Author: Laura & Brett

Finding fulfillment, satisfaction, and positivity in daily living.

What the Heck Happened?

Posted on by Laura & Brett

I was genuinely pleased with myself at the end of last year because even though I didn’t lose any weight, I didn’t gain any either. Two weeks ago, after a few months away I decided to step on the scale again and see how things were going.

I weighed 15 pounds more than I did at the end of last year! Fifteen pounds! What?? How?? In spite of being incredibly shocked the first thing I had to ask myself is: where had that weight been added to my body? I haven’t changed size – all my clothes continue to fit the way they did last year. I don’t struggle to get into my clothes and nothing is too tight. I honestly had no idea what was going on. Did I really gain weight last year? Or, did I add 15 pounds in a few months this year? I just couldn’t figure out what happened, but the pounds were there.

A few days after this shock I was watching a Instagram post from @gwenacious (who is a follower and an all-around lovely person). She is halfway through her weight loss and fitness journey, and in the video she called herself a “fit bitch.” She eats and exercises, she said, like someone who is already fit, not someone who is trying to get fit and lose weight. She said this mindset has been the key to her success this time after so many failures.

Her words hit me like a ton of bricks because I have NEVER eaten or exercised like someone who considers themselves fit, but ALWAYS like someone who is trying to eventually be fit. It’s no wonder I’ve never been able to stick to a way of eating, or any exercise, because even if I did, I have never seen myself as a truly fit person. And, it’s incredibly easy to return to bad habits when you believe in your core that you’re not fit (and never going to get there either) which is what I have always done. It became perfectly clear to me that once I get the pounds off I go right back to doing all the things that put the weight on to begin with because in my mind I’ve never accepted myself as a healthy, fit person. In my mind I have always been the fat, unfit girl. (By the way, this return to old habits has been rightly called – in my opinion – the Great Forgetting, the leaving behind all the hard work and mental effort that has been previously put into the process.)

I decided then and there that going forward Brett and I were going to shop, eat, and act like we are fit people in good shape who intend to stay that way (Brett already is). I mentally changed how I approach eating and exercise and made some immediate, easy changes to the weekly menu plan, adding more protein and salads and dumping the huge amount of carbs that we had been eating. We’ve changed the amounts we eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I started walking again with Brett and the dogs and am getting out of my chair more (although my back is not sure it likes this part). Strength training is coming up. I’m learning more about staying fit when you’re over 70. I’m also sleeping better and giving up coffee has really made a difference in that.

I still have no idea where those 15 pounds came from or where they are in my body. My hypothesis is that I must have somehow done something wrong when I weighed myself at the end of last year because I don’t think I suddenly added 15 pounds this year. Maybe it’s just the curse of growing older, but for now it remains one of life’s little mysteries.

Goodbye April, Hello May!

Posted on by Laura & Brett

First things first: I have NO idea why images aren’t loading into my posts – they’re not even in my media file any more! I have tried a few fixes so fingers crossed, but I decided not to go back and add the old photos now. Just hope the new ones will go in.

Anyway, four months to go! I can’t tell you how exciting it is to say this and see time starting to speed by.

Although fall is my favorite season, May is my favorite month of the year. Not only is it prime springtime, but my birthday falls this month and so does Mother’s Day, when I hope to once again enjoy a full Day of Doing Nothing (my favorite gift). YaYu’s graduation also happens this month, and Brett and I will be flying up to Philadelphia to attend that along with spending time with our daughters and SILs (our son and DIL are unable to attend). We’ll be boarding Tilly and Kaipo with their groomer for five days, our first long time away from them, so we’re a bit nervous about that. All in all though it should be a great month getting us closer to our early September departure.

And, I got a job! A Japanese family moved into the apartment complex and are friends with our daughter-in-law. The family’s daughter will be entering the sixth grade in August, and I have been hired to bring her English up to speed as much as possible before then. We will meet twice a week until school finishes the third week of this month, and then three times each week during the summer. TK’s English proficiency right now less than minimal, so I have my work cut out for me, but the parents are paying me very well and I’m motivated! I’m grateful too for having something to do this summer – not just the lessons, but the prep before each lesson as well.

