On To 2026!

The holidays are officially over. Jeff and I had the quiet Christmas I didn't know I needed. Quiet times continued through the week between, what Jezebel once called slug week. We celebrated New Year's Eve with our friends Annette and George with Annette's old fashions, sushi, cake, and champagne.

As far as I'm concerned, 2026 really starts tomorrow. 

In the morning I'm headed to the our new primary care doctor. Jeff's already seen him, and we both liked him. I've got other medical referrals that I have to prioritize this month. Jeff will probably start outpatient physical therapy this week. 

I want to get back to furniture shopping. Then I can unpack and put away more things. I need to organize the closets and change a few things in the kitchen. 

Hold on: one step at a time. First, I need to pack up the Christmas decorations. I started by washing the holiday napkins and towels and gathering Jace's Christmas toys. 

I'm going to give myself daily to-do lists--three things should do it. A list will keep me less easily distracted. At least I hope so. 

One thing I want to put on the list--hmm, maybe there should be four items--is exercise. A few weeks ago I did a few stretches and I was really stiff. I realized that I haven't been to a gym since August. It's been so cold lately that I'm not walking as long as usual with Jace. 

I started daily exercise: yoga, stretches, balancing exercises. I work with my body ball and small weights (we only have two and five pounds.) I already feel that it's making a difference. I want to get back to a gym routine, but want to avoid the January rush. That reminds me: we saw several gym commercials on TV on New Year's Eve, but no diet commercials. It must be because everyone's on Ozempic.

Two Months in Essex

Last Wednesday was the two-month anniversary of our moving day. 

We've done a lot of things in those two months.

• We bought new furniture: kitchen table and chairs, living room couch and chairs, bedside tables, Sleep Number bed. 
• We found a primary care physician and other doctors. 
• I got my Maryland driver's license and registration, including a Maryland Safety Inspection.
• We got a new TV and cellphones when old ones broke.

We did that even with a five day break to return to Connecticut and five days for Jeff in the hospital when I did virtually nothing.

Of course, there's a lot more to do. I am trying my best not to get overwhelmed. I need to focus and stick to my plans.

I underestimated  how long it would take me to acclimate myself to a new area. I'm still using GPS to get around, but less often. I've been frustrated with the various grocery stores. It's been hard to find things/brands I like. It's getting easier; having kandykakes readily available helps. 

We were here at Halloween and the neighborhood is into decorating. Even a part of the trail/boardwalk was decorated. Unfortunately, Jeff was in the hospital, so we weren't up for celebrating. 

Christmas decorations are pretty big too. I did our Christmas decorating on Sunday. It's pretty sparse. We decided not to buy a tree this year. In January, we trashed our old shedding artificial tree and don't want to deal with getting a new one. Hey, we need furniture. But if there are good post-Christmas sales, we'll keep our options open. 

Looking ahead to ringing in the New Year in our new home.

Greetings from Essex, Maryland

Tomorrow will be a week from our official move-in date. At this time (6:58 PM) last Friday, Jeff and I were on the road somewhere in New Jersey. 

Last Friday was a long day even though the movers were great. I ended up leaving some things in Norwalk. I wasn't happy about that, but I couldn't have gotten out of the house in time to meet the movers at 8 AM the next morning. It was 2 when Jeff and I hit the road. We hit a lot of traffic, went through an area without hotel availability, and snagged the last room at a place in Bel Air, Maryland around 8 PM.

Since Saturday morning, it's been unpacking. And unpacking. And still more unpacking. I have the same challenge one of my neighbor described: we have so much room in our new kitchens compared to our old places. It's hard to decide where to put things (first world problems.) Having little furniture is also a challenge. Some of our clothes are hanging in the closet; some are stuffed in boxes. 

Everything is taking longer than I imagined. 

Now, for the positive. 

We had our new bed delivered Wednesday. 

Today, we bought a kitchen set (table and four chairs) to be delivered in almost three weeks.

Our neighbors have been welcoming and helpful. .

Jace and I are enjoying the trails here. 

