[DarK_RaideR]

You owe me nothing, friend. I'm just glad to see your progress and maybe even play a part in it. That and how well everyone has embraced the whole West Marches thing, is reward enough for me.

[Artemis Prime]

19 minutes ago, Heidi said:

I'm so glad to know that there is another TMC fan. Bullet is the third one, right? 

I think when we build that little HalfwayPoint shack, we'll need to set copies of these sorts of books on the shelf above the tea pot.  

It is the third one, yes. And absolutely, we will have plenty of books in our HalfwayPoint shack.

 

An Introvert's Delight challenge definitely sounds like something I should look into further. 

21 minutes ago, Heidi said:

I feel like I talk with you in my head as I'm going about my day, especially on that long walk to the gym, and it's nice to feel present and connected.

Agreed, even when I am not posting here, this community is never that far from my mind.

[Heidi]

Well, I made it to Jedi Council unch, and it was wonderful. I'm glad I went.

Work has been surprisingly quiet and suprisingly productive today.

 

I had an insight about one of the things I've learned this challenge: Whatever steps I get before work, and certainly before noon, are the lion's share of what I'll get for the whole day. Knowing this helps me plan for success ad set my goals in a realistic way for next round. I think I'd like to see if I can get 5,000 steps in during my morning commute. This might mean a longer outdoor walk before the gym, and might mean more trips around the track once I'm inside, or possibly both. Maybe it means a long way back, as well as there. I'm not sure about the execution details, but this feels like the right kind of approach.

 

Also, I've not gone to Zazen in the last couple weeks, and I'll need to leave this on my radar to get more information. It's possible that it's just too much outside. It's also possible that there was just a ton of appointments crammed into this challenge, and I needed to find nesting time whenever I could. I'll be thinking about what it means to have "success" with Zazen as part of a group, and what my appointments scheduling looks like. It's possible that I'm overbooking myself and not prioritizing my evening rest, treating it as incidental when I might need to see it as Evening Rest, an already existing appointment. Reframing it might be the solution; we'll see.

 

Happy Week 5, Friends!

[Heidi]

Forgot to add The List:

Week Five October 7-13

• Monday Jedi Council
• Tuesday Dentist
• Tuesday Zazen?
• Wednesday Philosophy with James
• Thursday Farm Share
• Friday Milk Share
• Friday Housekeeping
• Friday Corinne
• Friday Acupuncture
• Friday Football
• Saturday Philosophy & Restoration
• Sunday Philosophy & Restoration
   

[Heidi]

Because of West Marches, when I got fidgety while reading Philosophy, I put on my trainers and went out the door. It's a beautiful October evening, and I walked down to the plaza, passing my favorite statue of Henrietta Lacks. I did a mile all told. Very nice.

[Snarkyfishguts]

43 minutes ago, Heidi said:

Because of West Marches, when I got fidgety while reading Philosophy, I put in my trainers and went out the door. It's a beautiful October evening, and I walked down to the plaza, passing my favorite statue of Henrietta Lacks. I did a mile all told. Very nice.

Look at all the flowers! Thats a nice spot indeed!

[Heidi]

This morning the .303 Bookworm teamed up with All the Reasons and I just laid there and looked at the ceiling in the dark for several hours.

I knew I needed to get up.

I knew I wanted to go for a walk.

I knew that work was waiting, not that I really cared in the moment.

I took an assessment and realized: I had precisely zero fux.

This seemed rude, given that I had a full bag of fux just the evening before, and I wondered what happened.

And then it hit me: this was a full-on mystery!

I was at the beginning of The Case of the Missing Fux!

Okay, now there's something I can work with, I thought as I got up.

I moved very gently, and very slowly. Oooof, this was not going to be easy, but there would be tea, so that's always a blessing.

I put on trainers and grabbed my hoodie -- the temperature had dropped 20 degrees overnight -- and, armed with a steaming cup of tea and my gym bag (just in case, mind you, you never know), I walked out of the building, on the hunt for the fux I had apparently lost overnight. They had to be around here somehwere, and if I could find just one, it would be everything.

 

I walked down to the statue.

I turned and walked north for a block and Luck Avenue, the street that always seems to be more of an abandoned alley where the out-of-luck gather, seemed to be an ideal candidate for buried and missing fux. I turned and walked up Luck for several blocks until I was at the bottom door of the gym. My tea was almost gone, and I swiped in, skipping the track, and headed straight for the steam room and sauna. I found a portion of what I had lost in the steam room, and the sauna is always a good choice. The shower afterward seemed to wash away the Bookworm muzziness, but I still didn't really much care any more than I had before I left the Loft, but I was clean and mobile and headed in the right direction. 

