Weekly Ramble 12/21/24

Hello, hello, hello! We are on the edge of a very big week. Two Christmases make for lots of feasting and lots of fun.

… but also a fair amount of work rolling into it.

Last night I gathered all my lists and gave a couple TED talks to the folks in house. I want our celebrations to be really good, but I won’t be able to pull them off on my own. I spent a few minutes envisioning the kids for Christmas Week.

Have I mentioned that there’s much to do?

I’m so glad that I took things easy the last couple days. Thursday FishChick16 and I had a “jammie” day. We watched The Shop Around the Corner followed by You’ve Got Mail. The first is an old Jimmy Stewart film that Nora Ephron restyled in 1998.

The latter is such a peek into the 90s. Wow. The world has certainly changed! It was interesting to reflect on how much the internet has changed the world… and the big box book store. I remember going into Borders and Barnes and Noble back then and being wowed. Now I go into BN and look up what they’re selling to find it cheaper online.

Yesterday Bryan and I had a vacation day. We didn’t really get one in November and the next two weeks will be wild. We drove to Liberty Station with the top down, had lunch at Pizza Nova, walked along the harbor, and grabbed pastries at Con Pane.

I’m sorry to say that my scones are sooooo much better than what Con Pane is dishing up this month. Sigh. It’s so hard when the treats lose their luster.

Last night we had pizza and watched what I would say is a contender for best Christmas movie. If you’ve never seen The Family Man with Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni, I highly recommend you do so. It’s a 2000 remake of It’s a Wonderful Life (another Jimmy Stewart film) and so good.

Of note: Jimmy Stewart and Nick Cage look a lot alike. And The Family Man is such a peek into the past!

At one point Cage calls information to get a phone number. I had to pause the film and explain what he was doing. Even though directory assistance only went away a couple years ago, my kids have never used it.

Today I’m spending getting ready for our weekly Rest Day and getting ahead on some Christmas stuff. I’ve been to Dollar Tree, Target, Ralphs, and Walmart this morning. The kids are currently tidying up the downstairs.

Then I’ll take over the kitchen and we’ll start plugging away at the lists. I’ve already planned a fend-for-yourself lunch and frozen appetizers for dinner. Ha!

December has gone by far too fast for my liking. I’m trying to figure out what more I could have done to not feel behind.

I think being more decisive might have been helpful. I have had lots of ideas simmering, but didn’t just go ahead and boil the pot. Now, I’ve got all these pots to boil!

I also suffer from Too Many Good Ideas Syndrome. And the last minute good ideas keep coming to me. I have to tell myself to just chill and not do more than already made the list.

I’ve decided that I’ll make a list and those things will get assigned as things to try next year.

In other news, this week I finished Seeing Green: Don’t Let Envy Color Your Joy. It was really good, in ways I didn’t expect. I’d been struggling in a particular area and suspected envy was a part of it, but I didn’t know how or why.

This book helped me diagnose the problem and gave me clear insight in how to move forward.

For what it’s worth, I mostly listened to it via Canon Plus and then read the actual text of the chapters that were applicable to my issue. (She covers all kinds of envy and some may or may not apply to you.)

While I haven’t gotten a lot of things DONE this past week, I’ve sorted a lot of things in my head and that feels like an accomplishment. I’ve also spent some time in my planner for next year.

I added a few pages to the Print & Go Planner. Did you see? A few of them are challenging to complete, like the My Strengths page. But, it was a really good exercise to sit and write down my current strengths. Try it and let me know what you think.

I’m not much of a selfie person (I don’t think), but I decided to take a picture every day at the same time for the month of December. It’s interesting to see how my aspect changes from day to day.

The more recent pics are at the top; they’re the more tired versions of me as well. Knowing what was going on during certain days or weeks is really a great science experiment, too.

It’s giving me lots of Good Ideas… for next year.

Alrighty, my 20 minutes is up, and my lists are waiting. Have a great Christmas everyone!