December 2018 No Resolutions

Today I am reviewing what went right and what went wrong in 2018. One thing is for certain, my resolutions were a bust. I've decided to make no actual resolutions for 2019 -- more of just focusing on what needs to happen in a given day/week/month.

There have been some successes that arose out of difficulty. I lost my snow removal service before the winter was over. And even more devastating, I lost my landscaping guy I've depended on for many years. I actually fell into a sort of depression over this. It was tough thinking about how I would deal with my large, demanding yard. The good that came from this is my taking new ownership of things in my yard. I spent a good deal of the summer planting new things and tweaking my new drip irrigation system to deliver water just where needed. In the final tally, I saved a significant amount of water and managed to keep things alive for the most part. I lost some patches of thyme, though I don't know why. But it felt good to get down to a micro level of managing my water usage in the yard and to do so well in the first year. I will do less new planting this year, but will continue to tweak the system.

I also began mowing my own lawn again after a number of years. And I found with my electric mower, it was a much easier task than with the old gas monster. By July I had hired a guy and his nephew to mow every two weeks for me. But, I may try to mow through the entire summer this year. As long as I start early in the morning, I can handle the heat. And, incidentally, so far this winter, I am shoveling snow and managing just fine with some occasional neighborly help.

My summer of music with the grandkids was a success that keeps on giving. The boys really love their new-found skills and continue to build on them.

Also on the plus side, I began receiving some withdrawals from my 401k and IRA accounts. I was able to give each of my kids significant financial gifts this year. It was a time when they each could really use the money for medical expenses, to pay off a down payment loan, to pay off a student loan, to help with moving expenses. I know they would have worked things out without my help, but it pleased me greatly to help them and share what I have.

On the downside this year, I've done some backsliding in my indoor projects and I'v failed to lose weight and get more fit. I also did not get the cataract surgery as I was thinking. However, I can tell now one of my eyes is getting noticeably worse, and I'll be doing that soon, I'm sure. Also on the downside, I have done little birding and no painting this year. I have put my own fun on the backburner while helping out family members in need. I really need to find more of a balance.

Also in the negative column, though definitely not my fault, this fall and winter have brought the most devastating invasion of gophers I've ever had. I've been fighting them with smoke bombs, poison pellets, even cayenne pepper, with only marginal success. They have mostly been tearing up lawn areas. However, to make lemonade out of the damage from those little bastards, I've decided to remove grass in those areas.

I'm not going to reseed the grass on that steep back hill that is now pockmarked with piles of dirt. Having grass on that hill was always a bad idea. My plan now is to remove the remaining grass, haul in some dirt and mulch, and plant striped vinca vines like I have on my front rock wall. It spreads fast and looks thick and nice. This will give me an opportunity to extend my drip irrigation to the three trees on that hill. All other trees in the yard get drip, but those trees are still getting overhead spray. I can convert the existing overhead to drip for the vines and extend the larger tree lines that are already in place for the other trees in the yard.

In the front yard, the gophers have attacked two areas that are very hard to mow. In both cases, I believe I'll just remove the remaining grass and extend the area that is already just mulch and low water plantings with drip irrigation. In one area next to my neighbors house, I won't plant anything, just add landscape fabric and bark mulch as the area is not visible from any angle. This will reduce the amount of grass I am watering and mowing, which is certainly a plus for me. These projects will require some help with heavy lifting. I'll find someone.

In the coming year, without the big picture goals of resolutions, I will zero in more on keeping up with house and yard maintenance and remembering to have a little fun. And personal maintenance and improvement as well. Gotta get those eyes fixed, and focus on maintaining the good health I've been so fortunate to enjoy. And lose some weight.

And one important thing this year, as I maintain yard and house, I want to look toward getting my house ready to sell, as that becomes more of a possibility as I age. I have had a long-standing practice of doing an "emphasis" room each week, which has meant do the extras, like a spring cleaning and updates, for that room. This year, as each emphasis room comes up, I want to look at the room through the eyes of buyers and try to do what's necessary to make my house more attractive and sellable. I don't necessarily plan to move anytime soon. But I know the time is coming when I should sensibly find a place without stairs and with a smaller yard. This will be on my mind this year.

Okay, so every year has its successes and failures. 2018 was no different. And I can expect some of the same for 2019. There will be disappointments, failures, and challenges. All I can do is meet them with good old-fashioned problem-solving skills, hard work, and remembering to take care of myself. And remembering to savor the successes, too.

