I spent this week starting over: looking at the first act of Nita, experimenting with drawing Jane-the-Protagonist-Avatar, working through Lynda Barry’s comic book lessons, finishing all the bathroom needs-to-done stuff (towel racks, drying line, floor cabinet, wall cabinet) that’s been needing to be done for, uh, years, so I have a feeling of progress if not accomplishment. Baby steps.
What did you do this week?
Can’t get any freelance work at the moment, so am going to get on with some of the hundred and one unfinished jobs. Yesterday I finally packed my Christmas decorations: I took them down on Twelfth Night, but they’ve been sitting on trays in the living room, gathering dust. I’m catching up on my gardening magazines (and the library has just switched to a new emagazine service that has much more good stuff – I’m going to have to skim), just in case the gardening books publisher gets back to me. Also need to finish this year’s garden plans and get clear on what needs doing when. Then there’s the filing and accounts.
I did sow the main batch of indoor seeds, so am now checking the propagator every day in case any have started sprouting.
I’ve done nothing this week but work-related annual researchers meeting stuff. With beautiful weather outside that I can’t go out to experience.
But what I want to know is, what is the soil like where you are gardening, Jane? And what do you do for soil enhancements?
I’m lucky: it’s a heavy loam, on the acidic side of neutral. My allotment, a couple of hundred yards away, is a bit heavier and more prone to waterlogging in the winter – probably because it’s not surrounded by walls wicking up the water. It’s a reasonable depth, too, unlike my garden at the cottage which wasn’t much more than a spade’s depth over pure clay.
I’m lazy/parsimonious about adding to it. I’m about to dig out the (hopefully) done layers from my compost heaps and put them round my trees, shrubs and climbers. I’ve added manure to my allotment compost heap, and have another little heap of that which I’ll probably do the same with. The allotments also have bagged composted manure at cost price, and I’ve asked for a load of those as soon as they come in, some of which I’ll barrow to the garden.
I’m always forgetting to use my seaweed meal; must do that this year. Might make up a foliar spray for the roses, against blackspot. I’ve also got a packet of Mum’s blood, fish & bone to use up.
I don’t dig, by the way. I put the stuff down as a mulch, covering it with landscaping fabric if it’s going to be there over winter. The worms pull it down, and I just gently fork in any that’s left as I plant the area in spring.
We’ve had glorious weather this week so I finally was able to start tackling some yard work. It’s still low maintenance, but I mulched some leaves to spread where I need the soil improved. The leaves come from a neighborhood oak that takes all winter to let go of its leaves. There was also some cleanup of the patio area. My patio isn’t much, but it looks worse after a winter of collecting odds and ends.
Oh! Got my taxes done!
I dusted. A little. I decided to tackle one area – my bathroom counter which has a free standing medicine cabinet with stuff piled on top and a two tiered shelf to the side. I hadn’t touched it with a rag in years – I would have said since I moved in, but my DH said no – it’s been done once. SO, years of dust accumulation and reviewing / weeding out the stuff. I threw out old things I hadn’t used in a while, which was liberating (although hard to go against my pack rat tendencies). Once it was done I stopped and admired and threw the rag in the wash. The next day, I took that same now-clean rag, and dusted another spot that had been neglected. (The decor that had been sitting accumulating dust.) I’m feeling pretty happy about that, and my mind wanders (as I work from home) as to which surface I should tackle next. It really was nice to have a limit – just this one thing – rather than flogging myself to dust the entire house. So, yay me!
On the creative side, I did the applique bits on last week’s quilt top. It’s now officially a finished top, and ready to be quilted once I find the right backing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMJjHiABwvA/
And, I’ve been working on our upcoming quilt show. It will be small, and socially distanced, but it is happening! This coming weekend is the review to make sure quilts are in the proper categories, and next week is judging and show. By the time next Sunday rolls around I’ll be properly tired!
And my daffodils are starting, along with the camellias! Greetings from my Southern garden!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMFRufThaKn/
I pulled my great-grandparents’ silver tea set out of the basement and cleaned and polished it, because I may have found a home for it with someone who actually will give it some love (no one in my family wants it…) The daughter in law of a friend who loves all things Victorian.
It looks lovely and sparkling.
I’ve been working at resting. When I’m not doing that, I’m working at work.
Our public aka government schools don’t have a tradition of teacher assistants. Our province decided to start one. We have 5 education assistants and two general ones. It’s been 4 months, I can count on one hand the number of times they’ve been in my class to help. And zero times once the children came back. And I’ve asked.
Most crafty things I’ve done are good here. And teaching resources. Flard cards and the like. Sigh. And I had to do them myself.
