Monday, August 11, 2025

like a race car driving away from the scene

I had a pretty good day, all in all - I woke up fairly early and immediately got into some work stuff, which resulted in me crossing off a task that I've been avoiding for weeks. Then I showered, ran to the post office, sat through many meetings, did various other tasks while in those meetings, and occasionally chatted with [censored] while refilling various beverages and grabbing various snacks.

[Censored] left before I was done with meetings, so I kept working until around 6:30. Then I baked a potato, took care of various tasks, ate, cleaned up the kitchen, etc. And now I need to sleep so I can repeat these feats tomorrow - goodnight!

Sunday, August 10, 2025

i hope you find your dream

I am seeing some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of how busy I am - which is probably wishful thinking / laughably naive, but allow me to indulge myself.

I had an okay weekend despite everything. Yesterday I tackled the fact that my bedroom and office were getting out of control - I hadn't fully unpacked from my SF trip, and so I needed to do several loads of laundry and put away many tings (I always come back with more stuff than I leave with, especially when these events usually give out new backpacks, sweatshirts, water bottles, etc., etc.). My desk was also a disaster, and I had many packages that needed to be repacked for returns (the Nordstrom Anniversary sale giveth and taketh away). But now everything is tidied up, which makes it easier to focus, so hopefully that bodes well for the week ahead.

Last night, I made supper for Mom and [censored] - I made prosciutto-wrapped chicken breasts stuffed with an herbed cream cheese and bacon, which are v. v. tasty. I hadn't made them in ages, and I'm glad I remembered that they exist. We all hung out for awhile while they finished cooking, and the wait was worth it, if I do say so myself.

Today was unusually productive for a Sunday - I did some writing this morning, did more laundry, took care of the remaining paperwork on my desk, and then worked on my taxes. Yes, taxes are due in April, but I filed for an extension because of everything going on, and my CPA would like the info now before it all gets too late. I got pretty close to done before deciding I needed to take a break, and so I'll have to look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow.

Then I messed around for a bit, played with my garden, sat on my balcony and journaled, and made supper. The chicken last night was so good that I made it again tonight (Mom got last night's leftovers, but [censored] and I wanted more). We ate it with the last couple of ears of corn that I picked up last weekend, and it was pretty delish. Then I cleaned up the kitchen, procrastinated for awhile, folded clothes, and did a wee bit of day job work.

And now I need to go to bed - but not before wishing a happy birthday to Katie, my sister from another mister! Goodnight!

Friday, August 08, 2025

and darling, never settle, settle, settle

I have continued to be v. busy at work, which has been helpful for taking my mind off life. Wednesday was a blur - I worked until seven on Wednesday before picking up pizza for me and [censored]. Thursday was slightly better, since I had time to throw a bunch of beef in the slow cooker to make barbacoa, which [censored] and I ate with hash browns instead of tortillas in homage to our Iowa roots.

So by today, I was ready for a bit of a break. I worked for three hours this morning even though I told everyone I was off, which was nice bc I was able to focus on a couple of things and have a nice chat with Baz. And then I made huevos rancheros for lunch and relaxed for a bit before going with Mom and [censored] to look at headstones for Dad.

This was not exactly a fun errand, of course. But it's been three months tomorrow (or thirteen weeks today, depending on how you track these things) since he passed, so it was time to organize this. And I think the stone we went with will look quite nice, so I'm glad we got that accomplished.

After we selected a stone, we went to a lawnmower dealer so that [censored] could explore all the possibilities in stock. Mom and I had little interest in the proceedings, so we stood outside and talked in the heat and humidity (I think the heat index got up to 105 or something absurd, but we were in the shade with a breeze, so we survived). Then we came home and parted ways. Originally, [censored] and I were planning to hit up the Mexican food truck in town - the restaurant has been closed for a few months, but their food truck was open tonight, and we were going to patronize it. However, I then realized I'd rather have real food than food truck food / takeout for the third night this week (v. uncharacteristic for us to order anything, let alone two food trucks and pizza). So we rather ridiculously ended up driving to Leon to eat in their sister restaurant. This was the right call since the food was great, but it certainly added more driving than I was expecting today.

When we got home, I attempted to do some work but mostly chilled (heated?) on my balcony and then wrote for a bit inside. And now I need to sleep so I can do a million things this weekend - goodnight!

Tuesday, August 05, 2025

shut your mouth and see straight through me

I have dipped immediately back into a million tasks to do at work, thanks to being off for most of the last two weeks (well - I was working all last week, but as I was doing event-related stuff, it was not the kind of work that actually crosses tings off my to-do list).

