47 Responses

1. I am so glad you are making progress. I like to imagine you sitting at your dinette and enjoying an organized kitchen and an unobstructed floor.

   I made no progress on the big day jobs, largely because of a big new work project. But they have to get done this week. I did manage to keep my patience with the guest and the protective services process, and I did do one day of PT instead of three and three days of walks instead of seven (but thunderstorms were a problem for two days).

   So this week is day job tasks, patience with the house guest, patience with the protective services process, two days of PT and walk four. Also finishing figuring out how I want to vote.

2. I turned a corner and checked a lot of things off my to-do list. Sprayed killer on the bittersweet and poison ivy that have taken over my wildflower meadow. Brought daughter and her new cat up to our place for a several week visit. Arranged airbnb, plane tickets, hotel, and car rental for a family meet up in Southern Spain in September. Fought with insurance company to get med covered and delivered. Kept weight at a new low for 3 days straight. Do not expect this week to be so productive. My to-do list remains long and is growing.

   1. Very impressive!

3. I need to remember that progress is the key, not how quickly things are finished (as long as they’re not completely abandoned). A lot of the things I do are long-term projects, like novels and bed-sized quilts, so it can feel like I’m not doing anything since “finished” is so far down the road. I keep track of writing progress on a calendar, which reminds me that even when it FEELS like I’m not getting anywhere, I am much further along than I was a month ago or even a week ago.

   I’ve got a plan for a novella series, but I won’t be working on that for months yet. So this is going to be one of those weeks (months) where I’m far from the finish line and need to focus on progress., not completion. I’m working on a bed-sized (king) quilt with a self-imposed deadline of Christmas, and I’ve got most of the pieces cut for the blocks, and I’m starting on making four billion pieced squares (two triangles, dark and light, to form a square), which goes quickly until it’s time to trim them to exact size, so it’s really going to feel like I’m not getting closer to finished.

   Plus, I’m starting the second draft of a longer-than-usual-for-me cozy fantasy today, which is probably at least a two-month-long project (and then there will still be a third substantive draft and a proofreading pass).

   So, my intentions for the week and entire month really, is baby steps: focus on getting a little done every day, not on how much work is still left.

   1. Could the half square triangles be “leaders/enders” while you work on a different part of the pattern/block so they are so tedious? Or are you making them in the larger square sewn and cut in half and quarters?

      1. Even bigger than that — eight at a time! Sewing them is quick, but then comes the dreaded trimming, which is both boring and hard on my arthritic hands.

         I need 61 blocks (two are finished as proof-of-concept), and each block requires 8 pieced squares. I can’t multiply that in my head, I don’t want to know the math on the trimming (4 sides of each pieced square)!

4. All my progress involves harvesting cherry tomatoes. I need to plant more peppers.

5. I got most of my veg garden planted – key to do item for last week.

   I had a tooth extracted this morning. Eventually I’ll get an implant but it takes about a year. I have significant childhood dental trauma so it always takes my body a few days to recover. So I’ll be taking it easy most of the week. I need to read the book for my Bookclub, which is meeting this week. Plus, I have the second Dungeon Crawler Carl on my tablet.

6. I didn’t have much of a choice in making intensions this morning as I was on the phone with the plumber at 7:30 and he gave me the number of a drain company. He was down within the hour and fixed the problem and I didn’t have to use the porta potty. But then it was clean up duty with all the traipsing back and forth. Gonna have to remember where all the shut off valves are. Brings to mind Gary’s home moanership.

   1. I hung large tags off my shut-off valves in the basement. Very helpful.

      1. When I read this, I pictured Danger Tags, red-lined tags with “DANGER – DO NOT OPERATE” written on them. But then I realized you might mean NAME TAGS, like “Main Water Inlet Valve” or “Water Heater Inlet Valve” or maybe “Refrigerator Ice Maker Isolation Valve.”

7. Well, last week I rested and fought a cold. I’m still congested but doing better. I also watched the first two Fantastic Beasts movies. One more to go. Fiber was supposed to be installed on Saturday, but was postponed until Wednesday this week. Also postponed, due to the cold was a sewing day on Saturday. I didn’t want to infect my friends. Although, I did infect my husband. He’s recovering too. I did fix the center of my paper pieced quilt so it lies flatter now.

   This week I hope to finish marking a king sized quilt top and start quilting it. If any of the other quilters have a good way to do the same quilting pattern in gigantic setting triangles, I’d love ideas. I’m currently using a light box and blue pen to draw the pattern. I got the 4 corners done but have 8 setting triangles to do. I’m using golden paper but the pounce pad doesn’t seem to go through my stitched holes. I probably just need to be patient and draw the design 8 times.

   I’m wanting to increase my daily step count to 7,000. (Really 10,000 but I’m starting with 7,000 and hope to progress over time.) Strength training too … beyond PT. And I should start doing yoga again.

   I want to go outside and work, but the squirrels are too amusing to disturb. I’m thinking they’re hot. I see two walking about on my patio and one periodically lays down all sprawled out like a pancake.

