Working Wednesday, June 8, 2022

~ Jenny

This week I’m doing a quick revision on Lavender’s Blue, the read-through and catch glitches kind, and then making notes on Rest in Pink and doing another run through on Nita. I am very happy.

What are you working on?

69 thoughts on “Working Wednesday, June 8, 2022”

  1. I’ve finished planting up my garden and cleaned out and tidied the garden shed (things fell out the door when I opened it, whereas now there’s actually bare floor). I’ve also planted my squash on the allotment, which meant clearing a carpet of marigolds and nasturtiums, as well as other weeds. I cleaned the house before my friend came to stay at the weekend, but will need to refresh it today, before my friends come tomorrow for a couple of days, to dismantle the allotment shed & replace it with the new one. Also need to do a food shop, make a fish pie, and empty the allotment shed once it stops raining.

    The forecast’s been good for Thursday & Friday for days, but now the Met Office is threatening showers tomorrow. So my other task is to ward off rain.

  2. I have committed to exercise that’s energetic enough to raise a sweat for at least 21 minutes every day in June. It’s day 8 and I’m tired already. A colleague has said they’ll sponsor me the price of a coffee for every 5k I run, so I’ve been running.

    It’s for Sweat with Pride – fundraising for support activities for rainbow communities. 1 out of 5 rainbow rangatahi attempt suicide. Which sucks. One of the many ways the world is fucked, but one which we can surely fix.

    So yeah, tired, but righteously so.

    1. Whoopsie. Rangatahi is the te reo Maori word for young people.

      Er, and te reo is the language. Most people (including me) don’t speak te reo, but lots of words are in common usage, and this is increasing. It’s a beautiful language.

      I also should maybe have said that if any Arghers would like to support the cause – https://sweatwithpride.com/allanah-robinson.

      1. I tried. The website told me that my card is not supported. Any tips? Maybe it is because I am outside of the country?

        1. Oh that is super kind of you! I don’t know about the card sorry, but I’ll find out. I have a friend in the UK who made a donation, which is a hopeful sign maybe. I’ll ask tomorrow (it’s late at night here now).

          1. I just tried it, Allanah, and I was able to make a donation even though I have a Canadian card. Although I’ve donated in New Zealand dollars so I have no idea how much that really is…

          2. Must be just a discover card thing then. Unfortunately, that’s my only one. Is there another way I can fund you?

        2. I’m feeling many warm happy vibes 🥰.

          I can’t help with the card Lupe, but maybe you could make a donation to a rainbow charity in your home country for pride month? There are so many causes that need support I know, but given how much gay fiction I read, and that I have kids and friends and family that I want to grow up in a world where people feel safe to be who they are, well, this just seems totally doable to fix (whereas climate change, international gender equality, war etc etc are so big and impossible seeming and depressing).

          Thank you Arghers. ♥️

      2. Is it sad that I guessed the meaning of rangatahi because I know the statistics?

        1. Yes. Damn. But really, I think it’s fixable! We’ve seen huge progress even just over the last decade, right?

          Imagine a world where no kid ever felt nervous about telling their parents they were gay… Surely we’re on the way.

        1. Thank you so much! ♥️♥️

          Some kids (or adults) somewhere will get counselling support, or sexual health testing, or resources, or a safe space to be, because of your donation. You star.

          And your friends and family and grandkids and everyone sees that you are someone it is safe to be out to, and that makes their world safer.

          1. The only rule of the Universal Life Church is, “Do the right thing.” It was the right thing to do, so you are very welcome, but no thanks were necessary.

  3. I am making polymer clay leaves and butterfly wings. I form them and bake them, but so far I have yet to finish them. Ah well. I am also cleaning and organizing in the hopes that a fresh space will inspire me complete the next steps to finish something? Unmotivated. I’m thinking that it is time to learn a new craft so I have something to get excited about, but I haven’t decided on what.

