Ten Days In....

Ten days in ...

Ten days in to the New Year's "guidelines" and how am I doing?

Not too bad.

On "No. 1: Less sitting, more walking" I have made a dent. On the weekends I do the two mile walk each day with Carlos. Fortunately the weather has been fairly mild.  Usually by the time I get home at night, it is dark. Wednesday it started snowing about 8:00pm. What started as flurries quickly turned to buckets of snow. It had been "one of those days" at work and I needed to get out. I threw on my favorite camo quilted jumpsuit (straight from the little boys' hunting department at Murdoch's Ranch and Home Supply), grabbed a flashlight and shoved the dog out the door. It was a serenely quiet and soothing walk, snowflakes fluttering around us. (Ok, they were pretty much dive bombing us by the time we headed home...but it was still lovely.)  As quickly as the snow started, it stopped and by the next  morning there were only traces left.

As quickly as it started, it stopped.

But a walk in the snow is the most peaceful walk there is. 

No. 2: Less social media, more socializing:  Well, that social media is still out there. And I still waste time on it.
But how's this for satisfying? Every day I have hit "unsubscribe" on two or three (or more) email subscriptions. Online shopping seems to sign you up for every store related to the one you actually bought something from.  My inbox has gone from crazy to manageable.
On Facebook, I hid some people. If every other post of yours is a sales pitch for whatever,  I am not reading you anymore. There's a wonderful little click that allows me to stay friends, click on your posts if I want and otherwise ignore every single testimonial you post. Liberating. I highly recommend it.
 For the socializing aspect, I did just that. Sunday night was dinner for the neighbors. Newsflash! My living area is too small for four people. Instead we all sat around the dining table and chatted, feasted on chicken enchiladas and brownies and had a lovely little visit. Neighbor A had not met Neighbor B. That is no longer true.  It wasn't a "crappy dinner party" because I did clean and vacuum. Hey! It pretty much hadn't been done since Christmas. It was time.

 I had every intention of photographing the merriment of dinner. 

Instead I have only the aftermath. 

And Sorry, Jean Mom. 

I kind of borrowed those Mexican runners and forgot to return them.

But don't they look fun? Colorful? 

The Mexican dishes came out of the cabinet for dinner.

Nothing like enchiladas with a side of lead poisoning. 

I figure the food wasn't on the plates long enough to kill us. 

There were also a couple of dinners out, another dinner in and some plans made.  Heading to Texas in March and I'm already lining up outings. The rodeo with Martha will figure prominently into that week. Can't wait.

Martha, Me, wine, great musical acts, bunches of pretty horses.

Pretty much sums up the 2017 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

No. 3 hasn't gone so well. How about lots of fruits and veggies and pasta and cheese and bread and BUTTER?  What can I say? It's winter and I want comfort food.

Chicken enchiladas with green chiles. 

And cheese. And sour cream. 

And more cheese. 

But green chiles!!! 

They are a vegetable, kind of, right? 

No. 4: Less TV, more reading has gone a little better.  I used to live in a house where the TV was always on.  The Nightly News and Letterman were my bedtime story.  (I miss Letterman. Must check out his interview with Obama on Netflix.)  I never liked that habit but somehow had continued it. No more.  I go to bed with a book or my Kindle and usually a few games of "Words with Friends".


More color? (No. 5) Not in the closet. Not yet. No shopping being done around here.
Outside, yes! Every morning I fight the urge to pull over to the side of the road and take pictures. Sunrises are amazing. The light, the colors, the mountains. It's a miracle I ever make it to work.

 Good morning! There's some color.

Ok. I did pull over for this shot. 

Right before I turned onto the highway. 

Look at that sky. 

I do have a couple of painting projects to complete which will bring more color into the house. And I made an executive decision to leave the Christmas tree up. Why not? The ornaments are leaves and pine cones and icicles highlighted with little white lights. Basically I am just bringing the outdoors in and lighting it up. The tree will come down when it is light outside when I get home. I'm thinking the beginning of March.

My rage against the dying of the light.*

A lit up tree in the house AND outside.

And No. 5: Obviously not much effort there since this is my first post in ten days. Couldn't even hit the "post once a week" goal in my first week of trying. O well.  With the help of friends I have hit on an idea for a long story, maybe even a book if I get motivated. It's all in my head right now but who knows? It will probably get typed out eventually.

And Dream Good? Only when I'm awake. The first of the year has brought absolute insanity into my work place with people fainting and yelling at each other and arguing with me and on and on and on..... At night I have passed out, dead to the world, and dreamt of nothing. But during the quiet moments of the day, my mind wanders and yes....I do Dream Good.

I hope you do too.

*from the poem by Dylan Thomas