Thursday, November 28, 2024

365 Day 25 through 31

 A picture a day for a year.   I am glad that I told myself at the beginning that it would be ok if I missed a day or two.  That would be part of the story of my year.   It took me  30 days before I missed a day.  I honestly thought about the picture a few times, but always while I was busy doing something else and my thought was, 'right after I'm done'.  But well, right after never happened.    I wish I had been perfect in November, but I'm ok with not being perfect.  So here is the next week of pictures:

Day 25  Not an exciting picture, but a common sight for my week.  There must be a nest of something under the tree because this week all she wanted to do was sniff under there.  All. The. Time.

Day 26   The dog always steals the limelight in this house.  But we do have other pets.   We have a hermit crab.   We at one point had a few (they were rescues from people that were not taking care of them) but we were down to one.   They are an interesting creature.  They live in communities, but they also are a bit cannibalistic.  Just this week we decided to get old Hermie another friend.  Lets see how long they can coexist!.   (So here is the thing....when they molt they are very vulnerable and quite helpless.  But while they are molting, they are also apparently very delectable to other hermit crabs.   So we added another crab......it will either be a rousing success or a tasty treat.  Pictured is the original crab......maybe some day soon I can grab a pic of the new one.


Day 27 My view tonight.   The dog curled up beside me and the bird on the perch watching us.


Day 28   Time to wash the 'stinks' off.   Zoey is not overly fond of baths, but she gets one regularly.


Day 29  Mertz stays pretty much sequestered in my office.   This is her choice.  She has the run of the house, but won't get over her fear of the dog so instead basks in the sun on the bed in the office/spare room.  In fairness, she is a geriatric cat.    She loves my work days thought.  She will sleep an hour and then visit me on my desk for a few minutes before going back to the bed to sleep.  And she will repeat that cycle throughout the day.

Day 30  -  The day I missed.  It was a relatively normal day.  I worked.  I ran to the store.  Ohhh, I did create my Christmas Cards and had them printed.  Other than that, a normal day.

Day 31  My new obsession.  I have ordered a DNA test through ancestry.com.  This is in an attempt to prove or disprove the mystery surrounding my fathers parentage. (He was adopted....and there is two possible mothers and two differing stories).   While I wait for my test tube to arrive so that I can send in my sample, I decided to go onto the website and create my family tree.  Oh my word  How fascinating.  And honestly, I am not just fascinated because it's my family.  I am also putting together Jason's family tree and that is just as fascinating!  For example:   Jason's great great aunt must was married three times.  Her first husband died in 1901 in a tragic train accident.  (I've seen pictures of the aftermath).   Oh lets not forget the man who had a family and grown kids and was divorced.  And the census papers showed that he had a live in house keeper who had a daughter that lived there also.     And somehow a few years later this housekeepers daughter was the mother to his 'second' family and his wife.  The skeletons are coming out of the closet.   hahahaha  But yeah, to say I'm somewhat obsessed right now is an understatement.


So there you go, my week.   Maybe I forgot to get the picture on that day due to the fact that I was doing my necessary things and just hurrying to get to the computer so I could play with my family trees.  :-)



Friday, November 22, 2024

365 Days 16 to 24

 The picture of the day continues.  I feel as if my life is extremely dull and boring and thus my pictures will be utterly boring.  However, I am not going to let that slow me down.   Because dull and boring still gives beauty!   SO here we go with the next week or so of pictures.

Day 16




Day 17  I have been working on a lone star quilt that I am hand piecing.  Yeah, I know it would be more efficient to use my sewing machine.  But that would require me to drag it out...set it up and leave it up until the project is done.  It's much easier to hand sew and honestly, probably more rewarding!

Day 18  I have been so intrigued with drops of water lately ...they just catch my eye.


Day 19  I had the pleasure of spending the day with my oldest nephew at The Gettysburg Battlefield.  I don't know about him...but I enjoyed it!



Day 20  I worked diligently on the digitizing the family photos project over the weekend. 

Day 21  This dog is so nosy!


Day 22   The garden is done, we have marigold guarding the empty vegetable garden.


 Day 23   My ever present shadow.   She knew she would get in trouble if she were to sit beside me and paw at me but she didn't want to go far and wanted to make her presence known....so she went around to the other side of the table.....and sat there staring at me.


 Day 24  How is it that I am wrapping Christmas gifts already????







