57 Responses

1. My good intention was to do the physical therapy exercises for my dislocated shoulder every single day. I did them once. It hurts and all I want to do is sleep.

   1. Your icon seems to match your comment very well. I hope your shoulder improves.

      1. Thank you very much
         The icon is assigned by the app. I don’t know how to change it like all the cool people on here.

         1. You set up a gravatar, using whatever image you fancy. It then follows you round the internet, popping up whenever you comment in sonething. (Just Google ‘gravatar’.)

   2. I bought a big gel pack that I keep in my freezer at all times. When I finish my exercises, I put it in a pillowcase and drape it over the offended area while I lie on the couch. If I fall asleep, great! My body needs all the fuel it can get for recovery. And after a nap, I put the pack back in the freezer to get ready for the next time I need it.
      Current research is divided over whether the icing actually helps with inflammation, but my PT says that anything that dulls the pain enough to keep me from giving up on my exercises is a good thing. And maybe dividing your exercise list in half and doing 1/2 at a time will make it easier for you to keep doing it every day. As long as you eventually get to the whole list, it doesn’t matter how many tries it takes .

2. I am so frustrated with microsoft and all the ai that is being forced onto me that I am experimenting with switching to linux and being done with the commercial computer ecosystems. I am not a tech wizard, but I am determined and I do read the manuals, and I think it might work, but until it does, I am feeling very tentative and wobbly. So I get to test my usual processes with the laser cutter and the other tools in my studio and see if I can make them all work! Go me!

   And Ellen I hear you on PT exercises, they are so hard to accomplish without someone watching! I’ll do mine if you’ll do yours?

   1. My husband is my tech guy so I don’t have to understand anything, but our household runs on Linux and I really like it. Good luck!

   2. Sold!
      And I hear you about Microsoft. Apparently they didn’t learn anything when Clippy crashed and burned. We’re trying to get work done! Interruptions are NOT helpful!

3. Last week I organized the non-USA/Canada trip stuff: maps, guides, brochures, receipts, postcards, you name it. I had had them filling a 6 foot tall bookcase; I’d packed them away at Christmas and hadn’t had time to put them back. I filled several bags for paper recycling. However, following the Pratchettesque rules of space, the remaining stuff filled the bookcase so completely that I now have to find space for my backup hard drives & dead computers. (Hoarder.)

   1. In our area you can find organizations that repair and donate old computers. Just set them back to factory first to get personal info off.

   2. Good luck, and I sympathize, Elizabeth. I’m trying to fit all the stuff I moved into more square feet, minus the basement, which was too convenient for stashing things. Thank goodness the trash collection here consists of two small communal dumpsters across the street, instead of one small personal bin! I will be making many trips. And my DIL has volunteered to take away what can be donated.

4. I am so glad you got the kitchen and bathroom set up.

   My intentions were to help Protective Services (found more useful emails and talked to the court appointed evaluator), get some annuals in the ground (got two shopping trips worth in the ground and, addict that I am, just picked up four more market packs), clean off the desk ( nearly done! And not missing any important deadlines), get those two big day jobs done (ulp) and keep my patience with the house guest (so far so good). So this week is day job tasks, patience with the house guest, patience with the protective services process, three days of PT and walk daily.
   Extras are finding a better way to store all the office supplies and move old files to basement so I can reduce my number of rolling filing carts. And draft three work contracts so I can get paid for all that work time.
   New theory—if I procrastinate on intentions I may at least do so by doing the extras.

   1. Is there a way to split up the “Big day jobs” into smaller, less imposing tasks to be done 1 per day?

      1. Yes and I need to do that. It’s just mechanical stuff —proof reading and data checking and I want to do the fun policy stuff. But I am determined to get it done!

5. I continue to *not* live up to my intention of moving more. I am still doing yoga to maintain my flexibility & balance, and I’ve added some upper body strength poses, but as for walking? Pssh. It’s hot. This week I intend to try something different, and use the treadmill after dinner, when I am neither hungry nor itching to get to the computer.

   I *am* living up to intentions about writing. I’m writing A LOT. Recently posted a ten-step program for improving election integrity, am up to date with posting the reading roundups, and have now completed five of seven planned novelettes in my Sierra Foothills series. Sixth story is well underway, could conceivably finish by the end of next Sunday.

   The GeoIV story continues to percolate and I’ve been picking away at it in between novelettes. Status: 20 chapters complete, which is about halfway through the imagined story, so this is looking like a long novella or short novel.

