Catch up post — reposting social media

​haven’t been posting here. So I’ll copy from social media. This blog was supposed to replace my SM posting, but that only occasionally works. 😃😆

Yesterday (saturday) was not a productive day. And I needed that. I only left the house once — to pick up take out food. I feel recharged to socialize and get a couple small projects done today. 

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Maybe a wee Disney trip in our future since we have to cut the Daytona Beach one down. 

We’re at the nearly-the-end part of tax season when I start planning weekend hike trips for me and the husband.

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I finished my work early (well, ran out of work to do). So I thought I’d put away laundry, even hanging things up. Clothes and hangers are now piled on one side of the bed. 

Somehow instead I am also laying on the bed with the cat draped over me. This is good.

She did eventually move and I got all my clothes put away. 

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A lot can change in a year.

This time last year, I didn’t know whistling ducks were a thing.

I hadn’t eaten Love Bird’s fantastic fried chicken 

I didn’t own a dart board, a hybrid car or a robot vacuum.

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I’m a confirmed socialist now.

I joined DSA. 

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I’ll need to re-learn this a few more times. But I’m getting better about being less frantic.

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I’m agnostic, honestly. I believe above all that none of us knows for certain what greater power there is or not.

But I still like the idea of a church community, because I hold out a sliver of hope for the religious. For those times when they can be beautifully compassionate, supportive, motivated by love. We don’t see it often enough and even more rarely in organized religion (of all stripes). 

Anyway, I might try another church tomorrow. Then again, I might just sit in my backyard and worship nature with the ducks.

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Gratitude Oct 2

I am grateful for machines that wash our clothes so I’m not down by the river doing it myself. I’m grateful for Consumer Reports for recommending LG brand so I didn’t have to think about choices longer. I’m grateful this one holds as much as the old one but isn’t as tall so I can reach the bottom. I’m grateful that an appliance replacement doesn’t break our bank account.

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Gratitude Oct 1 (yeah I’m late)

I am grateful to be living in an area with lots of cultural choices. I know my old hometown had plenty, but it’s nice to explore new things. On Thurs Oct 1, I went with Peter to a talk about Elvis Presley, Jack Kerouac, and Jim Morrison and their overlapping time in Florida in the mid 1900s. The guy speaking was a bit spastic but enthusiastic! The bar was delightful but not near anything else we do regularly, so I don’t know if we’ll be back. The wine was ok, the cheesy focaccia with pesto dipping was fantastic. The view out the window was pretty bad. The talk led to more conversation for me and Peter for the drive home.

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Things I did this weekend instead of doomscrolling

1.  Read

2. Bought darts for the son in law (NOT a birthday present)

3. Made breakfast plans  

4. Slept

5. Caught up a bit on Survivor and TAR

6. Baked bread

7. Tidied the house

8. Wrote lists

9. Listened to Irish folk music versions of pop songs 

Ins and Outs October

​IN

• Gratitude
  
• Healthy eating
• Thinking about 2027
• Patio dreams coming true!
• More and better sleep
• Frank Lloyd Wright
• Family time
• Board games
• Reading
• NYC
• Darts
• Unpacking books
• Baking cookies
• Balance
• Birthday cards and postcards 

OUT

• Feeling frantic from over scheduling 
  
• Staying up late
• Phone games
• Rejection sensitivity 
• Waiting until Thanksgiving to gather people around the table 
• Answering “busy” to the question “how are you?”

September recap of learning Lakeland

​September. My new monthly review of exploring Lakeland and the area.

We ate out:

*Purple Onion for lunch with Nora. Downtown, nothing fancy. Good basic food in reasonable portions at reasonable prices. Definitely will go back.

*Fat Jacks for breakfast, twice. Supposed to be best breakfast place in town. A diner with good basic food at ridiculously good prices. Deserves its reputation. Definitely going back 

*Harrys Creole for lunch with friends. We first ate here last Dec on the day we closed on our house. Finally went back and it was as good as we remembered. Definitely worth a repeat. Right on Munn Park, lovely service, yummy food, good wine. 

*Foxtail Coffee… ‘cause they were hiding a good ice cream store inside. 

We explored:

*Bonnet Springs Park. We had a delightfully cool weekend and got a nice 2.5 mile walk around this fantastic park. The elevated walk in the trees is my fave but the butterfly garden was amazing too.

*DMV. Renewed Peter’s license. Lakeland’s tax office is in an old retro Publix; it’s so cute. No i didn’t take a photo, dang it!

*A boardgaming event in a nearby town. My 3rd time with this group. Lovely people, great potluck.

*An excursion to St Pete for dinner, wine, theater and friends. So nice to have a variety of cultural options around. Love to visit St Pete. We’re getting to know its downtown.

We shopped:

* @360_unlimited — vintage clothes store. I bought a funky cartoony dinosaur shirt. Didn’t buy super heavy Mongolian style helmet.

* @inklingsbookshoppe — our fave to bring friends to. Delightful used book store. Though they sell new also; I bought @johngreenwritesbooks ‘s newest novel. 

* @hp_guild_games  — two times! Once to buy Drillers, and the second time I got a Flamecraft promo and ordered Hummingbrds. I’m so happy Lkld has a great boardgame store, even if it’s a long haul from my house. 

*Five & Below — ok it isn’t unique to Lakeland but I’d never been to one. I indulged in small pumpkins and a coloring book for @sean.brodrick. 

I realize i didn’t take a lot of photos. And we didn’t explore as much this month as i have loads of work. 

Barbara & Jerry visited. 

Our backyard is still our favorite place on earth. 

What made you happy this week

​What made you happy this week 

• Barbara
  
• Butterflies
  
• A long nosed bunny
  
• Fantastic cooler weather 
• Mammut
  
• Skitty
  
• Rembrandt postcards
  
• My toilet room Victorian art bonanza 
  
• Apple pie focaccia
• Conditioning my hair
• Less social media time 
• Finding out about a one-day choir in November
• Organizing the pantry
• Lunch at Harry’s 

Semiglutude journey

​Apparently, more people than ever are taking Ozempic Semaglutide type meds who don’t have a medical reason.

I’ve had two doctors prescribe it for me for medical reasons and I still can’t get my insurance company to cover it because these days it’s classified as a weight loss med. 🙄🤔😜 

My prediabetes numbers have improved greatly. I’m not sure there’s anything the cardiologist can measure, but he says scientist are discovering general cardiac benefits with these meds, beyond just the weight loss.

 Meanwhile, I can’t say I’m not enjoying the  30 pound weight loss over the past six months. 

The decrease in food chatter in my head is also delightful. Although it does cause me to forget to eat sometimes. 

I am 7 pounds away from being classified as only overweight and not obese.

Being productive

​Briefly ran out of work at work! So I thought I’d try being productive at home again for a second morning in a row! Got the bathrooms cleaned, hung up some more art in a bathroom, finished unpacking a half-unpacked box, and did a big Publix BOGO shopping. House is well stocked for an apocalypse. (Also cleaned up dog poop — someone missed her nighttime outing due to rain.) Then I collapsed in a recliner and have been playing games on my phone for half an hour.

Now I’ve earned a nap. But I should probably check my work email and see what they’ve sent me.

Things I did today instead of doom scrolling

​Things I did today instead of doom scrolling:

1. Worked on 5 tax returns

2. Talked washing machines

3. Watched Celeb Jeopardy while tidying pantry

4. Won an online cribbage game

5. Tried to teach old dog the trick of walking up a ramp. She never went for it

6. Researched one day choirs