Less Hustle More Coffee

Wow, I’m looking at the clock right now and see it’s already 5:09. I’m thrilled that the sun is still lighting up the sky but pretty certain it has set for the day. I am sipping a glass of wine at my desk at home and thinking about the last 24 hours.

I’ve come to know my weekends as “packed full” and very little time for piddling around the house. 😉 When we had a “spa day” for Mom’s dog Fancy lined up, I figured most of the day would be filled with Mom’s errands. But only half of it was. So we had some magical time left in our day. Though I was fairly worn out from the morning (more about that later), I drank a cup of coffee and fixed some tuna for lunch and kicked into cleaning mode. The kind you normally get to do at the beginning of the year, but remember I’m behind by a month in getting personal time in. So it was wonderful. I threw away a trash bag of stuff from the laundry room. Can you believe we had expired dog food, dog food meds, expired Isagenix products, and I don’t know what all.

I cleaned up the kitchen and really got the counters good. I took some things downstairs that had been piling up to go down there – Birthday sacks, bows, good will stuff, and wine bottles for George to recycle. While down in the basement, I actually went through some things down there as George was down there working, trying to make sense of the mess we have made the last year. We didn’t even try to clean anything up while Mom’s stuff was stored here. Now we have SIL’s and BIL’s things here as they are in between moves and didn’t have room – that is only a small section of our basement and they are retrieving that this weekend when they come to visit and we are looking forward to them coming. But while cleaning I found the missing “work box” that I have been looking for. (A box of plants, Nic nacs, and personal things from my old office that needed to go to the new office.) Turns out George had moved a few things around and piled things on top of it hiding it from me. I’m so glad! I yelled out with joy. I was wondering how on earth I could lose it. It was supposed to go back to work with me, but – I need him to put my book shelf together for me. And then I can take it back. But a win today finding that!

My soul has been thrilled to have the extra few hours. And tomorrow I have ALL day to call mine to finish laundry, vacuum, clean bathrooms, and get ready for company for the next two weekends.

I lit a candle as I worked this afternoon. It’s nice to get the kitchen sparkly. Yes I know our kitchen is old looking. I really like the oak cabinets though. I want to replace the gold French handles for a silver one for an upgrade. We want to upgrade the stove and I want to upgrade the kitchen counter but honestly I don’t have to have granite or the most expensive thing. I just want a different set up that looks better. I’ve even considered doing a DIY granite “look alike” paint job but I’m afraid I’ll screw it up, lol. I’m not sure I’m up for that b/c I want a counter anyway that drops over into the sink instead of the sink overlapping onto the counter and things get stuck. Anyway, one day. I’ve tried not to push things as George usually lets me have most anything I want otherwise. He never fusses about my computer hobbies and subscriptions, my nails, my toes, my hair, my eating out, buying on Amazon. And he supports me in most everything I do so to be patient with these things is fine. I’ve done it for years. But sometimes I get to a point where, you know, it’s just passssssssed time. Like the flooring.

But I still think the kitchen looks good though when it’s clean. It still makes me smile and we kinda have a farmhouse look going with the flooring so, it’s not so bad I guess. Well, the stove is really getting to be the next necessary thing. I’m not sure what all we have to do there. We are not paying for gas as they have to run new lines. We love our cast iron skillets and we can’t use those on the glass top stoves (I’m not even sure what you call them). I’d be ok with having another unit like we have right there but we’ve waited too long. I don’t think they make many of those anymore. So whatever, I just think when we upgrade our stove and stove top that we may have to do some changing around of the cabinet structure to make it all fit correct. So it could start to get expensive. But I’d like to get the kitchen done and bathroom tubs/showers redone before we retire. But then again, what if we decide not to stay here? What if we need to get off the stairs from the basement or need to get away from having so much of a yard? Or we decide to move where the kids are? George has so many guitars and musical equipment that it would impossible for us to downsize, lol. I kinda think I want to stay here forever. It has my basement/tornado room, we have all that storage space downstairs for all our stuff (and it shows). We are going to get rid of a lot of it though. This house has a lot of potential and opportunity. Someday maybe we’ll have someone come in and make recommendations and can get it done for us, what all we need in renovations. Probably will do kitchen and bathrooms separate.

The reds look all good on the counter, huh? All red for Valentine’s. Not really it just ended up that way. I bought apples for the next week and also some salad stuff. We took Mom for groceries this morning and so I did our shopping too. Well mostly what I bought was stuff I wanted. George is probably going tomorrow. But I’m trying to make sure I get some fruit in daily if I can.

I put some Luzianne tea bags in the Cactus jar. With spring/summer heading this way before long, we’ll be wanting more ice tea. I’m already wanting to make some to take to work instead of buying some and taking it. What I’ve been buying is just too strong for me anyway. So I’m going to make my own and then take it in – in a little short rubbermaid to go pitcher (if I can find it). I found some mini Cliff bars and put them in a glass flower vase. Silly I know but I didn’t have any other glass containers around. There are some mornings when I’m hungry and we are on the go – even on the way to work sometimes and I thought maybe that would hold me until I get a meal. I’d not seen the mini ones. Might make an ok afternoon snack with coffee too. So I put them where I can see them. These days I have to put things where I will see them or I will forget about them.

I put my last two shakes that are not expired on the counter so I can fix them in the next week or so as they expire soon. I just got tired of all the tastes of Isagenix. I loved it but just got tired of the same flavors even though that had new flavors it was kinda all the same in a way. I’m wanting to make more smoothies but real ones and I’ll do that here soon.

