Last week I painted my kitchen table and hutch.  Our new pup chewed the corner of the hutch.  DH patched it, but the color was off.  So I picked out some chalk paint on my way home from overnight hiking trip early March before all the coronavirus quarantine started.

Have been going back and forth between contentment and gratitude to stir crazy/how am I going to make it through this summer mentally with all this strangeness.  I have to find outlets during this solitude.  I am honing a structure to my day and I think it is helping me keep perspective and remember all the things I have to be grateful for.  A LOT!

But I did have a cry the other day when I looked at our retirement accounts and we received the news that any assistance from the Fed government is going by returns from 2018.  We will retired at the END of 2018 - so we will likely not get any of our hard earned money back.  PLUS I have already filed and PAID my 2019 taxes.  Sometimes it seems like doing all the right things puts one at a disadvantage.  But I have never been a procrastinator.

Then I got out of my pity party and put a note on my hiking group that if anyone needs help, PM me and I can help them with errands to the story.  Many of them are 10-15 years older than I.  We went to the store for my in laws this weekend was so happy to help them.  They seem to be doing fine - just working in their garden, etc.  Not worried about toilet paper, etc.  My Granny is not doing as well, her mind is just racing and worrying not having any company.  It is sad.  My area has indicated that businesses closed for next 30 days...people are taking that the CDC suggesting it might be through August that people are supposed to stay home...if so our fundraiser of Memorial Weekend will be cancelled.  That is also the month of our reunion.  I just hope that if this quarantine/social distance goes on all summer that we can see the benefits of the flattening of the curve of infected because I can't imaging the economic and mental health implications it will cause our nation.

I also bought through Amazon a wifi extender to see if I can get internet in our guest room so that I can do yoga online classes in the bedroom - we don't really have room enough anywhere else.  I did a nice session Sunday and Tuesday.  I will do another one Thurs and maybe Friday or Saturday.

One week

We are now one week in to the days getting longer.  I haven't noticed.  I still have no phone.  Makes posting difficult.  I am settling in for a cold weekend in solitude, with no phone.  DH went north to hunt.  I will check in tomorrow or Sunday and chat.

Have a wonderful Friday!

Paring Down

I heart this post...I hope the link works.  But if not, Google this excerpt below.

https://zenhabits.net/paring/

This excerpt I esp relate to:  "...We use full lives to distract ourselves from being fully present...It’s understandable that we overfill our lives — we are usually acting on desires, and not giving full contemplation to what we want in our lives and what we don’t want..."

But I am much better than I used to be.  Big step is realizing this and being open to learning and improvement.  I cannot improve what I do not acknowledge.   Ok, I might have heard that on Dr. Phil, but I agree.  And knowing this is a pattern, I understand some decisions I have made and actions taken that I would do differently know, if I had the chance.

I also believe in tge importance not of just identifying and receiving what we want in life, but giving it voice.  Telling our lived ones, partners, friends...writing it down.  I have seen friends and family so focused on what they didn't want, that that is what they gave energy to...and that is essentially what they got. 

Am I saying all we need in life is The Secret?  No, but I want to know, plan for, get and enjoy what I truly want in life.  And right now, part of what I want is to be truthful to myself and strip away my detractors and excess.  Then I hope to understand more about myself in solitude.  Solitude I either never had, or never handled well in my younger years.

No covering up, shopping away, over eating, exercising away, substance distractions...just me.

I hope you have a stripped down, slow Friday.  IF you want that.  Otherwise,  get busy...time's awasting!

Keep

Keep on Keeping on
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/?m=1
I am in awe of people who blog for more than a few months.  This is hard!  I am trying to do the A to Z challenge for April, and it sounded like a good idea at the time.  But I am a little stymied.  So, I will talk about something positive.  My theme is Righsizing (I prefer the term for my  own purposes than downsizing).  Rightsizing is moving  toward the type of home and lifestyle that allows me to pursue some peace and quiet and let's me get to know myself and my needs on a basic level.  I also want to experience some down time.  I have never been one to sit still.  I have never been good at being alone either.  I have been lucky enough to be happily married for several years now and love spending most of my time with my husband.  Although I am with him most of the time and want to be with him most of the time, i crave some solitude.  I also feel comfortable working on projects and being busy, but I am also tired.  I  crave some time where I do not have projects looming.  I guess I am looking for what most people seek - balance.    I had coffee with some friends after work (after I bought doggy pee pads and had flyers made for the house).  Then I went home, heated up some leftovers for DH, had some left over salmon that I baked the other day and I put my favorite soothing music on and washed my face and brushed my teeth and promptly went to bed at 8:30.  I only woke up briefly to take my ear buds out and then fell back asleep until time to get up to get ready for work.  I feel great today.  So, while I talk a lot of all the stuff I am doing to get ready to sell and move, purging, selling, giving, throwing away...one of the things I will keep are friends with coffee and thanks to texting, email, social media, blogging and podcasts...I can feel plugged in to real and virtual friends. 
How do you keep plugged in?