The Mandelbear's Musings

... and so ends another year. Not as bad as the previous one (a very low bar), but I've gotten very little done.

1. The new top goal is moving down to Seattle to live in N's ADU (variously called "the studio" or "the lair"). In particular, I have to move the cats before c leaves in the spring; that means also moving a bed and a recliner, minimum.
   Well, the recliner wouldn't fit, and the bed is really too big for the room -- maybe I should have left the bed and kept the chair. But home is where the cats are. 95% is pushing it a little, but it's my list. I'll take it.
2. I'm keeping self care near the top; I actually did fairly well with this one last year. Not going to be any more specific.
   I'm going to say 75%. Pretty regular exercise (thanks to my physical therapist), not a whole lot of walking -- not going to look at the counts. A trifling amount of weight loss. Two COVID boosters. As for mental self-care, I'm in a couple of grief support groups, and as I said last year, "I didn't actually do much, but I didn't fall apart either."
3. Write more, doomscroll less. I still want to add a couple of "real" posts to my week. I'll settle for an average of one, besides done, thanks, and the occasional s4s. Track by appending the previous month's summary to the monthly Rabbit Rabbit post.
   Well, so much for tracking. But this year's stats so far are: 95854 words in 195 posts total in 2022 (average 491/post), compared to 107466 words in 170 posts total in 2021 (average 632/post). So I wrote fewer words, but averaged nearly four posts/week. And this doesn't count a few posts in GoingSideways, plus a couple more attributed to a certain crab. So I'm going to give myself 75% on this one.
4. Finish what I call my EOL paperwork -- will, advanced directive, power of attorney, and guides to my paper and electronic files. Five items. Includes finding a lawyer and maybe an executor.
   Well, I got maybe half of the documentation done, no lawyer, no executor. So 10%, if I'm being generous.
5. The remaining parts of wrapping up Mom's estate. The financial part is still in progress, and I've done nothing about her computer, files, and online accounts. And I still have to make her memorial page. EEK.
   Um... I think the financial part is basically done, except for the transfers to my own brokerage account. And a few of her belongings have been distributed to the kids and others. So... 50%?
6. Sell or give away Colleen's medical equipment. That will probably mean going through an agent.
   Nothing. Zip. Zero.
7. Singing, dammit. Not much more detail (see last year for that).
   Some planning, a little practicing, and one concert. Maybe 30%? That's stretching it.

So all-in-all, 95+75+75+10+50+0+30 = 335 out of a possible 700, or about 49%. Which, honestly, is lot more than I expected it to be. It was 41% last year (65% the year before, but that was then). So I'll take it.

I really should have included getting the house ready to sell. Which would have rated about 20% at the outside. But I didn't. I hired an organizer to help with putting an estate sale together, but she turned out to be an anti-vaxxer and I decided I couldn't work with her. Other things not done include the landscaping -- the yard is a total wreck after having been abandoned for two years -- and repairs on the house.

Things I did accomplish that weren't on the list included getting the cats to vet appointments (at vast expense), and maintaining and updating GoingSideways.blog. (Mostly not writing -- N did most of that -- but actually getting posts and photos together and uploaded. I should write up the process -- it's effective but probably wouldn't work for anyone but me.)

Posting stats:
all of 2022 by month:
   9076 words in 22 posts in 2022/01 (average 412/post)
   6034 words in 15 posts in 2022/02 (average 402/post)
   6961 words in 18 posts in 2022/03 (average 386/post)
   6624 words in 12 posts in 2022/04 (average 552/post)
   6742 words in 13 posts in 2022/05 (average 518/post)
   7601 words in 21 posts in 2022/06 (average 361/post)
   8632 words in 17 posts in 2022/07 (average 507/post)
   9263 words in 20 posts in 2022/08 (average 463/post)
   8397 words in 16 posts in 2022/09 (average 524/post)
   7634 words in 11 posts in 2022/10 (average 694/post)
   8734 words in 15 posts in 2022/11 (average 582/post)
  10156 words in 15 posts in 2022/12 (average 677/post)
---------------------------------
  95854 words in 195 posts total in 2022 (average 491/post)

I realized a few minutes ago that I hadn't made a "Happy Father's Day" post. So here it is if you want it, late enough that it's more like "hope you had" than "have". I got a call from my daughter, and a shout-out on Discord from my son (who may be even more phone-phobic than I am).

My own father died 23 years ago, and I still miss him. Happy Father's Day, Dad, wherever you are.

Well, today was our forty-sixth wedding anniversary, and the first without Colleen beside me to celebrate. I have hauled out the last remainibng bottle from the case of The Glenlivet that Colleen's uncle and oldest cousin gave us for an anniversary. (I forget which; possibly our 35th or 36th; the first mention of Glenlivet in my log is in 2010, but it could have been earlier. I wish I could ask Colleen -- she'd remember.)

Rather than spending the day writing (as I'd hoped) or moping (as I'd feared) I spent most of it fighting with WordPress. So far it's a draw.

Good night.

Well, it's the start of a new year, so it's time for my annual goal-setting post. Or wishful thinking post, more likely. But anyway, here we are.

Hopefully 2022 will be better than 2021, but I'm not optimistic. I tried saying that last year and it didn't work. Many of these goals are carried over from last year, and years before. So they're things that have defeated me before. But I think the exercise is worthwhile anyway.

1. The new top goal is moving down to Seattle to live in N's ADU (variously called "the studio" or "the lair"). In particular, I have to move the cats before c leaves in the spring; that means also moving a bed and a recliner, minimum.
2. I'm keeping self care near the top; I actually did fairly well with this one last year. Not going to be any more specific.
3. Write more, doomscroll less. I still want to add a couple of "real" posts to my week. I'll settle for an average of one, besides done, thanks, and the occasional s4s. Track by appending the previous month's summary to the monthly Rabbit Rabbit post.
4. Finish what I call my EOL paperwork -- will, advanced directive, power of attorney, and guides to my paper and electronic files. Five items. Includes finding a lawyer and maybe an executor.
5. The remaining parts of wrapping up Mom's estate. The financial part is still in progress, and I've done nothing about her computer, files, and online accounts. And I still have to make her memorial page. EEK.
6. Sell or give away Colleen's medical equipment. That will probably mean going through an agent.
7. Singing, dammit. Not much more detail (see last year for that).