Monday, November 18, 2024

Wither Away

 

I would love to say that this past week was a rousing success.  I would love to say that I lost an amazing amount of weight.   I would love to say that my health efforts had been spot on.  I would be absolutely over the moon to be able to say that the elephant in the room, my mobility had improved.   I would love to tell you all that.   But I can’t.

I started this past week super focused and dedicated.  A coworker and I had been talking and she is big into fasting.  She has decided that she needed to lose weight by Thanksgiving, 10 pounds was her goal in 20 days.  And she was going to do it by fasting.   She and I had had this conversation before and I had been impressed with her losses from fasting a day or so here and there.  I had previously looked into fasting as a regular tool in my healthy living lifestyle.  I even read books on fasting.    And lastly, I tried fasting at that time. And it was a colossal failure then (you can read about that here.)   So why in the world would I decide to try fasting again.  Yes, I for some reason decided that I was going to fast again.  I was going to join my coworker on this thrust to lose mad pounds by Thanksgiving by fasting.  I wasn’t going to do the 2-3 day fasts that my coworker was doing, but I was going to follow the OMAD fasting schedule, one meal a day.  What could go wrong?    (I’m telling you; I had completely blanked out the previous experience.  There is no other explanation.)   EVERYTHING went wrong.   I got hungry during my fast and when that eating window opened, I descended upon food like there was no tomorrow.  I have always said “I can do a lot of damage in one hour of eating”.  Once again, I proved it.  My weight is UP on the scale after a few days of fasting.   NO MORE FASTING FOR ME!

So I had a failure with eating, surely exercise went better!   Except, that didn’t go any better either.   I started Monday so strong.  On my word was I on top of things.  I exercised at 5AM.    I even did a short 20-minute exercise video after work!    Twice in one day!  I was on top of it.  Nothing was going to stop me!   Tuesday, I started out right with another 5 AM exercise and then it went to hell in a hand basket! 

 It was about 7:30 and I was outside with the dog.  In the mornings I pick up her toys and straighten up things that were left out the previous day.  (I swear Jason has some type of attention deficit disorder, he will be in the middle of something and just walk away and let it lay when he moves on to a different project). We were also forecasted to get our first deep freeze.   Because of that, I wanted to get a few summer things put away, namely our hoses. So while the dog was on her lead (after the dog ran away at 5AM, I have not been brave enough to let her loose while I am home by myself and if truth be known, I haven’t let her outside without a leash while Jason is in the shower either!)

   So Zoey was rambling around on her lead while I flitted around the yard doing this and doing that.   I saw something across the yard that needed my attention so I stepped over Zoey’s lead.  I was very cognizant of doing it.  But she was just serenely watching the sky, so I knew that I had time to take that step over without any concern.   Except, that dog can go from zero to 60 in no time at all!  She saw something. (There was probably an airplane flying high over us leaving its jet trail.  You see, for some reason that infuriates this dog.)  Off she took running, while I was straddling her lead.  Next thing I knew, I was kissing the ground. I must have twisted when I dropped because my left knee was bruised and sore but it was my right upper side that took the brunt of the fall.  From my shoulder blade, up through my shoulder and down my arm it hurt.    It was bad enough that the first two nights after this happened, I struggled with sleep because of the pain.  It has diminished and I am starting to feel better.  BUT you know what that did to exercise!  From that point on, exercise didn’t happen.

So it was a week of failure in terms of my weight loss and healthy living efforts.    On Friday I spent the day with my oldest nephew at the Gettysburg Battlefield’s museum, film and cyclorama.  (Yes, we took pretty much the full day to do those things.) As we went through the museum we were talking, of course.  And of course we touched on my parents.   We touched on my mom in particular, and how much we miss her.  (She had a knack in later years for saying the rudest things to me, but she still loved me to no end and I loved her and I can see where her comments to me where frustration and unhappiness in her, especially after dad died.)   We talked about how when my nephew left to go to London for grad school that he resigned himself to the fact that his grandmother would likely pass away while he was gone.   And when he came back to the states how he was so shocked at her decline. (Those of us that were able to visit frequently didn’t see it as much because it was just a steady decline…but looking back it was a pretty big descent.)   We talked about that decline that was so visible to him after almost a year away. We talked a bit about the decline and if there could have been anything that could have been done to slow down that descent.  (We agreed that better physical therapy in the first home may have changed the outcome.  MAY.   But the PT at that home wasted so much time on inefficient therapy.   Seriously, for most of her time there, PT had mom lay in bed and do leg lifts and arm raises.    They didn’t have the manpower to actually get her out of bed to start walking….and didn’t dedicate that manpower until literally 2-3 weeks before her medicare paid time was up….when they realized that if they wanted to have a ‘success’ that they needed to get her walking.  So yes, I think she may have gone further if PT would have been more efficient at that first place she was at. IN fairness though, mom was in a reduced state of physical mobility before her stroke!     But The specialists at the hospital in Pittsburg where she was airlifted had seemed to think that she would make a full recovery….so who knows.  But I digress.   My nephew and I were talking about the decline and in my head, I realized that I am letting my health and fitness levels decline.  I recognize it.  I see it.  I know it’s not too late to change.  But, if I would have a stroke right now, I am already in a reduced situation in terms of my mobility.  I would be starting at a deficit, much like mom had.  Would I have the strength to overcome, or would I just slowly decline and wither away into …….

