August 4th: Commerce

 Today I am thankful for the marketplace, commerce, stores that are open when I urgently need a restroom and they have one I can use, and I make a courtesy purchase in gratitude for its availability and use. Today’s courtesy purchase:

I am thankful for birthdays; today’s is an amazing woman’s birthday. She’s the same age as the fellow  whose memorial service DH and I attended yesterday. 😮 Time flies. We cannot take life for granted.

I dreamt of our late friend and bizarre work scenarios last night. Easy does it. The food place is supposed to call me today to confirm tomorrow morning’s early order for work. Nothing like working on your own time. Easy does it. Plan B is to show up there an hour before the requested items are to be ready, to make sure the ball is rolling.

Seven more years before I’m eligible for retirement. Seriously? And then my reward is lowered income and five times higher health insurance premium? Good grief.

Back to the gratitude antidotes. Yes, antidotes. I suppose anecdotes, too, at times. I am grateful to have a job and the wherewithal to pay for others to take care of me (the coffee shop, the convenience store, and the drive thru breakfast places this morning), and me to take care of others - i.e. DH’s plan G premium.

Have a good day, everyone! Hugs and Love, Ace

August 3rd: Nail Polish

 

Today I am thankful that DD left nail polishes and tools here when she moved out. It gives me more selection to use on my current nails.

I have very, very, very thin nails that are of no consequence most of the year. Sometimes in the summer I get lucky and they grow and I can have some fun:

Last week I discovered the leftover (abandoned?) tools, and added a heart and a flower to my manicure. With the pale background, they may have looked more like debris that didn't get washed off. Oh, well, I enjoyed them!

Not sure what this week's iteration will look like. So many choices! 

Have a good day - love & hugs, Ace

August 2nd: My Boss

Today I am grateful for my boss, for taking on the role of leadership and carrying the weight that comes with that. By the end of the day they were driving me crazy, which makes me realize as I type this how much of a family my workplace is. Lol and Hmmm. 🤔

I am thankful for cats, because they bring so much joy to so many people, and sharing cat content is one of the best uses of the internet IMO.

I am grateful for eggs, a cheap and easy to prepare protein rich food.

I am so grateful to all the helpers working to restore my city after bad storms - water, trees, electricity, communication - many, many things we take for granted but really, really require a lot of work. Like learning what food to toss after a power outage, and where to get more.

Today I am thankful for my spouse. His support means so much right now.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

August 1st: The smell of coffee

Today I am grateful to smell DH's coffee automatically brewing first thing in the morning; it means our electric power has been restored.

I am grateful DH and Benji made it home safely yesterday. A storm blew through our landlocked area with tropical storm force winds. DH drove in the thick of it to pick up Benji from daycare.

The deciduous hardwood trees took the winds as well as they could, but the wreckage is significant. Approximately 10% of the population lost power. My usual coffee shop is closed today for lack of electricity; so is DD's workplace. And DD's home is without power still. We were only off about 6 hours here.

I took a lovely long walk around the neighborhood yesterday with the last of the day's light. It was so nice to say hello to people on their porches and balconies, and chat a bit with some. At about the halfway point, I realized I had a very friendly dress on: light blue with dragons breathing rainbows (instead of fire) and I think white clouds too? Very elementary school, lol. In fact, a young child requested I close his car door for him, and I did so. Mom was on her cell phone. Older sibling thanked me through the dark tinted window. :)

Those types of human interactions are soul sustaining for me. But they don't happen often; we are in our dwellings, working on, watching, or communicating with screens. Sigh. I actually felt like a teenager again, with an unknown stretch of unscheduled time and "nothing to do".

Have a good day! Hugs and love, Ace

Giving myself credit

 A Beck concept, if I remember correctly.

I came out here to articulate what I’ve been up to, thinking it’s immodest bragging, knowing it was too lengthy to put in the chat thread.

I wrote: Friday - doctor and tire repair. My mind was blank after that. Really, that’s it? Why were you so exhausted? That’s not long enough for a blog. And I deleted it.

Then I took a bike break to use the restroom, and DH had me move the cake I baked this morning - oh yeah, I did that - and memories of all I tended started to come back.

Yesterday morning I got up and biked per my usual routine. Since the day was not hot yet, and I had time before the doctor, I went into the yard and pruned along the west fence and around the shed, until the trash can was almost full.

I went to the annual doctor visit, good report, he’ll leave me alone until next year (that’s good to me, others may have different relationships with and needs from their providers). After that, I finally got to the tire place and got the slow leak patched. They found additional things that need tending, so I arranged for Tuesday to get them done, having to call work in the process to ask my buddy to check my calendar so I don’t miss any critical work things.

When I got home, I started in on my new read, “Nothing to Fear”, about end of life journeys. I follow the author on TikTok, and my work pal has a dear friend whose mother just went on hospice. I was thinking about buying the book for a while, and I hope to finish it this weekend and offer it to that pal.

