So my dog is definitely prolonging my life because he has to be walked three times a day, which means I have to be walked three times a day. But yesterday was gorgeous and it made me think about staying out longer, giving Johnny more time outside and me more sun. And I began to plan.
I love planning.
So my plan is to get a bag that’s just for walking and stock it with a water bottle for me and a water bottle for Johnny, and poop bags because we’re responsible, and a rescue inhaler for my asthma which is under control but it’s also allergy season, and treats for Johnny because he’s a Good Boy, and a flashlight for our midnight walks, and some Kleenex for my drippy allergy nose, with enough room in the bag for a notepad and pen and a crochet project and an old sheet or something we can spread out on the ground and just unlax. I have ordered all of that those things that I did not have and gathered the things that I did. Everything should be here by Wednesday, so I can report next Monday on how it all worked out.
I have a plan and it’s going to be fabulous.
What’s your good intention for this week?
99 Responses
How about an expandable bowl for Johnny that way you can fold it up when he is done. Just a suggestion.
I have friends who use those and love them.
I was going to suggest this so now I will just echo it!
My good intention for today, in fact for this week, is to work in my sewing room. I have so much to organize that I have no space to sew. I used to have an actual room that I could use for sewing but now my youngest daughter and her family live with us so I sew in my bedroom. There is not enough room for the bed and dressers and my sewing machines plus fabric and other sewing paraphernalia.is that spelled correctly?
Anyway, those are my plans. I know somehow I will get derailed along the way but keeping my fingers crossed!
I love it when it finally gets warm enough to walk outside. In the winter I (sporadically) go to the gym to walk on the treadmill, but it doesn’t give me the same mental health life as walking up and down my road, listening to my tunes and looking at nature. So far I only made it out four times, because our weather has been…uncooperative…but I’m looking forward to doing it more.
My intention from last week (and the week before that, and the week before that, and) was to finish half the magical cozy, finish a passable synopsis and send both off to my agent. I finally did it! Of course, then I didn’t hear anything from her, probably because her kids were off from school for the week, but still, it felt good to accomplish it at last. Now I’m back to chipping away at the second half of the book, and filling in the large empty hole between what I’ve got and the end of the book.
My intentions for this week are to make a dent in the writing, clean the house, and finish rearranging and cleaning the mudroom.
I’d love to get outside more in the spring, but the pollen gets in my throat and eyes, and I am unhappy because of it. So I tend to keep my windows tightly closed and only go out when I absolutely must.
My intention last week was to work on the crochet. I found that I was two stitches off, so I ripped out 2 hours of work (8 rows) to find where the mistake was. Now I’m ahead of where I was when that started, and I’m happier about the whole thing.
I also said “maybe” to doing a little cleaning of my past sewing projects. That didn’t happen – I was working the NYT crosswords instead.
DH will be going camping this weekend, so I’m thinking about what I can do with a long stretch of independent, unsupervised time. I might just go wild and have a mad sewing weekend. I’ll let you know on Monday how that went!
I stayed home on Saturday instead of going to the family Easter event and that was a good choice. I am still having mixed emotions about it but I didn’t want to be there so the guilt is just going to have to shush. And every area of my house feels like it is in chaos. All of it. And I hate it. I left it go for so long. Even before my father’s issue I wasn’t keeping up with it, mostly because of job-related stress before I left the teller line and weight of the world stress, which, hah.
So my intention is to try to work on that. I still feel blocked from doing anything creative, but maybe once the background noise has quieted some, I will feel better about sitting with myself. I find making things to be almost meditative, but it is so hard to get back to that place after being away.
I also want to write down some goals and priorities. Clear some mental clutter, as it were and try to align my actions and choices with some long term planning. Again, this feels a little silly in times of global crisis, but that part doesn’t seem to be going away, so here we are.
Good for you, staying home!
