Breaking the Ice

Ha. I amuse myself. I live in Florida. There is no ice. (Seriously though, 2015 was the hottest year on record here, with record-breaking November and December. We only just now turned off our a/c for a pleasant cool down. Here's to more seasonable temperatures. But still no ice.)

I keep feeling the itch to write, but then I look at all my un-posted drafts, feel overwhelmed, and another day goes by with radio silence. I did really well for a while, last year, and then I hit a speed bump and the whole thing derailed into chasing my own tail. I will hit publish on those drafts (most of them are only missing a little detail or some punctuation at this point), just for my own peace of mind, but I can't keep waiting to be caught up or the calendars will flip again, as they do with maddening speed, and it will be 2017 with nary a keystroke visible (at least publicly).

Some quick takes to get this party started:

1. I had a slight cold for Thanksgiving. Nothing terrible, but it prevented me from holding the newest addition to the family when we visited Virginia. (I don't know about you, but I had zero desire to introduce a freshly arrived human to her first germs, nor to have the mom cursing me for contaminating her wee bundle.) All that to preface: I came down with a cold on Sunday, the day before returning to work after my Christmas hiatus. I'm pretty sure it came courtesy of the person behind us at the movie theater on New Year's Day, coughing and sneezing down over us (thank you , stadium seating, I have found your pitfall). Again, pretty mild, as colds go -- and the least offensive of all the germs people feel inclined to share, to be sure -- but two colds in roughly a month's span? I'm done now, right?

2. About that return to work. OMG. My desk. And the piles. And the paper. And the laundry list of tasks awaiting my attention. But I sit here, tap-tapping on my blog. Because priorities.

3. Patriots in the playoffs and hopefully getting healthy enough to...not look like they looked during the last third of the season. 90 days til Red Sox Opening Day. Roughly six weeks until some activity begins to take place in the Spring Training facilities. And I won my NFL "picks league" and finished second in one of my fantasy football leagues. Not too shabby for this sports fan!

4. I'm done talking sports now, for those of you skipping item three. You're welcome.

5. I finished my 2015 reading challenge by "half cheating." I finished book number 39 on the morning of New Year's Eve, but instead of reaching for the next book on my 2015 planned reading list, I grabbed a short book to race through instead. I was too close to fail. Forty books is proving to be my stumbling block. I am determined to reach it without scrambling this year. (I need to stop picking such long books without balancing them against shorter ones.)

6. I function best with a physical planner. Much as I love and use technology, I just don't feel a connection to digital on this, and this isn't some place I can afford to feel disconnected. My 2016 planner still isn't fully set up and it's bugging me. I need to finish that on the now side of soon. That thing is my personal bible.

7. Our tree and outdoor lights come down on Thursday, because Christmas ends on January 6 and I refuse to relinquish them a moment sooner (despite the fact that our tree is looking a bit, shall we say, crispy?). However, I have white lights (the tree and house get multi-color) woven into the artificial pine garland that adorns the top of our enormous entertainment cabinet in the living room and I will be turning them on, nightly, for the duration of the winter season. I will not feel guilty about this. They make me happy and ease the transition back to the light-less gaping emptiness left by the departure of our tree.

Ok, I think that brings us up to speed, yes?