Hello everyone! That's very nice about the blood drive for dear little buddy. Wish you didn't need it. CM, will be thinking of you are the storm comes in. Lila! Keep up the good work!

So I felt very disorganized before and after my trip. I felt like there was so much stuff and I kept losing things and driving myself crazy. I feel better now. I don't know if I told you this but my friend decorated my house while I was gone and I came home to a lot of cuteness.

I am making a bag of stuff for goodwill. I'm concentrating on things that are fine but make me feel bad. For example, one of BF's neighbors gave something very cute but broken and I don't know why I'm keeping it. It was broken when I got it. And it aggravates me. I still think it's worth donating since other people might not be aggravated by its small flaw. It's one of the decorations that my friend put out. So that's going. I'm going to concentrate on my feelings and not the objects.

I still need to split up mom's wedding china. I cannot have this many place settings. But they need to go someplace nicer than goodwill.

I slept most of New Year's Day. I've been sleeping a lot since my trip solely because I was sick. Now I'm just sluggish from the holidays.

I got all of my shredding into the office yesterday. It had piled up since I hadn't been in the office since dec 3.

Taking my first real vacation in 20 years was extraordinary. The cats were well cared for and I had a simply beautiful time. Will go back next December.

Hi ladies, found this new thread. Sorry my huge photo blew up the previous one but it's kind of nice and neat to start a new year with a new thread anyway.

We are getting some pretty dire winter weather predictions and I am rather stressed about it. I just seem to be more and more anxious about such things every winter. It is just so potentially disruptive... I just pray the power stays on, no big tree branches fall, etc. The predictions are still in flux though. Maybe we'll get lucky.

On the positive side... my bunny who is 12 years old, on Sunday night was dragging a hind leg. I feared maybe he had had a stroke. But then a couple days later he began improving and is now doing better. So we don't need to try and hurry him to the vet during the harsh weather. And we have a small power bank for phone charging.

Anyway, prayers would be welcome and if power stays on maybe I can pop in here just to say Hi. Don't know if I'll get ambitious with decluttering (perhaps some small sorting project that doesn't require a lot of space could work). But maybe I'll just hibernate.

Wasn't how I planned to get in the swing of a new year but here we are. Stay safe and warm where you are and we'll see what happens.

Happy new year Tatoulia! Good morning!

Lila, good for you making those small steady changes to improve your fitness. And for getting all those things out of your house! You didn't say, but I hope you enjoyed your dinner.

I am trying to slowly add things back after my long vacation and make choices that will help me pare down.

On the first I added yoga and working on my counter (which got buried again during all the company)
Yesterday I continued with the yoga and counter and added journaling. I also did school work (updated my class lists and wrote my thank you notes - recycling some paper and using cards from my desk). Plus I caught up with laundry.

Today I go to Bean's house to watch the boys (the church is having a blood drive for Buddy and Dd and dsil are working it) I'll drop the recycling on the way and also some trash since I have to get gas. I'm staying late so the kids can go out to dinner and get some downtime and a chance to talk where Bean can't overhear them.

By the end of the weekend I want to be caught up on the counter, the laundry, the dishes, and planning for school for the week. I also need to get feed. The accumulation of feedbags in my barn is becoming absurd so I think the next routine I need to add is regularly cleaning those for recycling. It is easier in the summer, but I did not make the time. Step one will be finding an easy space to clean them in when it is cold outside. (In the absence of trash service, throwing them "away" is harder and more complicated than cleaning and recycling)

Happy New Year!

Lila, thanks for the new thread!

Today I:

- unloaded, loaded, and ran the dishwasher
- washed 2 loads of laundry
- went to the thrift store and dropped off two boxes of donations
- went to the library and donated a box of books (they sell used books)
- went to work briefly to clean my office, since I have a meeting there in a few days

I am proud of myself for carrying all of the boxes of stuff out to the car myself, a whole flight of stairs. I usually ask someone to carry things for me, but this year I am trying to build my stamina. I also carried the laundry up and down the stairs myself.

How you guys doing?

I'm glad you got to read the whole book! That will be one item out.

I have had such a nice day. TotsDad and my dil helped me clean and move things around. He vacuumed, took trashes out, moved furniture around, fixed my broken table, washed the dining room table, and cleaned the entry way. It is so much better! I helped with moving things etc.

I placed a grocery pickup order and am leaving soon to get it so I can make dinner. They are going to help me cook, and my son and his gf will come over for dinner (we will have 10 people here). I am about to bake a pie as well.

I am thrilled I have had so much time off and finally feel like it was enough. And tomorrow is another day off which is great. I will work on my goals and my decluttering and cleaning tomorrow too.

I also dyed my hair this morning. I am trying to find a balance between leaving it natural grey and dying it a light blonde... the issue is when I let it go a really long time my hair is basically white, and I think it makes me look way older. So, we'll see what I end up doing but for now the light blonde is okay.

Happy new year!

I have been lazy today. Cleaned up a little, but mostly read a book (the whole book) I am not going to keep the book, so, that is progress.

Working on some planning for January. It is definitely going to be a month I need to get ahead of. Also some goal setting.

Dh goes back to work tomorrow. I go to Bean's house on Friday and back to school next week. I need to take Bean's family some things they forgot and some extra food.

Today I am starting off the new year right!

- slept in
- thawed meat for dinner
- changed the water filters on the faucet and in the drinking pitcher
- did some reading
- loaded and ran the dishwasher

I will be relaxing, celebrating, cooking, maybe running to the store, putting random items away, and working on new goals.

Happy New Year! Here is a new thread to start us off on the right foot.