I didn’t get quite as much focused work in this past week as I was hoping, though my trial run of evening work met with good success when I tried it. I’m ankle deep in the word-cutting pass for my latest short story, and I’m finding I really prefer having quiet, extended time to pick over it, rather than coping with interruptions during the daytime hours. I’d love to get this thing wrapped up before I travel later this month, so I’m hoping I can make some significant progress this week. The first few word-specific searches always take a long time (I’m a sucker for “of”), but they do get faster as I go. And I know once I get the cull done, I’ll be amped to get it polished and submitted. So that’s the goal this week: get the word-cull done. Maybe I can do the read-through over the weekend next Saturday/Sunday.
But I did manage to build the storage bench (with a power drill!) for the dining room, and got the round eating table (aka: my desk) tidied up and my books all organized neatly on a shelf, so feeling quite good about that! We also finally got the rest of the soil dumped into our last two raised beds where we’re going to try for peas (though with the heatwave coming next week, WHO KNOWS HOW THEY’LL DO).
Also, we have a baby bunny who lives in our garden. I’ve named her Iris, because she nibbles the irises, and she’s adorable. Thing 2 runs through the house to grab whomever he can when he sees her, calling “RABBY RABBY RABBY!” *dies of toxic cuteness syndrome*
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This past week has been so busy! Aside from Mother’s Day today (which was lovely, and involved hanging out with my own mother, shoe shopping and book shopping and having lattes in peace and quiet, as well as homemade cards from my boys and a gift from both Andy and extended family-!), we’ve started Mommy and Me swim classes with Thing 2, in addition to our Nature Friends class mid-week. It’s always hard to incorporate a new routine, and this week was no exception, and probably contributed to some of the challenging attempts to get work done.
Mostly, in my free moments, I’ve been burying myself in The Long Dark, though I’ve now frozen to death in a snow storm, been mauled to death by a wolf, and the day before yesterday I was trampled to death by a moose, so, you know, not doing such a great survival job. XD It is fun, though! Tricky, but fun.
We also watched The Meg on Wednesday night as a treat, which was delightfully ridiculous in the way only giant sharks can be, but we had a fun trashy time. I believe Sharknado is on our radar next, because we missed it when it first made its big “splash” as we’d just had Thing 1 and were too exhausted to watch movies.
I started Noom a couple of weeks ago, just to see if it could help me take off a few extra pounds that have been making my beloved jeans a liiiiiiittle too snug of late, and so far, it’s been really helpful. I don’t have a lot to lose (I like my shape, generally), but I was interested in getting ahead of my own bad eating habits (hello giant bowl of goldfish crackers… man, I love them…) before it was a “I need new pants” problem. (Especially after working so hard on getting a wardrobe I actually LIKE that actually feels like ME!)
It’s been really interesting to see what my eating habits actually are. It’s so easy to not pay much attention (and honestly, I prefer not paying attention) and let not so healthy choices build without even realizing it. I’m already about halfway to my goal, and it hasn’t been especially bad (yes, some choices between having a whole beer vs. an ice cream mochi later… but overall, reasonable and not too difficult) so feeling pretty good about it. I doubt I’ll do it for more than the initial three months, but it’s nice to have it in the back pocket.
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This coming week is going to be busy again, with classes and a family birthday, though I’ll admit I’m kind of looking forward to the heat wave (a little—it’ll also probably get old FAST) if only because it means I can get the sprinkler out and let the boys run around and get muddy, which will entertain them for ages while I read in the shade. XD
End goal: get the word-cull draft DONE. That’s it, that’s all.
Maggie Slater 