 

At home, I started taking things out of the fridge that needed to be dealt with -- it's compost pail day. I fetched out the half onion that was still worth using and chopped it fine, tossed it in the Magic Bean Pot with some butter. It could simmer and do its thing while I cleared out the vegetables and other things that needed to go to compost.I set the compost pail outside my front door for pickup later today, and made a note that the fridge shelves could do with a good scrubbing.  Once the Compost pail was dealt with, the onions were soft and ready, and I added a ham hock that I had thawed overnight, and measured out a pound of navy beans, then covered them with two liters of water from the purifier. I could have taken the time to make some chicken broth, but the fux cupboard was pretty bare, so good filtered water it is.

 

I logged in and was working along when I got an error message that the trust relationship between my laptop and the organization had failed. WOOO! That was a little hair-raising, and then somehow it magically healed. Okay Universe, I hear you.  Why must the beginning of every quarter be like this at this organization? It's a circus.

 

I checked my FitBit, and it looks like my Search For The Missing Fux resulted in 1.5 miles, which is exactly the sort of result that reinforces the game.

I'm still not really actively caring about anything, but I'm not lying in bed in a pool of apathy, so I'll take it as a win.

Happy Tuesday.

❤️

 

[Heidi]

I'm thinking I might try for a Noon-O-Clock assessment each day in the next round, since it seems that by noon I've accomplished most if not all of what I'll get done in the day other than reading (and sometimes even for reading as well).

Today, so far, I've:

• walked 1.5 miles
• cleaned out the fridge
• set out the compost pail
• cooked Senate Bean Soup
• Transferred the apple pear sauce to storage jars for the fridge
• Rinsed a bunch of cooking dishes for the next round of washing (probably tonight)
• Logged in to work
• Posted in my thread (still need to go catch up on the threads of others, possibly after lunch).

It's not a great list, but it's not bad for an Apathy day.

I had a nice bowl of yogurt with granola and apple-pear sauce and a dash of cinnamon, and it was lovely.

I have work to do between now and leaving for the dentist (rescheduled from a coupe weeks ago with the horrible flooding and rains), and then in therory I'm reading a couple essays by Dewey.

We'll just have to see how it goes.

If I can find my gumption, it's a beautiful day for a walk, and the dentist is only 20 minutes or so away.

[Mistr]

You got a LOT done this morning for a low energy day.

 

20 hours ago, Heidi said:

Also, I've not gone to Zazen in the last couple weeks, and I'll need to leave this on my radar to get more information. It's possible that it's just too much outside. It's also possible that there was just a ton of appointments crammed into this challenge, and I needed to find nesting time whenever I could. I'll be thinking about what it means to have "success" with Zazen as part of a group, and what my appointments scheduling looks like. It's possible that I'm overbooking myself and not prioritizing my evening rest, treating it as incidental when I might need to see it as Evening Rest, an already existing appointment. Reframing it might be the solution; we'll see.

 

Excellent questions. What are you looking for in your zazen practice?

 

I ask this as a person who did zazen solo for over a year before my practice group moved back to my dojo. Here are the things I get from group practice:

• Sense of community that comes from shared experience with very little conversation
• Sitting zen with someone else in control of the time. There is a huge social pressure to hold still and not bail out early.
• Additional practices with other people - walking meditation (kinhin) and chanting (okyu)
• Chance to meet with my teacher and ask questions. This is occasional, since I don't have a lot of questions (other than the perennial "am I doing this right?") and he is only there about half the time.

Any of those resonate with you?

[Heidi]

 

22 minutes ago, Mistr said:

What are you looking for in your zazen practice?

This is a good question.

I didn't have any idea what I might get out of a zazen practice until I went, and then I found that I was missing it when I didn't go. 

The things I was missing are the answers to the question you asked.

I think my answers are very similar to yours:

22 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Sense of community that comes from shared experience with very little conversation

This is a big part of why I am bothering to go. The sense of shared community is a big deal, and I like it very much. 

22 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Sitting zen with someone else in control of the time. There is a huge social pressure to hold still and not bail out early.

I hadn't thought about it in these terms, specifically, but on my list is a very similar thing: it feels like a discipline, and not only a practice.