    1. I am SO envious of your work right now. Care to trade and fill out excel spreadsheets instead??

      1. Ha. It does sound ideal, doesn’t it? The majority of my days are spent with the public as a bank teller. They yell at me for asking to see their IDs and call me names for wearing a mask. This is what happens when you get an art degree and assume you can figure out everything else later :p

        1. Heavens, is that why my tellers are so nice to me? Just because I don’t yell at them? (It’s a very small town bank, though, and one of the tellers I see often has worked there for more than twenty years.)

          1. I can’t speak for your tellers, and of course the majority of the customers are fine and normal, but we get yelled at often enough that it is expected. So any kindness you give to someone in public service is greatly appreciated.

          1. Yep. I’m an evil liberal cupcake in a Marxist muzzle. Those are the most colorful ones. What can I say? Public service has gotten more challenging in the past few years.

          2. I still shop in a mask. Nobody has said a word to me, and I’m always grateful that those… sneeze guards?… between me and the cashier are still in place, most places.

          3. I kinda like the evil Liberal cupcake one. With pink icing and little rainbow sprinkles.

          5. Ooooh so good! Slightly scooped neck, cap sleeves – just to make it flirty – with rainbow sprinkles accenting the background.

        3. This is right off the bat? I’m so sorry. I yelled at a guy selling bug extermination on my doorstep, but he had failed to read the No Soliciting sign, and was doing the “Aw shucks, ma’am, I’m such nice guy, you really should help me out” act. After the washer debacle, I was done. Don’t ignore my sign and then look wounded when I tell you to get lost.

  4. I’ve been planning on tackling my UFO quilt list this summer. So far, I’ve got two done.
    https://www.instagram.com/p/CeihLGEumXu/

    The first is a pattern called Weeping Willow. I started it in the fall of 2020, and let it sit as a top for a while. I started quilting it on my home machine in early May, and finished up the binding this week.

    The second. I pulled out a bag and found the top – and the designated backing – ready to go. I had to go look through my photos because I had made a yellow/orange one right before making this blue one, back in 2014. I just love the colors – I don’t think the photos are doing it justice – and I decided that there should be nothing holding me back from completing it. I did most of the quilting on a longarm on Friday afternoon, then took it home and did a little specialty quilting in the black blocks. It too got bound this week. So, two UFOs scratched off the list. Only quite a few more to go!

    I’m also getting ready for a weekend with my quilting friends, where I’ll probably try to complete a couple more tops. I just need to make it through this very intense week at work!

    2. Those are both really gorgeous!! As always, I am awed by your artistry and industry. I think that I’m also somewhat jealous of your storage space because you have room to store multiple large UFOs for up to 8 years.

      1. The problem is that they don’t take up much room. The blue quilt and it’s backing were in a 2 gallon zip lock bag. Now my other UFOs are in large plastic boxes, so those do take a bit of room.

  5. In addition to my other endeavors, I own a coffee shop called Momo Lolo. This week I’m cleaning out the mess of the “Momo Lolo office” in my house (which is honestly more storage than office) so that it can fit a queen sized brass bed and become more of a spare bedroom as we are hosting many multiples of guests this summer. This of course has a domino effect – what was the game closet in the hallway now holds spare coffee mugs and spoons and water glasses, which necessitated sorting through a quarter-century worth of board games (moving keepers to the family room and donating the rest) etc. etc.

    The plan is to paint the room and get the bed in by Saturday, but that is probably overly optimistic.

    I’m also in the middle of onboarding two new assistants, finishing the content for a video course that will help instructional coaches be more trauma-responsive, leading a summer book study, and making the final preparations to turn on a system of automations for our coaching membership that has been in the works for the last 6 months.

    Also, I’m finishing up spring stuff in my yard – 4 more flower beds to mulch, but at least the annuals are all planted!

