one for the now and eleven for the later

I have continued to be too busy to blog, but none of the things that I've been doing are all that interesting, so you really haven't missed much. On Thursday, I got up early so I could read before work, which was extremely unusual, but I was determined to finish the book club book before our book club meeting that evening. The book was called TRUST by Hernan Diaz, and it won a Pulitzer a few years ago. I started it Wednesday night and wasn't totally sure how I felt about it, but I'm really glad that I kept going because it became one of my favorite things that I read in a while.

Anyway, at some point I had to stop reading so that I could get ready, take a couple of work meetings, and then drive to Centerville to see the dentist. Luckily, my teeth continue to be as good as they always are, so I won't have to see him again until my next cleaning in six months. And then I came home, slogged the rest of the afternoon, and felt like it really wasn't that much of a slog because most of my meetings were with some of my favorite people. I capped it off with book club, and while only five of us had finished, that was still better than some months, so we felt quite pleased by the turnout. We read a real hodgepodge of stuff -- t's odd to be in a book club that reads both "Trust" (a pulitzer prize winner) and "Secret of Secrets" by Dan Brown (will never win an award, nor should it ever be discussed again), but it's a good way to bond with some of the people at the company who I otherwise don't talk to as often.

I don't remember what I did the rest of Thursday evening, other than I probably ate leftovers because I was too wiped out to do anything else. Friday, I also wasn't entirely in it to win it, although I did get up and do some writing and then do some work tasks that I needed to accomplish. I ended up working until six, And then I ran into town to get a couple of groceries, came home, and tried a new-to-me recipe out of a cookbook that I got for Christmas last year. It was an enchilada bake that's basically a casserole, and it was as easy as the cookbook promised that it would be (since the cookbook is called 'What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking', I was really hoping that it would be easy and take exactly as much time as promised to finish). It's very similar in profile to the burrito bowls that I make in the Instant Pot, although this uses ground beef and bell peppers, whereas my Instant Pot version uses chicken breast and chorizo. This one may be just slightly easier, and it's certainly tasty, so it will probably end up in the regular rotation.

I ended up screwing up my sleep last night because I came upstairs with the intention of writing and instead dozed off on my chaise around 9 pm. I didn't get in my real bed until almost midnight, but then I spent an hour scrolling to catch up on the scrolling that I could have done before bedtime, which was a pretty stupid move. But I managed to get up this morning, make some cold brew, and do a bit of journaling before my day began in earnest.

I availed myself of the opportunity to go to the farmers market this morning, which I usually forget to do. There were a couple more people than had turned out for the 4th of July market, which was nice. It was light on actual farmers (no produce, although I did unexpected buy some iris rhizomes). But I had some lovely conversations with people about the things that they make, and I also spent fifteen or twenty minutes chatting with an old high school classmates who is trying to create a community art center. So it was all a very nice way to kick off the morning before it got both too hot to be outside and there was too much demand on my productivity to allow me to relax. 

When I got back to my house, I ate some leftover enchilada casserole for lunch, and then [censored] and I spent a couple of hours pressure washing my balcony. This was extremely necessary because the robins engaged in a war on my balcony all spring, leaving behind a seriously astonishing amount of bird shit, which I was getting tired of looking at. More importantly, it was eating up all the paint on the balcony railing and floor, which I wanted to remediate. However, using a pressure washer meant that we mostly stripped the paint rather than getting the bird shit off of it, which I actually expected because the paint had already been chipping fairly badly before. Now that the balcony is clean, the next task on my list is to find somebody who can paint the balcony and possibly my deck, and then maybe screen in my balcony so that I avoid future issues with birds or bugs.

Anyway, after that, I took a long break, took a shower to make up for the fact that I had become somewhat disgusting during the pressure washing project, and then tidied up, did some housework, and spent 20 minutes writing on my balcony before it was time to make dinner. Dinner was thin-cut rib eye steaks, hamburgers, and sweet corn. I had the meat in the freezer already, and [censored] had picked up corn from the first stand that he'd seen of the season, and it was all very tasty. Mom came in to join us, so we had a nice hour chatting about various local updates. I also enjoyed showing her the potential upcoming plant overload that we're going to succumb to if the tomato plants all do what they look like they're going to do now.

And now I really need to go to bed so that I can accomplish something tomorrow - goodnight!. 

all this feels strange and untrue

I apparently have not blogged since Sunday - I blame the day job, which has been v. busy this week. I have made time for writing in the mornings, and also for watering my various plants, and also for showering - but all other things have gone by the wayside.

That is not to say that it's been a bad week. I've had many many meetings; I had an eye doctor's appointment on Monday (which resulted in him wanting me to test multifocal contacts, which are supposed to help with my reading distance while keeping my far distance the same - so far so good); I had a library board meeting today; and I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. So, the rest of my life is moving along even though work has been chaotic.