22 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Additional practices with other people - walking meditation (kinhin) and chanting (okyu)

The group does both of these things, and I had never done them at all before. I feel enriched by them and also feel engaged because it's new-to-me.

22 minutes ago, Mistr said:

Chance to meet with my teacher and ask questions.

The opportunity for deeper reflection is really important to me with this group. They sometimes do a buddhist book club, and sometimes host other groups, or have seminars or the like. This feels vibrant, elastic, and seems to have a lot of possibilities, as the Universe sees fit to help us discover.

[Heidi]

I had an energy crash around 2:30, and called the dentist to reschedule.
When I spoke with a friend who is a therapist today at lunchtime, she brought up the words Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (which looms in my past) and Burnout and I took note. She's not wrong to call out both of these things. 

 

I'm tired.

I am apathetic to my core.

Nonetheless, I read the Dewey essays and made good notes.

In the coming weeks, I'd like to get the readings done on Thursday and Friday instead of leaving them to the last minute on Tuesday (James and I meet on Wednesdays at lunchtime to discuss the readings). Yes, I know that's what the last minute is for, but even so, the whole thing is arbitrary, so I can set the "deadline" whenever it is most helpful for me.

I only had two Fux by the time I logged in this morning, and I think they were both depleted.

I have rescheduled the dentist appointment, and that's okay.

Probably won't make it to Zazen tonight, since I can barely make it downstairs out of the Library.

❤️ 

[Mistr]

1 hour ago, Heidi said:

I had an energy crash around 2:30, and called the dentist to reschedule.
When I spoke with a friend who is a therapist today at lunchtime, she brought up the words Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (which looms in my past) and Burnout and I took note. She's not wrong to call out both of these things. 

 

I'm tired.

I am apathetic to my core.

 

Yeah, that is a sign.

 

You have been doing a lot. A good chunk of that is doing things to take care of yourself, but it is still a lot. I would say you have been doing many of the good things.

 

It seems like your body and brain are demanding more deep relaxation time. If that is true, it would be prudent to schedule more of that rather than having to cancel fun things. You can always spontaneously go out and do something fun if you have extra energy. I hear you laughing at the idea of having extra energy. That is a sign.

[Heidi]

3 hours ago, Mistr said:

I hear you laughing at the idea of having extra energy. That is a sign.

You are so right.

[Heidi]

Fell asleep around 9:30 and slept very well.

Woke up at 4:30, which is fine, and then just stared at the ceiling in the dark again, which is also fine.

I thought it was just for a minute or three, but it turned out to be over two hours.

Okay, Universe.

 

I got up and made tea.

I did not go to the gym or even leave the apartment.

That's okay, I think. There's a restoration that's happening, and even so, the goal is regular gym visit, and regular walks. I would certainly tell any friend of mine that 3-5 days a week is a solid success, so I think I can start treating myself the same way.

 

I ate well yesterday. I'm glad I made the Senate Bean Soup and the apple-pear sauce. I had a bowl of soup for a late lunch, and around 7:30 last night I made a sandwich on the wonderful fresh bread from the Farm Share (a honey whole wheat that I would love to have as a staple) with a layer of fresh spinach as well, just to give a nod to all those dark leafy greens categories of nutrients. Of course there was milk. All of this is helping the rest be restorative.  

 

I'm thinking about what it means to prioritize rest, and how, as Mistr observed, I have been doing All The Things even though they are all good things.

Perhaps I need to limit my availability, even for good medical appointments.

Next week is the neuro-audiologist, and maybe that's all I can do in one week, even though I also have massage and acupuncture appointments.

Today I'm meeting with James.

Tomorrow is band boosters, then Friday is a whole raft of appointments and goings-on: therapy, driving an hour to get my new glasses, driving back, acupuncture, and then the football game. WHEW. When I write it all out like that, it's pretty clear that I've been doing a lot.

 

Definitely something to take forward as I craft my next challenge.

[Artemis Prime]

2 hours ago, Heidi said:

I think I can start treating myself the same way.

This is very wise.

[Ranger Hal]

1 hour ago, Artemis Prime said:

3 hours ago, Heidi said:

I think I can start treating myself the same way.

This is very wise.

I agree.

[Heidi]

Philosophy with James went very well.

We are not meeting next week, since he has a million things and I have a neuro-audiologist appointment on Monday that I susupect will wipe me out (see what I did there?).

We set the readings for our next meeting and talked about some Qualifying Exam housekeeping sorts of things.

