Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female.

It’s a whole gorgeous new year and the fact that you got from this time last year to now is a testament to your awesomeness. 

I inadvertently got things off on a good note – popped into Starbucks and they had “Call Me Maybe” playing and well, I started dancing, cause I unabashedly love that song. A lady waiting for her coffee looked at me and said, “THAT is the energy I’m taking into the New Year!” Couldn’t help but leave with a big smile to go with my coffee.

But let’s be real – after the last…7 or so years being what they were (or a whole lifetime for some folks, let’s be honest) – just getting through it is Damn Good. And if you don’t want to do a single damn new thing in 2024 – THAT IS OK! Surviving another year is hard work and absolutely enough on its own.

But – if you do have stuff on your 2024 to-do list – GO GET ‘EM TIGER! I believe in you.

And maybe if you’re wanting to do something but today just isn’t the day (we were all up too late and we may be a wee bit hungover and in the northern hemisphere, the weather is a bit shit) – you don’t have to wait for a whole shiny new year. You get a clean slate every year, month, week, and day. Heck, every hour, minute and second if you want to really get into the grains of it.

So, if not right now – maybe in an an hour, a day, a week, a month – you don’t have to wait for a whole new pristine calendar. And you can also half-ass whatever it is today! 

And two little pieces of advice: If you’re making a new habit, break it down to components that are small, manageable, and repeatable. If you’re breaking a habit, figure out what you’ll replace it with.

For myself, 2024 is gonna be mostly a maintenance year. I’m on a solid footing with my daily yoga and at least making sure the house is…stable? I really want to stay on top of that.

I still haven’t gotten around to finding a class at the arts center – felt like a fun idea last year and then it zipped out of my brain. I’ll try again this year.

I do want to put more time to my hobbies. It’s not so much that I don’t have the time for them, it’s just feeling like I am entitled to use my time for my hobbies seems to be the obstacle, if that makes sense?

I know I can’t fix the world, no matter how much I want to – but I will help out how I can, when I can.

Mostly, I’m gonna try to make 2024 not totally suck for the bits I can control.

And if you’re feeling a bit “Oof, that felt like a lot” – you’re not wrong.

Covid, wars, climate collapse, the continued rise of fascism in the US and elsewhere, billionaires being twats, the hot mess that is generative AI, mass shootings, and other things that just aren’t coming to mind right now. Pretty much every time we turned on the news, there was a firehose of shit.

But some good things happened, too. 

• The Gävle Goat still stands! (OK, the jackdaws have eaten all the straw, but I am still counting it as a win.) 
• India landed on the moon – that was a lot of hard work. 
• There is a gene editing treatment for sickle-cell disease.
• Amazonian deforestation is dropping. (Stopped would be better, but it’s the right direction.)
• The Barbie movie. (It was awesome!)
• Orcas vs yachts. #TeamOrca
• We may be inching closer to a 4 day workweek.
• A malaria vaccine!!
• A treaty to protect oceans.

And I’ll admit – everything except the Gävle Goat, I had to do a google search for “good things in 2023” – cause when there is so much bad news, that is what sticks in your brain. And there is a ton more than that little list. Seriously, if you need a lift, do that google search. 

And on a personal level – 2023 wasn’t too bad. 

• Covid still dominates pretty much all my decision making, which sucks, but I did not get Covid, so, that’s definitely a good thing.
• Got a promotion at work which did NOT result in more stuff being dumped on my plate, and I’ve done a reasonably decent job of maintaining boundaries. And a very stressful team lead left.
• The big clear out of the house for the appraisal was a HUGE effort, but absolutely worth it – and I’ve done a damn good job of maintaining things!
• We had a great and safe trip down to the beach. Mmm, pato tacos & Pacifico on the sound… And cheese!

• I met a capybara named Tater.

• I continued to find lots of outdoor activities to do over the course of the year, and great restaurants with patio seating.

