Wherein I discover that I'm no more organized in 2026 than before...

Here we are, a little over a week into 2026, and you've clearly discerned that one of my New Year's resolutions was NOT daily blogging, haha. I hope you all had terrific, fun-filled, peaceful, enjoyable holidays and have started off the year on the right foot. I have begun a jigsaw puzzle that we received for Christmas, but it is on the poker table in the basement and I'm rarely down there so I keep forgetting to work on it. Need to read more books and assemble more puzzles this year and play fewer games on my phone...

I've also, despite my hope and precautions, ended up with lymphedema, but that it not a story for today. We'll get there eventually. Right now, I'm just... I don't even know. But while I'm thinking about it, for whoever is taking notes, petite medium shirts aren't working. Some mediums also aren't working at all. I very much resemble a preschooler insisting on dressing myself, including getting arms stuck up over my head, because between the compression sleeve and the swelling in my arm sleeves are giving me fits. Please don't shop for me. It's going to be a case of me having to try stuff on to see what works. =/ Gah. Bah. Humbug!
 

On a better note, especially for those of you afraid to break a New Year's resolution, I have boldly gone there already. I possess a ridiculous amount of tea, including fun ones shared between my amazing sisters-in-law, below:

I decided I would have a cup of tea each day in 2026 since I have plenty. 

January 6, I forgot. 

So, you know, not even a week into the resolution. You're welcome. 

So far this is my run down:

Day 1- I admit, I was a little apprehensive to read "green tea, roasted buckwheat, and almond". However, it was delightful! I was not expecting to enjoy it.

Day 2- Grand Jasmin Chun Feng- green tea with jasmine flowers. Here's the thing. Had I not read it, I wouldn't have been consumed with giggles and probably would have liked it more, BUT because my Grammy had a jasmine air freshener in her tiny bathroom that my brother and I loved to hear "pssssst" when we pushed the button, my brain had a problem with the juxtaposition of that scent being in tea I was drinking. I let Dada try it and he thought it was fine, but I noticed he also didn't finish it.

Day 3- Detox- that word kinda scared me so I was apprehensive again but then I read, "rooibos, honeybush, moringa, and mango" and even though I don't know what honeybush or moringa are, I do like rooibos tea. This was no exception. Delicious! Bring on the detox!

Day 4- blend of Assam and Yunnan black teas, which was fine. Nothing stand-out-ish, but good.

Day 5- lemongrass, ginger, and carrot- didn't really expect much from this one but was pleasantly surprised about the delightful lightness of it!

Biggest letdown of the week was Day 6- long jing, "delicate and vegetal green tea". Probably fine if you're a green tea fan. I think vegetal was the right word and this one didn't get finished. I'm trying to drink them all straight and undoctored and this one didn't feel like much would improve it to where it wouldn't taste like honey or whatever versus the green tea taste itself.

Day 7- "blue mountain"- black tea, strawberry and flowers. Yum! Yes, please! Made up for the Day 6 even though I drank both of these on Day 7 to catch back up. 

Should probably mention I'm working my way through an Advent tea calendar that didn't get opened at Advent so I'm kicking off the new year with it before I work my way through all the other stuff I have. I'm also drinking all of these as hot teas, in case anyone wondered.

I don't know what today's will be, so I'll let you know later!

Have a wonderful week!

Well, I'll be!

 

I'm not sure how the challenges work via an Apple Watch. Is it individual and random? Is it individual and based on previous totals? Is it the same for everyone who wears one? I haven't asked another real person, so your guess is as good as mine. Here was my December challenge (I know it's tiny, click on it so you can see it larger)- you can see I'm not quite there but I'm so very close. 

I know 2020 brought a lot of ridiculousness with it and I understand that that's putting it nicely for some of you who have suffered very real losses. I don't mean to downplay any of that. There were also opportunities, such as being home with our kiddos for pretty much nine months straight... 

Well, okay, that clearly falls under more than one category and it's not always "opportunity" and I feel perfectly justified in acknowledging that. I'm fairly sure anyone with children would admit that there are times when you absolutely need to get away from them and that does not indicate that you're a bad parent or that they're bad kids. It proves you have a healthy mental outlook, I think! Save our Sanity!

