Hope you enjoyed the holidays and were able to spend time with family and/or friends. Did you celebrate with old and new traditions. I know there were a few occasions where I stopped and took a breath as I remembered my parents and the many memories of many years. When my sister and family visited they found quite a few of my parents decorations mixed in and we shared a few memories. We played Scrabble (my sister is a strategist) and my youngest nephew learned Cribbage. We ate tons of food and I realized these "kids" are all adults now. I am blessed and grateful that they wanted to spend time with me. Since I have food to cook up that I don't want to waste, thinking about making minestrone soup today for the first time.
Well we "undecorated" (that's my word) the house yesterday and returned to "blah." We had our tree up a very long time this year and I miss the lights. We have not finished putting out the regular stuff and are having the discussion of...do we put everything back out? If not, do we give it away because what's the point of having it? Is it time to de-clutter more? Do you struggle with these simple questions? I've done so much de-cluttering over the past couple of years and will do more in the spring...so perhaps I should keep doing it now. As I said, not a crisis.
I worked my normal schedule this past week. I helped my client's spouse take down and put away their decorations. I took down their lamp post because I had put it together for them. We then schlepped the boxes to the storage area. My client supervised, but we got him to help a bit with the schlepping. I also got him to take a walk this past week...can't say he was too happy about it, but we got it done. I'm hoping to incorporate a bit of that when I'm with him...may take effort, but I'll find a way...sometimes bribes work.
I had quite a few discussions this week about Alzheimer's and Dementia - the phases, effects and available resources. I'm researching some information for a neighbor of my client. It is an absolutely horrible disease for the person, but also how it impacts the family. Everyone, I talk to either has a family member or knows someone with some part of the disease.
Although I worked and such I must have had more down time over the past couple of weeks than I expected. I finished watching all the Christmas movies - not only Hallmark which I kept up on, but many on the other stations as well that I had recorded. Thank goodness for the DVR because I also watched a few movies: On The Basis Of Sex; An Acceptable Loss; The Girl in the Spider's Web; The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo; Pavarotti; and the series - Dublin Murders. I also watched football (not college as I never got into it)...sad the Patriots are out of the playoffs for the first time in many years. Now I will cheer on the underdog.
I did manage to get a couple of workouts in over the past few weeks. I am thinking about taking a basics yoga class (I took yoga many years ago and loved it). There is a studio very close to home that has a class late morning, on my days off, seems to be checking the boxes. I'll let you know how it goes.
I did finish one book - "The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things" by Steven Leder. Easy to read and understand - very well written. I belong to a couple of FB book club groups, but more for ideas than discussions. How about you?
The daily and wacky holidays for the week...provides something lighthearted to think about:
January 5
Feast of the Epiphany - Three Kings - date varies
National Bird Day
January 6
Bean Day
Cuddle Up Day
January 7
Old Rock Day
January 8
Bubble Bath Day
Male Watcher's Day
National Take the Stairs Day - second Wednesday of month
January 9
Play God Day
January 10
Bittersweet Chocolate Day
Houseplant Appreciation Day
Peculiar People Day
January 11
Learn Your Name in Morse Code Day
Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friend's Day
I see the day has dawned and the sun rose while I was not looking. I'm going to end it here for today. I hope you have a wonderful week as schedules return to normal. Take care. Chat soon. Marie
"In a gentle way, you can shake the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." - Francis of Assisi
"You are always free to change your mind and choose a different future, or a different past." - Richard Bach