Merry Christmas 2024!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!  

Okay—we looked in the box, outside the box, and scoured everywhere, but we are stuck. I needed to sleep on this next puzzle in the EXIT Game, and hopefully, today will be the day to solve it. It doesn't help that my friend, whose son is a wizard at these, mentioned that he was challenged by this particular puzzle. Let's see what happens later today. 

We decided to do another Virtual Retreat Zoom call this morning! If you are around, here's the link. I'll open the call at 10 a.m., and we'll continue until about 2 p.m. 

Christmas Day Virtual Retreat -- starts at 10 a.m. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85932454309?pwd=tzsIyPz6wHYzS9DMbXuERbF6CX9KsW.1

Meeting ID: 859 3245 4309
Passcode: 232442

Well, I sent out some emails this morning as part of the follow-up that needs to be done. Once I finish that business and communicate dates to the other three clubs, I should be ready for 2025. Don't worry if you think I don't get enough sleep, as the emails were sent early. I go to bed early! 

Then, I was getting ready for my 2025 Virtual Challenges, and good grief, despite my careful planning, I bought a challenge I already have, so I'm now trying to swap out that one! But at least all the paperwork was where it was supposed to be. I just didn't dig far enough down in the paper! I must consolidate all the codes from multiple emails to make it easier! It's a mess. 

Then, I spent some time dealing with digital storage. Actually, I did this yesterday. Look. 

This is my OneDrive, and I started with 154.9 GB of data. Good grief -- what is all that? 

A lot of storage!

So, I went in and started deleting all the presentations from 2023. Oops—there were a "few" from 2020 - 2022. Most of that is gone, and I'll be a bit selective for 2024. I need to keep the December presentations, as I use them as templates. Then, they can go. 

I got rid of over 10 GB of crap!!! 

Now, only 143.6 GB of storage

The next area to tackle—and I have no idea where to start—is all the presentations I've created for work. They quickly get duplicated, changed, and then reduplicated—it's a mess. I'm tempted to wipe them all, but I may need pictures from them. So, I'll sort them by topic and then go from there. 

Lesson learned: Keep the pictures in a folder, keep the master slide presentation, and then delete anything else. The slides can be recreated! 

I also spend some time in my inbox trying to get that tamed. Soon, I'll be able to delete all the stuff for 2024 classes. Don't worry, 2023 is long gone. 

The hardest part of all this digital stuff is that you don't know what type of file structure works best, so things get left, and then suddenly, you have lots, and the information is now all over the place. My inbox is like that. But now I'm trying to keep folders by year, and then it can all go at the end of the year! I'm still working on that plan! But I'm working on it! 

This is the strangest thing I've seen in the forest. I saw it the other day when it was very cold, so I wasn't taking my mitts off to take a picture. It had a piece of paper attached, which said "CLUE." The note is gone, and the candy cane is in a different spot. A mystery! 

A mystery! 

I spotted this in the storage magazine. The pictures hanging on a kitchen wall were quilt blocks!!! The article and resources did not mention them, but it's a neat idea if you're looking for wall art. I don't think these were fabric but printed images. 

Quilt blocks as wall art

 

It's hilarious to watch Murphy. She gets a bee in her bonnet about those blankets, and the next thing we know, she has tossed them across the room. She loves to play with her ball, and she's definitely entertaining. It's hilarious that she only does it when we are in the room—so she knows she's entertaining us! 

MOM - I'm doing this for you! Watch ME!!!!

Lexi, on the other hand, is very sneaky! If she's outside, and Murphy is inside, she'll bang on the backdoor that she wants in. Then she does her little dance, saying, "Murphy, come out and play with me." Murphy falls for it and charges out, then Lexi enters the house! 

It's down to the wire as I finish my Virtual Challenges for 2024. I'm 51 KM from the finish line on my personal walk of 4,500 KM. Yikes -- that's insane and I'll be reducing that for 2025. I''m not sure what I'm going to do yet. 

And there's my MONSTER challenge: to walk from Cairo to Cape Town—a total of 16,287 km in three years. I had to supplement about ¼ of that with cycling. I have about 80 km left before the end of the year, which I'll do with one more spin class and some walking. 

My virtual three-year walk/cycle trip

I've had great fun using Google Maps to map the challenge, and while the middle section of Africa has not been mapped by Google, many parts have, and it's been fascinating. I need to come up with something else for 2025. But what? Instead of KMs, I thought I could map the number of times I went to the gym or stretched. Hmmm --- the clock is ticking! 

OH MY GOSH -- I thought it was only me who said this!!!!

I am trying very hard to cut back. I don't want to run like mad forever; I want to enjoy peace, quiet, and downtime! However, I've become slack when getting work done. I do the minimum and let the rest slide, which isn't always a good thing. These days, I hate rushing and prefer slow and methodical work. That works for me. 

I had a massage yesterday, and while I'm still uncomfortable sitting, my leg feels better. I'm sure that luxury will disappear, but that shows me that stretching and staying active is IMPORTANT because those activities keep this mess (my body) loose! The therapist agreed with me. Not doing anything (again - each of us is different) is not good. Your muscles will atrophy or seize up or both, and you'll have a lot more issues. So I do what I can; I experiment to see what works and what doesn't until I can get some answers. 

We had our turkey last night and we get popcorn today!!! It's going to be a great day - I prefer the popcorn to the turkey! 

Wait a minute—before I go, I have a question. Is Christmas cake a thing of the past? I had forgotten about it, and there is no Shelly near me to make it anymore! I asked at the grocery store, and they pointed me to the Christmas-decorated cakes, but the youngish woman there knew nothing about Christmas Cake. I'd like a piece of Christmas cake! 

On that happy note, if you are around this morning with nothing to do, stop by the Virtual Retreat (link above) to say HI. 

While reading another organizing article from Helen Buttigieg, I found this one essential and timely because it concerns Christmas. She stresses that what we see in magazines is NOT realistic. Those photos are styled by teams of people!! 

Her ending words - make YOUR CHRISTMAS MEANINGFUL. Do the things (like baking and decorating together), ask for help (potluck meals), and above all, do NOT expect perfection. You will drive yourself mad. 

These are wise words of wisdom! I never believed in stressing out about this kind of thing, and I'm happy! 

Have a super Merry Christmas Day!!!!!!

Cioa!!!