Light at the end of the tunnel? or more tunnel?

You turn around, and look -- January's almost over, and we've survived it once again. Only two more days after today. I think I'll almost miss it.

This was my first week without Rocket Boy, and that's always kind of a challenging week, with the joys of January tacked on to make it even better. But it was also a quiet week -- my only scheduled activities were the dentist and orthodontist on Monday and the book group (via Zoom) on Tuesday. That helped. As the week went on, I managed to get a few things done. Mostly reading, not cleaning, but it's OK. I also ended up with another appointment, but I'll talk about that more in a bit.

Successes:

• Made dinner every night (all the things I'd planned to make and shopped for). 
• Started working on my novel again, four days this week. 
• Started taking the ornaments off the tree and finally got them all packed away and the box taped up (the tree is still up, with just the lights on).
• Did some cleaning -- some parts of the Weekly Home Blessing but not all.
  

Not Yet Accomplished (i.e., Failures):

• Exercise (it's really cold and icy and snowy)
  
• Working on the files and taxes
• Vacuuming and mopping
• All FlyLady missions (every weekday there's a special mission to do -- I skipped them all)
  

The week ahead looks a little more challenging, and not only because it's so cold. Both kids have haircuts scheduled (on different days) and Teen A has a dentist appointment. Also, Thursday is Candlemas, which in our family is D-Day for taking the tree down. That means I have to take the tree apart, bring the tree box in from the back patio and carefully put the pieces of the tree away -- and then accidentally put it out for the garbage collection on Friday. No, I won't do that. But I'd like to. Stupid falling-apart tree.

Oh, but there were other activities this past week -- unpleasant ones. We're currently in the midst of a financial disaster with the rental house next door, as I think I mentioned before. Let's see, how did that go?

1. The tenant asked (over and over) if she could have her furnace inspected. Our property manager didn't respond to her requests or our requests to have this done. Finally, after months, the property manager sent someone over. At the same time they noticed that our rental license had expired, so they sent someone over to inspect the property prior to renewing the license.
2. The inspector found a few things to fix, nothing big. But the furnace guy discovered a leak in the crawl space (where the furnace is) and refused to inspect the furnace until the leak was fixed.
3. We called a plumber who discovered that it was a leak into the cast iron pipe that leads to the street. A fairly serious repair (on Friday the 20th), to the tune of $1650.
4. Then we hired ServPro to clean up the mess in the crawl space. They got the mud out and set up fans. The fans were removed early this past week, but I still haven't gotten a bill, despite filling out a lot of paperwork saying I'm willing to pay, etc. Nervous about the bill. Our insurance company can help, but we have a $1000 deductible. 
5. Then our property manager insisted we get a mold testing company in to see if we have a mold problem, following the leak. The mold tester came out on Thursday, and since the tenant was out, I let him into the house and followed him around. He did some extra testing beyond the standard amount, because he found some suspicious areas. Cost of testing: $664.35
6. Now we have to get a handyman in to fix the little things required for the rental license, plus the damage done by the plumber. Cost: unknown.
7. Oh, and we have to pay a fine because we let the rental license expire. Cost: unknown.
   
8. The mold tester wasn't impressed by ServPro's work. I thought I'd wait to see what the furnace guy thinks when he goes back down in the crawl space, and then if he's not impressed, I might challenge ServPro's bill, when and if I receive it. Cost of furnace inspection (maybe this week?): unknown, hopefully not a lot,
   
9. We should get the results of the mold testing on Monday. Cost of possible remediation: unknown, but likely to be significant.
10. And on and on and on...
    

We really don't have much money, having spent it all on the new kitchen floor, the tile in the shower, medical expenses not covered by insurance, my stupid braces, our trip to St. Louis last summer, and on and on. It is not the year to have gigantic rental house expenses. We'll be able to deduct them eventually, but not this year.

Oh, and property taxes will be due soon. For some reason, I've only gotten one bill so far, for our house, but I estimate that the total for the three properties will be just under $9000. In good years, I save up for the taxes over the course of the previous year, but 2022 was not a good year, and 2023 is starting off HORRIBLY.

Where is this money going to come from? 

***

Anyway, I know I need to get a job, but until I can get myself to truly come to grips with that fact, I'm thinking of everything under the sun that I can do instead.

Ideas for earning/saving money (other than getting a job):

• Spend as little money as possible. No retail therapy. Read books off my shelves and from the library. Eat food from the cupboards. Make snacks instead of buying them. Stick to vegetarian cooking (lots of beans, even though Teen B does not like beans). Buy food on sale and in season. For example, at the grocery store yesterday I accidentally bought a serrano pepper for 8 cents (I wanted a poblano pepper but they didn't have any). Immediately, I thought: how can I plan our meals around serrano peppers? I mean, come on, 8 cents. But serrano peppers are very hot. I don't even want to cook the one I bought. Oh well, beans are cheap too, even canned. And lentils (bought some of those too).
  
• On our Saturday restaurant trips, only get stuff for the kids, not me. So last night I got Noodles for the kids, but I ate leftovers at home. Also, aim for cheap restaurants. McDonald's is fine when Rocket Boy's not here. I'm not quite willing to give up eating out altogether, because it gives me a break from cooking, but I don't need to eat the food myself.
  
• Sell things on craigslist
• Sign up to participate in studies at CU
• Write more Chicken Soup stories (haven't gotten one accepted in years, but I could always try again)
• Do weird online work such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, which I signed up for but I'm not sure if I'm going to do it. It pays very little.
  

I've been walking around the house looking for things I could sell. There isn't much. Considering all the junk we have, you'd think there would be things, but I'm not coming up with anything. When the kids were little, we had lots of baby items to pass on, but it's different now. What we mostly have are a lot of old books. And Legos, but craigslist is full of Legos and it doesn't look to me like they're selling (and we didn't save any of the boxes). I might be able to sell a few jigsaw puzzles. I don't know.

I think I'm going to set a goal, to be added to my 2023 Resolutions: do one thing each weekday to either save or earn money. It could be something like baking cookies (instead of buying them), or making dinner using something that's been sitting in the cupboard for a while. Or it could be selling something on craigslist or doing a little Mechanical Turk job. 