Global crisis doesn’t mean your life stops happening and you caring for and about you being canceled. No matter what the world is up to, you need to focus on your own little patch and make that work. You can’t change the entire world madness, but you have the possibility to change, adjust and have an impact on your personal chunk of the universe. That is in no way silly. You’re not responsible for what happens elsewhere. <3 Don't beat yourself up for being in a better place technically but not mentally. HUGS!
I found it very hard to get back to doing creative things too, so I feel you. Even when it's good for us, it's hard to find the mindset, right mode, right mood, feck if I know what has to be right to make it work, but hard is what it is. That's annoying, because as you say, it can be so meditative and calming. As with so many other things, the hardest part is often to get started. Perhaps there's something small and relatively easy you can pick up and fiddle with, thereby tricking the brain into switching gears? I got back into tentative knitting again by telling my brain I was only gonna knit a swatch to see if I could learn how to tighten a certain kind of cast-on after the piece is finished, and once I'd done that, I went on to knit other things. It doesn't have to be big or get finished or have an end-goal. It just needs to tickle your brain. A doodle, a swatch, a finger-puppet, a decorative braid, gluing ONE piece of joy to a hat, sew a patch on your pants, whatever. Something low-effort that doesn't require too much thinking, material-gathering or planning, just doing.
You can do this!
Thank you Shass! Lupe isn’t the only one who needed the encouragement! 🤗
My annual Medicare checkup is scheduled for Thursday. I was looking forward (sort of) to talking to my PCP about my knees, which now hurt at least a little most of the time, and a lot if I’ve walked or worked out.
On Friday, I got a letter from UHC stating that my PCP had left their coverage on February 1. If I go see her on Thursday, I’ll have to pay the full, bloated-to-make health insurance look worthwhile, freight.
So why did it take them until March 27 to mail that notification? Because the time frame to switch my coverage expired in March.
(Profane editorial comment withheld.)
I am swearing for you.
This may be a screwup, because in my experience not only your insurer but your PCP should have warned you if this was coming for real. I’d call either or both and see if you can determine what’s going on. (In one case it was some sort of screwup such that I had to again select the same PCP on the insurance website. In another case Blue Cross and a secondary provider were having a standoff and I heard from both, but they settled it before my appointment.). Good luck!
Argh.
Maybe they have a different price for people paying out of pocket?
I am also saying some swear words for you.
Last week’s intentions all happened except the day job one to finish one long overdue task and start another. I started one. I am going to finish that one today if I have to stay up until midnight and intend to finish both this week. I also intend to do either PT or an exercise walk every day, and put away the papers from the taxes. And more weeding in the garden (while wearing sunscreen—I am putting sunscreen right next to the gardening equipment). My hope is to get the house reasonably tidy before DD shows up on the 14. That would involve more paper filing and I am making no commitments on that.
Tonight we have dinner with foster daughter and will pump her about her plans to move in with her boyfriend and his mother. (She clearly wants to talk about it.) I think that’s the only social plan for this week so far but I will try to have tea with my neighbor and will be lining up friends to go with us to several summer baseball games.
I have done two review passes on the draft tax returns and expect Version 3 to land today or tomorrow. If they look clean, I intend to schedule a visit to the accountant’s office for final review, signatures, checks, etc. (I think I have to mail them myself but am not 100% sure.)
Four more chapters of the novelette-in-progress were completed over the weekend; this week’s intention: four more. This one is very much Home Improvement, which is fun.
Family dinner yesterday was pleasant, also productive in that we had another fruitful discussion of “what do you want if X happens” scenarios. So lucky that my parents are not avoidant or combative types. They had draft estate planning docs for us to review, so did that; my intention today is, in between work emails, to go back through the docs with my red pen because the lawyer boilerplate is, while functional, imperfect.
Last week as usual I intended to move my body more, which actually did happen thanks to an hourlong stroll on the town greenway. So, this week’s intention is to walk for at least an hour, either on the treadmill or around the neighborhood or somewhere Out next weekend.
