Random 3 for November 17, 2024 – Bloggers, Christmas cards, steps

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We have an abridged version today.

This is a big deal for me – I like goals so walking 10K steps a day was a great goal. I started this challenge when I bought a Fitbit watch many years ago (I’m on my third watch) to track my walking and it was a life changer. For years I faithfully achieved my goal daily. When I lived at my last house, I frequently hit 12K (no house projects!). Now I play mahjong twice a week which takes a chunk of time and we have house stuff going on, so it’s been a challenge. Climbing ladders may give you exercise but it doesn’t give you steps. I finally smacked myself on the side of the head. This is a self-imposed challenge. There are no “step police” who will scold. I’ve lowered my daily goal to 7K. I can accomplish this every day with some effort. I don’t regret my years of walking. It kept me healthy and helped my bones. Walking is good for anxiety (and anger). There will still be several days a week that I hit 10K but if I don’t, no big deal. (For perspective, with my stride 10K steps is a little over four miles.)

Going down like flies – We lost more bloggers this week. Either permanently or for now. It seems to be the season for furloughs, sabbaticals and downright endings. I’ve followed a few new bloggers this year, but I need to seek more of my people who write the things I’m interested in reading.

That’s it! – I’ve been hemming and hawing for several years about sending Christmas cards. There was a time I’d send and receive 80 or 90. Now I get maybe 10. Sometimes I get one after Christmas. That means that the sender wasn’t going to send one but got mine and felt guilty. I’ve decided to stop. I loved reading the little messages people would include. Yes, even those “everything is wonderful, and my kids are the best” missives but no one does those anymore either. Sometime around March I’ll get an email update from my friend Gail. She calls it her Christmas greeting but it’s in March. I enjoy (and get exhausted) reading it. She’s in her 80s and does more traveling than anyone I know. It’s a great idea because December is chucked full of stuff and it’s appreciated in March. I’ll still send a card to my brother because cards are important to them. It was a custom of their generation. For those of you who are reading this and usually get a card from me, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah or whatever holiday you celebrate (or don’t).

So how was your week?

 

68 thoughts on “Random 3 for November 17, 2024 – Bloggers, Christmas cards, steps”

  1. I know what you mean about all of the above. Sometimes life changes and the walking goals aren’t practical anymore. 7 K is still pretty darn good! Good for you taking it a little easier on yourself! I too have lost a few bloggers from my follow list. I guess reasons for blogging and life commitments change over time and affect that too. We still do Christmas cards, but the list has gone WAY down. We’ve fallen out of touch with a lot of people that were friends over the years. They’ve moved or whatever. It’s a little sad, but life goes on 🙂

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  2. Hi, Kate – That reduced walking thing has happened to me too. Up until this past summer, I was easily walking 10+km per day without having to think about it. Then somehow it began to slow down until I was walking very little and just couldn’t get back in the groove. Like you, I was doing other stuff, but I missed the walking but just haven’t seemed to get it up to speed again. I currently blame our weather (dreary storms and rain most days) and the eternal dark (sunrise: 7:30 am, sunset: 4:30 pm). Those are my excuses and I’m sticking with them! 😀

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    • Winter certainly doesn’t help. House projects don’t help and worrying about falling on paved roads doesn’t help. I’m content with my new goal and it’s another one of those things. Life changes.

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  3. I used to do cards to people I was close to. But everyone else doesn’t. After years of being the only one, I stopped. I send one or two, still, but that is it. I miss people sending cards and letters. It’s just sad.

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    • I remember when I was young, my mom would send out a lot and it was a big deal to her. She would love getting them and comment on the ones she thought were extraordinary. I have one dear friend who does not do computers. She lives a distance so I don’t see her. The only way I can communicate with her is by mail. I will send her a card with a letter inside. I miss her and wish she would learn to use email.

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      • Yes, email is much quicker! My mom never was good with computers so we would just chat on the phone a lot. But I have never been a phone person. I guess everyone has their favorite way to communicate. Hope you hear from her soon.

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        • I am not a phone person either. I have had friends in the past who call to tell you something quick and you are stuck for an hour. I’m big on email because both of us can do as we have time. My mom passed before home computers were a thing but she wasn’t a long talker either. We’d connect every day but it wasn’t a long call.

