Closing Out 2020.

 It has been a long year.  Z got a new job (remote); Birka; I went to Texas for February vacation and spent time with C, E and Four (Big Bend, TX and Carlsbad Caverns, NM); Z and K bought a new house; we went to our last in-person SCA event before a pandemic descended on the earth; my job at a public school went remote; I stayed with a friend between homes; we moved to the new house; C, E, and Four came up from Texas to stay with us and be away from Austin where the pandemic was more prevalent; I worked a bunch in planting (with help) our first garden; Four went back to Texas; C and E had apartment problems and I joined them traveling back to Texas to help them straighten that out; I stayed with a friend and we went on a quest for the comet Neowise (we saw it); after returning home from Texas I had gardening to do again; I learned a bunch-but the garden didn’t produce a bunch of anything; I went back to the work in September (not remote) but left in November as I felt the risks were too high for the family; in October C and E came back with a bus to renovate; Thanksgiving; we got two cats (Nanni and Winston); Christmas; and tomorrow will be 2021.  We are all another year older.  There is still a pandemic but vaccines are becoming available.  Yay!

Things that will be different in next year’s blog:

• Name changes.

• Next year the Blog will be titled 2021 Happy Footprints and will be found here: 2021 Happy Footprints - blogger.  I’m still working on the layout and such for this Blog for the new year.

• I’m going to mention books I am reading or listening to.

• I am going to aim for a poem a week, but be happy with one a month.

2020’s blog was supposed to include things about accountability and focus.  It took me over half the year to get focused on my step count.  Only recently does the accountability part seem like it is becoming more organized.  That is because I am working on being accountable with a partner and that is helping me stay on track more.  These things won’t end.  Personal growth does not end when the year ends, nor do people need to wait for a new year to start a new routine or work towards new goals.  Start them when the time is right.  The new year is a great starting point, but it doesn’t need to be the only starting point.

Blogging everyday about things that I am happy and grateful for is the ultimate goal for my daily blogs.  I am tossing around the idea of starting other blogs that will have other focuses.  Time will tell.

Happy things for today:

• The furniture I have been trying to move all week has been moved.  There is now more room in the driveway if we get another big snowstorm for the snow to go.

• C made their absolutely fabulous bean burgers for dinner tonight.  

• No walk again today, but I’ve been able to maintain my my step goal of at least 10,000 steps a day since August 13th.  Yay!

• Maybe because I didn’t walk I also forgot to take pictures until after dark.  

• It is New Year’s Eve and I might get to sleep before midnight.

Look at that sky!
I'm glad I stepped out to take this picture.

E with Nanni.
What a relaxed kitty!

Happy new year!

☮

Stay safe, wear a mask, wash your hands, and keep your distance.

Magnetism

 The cats are integrating.  We have been keeping them together part of the day and away from each other part of the day.  They have this back and forth thing going on where one of them is mad while the other looks like a scorned lover, they argue a little, and then they switch roles.  It reminds me of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in The Taming of the Shrew.  I'm happy that the cats are getting along better. Other happy things are:

• New cat toys came in the mail today. I only got a picture of one of them. It seems that changing out the toys often is a thing for cats. They get bored. The other toy is a ball with a light in it that rolls around on the floor by itself.  
• I went shopping for a tarp today and also got some cool magnetic bowls for holding screws or pins, etc.
• I paid my mortgage before the first of the month! Usually I forget until a few days in.
• Puzzles. We are still working on the puzzle. We got a bit done today, mostly K did. I'm working at limiting my time at the puzzle so I don't let it consume me. 🧩

Winston with a new toy.

Sunset.

I may have to come up with a task to
do tomorrow just to use this.
😀

☮

Wear a mask. 😷

Rest Day

 Both Nanni and I awoke in the middle of the night to the sounds of scratching and skittering in my room? Walls?  Not sure.  Neither of us got up more than to raise our heads to hear better.  Maybe she isn’t a mouser.  Maybe it would have been a good day to set the traps in the cellar.  Maybe.  What it ended up being a good day for was relaxing and self-care.  And so my happy things are:

• I did some research and job search.

• K and I worked on the puzzle. It is the second night that the puzzle has been in the way of eating at the dining room table.

• I took a nap.

• I went on a nice cold walk.  It is winter, cold is expected.  I headed out south bound on the street.  After walking almost two miles I turned around to head home.  That is when the wind of the day was in my face.  Brr.

The petunia is growing!

Welcome to my post walk-rosie cheeks-pre nap face.

Fullmoon over shed.

☮

Stay safe.

Orange Sky

 Monday, the day I remind myself that I should have a job.  Or do something that might make me money.  Today this was time spent looking at jobs and then Covid numbers and then jobs and then numbers and feeling that waiting for the post holiday spike to go down is most likely a good idea.  So instead I went outside and cleared some snow.  One of my tasks this week is to move some things that are being stored on the driveway somewhere else to make room for more snow.  This week the weather is supposed to be mild, so it seems a good time to be outside.  Other things that are happy things for today: 

• Playing with cats.