Here’s how we did with our goals in April:

  • Celebrate Brett’s 76th birthday. The kids gave Brett a big YETI cooler (which was what I had been thinking of giving him LOL). He was surprised but thrilled to get it as we plan to start camping again when we’re in Oregon. Our son took him out to brunch while he was in town, and I got him two pairs of new shorts he wanted and took him out for ice cream on his special day.
This man loves ice cream!
  • Keep food spending at $300. We spent around $360 on groceries and have decided $300 is no longer realistic.
  • Get some new glasses. I got a stronger pair of progressive readers (online at Look Optical), the same frames as my older pair but tortoiseshell this time.
  • Read two or three more books. I read one Lucy Foley, two Louise Penney books, and also reread Conclave, by Robert Harris, about the election of a Pope (and now want to watch the movie again).

We also:

  • Purchased our airline tickets to Portland
  • Reserved transport for our car to Oregon.
  • Reserved a car in Portland to use until our car arrives
  • Reserved an Airbnb in Portland to stay in while we search for a place to live (and used $450 in Airbnb gift cards we had on hand)
  • Reserved a car for our final few days in Tennessee
  • Started walking again and am up to a mile a day
  • Got Kaipo’s annual health checkup done

Our goals for May:

  • Get my hair cut (short again) and also get a manicure and pedicure. I want to look presentable at YaYu’s graduation
  • Purchase Yalu’s graduation present (at the beginning of the month)
  • Read Careless Love, a book about the start of Elvis Presley’s career that we got for our anniversary. It’s a big book with tiny print so I’m thinking it may be all I’ll be able to finish this month.
  • Book our moving service to Oregon.
  • Try a new healthy recipe

We have switched up what we are eating in May. I took off some of the high-carb meals and added in salads and other healthier choices to our weekly menus (like switching out rice for sweet potatoes). We decided to increase our monthly food spend to $400 and hope that will be enough:

  • Chili pork sauce w/sweet potatoes
  • Niçoise salads
  • Cobb salads
  • Turkey lettuce wraps
  • Teriyaki chicken & zaru soba
  • Masala lentils w/sweet potatoes
  • Beef hot dogs and 3-bean or potato salad (Brett’s request)

We continue to do good job of using up what we have on hand, and still have many of the items needed for May already in our pantry or freezer. The stockpile will be pretty much gone though by the end of the month.

Things Are Falling into Place

Posted on by Laura & Brett

As we run out the clock on our last few months in Tennessee (a little over four), things are falling into place to get us back to Oregon. But, things in the outside world are changing rapidly as well and for some of our plans we have no way of knowing what the state of things will be when end of August finally rolls around.

Here’s what we have accomplished and decided so far:

  • Housing: The biggest issue we’ll have after arriving in Oregon will be finding housing, and housing out at the coast is very limited . . . and expensive. If we are still determined to live near the ocean we will be looking for an apartment along northern Oregon coast, focusing on Seaside, Cannon Beach, Manzanita, and Newport. However, we are starting to believe moving back to Portland may be the wiser choice. Lots of driving will be required if we live at the coast, and we won’t have the access to healthcare we would in the city. In Portland we can position ourselves in a neighborhood where we can walk to many of not most things we need and have excellent healthcare close by. We’ve rented a sweet Airbnb in Portland for a week after our arrival to look around and see if Portland is where we want to stay. If not, we’ll head out to the coast.
  • Travel: We were initially planning to take a six-day road trip out to Oregon from Tennessee. That plan evolved into selling our car here before we left and renting a car to drive west and then turning it in when we got to Portland and leasing a car there. One day though, completely out of the blue, I wondered why we didn’t just fly out to Portland instead and save a lot of hassle. We ended up buying airline tickets a few weeks ago for fraction of what we would have spent on a rental car, hotels, gasoline, etc. for the road trip. Tickets to Portland from here were very affordable and I love that we’ll be on a nonstop flight. We now have our fingers crossed that flight doesn’t get cancelled which is a possibility, but we paid extra for refundable tickets this time, just in case.
  • Transportation: The road trip plan was going to cost us a LOT which honestly made us unhappy, as did the whole process of driving a car west – we knew we’d be worried about prices and whether we could find gas in places. We first decided we’d sell the car here before we left, but finally decided to keep it but will instead ship it to Oregon from here, a process that takes about a week and will cost us w-a-y less than renting a car here and leasing a new car in Oregon. Our car doesn’t get the greatest mileage but we don’t drive much these days (we spend less than $150/month now on gas even with Brett picking up our grandson and bringing him home every day from his not-that-close-to-us school). Financially it just made the most sense to keep the car especially since we still love it. We’ve arranged shipping and are happy with the price.
  • Moving: For now we’re planning to do a full-service move and will set that up in late May. We have so few things to move these days that we should be completely packed up and moved out of our apartment in just two or three hours. If prices really go sky high though we will go with a container move even though it will be a hassle for us on both ends of the move.

