Marsia's Diary
- Thread starter Marsia
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Cate
Long term member
If you have the cupboard space then maybe put everything away in cupboards, but then go through a cupboard at a time every now & then. It's time I tackled the hall cupboard again.
Your time spent with K is so valuable. She will have such good memories of her childhood
It would be great to make a book club where everyone reads a chapter to the group. I was part of a Buddhist book club where we all took a chapter and asked questions for the group to ponder. I still remember the discussion my questions brought about. That was really fun and bonding! Maybe if I ever get the time, I'll make a book club some day! I just love groups of like minded intellectuals getting together discussing politics, the arts, and things like that. I am trying to find a really good book on how during WWII the surrealists moved to Mexico and had a thriving art community there. There is this amazing surrealist garden there (that's near the top of my bucket list https://www.archdaily.com/790389/IN...JAMES-SURREALIST-GARDEN-IN-THE-MEXICAN-JUNGLE ) and a nearby surrealist school that you can still visit.
Hi Rob! I get so frustrated because I simply can't remember what I ate, and then forget that I forget what I eat, and that I should record it right away! Definitely a mental block!!
The peaches here are sooo good! I am saving their pits and will see if I get any seedlings. The stuff I brought to SC isn't a horribly bad amount, it's just that I need to paint before unpacking it into each room, and I've only painted 3 rooms thus far. It's just too tempting to go garden instead!
That's a good idea, Cate, I can paint the closets first, and put stuff in the cupboards and closets. It's a really good idea to keep decluttering, too. I am so happy for the time with K! I was really feeling defeated with her school making it so we had no time together and she wasn't happy doing all that mindless busywork, either. This is wonderful!If you have the cupboard space then maybe put everything away in cupboards, but then go through a cupboard at a time every now & then. It's time I tackled the hall cupboard again.
Your time spent with K is so valuable. She will have such good memories of her childhood
Gained another 2 pounds, so time to record every single thing that goes into my mouth when it goes in! Good day yesterday other than that. I wake up every morning and relax my muscles and my mind clears as I do. This is way better! And we did yoga, which always makes me feel a ton better. I made fresh salsa which gets devoured very quickly around here. It rained like crazy yesterday and is actually cool here. It's like we're on the same planet as Northern CA now! It's still very high humidity, but not complaining. The coffee chaff guy didn't respond to us about delivering the coffee chaff, so I'll go pick some up today. It's a long drive, but massive amounts of free compost are worth it!
I was part of a similar thing. Well we had 2 different ones in our group. One was after meditating together, we would drink tea and read a chapter aloud, passing the book around paragraph by paragraph. Then afterwards we discussed it. I really loved that one a lot. It was meant to be less of an intellectual discussion and more of "how does this speak to you" sort of discussion--it was really lovely.
The other one, was reading a chapter at home and then discussing it together. I didn't like that one as much though so didn't go as often to that.
But yeah I love reading and connecting with others like that.
Nice that it's cooled down a bit for you. I feel like we are definitely on our way to autumn with some nice cooler points in the day. Very lovely
Cate
Long term member
That sounds wonderful!
Your life does sound better these days, M. When you get everything that you want painted & your stuff put away it should be even better.
That's what I loved most about my Buddhist group, too. I think there is an intellectual component, but it is more centered on honing in on appreciating what makes something sing to you. That's what I am hoping for with this year's English for K. She has had so much of justifying her analysis of literature, and almost no creative writing or writing that helps you deepen what personally you think and feel. She's gone to schools that all espouse this type of creativity, but the teachers were not very good at this, so she dreads creative writing now, but I think we can turn that around.
I am hoping that by next year we can host a music night or writing or reading group here for other homeschooling families. It seems like Covid made teen events disappear in this neck of the woods, and it would be fun to help bring some of that back!I think you should host a salon, Marsia! Bring some culture to the neighbourhood.
Thanks Cate! It does feel better and I am feeling positive about having time and energy to do art and writing and photography especially. I think I'll get out a fresh art journal when I can find the box with them in there!
I did well tracking yesterday, stayed just under calories, and lost the 2 pounds again. I have so much trouble telling what is water weight and what is actual weight gain. If I am not careful I can gain 5 pounds in a week and it will take weeks to get it back off. I really don't count anything as potential water weight because of this.