    And this weekend I’m supposed to go to Denver to take care of my foster niece and nephew for a week while my sister is out of the country. However, my husband has COVID and I’m starting to suspect that our precautions have been for naught, so we’re working on a back-up plan…

    It’s all good stuff (except the virus) but when I type it out, I think, no wonder I’m tired!

    1. Should have said, my husband is vaxxer and double boosted and doesn’t even really feel bad – just a bit of a runny nose and sore throat. Lots of credit to the scientists who made that possible!

  6. I was going to say packing but I’ve been doing that forever.
    More interesting is putting netting around the open sides of the cats new balcony. They don’t go to Scotland until there’s someplace for them to settle. Zip tying to the rail, sure, but there’s that brick half wall, perfect for sunning but currently also perfect for making ones escape over. Stick-on hooks on the frame of the sliding glass doors maybe? Wish me luck? and maybe tolerant neighbours for the fuzzies?

  7. Yesterday was errand day and with gasoline around $5.00 a gallon I started the day with a list and kept the destination close in proximity. Started with the post office where I got a lesson on where to put the addressee on the package. Move it over to the left so the huge label can cover the right. Then on to Weymouth to the big three, Michael’s, where I’m now down to cents on a gift card, Lowe’s for potted flowers to fill in the bare spots and the dollar and a quarter store for salt and pepper shakers. Remember the list? This is where I forgot what else was on the list.

    Back into town with a stop at the grocery store and on to the library for a pick up. At home went for a lie down not a nap. My thoughts were still bouncing around.

    This morning I’m watching my husband’s latest science experiment, he’s put a banana peel in a jug of water. I know it’s going to be an “oh yeh” moment.

    1. Please don’t buy warehouse store plants! They are treated with bee killer to make them repel all bugs. I hope there is a local nursery that is close to you where they don’t do this to their plants. I see fewer bees every year in my garden. It does make a difference.

  8. I have a singing lesson today.
    Otherwise, not really doing much. I should be putting stuff back into cabinets and purging and I DON’T WANNA, so I have been cross stitching and knitting huge projects instead.

    1. Me: 20 levels of two dots (phone game) crochet would be better. Not doing any instead of lots.
      mostly because tense hands:tense yarn

      “Don’t wanna” alternates with “better soon” (2 weeks max)
      The benefit (and horror)of a truly hard deadline.
      But if I finished sooner I could stop sooner 🙁
      shh little (really loud) voice, you’re making things worse

  9. Yesterday I submitted my application for renewal of my rent subsidy for my new lease in September. Perhaps I’ve suppressed the memory of how much paperwork there was in previous years, but I do not recall having to prove that I receive no alimony or child support and have the signature notarized. Since I’ve never been married and have no kids, it is hard to prove a negative. But I did get it all in on time and signed the forms in front of the receptionist, which they accepted in lieu of a notary.

    Less successful were my dealings with Medicaid. I faxed in enough receipts to cover 6 months of Medicaid in February, but the fax did not go through. I discovered this in April and re submitted my documents when I renewed my Food stamps. Unfortunately, I thought that that would enter them for Medicaid as well, so I ignored any form letters regarding my spend down being unmet because I assumed that the State was just behind on processing the large amount I submitted in April. So now I’ve discovered that not only have they not processed my spend down, but my entire case file has been deleted. Today I will go to the office and see what I have to do to fix things.

    This is the latest I have ever started The Great Sweater Wash, but I finally did the first batch last night. That means my living room floor is an obstacle course of wet wool and towels and walking is more challenging than usual, but at least the first batch is drying. Only 2 more to go.

    1. Argh. Assuming the state is behind is so reasonable: in my father’s later years his doctor once told us the state was TWO YEARS behind on Medicare payments.