Friday, November 15, 2024

Day 12-15

 I am still going full steam ahead with the photo a day.  I am really enjoying it.   It has been easy thus far and I have been able to remember to get my picture with no issues.  







Monday, November 11, 2024

Slow it Down

 I have a personality that it is all or nothing.  I am full steam ahead or I am floundering in the rear and flailing around.  I can see the effects of this quite clearly in my life quite a bit.  I have come to the realization that this has happened in the last week or two.  So now I have to back track and correct my course.  At least I figured it out, right?

This seems to be part of my intrinsic nature.  I find a project and I dive right on in.  I'm so excited and ready to slay the project.  I'm going to be Mary-Conqueror-Fran!  It is going to be fabulous!    Seriousl, how many times have I come up with some new project that I am full fledged invested in and after a week or two never mention it again. Sometimes I am even embarrassed to start a new project or idea on here because there is so many.    I don't even want to look....but there are a LOT.    Lets see, there is 2024 miles in 2024.  There was the tracker journal that I was creating each month.  Ohheck, I am stopping there because it depresses me!   But that goes hand in hand with a recent post that I made about finishing projects.  I wrote about how it was time to stop spreading myself thin.  How it was time to clean up all this clutter and finally finish some projects. (You can read about that here.)  I even started this clean up mission!  I made myself a list for last weekend of things that I wanted to do in order to get closer to finishing some of these projects!  I trucked through the project like there was no tomorrow!  I was so proud of myself!  (Seriously, I was proud.  You can sense it in every word of this post.)  Riding high on my weekend success I made a list for the upcoming week and I was doing AMAZING with it!  

And somehow about the middle of the week I started to really think about something.  I started to realize that I was focused on the wrong thing.  I was focused on finishing projects.  I was focused on completing tasks.  I was not focusing on doing them in the highest quality possible.  I was rushing through things like a mad woman in order to be able to cross one thing off my list and in the process was sacrificing the quality of the project.   Case in point.   I had put together a lot of recipes from mom into small recipe book.  I had gone over it and deemed it 'done' and went through the process of putting it on Amazon, with a publish date for later this year.  I ordered a proof.  When I got the proof I was disappointed with some things about it.  Things that were totally in my control!  No worries.  I sat down and figured to fix them quickly, upload and move on.  But it didn't go smoothly.  I was getting frustrated.  The frustrated side of me said "just scrap the project".   But the other side said, 'but no, I want to finish projects, not scrap them'  (I know if I walk away from the project that I will most likely see it in another 6 months or one year and pick it back up as an 'unfinished project.)     And that is when I had my epiphany.   Slow it down.  It's great to have a to do list.  And sure, it's great to cross things off multiple items as completed.  But it's even more fantastic to cross of ONE thing that is done to the absolute best of your ability!  Something that you can be proud of!  

So I am regrouping.  What I did on the recipe book was not in vain.  However,  instead of crossing it off and saying that the project was completed, I need to say that it was just one STEP that was crossed off.  That one step brings me closer to the project being complete.  

So the first thing is to SLOW DOWN.   The second thing is to focus on ONE THING at once.  On the day that I was trying to make those corrections on the recipe book I was also working on a a different project.  I was dividing my attention between the two projects and both of the projects were suffering.  So one thing at a time.  

So for my current to do list for the next few days, I only have ONE writing project on there and only ONE sewing project on there.  There will be more than enough to keep me busy on those.  But I need to let my mind focus on the task at hand.   