• And the LilyMonster had a great year health-wise and just being Lily. She’s 14, so, a good health year is awesome and precious. Even this morning she had an impressive case of the zooms treating the hallway/kitchen/living room as her personal racetrack. 

My brother is off to spend New Year’s Eve & Day with one of his friends – the Ravens are playing the Dolphins – their respective favorite teams. He felt bad for me being on my own – HAHAHAHAHA! I appreciate it, but I am so totally good on my own. Lily & I will be ringing in the new year here at home with steak & shrimp pasta for me, and the little salmon filet Santa brought for her. Hell, we may be in bed by 10PM.

However you are ringing in the new year, have fun and be safe. I want you around in 2024.

And a 3 day weekend to boot! Had a good sleep in, got my errands done, and I am not leaving the house again today. Was gonna run the car through the wash, but it escaped my mind while I was out, so that can happen tomorrow morning – I really just want to stay in for the remainder of the day – and I have cemented that decision by changing out of my jeans into my comfy pants.

Still waiting on a delivery date for the dryer – I knew it would take a bit with the holidays and the appliance store had to actually get it from the Whirlpool warehouse – even when I initially looked at the website it said the earliest date would be January 3rd, but wahhh, I want my dryer! I’m good on clean clothes, but there are going to be So. Many. Linens. to be washed and dried when it gets here.

The round the house to-do list is pretty short today, which is nice cause all I really want to do today is curl up on the couch and read. I’m blaming the weather – it’s yet another grey and mucky day out there. WHERE IS MY SUN?!? Seriously Mother Nature, I can only take so many Vitamin D supplements – help me out here.

Lily is not helping here – just look at this little snoozer! 

OK, time to pry myself off the couch so I can go DO ALL THE THINGS and then I can chill out and enjoy the rest of the day. 

You have an excellent Saturday!

First, a huge shoutout to everyone working today. Hospitals and firefighters – thank you for being there and I hope no one needs your services. Starbucks – thanks for providing caffeine so I don’t set my kitchen on fire and need the aforementioned firefighters or hospitals. Grocery stores for that forgotten ingredient – or batteries – thank you. To the folks that don’t celebrate Christmas and said, “Sure, I can cover that on call shift” – thank you. (Debbie H, I’m looking at you – I remember those days back in support – it was so appreciated.)

Happy to see that the Swedish Gävle Goat still stands this morning! Granted, the jackdaws are apparently making quite a snack out of it, but it’s not on fire! (No, I don’t know why I’m invested in a straw goat 6 time zones away, but I am.)

My brother got me a body pillow for my Christmas Eve gift – I sleep on my side with one leg kicked out and I have gotten to An Age where I want something under that knee that won’t slide down to the foot of the bed overnight. It. Is. Awesome. Got into bed, kicked my leg over it and did a little stretch and my back popped in a dozen places – yeah, that little bit of support under my knee does make a difference!

I mean, that alone makes it a great Christmas already. And I woke up early enough that there is still a ton of time before getting brunch going, so I have plenty of time to get the around the house to-do’s knocked out and get in my yoga. I’ve been on a solid roll of daily yoga this past week and I really want to keep that going. 

So, it’s time to go change into comfy pants, tick off that to-do list and get my stretch on – then make ALL THE CASSEROLES!

I hope you have a wonderful, peaceful day. 

And believe me when I say it is a very gleeful, jolly and downright festive Fuck It!

And I am certain there is *something* I have either forgotten to buy, or have bought and put somewhere so safe I cannot remember where it is. And that’s fine.

The important things are done – presents are all here and a bunch are even wrapped.

The laundry is back and my god, what a wonderful service wash & fold is.

The ham is in the house. Though I did order a 5 pound bone-in quarter ham and they were somehow out of them and we ended up with a 6 pound boneless half ham. I do not understand why Ham Central did not send the shop the right amounts and sizes of hams, when they were pre-ordered, but hey, free ham.

The local shopping center has a living nativity again this year and at least I saw them starting to set it up so when I saw the camel later, I didn’t think I was hallucinating. (Seriously, the first year I saw it, I saw just the camel standing there as I drove by and I was very WTF?)

