Memento-Box Version of a Blog Post

I can't capture my thoughts enough to pull together a real post -- too much to think about, scattered everywhere, a bit like the junk drawer in my closet I was trying to sort out this weekend!  So I am just going to spill a few pieces out on the type-screen and see what happens.

First of all, I haven't been reading blogs for most of the summer -- I even took down all my feedly subscriptions in order to simplify my life -- but I started browsing through our sidebar blog feed last weekend and found Melissa Wiley's recent post Facebugged.   Lissa is the best meta-social-media-commentator I know of, and this post is thought-provoking in so many ways.  Make sure and take a look at the comments as well.

I have been reading a lot about habits recently because of my summer systems-tuneup habit and found this interesting blog:  Develop Good Habits.   I am presently reading the book Habit Stacking:   97 Small Life Changes that Take Five Minutes or Less.    Interesting ideas -- maybe I will blog more about it sometime.

Also found this post:  10 Creative Ways to Declutter Your Home.  (I need to declutter -- but am not motivated -- so was looking for fun ways to tackle the problem).    I like the idea of "one object per day" -- it is #2 on the list.   I may do some version of that because what is needed at the present season isn't so much getting rid of things -- I did a lot of that last year -- but getting myself back in touch with what we have around the house.   It seems that when you are out of touch with your things, they become clutter since they are not accessible to your mind.   So I thought maybe going through one box or drawer a day and choosing one focal object might help me interact with our household inventory.

What I've been reading:   mostly non-fiction, self-help type books.    Quite a few of them are diet books because the best way I have to keep the momentum up with a plan is to read and write and think about it a lot.   Also some on habits and on OCD (I don't have OCD but some of the cognitive behaviorial strategies useful for that condition also help me with my issues).

Aidan had his yearly GI/ liver clinic yesterday.   The doctor who sees him at our regional center was actually one of the team who cared for him at San Francisco pre- and post-liver-transplant.   He told me about this pilot study of liver transplant recipients who have been phased altogether off anti-rejection meds.     Aidan is on "mono-therapy" meaning only one anti-rejection med and is on a very small dose, but the med does have long term carcinogen and other effects and it would be cool to get him off completely.    Another advantage would be that we would be that much less dependent on insurance to cover his costs, since the med is pricey, and that would be a good thing in several ways in today's shaky health -provision climate.

I can't remember if I mentioned this before on the blog, but I am a grandma of an unborn child!  My daughter is expecting her first child in August, so I get to go across country and be with her.   Very exciting.       I keep picturing this fantasy neighborhood that looks something like Avonlea or perhaps Nazareth, where I could just walk over and visit my adult children -- right now two are in Oregon and one is in Virginia and it is one of the hardest things I've encountered during my 28 years of being a mom.     Two of the ladies that attend our Bible study are like that -- a mom and grown daughter (the latter with grandchildren of her own) -- who live in the same tiny mountain town and can walk over to each others' houses.  Sigh...

I guess that is all for now... time to start the day.   Here is a picture of Aidan in front of his grandma's condo yesterday down in town in the boiling (106 degree) heat.   Fifteen years ago almost to this day he "crashed" (code blue) at the regional hospital and was rushed to San Francisco.     Now he's a great young man who has taken over lots of the household chores and likes to write funny stories on his laptop and design scrapbook pages.    And he loves his grandma and grandpa and their house, where he gets to play with grandma's collection of tops.