Around the House - Taking Down Christmas

 I am finally getting around to taking down the Christmas decorations.  I always like to leave my decorations up through epiphany.  That has come and gone. I slowly began putting things away last weekend.  I'm not anywhere close to being finished but at least I have started.  And every year it's the same thing.  I always intend to put things back in a more organized fashion so that they're easier to locate next year.  That's just not going to happen this time either.  Which sucks because this year I'm missing a lot of decorations that I couldn't find.  I know they're out in the garage, I just could not locate them.  Had I organized better last year, this would not have been an issue.  Ah, well.  

This year's holiday was not exactly a happy one for many reasons, so taking down Christmas feels a lot different this year.  There is a lot going through my mind and heart as I look around at all of these things that I take such joy in.  In some ways, I'm scared of putting them away because of what that means but I know that I must do it and deal with what is ahead.  I can do that.  I just fear that my love of the holidays may be diminished going forward.  I honestly don't think that is going to happen, but it is something I fear.

I am about halfway through getting Christmas put away at this point. My Christmas books are still out.  My angel collection is still displayed in the secretary.  The tree is still up.  Hopefully in the next day or two it will all be packed up.  It's just a taxing thing to do this year.  But I will get it done and I will feel better once it is done.  I'm writing about this because my love of all things Christmas is a huge part of who I am.  I listen to my Christmas records all year round because it is my happy music.  I cherish all of my family decorations that have been passed down to me.  There's always a sense of history in my Christmas decorating.  I just want to keep that part of myself intact right now.  Like I said, it's hard this year but I will do what I need to do to keep this an important part of my being.  

I hope that next Christmas I will look back at this year and know that good things happened at Christmas, even if it didn't feel like it at the time.  That is all.  

Escapades in Adulting - Taking care of myself when I don't feel well

 Some days you just have to take care of yourself.  And by that, I'm talking about being sick.  I hate not feeling well.  And I've not been feeling well for about a week now.  It's just this crud that has been going around that lingers and lingers and moves around the body and lingers some more.  I have tested multiple times this week for covid and they're all negative.  Whew!  Still, it sucks not really knowing what's wrong.  

I have had definitely sinus pain and congestion, so I have been taking medication for that.  And for the most part, it seems to have helped.  But yesterday, I woke up very early to pain in my left ear.  And it was completely stopped up.  I could not hear anything out of that ear.  The sinus pressure had moved over into my ear.  What fun!!  It took me awhile to get back to sleep but I eventually did.  I had not desire to go ahead and get up at 4:00 a.m. on a Saturday!  But every time I would sleep with that left ear on the pillow, I could hear the drainage moving around and tingling.  Oh, joy!!

When I woke up again, my ear was still stopped up and I had some sinus pain, so I took meds again.  And that helped.  I did a few hot towel treatments on my face which also helped....and felt pretty good as well!  My day was pretty much normal even though I have these sinus issues.  Still, I slept pretty good last night but had a surprise waiting for me when I woke up.

Whatever was sloshing around my ear canal decided during the night that it no longer wanted to be in my ear canal LOL  I woke up to a wet ear and a wet pillow.  I won't go into the details, but I couldn't actually tell what it was. I wasn't freaked out about it; it was just unexpected because I has slept well. Anyway, I kept debating whether or not to go to the urgent care and get it checked out.  I ended up going because I wanted to make sure that my eardrum had not busted, and I wanted to make sure that this would not affect my upcoming colonoscopy.  So looking forward to that one.  Luckily, everything was pretty good and this simply happened from some irritation due to the pressure.  Still, they prescribed me some medication to alleviate the sinus pressure, which will be nice.

I'm writing about this today because going to the doctor when I'm sick is not something I normally do.  I will wait and let things play out and if they get really bad, then I'll go.  But this morning I decided not to be a martyr.  It was time for me to take care of myself and do what is best for me.  This could have potentially been something that needed attention.  Luckily it was not.  But I am happy that I went and got it checked out and can rest easily now.

That is all.

Song of the day - Open A New Window

 I wanted to start my day with a fun, positive song :)  I remember when Mom bought this record at Rose's on Skyway Drive in Monroe.  We listened to it a lot and I still have it.  Angela Lansbury was phenomenal and Jerry Herman's score is so much fun.  A nice way to begin the year!  Enjoy!

Thought for the day - reconnections

 

And here we are, the first week of 2023 almost completed.  I am glad to see the new year begin.  Last year was very rough for a lot of reasons.  This year is going to have its own set of personal challenges, but I know that I will be coming out better for having faced them. There are lots of changes in store for me this year.  I am not going to go into any details right now, but things are changing, and life will be different.  Better, I believe, just different.  

One of my goals this year is to, truly, reconnect with the special people in my life.  And there are a lot of them.  Ever since the isolation of the pandemic started to give way to a somewhat normal existence again, I have had an extremely hard time coming out of that.  In some ways I am still very much isolated, and I realized that I just do not really know how to interact with people anymore.  Now, when I say that, I'm talking about on an intimate level.  I do have a few friends in my life that are on that level with me right now, thank God, but I want more of that.  That may be selfish, but it's what I need.

I miss the people that were always so special to me at earlier times in my life.  Sure, we connect on Facebook and we send cards at holidays and birthdays but it's not the same.  Recently, my life got turned around.  It was not exactly unexpected for me as far as the situation goes, but the timing is what threw me off.     I tried to reach out a few people with no luck for one reason or another.  And that's ok.  I was able to connect some with a current close friend and that helped.   What this experience made me realize is that I want those people back in my life.  And yes, I know it will take a while and I need to restart the friendships and let them grow.  I'm good with that.  It gives me something work on and to look forward to.

My connections have been muted.  It's time to turn the volume back up on them.

So, to my friends out there, watch out cause here I come.  It may not be tomorrow, but it will be soon.  Love to you all.  And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!