    2. Edited to read: There was no line at the public aid office and a very nice lady double checked my account to insure that it had not been deleted. She then took the copies that had not been added in April and even made copies of stuff that I accumulated since then so I didn’t have to come back on Friday. She took my phone number so that someone could call me and talk me through enabling me to view my account online. I was absolutely over the moon until I remembered that the last time someone from the State called to unlock my account, it didn’t work. Oh, well. Even if I can’t access my account online, I’m still very grateful for what was accomplished today. I just wish the State and the feds could work together on a single application process so that I wouldn’t have as many opportunities to prove Murphy’s Law. Having only one opportunity to misfile things sounds like heaven to me.

    3. What a frustrating debacle! How do you cope with all that? I hope it gets sorted out quickly.

  12. New day job. This account is really, really different from my old one and there isn’t a lot of instruction about what is allowed and things like how headings are placed and whatnot. It’s supposed to be a verbatim account but they sure seem to want me to put headings in where they aren’t dictated.

    I’ll figure it out, but it’s annoying right now.

  13. I started baking for the county extension’s herb and flower festival herbal bake sale. Usually I have a lot done by this time (the festival is a week from this Saturday) but I have lacked motivation. The first think I made is a batch of gluten free brownies with lavender. I wanted to make lemon thyme cookie bars and muffins but my lemon thyme did not do well this winter and all the garden centers around are sold out of it so I have to come up with a plan B. I do have lemon balm, more lavender, spearmint, mojito mint, and peppermint to use so I should be okay. Even my roses did not do well enough to flower yet so I can’t make rose petal shortcake cookies.

  14. Finally began the summer weeding yesterday. It will continue, like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. My tomatoes are doing well. The peppers are slow. The herbs are great.
    I don’t grow much. Just a few things because it’s summer. Having the fresh herbs is the best.

    1. I love your description of weeding! I could pull out Creeping Charlie from now to doomsday, and there would still be some hiding in the grass, somewhere.

  15. It feels like all the work I do these days just leads to more work. Some of it I don’t mind so much — piecing quiltlets that go into the pile of things that need basting/quilting/binding in cooler weather is fine — but today I found out that all my hard work of NOT eating so much cheese (dairy in general, other than a single serving of yogurt daily, to reduce saturated fat in the wake of my coronary artery disease diagnosis, and I do love dairy) has led to a serious calcium deficiency for the first time in my life, so now I need to take calcium supplements twice a day with meals, which means adding them to my daily routine. Or, yanno, I could go back to eating cheese and ice cream and pudding, and then my bones would be happy, but I’d need more open heart surgery, so probably not a good plan.

    1. Are you okay for aerobic exercise? Because I found that when I lost weight, my cholesterol came down as well.

  16. Tried to do only what I wanted yesterday for my birthday. Managed tacos and a nap.
    Prepping for a trip to NYC. Taking the bus down with a friend, hanging out for an afternoon, then going to Hamilton! Then taking the bus back up on Friday.
    Yard work, finishing the big containers.
    Working my 1/2 time job, and emptying the Robot vacuum mid-session. I still love it.
    Also, ouch, bought a tank of gas.

    1. If you thought it was that big a pain, you wouldn’t do it, let alone bitch about it to this highly prejudiced audience.

    4. He wanted to call it The Burning Zombies on the Dark and Bloody River, but we compromised on Lavender’s Blue.

  18. I spent most of this morning preparing a “Contrast and Compare” post for my blog. Some ages back, I said that was a project I wanted to accomplish, and now it’s done. I’ve used four makes and five models of hydroponic gardening units: Click & Grow Smart Garden-3, 2022 QYO 12-pod units, iDOO 12-pod units, iDOO 6-pod bisexual units (you can fill them with water OR dirt), and AeroGarden Harvest basic units, which FedUp finally gave me an estimated delivery date of before midnight tomorrow for the newest one.

    So that’s done. Spoiler: If you want to get into wet work (hydroponic gardening), figure out how tall your garden is going to get, first thing. Then check out AeroGarden’s web site and decide if you really want to invest the children’s inheritance. You will never spend less on home grown veggies than at the produce section of the market. I’m in it because it gives me joy. (Where have I heard that before?)

