Working Wednesday, September 29, 2021

~ Jenny

Today I am reinforcing my mail box, painting a sign for my house numbers, and doing another medical appointment. Oh, yeah, and working on a book. Just one damn thing after another.

What did you do this week?

67 thoughts on “Working Wednesday, September 29, 2021”

  1. Today is the all-work day in the middle of my vacation. It’s actually handy being 5 hours ahead, as my team will be able to react to what I’ve done when they get to work. Of course it is a beautiful day her and really I want to be out walking around, but c’est la vie. The job is paying for the vacation after all!

  2. Today is pesto-making day. It got down to 37 degrees here last night, which means it is time to clip the basil, most of which will be made into pesto and tucked into the freezer in the mudroom. I’ll pull a jar out in the middle of winter for a hint of summer brightness.

    Beyond that, I’ll be putting limited edition double-signed (by me and the illustrator) versions of my new Llewellyn book, The Eclectic Witch’s Book of Shadows, up on my Etsy shop. (I would have had you plug it here, but with the supply chain issues, it didn’t actually come out on release day, and I wasn’t sure how many witchy types we have here.)

    And writing. Always writing.

    2. Witchy type (among other things) raising hand here, and since my entire religious experience can best be described as eclectic, the title intrigues me even without your name on it.

  3. Today is another day to work late. After the hell that was yesterday, I’m not looking forward to it.

    On Saturday, I took a quilting class on Notan – a type of Japanese art that explores both positive and negative space. For our class, we started by drawing a square on a piece of paper. Inside the square we put whatever shapes we wanted. Then we cut them out and flipped alternating shapes so they landed outside of the square. I did a lot of swirls. The overall affect is very interesting. I’ll need to work on this piece a little more.

    On Sunday, I was feeling the ennui of not creating something. So, I pulled out some fabric and created a quilt top for my niece’s soon-to-be born son. I wasn’t quite satisfied with my first border treatment, so I ripped that off and put on the red and blue that you see now. I’ve also started a crochet blanket for that particular little one from yarn I had lying about the house (yay! using my stash! twice!).

    I included a picture of a gardenia. That little bush is having a second blooming season now. And, since I talked about Stanley the stray, I included a picture of him. He was planted on my chest the other morning, telling me that I shouldn’t be still in bed when it was time for him to go back outside.

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

    Happy Wednesday everyone!

    1. I’m not sure why, but this just struck me as a perfect post. A story about something interesting that you learned, another story about a creation project including “oh no, I don’t like it that way”, an outdoor/garden recovery mention, a pet anecdote, and then — a bonus! — pictures of all of them.

      Since I only have a challenged-learner phone, I can’t take or post pictures. And nearly all my anecdotes are boring, so I can’t do this, but wow! I loved the swirl effect and the idea of the Notan patterning. Envied and could almost smell the gardenia, and Stanley the stray’s gaze reminded me so strongly of my first beloved cat Tidy and his trusting-but-needy stare from my chest in some mornings.

      Anyway, thanks so much for this post.

      1. Funny you should mention a “challenge – learner phone”. This morning I was talking to my husband about digital coupons where you have to use a phone to get any discount at the grocery store. You would think a discount would pop up after scanning the key card.

        1. Yup–it infuriates me the way retail expects everyone to have a smart phone, which I don’t have and don’t want.

          1. I feel the same way about Facebook. I don’t have an account and I don’t want one and I’m annoyed with all the businesses that use Facebook as their only source of information.

    2. I love that Away We Go fabric line you used. My youngest great nephew is getting a quilt using roughly a charm pack and a half from that line with lattice between the squares as part of his Christmas this year.

  4. I’m on the late shift today and trying to make the most of my morning. There is so much that I could/should/want to do. It’s hard to know where to begin. And I am still in my pajamas :/

    1. I was in my nightgown when work called to say it wasn’t going to be my day off after all and I could have tomorrow instead…how lucky I had nothing planned but resting….hmpf.

  5. I was looking at the list of tags over there at the right of the screen. Is Pig Plot all one word? Or is it Pig and Plot – not connected. While they are still interesting by themselves, something about Pig Plot is appealing.

    I have been altering a dress for a friend and working on my daughter’s coat/duster as well as the day job – which is still going well.

    Happy days.

