The Monday Brain Dump…

: feeling like I need a green smoothie. Stat.

:: thinking that some re-orienting is in order with my chronic respiratory issues. Last year I was on a much fuller regimen and did much better; this year we took a less intense approach, and it’s not quite doing the job. Back to the higher doses! I’m getting to where I’m not struggling with the fact that I am chronically ill, and more into an attitude of just deal with it. Still praying for healing, of course. My hope is in Him!

:: appreciating the simple joys of breezy fans and a good book.

:: anticipating a go-go-go week, which is super-unusual for us- sweet Lorelei has her first performance and rehearsals this week. I’ve already set alarms and reminders on my phones. It’s a lot to keep track of!

:: reminding myself to consolidate my to-do lists. It’s that weird time of year with school ending and summer beginning and an Etsy shop to get ready…transition time! Lists are my brain. Without them, I’m totally lost.

:: wondering if things will change for the better routine and rhythm wise when we finally have a second car again. (Thanks, mom!) It seems like our weekends have become so unbearably packed with errands that there’s not much downtime; hoping that with errands moving back into the week on my own time, we’ll find some quiet, restful spaces on the weekend.

:: hoping that I can find the bottom of my art table. It’s literally four inches deep right now, and there is so much I want to get done this week. It’s a good creative mess.

:: getting (had) a haircut. Finally. For ten years I’ve essentially had the same cut in different lengths. I’ve got bangs, people. I haven’t had bangs in over 20 years. (And am I really that old?) (And here’s the obligatory picture for Grandma.)

:: planning to get the Etsy shop ship-shape. Things have really changed since I had my first shop a few years ago. Little bit of a learning curve. I’m getting excited, though!

:: loving my french press. I think I’ve officially become a coffee snob. I don’t really like it any other way now. My wallet is loving it too, because now the four-bucks isn’t so attractive.

:: looking at my home care routines. I have so relaxed what a ‘clean house’ is to me over the last three years, but lately, the level of sticky, crunchy, smeary, gunky has really started to stress me out. For a while it seemed like we had a good rotation going where each area of the house got a fair measure in the course of a week and everything stayed reasonably clean. I’m going to try to head back to that as much as possible, because I am over it!

:: hearing the sweet sounds of silence. The cicadas came out this year, and it was positively deafening in our neck of the woods- plus getting dive bombed by them too. It’s nice to be back to the normal (relatively quiet) sounds of birds and crickets and woodpeckers.

:: remembering to be grateful for much good news! My mama had a brush with skin cancer- I think basal cell- but they think they’ve removed it all. My Oma helped to pay off one of my student loans this month too- such a burden lifted. So thankful.

:: wishing that the miles didn’t stretch so long between me and those who I hold dear.

:: knowing this truth.

Fear does not stop death. It stops life. 

:: wanting to do a thousand things at once. Time to focus!

:: thinking that the dinner (Red Beans and Rice) simmering away on the stove right now is driving me nuts…and smelling fabulous. Do I have to wait all day?

:: sending all my love.

(Many thanks to Amanda Soule for the format.)