Beautiful walk between rain

 

Ready or Not!

We are feeling good about Christmas prep as we just have one last minute gift to buy (interesting cheese was requested) plus getting the snacks we are taking to the Christmas Day gathering. 

Once I bought some tissue paper, we found that between brown paper & saved holiday bags plus a partial roll of wrapping paper and some saved ribbon and tags, we had just enough to wrap everything. I did buy a roll of "use any time of year" paper to wrap our older son's January 3rd birthday gift - hard to believe he is going to be 55 this time!

We have a plan for Christmas Eve dinner with our older son and DIL who are visiting for a week plus so there will be a bit of grocery shopping on Sunday. I've also got other meals in mind and stocked up for. They are just staying with us Monday night and then pet sitting nearby, but will be over frequently including Christmas Eve to exchange gifts. Coco has met and played with the dog they are sitting so he will come over to play which will break up the rainy days for both of them. Another Cavapoo surprisingly.

So that leaves regular house cleaning and laundry before company arrives. We are starting a predicted 8 days of rainy weather so there is no problem needing to do stuff inside.

I'm in a pretty good place right now as my foot only hurts a little by the end of the day and I am getting a good sense of what I want the next year to be like. Hope you are enjoying the season in a way that works for you!

Oh Pup, that is not your Christmas stocking and three hard questions

Last year Coco the dog ignored the minimal Christmas decorations and the wrapped presents we put on the hearth. This year? Well there is now a chewed corner on a large boxed present and those two reindeer sitting on the mantle are apparently a danger that requires barking! Then there was the Christmas stocking episode which resulted in one of the sewn in hangers being replaced. Great fun to steal and shake a Christmas stocking apparently. He is almost 4 years old and usually very well behaved. Boredom perhaps or just having fun?

Otherwise things are the same here except I have realized there are 3 hard questions for me to contemplate as I think about how I want my life to be going forward.

Is there a better way to start my days? 

Am I really willing to make the changes needed to lose the weight I gained after our move?

What kind of friends and social life do I really want and how do I find it?

YIKES!

Back to easier self care and enjoying the season.

Appreciating the Season

The pup gets a stocking too 🐶

My SIL made the patchwork hanging and I want to get a dowel or stick for it.
I think my granddaughter found a good solution for this year though.

I have been enjoying the lights and some favorite decorations nestled in the artificial garland.

I’m enjoying the Christmas decorations our 9 year old granddaughter had fun putting up last Sunday. She asked to come over so I suggested helping us decorate and she had a really good time doing that and then went off to make a pillow filled reading nook and listen to Papa and his friends have their weekly jam session. Such an easy and fun age.

We have really minimized our holiday decor over the last 2 moves but I kept the Christmas village. Many of the pieces in it are from my childhood and I love the memories it triggers. I still add an aluminum foil “pond” but don’t use laundry detergent to make the snow as my Mom did. Although you could make great hills and paths in it the smell was strong and the mess to clean up was real!

I picked up a pass to the Columbia employee store here and suggested Hubby shop for his own Christmas gift from me as he wanted clothes among other things. He found 5 items and I picked up one (a cozy quarter zip micro fleece pullover). Everything was 50% off which is the perk of shopping there.

Another family birthday has passed and we delivered a big seasonal bouquet of flowers, card and check. We are enjoying picking out gifts that fit what each person wants this busy gifting season and sometimes that is cash

Happy Thanksgiving🦃

However you celebrate (or don’t) I hope you have a good day. 

We are in the midst of a season of family birthdays and annual holidays. Today we and the pooch head to our DILs mother’s home for Thanksgiving. Very happy to be included.

So far this month we have celebrated our older granddaughter’s 9th birthday, Hubby’s 73rd birthday and a favorite cousin’s birthday. December brings our DIL’s birthday and Christmas which includes a visit from our older son and DIL. All this is closely followed by New Year’s and then our older son’s 55th birthday. 

Then we have a lull until the younger granddaughter turns 3 in late February.

Lots a reasons to take time to anticipate and enjoy.

May the rest of 2025 be good to you and happiness continue into the new year.

Five on Friday

It is early in a new month so I thought I’d pop in and list 5 good things in my life right now and then go back to hibernating lol.

1. I’m making a point of enjoying pretty sunrises and sunsets before the rainy season starts. That is a sunset picture from our 2nd floor balcony and yes there is an old windmill in our neighbor’s yard. This area was mostly farmland until the late 1940s or early 1950s and wells were the water source. The well house is still there too but it’s not operational.

2. A painful but helpful session of myofascial release therapy has reduced my leg and foot pain. Onward with efforts for continuing improvement.

3. I am very glad I switched primary care doctors as this one really listened to me at my annual physical and we had a good discussion. All my annual labs were in the normal range so I’m keeping on with what I have been doing.

4. I am looking forward to Hubby’s birthday, granddaughter turning 9, and family Thanksgiving later this month.

5. My time off from blogging is helping get stuff done, etc. so I’ll be back in early December to say hi again.

What I've been doing: Tiny changes and I am OK

It's been a while since I started my break. I was feeling tired, sad, frustrated, bored and lonely. Time for some self care and changes. I used to work as a management consultant and executive coach so it was time to apply my knowledge to myself in this new phase of life.

I do plan to pretty much stay away from blogging for the rest of the year though. 

Anti-procrastination focus so those things stop weighing me down! Credit card and Advance Care Directive plus switched primary care Dr. so far.

Solving tech frustrations to feel lighter! Printer, scanner, Google Drive so far. My son confirmed I was on the right path for the latter.

Changing up my routines - the start, stop, continue approach. 

* Started doing some basic art again to switch on the part of my brain that doesn't contemplate to do lists. Bought a beautiful adult coloring book as playing with color is relaxing and enjoyable for me. I have quality colored pencils I inherited from my Dad and have used for drawing in the past. The art reuse store in Oakland has bins of supplies for when I want more to expand my color choices or replace some. I'm going to look for an art class that I might enjoy and meet people at the same time.

* With help of Pilates instructor and YouTube, got rid of hip and leg pain. Now to deal with Plantar fasciitis 

Making plans for outings for rest of this year! Plans to attend art fair/holiday marketplace with DIL. Found theater and music options to choose from plus an amateur adult Nutcracker performance and a community sing-a-long. Will do some of them.