while my diary experience wasn't perfect, it does show me clearly where I struggle. DESSERT! And finding healthy foods to prepare while I have no kitchen. Which I thought about as I was falling asleep last night. Would I eat basic healthful meals if I prepared them in batch over the weekend? I could buy a family-sized tray of chicken breasts at the grocery and cook those up in my crock-pot (maybe in broth for extra flavor), then leave out what I'll eat over the weekend and freeze the rest. I can make a family size pot of brown rice and freeze it in pre-measured servings stored in sandwich bags to pull out for each meal. I can buy or prepare cut-up vegetables to have with my pre-designed protein-vegetable-starch meals. At least if I freeze most of what I prepare I won't have to worry about wasting the food. That's been a problem. For example, I made a healthful soup in my crock-pot last Sunday, that we were supposed to eat Monday and Tuesday. Unknown to me beforehand (so I didn't freeze), those were the days hubby decided to paint - oil-based - so we stayed two nights in a hotel. Now the soup seems like a science experiment.

Exercise: I have been trying to move the very minimum each day. Which is 100% more than I'd been doing regularly. Hopeful I can expand on my walking, and start back to something a little more vigorous.

BEST NEWS: Master bedroom is done! So hubby and I can move out of the little den/warren space we've been using into the Master bedroom. That's the plan for today. Clean floors, clean furniture, clean everything that will go in MB, then place it all in that room together. Then move anything out of the hubby-office room that isn't hubby-office related. And have hubby office stuff move into the hubby-office room. Which means that the KITCHEN will be ready to start this week. Halleleujah, progress!

THANKOFFERING: I'm giving my time and skill to my faith community by creating their newsletters - for print and e-mail. Completed my first print one yesterday. Will work on e-mail one maybe during the week. Enjoyed getting to learn MS Publisher this week, though still a long way off from proficient at the product! At least it is a relaxing way to be creative. Speaking of...

CREATIVE: Spent time at the ceramic place again last night. Picked up materials fired from last week, and worked on a small individual product plus a project that hubby and I did together. I like those together projects best -- it is one place where we can work collaboratively without argument. Just makes me feel so good.

WORK: CFO sent out an e-mail just after-hours on Thursday that there were changes taking place in the firm, difficult changes that had to be made for the PDX office. It appears maybe 5% of PDX was let go - in numbers, that is less than 10. But in a small-ish group like this, it affects everyone emotionally. Friday was subdued. The folks affected were given 1-month notice. So it will probably be end-of-March before we really see the change at the office.

I tried to talk to my hubby about my concerns after the announcement. I remember I was laid-off once in the 1980s because of a financially difficult climate in another Pacific Northwest city. I remember I had a very low overhead, enough saved $ for six months, and it was (even at that time) pretty easy to find temp work. I was pleased with the layoff. If it happened to me now, I am not confident that I could find employment quickly. I talked to hubby about looking for work everywhere in the US, and accepting work in whatever city would have me (based on Cost-of-Living info - so would not take a job in a city where my working wage wouldn't even cover my expenses). Hubby was sanguine. The abstract idea of maybe losing a job, and maybe having to look for work, and maybe what would a person do in such a circumstance is not the strong-suit of an autistic fellow.

Well, that's lots more than I thought I had to say for these few days since my last post. I keep keeping-on in my very imperfect ways. I hope to hear you have done the same! (Though I wish many more success towards goals than my own meager successes this week!).

Ask good questions, share a smile, keep us "posted." Shalom, -Otter