Getting hygge with it

About 87% certain I have used this blog post title at some point in recent Januarys. I know a lot of people consider this a dark and aimless month, but I quite enjoy it. We will not discuss February at this time, during which I usually feel knocking down the walls and busting at the seams. I have a plan for that this year, so fingers crossed. 

Back to January. I talked earlier this week about tracking habits, and I feel like I have ample time in this long month to get my habits in line with my intentions. I also have ample time to stuff myself with books and TV. For me wellness is about feeling good mentally and physically, but it's also about reading and watching and feeling comfortable and relaxed in my skin and in my home. Some points of home comfort and wellness for me: 

Pantry 

I cook a lot in January, which requires a well stocked pantry and no expired shit. Carol helped me purge in Philly and I did the same at the shore, now I'm cooking through what's left. I hate wasted food

Take care of business

Reducing discomfort and annoyance is top in all living scenarios. Earlier this week I was taping up windows in this 122 year old four story house. I also paid my main peeps, my exterminators, I do service every quarter with them which is an absolute must in a rental. A pest control service provider will ensure your home is nuisance-free, and the right one is a godsend. My favorite tech Walter and I cried through 2020 in masks together. No lie. LOL. 

Soft furnishings

Soft furnishings are king. Rugs, blankets, and pillows are all easy ways to add warmth to your home while enhancing your comfort. I always take stock of mine in January and replace what needs it. Clean blankets are always welcome at most animal shelters, and you can also hand them out to any houseless people in the area who might be in need. My personal favorite sheets are the 400 thread count printed performance sheet set from Threshold at Target. Printed only, I hate the feel of the solid. You all can keep your 800,1000 thread count crap. I hate microfiber (used to use) and cannot with anything that is not 100% cotton. I have clear lines drawn around sheets.

Address clutter spots

I like to mow through spaces as I come upon them, and I am always lurking around my own house in January plus I'm integrating holiday stuff so it's a good time to address clutter as you come upon it.

Add things that make you happy

Another great way of making your home more comfortable is by adding things that make you happy. I like to update my decor a lot, and I end up moving things around to make it seem new. I do add new pieces from time to time. The past six months, that has been taper candleholders which are absolutely perfect to have out and around in January since it's dark for a long period at night and also has its fair share of gray days. 

If you have ever seen photos of my living areas, you know color, fresh flowers, art, books, and shiny things make me happy too. If we don't feel happy in our homes, where the hell will we feel happy? 

What about you? What are you doing this month to be happier within your four walls?

Thursday Thoughts - Hang the sign upon the door, say, 'Don't disturb this groove'

Sinking into that quiet first week January candles cozy don't disturb this groove hygge flow

Thinking a lot of us think endings are bad when they are a fact of life and usually good in retrospect, often necessary when we think about the situations we are no longer in or the people we are no longer required to move among. Regarding situations, sometimes we don't realize we need a change in the way we're moving about in this world until we make one, which is sometimes forced on us by an external scenario. Regarding people, sometimes we're friends because of circumstance, and circumstances change. There's no hard feelings over that even though we'd like to assign hard feelings to it when relationships or friendships die out. Social media has us thinking we should never stop interacting with people and that is simply not the case. If you need to stop with me, I wish you well. 

Reminding that January 6, 2021 was an insurrection called for by the outgoing president of the United States and should be investigated and prosecuted as such. Any support for it regardless of how you are politically affiliated is anti-American. Coups happen in banana republics and you live in one when you elect a shyster clown. Happy Treason Anniversary cult members!

Shoveling snow Monday. So much fucking snow, 13 inches of heavy ass snow. I am not into that kind of snow. I am into the day immediately after the snow though, for icicles and such.

Returning to the beach after a few weeks away 

Deciding against walking to the beach with Bruce (which he had feelings about) when it was the frozen tundra because he pulls when he is excited and I did not want to break an arm falling on ice in a dark and lonely town. Ben would love to go but would be too cold before we even got there.

Watching dogs melt into electric blankets like it is a river of syrup

Looking around for my fourth dog who is of course no longer with us

Working around deadlines 

Ignoring COVID shit that is not CDC memes because I can't right now. I really hope so many people having it right now is leading us into endemic territory instead of pandemic territory because I'm tired and the government continues to suck farts on the management and mitigation of this

Keeping a thought for the people who perished in the Fairmount fire in Philly yesterday. So awful. Thanks to PFD for their service as always. PLEASE CHECK YOUR SMOKE DETECTORS REGULARLY. If you need help doing so, please contact your local fire department and ask for resources. Here's a list collected by WHYY on how to help survivors. 

