#5goodthings
I’ve been jokingly posting my non-government work stuff all week, but this is way better.
1. Glass of Pinot Grigio on a Friday night, hanging out with my husband.
2. Turkey chili to serve on sweet potatoes at a birthday party Saturday for myself and two friends.
3. Daily photos from daughter visiting New Zealand with her husband.
4. Meditation becoming a true habit finally.
5. My son making slow but positive progress in his life.
I didn’t know J well; only met her a few times. She was my cousin’s wife’s child. My cousin helped raise her. We called her a cousin. She is a part of our family.
I remember about 9 years ago, my kids and I were in Virginia in November for a family birthday. The teens grew restless with all the adult talk.
Suggestions made to go outside. My Florida teens had inadequate outerwear to go for a long walk, so there was much giggling as J helped sort them out with gloves and hats and scarfs from their mutual great aunt.
They all looked silly and left in high spirits*. And had a nice time together.
J was only 4 months older than my son, but more mature. A pretty, shy girl with clearly an active mind.
My son rarely remembers people but he remembers her from that one encounter years ago.
Anyway, tomorrow is her funeral. Too far away for us to attend. My heart breaks for J and all her family.
*Note: “high spirits” is not used often to describe my son. That might be why that day was memorable to him.
Day 103
Random number is 377
Take 5 mins to sit still & breathe. Repeat regularly
Today was a good day for this. Probably any day in tax season is a good day for this. I meditated this morning so that was 10+ minutes of focused breathing.
Then at the office, K was driving me up the wall (separate post). And I don’t think I took a full 5 minutes, but at least twice, I did take a few deep breaths to keep from screaming. And I did take a walk outside at one point, which I rarely do. It helps disrupt the chaos in the head/tension in the office.
I will do a second meditation tonight.
*deep breaths*
Posting here instead of continuing to post on Blue Sky.
Tax manager who annoys the Fuck out of me, today 2/27: Has the client you emailed on Jan 9 responded yet?
Me politely, cc’ing other manager actually involved with this client: no
In my head: I WOULD HAVE FINISHED THE FUCKING 2023 TAX RETURN IF HE HAD RESPONDED. IM NOT SITTING ON IT TO ANNOY YOU.
I’m going outside for a walk.
*deep breaths*
LATER: ok, this is getting ridiculous. She stopped by to remind me about a form she sent out that I’m supposed to be using. I showed her that it’s saved on my desktop and I’ve been using it. She explained that she just saw a return that didn’t use that form. I pointed out that it was created before she sent the form.
Is she spending time trying to find the tiniest thing wrong I’ve done?
I’ll confess to it all. Please fire me!
Good lord.
Yes and then I go waste company time venting here…..
*deep breaths*
Day 102
Random number 423
Call Mom
it’s been a long time. But I had things to tell her: Cousin T’s daughter died, my cousin D needs a heart transplant, saw my cousin L for lunch, N&J in New Zealand, and we’re planning to move away.
Funny enough, we ended up bitching about the current government, federal and state, and having a few laughs. And discussed our ongoing love for our mutual hometown of DC.
She never once expressed sadness or anything about her daughter moving away. But that’s (a) to be expected, and (b) just as well. 🤷🏼♀️
it was a good chat nevertheless. I’m glad and relieved it went well.
She did get confused about who David Funkhouser is -- Sarah's son, not brother. And it took her awhile to understand Whitney's wife Tsia's daughter J. Mom was even at their wedding...
Today’s 5 productivity items:
1. Finished (I hope) two trust tax returns for same family. One tax return — a new one — was doing something wrong. And I compared the two nearly-identical returns over and over, and couldn’t see why one was being dumb. Went away for two hours, double checked again, wrote long notes about problem, closed them, then reopened the glitchy one… and it was FINE. I don’t know what I tweaked, damnit ‘cause I’d like to know how I fixed it. But i deleted all my long notes and turned them in.
2. Went to violin lesson. I learned a new song and technique.
3. Took Peter to bass lesson. He made it through entire half-hour lesson. 😀
4. Updated benefits at work.
5. Getting massive business tax return to close-enough-to-done so that we can figure out distributions to trust shareholders. This won’t be finished until tomorrow.
Some days are more about personal productivity.
We have an appointment with a realtor on Weds. I’ve put out feelers for Tampa realtor.
The plan is rent a place near USF so Peter can go to college and not do dorms (it’s not the only reason we’re moving but it’s why we are doing it finally). And we’ll sell our house this summer — probably after moving.
Then we’ll see if N&J are staying in Tampa and whether Nana is staying in Florida and what the economy is doing… and we’ll figure out where to settle (maybe Brandon or Riverview, if in Tampa, maybe NC or elsewhere if not Florida).