Yesterday I slogged the entire day, after kicking things off with early morning allergy shots that I only mildly reacted to. I took a break to make cheeseburgers to go with some sweet corn, and then I was so tired that I was in bed by ten. I intended to get up and slog this morning, but instead I slept in until the grand hour of seven (so luxurious) and got cracking. I had a whole slew of meetings today, but they mostly went well, and my boss actually acknowledged that I might have too much stuff on my plate, so at least there's that.

When I was done with meetings, I sped into town to pick up some groceries and also get takeout from a random food truck that popped up in town. Random food trucks show up occasionally, and I usually find out about them through facebook. This one is Vietnamese and seemed promising, so I got some egg rolls, crab rangoon, and sweet and sour chicken for [censored] + pad thai for me. Vietnamese/Thai is much easier for gluten free than Chinese is, and their menu looked reasonably safe - not safe for celiac, but I think the pho would have been fully gluten free, the pad thai likely was, and the egg rolls were the thai style with rice paper instead of wonton wrappers, so they were safe too. I ate the crab rangoon to my extreme peril since I'm allergic to both crab and gluten, but I suspected that the crab was imitation, and I was correct. The meal immediately put me to sleep for thirty minutes, but it was pretty good and we would do it again if they come through on the right night.

After we ate, I took the aforementioned forced nap, then messed around, talked to [censored], and eventually did another hour of work. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

Sunday, August 03, 2025

reveille

Okay, updates since my last real post:

Friday was pretty decent, although I was beyond tired because I got less than five hours of sleep before getting up to pack. Packing took longer than intended, and so I was later leaving than I wanted to - but I grabbed a coffee for the road, and then enjoyed the v. scenic drive from Carmel Valley to Menlo Park. In Menlo Park, I met Shedletsky for lunch - Tina was supposed to join us, but she had to stay back for a dishwasher delivery. So we chatted over paella in a tucked-away little cafe that I'd never heard of before, and it was quite nice to see him.

Then I sped to my hotel to check in, where I dropped my bags just so they wouldn't get stolen out of my car in SF. Then I went to the office, which I did not want to do after four days of offsite work - but Adit and I wanted to inspect the final progress on the remodel before we would both be out of town, so we met the contractor and did a walkthrough. I am ready for this project to be done, tbh, and hopefully it's done pretty soon.

Then I went to Room and Board to check out tables/chairs again, since I do not have access to one anywhere near me here. And then I picked up Adit and we went back to his house to talk shop for awhile before meeting Chandlord. We had a glass of wine at Gemini, and then we did a supper club dinner - it was some Thai pop-up with a communal table for twenty-ish people, which was pretty fun. The food was excellent and mostly gluten free, and we had a fun conversation, and I survived it despite wanting to be asleep at seven p.m.

When that was done, I went back to my hotel and slept for approx four hours before heading to the airport. All my travels yesterday were smooth, although my second flight was slightly delayed, but that just meant more time for me to hang out in the Amex lounge in Denver. When I got home, I drove straight south (with a quick stop to pick up sweet corn) and had dinner with Mom and [censored] before tumbling into bed.

Today was pretty chill and reasonably productive, all things considered - I slept until nine, then made coffee, did some personal work, showered, got groceries, and spent some quality time inspecting and messing with my gardens. Still unclear if I'll get any substantive produce, but it's been fun so far. At some point I took [censored] out to Mom's to get his tractor, and then I came back home, did a bit of cleaning, and made dinner (roasted chicken breasts + sweet corn).

And now, I need to sleep since I have a million tings to do this week to catch up on life. Goodnight!

Saturday, August 02, 2025

far across the sea

No blog tonight - I had an excellent day but I'm exhausted and need to wake up in less than five hours to go to the airport. Goodnight!

Friday, August 01, 2025

sky full of stars

 I am v v tired but the event has been a success. I have spent almost the entirety of it working, along with spending some time attempting not to throw up (the waves in Monterey Bay yesterday weren't tsunami level, but they were choppy enough to make me want to vomit during our pre-dinner cruise). Last night's dinner was fun, mostly bc I was seated between Adit and a guy from Minneapolis who was quite interesting. And then I went to bed so I could do it all over again today...

...which I did, although I took a brief illicit break to have lunch with Veronica (who is here with Adam). I then slogged the rest of the day with a v v brief nap, then went to the final dinner, where I talked up the head of the catering group here, also befriended the beekeeper (who is from Pella and is a scion of the Jaarsma Bakery family and used to make the puff pillows at Christmas), and had many varied and hilarious conversations.

But now I'm desperate to sleep bc I need to get up in less than six hours - goodnight!