I wrote to my committee chair and asked for a touchbase meeting on these same housekeeping things.

 

Work is work, and it's a circus. It all feels very precarious.

During lunctime, I got a listserv announcement about a digital librarian position for next summer, so I sent my reseume in. Who knows what will come of it, but an internship is a requirement, and I am limited to remote work, and digital librarianship is right up my alley, so okay, Universe.

 

Given that we aren't meeting next week, I'm sort of tempted to delay the upcoming readings for a bit and give myself some space-and-grace to simply be still this evening. 

I have some episode or other to catch up on I'm sure, but if anything I thik i'll probably poke around for a new personal-reading book and call it an early night.

[Heidi]

Another Bookworm morning.

I could blame any number of things, but honestly, I think the brain is jsut having a time of it right now. I'm very glad I have acupuncture tomorrow.

I fell asleep by nine, and work up around 5, which is reasonable, and felt awful. I laid there for a bit (which was in fact about an hour) and then got up and took a pill and laid back down. It took another hour or so to work, as it does, and I got up and gently made tea. This is the Way.

 

Obviously that means no walk or gym this morning.

I'd like to go tomorrow, if possible, so that I can point myself in the right direction with the steam room and sauna.

 

This morning's weird cognitive path involved checking out the special seminars in LIS for next term, just on a whim, and finding a special topics seminar on information policy ethics. I know I said I was putting library studies on hold while I focused on the Quals and Dissertation, but this seems to offer an important part of what I'm researching, so I dropped a note to my Chair to ask him what he thinks. Then I dropped a note to my Library advisor to ask if the class would count as my technology requirement (it darned well should, but they can get particular about these things; academia is medieval like that). If they both say yes, then I think it's worth the effort. We'll see where it all goes.

 

Tonight I have Band Boosters. I think I'll be able to do that, but not much else. There is Philosophy reading to do (more Dewey, as ever), and I might get an essay read today, and I might not, and that's still all okay. 

I'm moving gently through my day, and this is good.

[Heidi]

my lunchtime meeting got reschuled, so I'm spending a minute reviewing the original goals and thinking about how I did and what I want for the next leg of the jouney.

First: What I aimed for:

On 9/3/2024 at 8:32 PM, Heidi said:

Cantrips +1 each Daily tasks that I'm tracking, including loggin in to work, forum posts, and a whole host of things that @DarK_RaideR used to call "domestic Rangering."

Druiding +20 each Weekly tasks. Ideally I would have 5 of these a week, one for each weekday, but sometimes things get a little jumbled. I'm hoping that tracking will help me find a nicer, or at least smoother, rhythm.

Gym +10/visit What matters is that I actually go to the gym. I'm not worried about how much I do or even what I do; I'm here to re-establish a habit. Going in the door is the win.

PhD Things +20 each The brain injury is making an intellectual work extrememly difficult right now, and I've amended my timeline, but there are still PhD things to be done. 

Debt & Finances +20 each Monthly things that have to be done (medical bills, tuition, savings, credit card payments, etc.)

Social +20 each I'm glad I have alliances, and also it takes a huge amount out of me to go out of the house, and to be social, and when both of these are happening, wow, it's a lot for this introvert. 

Medical Appointments +20 each I have more medical appointments than ever, and they wear me out, but they need to be done. I'm hoping that tracking will help me manage them a little more smoothly.

This was mostly a tracking-and-visibility effort more than "do things and get many points" effort, and I'm glad I did that. I had been (awww, look at how cute the past tense is, there, it's just adorable!) cramming my time full, and never felt like I was actually getting anything accomplished, so this was very useful.

 

How I did:

• Excellent tracking and visibility. I will definitely be continuing this breakdown, and I am glad to finally have a system that tracks all the things while also weighting them in the right way (making my bed or doing the dishes is one point, a gym visit is ten points; Philosophy reading is 20 -- this is the right scale).
• I am packing way too much in, because i'm not leaving enough space (Ma) for the small things and for simply being, and I wasn't allowing the difficult things to have space to be difficult or hard and require recovery time. This can be corrected and put into balance, and would make a nice target for the coming challenge. I'm not certain how to measure and quantify all that, just yet, but it feels right.
• Overall improvement to daily tasks, chores, and Bookworm management. Visibility helps.
• Very helpful insights in what NOT to do: not doing viola, not doing Brain PT, not doing Zazen. These all are wonderful things, but I'm already worn out and I keep forgetting to make allowances for Band Boosters and all the many many medical appointments that have just crammed themselves into every nook and cranny. I want to take the visibility and planning forward. Hopefully not so many medical appointments, and definitely not allowing medical or educational appointments to cram in. Everything deserves its own space and time. If possible, no more than one a week, and I already have acupuncture every week and a massage every two weeks and I need to allow for the healing that they are brining.
• Massive improvement in walking and in going to the gym. I like this. This is good. I want to take this forward. 