I know, I know. I need a job. In the meantime...

So, since it's about to be February, here are my plans for the month:

February:

• February's theme is Valentine's Day -- hearts and love and all that. I have pink bands on my braces!
  
• My goal off my master list is to do the taxes and work on the files and the desk room.
  
• I'm not going to try to do anything with the kids this month unless they want to go to a movie or something. It's February, month of snow.
  
• Social life: Hmm, maybe a few Valentines? I don't see a lot of in-person stuff happening this month, except the book group (coming here on the 28th).
  
• Reading: five more books from the pile by my bed plus the book group book plus 2 Barbara Pyms.
  

Schedule for the Week Ahead:

7:30-9am:    Get up, get the kids off to school, have breakfast, feed the cats, all that good stuff

10-11am:     Do cleaning, laundry, FlyLady stuff

11am-12:    Work on my novel, do other writing and correspondence

12-1pm:     Lunch, exercise (try for once or twice this week?)

1-2pm:       Do something that saves or earns money. One day this should include baking cookies.

2-3pm:       Work on the taxes, the files, and/or the desk room

3-7pm:       Take the tree down, read, interact with the twins when they get home, do dinner prep

7-9pm:       Dinner, homework, dishes, feed cats, etc.

OK, there it is. A plan. All I can do is keep putting one foot in front of the other, and a plan helps with that.

Also, I've got to say, it's very interesting to try to make do with what you've got. I feel as though I've already cut our budget a lot in previous years -- there isn't a lot of fat to work with. We don't have a Netflix subscription, for instance. One thing that would help is if our local newspaper would go belly up (which it's about to). I'm currently paying $80/month for that. But that would be so sad, I'm not going to hope for it. Just keep trying to find ways to earn and save money. 

And start coming to terms with the fact that somewhere in my future there needs to be a job.

January being January

I am so tired right now, I can't even think of a title for this post. It'll come to me. Doesn't have to be anything special.

I am tired because I was extremely tired last night, read for a little while and then just collapsed (at about 11:15?), but then woke up for good at 5 am. Just woke right up, wide awake, clearly no chance of going back to sleep. It was pitch black outside, so I went in the living room and played with my phone. I wanted to read my current book, but if you turn a light on in our kitchen or living room or dining room, it wakes other people up. I could have gone in the desk room and closed the door, but then the cats would have scratched at the door -- to come in, if they were out, and to go out, if they were in. It's hopeless. So I played with my phone.

It's OK. I read my book later in the morning, after Rocket Boy got up, ate breakfast, and then went back to bed. Eventually there was enough light coming in the window to read by.

You may be wondering, what was Rocket Boy doing, sleeping and eating and all that? Isn't he supposed to be in St. Louis? The answer is yes, he was supposed to be on his way to St. Louis, but January interfered. He was originally going to leave Friday, but we had a lot of (expensive) problems at our rental house and he stayed an extra day to manage that. Then he was going to leave yesterday, in fact did leave yesterday (the photo above was taken moments before he did), but I-70 around the Colorado/Kansas border was closed due to heavy snow and wrecks and whatnot, so he eventually turned around and came back.

So he left again today around 12 or so, maybe 12:30, and he'll probably get to St. Louis by Monday night. 

***

OK, now it's 10 pm, so I'll start again. I'm less tired now, having taken a 3-hour nap (5:30 to 8:30 pm). Not a good idea, but I was exhausted. Before I did that, I managed to plan the week's meals, go grocery shopping, and help Teen B with his math homework. He still needed help with German but that was it, I was done, couldn't keep my eyes open another minute.

When I finally got up again, I made pizza grilled cheese sandwiches (tomato sauce on one side, pesto on the other, fresh mozzarella in between, fried in a pan with olive oil) and then fed the cats and put the twins to bed. We did manage to finish Things That Are, so we've started a new book: Paper Towns by John Green. Rocket Boy heard the first couple of chapters before he left, and after each one he asked me, "What is this book about?" So I read him part of the blurb: coming-of-age story, love vs. friendship. It's obviously not the kind of thing he normally reads. Probably for the best that he'll miss most of it. I think the twins are kind of liking it, though. 

Oh, and RB called -- after dinner but before I started reading. He made it to Russell, Kansas, which is about 384 miles according to Google Maps. That's very good, considering he didn't leave until after noon. He'll do the rest (495 miles) tomorrow, lucky boy. He said the roads were completely clear, but there is a LOT of snow piled up alongside.

***

So now I'm sad. I know it'll lift, hopefully quickly, but right now things feel bleak. Oh January, how we love you.

This past week is kind of a blur. It snowed. I cooked dinner. The kids had Monday off, for Martin Luther King Jr. day, and then Wednesday off, for snow (we only got about 6 inches, so it was an unjustified snow day, but hey, we'll take it). Rocket Boy did a lot of last minute projects around the house, including replacing our old fluorescent light fixture in the kitchen with an LED one from McGuckin's. We did not realize that incandescent lightbulbs are finally going away entirely this summer. I wish I'd known -- I would have bought some while they were still in the stores. I know LED lights are good for the environment, but I don't like them.

But I was getting really tired of the fluorescent light in the kitchen, so an LED light is actually a big improvement there. The fluorescent light in the garage was also giving trouble -- I was having to do laundry mostly in the dark, with the light flickering on and off -- so on Friday, right before he left, Rocket Boy replaced that too. 

He's such a sweetie. He also, without consulting me, bought a milk glass shade on eBay to replace the one he broke on the lamp in the living room. (I figured we would spend months looking for one in thrift stores.) He paid for it out of his St. Louis credit union account, so I didn't have to budget for that. It arrived on Friday afternoon and he put it in place. So that was nice of him. As were all the other things he did.

We're dealing with a disaster over at the rental house -- a $1650 plumbing bill, for starters, and then who knows how much more money will be needed. Money we don't have because we spent it all on new bathroom tile and a new kitchen floor last fall. My goal to save money this year is becoming even more necessary. I'm starting to think of ways to earn money (without actually getting a job). For instance, selling stuff on craigslist or signing up for studies at CU. 

