Trying to feel better

I've been trying so hard to feel better but there's a limit to what I can do.  All I can do is keep asking doctors and reading anything I can find for ideas of things to try.  Today I am exhausted but I'm trying to do whatever I can.  I am making my husband a birthday cake.  I keep messing everything up but in the end there will be cake.  It won't be perfect but I know that will be okay.  Everyone around here likes yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  It will probably be gone by tomorrow.

My husband has been working a lot and he's very tired.  He's on call this week and there's a major thing going on. I hate to see him so tired but I'm also proud.  He's been working such long hours, sometimes going in at night and the working the next morning too.  He has stayed in a pretty good mood considering.  I am trying to prevent any extra stress by doing whatever I can around here.

I have not been making anything crafty-wise but I have all kinds of things I WANT to make.  I have beautiful new yarn and patterns and I just need to feel better.  I decided to come in here and write and see if that helps my mood at all.  

I have been reading whenever I can.  I am currently reading A Light in the Window by Jan Karon.  I have read it before so I know I love it.  I love the whole Mitford series and decided to read them all again. I always wish I could move to Mitford.  I know I would love it there. I want to sit in Grill and chat with all the great characters.  I haven't read the last book in the series though.  I think it will actually be the final book and I'm a little nervous about what's going to happen.   I'll read it after I refresh my memory of the other books.  

I read the first book last month and decided to do something new.  I always end up googling a lot of details whenever I'm reading.  I look up quotes and authors mentioned, maps and look up photos of places, food, recipes etc. but I don't usually do anything with that information so it just gets lost.  This time, when I read At Home in Mitford, I decided to write down lines from the book I loved and any other info and slip it in the pages.  The next time I, or someone else reads that book that information will be right there.  

I read that Mitford was probably based on Blowing Rock, NC and that Miss Sadie's amazing home called Fernbank is most likely based on the real Flat Top Manor.  I found a postcard of that and put it in the book.  I collect postcards and I've done that with another book as well.  I plan to do that with all the books I keep, which is just a few, but I'll be collecting many more book related postcards.  That is something that brings me joy and I can use all the serotonin I can get.    

Update

I've been having a rough time lately.  It has been one thing after the other causing me pain so I haven't been doing anything fun.  I feel like things are starting to improve so my focus is on doing whatever I can to help keep that momentum going.  I started the day with some yin yoga and I feel like my body really needed that.  I feel like a got a nice adjustment for my posture that helped relieve some pain.  After spending a lot of time in bed or slumped in a recliner unable to focus on anything, the yoga really felt good.  Well, it was a little tough going at first and I had to adapt some poses with yoga blocks but then things loosened up. I need to keep doing that on a daily basis.  I let the habit of doing nightly yoga slip but I was doing 30 min on the treadmill instead.  I think I'll add in the yoga in the morning.  I use Yoga With Kassandra on youtube and she's great.  

I'm also playing music today instead of turning on the news or other TV.  That is helping to lift my mood.  

I picked a project to focus on and I decided to paint my little metal table with two chairs that goes in my yard since it is finally not raining or super wet from recent rain.  They are a little rusty so I'm trying to sand some of those spots and then get them painting today.  Winter is just around the corning and I can feel it in the air.  I haven't seen many yellow leaves yet but I am pretty sure fall will be short this year.  I hope I'm wrong.

I haven't been reading because I'm having trouble focusing on a book.  I recently listened to a few Alex Cross books.  I'm trying to catch up with that series.  I have finally read all the James Patterson books I have.  I am going to listen to a Clive Cussler book from the Isaac Bell series as soon as my brain reunites with my body.  

I have been knitting on the baby blanket occasionally but it is slow going.  I keep messing up or dropping stitches and having to tink back to fix it.  I am determined this blanket will not be full of mistakes.  I didn't take a picture because it really looks the same but just a little bigger.  