Further intention: get my stack of stuff to be scanned SCANNED because OMG what clutter.
Don’t plan to mail checks. When I did my taxes earlier this year, my accountant told me that the Feds are no longer accepting checks, and neither is NYS. Everything has to be done electronically. Sigh.
Huh. My understanding is that paper checks are still accepted federally this year although electronic is strongly preferred. I imagine what happens with state taxes depends on your state.
IRS.gov says checks are still accepted for the federal return, but the information to be included is such a recipe for identity theft (address, phone number, SSN), I’ll probably go with credit card payment instead.
They have always asked for those items. The risk for identity theft may have increased with the stealing of checks from the mail of course. But the government already has all that info if there is a thief in IRS. I am more worried about the guy who took social security files on a thumb drive with him to his next job.
A couple of times when I’ve called asking for information on one of my accounts (I forget which ones) the CSR has asked for the last five digits of my Social Security number. At what point will they start asking for the last seven and so on?
Not only did I mail the check 10 days ago, it cleared my account.
My plan is to get bids on my roof so I can get the two aggressive realtors off my back about it. They expected this to be done on Easter weekend!!! Now, I am getting emails every ten minutes asking me to sign a document that makes promises I can’t make until I hear from the roofers.
I also need to drag all the junk from the basement up the stairs to the dumpster.
I also need to figure out how my new phone works. My son switched the info over, but now it’s all different. my old phone was obsolete and not keeping a charge. sigh.
Good for you, Jenny, walking more. It will pay off.
I have to change to a new phone (for the 3rd time in 6 months, because I got two lemons in a row). It’s a much fancier model than I’m used to and I’m bracing myself for all the nonsense that comes with switching over to a new phone. ARGH. You have all my sympathy.
Last week was weird and long. I had a migraine one day and just spent most of my weekend lounging around because my stomach was killing me and my reflux was off the charts. So this week I’m going to eat very carefully.
I did sew closed some holes in seams in a pair of pants, so I’m no longer flashing my underwear. Didn’t even touch the quilt to I want to finish.
I set up some advertising for my book that’s coming out tomorrow but I’m full of pessimism. I love writing books, but selling the things is torture!
I hope you have a great release day!
Happy release day!!
Jenny maybe add sunscreen to your walk bag ?
And isn’t Johnny fairly light-haired with a pink nose? He might need some.
Or a wide-brim hat that rolls up?
Fancy. A wide brimmed hat sounds coooool.
I bought a reflective sash and arm bands for walking in the dark – we have no street lights, so I’m kind of a crossing-guard/Wonder Woman amalgam out there. Feeling stupid, but you know, it’s dark. As long as I’m seen by the few cars that are out, I can deal with the stupid.
No reason to feel stupid. Even living in an area with sidewalks, I had put yellow tape on my dark blue raincoat and verified that my other dark jackets came with reflective trim or some such. (I hope I recover enough stamina to put that to use again; it’s been a long slog )
About forty years ago I bought my father a reflective vest (mesh, cool in summer) to wear when he walked after dark on our road with no sidewalks and not very much traffic.
It’s never stupid to make sure you can be seen in the dark. Safety first! Stupidity is to not give a damn about things like that and thereby put yourself and others at risk.
Same with things like wearing a helmet when you’re on the bike or shoe spikes when the streets are icy. Health and safety first. We only have one body. Well done you for having acquired the reflectives!
A flashlight is also a good idea for walking at night. Aim it at the ground.
Round here over the winter I saw a lot of dogs being walked with luminous light bands around their necks after dark. This was actually really helpful for all of us because sometimes (even though we have, allegedly, street lamps) it was hard recognise that the person coming towards you had a dog on a leash that you were about to get tangled in. The dogs seemed quite proud of their “jewellery” too. It always made me smile.
Driving at night in my residential neighborhood, I am appalled by the number of pedestrians who expect drivers to see them when they are wearing dark clothes. Accidents waiting to happen.