Pianos of my life

I bought a piano. I know, crazy, right? I already have a beautiful grand. Well, with great reluctance and misgivings, I've decided it's time to sell the grand and plan for my eventual downsizing. I haven't actually put it up for sale yet, but I think that will happen in the coming year.

But for about a year or so, I've been looking at electronic pianos. Studying up on features, reading reviews, as I do for every purchase I make, large or small. I had already decided my next piano would be electronic instead of acoustic. But it needed to have as near a real piano feel and sound as can be had. At first I thought I wanted a portable one on a stand that I could take places. But then I realized, where do I need to take a piano?!  Haha! So I finally narrowed it down to the Yamaha CVP model, the newer, the better. I've seen a number of used ones for sale, but the ones in the price range I had set were older and had old technology. So when I ran across a 701 model which is one of the newest, for the same price as people were asking for 10+ years older models, I felt like I needed to jump on it. Problem: it was located in Wyoming, a couple hour drive from my home. And then how to get it home. It's too big for my car. I could borrow my son's truck, but even then, I'd need someone to go with me. But I contacted the seller anyway. And as luck would have it, not only did I manage to negotiate an even lower price, the guy offered to deliver it and set it up. The piano was in pristine condition--had been played maybe 15 or so hours since it was new. It was owned by a 50-something guy who late in life wanted to take up piano, but couldn't stay with it.

And you know what? I love this piano. It is so much fun to play. It has thousands of combinations of settings. It has maybe 20 different piano voices, two of which are "sampled" from live Bosendorfer and Yamaha pianos. That means the sound is taken from live recordings of the piano sounds and not synthesized. Of course, all the other pianos and instruments are synthesized. But when I want to play something classical with a big beautiful sound, I have it. And if I want a honky tonk sound, I have that, too.

Yes, I love it. But I can't quite put the grand up for sale. Yet. But I will.

So this is my fourth and probably last piano. I thought it would be fun to show all the pianos of my life in this post.

Here's this beautiful old piano I bought in my first year of marriage while living in Dover, Delaware, where my husband was stationed.

I bought this, my first piano, for $25 at Spencer's flea market and auction. And with only $6 left between my husband and I until payday, I sat and played my new old piano and hoped not to lose it. An older, somewhat inebriated black man sat down at the bench with me and asked me to play Si-a-lent Night. I played, we both sang. And when he heard my dilemma, he found someone who would deliver my piano to my house for exactly $6. We were so poor, but I so wanted a piano. I wish I still had that old piano. I sold it for just what I paid for it when we moved back to Utah.

I was without a piano of my own for a few years as we made it through two more military assignments. Once back in Utah to stay, we bought a house, and I bought my second piano. This one was $500, which was not a bad price, but a lot for me. My dad loaned me the money and I paid him back in a few months.

I had this sweet little piano for 37 years. It saw the fingers of many little piano students of mine, years ago, trying valiantly to impress their teacher with their achievements of the past week. After I bought my grand, I simply kept two pianos for awhile. But eventually, I had this piano all repaired and tuned and delivered to my daughter's house where it is still played a great deal to this day.

Finally, as life improved, I reached a point where I could obtain something I had desired my entire life: a grand piano. I have all my life loved pianos, and desired to have one that produced the loveliest sound I could afford. And finally, I was able to have that, my Yamaha C3. Expensive, but I don’t apologize for it. It is the one and only luxurious indulgence of my life. I've had it now for many years, and it has been really played -- a lot. But, I'm afraid I don't play as much as I used to. My eye sight is getting poor, I can't remember my memorized pieces as well, and I can't see the music well in order to play. I try, but give up easily.

For now, I have two pianos in my house. The new smaller piano will be ideal when I downsize to a smaller home. It makes so much sense. But that move isn't imminent. So, I will probably take my time selling the grand and try to enjoy both pianos for a little while longer.  As I told my daughter, we can play our two piano duets for awhile now!

Now, if only I could find a picture of the old upright my grandfather bought us when I was six years old. That was the piano I learned on and played until I left home. Maybe mom has a picture somewhere.

Our Summer of Music

 

Summer 2018 with the grandkids was our Summer of Music. We have themes for our summer every year, and this one has to have been the most fun yet. 

It was a different summer. The boys are older and don't really need looking after so much as they need activities besides video games. The youngest was going into 6th and the oldest into 10th grade, and they are old enough that we could do some really fun things with music.  This was their idea -- way last winter, in fact. So I've been plotting and planning for some time. In fact, last winter, Kevin and I took a guitar class together which I blogged about in an earlier post. Kevin especially wanted to try as many different instruments as he could. So here's what we did.