There will of course be more things to add to our preparations as we go along but for now most of the big stuff is locked in. We are watching prices and saving as much as possible to make sure this move happens as smoothly as possible. I personally believe we will be in the first stages of a long, deep recession by the end of August, if we’re not already, but our goal remains to get to Oregon no matter what. In the meantime, we will continue with planning that keeps our costs as low as possible, and hope for the best.

A Tale of Two Lists

Posted on by Laura & Brett
photo credit: unsplash/Piret Ilver

Moving always creates a to-do list, usually several, and our move west in September is no exception although it’s going to be a pretty short one. We will depart Tennessee the day after Labor Day for five hour flight to Oregon, then we’ll begin our search for a new home.

We’ve already taken care of a few things on our moving list: we reserved our hotel stay for the four days over Labor Day weekend here, when we’ll be cleaning our apartment. That hotel, a Drury Inn, is close by, pet friendly, and we got a great room rate. The hotel provides not only a BIG free breakfast every morning but free happy hour food that’s great for dinner as well as free cocktails!

We’ve also purchased our airline tickets for a nonstop flight to Portland in premium economy seats, and reserved spots for Kaipo and Tilly to travel in-cabin with us. We’ve also reserved a car to use until our car arrives.

Still left to do before heading west: a) hire and schedule movers for our stuff, b) hire and schedule a car mover and then rent a car for our remaining days here after they pick it up; c) purchase travel crates for the dogs, and d) pack our suitcases for the flight west.

That’s it.

I thought you might like to see though the list of tasks we would have needed to complete if we had chosen to move to San Miguel de Allende:

May:

  • Make an appointment for Brett’s visa at the Atlanta consulate
  • Pick up 12 months of monthly statements directly from our credit union (required proof of net income) – the credit union is located over an hour’s drive away.
  • Get Brett’s photo taken for the visa
  • Go to Atlanta for visa appointment (Brett)
  • Purchase airline tickets to Mexico (and pay pet fees)
  • Reserve Airbnb for stay in Massachusetts

June:

  • Get our marriage certificate apostilled in Tennessee; get my birth certificate apostilled in California
  • Decide what will and will not go into storage; get rid of more stuff, and decide which items we will sell before moving out
  • Interview and choose a long-distance mover for our household goods

July:

  • Take both Kaipo and Tilly to the vet to update vaccinations and get certificates of health.
  • Purchase travel crates for dogs
  • Make hotel reservations for two nights on the road up to Massachusetts.
  • Choose and contact a realtor in SMA to help us find a home
  • Make reservation for ground transportation from Mexico arrival airport to San Miguel de Allende

August:

  • Select storage company in Massachusetts and rent space for our household goods.
  • Start packing for SMA
  • Start cleaning the apartment

September:

  • Move out of apartment and finish cleaning/drop off keys
  • Drive to MA (3 days)
  • Get household goods into storage in Massachusetts
  • Get Massachusetts driver’s licenses
  • License car in Massachusetts for storage
  • Fly to Mexico and begin again

I have trouble breathing every time I look at this list – I am just too old for this!

$300 for Groceries: How Did We Do?

Posted on by Laura & Brett
Strawberry shortcake for spring

Brett and I have been trying to spend only $300 a month on groceries since January, supplementing what we buy with items from our pantry and freezer. We do a Big Shop early in the month, and then buy a few dairy and or produce items later in the month.

We’ve been mostly successful, but it takes more and more effort each month as the price of groceries continues to rise. And of course, as those costs rise, so do the taxes we pay in Tennessee, with up to 9.75% added for everything we purchase in our county, food included.

Here’s a look at our Big Shop for April:

COSTCO was our first stop as it’s the store furthest away from home. We start our shopping with a visit to the ATM, where we withdraw $300. Total amount spent this month at Costco: $153.08. Some things we buy every month, other just now and again or because we want to try them. The honey (for Brett), the dip (which really does elevate tuna salad to a new level), the chicken nuggets, and the lemon donut holes were “extras” this month. Brett favorite daily snack is peanuts (around a 1/2 cup) so we always buy three cans. Strawberries were just $2.59 for a two pound-container so we bought two of those – our granddaughter loves them after school and Brett and I will enjoy some strawberry shortcake. We also picked up eggs, more fruit, avocados, cucumbers, bagels (orange-cranberry – delicious!), some medication, and Cheetos and Nutella bars for afterschool snacks for our granddaughter. One thing we decided not to buy was coffee! It’s just gotten too expensive and we made a switch to green tea this month (which we already had on hand). Brett gets a cup of coffee every day down in the lobby but otherwise it hasn’t been missed.

