45 thoughts on “Working Wednesday, March 17, 2021”

  1. Panicking? Someone said “We’re moving in 12 weeks” I’m not ready. Yes I know, much can be done in 12 weeks. I’m still feeling slightly panicked. We’ve lived here 10-15 years. We have so much Stuff.
    Before here I moved on average of once a year but I also could, on average, fit everything I owned into a Volkswagen Beetle.
    Perhaps I’ll spend some time looking at available houses in the city we’re planning to move to? Or grocery shop and prep. Ooh or paint miniatures. I primed many and they’ve been laying out on the table for a week. That needs to be done before we move, right?

    1. I’m never moving again! Too much stuff. It doesn’t help that charity shops (thrift stores) and rubbish tips have been partially closed for a year due to covid so I haven’t been able to get rid of things, but that’s no excuse for me letting the stuff pile up in the first place.

  2. I finished my drawing of a kea last night. Was very pleased. Then I looked at it again tonight and decided it wasn’t finished. Not so pleased.

    I’m off on a 3 week holiday tomorrow morning so this week’s been frantic with tidying up loose ends at home and work. But I got my whole must-do list done, and it’s not even 1am yet. Highly productive. I should go on holiday more often.

  4. I have a shed which came with my house when I bought it 21 years ago. I have done no maintenance on it during that time, so it had become a mess. I spent the last couple of weeks removing the shingles and replacing water and termite damaged wood. Last week I enlisted my father and started re-roofing it. It has felt good to be outside getting exercise and spending time with my dad. It has also increased my desire to be fit and healthy (I am only 55, but very overweight, with the accompanying high blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol), so yesterday I did very, very, very easy yoga. It was pretty much a half hour of sitting, standing and lying down, but I am still unrepentantly proud of myself. I started super easy so that I would do it again the next day. BTW, if you have Amazon prime, they have lots of fitness shows available.

    1. When I lost weight, my blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol all came down to the point that they no longer required medication. The work is very long and hard, but the rewards are very sweet. And it saves you plenty of money if you can get off the meds.

      I also think you are very wise to start slowly on the exercise. In the beginning it is more important to establish exercise as part of your regular routine. You can always increase the intensity as you go along, but if you get really sore in the beginning, it is much harder to make yourself go back the next day.
      An exercise buddy is also very useful. That way when you don’t want to get off the couch, you can tell yourself that your buddy, who DID get off the couch, will be disappointed if you don’t show up.

  5. I just finished a handful of books and all the people in them were beautiful objectively, and described in detail, and it was boring. I was reminded that Crusie could make me yearn for someone’s wrist, or a particular curl of hair, or someone’s solidity or reliability. So thank you for pointing up details, rather than describing in detail? I think that’s how I want to phrase it.

    1. Beautiful is boring imho. Small details and keen observations are far more interesting, aren’t they.

      Says she who will never be considered beautiful 😉

    2. I’ve been noticing that, too. All beautiful people, many of them petite. Annoying. Whatever happened to “attractive”? Also intelligent and not a creeper. I started a book once where the hero sent a dic pick to the heroine. “As a joke.” No, it’s still a dick pic. Yes, he was gorgeous. BLEAH.

      1. How can a dick pic not totally obliterate someone’s gorgeousness?

        Also, when I get told someone is/were gorgeous, I feel coerced to share this opinion. I refuse to accept this. I want to make up my own mind.

    3. There’s a tv show that makes me crazy, stopped watching during second episode when the initial bad behavior continued, where the protagonist is a sexual harasser of his colleagues, and apparently it’s okay because 1) he’s beautiful, and 2) he’s tragic, having lost a spouse. Oh, and he’s French. Um, no. It’s still sexual harassment. I’m so tired of beauty making everything else okay when it’s not.

  6. Same same as usual. Work (lots of small stuff to be done, a bigger project waiting to be tackled, feeling like Sisyphos). Not really much else.
    Wen not working, I procrastinate like hell (usually with a book or youtube or Netflix) which leaves me dissatisfied with doing my homework for my English converation course and Ancient Greek in a hurry.

    I wish I were more disciplined and able to work on my Greek consistently and diligently – a small bit every day so that my vocab and grammar don’t evade me like wet fish through my wet fingers. But it’s so hard to motivate myself right now. Sigh.

    1. If it was Modern Greek, I’d suggest taking advantage of the Orthodox calendar and doing a little every day in Lent (Orthodox Lent began March 15, hah!).