• The orange sky as the sun set this evening.

• Being able to be with family.

• Gifts from friends.

• Watching the movie Jingle Jangle (trailer).

☮

Wash your hands.

No More Tree

We are still keeping the cats separated, so Nanni stays in my room at night.  We took the Christmas tree down today, so that may change soon.  Nanni seems to be more trustworthy than Winston.  This means one of the first things I get to do in the morning is play with Nanni.  She was really good this morning and played with her toys without me for a while.  She has been getting up on the table when we aren't looking.  When the sun was coming in the window onto the dining room table this morning the dust that had fallen over night was very visible, and so were the cat prints.  Here are things that were happy for me today:

• TF and I had our accountability call tonight and I got more done than I thought I did last week.  
• I got to see my protege' at the grocery store today where she works.  
• Much of the snow has melted and made its way to the rivers.  I was pleased to noticed that the ground seems to have held on to some of the moisture too.  Snow melt helps to reduce the chances of dought, but when it melts off when the ground is frozen, most of it ends up in the oceans and not the groundwater.  I'm not an expert, but the ground seemed to be trying to absorb some today and that is a good thing.
• There were probably dog footprints in the snow when I took a walk on the property today.  Probably dog, but I will keep hoping for fox.
• We started a 1000 piece puzzle tonight.  We didn't get very far, but puzzles are fun.

Nanni.

Kitty footprints.

Nanni playing.

Footprint in the snow.

Gideon taking down the star.

☮

Keep your distance.

Boxing Day

 There was no boxing or shopping for me today. While I was outside getting a four mile walk done, Winston, the orange tabby, learned that stove tops can burn.  Thankfully, he wasn't alone and just his whiskers and some fur got a little singed.  

Last week TF and I set goals with plans to be accountability partners.  Today I have been trying to figure out how much I have to do to get those goals finished.  Next week I will not be setting the bar so high I think.  For some reason, when I planned out the week, I hadn’t considered things like Christmas or new cats.  

• Over 17,000 steps today!

• I got a little bit of research done on a project I am hoping to work on.

• There was much laughter over dinner tonight.  Wait, that sounds wrong.  Dinner was great.  Z made a chili recipe that he hadn’t tried before and it came out fine.  The conversation at dinner tonight was interspersed with laughter and joy.

• A family member living in Idaho sent me a gift of herbal teas.  It is a sample pack from this company.  The teas all have fun names based on different people.  This is how I learned today that Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross.  The name Araminta, according to Wikipedia, is prayer and protection.  A very fitting name for an amazing person.

• TF and I hid a secret silly message in our Minecraft game tonight. We are curious how long it will take the other players to notice.

The moon rising above the field.

The moon rising as close-up as I can get with my phone.

The snow melt from the last few days has left dirty white piles.

A different moon shot.

Poor Winston...

☮

Stay safe.

Christmas Day

 The time is approximately eleven in the morning, Christmas morning.  The stockings and packages have all been opened.  E is playing beautiful music on her new keyboard.  Z and Gideon are playing Gideon’s new video game and I believe K and C are learning/practicing tattoo art on the fake skin that C got for Christmas.  Me?  I am impatiently waiting for the batteries to charge.  Z and I got a GoPro 8.  It is for us to share until the stores restock and then we will each have one.  I should be reading the book I got, or the instruction manual.  Instead I am back in time when I was a kid and got something that needed batteries and we had no batteries.  When I was a kid, stores weren’t open on Christmas day.  At least not in the small towns where we lived.  Planning was important.  This need for batteries was a stressor for me while my kids were growing up.  I’d buy so many batteries. Some would get used, the rest eventually go bad and be disposed of in a landfill.  Today those would be recycled. Now we have these wonderful rechargeable batteries and so I will write or read as I wait for them to charge.

It is now almost eleven in the evening.  I found things to do, including a lovely walk with Z.  The batteries were charged quite a while ago.  I’ve been trying to maneuver through the website and downloading the app to be able to use the GoPro.  It didn’t come with an SD card so I can’t use it until I either scavenge one from something else or go buy one.  Perhaps I will get to use the camera tomorrow.  Some happy things for today:

• I now have a GoPro.  Eventually I will be able to use it.  

• Tonight’s walk with Z was very nice.  We set off with him honoring a gift certificate to me for a walk with him.  It ended up being a possible weekly thing that we do.  We’ll see, it is good to be able to know my son-in-law well and walking is a great way to get time to talk.

• Gideon’s joy with some of his presents.  It was especially fun to watch his enthusiasm at getting a book on economics.  I’m not being sarcastic, he really enjoyed the book.

