@blue: Yes - thank you for confirming my suspicions that it really has a whole lot to do with the vastly different flora here! I suspect that if I were to move back up to the northeast, from whence I came, the allergies would go away.

Thank you for the good wishes for a better sleep tonight.......... oh so far away!

Yeah, you're probably right about the spies and such. The world wars were horrible, but they provided opportunity for women to no longer be dismissed as "irrelevant" to society. I didn't read this book (read other things), but my understanding is that women's contributions were substantial. :3

@Wildfire: I'm definitely finding some balance now. :d My stress levels have gone down this week, thanks to my mom moving around more.. and having had the freedom to go to my actual job. XD I still took some work home because I knew I'd be home a few work-days.

omg, I never thought about all the stuff Florida can/does get. o.o'

Come April, I'll be like "I feel sick, I don't know why." XDD /allergies

@Wildfire: The flu just hit this valley again, 2 months after the last cycle. OTL [which explains my baby's throwing up last weekend.. or was it the weekend before].... the weekend before. I can't imagine what kind of viruses float around in Florida with so much tourists and stuff. o3o'

I should ask my sister and see if she has flight points that I can steal. XD lol and just go for a day, like leave a Friday, burn my cheeks on the beach Saturday and head home on Sunday. lol. I'll let you know if I do have this discussion with her. She hoards flight miles like a dragon hoards gold.

@Koah: Good morning. How are you today? I managed to sleep in a little bit!! Yay!

LOL ... dragon hoarding gold <3 Do let me know if you follow up with that discussion :3

I'm sure there are some viruses that make their way here -there always seems to be a flu or something going around at the same time a lot of the Snowbirds come down for the winter- but I don't find the "sharing" to be horrible... but I also don't frequent the typical tourist spots (because they get too crowded).

So what's on the agenda today?

@Koah: Oh wow - you have a busy couple of days ahead of you!! It's a good thing that you got some sleep! XD

I am... since my voice still seems to be MIA, I'm probably going to sit on my ass again today, playing video games for the majority of the day XD (I so rarely do that!!) ... although I did sleep last night, I know I need to rest some more. This "just a bit off" feeling is a weird one to navigate... do you push through? Do you rest? But, knowing my other, longer-term goals and situations iRL, I am opting for rest right now. :3 'cuz I want to and because I can. And I'm just going to, dammit! XD :3

Other than that, I'm looking at pillow options because I need a new one, and I should figure out what the heck I'm going to cook for dinner later. The boys (hubby, eldest & stepson) are going to see the new Demon Slayer movie tonight, and I should probably make sure they have dinner beforehand XD

@Purpsy: Good morning. The last couple of days have been strange here too. It's kinda nice to know that it's not just me, but I really hope that the funkiness that you're dealing with clears up and you get to be productive soon :3 ... although dealing with a blizzard kind of limits that >.> LOL - how did you end up in another blizzard? Good luck - I hope it's not too bad!

@Purpsy: the weather, for as long as I can remember, has always been "hit or miss" with colder winters (or a couple in a row) and warmer summers (or a couple in a row), or those that ping-pong back and forth with extremes. I remember it snowing in mid-April in New England when I was a kid - and even a flurry in ... I think it was June, one year - and winters where it started snowing in early October, and entire winters where it barely snowed at all... but yeah, the hit-or-miss weird weather is tough to keep up with. It does that here, only in milder temperatures - one day, you're on the beach, the next you're wearing a jacket and a hat. For you it's more a matter of "warm" or "wet" depending on whether or not it's snowing or sleeting/raining... or just mud. Good luck with it all though... and hopefully the sun will start coming out soon and those Winter Blues will start going away - it is March already...

Ya know, it's not always a bad thing to just "go slow" sometimes, getting things done. The modern culture is all "go, go, Go!" but really, our bodies and minds need a bit of a break... and the winter tends to provide that for us :3 I've been taking a break the last couple of days too, tbh.

@Purpsy: Good morning. :3

Yeah, all I was trying to say was that there have always, always been outlier seasons where things seem (or actually are) more severe than the usual... but that it doesn't necessarily mean that the sky is falling, so to speak. And like you're saying, overall, there's a general normalcy to the seasons and locations where people live overall.

Comparing yourself to others isn't usually a good thing - it's usually the opposite... whether that's in the amount of stuff you get done, the amount of stuff you have, what you look like, what you do, or anything else... it just tends to breed discontent. So, "you Do You" :3

What do you have planned for the day - anything, today? Or are you still dealing with snow and blizzard conditions?

@Purpsy: It's a habit that our cultures somehow seem to encourage, although it's not really the healthiest, imo... on a deep level, it tends to foster a bunch of mankinds' less than altruistic qualities (division between people (intrinsic if you're comparing "you" vs/ "me"), it encourages greed and aggression ("I want what you seem to have"), non-compassion (judging people superficially), etc.). I think it's a deep-seated unconscious "quest for normal" (along the lines of "fight of flight") or something. /shrug/ Dunno. All I can do is share my perspective and experiences and tell you to observe how you feel about yourself and situations when you're not so caught up in making comparisons. Again, at the end of the day, "you be you" :3 <3

LOL - the day after a good snowstorm is always special, isn't it? I always used to love the clean whiteness of the snow, the sun that often broke out once the front left, and yes, the warmer temperatures. I hope you get a chance to enjoy the day a little bit! :3

Today... well, right now, I'm on my 2nd cup of coffee and trying to figure out what I'm going to do today. I'm still feeling a little "off" with whatever is going on with my energy levels and lack of voice... but I might do some yoga/stretching later, and maybe some journaling and/or sketching. We'll see.