Our next stop was ALDI. Total amount spent: $57.83. I always check out their produce as they have good prices for things we need now and then and we got green onions, cilantro, peppers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and some small potatoes this trip. We always buy two packages of naan bread here every month for pizzas but decided to add a loaf of their wheat bread and a loaf of sliced sourdough as well as they cost less than Trader Joe’s. We eat graham crackers a lot (I like to make that yogurt and graham cracker “cheesecake”) and three boxes is the right amount to get through the month. The chicken is for masala, the crackers to go with the dip not used in tuna sandwiches, the can of beans is for a salad, the whipped cream for strawberry shortcakes, and the bottle of Diet Coke is a once-a-month treat for me.

Our last stop was TRADER JOE’S as it’s on our way home from Costco and Aldi. Total spent: $107.56. What we buy at TJ’s depends somewhat on what is necessary but also on how much money we have left out of our $300. Honey mangoes were the treat for me this trip – I love them! Other produce we picked up was carrots, bananas, and a red onion. Another treat for us was the sour cream donuts. We also bought two packages of grated cheese (for pizzas), barbecue sauce, macaroni and cheese, two types of cream cheese for our bagels, two packages of butter, and a container of yogurt. The artificial crab (surimi) was for California roll salad, and the tofu for a CoodDo stir fry. We bought more snacks for our granddaughter (pretzels and popcorn), and she likes their mochi cake (Hawaiian butter mochi) too so we picked up a box of that to make as well as some of their Meyer lemon bread mixes to make during the month. Dog treats are always a must buy as is toilet paper, and we’re going to give their dishwasher detergent a try this month. (The package of toilet paper is missing from the photo.)

We shopped again yesterday as we had run out of so much, like all the bread, most of the cheese, and a lot of the produce. Brett went to Costco and bought avocados, strawberries, blueberries, whole wheat bread, Cheerios (2 boxes), and two boxes of green tea bags. The tea bags were $15.99/box in the store today but $13.99 if had purchased them online. Hmmmm – usually items are cheaper in the store but we’re living in crazy times.

Total spent for the month of April: $384.91 – sales tax accounted for $37.53 of that total. We would been well under budget if not for the “extras” we picked up and if I had planned better. We’ve decided to increase our food budget to $400 a month and see how we do with that amount going forward.

Still, and with all things considered, we’re eating well this month!

Westward Ho

Posted on by Laura & Brett
photo credit: pexels

First, an aside: I greatly disliked the theme I initially chose for this blog – so glaring – and decided to go back to my old one but with a new photo. Hopefully it’s a bit more soothing. Anyway . . .

With just five months left in Tennessee we finally know where we’re going next. And, surprise, surprise, it turned out to be somewhere other than the three choices we thought we had decided on (if nothing else we stay on brand). Meiling said she’s fully prepared for us to change our minds a couple more times before we go but Brett and I are done and happy about it.

The number one factor driving this decision was financial. If Brett predeceases me, I will have to survive on just slightly over one-third of our current income. So, the major question guiding our choice was: can I afford to live (someplace) on that lower income?

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, started out as our top choice. While the not too distantly past cartel violence in Mexico wasn’t a deep deterrence, we figured out we didn’t feel comfortable being those expats that move to SMA to enjoy the restaurants and lifestyle without being able to speak Spanish and with only surface knowledge of Mexican culture. We also weren’t crazy about the number of expats already living there and that arrive every winter. We planned to take language lessons once there but knew competency in the language would be an extremely difficult endeavor for both of us and we would never be fluent or completely comfortable in Spanish. I could afford to live in Mexico on my own if something happened to Brett, but don’t think I would want to. We eventually decided Mexico would not be ideal as a full-time, long-term residence. We still plan to visit again though.

California was in second place on the list and we investigated several southern California locations and a couple in northern California we thought might work for us. In the end though economics won out as we figured out living affordably and comfortably in California meant potentially having to downsize our living space and/or lower our standard of living a bit. More importantly, remaining there on my own would be too expensive, and maybe too expensive even for Brett on his own too. So California very sadly became a big NO.