***

The only other thing I can remember doing this week, probably because it was only yesterday, was a Zoom call with my old Michigan friends and advisor. We do this every couple of months or so. It was a lovely call, as always. Our old advisor, in his 80s, participated only by phone because he'd somehow gotten his internet messed up by Google Workspace, so that was sad. But on the plus side, on this call there was an old friend of mine who I hadn't seen or heard in 30 years. That was really something. I mean, all these calls are really something, but I've gotten used to seeing the other people who I haven't seen in person for a long time. This particular friend is in Turkey, and I'd completely lost touch with her. I think the last time I heard from her was in 2008, when the twins were born. She sent a nice card. Maybe I sent her Christmas cards for a while after that -- I don't remember. It started to seem silly to send Christmas cards to a Muslim in Turkey. I hadn't seen her in person since 1993.

We used to be such good friends and it was just wonderful to see and hear her. The sound of her voice took me back. All of a sudden I was 32 again, not 62, hanging out with all my Ann Arbor buddies, spending our hard-earned (through TA-ing) money at coffee shops on State Street (everyone really liked lemon poppyseed muffins), getting together to work on our typology homework.

I was struck by something during the call: I seemed to be two different people. That is, two different sections of my brain were competing to be in charge. One section, the part of my brain that is very critical, was worried about (a) how fat I looked and how not to reveal that in the Zoom call, (b) how old I looked and how not to reveal that in the Zoom call, (c) how USELESS I am, not a professor, don't ever publish anything, spend all my time worrying about what to cook for dinner, (d) etc., etc. Another section, the part of my brain that loves people, was just thrilled to see everyone and wanted to convey my joy as much as possible. That part of my brain caused me to pick up the iPad and go running down the hall to show everyone my darling children and husband, and later a Christmas card from another (absent) friend. The critical part of my brain tried to hold the iPad so that my fatness wouldn't show. The people-loving brain couldn't stop smiling. The critical brain tried to adjust the iPad so my double chin wouldn't show during a smile.

When the call was over, the people-loving brain was so happy! and the critical brain was so unhappy!

Oh well. I guess I should be glad that the people-loving brain gets any time to be in control at all.

***

What does the week ahead hold? Tomorrow (Monday) I have to go to the orthodontist to get my wires out, the dentist to have my teeth cleaned, and the orthodontist again to have the wires put back in. That's no fun. 

My book group meets on Tuesday, via Zoom only, since two of the four members are not in town. I finished Jurassic Park a few days ago. Did not particularly like it, but made it through.

I finished my email cleanout -- yay -- got my inbox down to less than 1000 messages -- so for the rest of January I need a new project. The obvious one is taxes. Very few tax return documents have arrived yet, but I still have things I can do. I should put away the paperwork from 2020 and 2021, which is still lying around, and start sorting through 2022, looking for things to deduct. I think that will be my goal this week. It's also supposed to be part of my 1st-quarter goal, so that's good.

I also have a lot of reading to do. I'm on the third book from the five I chose from the pile by my nightstand. If I can finish it tomorrow, I'll try to read the last two in the last eight days of the month. Hmm. This reading goal is proving more challenging than I expected. It seems clear that the Classics Challenge is not going to happen this year -- I'm so sad -- so this is the only challenge I'll do. I've looked around at some of the other reading challenges online (there are many), but haven't found anything else that appeals. 

And I'll make dinner. Every night.

I guess that's about it. Time to take my shower and then start the dishwasher and go to bed. Without Rocket Boy.

Januarying

It's been a very January week. I just re-read last week's blog and was amused by my list of things I hadn't done. The list is almost identical this week -- didn't exercise, didn't write, didn't clean, didn't take the ornaments off the tree. I did do a little more reading, but not a lot. I managed to finish my long library book and then read a mystery from the pile-by-the-nightstand. That means, as of January 15th I have read three books. At this rate (one book every five days) I'll only read 73 books in 2023.

I need to chill out about that. It will be just fine if I only read 73 books in 2023. Also, the month is not over. I could easily read more than 3 books in the remaining days. For one thing, we'll finish the book we've been reading at bedtime: Things That Are by Andrew Clements. We're trying to finish it this week, before Dad goes back to St. Louis. We have six chapters left.

Like last week, I made progress on my email clean-out. I worked on J, K, L, M, N, O, P, and Q. Progress. I'm down to 3270 messages in my inbox, which is MUCH better than the 10,212 I started with on January 1st.

Cleaning out one's email is about the right speed for January. I recommend it as a resolution.

The only real difference this week is that I did better about cooking. I made an interesting roasted carrot & shallot dish from the New York Times on Monday and served it with tilapia, we had tacos on Tuesday, I made curry on Wednesday and we had the leftovers on Thursday, and on Friday I made veggie pizza. Last night we ate out at Aunt Alice's in Longmont and bought a whole pie to take home -- the bill, including pie and tax and tip, was $90. And that's why I cook dinner every night except Saturday. Ouch!

So I'm thinking about what to serve this week (after the Dutch Baby I'm going to make tonight). We're supposed to get snow on Tuesday/Wednesday, so I'm thinking on Tuesday night I might make Brunswick stew, another NY Times recipe with many alterations recommended by other readers. With cornbread. That might feed us for two nights in a row. It calls for meat -- chicken -- which I've started cooking a little more often, every few weeks or so. Rocket Boy will say Hmm to that, but so what. 

But what else should I cook? On Monday I might make Roasted Red Pepper Pasta -- the twins don't like pasta, but my note says they ate it the last time I made it. Thursday, hmm, maybe roasted cauliflower with couscous. My last note on this (from 2019) says "Twins have stopped liking this," but Rocket Boy will eat it. And then Friday, I don't know. Rocket Boy may leave on Friday, in which case we could just have frozen pizza or sandwiches or something. I might leave it up in the air.

OK, well, that exciting decision-making process is mostly over. I'll go to the store tomorrow, before the storm comes in.

We did an activity yesterday -- Rocket Boy feels bad that he's done so few fun things with the kids, so he was determined to do something. We thought about various museums -- haven't been to the Art Museum in years, the Botanic Gardens has its orchid show going on now, etc. -- but Teen A suggested mini golf and then refused to do anything else. Also, it had to be at Gateway, no going to the fancier place in Broomfield or whatever. Sigh, teenagers.