Cause this state is going in the shitter. But then again, so is whole country, so does it matter if we move? 🤷🏼♀️
We’ll just be glad to be away from the Orange Turd’s home and golf course.
And in a one story house. And further from the coast.
Interesting Italian lessons lately.
is Duolingo trying to comment on current events?
I agree, Duo! Sono d’accordo!
Todays 5 items productivity list (mostly by 10:10 am):
1. Responded to manager who told me I had files (in software) labeled wrong. I explained I wasn’t labeling them wrong, that others put those files in my “bucket” labeled wrong. She said it happens to all of us, you still have to tidy it up. I then corrected the 7 files labeled wrong; and noted that ALL had been passed a couple days before from HER to me. The history of the file’s labels and who moved it is clearly listed at bottom of file. 😆😆😆 I sweetly replied: “Please be sure you label the files correctly when passing them to me.” Note: It literally takes same amount of time to choose correct label over choosing incorrect label — I am not adding anything to her workload.
2. Screenshot the Teams conversation and the labeling history of 7 items for my ongoing record of this manager because she does inane borderline harrassing stuff all the time. So fucking productive! 🙄
3. Moved 2 tax returns to a different manager with questions.
4. Re-Finished a return that had been finished yesterday, but client sent in 2 more documents. *DEEP BREATH* We got this “last-minute” 1099 because although I had said it was an Open Item (ie missing), the manager (from point 1 above) said there was no 1099 this year a few days ago. So i turned in an incomplete return yesterday. Thankfully there is a paper trail of this conversation. Good lord. 🙄
Let’s see what else I can get done today in the remaining 7+ hours of work today…
5. Type out a description of another tax return and then wonder where the story went. Oh well. It didn’t involve a petty manager.
That’s my 5 productive things for today.
Monday productivity (not in order):
1. Didn’t yell at manager for not giving me information needed for my job without me asking
2. Took a long lunch with my cousin — not “productive” except I calmed down
3. Moved two returns to review
4. Made progress in 3 other tax returns
5. Asked for clarification from manager and partner on return(s) I was supposed to prepare but had never been looped into why it was 1, or 2, or 3, or … can someone just tell me what’s happening with this client? And could you take a breath and say the right name for the return you mean?
*sigh*
Day 101
Random number 157
Write a review
I wrote three: for Elisabettas restaurant in WPB where I had lunch with cousin Laura yesterday, PF Changs at the Gardens Mall where I had lunch with Barbara and Stacy today, and the Hampton Inn we stayed at in Miami when seeing Nora last week.
SATURDAY
1. Moved 4 tax returns to review
2. Moved 2 tax returns back with questions
3. Started work papers for 2 more tax returns
4. Had argument in my head with dumb manager doing dumb things so I can talk with him calmly Monday
5. Watched 2 episodes of House with son
SUNDAY
1. Opened last bottle of limoncello cream. Drank some with last of the banana bread.
2. Finished NYC jigsaw puzzle. There are *multiple* Broadways! And I have many parks I want to visit next.
3. Locked up our credit reports and got IRS PINs.
4. Finished NYT crossword puzzle without looking anything up, while staying in bed until 11.
5. Took son to McD’s for his favorite lunch. Then the bank to practice using ATM. And talked to him about our moving plans.
6. Finished The Life Impossible by Matt Haig.
7. Cooked mini frittatas for the week.
8. Bike ride
9. Practiced Italian, violin, balance
10. sent 3 emails to OMB:
Things that I *may* have emailed to hr at opm dot gov:
Dear Manager:
1. I drank a whiskey drink
2. I drank a vodka drink
3. I drank a lager drink
4. I drank a cider drink
5. I sang the songs that remind me of the good times, and the songs that remind me of the better times
Dear Manager:
1. I hammered in the morning
2. I hammered in the evening
3. All over this land
4. I hammered out danger
5. I hammered out a warning
6. I hammered out love between my brothers and my sisters
7. All over this land
Dear Manager:
1. Woke up fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
2. Found my way downstairs and drank a cup looking up I noticed I was late
3. Found my coat and grabbed my hat made the bus in seconds flat
4. Found my way upstairs had a smoke
5. Somebody spoke. I went into a dream
(All stolen from clever-er folks than I at BlueSky)
Day 100
Random number 208
Do another Italian lesson and share progress on social media
This was a good late-night easy task. Then I fell asleep and never blogged about it. 592 days of Italian lessons! Go me! Buono lavoro! It won’t make me fluent but it keeps Italian active in my brain. I learn new words or concepts occasionally. Mostly reinforce knowledge that’s deep in my brain.
Plus doing Duolingo forces me to meep up a good habit. Like this blogging. And practicing my violin. And meditating.