That said, Iwhen I am going out in the evening I almost always wear my black dress slacks and my good black leather coat. sigh. You would think I would have more sense.
Jenny, Bob would probably tell you that all you need is poop bags and a combat knife.
AND water!
This week’s intention is to catch up with all the things that didn’t get done last week, when I spent a lot of time lying down instead. Those things are even more urgent as spring proceeds without me.
I am eyeing my cherry tree with mingled hope and despair. It is in bloom. There was frost last night. Will there be any cherries this May or not?
I’m usually an intense planner (for both my life and my fiction writing), but my plan for this month is to go with the flow.
Too much is out of my control at the moment, especially with respect to the work on various aspects of the exterior of my house. After waiting three months for an estimate on the work, I met with the contractor on last Monday, he called the next day to ask if they could start some of the little projects that don’t require specially ordered supplies on Wed., and they worked Wed in the back of the house (without finishing it), got rained out on Thurs, worked Friday on the front of the house (not on the unfinished thing in the back). I figured they’d surely be here bright and early today to finish the back stairs, because the weather is dry and not too chilly. Yeah, no one showed up, and I have no idea when they’ll be back, and if I let myself fret about it, I will lose what’s left of my mind. And I think the whole month is going to be like this, never knowing when to expect them here and when they’re busy elsewhere.
Deep breaths. Go with the flow. I can do this.
Oh no! That kind of waiting and not knowing, especially with strangers, is so stressful. Hugs!
That would drive me nuts! Wishing you all the strength needed to go with the flow!
This is like telling pregnancy horror stories to newly expectant parents. But we discovered dry rot in our second story balcony which is stucco with a tile floor. It was ripped up then the fall rains came, followed by the winter rains, followed by the spring rains ( have I mentioned I live in Oregon) and just this week the contractor let me know they are ready for the stucco guy. Then the tile that was removed can be reset and grouted and we can repaint.
It’s good to know I’m not suffering alone!
I’ve built in a reserve for when (not “if”) they find surprises that require additional work, but it’s more a financial reserve than a patience reserve. I hadn’t really thought about delays — the last time they found a costly surprise (old houses are so much fun), they were able to fix it in just a couple days (after payment of a bazillion dollars).
I am hoping to get a chunk of writing done on the new story before line and copy edits come in on the last one.
I’d like to get a few good walks in this week. I’m mostly back to where I was before my surgery, so I think I can go back to walking 4ish miles at a time. We had a nice hike yesterday with a little elevation gain and it was no problem. I told J I can go back to carrying my own pack next weekend. We saw tons of bunnies yesterday, obviously because it was Easter.
I’d like to finish the chapter I’m working on this week and start another. I have to switch projects by May 1st so I have time to get the other book ready for its dev edit appointment on June 7th. It would be nice to make it all the way through the first draft of the one I’m working on now before I set it aside. I also want to finish carving the linoleum block I’m working on now. I mailed a bunch of prints to people as postcards last week and gave away a handful of others. Need to be a bit more mindful of how many of these things I print, because it’s easy to somehow quickly end up with a couple dozen…!
I’m so glad you’re feeling better, Jenny. I was worried when you said recently that you had stayed up until 6:30 in the morning. I had a run of nights like that a few years ago and found out that it is NOT a good sign.
I know you have lots of real-life friends so you probably don’t need me, but you have my email address if you want to reach out. Sometimes it’s easier to talk to a stranger.
Be well
I’m working on a budgeting strategy. Because at the ripe middle age that I am (I’m sticking to “middle” until 60) I’ve finally learned I really need a true budget. And I’ve learned things like percentage rules for savings for home maintenance. All frankly making me think renting isn’t such a bad idea, but, for now, budgeting. Let’s hope this intention isn’t the road paver most good intentions are.
I don’t know how tech-literate or comfortable you are, but there are budgeting apps and things that can be helpful.
