Tag: me

Getting things done didn’t come as naturally to me in 2024 (and 2023, (and 2022, and 2021, if we are being honest)) as it had before. Early in 2024, I made two sheets of basic stuff, one for my stuff, and one to stay on top of my aunt’s finances.

The sheets took probably 10 minutes to make, and they worked very well. You will notice the additions that appeared as the year went on. The delimitation for books and movies was particularly important. It’s really hard to catch those up in one session at the end of the month so switching up the goal to the 15th and the last day helped.

With my aunt’s stuff, it was nice to cross things off as I canceled things no longer needed.

You will notice that I gave myself the last week in December off. A just reward after a year of good work.

I’ve drafted new sheets for 2025. Let’s see if they work as well as these did.

Why yes! It’s 2025! That means it’s time for a new five-year standard diary.

Look how shiny it is!

This brings my time using the standard diary total to 20 full years.

Usually my favorite part about the five-year diary is reading back through the entries of the previous years as I complete each day’s entry. But 2020 through 2024 were rough, and I didn’t often read back as I filled in the 2024 days.

Here’s hoping 2025-2029 will bring smoother sailing.

I did my part, but I’m feeling worried…

Here you can see all my accruements for hydration at work.

The embroidered landing spot, my usual water vessel, a new thermos (much too large because I bought it online and didn’t properly visualize the size), and the cute mug that Danielle got to welcome me to the library.

Too-large thermos notwithstanding, this has all come together nicely. When I leave work, I tuck it all in a two-drawer file cabinet, so others can use the space for their own beverage station.

We emptied the living room of furniture and borrowed a few folding tables and chairs to seat all the people who came to Friendsgiving. Sara and Shawn surprised me by driving up from Arcata. It was great fun.

I’ve been scanning my grandfather’s slides and he was a fan of the far away photo, so I took a few photos as he would:

The slightly out of focus table.

The back-of-the-head table.

The way-far-away table.

I then had Kelly take the official photo, but forgot to fix the camera before I passed it on to her. Here’s the no-glasses version (I was quite hot and my glasses kept fogging up, so I took them off.)

Here’s the glasses version.

And here’s one last look at the cake.

What did I do for my birthday? I made a really big cake! And then had a Friendsgiving to invite people to help me eat it. Here are some stages of this cake:

Individually wrapped and frozen layers with cardboard rounds in between to give me an idea of the final height:

With filling added. The top was fruit filling, and the bottom two layers were chocolate.

With buttercream layer after I dropped the top layer while stacking.

The final cake, fully decorated, with buttercream on the top layer repaired.

It was quite the adventure, making this cake, and honestly, I wasn’t pleased with the final results. But I think I like planning to make a large cake rather than the product of the planning. And people ate it happily, so that was good.

Thanks for the Decorette Shop in Tigard for supplying me with all the things I needed to make this cake, including those stars and candles.

As you can see, an official worker badge has joined my Multnomah County Library card.

I will be working in the Finance and Facilities division.