Before school was out, I began looking for ukuleles for the three of us. After much research and shopping online, I found the best ukes for a moderate price. They came in a kit with a case, a tuner, extra strings, a strap, and picks. They are all wood and had a nice sound - real musical instruments not toys. I also found a good book for teaching ourselves.

Also, some months before that I had been watching online for a good deal on an 88-key Yamaha electronic piano with weighted keys.  They range widely in price from hundreds into thousands. But when I saw one for $100 including stand and bench, I made it my mission to check it out. It was in perfect condition, and I ended up buying it the same day. What a great deal that was!

When school ended the boys went to Brazil with their parents for three weeks, so it was nearly July when we got started. Most weeks they spent three days with me. On Mondays I gave them each a piano lesson and a practice assignment. I pushed the older kid to learn faster because he already played violin and could read music. Then every day after our lunch and reading routine, we played our ukes. We worked our way learning together from our book and had so much fun with it. The kids picked it up fast and we accumulated a pretty good repertoire by the end of summer.  On Friday, each week, Kevin and I played our guitars together just to keep fresh. But we didn't do anything new.

The days sped by and it was fairly exhausting being in teaching mode every time they came over. Toward the end of summer, we decided to put on a program to show the parents and grandparents what the kids had learned. See the printed programs at the top of this post. We ended up incorporating ukulele, piano, guitar, violin, and SINGING! Yes, the boys were a little reluctant to sing in front of everyone, but they agreed it was part of our Summer of Music. 

The week of the program we were practicing intensely every day, perfecting pieces, making changes and settling on our final program. I got some pretty cardstock and made up some simple programs to hand out. We set it up at the boys' house where we could designate part of a room as stage and part as audience. The day of the performance, we made some refreshments as well. The menu was the boys' choice: lil smokies in blankets, chocolate pudding in tiny pie crusts, mixed nut cups, store-bought cookies, and pineapple juice to drink. We were all set.

For our performance, I had bought suspenders and bow ties with musical notes on them, and the boys wore fedoras they already had. Even Frankie wore his musical note tie. Our performance came off splendidly and the parents were truly amazed how much the boys had learned in what was really just 8 weeks. 

This is a summer we will all remember forever. As school is underway, the boys are busy. But we are still doing piano lessons. And we play our ukes once in awhile. I also bought a third guitar, an electric guitar, which may become the oldest grandson's. What did we accomplish? I think the boys have discovered their musical side and realize they are real musicians. Such a worthwhile summer.

Transitioning

Sunset two nights ago. Monsoon season in Utah makes for some startlingly beautiful sunsets.

The good news is, I've found a new yard care crew to help me with mowing and general yard work. I don't know how they will work out, but they mowed for the first time yesterday, and I'm pleased with the result. I've been let down by so many people this year, I can't be entirely positive yet.

It's been a physically hard spring/summer this year doing so much yard work myself.  I had gotten into a good routine of mowing and trimming the lawn, weeding through my endless cycle of areas, tweaking sprinkling system, planting and creating new interesting areas. But it was hard work. I started early morning every day and pushed to stay outside as long as possible. It felt good -- very good -- to accomplish so much. But some days I just crashed and felt like I couldn't continue. Nevertheless, I got up the next day and carried on.

In some ways I will miss that good feeling of absolute control over what is happening in my yard. But, realistically, I know it's not smart for me to continue in the hot weather that has set in. I'll miss saving all that money, too, by doing the work myself. But at least I managed nearly halfway through the summer.  And I have new confidence in myself in what I can do physically at my age.

Now, I need to change my plans and focus on other areas. I find I get disoriented at first when things change and I have a hard time transitioning from one phase to another. There is always a lot to do, inside and out, and I want to apply the same focus, dedication and hard work in other areas as I have done so far this summer.  I hate spinning my wheels for a few days while I figure out how to do that. But that seems to be how I often handle things these days.

One of the things I have learned is to plan the night before what I intend to focus on for a given day.  I would decide to mow the lawn, for example. I'd check the hourly temperatures and decide what time to start. I'd think through what I needed: charge the batteries, cool clothing, water, etc. When morning rolled around, everything was in place and I was mentally ready and just went ahead with the plan. I worked my way through all the sections of my yard doing this.

