About a project

Hi everyone, just stopping by for a few minutes to say hello. I'm hoping my mood for writing comes back soon; I miss it!

I *have* been working on a bit of creativity over the past few weeks, though. Several weeks ago, on Ali Edwards blogsite [at aliedwards.typepad.com ], she had posted a challenge to join her in compiling our 'week in the life' journal, using photos, writing and any other things we come across that we can stick to our books [receipts, news articles, whatever]. During the week of the challenge she shared her stuff that she did that day; she also opened a flickr site to go along with it, for the rest of us to post as we go, if we were so inclined.

I actually surprised myself by sticking with taking photos and doing a tiny bit of writing every day. These past few days I've been getting some film developed [and I developed some rolls that have been sitting around for months and months], so I'm almost set to go in putting this altogether. I just need to make prints of my digital photos and then decide what size album to use. A friend is having a scrapbooking get together next Friday [any local people want to come with me and see how scrapbooking is done?], so I'm using Thursday as the latest day to get these prints made, so I can start pulling it altogether Friday afternoon. Will keep ya posted.

Sometime soon, I'm going to play around again and figure out how to post photos here to my site; I hope it'll be easy enough to figure out. There's a few photos I just got back that I wouldn't mind sharing. Soon, I'll work on it soon!

Comments

Hey Y'all,  I've gotten a number of comments on my sugar sensitivity topic--here, in mail, and my blog that I started for just this topic...  So please, if you have a continued interest, please go to my other blog here at blogspot:

 http://loveaffairwithfood.blogspot.com 

[you might need to cut and paste in the browser...]

I'll try and get to the comments on any topics sometime soon. I've been in treatment these past 2 1/2 weeks for some health issues and am not sure when I'll be done.  Soon, I hope!

Thanks for reading...  :-)

Sugar Sensitivity & Addiction [Intro stuff but longwinded!]

[An Update: I've started a separate blog on this topic and how things go as I try and work my way through a better-for-me eating and exercise plan. Feel free to check it out at loveaffairwithfood@blogspot.com ].

Something new to me: Learning about Sugar Sensitivity and Sugar Addiction [the addiction is a symptom of the sensitivity].  There have been a few times where I've heard about Sugar Addiction from the 'diet' books in bookstores [like one diet about Sugar Busters].  As I've been going to the gym and working out a bit, I started thinking more about trying to eat healthier [I hate the word 'diet' and the negative connotations that go with it, since I've lost and gained hundreds of pounds throughout my life]. 

So a couple weeks ago, I did a google search about sugar addiction. And of course, there are different beliefs about this topic, especially since it's fairly new; many doctors, nutritionist, and other health professionals aren't fully up to speed with the finer points [like in just telling us to just stop eating sugar and/or white flour].

I then went to the library and pulled a few books and sat down and browsed through them. Granted, this is fairly new to me, thinking about sugar as a possible addiction [I've had vague thoughts about it in the past]. But with the health background that I have along with all of the issues with diet plans in the past, some of these plans either didn't make sense to me and/or the authors didn't go into details about WHY they stated what they did. And for me, at least, I need to know the whys' and wherefores about something before I can attempt to make changes in something that's meant to be a long-time thing.

One of the books I went through [Darn, I can't think of the author's last name or the complete book title that I looked at] was by an author that did go into these whys and wherefores. Her background includes coming from an alcoholic background [her father died of alcoholic complications when she was only 16], then going on to getting a bachelor and master degrees in this area. She counseled [and still does, I believe] alcoholics and in time, opened a clinic for alcoholics and for those with drug addictions [and stayed in counseling them].  

During these years, she realized how much sugar she consumed and became aware of similar withdrawal symptoms that her clients had. So knowing about those addictions, she experimented with what she ate and didn't eat and eventually came up with a program for herself where she was able to give up sugar altogether.

She then started questioning her clients about what they typically ate and found that many of them ate the same way that she had. So she had them try her food program and they had the same results that she had.  

Eventually, she got her PhD combining aspects of nutrition, addiction, and counseling with science thrown in.  As she refined the program, the long term success rate was great. People who go on more traditional weight loss programs, only 5% were able to keep the weight off over the long term, many of them gaining even more weight then was lost.  Her success rate was 95%.

I then went to the bookstore to get my own copy of this book but couldn't find the particular one that I had been looking at. But they did have the updated/revised edition of her previous book _Potatoes, Not Prozac_. [The first edition was written in '98, this library book in 2000, this update PNP just this year. [2008]]  

As I looked through this book, it was similar to the library book, though updated--so I brought it. In new stuff I'm reading, it really helps me out to highlight stuff, write comments or questions in the margins, etc.  There is a lot of detail about the whys of the sugar sensitivity that many of us have, how it meets the medical model of what addiction is, about the chemical imbalances in the brain, etc etc.  The first 5 chapters covers this info [but those that aren't interested in these kind of details or don't really understand it all, can just start with chapter 6] before she goes into her 7 step program.  

I'm not going to go into any more detail about it in this post, this had already been a long one, so I'll post more about it soon as I'm going to give this program a try [early in the book, she has a list of questions to see if we think we're addicted, and I matched on every single one except the one about if my parents are/were alcoholics]. 

She does have a website in case anyone that's read this far can go check out now bef0re my upcoming postings.  Check it out at: www.radiantrecovery.com .

Art Projects and Glue Books

Lately, I've been coming up with more and more ideas for art projects... [Who would've thought, way back when I was a kid, that I'd ever be interested in creating art on a regular basis? Sure, I always liked the craft projects in school, girl scouts, etc, but at that time, they were an end to themselves.]

I'm coming up with ideas from one of the online art groups that I participate in--and the swaps I've been involved with has really expanded my self-imposed limits. And I've recently got a quilting friend interested in creating artist trading cards [ATCs] after seeing some of mine. And even though she just started about a month or so ago, she is GOOD. I would've never had known that she was new to ATCs if I wasn't the one that got her started.  She's shown ME some new techniques in making this pieces of art by incorporating fabric into them [or only using fabric with added ribbon or fibers, sometimes beads or stamped quotes [frequently using light colored fabrics to stamp the quote onto].

I've been reading a number of different books about art journaling and I've gotten tons of ideas for art journals of my own. Who says that journals have to be text only? How often do we hear people say that they don't do the journal or diary thing because many times, they can't think of or know how to put their words onto paper?  We don't have to be good at drawing or coloring to make these things. Even stick figures, icons, or basic line drawings can work [using colored inks, crayons, markers, paint, whatever]. 

If that's still too difficult to start with start off with making a glue book.  What's a glue book? Glue books are pictures and/or words/phrases from magazines, newspapers, brochures, newspapers, junk mail, whatever, glued onto a page.  These can be glued down in a random order--side by side or overlapping, whatever you want. Or you can come up with a specific theme for your page. Or create a picture with your cut-out images.  Anything goes! Other things can be added-like ticket stubs, take-out menus, jar labels, stuff from boxes of food, etc etc.

You may use a journal for your glue book [and it's ok if you make a page that's smaller or bigger than the book page; glue it in anyway; it's ok to have stuff sticking out].  Or make your own journal book--for example, you can create your glue pages on an individual basis then take it to someplace like Kinko's and have them bind it for you. Or cut out similar/same sized card stock [different colors, if desired], have Kinko's bind it, then create.  Or use an old book and add stuff to the book pages themselves [if the pages are too thin, glue or staple a few of those pages together first, let dry, then use...].

Anyway, I need to finish cleaning/better-organize my art room so I can do more than just think about these projects.  Anyone with me?

Somewhere along the line, I'll start adding links to some cool websites so you can see what others have done...

Developing My Thoughts and Expanding on Ideas

Wow, it's been a couple months since my last post...  I've had some ideas but they were still pretty vague/half-baked ideas in my head, thus, I kept putting them off until I had it just right [there must be something to that "perfectionist" thinking].

In the past week or so, though, I've been thinking about how I'm processing [or not] these thoughts and ideas.  So right now I'm thinking that to be more effective, I'd be better at writing about them as I go along. Because I have ADHD, I often have racing thoughts and thus, often getting bogged down with the initial ideas. And with getting distracted very easily-often from my racing thoughts jumping around or those 'voices' in my head, nothing wasn't getting fully processed. So, frequent frustrations have been very common.

So though I started blogging to share ideas and stuff I've read, seen, or have memories of, I'm going to try and be more consistent about posting about thoughts and ideas earlier in the process and then expanding or changing these ideas.  Another aspect of my ADHD is that I'm not organized at all, so this will be a place where I can keep them someplace where I'll be able to find them.

Of course, I'll continue to post stuff I come across, ideas, and things that I'd love to read about.

I know that not many people know about my site [yet?], I really do want to hear what y'all think about my postings--and/or to feel free to ask questions [including the stuff mentioned above]. If you don't want to post here, feel free to send me an email at denisephoto.yahoo.com or, for those of you that are local, to tell me in person or by phone. If you have information and/or ideas of your own that you'd like me to share [anonymously, if you so choose], again, do let me know. I really would like to see other or differing thoughts so we can all learn.

Thanks much in advance as well as reading this far!  :-)

Does Perfectionism Get In the Way of Achieving Goals?

There have been numerous times over the years where I've come up with big goals and plans but then I don't make a lot of progress with them.
Plans like:
-lose weight
-exercise more
-read so many books each month
-start a book discussion group
-get back into taking more photos
-work on a particular art project

And one thing that I've been trying to overcome but have not yet been able to maintain and that is decluttering my living space and maintaining yet in a such a way where I can feel comfortable being IN my space, I can find things easily when I need them, have space to work on my projects, and can feel comfortable having visitors. [Hmm, is that a run-on sentence or what?] I'm always coming up with these big plans on how to accomplish what I want, what specifically I'll do each day to reach those goals, but when push comes to shove, it doesn't happen. Either I start one aspect of the project but get distracted and thus move on to something totally different [easy for me to do since I have ADHD], or when the time comes to do it, I talk myself out of doing it because there's something else [more interesting and fun] that I'd rather be doing, or I ...

Sometimes I don't even bother trying because I know that I'll never get to the end--so why bother? I've read that there are many 'perfectionists' out there that are the same way. But I've never considered myself a perfectionist, mainly because there's been so many things that I've failed at or haven't been able to fully accomplish.

So I've been doing a bit of reading here on the net and have come across some interesting sites. Here's a link to one of the articles I read; I'll post links for more sometime in the near future.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/ourladyofweightloss/2008/05/the-art-of-imperfection-seven.html

Let me know what YOU think about any or all of this, if you have suggestions, links of your own, whatever!

The Sprunging of Spring

Though I'm listening to the rumbling thunder as I type, I'm so glad that spring is finally here. The other day, someone gave me a bunch of daffodils from her garden and it looked so nice in my kitchen/dining room. A few days ago, a couple red tulips by the front porch opened up; yesterday, there were several yellow ones that opened up as well. I've been at this place of residence for just over a year now and it's great seeing the new growth on the bushes/plants/flowers, etc. One day recently, as I got home from somewhere, the neighbor twins were playing out in front. They're very friendly little ones, a boy and a girl, both with blond hair and blue eyes, maybe 3 years old or so. And they've sprouted up quite a bit, too; kids do that, I suppose!

With it staying light out later in the evenings, I'm watching a lot of people out and about--running, biking, skateboarding, blading, walking--with friends &/or SO, with kids, dogs... And I've already watched a boy on his front lawn trying to get his kite up into the sky. My computer is on my desk in front of the window up on the 2nd floor of the house, so it's easy to watch what's going on in the neighborhood and watching the parade go by every day. but this is the time of year when I start to feel a bit guilty about not being out there, too, doing my walking and fresh air. I do know how good it is and how it makes me feel, but still, it's hard getting myself to walk out that front door. Excuses are sooo easy [I do have a bad back, so I never can go far early in the season but in time, I am able to go further before it acts up; I'm also trying to get rid of some tendonitis in my knee and my elbow]. I need some way to get those walking shoes on and sending them out that door...

But even though I haven't started my walking routine yet, I'm still SO happy about the arrival of spring. Even with the rumbling of the clouds building up and into a thunderstorm [I just saw a flash of lightning]. so maybe I can stay inside and do some spring cleaning [this is something FUN?? I don't think so, but it needs to get done].

My mom's sendoff

Like I mentioned in my last post a month ago, I didn't plan on being away from here for so long. Things are starting to settle down a bit following the death of my mother.

We were able to give her a nice send-off before she left us. My Dad and my other siblings and I were with her, sitting with her in the bedroom. She loved music, so those that could sing, sang some songs for her [I skipped that part, I didn't want to haunt my mom with my off-key voice-which is something that I got from her] and there were a lot of stories and memories shared. Though she was in a coma, they say that hearing's one of the last things to go, so I hope she could hear or at least sense that we were nearby. She left us a few hours later.

The memorial service was nice and it was great seeing so many people come and pay their respects; it's so sad though, that some of the people [like relatives], we only see at funerals!

Dad's trying to get used to this idea of living on his own. They were married for 55 1/2 years and he's never lived on his own before... Just this past week while sorting through some stuff in the closet, he came across a box; in that box were a bunch of journals, one per year from 1985-1993. There were stretches of time that she missed but still, over that whole time period and their move to the retirment village 10 years ago, dad never knew about the journals. I read some of them yesterday; it seems like she was happy and content with her life. And as Martha Stewart would say, That's a Good Thing.

Eternal Immortality

My Mother has gone to her eternal rest yesterday morning. An online friend sent the following poem this morning, which I found touching:


"A Parable of Immortality" by Henry Van Dyke.

As I stand on a mountaintop,
The great bird approaches.
She is small in my sight
But grows larger as she nears
Until I am blessed with the full sight
Of her graceful wings,
Proud countenance, strength, and good company.
All too quickly she grows small again
On the horizon
And disappears from view.
And I call out,
“There! She’s gone.”
But gone from where?
Gone from my sight is all.
She is just as large in spirit and might
As when she left my side.
Her diminished size is in me -
Not her.
But there are other mountains beyond me,
And at the precise moment when I note the great bird's
Departure from my view,
I know there are new eyes taking up the sight of her
And fresh voices calling out
"Here she comes!"


I hope to get back to my regular postings soon.

Waiting

It's been almost a month since my last post; I didn't intend to go this long in between each one. However, I've been occupied with other life events so even when I AM home, whether I'm tired or not, I've been somewhat preoccupied.

I don't remember right now if I've posted in this blog that a big part of why I moved back to Michigan a couple years ago was to help care for my mother who's been ill for for 4-5 years now [with a form of dementia, similar in some ways to alzheimer's but since this kind affects a different part of the brain, there are a number of differences, as well].

For the last couple years I've been here, she'll be in one phase for awhile, go down some and hang out at that phase for awhile, then down a bit more. Well, she's been going down rapidly over the past few weeks to the point where now, we're probably talking only in terms of days instead of weeks or months. She is at home though hospice does come out several times a week [more as needed]. So I'm going there on a daily basis at this point. Though she may know that people are with her, she's not responding to us; I guess I'm there more for myself at this point.

I think it'll be a relief when this is all over. Though afterwards, I know I'm going to have a big void. Not just because my mom will be gone, but also my 'purpose' for the last couple years will be done and I'll have to figure out what's next. I'm on disability, so working for pay isn't an option. And I don't like the Michigan winters. But without much in the line of $$, who knows what'll happen; I certainly don't!

A Cold Blast From the Past

While reading a post in one of my yahoo groups, I was reminded of a winter experience. I had spent the week in the UP [Upper Peninsula of Michigan; definitely snow country] with a school-affiliated work trip [I'll have to blog about this trip sometime, definitely a cool experience]. Since we had worked all week [during "spring" break in March with many feet of snow still on the ground], we got to spend late Friday afternoon through Saturday at a 'resort' sort of place, owned by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monahan, on small Drummond Island .

After dinner, we were out toboganning, playing on the ice rink, etc before heading out to the outdoor hot tub to relax. Someone had mentioned how some people, in other northern winter climates, sit in hot tubs or saunas for awhile before making a dive into the snow. Of course, someone dared us to do likewise. So of course, I took the bait [and have a photo to prove it]. Of course, I didn't stay in the snow bank for long but I remember the 'tingling' sensation after climbing back into the tub. It was definitely something that everyone should try at least once. :-) Just don't go daring me to go polar swimming; that is one dare that I will definitely pass on.

I recall another hot tubbing evening... It was later in the evening on New Year's Eve. There were maybe 6-7 of us sitting in the outdoor tub [with our drinks], watching the steam rising into the dark sky while the big wet snowflakes were drifting down. I guess I do have some fond cold winter memories. :-)

Just Do It

My Mantra for this week has been: Just Do It. Like Nike, I really need to run with this. Not outside yet, though I do need to get out and get some exercise and fresh air. It's this decluttering and reorganizing. I hate the mess but I've never been good at keeping my things [or my life] in an orderly fashion [my clothing fashion is currently not in vogue right now, either].