That’s quite the list! Maybe a bag with wheels?
I wanted to go for lots of walks last week, and I did. My good intention this week is to get through the two medical appointments without having them distract me on the other days.
This week I’d like to try to figure out something to take my aunt when I visit on Sunday. She’s 90 and living in a full-time care facility, a couple of hours north of me off I-95. I hate I-95, so the visit is usually crazy early, arriving there around 9am. 9am is a weird time for cookies, as usually she’s just had breakfast. There’s some weird Southern thing going on within me, though, that insists I must bring *something*….and I’ve tried muffins and coffee cake, and all of that is sweet too. Fruit even is hit or miss.
I have 3 kinds of cookies in the freezer I can choose between, but…I’m still on the lookout. We’ll see if I can come up with anything – but if anyone has suggestions for visiting relatives, I’m listening! She’s lovely, almost always in a good mood, joins in on any conversation… I want to do something nice.
Maybe some wrapped hard candies she can keep in her pocket or purse? My Mom used to carry them around as an alternative to cough drops for when her post nasal drip gave her a “tickle” in her throat. And she could also offer them to her neighbors when they were together. And some Spring flowers are always welcome, especially when the weather outside has not been good for the gardens. That way she’ll have a visual reminder of your visit after you leave.
Does she like specialty tea or coffee? I don’t think you have to be able to consume it together, so I might also bring a box of chocolates.
Flowers are always lovely.
Maybe non-food items, like hand cream or flowers?
Thank you, everyone!
I too have a dog that needs daily walks. However, at 6-1/2 yrs, she no longer needs an hour plus per day.
My plan for last week was to walk beaches and see whales on
Vancouver Island. Both were accomplished. This week is more mundane – get through some administrivia, get taxes organized for submission to our accountant Canadian taxes are due on April 30) and listen to the book for bookclub later this week. Plus, plant my tomato seeds. I won’t put them outside until early June so I have lots of time.
Ticking off the list of things from last Monday.
Gardened instead of inside admin work because it was so beautiful outside. Gave youngest son three books (two new/one his grandmother’s), him from my library. He said he nearly bought it when he was flying from Alaska. (So very happy I thought to give it as always is the perfect gift.) Introduced him to Margery Allingham’s The Case of the Late Pig. Excited to read it. Granddaughters looked interested too.
Two lunches this week; one with brother and nephew, Friday with women I volunteered/worked with in the 80s. Some great women still friends with.
Inspired to bake yesterday, made blueberry muffins, so…baking again today. Found a carrot cheesecake muffin recipe and a salmon dinner in NYT. Must be the sunny weather.
And I proof read the comment, still incorrect, (face plant).
Gave youngest son three books yesterday for birthday, two new/one old from his grandmother, all from my library. DH is harping about getting rid of some of my books. Everyone will continue to get at least one book for birthdays. So many new books for my old age. Hah.
I like your plans, Jenny.
I made it through another week. Hurrah!
Intentions for this one:
– Tomorrow I need to call for new prescriptions from the GP, AND call Sleep Centre 3 and ask about when we’re having the sleep-test result-talk, AND my insurance to ask about some papers and coverage for alternative treatments and suchlike. Phonecalls are not my favourite passtime. Sigh.
– Learn how to tighten the thrice cursed cast-on so I won’t ruin the loom-knitted pillow I want to finish AGAIN. Already done it twice, once last summer and once today. Argh. Once I have climbed that obstacle, I’ll knit the pillow again.
– Finish the mosaicked egg. Long story short is that I thought I was done with the glueing part, but glue and curved styrofoam are not always friends, so I have to redo 1/5 of it. My own fault, I should have known.
– Walk a bit on the treadmill, if not outside. I keep meaning to but…
– Try to get in a bit more hours of sleep. This past week was… not stellar in that area. Also possibly order and try a herbal sleep-kit recommended by an aroma-therapy shop and tested at and approved by Sleep Centre 2.
