Hey, Friend!

Weeding my garden put me in the hospital.

That I was weeding was an oddity in itself.

I love planning a garden.

 I love planting a garden.

 I love harvesting a garden.

I absolutely abhor maintaining a garden.

I always have. Even before it required me to go to physical...

Well, last week was a week, wasn't it?

In my neck of the woods, we had a Monday holiday.

Then two snow days.

Then, finally, a day of school!

...and then another snow day. 

We only had a few flurries last year, so these snows that dropped enough for sledding--and canceled school!--were a BIG...

Happy New Year! I can still say that, right? I mean, my holiday decorations are still up.

I hope you were able to get some downtime for yourself over the holiday.

I did. At least, I did after I decided to slow roll into 2024 instead of trying to get all of 2024 planned while also trying to manage...

I'm not proud of this, but I used to be an envious little twit.

I found it hard to be genuinely happy for my friends when good things happened in their careers.

I mean, I wasn't a total ass-hat about it.

I was happy for them. And I'd congratulate them and celebrate the news.

But inside I was...

When I was little, I thought people said "It's a doggie-dog world."

I knew from the context it meant something negative.

I wasn't clear on why dogs were involved. Maybe it just meant not good for humans? Like how if something's "gone to the dogs" it was no longer good?

So I figured if something...

So, the world’s on fire. Even with my limited news diet, I know this.

And we’re all just supposed go on being productive?

How?

The thing is, I actually really want to be productive right now.

Because what I want more than anything is to re-write that “always be productive”...

I was absolutely certain I sent a weekly email last week.

I would've bet on it.

Aaaaannnnd....I would've lost. Because I definitely did not.

It's the kind of thing I could really beat myself up about.

And that's exactly what I would've done to myself in the past.

Somewhere in my formative years,...

"Don't get so emotional."

That's right up there with "calm down" as phrases guaranteed to elicit the exact opposite reaction than the words request...

I'm not sure which is worse.

It probably doesn't matter, since they mean basically the same thing:

"Your reaction is making me uncomfortable, so...

The week after Labor Day always feels so...blah.

When I commuted, I always noticed how everyone on the road or the metro looked like kids who'd just been told they could never eat Oreos ever again. 

It's like we collectively understand, regardless of the weather where we live, that summer's...

There are no skeletons in my closet.

There's an entire cemetery.

There’s the Hobby Mausoleum. Entombed here are the remains of quilling supplies, beads, embroidery floss, jewelry paraphernalia, partially completed projects--along with all the craft flotsam I’ve accumulated from my...

At 10:15 pm last night (Thursday), I started this email.

But my goal is to send emails out on Thursday. During the day.

Theoretically, I should’ve made it. I had a draft done earlier this week.

The trouble was, I simply couldn’t finish it. Even though I really like writing.

This was...