and the Ace of Strength (The source of all creative energy is within you. You have the power to imagine, begin, and complete any project you set your mind to), both of which make me think more of this World Anvil project I am attempting and my hopes/Chantale’s stated intention to help me get all of that data entry taken care of. Hmm. Ate real food with some Nutella yesterday, so trending in the right direction, Got lots of sleep. Still feeling really weary and burnt out, but going gently is the only solution for that. I Am beyond grateful that Dave is travelling right now so I don’t have the added stimulation of the tv on or other noise during my quiet writing in the mornings. His work advance dropped overnight finally so I was able to restore the buffer to the line of credit and transfer my tip money out of the Chequing account and onto my Visa to cover Joy’s birthday present. Feeling very magpie about stuff, but trying to remember that I can make a lot of what I want. I even have strips of blank washi I bought years ago that I can put my own designs on. I have no idea if the adhesive is still good, but I am going to dig them out of my desk for the Marginalia challenge and see if I can do something with them. I am really jamming on the stationery work of Eric Small Things lately and Girl of All Work. I have also been really enjoying Justina Smith‘s art. She is local to me and I have taken a class from her before. She reminds me of a newer, Prairie-focused Group of Seven painter. So good. Felicia Chiao is always amazing. There are so many wonderful artists in the world adding their takes on things. We need this so much right now. I hope you see an art piece that buoys your spirits today. Thanks for being here. ❤️

I love all of your pictures! What an adventure!

Sea snail offering! Yes, the "foot" looks like a tongue. In fairness to myself, it looks like a tongue in the reference photo too lol

W5D3: one regular DrP in the morning, then a DPZ with lunch which was the meatloaf and mashed potatoes meal prep. In the afternoon I had a Reese's. For dinner MFG made grilled boneless-skinless chicken thighs with rice, and I measured and ate enough to hit my target for the day. Alas as the evening wore on I added another 1200 kcal of snacks--mostly peanut butter and chocolate chips. 2957 kcal for yet another red day. I'm claiming a bonus Move since I hit a large bucket at the driving range after work yesterday. Those chocolate chips were a double whammy; in addition to the substantial calorie hit they also had enough caffeine and sugar to completely derail my sleep. I stayed up way too late rewatching Pacific Rim.

@Snarkyfishguts hope you have a fab downtime and chill over summer. Wishing you much art, awesomeness and happy days wandering the wilderness with a packed lunch

She is one of my favourite artists. Wish i could speak gaelic because some of the songs are just so beautiful. Maybe i will get round to it one day. 😆your welcome? Ok, this is now head cannon. Too good. also, yes, it is always Florence o’clock for me too. (For the record, i almost posted a hozier song too) Ah, yes. I have seen this. It is very true though. Some days the only person you can save is yourself. And thats ok.

Beautiful. Even if I wasn't lusting after her strand of amber beads in the cover art, the lyricism is gorgeous and the instrumentation is so playful. Please stop exporting your soulful trad twinks to American music markets. We aren't built to withstand them. Plus y'all keep putting them in smart suits?? No. Feed them at least one sandwich and absolutely do not let them keep shooting each other smoldering looks as they play! It is always Florence O'clock. I personally subscribe to the theory that she is the Unseelie cognate to Hozier's undeniable elfin prince thang. Cherished meme below, and one I need to re-read more often.

I can't really plan right now. This morning, everything and nothing has changed and I can't really process how I feel. Need to leave for work in a moment, but after work, I think I will sit in a park and read for a bit, because I can do that now.

We'll miss you but I hope you have an absolutely wonderful, creative, relaxing summer and we see you refreshed in the fall!

don't feel like catching up on the last few after being away for a few days. So onward! side to side lunges 🐝

Going slow again today as still pretty tired despite getting a better bedtime tonight. doing a but of cooking today. Out of oat cookies and only have a few energy balls left (which is good as the cherry/chocolate ones where not my faves). trying a new recepie. Apple crumble energy balls. tastes amazing but it is such a sticky mix (wondering if i didnt put enough almond butter in them🤔 slightly got lost whilst counting to four 🤦‍♀️. It is one of those days). But they taste really nice so i will be repeating this one. Skipped the dusting of cinnamon as i don't think they really need it. thinking of making some fun mini cookies. I found a chocolate crinkle cookie recipe that makes very tiny ones so might try that. just about to make some soup. Really want to try this Orzo and chickpea soup recipe i found. its either that or i put a batch of oven cooked tomato, onion and peppers mix in as the freezer is full of falafels at the moment. Might be a nice change. did a bit more to the weekly in my bujo. Very pleased with how its turning out. Looks nice. Will probubly give the calligraphy a bash later.

Officey yester so minimal exercise, though I did get home from quartetting at 9:30pm which meant fitting in physio and getting to bed on time! Yesterday: 🥗 10pts 🏃‍♀️ 5pts 🚶‍♀️5pts 🌞 5pts 🦵 5pts 🛏️ 10pts Total: 890pts OK, I only need 22pts per day to pass...

Wednesday, April 24th: