Now we're cooking

The house is full of the aroma of roasting beef, heavy on the onions and garlic. This is the perfect accompaniment to our overall sense of accomplishment: Today, we finally (finally!) took real steps toward cleaning out our house in preparation for either renting it out or selling it at the end of the summer. Huzzah!


But we **almost**didn't. We **almost** wimped out again. Frank and I had resolved earlier in the week to, at the very least, make a bit of progress on Fridays and Saturdays, our habitually emptiest days. Great plan! And then suddenly this morning we realized, oh shit, TODAY is Friday. Feet dragging, we started making lists and scoping things out (aka, stalling). But, lo and behold, a plan did begin to form, and we found ourselves not only laying some necessary groundwork but actually implementing the plan. Wow! Wondrous!


Today's steps: (1) rescuing from the garage those few items that aren't outright trash, and (2 and the part that happily snuck up on us) putting a bunch of other dump-bound stuff into the garage, where that "one big pile of garbage" can await a Designated Dump Run Day(tm). These efforts have made a measurable and therefore highly encouraging visual difference in our home. We're happy!


To cap off all this goodness, I just tried on an old pair of size 10 505s AND THEY FIT. My time at the gym since January is paying off!! Feels great!!


And soon there will be roast beef. Life is good!

I napped through 4:20 4/20

This is why it's kind of silly for me to live in a state where marijuana is legal.


But... It's 4/20, which means I've been off Facebook for just shy of three weeks. As you can see, I have not filled my FB hours with blogging. Apparently I don't have a burning need any more to broadcast the details of my life. I do miss hearing about yours a bit. Send me an email! Frank can PM you my address.


Keeping up with current events takes maybe ten minutes a day. I'm reading a lot less opinion and analysis these days and sticking to just the facts. It's nice. I'm informed and able to respond where needed but no longer embroiled. It's much easier to see now how much of my day was taken up with repeated coverage of the same news.


I have no amazing advances in productivity or creativity to report. But maybe the "quiet" is starting to sink in. We'll see.

Is this thing still on?

I'm taking a break from Facebook. Last night I went through Facebook's security checks and numerous confirmations and deactivated my account. It would probably have been easier to adopt a dog (one of the other coping mechanisms I considered) than to turn off my Facebook account. The site's level of attachment to me doesn't strike me as healthy.


Apparently it's been a codependent relationship all along and I just didn't know it.


Anyway, I'm taking a break. I have spent years as a regular contributor to the Book of Face, and in particular have spent the last year and a half or so using it with great intensity due to the political mess that is these US of A right now.


And I've lost something along the way, some ability to just be, without reaching for my smartphone and without other people's words, concerns, and outrage crowding my head.


What's next? I don't know. The fun will be in finding out. Today, because I reached for my smartphone, I started with a little blogging. I have no idea if that will turn into a regular thing, so I make no promises.


But blogging without obligation--blogging for fun!--used to be a thing I did. Maybe it will be again.