   Having spent freely on summer entertainment (instead of vacation; 6 shows at local playhouse, 6 concerts through local music series) in the past two months, I intend to spend as little as possible this week and next.

   1. A win is a win for the yoga and upper body work!

6. My good intentions this week are to move more, enjoy the outdoors more, sell some stuff, support my husband in his job search, connect with my family and savour my reading choices. That’d be a great week.

7. I have to send my manuscript to the editor on Sunday, so my only real intention is to work through as many of the edits on my list as possible! It’s in good enough shape that I could send it to her today if I had to, though, so I don’t feel too much pressure.

   We also have a camping night booked this coming Friday to try out our new trailer, so there are a few things to prep for that. Mostly, we need to trim the new mattress down to size when it gets here. We took it for a spin around town yesterday to get a feel for towing it, and that went well. Oh, but actually the electrical needs some attention, so I need to find someone to look at that this week…

   My most pressing recent intention was getting our ballots filled out for the primaries, and we did that last night. Just have to drop them off today. Weird election here in California—lots of voting for the least worst candidate. We felt it was not our best work as citizens, although we did spend quite a bit of time discussing the various candidates and measures.

   I also needed to clean and disinfect my gardening tools, as per the soil expert’s instructions, and I did that. Disinfecting my tools has always been quite low on my to-do list, but finding out I have oak fungus in one (hopefully only one!) of the garden beds bumped it right up to the top! Her helpful tip was to use Lysol rather than bleach, as bleach will eventually eat your tools. Spoken like a woman who disinfects her stuff regularly…

   1. Currently my marked ballot rather my marked test ballot is in my purse along with the real one because I prefer to vote in person.
      But it was an insanely long list of candidates. And judges some I used ChatGPT and the following way. I said I am a liberal Democrat and I would like to tell me three candidates with my views who have the most chance of winning in the primary. And then I did that with the others. I pay for ChatGPT and it’s pretty good at that.

8. I did better this weekend than previously, making tiny inroads into the chaos both inside and outside of my house. Mostly I am trying to keep my head down and keep moving so I don’t get overwhelmed by the muchness. Because it is very overwhelming. But I didn’t spend Sunday morning staring at the ceiling in lethargy, so progress.

   I read somewhere about a study on depression where they had four groups, one control, one on meds, one group did talk therapy and one did some sort of manual labor. They referenced Churchill. Apparently he went to his home in the country and layed bricks to combat his chronic depression. Anyway, they claimed that the group that did things with their hands improved at a similar rate to those who took drugs, and more than the group that did therapy. So that is my plan. Just keep doing Something. Push through the voice in my head that says I am too tired, because resting wasn’t helping. It’s not that kind of tired. So small bites, don’t look at the big picture. Keep going.

   1. It may also help to be in nature. I’m not sure if that was factored into the manual labor group. I do hope the depression breaks.

   2. That seems like a good plan. Getting stuff done is very cheering, and physical effort helps so much I don’t know why it’s so hard to start

   3. I can so relate to this situation. I wake up from dreaming about a multitude of things I want or need to accomplish. Some are big but not all of them need excessive strength and endurance. But somehow the of day still surprises me sitting on the couch. How does this happen all the time? But this past weekend I started on one small task – which naturally led to a side task (or two) and I actually got one of those done! Woohoo! Just keep moving is my mantra as well. Cheers and magical movement ability to us both!

9. I was going on a quilting retreat. Did that. I created and added borders. Here are the results: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZC98bAEbmC/?igsh=MXF6a2VhYnJsbHdwNQ==

   I also went to Wisconsin for my uncle’s funeral and made progress with my folks on next steps for their care.

   Otherwise, I’ve been doing some gardening while enjoying the beautiful weather, catching up on work email, and reading.

   This week, get over the cold that I’ve caught. Switch over to fiber for our internet. Watch everything that I want to see that’s on HBO Max as that will end when we get rid of cable for internet/tv.

   1. I love that cat quilt, Kelly!

      1. Thanks!

10. Two weeks ago I got the rest of the bushes pruned, and posted before and after pictures. You would have been amazed – I certainly was! I’ve also finished off my crochet wrap – the Geometric Journey.

