5. Look into your archives. What were you blogging about a year ago around this time? Are you still dealing with the same thing? Your thoughts?

OK, I am posting my Thursday post from this time last year and will comment in bold.

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Just random things I have noticed of late:

1. We had baby birds in our shed. We hadn’t been in there in a bit but then two Mondays ago, we opened the pool and upon entering the pool shed, realized some wrens had made a nest in a box in there. Well, I didn’t want them pooping on everything so I put the box outside in a little bush, simulating had they actually made it there. The birds were pink and gross then each day, grew feathers and turned black with yellow beaks. Then one day, I went out and they were gone. I do hope that they flew the coop and didn’t get eaten! I was relieved when I saw that the mama bird had found them in the new location. Apparently we have another nest; my son texted me yesterday after he went in there for the skimmer pole and said he’d seen the nest before but it was the first time he saw a bird fly out. Sigh.
2. The mornings and evenings have been cool but midday is already hot. I can tell, though, that the summer months will be upon us. I can see it in the way the light still hits the trees even at 8:15. We took a walk last night around that time and it was plenty light when we began, though dark when we got home an hour later. That summer was REALLY hot in June; hotter than normal here. It was rough. We’ve had a lovely Spring but then yesterday, it was somehow 95. What the heck?
3. Weight is weird. I got up to a whopping 158 during covid and my lowest since is 117. I hover around 122/123 now and when I was younger, I remember thinking that if I could only weigh 120 I would be THIN. Well, judging from this flabby skin on my belly (dang you, three kids!) maybe that is not the case. So the number I imagine in my head as “in shape” is not necessarily what my body will look like. It’s definitely a weird dichotomy. We’ll see what one whole week of keto will do prior to the beach. Also, trying on bathing suits is exhausting, but I did find a decent top to match my high waisted bottoms. Black! I was most certainly trimmer last summer; I weigh about 128 now but my stomach is flabby. This post reminded me that I can get back to it if I try hard enough.
4. I’m getting a little burned out on tutoring online. I can do it with my eyes closed but I am also sick of that boringness. I realize that sounds whiny but it can be exhausting trying to get info out of some of these kids.
5. I mentioned yesterday how the second day of fasting always has me laser focused. And indeed, Wednesday morning, I was ON IT. I cleaned and ran errands and took a four mile walk and sat outside. I then graded a bunch of papers and tutored, though fizzled out around 2. The sleepiness got to me too – sometimes that’s a side effect, along with being cold, though it’s warm enough now that I was certainly not cold!
6. Food tasted exceptionally good yesterday; don’t know if it was because I was very ready to eat or they just cooked it better yesterday but my scramble with eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes was SO good. I am dreaming about it right now. I have not wanted eggs and bacon lately, which is weird because I love them!
7. I haven’t had a drink since Saturday and I feel very… clean. But I also want to have some beer; luckily it is brew club tonight! It’s brew club tonight too and it’ll be my first drink since Sunday; go me!
8. Time seems to speed up and slow down, depending on day. Last week went quickly but the weekend was long’ no real complaints, just noticing. I’m guessing that in this quiet and mostly empty office during the interim, I will be experiencing this!
9. My husband is having a hard time with his hobbies and life balance lately. He typically has all these interests but is disinterested as of late. Not in brewing, that’s our constant. But it just isn’t enough; he likes to have all his spare time filled. I understand the emotional funk one can get into but it’s usually me, not him. I’m kind of bad at supporting other peoples’ struggles. I look back and he was stressed about my lack of jobs and income at the time so that didn’t help. Now he’s stressed about paying for this new roof!
10. I admit, I was in a bit of a funk the past few weeks but now that I have these new job opportunities, I am feeling a lot more normal. I am not in any funks right now, thankfully. I am planning my time off this summer and saving money.
11. I’m going in today to sign paperwork for my on-campus tutoring job and I am both excited and scared about it. It’s all new and you know how that goes: it throws you off just a bit. I know how to do the actual job but it’s all the other stuff like accessing the program where students sign in for tutoring, how we accept and dismiss them, etc. They have me on for all five days and I’m stressing about when I’ll have time to work on anything extra. Guess I’ll have to come right home and do it. Elliot will be home this summer (though he’s trying to get a job) but the kids will be at camp. Guess I will drop them off in the AM and head to work. I really did not enjoy working there but it got me through and then I was able to get this job!
12. I’m doing two trainings today and my brain already hurts.
13. This world we live in is pretty nuts. Before I write what I’m going to write, I want to make it clear that for the most part, I don’t care what people believe in or how they choose to live their lives. I do take offense to people making others ascribe to their beliefs. Anyway, the director of the learning commons where I now work is clearly a woman…and she wears a pin that makes sure everyone know her pronouns are they/them…and while we were chatting, she was telling me about her son and referred to herself as his “other dad”. I just want to ask folks like this “Who hurt you?” These are very confused people! This same idea persists. I am astounded by people who force others into their mindset. Like, how selfish are you??