The gentle approach of 'Swedish Death Cleaning' resonates with me much better than the Kon Mari and other minimalist things that I have read. FWIW.

You might look for an older book (90s) called "The Earth House". It describes the 'sense' of Zen better than any other Western book I have run across, and it's fairly short. Full disclosure: I am Christian and this is not exactly for me. But I was glad to get an overview of the way of thinking in that book. I read widely and talk with people about their faiths and practices a lot but I never felt like I really got my arms around the basic core stuff until I read that book.

Danish heart basket weaving. You can use construction paper and it will hold cookies or a note on the tree. Here is a link: https://www.bitsofivory.com/2016/12/21/danish-heart-baskets/ The ones with the even weave are the most traditional and also the easiest. Red and white are the traditional colors, but other colors from school colors for instance can be used.

I celebrate Advent. That always gets me ready.

If it was me, and it was my cousin, I'd rent or thrift a dress and go without my husband if he didn't want to go. One of our bridesmaids got married the year after our wedding, and he refused to attend with me. I was stunned. I thought married people did these kinds of things together. But not him. So although I don't agree with that stance, I don't let it stop me from things like this that are important to me.

My old manager had horrendous dry eye problems after his surgery, to the point where he told everyone to stop sending him long emails and also he kept vials of artificial tears with him at all times and put them in every 20-30 minutes whether he was in a meeting or not. This was at an old hide bound company where that was very bizarre behavior so he must have been quite desparate to be driven to that.

I gave a gift of $200 in 1989. The pastor could not come to the reception because he had another wedding to perform later in the day in another city. It was a stretch for him to do ours at all as we were getting married a full hour from our church. I gave that gift without any guidance because in our tradition there is no charge for such things. Later I found out that it was 'normal' and I felt bad because I wanted to be unusually generous.

I gave up on this. I hate how long my hands smell of garlic every time I attempt this. So for all recipes except those involving roasted garlic, I use bottled chopped or crushed garlic. Let the processor smell like garlic (and I'm close enough to know that they do) not me.

Definitely he should be doing daily training runs in hiking boots with a heavy pack on, you know, to prepare properly for his destiny.

I’d like to know, too. In the meantime I tend to use Wrightsocks quarter high ones in a dark color. They hide pretty well in my sandals and work great with running shoes or boots as well. I think they look weird with skirts, though.

I don’t do cards very often anymore but when I was still doing them I transitioned to an Epiphany newsletter. I found a graphic of the Wise Men’s trek with camels to print at the top of a one page info letter. It took the job out of the very busy time before Christmas, which was nice. Later we started celebrating the 12 days more, and I counted it good if we sent these during the Epiphany SEASON, which is any time before Ash Wednesday. I keep thinking I should just send out a whole bunch of Valentines, but I somehow never do.

Also, having to enter those electronic records diverts nursing attention to the computer away from the patient. When a family member was hospitalized after a bad fall two years back, the nurse would come into the room to check her but barely look at her. And the meds records about her current prescriptions were wrong for literally weeks.

Oh, yes, pie pans. I generally use my Pampered Chef stoneware ones, although glass ones also work well. The key is to have ones that heat evenly and don’t warp. Also, for flour based pie crusts, THE KEY is not to overwork the dough. You don’t want a bready crust, and what makes it get bready is if the gluten is ‘awakened’ by the dough being kneaded or even mixed too much.

Very like, but about double of everything. Mine billows.

Absolutely. Maybe some CAD self-study credits, too.