    This past week I’ve been working on putting quilting on the quilt I entered in an upcoming show. So, the deadline is approaching! I’ve got some progress pictures here:
    https://www.instagram.com/p/DZC_bJWll5Z/?img_index=1
    The hibiscus flowers were this past weekend, while the little macaws (in the black triangles inside the round black/white border) were last weekend’s endeavor. I’m free-handing this, so some look better than others, but from a distance things are looking pretty good. I still need to add some green leaves in the form of a border treatment around the outside – and figure out what to do with the black and white circle!

    Also in that bunch of pictures is the latest bit of the mystery quilt. We’re on step 29 out of 36, so we’re getting closer to a reveal!

    Finally I have a picture of kitty feet. Teddy was stretched out inside a fabric tub, on his back, with his feet stretched out. I couldn’t resist taking a photo!

    So my intentions for this week – think about and potentially quilt the leafy border. I also want to weave in the ends of the red crochet shawl, so it will be done. I want to block the geometric journey shawl at some point this week. And I need to figure out something to do with my hands besides play games on the phone in the evening. I have committed to doing some form of movement / exercise every day, so that’s another good intention.

    1. My before / after the great pruning
       https://www.instagram.com/p/DYfUA48FDEN/?img_index=1

       along with the bird nest I found, and some bits of quilting.

    2. Oooh, Nancy! Gorgeous.

    3. The whole quilt is impressive but I know how difficult freehand quilting can be and you’re doing a fabulous job at it! I suspect the quilt will win at the show.

11. The Geometric Journey wrap, and some bits of the mystery quilt.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/DYMffqplnRu/?img_index=1

12. I found intentions from several weeks ago and they were to work on my WIP story, clean off the dining room table, and to finish my Pisa cross stitch. I did to some work on the WIP, cleaned off the dining room table and we took the leaf out of it so there’s a lot more room in there and less table room to pile junk, and I finished the cross stitch and but haven’t framed it yet.

    Work came to a halt last week because I caught a nasty cold and mostly spent the week on the couch hacking up a lung.

    Feeling marginally better this week and hope to get first chapters of 2 future stories written in case my agent asks for them.

13. A novella?! YAY! I don’t remember you mentioning that. Which series is it in? When is it coming out?

    My good intentions mostly had to do with surviving the family vacation (check, mostly), getting the garden in (mostly done, although the more delicate plants had to wait until it warmed up, which it has finally done), and writing, which I did make reasonably progress on.

    Mind you, I’m damned tired.

    I have a friend visiting for a few days, so my only real intention until Wednesday afternoon is to enjoy her company, but then I’m back to the writing and garden, plus exercising more. On the 9th I start a new yoga class, and we’ll see how that goes. “Bones and Balance,” to deal with my new osteoporosis diagnosis.

14. My good intention is to sort some more stuff in the house, prep for my sister’s arrival at 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday (!) and do some garden tidying. Also to prep for my birthday/bonfire party on Sunday. Also a dump run. And try to do a few small sketches, to get my brain going the way I want it to.

    1. Good grief, Betty. 3am, really?

    2. Your birthday plans sound like so much fun!!

15. My intentions are to put together the things I blithely ordered from Amazon, thinking I could do that when half seeing. My son has done his part, but he only has so much time away from work and his family. One is a turquoise glider chair that will just fit in my outer entryway, and will be a great place to sit while I’m waiting for my DIL to come and take me places. She is very good to do that, but runs perpetually late. Also my new coffee table, which looks like a tree trunk with a table on top, needs to be put together.

    The baseboards are all in, now, in the new flooring area, and I have hung most of the clothing that was waiting for the walk-in closet to be ready. I have a huge box full of winter clothing to donate, when the time is more appropriate. My son is such a help! I am so lucky to have two handy sons.

    Good work, Jenny!! You are getting things done!

16. My mom is leaving to go to Italy tomorrow and I can’t wait. The stress and drama is so much here.

    My intentions are to (a) drag through creating press releases, (b) theater meetings (groan), (c) try to figure out how to make an anatomically correct crocheted brain (I LOATHE the available patterns online, can’t follow ’em) and (d) finish this wig I’m trying to make.

    Medical problem wise: my lungs, liver, and eyes are not having issues. Brain surgery is scheduled for the end of July.

    1. Brain surgery sounds serious. Wishing you all the best.

    2. May the surgery be successful and your recovery be full and quick! May it also help with other areas, since it sounds like it is only your liver, lungs, and eyes that are not having issues.

    3. So glad things are moving forward. Please keep in touch. We worry.

    4. Welcome back, Jennifer. I wish you the best on your surgery. sending healing energy your way.

    5. I join with everyone here in sending you good energy, prayers, love, encouragement and support from now until you are completely recovered.
       This offer is infinitely renewable.