      1. The concept is fine, would work for Ancient Greek, too.
        Alas, I didn’t even manage to do the February challenge…

  7. This week was preview day (Saturday) for the quilt show, followed by judging day (Turesday). Both operations were done at my place of employment so I was pretty anxious that things went well – both that my fellow quilters felt it was a useful and practical space, and my company doesn’t feel like I abused the privilege. So, I’m quite happy that it is done, and things went well. I was told by one experienced judge that it was one of the best places she’s ever been for doing judging – the space and the light were ideal. Now that that is behind me, I can be ready for the show – we hang quilts Thursday afternoon and have it open to the public Friday and Saturday. Saturday night is take down and Sunday is collapse. (I have a well-deserved massage scheduled for Monday)

    My state is now opening up vaccines for group 4 – people with underlying health conditions. I figure I qualify on at least two counts, so DH and I are getting our shots Friday morning.

    On Sunday, because I was full of nervous energy, I put some borders on a sampler quilt top. It’s as done as it can be until the quilting happens.
    https://www.instagram.com/p/CMhdvOwnEpv/

    Other than that, I’m enjoying the plethora of camellias right outside my office/dining room window. My daffodils are fully out, as are the hyacinths, while the forsythia is starting to show. My back deck is covered with debris as the pear blossoms shed their covers and cloak the trees in white. I expect the deck will have drifts of white petals in the very near future.

    3. That quilt gets better looking at every stage. Thanks for sharing the process with us.

  9. It’s release day for my new Easter book, so I’m updating online sites. Always great to have a new book out but lots of work!

    And totally forgot it was also St. Patrick’s Day but am wearing a new spring dress with green flowers so my subconscious was probably way ahead of me. And yes, I realize it’s not quite spring yet, but that’s a minor detail:)

  10. Straight after I posted about my work gap last week I got a rush proof-reading job, then an edit before I’d finished that. This week, out of the blue, the rush job needed its intro and 150 artists’ bios editing – which I could helpfully do, because I’d just learned the edit’s pub date had been pushed back, and I could take more time. So I’ve been working extra hours, and of course couldn’t sleep last night; so am feeling wiped out. But I’m earning, which is good, and the books aren’t grim.

    Potted my dahlias at the weekend. All my windowsills are now full, so I must erect my lightweight plant stand which has a plastic cover, and put it in front of the shed. Also did some more planting and moving of plants yesterday; but I think I need to switch to weeding the allotment and getting ready to plant my potatoes and shallots.

  11. Were it not for the fact that my uniform is green and inmates wear orange, I’d not be dressed to celebrate drunken Irishman day. And though I have a screed about the day, there’ll be no more of that here.

    I’d like to be off to work via Food Lion, but the dotter has driven off for errands of her own. I need to buy that child a used car.

  12. The past week has been mostly Day Job plus a 3-hour stretch of yard work on Saturday. I have the day off today, with no plans for yard work (though I will clean & refill the hummingbird feeder); very undecided about what to do aside from laundry. So far I’ve read a short book, had a shower, and eaten breakfast. Oh, and filled the feeders in the front yard plus taken a couple of pictures of blooming things.

    So I guess I’ll download the camera and send pictures to Mom, do the laundry, do the hummingbird thing, and then decide if a day off requires more achievement than that. Am in a very ‘why bother’ phase with the writing, which means I should probably force myself to at least edit something. Avoidance and discouragement have a way of snowballing.

  13. Not until I get into the car do I realize that it is time to move the clock forward. I liked the old days when I just had to turn a knob. Now I need to get the manual out.

    I was thinking of SEP when I made raspberry bars this week. I decided to add some lemon bits to the bar mixture and raided the new Kellogg’s Special K edition with added blueberry and lemon clusters pulling out the lemon bits. One of her books had the heroine taking out the marshmallow bits of a cereal to annoy her husband.

    I’ve done nothing for St. Patrick’s Day except make a copy of Susan Berger’s Bailey’s Irish Cream Brownies. I especially want it for the frosting.

    1. Did you ever hear SEP talk about reader feedback to the scene with the heroine removing all the marshmallow bits? Well, apparently she got a letter saying that it wouldn’t take all night to do it (as presented in the book), because she’d timed it, and it took exactly 3.7 hours (I’m making up the number, but it was that specific). The kicker is that the person who wrote the letter was a professional bead-sorter. The story reminds me not to fret too much about negative reviews, because you never know where they’re coming from.

  14. Just slogging along, doing the usual, waiting anxiously for spring. I got some plant-related stuff (seeds, grow bags) to expand my growing of greens on my deck, but it’s still way too soon even for the tatsoi. Although maybe I could get the potting soil and start the tatsoi this weekend as long as I don’t expect it to sprout right away.