I keep repeating, "I can't believe I live here." It's beautiful.

Mets Beat the Dodgers Tonight

It's been a lot of ups and downs for the Mets this week. After losing the series to the Phillies in a Sunday night game, the Mets swept the the Diamondbacks in a four game series.

I was upset at last night's loss to the Dodgers 9-2. I couldn't watch anymore so I did the dinner dishes. (Note to self--watch bad Mets games to get inspired to clean.)

Tonight the Mets won 3-0; a pitchers' dual until the bottom of the eighth when Rajai Davis hit a three run double to score all the runs the Mets needed.

As usual, deGrom was awesome; as usual the Mets didn't score for him. But we got the win. We're still alive. Can this be the beginning of a new winning streak?

LGM.

January: A Partial Review

I expected this month to drag. Instead it seemed to fly by.

As usual, I didn't accomplish everything I wanted. Technically, I didn't have a January-specific to-do list but I did want to start off the year right.

The first week was a blur. We were in the middle of a cold spell--temps didn't crack the freezing point for two weeks. I didn't work much--two tutoring cancellations. I had the first of three consecutive weeks of taking my mother to doctors' appointments. These appointments ended up taking four to five hours each, and they are my responsibility. Yes, my mother could get to the doctors without me, but nowhere near as conveniently. Plus it's good for me to stay in the loop concerning her health. Usually these appointments are spread out over months. January was bad luck in that regard.

I tracked my time for two weeks. I still need to do a thorough analysis, but time-tracking forced me to focus on how I wasted time. My time-wasters weren't surprises, but the amount of time wasted was. "Just let me check this blog, read this one post" can be dangerous.

I've been enjoying my walks with Lola. It's too easy to stay inside in winter. Lola gets me out when I would otherwise hibernate and miss some beautiful days. In the cold spell, we had some bad walking days even when wearing multiple layers, but these were few.

We got a new couch and love seat over the weekend. We chose them on MLK Day. We had our old couch hauled away to the dump and gave the love seat to Jeff's co-worker. One more love seat to go--we've had a spare in our spare room for too long.

I got a raise this month. It was nothing specific that I did; it was part of a simplification of tutoring options. Instead of having three separate tutoring rates, I now have one--the highest of the three. Let the new tutorials commence.

Overall, January's been a good month. On to February.

What's My Normal?

Yesterday I wrote about Spike returning to his normal life and my mother returning to hers. I started thinking about my life and what's normal for me.

First thing, the holidays are over; it's time to get back to work, get down to business, (insert your favorite cliché here.) Many still have holiday decorations up. At least we've taken ours down, though we still need to put them away in the bin.

With Spike's recovery, another aspect of my life's returning to normal. Worrying about Spike disrupted my sleep and my routine. I was so scared that I didn't want to leave him alone. I was haunted by the fear that he would die all alone. But I couldn't continue to live like that--I have responsibilities. Now I feel more secure about leaving him.

As my mother returns to her normal routine, I'll be freed up from some responsibilities to her. I've been visiting her about three times a week. I think that will continue for awhile, but it will be easier once she's back in her own apartment.

Now--the hard part. What exactly is my normal?  And is it the life that I want?

My normal isn't bad, but there are things I'd like to change. I want to exercise more, drink less, eat  better, read more books, see friends more often, write more, blog more, do more creative things.

To make this changes, I need to take action, set goals. A wish list by itself won't cut it. I've got some work ahead of me.

An Anniversary

A little over 24 years ago, Jeff and I moved into our condo. I don't remember the exact date because we moved in over a week around President's Day. After the closing, Jeff and his father painted the place. Jeff and I gradually moved in small items and boxes over the week.

Most of our furniture consisted of hand-me-downs from our parents' homes. We did buy a new couch and a loveseat. Jeff's parents bought us a new TV set. At one point we inverted an empty cardboard box to use as a coffee table.