I did buy some new yarn for a new crochet project and I'm excited to start that.  My yarn ball winder broke about a year ago so I finally ordered a new one.  I should get it on Friday and I want to try to figure out a place to put it where I can leave it out.  I'm just not sure if that's going to be doable though.  Maybe my husband can figure out a way.  He's better at that.  I need to take a picture of the beautiful blue yarn I bought for it.  

Another one of my fish died and I have no idea why.  He wasn't really that old so I'm sad.  He was a little rubber pleco so one that doesn't get real big.  He crawled up in a hole in the bottom of a tank decoration and my son thinks he may have gotten stuck in there.  Maybe that's it.  My son pulled him out for me and I really appreciate him for that.  Maybe that decoration thing needs to go.  I'm bummed because he was such a character.  Also, the only pet store we have here is having trouble getting shipments of fish now.  The tanks have been nearly empty so I'm not sure when I'll be able to get another one.  I think I'll rearrange the tank and enjoy the fish I have right now.  I need to make sure no one else dies.  

New goals for crafting

Spring is finally coming and it's time to come out of hibernation.  It is so nice to see the sun shining again.  I can't wait to see green grass again and get some flowers planted in my yard.  

I took a big break from every kind of crafting for a while so I want to get back into that.  I did make a few things recently so that's a start.  My husband fixed up a better area for my yarn in the garage so now I need to get in there and organize it.  I have too much for the space though so I need to use some of it up.  I am going to look at what I have and see what patterns I can find to make with it.  I'm thinking about doing YOP (Year of Projects) again.  I wish a had a little space for a chair or something in there but there's just not much space.  We have two exercise machines in there close to where my yarn is.  I did just donate a bunch of stuff so I'm going to try to find a little room there.  It just won't be anything really cosy.  

I have been reading a lot.  I have started to read more new books and mainly using kindle unlimited and books from the digital library.  In years past I've been really focused on reading the oldest books on my shelves and moving them out.  I still have a lot of books that I need to read though.  I really need to focus on finishing some series that I've started and just keep dragging around.  

I also started watching Doctor Who again starting from the very beginning (1963).  I love watching those old shows.  I even watched (or listened to) the missing episodes.  I'm now up to season 12 with the 4th doctor.  He is who I remember from when I was a kid and I love him and the crazy things he says and does.  

D

Murder on Marble Row by Victoria Thompson

I enjoyed this book but parts of it were weird and I thought it could have been better.  Sarah's mother didn't seem like the same character from the previous books.  She started acting just like Sarah and I felt like Sarah's character was just copied for her.  I do realize they are mother and daughter so could be very similar but in all the other books she disapproved of all the things Sarah was doing.  Now, all of a sudden she is out running around in the seeder parts of town with her daughter and interrogating people.  It just seemed odd.  

I do like her helping her daughter though and loved the sneaky ways she helped too.  

I love the parts about Malloy's son and how he is improving.  I hope the relationship between him and Sarah will start to move a bit faster.  

I'm torn now about what to read next.  Should I read another book in this series or move on to something different?  I have so many books to read.  

Murder on Marble Row by Victoria Thompson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story was very convoluted and hard to figure out, although I did guess the ending pretty early. I just didn't know how it would work out. What a messed up family! I kept thinking they could have gone on some crazy talk show if it were a different time. I could just see that family talking to Dr. Phil. I have to say it was weird how Sarah and her mother suddenly seemed like the same character in this book when they have always been very different. Suddenly, Mrs. Dekker is out running around brazenly interrogating people in the sketchier parts of town with Sarah. It was a weird shift. I know they are mother and daughter but suddenly they are acting like twins. I did like the ending after the conclusion of the mystery.

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Affirmation for today

My pain only has as much power as I allow it to have. So today, I am giving it no power.

Back for fall

I haven't been writing here since so much was going on that was difficult to write about online.  Some stuff is just too personal to post to the world.  