2020 provided me with the previously unthinkable: 

I became a runner. 

That is, in the sense that a runner = one who runs. 

I'm still staggered that I'm talking about me, the one who absolutely loves the 0.0 bumper stickers that proudly claim, "I don't run" in the face of all the just-as-proud 13.1 and 26.2 stickers. I'd wanted one of those stickers for Pepe but never got around to it and now I can't because this fall I started running.

Some of you who've known me forever are probably like, "shut the front door! What!? Since when? What changed!?"

I was thinking about that today on my walk in the 30 degree weather and I decided it was a combination of things.

One, the aforementioned many months in the house with These People that I Live With. It is nice to have an outlet that they're not terribly interested in.

Two, I figured since it's more of a "when I get covid" instead of an "if I get covid", I might as well have my lungs in the best possible shape going into it. I know exercise does good things in that department, and I really do feel like now my lungs are as strong as they were when Dada and I were training for the Bike to the Bay in 2017, pre-cancer. That's exciting and gratifying.

Three, I've always loved going for walks yet I haven't been a fan of running since I was a kid. I felt having to do laps in gym class and forced track and field days took the fun out of running for pleasure like on-the-spot races with friends. 

But I always liked the idea of being a runner. Except that meant I'd have to run. Ugh.

Four, I ran across an editorial about someone who'd declared she would never be a runner. Then she stopped to think about that and decided that she was limiting herself, boxing herself into a "never." The more I thought about it, the more I wondered why I (or anyone) would do that. It was kind of the kick in the pants I needed.

 I decided to try it. I thought I'd probably fall down dead in a ditch (there are LOTS of ditches in our neck of Ohio. TONS.) after just a little while. Sometimes Dada graciously went with me and sometimes I went alone. I bought new shoes. Now I had to do it, right? Spent the money, now just go do it. 

So I did. Sometimes it gets easier, though I haven't experienced that "runner's high" yet- pretty sure that's a myth or else I'm not running long enough. Sometimes it feels like someone is winding the sidewalk ever longer and that I will never, ever make it to that stop sign, but I can make it to that driveway or maybe even that fire hydrant or, now that it's Christmas, that blow up Buddy the Elf. Sometimes I can do a whole strip and sometimes I plan to die quietly on the golf cart trail so someone will find my body sooner rather than later. 

I've discovered that my legs seem to understand what's going on and for the most part they are very cooperative. They could keep on doing their thing without much input from me.

Which is great because sometimes the aforementioned lungs are like, "what the (insert pirate-y language here) does she think she is doing? This again? Oh for the love." 

You wouldn't think breathing would be the hard part. Sometimes I just feel like there's not enough air, which is ridiculous as I'm outside and you can't get any more air than that. Apparently there are things to learn about breathing, who knew? I'm eternally grateful that God created us with lungs which would breathe on their own when we forget to. Thank goodness. I'm still figuring out the whole breathe-in-for-this-count-hold-breathe-out-for-that-count thing. It'll take awhile. I now know why runners rarely look like they're having fun. They're busy trying to breathe, to not die, to remember where the mean dogs are, to watch for the slippery parts of sidewalks, to figure out where to cross the street. Clear your head, my foot! Again, good thing legs know what to do because if I had to tell them on top of everything else that poor Brain is attempting, we'd be stopped. 

I've only done a dozen runs in 2020. And see, that right there is what I'm up against- myself. Why did I write "only" when I should be proud that I've done a dozen of something I'd sworn I'd never do? Sometimes it's really hard to get out of your own head. Days when I can't run the same segment I'd done in a previous run are very irritating; "why is this so hard!? I did it last time!" My mom has called me the least competitive person she knows, and that's probably true when it comes to myself vs others. All my competition comes to a head with myself, just like all my self esteem issues stem from "will I measure up" and "will I be good enough" vs "do I look okay?" It's why breast cancer treatment wasn't as hard in a lot of ways as writing a book or painting would be. Hair comes and goes; I'm okay with or without. Same with boobs. I didn't mind mine until they started being sneaky, and I'm fine without them. Plus, there are two distinct benefits of running with a flat chest: no bounce and no under-boob sweat! 

