Friday 5
Today’s post will be 5 things I’m thinking about.
- My handsome boy, Mulder. The picture above is from the day he had his final chemo treatment, 3 weeks ago. I bought him a tie to celebrate. He felt crummy for a few days, but he is SO MUCH better now. It’s been lovely to have him feel better and not have to take him every week. He feels a bit more solid, perhaps he has gained a little weight, which would be a good thing. He has an appointment in early February to check his lymph nodes, and see how he is doing. Fingers crossed for remission, and that the lymphoma never comes back.
- Fabulous Fridays! My company started giving us 4 day work weeks (with full pay) last summer, and extended it bit by bit, through the end of the year. We thought it was coming to an end, but the first week of January, we were informed that our Fabulous Fridays will continue through 2023. Very exciting, I have come to really love my Fridays off. Last Friday, I went to visit my Great Aunt, which was lovely, I hadn’t seen her in ages. Today, I’m getting my hair done, which is extremely overdue. When you color your hair, as I do, it becomes a dire situation all too soon. I have an idea that coloring your hair a darker color works better at home than bleaching it, but I don’t know whether that is true or not.
- Movies. We’ve seen a few movies lately. Most recently, we watched ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and ‘Glass Onion’. Regarding ‘Maverick’, it was better than the original, I thought. But since I thought the original was stupid, this isn’t saying much. It was less stupid. I have not yet seen the original ‘Knives Out’ film, so I was hesitant to see the new one, but then I read that it is not a sequel, so we went for it. I enjoyed it, it was fun. A few weeks ago, we watched some non-blockbuster movies: ‘The Menu’, ‘White Noise’, and ‘Emily the Criminal’. When I first met Ted, he was a film major, and he used to LOVE going to the movies. Even a bad movie, he wanted to see, to see what they did right and what they did wrong in the making of it. Were any of these movies bad? No, not at all. Just kind of strange. Finally, last weekend we went to see ‘M3GAN’, which Maya really wants to see. The power was out at the theater, though, so we turned around and came home. Too bad. I suspect we may end up watching it this weekend, whether in the theater or renting it.
- January Goals. I talked about my half-assed goals for 2023. One was to do yoga most days, which has been great. I try to do 20-30 minutes of yoga in the morning before Mulder and I go for our walk, on week days. I didn’t do it on Tuesday, I had an early meeting for work. Technically I could have fit it in, but I don’t like to try it when I know I will be distracted and my mind will be elsewhere. So I took the day off. Another goal was dry January. I started a week in, and I have cheated twice. We had Ted’s parents over to celebrate what would have been my Grandma’s 100th birthday, and I made Strawberry daiquiris, and I had one. The other time, Ted had some red wine he had bought for a recipe, and I had a small glass. I guess that’s really half-assing it. I am sleeping better without my evening wine habit, though, so I am re-evaluating that habit beyond this month. I like wine, I don’t intend to quit entirely. But I think I will feel better if I cut back. So that’s a good thing, too.
- Money. Blah, one of our cars needs new brakes, and at the same time, we got our electricity/gas bill, which was a LOT higher than last month. Almost twice as much. Granted, we had some cold days (cold for us, that is), and our house is terribly inefficient, but also the price of natural gas has gone through the roof. So blah. Thankfully it has warmed up recently, so hopefully next month’s bill will be lower.
22 Comments
Ally Bean
I’m so happy to see you back blogging more regularly again. Thanks for sharing your Friday Five. I’m glad Mulder is better, the poor guy deserves to feel good. A 4-day work week for full pay is wonderful. I didn’t like Top Gun when I saw it years ago, too. We may be the only two people on earth who didn’t like it. I was going to do dry January but failed miserably. Maybe I’ll try dry February [fewer days]? As for your doubled electricity/gas bill, yikes! That’d give me pause, too.
J
Thanks Ally!
It really is nice to see Mulder feeling more like his old self.
Top Gun – so macho. We watched Maverick because it was streaming, would not have gone to the theater to see it.
Dry February could work…much better month I think.
Yeah, the utilities are out of control. I wonder if the government is going to get involved?
nance
Mulder looks so sweet and endearing. I am so hopeful for his results. He certainly deserves to be well.
I’m still soldiering on for Dry January, despite feeling quite tempted several times. I really do enjoy wine, and I miss it, especially on the weekends when Rick and I often enjoy casual late-ish dinners and a bottle. Or earlier this week when I was vastly stressed after a health scare with my mother. Dry January almost became Damp January, but I’m going to make it.
What exciting news about your Fridays off! That’s an incredible perk for you, and it sounds like you make the most of it. It’s like being Micro-Retired LOL.
J
I like that term, Micro-Retired, that’s perfect.
I hope your mom is OK, that is really scary. I was really stressed about work stuff last week, and thought, “I picked a lousy time to quit drinking”. Then I realized that I would prefer to drink for happy reasons, rather than unhappy ones.
Margaret
Mulder is a beautiful dog and I’m happy that he’s doing/feeling better! Being retired, I know how nice it is to get a day off during the week. It’s so much easier and less crowded to go places. I want to quit dyeing my hair but don’t know quite how to do so. I enjoyed Glass Onion although it wasn’t my favorite. I preferred the first one.
