Ahhhh, the anxiety dreams are FINALLY subsiding. I am now officially on vacation mode, without the worry about what I'm currently falling behind on. They've been varied - having to tell students bad news about their prospects is a theme, as well as unexpected travel at the last second. Finally last night I dreamed I was on tour with a local band. We were playing and singing and making awesome music for a super appreciative crowd. It took lots of planning and making of to-do lists, but my brain seems to think I am appropriately caught up enough to enjoy things that should ACTUALLY be my dreams.

I am currently doing a successful job of puttering. I'm making lists of things to do around the house, and I'm getting exercise and plenty of sleep. I'm slowly adjusting back to eating right, and adjusting my outlook to one day at a time, instead of fretting about things that are months in the future (my usual MO.) Today, for instance, I went for a morning run (huffed through much of it, but it counts), caught up on all my email (there are but SIX emails in my inbox right now!), and put the Christmas decorations away. I've been imagining things that by most standards could be New Year's Resolutions, but I think are just added to a list of Ways to Make Myself More Well-Rounded, which has been my goal as a human in general since I graduated from Northwestern. Craftiness is on the brain, and while I've got my knitting basket staring me in the face, and my best bud giving me crochet lessons very soon, I find myself obsessed with finding new projects. I want to know how to paint something. I want to be able to look at an area of my apartment and know how to wave a magic wand. I want to be one of those people who looks at the couch and thinks, "Hmm, needs a revamp. Better stitch up a few throw pillows." And then to make the leap and say "Ooh, how about using those jeans I was going to throw out because of the rip in the thigh?" That's some serious leveling-up crafty ability.

Then I look at a site like THIS, and I think "Well, crap. I can't sew, I have no materials to measure or properly cut my material, and I don't want to think past three steps for something." That's when I go back to videos of talking cats.

However, I do feel like I can take on the task of making my own pushpin board out of all of the bazillions of used wine corks from over the years - I'll have to let you know how that goes. It'll have to wait, because this just happened:



This also reminds me that I have that little tabletop tree to take down. Eh, I'm on vacation, right?