That left Tucson. As we crunched the numbers and looked at housing, taxes, and other costs, we realized we could live there very nicely, in a large apartment or even a house, and still have a good bit of income left over every month, similar to what we would have in San Miguel de Allende. We would not have to lower our standard of living, and either one of us could stay if something happened to the other. However, neither of us felt any real enthusiasm for moving there and knew that would become a problem, probably sooner rather than later.

At this point we debated once again going back to Hawaii. We figured out how much that would actually cost, discussed how difficult the move would be, and debated for several days whether it would be worth it for our sanity if nothing else. We also looked at islands other than Kaua’i. In the end we knew the expense of moving Kaipo and Tilly as well as our household goods, and the reality of finding a place to live that would accept our dogs, was more than we wanted to take on. We could do it, but it would take a LOT of effort and wipe out much of the financial gains we have made these past couple of years. And for all that I could not afford to stay there if something happened to Brett so we said a firm and final no to going back to Hawaii.

Frustrated, unhappy, and back at square one once again, we asked each other what was the ONE THING we wanted in a location and we both had the same answer: to live near the ocean. On that point we were united and we let it take us to a decision.

Although we don’t know exactly where we’ll end up, we will be heading west to Oregon in September and will spend up to a couple of weeks looking for a place to live on the Oregon coast. We feel more enthusiastic and right about it unlike any of the previous locations we’ve considered. Seriously, we cannot find a flaw, including the weather (there is more sunshine on the coast than in Portland). I can continue to live there if something happens to Brett, we can get back east to see the kids, the seafood is superb, and getting to Portland and back can be a day trip. We know we can tolerate those gloomy winter days if there is a beach nearby to walk on or the ocean to look at.

And if we don’t find somewhere suitable to live on the coast (housing is very limited)? We’ll stay in Portland. We know it well, and we know how to get to the coast from there.

So, planning is going forward and in September, westward ho we go!

Goodbye March, Hello April

Posted on by Laura & Brett

March was a lovely month and went by quickly. Our son was here quite a bit and we celebrated our 47th anniversary this past weekend.

Happy anniversary to us! The much-wanted books were a gift from our son and DIL.

Here’s how we did with out goals last month:

  • Set up a spreadsheet to evaluate where to go next. We used the spreadsheet, evaluated our choices, and made a (somewhat surprising) decision – all will be revealed next week!
  • Spend $300 or less on food for the month (if possible). We spent $360 in March – a bit frustrating but prices had gone up on several items and we splurged on a couple of extras (like a whole Chantilly cake).
  • Buy some new pajamas. Thanks to my friend I now have two pairs of my favorite organic cotton pajamas! I love the patterns she sent and am so grateful for them.
  • Read two books. I read three books, one by Lucy Foley and two by Louise Penny.

Also accomplished in March: I got my final spousal military ID card. Because I’m now over 70 the card is marked indefinite and will no longer expire. The whole process was all done online too instead of us having to make the drive up to Ft. Campbell in Kentucky. Anyway, one last thing to worry about going forward!

I have four small goals for April:

  • Celebrate Brett’s 76th birthday. It took me all last month to figure out what to give him. He should love it though because it’s practical. I’ll also bake him a cake.
  • Keep food spending at $300. We have to do better this month.
  • Get some new glasses. My distance vision is still 20/20 but I need a stronger prescription for close up stuff (i.e. reading, phone, etc.)
  • Read two or three more books.

Here are the meals that will be in weekly rotation this month:

  • Cook Do pork stir fry
  • Macaroni & cheese
  • Chicken tikka masala
  • Naan pizzas (barbecue chicken or pepperoni)
  • California roll salad or panzanella with beans
  • Hot turkey sandwiches or tuna melts
  • Breakfast for dinner

This menu is going to use up a lot of stuff but we still have a lot more to go too. Brett always fixes the breakfast-for-dinner meal which gives me a break.

Anyway, fingers crossed for all of us for a great month in April!

The 6th Annual Day of No Cooking

Posted on by Laura & Brett

It’s that time of the year again! Brett and I will celebrate our 47th anniversary this weekend, and once again we’ll be letting someone else fix us brunch and dinner on Saturday (we don’t really eat lunch these days). As always though, the only things that will be made at home will be coffee in the morning, and a cocktail in the evening.