We didn't look at many places before we decided on this condo. We definitely wanted two-bedrooms and at least one-and-a-half baths. Financial limitations and a desire for a reasonable commute kept us looking only in Stamford and Norwalk. I had previously sold real estate and I knew I didn't want to live in most of the places we could afford in Stamford.

Of course, when we bought this place, we never expected to be here for 24 years. I figured we'd be here two or three years. It was a booming real estate market when we purchased. I didn't realize that we bought at the top. I didn't know our place would plummet tens of thousands of dollars of value in a matter of months. If only we had waited until closer to our wedding in September.

But we didn't.

All in all, this has been a good move for us. Our mortgage and common charges over the years were close to or lower than our rental payments would have been. We have large rooms; we're in a great location. When we considered other places in 2006 - 2007, we realized how nice our current home was.  I'm so glad we didn't move then; we would have repeated our mistake of buying at the peak of the market. (After seeing a place I really liked, I called our bank and was scared at how much it was willing to lend us.)

So here we remain. And of course, we re-committed when we renovated our condominium.

This is not our perfect place nor our dream house. But this has been our home and we have been happy here. We are luckier than most people in saying that.

Resolved to Resolve

I've avoided thinking about resolutions--they are almost cliches--lose weight, exercise, eat better, stop smoking. All but the last could be my resolutions. In fact, they have been my resolutions over the years Of course, I added write more.

Reviewing 2011, I found that I didn't accomplish much. But then I realized that I hadn't set specific goals for myself. For example, in November, I thought about NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) but didn't commit to it even to myself. My November posts were sparse.

Earlier tonight, I goggled SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely. That's what I need to do if I really want to make resolutions or goals for 2012. 

Who knows...

where the time goes? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ycaoV0WXfk

Beautiful song though I can't say that:

I have no thought of time
I do not count the time
I do not fear the time.

Like many, I worry about filling time, managing time, wasting time.

It's been 11 days since my last post. What have I been doing with my time?

Not enough.

In addition to new beginnings, January is a time to get back to work. In December, I did only what I had to do. Everything else got procrastinated into January. So I started January with long to-do lists, feeling behind schedule at the start.

I realize that I am privileged even to have the time to blog about my time. I won't attempt to give advice or "helpful" hints to others. I just want to find some answers for myself.

Motivation

About two weeks ago, I pulled a book off my shelf: "The Little Book of Big Motivation" http://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Big-Motivation/dp/0449909468/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1293932830&sr=8-1. I'm not sure when I bought it, but its copyright is 1994 when I was in the midst of corporate life, buying into all the self-improvement crap. I figured I would succeed if only I did x, y and z.

Now I'm not saying the book is worthless. I read through it again--some ideas were obvious, some wouldn't work for me, some would. One that caught my eye was number 20. Be enthusiastic about the littlest things.

In previous posts, I have written about small things that have made me smile: a heron in the tidal pool at Taylor Farm, three hardy roses, a streak of blue across the evening sky.

This morning was another opportunity to enjoy something small. December had been unseasonably cold with biting winds and the grand finale of a blizzard. It got warmer and less windy over the last three days.

Today I walked Spike without gloves--it was over 40 degrees. I still wore my snow boots--Spike loves to run through snow and jump over snow banks. Today we walked and ran across the lawn in front of the hospital. It felt downright balmy.

I consider today to be an omen of the new year: warm and bright. That must mean something good.

Happy September

I love September. For one thing, it's the beginning of fall--my favorite season. The cool brisk air invigorates me after summer heat and I love the changing colors of the leaves.

September is a time of celebration: Jeff's and my wedding anniversary, Jeff's and other family members' birthdays. September is an ideal month for vacations--it's less crowded and often cheaper than the summer and the weather is usually good.

Most importantly, September is a chance to start over. While I no longer anticipate a new school year, I work with high school juniors and seniors who are laying the groundwork for new life chapters. As for me, I revisit my own dreams and goals for the year.

I'm not where I want to be. I've been blindsided, as the B-52's sing in Vision of a Kiss, "my life jumped the track." But I've accomplished some things anyway. And I've still got a third of the year left to make my mark.