First Monday of a new year

[Harriet]

Is there some routine you hope to find again? Do you need a little normal?

What a good day for it!

[CathyS]

Hi everyone!

First day alone since Christmas Eve. I need to do laundry. I need a shower. I would like to go for a manicure.

I start back to work tomorrow, so today's routine that I will be getting back to will be packing some food for work, making sure I know where all my work stuff is and going to bed early.

My week day at home routine is off to it's usual start. Woke up just before 8 and I am listening to my favourite radio station until 10 a.m. Instead of a hot chocolate this morning I had a can of cola instead. I have done everything else on the computer that I need to do.

I will get the laundry ready to go to the laudromat while I listen to the music until 10.

I would also like to go to C hapters, but trying to avoid buying any more new books.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm not sure I've developed routines in the new place. It has been over a year of unsettledness for me.

I've got make my bed and tidy my room down pat. I also tidy the kitchen while waiting for my tea to get made in the morning so the clean dishes get put away. Those routines don't leave me, no matter what (I tidy the hotel room in the morning while making tea, and I always make my bed, even on the ship.)

The routine I miss the most is my fitness routine which is long gone since I'm trying to figure out a new normal. Normally for the month of December I'd listen to workout music by TSO but this year, I didn't listen to it once because I'm not working out on the treadmill. I'm walking on it at assorted times during the day but I don't get up, put on my heart rate monitor band, get on the treadmill and workout for 40 minutes like I used to long before the move.

I'm missing the kind of workout that raises my heart rate for a sustained period of time. Since I've been working on being able to walk pain free, I had to leave aerobic exercise for the time being. I'm probably healed enough now that I should consider how to bring it back in. I used to do it first thing in the morning but here we don't like to get on the machines before 7 or 7:30 in case they disturb the neighbours.

What I can do is put on my heart rate monitor today and when I am on the treadmill, I can see where my heart rate is. I've been walking much more slowly so as to not re-injure my foot, so I'm pretty sure I'm not getting a full workout these days. Obviously, I'm not sure what happens while swimming. Given how warm I feel after, that probably does get my heart rate up.

I won't get swimming today. I'm already running far behind. Plus I'm too sick. I woke up with a killer sore throat at 5:45 and had to take a pain killer and zinc lozenge. It is fine now.

I thought I had solved the humidity issue in the main room but I hadn't. It was an errant reading. As soon as I was moving around, the humidity dropped to 16%. I can't get dh to protect his guitar and it is driving me nuts (it needs 40 - 50% humidity.) It is very cold here which further drops the humidity level in the apartment so our bedroom only got up to 39% last night. For a cold/cough, we need 60%. I coughed all night long and my sleep record shows it. At least it is sunny today so I'm getting some energy from that.

[Twins' Mom]

I was up at 8 after clock set at 7:30. I am continuing to have trouble falling asleep and may drop the evening Ginko Biloba to see if that makes a difference. I'm also trying to move bedtime back earlier (after staying up later during holidays) and get up earlier. I'm wishing for a normal day/week but it won't be this week and today.

Today is dmom's 88th birthday so I am going to for a quick visit. I think that two of my cousins are going to be there so it will be a quick drop in visit just after lunchtime. They had mentioned to dbro coming around noon or a little after. At three p.m. the closing for dsis' house is scheduled in another part of town so will be out of the house more. I need to visit dsis this week and will probably do that on Wednesday. On Thursday I have the usual trip to p/u meals and visit dmom and also PT for dMacs. On Friday around midday we fly off to for the quick weekend visit to meet dh's second cousins near Alexandria VA for a family "simcha" celebration and are back mid afternoon on Sunday, with an event on Sunday evening, over which dh is presiding and my absence would be noticed. Like Kathryn earlier this winter, I need to find a winter coat also. Here I wear a very casual jacket and we haven't had cold weather yet, but I don't want to look like a schlub.

I'd like to get to the Y today to do my recommended 15 minutes on the elliptical.

The one thing that is bothering me right now more than anything is papers on my desk. I am going to alternate working on those w a.m. routine and other routines this morning before I need to leave.

I feel like yesterday was a loss - I was out of the house until 6:30 and after that didn't do my steps either.

[Twins' Mom]

-breakfast, meds
-10 pieces of paper
-start a lol
-wash up, brush teeth and change clothes
-kitchen table clearing

[Emptynester]

Up early: Thank you cards written and addressed. Calendar filled in. I decided to go with manual calendar for church meetings this year and will see about next year. I don't want to rock the boat with too many changes early in the year. I will be taking my computer with me and taking minutes on it along with manual notes.

Next up is S2S and then PT.

I also need to get ready for meeting tomorrow and get BP and BS charts printed off for Dr. appointment on Wed. Oh!! and 2 chapters in book club study for Wed.