And I’ve done 100 Small Joys over 4 months. It’s an odd little project — doing something unplanned (sorta), appreciating things in a new way, getting to unurgent tasks, doing something silly and out of the norm. Keeps me sharp and making progress on dreams.
EDITED: I did the double Italian lesson on 2/19, but I did not post my achievement in social media. So I did it again today 2/22/25, and I did post on social media. 595 days in a row now!
.
Day 98
Random number: 277
Change phone wallpaper to a motivational quote
I picked this after midnight and did some searching for motivational quotes. Didn’t find anything that fit — though I did add more quotes to my new Quote Journal!
This morning, having slept, I thought of my Word of the Year: Nourish. And found this which is now my Lock Screen! Maybe it’ll remind me to stay offline some.
Watched Pulp Fiction with Peter. I remembered some things so well… and it turns out, I also completely forgot large swaths of the movie. Was fascinating.
This article is good about the role of pride. And it reminds me that Vincent went to the bathroom THREE times in movie and something bad happened each time: Mia overdose, diner robbery and then shot by Butch.
And here’s an excellent look at the magic of Quentin’s crazy timeline in the movie.
I can't qualify as an Italian citizen by ancestry. And the other process takes 10 + years. But I did look up residency, which is far easier.
Day 97
Random number 177
Start over
When the wording is this general, I probably got it from Electra’s list when she did this in 2023. But it does let you define it as you need it.
i thought this’ll be good cause it is violin lesson day and there’s lots of starting over in music lessons. And I did start a new challenging lesson and did some starting over when learning.
And last night I had a mini stress-induced and maybe moon-induced meltdown with Sean. And we started fresh this morning with apologies again. And chocolate.
And then Peter was starting over with a new bass teacher today… and it did not go well. The teacher was fine, great even. But Peter had a meltdown that he’s super embarrassed by and he’s suffering. But he explained some stuff going on in his head well and I’m starting over in how I reassure him. And he wants to start over… back to the second teacher we tried. I just want him to stick with it and feel the joy of making progress.
Day 96
Random number is 12
Start a quote journal
This is something I always wanted to do but was stopped because I wanted it to be perfect. This is a good task for Small Joys because, I just have to get it done today so I stopped overthinking it. I had a little notebook handy that I just stamped a typewriter image on, and now I’ve written four pages of favorite quotes. Not organized in any way, not perfect calligraphy. Just gathered, and maybe I’ll continue to add to it and have a treasure years from now.
Day 95
Random number: 131
Admire something you've created
I colored in these cute little wooden bottles of magic potions. Plan to send to friends who are ill or who need magic. With instructions that they pass them on to someone else when they are done.
I also enjoy looking back over this blog I’ve been creating pretty consistently, I’m enjoying how it’s grown. I don’t capture everything but I’ve preserved a lot.
I also enjoyed the whimsy and community I’ve helped foster when I received Happy Mail in the form of cute old-fashioned valentines from Danielle and friends.
learned from the Lazy Genius podcast:
categorize the chaos:
helps for figuring out how to cope
Day 94
Random number: 342
Paint wooden Easter eggs
I ended up gluing pretty spring paper on them. Still want to add lace and words. Am inspired to buy a cricut machine.
Also made a St Brigid cross while I was at it. 
Day 93
Random number 393
List core values
Something I would like to think deeper on. But this is a good start. I got it down to 8 from two lists I found in internet.
Starting Fredrik Backman’s Beartown trilogy on audio. This’ll keep me busy for 48 hours of reading.
I’ve loved at least 3 other books by him. Perhaps this’ll keep me away from the news this next week. I’ll go live in fantasy Scandinavia where mostly good people are.
I’ve found 3 recipes in books I already own. One involves potato flour. It’s probably fantastic but i don’t want to start with one that has a special ingredient.
I was trying not to google.. but my rain said: walnut & blue cheese? And, yes, that’s a thing. Gorgonzola & walnut foccacia
And I need to try this cheat foccacia: frozen rolls in a crockpot!
THEN I found this: Pasta with Gorgonzola apple & walnuts
Day 92
Random number 418
Go get frozen yogurt
What a treat! It’s probably good we don’t get frozen yogurt too often! Yummy! Both Sean and Peter joined me on this joyful quest!
Listened to a podcast suggesting to pick a recipe for the year to improve and make as a go to dish.
Being overly ambitious as ever, I’ve chosen two recipes of the year.
This weekend, I will make the squares for craft day and I’ll find a foccacia recipe.
Day 91
Random number: 376
Write down 10 things you feel grateful for and why
1. Great hair. I often take it for granted, but it is always there, whether styled into curls or a half-gray messy bun. It reminds me of my dad, it reminds me of my youth, Sean likes it, it makes me feel pretty. I got my hair cut and colored today and it looks fantastic again.