I've discovered I'm also a fair-weather runner, which should surprise exactly none of you, and if it's below 50 degrees then a run ain't happenin' because I'll possibly be wearing leggings under my pants as it is. So I go for walks. I've figured out a relatively safe, slightly over two mile loop and now a three mile one as well. And yes, we have parks with trails, but I think I'll stick to sidewalks and streets first before I go crazy with the tree roots, walnuts, and wet leaves underfoot. 

All that to say this: try something new in 2021. I don't know that the weather will cooperate at all for me to run again until maybe March. Maybe. But I can walk. I was thinking today about how my Grammy loved tramping through the woods and fields, and here I am, rambling about, trying to get my miles in. I'm sure when warmer weather rolls around that I'll find many things I'd rather be doing than exercising (reading, for one), but maybe my watch or one of my apps will have a challenge that sounds doable that I won't hate doing. 

And who knows? Maybe I will learn to love it.

So tell me: what have you put off trying because 2020 has been a dumpster fire? What's holding you back? What are you waiting for? If you need permission, here's mine: 

Go try it. You're allowed to hate it. You're allowed to quit. But if you give it a shot, you might surprise yourself and everyone around you. And we all want someone to cheer on these days. So go for it! And tell me about it so I can check on you. 

Happy New Year!  

Autumn showed UP!

I wanna show you something. These were taken last Tuesday, October 30, 2018. I love the early morning light; to me, it looks bewitching:

See how green everything still was? We had lots that were naked already, yes, but the remaining leaves were mostly green or yellow-green at best. 

I took these this morning, November 5, the first school day after the time change, but not even a whole week later:

Can anything say Fall better than mums and pumpkins? All we need now is some hot apple cider.

"Liam's" tree, above, and one of our majestic oaks, below:

Happy autumn to those of you (Aunt Chris) who are far-flung and perhaps missing the turning of the leaves. It may have begun late this year, but it's sure making up for it in beauty. Happy birthday to Grammy in Heaven. Maybe she got to help paint some of these colors for us. I know she'd have liked that. Now to soak it up before it's all gone!

In honor of Grammy

Yesterday would have been my Grammy's 94th birthday. She was pretty fond of critters, big and small. Maybe that's why I saw so many of them out and about. 

At the bus stop, Carrie and I looked across the street as the bus approached, and three deer were hanging out in the winter wheat. Thankfully, they stayed put and didn't try to cross through the traffic behind the bus. They were even there long enough for me to get back in the house, tell the boys to get moving and grab the camera before dashing back out to get some pictures. Sorry about the quality. This first one was auto contrasted by the computer and it helps a little tiny bit:

The sky and humidity reminded me of the mornings we experienced camping in Hawaii. Such soft pastels and warm wind. Again, I'll take it!

I heard lots of chittering and gnawing out back. This little guy was way up high, making enough racket to be easily found:

Dang it, the yellow jacket who's been zooming around in the house is still here... I am much less tolerant of bugs in the house, grrr!

Anyway, not often I get to hang clothes out in November, but I got four days of it, baby!

Something or Somebody is wearing a path from the creek to the apple trees. Or the other way around. It smelled pretty interesting to Triskal this morning, Whoever or Whatever it was.

And the poor garden is yielding dandelions:

And grasshoppers. Boy, this one was active!

What's left of the tomaters:

Still leaves on trees. And needles, I suppose. 

That's all for now. Must go commit insecticide...

Characters on a Clothesline

In some ways, I am very much like my mother. I've learned a lot about being a good steward from her. In preschool I won second place in a recycling contest, and that was way before communities were passing out recycling bins to every household.  She helped teach me to turn off lights that weren't being used, to put on a sweater when I was cold instead of messing with the thermostat, and to draw all over the backs of papers as well instead of throwing it out and getting a new one. 

I also inherited her love of line-dried clothes.

It drives my husband bananas.

But they smell SO good, and sunshine and wind are free, so why not!?

Fortunately, our Home Owners Association hasn't noticed or found anything in our bylaws saying that I can't. They have plenty to say on other issues, but that's another rant entirely.