E playing with Nanni.

C's gift is money to go towards making a hurdy gurdy.

E's gift was large enough that she could use it as a chin rest.

Insta pot (slightly used).https://www.nerdygurdy.nl/

Gideon looking at one of his books.

C and E sharing the love.

Looking over his book on economics.

E playing on her new keyboard.

Most of my gifts.

Things are melting and there is fast running water.

Much of the snow is gone,

Home from the walk.

🎄☮🎄☮🎄

Stay safe, be kind.

Too tired, probably forgetting things.

Happy Christmas Eve

 Tonight I have Nanni, the cat, watch.  Ideally she will settle down in a little bit and fall asleep, so I can too.  Somehow, I managed to stay inside the entire day.  I noticed that the petunias that I brought inside and then trimmed down may have some new leaf growth.  I'm hopeful.  Other happy things for today:

• Playing with Gideon and Winston, the cat, while walking around in circles to get my step count.
• I went through a box of stuff.  It was mostly things from a desk drawer with some other things thrown in to fill the box.  Two small grocery bags of trash came out of that box (yay!).  There were also things like stamps that someone found interesting enough to pull off mail and save;  Pens and pencils, somethat still worked; and caligraphy pens that I am hoping will work once they are cleaned up.
• Enjoying a tasty Thai-themed dinner that C prepared.  
• Stockings were hung-
• Ornaments too.
• K, Z and Gideon each got to open their Christmas books.  This is a tradition that my ex-husband and I started when K was a baby.  She got to open one present on Christmas Eve and it would be a book to read to her that night.  When the kids got older, we'd buy chapter books and let them read themselves.  They would always have a holiday or seasonal theme.  

Just a little bit of green on the petunia.

Stockings are hung.

Gideon's book is a chapter book this year.

K's is a picture book.

Z's is a picture book and it is about Hanukkah.

C hanging more ornaments, but from the ceiling, not the tree.

🎄☮🎄

Stay safe.

Snowshoe Prints

 Three things that I wanted to do today got done.  There should have been more, but other things happen, and that is okay.  The two cats are not getting along as well as we had hoped.  They are now separated and we are going through a procedure to reintroduce them in a few days.  One of the things I got done today was to sew up three bags for the looms that are in my room that currently have projects on them.  So far, the cats haven't played with the threads, but Nanni did weave herself through them in such a way that they could have knocked the looms over.  Other things I am happy for today:

• C and I went through a few of the boxes that are mine in the apartment.  Not enough stuff was gotten rid of, but there was progress  There were a couple boxes of books that need to be gone through a little more closely.  They are in the main house now to make that easier.  
• When we had enough of the boxes for the day I went for a walk with the snowshoes.  This time I made it around most of the property.  There were deer and turkey prints as well as some little critter prints that I can't identify.
• I had a nice video call with the lady that I was walking with every week.  We took a break until after the holidays because of the pandemic.  It was good to see video see her.  We are planning on snowshoeing together next month.
• There was a beautiful sunset today.  The sky was a ripple of red-orange.  I was hoping to see the Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction, but those bright ripples were clouds.  I either missed the break or the clouds were in the way.  

Three looms with a bag for each!

Deer.

Proof of life (that's me in the corner).

This picture doesn't do the colorful sky justice.

☮

Stay safe.

Icicle

 Instead of taking a walk today I did some cleaning up of the snow on the driveway.  It has been a few years since we have had a driveway and I forgot how much it bothers me when there are patches of snow that can become slippery.  I expect I will be spending a little bit of time out there, perhaps daily, until spring.  😂😜  E came out and helped too.  It was a beautiful day but I had things to do inside, so the shoveling was my outside time.  

Last night I found a water spot on my ceiling, there is a roof leak.  C and Z seem to have figured out the problem.  I'm not sure if it will be able to get fixed before spring, but there is stuff up there now to help relieve some of the ice dams that are part of the problem.  There was a huge icicle hanging from the roof near the leak.  I'm happy that they figured it out.  Nothing is actively dripping into my bedroom yet, but I put the plants under the area, just in case.  Other happy things today:

• Nanni, brown tabby. found her way under the blankets on my bed!  I think it bothers her that she can't go under my bed (drawers).
• Winston, the orange tabby, fell asleep on the chair in the dining room.  At dinner, he let E sit with him on the chair while he continued to sleep and we had dinner.
• I have another bag of stuff to burn.  
• Gideon and I have been playing when I do my circles around the house.  He keeps tryiing to hide and scare me when I come around.  When I get close, he can't stay still or help from laughing.  He asked me to hide too.  I had a perfect hiding place, but started laughing!  

Icicle.

That bump is Nanni under the covers.

I had to peek in on her.

☮

Stay safe.

Happy Birthday, TF!!