If all goes well and I don’t get sick, I get to see Dazzler and Queenie on Saturday to celebrate Dazzler’s 40th birthday. That’ll make the 3rd time I see them in a bit more than a month. I intend to receive and dish out hugs. Lots. Yayayayayay!
I was the most depressed yesterday that I have been in years. I haven’t told anybody because I didn’t want to spread my bad mood around any more than my crankiness already had. I probably owe an apology to the scheduler at the Rush GI clinic who called me to go over the instructions for the third time. However, it did motivate me to double check the cell phone number I had for the friend who is going to pick me up. I’m glad I did, because it turned out that the number I had for B Stark was for Becky, the daughter who lives out on a farm 2 counties away, not Ben, the father who lives in the suburb closest to the hospital.
I have an appointment on Wednesday with a doctor at the other hospital for a second opinion and I was considering cancelling it now that I no longer have secondary insurance, but I think I might want a second opinion on my upcoming test results. So perhaps it might be worth meeting this guy and trying to get a handle on what his strengths are in case I don’t get any help from the staff at the first hospital.
It sounds like you’re feeling less depressed today. I hope that holds. Good luck on all your upcoming medical stuff.
I hope the depression lifts and the doctors and nurses are helpful!
BIG HUGS TO YOU! Depression is such a heavy monster. And it has these icky tentacles that just attach and don’t easily let go. I hope you found some olive oil to smear them in so it slid off, at least partly.
I know it’s easier said than done, but I’d say that if you need to share that you’re not feeling good, share it. We will help you carry it. You’re not alone. <3
Tentacles and oil? That sounds like a recommendation for Good Book Thursday.
This week my intention is to wash the walls. I started on the wall in the stairway were everybody leaves hand prints. Got the bright idea to use the noodle mop piece that goes over the swifter. What a great job it did. I moved from the stairway to the hall. Next I’m going to try it in the upstairs shower.
Pixie turned 13 last week and is still going strong. She insists on 1-1 1/2 hour walks a day. Then she comes home and sleeps.
I haven’t done any after dark dog walking since I retired but I do have a light on a headband from working days. It’s a great little gadget for lighting your path, visibility and the occasional power outage.
No real plans for this week. I need to motivate myself to do some yard cleaning and attend this week’s meetings which have grown from one to three. Sigh.
I bought a coffee warmer. My coffee is usually room temperature by the time I finish it. Now it will be lukewarm.
I just keep nuking mine.
That does weird things to my creamer. 🙁
The coffee warmer has kept two cups of coffee at the perfect temperature. Well below suing McDonalds and well above lukewarm. I’d wanted to try it on tea, but the two boxes I just bought are NOT decaf. Oops! Very annoying.
Oh Aunt Snack I’m so sorry. I do hope the GI tests find a solution and that your depression lifts. Sending many pocket hugs.
Thanks. I’m sure that once I get some relief with my digestive issues, the rest of my life will improve. I looked this week’s doctor up online today and it said that one of his specialties is acid reflux. So maybe I can figure out a routine that will take care of both my complaints at the same time.
And if that is possible, evicting my mouse is next!
Even if it only lasts a few days, it feels good to have hope again.
Not on topic:
DS asked me if I had read Ada Palmer and in an effort to find Patrick’s review of her book mentioning her error about who could read bibles, I googled “Ada Palmer Argh Ink”.
Imagine my surprise to learn Google thinks Argh Ink is the blog of Jim C. Hines, including “This is a Good Book Thursday”.
(It did take me straight to Patrick’s review.)
I enjoy Jim C. Hines’ books, but not as much as Jenny’s.
Glad you were able to find what you were looking for!
I intended to do more stretching / yoga last week, walk the dog daily, and to get all my workouts in. I also intended to clean a couple more cupboards throughout the week.
I did no yoga. I made the kids walk the dog. I got 90% of my intended workouts in. No cupboards were cleaned.
