Monthly Archives: June 2010

Tuesday Log

Today my accomplishments included:

– business calls
– wove five inches of a new blanket
– did the programme notes
– translated the programme notes
– edited the recital programme
– practised for fifteen minutes (better than nothing)
– went out to buy the boy’s birthday present and some decorations for the party this weekend
– practised for another seventy-five minutes (trying to get the runs in the first movement of the Mendelssohn up to speed; working the pretty singing cello we’ve-got-the-theme moments of the second… in other words, going from first to seventh position, whee; plus my solo for the recital, and all my recital ensemble stuff)

Things that helped: Ceri has been sending me periodic e-mails reminding me to fret, which always makes me laugh. I acquired a Tolberone bar while out shopping for the boy’s gifts, and that also made the day happier.

Things that did not help: My first Quiznos experience. Yes, sandwich boy, I really do want a small ham and cheese on brown, with no spreads or sauces, and only lettuce. Asking me three times in disbelief doesn’t mean I have a low IQ or a communication problem, and your tone was, frankly, rather insulting. I’m the customer; I know what I want, and what I want is a sandwich not dripping with the excessive glop sandwich-makers pour over it. Just because I don’t want you to drown it in crap doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. Also, I didn’t want it toasted, and you didn’t ask; you just threw it in the oven. So you failed mightily in securing a return customer: instead you ensured that I will never walk into one of your franchises again.

On the schedule for tonight: Remembering to breathe.

Monday Log

Today my accomplishments included:

– receiving the approval for the assignment I handed in last Friday, and invoicing
– baking bread
– finishing Romancing Miss Bronte
– finishing River in the Sky
– half-hour nap
– spinning about two ounces of fibre Jan gave me to spin for her (which was a struggle because whoever dyed it ended up felting it slightly, and it doesn’t draft easily)
– updating the househunt spreadsheet
– handling correspondence

Frankly, after the exhausting weekend I had, I deliberately took it really easy today. And yet a couple of things that have happened (the spinning, some of the correspondence) has not been restful. I had to stop spinning because I seem to be clenching my jaw while I try to draft the felted stuff, which is not conducive to relaxing.

I am not looking forward to the meeting we’re hosting tonight, because I am not in people-mode, and HRH has to be elsewhere.

Weekend Roundup

Yet another insane weekend. Househunting is incredibly draining.

Friday afternoon the boy and I dropped HRH off to install gyproc while we ran errands, had ice cream, and visited our local LYS so I could spend my Mother’s Day gift certificate. I came home with a selection of some lovely fibre and a couple of little knitting tools (because you know I knit so much). Upon return I discovered that I’d mis-programmed the timer on the bread machine so the pizza dough was only just starting to mix, which meant that the dinner I’d planned was shot. I was about to defrost some hamburger meat and make spaghetti sauce when HRH suggested ordering pizza instead because we were pressed for time, and I gave in. As we were putting our shoes on to go to that night’s game HRH listened to the two message on the phone and we discovered that the game had been cancelled, which made both of us rather cranky. We ended up watching another three episodes of Chuck with Blade, who had come down stairs to be the Designated Responsible Adult On Site while we were out.

Saturday was a solid list of house viewings. Anyone who’s done this knows how exhausting it is. We got back around three-thirty and HRH did a whirlwind housecleaning while we waited for his parents to arrive, as they were babysitting the boy while we had an actual date night out. They arrived later than planned, so we pretty much ran out of the house. Dinner itself was lovely, delicious Italian eaten in the company of Ceri and Scott. The plan was to go see the new Prince of Persia film afterwards, but when we got to the theatre they were on the verge of selling out, so we all looked at one another and decided to go have dessert instead. We toyed with the idea of playing Rock Band, too, but we were pretty much all exhausted and went home.

Sunday morning the boy woke us up at five-fifteen for some reason. I left the house at 8:30 for a cello lesson at 9:00, followed by a two-hour group rehearsal at 10:00. I then raced home, picked up the boys, and we went househunting again. I ended up spending an awful lot of time outside in the cold rain, what with getting the boy to run around to keep him busy and working off steam and inspecting exteriors. It was longer than we expected, and on the way back into town we debated whether or not to attend the Preston-LeBlanc singalong that was about to begin. None of us were really in the mood: we were cold and wet, we weren’t dressed for it, I hadn’t had the time to buy the ingredients for the dish I had promised to bring let alone cook it, and we were all exhausted. But it was important that we at least make an appearance, empty-handed though it was, and I’m glad we did because a whole slew of other people cancelled. When we arrived I was wrapped in a warm pashmina and given hot tea to counter the cold chill I couldn’t shake, and after some nibblies we all felt much better, and we ended up staying two and a half hours instead of only half of one.