    1. The Pig and Plot appear to be slightly different sizes, so probably not a singular theme. But I’d be interested in seeing what Jenny could do with a pig plot!

    3. The Pig was the suitcase I painted for Krissie years ago.
      Plot is that writer thingy.
      Pig Plot is the movie Babe or, if you’re into bittersweet endings, Charlotte’s Web.

  6. Tired and burnt out from day job. Taking Monday off.

    Am this close to finishing a crochet blanket, but I can’t work on it for long. I don’t know if it’s the burn out, lack of energy, or just issues finishing things…

    1. Had a lunch meeting and was able to finish the blanket! First blanket made just to make without being for someone else or a picked up project of someone else in years!

  7. This week was all about squiring our first houseguest (a guy I’ve known since 6th grade!) around the greater Lisbon area – he’s now at the airport awaiting his flight to Paris and then home to Portland. This involved finally learning how to use the train and metro system here – easy peasy and a gorgeous ride along the coast from the train station two blocks from our house to Lisbon.

    Now I have to catch up on everything I didn’t get done over the last week!

  8. I had an audition last night! It was for a musical theater songs concert. I think it went pretty well for my first “real” live-pianist audition. I did “What Did I Ever See In Him” from Bye Bye Birdie” of my own volition and then they gave us a list of 8 songs to have to pick from. The selection wasn’t great for the likes of my voice (sigh), so I did “The Human Heart” from Once On This Island even though ah, I am not the right ethnicity to be permitted to do that song really. Every other song was a belter song, though. Oh well, I think that went well enough too.

    (For those who don’t know: the traditional, non-pandemic way one is supposed to audition for musicals is to bring in sheet music and have a pianist play your song cold and you have no idea how that’s going to go. I’ve sort-of done this a time or two in the past and didn’t go that well….the pianist being too slow or off or whatever. For the musicals I’ve been cast in during pandemic, I either got hand picked or auditioned via karaoke video online.)

    The pianist was great, he did some trial run playing for me to figure out the speed since my song was pretty fast, and we worked it out before I started. Great job, dude!

    The sad thing is that I have the soul of a belter and the voice of a ….very average singer who will never be a star (plus I’m an alto…sigh). So I’m shooting for “backup singer” in this, basically.

    I talked one of my karaoke friends into auditioning. She’s young and it’s her first audition ever, and she has this amazing booming voice for someone so small that it startles everyone. It’s amazing. So I assume she’ll get in, at least, even if I don’t.

    I’ve been working on that for the last week, now I’m all “now what do I do?” I guess finish the coat I’ve been crocheting….adding on the final border.

  9. Yesterday, six miles from work, in the Dollar General, with stuff in hand… I realized I’d left my wallet at home. I had food – not the food I’d planned to eat, but I continued on to work. I’d also left my Kindle at home, so work was very, very boring. I did work work, the stuff they pay me to do.

    I need to shop before going back to work.

    1. After I posted and got ready for work, the dotter came into the man cave to update me. She got a window for surgery (and had borrowed my car, no big deal), but couldn’t have it. The infections for which she was being treated weakened her immune system, and now she has shingles. She burst into tears. All I could do was hold her nd murmur useless reassurances.

      She was going to the emergency room, I was going to work. I note, in passing, her passenger side window is gone, a plastic bag taped in its place. I ask – it got broken, nobody busted in. She carries one of my credit cards. I told her to use it, and get the window fixed.

      A mile from home, I realize I still don’t have my wallet, and turn around. The dotter is pulled off the road a block from home. And when I go back the other way, I see her pulled off again. I’m trying to arrange a stand-in so I can take leave to help her, but my normal stand-in is already standing in at another power plant in Powhatan.

      Vibes, prayer, thoughts for my dotter, please.

      1. Poor baby. I’ve had times like that, where it’s just one serious/expensive thing after another, and I could handle one of them but all at once just kneecapped me. So glad you’re there for her.

      2. Argh!
        Tears are the correct response to shingles, I would say, having watched my relatives suffer through it. For the rest, best of good vibes.

  10. All of the pandemic “why bother” non-cleaning I did is to be finished by Friday–or as near finished as I can make it. First outta town company coming since pre-covid, and I’m very happy about that. Going to exchange a hanging lamp today and walk with a friend I see about once a month. More cleaning, more planning.

