Let's Try Again

Happy New Year

I am better now. I still have a cough which startles people sometimes, but I feel pretty good. When I tell people I was sick, I get very little sympathy. Instead I get topped. "Oh I was too! I was in bed for 6 days and couldn't move at all...throwing up all over the place, almost had to get admitted to the hospital. etc, etc. etc." It's a bad winter for health around here.

Right now it's difficult to be outside because the annual January bad air is back. We are regularly having red and orange alert days when we are not supposed to drive. Everyone does, of course, because for most people there are no good alternatives. Those who have options, like me being able to commute by UTA, are already doing that no matter what the air alert is.


I'm not complaining too much because my friends and family in the Midwest and northeast are experiencing another polar vortex with obscenely low temperatures. I am so glad I don't live in those places any more. Maybe if I had never left, things would be different, and I would just be used to this being how things are where I chose to live. But I did leave, and I know things can be different, so I can feel happy about not living back east where the temperatures are horrible and the skies are all cloudy all day.

This week I had a bunch of work related things to do, which I did pretty much finish off. I wrote all the reference and evaluation letters for my students and some of my peers for their reviews. I sent in my last review file ever. (I am dancing about this. My very last five year review ever!!!!!!)

I did take the review file seriously and wrote up nice things about myself along with appropriate documentation, but, to tell the truth, I did not put a lot of energy into the thing. For example, there are some things on my CV that are either not written 100% in APA format, and a few things are missing too. But I looked at it and said, "Too much trouble to fix this. I doubt anyone will care anyway. And if they do, I'll just take care of it then. I ain't gonna get not retained because I have some underlining instead of italics." And so it is. All I need is a contract for one more year. I'm pretty sure that will be no trouble.

This week I really got the "itch" for some new underwear. While doing laundry recently I had decided that I have had most of my underwear since....well you don't want to know. Everything I have was well made, and that's the trouble. I have a lot of it, I take care of it, and it doesn't really wear out. It just gets old.

Finally I just said the hell with it, I can afford some new underwear for no reason other than the fact that all  my present underwear is old. So I went shopping. I have to say, I came home with a real nice haul, the majority of it from Nordstrom's or Nordstrom's Rack.

My new colorful and comfortable undies

As you can see, I go right for color. No white for me. I have a few things in black and beige for when you really need one of those colors, but most of the time pink, blue, purple, red, whatever work just fine.

Then I went through my drawers and I THREW OUT a bunch of stuff. Yes, I just pitched it. Then I had another round and I made up two bags of stuff to give away. This stuff was all "nice" but the truth is, I didn't wear or use any of it. So out it goes to some charity or another.

Today was another new year's session. I cleaned the house. The biggest thing I did was to throw out this big cardboard box that Smokey Rose used to like as a bed. But yesterday she started to use it as a litter box even though she has a perfectly fine litter box which she knows how to use in the bathroom.

At first this box made a good bed. It even had blankets. 

This is her pattern about these things. When boxes first come into the house she adopts them right away and spends time napping in them. But eventually they make her bored or something, and she changes her mind about what they are for. So the rule now is "box=bed=OK; box=toilet=not OK, out it goes". Getting rid of the big box opened up a nice large space in the main part of the room which makes the whole place feel lighter somehow. I feel pleased. Smokey Rose wil hav eto just use the real litter box.

Then today I made some chicken soup in the crock pot. And I selected, addressed and scanned in a big pile of Postcrossing postcards. (I can have 41 going at one time now. This is a lot!) Overall a rather productive day.

Good thing because Monday I am going back to my regular work schedule and in a couple of weeks Sundance comes to town. Enjoy the time off while I can.