Friday Randomness
This week’s randomness is going to be illustrated by a bunch of ridiculous memes. I’m sorry, or you’re welcome, depending on how you feel about them.
Helpful Hint #1
I don’t remember where I read this, but it was really helpful. Sometimes I am merrily writing a comment on someone’s blog (usually a WordPress blog) and my comment just disappears! SO FRUSTRATING, right? Well, someone commented on one of your blogs that she found the ‘undo’ command, which on my iPad is cmd+Z. Hit that a couple of times, and your comment comes back. WHAT A WONDERFUL THING TO HAVE FOUND, and I am thankful to whomever left that comment, thank you!
Helpful Hint #2
Ever since I cleaned out my email inbox (almost 1,000 unread, who knows how many read) my life feels cleaner. The method that works best for me is to open my email on a desktop browser so I can sort by sender. Then I can quickly delete groups of spam and marketing (almost said soliciting but that sounds dirty) emails, and sort others into folders. My inbox was EMPTY for a couple of minutes, and I’m working to keep it as close to that as I can. I also went in and deleted the last 2 months of Wordle posts from my Facebook feed. I post my Wordle results there, and a small group (2 or 3) of people I know IRL post their results in my comments, and it’s fun. All are welcome, none required. But I don’t want those posts popping up in my memories, so I try to clean them out regularly. So now of course, the issue is maintenance. I need to unsubscribe from mailing lists, and keep my FB under control.
Christmas Cheer
Nicole mentioned recently her dislike of the song ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ (and according to this story on NPR, she is not alone), which reminded me of a time way back in 2007 when Ted was writing a lot on a music site, PopDose, and one of his buddies there also hates the song. So they asked Ted if he would put together an extra long ‘Hell Version’ with different versions, etc. Ted publishes under the name ‘PyKorry’, so that is who they are referencing in this post, and if you want to torture yourself, give it a listen here (the link in the article is dead). It’s pretty funny.
More Holiday Cheer
Ted’s family is local, but my family is in Portland, OR and Juneau, AK, so I have to plan in time to get things in the mail. Portland is generally not a problem, but Juneau can be tricky. Last year’s gifts got there a few weeks late, even though I mailed them pretty early. So I’m trying to get everything in the mail today or tomorrow. I have most gifts already, just a few little things still to buy. I wanted to have all of my cards in the mail today as well, but between a busy week at work and a stupid head cold, that didn’t happen. Hopefully tomorrow will be the day, or even Sunday or Monday. I keep forgetting I can schedule pickup with the Post Office, or I can drop things off in their self-service kiosk. Once I get all of that done, I can focus on local things.
The three of us celebrate low key Hanukkah, which means gifts and latkes the first night, and we light the menorah all 8 nights. So I need to buy some candles. For Christmas, there are a couple of charities I buy for, one for homeless adults, one for foster youth, so I need to get on that. I haven’t bought much for Ted and Maya yet, but since I don’t have to mail anything, that doesn’t feel like a lot of pressure.
When Maya was younger, there were so many holiday events, through school and clubs and Girl Scouts, that kind of thing. Now life is much more calm, and I’m thankful for that. The holiday party for Ted’s company is tonight. We generally stay for a bit and then go out for dinner after. We have a get together with some friends next weekend, and beyond that, no plans. I like the slower pace at this phase of life, though I did enjoy the time when we had a lot of local friends and family and were busy every weekend as well.
Water Water Everywhere
OK, here are some actual pictures that I took. It looks like the beautiful oak tree that borders our complex burst a water pipe to the sprinkler system. I hope this doesn’t mean the end of the tree. I think it takes a lot to legally cut down a mature oak in our county, probably they will just need to cut back the roots some. That’s a lot of water though. Not sure how long it was going, this picture was taken at about 7am, and it had been going for over an hour at that point. Our car parks just to the left of the red one there, but Ted had already moved it when I passed by. The red car had moved by the time I got back from my walk, and the water was turned off at least.
Slippery Slope? Or Self-Care?
We’ve all been sick with head colds that turned into coughs, but not horrible. A little misery, but not an excess. Thankfully we’re on the mend, but in the meantime, I’ve slacked off on my strength training. OK J, cool your jets. How many days have you missed? 5 days. 2 of those days would have been rest days anyway, so really, 3 days. But I was thinking about how quickly women post-menopause lose muscle mass, and wondered if 5 consecutive days could be enough to be a problem. I hate my brain sometimes. It’s just the whole slippery slope thing, worrying that 5 days will turn into 10 days, which will turn into 5 years. Really though, I suspect I did myself a favor by not over exerting myself during the worst of my cold. However, I’m back at it today. Regarding the meme above, LOL, so not me. I’m team 8:50 bedtime, maybe 9:45 on a weekend. I do get up between 5:00 – 5:15 most days, though. I don’t use an alarm, I wake up often enough during the night that I can peek at the clock and see if it’s time to get up. (I did use an alarm when I worked in an office, and when I had to get Maya up in the mornings. Life is calmer now.) I love a weekend morning when my body decides to cooperate and let me sleep in until 7 or even 8, though those days are rare.
