36 thoughts on “Working Wednesday, April 7, 2021”

  1. I forwarded the miniature masterpiece article from your post last week to a bunch of friends and received all sorts of insights and ideas and expressions of happiness in return. Thank you!

  2. This week I walked in the beautiful Spring weather, took photos of beautiful Spring flowers (so many varieties of daffodil! so many colors and shapes of tulips!), and watched a beautiful Opening Day baseball game.

    My real job is making me cranky, mostly because I need a decent vacation from it, but of course that’s not really possible right now, at least not the kind of vacation I want!

    But mostly it’s flowers flowers flowers…

  3. I relaxed for three days at the weekend. I finished my edit this morning, and have just got to check I haven’t been too annoying annoying with my queries before sending it to the author and starting on the proofs I was sent yesterday.

    I’m also trying – for the umpteenth time – a new workday that starts with an hour of creativity – garden design, photography or writing. Alas, on just the second day, I’ve realized that I’m just giving myself en extra hour’s editing, since I feel I need to update my gardening notes so all the information I’ve been gathering is accessible as I brainstorm my designs.

    I would love to be able to stick to a regime that prioritizes doing the creative stuff I love, but I must have tried and failed dozens of times before. Still, right now I’m doing it, so that’s my goal for the next week: to keep going.

  4. This past week I worked on Easter. My MIL is not doing well, and lives about 45 minutes away. We decided to take Easter dinner to her – and invited other family members. I made gf cupcakes Thursday and Friday evenings, and spent Saturday prepping the potatoes, green beans, broccoli salad, deviled eggs and chicken casserole.

    Sunday morning, I drove down and got there about 7:30. I made rabbit ear cinnamon rolls for breakfast which went over well. I got the ham in the oven and various casseroles in to warm up and timed everything to have dinner at 12;30. It was a success! Of course, we’re now eating ham leftovers for a while.

    The other work I’ve been doing is sweeping my deck off. A few weeks ago, it was covered with a snow of pear petals. Now it is pear petal debris (sticks and other material) and pollen. Big, yellow, nasty pine pollen. I swept it off on Monday, and did it again this morning. I’ve posted a half-way shot – just know that this is only two days of pollen and debris.

    I also included a gratuitous picture of a camellia. I’d been watching the bud for at least six months. It was a pretty payoff.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CNXak2jHiJy/

    1. That camellia is BEAUTIFUL! Also, very glad to see someone else who sweeps with a broom instead of a loud motorized blower. Have you tried a spray bottle of water to dampen the broom every few minutes to make a more thorough sweep? That’s what I found made sweeping dusty or pollen-y surfaces easier to sweep clean outside.

      1. Haven’t tried the water – and you can see the tracks from the broom where I started another pass.

        I had to laugh though – I took my cat out the front and the first thing he did was roll around on the stoop. He’s now a black and yellow cat!

  5. We made roast lamb for Easter dinner, and yesterday I made lamb and barley soup, which is pretty good, although it could have stood a little more lamb.

    Working on editing some web site content. Got a dental cleaning. Guess what, I need to floss more! Gave an online voice lesson.

    Getting my 2nd shot today!!

  6. My big task is getting another suitcase so we can fit the rest of our stuff for the flight to Lisbon. Our container is on a boat, so this is the stuff we couldn’t put in the container (clothes for a month, jewelry, liquids, etc…) and we wound up with more that would fit in our current suitcase collection – there were grocery bags with the last of it! Also a few more good-bye meals, a bit more paperwork, and taking COVID tests pre-flight. Six days to departure.

  7. I’ve been super productive everywhere but in the ‘housekeeping’ arena. 🙂 Day Job is chock-full of work (including a last-minute filing that will consume most of my day, thus getting in here early).

    Finished the latest novella; consulted with designer; have a cover for that and am ready to publish in May. Already have a novel scheduled for June, though I still want an ad image for that, and need to prep the paperback text. Got a ton more covers and some new ad images. Re-launched one of last year’s titles with a new cover. Began a hard-copy read of one of 2019’s titles for minor edits in advance of re-launching that with a new cover. Set up Instagram account and linked to FB to facilitate some different promotional possibilities. Ran a promotion over the weekend. Blogged the latest launch. And, with fresh covers in hand, am ready to dive into completing one or both of those books.

