The day is cloudy and chilly and the rain has off and on. I am so frickin lazy these days. Maybe when the weather warms I will be more inclined to leave the house, or do something productive within it. My plan was to go to Lake Waccamaw this weekend, but the forecast looked awful and I finally decided not to go. I have a lot of work to do this time of year anyway, and I don’t like driving all that way and back for just two days. Guess I’ll make a pot of soup.
I guess I’m depressed again. Just kind of blah.
Yesterday I finally went around with the vacuum and cleaned walls and molding and curtains of dust and cobwebs. I installed the four color smart bulbs that I bought several weeks ago and it reminds me of the black light bulbs of my teen years. Mainly we’ll leave them in daylight mode but it’s been fun to tell Alexa to change them to different colors. I guess I get my jollies where I can. The other night when Sandy was gone I had Alexa play Talking Heads and the B-52s all evening. I wonder if my neighbors could hear it. To make up for it I played spa music last night.
I canceled my reservation for the trip to Italy in 2024. It was too far in the future for me to feel comfortable with laying out a big deposit. Inspired by the photos and tales of my friends of going to San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico, I spent a long time researching the cost of going there for a week in May. Turns out that I have enough miles on my United card to cover both of our airfares and there are some nice places in the historic center of town that are affordable for a week’s stay if we split the cost. Sandy is enthusiastic about the idea so I reserved a place that has free cancellation until May 4 or 5. Then I remembered that Sandy had a hard time with the altitude in northern New Mexico. It may be because we went really high up in the mountains of Colorado for the first night on the way there, but it persisted throughout the trip. I am a little nervous about this, but he is on medication for his heart now, and he still wants to go, so I will probably move forward with this plan. I may try to find a place that is a little lower in altitude for the first two days to ease the adjustment.
I’d prefer Europe, but this is doable, and I need a trip to plan and look forward to in the near future.
The gallery sitting last weekend was peaceful and I enjoyed stitching and the few interactions I had with people coming in, so I signed up for that again in two weeks. Next Saturday, I have a massage scheduled, YAY. My neck has finally healed for the most part, but the discomfort never really goes away.
Next week is going to be meeting heavy, but because I didn’t go to the lake and I was able to download Citrix on my new computer, I got most of my data entry done. I’ll still have a really full week, but it won’t be so overwhelming now that’s not hanging over my head. Sometimes I am sad about my decision not to retire this year, but most of the time I realize that I have a good work situation despite the clueless administrative decisions made above the level of my department. If I can hang on for the ride as long as I can, it will be best to keep working. I could always get laid off in a budget cut anyway, and in that case there could be some incentives to retire instead of just quitting.
I’ve also spent a lot of time (for me) in the evenings watching embroidery and slow stitching and mixed media videos, so maybe the next time I post I’ll have some photos to share. I joined the Stitch Club at textileartist.org because they have several workshops by artists that I love, such as Cas Holmes, and some artists/teachers that I am discovering. I know how to do most of the techniques…it is the push and inspiration and structure of a class that I need. I hate taking art classes online, but that’s my reality at the moment and I’m grateful to have that ability.
And I’ve decided to leave the blog on WordPress for now, because I may need to develop the website side of it later. I’ll probably copy it over to Substack from time to time if I end up getting any subscribers there, but for now, this is the place where every post will appear. Mastodon has lost its shine for me, but I don’t miss Twitter either.
slowly she turned 