1.  This is a first. I’m starting the 40 things post at 10:40pm on Thursday night so there’s a better than 50/50 chance I’ll punk out before I finish.

2.  Whoops-a-daisy.

3.  Is that even how you spell whoops-a-daisy?

4.  Whatever. Worst case scenario I’ll get up and finish in the morning.

5.  This was probably the longest damn Thursday of my life.

6.  You know those days that kick off sideways, stagger through the afternoon, and go off the rails by 8pm? Sigh.

7.  It doesn’t help I didn’t flush out my email today either.

8.  Last month I decided I’d have less stress if my inbox notifications didn’t top 500 so every day I’d run through and mass delete junk mail.

9.  I know, I know, I’ve tried unsubscribing. It doesn’t seem to help.

10.  I’ll take any tips you’ve got because this is an enormous time suck.

11.  North Carolina has brought its typical November to bear — weather in the 50s last week, temps in the 70s this week.

12.  ‘Tis the season for shorts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, jeans, and everything in between.

13.  Nobody has enough storage space here in the fall.

14.  Y’all I CAN’T EVEN WITH THIS DAY. Phew!!

15.  Bear played her first basketball game of the season last night.

16.  Proud mama moment here: our baby actually started! Whoop whoop!!

17.  Also have to say it was super fun watching the student section.

18.  Nothing screams school spirit like an entire gym rocking with noise.

19.  Woo boy, 11:05pm and we’re on #19. Will we make it? The suspense is killing me.

20.  Anyone else struggling with sleep? I cannot get a handle on this.

21.  Sometimes I’ll drop right off but wake up every few hours all night long.

22.  Sometimes I can’t go to sleep so I’m zonked when my alarm goes off.

23.  And sometimes I manage to log enough hours in bed but my sleep app tells me I got next to no deep sleep or REM.

24.  Seriously, am I the only one fighting this battle? Because it’s awful.

25.  Tomorrow (or today, if you’re reading this Friday) I head in for an MRI of my back.

26.  The pain was radiating down my leg and kept coming back despite physical therapy so we figured it best to get a look.

27.  I always feel like the more information the better so off we go to Imaging.

28.  I had one of these done about eight years ago or so. One plus this time? It’s a different facility and when I admitted I’m claustrophobic she scheduled me into the “larger tunnel” machine.

29.  It’s gonna have to be one big damn tunnel to make this anything close to a stress free experience.

30.  These are the same folks who scanned my knee, though, and all things considered it’s a cool place.

31.  The part where they asked me what music I wanted to listen to threw me for a loop last time. Every singer fell straight out of my head; I literally could not think of a single one I like.

32.  In the end I stammered something about the Coffee House channel, which is something I used to listen to on Sirius radio (I think). They were using Pandora, though, and it lost something in translation.

33.  I ended up listening to really loud jazz music but hey, it was better than machine noises.

34.  This time I’ve been practicing: Adele. Adele is fine. Thank you.

35.  While I was at the game they delivered my mandolin slicer. I’ve been thinking about getting one for a while but just kept putting it off as one more kitchen gadget.

36.  I prep a ton of veggies, though, and now that I’ve discovered a fantastic gluten free potatoes au gratin recipe this could be a game changer. We’ll see.

37.  So how’s everyone doing with the holidays this year?

38.  I’ll go first. Stressed. I’m stressed.

39.  Even dialed back I’m experiencing an uncomfortable level of stress, and we’re only in the planning phase. This does not bode well.

40.  Looks like I’m circling back to advice I passed on recently: just do the next right thing. The rest will take care of itself.