2. Finding like-minded people. It is so great to click with someone. New hairstylist is much younger than me, but we clearly vibed a bit. And my friends are so delightful. And like-minded people look out for each other and seek each other out. It is so good when you find your tribe. I have gotten a "witchy spell of protection" from Adele. A visit from Jamie. An invite from Nadine. I wonder sometimes about sending out postcards to people I have not seen in years, but it makes them feel good and it reminds me of the network of friends I have.
3. Slowing down. I am aiming to slow down my typing on my phone in particular. And trying to slow down my days overall. I need to protect my mental health and energy. This requires more sleep and less chaos. And I am appreciating the beauty of slowing down -- from age, from avoiding the outside world, for peace, for serenity, for focus, for health.
4. Good finances and good common sense. Sean and I are a good match on this, thank god. And we are looking to conserve for saving money but also our values. Spending money when we need to like on a roof. And conserving money when we don't want to spend -- like on clothes or small appliances. Trying a week without impulse shopping on Amazon.
5. Meditation. It is calming my brain.
6. Sean. I could always start with him. I am lucky and blessed and so grateful for him. He is a better husband and partner every year. The trust is so good right now. It is a scary time to be alone and not have a partner or good friends to count on.
7. Peter. I could also always start with him. For all his struggles and challenges he has had since being born, he is kind and sweet and loving and so smart. I wish the world rewarded his kind of success. I love him so much.
8. Britney and Wanda at work. They keep me sane. They have no idea. Britney says she is stressed, but is always helpful. Wanda is wise. Don't know if any of us would be friends outside of the office, but they are making my last gasp of working there bearable.
9. Friends. I feel like I appreciate the same things each time I write a list like this. But I have great friends and family who I am truly grateful for. They make everything better. The deepening friendship over years. Barbara and Stacy are fantastic. And ... my list would go on so long.
10. My health. Sure there have been some serious hiccups in past 10 years. But I am in better shape than perhaps I deserve to be. I really oughta start rewarding my body for being so good to me, by giving it sleep, water and healthy food.
Good night!
Day 90
Random number 167
Do a number puzzle
no, not Sudoku. I did a 15x15 Kakuro. Involves some math and logic. Way harder than a Sudoku.
That was fun. Glad I found the site Kakuros
Life is funny. Recently a cleaning person knocked over and broke the frame holding the photo on the right. It is a picture of me and David Cicero sitting at a gelato shop in Florence Italy in 1987. I haven’t seen David since circa 1989, though we’ve intermittently stayed in touch. He was one of my favorite friends in college. I also love this photo because I look at 20-year-old me and think “why did I think I was fat?” The artsy B&W photo was taken by another student with us in Italy, Andrea, if I recall correctly.
Anyway after sitting neglected and taken for granted on a shelf for ages, suddenly the photo was brought to my attention again with the broken frame. I left it on the kitchen counter until I find a new frame.
The next day, the postcard on the left arrived from David from Wisconsin. What are the odds!
Day 89
Random number 382
Send a postcard to a Theta
Sending a butterfly card to Kathy in Omaha. And four more to others too. I call it Happy Mail. It makes me happy to write them, and remember where I got the cards: Disney, the Cummer museum in Jax, New Orleans, and Butterfly World. And hopefully making the recipients happy. Connections with other people. Spreading a tiny bit of joy. 
Day 88
Random number 35
Find a way to get Sean’s stories off old floppies
Well, this was a bust. As i learned it can be done with new equipment and deeper computer knowledge than we have… but most likely is pointless as the data is probably corrupted. 😢
At least I can stop thinking about it.
Got distracted a few days. Back at it today with two.
Day 87
Random number is 387
Weed out scarves
Turns out, this wasn’t needed. I did move one pirates scarf to my “costume” box. And I will need it as we’re going pirate weekend to Ren Fest, most likely. And one flamingo scarf needed trimming of its few remaining pitiful tassels, but it’s still a lovely scarf.
I enjoyed rehanging them and remembering their histories. And happy that I’d declutterrd this ages ago.
I wrote these goals at start of year, but never posted them here
Words of the year:
HABITS
MEDICAL
TRAVEL
PROJECTS
In:
Out:
January goals: didn’t really hit them. But that’s ok. Travel, Flamingocon, a cold, and the takedown of democracy made this a month of distractions. It looks like I never wrote the goals on this blog, but I had them nagging me and failing on my To Do list. Oh well.
Looking ahead to February, focusing on good habits, fun things, and three chores that keep getting pushed back but want to get done. Maybe splitting into types will help.
HABITS
GOALS
GET TO IT