I ran out the door today with no make up and really not much hair styling. Some days those are the best though. When you are all hippie like and free, and letting nature have its way, lol lol! So I put the pic in black and white. But we had a good day and took this Fancy girl for her trim. She does not like being away from her Mom for any length of time.

I had eggs Benedict Florentine. And those hash browns were so good. I wish I had ordered a side of bacon though. I forgot it didn’t come with meat. I would have loved bacon and had been looking forward to getting bacon, so I bought some at the store today. Might have some tomorrow only we need eggs!

Working from Home Day on Friday

So let me back up some…..I didn’t really talk about yesterday. Yesterday when we got up it didn’t really seem like we got much ice but there was a light glaze on the roads and even on the interstates. As people got up and out, the situation became more obvious and then we had more sleet and snow to come through. The high was still below freezing all day with an arctic blast. But our bosses had sent a note out for the office to open at 10 if we could. I was going to just work from home so I could go ahead and get started, but my boss said it would be nice if we could go in late like the email suggested. Ok, so I was trying to be flexible.

Then my immediate boss said her husband tried to get out of the neighborhood and said it was too bad. Then we began to get alerts from The Weather Channel extending our Winter Weather Advisory til 11 a.m. and eventually Mount Juliet Police saying “Roads are Icy and a Mess”. So I too, made the call to stay home and since I had waited, I ended up losing precious productive time trying to be flexible I should have just made my own decision and gone ahead and set up shop. lol. I usually do best when I make my own decisions anyway. I know what works best with me in my particular situation, my particular job and set up. But a shorter day was fine with me, in the long run. I got in enough hours and didn’t have the drive time so it all worked out beautifully. Here below you can see the cat joined me. Little Bit loves it when I’m home.

Look what I did. I put this year’s motto on the sign in my home office. I think I might move the words around some more so it’s more centered, but at least I got the last year’s motto down and this year’s up. I might have to put The Tribe Has Spoken on there sometime. You know who the tribe is right? (It’s Me, Myself, and I). Well, I let God have a say and a few others from time to time, lol.

Here’s the journal corner with the Embrace What Is and Forge Forward sign. I like that phrase. It just seemed to be important to me this year. To me it is saying not to fret, let go of the anxiety, quit fighting with life, with time, with everything and just let it be. There are soooooooooo many things that are not like I want them in my life, some are even pretty big issues, but I’ve chosen to simply let them go. Mainly I’ve let God have them. Things turn out much better when He is in control. And basically what I did was “Embraced What is and Forged Forward”. I found my way forward – I found a way to do what I need to do, or I found a way to do something different than I wanted to do that made for a path I’m happy with, I found a way to channel my thoughts and energies toward things that matter. And yes I know this is all written in code and cryptic but the important thing is that sometimes we can accept things as they are and then just find our way forward amidst the brick walls, or the maze of life, or whatever stands in our way. We might not get what we want, we might not have gotten what we bargained for, it might not have met our wishes, but we found a way to be content, happy, or at least otherwise contained, or accepted, or channeled lol. So I’m happy the phrase has such meaning – not only a deep meaning for me but with Covid, the kids being so dang far away from us, my travel/retirement dreams kinda shattered, my sister kinda leaving me out to dry with Mom, and so many other things that I will leave unsaid. The phrase just means a lot as far as accepting.

There are some theories out there that simply accepting or settling is NOT what one should do, but in following the paths that God has set for me, I can see that sometimes accepting and settling for things has been ok and in some ways the best thing I could do. Sometimes I have demanded my way and I’ve seen people that also have done that and maybe they got their way but also got a lot of consequences that came with it. So I’ve learned from my mistakes and some big mistakes from others too. Sometimes battles or going after life’s dreams are just not worth it in the long run. But God knows our hearts, our desires, our thoughts, what we’ve been through, and where we are going. He sets the paths. So I think the phrase of “Embracing What is and Forging Forward” has a lot to do with accepting the way life is and trying to be content and not anxious and to trust that it will all be alright. (Everything’s gonna be alright has been my theme the last two years, lol).

So enough of all that. I didn’t get my post in this morning because I slept so long last night. I got in 9 hours and was still wanting to sleep. George was tired too. I even had to wake him up this morning and remind him we were to leave in 30 minutes. Bed was warm and the house was cool and just staying in bed seemed to be the thing. So we got showers and crawled our way to Mom’s with coffee in hand. It was 19 degrees and none of us really wanted to get out but Ms. Fancy needed her trim in a bad way, we went to the diner for breakfast, took Mom to Bed, Bath and Beyond for her bathroom rugs, and I ordered some things for her on Amazon they didn’t have. WE went to Publix for her groceries, picked up Fancy, went to Houston’s butcher for some cheaper but better quality meat, and dropped off our groceries and then took Mom home and dropped off her groceries.

So it was a busy morning but we got half our day back and was able to get some things done in the house. I’m thrilled we have tomorrow – just need to get a few more things from store and also give George a hair cut. I am hoping to work in the house more and also work on the INTRO. I’ve started on it but only barely. I want it be good and not just throwing something together but I’m soooo ready to work on the next videos and also on Final Cut Pro for the first time.

So life is good today, I can feel our time and schedule loosening up a bit. I’m starting to mark some things off the to do list, marking things of the bucket list, and getting to be creative some, and getting some down time. It’s all going to be ok. My home time really grounds me.

Be back Monday morning! Unless I have something to say this time tomorrow, lol! Maybe, we’ll see!

How’s your weekend going? Doing anything special?