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    • Maybe when life settles down and I’m not painting or cleaning up, I’ll go back to hitting more steps but not now. Over the weekend I cleaned out my blogroll and it was sad. So many great bloggers have stopped. Maybe there is a life span for it but I’m at 13 years. Maybe people take up other activities.

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  5. I used to do the photo cards, first with pets, and then with kid and pets. But I gave them up a while back–probably when my grandmother died. I keep in touch with everyone else through social media anyway, so I feel better not wasting postage or killing trees. Once upon a time, I could have destroyed 10K steps, but after recent injuries? I think I’ve managed to make 10 K once.

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    • I love the photo cards! When we moved and I cleared things out, I was amazed at the photo Christmas cards I had saved from people I worked with 30 years ago (and haven’t seen since!). I have the family ones.

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  6. It’s so important to give ourselves some slack … especially as the years go by and our type A personality settles down the alphabet.
    At the same time, I will say I got a Garmin vivosmart and aim for 11K every day….
    I still have some work to do on myself.

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    • 🙂 I love being active. I feel better and it gets rid of negative energy. Adjusting my goals has been a struggle and I keep thinking that I can always go back when I get time and energy. I need to move farther down that alphabet!

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  7. I like my annual walking goal I set for myself and have done so since 2011. I have lost a blogger in the past week as well. They did not announce a blogging break, so I assume it is burnout and they blamed it on the election, however, it was prior to the election. I used to send Christmas cards out, but now only send two cards to my friends who were former nuns. Like your brother, it is important to them and they always send a Christmas card to me. I’ve condensed my list considerably since I often just send a Jacquie Lawson card. I think I had five Christmas cards last year.

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      • I’m glad you like them Kate and you should consider them – at the price of postage and cards as well these days. A few years ago Jacquie Lawson introduced sending the card by a link, so now you can send a card to people you know on social media sites but don’t necessarily know their e-mail address. I used to just send a card to myself and copy the viewing link for my holiday posts – now I can do it this way. People like to pass the cards around too. That’s how I learned about her cards. A client got a JL card from someone and e-mailed it around to everyone on his contact list. You put in the e-mail once and you don’t have to put it in again and you can put in people’s birthdays and they send you a reminder a week ahead of the birthday.

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  8. I used to have so many Christmas cards to send, but last year I only sent out 2 and I received 1 card. This year is different. We have a postal strike here in Canada, so there will be no mail going in or out. I like walking too. I think your 7K goal is good.

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  9. I used to write a newsletter to put in with my Christmas cards to let everyone know what we’d been doing for the past 12 months. I stopped doing it years ago as we didn’t actually do very much and I couldn’t fill half a page! I still send cards at Christmas (and birthdays and anniversaries) but my postal list is getting shorter and I’m down to about 20 now. Four people are now off my list because I haven’t heard from them for two Christmases so guess they’ve either moved, died, or forgotten our address and who we are.

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  10. This sounds like you are re-aligning your time— in a good way! What a great way to keep what works and ditch what doesn’t work any longer. Good for you!

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  11. Is blogging going out of style? Are Christmas cards? Well, I’m sticking with both. I don’t blog frequently, but I still enjoy doing it and following others. And yes, despite the time and expense involved in sending Christmas cards and enclosing a letter, I like sending cards and keeping in touch with people.

    Two other sites that I’m on are also losing people: Facebook and Twitter. I understand the complaints against X. I don’t like Musk either, and there seems to be some unfairness in the way comments are shared or not shared. But I follow it mainly to keep up with what’s happening in Ukraine and Europe, and that still seems to be working for me.

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    • I used to keep updated on my family on Facebook but most of them stopped posting. I miss it. Staying in touch is good. I’m just going to do it in a different way.

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  12. We’re packing the house to move and I’m stepping, bending, stretching, organizing, and sorting from morning to night. Moving is hard work. Especially now that we are “older” than we have ever been.

    Still don’t know our next address. Fingers crossed we find someplace to rent this week.

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  13. I’m on my third Fitbit and use to pace the house before bed to make sure I hit 10,000 steps. Most days I’m happy with 7,000, and if I’ve been real busy but not walking and hit 5,000, I’m good. As you said, moving is good, and there are no police. I can remember papering the doorways with cards, and now we get a handful. This year I’m sending to those in my generation and forgetting the rest. Times change, and cards are one of the things that younger generations are into.

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  14. I enjoy getting cards but only send a few anymore. For some of the younger family members I send a text with maybe a photo. of Husband and me to show them we are still alive. Walking keeps me sane even if I don’t count the steps.