We did clean the house and prep food for Easter dinner/Mom’s birthday party, though.
For this week I have the same #1-3 intentions. Luna and I walked a book over to the neighbourhood library (little mini libraries on random streets), I’m going to do some stretching right after posting this, and I did my workout today, so yay Monday!
I also intend to write something. Anything.
Last week, I took a new medication for 2 nights and gave that up as the side effects weren’t worth it. That enabled me wake up. For work, I completed my review of applications for an award and participated in the committee’s selection of 2 winners and 2 runner ups. I was able to get my taxes done – technically submitted them today.
I celebrated Easter by attending my first passover dinner with friends on Wednesday. Then volunteered on Sunday (I had to be at church by 6:30 am and I’m a night person like Jenny so that was difficult!). We also had Easter dinner with different friends at our house.
I got none of my bonus items done last week so they move to this week’s intentions:
– doing some longarm quilting on a customer’s quilt
– get the inner border cut and on the Cressida quilt
– complete security training for work
– register for ALA Annual conference
– move/exercise – yoga for at least 10/min at least 5x this week, and at least 1 strength workout (although I might count moving our friend for this 😉
Also having dinner with friends 2 nights this week and helping other friends move on Saturday.
Like others, the state of the world has me depressed. Trying to figure out how to deal with it. This one likely is going to remain on my list for many months (years).
I may have missed something. I do skim. But, I am a nurse and Johnny is not just making your life longer,but better. That is the cause for celebration.
Just prolonging life,(delaying time of death) makes me have so many feelings.
I made a schedule for this week’s goals and I actually tried to take into account realistic energy levels + ways to help myself avoid procrastination. My hope is that a concrete plan of “I’m trying to accomplish A on Tuesday, B on Wednesday, and C on Thursday” will lead to actual progress, as opposed to a general sense that I should be doing everything always, so I don’t do anything, and then I feel bad.
Out in August and pricey.
I’ve been having that problem, but I managed to jump start, by doing something tiny, so at least I started and it usually becomes easy to finish. Or just by lying to myself. I had to wash my hair, so I told myself, I would just rinse it… rinsed it, but since I am already there, might as well wash it properly.
I intend to read this book. At some point.
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4c878d4a-348a-45c2-aebe-bb9a9d2e8384
(Daggerbound by T Kingfisher)
My library hold on it is measure in months. I hope they buy more than one copy.
Okay, this is funny, and I thought some of you would enjoy it. From the New York Times:
252,756
— That’s how many miles the Artemis II astronauts were from Earth last night. It’s a big number. Our writer Evan Gorelick offers a few points of comparison.
Wiener dogs: If you took 22-inch dachshunds and laid them nose to tail, you’d need a very cooperative pack of almost 728 million dogs to cover the distance. It would be tough: There are only around 900 million dogs, of any breed, in existence.
Walking a dog: If you took one of the dachshunds on a brisk 3-mile-per-hour walk, you’d need to walk for more than 84,000 hours to get there. That translates to nearly 10 years of continuous walking. (If the dog let out a celebratory bark upon arrival, and if sound could travel through space, it would reach Earth around 14 days later.)
Eating hot dogs: You’d need a chain of 2.37 billion Nathan’s Famous hot dogs to cover the distance. If the competitive eater Joey Chestnut shoveled them down at his record-breaking pace of 76 dogs every 10 minutes, he’d need to eat nonstop for almost 594 years to devour the entire chain. (His monstrous meal would top 700 billion calories.)
I ended up doing quite a lot last week, so this week I am planning nothing much other than going to the theatre tomorrow night.
