hopelessly behind....

Busy, busy, busy!  :-)  Between enjoying the spring weather (and FLOWERS) at the Missouri Botanical Garden, getting out and choosing the smaller details for our construction project, and helping our neighbor transport some auction-purchases she made, it's been a wild week.  I'm HOPELESSLY behind on my reading, because it takes quite awhile to read some of the venues where i pick up worthwhile tidbits.

I definitely need to recalibrate my pedometer -- although i know i covered a lot of ground walking to-and-fro carrying Joyce's purchases from house to car to house, i don't THINK i managed to get in six miles....

Yesterday, being rainy, i sort of just "took the day off" to watch movies and be unproductive ... but i failed at that a bit, too.  ;-)  I removed the barrier which our insurance company made us install in the "MIL room" door to nowhere (or rather, a 15-foot drop).  Although the decking hasn't been installed, the roof over the back porch is now a supportive surface.  The balcony there will be a nice amenity that has been missing from the house for i-don't-know-how-many years.  It's south-facing, so on cool days it will be a good place to drink morning coffee -- when we moved in, the east balcony was present, but it's mostly pleasant on very warm afternoons, and it's visible to our slightly busy street.

Oh -- we tried a new restaurant yesterday, too.  It didn't blow us away, but we feel the need to revisit on Thursday for Happy Hour ... on-account-o'-because Thursday is OYSTER DAY.  :-D

I recently revisited an herb that i had bought some months ago, but hadn't explored extensively -- valerian.  Although i had to do some very specific googling to confirm a suspicion, i really believe it does help tame excessive cortisol secretion.  I have this funny experience when trying to fall asleep....  I can feel sleepy and drop off easily, but it was getting to be chronic that i would awaken about an hour later with a touch of anxiety, and/or come awake in the morning with a pounding heart.  Valerian seems to tame that reaction.

Now, i had been trying vitex to lift my mood during the most stressful times this last winter and early spring, and i felt it was helpful.  I tried Wooo's favorite herb, kratom, too, but though it is good for mood, i don't like the way my stomach feels for hours after ingestion.  Valerian at bedtime seems to excel over both of them, because i've long been convinced that i over-secrete stress hormones.  And this winter has been BAD for stress -- i feel as though my subcutaneous fat has moved around in an unbecoming fashion!  And here i was trying to dump a little fat before shorts-season....  :-(

Well, first things first!  No way can i improve my body composition without straightening out stress! Getting out in the pleasant weather and looking at flowers is good.  Valerian is good.  LCHF is good. Taking the day off and watching movies, while the rain washes the air, is good.

...Even though our previously-favorite neighbors are no longer speaking to us....  We're interacting more with the OTHER ones, in a good way.   Today is grey but the rain has stopped.  There's a primo bottle of bubbly chilled downstairs, and J is thawing some lobster tails as my Mothers' Day dinner.  Tomorrow the brick-layers should be starting to face the garage, and when they're done i believe the landscaper can begin work.

YES!  :-D  ...Happy Mothers' Day, everyone!