  8. Sunday I discovered a raccoon tore off a third of the cedar shingles and chewed through the wood strips supporting the shingles on the north side of garden shed. Raining today. Sunny this weekend. So bloody ticked off. Re-roofing the garden shed with plywood and asphalt shingles. On the bright side Maybe I can get a new door with a window or somehow rejig the existing door with a window. Always something isn’t it. I like the wildlife in the wild.

    Today is office day and getting the tax info ready for accountant.

  9. I’m knitting another sweater. But really, my “work” this week is starting Shrek rehearsals. I will be curious to see how they rehearse group song numbers over Zoom….?

  10. I’m so excited because I get my first COVID vaccination tomorrow and so does Paul!!! Our friends that we travel with are both diabetic so they get theirs and are also booked for Thursday.

    Day job has been slow because of the holiday weekend. I took the weekend off and watched cozy mystery Hallmark movies and totally enjoyed myself. I bought a Butterball turkey white/dark meat concoction, it looked like the turkey version of a picnic ham, and we had that for Easter supper.

    The other thing I’ve been doing is looking for chairs that I can leave outside in our to-be-built fire pit area that don’t need cushions to be comfortable so I don’t have to worry about getting said cushions safe from the rain. Holy crap. I’m seeing chairs that are $250-$300+ (seriously, are people paying $800 for one Adirondack/Muskoka chair???) and then the $29.99 cheapy ones that are only good for 1 year and would threaten to break under the weight of a newborn. We have camp chairs but I wanted something a little more substantial than that.

  11. I read. and re-read. I might have mentioned getting over the “Crusie Overload” that was keeping me from re-reading My Favorite Romance Author. I started with Manhunting, then picked up the Jennifer Crusie Bundle. I went through Getting Rid of Bradley, Strange Bedpersons, and What the Lady Wants. Charlie All Night is waiting until I finish Gin’s new garlic mystery (Laid Out In Lavender). On the SF side, I’ve been reading Weber’s Saganami Island branch of the Honorverse. Also re-read Bimbos of the Death Sun. A very little research revealed that McCrumb wrote another mystery with Jay Omega as protagonist, but it never made it to Kindle so I will live without it.

    I haven’t made it to Best Buy yet, so I don’t have that library computer to set up. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. Today, all my Tuits are triangular.

    1. Do I still have my copy of Bimbos of the Death Sun? Not in the main collection.

    2. ZOMBIES OF THE GENE POOL, the BIMBOS sequel, wasn’t nearly as funny. I have a pretty complete collection of McCrumb books and may not even have kept it. A lot closer to a straight mystery.

  12. A quiet Easter, but I made myself a ham and asparagus quiche. Working on the next bit of freelance research/writing, as well as the poem for the week. Avoiding all the household tasks that have begun murmuring at me.

  13. Every time I think my one Board’s getting it together, something else happens. I took out my frustration by cleaning my bathroom. On to the Board meeting!

  14. Mostly paid work on the done list this week. Certainly was not housework!
    I received my 2nd vaccine dose yesterday and it is kicking my butt just now. Hopefully a very short-lived reaction.

  15. While my husband was in Lowe’s looking for screw/nails I wandered over to CVS on the off chance there might be some half priced Easter candy left. What a disappointment the shelves were empty. Not a marshmallow chicky in sight. Or even a chocolate covered egg. No jelly beans. Not that I needed them, but still. So I went back over to Lowe’s garden center and except for pansies which were in glorious display there was nothing to catch my eye. The only herbs out were rosemary and a few lavender plants. So it is still to early and cold out. Actually I ordered a packet of culinary lavender from Etsy that should be in the mail today. So there is that.

  17. My sister filled several halves of chocolate easter egg with chocolate cheesecake and topped it with mini eggs and mini marshmallows and a kinder hippo for fun. She sent me one, yum

  18. I got my annual dental checkup this morning. I’m trying to wallow in the feeling of being all organised and having that done.

    Other than that, I’ve been on holiday, which was great. But now I’m back and having to get back onto my too-long to-do list. One thing at a time.

  19. Mostly normal ghostwriting work stuff. But I also went to a digital event for admitted students at a program I applied to, which was intimidating before it was reassuring.