   1. I don’t have the patience for fancy quilting, so I just do background meander quilting everywhere. The few times I did mark fancier stuff (before I had to stop hand quilting), I used a pounce, but you’ve already tried that, so I’ve got nothing useful to add. Although, when I used a pounce, I used it with a plastic stencil, with slits rather than perforations, and it worked well. Not sure whether it would be less monotonous to make a stencil versus drawing it out 8 times.

   2. I don’t have any options for you either. I’ve never used a pounce. I’ve been drawing with my chalk pencil – but it becomes basically an idea rather than something to trace. I like the idea of having things exactly the same, so I think you should continue with your light box.

   3. Kelly, that’s called “Splooting.” There are some other animals that do it, too. It helps them cool off, I guess.

   4. Squirrels around here do that in the extreme heat too.

8. I’m trying to remember what I said I’d do this past week. I probably didn’t do it, as I spent five days on a special diet, which meant my focus was on what I wasn’t eating!

   I did work a bit more on the quilting for my quilt. I liked one part and disliked something else I did, so the disliked portion got ripped out. I put the quilt aside so I can show it to my quilty buddies tomorrow night to get other ideas.

   I finished up the red crochet shawl. I had spent a week untangling a large chunk of yarn. I probably could have just cut it out and saved myself a lot of grief, but as DH said, it was the principal of the thing. I need to block it – so that’s on my to-do list for the coming week, along with blocking the geometric shawl.

   Since I put the quilting in time out, I pulled out another project and cut out the pieces of the quilt. I hope to make some progress on that this week.

   I still need to clear up some clutter! I need to get past the “I’m tired after work” mindset, and actually do something productive then. I know that working for 10 or 15 minutes each evening would really help.

9. Worked on weeding the allotment, mulching & netting both strawberry beds, & planting the squash. On rainy days I dealt with a deluge of spam and replaced my landline phone plus a dying remote control.

   This week I want to blitz the weeds on the allotment, sow successions of veg, make some cards, & retire the hacked email address. Oh, and walk for an hour every day I’m not gardening.

10. I had a really phenomenal session with my therapist today, probably one of the most productive yet. I told Paul I felt a thousand pounds lighter and emotionally beaten up it was that good.

    The accident has brought up a lot of issues, dots I’ve never connected before, and we are clearing them out. I am having fewer actual PTSD symptoms so that’s progress.

    I’m still cranky and whiny and resentful that my legs aren’t healing faster but that’s just me expecting to heal like a 20-year-old who stubbed her toe. I’m leaps and bounds ahead of where I was 6 weeks ago and I have to remember that.

11. I went to bed with massive gerd last night, slept badly, and woke up with a headache and the gerd.

    My intention this week is to make a doctor’s appointment for the reflux and other issues. Falling apart over here!

12. I am gradually clearing the boxes out, and the living room is starting to look like a normal house. I saw the Cardiologist today, which was the last new doctor I needed to see, except for the dentist, which will be in July. I want to begin unpacking the books, soon, and I brought all the folding bookshelves inside from the garage, all 6 of them. I have two that don’t fold, and they are ready to be filled. The garage remains a wilderness of boxes, bins, and junk, in piles that are hard to reach. It’s too hot to work out in that very long. The master bedroom has an Aztec-themed hanging covering the wall-sized mirrors, and I have two turquoise sets of lined drapes over the sliding glass doors, which block light, heat, and also traffic noises. I unpacked all the paintings and placed them on the floor near where they might hang. It feels like the end is actually possible!

13. My big project is to get to bed earlier. I get up around the same time every day, regardless of when I turn out the light. So, it’s time for some discipline. Time to stop going down the internet rabbit holes. But they’re just so much fun.

14. Now that the visiting family peeps are gone & I had my drama at the drs office which ended in me successfully getting the prescription I needed – I need to get back to some kind of normal routine. Oh & after all the above happened I have also spent some days with a sinus situation that isn’t an infection & also isn’t pleasant.
    So – my good intentions for this week are – settle in to my BLE routine & turn my chaotic house into a peaceful dwelling again. oh and finish the outside stuff.
    I wrote this before reading comments because I get distracted if I read them first. Going back through the comments now.

15. I’m moving. My car is in the shop for a new alternator. My house, the shop, and the kiddo’s summer camp are all 50 minutes apart. Siiiiiiiiigh. Hughes to everyone. I won’t be back to check the blog until later, but I hope everyone else is having a smoother week. And while I hang onto this Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride of life, I will be grateful for the blessings at every turn. Just oof!

16. And that was *hugs* to everyone.

    1. Darn. I was hoping for a Hugh. Maybe Grant?

       1. Or a Jackman. I’m not fussy.

          1. Oh, Jackman would definitely be better.

       2. Or Laurie!

          1. Definitely Laurie!

       3. 🤣🤣🤣

17. My good intention for this week is to get the house cleaned up. Kids need to learn how to move items when they vacuum, etc.

