I have this problem. I commit to . . . things . . . in a moment of inspiration. Or whatever. And then when it comes time to do the . . . things . . . I wonder what the hell I was thinking when I thought it was something I’d want to do. It’s Thursday so I will give you 3 examples to illustrate what I mean.

1. Earlier this summer I got an email at work about Microsoft Excel workshops that the town was going to offer to employees in September. I thought, oooh, great idea, I’m sure my use of Excel could be better. I signed myself up for the intermediate group. The classes are next week on Wednesday and Thursday morning. Do I still want to go? Of course not.
2. A couple of weeks ago I got a text from a friend in Kiwanis that I greatly respect and admire. He asked if I would be willing to be on the Nominating Committee. This is the committee that seeks out people to fill the various leadership positions in the club, everything from being on the Board of Directors to serving as President. I said yes. On Sunday I got an email that the committee would be meeting Tuesday night at 7 at a local restaurant to discuss potential nominees. Did I want to go to this meeting? Of course not.
3. When I have bananas that turn brown I throw them in the freezer so that I can make banana bread at a future time. At the current moment I have about a dozen bananas in my freezer. Do I have any plans to make banana bread? Of course not.

Now, I want to say, I will go to the Excel class. And I went to the Nominating Committee meeting on Tuesday night. At some point I will even make banana bread. But the me that thinks I’m going to want to do the things and the me that then agrees to do the things really needs to consider that the me that is then going to have to do the things will not want to do them. Some day I hope that future me will live up to the person that current me thinks I am.

Please tell me you can relate.

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The other day, Sarah hinted that it would be nice to have a Fred & George update. I’m happy to oblige today with 3 things about Fred & George right now.

1. It’s hard to believe but they will be turning ONE at the end of this month. This is their birthday, not the day they came to live with us (that was November 5, 2021) but I still feel like the time has flown by. Once they pass this milestone they will no longer be considered kittens and they will eat regular cat food instead of kitten chow. I actually put a call in to my vet yesterday to ask her what I need to do for a successful transition away from the only food they’ve ever known.
2. While they don’t always sleep curled up together like they used to, they are still extremely devoted to each other and snuggle frequently. They are really never far apart for long, they still groom each other and wrestle with each other and play together all the time. Speaking of playing, their favorite toys are still those mylar crinkle balls and their 3 way tunnel. They will chase those crinkle balls all day long and they play fetch, too, bringing them back to be thrown over and over. And over. And they pop in and out of their tunnel all the time, usually with Fred on the inside and George on the outside.
3. They have very distinctive personalities and appearances. Fred is quite a bit smaller than George and his fur isn’t as soft. He’s the more daring of the two, always the first to greet a new person or try something new. He’s more snuggly and cuddly and demands to be petted a lot. George is a BIG cat. He’s a bit more vocal than Fred (although neither is super vocal yet but as Siamese cats I know that’s coming) and he is slower to warm to new people and try new things. He sleeps for longer stretches of time and is more likely to sleep on our bed with us than Fred. One thing they both have in common? They miss us a lot when we go away!

And that’s the update on Fred & George. I’m so glad they are part of our family, I can’t imagine our home without them.

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Today’s post is going to be a fast one, both for me to write and for you to read . . . I’m sharing 3 simple things that are bringing me joy right now . . .

1. Zinnias and dahlias. I probably sound like a broken record but I absolutely love growing flowers for cutting. They bring me joy when I look out the window and see them and they also bring me joy when I cut them and bring them into the house.
2. Homegrown tomatoes. We have ripe ones and they are delicious and probably my favorite summer treat. I have had a tomato sandwich for lunch two days in a row and I couldn’t be happier about that.
3. Fred & George and their antics. These two bring me so much joy, they are playful and funny and sweet and I love them to pieces. I can’t believe they will be turning one at the end of the month!

I hope you are finding joy in simple things right now, too.

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I think many of us try and be mindful about how we stay informed these days. The news can be relentless and mostly difficult and it’s a real challenge to absorb the news without it impacting our outlook. I’ve got 3 sources I rely on regularly for information and they are . . .

Heather Cox Richardson’s daily email, Letters from An American. She’s an historian and author and her calm and straightforward reporting and analysis of politics is incredible.

The New York Times. I get email digests of stories daily. Sometimes I click the links and read more and sometimes I just read the headlines, depending on how much energy I’ve got for consuming information.

Up First is a daily podcast from NPR and I listen to it every morning while I’m doing my hair and makeup. It’s less than 15 minutes long and it keeps me informed on national as well as global news. It’s easy to digest and doesn’t overwhelm me with too much information.

And that’s the quick and dirty on how I handle keeping up with the news. If you wrote a post for today, please include your link below.

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I saw this on social media yesterday and immediately related to it:

And today I’m going to share three reasons why phys ed was something I disliked.

1. The Presidential Fitness Test. Do y’all remember this? We had to climb a rope and hang from a bar and run a certain distance and . . . it was awful. It was 3rd or maybe 4th grade. I was a tall skinny kid (hard to believe now!) with very little upper body strength and I couldn’t hang from that stupid bar and I sure as hell couldn’t climb the rope. I can still remember trying to pull myself up on that rope and feeling like my ass was full of lead and dragging me back down to earth. It was humiliating. And everyone watched.
2. I always worried about being picked for a team. I was never picked dead last but usually pretty close to it. I was popular, so that got me some boost, but I wasn’t athletic and my hand-eye coordination wasn’t great either. I’d stand there in the dwindling group, waiting to be chosen for a side, and feel myself getting more and more anxious that I’d be last. Humiliating, again.
3. My high school had a pool and that meant we had swim class as one of our phys ed rotations. We all had to wear the same speedo bathing suit and they were colored by size. I had no boobs and those suits were awful unless you were built like a super model. There was hardly any time to shower, dry off, and get dressed so forget reapplying make up or doing your hair after class. None of that would bother me now but at 15 years old it was . . . here comes that word again . . . humiliating.

I read an article recently that showed a strong correlation between an individual’s experience in gym class and their feelings about exercise as an adult. I’m quite sure the humiliation I felt as a kid is the reason that I prefer to exercise alone rather than in a group setting. It’s eye opening (and sort of heartbreaking) to realize that this was all put in place before I really had a chance to learn for myself what I might enjoy doing. But I’m sort of hoping that naming it and airing it out will help me to release these feelings and start fresh.

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