Taking lots of Ben photos this week. The ear photo reminds me of one of these things is not like the others

Using my lavender heated shoulder pack thingy that always feels like a hoax when I see them but is quite pleasant in execution

Watching Insecure on HBO and Abbott Elementary on I don't know. ABC?

Reading I picked a slow one to start off the year, moved on to a Netgalley that comes out 1/11. The first Show Us Your Books of 2022 is this Tuesday, January 11, which seems fast. The Favorite Reads linkup is still open until Sunday also. 

What's new with you?

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is The System Don't Disturb this Groove

No longer set adrift on memory bliss

In my year end post here, in talking with people, and around Instagram - I do a lot of micro-blogging there in captions and sharing in stories, which I said years ago I would never do and we all know what happens when we say never - I have said I have no goals for 2022 and wanted to come gently into this year. 

I suppose that's true, in comparison to how I used to transition into years and present lists here and what I considered goals. 

I spent a good portion of 2020 and some of 2021 adrift because that is what worked for me through that time. I ate more sugar than I'd like, moved less than I'd like, did not keep great work/life boundaries, and accumulated shit I do not need. All of those things served as crutches to help me survive some mentally and societally difficult times and that is what counts in the end. I cultivated some good habits too, like more time outside, and mornings for myself or more sleep. Those are coming with me into 2022, but some of the other stuff...I woke up one morning in fall 2021 and was like yeah, this isn't it. So I started making small changes because adrift amidst those things does not work for me where I am now. Most things I try to consistently do and pursue right now - and most boundaries I have in place - contribute to me feeling well balanced and at peace, and work in a motley little chorus to keep pandemic brain at bay because pandemic brain destroys my peace. 

Normalize waking up and changing anything at any time. You don't have to be what you've always been, and if you want to go back to doing something, you always can. We pigeonhole ourselves all the time and it serves none of us.

Since January is a quiet month, I'm spending it tracking. I want to know what I actually do daily versus what I think I do daily since days can run together. I have about 8-10 habits I believe I am consistent with daily and more I'd like to be consistent with so I put them into a habit tracker on google sheets and am spending January figuring out what I am actually consistently doing and what I can do. Like, can I be a person who doesn't hit snooze? Almost 45 years on this earth says no but we'll see. When I miss doing my daily dos, what is going on around me that day? Going forward I will adjust what I need to and swap things some months. Tracking this on Google Sheets is new to me too and - nerd alert - part of the fun. 

1. Drink 100 oz water

2. Veggie quota

3. Vitamins

4. Stretch

5. Walk

6. Get up no snooze

7. Moisturize at night

8. At least 30 min outside

9. No unplanned spending 

10. 10 minute tidy

11. Clear sink

12. Gratitude

13. No phone after 9 

14. Read 25 min

15. Sleep 8 hours

I also have some weeklies: face mask, do something different, yoga. All things I always mean to do and do not. Once a week is not a hard ask, right?

After discussing with Jana, I'm also considering switching my reading tracking from Goodreads to StoryGraph which is Black and woman owned, not affiliated with Amazon, and will give me the cool reading graphs I want at the end of the year without me doing jack shit to get them. I can also do half and quarter stars and  track which books I own. I imported all of my data from Goodreads so I'm testing that this month. The only thing I don't like so far is that if you add a book to your to read shelf and it is not published yet, it does not tell you at a glance when it will be. 

And planning. A family vacation. Some shore projects - updated light fixtures, peel & stick wallpapering bathroom, painting a tile floor, replacing or painting interior doors. Some light fixtures and furniture updates in Philly too. The planning and research are part of the fun for me and I missed that a lot when I felt in a place where we shouldn't be planning anything.

Maybe you're adrift. Maybe you are picking some old habits up or creating some new ones. Maybe you are just holding steady.

Two years into a pandemic that upended things for a lot of us, routines altered, stances learned about others in regards to public health and race and all manner of things that have changed relationships forever, late stage capitalism, loss and grief and deaths related to Covid and not, health system and public education system burn down and out, it has been a lot and there has been a sitting in a holding pattern feeling to the past few years for me and I know for a lot of you too. There have also been wonderful things - new friends made, new pets, babies born, engagements, birthdays celebrated, marriages, traditions returning, people living through a period of global pain and deciding to pursue what they actually want surrounded by people they actually want to be surrounded by instead of doing what they've always done and keeping people around just because, records broken, new skills learned, new hobbies explored, new favorite books and shows and restaurants and recipes, and most important always, people surviving all of their hard days. 

