Panera is Saving My Data

I increased my dataplan to 12G per month (saving $20 per month in the process), and yet, I'm still in a data crunch. I suspect it's because I had to hook the laptop up to do something, and my 20+ tabs in Firefox sucked up a bunch of data. This is why I don't use the laptop much when I'm on mobile data.

Mr. L is still in limbo about when they will do his procedure. We've had rainy weather here in San Antonio, so the yard work I had planned has been on hold. Both Mr. L and I tend to feel the last three months have been wasted while waiting for this medical issue to resolve. Of course, that's not entirely true. He's been plugging away at things a little at a time, and I have too.


In general, things are good. Lord knows, they could be much worse. We have much to be thankful for, and that extends well beyond the material world. In the three things that matter, we have no complaints:

Health: We both have the hope of improved health, and many do not have that.

Wealth: We have no debt, and we can generally do whatever we want.

Love: We have one another, and we both have a few good friends. When I pray for people in family and my extended relationships, it takes a long, long time.

The Week Ahead:

• Rake and bag leaves (assuming they dry out)
• Trim front hedge
• Edge
• Write 20 minutes per day
• Work with Sapphire

Amazing to think we're rolling into December this week. I did some reflection, and, focusing on the good things, it's been a good year.

Chillin' in San Antonio

Mr. L is feeling pretty good and is getting tired of being in medical limbo. His doctor said three to four weeks, so I'm still feeling patient about the whole situation.  Weather has taken on a welcome and distinct fall flavor here in Texas.

Now that Mr. L has gotten his medical team on board with the testing requirement for the medication he's been asked to take, I feel more confident that we're moving in the right direction.

The cats are enjoying their time here in San Antonio. I'm investigating my Essential Oils starter kit. I really like the Ningxia Red drink. The cats seem to like the Thieves oil when I diffuse it. I'm going to get some Peace and Calming to try with them. I like the scent.

Mr. L ordered a new Toshiba laptop. He's also looking for a new desktop but hasn't found that yet. It's easier than trying wipe his old machines and install Windows 10 on them.

I'm having printer troubles with my ten year old color laser printer.  The one in San Antonio is working okay, but is very slow. The one in Central Texas is not printing correctly, printing in invisible ink (an option I'd love to figure out how to turn off), and it's not printing colors correctly. It has all new cartridges and a new drum. When I get back up there, I'm going to try several calibration cycles to see if that will fix the problem. If not, I may be looking for a new printer.

My WiFi router will handle up to ten connections, and I think I'm exceeding that. So far, I don't have more than ten devices on simultaneously, so I think I'm okay.

The Week Ahead:

• Pull up old soaker hoses in side yard and put out for trash
• Mow backyard
• Trim front hedges
• Trim side bushes
• Snuggle Sapphire daily
• Continue with homework for course -- it's all coming together

Why, Of Course, I'm Still Here

I got overwhelmed by the non-stop travel of October, and the radical change in plans for November set me back a little, but I'm getting adjusted. After spending an unanticipated week in San Antonio last week, we returned to Central Texas to regroup and prepare to be in San Antonio for the next month. I'm looking forward to getting yard work and house work done and maybe a little relaxation.

The MasterKey program has been overwhelming, but in a good way. I worried about traveling and October, but I adapted just fine to that -- probably because I was mentally prepared. The unexpected (but not completely unanticipated) change in plans for November set me back a little, but I'm recovering. In the past, I have not adjusted quickly to unplanned for change. I'm learning how to do that effectively.

I have my knee follow-up tomorrow afternoon. Other than that, I've been doing laundry, paying bills, doing homework, assembling a cat tower (they use it!), and other sundry items around here. We'll take all the kitties with us Tuesday. Mr. L feels well enough to drive, so we won't be trailering my truck (unless something changes between now and Tuesday), and I have been gathering things I wanted to have with me in SA for the next several weeks.

While in Wisconsin, I joined with my Mom as a Young Living Essential Oils distributor. I haven't had time to test out the oils in my starter kit yet, but it will be coming with me to San Antonio, and I plan to begin boning up. This is something I've always been curious about, and I was pleased to learn the purity of Young Living's oils is respected. My mom has had amazing results for a few trouble areas for her. She also learned of a less desirable effect when my dad had a disturbing response to her diffusing too much of a certain oil for too long a time. I took it as a reminder that these things are powerful and one must be cautious until they know how any particular oil interacts personally. Care must also be taken if someone new comes into your home who isn't accustomed to using oils. 

The Week Ahead:

• Catch up on blogging -- with limited access, I took a couple of weeks off
• 6 month knee follow up. I expect this to be very routine
• Continue snuggling Rossie and Sapphire. I'm pleased that after snuggling with me for at least ten minutes tonight, Rossie has spent three hours curled up in the upper "room" of the new cat tower. 
• Begin learning what essential oils can do.
• Get caught up with a few of the Master Key class assignments I've fallen behind on (creating my Movie Poster!)
• Write
• Heading off to bed now. Y'all have a great week now, ya' hear?

Sempre Gumby

Always flexible. It's a good thing to be when you're being pulled in different directions. I'm starting to feel like maybe I can pull off the new normal. I just have to figure out what it is. It seems like it keeps getting interrupted.

I'm developing new routines and my work schedule is holding so far. It's going to change a little next week. I've had to cut hours so I'm going down to three days a week. It's going to hit my paycheck, but it's the case for all of us. The kids seem to understand. I haven't had any howls of protest. Maybe they're all planning to quit right before Christmas. Who knows? It seems like it's about time for crap to hit the fan again, but my feelings won't be hurt if I'm wrong.

I'm hoping, with an extra day off, to start getting some shorts on Kindle. I haven't done anything except decide it needs to be done. I haven't even decided which story to use. I just know I need to get some stuff out there, and banging out some material when I'm working less seems like the logical thing to do. I'm already having visions of steaming mugs off coffee in my garret with snow falling on the big blue spruce outside my window.

It's been really lovely here the last few days--sunny, low 70's, clear blue skies. I had customers at work yesterday--more than the half dozen that usually constitutes a good day shift. There were enough to interrupt me on and off all day. It was great!

I'm heading north this weekend to see my mom. It will be a quick trip. She said something about going over family pictures because they won't make sense without context. All I can figure is they're all from six generations back, and she's giving me way too much credit that I'm going to remember! I'll figure out a way. Maybe text pictures with the info to myself or something. I'll stop to drop some boxes off at my grandma's on the way. She's decided it's time to move to a place where she can get a higher level of care. I think she's been isolating herself in her apartment. She doesn't even leave to get her mail or the newspaper anymore--her neighbors bring them to her.

That's about all we have for excitement. Hope I didn't wear you out. I'm pretty tired. Hope y'all are having a good week.