Again, got next to nothing accomplished work-wise yesterday. I think I’ve figured it out. If there’s a lot of stuff scheduled, even if the schedule gives me a clear two hours to work, then I still can’t settle down because I’m too stressed by the pile of stuff that has yet to be done at some other point. I’m busy thinking, “Oh no, I only have two hours in which to accomplish X amount of work!”, and despite correcting myself and recasting the thought in a positive light, I still can’t just get it done, and end up with half the amount of work I needed. The stubborn sinus headache on its third day didn’t help either.

But, for the sake of consistent records:

Total word count, ESTC: 14,421
Total words, Wednesday: 746

14,421 / 50,000 (28.8%)

And again, even though I’ve produced under the daily quota two days running, I’m ahead of where I need to be as of the end of Friday to be on schedule. I’d really like to have two working days in a row, so that the momentum I finally gather by the time I have to stop is actually carried over instead of dissipating during the next day when I have the boy at home.

Speaking of the boy, I think we’ve finally hit the toddler on again-off again appetite thing with Liam. For the past two or three days he’s had a surprisingly low appetite. Then this morning, he ate two bowls of Cheerios and milk, plus half a freshly-baked banana muffin, and chased it all with a half-cup of milk before passing out for his morning nap. The cereal and milk thing is new; he refused his oatmeal on Monday and I was desperate to get something into him before sending him to daycare. So I poured Cheerios into a bowl — so what, he’d seen this before, we do it all the time — and then poured milk over them. His eyes boggled, as if he was trying to figure out what I’d done to his perfectly innocent snack. Then I produced a big-person spoon for him to use. It was a hit; he ate up the entire bowl. He also has a cold, which isn’t surprising considering that about three of the people he deals with on a regular basis also have colds. And those bottom molars are really giving him a hard time. Things are tough for him right now, and he’s been taking it out in a most uncharacteristic fashion on his caregiver and his playmates, with hair-pulling (where did that come from?) and pushing and the occasional bite when he’s really frustrated.

HRH had a day off yesterday, which he spent doing a glorious amount of nothing as he deserved, apart from taking the car in to the garage. (Four new brakes, one new tie rod. Yikes.) But the car drives beautifully now: steering and braking are creamy and thick and smooth. Like a good milkshake or something.

The stylist cut two inches off my hair yesterday. I can’t tell, apart from the bottom being neater and less tangly. This is a good thing. And I got new bubble bath and scent and stuff, too. I had the choice last night to either pull out my notebook and do something for August Writing project, which I haven’t done in four days because of schedule and stress and exhaustion, or take a bath instead. I took the bath and went to bed. It was the right choice.

Maggie is doing quite well, thank you everyone for inquiring.

Lovely weather we’re having, yes? Days in the low 20s, nights in the low teens… terribly civilized.