Another thing I did was to write in my personal blog every day, recording the things I got done. It was extremely effective for me to simply read through the titles of blogs during that period to grasp just how much I was getting done. It motivated me to keep on.

With it being summer I have the grandkids at my house again. But this year it's just three days a week, and just short days, as their other grandparents are in town for the summer. This means my time isn't entirely absorbed by our usual activities.  But, strangely enough, sometimes I find myself wasting the in between day because I haven't figured out how I want to use it. My younger self didn't need to do so much thinking about how to spend my time. Now, if I want to make the most of my days, I have to give it some real thought.

So today is a transition day as it applies to yard maintenance, and I intend to make the most of it. I am trying to take what I've learned and apply it to every day.  I'll try to rebalance my time with the things I need and want to do. And try to make the change more gracefully. Yes, the To Do lists have been a great help, and I will continue to rely on them. But I will also continue with a little planning of my day the evening before. And I will add to my personal blog to help me see how I'm using my time.

And finally, I want to get back into some birding, photography, and painting. My time will again allow for more fun things.

More pics from around the yard

The coming week will be in the 90s every day with today reaching nearly 100. But I got out early and planted a little tableau I had been planning.

I had seen this online showing a broken pot with ice plant flowing from it and I wanted to copy it. But I didn't have a broken pot. I think this one does just as well. And I used sedum instead of ice plant. It came in a flat, so I separated out some of the taller varieties and planted them further up, with the plain low-growing sedum at the bottom. I also transplanted some rock crop from a shady part of the yard where it wasn't doing well (to the right of the pot by the crane's head, hard to see). And I planted a small yellow hyssop to the left side.  I think it makes a sweet little tableau. I added direct irrigation points from the drip system. I'm getting pretty good at that as I want to make the best use of the precious water I use.

With the kids out of school and heading to Brazil tomorrow, I was able to get out in the yard very early and work three hours before the heat set in. That is my plan the rest of the month. I still have four grass plants to get in the ground. And plenty of weeding still to do around the yard. It's surprising how much I can get done when I can start so early.

I was more than surprised when one of Alberto's guys showed up at my house this morning. But I just sent him away as I'd already fixed the sprinkling system myself.

Managed to get a few more pictures from around the yard today.

 The hot, sunny southeast corner is putting on a color show.

 Along the east sidewalk, the Jupiter's Beard and catmint are most in evidence. I planted quite a few new things along this walk this spring in two main areas separated by a large clump of guara. I tried to plant the same plants, more or less, in both areas: salvia, yarrow, blanket flower, pin cushion, coreopsis, artemesia and grasses. Behind the second area I added cone flower, bellflowers, and white salvia. Everthing is getting directly watered from the drip system and everything seems to be putting down roots and thriving.

My yard work over the past five weeks is paying off big time with beauty all around the yard. More pics to come.

Backyard Flower Beds

I've managed to get some decent photos of a couple of the backyard beds. The bed next to the stairs was taken in bad light, and you really can't see the color of the plants. But, here they are so far. I'll try to do more as time goes on.  This is three of the five distinct flower beds. The larger xeric area is bigger than all five combined. Pics of that area later.

 Sunny back of the house. The delphiniums are about all that's new in this bed.

 The shady hosta bed is almost all new.

 Two types of bellflowers. The lower mounding one is a survivor of previous years. The tall ones are new as are all the hostas an some of the coral bells.

Peach-colored iris. Just one of a half dozen different varieties.

This is from a few weeks ago and things are growing and looking better. This is a shady bed and steep. I've made some small fences to help stabilize the hill while new plants get established. There is a lot of color here that isn't seen in this poor photo.  Some geum, red salvia, dianthas, coral bells and hostas and two other plants I can't remember. I hope they all live.

My Own Yard Crew of One

Since my last post, I've been very busy taking care of the yard myself. There has been a lot to do. There still is. But I've made some beautiful improvements and made things better overall. I'm fed up with people who promise to do work for me and who let me down. I know I can count on myself. And right now, that's exactly what I'm doing.

The lawn mowing guy I hired didn't work out. After he rescheduled three times in the first week, I just let him go. My son and grandsons came and mowed for me that day and I did some of the mowing myself. I have had this really nice Kobalt cordless electric mower for a  couple years and haven't used it. But I have discovered how lightweight it is to push. It does a beautiful job. And it starts right up with the push of a button. The lithium ion batteries recharge in about 30 minutes. I have since mowed the lawn, front and back myself three times with no problem. I mow early in the morning while it's cool. I mulch rather than bag clippings. And I do all of the steep or tricky parts first while I'm fresh. What remains is just a pleasant stroll back and forth until it's done. I've got this.

