@MusicCandy @SadMe70 New place to communicate

Hello my friend, I hope this is not too late for you to see this week!

We had a lovely day with my son and DIL on Thursday.  We played some games, ate some good food.  I made a shepherd's pie for dinner, and my son made cinnamon rolls that were excellent!  I'll be going up to see my mom this coming Wednesday through Sunday.  My sisters and aunt will come that Saturday, so I'm looking forward to this trip.

My ultrasound was normal, so no thickened endometrium here!  If the extra bleeding hasn't stopped by the next time I see my doctor, she will drop my estrogen dose.

How did the bishop's visit go?

Do you do a recital with your piano students?

Did you go to the concert with Abi?  That sounds really nice.  I haven't seen any live music in a long time.  I miss the kids' Christmas concerts.

Not much else going on here this week.  I hope you are having a good one despite having all those shifts!

Hello my friend, I had a wonderful visit to see my mom last week. I drove up there on New Year’s Eve. She and my dad used to make pizzas with another couple for New Year’s Eve, so I told her she and I should do that. She had the pizza dough already rolled out when I got there, so we made pizzas for our dinner. On Thursday we did stuff around the house, and did errands on Friday. On Saturday, my sisters, brother-in-law, aunt, son, and daughter-in-law all came for our family Christmas gathering. That was a lot of fun as always, and I came home on Sunday.

We had spent Christmas day with my son and daughter-in-law, which also was a lot of fun. They gave us a year of HBO as a Christmas present! I watched some Christmas movies while those were still on there, and this past week we have actually been watching some of the Harry Potter movies. They popped up and we decided why not?I’ve read all the books many times and saw some of the movies with my kids, but I don’t think I’ve seen all the movies.

Of course I ate tons of treats for the whole holiday period, so my weight is up again. But, I got back to my regular morning exercise videos this week, and walked with my friends on Tuesday. My yoga teacher has been very sick lately, so there was no class this week, but I made myself do some yoga on my usual Thursday night, yoga time slot. I’ve also decided to try having no alcohol for one week a month and then drink my usual amount the rest of the week. This past week I didn’t drink Monday through Friday.

School was fine this week, and I am going to start tutoring again this coming Monday. I took the fall semester off from tutoring because I wasn’t sure what would happen with my knee, but I really miss it. My new student is a sixth grader, so this is definitely new territory for me. The teacher that I work for went over the things that I should work on with her, and I have the materials at home with me to look over this weekend. I’m a little nervous, but very excited about it. She also has unmedicated ADHD, so that will be another challenge.

I know you were working a lot, but I hope you had some good family time over the holiday. Were you able to get in any walks during this warmer weather this week?

I’ve been dragging my heels about getting out of bed this morning, as I look out the window at the gray skies and hear the rain, but the chai is calling!

I hope you are well, and I look forward to a new year of our friendship!

Hello my friend, I had a pretty good week this week. I did drink just about every day, but I’m still committed to one week per month of not drinking, even if it’s just Monday to Friday like last week. I am back in my regular exercise routine pretty much, but my knee was extremely painful this week. I don’t know why. I had to go back on the prescription naproxen that the orthopedist gave me. I think I’m going to have to go back and see him.I did manage a short flat walk with my friends on Tuesday, and my yoga class Thursday night in addition to my morning videos.

The first meeting with my new student went well. I think we hit it off personality wise. She had a sketchbook with her, and I asked her to show me all her drawings, which were all characters from some anime book series. She liked showing them to me so that helped break the ice. I felt like all the things I did with her were not really that challenging, so it’s going to take me a while to adjust to find a level that’s challenging for her, but not too hard, so that she makes some improvement.

we are going to look at a used car today in Fredericksburg. It’s the same model as mine, two years newer. It would cost us almost $6000 above what we can get from the insurance company. My car is still at the body shop we took it to before Christmas, to get a more independent estimate of what it would cost to repair my car. They were going to try to come in low enough to try and convince the insurance company to fix my car, which would be my ideal solution. 