    Working on several projects which are mostly think work, so no photos to show.

  11. This morning I was up at the ungodly hour of 4:45 not on purpose and wandered out to the kitchen when I saw the motion sensor light go on outside. Looking out the window to see what set it off I thought maybe a leaf, nope, it was a coyote bold as brass just moseying along the perimeter. And here last week I was complaining about the bunny rabbits eating the plants and now I would be pained if anything happened to them. Anyway the coyote got down as far as the fence and I thought he would go out by the gate, empty handed, but he jumped over the fence and headed for the beach. In our town’s facebook page there is a missing pet notice it seems every day, most turn up like unruly teenagers not paying attention to the curfew set by their pet parents. And a happy reunion is posted. But still!

  12. I feel like the Mutant Enemy from the end of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer credits. It always said, “Grrr, Argh,” but at the end of one of the devastating episodes it said, “I need a hug.”

    I feel like that. Even though I’m vaxxed, there’s too many people still not, so I still haven’t gone back to hugging. And it is AWFUL.

    I did work’s work while watching Taiwanese “Use for my Talent” which I totally liked better than its source Korean “Clean with Passion for now” – I DNF’d the latter. Trying to look up the original webtoon but so far, language barrier has got the best of me.

    1. I got a hug yesterday from my doctor after my appointment. Celebrating my ninth year cancer free. I really wasn’t going to mention it but a hug is a wonderful thing.

      1. Good for you Mary! (Being cancer free, not the hug—although a hug is definitely worth congratulations.)

  13. All I’ve been doing is keeping up with the housecleaning, vetting Pixie (next month dental c), and the usual meetings.

    I need to commit to repotting plants and I need to do it soon. But not today because meetings and not tomorrow because doctor appointment. Friday?

  14. I finally have a date for my bypass surgery (this Friday, October 1), so I’ve just been scrambling to prepare and get the Crazy Cat Lady Chronicles either released or up for pre-order before my surgery. Did pre-admission testing today, so now I just wait until pre-dawn Friday to go into Boston for the surgery, when I’ll be wrapped in all the postponed good vibes from here (and elsewhere, of course).

    8. Very definite good vibes flying your way! I hope the surgery’s really straightforward and you recover super fast.

    12. Oh, so glad I saw this! Vibing westward to you, and I know things will go swimmingly. Report back when you’re better.

  15. I took two days annual leave to ride the Timber Trail, a spectacular 80km bush track in the far back of beyond. It did me so much good. Then I went back to the office to do the final paperwork on a three month project to get professional accreditation for a new training course for healthcare providers, which I fully expect to boomerang back to me with revision requests in a month’s time, but for now it’s off my desk. And then I got my second vaccine jab, so the work I’d vaguely hoped to put in on my languishing novel today will be taking a back seat to my (pretty minor really) headache and general sense of malaise. Big week, when I look back on it.

  16. It’s raining on the wet coast. After the summer of “hotter than hell” temperatures, the rain is much needed. Couples days of heavy rain and we are back to wanting the sun. And, the grass is green again. Oh well, will carry on sorting and purging. Today is make a dent in the very messy office cause I’ve piled a whole lot of stuff and such on every surface.

  17. I finished painting my garden shed. I thought it was only going to take a couple of days. That was a month ago. Need to attach vine eyes and wire, and dig planting holes or else make/buy planters if there’s too much concrete. It should look much better in a year or two, but it’s making me a lot happier even in its bare state: https://www.instagram.com/p/CUagBKpowJZ/

    Was asked to have a meeting with the managing editor about having earned out my fee (again). I was pretty stressed, but managed to be calm and focused; and it went surprisingly well. She’s come up with enough money to pay for another fifty hours, and they’re going to take a lot of the work back in house – the US edition, proofs, index, etc. So my work’s already much reduced; and she stressed how happy they are with my work, glad to have me doing this book, etc.

    So what with more time off and feeling valued – and the prospect of a week’s holiday next month – I’m feeling a lot better. Took today off and went exploring, and came across a laden damson tree by a ruined farm, so will be making damson jam tomorrow.

