It’s been years since this floor has been cleared of toys and such…exciting not just for me but the dog as well.

(Sunday Paper, Year V, Issue 49)

Here’s what’s going to happen over the next few weeks:

The end of the year is usually a fun time to take stock of the year just past.

Obviously this year is way different…I feel like I’ve been taking stock of the year since March.

But I’m going to keep to certain end-of-year Sunday Paper routines.

I’ve got a few ideas lined up to close out the month and, of course, the year.

So this is the last Sunday Paper with a live update on what’s going on for a few weeks…and there’s been quite a bit going on and that will be happening until I finish up the year-ending posts.

It’s kind of a little housekeeping edition of the Sunday Paper - both literally and figuratively. I think it’ll be broken into three parts. Here we go:

The Keeping of the Metaphoric House

I won’t get bogged down in symbolism and I’ll just come out with it: I worry I’m putting on too many pounds. Someone recently saw a picture of the dog and pointed out she looked a little heavy. I was not happy with that observation…mostly because I realized it was probably true.

And because the dog and I have been living the same kind of lifestyle the past month-plus.

Which means…well, I think you can connect the dots.

I almost completely stopped exercising once I stopped running…a combination of dreary weather kept me from doing outdoor activities, and just winter laziness has kept me from doing the indoor workouts. And, as the exercising has decreased….the eating has not.

So this week I’ve been trying to go for walks (more than just walking the dog) and also trying to get the dog out for one more exercise period per day, whether that’s a run/walk around the block or a little running around in the yard. We both just need to make it through these next few months without letting it get too far away from us - things usually correct themselves by March.

But I do have an advantage coming, which leads us to…..

The Keeping of the Literal House

I started a big project over Thanksgiving weekend to clean a part of the house that hasn’t been cleaned in a very long time to set up a little family exercise area.

It went surprisingly well - there’s a little more to do but I’ve done the majority of the work.

The main reason for this is that Kathy thought a good family Christmas gift idea would be a Peloton, so we ordered one, which should be coming this month. (It was supposed to come this week but there’s been a delay.) And we needed a space for it. And we decided to make a nice space for that and an elliptical machine we have which is woefully underused. (And which I will need to try to move downstairs and I am afraid will never happen.) The space will also feature the random here and there other pieces of exercise equipment we own - weights, dumbbells, kettlebells, yoga mats, etc.

I’m excited about how the space will look by the end of the calendar year.

The Keeping of the Digital House

I’m still not ready to get into details of this but a few years back my computer broke and I lost a lot of stuff on it that wasn’t backed up (though not everything) and in the recovery process I got a hard drive that has an insane amount of storage on it.

Now, of course, there’s the Cloud, which I didn’t know much about back when the computer went down. (Truth be told I still don’t understand it.) But the Cloud is part of the third problem I’ve been trying to solve this week.

With the entire family on the Cloud right now we’re dealing with a lot more storage than we've ever had to deal with (in not enough storage space), and without paying an arm and a leg for increased storage we needed a solution. So I’ve been taking all of the various videos and pictures on my phone that I don’t need on my phone and slowly transferring them over to this hard drive, which can store everything I need and more.

And it is soooooo satisfying.

To first see that message that there’s not enough iCloud storage go away…and then the message that my Phone hasn’t backed up in a number of weeks go away…and then to slowly incerase available storage while decreasing the amount of photos and videos……ahhhhhhhh. It’s better than a spa.

So that’s me these next few weeks. Hopefully easing the burden on the digital storage, shedding some belongings to make way for the new….and maybe shedding some pounds along the way.

I hope you enjoy what I’m lining up for the remainder of 2020.

I’ll see you in 2021.

Notes

*I said this is the last live update for three weeks, which is only half true. The main body of the Sunday Paper will be more evergreen, but I’ll still give you the usual ‘Notes’ updates on the day-to-day happenings.

*Like this one: Usually this time of year I’m getting all excited for Bowl Season. Like March Madness, though, I’m learning I can handle missing out on some of my favorite activities. I guess a lifetime of rooting for the Mets and Jets has set me up to handle sports disappointments better than most.

*If you’re interested in even more immediate updates than waiting for the Sunday Paper to roll around, you can follow me on Twitter or Like the Facebook page.

*There are at least three more weeks of “Every Week On Wednesday” on the Facebook page. I think I might revisit some of the ‘Rejected Christmas Cards’ from years ago - I’m sure they’re new to some of the readers. I’m also giving some thought to what will happen on the page into the new year.

*If you missed this week’s “Every Week On Wednesday,” you should go check it out. I don’t know if I’ll possess that trophy for more than a season.

*And if you’re curious, and since you're such loyal readers, here’s what’s lined up for the next few weeks. I’ve been jotting down, starting back in January, things I learned over the course of the year. Then I thought about things I learned about myself during the pandemic. So those will be two of the posts. Then we’ll do the ‘What I’ve Read’ to close out the year, and if there’s interest in a mailbag or some other such year-ender, I’ll do that to open the year, maybe. We’ll see.

*I was thinking about this this week: I sure am thankful that you read this. It is a good outlet for me to get words out and be creative and just empty my brain and I appreciate that there are people reading. So thanks for that.