How about you? Do you use an alarm to wake up in the morning? Do you stay up too late reading or looking at your phone? (Ted and I keep our cell phones downstairs, which I suspect is pretty good ‘sleep hygiene’, though it means we still have a landline in our bedroom for emergencies.) How are your holiday plans coming? Are you stressed? If so, can you find a way to slow down and take some of the pressure off?
49 Comments
Birchie
Skipping workouts because it doesn’t feel right FTW! I never thought that I would say that, but there are times when it’s not smart to exercize. I continued to do cardio for the first few days of my Cold From Hell, and then when the coughing got out of hand I stopped but continued to do strength. Then I pulled a muscle in my chest which made just about all of my strength work a no go. And you know what? It’s fine. I’m still getting 10k steps most days, so it’s not like I’m letting it all go to hell. With that said, I am looking forward to getting back to it. I just need the muscle to calm down a little bit more, and surely this weekend will take care of it.
I haven’t used an alarm since I got my last job and made the switch from starting work at 8 to 9. It’s kind of a cheat since Hubs’s alarm goes off at 6:30, but I’m usually awake by then. I slept in until 7 last Sunday and it felt really good.
J
Thanks for the affirmation on not working when you’re sick, Birchie. I hope the weekend takes care of it and you can get back to normal soon.
My daughter gets up for work at 5 3 days a week, and that definitely helps get me up as well. I like not needing an alarm though.
AC
You cause me to recall observing a couple of Hanukkahs back when we had a Jewish DiL.U think we observed one or part of one with her and at least one other. I think, for us, it just involved lighting the menorah.
As for Christmas music, I prefer the carols. It was my upbringing, and of course, ‘The reason for the season.’ ?
J
I love Christmas Carols. Funny for an atheist (and I was raised as an atheist), but there you go. It is indeed the ‘reason for the season’, unless you go too far back and recognize the coopting of pagen winter holidays. Nonethelss, give me a good Silent Night or O Come All Ye Faithful over Santa Baby every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
NGS
I 100% wake up to an alarm every day. On weekdays it goes off at 5:30 and on weekends it goes off at 7. I try to get to bed by 10, but it’s regularly 10:15 or 10:30. In an ideal world I’d get ready for bed right after dinner, so all I’d have to do is brush my teeth and crawl into bed when I’m ready, but that doesn’t work out in practice because I need to take Hannah out for her last chance pee and I don’t want to do that with wet hair or pajamas, so I end up doing all that last minute and then I get to bed late. I probably should figure out a better routine, but this is what I have.
J
Do you not have a fenced yard? I know fenced yards aren’t so much of a thing back east…our back yard is fenced, so when we had dogs we could just let them out to pee before bed. Anyway, no, I would not want to go out with wet hair and jammies either. An alarm on weekends? You are a busy person, Engie!
nance
I have mentioned to Rick six times now that I would like to put up our tree. Now I have added “before Theo comes over on Sunday.”
Still no tree.
Our family decided to only buy for Theo this year. It’s been a stressful year for all of us, and we want to simply enjoy each other’s company (like at Thanksgiving). So we’re eliminating burdensome shopping. It’s way more fun to buy things for a little 2 year old boy than for adults.
Christmas Music: Rick has some not-so-great Christmas memories, so he likes nontraditional music, like Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s versions. I like that, too, but I also like all the traditional ones done well and not too heavily stylized by a certain singer/group. I like James Taylor’s Christmas album, but the boys hate it; they say it’s sooo boring.
J, I cannot wait until you don’t have to use an alarm to get up for anything. One of the greatest joys of my life was eliminating a clock from the bedroom when I retired. It’s still gone, and I love it.
J
No gifts at all sounds really nice, actually. I don’t know if we’ll ever get there, I worry we would be sad on Christmas morning with nothing to open.
I like Trans-Syberian Orchestra too, I haven’t listened to them in ages.
No clock at all? So you wake up and you have no idea what time it is? Wow, that’s a mind bender. Will I ever get there? Do I want to get there? Interesting thoughts.
PocoBrat
Leaving your phones downstairs sounds so… grown up. I am so proud of knowing you!