It was OK. I always like Gateway. We were going to do both courses, but by the time we were ready to do the 2nd one, a really large, slow group was just starting the course. We waited about 15 minutes for them to finish the first hole, then calculated how long it would take to do the course if we were following slowly behind them, and finally just went home. It's OK.

We may do something tomorrow, too -- it's MLK Jr. Day, so the twins have the day off school and RB doesn't have to work. We'll see. Teen B might be willing, although maybe not. Teen A almost certainly won't. I want to shake them and say, "These are your last, best days with your father! Enjoy them! Don't be such doofusses!" But you know, it's impossible. They want to do what they want to do. When they're 40, after Rocket Boy is gone, they'll look back and say oh, why didn't we spend more time with dear old dad. It's just not possible to forestall that. It's how life goes.

Thinking about what else we've been spending our time on, I remembered the puzzles. Rocket Boy likes having a jigsaw puzzle going during the holidays, so we've done a couple while he's been here. This is the current one. It's a Christmas puzzle, in the shape of a Christmas tree. It's a difficult puzzle -- I think the last time I made it I swore never again. But it's OK. When the puzzles are too easy, we finish them too quickly. (Though RB did say to me today, "After we finish this one, let's not start another while I'm here." It's been taking too much of his time!)

We've also watched a few movies, including German movies. We finished watching a goofy German movie called "Soul Kitchen" last night. It's impossible to work on the puzzle at the same time, because then you miss the subtitles -- I kept switching back and forth. I don't know enough German to skip the subtitles, though I know enough to find the subtitles interesting -- the way they translate the German is sometimes not the way I would have done it.

OK, I think this is enough for this blog post. I must just admit that I have nothing interesting to write about. I'm not depressed, only a bit sad that it's RB's last week with us. It's not clear when his bosses will let him come again -- normally he'd come again in March, but they may not let him work from Colorado anymore, so he may just come for a short vacation. We'll see.

Hibernating

Well, we're one week into the new year and I can't say I'm doing very well with any of my plans for it. But that's January, right? You have to be really nice to yourself in January.

Also, I should note that I spent much of the week staring at my computer screen, watching the drama in the House of Representatives play out (on the New York Times website, since we don't have cable/satellite TV). That took a lot of my time and energy.

Here are some of the things I haven't done this week:

• Exercise. Not one walk, one swim, one weight-lifting session. Today we all went outside and worked on the snow/ice problem for about 30 minutes, so that counted for something. I guess. At one point I slipped on the ice on our neighbor's driveway and intentionally fell down into a pile of snow nearby (so I wouldn't fall on the concrete driveway and break something). I crawled over to our driveway and pulled myself up using a door handle on Rocket Boy's car while he watched me, saying "I don't think I can pull you up." After that, I mostly watched the others work. Teen A ended up with several blisters.
  
• Writing. I have done nothing, not one word on my novel, haven't even opened the file. I barely got to this blog post -- it's almost 9 pm and I'm just getting started.
• Cleaning. I didn't vacuum or mop (RB mopped the new kitchen floor today while I took a nap). I cleaned the litter boxes a couple of times, did some dishes, a few loads of laundry. No FlyLady missions, nothing in the desk room.
• Cooking. I made dinner a few nights, but there were also nights when Rocket Boy made the twins ramen and frozen pizza. Tonight he made pancakes.
• The tree. I had hoped to get the ornaments off this week. Epiphany seemed like a good day to do that. Did I do that? No.
  

This is why I set very simple, easy to achieve goals.  Especially in January. Speaking of which, I *am* making progress on cleaning out my email. I'm right on track, have worked on 9 letters of the alphabet so far, and am down to 5911 messages in my inbox (I started with 10,212). 

There were days this week when I couldn't even work on my email, but fortunately there were other days when I could, so I stayed caught up (even one letter ahead). This week I am going to work on emails from names that begin with J, K, L, M, N, and O. Maybe P if I get ambitious.

Unlikely.

Rocket Boy was more productive than I was this week. He worked (for pay), had a job interview, and got around to some of the projects on his honey-do list, such as fixing the lamp in the living room. He took the lamp all to pieces, cleaned it thoroughly, and got it working again.

And then he dropped it and the milk glass shade broke. There's still a very large intact piece, so we have that on the lamp right now (see photo). I discovered that you can buy old milk glass shades on eBay, for $45 plus $15 shipping. Or more. We're going to sit on that for now, look for a replacement around here, maybe a thrift store or an estate sale. Sigh.

I'm not even reading! That is, I'm reading a little, but very slowly, and it's a library book (the one on the top of the stack), so I'm not making any progress on the books from the pile by my bed (i.e., my New Year's resolution). The library book is somewhat interesting -- it's about the group of poets and intellectuals who met up in the small university town of Jena in Germany, in the 1790s/early 1800s. One of them is Novalis, the main character in Penelope Fitzgerald's The Blue Flower, one of my favorite novels ever. So I'm kind of enjoying the book, but it's not gripping me. I read a few pages and then I fall asleep.

I don't think I'm going to read over 100 books this year. But we'll see. January doesn't last forever.

I'm doing pretty well on saving money. That's because we haven't gone anywhere. There's still a lot of snow and ice everywhere, and I'm a total, complete, and utter wimp about ice. So I didn't go to Target, Trader Joe's, Best Buy to return the wireless keyboard that Teen A doesn't want, Costco. I did go with Rocket Boy to McGuckin's (to look for a replacement for the milk glass shade, no luck). We bought a new mop (and he used it today, as I noted above).

So here comes January, Week 2. I'm going to try to work on those letters in my emails. I'm going to try to cook dinner every night (except Saturday) (and maybe I can get Rocket Boy to cook one other night). I'm going to try to keep up with the laundry and the dishes, and maybe do a few FlyLady tasks. Maybe take the ornaments off the tree. Maybe do a little writing. Maybe get a little exercise. Maybe finish my library book.

But whatever I do or do not get done, it's OK. It's January.