I’m petitioning all the ascended masters including St Anthony because I was so messed up last week, I don’t know where my education resource external hard drive is. 😭 I know I had it on 1 March, after that…ether. Send memory and finding vibes, please. 🙏🤞
Been there.
What’s that St. Anthony chant again?
The less formal version is:
Tony, Tony, look around
Something’s lost that can’t be found
And also:
Tony, Tony, look around
Help me find what can’t be found
The formal version is:
Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony,
Please come around.
Something is lost,
And cannot be found.
THAT’s it!
Oh, I’ve had that one on repeat in my head.
Slogging on in my task set to clear old business off of my desk, such as taxes and Medicare choices. Part N???? I watch short videos and give myself through April to figure it out.
Feeling very dragged down and random, so not very cheerful about any possible accomplishments. Made my bed! Applied for jobs! Watered plants!
Found a great new-to-me online dictionary, worknik.com.
I started working on my taxes and cleaned. Still more to do on both, but I feel better. The sun helps too. I have been in a miserable headspace for a while, so it’s nice to feel better.
We gathered all the tax info and yesterday drove it over to the accountant’s office. We’ve had the same accountant for years, through many of his office moves, from when he was in the next town to now where he is many towns over. I don’t want to jinx anything but I think we should find a new accountant, only because of travel time and we’re not getting any younger.
Spring cleaning . I try to do one room at a time, plan wise, but usually get sidetracked. Have got to focus on that one room. Now that I think of it this old house is out to get me. Last week I was cleaning the bathroom and gave a flip to the handle of the bathtub to shut off the water and broke the toilet. It wouldn’t stop flushing. There went my husband’s nap.
I abandoned our joint tax return to the husband a few years back after a particularly grueling 10-week prep (my part is easy: one wage report. His part, being self-employed: a nightmare. I said: all of this sh*t is yours and I think it’s time you started doing it). All I have to do is hand over my statement from the power company so he can account for that expense on his home-office form.
Anyway, aside from the usual one million emails to juggle at Day Job (from which I am happily taking a vacation day today!), I finished writing a short story and published it on my blog. Consulted with my designer and secured a couple of covers so I have things to publish. And started a new edition of my second historical novel, originally published in 2014 and unpublished for a while now.
Having completed the reformatting, general revision, and other housekeeping, it occurred to me that I usually hate Villain POV in other peoples’ books so I had better take it out of mine. As I work through that I’m adding new scenes between and about the main characters, doing some more Life In 1793 England research, and having a fine old time.
Yesterday I had my old sleeper sofa removed and am now awaiting the delivery of my new one. It cost almost as much to have the old one removed as I spent (without delivery) on the new one so I am happy I got a good deal. I also tried contacting the management office to get something done about the hazards on the back staircase so that no one is injured during the delivery, but they have yet to return my call. I hope that they have wrapped the new couch well because the deliverymen will have to dodge mountains of pigeon droppings to get my beautiful white couch up the back stairs. The Got Junk people just threw the old one over the railing of the fire escape (which almost gave me a heart attack) but that won’t be an option going up the stairs.
I miss the days when you could walk into the office and see if anyone had actually opened the work order request or read the email you sent.
My sister has been working as an interpreter in NYC, where they are switching their public housing over to Section 8. She asked me what her clients would encounter after
the change in management. I have no idea what to tell her. The same company has managed my building for all the time I’ve lived here, but things are much different than they once were.
I played hooky this afternoon and went for a walk in the beautiful sunshine. A very good use of my time.
I’m building a nook for a doll – a bed/window seat, fancy windows, shelves for clothes and things, and also crates, like milk crates, for things. I’ve got parts started, and muntins(?) for the windows, and just figured out how to print some stained glass colors onto clear film (overheads – remember overhead projectors?) so she can have stained glass fancy windows. AND! I am doing it in cardboard, with help from the laser cutter, and it is SO fun. I’ll post pix soon.
mullions?
I gave myself a (mild, temporary) case of repetitive stress injury by doing massive amounts of digital spring cleaning — deleting old files, wiping out all the emails at an old email account, fixing my email at my website, organizing my back-up files across multiple locations, and so on. I kept going when I was too tired to pay attention and managed to delete 247 download files, but then figured out how to restore the ones I wanted to keep, although I managed to restore a few dozen that I didn’t actually want and had to delete them again.
As a result, I did so much scrolling with my right hand that my whole arm felt funny for about 18 hours. It’s okay now, and it feels so good to know that I can find files when I need them, and old stuff with negative associations that weighed me down whenever I glimpsed it while looking for newer happier stuff, is now gone. The files will be a mess again before long, but at least the old stuff is gone forever.