I’m glad you were able to get your car repaired with your overtime money! I try to save up my tutoring, money for paying pet sitters.That definitely comes in handy!

I know what you mean about guilty pleasure as far as TV shows. Sometimes I watch things that I know are silly, but they’re just so easy to watch and it’s relaxing. For example, I’ll start watching YouTube compilations of clips from things like America’s got talent, and before I knew it I’ve been watching for an hour!

I’m so glad you got to spend an evening out with Mark and Abi, and that the music was enjoyable! I went to Carytown a couple of times when he was at VCU, mainly to restaurants. You definitely deserved a fun night out and some good family time.

I’m so happy for you that you have a target retirement month! And that you are close enough to start a countdown!

Rachel‘s headphones sound very cool. Music is so good for everyone, and there’s so much good Christmas music. I have CDs of a four record set that belonged to my grandmother, and I listen to those every year. It brings back the memories of my dadplaying the records when I was a kid, and the CDs even have scratchy record sounds and one song where the needle got stuck! I love Shirley Temple! We watch a lot of old movies, and the stories tend to be so much better than a lot of movies today. Plus, the characters are so good, and the movies don’t rely on special effects to keep your attention. 

Congratulations on your last vestry meeting. One less stressful thing in your life. I would personally be totally happy with a dinner that ended up being mostly cake!

I have been trying to add more protein into my diet, at the recommendation of my gynecologist. I’ve also been watching a lot of videos and podcasts about perimenopausal nutrition, and exercise, and I see that my protein levels are far too low. I’m not sure how I can get enough protein in without stuffing myself, and gaining weight from all the extra calories. The idea is that I should be burning them off by doing more heavy lifting and that sort of exercise, but I don’t have time for more, but, I can at least add a little more protein in here and there, so today for breakfast, I made something called a protein pancake. It had an egg, yogurt, peanut butter powder, milk, flour, and blackberries. The flower part is not good, but at least there were four sources of protein in there, and it was pretty tasty.

I hope you are keeping warm in this bitterly cold week, and that you get some indoor exercise! Until next week, my friend.

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Hello my friend, another good week here. Of course the main focus of everyone is this coming storm. I did my last grocery trip on Wednesday so I wouldn’t need to go near the craziness. My husband bought a new big generator in the summer and he ran it yesterday to make sure it was working, and got a bunch of gas. I also went to the library. So, we are as ready as we can be. Tonight I will put food and water in the goats shed and the chicken coop, so none of them have to go outside to get to anything. I feel terrible that they are out in this bitter cold. I have a coat on the goat and have blocked up as much as I could with plastic sheeting, but the door has to be open so she can get in and out.

I don’t use protein powder, but I do have peanut powder that I have been adding to my yogurt, and I recently started to use a high protein brand called Fage when I don’t make my own. I’ve also started adding tofu to my salads. Last weekend, I made something called a protein pancake that I found online. You make it in a small casserole dish with egg, milk, yogurt, peanut powder, and berries.It does have flour, and I put a little bit of maple syrup to sweeten it, so it’s not completely healthy, but I’m getting a big bunch of protein first thing in the morning. It’s big enough that I ate half each day last weekend. I think I will use it as a weekend treat to go along with my chai!

I have not seen my new tutoring student again. They opted to not meet on Martin Luther King Day last Monday, and I’m sure we won’t meet this coming Monday. One of her deficits is reading multi syllable words, she just can’t figure them out.The teacher who runs the center showed me a list of pronunciation rules to help break down syllable by syllable. These are things that I know instinctively, but I’ve never really seen explicitly written out, so that will help me to teach her I think. She also has poor fluency because it takes her so long to figure words out, and then low comprehension because it took so long to read a passage, she  doesn’t always know what it actually said. I actually found her to be more capable than I was expecting, so hopefully I can adjust to find something that will challenge her, but not too much at once.