I'm also a procrastinator. Why do today what I can save for tomorrow? or next month? And it's not *just* procrastination, I really don't WANT to let my clutter pile up into a moutain. I know I need to do some work every single day. But many days, I just *can't*. There are enough days where just doing the basics to get by for the day is enough and nothing more than that.

However, as I'm seeing this stuff not organizing itself, at least not to my liking, I need to finally try [again and again] to take some action. Hence, the "Just Do It" this week. And its working, so far. Even if its just one thing a day, it counts [like several days ago, I was realllly dragging but I did take out a bag of trash to the trash can in the garage. And I did about 45 minutes worth of stuff yesterday and altogether, more than an hour today.

I don't know how long I'll follow the directions of "just do it" and though my rooms still have mountains in them, they're organized mountains and mole hills.

Will I ever see the day where I'm comfortable with my home surroundings? I really don't know but I'll tell you if and when it happens!

A Confession

Ok, it's confession time. In my post I just entered a few minutes ago, I mentioned that I hope to get to this coloring book within the next few days... It's not because I'm so disciplined and can space out the fun things I want to do. It's for other reasons.

My space here at home is a bit of a mess [an understatement, if there ever was one]. And I won't be able to really spread out and enjoy what I'm working on with these other "things" piled up all over the place.

During the holiday season through later in January, I had participated in a number of ATC [artist trading card] swaps and thus, the remains of some of those projects still need to be taken care of. As does some of my more recent scrapbooking projects. The other day, I did start sorting through some of my stuff but I didn't get too far [yet]. Right now, this room looks worse than it did before I started!

So I've made a half-hearted promise to myself that I would get more 'work' done before I do much in the playing world. I'm going to TRY and bring out that 'mature adult' in me that is so hard to find and to have some follow-through with. [That's soooo hard for me to do; keeping things in order; always has been, always will.]

I did get some work done in my other room a couple days ago; I can actually SEE some progress. But right now, I'm feeling that I need to get a start on this other room of mine--I'm really tired of the way its looking and how badly its making me feel. I know I'll get the stuff done in the bedroom soon, with that job, I just need to keep from backsliding toooo much.

I do wish I could say that my life is all fun and games [don't we all?] but it isn't even close to that, in spite of my ramblings about art, books, and creativity. Like everyone, I suppose, I do have my issues, problems, and the dark side. I think I'm using some of this newfound or rekindled sense of creativity to gloss over some of the other stuff. To expose it or bury it, only time will tell.

There ARE some yahoo groups out there that I'm participating in, not just for the art and trading cards but to get support for this mess and decluttering that I'm trying to work on fixing. If anyone that reads this would like more information, do let me know. I can tell more here [which I might do later on anyway] or we can get in touch off the blogsite.

My productive trip to the bookstore

I went to Border's today. There's a quarterly art journal type magazine that was due out on 2/1 so I *had* to go to see if they had it out yet. [I like the other bookstores in the area, too, but Borders has the best selection of the magazines that I enjoy reading. Plus, the very first and original Border's bookstore started here in Ann Arbor!]. Anyway, the journal IS available and a copy is now here at home with me, I'll be signing off here shortly to start browsing. It's produced by a company called Stampington who puts out all kinds of artsy and creative magazines [not just crafts but creating things to wear, home stuff, all kinds of things]. This one is is about Artful Blogging; I still enjoy the first edition, so I know this next one will be fun, too. And I hope to learn from it so that, though I can't post pictures right now, I do want to improve my blogging experiences...

I also went over to the children's area and found the coloring books. And I was pleased there were a few that are geared more towards the... Hmm, I kind of want to say 'the mature' at heart, but that doesn't feel quite what I'm looking forward. After all, I don't think that I'm necessarily a very mature person, even though I am into the adult and supposedly responsible years. So I guess I should say that these few books are for those "adults" that are still kids at heart. :-) Anyway, I do hope to get started in this book within the next few days. :-)

Coloring

Last week, someone gave me a couple pages with a 'celtic' design on each one and another page with a stained-glass type design. They can be used for adults [as well as children, I suppose] to get back to the basics of creativity. I was told to color each one, that I'd find it to be relaxing and theraputic [sp?]. So last evening, I dug out my big box of crayolas and picked out a few colors and colored away. I got one done and it really WAS fun and relaxing [oh, to be a kid again!]. I wondered why I had put it off all week--but I still have two more to work on. Part of me really wanted to do another one last night since I was so pleased with my efforts. But alas, I decided to do the other ones when I'm not getting so sleepy. I want to be fully awake and alert to get the full benefits.

