Greetings from NEO, where we are currently cloudy, cold, and now experiencing that less than delightful weather occurence known as The Wintry Mix. It is raining, freezing-raining, and big globs of snow are plopping down as well. My front porch railing is full of fluffy sparrows huddling against the wet and chill. I'm not giving them much sympathy; they have turned up their beaks at the shredded wheat remnants I scattered for them yesterday.
As a sort of harbinger of this weather, I was visited by a strange vertigo yesterday. For most of the day, any time I walked or looked upward, I immediately got dizzy and could not get my balance. It was accompanied by heavy pressure in my head and ears. It was a shame since the weather was terrific for a walk: almost no wind at all; bits of sunshine here and there; temperatures in the upper forties, so no need for my heated coat. Needless to say, I didn't attempt it.
This weather today is suited for Domestic Goddessing, so I've been doing laundry, brushing the uncooperative cats, and general "redding", as my grandmother and mother would say. (Redding Up is one of those mysterious terms Grandma used often, and its provenance is murky. We always chalked it up to Pennsylvania Dutch, but apparently its use is relatively wider spread than that. ) I'll finish up with this post, then likely knit some more on my mitred square blanket, which I've pulled out yet again.
I'm trying to stay away from The News in general, as are many of you, I know. It's exhausting and ugly and dismaying. It gives me zero satisfaction to think/say I Told You So about any of it. So I move on.
Mikey asked me to share a few of the Good Things from my 2020 jar. And Julie wondered what kinds of things I wrote on my pieces of paper. If you'll indulge me, I'll list a few of them here.
1. So far, no snow in January, and temps are mostly in the 40s--even a 50 & a 60!
2. 60 degrees on January 11! I opened up the whole house and aired out!
3. Jared got a promotion and a new job title! So proud of him!
4. Had a fun evening at Sam & Emily's: wine, pizza, wings. Z was super well-behaved & cuddly.
5. Z is doing really well at Sam's and meeting new people.
6. Found really cute shoes for 5$--regularly 40$!
7. Great weather at the lake for Sept. Nice long visit w/family.
8. Got catered food for the family birthday. No stress! Great decision.
9. Avos on sale! Decaf on sale! Got the last bottles of Frei Bros. Zinfandel and Insurrection on sale! Happy Day!
10. Found out that we have not dipped into our savings or retirement at all during Rick's recovery time off. Yay!
And you know what? I'm glad I saved 2020's Good Things. Reading through them again made me smile. It makes me think that if I can look back at 2020 and smile, 2021 has that very same potential. I hope you're hanging in there with me. Good Things come to those (of us) who wait.
Have a happy weekend. It's not long now.
Oh goodness, what I would give for some rain. Sigh.Maybe not FREEZING rain, however. The weather here is stupid and beautiful, 68 degrees for a high today.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about the vertigo. In Ted’s family they call that ‘Ning ning’. Who knows why. “Sorry, I can’t get out of bed today, I have ning ning.”
I love your list of 2020 good things, thank you for sharing them with us! I’m working today, but also doing a bit of domestic goddessing, in that I am washing bedding. Sheets, blankets, and comforters. Days like these I am so glad to have a washing machine.
Julie--Oh, your stupidly wonderful weather! I continue to envy it.
DeleteIs vertigo common in Ted's family? Does either Ted or Maya experience it? I think mine is migraine-weather related.
Most of my laundry was also bedding, but also towels. Your comment about being glad to have a washing machine reminded me of a drive Rick and I took the other day. We had to go check on things at the lakehouse and pick up his electric teakettle to take to his new job.
Right at the gatehouse there is an Amish farm, and on that day, a freezing cold, damp, cloudy one, the matriarch had hung her washing on two lines stretching across the porch and the front yard. Their household is quite large, so the laundry was sizeable, comprising many pairs of pants, half a dozen men's shirts, and as many dresses, including a few baby dresses (so adorable). All I could think of was the fact that before that laundry ever dried, it would freeze solid. How they ever wash and dry their bedding when it is not summertime is beyond me.
Shall I mention that it was 73 today? I started out bitter, worried about drought and fire and all of that. Then I decided that my worrying did nothing to help any of that, so I enjoyed the beautiful Saturday weather. Mulder and I went on a long walk, 11,000 steps according to my phone. I came home and did some minor gardening, and then when Maya and Ted came home from the dentist, Maya and I went for another walk. Lots of walking today! But how could I help it when it was so nice out.