Post-note: I want to add one thing, even though it doesn't quite fit here. It's something I read in the New Yorker last night. I'm behind, as always, on New Yorkers, always working my way through older ones. I have a bunch of them in the bathroom, which is where I seem to be most likely to read them. Anyway, last night just before bed I was reading the October 10th, 2022 issue and there was an article by Peter Schjeldahl, the art critic who died of lung cancer, in October actually. This must have been one of his last reviews, if not the last one (I just checked -- it was the last one). I wasn't that interested in the subject (a retrospective of a German photographer's work), but I like Peter Schjeldahl's writing, so I read it closely. The retrospective opened on September 12th and Schjeldahl died on October 21st, which means he attended it and then wrote about it just a few weeks before he died. 

In the review he didn't say anything like "I'm close to death, but I wanted to write one more review." But tucked into the end of the penultimate paragraph there was this gem (he's talking about photographs of windowsills taken in the morning):

...Think about mornings. They're when the purest sense of what we are doing, or not doing, with our temporary habitation of the Earth sinks in.

I guess you could read that in a negative light -- mornings are when we face up to our shortcomings -- but I like mornings. Mornings are when I have a little more energy, when things seem possible, when I get to work and get a few things done. In my temporary habitation of the Earth.

Peter Schjeldahl spent his "temporary habitation" writing about art. You could say that's much less valuable than making art, and maybe it is. But he introduced people like me to so many different artists and types of art. He was such a cheerleader for art. I think that was a worthwhile way to spend one's temporary habitation.

Whether or not I am spending my temporary habitation in a good way -- well, in the mornings, I almost always feel OK about it. Even in January.

What I read in 2022

My goal for 2022, as usual, was to read at least 52 books (one per week). Instead, I read over twice as many, for a grand total of 116. Not my highest total ever, but my fourth year in a row of reading more than 100 books in a year. What's more, I'm thoroughly enjoying all this reading, in part because some of it is directed/themed, such as the books I choose to read for the Classics Challenge. I'm always going to love reading randomly, but it's great fun to follow a syllabus, too.

In 2023 I'm going to set the same goal, 52 books, with the expectation that I will read many more. But if something happens and I can only read 52, that's good too. I don't know if there will be another Classics Challenge, but if there is, I'll participate in that again. In addition, I'm going to challenge myself to read books on my shelves that I've never read. I'll pick 5 books each month and either read them or (if I don't like them) send them on their way (to Goodwill, the Bookworm, or a Little Free Library). Finally, I will also try to read biographies of four more Presidents.

Here is a review of what I read in 2022, by category.

Children's Books. Except as noted, everything on this list I read aloud to the kids. I think my favorites were the two Japanese-related books we read: Temple Alley Summer, which is Japanese, and Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, which is about two Japanese dolls that end up being cared for by a little English girl who grew up in India. I couldn't believe the boys let me read it to them, but they ended up liking it, despite the fact that it's mostly about how to build a Japanese dollhouse. 

The Whispers was notable for having an 11-year-old gay narrator, but was otherwise so sad. I hated The Westing Game, although I know that many people love that book, and the kids couldn't keep the characters straight. Woods Runner was a very disturbing Gary Paulson book, and The Witches was a very disturbing Roald Dahl book.

• 
  Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
• There's an Owl in the Shower by Jean Craighead George (read w/Teen B for school)
• The Whispers by Greg Howard
• Henry and the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary
  
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
• Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba, translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa
  
• I Survived True Stories: Five Epic Disasters by Lauren Tarshis
• Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech
• Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
• On the Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer Godden
• Woods Runner by Gary Paulson
• The Witches by Roald Dahl
• Journey Home by Yoshiko Uchida (read to myself)

 

Young Adult (YA)/Teen Books. The kids and I are starting to read these, though we still read a lot of "middle grade" books too. I read three or four of these by myself, in theory to do research about what to read to them (but I didn't end up reading any of those to them). I must admit that I don't so far have a very favorable opinion of the genre. The books all seem to be about falling in love while the world ends. My favorite was probably Things Not Seen, about a teenage boy who accidentally becomes invisible. The twins liked that one too, and we also read the first sequel (Things Hoped For) and have just started the second (Things That Are).

• How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (read to myself)
  
• The Road to Winter by Mark Smith (read to myself)
• Jean and Johnny by Beverly Cleary
• Dark Life by Kat Falls
• A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti (read to myself)
• Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements
• Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (read to myself)
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding (read w/Teen B for school)
• Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
• Things Hoped For by Andrew Clements

 

Books for the Book Group. My beloved book group continues, even though we are down to four members and one joins via Zoom. As usual we read a completely random assortment of books, some of which I liked and some of which I hated. My favorite might have been the first one we read, The Soul of an Octopus, but I also liked My Tender Matador and Jar City. Those last two we read because members of the group took trips to Chile and Iceland. I hated A Summer Reunion, The Lost Apothecary and The Rabbit Hutch. All the others I had mixed feelings about, for various reasons.

• January: The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery (nonfiction)
  
• February: My Tender Matador by Pedro Lemebel (fiction, translated from the Spanish)
  
• March: Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason (mystery, translated from the Icelandic)
  
• April: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (fiction)
  
• May/June: A Summer Reunion by Fanny Blake (fiction)
  
• July/August: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner (fiction)
  
• September: Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara (fiction/mystery)
  
• October: The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (ghost story)
  
• November: The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty (fiction, won the National Book Award)
  
• December: Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World by Rob Sheffield (nonfiction)
  

 

Books for the Classics Challenge. I liked several of these -- it's hard to choose a favorite. But I'll go with The Makioka Sisters, the book that inspired my theme this year. It's a great book and I wished it would never end. My wrap-up post, where I discuss them all, is here.

