GRATITUDE: For the 77 days remaining that I’m lucky enough to possibly walk this girl to elementary school. My heart is breaking more than a little.

FOCUS: Mental prep for a good weekend ahead.

INSPIRATION:

GRATITUDE: For peace in the morning to exercise, and listen to my book, make a protein smoothie with chard from the garden and bananas and blueberries. For at least a little time to do my assignment before Juniper gets out at 1:30.

FOCUS: Today was one of those days where there just aren’t enough hours in the day…

INSPIRATION: Remembering way 5 or was it 6 years ago when I started listening to this podcast and feeling that there were actionable things in my own life that could make life so much good-er.

GRATITUDE: Got the car back and didn’t have to pay $600 but only $175! Engine check light has been reset and so far the car seems to be running great again. Will have to keep my fingers crossed it stays that way…upon quick search it seems it actually may be possible to reset the check engine light easily on our own in the future (disconnect negative battery terminal, temporarily remove ECN fuse from fusebox, using a digits engine scanner you can erase or reset check engine light). Gah…was it really just that? Hmm…will have to try this next time.

FOCUS: A few pages closer to catching up with Japanese lesson for the week…gosh I’m just aways behind from those first couple weeks of spending all my energy researching places to stay in Japan!

INSPIRATION: Did 27 minutes of rowing with intervals today! Woohoo! Probably my longest row ever.

GRATITUDE: Sunshine this morning while I raked the mess of eucalyptus. 1-1/2 hours of being outside in the sunshine before the afternoon wind and chill came in. Took the car next door to get smog checked which is convenient but of course the check engine light has been on and so it wasn’t a quick pass. Hopefully tomorrow we can get by without too much added cost. Happy I got a short walk with Juniper to school this morning and a stroll to Walgreens to pick up an Rx. Such a blessing to be able to walk to all these necessities.

FOCUS: Tomorrow I’ll aim to finish our yearly taxes.

INSPIRATION: Feeling tired and slightly uninspired today…my body says to take a slight rest from the usual. Probably don’t get as much protein as I’ve been aiming for recently. Also consumed white rice, bread, on top of the pizza and pasta from the weekend. Must be my carb craving week, harder to track without my Oura ring data tracking body temp at night.

GRATITUDE: Juniper didn’t go to school today due to major sniffles…not sure if it’s a cold or allergies to something from the sleepover. Seems like allergies. Anyhow, grateful she’s so easy going and went on walks with me and was so quiet and understanding when I had to do my Japanese quiz…2x! We actively tried to make it at least a little fun and baked homemade chocolate chip cookies from scratch. So nice the grocery store is so close by when we realized we were out of flour and chocolate chunks. Picked up some parsley for lemon garlic pasta, which she also so willingly helped to make this evening. I’m so proud of her and the initiative she takes on and responsibilities she handles, and I just wish she knows it’s ok to be vulnerable and emotional and to shed tears, just like yesterday when she was crying at bedtime which I am blaming on lack of sleep. Anyhow, today I’m grateful my life has been blessed with such a loving, kind, caring, creative, thoughtful daughter. It truly is one happiness I never knew I could have.

FOCUS: Behind again in Japanese, but improved my test score to at least 19/20. Gosh it’s hard! Tomorrow the backyard is going to need some cleanup as long as it’s not raining. Dad comes back tonight from Iowa and I know he’s been working hard, the least I can do is help gather eucalyptus bark.

INSPIRATION: Been thinking of a better way to collect and share recipes with Juniper that we frequently use or want to cook/bake again. Wondering if a shared Google drive folder is the way to go…

Also, this morning’s lower body kettlebell workout is definitely something to improve upon and work towards/keep track of progress. Hard to master the deadlift to goblet squat, so mainly focusing on that for now. Using 15lb kettlebell. 😓

Warmup:

1 min air squats

1 min good mornings

2x:

1 min kettlebell Romanian deadlifts

1 min kettlebell goblet squats

1 min kettlebell deadlift to goblet squat

GRATITUDE: Thankful the eucalyptus trees haven’t blown over behind our apartment with all this crazy wind and rain. glad we got to go on a morning walk with Jasper to the donut shop before Juniper returned from her sleepover. Happy Juniper took a much needed 3-1/2 hour nap…but even with she was a bit of an emotional mess this evening. Fingers crossed she hasn’t caught a cold. Overall it was a fairly easy going, nothing out of the ordinary day. Wishes for better weather do I can make it back to the garden this coming week.

FOCUS: Must attempt Japanese quiz again tomorrow. Have been working hard learning the katakana and hiragana characters the last couple days so I’m not wasting time looking at my hand chart.

INSPIRATION: Watched videos about Hakone and the Hakone Free Pass today on YouTube with Eric and Jasper. Lots of good things to add to our itinerary!

GRATITUDE: Happy we spent all those early years (especially during the pandemic) riding bikes! Today we took a leisurely ride to downtown San Mateo where we played tennis and then went to Suruki Market afterwards for a picnic lunch in the alleyway behind Backhaus. Lucky we found a dry spot! So nice that we can just pack up and get on our bikes and go. Juniper is at a sleepover at Alexi’s which gave Eric and I some alone time with Jasper this evening. We got to watch The Bourne Identity and it was nice to see Jasper so engaged with all the exciting action filled parts. Eric helped to put together our bedframe, and though I’m not super happy with the corner detail of how the mattress and frame aren’t quite the same shape, I’m happy the mattress is raised up off the ground and yet still low to the ground.

FOCUS: Tomorrow maybe I’ll see if the shelves above the coffee nook will work out. Need to take advantage of the morning with Jasper…where shall we go?

INSPIRATION: Marveled at the elder people on the tennis courts today doing taichi. Perhaps this is something to consider for the future older years…it’s pretty cool to see them harnessing the invisible powers of the wind and nature energy.

GRATITUDE: For the humbling experience of taking my first Japanese quiz of this quarter. まだまだです。(Mada mada desu – meaning “still long way to go”). Thank you Pimsleur at least I’ve learned one useful phrase!

It was nice Eric and I got a brisk morning walk in between 8-9. That never happens on a weekday!

I got more than 8 hours sleep on a weeknight last night! And nearly that much the evening before. I definitely didn’t have quite the afternoon slump as last week. It could be also I’ve focused on getting a lot more protein this week, less bread, rice, simple carbs…feeling pretty good the last couple days in fact.

FOCUS: Difficult to jump into another book as I had planned today…

INSPIRATION:

GRATITUDE: Finished book 2 of the year, Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. Thankful for time with Erin and Adrienne this morning at a new to us spot in Redwood City and the sunshine on my walk over to Coffeebar where I spent time doing my Japanese lesson. Will need to do quiz attempt 1 tomorrow…Happy for a relaxed afternoon with Juniper at Cafe Siete where we drew cute animal characters and learned how to write their names in Japanese.

FOCUS: Early to bed again today…have been having some crazy dreams the last couple of days which I can only attribute to having more sleep. Maybe today I’ll get a full 8 hours?

INSPIRATION: Thinking about how I can share the wealth of self taught knowledge I’ve acquired in the last few years…