(My sleep patterns are so f-ed, I went o sleep at 5 this morning for no good reason. One theory is I’m keeping the same hours as A who works nights.)
I do have a safety 6:30 am alarm for school days, but I usually don’t need an alarm to wake up.
Your memes are hilarious. Off to read the post about Ted now…
J
I’m afraid if I had a phone by my bed, I would just lay there and look at it instead of trying to sleep.
Bedtime at 5am? That IS f-d up. I hope you get regulated on that soon.
Martha
I’m still laughing about the nice tree meme. It caught me completely off guard! Plus, I have the sense of humor of an 8th grader, lol.
My family decided to only buy gifts for the children this year, and we are going out to dinner on Christmas Eve, which is also my daughter’s birthday. On Christmas morning, everyone will bring something for a little breakfast buffet at my son’s house, and that’s it. Everything we have planned is nice and stress-free this year – but I have a new grandbaby due on Christmas Day, so who knows how things will actually play out.
I hope you are all feeling better soon. Have a great weekend!
J
Oh, a Christmas Eve baby and now maybe a Christmas Day baby? CRAZY. I hope you have a quiet, lovely Christmas, that sounds really nice.
Alexandra
Always love reading your Friday Randomness for the silly lol memes. As to sleep time? I have a routine and very rarely stray from it, even at weekends. I don’t go to be as early as you, nor get up as early as you. Usually I’m in bed by 10:30pm and up at around 7:45am.
I have no need of an alarm clock unless you call the OH one, they invariably wake me at the right time as they have to go to work. I really don’t like rude awakenings.
We’re also planning a much quieter, laid back time over Christmas with only one family visit (which is more than enough). And no presents under the tree, yet. I think this weekend is going to be crazy! ?
J
Yeah, the OH waking up means you wake up too, right? I am often the first one up, but I wonder how my sleep schedule would change if none of us had to get up? I guess today is an indication – I went to bed at 10ish, got up at about 6:30. No one else is up. It’s my quiet time.
Alexandra
I wonder how long it would take to adjust to not having to get up at a set time ever again? It must be weird for weeks or months after say retirement.
But yes, you’re right about early starts and it being great when it’s just you and no one else when you live in a busy household.
J
Yeah, the no set wake up time will be nice if we get there, right?
Alexandra
I thought I had got there, given I had a forced retirement due to health (2016) but forgot to factor in the fact the OH doesn’t retire for a long while yet! *eyeroll*
Margaret
I use Alexa to get up in the morning, if I have to. I’m retired so most of the time I don’t need an alarm. I loved that Grinch meme. I’m not familiar with that guy but I might have to follow him. I remember those years of December craziness with kids’ activities; I wanted a peaceful and contemplative month, but that didn’t work out while my daughters were in school. Music, programs, holiday activities, etc. I intend to go to sleep earlier than I do; I often stay up reading. If the book is good, it can get late! I have my cell phone upstairs on Do Not Disturb except for family numbers and John. They would only contact me in an emergency so my phone mostly stays silent, until 7 am.
J
Yeah, the kids in school years can be crazy, right? SO MANY ACTIVITIES. Then if there is travel, that’s another stressor. And friends and family, which are a GOOD THING, but also add to the calendar. I often wish I had more friends and famiily nearby. My family is far, and our friends have mostly moved away.
Folks without a landline pretty much do what you do, put their phones on silent at night. That wouldn’t keep me from looking at it though. I’m too addicted.
Nicole MacPherson
Where are you going to put a tree that size? Bend over and I’ll show you!
I’m so sorry you’ve been sick! I am Team 8:30 Bedtime. At the latest! But I wake up at 4 and I don’t need an alarm. I try to stay up a bit later on weekends so I can sleep until 6 but “6” seems to be a bridge too far for this early bird. Luckily my circle tends to be early to party so holiday things are generally over at 9.
I am not stressed at all. I feel the season to be stressed at holiday things is over for me. I am having the girls over for a festive lunch today in *checks time* 45 minutes. Other than that…I mean, it’s going to be a bit of a grind over actual Christmas because there are a few big meals and I am hosting Christmas dinner. But meh. I can’t work myself up. As long as there’s food and booze, well. All is good. I read something about a dinner party that went bad and they ordered pizza and the hostess was stressed beyond belief, and one of her friends said “Don’t worry. We are all well-fed people.” And it’s true! None of us are hosting meals that are life or death situations here. So tl;dr I am not stressed. Parcels are in the mail. Cards are sent. Gifts are wrapped. Baking is slowly being done. All good in the Boyhouse.
