Hello (!!)

I didn't expect to be off-line all week. The bots are active so I decided to give it a couple of days to settle and that became the week.

Let's do a list --- in no particular order, except for the pictures that insist on loading backwards (can't figure this out).

1. My mother came to town. I didn't see her. She played the victim and manipulated the circumstances into "poor her" and "she just doesn't understand how I can be so mean." Lovely. Glad she's gone back north. Crickets from her even though she told everyone she is "doing everything she can" to love me. It was a hard week having her so front and center with my family.

2. Had a week full of stuff-to-get-done and I got it done -- big win. Volunteer training, global entry, chores, etc. 

3. Books. I have a library stack I'm trying to get through before we leave. 

"The Ritual Effect" was very good. Talks about the difference between habit, routine and ritual. It's an interesting way to understand why some things stick, some don't etc. I liked it a lot. "The Secret Life of Groceries" was a bit of a skim read toward the end, but I liked the first chunk about Trader Joe's. 

I didn't particularly like this one. It's a fictitious memoire which is a clever way to tell the story, but there wasn't much of a story to tell. She studied dragons at a time when women weren't allowed to be scholars. That's the beginning, middle and ending in one sentence. The writing is good, but it needs more story.

This is a used book. I ran out of fiction from the library (no time to suspend a hold) so I chose one from my TBR. It is an old library book and I need to remember it's mine when I return the 9 books I have out right now (3 are travel guides). It should be a fast read.

Good so far!

I'll read/skim the other 3 books in the next few days.

4. I found a thrift store that's part of a good community organization. I have bin of donations that will work well for them. Got some goodies yesterday -- here are 2 of them.

Little lidded jar. I picked some
gangly mint so I filled it up
for my desk.

Plant stand. I'll move the gals
around when we get home.

Not pictured -- 2 new plant pots. I'll one to hold clippers (no drainage holes) and one to plant a propagated spider plant for a little gift. 

I also got 2 sets of vintage embroidered napkins that I'll use for crafting journals once garden stuff settles down.

5. *TMI* Still no monthly -- it's late and I guess is waiting to screw up my trip. Fun. Worst part is making room for the supplies on the trip. I tried a cup a few years ago and couldn't get it right.

6. The packing list is started. I have a lot to organize this weekend to make sure I have everything for this (too) long of a trip. I always have travel anxiety the day (or 2) before we travel, but now I'm getting travel DREAD the week before. I think it's because this trip is too long -- makes everything that much harder to get ready. Yes, boo-hoo, poor me traveling too long in Europe. I hear it. I get it. And, I have tons of dread.

I'll feel better when I get my list whittled down a bit more.

7. I've been eating like crap. Stress from mother visit, dread of travel, hormones. I KNOW it doesn't help, but I couldn't get myself together anymore than I did this week. I relied heavily on this old coping and soothing crutch -- I'm working on changing this ... broken record. Even though this was a backwards slide this week, I think I'm making progress overall. 

8. I need to regroup and refocus this summer. The year is going well, but I want to plan out the summer months. I have some ideas and goal progress to work on in June and July -- I'm excited. More on this later.

9. The Chimps 5k ladies are getting together again for the Mushroom 5k (3 of us went last year). I'm glad to be included for the hiking/nature adventures.

10. Even though the week was hard (and I fell back on coping mechanisms), I showed up in a lot of FS ways and I'm proud that I do that even when I'm off my game or when life feels rocky. That's progress for me. And progress to give balance and credit to what I did WELL too.

Hope you have a good weekend. Later gators.