Busy, Busy

"It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?" - Henry David Thoreau

I thought it was supposed to SLOW DOWN after the holidays.  I've been busier than ever.  It seems like everything is coming to a head all at once.

I am studying for my certification exam.  I hope to take it by the end of February and have a LOT of studying to do.  It seems my first exam was a cakewalk next to this one, the material being exponentially more difficult.  (At least in my opinion and I finished at the top of my class for the first one!)

I am scrambling to get this trip to Scotland planned so I can make reservations before every place gets booked up for the season.  The Alaska trip seemed a lot easier to plan than this one.  Alaska sort of lends itself to where you are going and what you will do when you get there.  Go to Anchorage = take a glacier cruise.  Up to Fairbanks?  Stop at Denali.

But the Hebrides are many, many islands with many places of interest across them.  Do I visit this castle or that standing stone?  This village or that one?  Stick to the Outer Hebrides or stop off in Mull?  Some of the smaller, less known islands?  Does the ferry even run on the day I want to get off that island?  Geesh!

I'm going to visit my parents in a couple weeks so I have to clean my place.  One cannot leave a messy house when travelling.

Before I go, I have to get my cats to the vet, and myself off to the dentist.  Not to mention a training webinar I have to attent for my future Red Cross volunteering.  And every book I was on a waiting list for at the library has come in all at once.  And since there are people on the lists after me, I can't renew them so I have to read them ASAP!

This is what I get for wanting to stop being a couch potato!

At least I'm being treated to some beautiful (if COLD!) mornings on my walks.  (sorry, most pictures from walks are taken with an iPhone so the quality is pretty bad.)