18. I had a house guest for three days last week, and my biggest goal was for us both to have a relaxed and enjoyable time, which we did. And on her last day here, she helped me in the garden (she had to give hers up when she moved, and wanted some dirt therapy), so the tomatoes and eggplants got put in the ground. Now I just have to water them way more than usual, because it is unusually hot and dry here.
    I made decent progress on the magical cozy, even hitting a few 1,000+ word days (which was my old normal, but not the current one). Hit the 60K mark, which was my goal for the week, and need to get to at least 75K. Yesterday was crazy busy and I didn’t get any writing done, but my intention for this week is to write every remaining day, and try and reach at least 67K by Sunday. We’ll see.
    I also went to the first of my new yoga classes, which are once a week, so I guess I can check that one off too. My intention for this week beyond that is to try and find a yoga video (I own some) or online routine that I can do more often than that. I’m specifically looking for ones that will help me rebuild some of my bone loss.
    Now I’m going outside to see if I can figure out how to replace my own cabin air filter, which is tucked behind the glove compartment. A friend did hers, and I watched a video–it should be simple (ha!). Mice have been peeing in there as usual over the winter, and turning on the AC now that it is hot is…unpleasant. Wish me luck.

    1. Yuck. My sympathies. Can you drive the car once a week or so in the winter to help keep the mice down? They also tend to eat wiring with problematic results.

       1. Oh, the car gets driven all winter. But it lives in the barn/garage, which is mice central. I’ve tried putting peppermint essential oil in it, which is supposed to keep them away, but no.

    2. Would like to report that I changed out the air filter (after finding the instructions online, having previously ordered the new filter) and it took about 5 minutes. So easy. I can’t believe I used to pay the mechanic to do it for me.

       1. I had a marten chew up stuff in my car once and people told me to place wire mesh under the car to keep them away. I don’t know, though, if that also works with mice.

19. I don’t remember if I had intentions last week because I was still feeling blah from the head cold. I’m feeling better this week although the cough is lingering. I had mammogram and bone density last week with normal results for both.

    I did get some writing done but not much. I’m hoping for more progress this week. I am making progress on my current counted cross stitch project since that’s done while sitting on the couch. Also hoping to get back to the big decluttering project this week.

    1. Yay for normal results. I’m still reeling from the results of my bone density scan.

20. I did get my manuscript sent off, which was probably my main goal. I’ve also been working my way through my gardening to-do list, and I did a couple Photoshop projects I’ve been meaning to get to yesterday while listening to an audiobook. That was my reward for getting the manuscript off to the editor. She said she’ll probably get it back to me early next week, which is sooner than I’d expected… so not as much “vacation” for me!

21. Off topic.
    I was just listening to a Catherine Aird book, His Burial Too, and I came across the quote you mentioned.

    “If, Crosby” said Sloan, letting out a long sigh, “you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning, that’s all.”

    1. That’s where I got it from. I think I thanked Catherine Aird at the beginning of Faking It, but I can’t remember now.

       1. Yep. You said
          “CATHERINE AIRD, who supposedly said the quote I gave to Gwen, but since I can’t find documentation of it, I can’t attribute it to her. And anyway, I like her books.”

22. I did move more over the past week!
    An actual walk outside on one of my days off.
    A stroll with DH & sibling & her wife at the downtown art walk.
    A stroll with Mom at the garden center.
    A three-hour stroll with DH through a massive antique mall.
    Plus the usual yoga, stairs, etc.
    No guarantees I will get equivalent activity this week.

    Writing didn’t happen over the weekend for Being Out and Dealing With Parents reasons. Just as well, because I’ve been waiting for a good inflection point to arrive in the novelette-in-progress and I think it landed in my brain this morning.

    Also good this Monday is RAIN.

23. My main ambition for today was to shave my legs because it is supposed to get hot for the next few days and I will want to wear shorts. But it is now 6:41pm and I have not shaved showered or dressed so I doubt I will get around to it. The reason I have done so little for the last few days is that my right hip has been killing me. Getting in and out of chairs is a big production and since I haven’t been able to talk myself into going to the grocery store, I’ve been eating only the least healthy things I can find.

    I did manage to talk MacAfee into crediting me for the giant family sized plan they upgraded me to without my consent and sell me one that fits the number and type of devices I actually use. The problem is that the cost of the smaller plan is less than the minimum payment on the big plan. I immediately paid the entire cost of the new sale, but the customer service rep I spoke with said Citibank might still count it as late and again raise my interest rate and lower my credit rating the way they did last year. He couldn’t understand why I would want to pay for what I didn’t buy and wait 2 months for Citicards to refund the difference. Yeah, I think I found the cause of my hip pain.

    1. Oops. That was supposed to be why I wouldn’t want to pay the higher amount.

24. My good intentions – which I’ve been ignoring for days, is to go through everything in back room and try to throw as much out as possible.

    We discovered mould about two weeks ago and are waiting for the roof to be fixed, which is where the water is coming from. Then the carpet will be stripped and we’ll need to organise new flooring (I’m voting not carpet). But I can’t do anything about that. I can clear out as much as possible to make the process a bit easier – now I just need to do it.