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    • I walking keeps you sane, do it! Most of the younger folks in my family don’t send cards. It’s a tradition that went the way of thank you cards (substituted by thank you emails or texts).

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  15. Steps. I like steps but I never really got with that concept. But I do steps my way and say anytime I can get off the couch and away from browsing IG or blogs are good steps. I take the long way around everything and and I do steps with a red ball that is sort of like dribbling a basketball. Now you are doing steps your way! No Christmas cards that I have to write and send out. But I do like to send ecards to peeps that make me smile.
    Our week was free of Hurricane Sara not rocketing toward the Southwest Gulf Coast! She died today.

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  16. Spent a fair amount of time in bed with a nasty stomach flu bug. I’ve been thinking of just sending texts this year but will send to family out of state since I make my own holiday cards and will use them up. Besides the expense of the postage, I never know if folks actually receive them. The Post Office is so undependable anymore.

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  17. I remember reading that the “magic” 10,000 steps wasn’t really magic at all; it was just a rounded number that someone came up with. I think the article said that attaining 7,000 steps was just as good. Anyway, it sounds like you’ve set a healthy, reasonable goal for yourself.

    I don’t send many Christmas cards either… mostly just to those I know will send me one. I actually miss those (often made-fun-of) Christmas letters. Yes, they tended to be braggy and weren’t very personal, but at least they provided a nice update.

    I know what you mean about too many bloggers leaving the ‘sphere. I’d like to find some new ones also, so I’ll be anxious to see who you discover.

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  18. I send Christmas cards as you know. Not as many, but feel it’s a warm tradition that comforts, and boy do we need that right now.

    I wonder what happened to Patrica. I really liked her writing. She had a real talent for the economy of words, something I strive to be better at.

    As far as walking goes, I think it’s great you’re on your third filbit. David Sedaris the writer swears by his. I’m a walking advocate strolling every morning in place of running. Calms the soul.

    You sound well Madam. Nice to hear. 🙂

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    • I’m retired so it’s easier for me but to achieve that I need to get a good 30 to 40 minute walk in besides the other normal stuff I do. When I worked, I sat at a desk for hours on end so I didn’t get near that.

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  20. Last year I did “minimum” cards for Christmas…..that meant I got out the previous cards FROM people which I save, went through them, there were maybe five that I’m in touch with at all – and some that I rarely hear from. The “Rarelies” will probably get an ecard and the others I’ll send “paper cards”. The other thing is that postage is UPUPUP…..sending out 20-30 or more cards (which I used to do) is too much. I love my friends, but an email telling them I wish them a happy holiday is just as good really. Sigh. Can’t make everyone happy I guess. Anyway, good for you finding your “right place” for amount of exercise – as we get older that “right” changes a bit. The mind may think it’s reasonable but the body joints disagree!!!

    Hugs, Pam

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  22. Glad you made your goal one you can reach. There’s something so depressing about feeling short of your goals on a regular basis. Better to be realistic. And I gave up on Christmas cards a few years ago too. Especially when we were pet sitting fulltime there was more than enough work to do that time of year!

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    • When I was a kid, Christmas cards were a big deal and relatively cheap to do. I remember my mom strung them up a staircase and there were always cards leftover that didn’t fit. I don’t think people value them anymore. Reachable goals are best. Enough stress going on.

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      • Marley really values cards, and he sends postcards to the grandkids weekly. He still sends out some Christmas cards too. I guess I never really got in the habit of letters or cards much,

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        • It’s a dying art. I hope the grands appreciate them. When my mom died, I found a box of cards that she got from different people. They must have been special to her.

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  23. Had a clip-on Fitbit but never tried the wrist ones. I discovered the one I had wasn’t all that accurate when I used two at the same time. Mine showed fewer steps than the borrowed one, so I lost faith in them. Might be better now, though.

    I revised my blogroll this week to reflect all the bloggers who used to be here but are no more. Makes me melancholy, I miss my bloggy friends.

    I don’t send holiday cards anymore. I loved doing it but it’s no longer the done thing. 🤷‍♀️

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    • I have to go through my blogroll. It’s always sad. I like when bloggers announce their end. There are a few that just rode off into the sunset without a word and I wonder if something catastrophic happened to them. I doubt whether any watch is totally accurate. I get credit for steps if I’m very active with my arms but it’s still a good guide.

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