My mother has spent her life trying to fix herself. Like all of us, she has some things she’d like to be better at, some healthy habits she wants to build, and some issues that she wishes would go away. Unlike most of us, she also has schizophrenia, so her own negative self talk is…
How was your year? Reflections on 2022
2022 was not a year of momentous changes or big accomplishments. When I look at my life now compared to the start of the year, it looks pretty much the same. Same house, same husband, same job, same daily routines, same lack of a social life. I watch the same TV shows, give or take….
Taking a personal retreat day
The past few Decembers, I have gone through a process designed by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits called “Sacred Bow.” This is a month-long process of reviewing the past year, reflecting on learnings, and deciding what intentions to bring into the new year. This reflective process has been incredibly useful for helping me get focused…
The 12 days of skipping Christmas
On the first day of skipping Christmas… I tested positive for Covid. I had already decided not to try to do much for the festive season this year, and this made me thing, “how can I do even less?” On the second day of skipping Christmas…I remembered that I had thought about making cards from…
Off the rails: when healthy habits go out the window
We went to Europe in November, for the second time this year. Normally, I don’t take two major trips within twelve months, but we had been stuck in the house for two years, and my husband was anxious to take his six-week sabbatical. So he went off gallivanting around Europe for four weeks, and I…
Pre-flight jitters
I love traveling, but I hate traveling. The whole infrastructure for international travel is laden with bureaucracy, delays, and confusion in the best of times. (Post) Pandemic times are not the best of times. You may have heard about the mayhem at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam over the summer. Five hour security lines, delayed…
Do productivity apps make you more productive?
We all want to Get Things Done (TM), but do we have the right tools? I am one of those people who easily falls down a rabbit hole of new apps when trying to bolster my ineffectual productivity system. And I’ve done it again. Last night, after a couple of months of firmly re-committing to…
GenX women run the world
We are a small and cynical generation who started life with rotary dial phones and now upgrade our iPhones at every opportunity. We grew up on HR Pufnstuff, but somehow have the attention span to read all of the George RR Martin books and watch both HBO dragon series. We’ve been going to rock shows…
FIRIE: Financial independence, retire in Europe
My husband and I are considering buying a house in Portugal. This still sounds insanely unrealistic when I say/ type it. I’ve never had the financial means to buy a house, much less a second house. Thanks to my husband’s equity from his condo, we were able to buy the townhome we now inhabit. On…
I am not Martha Stewart (and that’s OK)
I had a bit of an a-ha moment out for a walk the other day. I was thinking about how I have a sort of mild obsession with productivity systems, as well as a nagging sense of productivity guilt that has plagued me since childhood. What exactly am I not getting done, I wondered, that…
Plumb Wonderful 