DeleteRegarding the vertigo, no, it is Ted’s stepfather who gets it, and generally it makes him throw up. Which a migraine or sinus headache can do also, I think he also gets migraines. No fun (as you WELL KNOW)
I seem to remember in Little House on the Prairie, Ma bringing in the frozen laundry from the line. I don’t remember more than that, but gosh, what a world. Thank goodness for washing machines AND dryers!
That weather sounds horrible, domestic goddessing it is! I wish I could turn the news off, just can't do it. I'm glued to it. I enjoyed seeing you 2020 good things list. I had some good things in 2020 too. That vertigo sounds a little concerning. I hope it doesn't happen again! Have a great weekend Nance. It's always so good to see a post from you.
ReplyDeleteMartha--I completely understand being glued to the news. That was me for years and years and years. I think 45* finally wore me out, which is his modus operandus.
DeleteI'm sure all of us had lots of Good Things in 2020. I know you were incredibly creative in 2020.
This is my second bout of vertigo. I'll be sure to mention it when I see my internist in the next month or so. Thank you for your concern. And thank you for your kind encouragement.
Vertigo is nothing to mess around with. IF it happens again get into see a doctor before you end up in ER.
ReplyDeleteLove that you are still getting pleasure out of last years Good Things Jar.
Thanks for telling Nance that. She won't listen to me!
DeleteJean--Thank you for your concern. I'm due in to my internist in a month anyway, so I'll mention it then.
DeleteRick--Oh, for heaven's sake.
#6 would've made ME elated!
ReplyDeleteAnni--And it was at my GROCERY STORE! They were cute little mules with cutouts. I looked up the designer online, and the pair I got was originally 40$ online. My grocery store has a big closeouts section that carries all sorts of stuff. At one time, they even had bathroom vanities and sofas. I got patio furniture for the lakehouse there. It's nuts.
DeleteIt's bleak here today, too. I find it appropriately glum considering considering the time of year, but oddly worrying all things considered. I'm sorry to read about your vertigo. Not cool. I grew up saying: "redding up." There's a German lineage on one side of my family among ancestors who came to Ohio from Pa. A connection to the phrase perhaps?
ReplyDeleteAlly--I'm so very tired of all the grey!
DeleteSo fun to hear of yet another person who grew up saying Redding Up. I wonder about the German link also. Did you also say davenport instead of couch?
My family used 'redding up' also. I have not looked it up, but I think it was originally a treatment given to sheep in Yorkshire area of UK. There is a town called 'Redding'.
ReplyDeleteI love your good things jar. Because I am a visual person, I do the same thing but with my photo storage. I tell myself I am going to purge, but really I just remember.
Hey, about the vertigo. JG had a spell and it turned out to be benign something or other and was fixable. Yours may be too, but get in there. I hope your medical structure is doing real visits, not phone and Zoom. My problem is an ingrown toenail and it is not going to get fixed by a virtual appointment. AAAAAArg.
Ontario just got locked down under Emergency Order. Again.
I note Mr Trump wants to go out with a parade. There are clowns in every circus, no?
Mary--Re: my vertigo. I am so used to having odd symptoms from pre-weather migraine that vertigo doesn't trouble me. I am due for a visit to my regular doctor in the next month or so, so I will definitely mention it. She is doing regular visits with strict protocol.
DeleteYes, 45* is hoping to steal some of President Biden's thunder by insisting on a big red-carpet send-off on the morning of the Inauguration. He is pathetic.
Very cursory search turned this up.
ReplyDeleteA: The verbal phrase “redd up” (also seen as “red up,” “ret up,” and even “rid up”) has its roots in a Middle English verb redden, which meant to rescue or free from, or to clear. Today, “redd up” means to clear an area or make it tidy.Dec 13, 2007
Mary--Yes, I read that as well (of course!). I wanted to find a comprehensive source to link to for this post.
DeleteMe again. It can also mean to mark sheep with red dye. More usually 'ruddle'. Didn't that come in 'Return of the Native' or some such?
ReplyDeleteMary--Oh, I have no idea. I tried to read Return of the Native years ago and gave it up. I simply could not get through it.
DeleteI had a course that required it. Heavy going. I am NOT going to look through it for the reference. Still down the reddit wormhole - my grandmother used to 'riddle' her coal stove to drop the ash into the disposal box below the fire. Or, I heard 'riddle'.