    1. When my dad retired, he made us go golfing with him. Fortunately not for long he didn’t enjoy it much either. Stick to hydroponics at least you can eat the results.

  19. Gardening, sewing, more gardening and laundry. H on his first overnight/s motorcycle trip/s. And reading and not cooking.

  20. My husband surprised me with an assemble it yourself raised bed which he then spent a day and a half assembling with some help from me. If you assemble it according to the directions, it takes several hours. If you assemble it so it is perfectly level and you add several improvements (plastic lining, a barrier of loose stones to discourage tree roots, siting it precisely 60 inches from the fence on both ends, leveling it once again to make sure it isn’t higher at one end – have I mentioned that I am married to an engineer). Today, I spent creating my own planting mix with a combination of composted chicken manure, potting soil, peat moss, fertilizer and perlite, all of which went into the planting bed after I put a 4 inch layer of composted leaves, covered with a layer of cardboard (we are compulsive, I admit) Tomorrow I will plant pole beans, leeks and chiogga beets. Later we will erect the support system for the beans. I have already put two large pots of tomatoes growing near-by. I can only do this because the sewer project from hell wiped out a largish portion of my flower garden in the one area of my back yard that still gets about 10 hours of sunlight. I thought I had given up on having a vegetable garden but maybe this will be enough that I can get a reasonable crop of Fortex and Emerite green beans, which I like better than Blue Lake but you have to grow your own because commercial growers like Blue Lake. If this doesn’t work, next year I will grow alpine strawberries because while small they don’t need much sunlight.

    1. “Have I mentioned I’m married to an engineer?” I’m still laughing.

  21. You are all so hard-working that I feel lazy. I’ve run a couple of Zoom meetings and prepping for another on Saturday, which is also my brother’s birthday. Arranging for celebration and cake. I guess I’m giving him three packs of a special variety of Fancy Feast cat food! (Definitely reminds me of an old romance where the hero noticed a supply of cat food in the pantry and accused the heroine of feeding it to him in her casseroles . . . later she learns that he’s really very wealthy, which leads to more misunderstandings, naturally . . . at which point I thought that she should have renegotiated the housekeeping and bought Ultimate Gourmet Cat Meals, of the lobster-in-shrimp-aspic variety, and just smiled when he commented.)

  22. I got my annuals in this weekend, except for the nasturtiums I will plant when the tulip and daffodil greenery dies. That included getting most of the turf out of the garden . My plan to pull the rest out in bits every time it rains.
    Unfortunately it’s becoming clear that I have a couple of spots where my annuals are not doing well so this weekend I will pick up different ones to try in those places. This is really an experiment year to see what works well in the newer garden areas which are very sunny and dry out and to try some new ideas in areas which used to do beautifully with dianthus and Angelonia and nasturtiums but no longer do, probably because those areas became too shady.

  23. Still working on my covid recovery which currently means that I’m taking lots of naps and sitting around reading all the books. My house and garden are slowly decaying around me, but I’m trying not to look.

  24. One week through Day Job Hell Month and the best that can be said is that the things that had to get filed have been filed.

    In real life, I finished the novel-in-progress and am now ready to look around for a beta reader. It’s contemporary FFM in alternating 1st-person POV, in which the focus is not how do three people have sex, it’s how one married couple and a new partner manage to integrate the relationship change with their personal and professional lives. 1st POV is one of the married women, 2nd is their boyfriend.

    Out in the yard, one of the feral cats accidentally knocked over the birdbath arrangement, resulting in breakage and a kludged-together temporary solution shortly to be amended by a new acquisition.

    1. ooh, I’d like to read that. I’m in a couple with as integrated third person, i’d love to see a fictional take on the concept. Not much experience giving feedback but I could let you know where I trip on a concept or phrasing? Certainly I know enough not to try to rewrite anything. And I read very fast. If interested, email is selena(postingName)@gmail.com

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