I did manage to get the dusting and vacuuming done but not the bucket of hot soapy water stuff. I also ended up having to have the light fitting in the shower room replaced after it blew the fuses while I was soaped up in the electric shower (and had to rinse off and get dressed elsewhere before I could find the problem). And the bedroom door snib decided to break and lock me in the bedroom yesterday with no phone and only a pair of scissors for tools. I started to panic then decided that would help no-one and rescued myself. Today (not yesterday because it was a public holiday) I went to the lock shop and it only cost me £2.50 for a replacement part that I could fit myself. As opposed to the £190 it cost to get the shower room light fitting replaced. I am proud of myself for how I dealt with it but was an eventful week which is why I am trying for a very quiet one this week.
Impressive!!
None of my inside doors (bedroom, bathroom) in my house have locks. That is partly because of having gotten stuck a time or two and because the husband of a relative had a heart-attack in the bathroom (locked) and the responders lost precious time trying to get the door open.
Good for you for rescuing yourself and replacing the lock.
My toddler niece shut the door to the garage once, locking her mother inside, No one else was home, my poor sil in law had to hack a hole into the door with some secateurs to get to the key on the other side
Omg. Meanwhile terrified I’m sure that her toddler would toddle off to find something dangerous.
My cousin was in the attic over the garage when the stepladder fell over–with help from the wind, not the toddler–and she asked the toddler “Beth, go ask Karen’s mama to come over here,” and Beth said “I’m not allowed to cross the street by myself.” Eventually my cousin convinced her that this was a special case, and eventually Beth came back and said “Karen can’t come play right now,” and had to be convinced to cross the street again and actually say something. She met Karen’s mother on the way, who had realized that Beth wasn’t allowed to cross the street by herself, so something must be wrong!
Once when I was renting a room in a house, there was a frantic banging on the door. The woman next door was trying to find a guy who also lived there because her toddler had locked her out. I was home alone, so found an open window and pried the screen out for her to climb in, which she could have done if she weren’t panicking. Didn’t need no stinkin’ man (or even me, for that matter). I bet she was a lot more careful about locks from then on. Also about leaving windows open in a sometimes shady neighborhood.
I decided to return heirloom furniture to my husband’s family. They didn’t ask but it anything were to happen to me I don’t want my executor stuck trying to figure out who gets what. Most of it isn’t particularly valuable ( great great grandpa’s e Eastlake walnut desk, made from walnut trees on his farm by a local carpenter and refinished at least once every generation – things like that). But it is important to them. . My goal this week is to rehome all the stuff that is on/in things so it is ready to go.
That sounds like a lovely piece for someone in the family.
I am not sure my kids are going to want much of our stuff (DD in a smallish house an ocean away, DD a real minimalist who says if he ever buys a home it will be a studio—not for financial reasons. )
Maybe when my niblings are setting up homes in a decade or two I will see what they want.
Meanwhile I am afraid my sisters will want to keep almost everything in my mom’s home because they can’t seem to separate the person they grieve for from the objects they owned and I have visions of them both becoming hoarders in their tiny NY apartments.
Oh, that is so hard, Debbie, but I love the way you said it.
My aunts keep giving me things they saved from my mother. I don’t think they wanted them, but they couldn’t let them go after she died. For me, it’s just belongings and crafts from someone I never really met. So the pain stored in these boxes in attics for so many years is hard to parse. But I am also not keeping most of it. I figure someone who really loved me wouldn’t want me to keep things I don’t enjoy.
My one aunt gets so deeply hurt and offended if the family doesn’t properly appreciate her handmade gifts and it is so hard. I wish she would understand that she is not loved less because her nephew didn’t gush over the needlepoint hand towel she made. Or that because she found something she gifted back at Goodwill, it is not a rejection of her.
I asked my mother in law to write notes about the stories behind family pieces of jewelry and gift it to her nieces and great nieces so that history isn’t lost and so that she can enjoy the gifting. Also, her son, my brother in law is going to hoard everything he can get his hands on to hock it online. He has issues.
Oh Lupe how hard for you. I am sure your aunts see it as a way to keep her alive and keep a connection for you with her and I am equally certain that an attic of objects does no such thing. Many pocket hugs.