Each week we’ll take a look at the week ahead and also look back on what I told you about last week.

I think I’ll give you the week ahead first, and then we’ll recap what happened last week.

This Week’s To-Do

Start the Semester: Monday is the first day of classes, so it’s when I start getting back into the routine of twice-weekly e-mails and all the rest. The teaching work won’t make every week’s to-do list, but this week is a big adjustment.
Take Down the Christmas Lights: I may have waited a bit too long for this - I wanted to wait until there were a solid few days in a row of dry weather because I don’t like bringing in soggy lights. But then it got really cold and I was hesitant to touch the cold lights in the probably-frozen ground and hurt my fingers, and then it snowed Saturday and now I have to start all over and wait until it all dries again, Hopefully Monday or Tuesday it will all be pretty dry. We’ll see. I’ve brought in a few lights already - just not the ones that are kind of staked into the ground.
I guess I should de-Christmas inside the house as well. It’s always nice to put things back where they belong after the tree is gone - I just have a few more things to put away and move.
Call Mom for her birthday: If you see my mom on Monday, wish her a happy birthday.

This Week’s May-Do

I need to write more. Ideas are brewing in my head and I need to get them down. This experiment has been working so far. Creative juices are flowing.
I would love to do an Instagram Reel a week, but I don’t know if that’s realistic. I’m toying with the idea of a ‘Day in the Life’ or ‘Morning Routine’ post, which seems easy enough. This would be a luxury may-do item, if I have the time.
And clearly I need to keep thinking about more Strava art opportunities. (Related: If you haven’t seen it yet, a reminder that there was a Reel on Friday about the ‘2025’ Strava art.)

As for last week…hmm. Not sure how to do this. I don’t want to copy and paste a whole post again…but I guess I’ll address what I wrote about and if you want to see more of what I wrote I’ll link to last week’s post here:

Last Week’s To-Do

I am as ready as I can be for the semester to start. Pretty smooth recording and editing, and I think everything is set to go for class.
As for the other work, here’s how it usually goes: I start on Monday thinking, “Whew, this is a lot to get done this week,” and then inevitably we get to Thursday and Friday and I think, “Wow. We’re going to make it.”

Last Week’s May-Do

I did not organize my desk, but I did put some of the recording paraphernalia away, so we’re getting there. (Turns out last Wednesday, I think, was National Organize Your Desk Day or something like that. That would have been a good time to do it. Bummed I missed a writing opportunity there.)
I read a book, thanks to the Instagram responders. I took it out of the library Sunday, and I should be ready to write about it this week or next.
I also saw a movie, kind of a last-minute end-of-week decision. I’ll write about that soon too…but what did I see? Well, here’s a hint. I went with Kathy to this one.

Last Week’s Don’t-Want-To-But-Have-To-Do: As you can see in the picture, I did get the tree out. Monday is the pick-up. I had all the ornaments and lights off the tree early in the week but didn’t actually bring the tree outside until Friday because it was very windy all week.

Definitely less clean-up since I came to my senses and instituted the wrap-it-in-tarp protocol, but this tree was a particularly healthy, non-needle-dropping tree. Might have been the least clean-up I’ve ever dealt with for a Christmas tree. Godspeed, little tree.