12:07:15: Monday Morning

Dear Friends and Family,

It's Monday and it's foggy out. There's a bunch of stuff I should probably work on getting done today, but I think I'll start with writing.

Friday ballooned into a long evening. It started with a phone call to schedule a doctor's appointment that grew into a visit to the immediate care unit that ballooned into a visit to the emergency room that almost exploded into getting admitted for observation. Fortunately, the emergency room doctor gave me to choice of going home for the evening if I promised to call my primary care physician first thing Monday morning.

I felt okay. The test results were all normal. And, I didn't want a hospital stay on my record unless it was for something I really couldn't get out of, so we opted to go home for the evening. Now, I'm on hold with my doctor's office because the first available appointment is for 12/17 which isn't what the emergency room doctor had in mind when she sent me home.

Saturday, I went to a funeral. I'm not going to lie. It sucked. It was for a friend who passed away unexpectedly. He was Mr. mouse's age. This is the third time I've had to say good-bye to someone I considered an age peer. It sucks. The first time sucked the most.

Saturday evening, we tried to get into the Christmas spirit. We bought our tree. We put up our lights. We went to bed exhausted.

Sunday, we finished the tree. Mr. mouse took P grocery shopping. We went to see the Nutcracker. We went to bed on time.

Today, I'd like to get through a pile of papers that has been building up. I need to continue to make progress on the living room. There's Christmas cards and our party invite that both need to get sent off. I should shower and get ready for the day.


Cheers!
mouse

Thursday Morning

Dear Friends and Family,

It's Thursday morning. I am sitting in the living room. It's cloudy outside so while I have some natural light, more than any other room in the house, I'm definitely supplementing with artificial light. Still, even without a ton of light, with the progress I've made on getting rid of stuff, it's still currently my favorite room in the house.

I think there's a couple of things going on. I've definitely made progress in restoring order to the room. And, hopefully, I'll continue to make progress. But, I think there's more to a room than what you can see.

Some people will think I'm crazy, but I frankly don't care.

Sometimes I feel like a room needs a spiritual cleaning. I've been in bad rooms. They feel heavy and stagnant and dead. I think by spending time in the living room this past week both during the day when I'm home and in the evenings with Mr. mouse after P's asleep, we've also been slowly cleaning the room spiritually. The forlorn, forgotten, empty feeling is leaving the room and it's gotten a different vibe to it. This morning, P joined me on the couch while Mr. mouse got breakfast ready. I think she feels the difference in the room and I think the room appreciates her coming down to add her joy to it too.

I know. Crazy. I don't care.

This morning I deflated a small inflatable corporate tchotchke and sent it back to work with Mr. mouse. It doesn't need a home in our home. That cleared up enough space for me to move two empty shelves off of the floor and into the shelf, which minus any flashed of brilliance is its proper home in our home. I could throw them out, but for now I'd rather give them a home on the shelf. So, little things to continue to restore order to the living room.

I'm purposefully holding myself to one thing a day. I'll continue to spend time in the living room and hopefully it'll continue to become even better.


Cheers!
mouse

Wednesday Morning

Dear Friends and Family,

It's Wednesday and the snow has stopped and I am sitting in my living room wondering where I should begin.

I'll begin by talking about why I'm sitting in my living room. I noticed this year that I was spending almost my entire day sitting at my kitchen island at my computer. I also noticed that the best room in the house from a lighting perspective is the living room. It has a large window that faces south and because we live on a corner light from the east also streams in through the window. I love natural light from the south and from the east. It's my favorite light. The kitchen, on the other hand has a small window that faces north and four very bright LED lights. The LED lights help, but it's not the same as sunlight.

But, the living room was and to a degree still is just a nightmare. Mr. mouse has been helping clear out the clutter and it's now manageable enough that I don't get depressed sitting in my living room. There's still work to be done and I've made it a point to try and do one thing every day to continue the progress. My first goal is to tackle all of the stuff on the floor. There's still a bunch of stuff on the floor for me to tackle so I'm going to try and not get ahead of myself and think of what to tackle when the floor is clear. I'll just consider it a major accomplishment to get the floor clear.

I could try and catch up on what I've been doing the past month. I could try and explain why I've been a hot mess. But, I won't. I'm going to try and get back in the routine of writing because I think it helps me keep perspective. But, I'm not going to feel overwhelmed by the past and all of the stuff I didn't cover. Instead, I'm going to end now and sit in my living room and think.


Cheers!
mouse