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Three Words

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I’ve been picking three words as a theme for the year for several years now. Well, I’ve picked three words each year but sometimes only one or two words really come through for me. One year I chose the word reduce as one of my three words and that’s the year that I got rid of a lot of things in my house by having the estate sale and was the year that I really started to lose weight. This year my three words are:

  • pull-up:  I like pull-up because I’ve set a goal at the gym (Summa Wellness Institute in Hudson) to do one pull up. That is an unbelievably difficult goal for me but I’m working on it. I also like the whole “bootstrap” thing. So, the multiple meanings work well for me.
  • income: I could not think of a multi-meaning word that really got to the point for me on this so I went with the word that means what is important for me. I really need to focus on generating income now that I’m self-employed
  • consolidate: I want to consolidate my possessions and actions so that I’m living a more efficient life and in a less cluttered environment.

If you’re not familiar withe the idea of choosing three words for the year over setting resolutions, read Chris Brogran’s blog about it. He started this in 2006 and has been using it ever since and encouraging the rest of the world to follow suit.

Three Words 2015: Pull-Up, Consolidate, Income

Three Words 2015

Home Repairs

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This morning I figured out why the shower door in my son’s bathroom was always difficult to slide open. The one door was off the track so I managed to lift it up and put it back where it belonged. This was not difficult at all but I was pretty pleased with myself for seeing what the problem was and fixing it.

This past weekend, I realized that an earring had been laundered and was stuck down in the dryer’s filter trap. I tried and tried to get it out but could not lift it out. I remembered that Dave had a magnetized screw driver but didn’t know for sure what it looked like and if it was still around. I was feeling very frustrated when all of a sudden I thought of chewing gum. I ended up not using gum but put a big wad of scotch tape on a stick and used that to retrieve the earring. I was pleased with myself over that too.

Earlier, I replaced the screens on my back porch with the glass windows for the colder months. The windows are heavy and bulky but I managed to do it on my own. That too made me happy.

So, hooray for me for fixing some things. Unfortunately, my garage door suddenly is malfunctioning, my outside light has quit working, and my kitchen faucet has developed a leak. I already know I can’t fix those things so it’s time to make some calls.

I dislike having to take care of everything. It’s tiring and I always end up feeling inadequate.

 

Tools

Five Lies

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My friend Lois is mourning her brother and like everyone some days are harder than others. She sent me this link to a blog post that she likes. A friend sent it to her, Lois sent it to me, I’m sharing it here.

5 lies you were told about grief

I will tell you the one platitude I hated was “you wouldn’t have wanted Dave to still be suffering.” Well, maybe I did. Intellectually perhaps not but emotionally, I would have given anything to have had him still here in any state.

Anyway, I think she’s on to something though most of us do indeed have to go to work and buy groceries.  I would add that it’s also ok to begin to live your life again.

 

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By Mickaël Delcey (Silverkey) (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

 

Foundations

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It’s great how many meanings there are to the word foundations. I’ve been fixated on the foundation that holds up my house.

I’ve been working on getting someone in to repair the foundation in my house. Oh, what a mess. I have cracks in the foundation walls. I gather that they need to be repaired but according to the various men who have come out to look at it, they have all seen worse. Apparently this town is full of houses with cracking foundations because the place is full of clay. I, however, lie in bed at night worrying that my house is going to collapse.

Plus, while worrying about my house, at the same time at work, I was writing a class on structural damages in houses. Sometimes the world just hits you over the head. Repeatedly

Five estimates from five different companies. Prices ranged from $5250 to over $30,000 and everyone had different ideas as to what to do. I chose one of the lesser priced solutions. I think it will work. The guy I went with was a name I got from a friend. Then the woman who does my taxes gave me the same name and then last night I met some friends at the local wine bar and one of the women also knew the guy and was very positive on him. So, three personal references work for me.

Now he just has to get me on the schedule I guess. Contractors do not have the finely honed communication skills I would like.

 

No food in the house!

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At some point I decided I had to start eating in a more healthy fashion. I also began to go to the Trim Life program at the Cleveland Clinic. So, I’m supposed to be eating an anti-inflammatory diet. That means lots of vegetables, some fruit, nuts, beans, and some fish. I’m actually doing pretty well with this but as soon as someone comes to my house, I realize I have very little normal food for them. I have to go to the grocery store and buy some things.

When my son came home from college for Christmas break, I had to go out and buy some food for him. He can eat what I eat but since he was home all day while I was at work, he needed more food. And since he’s still a teen, he requires some junk food.

blackberries