    Oh, wait, one interesting thing I did: I joined By the People, to do transcriptions for the Library of Congress. I’m working on President Garfield’s hand-written diaries, which are mostly pretty dull, but sometimes have interesting tidbits. They have big events for transcribing, but I’m not a big-event kinda’ person, so I’m just doing a page or two here and there on my own schedule. I pop over there whenever I’m tempted to procrastinate in ways that really aren’t good for me, and this way it’s at least productive procrastination. https://crowd.loc.gov/

    1. That sounds fascinating, and I wish I thought I could do it, but I have enough trouble reading my own handwriting.

      1. Yeah, it can be challenging. They do give an option for indicating that you can’t read the word. I can get most words, but I’ve got no clue on most of the names, and he likes to list bunches of people who were probably big celebrities at the time, but lost to history now. There’s also a review person where a second person has to sign off on the transcription. I’m hoping the reviewers are more familiar with the history and can fill in the names.

  15. Mostly my mind has been going round and round.

    The dog is doing well on her Cushing’s medication although her appetite is down and she is getting that ‘little old lady’ look.

    I went to the eye doctor and, surprise, got a glaucoma diagonosis. So, I’m processing that.

    Said ‘yes’ to a arranging elected official visits for the state anti-gerrymandering effort. I must have been crazy but it was pre-diagnosis.

    And then there’s the Board of Elections.

    But, it’s Daylight Savings Time, Spring will be here shortly, I have schduled my first COVID shot for Saturday morning, the stimulus check is in my checking account, the weather is improved, and I purchased some pink tulips to enjoy.

    I really just have to get through the next two weeks…

  16. This is more of a Happy than Work, but I went into the city to the Covid vaccine study I’m in, which is Janssen, to discover that I got the vaccine in December, not the placebo, so after three months I’m fully vaccinated. Let joy be unconfined! We get paid for this study, which at first I was mildly indifferent to (money’s nice, but it’s for Science!) and then I made my first trip to the hospital parking garage. Listening to the radio antenna going Thwang! thwang! thwang! on the overhead beams and uncontrollably ducking my head every time as I go up to the fifth level and then back down is stressful enough that yes, they _should_ pay us. Every visit I check to see the tip of the antenna is still really there.

    1. As a patient advocate and someone who’s been in several studies, yes, they damn well should pay you! They’re going to make a gazillion dollars off this research. The least they can do is cover the cost of the time patients are WORKING for them. I don’t mind doing a study for tiny amounts when it’s pure research — I did that for something that even the principal investigator thought was unlikely to help me feel better, but he would learn useful stuff from the lab work. But if it’s pharma doing the research, yeah, they’ve gotta compesnate me for my time. And my expenses. I’m happy to be studied for science, but it’s a matter of respect that we get paid commensurate with the researcher’s resources. Everyone else in the process is getting paid. There’s one study for my disorder that is pure science (not likely to lead to a profitable product) and is problematic in other ways in terms of abusing patients, but the final straw that made me refuse to share the info with the patient community is that they don’t even cover transportation, and the honorarium is less than it will cost even the closest patient to travel to/from the site. Nope. Not working with someone who doesn’t respect the patients.

    1. When I first envisioned this I thought there might be a horn coming out of the sweater. But maybe it’s more likely that a picture of the unicorn is on the sweater.

  18. This week, I somehow managed to get in on my first day of admittance to get the first shot of the vaccine. Realized why staying at home wasnt so bad due to the fact that people allowed to police themselves are jerks…………being in a wheelchair and out of practice of not paying attention to life people I was literally run into and almost over twice!!!! Within the first 15 minutes of entering into the store walking towards the pharmacy……then realized while killing the 15 min after shot time by observing the store overall and realized 1/3 people were wearing masks ( I live in a rural part of CA but still had higher hopes) But Im focusing on the fact I am this much closer to hug the people I love and that is what really matters.

  20. I’m 2 1/2 weeks into the new job. It’s going well but a lot of information to absorb. The people are great and I think I’m going to like it there.

  21. I’m madly working on the cozy mystery, but the big thing is we finally got a vaccine site here in my small upstate NY town (at the local university) and I got both me and my housemate appointments for next week. Three days apart, just in case one of use doesn’t feel well.

    I’m both petrified (my poor fibro body tends to overreact to things) and very relieved.

  22. Another Elder Shopping Day including the heavy stuff — litter, kibbles, soda, canned cat delicacies — and an afternoon spent hunting for long-dead family members online . . .
    now eating a slice of green cornbread in honor of St Patrick. The kittens discovered the bottle of blue food coloring (luckily firmly capped).

  23. Got my first vaccination yesterday, and was pretty happy. Applying for jobs, made Irish Soda Bread. Made it twice, actually, because this time I added an extra cup of buttermilk, so was more like pancake batter than dough. So I made it again to check the measurements. They both turned out fine.
    Teaching some voice lessons online, and have a small editing job, with a possible large one in the distance.
    Have been staying away from the painting table, but held my nose and did a little study of an onion. It doesn’t have to be good, you just have to do it.

  24. I think one reason people enjoy British movies etc is they have what I would call “real” people in them. Even the stars. American ones are all beautiful except for one who is usually the jester.

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