airline tickets have been purchased!
Our new secretary arrived for work today. I like her a lot & believe she’s a great catch.
Our grant proposal is being funded!
I jumped in and figured out how to do a bunch of new things at work.
Becca had a really great time at Saturday’s tricks training class. It’s a joy to see how she’s come out of her shell. She also was the most well-behaved of all the dogs, which made me feel proud.
Mr. Wren and I had the weekend off together, which doesn’t happen often. He drove to the city with me for the dog class, and then we had lunch and strolled through the new park/shopping center that everyone is talking about.
The magic cream that my foot doctor prescribed is helping a lot. I did quite a lot of walking but had only a little pain.
I spotted the first robin of the year!
We had fun chatting with a salesman in Costco.
I enjoyed snuggling up to watch the SuperBowl.
My foot finally felt a lot better today. After nearly a year of daily pain, I was practically pain-free for most of the morning, and when the pain did return, it was not as much. A pain-free workout was absolute heaven!
I spoke up and expressed my feelings in a meeting of our start-up company board of directors. I have been holding back for weeks because my feelings are angry. It felt good to say how I felt, and I appreciated the considerate response.
After four days of difficult, dangerous commuting through heavy mountain snow, the road to and from work was clear and smooth sailing.
I had a chance to speak with the department director during our annual budget training meeting. I have been very anxious about our Center’s financial outlook, and talking to the director gave me some much-needed perspective.
I saw a lot of familiar faces at the budget training. There’s something about seeing those same faces over so many years – and being one of those same faces – that is reassuring and happy.
Mr. Wren and I had a nice talk while we walked with Becca & Elbee in the waning evening light.
I still have quite a bit of pain in my foot, but it is different than the pain I had before the surgery. I’m no longer bothered by plantar fasciitis pain, which is good. I’ve been worried that the other pain, which is considerable, was caused by the surgery. The doctor, however, showed me where he can see quite a bit of arthritis on the x-ray. He prescribed a topical NSAID. I’m surprised and, of course, not happy at the prospect of having arthritis in my ankle and foot, but if a topical cream will take care of the pain, that won’t be so bad. If it doesn’t help, I’m going to look into acupuncture, because that helped Sadie’s arthritis pain a lot.
The thing I’ve reinvented is my diet. I’ve been eliminating dairy, wheat, sweeteners and processed foods from my diet. It feels pretty drastic to me, so I just commit for a week at a time. I do notice a change for the better. My digestive system feels much better, and my weight has gone down.
Mr. Wren and I finally had a day off together.
It was a strange weather day, very gray, with freezing rain. That sort of weather makes it feel extra cozy inside.
Our refrigerator stopped working, but it was not such a big deal because Mr. Wren knows a whole lot about refrigerators!
I took Becca and Elbee to the first of four tricks training classes. I was going to work with Becca first, but I could see that she was feeling quite afraid, so I brought Elbee in instead. I’m not sure how much progress we made with learning tricks, but it was fun spending a full hour of one-on-one time with Elbee.
After the class, I went to a great organic salad bar and made a wonderful salad for lunch.
Mr. Wren’s weekend started! Because of Sundance, he hasn’t had a day off in 14 days.
Happiness in the mail…my exciting new kettbell workout video arrived in the mail. I’m excited to give it a try.
Happiness at the doorstep…the UPS man dropped off these fantastic new shoes. They are comfortable and cute, and I can wear them even with my swollen foot and all of it’s wrapping.
Happiness on tv…a new season of Project Runway. Yay!
The audiobook I’m currently listening to, The Psychopath Test, has quite a lot of droll, unexpected humor, and I love the author’s (Jon Ronson) Welsh voice.
I had an opportunity to reach out with compassion to a co-worker.
I realized that we will be visiting Paris in just 3 months!
My favorite work friend came to say good-bye because she is leaving. This did not make me happy! What did make me happy was the gift that she gave me, a pretty little card that says, “Not everything that can be counted counts…and not everything that counts can be counted.” This is the perfect reminder right now, when I am deep in the thick of preparing our annual budget.
I came home from a long day’s work and was greeted with hugs, wiggly dogs, and supper already made.
I watched a really fun new tv show called The Taste.
I wanted to watch the festivities in Washington, DC, so I took Becca and Elbee out to hike as soon as the sky started lightening. It was beautiful and cold. My hair froze in places, and Elbee’s black fur was frosted all over.
Elbee was awfully adventurous and ran far ahead of me. This is unusual for her. Becca, on the other hand, stayed near by, which is unusual for her. It’s as if they traded places.
I hiked for 3.5 miles, and my foot hurt only a little. Yay!
I had the day off with pay in observance of Martin Luther King’s birthday.
After an early hike, I spent the morning cooking and watching President Obama’s second inauguration.
I started learning a new piano piece.
I was up early yesterday to drive my brother-in-law to the airport. Of course, Becca & Elbee went along for the ride. On the way back home, I decided to stop & take the girls for a little hike.
Some wonderful soul has flattened the snow on the entire Donkey Ridge trail with a sled. This is just what I need right now, while my foot is still healing, since the very worst thing for it is walking on uneven ground. It was a beautiful, cold day, and it felt just great to be out in the clean air, with brilliant blue sky overhead and glittery snow all around. Becca especially had a blast. She was bounding through snow banks, rolling in snow, and chasing Elbee around.
I turned around to come back as soon as I felt the first sign of foot pain. Still, this was the longest hike since the surgery, at just over 3 miles.
Mr. Wren’s oldest brother is visiting for a few days, so I took him out to lunch. We had a very nice conversation over some delicious salads.
We also took Mr. Wren on a little driving tour of our valley. It can be fun to show visitors around. It makes you look at the familiar with new eyes.
I have grown to like Hallmark channel movies, and lately there has been a new one every Saturday night. There’s nothing cool or arty or educational about these movies, but I find it very nice to curl up in bed when it’s cold and snowy out and just be entertained.
Our old family doctor is back in practice. What a relief! He is also a friend, and we have worked together, so it was nice to see him looking so happy. He complimented me a lot on all the things I do to take care of myself and assured me that they are really paying off.
I had lunch with my good work friend. We always have a good time, and we went somewhere I’d never been, a restaurant that features freshly made soups and breadsticks – perfect for a wintry day.
As a gift for Mr. Wren’s upcoming AA birthday, I purchased tickets to see Leo Kottke perform. I was able to get seats in the front row!
I went to lunch with two girlfriends. We ate organic, vegetarian food and traded ghost stories.
After our evening walk, Mr. Wren and I stopped at the market, where the new sushi makers were handing out free samples. Unexpected and free evening sushi is a very happy thing!
Our friend in San Francisco thoughtfully sent us a surprise box of gifts for the New Year.
Mr. Wren, Becca, Elbee & I went for a nice walk at the end of the day.
A nice article was published about our start-up company.
Mr. Wren seems close to getting over his cold.
The snowy, icy, scarey travel conditions have passed, and my commute through dark mountain passes was all smooth sailing.
My boss suddenly appeared at my office door with an expectant look on his face. I immediately expected some kind of problem or complicated, unexpected task. But it turned out that he wanted to show me an album of photos from his daughter’s wedding. I enjoyed oohing and ahhing over each photo with him
We’ve already had a couple excellent and known candidates for a recently-opened position, so it looks as though interviewing for this one will be easy, maybe even pleasant.
