The Anxiety is Real, Y'all

A Bitmoji cartoon of a woman hiding under bedcovers.
It is labeled CURRENT MOOD

I find The World Today™ to be trying at best.

In fact, I've been actively avoiding the news, regardless of platform, because it's so damn uncomfortable out there. Reading or watching or (god forbid) interacting with any serious social media right now is Not Fun™. I read synopses (rather than listen or watch speeches) by the most politically neutral services I can find, but there's still a lot of anxiety-producing rhetoric. Even some people I like and agree with have been muted for 30 days because I can't deal with the constant onslaught. There are many things that I feel I should be keeping careful track of, but I have to think about my own mental health as well, of course.

And my mental health is... hmm... I'm going with Eggshell Fine™, what with hibernation season (I'm a bear; all I want is salmon, berries, and sleep) and all that out there <waves vaguely at The World Today™> and all. Don't worry; that's why I have a therapist; she keeps me (or assists me in keeping myself) at eggshell fine or better.

When Abby visited home last week, she and I voted (Lizzy's not old enough yet, and we do mail-in ballots in my state). It was interesting because a) this is her first presidential election, and b) as a university student, she is a lot more aware of the issues than she used to be and can discuss them intelligently.

Now that that is out of the way, have a post about Mostly Not That™.

• Lizzy started at a new school today. She's been struggling for years, despite The Best IEP Team on the Planet™, because her learning style is not best served by standard public school methods (neither was mine, but this option wasn't available to me when I was a teen. Oh, it existed, but I don't think I would've qualified). This is the alternative high school in our district, and it's likely to be a much better fit. I have not heard anything about how that's going, but if it was uniformly awful, I'm sure I would've gotten a panicked text from her or an exasperated phone call from the school.
• UPDATE: Liz had a great day at school!

• Abby is performing in a student-directed play this coming weekend, and then I'm allowing Lizzy to spend the weekend with her sister (with the approval of Abby's dormmates, of course). And then on Sunday they get to take the train back here and decorate the house for Christmas before we take Abby back up on Monday (Monday being a holiday when none of us has school).

• After this weekend, the Chez GamersBabes focus will be on school for A & L, completing driving lessons for L, and finding supplementary work for me to do between my morning and afternoon routes/during holiday breaks. I've already got most of my holiday shopping out of the way, my bills are paid, and we've got this.

Onward!