Friends - they are priceless

I tend to be one of those people who do not have a huge group of friends.  I guess that goes along with being an introvert.  I like quiet pursuits and am able to keep myself occupied and engaged without much outside intervention.  Yet the friends I have mean everything to me.

First of all there is my partner in crime, who I have written about several times in this blog.  She is my husband's youngest sister.  We have known each other for years and have had many wonderful adventures.  She loves to plan fun jaunts and trips and I love to go on them.  So we are a great pair immersing ourselves in our love of cooking, foodie - ing and all things shopping.

Another example is my friend Joyce.  She lives across the street from me and we have been dog walking companions for several years.  Through the blazing heat of summer and the frigid cold of winter we can be seen walking our dogs around the neighborhood.

Recently I was telling Joyce that the person who does some yard work for me was not responding to my requests to trim back my lilac bushes after they bloomed this spring.  She said she loves to do that kind of work and would help me.

So Saturday afternoon she texted me and said she was in the mood to do some trimming of bushes.  I told her to come on over and we would tackle the lilacs.  It was a beautiful day, not too hot or too humid, so it was a perfect time to take care of this task.

She cut and I cleaned up.  It was a dirty task and we both attacked it the zeal.  Within an hour the bushes were cut back and I had cleaned up and bagged all the debris.

That is truly a friend who will take a Saturday afternoon and get down and dirty with a task I had been dreading for a while.  We had a great time and I totally appreciated her taking care of me.

Friends - they are priceless.  I am blessed to have them in my life.

Finding my new normal

In the last month my life has taken several unexpected turns.  I started a new job which is wonderful, challenging and lots of fun.  I am busy all day and my step counter shows by the end of the day.  I usually have my 10,000 step goal met by the time I head home after work.

At the other end of the feelings spectrum,  my precious dog, The Princess, passed from this life.  I was all right with making that hard decision to have her euthanized.  Yet since her passing I am struggling with missing her.  Sometimes I seem to see her lying in one of her usual spots out of the corner of my eye.  Then I look again and realize she is no longer with me.  I sometimes hear her barking in the middle of the night.  I know this is just the pathways of my brain letting go of memories, but it just brings the loss back to me again and again. Knowing The Princess it is very possible her spirit is still with me.

With my new job and lots more activity I am coming home at night just exhausted.  My plan is to get back to working out to focus on strength and core fitness.  Yet by the time I am home and get everything done, working out is the last thing on my list.  Fortunately I do get plenty of steps every day.

So it is time for a reboot of my goals for this year.  I plan to find the time for strength and core training.  I love how I feel and how strong I was getting doing this type of activity.  I will make time to get back to my writing.  I have skipped writing in this blog for a few weeks.  My goal is to do a post every week.

The only person who is going to make me physically strong and feel relevant today is me.  I need to focus on what is good for me and make time to do the things I enjoy.  I am in the midst of settling into my new job and will find my new normal soon.  

Sorry I have been missing

Life has gone from quiet and predictable to crazy busy for me.  I started a new job in the middle of May.  I am working for the same employer but in a totally different department and capacity.  For the last two weeks I have been trying to figure out what I should be doing and learning new things.  Most days I just go home and night and just crash from exhaustion.  I had no energy to write anything. 

Then I went to Tennessee to spend time with my Grandson while my son was touring with a different country act (for him).  He had been with one performer for quite a while but took some time off from touring to take care of business at home and to finalize the purchase of his house.

So I got to spend time with my grandson on my own. We had a great time playing games, cooking and just hanging out.  He discovered YouTube on my tablet and spent time watching these silly toy infomercials.  Then we found movie clips and had a great time watching those.  We also spent time playing a version of Frisbee/soccer/volleyball where he made up the rules as we went along.  It was great until we got the Frisbee caught in the tree in the front yard. 

Sunday morning cooking was great, we made breakfast.

We also tried flying a kite, that did not work because there was no wind that day.  So he ran around the yard trying to make the kite fly.

It was fun to spend time with him, just the two of us.  Of course we also had to hit the grocery store because he had a "list" of things he wanted. 

So I am adjusting to a new level of activity in my life between work and family.  It is a great thing, I have hit over 10,000 steps most days now. 

So life moves on.  My grandson started pre-k last week.  He was so excited to be starting school.  I am settling into my job and don't experience panic every time someone asks me something.  We will both move on to the new adventures in our lives. 

We also have our memories of time together.  Those  are priceless.