What does Mercury Retrograde mean? I would surmise it's astrological.

Yes, it's astrological. It's a period of around three weeks, and happens about three times a year. Mercury appears to be going backwards in the sky, and it always feels a little to me like taking one step forward and two steps back. The link in the original post will tell you all about it and what the effects are.

Have you been going over any old stuff lately?

I've been feeling it in my business; operation issues which I thought were resolved came up again, sales are less than I anticipated for this month; I can't wait for july 28 !!
I don't rule my life with this stuff but it causes me frustration to feel like I'm doing all the right moves but the results don't come fast enough.

Thanks for the info. Sorry, I couldn't get the link to work last night. Actually, I seem to be doing the opposite (I'm always that way, I have a "problem with authority" too!)

I'm looking forward - next summer's vacation, buying a cottage in the next few years, asking for a raise and promotion at work. I'm only going to act on the last one in the near future, though.

Though I do have a "retro" project going on, I'm scanning in all my parents old slides and pictures and saving them to a "300 year" gold CD. What fun, and what great memories.

Barb

I don't know about Mercury Retrograde but I can chime in on the disaster planning. I live in an earthquake zone and a high fire hazard area.

Like you, I made a list of things to grab. There is one master list, and then a room by room list. Each of the room by room lists goes in a small laundry basket (the small round $2.99 ones from Target). The plan being that if I had only minutes to evacuate, I'd use those baskets in each room and be able to easily carry the stuff down to my car (an SUV) in a few swift moves rather than several. And that way, having that list to quickly look at, I won't forget something important. The baskets stay stacked with the lists inside them on the top shelf of our closet.

I came up with this plan while watching firetrucks on my street and the super scooper plane flying overhead every 15 minutes putting out the flames that were about 200 yards from my house. We weren't being mandatorily evacuated but I was packing anyway, and I was so disorganized. My dh was at work, my kids were too young to help, so I was going at it alone. It was scary.

In an earthquake if your house is red-tagged you are lucky if they give you 15 minutes to go in and get stuff out. The basket system would work in that scenario too.

We also keep emergency kits in each of our cars.

snookums, what's in the emergency kit in your car?

I'm trying to get all this stuffed wrapped up this week while the time is right!

Does finally finishing this d*mn bathroom count as going over old ground? Not that it will be done by the 28th, but we have gained serious ground on it in the past three weeks...

What's red-tagged, snookums?

Flyleft, if finishing your bathroom isn't a serious case of going over old ground, I don't know what is! That's wonderful...I'm so glad for you to see some great progress, and maybe an end in sight.

Aren't red tagged homes those that have such significant structural damage that they cannot be repaired?

Claire - yes - red-tagged homes usually cannot be repaired or need major repair. Basically it means that the structure is not safe to inhabit.

What's in the car - an emergency car kit (tools, jack, jumper cables, tire repair goo, stuff like that), a first aid kit, the earthquake kit which has packets of food, water, and those foil emergency blankets, matches, flashlight/batteries, stuff like that, and a bag with changes of clothes for all of us, heavy gloves, and sneakers. I also keep a HUGE blanket and a teeny tiny tent (in a teeny tiny bag) under the cargo floor. Dh has the same stuff. When dd was young I kept diapers, the stroller, baby blankets, things like that.

Thank you, claire :) Last night at about midnight, when the pocket door frame we'd bought turned out to be defective, and I was afraid I'd put the first durock I'd ever cut down wrong or ruined it, and our tile guy would be disappointed that we weren't finished with that particular part of it so he could move ahead with his part, I felt rather *re*gressive. But I'm keeping a Pollyanna mode in reserve for moments like this; we're *in* it, I'm glad about that, and there's way more to be glad about than not. My half Norwegian, half Scottish DH tends to have more Glum than Pollyanna in him, so I have to do the psychological pulling every now and then...

And my DD asked me one day, "how many rooms are you actually doing, Mommy?" and I had to say that we're actually doing 4, not just a bathroom--they're all attached. The laundry room, the bathroom, the Master Bedroom, and a bedroom north of that. And the related hallway. So I keep calling it the Bathroom project, I guess because that's what motivated it, but it's SO much bigger...

Thanks for the info on red-tagged homes. :( Our house was built in 1978 and has no earthquake strapping, and because of the way it was designed, there's no room for retrofitting any :(. We have earthquake insurance, but who knows how much longer ins. companies will be willing to cover natural disasters...great info, snookums, thanks.

I too have earthquake insurance but the deductible is something insane like $23,000.

I do have earthquake straps though and my foundation is on springs. (Built in 1999) But that doesn't mean we wouldn't have major damage. It's just supposed to prevent a collapse. I do feel pretty safe here though - even in my parent's home which was built in 1966. Even in the house we lived in a few years ago, built in 1908 in Long Beach - it must've withstood the 1933 8.0 quake, right? Where I was the most freaked out was when we were in Greece, in Athens, in any building really - it's a major quake zone and all of the buildings are concrete blocks. Basically, if there's a big quake, you don't have a bit of a chance if you're indoors. And the last time we went (May of 1999), there was that large quake in Athens just a few months later, centered in Galatsi, north of Athens, right where dh's family lives. They were all ok, but all had MAJOR damage to their apartments. Had the quake been any bigger (it wasn't that big), they would have all lost their homes for sure and most would have perished. Think the 45,000 people lost in Istanbul - their buildings are just like that.

So don't you worry about not having earthquake straps! :)

All this talk about earthquakes brings back the memory of the Loma Prieta earthquake in the bay area in 1989. I felt that sucker a good three hours drive from the epicenter.

So here's what I want to know...where do I keep these bags? Since they're basically the same except for clothes (and one has the hand-crank radio), should I distribute the clothes more evenly and keep one in the car? Most of our disasters would more than likely be storm related/tornado...or nuclear (nucular if you're a certain someone!)

Is there a closet or someplace near the door where they can be quickly grabbed? Definitely keep one in the car.

And well - if it's nuclear - we're all screwed anyway!!

The retrograde is over; I definitely felt it at the end of the day yesterday, I had many sales conclude in the evening; we were keeping the shop open in the evening with a special event. The day ended with a great feeling of accomplishment. FWIW, I don't rule my life with this retrograde business but it generally creates somewhat of a standstill around me.

Don't tell me when the next one is, I don't want to know, lol.....

Yes, Mitch; it's a relief! I feel it as well. I was scurrying to wrap up business all day because it felt like things were finally coming to a close. Although there are ''retrograde rumblings'' for the two weeks prior/after a retrograde period, it feels good to have direct motion once again. You know, although my life isn't ruled with MR, it's still good to know what's happening. I find my tolerance level is much improved if I know there's a beginning and an end.

My ''Emergency'' plans are finished and in place. I hope never to have to need them but if I do, there's a plan. In addition, I upgraded my First Aid Kit, which was definitely in need of improvement. I'm ready to move on and cover some new ground for a change!