Monday, December 26, 2011

Done!

I did not live the days leading up to the Christmas celebrations as I might have liked to, but everything turned out well. Christmas Eve and Christmas were lovely. I can't find my camera (again!) so I'm waiting on photos from some other folks.

There is a little more celebrating to do this week. Some friends from out of state are coming over for dinner tomorrow, and Friday will be the extended family celebration that has come to be known as Taco Christmas. New Year's Eve won't be the traditional celebration, but I think it will be a laid-back evening of going out to dinner followed by visiting and card-playing.

Today is just deliciously relaxing.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Pressure is Mounting...But Not Really

I have never been so late getting ready...I mean REALLY ready for Christmas. The basics are done. The tree is up (although it could use a few more ornaments.) Most gifts are purchased, and many are wrapped, but I need quite a few more stocking stuffers. The house needs to be cleaned and the food purchased and prepared. We are changing the Christmas Eve menu a bit, so that's a slight complication. The table and other things need to be party-decorated.

I'm having a traditional Christmas season ladies-who-lunch afternoon with a couple of girlfriends today, and I am REALLY looking forward to it. I'm hoping that will kick-start my usual level of enthusiasm (but without the tension.) I've really been having a been-there, done that a million times before feeling this year. I'm hoping the result of that will be less stress and more enjoying-the-moment feelings. We'll see.

Mrs. Santa's Workshop never happened, by the way. The room actually looks like an episode of Hoarders, but I'm hoping I can create the illusion by Christmas Eve.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Vulnerability

1. Holiday preparations are not going as quickly as I would like them to.

2. This is a wonderful video.
It's about vulnerability, given by a person who is very data-driven.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Christmas 2011 Prep Days Two and Three

There are so many aspects of this season that I love (and some that with which I have a love/hate thing going on.) I came home to husband and son yesterday assembling the Christmas tree (yeah, it's fake. I love candles, and having set a tablecloth on fire once or twice, I really don't want a real tree drying out in here.) It was very nice to see after a bit of a nerve-racking drive home (beginning of the first real snow this season that ended up dumping 9.4" in my neighborhood.) It looks quite lovely out, but since my husband has been spending all morning trying to fix the starter on the snowblower, it's slowing me down a bit tree-wise. He knows how to thread the lights on the pre-lit tree through the wire angel (which must be put up first. Quite honestly, I haven't even located the angel yet.)

I took a brief lunch break and some down time to check my Facebook, and a friend had shared this.
Christmas kitsch (or as the blogger calls it, kitschmas) is one of the things I have a love/hate relationship with. Enjoy!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Christmas 2011 Prep Day One

Well, actually, I started shopping a while back, but what makes today Day One is that I'll be putting away the Fall/Thanksgiving stuff and getting out the Christmas stuff. I have a goal to create a workspace with a "Mrs. Santa's Workshop" theme in the room where I usually do my class prep/paper grading (aka the spare bedroom). I have also spent the morning Cyber-Monday shopping and think I may have actually managed to purchase a few things for others. There will also be a bit of an interruption this week because I'm preparing a birthday party for my husband this weekend. Updates and photos will follow.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Plans and Possibilities

I am currently in Week Two of three weeks off, and as usual, the time seems to fill up almost without my participation. The time so far has been spent at meetings, an art festival, a birthday party, an overnight visit from out-of-state friends and this week there will be a doctor appointment, a shopping trip, and an out-of-town shower. On top of that, my car battery has died and I will need to get that taken care of.

I had hoped to have time for things like organizing my closet, photographs, computer files, and work and hobby items, as well as doing some crafting/scrapbooking, gentle hiking, and catching up on pleasure and professional reading. Most of these things are things I have been thinking about for some time now, but just don't seem to get to. I also want to re-purpose or re-focus my blog, or maybe even start a new one in conjunction with interests I hope to pursue...gentle hiking, for example.

It seems like it should be a matter of just doing it, but I really need a dedicated space for some of these activities. I had started to do it in our spare room, then my granddaughter moved in with us for a while and stayed in that room, so I have to get her things cleared out.

Right now I think my plan might be this: start a different blog in which I document my efforts to become a healthier person (incorporating the gentle hike material), and maintain this one as the age-focused blog, and then one more professional-interest based blog. I mean, I may or may not do these things, but I think if I set them up, it would be a way to create some personal accountability for my promises to myself. It's not so much whether anyone reads them or not, although that's always nice. I just like the idea of the goals being up there in some mildly public way as both a reminder and yes, an admonishment.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Hello, 2011!

I am still putting the Christmas stuff away, but 2011 now feels like it has started. I went to Professional Development at work today and I'll start teaching my classes next Tuesday. I'm going to start taking a German class on Saturday, and I might stick around campus for open swim and a free yoga class.

2010 started off so strangely with life-threatening illnesses of family members who are now OK, thank God. I also lost it a little myself, not having come back completely from the hysterectomy at the time, but I now feel like myself again. 2010 ended wonderfully, for the most part, with my graduation from library school (I now have an MLIS, woo-hoo!) and my sister's wedding (first marriage at the age of 62...there is quite a story there and I wish it were mine to tell, but alas, it is not, at least not here.)

I am thinking about possibly going to Germany again, but I spent a night away at my mom's this past weekend (helping her move) and I got so incredibly homesick that I don't know if I really want to go unless I can persuade my hubby to go too. We do plan to take a special trip to celebrate our 30th anniversary later this year, so there is that.

Onward and upward.