Five Things Friday: just five things I’m thinking about or things that made my week, or things that I otherwise feel like sharing.
Things have been a bit busy around here, not sure if you could tell. You’ve probably noticed that I am behind on my blog reading (again). One crazy (work) week (or two) and I am hopelessly behind on my Feedly. I’ll catch up, I promise. (Also, maybe it’s time to take some advice from my friend Anne and reduce my reading list a bit.)
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Yesterday was my aunt’s funeral. All day, I thought about her and the funeral service and yes, also about the fact that I wasn’t there. It was clearly bothering me subconsciously, as I had some strange, funeral-related dreams the night before. I wish I could have been there, but the timing was just very inconvenient between fieldwork, other work commitments, a long-planned race weekend, and a scheduled medical procedure … although, when is a funeral ever convenient? Never! If only my participation in such things wouldn’t involve a transatlantic flight. I had a lengthy discussion with my family and they agreed it would make more sense to come to visit in the spring when we could all spend more quality time together. Still, it was weird not to be there.
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I mentioned in my Currently post in January that I was going to try out laundry detergent liquidless eco sheets, and so I did. I bought some from Earth Breeze and I am pretty impressed so far. I cannot tell a difference between the use of these sheets and regular liquid laundry detergent, but I am a big fan of the small and eco-friendly packaging. I will say though that I have no specific feedback (yet) on how well they do with tough stains. I’ll give a more thorough review after I’ve used them for a while longer.
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We’ve had freezing temperatures again here in Northern California this week. There was actually the possibility of snow in the valley, which is not unheard of but very rare. We haven’t seen snow yet but we had a bit of graupel come down in the evening and lots of wind again through the night. Southern California has a blizzard warning. The weather is officially crazy.
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Today I’ll be running some last-minute errands and packing for my race weekend. I’ll be hanging out with some of my Streakers365 friends and, most importantly, Tanja for the next few days. I hope travel will be easy and that I am not going to get stuck along the way. The weather-related issues around the country are no joke.
How was your week?
Nicole MacPherson
February 25, 2023 at 6:31 amSnow! That IS crazy! I hope you stay nice and warm and that you have a great race weekend!
I’m sorry about your aunt. It’s so difficult to grieve from afar, and to have to miss the funeral and the closure that comes with it. Sometimes there is nothing to be done about it, though. I’m really sorry you’re going through this.
Grateful Kae
February 25, 2023 at 8:03 pmI have felt so behind on my reading/commenting on blogs, too lately!! I’ve been training a new person at work, so my days have been FULL and also I have been connected almost constantly via video calls. Normally I squeeze in little blog breaks into my work day, but this just isn’t possible right now. I have ended up doing a lot of blog reading on my phone on the Feedly app, but I really don’t like commenting from my phone. So then I try to remember what I wanted to say and go back later, but that doesn’t always happen…. I commented on Anne’s post that I wish all the blogs had a little box I could at least check that said “I read your post!!” so that people could know I am still enjoying their content, even if I don’t necessarily have time to always respond right now!
I’m so sorry about your aunt! I can see how that would feel terrible to miss the funeral, but it definitely makes sense to go later when you can also spend time with family. Don’t beat yourself up about it- I assure you your aunt would understand. :) Hugs to you, San!
NGS
February 26, 2023 at 12:58 pmWow! I want a full report on what happens in your neighborhood if you get snow. Does everything just ground to a complete halt?
I’m so sorry that you can’t be with your family to help you mourn. It’s so hard to be away from family. Hugs to you and I hope your memories of time with your aunt bring you some comfort in this challenging time.
J
February 27, 2023 at 11:20 amI’m so sorry you weren’t able to be there for your Aunt’s funeral. I missed my Aunt’s funeral years ago because I was in a sensitive time in my pregnancy and didn’t feel safe flying across the US, and it felt really hard. I know your family understands, and hope that you can enjoy your trip to Germany later this year.
Thanks for the update on the laundry sheets. I just bought a HUGE jug of Tide at Costco, but I went ahead and purchased the laundry sheets as well. We don’t have a lot of stains, just regular laundry, so I am glad to go ahead and give them a try. The fact that they offer a full refund if you don’t like them pushed me over the edge in making a decision.
Elisabeth
February 28, 2023 at 5:32 amI’m so sorry you can’t be with your family in this hard time of grief and reflection. It’s hard to grieve a shared loss at a distance. I hope your future visit with family is such a balm to your soul, my friend.
The weather this winter has been CRAZY in the US.
I had a set of the detergent sheets and loved them. They mostly have to be ordered online where I live, so I haven’t gotten another set yet, but thought they were great and should just order them in bulk like some of my friends do…
Stephany
February 28, 2023 at 5:53 amIt had to be so, so hard to not be there for the funeral but hopefully you can do something special with your family when you visit them later this year. <3
I saw that the Los Angeles area got snow! Meanwhile, I'm over here sweating in shorts and a tank top. Unfair! I want freezing temps!
Kim
February 28, 2023 at 9:20 amI’m so sorry you couldn’t be with your family for the funeral. When do you get to see them this spring?
Lisa of Lisa's Yarns
March 1, 2023 at 10:54 amI saw that CA was getting some crazy weather last weekend! This has been a weird winter for you all w/ the excessive rain and now unseasonably cold temps! We’ve had an intense winter and might set a snowfall record. We are already 20″ above average for snowfall and we still have a good month+ of wintery weather, if not 1.5-2 months. We’ve had drought conditions the last 2 years so I guess it’s good for trees and such but it feels like spring is very very far off!
Feel free to read my posts and not comment or just mark all as read. I will not be offended at all! When you are extra busy, it’s easy to get behind on things like blog reading!
I am sorry you weren’t able to attend your aunt’s funeral. It is tough to miss things like that as funerals always give me such a sense of closure and it’s nice to gather and celebrate the person’s life. But it is hard to attend when you live so very far away! My sister in AZ has missed a number of funerals because she’s so far away and it’s expensive/hard for her to get back to where we grew up. I am glad you’ll see your family in the spring, though!!
Kate
March 1, 2023 at 2:14 pmI’m so sorry to hear of your aunt’s passing, and I can only imagine how hard it was not to be there. My aunt passed away a few years ago, and I couldn’t make it down from New Hampshire in time; it was heartbreaking.
Also, I’ve never heard the word “graupel”! Thanks for adding this one to my vocab. We happen to get a lot of it, haha
Anne
March 13, 2023 at 8:32 amLoved seeing your IG posts from your race weekend, San. You were just radiating happiness and joy. And I hope you took every opportunity to embrace the weekend, the experience, and your friends. Isn’t it just wonderful how online to IRL seems to be, well, seamless in most situations? Take care, my friend. I hope life slows down a bit for you, now!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
March 19, 2023 at 2:44 amI love sheet detergent. Have been using it for probably 4 years now. Best invention lately in my book.
As you can see I am also behind on blog reading with everything going on. Since the race is already done I guess good luck wishes won’t do much…. I am sure it was fantastic