Flowing thoughts

Not a haiku today
too many thoughts
end of an era
I thought we had it so good
now, uncertainty
elimination of comforts
little government support
let's start "winning" again
right.
life will change
probably not for the better
I'm concerned for lots of things
climate change
science deniers
vaccine refusals
jobs
free speech
civil rights
human rights
conflict with police
militarization
elimination of federal money for education
creating a dumbed down society
more people to vote for Trump
somehow people wanted this
voting against their own interests
how the republicans do it I will never understand
I refuse to believe I live in a liberal bubble
I like people
I want to help them
help my students
give them a leg up
when we all look out for one another
we win
yes, we can

looking for leadership
I hope I can find some
or be some
let's comfort one another
love one another
then, let's prepare for battle
it's gonna be a long one

Commute

Back to civilization What does your commute look like?

Part of the road to our house is falling away

But there were blue skies this morning

We had to take a detour to a one lane road

In the trees

Wait for our turn

Make sure we have rescue bots in the car

Fallen trees

And power lines

Friday joys

Learning the joy of the selfie stick

Art

Learning 

Tshirt selfie

My loves 

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (taking a cue from Coodence)

Yesterday:

• craziest storm I've seen here in NorCal. High winds and lots of rain. The main road to our house was closed due to a tree fall and electric wires down. Had a rough time getting home, trees down all over the place; took the long, dark way home. Felt lucky when we got there.
• electricity stayed on, which was very nice
• I couldn't watch Obama's speech, but I will try to watch it today. 
• we ate soup for dinner. Our fridge is pretty bare
• finished a book - I've read four books so far this month (one of my goals for this month)- two short Rosamunde Pilcher books, a book on saving money on groceries (another super short book) and Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover (my second time reading that book)
• Alex submitted his paper

Today

• trees still down and many roadways closed so we took a circuitous way to work today. One of the places where a tree fell last night had a significant erosion too. I'm thinking they are going to have to close our main road into work sometime soon to shore up that mountain.
• it was pouring rain, but now it is sunny. I saw a rainbow.
• we need to go to the grocery store after work today. I am hoping we leave early and there are no more storms
• I hope I can get my R script to run

Tomorrow

• is Thursday
• we have lab meeting
• I hope I have some figures for my paper

Appreciate

Sometimes it really takes something drastic to make you appreciate what you have. We were warned that this past weekend would have bad storms, so we planned nothing and decided to hunker down at the house and make the best of it. Saturday turned out that way. We played with toys, watched TV and just hung out all day. Sunday was looking to start that way, but the power went out. And pretty much stayed out all day. The day was fine, although a bit dark. We lit candles and played with toys and played games. D and Alex went for a walk and both fell in the mud. It was quiet. But it was also stressful. Without power, I couldn't cook and meal prep like I normally do on a Sunday. We couldn't take showers or baths, couldn't do laundry, couldn't even make coffee because I had to grind the beans. I was worried about the food in our fridge and freezer (I have some stuff stocked up) and we started a fire in the fireplace that continually blew smoke into our house (it was really windy and rainy that day). That night? No power. Dinner made on the grill and eaten by candlelight. Played with toys we could barely see. D was in bed by 7pm. I was in bed around 8:30. It was a weird night and should have been restful and peaceful, but I couldn't stop feeling stressed. D was upset his room was so dark and in fact, sleep talked a couple hours after he went to sleep about how dark it was in his room. I slept poorly. Didn't get up at my usual time. Felt completely out of sorts.
Monday morning, no power still. No coffee. No shower. We made it into work and thankfully got some coffee (and brought the contents of our fridge with us). Showered here. Started to feel more normal. I got a text that the power was back on around noon. Hallelujah!
We left a bit early last night, and got home a bit early. Ate our leftovers for dinner and delighted in watching some terrible cartoons. I did my yoga that I should have done that morning. I turned on heaters and lights. Read to D in his room and left a nightlight on. It was so lovely.
I woke up in the middle of the night, heard the heater turn off. Thought, oh no! The power is out again! But rolled over and went back to sleep. Woke up at my normal time. Did my yoga. Made dinner in the crock pot. Packed lunches. Normal morning. I feel good. Life is good. Appreciate what you have.

New Year, New Ideas

Last year was a rough one, for many, many reasons. I'm making 2017 better and here are a few ways I am doing that, in no particular order:

1) Declutter. I am unsubscribing from all emails that I get that I don't want. My inbox is still full, but more full of things I want to see instead of things I need to wade through. I'm working on our stuff, but that will take longer - probably the whole year. It's a process and I am going to enjoy it

2) Be kind. I smile at people I don't know. I joke with people serving me. I look people in the eye. I thank people for their help. I ask for help. People are not scary, as much as social media wants you to think they are. I need people. I like people. This also includes being kind to myself, and accepting myself for who I am and where I am right here and right now. We can all use a little more kindness in this world

3) Notice. Am I stressed? Am I tired? Happy? Sad? Grateful? Where am I right now and why? Much easier to notice and acknowledge my feelings.

4) Less. Less TV. Less shopping. Less social media. Less stuff. Less judgement.

5) More. More books. More goals and priorities. More love. More time spent with family and friends. More music. More dancing. More family fun time.

6) Budget. I've just realized my biggest obstacle to budgeting has been that I don't do it! I would track our spending over and over again - months and months, but I could never figure out why we weren't sticking to the budget. Now, I've realized that if I want to keep our spending down, I need to use some extra tools, like putting up some of our budget on the fridge so I can track how much we spend on food and household items. And trying to make one big trip to the store every two weeks instead of every week. And meal planning. And using the things in our freezer and cabinet. I've already seen this make a huge difference in our lives, so I am looking forward to making this a habit.

What are you doing this year?