Since this is the last time for us to do this event in Tennessee, we’ve decided to focus on Southern-style cooking.

We’ve chosen Meridee’s Breadbasket in downtown Franklin for our brunch location. We’ve bought pastries from the bakery before, but there’s a nice restaurant that offers my favorite breakfast: eggs Benedict with country ham. They also offer several French toast selections that should interest Brett.

We were supposed to eat dinner at Tupelo Honey last year but it was so crowded and the wait so long we ended up sharing a banana split from the ice cream shop across the street instead! We know this year to come prepared and Brett’s already made our reservation. Fingers crossed we’ll finally get to have the fried chicken and waffles we’ve been craving.

The Day of No Cooking is still one of the best, if not the best, idea we have come up with for celebrating our anniversary. We’re looking forward to a lovely, relaxed day of good food and reminiscing without any work or dirty dishes. It’s the perfect way to honor our years together.

Use It Up

Posted on by Laura & Brett

Brett and I have started the process of using up food items that have been hanging out in our pantry as well as many of Japanese ingredients I brought back from Tokyo last summer.

We have five and a half months remaining to use everything up. That feels like plenty of time, but experience has taught me we may end up cutting it closer than we’d like.

Some things I made this month and what they used up: the gingerbread used up molasses; Chinese 3-color salad used up rice noodles; fluffy pancakes finished a box of Japanese pancake mix; and pasta with Alfredo sauce & ham used up a jar of Alfredo sauce and some leftover ham. I also made a loaf of apricot nut bread with the last of some dried apricots, coconut flakes, and walnuts.

Things like pasta and sauces will be easy to use, but five cans of tuna? For some that might be easy, but for us . . . not so much. Twenty packages of CookDo sauces . . . we might get through half to two-thirds of those but thankfully they’re light and travel well. Bread and eggs . . a piece of cake. But four boxes of pancake mix? I don’t know. , , , ,

The key, I think, is going to be narrowing our monthly food budget even more between now and when we move out of the apartment and concentrating more instead on using what we already have. Time seems to finally be picking up speed, and this small dilemma of emptying our pantry and fridge is one more thing that will hopefully make our remaining time go more quickly. Other tasks will soon be popping up, so this is one thing I want to have a good handle on before everything else starts getting crazy.

Good Things Continue to Happen

Posted on by Laura & Brett

photo credit: unsplash/Jess Bailey

These days it feels at times like we’re all being made to sit through a horror film we not only never wanted to see, but one we can’t believe anyone ever imagined or wanted to make. There is real evil in the air and yet nothing seems to happen to the perpetrators.

I could keep lists of and dwell on all the horrible things going on, but I try to think more about the good things that continue to happen in my life. They usually come in small doses but they do keep coming, and I try to take note of them every day. Instead of the bad, awful, and horrific, I keep a mental list of the good things going on around us or to us, to remind myself that not everything is a negative.

Here are some of the good things that have happened to us recently:

  • We received a tax refund this year, the first since 2017. We used to file right before the deadline in April, but this year we filed in early February and our refund was in the bank in a week.
  • YaYu passed her mental health therapist licensing exam on the first try! She will graduate in May and hang her shingle.
  • We changed all our billing due dates in January so that everything arrives at the same time as our social security payments. I have no idea why we didn’t do this earlier, but we’re finding bigger chunks of $$$ to move into our savings accounts.
  • I lost my beloved silver Hawaii bracelet late last year somewhere in the apartment. Brett and I searched for it for a few days, but never could find it. But in my heart I felt it would just show up one day, and it did last month, no worse for the wear! It had apparently fallen off in our closet and had been hiding in a back corner.
  • I got a wonderful surprise in the mail today: a dear friend sent me two pairs of my favorite pajamas! To say I’m beyond grateful would be a gross understatement, especially since I was struggling to find anything else.
  • I purchased a new sundress I found on sale at J. Jill with an additional 30% off the already great sale price. We’re very close to a decision about where we’re going next but a linen sundress will be appropriate clothing at any of the three locations.
  • Brett and I are in a comfortable rut these days. We have schedules to keep, but we’re sleeping well, eating well, and things that need to be done are getting done.

While things feel bleak at times, or occasionally frustrating beyond measure, I know that bad times don’t last forever, just like good times don’t last forever either. I encourage you to take the time to find and recognize the good things that continue to happen in your life, the little moments that bring you joy, and give them their due. It’s good daily medicine.