DeleteRegarding hanging clothes out in January. On low humidity day, they will freeze dry and just require a bit of hanging inside to finish. I used to do that, not that many years ago. Old and lazy now.
Never heard the redding word! Im so sorry about the vertigo.Sometimes , most times, you make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI love your gratitude papers . Todays: did hurt back shoveling!
kathy b--I think you're too far north to be exposed to Redding Up.
DeleteI hope your Good Thing is that you did not hurt your back shoveling snow. That's ALWAYS a good thing!
Excellent idea to keep a ‘good things’ list, it must help with the general misery we are all suffering. Mind if I steal the idea?
ReplyDeleteYour referral to old words made me look up your ‘wider spread’ and now, one hour later, I am finally getting back from the general linguistic scroll to what I was actually doing before I got sidetracked. All the same, thanks for an interesting learning curve.
Friko--By all means, please use the idea. The original idea of the Good Things Jar was one I got from another blog, Jean's, and I don't know where she got it, or if she originated it herself.
DeleteI love going down those Internet Wormholes, don't you? Such fun, and so enlightening. I consider that time well spent.
Dee--Thank you. I am. I get a lot of odd weather-related (I think) symptoms pre-migraine, or instead of actual migraines. Our weather here has been so strange. This morning (Saturday), I awoke to 32 degrees, and a very light icy dusting of individual snowflakes. And a bit of sun. So much change in weather and barometer just kills me.
ReplyDeleteI hope your weather behaves.
My blood pressure went up last night when I heard about Trump's plans to have a big send off parade. You wonder what reality he lives in, don't you? We will be celebrating, though, with Biden/Harris coming in! Finally!
ReplyDeleteHope you have lots of "Good Things" in 2021!
Ellen--He's such a narcissist. I expected nothing less. It's a damn shame that they're allowing it to happen on President Biden's day. That should not be. However, I'm sure Joe Biden couldn't care less about such things. I just hope that the media doesn't cover it slavishly.
DeleteI have my champagne chilling already for Inauguration Day. Like you, we can't wait to celebrate the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration. Finally!
I hope your 2021 is full of Good Things as well.
Ack. I tried to respond, but it didn't work.
ReplyDeleteI love your list! Particularly, the variety is nice: food, family, finances, wine, weather, etc. Will you keep up the tradition for 2021?
Mikey--I lost a lengthy comment yesterday. The internet was terrible, for some reason.
DeleteI will keep up the Good Things Jar for 2021. It stands empty right now, however; I am in a funk since the events at the Capitol. I am beginning my New Year the day President Biden takes office. That will be my first Good Thing.
Hope you're getting ready to celebrate the Browns today. I am confident of a win! A nice countdown to Inauguration Day, which just cannot come soon enough. Just read Jill Biden's book (Where the Light Enters). An interesting, honest account of how she fit herself into the Biden family and made it her own.
ReplyDeleteElle--HOW ABOUT THOSE BROWNS!? Sam, my younger son, lives three doors down, and is huge fan. He even bought my granddog Zydrunas a jersey, and once Z started wearing it, the Browns started their astonishing winning ways. So, every game day, we make Sam send us a photo of Z "geared up."
DeleteThanks for the book recommendation. I'll check it out. I find Dr. Biden such a genuine and loving woman. What a welcome and much-needed change and return to an admirable couple in The People's House.
Oh, Elle. Our poor Browns! They were so very close. NEXT YEAR!
DeleteIt was a fantastic season, though, and Kevin Stefanski winning coach of the year was a nice topper.
DeleteThink you would enjoy Jill Biden's book. She grew up outside Philly, like me; her grandparents lived in Hammonton, NJ, where I spent a good bit of time w/friends. It was all so "familiar" to me. We differ, however, in that she is just so dynamic. Such an achiever and always thinking of others. I have nothing but high hopes for this administration. I even put the press briefings on each day, to listen in while I'm working. Jen Psaki is good. And I know the prior people in that spot are not much competition, but she really knows her stuff and is able to handle the reporters. Without being ignorant or rude.
I think you have a sinus infection stuck way up in your head causing pressure and vertigo. You may not even have any symptoms but just pressure and vertigo, especially if you notice it gets worse when you tilt your head down and back up. I had a lot of migraines in a row last year and this was the cause, I didn't even have a runny nose! I love the thoughts in your jar. I think we should all stay away form the news but it is so hard with things changing at such a fast pace. Stay safe and warm!