Both the boy and I had hot baths when we got home, and he fell asleep about five minutes after we tucked him in.

Friday!

I have had a couple of people now e-mail me to say that they like the idea of recording the day’s accomplishments. I firmly believe that we don’t give ourselves enough credit, and I know how easily I downplay what I do in a day because it doesn’t have a concrete or immediate result, so if I can prove to myself that my day was not a waste because I got maintenance/work/research whatever done (you know, stuff that gets me closer to a concrete goal) then I’m happier and less stressed. And if I’m inspiring people to re-examine their own days and their accomplishments to see that they do more than they think they do too, then so much the better. (Conversely, I’m sure there are people out there grumbling because they think I’m showing them up by boasting about what I get done, like the folk who hate seeing writers post word count because they see it as some sort of competition or judgment, but really? That’s so not why I’m doing this.)

I have to get into my head that Fridays are half-days in the summer, because of HRH’s summer hours. The boys come home after lunch.

Things I Did Today:

– 3 loads of laundry (was raring to go at 7:45 but waited till 9:00, because there’s a tenant in the downstairs apartment again and I thought it graceful to not start the machines till the standard accepted-noisemaking-hour)
– baked bread
– baked shortbread squares
– finished and handed in the freelance assignment
– finished and sent the rough draft of new baby naming ritual (the babies, they just keep coming!)
– printed out new music
– registered the group and paid for the upcoming camping weekend
– printed out medical and waiver forms
– set the breadmaker up on the timer to make pizza dough for supper

Somewhere along the way today I realised that I have a birthday party to plan for next Saturday. I did ask the boy earlier this week what wanted for his birthday dinner, and he said hot dogs, to which I said, er, no, because I am not serving my parents and in-laws hot dogs. I was thinking salmon. I wonder if that qualifies as a “five-year-old food” in the boy’s hierarchy of age-appropriate consumables?

Okay it’s 1:00, and the boys are home. Time to pack up and head out.

Thursday Log

Witness my ongoing quest to record my daily activity so I don’t feel like the day was a complete waste!

– constructing spreadsheet to keep track of all the house listings we’ve thrown around; we keep coming up with the same listings and wondering why we haven’t pursued them, so I have to dig back through my e-mail to find that they sold two weeks ago. It would also be useful if real estate listing sites actually marked listings as sold instead of leaving them up. (This took a stupid amount of time, as I had to track back through e-mails and bookmarks, but now I am on top of it going forward.)
– bill-paying
– filing and office maintenance stuff
– freelance project (done except for a final polish and proof tomorrow)
– lots of phone calls in and out (bank, real estate agent, dinner reservations)
– lots of house research (this is a stupid game that isn’t as much fun as it should be)
– dinner prepared in the slow cooker

Wednesday Log

Hey, I found an extra day this week. Not that there’s actually an extra day (I could sell something like that on eBay and make a mint) but for some reason as of yesterday I thought there were only three days in the week left, when there were actually four. It’s like I’ve got a bonus Thursday or something. And a good thing, too, because I’m going to need it for the freelance thing.

– more scheduling and planning
– did a mock-up/rough draft of a concert program for my cello teacher (this breaks down into looking at samples, researching and downloading new clip art, trying to figure out the new printer settings for duplex printing, and so forth)
– blogged the weekend roundup
– blogged the May book list
– washed my hair
– tried to nap when I started falling over, was thwarted by the phone
– caught up on more of the way-behind-inbox
– did a splash of the freelance assignment (every time I sat down something else happened that I had to handle)
– more house research
– half an hour of seriously overdue practice for orchestra tonight

ETA: Orchestra, of course.

Tuesday

I’m going to try to list everything I accomplish in a day, because I have been feeling very not-accomplishy, and if I see it all down on a list maybe I will feel better about my days.

On Tuesday, I:

– handled a third of a freelance assignment throughout the day (323 pages of manuscript and a 24-page report; you do the math)
– made muffins
– researched productivity programs and started testing ToodleDo (very useful so far, especially since I can access it via the Touch)
– scheduled out the rest of the week (that takes longer than you think)
– made a marinade in which to soak the chicken breasts for the dinner fajitas
– researched more houses
– whittled away at the unanswered e-mails in my inbox

Today I’m keeping better track, so the list should be more complete.