However, because all I have done is work, I have nothing else of interest to report - and I'm already overdue to go to bed. Goodnight!

model citizen zero discipline

I had a pretty nice 4th of July weekend, all things considered - and I think I got quite a bit done, but I'm having trouble remembering it all now. Yesterday I did quite a bit of journaling/writing in the morning, and I also inspected the house that I bought next door - my empire is expanding, but as with all empire-expansions, there will be quite a bit of work to do to rebuild to my standards. I felt pretty good about it all, especially since we verified that the air conditioning is in good working order - until [censored] pointed out a dead bat next to the water heater, which was not a welcome discovery since I hate bats. But the house has a lot of potential despite that, so we shall persevere.

I must have done more things yesterday afternoon of varying types, quantities, and qualities, but they escape me now. And then I sliced up some peaches, took them out to Mom's, and grilled bratwurst and hot dogs to go with her potato salad and baked beans. It was all quite tasty, and we also admired her continued progress in her gardens (although progress was stalled last week due to the insane heat). And then [censored] and I came home and I ended up going to bed quite early.

Today was more of the same - I got up fairly early, took care of some personal business tasks with reasonable efficiency, and did some writing. Then I showered, and then I took [censored] to the shop, where I poked around for a bit to see what I could see. When I got home, I watered plants, tidied up my office, ate lunch, scrolled for awhile, and then spent the afternoon writing / reading on my balcony until it got too hot.

It was too hot to sit, but it wasn't too hot to walk, so I walked downtown to check out the recycling bins (the cardboard bin was full, much to my chagrin). Then I came home and made dinner - this chicken orzo pasta casserole with mushrooms, onions, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, and parmesan that [censored] and I find to be quite delicious. While it was cooking, I helped [censored] move a countertop for the garage, and then I tidied up the kitchen so that I wouldn't have to clean after dinner.

Dinner turned out super tasty, and [censored] and I enjoyed it while solving a mystery together - I had run into someone earlier in the week who knew me very well but whom I couldn't remember, and it had been bugging me for days. With the vague description I was able to provide + a single clue (one great-grandchild's name), we were finally able to solve it, with a lot of digging around obituaries, facebook profiles, and one person's wedding photo album that they had helpfully shared publicly. Feeling very accomplished after solving this extremely difficult puzzle, I came upstairs and messed around until now. But I think I should go to bed early so that I can hit the ground running tomorrow - goodnight!

heavy foot

I woke up yesterday morning in Cedar Rapids, and I could have kept the streak going of not stepping foot outside while I was in the city, but I decided that I wanted Starbucks more than I wanted to be able to claim that I had taken the trip entirely indoors. So I got ready, said farewell to [censored], and went to Starbucks, where I fueled myself with cold brew and did a tiny bit of work before hitting the road.

My drive was uneventful, and faster than usual since Iowa raised the speed limit to 60 mph on July 1st. I think that this is likely to result in chaos as people figure out which road signs have been updated and which haven't, but so far I haven't been in any accidents, so yay me. When I got home, I immediately stepped into meetings from 12 to about 5, which was not the best welcome back that I've ever had - but it set me up to be able to go into the weekend without thinking too much about work.

After I was done working, I did various things around the house, and then I picked up Mexican food for me and [censored] since I didn't feel like cooking. We both tried new things, and both of us thought that they were too bland compared to our old things, but at least we didn't starve.

Today was great, mostly since I didn't have to work. So I took care of various things, loaded my car to drop stuff off at the second hand store, and went to Indianola to run a variety of errands. Then I came home, unloaded groceries, and took Mom to Lucas (yes this is backtracking) to check out the last of this season's plants at the greenhouse. We basically struck out, but it was a nice drive. 

I then spent the evening working on cleaning my garage fridges, journaling a bit, watching more than I expected of a Savannah Bananas game, etc. And now I must sleep - goodnight!

may be vader someday later

I have had an extremely eventful couple of days, but you shall only get the highlights that I may wish to look up and fact check later.

Monday I woke up, wrote, worked, and then ran into town to attend a campaign event for Rob Sand. Unclear if he has any real shot at governor, but I think he's the most likely one to be able to do it (although he should be a shoe-in given how Iowa is dropping on all measures of budgets, economic growth, education, water quality, etc after ten years of one party rule - doesn't matter which party it is, bad outcomes start happening if one party is in charge for too long). He had a decent turnout and I enjoyed visiting with various people there, so I'm glad I went. Then I came home, worked more, talked to Katie, wrote some more, etc. 