ReplyDeleteMeredith--I don't have the pressure and vertigo today, or even yesterday, though. If I had a sinus infection, I think the symptoms would stay, don't you? In any case, I need to make an appointment with my internist in a few weeks, so I'll get it sorted, I'm sure.
DeleteI read a daily news summary from the NYT, I read the daily papers, and I watch the Nightly News. Other than that, I steer clear of having news on all day long, etc. I stay informed, but don't wallow. I think we all should be aware and informed, but not to the point of it disturbing our wellbeing any more than it has to.
We're getting flurries today, and we'll be hovering at freezing for the foreseeable. January in NEO!
The weather does not sound fun at all. I occasionally struggle with vertigo, so I'm very sympathetic.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard the phrase Redding Up before. So, nesting? Cleaning? Tidy-ing? I'm a fan of all of that.
I love your 2020 tit-bits that bring a smile to you and us.
BB Suz--Redding Up is a quick clean overall, like a declutter and putting things where they belong. It does NOT include dusting, vacuuming, or any sort of cleaning product cleaning. Definitely NOT nesting, which to me evokes preparing for babies and such. Yikes.
DeleteThank you for sharing my Joy. That's what I love about the blog community so much.
I've never heard the terms "redding" or "redding up." Interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard for me to stop watching the news right now but I do it because it is necessary. I saw this tweet yesterday: "I just turned off the news and put on Silence of the Lambs to relax." I chuckled briefly in appreciation and thought boy, isn't that the truth? These are the truly unsettling times we're in.
I love hearing more of your good things! Good stuff is simply good stuff and is a boost for all of us. Your list is also a great reminder that it's usually the little things in life that buoy us. We don't need major things, showstopper type stuff in life to make it enjoyable. I think about that a lot these days as food and drink for our meals and antics of the dogs usually provide the high points of our days.
Hopefully, the vertigo is simply an aberration versus an issue that will return but I'm glad you're going to ask your doctor about it. I have had vertigo a few times in the past. I was glad when it disappeared; that's for sure.
Three more days, Nance ... we are planning a major celebratory meal but still trying to remember to breathe most of the time as we wait with the news that continues to unfold. xo,
Shirley
Shirley--I completely understand the compulsion to watch the news. So much happens! And there's this sense of waiting for the anvil to drop: we all know he will do something horrible and outrageous right before he leaves, whether it's the self-pardon, pardoning his reprehensible offspring, or heaven help us, worse. He's a madman, so it's boundless.
DeleteEven when our lives become larger after the pandemic ceases, I still hope we continue to observe and note the small joys of our lives. I think most of us do, but I have grown increasingly fond of the exercise of writing them down and putting them in a jar. It's like preserving them outright.
I'm angry and disappointed that President Biden and Vice President Harris won't be able to have the Inauguration they deserve with all the gala and tradition. It will be so sedate and workmanlike. I hope they know, however, how many private celebrations there will be for them. The majority of Americans are excited and happy...and Relieved!
So very soon now! XO
Hoping you are feeling better. I've never had vertigo, but I've heard that it is NASTY. I cannot remember the last time I walked. It has been so windy and cold that it is not pleasant to be outside. Hopefully we iwll get some milder days with no wind...but it is January, so no guarantees. I like your list of good things - so nice to see something like that. Thanks for sharing! (PS - $5 shoes!!!)
ReplyDeleteVera--I'm feeling right as rain. I still think the vertigo was a sort of migraine thing. Definitely a response to the weather.
DeleteI haven't walked in a few days now, and it's definitely making me edgy. We had some wet snow accumulation, so I have a safety concern. I'll try today, since there has been some melting.
The shoe deal was nuts. No way I could pass on that. Even if I only wore them ten times, it would be worth it.
I'm here late, and without time to linger in your comments section like I usually enjoy (hopefully when I come back to see your reply to this I'll have more time!). I wanted to let you know that the sun is shining here, and it's 44 degrees, but my coworker and I SWEAR we just saw snowflakes. Although with climate change maybe it was petals from a flowering tree (no it wasn't - it was SNOW).
ReplyDeleteI love your list of good things! I really should get back to that. Added to the enjoyment of reading them the next year, it would also have the effect of making me "wake up" every day & really notice what's going on.
