Saturday Like A Weekday

It's hard to remember whether this is the weekend or a weekday, but why would it matter?
Cats woke me up several times last night. Maybe I need to have sardine soup available for Arthur all the time; he really likes sardines if minced well and in water.
I did morning yoga and Reema's zumba class. Almost immediately afterwards, I attended Toastmasters Division G contest, I'm not sure I learned a lot but I hope I was supportive. While waiting for it to begin we were joking and, when conversation flagged, I googled coronavirus jokes, which got a laugh.
I disassembled the crib and laundered the cloth parts, in support of giving it away to someone on Buy Nothing. However I can't find their request anymore!
I practiced my contest speech on zoom, recording it. This was very educational;

• I didn't like the sound; my voice sounded tinny. I don't know whether that's my mike or just an artifact of zoom's playback
• I occasionally went "tch"
• Looking at the camera instead of my face in the screen is hard
• My practice of being closer to the cameria might work as I can be far more expressive than the speakers I heard today. 
• One speaker was quite personal and that was helpful; maybe there's a way I can personalize my text even more.

I spent my Amazon credits (earned during a Microsoft focus group a while back) and ordered wireless earbuds (which include a mike). I should get them in time to try them out, if the coronavirus shipping problems don't mess that up.

Bob's Tulips are up.

Pretty, and a Memorial To Bob's Ideals

Do Not Pray In Public, He Said

Matthew 6:5-6

People who are whining because public health requires modifying their church services are just being selfish and stupid - and not Christian at all.
I made this meme as a free translation of Matthew 6:5-6, my 2nd favorite part of the Bible (after Matthew 25:40). I should not have been surprised it got so many FB "likes" but then, most of my friends are pretty cool.

Mask Brigade and Garden Friday

I did the usual morning yoga, madfit and gymra abs. It's nice to have the time.

A Seattle Mask Brigade donation

Today's morning project was picking up masks for the Mask Brigade.  I neatly prepared a route sheet including addresses and thankyou notes but created a problem for myself when I dropped a leading digit when copy/pasted an address. I should have checked, especially since I am increasingly having difficulties with this machine's browser and ancient mouse. Eventually, it all worked out, with the only impact being more driving and some unnecessary phone calls to the donor.

I shopped veggies at Lee's market. I mailed the form from MassMutual about my tiny pension starting in August; they needed to confirm my address and marital status.

I tried to donate clothes at Mary's Place but they had a sign on the door about not accepting donations during CORVID19. I have a similar problem with magazines and the VA Hospital. I'll have to think about storing donations in the basement.

My Dysfunctional Route

After lunch I finally got around to listening to the day's precision nutrition podcasts. I've been too busy for the first couple of days, yesterday (I think) I tried it, liked it well enough that it will become a daily habit, maybe while drinking coffee after m shower. I didn't do much with it, but I liked it. Today I got around to it at 4pm. I thought about Future Me sending Now Me a postcard about what the future is like. I used futureme to send a letter to myself a year from now. Since I am facing the big life change of pre-tirement, so it was nice to hear from the future that this was a mammoth success: I am financially ok and doing meaningful work with interesting people. I could never have gotten there if I had not taken that prudently planned leap. Good job Now Me! 

I gardened:

• I put out some chard seedlings. They are so tiny!
• Some of the pea seedlings I didn't plant last week continued to grow indoors, much faster than the ones outdoors. Maybe it's a question of warmth at this point? 
• I started some tomato seeds; I'm going to try to follow the directions on the package this time. 
• I started some more nasturtiums. The ones I'd planted outside I don't see at all; a couple I rooted inside looked eager to go into the soil.

Also

Mailing MassMutual Pension Information, Wearing Mask Made By Ellen

At Home

My Blue Pot Plant Chaos

Thursday Planning, Cat Pee, and Zoom

I started the day with the usual yoga and exercise, and then listened to today's edition of a health program sent me by my doctor. Today was about reviewing what I do in terms of my values, on the theory that if we live according to our values, health tends to follow. Of course, figuring out my actual values requiring cycling the question "why" through every expression of value to get back to what is under it all.
For example, today I want to get my TM VPE work totally up to date. Why? I do not want to disappoint my friends Why does that matter?and so on...

Also today I delivered Arthur's pee to vet, hoping to discover whether he's got an UTI or if I must look elsewhere for the explanation for his peeing on my bed. Not having y bed peed on is a value, and I'm not going to bother asking why?

Someone on Buy Nothing finally wants the little wooden hand-made table from the shed in 8848 that the landowner wanted cleared out. I even repaired the back brace, which had fallen off perhaps due to years of my resting my foot on it. I used my Leatherman to straighten the brads, and now it's ready to go be a computer table of a neighbor's even as it once my computer table.
I had left it outside for months, since I no longer have an indoor use for it. It was useful for potting, but that meant it had a layer of soil. I washed it off using cistern water (I avoid the faucet as much as possible either for environmental or cheapness reasons) and reattached the horizontal brace that had come off. Now it's ready to go.

I attended the Nordstrom TM virtual meeting and got more practice with the bluejeans interface, which I have not used elsewhere but you never know.

I had resolved to clean up any outstanding TM VPE work, spurred by John LeCompte's request for status of his  ACS application.

Come 4:30, it was time for Zumba with Reema via Zoom. It's not as good as in person but better than recordings!

Finally, as I went for my evening walk, I saw in the mail notification from Mass Mutual that I may be eligible for the pension I expected. I responded promptly with the SASE provided. It's on!