Unfortunately, our young trees are too far apart to support practical, high clotheslines. I have lines strung from the top rails of our chest-high fence in the corner of our yard, and I confess, one is tied to the outside hardware of our fireplace. It looks pretty hillbilly, but I get to have wonderful smelling clothes and the neighbors get to snicker at our skivvies.

Which is exactly why my husband is mortified.

I do actually try to be discreet and hide them between rows of much longer and better covering clothes. But I had to laugh today as I hung Angry Birds underwear belonging to the boys. They were right next to skivvies displaying the LEGO movie characters, and Thomas the Train, and Cars, and Buzz Lightyear.

I thought about birds sitting on wires and how appropriate it is to have Angry Birds on my clotheslines. My clothesline is too low to the ground. I'd be angry, too. Especially when the Resident Newfie strolls through and gets hairs on everything. I hike them up as high as I can, but you can only do so much without a 6 foot fence.

So guess what my sweet husband found at an auction? One of those holder-upper-forked-clothesline-raising-things. I'm sure they have an official name, like "prop", but that's not nearly as fun to type. I was ecstatic as I'd told him excitedly about how my Grammy used several of those on HER wonderfully high clothesline.

It's a standard size, so he said it's going to need to be shortened a bit for my short clothesline, but I'm delighted nevertheless. And that's another fun word that we don't use enough. Nevertheless. I'm going to try to work that into more conversations...

Anyway, I'd told my hubby that the neighbors may laugh at our unmentionables if they must, and that's okay because everyone has unmentionables. I tried to reassure him that they'd be worried if I hung out everything BUT unmentionables. "Heavens, don't they wear them over there? Steer clear of THAT house. We're not going to associate with their kind."

He wasn't buying it. But he loves me enough to buy a clothesline-raiser-upper-thingie for my Angry Birds and all.

So. What goes on YOUR clothesline?

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By the way, there's a new post up on the Telling It Like It Is blog. It's watermelony.

New Email Message

New Email Message
To: Jesus
From: Mama

Dear Jesus,

If Care Bear is this much of a dork at age 10, what are the teenager years going to look like?



*BING*

You have one new email.
To: Mama
From: Jesus

Dear Mama,

Good luck with that.


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The big kids have started karate. At least twice and up to three times a week they have class, in which they also need to wear their uniform (called a gi) and turn in their time cards so that they get credit for said classes. They've learned a few blocks and that when they yell, "eye-yah" that it's like putting a period at the end of a sentence. No matter how many moves you have in a series, the "eye-yah" comes at the very end. It's been a handy tool for proofreading language arts homework, as in, "Carrie, you forgot your "eye-yah" and you also need your capital letter." They seem to be very much enjoying themselves and we're hopeful that the discipline of karate will permeate the rest of our lives.

I say hopeful because today Carrie came home from school in this 23 degree weather with no hat. And with no viola, for the 3rd day in a row. And a weekend in which she didn't bring it home on Friday. And her concert is in two weeks.

We won't mention how much we're hoping for focus and discipline for Liam, as well. (His spring concert is also in two weeks. Same concert. He'll be singing, she'll be stringing. Hehe!)

On another topic, I got to have my very first art lesson yesterday. It ran from 6-9 pm at a local foundation which hosts all kinds of classes. I was one of eight ladies who'd signed up. In my case, I'd BEEN signed up by my sweet husband who thought it'd make an excellent birthday present. He was right. It was originally scheduled for last month, but we'd had predictably cruddy weather and they decided to reschedule rather than have nobody show up. 

At any rate, I enjoyed myself while learning about light and shadow, different hardnesses of pencils, practicing drawing what I REALLY saw instead of what I thought I saw, and using a knitting needle to measure proportions. I kept thinking how much I wish I could have taken the class with my Grammy, and how much she would have enjoyed it. The other ladies worked in various other art forms from quilting and knitting to photography and watercolors.

I am being summoned to play a quick game with Liam before dinner, so I must dash. Stay warm and safe and... Liam added "lovable", so lovable it is. Stay warm and safe and lovable! =)