J
Parcels in the mail, cards sent, gifts wrapped. I LOVE THAT. You are having the Zen Christmas you want and deserve. I have some shopping still to do, and some cards still to write, but I also have plenty of time and am not stressed about it at all. NICE feeling.
Daria
I love your Friday randomness posts!
These memes are the best, especially the cow in the ocean lol reminds me of myself during a week before my period.
Not really stressed, no. I bought gifts for the kids back in mid November, and Tony and I are only filling each other’s stockings. The tree is up, the stockings are hung, and Tony did the outside yesterday- wreaths for the windows, a fake garland on the fense, and some lights on the gutters.
The kids are slooooowly writing cards to their teachers and instructors (taking breaks in between). We have to get some cash to stick into the cards but that’s pretty much it…
Christmas Eve is our “open house” party. Come as you are kind of thing. Not stressed about that since Tony is cooking.
Today is gonna be awesome since the kids are I have skates but with Santa! And hot chocolate.
J
I’m so glad to hear that, it sounds like you are having the perfect mix of busy and not busy.
Sam
I’m going to try that inbox trick. I have literally never achieved inbox and currently have over 10,000 unread messages, so clearly I need to try something new. I think I’m type b enough where it doesn’t bother me as much as other people though! We also celebrate Hanukkah and Xmas, and we do 2 nights of presents and otherwise light all 8 nights. We usually do one latke night and one night getting donuts! I used to have an alarm, but currently I use my coffee machine as an alarm since our bedroom is next to the kitchen. When I hear it start to brew, I get up.
J
I think waking up to a coffee machine sounds lovely! And donuts for Hannukah also sounds wonderful. I wish we ate donuts around here, but we don’t really. Do you get jelly donuts? We went to a Hannukah celebration once and that’s what they were serving.
Ernie
I used to use cabbage leaves to cut down on engorgement when I was nursing. I had forgotten that- thanks for the (shudder) reminder.
So much to comment on- sorry about the head cold. I used to be awake before my alarm but lately I have woken with alarm’s assistance about half the time and it is jarring. I do not stay up reading as that is a lost cause- one page or two and I am out. I tend to get things done- last night I made a dessert for Tank’s bday. Throwing him a mini surprise party tonight. I started the dessert at 10:30 and went to bed around 11:15. Alarm went off at 7:34. That was long for me. I started keeping my phone in my bathroom when lad lived with us, because he would ‘borrow’ the charger. Often. Never to be seen again.
I am feeling a little stressed but I also know it will all get done and my Christmas poem is on pace to be done tomorrow maybe? Earliest ever. Then I can kick everything into gear.
J
Oh, the cold cabbage leaf trick! I had to do that too, and I had forgotten. (Shudder) indeed.
Yeah, I read my physical book in bed, and I’m lucky if I can get a page done before I’m drooping. It’s pathetic.
San
Thanks for the useful tips. I did know about the cmd + z command but don’t always remember to use it!
Haha, I heard that NRP story about “Wonderful Christmas Time” and it made me laugh so hard. I mean, the song is pretty silly but I don’t mind it (unless it’s played on repeat!).
I hate that we cannot rely on the postal service right now… It used to be so fun to send mail for the holidays and now it’s filled with anxiety if things will even be delivered (let alone on time). Sigh. It takes the fun out of it.
J
Have you had trouble with the postal service? We have not. I mailed birthday gifts last Friday, and they are all there already.
Yeah, I don’t mind Wonderful Christmastime once in a while either. Wouldn’t want to hear it all day.
Jenny
Ha ha, that sleep meme. Sadly, it’s so me. All I do is talk about how I want to get more sleep, but then I often stay up late reading. And I DEFINITLEY need an alarm to wake up in the morning.
The fact that you’re so concerned over missing 5 days of workouts tells me you’ll be just fine. I know what you mean- once you stop doing something it’s so easy to let it slide completely- but I don’t think that will happen to you.
Oh, I also love the “opting for a quiet unfussy Christmas” meme. I’m definitely sending it to my sister. I just got an email from her saying how she doesn’t want to do gifts this year. I mean I get it, but I’m still sending her that meme, hee hee.
J
I LOL’d on the meme, I didn’t see it coming.
Thanks for your encouragement regarding the workout. I did work out yesterday, so you are right. I’m back, baby!
Sarah
Still laughing at the tree meme.
I have had a TERRIBLE cold that I keep thinking is going to be a sinus infection so maybe I can at least get an antibiotic, but still “just” a cold. The other mirning, I did down god and LEAKED WATER from my nose onto my mat. It is terrible. Tis the season!
J
Bah, I’m sorry you have a cold too! I hope this means we will all be healthy for Christmas! You’re too busy with end of semester stuff to be sick though! Bah!
