Sam Squared

                                                     I appreciated the feedback and will keep posting these checkins on Friday, though might try and edit word count.  For my Friday posts, I copy the previous week, delete the old and update as I go along the week. This helps me add as the week goes on. I just sort of list things as they come up, then edit before publishing. As I wasn't feeling great last week, I didn't keep track well so this covers a few weeks.  Use it Up/Avoid Waste  Made the strawberry jam from the pre-measured supply. As I've now plenty for my own family and giving, t he remaining frozen fruit will be used for muffins, quick breads, and desserts for get together before the summer fruit starts coming again. I want to get involved in new jam varieties to me such as blueberries and peach. My SIL made last summer and t...

      Humor amongst my sister's. Yet, hoping  I'm moving away from this default response to challenges in life.       Oh my gosh do I need to keep moving, reading, learning to feel like I'm not just surviving in life. I blink and the week is over with not much to report or even have a conversation about. I fear I'm in the early steps of heading for one of my gray periods. Summer, with all the promise of sunshine and fun, brings forward complex initiators to anxiety mixed with expectations and loneliness. My physical soreness isn't helping, reminiscent of my sense of helplessness/ hopelessness pre- knee surgery. I'm trying hard to push through this current mood drop and irrational thoughts that my life is just leftovers and crumbs or another day figuring out yet another problem.      I recently got a lesson via a memorial, given by my friend in tribute to her dad. She summarized his life in three "rules" to live by, and I took them as a l...

      Photo from pexel.com      So about Mothers Day...      All my optimism for getting my outside shaped up, a garden planted, and healthier behaviors was hit with a big pause sign on Mother's Day. I still don't quite remember how or exactly what happened. One minute I was carefully trimming around the new (last year) hostas planted on the side of the patio, and the next I was falling backwards. Perhaps I tripped on the subtle step up to the patio, merely inches, catching a foot. Maybe I just tripped over my own feet. I fell hard, hitting my head and getting the wind knocked out of me.       Fortunately I wasn't alone, but my poor daughter finding me laying there as I was trying to get my breathing regulated was sure scared. I got a lump on my head and a cracked rib, but no other damage but even days later, a lot of pain in certain positions or movements . I've been moving slow all week and it'll take weeks to heal prope...

      I've been noodling and drafting this post for a while. As I haven't posted for a few days as a bit of an accident has me slow, I'm just doing a quick edit before hitting publish.  Photo from Pexels.com      The ripple effect of the Iran war, high gas prices, lingering tariff BS, is hitting in just about every expense American's have. I'm sorry to my international friends that you're caught in this as well. We all know, with the exception of gas, once prices on consumables go up, they do not go down. I love how stores market "new lower prices" by cherry picking a few items as loss leaders, hoping folks don't get too frustrated overall. Humans need food, clean water, gas to get to work or school/public transport options, and dare I say the occasional indulgence to feel like we're living not just surviving.      My family is not hurting too much. Our needs are covered and we're enjoying things in our free time. However, knowing there...

                                                   Feedback appreciated as the Friday Fiscal Wellness check to me seems the dullest of all my regular topic posts. This is probably because its more about my own reflection and accountability and not really a way to have conversation. Let me know if this should be kept hidden, and I look for other things on Friday, keep but shorten, or keep as is.       For my Friday posts, I copy the previous week, delete the old and update as I go along the week. This helps me add as the week goes on.I just sort of list things as they come up, then edit before publishing. Since I haven't done one of these for several weeks, I'm just grabbing a few things I remember. April was expensive but I'm looking forward to a low spend on regular life things in May...a slow down month, though theres a few timed bi...

Last years unexpected sunflower.      Remember this lady from last year? Two years ago I planted a single sunflower seed that was part of a tiny grow kit from the Target dollar section then replanted in a big pot and it took off. Then last year, unexpectedly, a new plant sprouted in the place, but in the ground, where old plant had been. I took those dried flowers and shook the seeds out in the same area, plus in a rectangular planter. Maybe just maybe I'll have gifts this year.      The free from my local Buy Nothing peony from last spring is sprouting. It's small, so not sure how long before it grows enough to flower, but I didn't kill it! The chive clumps from the same woman are starting to sprout again in one of the pots, but the other is bone dry. I'm not sure yet if the hostas she also gave will flourish...there's early signs that are promising but I have to carefully weed/ mow around them so as not to clip. My SIL's hosta gifts from 2020 are coming u...