Tuesday started with a doctor's appointment, which went great. Then I bought another house, as one does. Then I went home and slogged all day, with a break in the late afternoon to pick up the key (singular) to my new property. And then I went to the museum to screen a documentary someone made about the walldogs and the mural festival, which was really awesome. It brought back some good memories, and it was fun to watch it with Nancy, Brenda, and Bonita (+ Cindy and Jeannie, who were volunteering at the museum that day). Then I spent the evening mostly relaxing bc I was spent.

Today was a whirlwind - I got up, made cold brew, packed some clothes, watered all my outdoor stuff, etc. Then I had four hours straight of meetings, and then I grabbed my bag and a pack of salami and some leftover pizza and hit the road. I met [censored] in Cedar Rapids, which involved three hours of driving (slightly less since they raised the speed limit), and I took calls during two of them. 

So by the time I got here I was fried, but I checked into the hotel, met [censored], and we grabbed an early dinner in the hotel restaurant. If I play my cards right I might not step outside in Cedar Rapids on this trip - I parked in a garage, took the skywalk over, ate in the hotel, and our concert was in an arena attached to the hotel. So it was about as convenient as it can possibly be if you ignore the three hour drive on both sides. 

The concert was Weird Al Yankovic, who is an excellent performer. The opener was Puddles Pity Party, and I didn't know what to expect, but he was surprisingly hilarious - a 6'8" clown who has some recurring Kevin Costner bits, which you definitely had to be there for but were great. And Weird Al was awesome - he played a lot of favorites, and the overall production was great. 

And now, after the very onerous walk down the hall from the arena to the elevator (I got less than 5000 steps today and I think most of them were tending my garden and packing), it's time for bed - goodnight!

angels of the silences

I had a pretty quiet weekend. Yesterday started off well, and I did some decent writing - but I took a break to go to Dad's shop to inspect various tings with Mom and [censored], which bummed me out a bit. [Censored] is doing all the (literal) heavy lifting on cleaning things out, which makes sense since I don't know what most of it is (and the stuff I do know has very little value, like dad's old grill sitting in the weeds). He had someone come yesterday to consider buying some random stuff related to directional drilling, since only a driller would need those particular items - and that seemed to go well, although the guy blew a tire on the way home and [censored] had to go rescue him since he was pulling one of our trailers when it happened.

So anyway, while [censored] was dealing with selling things, I slipped into a bit of a funk, helped along by a very cloudy day. It's too bad since it was the last cool day for the foreseeable future, but whatever. Then we picked up pizza to take to Mom's, and I got to admire the progress she's made on her gardens, so that was great.

Today was better, oddly, since it involved a funeral. I got up around 6:30 and wrote this morning, which felt great. Then I did some gardening - I desperately needed to do some Florida weaving on my tomatoes and tomatillos since they're already out of control. I accomplished that in due form, and also watered everything since it's insanely hot. By the time I was done I had less than thirty minutes to eat something and shower, but I managed to get ready (almost) on time.

This afternoon, Mom, [censored] and I went to Kirksville for Aunt Judy's visitation. She was my dad's aunt, and she was always a hoot - I really liked her, although I hadn't seen her in years. She has suffered from dementia quite badly and hasn't really been very verbal for a couple of years, so in many ways this is a blessing. But her daughters invited us to the lunch they had before the visitation, so we went down early to see them. Debbie sat with us, which meant we got to catch up somewhat properly, and we got a chance to chat with Denise as well. And we got to eat some delicious cheesecake that they made using Judy's recipe, so that was pretty special.

After lunch, we went to visitation (across the driveway), and then snuck out instead of staying for the funeral. We had to go pick up the aforementioned trailer that the guy had borrowed yesterday to take the things he'd bought, and then since we had access to a trailer, [censored] and I picked up a 10' countertop for my garage project. Then we came home, and I spent the rest of the evening relaxing / journaling / trying not to overheat.

And now it's time to unwind and go to bed - goodnight!

she's a butcher with a smile

I had a v odd day. I got up early enough to write a bit before work, which was great, and then I had to slog in a v focused manner to get some stuff done before meeting with my boss (and Adit) after lunch. That meeting went well, and as soon as I was done, I went to Des Moines on secret business. The secret business was not accomplished as easily as I had anticipated, and it was compounded by needing to do some day job work in a parking lot, but c'est la vie.

As soon as I was done, I went to see Drewbaby and Sammie and Marcella. We hung out at their place while Marcella ate, and then we went downtown to check out the Des Moines art festival. It was surprisingly impressive - I only walked away with a ceramic piece, but there were many other things that I coveted. They apparently get 2500 applications a year and only take 250 artists, and the quality of everything was extremely high.

So it was fun to walk around, and Marcella was v well behaved until finally being over it right at the very end (acceptable). Then we went back to their house and I picked up my car and drove home. 

And now it's past my recent bedtime and I need my beauty sleep - goodnight!