    1. I had a shed that was a ratty, rusty, derelict mess. It was mostly hidden by overgrown bushes but it still managed to make the eyes sore. Frustrated one day, I bought a half dozen cans of dark green Rustoleum and went to work. It was magical. It just disappeared into the greenery.
      And damsons! My grandmother made the best preserves with them (until she got old and would forget to take out the seeds). Still, hot biscuits and damson preserves are a wonderful thing.

    2. Well done, Jane. Painted our shed inside and outside in the heat of summer. I just have a wee bit inside which I have been putting off. Your shed will look lovely with plantings covering the concrete. Been meaning to plant sweet peas up the one side of the shed. Definitely next year, now that it has been levelled and painted. A mass of colourful sweet peas and the dahlias should be a good mix.

  18. Firstly: Thanks everyone for the good luck-wishes and sympathies regarding the move. <3
    I did take a day off from unpacking and arranging and cleaning and EVERYTHING on Monday after I fell on the stairs and figured I really, really needed a break. Luckily it was on the way up..! Last night I also slept about 12 hours, so whew, it's catching up now. I've decided to take things slower from here on; after all, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom are all functionable, and those are the most important parts of living.
    We now have a dinner table and chairs, so picnicking at the coffee table is no longer necessary. The leak in the washing machine-pipe has been resolved, so we can now wash our clothes. On the flipside: we've now discovered the washbasin in the toilet also leaks… All the little surprises people leave behind! Argh.
    Curtains will come tomorrow morning, so that's another thing to check off on the checklist. A contractor will also pop over to see if something can be done about our non-closable-and-not-reaching-all-the-way-down-doors. We'll be hotspot-internetting for a couple of weeks more, since the people supposed to fix that last week never showed up (despite Sven calling them several times to confirm they would come), and now they've decided they don't have time for us before Oct 12th. I don't mind so much, but it certainly pulls on the brakes for Sven's streaming, so he's a bit frustrated about it and worried people won't come back again once he returns. I think they will, but I understand the worries.
    Our old place went on the market today, and there are already a bunch of people scheduled for viewing coming Friday and Monday, so hopefullyy things will go smoothly on that end.
    Hope you all have a great week!

  19. I finished my fall planting! Unless I get some alliums. Next we have to finish the greenhouse; put up the plastic sheeting inside to create an insulating layer, build the “hot bed” under the shelf to create heat via composting, and build and install the door.

    I waver between being really proud of the projects we’ve done on this house, overwhelmed by what’s left, excited by the opportunity to get creative, and exhausted and wishing we could take a vacation from it. But I love these Wednesday check-ins because it’s so neat to see what everybody is working on.

  20. Aside from the bare minimum of yard work, all I’ve accomplished this week is Day Job. Today I had one of those sneakily-pleasing moments where you go to do something you really don’t want to do just because there’s no decent excuse for putting it off, and find the platform you need in order to do it is down for maintenance. Ha! Tomorrow for you!

  22. Heavy-duty shopping day, but I was able to find 3-oz canned Fancy Feast with gravy (pre-FURRED choice, and one that’s more often missing from the shelves than on them), so the cats are happy.

    Also prepping for two Zoom meetings tomorrow.

  23. I mostly finished trimming the tree of the dead branches. I climbed up on our roof to get at them and wielded an extension pole with a blade on the end built for the job. Looks so much better!

    Otherwise it’s the day job. 🙄

    I did get some longarm quilting done but it isn’t worth showing yet.

  24. You know those little tiny tasks that take more prep than time to do the task? I’ve been doing them. Things like ten minutes to find sandpaper, scissors, and pretty duct tape, three to actually sand and wipe down. Later I do the fun part of taping the edges. It’s a rescue of an IKEA sliding door. Doubled and the edges taped it will make a perfect size shelf for that irritatingly shelfless spot. The tape has flamingos, I am so pleased to find something good to do with it.

  25. I finished a painting. It’s my first ever abstract and it was really fun to figure out. I put a photo on Instagram but there’s a lot of texture in the painting so you’ll just have to imagine that. https://www.instagram.com/p/CUcGprwPWuO

    And I got fitter this week. I signed up for a substantial day walk in November and it’s been the motivation I needed to get out and walk now. I did 3 energetic walks and a swim in the last week and feel good about it.

  26. I’ve decided to do a declutter exercise in October, where each date of the month matches the number of items that have to leave the house on that day. October 1, one item goes. October 2, two items go. And onward.

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