• (#8) Pre-1800 Classic: The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, ca. 1008, tr. by Arthur Waley.
• (#4) Classic in Translation: The Tale of the Heike, ca 1300?, tr. by Royall Tyler.
• (#11) Classic Set in a Place You'd Like to Visit: Narrow Road to the Interior by Matsuo Basho, 1702, tr. by Sam Hamill.
• (#1) 19th-century Classic: "Child's Play," by Higuchi Ichiyo, 1895-96, in In the Shade of Spring Leaves: The Life of Higuchi Ichiyo with Nine of Her Best Short Stories by Robert Lyons Danly.
• (#12) Wild Card Classic: I Am a Cat by Soseki Natsume, 1905-06, tr. by Aiko Ito and Graeme Wilson.
• (#6) Mystery/Detective/Crime Classic: The Honjin Murders by Yokomizo Seishi, 1946, tr. by Louise Heal Kawai.
• (#10) Classic on My TBR List the Longest: The Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki Junichiro, 1948, tr. Edward G. Seidensticker.
• (#7) Classic Short Story Collection: Yokohama, California by Toshio Mori, 1949.
• (#5) Classic by a BIPOC Author: Citizen 13660 by Miné Okubo, 1946.
• (#9) Nonfiction Classic: Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone, 1953.
• (#2) 20th-century Classic: No-No Boy by John Okada, 1957.
• (#3) Classic by a Woman Author: Journey to Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida, 1971.
  

Mystery/Thriller. Usually a long list, but maybe not so long this year. My favorite was, hmm, maybe What Beckoning Ghost, which I read because I thought it was a ghost story! I thought I might like to read something else by Douglas G. Browne, but after doing a little research I see that I will only be able to dig up a few of his books through Prospector (CU has a few in deep storage). I'll see.

• Whispers in the Dark by Eleanor Taylor Bland
• Devils in Daylight by Junichiro Tanizaki, tr. by J. Keith Vincent
• Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edogawa Rampo (Taro Hirai), tr. by James B. Harris
• The 29 Steps by John Buchan
• As a Favor by Susan Dunlap
• The Widows of Broome by Arthur W. Upfield
• A Change of Circumstance by Susan Hill
• The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (read to the kids)
• The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo
• What Beckoning Ghost by Douglas G. Browne
• The Sacred Bridge by Anne Hillerman

Supernatural Mystery/Ghost Story. I have almost finished the Merrily Watkins series by Phil Rickman (unless he writes more, which I hope he does). He has some standalones too, I read one this year (December), but the Merrily Watkins series is the best. My favorite was, mm, maybe Friends of the Dusk? That one had some very spooky bits. The scariest book I read this year wasn't a Rickman, though, it was I Remember You, by an Icelandic author that I may neglect to read more of. There's scary, and then there's TOO scary.

• To Dream of the Dead by Phil Rickman
• The Secrets of Pain by Phil Rickman
• The Magus of Hay by Phil Rickman
• The House of Susan Lulham by Phil Rickman
• Friends of the Dusk by Phil Rickman
• I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
• Ghosts by Edith Wharton (short stories)
• December by Phil Rickman

Science Fiction/Fantasy. I decided to combine these two categories because (1) I don't read much of either, and (2) N. K. Jemisin's work is considered kind of a cross between the two. I enjoyed them both, of the two my favorite was The Fifth Season, but I have heard that the third book in the trilogy (The Stone Sky, which I plan to read in January) is the best. I'm looking forward to it.

• The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
• The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin
  
  

Poetry. I always think I should read more poetry, but for some reason I don't. Maybe I'll make a resolution to read more. My favorite of these was probably The Narrow Road to the Interior, even though I was irritated that Prospector sent it to me instead of the Basho version, and even though it annoyed me while I was reading it. When I think back on these three books, it's the Hahn volume that has gotten itself stuck in my mind.

• The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday
• The Narrow Road to the Interior by Kimiko Hahn
• After Nature by W. G. Sebald

 

General Fiction. I didn't read a lot of fiction for its own sake this year, mostly just accompaniments to other reading projects, like the Classics Challenge and my month of reading scary stuff. The exception, and my best discovery, was W. G. Sebald. I read two of his novels, enjoyed them both, but I think I would pick The Emigrants as my favorite. And I definitely plan to read more of him.

• Her Daughter's Mother by Daniela Petrova
• A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym
• Civil to Strangers by Barbara Pym
• Monsieur Monde Vanishes by Georges Simenon
• The Dark Dark (short stories) by Samantha Hunt
• The Emigrants by W. G. Sebald
• Vertigo by W. G. Sebald
• Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
• The American Diary of a Japanese Girl by Yone Noguchi
• The Chauvinist & Other Stories (short stories) by Toshio Mori
• The Diving Pool: 3 Novellas by Yoko Ogawa
• Unseen City by Amy Shearn (yes, there's a ghost, but it's more fiction than ghost story)
  
• Picture Bride by Yoshiko Uchida

Christmas Books. This was not really a Christmas reading year. I just wasn't in the mood. The first book on the list is something I requested from the library last Christmas, but it didn't show up until January, so I read it then. I didn't love it -- I liked Volume II (which I read in 2020) better. The second book on the list I did actually read in December, and it was better. I didn't like all the stories in it, but there were some very good ones.

• A Treasury of African-American Christmas Stories ed. by Bettye Collier-Thomas
• A Literary Christmas: Great Contemporary Christmas Stories ed. by Lilly Golden
  

Graphic Novels/Memoirs/Whatever. Only two in this category this year -- it's because I don't go to the Main Library that often anymore, so I don't browse in that section. (And of course now it's closed, due to meth contamination, due to homeless people smoking meth in the bathrooms, grrr, grrr.) Of these two, although I love Alison Bechdel, I loved Himawari House more than her latest offering. About a group house in Japan, with a mix of Japanese and non-Japanese residents.

• The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel
• Himawari House by Harmony Becker
  
  

Memoir/Biography. Not as many this year as in recent years. No special reason for that. I kept thinking, "I should read some more biographies," but somehow they didn't pop up on my radar screen. 

I liked several of these, but I think my favorite was The Hare with Amber Eyes. It's the one I thought of the most after I read it. Also, I learned a new word from it: vitrine, a glassed-in cabinet. Now, when I think, "where is that vase?" I answer myself, "in the vitrine."