One hitch, though. In looking up something about my mower, I found it has a recall because a few of the models have caught fire. So I may have to try to find someone to fill the gap while the mower is in for its update.

On the same day they mowed for me, my son and grandkids also helped me with turning on and testing the sprinkling system, and with hauling topsoil, fertilizer and grass seed to reseed the back hill where Alberto's guy had used the string trimmer and taken out a third of the grass right down to the dirt. The new grass has now come in beautiful and strong. It wasn't the first damage I found from the Alberto cleanup last fall. And I'm sorry to say Alberto has refused to take my calls or reply to my emails or texts asking him to send someone to repair what they broke. The good news is, I have been able to make repairs myself and have moved on.

At the start of May I had a long list of things that needed doing. I had to carefully prioritize the tasks because, for example, planting of perennials needed to be finished in May. And sprinkling system problems needed to be resolved as new planting areas were completed. I have five distinct flower beds in addition to the large xeriscaped areas on east and west and the high south side of the lot. Two of the gardens were utterly decimated by careless cleanup crew that removed a lot of perennials. The other three beds needed some new things added.  I worked my way through one bed at a time; weeding, planting, fertilizing, modifying sprinklers. When I finished the plantings in the fifth bed, I really felt like celebrating.

At the same time, I've worked my way through the east side xeriscaped area, doing the same weeding, planting, etc. I've made many tweaks to the sprinkling system, and I'll be doing still more. I can see areas getting too much water, and other getting none at all.  Since it is all now in a drip system, it is relatively easy for me to make the changes myself. I'm learning a lot about the different fittings and what works best where. And I learned a trick that applying a little heat to the tubing makes it a lot easier to push the fittings into the tubing. I use a disposable cigarette lighter and apply the heat every so lightly.

In between times, when it rained or I was too tired to stand, I sat on the patio and put annuals into hanging pots and patio pots for myself and my son's yard. I painted a few pots that were looking a little sad, and painted some other patio kitsch that needed freshening up. Oh yeah, and I've killed a few gophers. And all this while continuing to spend four hours a day with the grandkids before and after school.

I guess I've planted close to 70 new perennials now and at least the same number of annuals. I've transplanted another 30 plants to situate them better. I'm almost finished. I bought some ornamental grasses to provide more screening from the road at the top of my property, and I'll plant those next week. And I'm trying again with a new hyssop. I'm sad to say that Alberto's guys pulled up every hyssop, blanket flower, and bee balm I had, along with various salvia, pin cushion, yarrow, and other odds and ends. They also damaged the sprinkling system in several places, including severing one main supply line with a shovel. I've had to fix all those things myself. I have moved past feeling angry about that. One thing I know for sure, the cleanup crew in the fall (me) will not be pulling up flowers thinking they're weeds. And I'll be sure to repair anything I damage in the sprinkling system.

I still have a to do list of some 20 things, of which about half are weeding of additional areas. But that's an ongoing process throughout the summer. I don't feel panicked or worried. I feel up to the task. And, when I look out my kitchen window and see my beautiful new shady hosta garden in many shades of green with some lovely bellflowers and coral bells thrown in and the other shade garden just to the right with more colorful plants, I feel so happy and so pleased. The chickadees are my constant companions as a new brood will soon be fledging from the little blue bird house once again. The swallowtail butterflies have found the Jupiter's Beard. I feel joy and satisfaction from all I've done. I'm able to sit on the patio for a few minutes a day and just enjoy.

That's not to say it's been easy. My body is getting older and my strength and endurance are not what they used to be. But no matter how tired I am, or how much my body hurts, I make myself go out and get to work for a few hours at least every day.

I shouldn't need to do so much planting next year. Once the plants are established, they will continue to fill in. Today and almost every day I'm in the yard, someone stops and tells me how beautiful and colorful my yard is. It feels good to hear this. I keep tweaking things to make it better. But I'm hoping I'm finished with the need for major planting anywhere now.

