Wrap-up for the Last Day of January

Got off to a rocky start today because Hubby had to leave early again. He was already up when I went down at 5:30 to make sure he was awake. I tried to go back to sleep. That means I put my rain CD on loud to act as white noise but it doesn't drown out the banging. Even though I'm upstairs, it practically sounds like the house is falling down when the following are opening and shutting: microwave, refrigerator, china cabinet, cupboards, containers. You'd think there was a destruction crew down there when it's only one man trying to heat coffee and make breakfast (which he only had to heat up. ) Got up again at 7:15 to see if the men had left yet, and they were just leaving.

My stomach was still not ready to get up, since I had not been able to fall back to sleep. I was able to sleep once the house was quieter and the CD was effective in blocking the noise. Woke up again just after 9 and listened to the radio until a commercial, and then checked the computer for orders. The two I was half expecting from yesterday's inquiries weren't in. Went down to eat my own breakfast, do last night's dishes, and cook some meat to heat up for Hubby's dinner.

By this time is was almost noon. I processed the book order I had to ship. I got dressed. And then I put our local midday talkshow on while I updated a couple of Squidoo lenses that were about to fall into the red zone. Felt like doing that all day, but had to leave for the post office because I wanted to get in my 10-minute health walk.

If you are like me, getting started with exercise is the hardest part. I say I will walk ten minutes, but it always turns into more. However, because I stop to take pictures, my hour of walking was probably closer to half an hour. I parked at the train station and walked through the civic center, taking pictures of each building. I walked through the park and photographed some construction going on. I took pictures of several buildings that looked interesting, flowers in bloom, and an artist's studio building with some unique sculptures in front.

Just as I was about to enter a bookstore to browse, I heard the warning sounds for an approaching train, so I ran to get a picture of it crossing. Then I photographed the warning gate and lights and the RR Crossing sign. Then I walked back to Pine Street and stopped in at Studios on the Park to visit with some artist friends who were preparing for a First Saturdays Art and Wine event on Saturday. I haven't been in there for months, and I thought it was about time. I also took in the new exhibits and voted for the Peoples' Choice award.

By that time I was getting really hungry, since I'd had not lunch and it was almost 4. I drove to the Paso Robles house to get rid of some trash, heat up some leftover pizza, and  make it looked lived in for a bit. I also weighed myself and was relieved to see the weight I'd gained last weekend had come back off with the resumption of a proper diet.

Once back home I started to unload the pictures from my camera, and before I finished my husband came home and I had to feed him. By this time it was about 6:30 and I finished unloading my pictures and got on Gather to share some of them. The uploader wouldn't work, so I tried to trouble-shoot it with no success. I won't get many points today. I'll look at what some of you have posted and then hit Facebook to see if there's anything critical I need to answer there.

I was involved in an intense messaging session with a family friend's daughter who had been my daughter's friend, but who was never told the details of Sarah's  death by her own parents because of her own illness at the time. Her parents did not want to stress her further. She told me she wanted to know more now. So I sent her the pictures of my daughter as an adult and links the lenses and blog I wrote after she died. I also promised to send her the DVD of the memorial service she wasn't able to attend in 2009. She had asked for all of these. Now I'm hoping it doesn't stress her too much and that her mom, one of my dearest friends, won't be angry because I filled her daughter in. I think at almost 40 she should be well enough to handle it, since she's been more active on Facebook and seems much better to me. I hope I haven't made a big mistake. I didn't send her anything she could not have found had she made a search online. I'm waiting to see how she responds, and the answer may be there now.

Hope you all had a more successful day on Gather than I did.