• I'm Just a Person by Tig Notaro
• Limbo by A. Manette Ansay
• Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl
• Winter Stars: An Elderly Mother, an Aging Son, and Life's Final Journey by Dave Iverson
  
• The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes by Janet Malcolm
• The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial by Maggie Nelson
• The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss by Edmund de Waal
  
• Bee Reaved by Dodie Bellamy
• Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family by Yoshiko Uchida
• Yone Noguchi: The Stream of Fate, Vol. 1. The Western Sea by Edward Marx
  

Presidential Biography. I crossed four more presidents off my list this year. My favorite was, hands down, Destiny of the Republic, which is an excellent book. The book about Chester Arthur was fairly interesting, but the other two were so boring it makes me feel ill to remember them.

• Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard (James Garfield)
• Gentleman Boss: The Life and Times of Chester Alan Arthur by Thomas C. Reeves
• Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character by Alyn Brodsky
• The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison by Homer E. Socolofsky and Allan B. Spetter
  

 

General Nonfiction. As in recent years, I read a lot of nonfiction. I liked several of these, but one in particular was The Believer, which I got from the library but might buy for my collection eventually. Another I liked was Howards End is on the Landing. Susan Hill and I don't have exactly the same taste in books, but close enough that I really enjoyed her thoughts on reading.

• Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger
• A Cure for Darkness: The Story of Depression and How We Treat It by Alex Riley
• Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference, and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid
• The Pleasures of Japanese Literature by Donald Keene
• The Weather Detective: Rediscovering Nature's Secret Signs by Peter Wohlleben (translated from the German)
• Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town by Mirta Ojito (read w/Teen A for school)
• The Tale of Genji: A Visual Companion by Melissa McCormick
• No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison
• The Believer: Encounters with the Beginning, the End, and Our Place in the Middle by Sarah Krasnostein
• The Mind and the Moon: My Brother's Story, the Science of Our Brains, and the Search for Our Psyches by Daniel Bergner
• The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson
• Index, a History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age by Dennis Duncan
• Howards End is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home by Susan Hill
• Sherlock Homes was Wrong: Re-opening the Case of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Pierre Bayard

New Year -- and a few resolutions

It's January 1st, welcome 2023! Such a not-very-interesting sounding year. I'm sure it will be better than it sounds. On the other hand, a not-interesting year might be a really good thing. The last few years have been way too interesting.

I'm in a decent mood because (1) we survived Christmas, (2) we had a very fun New Year's Eve with the boys, (3) the plumbers FINALLY showed up on Friday morning and cleaned out our sewer, and (4) after buying a replacement part, Rocket Boy tested the dishwasher one more time and what do you know? it worked. I think it just needed some time to rest after being moved back and forth because of the new floor.

Rocket Boy is not happy about the dishwasher, but I am. We couldn't have used it this whole time because of the clogged pipes, and now he doesn't have to replace the part and deal with all that. It's too bad he had to spend $55 on a new solenoid and go to Longmont to get it, but he needed to go to Longmont anyway to see his brother, and $55 isn't much compared to what a new dishwasher would have cost. I feel as though it was money paid to propitiate the dishwasher gods.

Also, we're suspicious that the dishwasher isn't REALLY fixed. It's made a few odd noises. We're watching it carefully. But for now, all is good.

It's been a snowy week. We had just worked through the last dumping (6.9 inches) and then whoops, here comes another storm. They predicted 3-5 inches, but we ended up with 9.8. Not Buffalo snow, but it was heavy, wet snow, like a spring storm. I've spent hours working on the walks, even though our wonderful neighbor snowblowed them. The snowplows dumped a lot more snow on us, and then it melted and ice formed, and...

More snow was predicted for tonight into Monday, but now they're saying it's going to be an ice storm, my favorite. It's winter, I know I should just accept that snow and ice happen, but I have to admit I don't love it. Even though it's pretty.

We had a really nice New Year's Eve yesterday. Rocket Boy took the boys to the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver, while I stayed home and worked on laundry and snow/ice removal. After they got home, around 8 pm, we went out to eat at the Gondolier, an Italian restaurant that I didn't use to like that much, but it's become a favorite. It's expensive, but we decided it was OK for a special occasion. Then we went home and played Blokus, interspersed with episodes of Odd Squad, and finally we watched the ball drop in New York City and fireworks in various cities around the world. Everyone was in a good mood. It was nice.

Then today some friends of ours who are beekeepers stopped by to give us some honey and they stayed maybe half an hour to chat. I love the way Christmas kind of stretches out, with little visits and communications from people not just around the 25th, but for weeks before and after. 

***

I spent a lot of today setting up my calendars, so that means it's time for resolutions and plans and goals and all that. I've been thinking about these for a while already, which is why I'm writing them down earlier than usual.

First, a review of my "achievements" in 2022.

2022 Achievements

• I read 116 books, including all 12 books for the Classics Challenge and four Presidential biographies. I saw only 18 movies (the goal was 26), and watched very little TV. 
• Medical/dental stuff: the kids and I all saw our doctors (I started seeing a new one, who I like a lot) and the dentist, got eye exams for all of us and new glasses for the two of them, got braces (sigh), got us all vaxxed and boosted, and survived a cardiac catheterization. We helped Rocket Boy through his surgery and recovery. I got my blood pressure under control, and lost exactly 1.4 pounds. Ha! I've been weighing myself with great interest this past week, curious to see whether I'd be up or down on January 1st. I've been eating Christmas cookies for lunch every day, so it could easily have gone the other way. Possibly if I can get back into exercising regularly I'll lose a little more. 
• I saw both cats through medical emergencies and got them both back on track to good health (those multiple daily laxatives for Sillers and keeping Baby Kitty away from dry food).
  
• I didn't work but I stayed out of debt (somehow). Inflation prevented me from giving away as much money as I would have liked, but I did give away some.
• I helped the twins transition from middle to high school.
  
• We took a great vacation to Nebraska and a less great trip to St. Louis for Rocket Boy's surgery.
  
• We did two major home repairs: got the shower retiled and the kitchen floor replaced.
• We set up wills and a family trust, something I'd been meaning to do for, oh, 15 years.
• I started following the FlyLady and FINALLY got the housework under control.
  