J
Margaret, that’s good to know about Knives Out, I’ll give it a try!
Somehow I doubt I will ever quit dying my hair. I’ll probably be 90 and still blonde.
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
Mulder is a very handsome gentleman. I’ve got my fingers crossed for good news in February.
I seriously believe that if everyone had a four day work week that productivity would go through the roof in every single industry in the world. I can kind of coast on Fridays since the rest of my team is in another country and they tend to start shutting down after lunch right at the start of my day. It’s the best work perk that I’ve ever had.
We loved Knives Out but the hubs saw one bad review for Glass Onion so he’s dragging his feet on watching it. Maybe this weekend! I mean geez if we don’t like it we can just turn it off. Personally I’ve heard nothing but good things and I’m dying to see it.
Nothing wrong with a dry-ish January! Moderation in all things including moderation.
J
Thanks Beckett, I agree on moderation! Best to not give up just because I decided to have a drink or two.
Fridays off works pretty well for my team, I think it’s a similar situation. We have a lot of staff overseas, so even before this, Fridays were light days, and often we would get off of work early.
NGS
Our energy bill was over $200 for the first time last month. My husband is all aflutter about rising prices, but what are supposed to do about it? We need heat and lights!
Mulder is SO handsome. He looks so chuffed to be in his tie. He’s just a corporate guy on his lunch break.
J
NGS, you’re right, he IS chuffed and handsome. He hates things that go around his neck or on his head or anything like that. This one just goes on his collar.
Suzanne
Oh I love that your company does Fabulous Fridays! That’s awesome, and what a gift to have Fridays off this year, too. Do you end up working 40 hours Monday-Thursday, or do you just do normal days? A company I worked at a long time ago used to do Fridays off in the summer, but it was so strict about what you had to do to be able to take the time off that I never did it.
Like you, I find that I sleep better without wine. Which is a bummer, because I really like wine! Sounds like you are doing a great job with your goals. A “miss” here and there isn’t anything to be worried about, I think. 😉
J
Thanks Suzanne! Luckily, we only work 32ish hours a week. At least, my team. I suspect that the programmers work a lot more.
Yeah, sleeping better is great, but I like wine too!
San
So happy to hear that Mulder is doing so much better. He’s such a handsome boy!
I also have a four-day work week (but I work10+ hour days), but I love having Fridays off. It’s so awesome to have that extra day to get errands done and really have more time on the weekends! I am so thankful for that flexible work schedule.
J
San, I agree, I love the three day weekend! Selfishly, it’s especially nice that most people are at work on Fridays, so stores aren’t as crowded, etc. Nice that you have a four day work week as well!
Elisabeth
I really enjoyed Maverick; definitely my favourite movie from 2022.
Glass Onion was a bit of a letdown for me (fine, but not as good as I was expecting), but I think that’s because I was a huge fan of Knives Out. If you enjoyed Glass Onion, I’d definitely suggest watching Knives Out!
J
Thanks Elisabeth! I’m guessing you liked Top Gun more than I did? I know my BFF LOVED that movie. She wanted to be a fighter pilot, though, so it was definitely her wheel house.
We’re going to have to watch Knives Out, I’ve heard people say how good it was.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Fabulous Fridays sound amazing. What a great company you work for.
Also in love how you half-assign your goals.
For me personally the one time slip is usually a ticket to freedom. But I hear there are two sorts of people. Some can eat a chocolate bar one piece at a time and other need to eat the entire thing. That is how it translates to other things. I fall more in the latter category.
J
Tobia, my company is flawed just like any other. Sigh. But Fabulous Fridays are great, and I’m very thankful for that. And if I hang in there for 3 1/2 more years, I will get a 1 month paid sabbatical, which I am looking forward to.
I might be able to eat a chocolate bar one piece at a time, but I can’t leave potato chips alone. I think that starting Dry January late gave me a bit of perspective about perspective on it, plus I heard a program on the radio about the benefits of ‘dry-ish’ January, or as Nance would say, ‘damp January’.
Nicole MacPherson
I’m glad Mulder is feeling better!
I love wine too but I find as I get older it really messes with my sleep. I usually have a couple of glasses one night a week – generally Fridays. I like it too much to give up totally but once a week is manageable.
J
Thanks Nicole! Yes, I agree about wine messing with my sleep as I get older. Probably my body doesn’t process the sugars as well or something stupid like that. Perhaps a couple of glasses one night a week will be my new habit, after I finish Dry January.
Stephany
YAY MULDER! That’s amazing news and he looks so handsome in his tie.
Fabulous Fridays sounds amazing! We get half-day Fridays at my company so I usually only work until 1ish, which is nice. We’ve been pushing for four-day work weeks, though, but my company has been very clear that those will not be coming anytime soon. Wah.
I thought Glass Onion was fine, but I much preferred Knives Out so I say, give it a try!
J
Thanks Stephany! I will admit to LOVING our Fabulous Fridays. When we first had them, I filled them up with visits and such, but lately they have been a little lazier, which is also very nice.
I keep hearing how Knives Out is better than Glass Onion, so I am going to have to give that a try. I kind of miss video rental places, though I’m not sure why I think that would be cheaper or better than just renting it to download.