What the weekend is for

Poof! There goes another weekend. It was my kid-free weekend, but Mr W had his birthday party over at his dad's, so I helped shlep kids around and watched the opening of the presents. It was fun.

I went to lunch both days with friends I haven't seen for a while. Everyone is busy. It is cool to see several of my friends moving up through the ranks of their professions. Friend J's dad recently passed after five months of hospice care for neurological decline that I don't know was ever defined to everyone's satisfaction. She (the youngest of four kids, two of which are local, as were/are the parents) was the highest-functioning one in the scenario. Discussed things with love, but not sugar-coated with her dad. Supported her mom who in her stress and grief didn't take as good of care of herself as she should. Informed her located-elsewhere sister (who tends to be a bit eccentric anyway) that plans after her dad's death would not include any of the things the sister wanted, but all of the things the parents wanted. Eesh. She is strong, my friend J.

My other friend D is an assistant principal at a high school. Keeps her busy for sure. She had wanted to sell her house and move this year, but after looking around in her price range, it seems people are staying put and there is a dearth of options for what she wants. It's a problem that will likely fix itself in the next year or so, but the situation was such that she's going to stay put and have some renovations done so when she sells it, it's worth a little more than it is presently.

It was good to catch up with friends.

I've been trying to make some jewelry, but have sort of stalled. There's plenty of stuff in my Etsy shop, and I haven't had a sale in a month. I tried some new styles of necklaces, but I'm not sure if I like them. After the holiday push, I feel a little ambivalent about pouring as much time into the process (much of which is promotion). Whereas before the holidays, I spent a lot of time getting ready for craft fairs, I feel freed from that and haven't had trouble finding things to do.

I want to put more time into practicing the banjo. I'm reorganizing the stuff I have stored in my basement. That project is only about 30% done. I have lots of paper stuff from past school and work that seemed important at the time and should now be gone through and recycled. I have to be in the right mood for doing it (not just papers, but all this stuff) because I can tend to throw it all out, or save too much. I want to be somewhere in the middle.

So my kid-free weekends have lately been spent on this stuff: socializing, banjo practice, cooking for the week ahead, exercising the dog, doing house stuff. I guess that's all good. The proportions need to be tweaked so I can get done with the basement because I'm going to be putting things down there if/when the kitchen renovation starts. That should be some motivation.