Friday, July 31, 2026

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling

1. Took son to doctor, dealt with subsequent meltdown 

2. Did two hours tax continuing ed

3. Figured out dates & hotels for two autumn trips

4. Labeled bags inside board for ease of clean up 

5. Discussed a potential cease & desist letter for trademark infringement against Disney, of all places!

6. Napped with my daughter’s dog

7. Listened to book 5 of Dungeon Crawler Carl series 

Dog sitting Kenji

Kenji and I are lounging in bed, enjoying the pretty flowers out the window!  Now I want a flower bed right outside my office window… 


Thursday, July 30, 2026

Unproductive day

Since I so often brag about my productive moments... for balance: today I had blood drawn for a blood test in the morning, looked at cruises we wouldn’t ever want to pay for, paid one bill online, and made 3 phone calls (one of which was annoying). That’s it. 

Otherwise I  mostly played a dumb addictive game on my phone and laid around listening to the rain. 

I even forgot to take my morning pills.

Chinese food for the second night this week and listening to book 5 of Dungeon Crawler Carl and falling asleep on the couch… good end to a slow, rainy day. 


Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Goals for house before 8/7

  • ​Hang up art in foyer
  • Hang up art behind couch
  • Fix quilt above TV 
  • Hang up art in bathroom 
  • Trip to goodwill — clear off breakfast table and part of garage 
  • Clean fridge 

What made you happy this week

What made you happy this week 

  1. Sitting in the backyard with Sean
  2. Spending time with Nora
  3. Walking at the gym
  4. Simplifying my to do list
  5. Reading Sarah Kendzior’s book
  6. Seeing my friends and a rick opera and drinking rum 
  7. Watching Flamingocon grow — with ticket sales, collaborations with others, more email questions, and so many decisions and discussions by the board. 


Saturday, July 25, 2026

Weekly (or occasional) REPORT

Reading: Orbital, by Samantha Harvey. Short Noel, recommended by Stephen Colbert.

Eating: home made sourdough bread for lunch (at game day), milk duds & popcorn for dinner (at the movies) 

Playing: board games with new friends 

Obsessing: Over whether to go to Italy in 2027 and how many times to go to Italy in 2027 

Researching: transatlantic cruises  

Treating myself to: blessed sleep

Thursday, July 23, 2026

Review last 5 purchases plus more!

​Review last 5 purchases. Were they wants, needs or impulse purchases?

Weds night: board games and accessories from Stonemaier. IMPULSE/WANT. Barbara wanted to buy something, using my discount. I, as always, found items I also wanted. Though I hadn’t planned to buy them soon. Excited about this purchase.

Weds night: ice cream with Sean — delicious but ooof, too much food. I ate more than I wanted because it was melting in car. I threw away the last kitchen we got home. It was a WANT purchase (mostly for Sean). 

Weds afternoon: fried apple pie from McD’s. WANT definitely. 

Weds afternoon: meds from Walgreens. NEED.

Tuesday: dry cat food. A NEED.

THEN…. After doing the exercise above, I went and bought 7 more games. Partially to help out a needy gamer. 

I just bought 7 more games from Jess L.

I bought Codenames to turn into an art project! Could make some fun presents and/or ornaments with the cards.

And I bought a game for Nora for a Christmas present. So totally justified! But all WANTs. 


Small Joys Project

Back in January 2023, I came across a British woman on Twitter who had written out 365 small joys on pieces of paper and put them in a jar, ...