2021-06-18 - 8:11 a.m.

Morning page for today.
Lovely day yesterday in which I went to not one but two dance classes.

When I went to the Dr. for the insanely case of poison ivy which was dramatically ozzing all over my arms it was a good call as without the help of a steroid my overactive immune system that was going haywire in response was not going to calm down.

It is a bit startling the difference when taking prednisone. Suddenly I have both focus and energy to get shit done without joint pain or mental fogginess. It is remarkable. (Boy do I now understand the problem with athletes on this stuff!! It is undoubtedly a performance enhancing substance!
I mean every last little item on the TO DO which I thought about over the past year (ok years... to be honest) that never get done is on the list and either getting checked off or will get done in the next few days as I leverage this steroid usage.

Four today I took the one pill for the last of the four days on one pill only. The Dr. gave me a potent shot, then it was four pills for a few days, then three, two then down to one weaning off the steroid to have it in my system for about two weeks.

My kids informed me one day last week that there was this large poison oak vine growing from my yard, near the windows in the front basement climbing up over OUR bushes. They laughed at me that I removed same from neighbors yard but never even saw it on ours.

Life...
easier to see the mess of someone else than your own, right?

So this week on trash day I continued the attack of invasive weeds. Filled up one more trashcan for the gents gathering trash to dump. I dug up much of the root of the offending Virginia Creeper. It is a core root of almost two feet in diameter, with off shoots of a couple hearty branches of weeds about three inches in diameter. So with a trowel and have been following the root system to pull dirt from under and around it to loosen its hold on it. I didn't get it out as after about an hour out there digging, and digging, during which Bellatrix joined me and enjoyed digging her own holes, I got tired and decided time to shower and start work for the day and will continue another day to completion.

The root is almost free. Attached to it is the last wild vine of Virginia Creeper piled on the lawn. My clippers are rusty and need tending so I will just pull the whole darn thing out intact once the root is free.

Other tasks that are satisfying to get done:

Mailed college gal her medicine she left her...oh ...since left for college. It is not expired, but is an oral solution she takes 4X a day for her POTs. There were a few boxes just here. Yeah... better they are with her! She already had some at college but for well over a year (or more ) they just sat here.

Basic things like that- to reduce clutter and clean the house are very gratifying. Donation of clothing.
Oh the battle of the housecleaning went well overall. It is hilarious however that we duked it out, I put my foot down, I listened to the complaints but said enough is enough and I cleaned the hall and stacked boxes outside of kid's bedroom rather than in the living room despite protest. Now for the hilarious part: The kid DID leave some there, did make progress as I saw and removed ONE empty box. (LOL One done!) BUT was so angry I touched her stuff actually MOVED BACK some boxes to the pile! LOL I had not removed the WHOLE pile just most of it and organized it. I left a couple items... backpack...music stands..

Oh my. It was hilarious the stubbornness.

I also had taken a basket and cleaned up the CLEAN clothing pile off the floor of CLEAN laundry that had been stacked there by the older house dwelling young adult had not put away. Now that personal battle goes back few couple years when my bestie Jane was here trying to help me clean house and SHE picked that battle to duke out with my kid. At the time it was not her place and she did not listen and it escalated into an actual full blown altercation. The irony is prior to that battle of wills there was an OCCASSIONAL mess outside the bedroom. Since that choice of my friend to ignore me and engage in the battle then- it has been a permanent fixture of "The Pile" . The Pile of clothes has just become an extension of the room. I occasionally do organize it and try to encourage its clean up. I occasionally go through it with my kid when they are in a good mood and ask "Keep or toss?" and reduce the clutter removing items not worn or actually really wanted. YET it has become the choice of where to store clothes. I find this somewhat hilarious! It is down the hall from me and nothing beyond it but the kid's bedroom so I couldn't really care less about it but for being sure that there is not a dust pile as well! So this time, I put it in a laundry basket rather than on floor in hall and put the basket on foot of bed, right in the door of the bedroom which I had vacuumed.
I broached the boundary of personal space to vacuum both rooms. I have made it clear I will respect privacy and boundaries BUT FOR going in solely to vacuumed every once in a blue mood if the inhabitants don't do so.