Suzanne
I love the memes. You are great at finding them.
Regarding bedtime: I try — TRY — to be in bed by ten at the latest, but sometimes it creeps later without my control. I was waking up at 4:30 but have done some backsliding to 5:30 since the week of Thanksgiving. My biggest problem with going to bed on time is the other people in my house. Sigh. I suppose I would rather have them and less sleep than more sleep without them. I have an alarm clock, but it’s just a backup in case my cat neglects to come purr me awake.
J
I find all of my memes on Facebook, often posted by Ted’s cousin. She’s great at finding the really wicked ones.
A cat purring you awake sounds like pretty much the best way to wake up ever. I used to love when Mulder would come and put his little chin on the bed and stare at me until I woke up. <3
DB Stewart
Haha, aren’t we all that cow staring into the void?
J
LOL, absolutely!
Melissa
I very rarely set an alarm, usually only when I need to get up early to run. I did wake up a bit stressed today about the many open loops I have at the moment, but I think I just need a few days of being responsible, and I should be able to get on top of it. December is complicated by having my birthday, and we will also be celebrating my nephew’s 18th this month. I love your memes, so keep them coming.
J
Is your birthday before Christmas, or after? Mine is on the 31st, and I often don’t want to do much by the time it comes around. SIGH. I hope you all enjoy your birthdays and Christmas!
Lisa’s Yarns
I was the control Z recommender it!! I am glad you saw my comment. It is so annoying when that happens! I don’t get why it does. WordPress can be quite finicky which is annoying.
I set an alarm but rarely sleep until my alarm goes off these days due to insomnia or Will yelling for me. Yesterday he woke me from deep sleep at 5:40. Today he is still sleeping at 6:30 but my body woke me at 5:30. I need to try some of the CBT suggestions for insomnia from my therapist, which means going to bed later than usual and cutting naps to increase my sleep pressure. Sigh.
J
I’m glad you recognized yourself and THANK YOU for the cmd Z, it has saved me from a lot of frustration.
I hope the tips your therapist gave you help! Not getting enough sleep is the WORST.
Michelle G.
These memes were so funny! Just what I needed today!
J
I love a good meme, I guess.
Diane
I dont’ set an alarm, but I do sleep with my watch on, so if I wake up, I can see if it’s time to get out of bed or not. The rest of the family is usually up by 6:30 or so, so unless I’m super tired, I’m usually up by then too.
I do set an alarm if I have an early flight to catch, but then I get so nervous about missing the flight that I don’t really sleep anyway.
All those memes made me snort laugh.
Okay – here’s my hot take on inbox zero – is it really inbox zero if everything is just moved to a different folder? I don’t use folders at all – everything is just hanging out in my inbox. I figure I’ll search for something if I need it..? I just feel like if I had folders, even in my inbox proper was empty, I would still feel like there is a huge cloud of digital clutter hanging over me. Or maybe I just don’t get how to optimize folder usage? My problem is that I just need to flat out delete things to free up storage at this point. I’ve taken to just searching before:[insert year], unread messages, and just wholesale deleting them. I figured if it’s still unread after five years I don’t need to even look at what it is.
J
Oh goodness, allow me to clarify. Folders are for read items only. Every email was either read and sorted into a folder, read and deleted, or simply deleted. You are absolutely right, inbox zero does not count if there are unread emails out there.
And thinking about memory, I could probably do a bunch of clean up in my read emails as well. I mean, I did brazenly delete the folder I had for Maya’s girl scout troop a few years after they all aged out. I could do similar things with my receipts folder I bet. And likely I don’t need a receipt of my electricty bill from 10 years ago either.
Joyce
I am still in the middle of a cold but did not work out at all during the 5-day stretch of feeling horrible. First day back to work today and I did a 21-day fix Pilates workout. Nice and low key. I will probably do a strength workout the next two days and then Thursday we leave for New Orleans (woohoo) and I usually don’t do any structured workouts on vacation. I am thinking all the walking will count.
J
It sounds like you have taken good care, which is smart and hopefully you will be completely well for your trip. Enjoy! I’ve never been to New Orleans.
Stephany
I don’t work out when I’m sick. I just feel like it delays the recovery process. But maybe that’s just because I’ll take any excuse to have a rest day, muahaha.
I wish I could wake up without an alarm, but I cannot. Maybe if I did get to bed at a decent hour… she says while typing up a comment at 10:45pm on a Tuesday, sigh.
J
I never worked out when I was sick when I was your age either. Now I’ve convinced myself that if I take more than 3 or 4 days off, my muscles are going to atrophy. Stupid menopause.