[Elastigirl]

Great insights into how to make your challenge  helpful for your life. 

1 hour ago, Heidi said:

I am packing way too much in, because i'm not leaving enough space (Ma) for the small things and for simply being, and I wasn't allowing the difficult things to have space to be difficult or hard and require recovery time. This can be corrected and put into balance, and would make a nice target for the coming challenge. I'm not certain how to measure and quantify all that, just yet, but it feels right.

I've been realizing I do this too. I've been working at just giving myself  some time to sit and relax after a hard task

[Heidi]

18 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Great insights into how to make your challenge  helpful for your life. 

I've been realizing I do this too. I've been working at just giving myself  some time to sit and relax after a hard task

This is so hard for me!

I remember when I was building a bunch of bookcases and sorting through boxes from storage a couple years ago, and it first hit me that 30 minutes of "work" required two hours of staring-at-the-ceiling afterwards.

I am still learning.

 

Yesterday I picked up the farm share, sorted through the older vegetables in the fridge, and then went to Band Boosters. The Band meeting was very good, and I'm glad I went. 

I was wiped out when I got home around 9, but also keyed up, so I made toast and tea while I put this week's farm share away and then watched an episode (season finale of Slow Horses) and went to bed. I was almost asleep when I sprang awake, dizzy and with a headache and also simply ravenous, so I got up, took a Maxalt and ate and watched another episode and a half while using a heating pad. This isn't optimal, but it was the quickest path and I slept very well once I got to sleep. Also, Disclaimer looks very promising. 

 

I'm going to be a bit of a nervous wreck over the coming few months because of the precarity at work, and I'm trying to respond to that effectively; freaking out does not serve me.

This morning it took the whole morning to be a real person. It takes what it takes. I made a cup of double strength tea, and so far it's doing a heoric job of helping. 

I have a lot on my plate today: glasses pickup at the neuro-optometrist an hour away and then acupuncture before the football game tonight. It's a lot, and I think I'll be able to do it, and I also think tomorrow is going to be a lot of resting, as will Sunday.

 

I noticed we're all hitting a bit of a lull around here -- this happens sometimes, and often it tends to coincide with seasonal changes. Please bear in mind that this might not be only you!

There were northern lights visible from the roof last night, and the air was cool; this morning there's a distinct chill in the air and the temperatures are forecast to drop markedly: from a high of 83 (28.3 C) on Sunday to 56 (13.3 C) on Tuesday. It's going to be a good week to huker down and get stuff done indoors, and by "stuff" I mean knitting, reading, and drinking vats of tea.

❤️ 

[Heidi]

Had an impromptu meeting with a different director this morning to talk about the things I bring to the team that could help take the load off and actively support the members of his team, and this is good, maybe?

Fingers crossed.

We'll see what shakes out in the coming month or so.

[Heidi]

On 10/8/2024 at 5:34 PM, Mistr said:

I hear you laughing at the idea of having extra energy. That is a sign.

 

On 10/8/2024 at 9:04 PM, Heidi said:

You are so right.

 

 

More signs and portents friends.

First to portents:

Yesterday I sent out a bunch of resumes into the universe, and noticed my heart wasn’t in it. I mean, it’s job searching not a marriage, and this is a very practical, no-frills matter: find the job postings that meet the criteria, apply for job posting, repeat.

 

And yet.

While doing this, I felt a little let down by the postings. Every company (every single one!) mentions how great it is to work there and how wonderful their community is. I’m sure they’re right, and that’s not the problem. The problem is that it was shining a spotlight on something that I’m missing: community. I love working remote, of course, but I feel disjointed and isolated because I am  disjointed and isolated. Could my company do more? Of course they could, but that’s not the point; the point is that I’m feeling disjointed and isolated, have been feeling that way for some time, and that’s real and it’s not good for me.

 

So I started thinking about that. 

What sorts of jobs would I want to take if all jobs payed the same?