Also, I'm sure this was discussed in comments, but does Redding Up come from Readying Up? Getting ready for company/spring/the rapture?
Bug--I like your spin on Redding Up; you bring a different perspective to the whole thing. I did provide a link to the phrase, and Mary from Canada provided some more info, so when you come back, you can read that stuff.
DeleteI'm so glad my friends are seeing some sunshine. We just got an inch of snow and are going to be below 30 all day with windchills giving us a Real Feel of about 11. Sigh. Wintertime in NEO.
I like the Good Things Jar, and mine will start back up again TODAY, with the departure of He Who Shall Not Be Named and the Inaugurations of President Biden and Vice President Harris. It's a great day!
Coming up for air! Overwhelmed by start of semester prep, but finally getting things under control. Yesterday was the first day of virtual classes and I could not watch most inaugural stuff live, but have gobbled up everything I could possibly record. I thought the events were all beautifully done and loved the creative solutions for a COVID-Security Risk inauguration. So inspiring and such a relief to finally be back to 'normal' even if 'normal' is not so much these days with the pandemic, etc.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your "Good Things" notes. Completely agree that when we add up all the 'little good things', they do add up!
I hope your vertigo is gone. Is that a side effect of the migraines you suffer from?! Not wishing to be bossy, but... I hope you get checked out by a doctor. I am the prime example, of course, of trying to 'tough it out' until I have no choice, and that has not always been a good decision on my part. Please take very, very good care of yourself, my dear. We need you here for your wisdom and cheer. :-) XXOO
Ortizzle--I can imagine you were overwhelmed! I am thankful that I'm no longer in teaching, trying to navigate remote learning or in-person instruction with this pandemic and its collateral concerns. It's a nightmare; it has to be.
DeleteI was rooted to the spot yesterday, watching TV and rejoicing at the Inaugural events. I was so glad that many of the traditions could still be observed safely, such as the walk to the White House. I was Joyful all day. It felt wonderful to hear a speech about American democracy and service, a speech that brought our country back to where we should have been all along.
My vertigo is gone; it only lasted a day. I think it is a migraine/weather thing. Whenever there is a slow-moving weather front, I get symptoms. I look for closely-packed isobars travelling toward NEO, and I know there will be trouble. Still, I will mention it to my doctor at my upcoming visit in several weeks. Thank you for your concern and friendly nudge. I do take good care of myself; there are other people in my life who need me and for whom I wish to be present. You take good care as well. XXOO
I dealt with vertigo for years diagnosed as migraine by the then OSU football team Dr. who kept prescribing increasingly expensive meds that did no good. A few years later after moving to Arizona I had a real siege, then desperately saw my baby’s pediatrician. He readily diagnosed my eustachian tubes weren’t opening and closing properly to allow ears to adjust air pressure. This occurs sometimes when we’re a plane passenger and our ears pop during takeoff. Viral or bacterial ear infection could set off such ear problems. Some inexpensive OTC med. and an antibiotic, since I did have low grade bacterial infection, plus knowing how to check ear function eventually resolved that attack. Subsequent years I’ve been able to eliminate those vértigo sieges by ongoing efforts to prevent an onset. The Dr. had readily recognized my problem because he encountered it frequently as an Air Force Dr. in Florida during the Cuban Bay of Bigs invasion. Airmen assigned to long duty observing radar sometimes complained of developing vertigo to be relieved of this job so he had to figure out how to identify the fakers, he said. I surely have benefited from what he learned and shared with me. I hope you and anyone else experiencing vertigo are able to find what causes yours and how to correct. Vertigo is no fun. For me it could evolve into regurgitation, severe headache, needing to be in a darkened room, laying in bed in one position — a whole day could be wiped out.
ReplyDeleteJoared--I'm unfortunately very sensitive to barometric pressure and weather is a huge migraine trigger for me. Sometimes, I don't even get the full blown migraine, but rather other collateral symptoms, one of which can be vertigo, although I rarely get that alone.
DeleteI live in possibly the worst place I could for changeable weather of this sort. It's ridiculous.
I too feel the same way - 2021 has that very same potential as 2020
ReplyDeleteHaddock--Hello, and welcome to the Dept.
DeleteI've been in a sorry, grey funk for weeks now, and I'm trying desperately to come out of it. January has been unkind except for the Inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Harris. But it's far too early to write it off! Let's stay Hopeful.