The last five years have been tough on mental health. It seems the predominant diagnosis at my agency these days is Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which means that you worry about basically everything.
My mother was a champion worrier. She worried about the weather especially, either blizzard or tornado. Both my children have major anxiety and so do I. I like to think that worriers live longer than non-worriers. It is probably wishful thinking. Last night, I was frantic for Husband to get home from Bismarck in the snow and the wind. He made it safely, but the images of disaster were difficult to deal with. I focused on house cleaning. That helped.
How has your worry increased lately? How do you manage your anxiety? Who were the champion worriers in your family?
There are two State Highways that intersect our town. One goes east/west. The other goes north/south. The east/west route, known as Highway 10 or Villard Street, runs through our business district. The railroad runs parallel to it. There are, at intervals on either side, extremely large, full-sized billboards. Most are for local insurance agencies, for local companies advertising for new employees, or are displays of pro-life messages from our local Roman Catholic organizations.
I was rather astonished the other day to see a new billboard by the Hardees fast food restaurant boldly declare “SAY ‘NO’ TO INCONTINENCE” in huge letters with very little other information on it. Husband got a better look at it, as I was driving, and said it was for some sort of women’s spa.
I have no difficulty rejecting incontinence. Who would? I just wonder if this would make a successful advertising slogan.
What are some of your favorite or least favorite advertising slogans? Any beloved or despised jingles?
In 1966 I was at a difficult age. I was a little too young to have ridden the Beatles wave, but old enough that I knew I wasn’t a little kid anymore and wanting to connect with the rock `n roll world. When the Monkees hit the scene, they were just my speed. Like most of my girlfriends, I loved the pre-fab group (although at the age of 11, I didn’t really understand that part to begin with). Since most of my friends adored Davy, I resisted that tug and settled on Peter Tork. I knew he was the oldest Monkee, but he played a lovable goof who came off as the youngest, most vulnerable. I was a loyal Monkees fan until the band broke up 1969 (if you are a fan, you might protest this date, but I count the breakup as early `69 when Peter resigned.) I won’t go so far as to say that I went to Carleton because Peter has also attended, but it would be a lie to say I wasn’t aware!
I was sad to see that Michael Nesmith passed away on Friday. He was never my favorite but I did like the “twang” that was in the songs that he penned and sang. His signature wool cap came about when he wore it to the first audition for the tv show and one of the producers remembered it. It was also said that he was very calm at that audition, giving off an air of not caring whether he got a part or not. He carried that aloofness with him throughout his Monkees’ career; there were a few times that he did not appear with the group in later reunion gigs, although he had just finished on a tour a few weeks before his death. He wrote many of their songs; my favorite is probably “You May Just Be the One”:
In a side note, I found out many years later that his mother was the inventor of Liquid Paper. In this day and age of the computer and word processing software you might not know what Liquid Paper is, but if you were a secretary or typist during the 70s and 80s, you certainly do. It was a lifesaver back then.
With Michael’s death, there is only one Monkee left – Mickey Dolenz. Davy passed away in 2012 and my Peter passed away almost 3 years ago now. I know that their music is now considered a little on the bubblegum pop spectrum, but they are still my first love. I got out all their CDs and played them over the weekend.
Did you have any hero worship when you were younger?
Today is St. Lucia’s Day. One of my fellow church choir/bell choir members tried to make Lucia buns in honor of Hedwig, the Swedish foreign exchange student living with them this year. She spent $18 on saffron for the buns, only to have the dough fail due to yeast that was too old. Undaunted, she went back to the store to get more saffron and good yeast, and was going to try the buns again yesterday. I don’t know if they are going to have someone wear a crown with flaming candles.
I have mixed feelings about saffron, liking it best in East Indian rice and chicken. It is too weird for me in sweet pastries. I know its difficulty at harvest makes it so expensive. I have always wondered if we could grow the crocuses it comes from in our garden.
What is your favorite recipe that calls for saffron? What are your experiences either with, or as, a foreign exchange student? Where would you have wanted to go as an exchange student?
Well I guess it’s winter this week. We had 4 inches of unexpected snow on Tuesday. maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention to the weather but I don’t think anybody expected that much snow. At least it was light and fluffy.
And then it was cold. I had one below zero Wednesday morning! I went down to open up the chickens and they were in no hurry and had no interest in coming out. One chicken, who always ends up in a different side of the pen, ran to the door, stopped and looked, pecked at some snow, and turned around and went back inside. Didn’t blame her a bit. Even the ducks weren’t too interested in leaving the water. I threw corn out to them at the pond.
The deer have started to group up. I took this picture coming home one night. That’s just one group. Usually there’s about three groups this size. This is why I don’t like the deer. Too many of them.
Almost done with class. We had to write a paper about a park or an area and of course talk about the rocks, waters, and land uses etc. I wrote about our farm. Understanding the history of the glaciers coming through and the forces that have shaped the land and the types of rock underneath is really pretty interesting. I will have that submitted before you read this. And then a final in class on Monday and then that’s it. Then maybe I can start working on my basket of farm bookwork.
Or maybe not. My left shoulder has been giving me trouble for years. But not enough to really cause any issues. Until about two weeks ago. One night out of the blue I went to lift my arm and it hurt like all get out. Then it got better then one night again it hurt so bad I went to the ER, but of course by the time I got there didn’t hurt so bad. Had an MRI done on it and as of now, still awaiting results on that. But I foresee rotator cuff surgery coming up shortly. well, that will certainly make me reevaluate some things.