The thought came back: I’d like to be part of a team that nourishes communities (like World Central Kitchen).

Whoa, hold up there, Druid, there’s a lot going on in that sentence.

So I sat with that, and thought about how “nourishing partnerships” is in so many things that I do, from food partnerships with nearby farms to my understanding of what a library is for.

This felt like an important insight, one that is obvious once it’s seen. It will probably color everything I’m thinking about going forward, I thought, as I put on my boots and headed out for a day of appointments and activities.

 

I drove to the optical center, missed a turn, and the 45 minute drive ended up taking an hour and a half, but I picked up my glasses. They somehow didn’t get the memo about needing progressive lenses, so I was halfway home when I realized that I couldn’t read my watch or my phone, and the sunglasses aren’t polarized,  and this isn’t going to work, of course. I dropped them a note to please send me a quote for the progressives. In the meantime, I can switch from distance to readers. The switch to purple tint from blue is really nice and is a dramatic help. I am very glad I have them.  Of course I also have the glasses I was wearing before, and I will keep wearing the “old” progressives until we get the “new” ones in.  These glasses, man. It’s like buying a house. But the good news is that I can tell that they are working very well. The prisms are doing their thing to act like a brace for my brain. Also, the sunglasses look very mod with the deep purple lenses. The tint is less on the regular glasses, but it’s still purple. Kind of cool. Feels very gypsy-witch, and I hadn’t expected that.

 

I went to the game, and it was a nice evening. The autumn chill came in with deliberation just after half time, and I was glad of my layers.

 

And now to signs:

A bunch of the parents wanted to get together after the game for drinks, and I had already begged off the last one, and this one coincided with a birthday, so even though it was late and I was wiped out, I went. I’m glad I did. Two of the parents who are just “the gang” to me and I were talking. We ended up discussing the World Central Kitchen and some of the other group responses to the post-Helene disaster that is still playing out in our region. I mentioned how the efforts has encouraged my spirit, and that I hadn’t realized how depleted my Solidarity-meter was until it got boosted, and how I think I want to do something in my next job that helps. One of the spouses and I got to nerding out about IT, since he mentioned that he has also been in IT for decades, and we talked about how toxic it is as an industry. Just chewing the fat, basically, being social. We traded numbers, and he said he’d keep me in mind if he comes across anything that fits what I do. The Universe loves me and wants me to be happy. 

 

It was a good evening, and I was glad I went, even though I was extremely tired by the time I got home. 

I watched half an episode and fell asleep.

 

I slept like a log.

Thank you, Universe.

 

I assumed that I would be wiped out today, and I am.

I assumed my head would be a wreck and that my feet would be trashed from all the walking, and that I would be incapacitated. I am none of these things (thanks to the new boots with extra mid-sole shock absorption and a layer of cork; they are awesome). 

It’s still very much a Recovery Day, but only a day starting at 0, not a day trying to get to 0.

The Universe loves me and wants me to be happy.

❤️

 

[Mistr]

What excellent insights!

 

I hope your new contact from the band parents can hook you up with a better job.

 

Frustrating that your new glasses do not have all the features you asked for. Does that mean you will have to make the long drive again, or they be shipped back and forth?

[Heidi]

10 hours ago, Mistr said:

I hope your new contact from the band parents can hook you up with a better job.

Same. Fingers crossed.

 

10 hours ago, Mistr said:

Frustrating that your new glasses do not have all the features you asked for. Does that mean you will have to make the long drive again, or they be shipped back and forth?

Worse than just a drive, we might have to go through the whole process starting with the exam again. Irksome.

Fortunately I still have the glasses I had before, since it takes four weeks to make the new lenses. I’m wearing them for now, and we’ll figure out what all this entails next week.

 

Yesterday was a good rest day.

At one point I noticed the chicken in the fridge was looking very impatient, so I chopped up some vegetables that needed using and simmered them for a bit, then put the chicken and some broth on top and let the whole mess simmer until it was done. Later, I pulled the meat off the bones and returned it to the mix and made some dumpling dough and dropped that in to simmer for a bit. I now have a pot of chicken and dumplings that is ready whenever I’m hungry again. I still have a bit of navy beans and ham left, so I think I’m well stocked for the week.

 

I also noticed that the pears from last week were dead ripe, so I peeled them and put them in the crock pot with a bit of ginger and cardamom. I have pear sauce, and will probably set it up with some oats today. 

 

It’s another Quiet Rest day, and I needed it.

❤️