That, of course, as extra on the 3D''s. Still have laundry and dishes plus erase many, many footsteps.

Breakfast and meds calling my name. TTFN

[Elizabeth]

Good morning all! It looks like my evening will be: either dinner with friend or library, buy yarn, maybe grocery store.

The main accomplishments for the weekend: Since we are in the kitchen zone, I processed some paperwork that has been residing on my kitchen table. I put away some stuff in the MBR, but there is still much to do. Embarrassingly enough, I still have not unpacked my suitcase, and I returned DEC 28!!! At the adoption clinic Saturday, I took two cat applications, and two other cats had their home visits done and were delivered to their new homes. The dog people took 3 applications. For some reason, January and February are good months for adoptions. I don't know why, but I am not complaining.

Gotta go to a meeting now. See ya!

[helia]

Good morning all! I felt virtuous this morning b/c by 11 a.m., I had not only completed my a.m. routine, including QT, but had 2 fillings replaced at the dentist and stopped by the library to return a book. I've been goofing off here ever since, though, so my feeling of virtuosity is quickly disappearing. LOL!!

Dh has the washing machine in pieces right now, waiting for a part to come in the mail. So, no laundry for a while. Thankfully, I got our laundry done before he took it apart. It was still working, sort of; the agitator just wasn't agitating very strongly.

Tutee R will be here in 55 minutes for tutoring, so I need to prep for her. Afterward, I'm taking ds and dd19 to the mall for some shopping, my Cmas gift to them. they both needs jeans and dd19 also needs dress pants.

I would like to get to the gym for some exercise today. Dh went for a 4.5 mile run this morning in 12F temps, -11C. He said his time was a little slower b/c of some ice on the path.

I also want to take advantage of dd19's presence at home to work on the New Year cards and (short) letter. Letters seem kind of out of vogue this year, but many friends have asked about us in their Cmas greetings, and a letter would be an efficient way to respond. We didn't send anything out last year, the first time in many (18?) years.

Next:
- fold lol in dryer
- make lunch
- look over materials for tutee R

[BookSaver]

Good morning, villagers ~
We are under winter storm warning, with several inches of snow on the way tonight. Then the temps will turn bitterly cold tomorrow and stay that way the rest of the week.

I'm switching menu plans around a bit. I think since DH has today off we will eat up leftovers for lunch, and go to the diner for supper tonight before the snow is too deep. DH really likes their Monday night special, which is tacos.

We will need to wait and see how much snow we actually get before we'll know whether or not he can go to work tomorrow. Right now they are saying 6-7 inches by the a.m. rush hour, which leaves it totally up to the snowplows whether or not the roads will be safe.

Not a problem if we end up being stuck at home tomorrow. DH has lots of vacation and personal days he can take off work, and we have plenty of food and supplies.

Today's 4x4:
* finish month-end and year-end financial reports for sewing group
* finish month-end reports for library group
* return Muppet Show DVDs to the library
* read the stack of newspapers so they can be recycled

[Harriet]

After I'd typed my last post, Johnny Mathis' "We Need a Little Christmas" started playing in my head, changed to "We Need a Little Normal".

Elizabeth (raising my hand) I think I know! People can relax and see options ahead of them in January. Also there's been time for reassessment, especially the family/home/long-term parts of life. Once, Christmas was a traditional time for the "pet-in-a-box" surprise type of gift, but society has learned better now, and we've wisely turned away from ill-advised spur-of-the-moment gifting. So now households wait and consider the adoption decision, even though it may have occurred to them in December, and that likely means January! Yay, January!

Kathryn, I think the waiting to be kind to others is probably worth more to you in terms of your (both of your) well-being than convenience in quickly exercising. You wouldn't be you if you ignored the feelings of neighbors.

I was exercising yesterday and my thoughts turned to HRH's dr's appt today and whether he was prepared with info/questions. Suddenly, I had turned "funny" and my lower back twinged. I believe that pretty much made the case for stress affecting my back. I ignored it but this a.m. as I unloaded the dishwasher the pasta pot hung oddly on the prongs of the lower rack. I had to twist it while lifting and suddenly I felt the twinge again. Just twinges, but I was not born yesterday (obviously), so I am taking no chances. I took an Excedrin Migraine with my breakfast - first pain pill in a long time.

This sat because HRH got home from dr's appt. He says he tried really hard to stay on topic. (Dr is a friend and they tend to get into conversation.)

Twins' Mom, I hope your dmother has a happy birthday.

BookSaver, I hope you, dh and community stay safe.

Coat/jacket chat - I am still where I was with changing between the old ones. I am no example whatsoever.

School run, Morning Daily Card and some extra 15s done. Also handled the last phone calls of Desk Day that were still in waiting mode
Next up folding laundry.