Your chicken dish sounds good! It’s nice that you have the kitchen space to be able to do that at work. I’m sure it smells far better than anything your patients are getting to eat at the hospital! I love using the crockpot, and don’t use it nearly enough. I have two different chicken recipes for the crockpot that I like a lot, and that my husband also likes to eat.

Where are the monks from that are coming to visit? What will they do while they are here? Do they give any sort of talks? I remember something at my church when I was little that I went to with my mom. They called it a mission. I don’t know if the guy was a priest or a monk, but we went and listened to him talk and then he was selling various religious items. I have a picture of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus still on my bedroom wall that mom bought me there.

Congratulations to Abi! It sounds like she’s making a difference already. I’m sure you are really proud of her!

I hope you fare well in the storm and don’t lose power! I’ll be thinking of you and hoping you don’t have to go into work, but I know you probably will.

Hello my friend, I hope you weathered the storm ok. We did not lose power, and I’m hoping you did not.  School was closed all week. The part of my driveway near my house, with the hills, is still a solid sheet of ice. My truck is up at the neighbor’s house. He drove his bigger truck up and down that flat part so the ice is broken. I went out yesterday for the first time, and the truck is terrible in the snow. I got as many groceries as I could carry with a backpack. Last year I bought some slip on ice cleats that can go on any boot or shoe, and those have been a lifesaver. It would be hard to get out to my animals or up to my truck without them.

I know you were very anxious about not being as prepared as you wanted to be. I hope that everything went ok and that you are feeling better now. I know it’s hard too when your spouse cannot do what you need them to do. My husband was obsessing over getting to a propane heater out in one of the outbuildings. I could see it but it was blocked in by stuff, and I am just plain not digging crap out from under other crap. My feeling is, if you have stuff blocked in by other stuff, you have too much stuff and need to get rid of enough of it so the useful things are accessible. He can’t get out there to get it, so we just left it out there.

I’m glad the hospital made good accommodations for you so you could stay and work with some basic comforts. I hope enough beds stayed empty so you could all get rest each night. Did Rachael and her dad, and Abi and Mark do ok in the storm?

I've gained three pounds this week, sitting around eating and drinking alcohol, with very little physical activity. I go out to the animals but it’s too cold and icy to stay out and try to walk around the yard. I’ve done some morning videos but only about half of the days. I need to get back to a normal routine.

I’m hoping you are doing well. Let me know!

Hello my friend, we finally went back to school on Thursday. It was good to start getting back into a routine. I still have not done much exercise. There was too much snow on the ground for my walk with my friends this week, and my yoga class ended up getting canceled.

we ended up paying someone to plow our driveway, the first time we’ve done that in 30 years. Typically in a big snow, I just walk back-and-forth to my car, even for weeks, but it didn’t seem like this ice was going anywhere. We hired someone that was going around with a bobcat on a trailer, and now I can drive up to my house. I hope you’re staying warm in this crazy weather! The wind today has been just awful!

The monks were in Fredericksburg the last day or two. Were you able to go see them at all while they were in your area?

This past Monday, I finally saw my new tutoring student again. I had only seen her once so far, and it was three weeks in between. I’m still trying to get my footing on teaching a child. That’s so much older than what I’m used to.

We booked a house in colonial Beach in July when my daughter-in-law and son will be here with the babies. I didn’t tell you before, but he had been telling me that she was going to stay here for two months this year, even more than the five weeks from last year. Then they presented me with this plan, where the two months would start in mid July, less than three weeks before I went back to work on August 1, and she would spend the whole rest of her time here not visiting with us. I was so upset that I actually hung up on him. My mother had already told him it was a terrible idea, and that they should spend the time here in Virginia with me and my husband, so they altered the plan so that her visit will be in June and July when I am off work. My son will come for the last two weeks of her visit, and they will fly home together.  I was terribly hurt that they would make a plan that mostly excluded us. I’m sure they are annoyed to have to change their plan to suit what we want, so everyone is unhappy right now. I have barely spoken to my son since then. Yesterday was his 29th birthday, the fourth one that I have missed celebrating with him since he moved to Korea. I hate that I can’t be with him, and hate even more that he’s hurt me yet again so that I didn’t even want to talk to him on his birthday.