Who says coloring is only for kids? It's for those of us that never grow up, too. Now I need to find resources for more stuff to color; does anyone know of anyplace to find coloring books for those of us kids that are getting up there in years? I don't think I'd get quite as much enjoyment out of the ones meant for the really young crowds... Guess I can do a google search!

Why I haven't written in awhile

I came back to my site a little while ago to see if I could get inspired to write something fun or whitty. It's been awhile since I've posted; I do WANT to keep writing regularly, it keeps me thinking and being more aware of stuff. And as Martha would say, "that's a good thing". But I've had a creative block, staring at the screen and not coming up with anything remotely interesting to say.

Perhaps the block is partly due to the artsy stuff that I had been working on through the weekend and into early this week. After not having signed up for any ATC swaps in awhile other than the individual holiday swaps I did last month, I signed up for several. And they all needed to be in the mail early in the week. The themes included:
"Under the Tuscan Sun"--a 9/9 swap [send in 9, get 9 different ones in return] having to do with anything Italian,
"A Raisin in the Sun", a 6/6 swap with anything grape or raisin related,
"Recycled Christmas Cards", a 6/5 swap--using up cards from the holidays
RAKs--Random Acts of Kindess--something we can do whenever we have extra cards we want to give away. We choose
people from the database [randomly or otherwise] and send the card[s] to that/those person/people. I sent out
12 or so in mid-December, in pairs of 2; they went to a few different countries and some stayed here in the states.
With the 3 sets that were sent out this week, 2 were going to Italy and one here [out west].

And a new group just started. It's a small group, purposely set up that way to get more sharing, learning, as well as being able to trade with each person every time. It's set up so that we have a different 'challenge' or theme each month; we create 8 cards and send them in by the due date [the same every month] and the hostess swaps them out and we get one from everyone in return. This month's theme [due this weekend] is in honor of Valentine's Day. The particulars: make a card that has something to do with our first love, true love, last love, whatever and we need to SWAK it [sealed with a kiss]. If anyone's interested in knowing what I did, let me know and I'll tell ya about it after we get the trades back. I don't want to spoil the surprise if anyone from that group is reading. :-) Or, if you're a local [you know who you are!] and would like to see my bookful of cards--ones that I've made as well as the ones I've received, again, let me know. We can meet up somewhere and I'll bring my binder along [maybe to a HH or something].

So have I bored the heck out of you yet, if you've read this far? I apologize if I have; I can really get going with stuff like this that I enjoy doing [the cards, scrapbooking, etc are usually fun and it's something that can easily be looked at over and over]].

How does this relate to posting something here? Well, there's only so much thinking and creativity that I can do at any one period of time; after reaching the saturation point, I'm done. It's over [worthwhile stuff]; my brain can only take so much thinking in a day/week/month. After a point, my brain starts to hurt and then it just shuts down and turns itself off. Though making the ATCs are [usually] an enjoyable and rewarding pursuit, after being motivated and focused with making about 30 of them over a short time, I'm in an escape and recovery mode. And that can be a good thing.

Hence, not having major words of wisdom. I can go for long stretches of time without talking at all, just being in sleep or observation mode OR I can go on and on about stuff and still not saying much. Like I am this evening. NOT always a good thing.

Can I go to sleep now?

A Much Needed Few Days Off

Whew, what a hectic few weeks it's been; I'm glad it's about over--I'm ready for a much needed break. With the craziness of the holidays, all the snow, a friend being in the hospital, seeing someone else before she goes out of town for a few months, and the usual routines [helping with my mom, laundry, grocery shopping, yadda yadda yadda], I'm ready for a few days to/for myself.

I don't have any commitments whatsoever between this evening and Wednesday evening [with the exception of a couple much needed errands either tomorrow or Monday]. I'm hoping to: sleep, get in some fun reading, catch up on some online stuff, work on some of my art projects, and maybe, just maybe, work on some chores! Or, I might end up doing nothing at all; and I'd be fine with that, too.

Oh, and I read in the paper that it's actually going to warm up a bit over the next couple days--perhaps even into the [balmy] 50s by Monday! So I should try and get out for some much needed fresh air and exercise before we get more of the arctic temperatures again later in the week. But still, this little breath of fresh air will be a much needed lift for my physical as well as my mental health. [Sometimes it doesn't take much but it is so much needed right now!!] :-)