It feels like fall here now and it is very wet and soggy.  I do enjoy the fall colors but it is early for that.  I have only seen a little bit of the fall colors in the leaves but it definitely feels like summer is over.  We started out having some nice summer days and then the forest fires started.  The smoke really ruins a beautiful day.  When the rain started we really didn't mind because it damped down the fires and it wasn't so smoky.  It just rained too much.  I am not ready for summer to be over and really thought I'd be able to get so much more accomplished around the house and yard.  Oh well, there will be next year.  We've had a lot going on here.

About a week ago I noticed some water on the kitchen floor.  I wiped it up and the next day I noticed more water in the same place.  I wiped it up and watched it come right back in the cracks of my new LVP floor.  The dishwasher has been leaking.  It wasn't a lot of water so we put a big fan on it and it seems to be dried up now.  I replaced the gasket on my dishwasher and that did not fix it.  I can see where it is leaking on one side of the dishwasher door at the bottom.  I don't think it is worth trying to fix a 20 year old dishwasher.  We moved into this house when it was new in September 2004.  I have fixed it a few times throughout the years by replacing parts myself and I think we were pretty fortunate with that one.  I hope we can get another one that doesn't require a lot of costly repairs.  

I can tell you it is very stressful looking at what is available.  The prices are so much higher and it seems like things are made so cheaply.  I see reviewers saying machines they just bought a year or two ago have broken already.  Why do they cost so much when they just make them such low quality?  

We just had to buy a new washing machine a few months back.  Sigh...

Anyway, I am working on a crochet project right now.  It's mosaic crochet and I'm enjoying it.  I've been feeling bad lately so progress has been slow but I sure do love how it is turning out.  

I'm reading a book in a series I am really enjoying - The Gaslight Mystery series by Victoria Thompson.  I'm reading Murder on Mulberry Bend (book #5).  I'm glad I finally read past the first book in that series.  I read the first book twice before this year and planned to keep reading.  I had to read it again this year to refresh my memory.  I shouldn't need to read it again lol  

Organizing books

I've been going through my books and I have a small stack of books I know I will probably never read.  I'll just donate those.  That will give me more room on my shelves for books I definitely want to read.  I recently started reading more fantasy so I need room for those.  

I used google sheets to make a few charts to help me keep track of things.  The last 3 years, I think, I was following this blog called theunreadshelf.  She just closed it down but I learned some helpful things from her.  She always said to count your books and that it helps to go through them every year.  I didn't think it really mattered but when I actually did it, I realized she was right.  It helped me to look at each one again and remember why I bought it.  Sometimes I just forgot all about a book I was dying to read when I bought it.  Going through them again and rereading the summaries helped to wake up that desire to read those books again.  It also helps to find books that you really aren't into anymore.  I just have a way more books than shelf space. 

When I was looking at my books I decided the best way to organize them was by book type.  I have shelves for mass market paperbacks (MMPB) with a section just for those new ones that are a little taller (MMPBN).  I have separate shelves for hardcovers and trade paperbacks.  I have all of my books (and my husband's and my oldest son's) entered into my goodreads account.  I have tags set up to show where to find the book and what format it is and I have mine is alphabetical order.

I made a google sheets file to keep track of how many books I have for each type and then I will be able to compare those numbers in the following years.  During the last 3 years I have been counting my books, I have read and moved out a bunch of them.  I have a lot more to go though.  I'm not sure how this works exactly but apparently, I can share the link to the file I made so it can be used as a template for anyone interested in doing the same.  This is a copy.  I also made a file to keep track of the books in and out for the year.  At the end of the year I want to have less books than I started with so I enter books out as a negative number and then books in as positive numbers.  Here is a copy of that google sheets file.  Those files are set up to do the totals for you.  

I'm almost finished going through my books for this year and I'm already happy with the way my shelves are looking with the space I freed up last year.  Last year I focused on reading hardcover books because they take up the most room and after taking out the books I'll never read my shelves look much better.  

I hope everyone has a fantastic reading year.  

Donna