My good friend Paul, the one who occasionally comments on here, had rotator cuff surgery about a year ago. He had a terrific recovery so he can be my guide.
Tuesday night after the snow, Kelly rode in the tractor with me as we bladed the driveway, so she’s ready to tackle that on her own if necessary.
I think I can still design lights with one arm. I need the computer to program and record cues. Obviously someone else should be climbing ladders. Notice I said “should“. No, if it comes to that, I will behave. I can still program the light board with one arm.”
So we’ll see.
Ever received or sent a dear John /Jane letter? How did that go?
I got an email yesterday from my librarian cousin in Columbus, OH, to tell me that his younger brother had died suddenly the day before on the farm near Magnolia, back home in Rock County. He was my age, and had some health issues.
I have very fond memories of my cousin, a wild and impulsive guy who loved fireworks as much as I do, and with whom I had wonderful fun as a kid building forts in the grove on his farm, playing baseball, climbing trees, and setting pocket gopher traps. One of my favorite memories is the time he and his younger brother were having a knock down, drag out fight in the middle of the farm yard while their mother was whacking them with a broom and they were laughing at her.
My cousins are like siblings to me. The ones my age are boys, and I had lots of fun doing daring and inventive things with them. I am so glad for my memories with them.
Got any good cousin stories? Who are your favorite relatives or adopted relatives?
I am a master procrastinator when it involves paperwork at my job. Meeting paperwork deadlines is a major item in our yearly performance evaluations. My main job is conducting psychological evaluations. I test two people a week. For psychological evaluations, I am allowed 30 calendar days to complete the evaluation report, the clock starting the day after the first testing session with the client. Holidays and sick days do not change the due dates for report completion. That means I have two reports to complete each week, in addition to testing new people.
When I am not testing people or writing up the results of the testing, I have therapy appointments and other meetings. I would much rather meet with people than spend hours at the computer scoring tests and writing reports, and since 30 days sounds like such a long period of time, I typically scramble when day 28 arrives and I have limited free time in my schedule to write. I am happy to say I almost always get my reports done on time, but usually on day 29 or 30. I often bring work home to finish it on the weekend.
I don’t know what got into me last week, but there was a perfect storm of illness-related therapy cancelations along with a slew of evaluations that required very short reports, and I finished six reports, working ahead and leaving a couple of weeks with no reports that are due. Now, I can go to South Dakota for Christmas and not have nagging paperwork worries.
A dear friend of mine, a philosophy professor, used to reward himself with a glass of cognac after reading student essays, the promise of the cognac keeping him going on the grading. I sure don’t need that sort of reward after finishing reports. I am just basking in the feeling of working ahead and reducing my ever-present anxiety.
What do you put off doing? What is the latest accomplishment of which you are proud?How do you approach paperwork?
it sure is easy to shop for people who like to cook! Husband and I got a lot of our Christmas shopping done for our kids last Saturday at the local kitchen store. Daughter wanted us to shop at small, local, businesses, and so we did.
Husband and I don’t bother with surprise gifts for eachother any more. We spied a nice Emil Henri tagine at the kitchen store and we decided that was our present this year. We are picking up the goat at the butcher shop next week, and I forsee making Morrocan goat dishes with our new purchase.
Our children are often frustrated with us over the holidays since we really don’t need much and can never give them many ideas for gifts. I asked for a cookbook and a calendar. Husband asked for a couple of books. Nothing too exciting, and pretty easy to come by, supply chain problems not withstanding.
How is your holiday shopping coming along? Who are the easiest and most difficult people for you to buy for? Having any trouble finding what you want? What was your favorite Christmas present as a child?
Most mornings YA and I share our schedules with each other. Not specific details down to the hour but general “what I have on my plate for the day” schedules. On Saturday morning, YA told me she was going to the gym and running a couple of errands.
I was finishing up cookies and after about an hour I realized that not only had she not left the house, but that I could hear the hair dryer running upstairs. I was a little surprised as I would never shower and do my hair and makeup (not that I ever wear makeup) before going to work out at the gym. I always save the shower for AFTER the workout. I shook my head at what the younger generation gets up to.
It occurred to me that every generation shakes its head at the younger one but then I thought about my mother. When I was growing up, my mother’s standard lipstick color was flaming red. If she ever wore another color back then, I wasn’t aware. And she did not go out in public without it. I have a very clear memory (probably because it happened so often) of her applying a fresh layer of lipstick in the rearview mirror of the car before getting out to run whatever errand was on her agenda.
So here am I, stuck between the rearview mirror lipstick application and the showering before the gym generations. I’m guessing that YA probably has a long list of my actions that she just doesn’t understand.
Any habits of yours that another generation just doesn’t get?
Last evening, our handball choir performed in a musical holiday extravaganza put on by the local college at our church. We played along with the Community choir, college vocal ensembles, college band, and smaller vocal and instrumental ensembles for a very ambitious 90 minute program.
Our practice schedule was interrupted by COVID early in the fall, and we never caught up. We weren’t prepared for all our pieces last night, and our main goals were to not get lost in the music and to end together. Only an experienced bell ringer would have caught our mistakes, but we each felt our individual errors keenly. I made mistakes and got lost in places I never got lost in before. Husband described it afterwards as a musical ordeal. I believe it was Gustav Holst who said that if it is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. We are just relieved it is over and now we can focus on our last two performances on December 17 and 19.
Any performances you would like to forget about? What pageants have you participated in?
Trail Baboon 