And photos? I've taken a few, but not enough and in too bright sunlight. I'll pick a less sunny day and try to get a set of pictures to post.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

I'm breaking up with a guy who's been in my life for nine or so years, and I'm finding it a little hard to do. The guy is my landscaper, Alberto. I'm afraid we no longer see eye to eye. The beginning of the end was last fall when I had him do some clean up in the yard and he ended up billing me more than double what he quoted me. Since there was nothing special in the clean up, I told him I felt his billing wasn't right. He tried to make excuses. But I also complained about some damage his guys had done. He finally said to just pay what I thought was fair. And I compromised on the amount.

This spring, when I called him to start the lawn mowing service, he told me the weekly price was going up from $35 to $50. He was vague about when his guys would be coming and he sort of hedged on the pricing. I sort of took it to mean he really didn't want to work for me any more.

And I know why.

He has been doing steady work for a guy who flips houses and it's keeping him very busy. And I'm to blame for that. I recommended Alberto to my hairdresser who lives 15 miles away. The house flipper guy is a neighbor of hers and he liked the work he saw Alberto do. He hired Alberto to do the yards of all the houses he was flipping. He has a set formula of what he wanted and I guess they ended up doing a lot of work together.

My loss. Alberto isn't as hungry for work as when I first hired him. He's also paying guys $20 per hour to work for him. So things have changed and there's no going back.

Today, I contacted four guys who advertised on Facebook. Two responded and I have tentatively hired one. He quoted me $25 per week. He doesn't have a crew -- he does it all himself. He starts next week. I am prepared that it could go either way: I'll be pleased and he'll last all summer. Or I'll be unhappy and will discontinue using him. But I'm not getting attached like I've been with Alberto. After my bad experience with the snow removal guys in March, I've come to understand that anyone might let you down at any time. There are no guarantees.

Alberto has been so reliable and has done such good work for so long, I've really become dependant on him. I couldn't' imagine wanting to get other bids or consider anyone else. I called him for everything yard-related.

I sent Alberto an email with a little white lie. I told him I was going to try to do the mowing myself with the help of my family. I guess I wanted to soften the message and .also not burn any bridges. Just in case.

So, just like many other things, this is the end of. an era. I honestly feel a little sad. I'll miss Alberto. But this is the right thing to do.

April - A bit more humble

I had a major whine earlier this morning. And I'm not proud of myself. So I decided to take the post down. I'll say this much. Life ain't easy when you're 70. But I'm lucky to have reasonably good health and to be able to continue to contribute in meaningful ways. And I've still got a little vim and vinegar, too. But I've still a whole lot of room for improvement.

January

I was all prepared for winter this year. My new, all-wheel drive Subaru with super duper snow tires. I had hired some young guys to shovel my snow. I was relaxed about January for the first time in a long time.  But winter sort of fizzled out in January. We've had only one really good snow storm with about 9 or 10 inches here.  Otherwise, just an inch or two here and there. My preparations have just not been put to the test. My real concern is not about my wasted efforts, but with a dry water year ahead. I'll have to curtail some of my usual planting in the spring and plan to conserve water.

On a bright note, I've been busy getting things done on my To Do list. That always pleases me.

I signed up for a beginning guitar class with my 15-year old grandson. Our first class was last night. I have two really lovely guitars and he will be using my Taylor while I play the Ibanez. His dad will get him an electric guitar if he sticks with it and learns well. Even though I have played for years, I am liking starting from the beginning again as I've forgotten so much and my technique is sloppy. It's only eight weeks in a community school evening class.  We are two of 20 students -- a big class!

I also  saw an announcement that some people in my town are starting up a community chorus. I have been wanting to find a chorus to sing with for some time. It is, unfortunately, on the same night as our guitar class, but the director said it will be ok if I come late. My voice is rusty and it will be such a pleasure to be reading music and singing again.

My eye exam this month revealed that the cataracts in my eyes have reached a "borderline" state where I could qualify for surgery, or I could wait another year or so. I have been wanting to do the surgery. Primarily, so I could get rid of contact lenses. My older sister and my youngest sister both had the surgery last year, which made me want to do it even more. So now I'm presented with that option. It will be costly because I want to get multi-focal lenses and those are not covered by insurance/Medicare. I have the money to do it, but it's still a big decision. Surprisingly, I'm thinking I'll just update my contact lenses one last time now and put off the surgery until it's more necessary. It's something I can decide to do at any time. Knowing that, I think I'll wait and choose a convenient time. It's good to have options.

So that's January. Yes, we have a few more days. This is such a long month. But being warmer and drier than normal, it hasn't had the downer impact on me January usually does. I'm looking forward to February with some added music in my routines.  If I'm not posting much, it will be because I'm keeping busy.