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

Staying busy

​Washing machine repairman came to my house today. He seemed quite perplexed by my machine and its issues. Ball bearings were mentioned, so I knew it wasn’t gonna be good. He spent some time researching things on his iPad. 

So while I waited, I took the time to refill my monthly pill box, empty and toss out all the used water bottles on the counter, wipe down the counters, put away clean dishes, put the duvet back in its cover, open a box from Amazon, tidy up stuff in the living room, plan a December trip to West Palm Beach, and feed my sourdough starter. 

The final result is the repair is $800 and replacing the washer is $750. Of course I had to pay for this service call too.

I guess I better get back to work now to pay for this!

Here’s a photo of Luna trying very hard not to bark at the repairman. She already was paid a treat not to bark.

And here’s a photo of the box from Amazon that is plenty big enough for a frying pan in it

— yet somehow the handle ended up poking through the corner of the box. I took photos in case the handle had damage and I had to return the item. But it’s fine.

RECIPE healthy dinner idea

​this sounds appealing beef, sweet potato spinach bowl 

Home alone!

​Husband is on a business trip for five days. Son is away at college. I’m alone in the house for the first time in a long time. So far, I have made burritos, baked cupcakes, organized a portion of the pantry and taken out the weekly trash. 

I’m watching old celebrity Jeopardy as a review credit card charges over the past few months.

Making plans this week to hang up art, get the washing machine repaired, and organize the shelves in my office.

Restart the starter

My big adventure in sourdough today … is cleaning out my sourdough jar. 

I haven’t been baking much (work, diet, travel) and haven’t been consistent in feeding my starter in the fridge. So the starter has been a little… sad? Plus the jar has been getting crusty over the past year. I figured it was time for a fresh start.

I dumped some out cause I had too much, and then put some in a fresh mason jar with healthy dumping of flour and water to perk it up. And then another bit, I set aside in a smaller jar to be starter for some apple pie focaccia bread (part 2 of adventure!) later today.

And then I threw out what was remaining, and now am leaving the jar to dry out, so easier to flake stuff off. 

I have ambitions for baking three loaves at the end of the week, so I will be feeding my starter to make it stronger.​

Sunday catch up

​Sharing this blessing for autumn… 

Yesterday at breakfast, our waitress was wearing a tshirt with ghosts on it. We commented on her cute Halloween shirt. She explained that she may be jumping the gun on Halloween wear, but she’s trying to manifest cooler weather.  I might pull out a Halloween shirt myself this week! 

Also, today is my HALF birthday! 

And today is also wife appreciation day (according to some random FB meme). Sean Brodrick hadn’t known that when he brought me breakfast in bed this morning. He’s just a loving guy. 

Today is also my day to catch up on personal stuff: hang up some art, re-pair my phone’s Bluetooth with the Subaru, clean bathrooms, write & schedule some Flamingocon posts. And maybe also sit down and read a physical book.

What made you happy this week

​What made you happy this week 

• Sunsets
• Seeing Nora
• Seeing Marc & Karen & Laura
• Seeing Laura dance
• Family therapy revelations 
• Good salmon
• Sean sticking up for himself at work 
• Buying Drillers
• Talking to Barbara
• Chilling out with Agatha and phone games
• Decisions on patio expansion 

I returned $77 of clothes that I had bought online… knowing that I would then spend some or all of that at Ulta beauty where the return happened. And I did buy something, but I got a five dollar off coupon from Ulta, found a package deal of Clinique moisturizer for $59. So I spent less than the $77 which felt like a win. I was $23 ahead at this point!

Then I was gonna go buy some used board games. And definitely would’ve spent above that $23. However, I was late and the used games that I was planning on buying were already gone!

Then I was gonna go get an oil change, which certainly was gonna be way more than $23 though I did have a $26 coupon. But the Jiffy Lube people laughed at me because I was actually 3000 miles *early* for an oil change. I have no clue why I had it in my head that I needed an oil change. So they didn’t charge me anything for putting air in my tires and sending me on my way and saying see you in a few months.

Still $23 ahead!

Then I called a game store here in Lakeland, asking if they had a particular game in stock yet. And they do! The retail cost is $60. But I will get reimbursed $50 from the Board of Directors. So net, it costs me $10. 

So in the end, I’m ahead by $13* for the day. And I have a new game and some new facial moisturizer.

* above, I kind of ignored tax on the moisturizer and the game. So probably i am more like five dollars ahead for the day.

Nice Saturday

​Today before noon, I:

• had breakfast out with my hubby at new fave local
  
• bought subscriber tickets for inaugural Broadway series in our little hometown — 3rd row!
  
• worked 3.5 hours on 3 returns 
  

Now to go return some clothes, get an oil change, maybe buy board games, and read my book. 

Burnt out?

​I haven’t even been doing 40 hours during this busy time. But I have worked hard. Turned in some really big returns. I think all my biggest ones are done except Danconia coming back from review. 

I have so many other important personal projects like getting Peter’s medical records and applying for SS disability. And hanging up art in the house. And an oil change. And just catching up on sleep. 

Blurgh 

Things to do in Polk county

​museums! 

LOOKED UP rejection dysphoria

​https://www.prosperhealth.io/blog/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-in-autism

We learned this from therapist Hailey Light. 

Separately, Sean looked up and feels this fits: Avoidant Personality Disorder (AvPD) is a recognized mental health condition characterized by extreme social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation. People with AvPD intensely fear rejection, criticism, or embarrassment — so much so that they often avoid social, occupational, or academic activities where those risks might arise.

List and journal prompts

​I was just posting lists and journal prompts here. Since I’ve stopped doing those… means I haven’t been posting here much.

But it is extended tax season so I’m busy. Also been sick with a cold. 

I think Skitty may be sick. Or well, just aging rapidly. 

Anyway, I will get back to lists and prompts. It seemed silly but I miss it. 

Nap time

​I love my bed so much. 

I’ve already had a 3-hour board meeting by zoom, filled out an HOA application to add a porch to our house with photos and survey, and had lunch out with our daughter. That’s enough productivity for one day.   

Except I still have more tax returns to prepare. 

Later. 

My brain needs rest. 

What made you happy this week

1. Road trip with Sean 
   
2. Time with friends
3. Sleep
   
4. Celebrating creativity and bravery and cleverness and community
5. Pizza and hard cider
6. Nanny Ogg hat
7. Compression socks 
8. Making it to top of hills (so much easier with 30 less pounds)
9. Coming home 
   

Art Work that makes me want to make something similar

​

Things I looked up:

​history of the Marine Corps Hymn 

Myra Clark Whitney Gaines 

Ins & Outs September

​In:

• Apples
  
• Protein
  
• Focus
  
• Friends
  
• Healing
  
• Patio dreams (becoming reality?)
  
• Painting
  
• Overtime
  
• Reading
• Gym treadmill 

OUT

• Any thought of “getting back on track.” I’ve never been on track; I can’t get back. I don’t even know who built the track. 
  
• Saying or thinking “once things settle down” — I know they never do. It’s always chaos.
  
• Plans for remodeling condo. Postponed for now. 
  
• Large credit card bills 

UPDATE 9/25

Meh. Only eaten a little of one apple, but I did make apple pie focaccia!

Been trying to eat more protein. Been focusing on work, but not as much as I would like. 

Seeing friends this weekend!

Healing from my cold.

Waiting on HOA approval for patio

Been painting and doing overtime work a little. Not been reading. And have not been tot he gym lately. yeesh!

But the outs are good!