I also finished the outline of my next WIP, so I can start the actual writing now.
Moved back into my apartment house after 6 and a half months of much needed renovation (gas and electric, house is from the 1880’s). Turned 62. Got my first vaccine. Life is good.
Got a haircut. Replaced a dead cabon monixide detector. Attended a couple of online meetings. Did some cleaning. Walked the dog. Now need to relax.
I had nothing to post until time came to GO to work. The dotter borrowed my car last night to take the youngest and her boyfriend to Busch Gardens… again. No problem, I am a generous and loving father/grandfather. However…
Windows were down. In order to raise them, she stuck the key back in the ignition and turned it to “ON.” Then she gathered up coats and shoes and drinks and so forth and took it all in the house… leaving the car “ON” all night and day until I needed to go to work.
Ahead of me yet? The battery was dead. D – E – A – D dead. Not enough juice to run the overhead light when I opened the door. No problem. I own a battery charger. (This was not my first rodeo.) Problem: the charger was in the trunk. The trunk has no physical lock – you click the trunk icon on the key fob and the electric switch unlo… uh-oh.
Long story a teensy bit shorter. I had the dotter crawl through the back seat into the trunk to retrieve the charger and provide an extension cord. Then I called work while the battery was on charge. Got here only 30 minutes late.
I just got notified that I qualify for the first vaccination, but I can’t get an appointment. My new couch was delivered on time, but triggered an allergic reaction that I did not experience while sitting on the couch in the store. I assume that I am reacting to something that the couch picked up during delivery and it will air out in the next day or two, but it was a rather nasty surprise. I also remembered the couch as a slightly different color than it is, but otherwise I am very happy to have it in my apartment.
Cross your fingers that I will figure out how to make an appointment in the near future.
Dealing with major (annoying and stressful) projects at the day job. Frantically writing the manuscript due April 1st. Somehow aggravated the right hand/wrist/arm (yes, of course I’m right handed, and under deadline).
But it was 55 today, so there’s that.
Freezing my butt off in California. We need the rain but can go without the heavy rain and hail from this morning. Snowing in the mountains. Brrrr. On the plus side, a good day to study inside and do some housework.
Well, that’s stay, not study. I’ve given up on all study.
I drove almost 2 hours this morning to pick up our half a beef from the butcher, went to a couple of big town grocery stores, then came home and put it all away. I got in a few minutes of the day job and then went to pick up Chinese food for supper.
Monday I went to the hospital to get my updated knee X-rays for the orthopedic surgeon. Well, I thought I was going to be seeing an orthopedic surgeon but the guy I’m booked in with is apparently a GP. I’m not happy but I’m going in with an open mind (and an MRI showing a severely buggered up knee).
Oh GP not doing operation is he? H had three knee operations on buggered knee. The plastic part on the partial worked it’s way out twice. Please reconsider if they recommend a partial. Go for a full knee replacement.
Oh, no, that’s really crappy luck. My friend’s mom had horrible luck with her knee replacements, she’s on her 3rd. She was allergic to the metal so they put in ceramic and then that one failed and then on the 3rd the surgeon was being a dick and messed up her casting (she was so unstable that she needed the extra support) and had the cast lady put her at the wrong angle. He wouldn’t listen when people said he had the wrong angle and kept insisting he was right. When she went back to see him in follow up he got mad at the cast lady for putting her in the wrong angle but it was charted to hell and back that he had insisted on that angle.
Thank you for asking but there’s no way in hell I’d let him operate. If he doesn’t give me the answers I want or alternatives I think are reasonable (his RateMyMD reviews say he’s difficult with patients who are overweight and the only weight that has to do with my knee problem is the 110 lbs of dog that crashed into it) I’m going elsewhere. Or to the actual orthopedic surgeon at the same practice who did Paul’s hip and knee replacement.
I think I’m going to wind up needing arthroscopic surgery because I’ve got bilateral torn meniscus and there’s still some material floating around in there.
First thing this morning was a fasting blood draw which took three times as long as I’d budgeted. Still needed to do the Elder Shopping, because the kittens have now decided they don’t care for Beef with Gravy Fancy Feast and I was instructed to supply Fish or Greens (Primavera — I hope the critters appreciate the vocabulary). The shelves were a bit empty, but oh, well.
However, today also included a Zoom lecture by Judy Russell, “the Legal Genealogist,” on using land and court records to link the generations in family research. Now THAT was fun, and I feel somewhat refreshed.
Drying line? When I was growing up we washed clothes in the Bronx River, then put them on right away and rolled in the snow to dry them. Psshww.
And then walked twenty miles uphill to school. In Queens.