Did way too much running around today trying to find one thing, which I couldn’t find – not sure which was more frustrating, not being able to find the thing, or not being able to take a nice lunch break somewhere cause it’s still Covid soup out there. Looks like I will again be missing my Christmas Eve tradition of the tempura bento lunch at the local Chinese/Japanese restaurant. 😟 Maybe next year? 🤞

I am tired, but very ready for the holidays!

And we can thank my clothes dryer for this. You see, I thought the “sacrifice” (OK, happy eating) of steak, shrimp and potatoes would be enough to convince the old gods to bring the sun back, but my dryer felt that wasn’t enough and sacrificed itself.

It is 18+ years old and had been acting a bit wonky the past week or so – I kept thinking I’d put things in and not started it, but it was actually starting and then just stopping… My brother said the timed dry was working fine for him – but that gave out yesterday, too. 

But, it’s all good, I have already gotten my coffee, dropped off my laundry at the wash & fold, and Bray & Scarff opens at 10AM and I already have the new dryer picked out and bookmarked in my phone and will be there the moment they unlock the doors. And I am so grateful we have a proper appliance store because I am not dealing with Best Buy, Lowes, or Home Depot three days before Christmas. (Hell, I would not deal with them mid-June.)

And I am so lucky that this is really just pretty inconvenient. The wash & fold service at the laundromat is very reasonably priced, has a 24 hour turnaround, and they do a great job. (I can hold out a long time on t-shirts, but all my comfy pants and hoodies were in the hamper.) I can afford a new dryer. I have today off so I can get to the laundromat and the appliance store. It will probably be a week and a half to two weeks before we can get it delivered – and I can certainly do another laundromat run if needed. The house is pretty much “delivery person ready” – maybe a half hour of tidying to do – no panic cleaning required.

So, not the end of the world, just a bit of a pain in the ass.

May all your appliances hold out until after the new year.

It’s a cold and dark world out there, but things are going to get lighter.

Out running errands earlier and came across some kids running a hot chocolate stand. Yes, I did pay an exorbitant amount of money for a cup of Swiss Miss. The kids were seriously underpricing their product and it was fun when they looked at me like I was a damn Rockefeller.

Only holiday errand remaining is picking up the ham. It’s always a bit of a madhouse, but it’s a fast-moving madhouse, and I have my trusty N-95 at the ready.

Tonight is our accidental Covid Solstice tradition of Outback takeaway, YAY! But, I am flummoxed, cause they have a new shrimp & steak pasta alfredo, and damn it looks good. But, then again, steak and potatoes… Though, my brother is going to be hanging out with his buddy on New Year’s Eve, so maybe I will treat myself to that pasta to send out the year. 🤔

But most importantly, I’m happy we’re closing out the shortest day – shiny new season on the way.

Yes, I have already reached the point in my winter PTO that I have to check my watch or computer for the day of the week. If you needed to know – it is Tuesday the 19th.

I got all the around the house to-do’s have been knocked out BEFORE NOON, and I’m pretty damn pleased about that. Thank you brain for deciding that the little index card box of to-do’s provides sufficient dopamine.

On the holiday front, I have a grocery shop today, Walgreen’s tomorrow, and picking up the ham on Saturday. My brother offered to come along on the grocery shop to help, but honestly, he’d slow me down, LOL. I did tell him I needed him to be ready when I got back to unload the car and get things put away. (I noticed he was not foolish enough to offer to do the shop on his own, LMAO.)

Swiss Bakery came in clutch again this year for baked goods, and the cookie tins have been filled and the most important one dropped off at the vet’s office. (With a card from the LilyMonster, of course.) Yesterday I I realized I was short a couple tins and found this one at the grocery store – HOW FREAKIN’ CUTE IS THIS??

And this morning when I went and picked up my Starbucks, I was greeted with this – what a sweet way to get my day started. 🥰🥰🥰

I hope you have an amazing day, too.