We took a bike ride around the neighborhood yesterday, which is always really lovely. I mostly worked on the kitchen yesterday, and the house feels more homey with all the cupboards scrubbed clean. They were grimy inside and some had dust and broken tile from the tile remodel, but this bank of cupboards went a lot faster than the ones I cleaned before. I also got a lot of dry goods and kitchen stuff put away. This kitchen is way bigger than any kitchen I have ever had, so there will be plenty of room to have everything where you can see it and get at it easily. The whole house is like that. Our furniture and possessions look rather insignificant sitting in the house, so I think it will be breezy and minimalist when we get it all done.
I've been seeing so much drought on the news. Even China is having a terrible heat wave affecting crops and drinking water with the rivers drying up. I feel so so grateful we moved to a place with abundant water. Early in the morning I woke up to a couple of clouds dumping a deluge of rain, then they were gone, and it's sunny now. Instant garden watering!
That sounds so nice! I do well with a small space but actually love the idea of a big roomy house sparsley decorated...I think it's great too that you are taking the time to really make it feel like you with all the painting.
yeah I guess this is where maybe averaging your weight could come in handy if you do weigh every day...I weigh every day and see my weight fluctuate a lot. Especially on days when I can easily sweat a lot of that water out! But yes sometimes I gain with inflammation, or pms or whatever too...so it's all just about getting an on-going idea of where I am at from day to day.
Llama
Well-known member
You can, but in order for those pounds to be fat you need to overeat by 2,500 calories every day for a week. Still: being careful is rarely a bad thing.
How lovely to have plenty of space around your stuff! I'm always afraid that if I had more space I'd just fill it up with unnecessary things...
Thanks everyone! I think I need to take a little time off from the forum. I am discouraged with myself for not sticking to my plan and feeling a little overwhelmed with the stuff I need to do with homeschooling and the house and yard. I also feel like my responses in people's diaries are uninspiring and not that supportive. I may also be a little homesick for CA and feel like I need to find some art classes or something to get me jump started again. Anyway, I will probably be back in a week or so.
I will miss your presence here. I do get the need to take some time away and totally support you with that, but just wanted to say that I find both your posts here and in other diaries actually very supportive and inspiring!
I do hope you start to feel more settled in your new place. Feeling a bit homesick for a place you loved sounds natural as you try to find your footing in a new community.
I hope you come back here soon, and in the meantime, sending you lots of hugs!
Cate
Long term member
I will miss your presence here. I do get the need to take some time away and totally support you with that, but just wanted to say that I find both your posts here and in other diaries actually very supportive and inspiring!
I do hope you start to feel more settled in your new place. Feeling a bit homesick for a place you loved sounds natural as you try to find your footing in a new community.
I hope you come back here soon, and in the meantime, sending you lots of hugs!
with all of this. I find you very supportive & encouraging & am very grateful to have you as a friend. Please look after yourself, M as well as the rest of your family Hi everyone! I am feeling better about things now. It was good to take some time to get the house nice and to figure out what I want to be reading about next. I felt like I was just on automatic and not really doing things for myself which was making me feel very weird.
Long rant - skip if you like! ...
Yesterday our company left. The father was a nightmare. He would corner me and talk about his poor health and bad divorce and how I could do better with my house and possessions (how to sharpen my knives, paint my ceilings so it's not so dark and depressing in the house, ...) for what seemed like hours each morning as I stood in the kitchen trying to make huge breakfasts for all his kids. He pawed through every cabinet and helped himself to food and left it out and open, and could not remember to check for water in the kettle before heating it, and left the kettle unattended a few times with it boiling away. He didn't bring drinks for his kids on outings and expected me to take care of them. (One threw up because he ate only junk food for 2 meals straight despite plenty of good food I had shown the dad to offer them. The youngest one was thirsty, so drank from a puddle in the road in the city and felt sick that night.) The kids were wild and didn't get along, and someone stole multiple items from K. It was nearly impossible getting the dad to round up his kids for outings and we had a very very hard time getting him to leave. It took 3-4 hours of questioning if he was ready yet, and finally we scheduled a movie for ourselves, so they had to leave before we had to leave for the movie.
I gave J a massive lecture on not trusting his strange friends with our daughter's life - instead see if we get along with people by going on outings and out to dinner with people before having them come over overnight. He has such awful taste in friends sometimes. If they interest him, he ignores all the red flags that they are emotionally a mess. The kids live with their mom who screams at people for hours, and the oldest son, who thankfully didn't come, beat up the smallest child so there was supposedly blood all over the walls. I got J to really demonstrate that he understood about no more weird friends staying over. He also has rose colored glasses about bringing us to impoverished neighborhoods where we don't know if it's safe, so I included that in my lecture, too.
