Acupuncture, which is always a good thing, was exactly what I needed. Taylor, the new-to-me-acupuncturist, is so so good. We didn’t do much with head stuff, just some general tuning, and focused on the pericardium and lowering the chi that was erupting in waves of anxiety and survival-fear.  As usual, we talked philosophy things while he was administering the needles and he asked great questions. Again, he mentioned how important and meaningful these talks are to him, and how much he looks forward to my appointments. We laughed. Again, I felt restored in my soul-zone, and by the time I was putting on my shoes, I had resolved to open up a second section of Philosophy Fridays, this time not about Star Trek, but just about the big issues, general How Are We To Live sorts of conversations.    I told him so, and he said Philosophy Fridays sounds amazing, and if this is the second, what is the first? I told him about Philosophy & Star Trek, which requires knowledge and experience of neither really, but does a good enough job of helping encourage conversation. He asked about the topic for the last session and the topic for the upcoming one, and there we were, nearly having a whole public philosophy session in the waiting area. It was grand. I offered to email the handout, and he said he’d like that. My next appointment is for Tuesday, again, and my heart is full.   I fed FarlowTheDog, and then realized I hadn’t eaten and had also forgotten to pick up a round of goodies from the Loft. I ordered a BLT with chicken salad, poured a glass of milk, and settled in for an early, restful, restorative night.   This is the Way. ❤️ 

Not unreasonable at all.  

50 min Ruck today after work.

#DruidApproved. This is the Way.   This is a real level-up, and I’m very happy that you have left the negative self-talk behind. Do what you can, and the rest will follow. Rest and be at peace. I think you’re grand. ❤️ 

What up NERDS So, I did Workout 3C today! It went pretty well and again, I love the fact I can just workout in my basement. I'll be starting my new job tomorrow so I'm super excited for that!! That's one of the reasons I want to get into routine again too, I want to be able to perform my job to the best of my ability! Unlike my last job, I really want to put my heart and soul into my work, I feel like the work I'm doing is important and impactful, which is very important to me. I also recently started watching this anime called Baki: The Grappler and, it's very motivating for me to build my strength. Don't get me wrong, I know the strength of the people in Baki is exaggerated but, I at least want to have well-defined muscles and lift heavy things. Perhaps I'll sign up for kick-boxing in the future too since, I enjoy that quite a bit.    Anyways, hope y'all have a great day!    Fluffy, out   

@Heidi makes a good point. I know that I gained weight because of stress. That is certainly a major factor in why I am not losing weight.   I know the changes I made to lose weight when I started here at NF. Those worked. I don't have the slack in my life to make those adjustments now. Hopefully sometime soon. The difference is that I'm not beating myself up over it. Healthy work-life balance includes a lot of things. Having time is the first step.

You have been dealing with a LOT of stressful things.   Excellent that your job is going well! Having a good job helps a lot with all the other stress.   I am sorry your husband is being difficult. It sounds like the two of you need to have a conversation about time and expectations. You are working full time and have some work that needs to be done outside school hours. That is a top priority for both of you now because your job is the only income. He had to take care of all the tasks for himself while you were in jail and in Europe without him. He managed without you. He can manage again now that you are working. You can negotiate how much time you are willing to devote to household chores and which chores those will be. You can say "If you want me to do X, I want you to do Y". Both of you should feel you have a fair arrangement.

Amazing job on cleaning and reorganizing your living room!

Welcome back!  Looks like you have had a lot of wins while you've been away.  On the books- you know you don't have to pick the longest books, right?!😉😀 I loved the  Stormlight Archives, but I'm sort of ready for them to just conclude, so  I may not make it through the whole series

We have had more thunderstorms, but nothing serious. In between storms it has been sunny and pleasant. It is storming again this afternoon.   I took advantage of the dry weather on Saturday to mow 2/3 of the front yard. The grass was nearly waist high. It was slow going but not as difficult as the side yard. Maybe I am getting in better shape or maybe the grass was not as thick. The area is larger.   Dumbledore mowed the rest of the front yard and all of the back yard yesterday, during another break in the weather. The back yard is much more difficult because it has a slope in part of it. He was wiped out when he was done.     Far busier than I would like.   I am glad that we went to hear our friend play music on Friday and Saturday night. I brought my knitting and got to chat with friends who I don't see often. The rest of the weekend was chores and working on writing the training schedule for our new people who start next Monday. I was hoping to get that finished on Sunday. I made a good start on Sunday then failed to get it done Monday. Today has been super busy with emails that piled up over the long weekend. I am going to be working late today to get it done.   Yesterday I felt like I was nearly back to my pre-covid level of efficiency. I did yoga in the morning then started in on my list. I made good progress on laundry, cooking, dishes, accounting and a little cleaning. I took some small breaks but did not get sucked into a hole of avoidance behavior. And I did all of that without feeling seriously overwhelmed or resentful. That is a real win because I chose not to go to either aikido or spinning because I had too much to do.   I hope I can keep both the level of productivity and the calmer emotional state. I can tell I am just on the edge of being overwhelmed again. Anytime a new problem comes up, I get a feeling of dread. I am getting better at triage and letting things wait. Better does not mean good. I would much rather have those things done and they are annoying.   I managed to get one tub of summer clothes put away. There are two more to do. That means I have to move Dumbledore's stuff off the tubs and dig if I want to find a T-shirt or a pair of shorts. I ordered pizza last night because I did things other than cooking. I have a pot of cooked beans, cooked chicken and chicken stock that I made yesterday. I have ham stock that I made earlier in the week, with plans to make bean soup. I succeeded in making banana bread with chocolate chips and walnuts. This was a request from Dumbledore. I am trying to move away from commercial sweets to our own baked goods, so I got this one done. I felt unreasonably satisfied about using up three aging bananas.    Elf continues to be little help. They asked me about cooking yesterday. I told them I needed about an hour to finish what I was doing and clean up so they could cook. I made sure the stove and counters were clean and all the dishes were washed (so that I could hold them to the same standard). It was early afternoon when I told them that the kitchen was all theirs. They never came out from their room to cook. The only thing they have done to help in the last four days was put away clean dishes this morning.   Cleo had another problem this weekend. This time with one of her eyes. The doctor thought that it is probably an autoimmune issue and related to her other autoimmune problems. She gets to see an endocrinologist this week. We are all hoping that might lead to a unified treatment plan.   I hope I will have a more positive update tomorrow. I am just waiting for my coworkers to head home so I can concentrate on my project.