    6. I am so glad to hear from you! If you look back you will see many of us were thinking of you. As awful as brain surgery is I am glad they don’t seem to think it’s urgent and that the other parts are fine.

    7. So glad to see an update from you, Jennifer. All best wishes for successful surgery, and I hope the intervening time is restful.

    8. Sending virtual pocket hugs and good wishes for your upcoming surgery. I hope it goes smoothly and you recover quickly!

17. The main thing I wanted to do last week was get the garden planted, which I did. This week, weather permitting, I want to blitz the allotment – mulch & net the strawberries, finish weeding the beds, do the (very late) direct sowing, sow successions in modules, and make a start on redoing the paths. All while pacing myself so as not to do my back in.

18. This past week I recruited mercenary minions (aka Grandkinder) to do some chores that are not impossible for me but difficult because of the bending, kneeling, and crawling.

    That allowed me to assemble light fixtures. Really, picture four wide L-brackets, four short “nipples” honest, that’s what they’re called), four lamp sockets that screw onto the nipples and get mounted to the brackets, and four electric cords that need to be wired to the lamp sockets. Anyone who has ever bought a lamp kit has seen all of these parts.

    I installed two sockets above gardening units. Then I screwed in one of those LED light circles with a fan innum. The lights can be useful, but the fans are a great help with pollination.

19. I think all of my intentions for May boiled down to “get through the work on the house without going insane,” and that is finally done (except for them picking up a pallet of supplies, mostly leftover siding pieces, but I’ve decided I’m just not going to waste time worrying about that).

    So with June, I get to have more positive intentions, rather than the negative one of “don’t have a total breakdown from the noise and chaos.” The big one for this month is just to spend some time outdoors every day (weather permitting), working in my veg garden or other light yard work like weedwhacking and pruning.

    Plus, the Romancing the Vote https://www.romancingthevote.com/ auction is the first week of July, and I need to photograph all the quiltlets (cat/doll sized quilts) and baby/lap quilts I intend to donate, and measure them and write their descriptions. I need to do that soon, since the submission form will be going live sometime this week.

20. I’ve gotten to the point with the yard/gardening work that it’s mostly maintenance. Still a bunch of deadwood to clear in the one section; but, I can do that at my leisure.

    The PA primary work will be finished tomorrow. And, since many of my groups don’t meet during June and July, my schedule should clear up a bit.

    As far as exercise/walking, Pixie won’t let me slack off on that.

21. I am so thrilled Jennie that you have a short Novella coming out. And that you got your dinette table sounds great. I’m truly sorry about the wonky computer. I hate those suckers when I started reworking the witches garden. My computer hid from me all of the work I’ve previously done on it and then then did not give it to me in the order I did it so I’m bit by a bit putting together a new opening. I have an intention to lose some of the weight I gained in the past five months. And I made a little progress on that.. I saw a brilliant Production of a time to kill which was apparently originally a novel by John Gresham and then became a movie neither of which I’ve seen, but this production was fabulous. It was so good. I subscribed to the next Productions. I wish you all healing and joy and the sense of getting something done.

22. I’ve been in the process of having a built-in sideboard installed in the dining room. Honestly, I don’t One how anyone Airbus an actual remodel of any size or duration.

    My good intention is to try to just go along with what’s happening and realize that the end result will not be 100% how I had envisioned, but probably 98%, which will be fantastic. I am so eager to have it done and all the stuff that’s heaped about stored in it.

23. I despise you, auto-incorrect. *I don’t know how anyone survives a remodel*

    1. Thanks for fixing that, Diane. That was truly incomprehensible. Wow!

       1. It truly was. 😂

24. Oh another fun thing happened May 29 was 50th anniversary of my garden wedding. I put a post online and realized I would love to see the magazine that my cousin used for inspiration for my gown and my cake. And I found somebody who knew both of them.
    https://pin.it/4FL8nCAfc

25. The night temps have stabilized so peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, basil, etc. are all going in the ground today and tomorrow. Just in time for day time heat – drip irrigation will help keep them cool.

    I’m slow to switch out winter for summer clothes, as the weather has been up and down. I’m volunteering at a committee clothing swap this weekend so excellent opportunity to go through my summer clothes and see what I din’t wear anymore. I have almost as many warm weather clothes as I do winter stuff and summer is short in Eastern Ontario. Not my favourite task but necessary.