We all have to do our own thing and make our own way, today and every other day. If that is sitting still and holding steady where you are right now, that is good. If it is working on big goals, that is good. If it's small and steady intentional acts to keep you well, that is good. If it's one thing today and something else tomorrow, that is good. We don't need the turn of a year or month to change anything that is not working for us. It's all good.

Whatever you're doing, whenever you're doing it, and however you're doing it, I'm rooting for you. As long as it's not hurting yourself or others or like, a crime you are going to be on TV for. 

Toodles. 

TWTW - the one with the New Year

Friday I was wreath hunting and exchanging slippers early after painting my nails. At night I lit the bayberry candles for luck and made tater tot cups. Carol made mini crab cakes and we had delicious desserts. I finished a book literally at midnight and was asleep by 1. 

Saturday Happy New Year! The Mummers parade was postponed which doesn't happen often and feels really weird. I returned something to Marshalls and we picked up something from Sam Ash for MFD, then it was old school punch and pork and sauerkraut time. My pork was dry and I was not pleased. I always fuck up when I don't follow my nose. It smelled done 15 minutes earlier than I took it out of the oven. At night I made ziti for Sunday with help from MFD and Carol, and we nearly got divorced over couches that did not fit down the basement stairs. El Fin.

Sunday I was woken up at 7 am by someone telling me my new couches would be there within 15 minutes. Over two months earlier than they were supposed to arrive period. Okay then, screw that 8-12 window. So yes, there are four couches in the living room, a Mummers parade, and snow coming so there will be four couches in the living room for a few days. I picked up rock salt and filled my car with gas, changed sheets, and did four loads of laundry while MFD was off mumming. 

I watched the parade - loved less props this year - then I ran over to see MFD with my brother & nephew, and MFD's sister and nephew stopped in too. I said hello to a few people then took off for the shore to secure everything since snow was expected overnight, and it is delivering.  

Happy happy birthday to my BFF Laura today!

If this is the first time we're catching up this year, Happy New Year! 

Mummers Day 2022

Happy New Year! Or Mummer's Day in Philadelphia. I did not expect to be sharing this post this year for multiple reasons but here we are so happy happy everything! 

In Philadelphia, the Mummers are back this year despite coronavirus kicking it overtime BUT since the weather did not hold, the parade is rescheduled from Saturday, 1/1 to Sunday, 1/2. I'm hoping everyone stays healthy. I'll be watching on TV this year. If you are sick, please stay home. 

What's a Mummer?
http://www.pennlive.com/life/2016/12/mummers_philadelphia_what_is.html

https://www.pennlive.com/life/2019/12/what-is-a-mummer-history-meaning-and-more-behind-the-new-years-day-philadelphia-parade.html

What type of Mummer is MFD? 
Changing it up this year (after I thought we were finally done) - MFD is back with his first/family band, Uptown String Band (formerly Harrowgate) that he joined in 1989, which is now conveniently located directly across the street from my brother & Aubrey's house. The former clubhouse is directly across the street from MFD’s brother & Sarah’s house. Funny, right? The String Bands are the last division to perform and Uptown goes up third out of 14 string bands. Their theme is Better Maize Ahead.

They are supposed to be on TV around 1:20 but the parade is typically running behind (live stream link below), so start checking in around 1:15 to see where they are schedule-wise if you specifically want to see them or a little earlier if you want to catch all the string bands - it's quite a production with the music and the costumes and props; and a time honored tradition to put a good show out on the street on New Year's Day. REMEMBER TIMES ARE APPROXIMATE, PARADE SOMETIMES RUNS BEHIND. 

This parade is MFD's 32nd parade (no parade in 2021). I hope everyone has fun, stays healthy, and no one is an asshole. This is what he’s in today:

For a guide of the 2022 parade, visit  
PHL 17 parade brochure

https://www.visitphilly.com/things-to-do/events/the-mummers-parade/

To stream live - you cannot use Internet Explorer as your browser:

https://phl17.com/on-air/live-streaming/
https://phl17.com/mummers/live-2022-mummers-parade-stream-on-phl17/

Coverage begins at 9 am. String Bands are on a lot later.

The parade will also be live on PHL17's facebook page.

To catch some shots on Instagram:
Philly Mummers String Band Association (@phillymummerssba)

As always, I will post a pic of MFD so you know what type of costume to look for if you watch the live stream and he might be posting too (@lifeaccordingtosteph & @mikedoylesellshouses on Instagram).

Cheers! Happy New Year!