I remembered other chores, so initiated a tree removal inquiry, and scheduled pedicures for me and my DD today.

This morning, I got up and made a cake for tonight’s potluck. Oh, yeah, a trip to the store for those ingredients was another of yesterday’s activities! After this bike ride, we’ll get those pedicures. I’ll come home to be Benji’s companion while DH goes to rehearsal. When he returns, I’ll head to the potluck. I feel as busy as Deb from San Diego - more to do than I prefer!

Hopefully tomorrow I can sit and relax and read my book. But - its also Father’s Day and I did pick up a trinket for DH and I suppose there’s a chance I’ll go to a play reading with him. We shall see.

Have a great day, everyone, and keep p the positive self talk. Remember to give yourself credit for every little thing you do that moves you closer to your goals!  As OKM says, and MOBYCARP used to say, Life is good!

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Here Comes the Sun

I wash my hands and gaze at my painted nails, and I realize that I “feel” those 13 additional minutes of sunlight gained in January (in length of day). Nail polish makes my nails feel smothered, but I like its  decorative nature, and it’s there to be functional - my already paper thin nails are at their weakest this time of year, peeling and cracking, with not much nail substance there to break off in the first place.

Seasonal affect is a thing.

Why do people want to medicate it away?

Wouldn’t it be better to roll with it, let Mother Nature direct us to reflect on our actions, sit with our thoughts and feelings, and make plans for the more active times of year?

Rest days are important. Rest times are important.

Around here, they talk about people surviving blizzards by hiding in haystacks. I’m thinking evolution will select for those with SAD, because they naturally don’t go out into the dangerous winter weather.

I am not knocking those with SAD who do compensate with medication - heck, I have to work year round, and use daylight electric light to help reduce my natural need for more sleep in winter. But I am more inclined to be in sync with nature, wake with the sun, be active on mild days and stay still on those that are not. Which reminds me, staying still is a skill. Good one to learn.

We’ll gain more than an hour of daylight in February, and in my experience, people become much more active throughout this month. My mother would have described the human behavior as “It’s spring and the sap is rising!” especially when it calls attention to itself.

My sap is rising, and I have the lovely distractions this month of rabbit, rabbit (first day), play reading invitation (today), congregational celebration and SIL birthday and lunar new year (next weekend), Mardi Gras, Valentines Day, and game night (two weekends away), and DH’s birthday to which I can direct my energies. Whew! More activity than I think I want or need, but I’ll take it a day at a time and do what I can.

Even as I wrote this blog, I walked the dog, cooked breakfast, and took out the trash.

Yep.

My sap is rising.

The Secret Step Tracker

Confession time: I bought DH a step tracker, but I never thought he'd use it.

And after he started using it, I realized I wanted one. I think I unconsciously thought I would end up using it, since I was sure he wouldn't. After he began to report his numbers, and I realized this, I ordered an identical one for myself.

It's simple. No connecting to a smart phone. Cheap. Charges in a USB port. Resets itself to zero each day. Eliminates my waffling about returning to wearing a wristwatch; this tells the time, too. Works for me!

But, I don't want to hurt his feelings. I can easily get twice his steps, at least on at home days (I haven't had mine very long).

This all started with his December surgery, hospitalization, and re-hospitalization for five days with post surgical complications. I told him I wanted proof he was getting better, since the last time they discharged him, he got worse. He surprised me by starting to use the tracker - I had put his pre-sets in, height, weight, stride length, age, date, time, because he has no patience for anything frustrating. Some days, he asks me to help get the tracker onto his wrist. And for help zipping his coat, since there's a bend in the fabric that he has trouble navigating.  Lort, I'm not fond of this aging process. Is it age, or just his temperament?

But I digress. So I figure I'm feeling a lot like DD did when she got her first tattoo, waiting for us to notice, and we hadn't for a while, so she made a point of making us notice. I've been wearing long sleeves over my tracker, but I do reference it, and he might have noticed, but he hasn't said anything. I'm glad I'm writing this. It helps me process and now I think I'll have a better answer for him if and when he says something. Mostly, I don't want to share my step number, for fear of disheartening him or generating some sort of competition I do not want to have.

A dear friend inquired about DH, and with recent good blood test results mentioned he should be fine as long as he eats right and exercises. Yeah, right. Part of the tracker idea was to get him off his behind, because he spends most of his retirement day surfing his laptop and watching TV.  His only activity was walking the dog, and now that the snowstorm has coated outdoor surfaces, that will be drastically reduced. Sigh. Can't live another person's life for them.

My goal is to make sure I get at least 3000 steps each work day. I remember in the era of fitbit dots, some days were a struggle to get to 3 dots. So, in my often sedentary job, I aim to be more conscious of getting minimal movement. Keeping the focus on myself, and taking it one day at a time.