I feel good that I reassured J that this frustration is not about his personality, but just about his lack of awareness of people's faults and the potential of being stuck with people who may be awful to our kid. I didn't lose my temper, and I feel I did well. K cried a lot about having her stuff stolen and her closet messed up, and had some panic attack symptoms, so I coached her on deep breathing and we got through the whole thing ok. I see why J has so many friends. He is able to look past their faults and see the good. But he doesn't see that other people may not want to put up with those sorts of people. So the house is ours again, and we have about half of it sterilized today (two of the kids are incontinent - probably from child abuse from the mom.) So lesson learned that I get to know J's friends before he gets to invite them to stay over.
... End of long rant.
It's cooler out now and the ocean is nice to swim in again (it's cooler and refreshing again), so I think we'll be taking a lot more small outings to get to know the area more. I'm feeling good about having the house so nice and about pursuing some of my interests again. Onward and upward!
Long rant - skip if you like! ...
Yesterday our company left. The father was a nightmare. He would corner me and talk about his poor health and bad divorce and how I could do better with my house and possessions (how to sharpen my knives, paint my ceilings so it's not so dark and depressing in the house, ...) for what seemed like hours each morning as I stood in the kitchen trying to make huge breakfasts for all his kids. He pawed through every cabinet and helped himself to food and left it out and open, and could not remember to check for water in the kettle before heating it, and left the kettle unattended a few times with it boiling away. He didn't bring drinks for his kids on outings and expected me to take care of them. (One threw up because he ate only junk food for 2 meals straight despite plenty of good food I had shown the dad to offer them. The youngest one was thirsty, so drank from a puddle in the road in the city and felt sick that night.) The kids were wild and didn't get along, and someone stole multiple items from K. It was nearly impossible getting the dad to round up his kids for outings and we had a very very hard time getting him to leave. It took 3-4 hours of questioning if he was ready yet, and finally we scheduled a movie for ourselves, so they had to leave before we had to leave for the movie.
I gave J a massive lecture on not trusting his strange friends with our daughter's life - instead see if we get along with people by going on outings and out to dinner with people before having them come over overnight. He has such awful taste in friends sometimes. If they interest him, he ignores all the red flags that they are emotionally a mess. The kids live with their mom who screams at people for hours, and the oldest son, who thankfully didn't come, beat up the smallest child so there was supposedly blood all over the walls. I got J to really demonstrate that he understood about no more weird friends staying over. He also has rose colored glasses about bringing us to impoverished neighborhoods where we don't know if it's safe, so I included that in my lecture, too.
I feel good that I reassured J that this frustration is not about his personality, but just about his lack of awareness of people's faults and the potential of being stuck with people who may be awful to our kid. I didn't lose my temper, and I feel I did well. K cried a lot about having her stuff stolen and her closet messed up, and had some panic attack symptoms, so I coached her on deep breathing and we got through the whole thing ok. I see why J has so many friends. He is able to look past their faults and see the good. But he doesn't see that other people may not want to put up with those sorts of people. So the house is ours again, and we have about half of it sterilized today (two of the kids are incontinent - probably from child abuse from the mom.) So lesson learned that I get to know J's friends before he gets to invite them to stay over.
... End of long rant.
It's cooler out now and the ocean is nice to swim in again (it's cooler and refreshing again), so I think we'll be taking a lot more small outings to get to know the area more. I'm feeling good about having the house so nice and about pursuing some of my interests again. Onward and upward!
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Also thanks for the really nice messages - they helped a lot!
Plan for weight loss:
Plan for weight loss:
- Question whether the craving thoughts are helpful or not. If they are, figure out if you are really thirsty or lacking in anything nutrition-wise.
- Get out on at least a short walk (or equivalent exercise) every day and do not wait for anyone else to join you. You can always do a walk alone and one with someone else.
- Read something you are really interested in every day to keep the creative juices flowing.
- Do something to help get the house in order at least every other day so you can concentrate on health and happiness as a major focus in life, not on being lost in housework.
- Work on doing things for you so you set a good example for K at the very least.
Llama
Well-known member
Say what now??? Those poor kids, having to grow up like that
And what a useless asshole of a parent.Your plans look great. So many positive things!
Yeah that sounds like a bit of a nightmare visit! Geez! Good thing it's over
Your goals sound great and it's really great to have you back after your little break!
Your goals sound great and it's really great to have you back after your little break!
Can really relate to that one--I want to find a good balance of keeping my place in order and organized and doing other things. For me I keep leaving a bunch of the chores unfinished and then getting overwhelmed...(and this is me in a tiny apartment!) so I want to try and just commit maybe about an hour a day to doing house stuff and then hopefully have it never get to the point of overwhelm.