• I wrote this blog faithfully and spent some time on my middle grade novel.
• I baked TWELVE batches of Christmas cookies and pledged never to do that again, because OMG, we have so many cookies.
  

 

2023 Goals

I have a few ideas for how to approach 2023. 

First (of course) is reading. I don't know whether there will be another Classics Challenge -- it seems unlikely (though if there is one, I'll do that too). I could look for another online challenge, but I think I've decided on a way to challenge myself. I plan to read books off my own shelves. Shelf space is at such a premium in our house, I feel as though I can't have all these books sitting around that have never been read. So this year I am going to try to read at least five books each month from my own shelves -- or, if I can't get through them, donate them. 

I'm going to start with the books piled on my nightstand and on the floor near my nightstand. These are not exactly "to be read" books, except for a few. They're mostly things I picked up at Goodwill or a Little Free Library with the idea that I might read them someday -- or maybe not. I took this photo of those books, and then found three more (one under the bed and two under another pile). So that makes 26, which would take me 5+ months to get through, but I also want to work on the unread books in the various bookcases around the house. I thought I'd spend 3 months on this pile (with the hope that some will end up being donated instead of read), then 3 months on the bookcases in my room, and then the final 6 months on other bookcases around the house. We'll see how it goes.

Second, I need to think about money. With inflation, we are no longer doing very well trying to live on Rocket Boy's salary alone. Obviously, it would make sense for me to go back to work, but I'm so uncomfortable with that idea that I'm not ready to do it yet. I'm also not ready to start collecting Social Security, because it would reduce my benefits so drastically if I start at age 62. I think one thing I can do this year is try to figure out how to waste less money, and then save whatever I don't spend, or put it toward things we really want to do, like vacations. My plan to read what I've already got is part of that plan. Taking better care of the house so that things are less likely to break/fall apart is also part of it. Spending less at the grocery store might be another part. I don't know what else I can do, but I plan to study the problem. And perhaps if I study it and study it and can't come up with a solution, I'll go back to work. (Next year.)

Third, rather than write down a whole lot of little goals that I then don't do (like get the piano tuned, which has been on my list of resolutions at least since 2014), I decided to create a master list of possible projects and then set a goal of doing one little project per month and one house-related project per quarter. I won't post the master list here, but it currently has about 65 things on it (including getting the piano tuned), so there are lots of things to choose from. I'm going to try to focus on things that don't cost money, naturally (sorry, piano).

OK, so here are some specifics.

Daily goals:

• Go for a walk or get some other type of exercise, at least 15 minutes. I want to branch out and try some different kinds, not just walking, which is hard when it's icy out. Swimming, lifting weights, pilates, dancing around the living room -- these would all be good.
  
• Help/encourage the kids with their schoolwork. Try not to let things get away from us.
  
• Stick with the FlyLady. Focus on decluttering for 15 minutes a day.
  
• Make dinner or otherwise arrange for it to happen every night.
  
• Write every weekday (and blog on Sundays).
  
• Get at least 7-1/2 hours of sleep at night

Weekly goals:

• Bake some sort of snack/treat, possibly with a twin's help. The goal is to have this replace some of the junk food I waste money on at the grocery store.
  
• Watch a movie with one or both kids OR play a board game, OR do a special thing, per my monthly goal below.
  
• Pay bills and put money into savings. Think about how to save more money.
  
• Work on the current projects (see Monthly and Quarterly goals below).
  

Monthly goals:

• Decide on a theme for the month, a way to get through it and enjoy it.
• Choose a small project from the master list and do it.
  
• Do one special thing with one or both kids (a museum, a movie in a theater, a hike, etc.).
  
• Make contact with a friend or family member: coffee, letter, or phone call are all fine.
• Read at least five unread books from our collection (and/or donate them).
  
• Read the book for the book group
• Read a book for the Classics Challenge (if there is one)
  

My Quarterly/Yearly goals:

• Read a presidential biography
• Work on a home improvement project
  

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Quarter 1: January through March

• My next President is #25, William McKinley, and I am planning to read: William McKinley and His America by H. Wayne Morgan. The library doesn't have it, so I'll have to request it from Prospector. I'm thinking I'll read it in February.
  
• Home improvement project: For the third year in a row, I plan to work on the desk room, specifically the files, with the ultimate goal of making a space for Teen B to have a desk away from Teen A. I also need to do our taxes, hopefully by the end of February.
  

Month of January:

• January's theme is snow and cold and bleak midwinter. Also, warming things: blankets and throws, soup, baking, candles, jigsaw puzzles, etc.
  
• My goal off my master list is to clean up my email, which as of yesterday had 10,212 messages in my inbox and is very unstable. I'm planning to do a letter a day -- today I sorted through messages from those whose names start with A (this included Amazon and Apple) and got rid of a lot. I'm down to 9946 messages in the inbox, sigh. Tomorrow, on to B.
  
• What can I do with a twin? Maybe a movie? Or, since Rocket Boy is here until Jan. 20th, maybe we can do something as a family.
  
• No physical socializing is required in January (though we did see our beekeeping friends in person today). What I think I'd like to do is get back to all the people who emailed me in response to our Xmas letter, or wrote a note in their letter that I'd like to respond to. Maybe I'll work on that this week.
  
• I'm going to read (or donate) five books that I've chosen from the piles next to my bed (see photo). I might actually read all of these (they're not all from Goodwill, some I paid real money for). I'll see.
  
• The next book group book is Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, because it's set in Costa Rica (sort of) and one member is going to Costa Rica at the end of the month. We meet on the 24th, so I've requested it from the library.

More thoughts... We did a huge terrible puzzle this week (see photo), but I decided not to start another one right away so that we would have space on the table to play board games from our large collection. Teen B, Rocket Boy, and I played Sorry on Friday night -- the first board game I'd played in a long time. And then of course Blokus last night.

They go back to school on Wednesday, and I'm not looking forward to it. Can you believe that? We've been having a good time together and I will miss them when they go back to school and start to retreat into their private lives again.

Well, it's for the best. They have their own lives and I have mine (and Rocket Boy has his). I'm glad I have all these plans and goals -- something to help me stay organized and motivated as we dive deep into the bleak midwinter of 2023.