  20. My 2nd vaccine was on Easter Sunday and other than being really sleepy for the last two days, there have no side effects at all. My COVID test pre-surgery was on Monday and it was negative. Today I paid all the bills for the Month so I won’t get distracted and forget them if I have to take any medications. Now I am assembling my ID packet, my emergency inhaler and my Kindle, oh and what I am going to wear so all I have to do is take my shower and hit the road. I have to do this ahead of time because my brain does not get up at 5 am. My body – yes. My brain – no.

    This is so good. In another day I will have all these niggling health issues behind me. And in another two weeks I will be good to resume as close to normal living as we get until the pandemic restrictions are behind us.

  22. I turned 50 today, so I’m working on wrapping my mind around that. I worked on work all day, but I did squeeze out a few minutes to listen to the ball game, and then took a lovely walk after dinner with DH.

    I got birthday texts but no calls, so I guess I’m officially middle aged. Or I need to work on my relationships.

  23. And now I’m in moderation. I’m done with today. LOL.

    Oh, I think it’s because the powers that be keep autocorrecting my email. Oh, well.

  24. Um. This week I did Easter baskets and brunch (with bonus! holiday house-cleaning) and also planted 1 crape myrtle, 4 rosebushes, 6 dahlias of various types, and recovered from Pfizer shot #1. Big week, really.

  25. Ooh, good luck with the living room-to-office transformation. You’ve cogitated on this for a long time – hope it goes as you envision. And if you get a chance to share just couple pictures… 🙂

    I took off Monday to do life stuff like help DH replace the smoke detector. (My job: wrestle it out of the package.) And I finally launched my new phone. I am in New Technology Daze.

  26. As usual, I shopped, including an extra stop to try to find the Vitamin D capsules my brother needs. Not the same as mine, and his usual brand was Not Available — when I asked, due to a Production Delay of Unknown Length.

    Freezer now stuffed from back to front.

    Organization Executive Board Meeting this afternoon, when I discovered that the monthly newsletter, which I sent last night, was a large enough pdf file to bounce out of some people’s email. I guess it’s my personal version of Too Much Information! The Board also hashed out reconciliation of the annual budget versus actual expenditures, which have been Really Skewed because covid and quarantine; we’ve hardly spent anything. Board has agreed to recommend that in-person meetings mostly take place at the local Family History Library once it’s open again (yay! I NEED to spend some serious time there! I have a LIST of things to research and do that can’t be done anywhere else).

    1. We’ve largely turned the kitchen / family room into the living room, I think, or possibly vice versa. Craftsman living rooms often had a table with chairs in the middle of the room, not sofas and easy chairs . . . .

      Current space delineations seem to reflect the days when people entertained friends in their house or were entertained at their friends’ houses — hence the living room and dining room.

      Be interesting to rethink this.

  27. I’m curious, do you not need a living room? I’ve been looking at a lot of smaller homes. And realizing that I don’t really use our living room much, myself. If I try to sit in it and read, I get edgy and start remembering chores that need to be finished.

    1. I’m happier stretched on the bed in the guest room. The only thing I used the living room for was guests (hello pandemic), TV (there’s one in both bedrooms and the workroom, smaller but still that’s three other TVs), and the fireplace (it’s April). I’ll leave two armchairs in there and possibly find another place for the giant TV that will soon be a white board, but nope, don’t need a dedicated living room.

  28. I’ve done a lot of work on my yard this week–so I am physically EXHAUSTED.

    When I moved here, the yard was just a plain postage-stamp lot. Bit by bit over time, I’ve eliminated all grass, established a nice garden in front, and have built a pavestone patio in back that’s surrounded by garden beds. This past week I planted some more shrubs, and I installed (and then filled) a pair of 3-tier cedar beds, that I painted and stenciled last autumn. Really happy with the way they finish off the yard.

    I’ve salvaged a lot of my supplies and have done all the work myself, not out of any sense of virtue, but because that’s how I can afford to get the yard I want. It’s been a LOT of work, but I’m really happy with the way it’s turning out.

    Lots of planting to do this year, which I’ll enjoy, and by next year, hoping to have a yard I can spend more time enjoying than working on!

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