A Few Minutes of Sunshine

It was a tiny bit sunny at the start of the day.  See how the sun is shouldering its way through the clouds?  But soon enough the clouds got the upper (or lower) hand and it's been dreary and gray all day.  Full-spectrum lamps turned on in every inhabited room.

The neighbor's tree decided to drop its leaves.  Finally.  I called the lawn guy and he'll be over later in the week to sweep them up and put them at the curb for me.  I checked with the city and this week's the last regularly scheduled leaf pickup but the lady in the Public Works office said they plan to leave a couple leaf trucks without plows for now since so many trees are holding onto their leaves.  Whew.

 
Oh, when I was getting read for bed last night I remembered the one accomplishment I had yesterday.  I got the snowblower out of the shed and into the garage and put the patio chairs into the shed for the winter.  So the day wasn't a total errand-fest with no "house" work done.  This morning I called the neighbor who does snowblower and lawnmower tuneups in his garage.  Tomorrow I'll fire up Big Red and drive her up the street so he can change her oil and get her ready to throw snow all winter without a hitch.


I have got to get moving earlier.  I got up around 7:30 today but it was 10:30 when I had my Cheerios (post yoga) and almost 11:30 when I did my step aerobics.  Still in my house-wear (yoga pants, camisole, hoodie, Crocs) at noon.  What's up with that?  I got dressed before I made my lunch shortly after 1:00.  I think my problem is that I get the newspaper when I get up, make coffee, then read the paper and do the puzzles--jumble, Sudoku, and crossword--before yog-ing and having breakfast.  Maybe tomorrow I'll yoga when I get up and then read the paper, not that I'll be saving any time but somehow that seems like a more logical way of spending my time.  Not that a retired person like me has to account for her time...


Once lunch was done I got busy and fixed Hoot the Owl Hat's eye and added another length of yarn to hold both button eyes on.  And since DS says LC wears the hat a LOT, I just went online and ordered more of the yarn I made the hat with so that if it gets unrepairable I can make another one just like it.



 
After that I got out the red tweed and test-embroidered part of the R next to the yellow tweed B to see which one works best.  Red is the obvious winner since the yellow one is invisible from a few feet away.  So I pulled out the yellow B and replaced it with a red one.  I got the R finished before coming in here to blog and hope to finish the A, V, and E before bedtime tonight.  Piece o' cake.  (now I probably jinxed myself, didn't I?)


November 14--Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Marcella.  No matter how she dresses or how she holds herself she looks like she's made of angles bolted together--with the bolts showing.  Mariela has a soft name and soft eyes but the rest of her is angular and bony.  She wants to be rounded and lush but no matter how she eats nothing changes.  She thinks she looks like a collection of toothpicks and she isn't far off.  Serge loves her.  Loves the angularity of her, loves her gawky walk, and the contrast with her soft eyes.  He folds her into his arms where she feels like a furled umbrella but he whispers his love into her ear and she melts into his embrace.

*sigh*  It's almost dark outside and it isn't even 5 o'clock yet.  As much as I don't like wishing time away, I want it to be the Winter Solstice (in 37 days on Dec. 21) so the days start to get longer.  I hopped firmly back onto the WW bandwagon yesterday because I've been fooling myself that I wasn't cheating "that much" for the last year but somehow nearly all of the 20# I lost a year ago has come back.  Almost back to square one.  I am such a trial to myself.  I spent part of yesterday counting out M&Ms into tiny 2-point packets so they got put into the canister in the cupboard with the 2-point bags of pretzel twists, animal crackers, and caramel mini rice cakes.  I thought about cutting out chocolate altogether but know that way lies madness and almost certain failure so I've put them out in the kitchen instead of the canister on my desk (which got relegated to the basement).  Back to eating healthy food almost exclusively.  
--Barbara