Today I will take a gentle walk with hiking friend and another with dd. Hiking friend is recovering from her inner ear problem so needs a flat trail and slow pace. Dd is also recovering from surgery so ditto.

OK, I finally went to my yearly physical yesterday and apparently everything I've been doing to lower my b/p is working. It was actually lower than this time last year, 111/78. I've quit coffee and caffeine down to one cup of chai in the early morning, eliminated alcohol, reduced salt, eat a chunk of frozen banana every day, drink hibiscus and other herbal tea to maintain hydration every day plus aged garlic, magnesium, fish oils, and B12. While I haven't gone all in for exercise yet, I am going to ramp that element up starting today, as she cleared me for anything that doesn't hurt. I secretly think that quitting coffee was the biggest of these. So today I will go up another mountain and look for snowy owls which will be about 4 miles plus some elevation.

My impression is that those December admits sending housing emails are putting on pressure to get you to commit and thus protect/increase their yield.

Hugs and strength to you both, @TexasProudand @Kassia

More walking.

Walked out in the storm several miles which was exciting.

Yes, picking up will add it to your accepted list, and I actually don't know if you can turn off the voice - probably can turn it down, but she apparently likes it.

We got this for my mom's landline and it works like a charm. We did warn some of her elderly friends about it before getting it going. If she "accepts" a number it won't ask again. When you're an accepted caller and she's not there to pick up it send you to a normal recording of her voice saying leave me a message. It has a feature we don't love which is a loud computerized voice announcing the name of the caller, which is often quite mis-pronounced. But she got used to it and it can be funny. Before we got this kind, she just used the caller ID feature with a little warning that said "spam". She would still answer it and try to talk the person on the other end out of being such a bad person! We were all losing our minds telling her DO NOT PICK UP THE SPAM CALLS. The new device is great.

Great news, I hope that future you will send future me a PM when he's going to have a recital or other big concert.

Booster in November and I continued masking everywhere, family also masking in public indoor spaces, none of us have had it this winter. Lots in my community, though. I see increased masking as well. My decision to keep masking is based on my sample size of one - I caught it immediately following my decision to stop masking, therefore I continue to mask even after the inevitable boosters. I don't care about masking and I like not having flu or covid.

It seems unlikely that we will be able to willingly retire, I think it will come about when one of us has a catastrophic health problem and the other becomes a caretaker. That said, if I had my dream and money to back it up, I would travel and go on very long walks through wild and peaceful areas, ideally climb mountains, maybe without dh. His dream is finishing a cabin he's working on and canoeing and fishing and quilting by gaslight. Maybe without me.

A gentle walk yesterday but the day before was better - I walked a few miles and also helped move heavy rocks and debris from where the storm had dropped them in a land preserve. I'm cranky and out of sorts and I know I need to move a LOT more than I have been this last week. I can't bring myself to join the gym/pool because I'd rather use the money for something else.

I am so out of sorts. I did most of my goals for last week but I'm just in a weird mood. I am seized by the desire to travel and see things outside my own house and town. This week's goals are to do the FAFSA whenever my accountant gives me the go-ahead. I have multiple meetings on zoom, one of which is also causing me stress. Keep exercising, keep focused on 800g of veggies per day. Head down, ignore uncomfortable feelings.

Three old Agatha Christies and New England Bound by Wendy Warren. The Maritime History of Maine by William Rowe. Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Theodore Wells by Theodore Wells.

A shipwreck was fully exposed. Dh, dd, and I went to go see it yesterday and were blown away. About 8 feet of sand had been scoured away by the waves to make this happen. Three sections of roads were washed out, meaning the ocean was roaring over them and people who lived on the other ends had to wait until the tide went down to get out.

I emphatically told my mom not to come here, not to give me advice. What was I thinking? So I voted No Help, but it was my own choosing. Young-mom-me was a little out of it 🙂 Adding: I expect to be my own daughters' white glove service post-partum doula, of course.

Nothing at all yesterday, unfortunately. I got a lot of errands done and a stressful three hour zoom. Today I woke up and remembered the hotel pool where the kids and I spent many winter days, I might go and use their equipment and maybe even swim. It's pouring rain and blowing a gale.

Pawz just spoke for me. Much more patience. I'm a bit of a hot-head, and I'm calming down a bit. Learning when to hold my tongue with the increased ability to do so. The absolute knowledge that This Too Shall Pass, plus learning how to wait for it to pass which might include just going to bed and sleeping til tomorrow as a positive choice, not out of depression or anxiety. Taking deep pleasure in very simple things. Like, my sense of smell with which I can smell approaching weather or animals and my excellent sense of balance that allows me to hike over challenging terrain.

This - I think of it as the bargaining stage of grief. It's possible she will get some real relief, but bargaining is real.

We did similar. A trip to the Smithsonian, prom at the local high school, a monarch butterfly poster for the house, and a sweet graduation ceremony party in the yard with her mentors and close friends. Dd thanked her mentors and community for their tender care. We all signed her diploma as "loving witnesses to (dd's) home education journey" then had yummy food and a cake. She made references throughout the year to her possible "senior prank" but if it ever happened, I missed it!

Crikey. That is a no-brainer. And probably illegal not to fix.

To me, no. Tech for kids is the anti-movement, anti-autonomy substance. The tracking and conditioning that's happening to kids now via tech will produce symptoms in the future that we can't know yet.

I still can't get into it, and now my CPA has told me to wait til she gets everything done. She does her FAFSA clients first but her nervousness makes me nervous.

I'm seeing some metadata here that suggests most of us were active outside and did minimal organized non-school sports.

I just finished Prequel by Rachel Maddow - I liked the interesting and hidden history but her writing style is very colloquial, which can get tiresome. Looked through a landscaping textbook from ds for Christmas - good ideas, not really a reader.