I suppose it is a fortunate thing this is all we have to argue about at this point in life. To me that is a good sign as this is typical adolescent setting of healthy boundaries for SELVES which I get...
but heck health trumps their independence.

They don't have to like it or stay if they want further independence!

(OF course they hate if I say that!)

I am actually very good at just paying attention to stuff on floor, how configured, pulling out obvious trash and ignoring the rest. I mean I get in the zone.

The fighting is less and less every time I think... Seriously. They get used to it and realize this is a battle they won't win.

This time I did not strip sheets but am bugging them to do so and wash those themselves. That is the next step in independence. Two out of three do their laundry; but a third manages to just get it to the basement and think about doing it- and for some reason never gets to it so after a week or more of it sitting there I just throw it in.

This morning I have been tackling my closet. Pulling out winter stuff, purging with a pile of TOSS as too damaged/worn/torn to donate or donate.

On Saturday I went to a Zumba class run by an old acquaintance friend of mine I think the world of. He was actually the first director my son every worked with on stage at a community show when my son was 5 years old. That 5 year old could sing then! The Voice that came out of that kid was stunning and he was so freaking cute. That wasn't really the start of his knowing he was to be an actor but it was his first experience on a stage and he sang this duet which was adorable. He got confused and an older teen was so sweet in being his helper as they sang the duet together. She was disabled young woman, as it was with the non profit org I now sit on the board of as frankly that experience was a light in the lives of my oldest two kids at the time when they were in that show. It gave them such joy.

So this Zumba class was on my bucket list FOR YEARS. Years ago when dating the attorney he and I ventured out to go to it one day to realize it was a holiday weekend and it was not happening. Working at the retirement community I met a lady who used to go for year. I mean this class has been taught for a dozen years and on my bucket list as long. Last couple of years I did drop in on an occasional Saturday morning.

What is so marvelous is that with this part time job, I actually can go REGULARLY. There are currently only two other dancers showing up at the teachers home as he is holding it outside since COVID lifted, in his yard. It is such a lovely space and I feel so privileged to be able to join them.

He just has such great energy and a positive spirit! So I went on Saturday for the early class and came home and got lots of house cleaning done. The deep cleaning which felt so good!

This place feels so much brighter. It feels so much better to have de-cluttered. I mean I got in the weeds doing things like organizing down to every last marker and pencil and pen. LOL For real though... boxes labeled "Wide markers" "Sharpies" etc.... on the shelf. It makes it so much easier to FIND things. The key here is TRAINING kids to all put stuff away ( and myself!!) EVERY TIME you finish using something.

The interesting thing is my one young adult did a fabulous job of organizing our kitchen space for her cooking.
They rearranged the counter and lectured me about keeping cooking supplies in the same space all the time so she could find them! It was great!

We have a more functional working organized kitchen now as well.

This week they made this incredible Philippino Chicken Drum dish which was way better than any chicken dish I have ever made ( but for a roasted Chicken. I have that down.) It was sublime, with delicious flavor, lots of caramelized onion and garlic that gave it a deep rich base gravy. They have become a really great cook!

The funny thing was I had made dinner ( Veggie burgers) and served them to all but they were asleep. So when they woke and wanted to cook we all had eaten already. It ended up being fine as my cook had energy and was excited to cook so enjoyed their dinner and it was decided the rest of would re-heat and all eat it the next day.

So yesterday was a nice 4 hr day at work. It was amazing to have time to do other things! Post office run done, some quick shopping, chores, church responsibilities: T- shirt design options created, survey monkey created to get buy in.

My guy in Buffalo runs a promotion company and his price point really does beat all competition. (Always!) I found a site with a great interactive tool to design a shirt so have deeper appreciation and understanding of what he does and how it does take a bit of time for even the simplest seeming thing.

I found a site with a great interactive tool to work on design. (Not his... His prices are better for the same shirts. But it was helpful to put our church logo on some options and see how they looked).

This site has a nice interactive tool so right on line you can drop in your logo and try options out.
https://www.vistaprint.com

I was up far too late with that task, but it was fun and got it done. Once input in I can get a final quote and we will order shirts for the church community to wear at the outdoor picnic that will happen at the end of summer/beginning of Fall.

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