Regrouping, refocusing and still 100% committed to completing these projects and streamlining my life!  





Friday, November 08, 2024

365: Days 1 through 11

 I have started a project where I am to take at least one picture a day for 365 days of the year. I can take a picture of whatever I want.  I can use a cell phone or one of my good cameras  It matters not.  The only rule is that  I take at least one picture a day.    I did take one or two shots just for the 'beauty' and the fun of photography and I took a few shots just to capture my day.  11 days down!

So here are days 1 through 7













Thursday, November 07, 2024

I drove a Hard Bargain With myself

I made myself a to do list for the weekend that was a little crazy!  It was long.  It had some LARGE tasks on it.  It had some smaller tasks. It was a full list! and I was determined to tackle it and finish everything. 

I am a list maker.  Making a to do list each weekend.  Sometimes it's just basic reminders of "go to Petco to pick up cat food'.  Sometimes it includes the basic items on my to do.  Things like "scrub the kitchen floor".  But this past week my list didn't juts include those basic things. Furthermore, my list was quite extensive.   What was on my list?  Projects!  I set up a HUGE to do list and I was determined to see it through!

If you remember, a few days ago I wrote about how I want to streamline my life.  I want to start to purge the unnecessary.  I want to whittle down my list of unfinished projects.  I want my life to be simple and less overwhelming.   So when I made my to do list, I placed some large projects unfinished projects on there.  Sure I placed some of the normal stuff that just comes up in life.  Things like backing up my files to my external hard drive.  But I also  I placed one of those big projects that was nearing completion that I could hopefully finish.  I also placed some that were large but still only midway through the process but I set my own goal of where I wanted to be at the end of the weekend. !   I honestly started the weekend thinking it would be fantastic if I finished everything.  Then midway through the weekend I altered my thoughts a bit because I was like, "There is no way I will get even half the stuff on my list done."   But then  somehow, I started crossing off one after another item on my do do list!  

The big project:   I took on the task of mom's recipes after she passed away.  Every recipe we found in her house I brought home and scanned into the computer.  I had completed almost everything a while back.  I literally had a wee bag of items...probably about 50 recipes.  They were stuff that was found in random places and not her tried and true stuff, so it kept getting pushed to the back burner.   I placed this task on my to do list for the weekend.  I knew that if I finished those last recipes that the project would be complete!    And guess what?   It is DONE!   I completed this big project!   

The second big project that was on the list was one that kinda goes hand in hands with organizing mom's recipes.  From the beginning of this project, I had the idea to put a small book together with some of her tried and true recipes.  I worked on that this weekend and made some great headway.  I actually got as far as I could with that and I am at a standstill for the time being.     

The third project?  A while back I started a writing project that I am calling Tales of the Scales. On the two do list was to sit down and re read what I have.  For me, while I do read books I tend to like to read over things like this (for more editorial purposes) on paper. So I printed it up. Reading it with a pen in hand was on my list of things to do.  This is the thing that I thought was not going to get done!  However, Jason didn't feel well on Sunday so we had a quiet afternoon at home.  I sat there with my pen in hand and read!  SO while the complete project isn't done, I completed that step of the project! On to the next step!

I also spent some time in my office, purging a bit.  I purged until the big garbage can outside was full.  I also organized.  It is once again, not a completion to the purge project.....but it is definitely a step in the right direction!

I also had on my task list to complete one more point of my my lone star quilt.   This is the only big task that I didn't manage to complete this past weekend!  I'm disappointed with myself for not completing it.  And I kicked myself a bit because I did play mindless games on my phone for about 20 minutes and I should have been working on that.  But seriously, 20 minutes wasn't going to complete it!

That is one HALF of ONE point of my lone star!  After the yellow it tapes back down through the colors until it's back to one blue piece. 
 

I was a project busting machine this week!

So lessons learned this weekend.  It's amazing how much I can get done if I set down that stinkin' phone and stop playing mindless games or mindless scrolling!     And secondly, really working and completing that one  big  task and all those smaller steps of other projects made me feel so much better.  I feel more in control.  Crossing off those things on my list was a real booster for my spirits!

So what is up next?   I have a to do list for the work week. Even though it is only Monday, I am already working on it and crossing thing off.  As the week progresses, I will certainly be creating my weekend to do list also!  One project down.........on to tackle the next one!