One of the few productive things I accomplished during all of those snow days was to do my taxes. I have the house rental on my credit card now, which I will split four ways with my mom and sisters, but I will be able to pay off my share plus buying an airplane ticket for Korea with the refund once it comes in.

I got my errands, including grocery shopping done today, so hopefully I can spend the day here tomorrow doing laundry, cooking, etc.

I hope your week has gone well, and look forward to hearing from you. Until next week, my friend!

Hello, and happy Valentine’s Day. I had a pretty good week. I did my morning exercise, my yoga class, and two short walks at the part. I had planned to try not drinking for the first week of each month (weekdays at least), which I did in January. That went off the rails already in February since I was stuck home in the ice, so I partially did it this week. I’ve had no alcohol since Monday. I even drank chamomile a couple of nights.

My yard is still covered in snow that is frozen every morning, but the driveway is totally clear now. This coming week will be our first full week of school in a good while. They are using President’s Day as a snow makeup day. Apparently some people are mad about that, but I think it’s a great idea.

i just placed an order for 12 chicks that are coming March 6, my first ones in two years. I usually get them later in the year, but the breed my local feed store is getting in April is not one that I want, and I do like the two breeds they are getting in March. Ideally I would not get them until May, but since I will be going to Korea the first week of June (if my son and DIL ever get off their butts and get ready to buy plane tickets), I need the chicks to be big enough to be ok outside. I typically keep them in the house for about a month.

I received several gifts and valentines from kids in my K class, totally unexpected, so I’ve got a nice happy bubble from that. Trying to hang onto that since so many other things make me sad or angry!

I hope you are well, my friend!

Hello my friend, I’m afraid this may be too late in the day for you to see it until next week. I have been feeling under the weather today and just didn’t do much of anything. I did have my chai though, and im getting ready to make some lemon ginger tea.

It was a pretty good week. I did my morning exercise and yoga, and had two short walks. I actually ate pretty well without too many treats or alcohol. I’m dreading more snow. I am just getting back into the routine of walking, and I certainly don’t want to miss more school! Not to mention that I also like my driveway to be actually driveable.

I’m glad you are getting along pretty well with your sisters. I can certainly appreciate how having some space helps with that dynamic! Maybe also a lack of additional stress coming from your mom onto all of you?

I’m so glad you got to see the monks! I’m sure that was a wonderful and unique experience, and very fulfilling. I am trying to read a morning Lenten prayer each day, to feel I am doing something. I have certain prayers I say daily, but sometimes reading other prayers feels right to me.

Just a short note this week. I’m going to take a hot shower, drink some tea, and lie down or watch a movie. I hope you are well, and the mindfulness is bringing you peace!

Hello my friend. I am feeling much better. My worst day was Sunday, and I just sat on the couch all day. I think the rest did me good. This week I’ve done all my exercises, ate pretty well, and again didn’t overindulge too much. I was glad that we didn’t get much snow this past week. We had a two hour delay, but that was it, and my driveway was fine.

I love the walking videos like you were talking about. I do those if I don’t feel like doing one of the other cardio types of videos, or any weights.

nothing much else is going on here. I just caught up on chores in the animal pen, which allowed me to spend some time in the lovely sunshine. I’m going to do some meal planning now and then head to the grocery store. Doing laundry in between.

I am getting 12 chicks this coming week. They get to the feed store on Thursday, so I’m going to try to do my yoga class on Wednesday so that I can get them right away on Thursday. I was going to wait until Saturday, but then I thought a lot of people might’ve gotten theirs, and I would get the bottom of the barrel choices. So by this weekend, I’ll have a box full of cute fluffiness, sitting in my living room peeping away!

How are things going with you? I hope you get to be outside today!