Wednesday, December 30, 2020

imma be what i set out to be, without a doubt undoubtedly

Too tired to blog tonight, and also too annoyed - I thought I was winning at ticket to ride today, and instead I somehow came in last. My parents somehow tied for the win, so at least [censored] didn't get it, but still, it was an unfortunate outcome.

And so, since I've already fallen asleep once, I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

diamonds aquatic

Merry Christmas! Okay, it's not Christmas, but we did a white elephant gift exchange over zoom with my dad's side of the family tonight, so it was almost like Christmas. And we ate the second half of the zucchini lasagna that I made the other night, and lasagna used to be our Christmas Eve tradition, so I'm still feeling the Christmas spirit.

That said, I worked most of the day (on writing stuff, not day job stuff) - I'm still making my way through content from the conference I went to earlier in the month, and I was also doing some side research + playing around with some ads stuff. I did take a break to make a run into town to buy some supplies, and while it wasn't super treacherous at 1pm, it certainly became treacherous later in the day. We had winter storm conditions all day, and this morning it looked almost pretty - nice snowflakes, not too much wind. But as I was at the grocery store, the snow turned to ice. The power flickered in the grocery store, which took down several checkout registers, but luckily I escaped and made it home before anything bad happened. Still, it was a v. bleak day, and it means I'm not quite sure when the best time is to drive back to Denver given that there is much snow and many miles between here and there....

But that is a problem for another day between Thursday and Saturday - for now, it's time for bed. Goodnight!

Monday, December 28, 2020

then i stole her car and hit a hundred on the highway

I have suddenly stayed up too late, again, so I need to crawl into bed before the night gets away from me. But today was okay - I watched a couple of hours of that romance conference from a few weeks ago (there is soooo much content, but the sessions I watched tonight were really good), and I loaded some stuff up in my car for the eventual drive back to Colorado, and I ate a lot of ham.

But with that v. brief update, it's time for me to go to bed - goodnight!

Sunday, December 27, 2020

train in vain

I have once again stayed up slightly too late (although I am doing better than usual on this trip), and so I need to go to bed immediately. However, I do want to immortalize that I won Ticket to Ride tonight, so that's worth an entire blog post. And I did some work (personal work), hung out with my family, and made zucchini lasagna for dinner, so all in all it was a decently productive day. Goodnight!

Saturday, December 26, 2020

when you fall like a statue

I'm suddenly too tired to blog, so hopefully this stays somewhere on this side of the coherency line. I had a pretty lazy but pretty nice day, all in all - I spent quite a bit of time thinking about writing business stuff (watching a couple of videos I hadn't gotten to from the virtual conference I went to earlier this month, making lists, exploring some bestseller lists to see how various books/genres are marketing right now). I've been pretty checked out from the business side of writing since I've been wandering in the wilderness trying to figure out what's blocking the artistic side of my writing, but I want to get back into it in a serious way in 2021, so I'm trying to seize momentum and figure out how to tackle the next phase of my writing career.

Of course, that's not all I did - I also hung out with my family this morning, talked to Katie, took a shower, and did a family zoom call with my sister's family (her three kids, two kids-in-law, and six grandkids of varying relationship complexity made them way too porous of a 'bubble' to consider seeing in person, but at least zoom works). I took a walk outside and listened to a podcast and didn't freeze or get shot by hunters, so that was a success. And I roasted some tomatoes for my favorite Barefoot Contessa caprese salad. And even though I vowed not to, I got sucked into an episode of Letterkenny with [censored], but I limited myself to one. All in all, it was a good day, and hopefully I can carry some productivity into tomorrow.

But now I need to sleep - goodnight!

Friday, December 25, 2020

everybody wanna pass as cats

Merry Christmas! I hope that you all had a wonderful day of celebration and feasting in whatever manner you chose to pursue given that we're living in 2020 and nothing is normal. I had a lovely day - we had our usual delightfully lazy morning opening packages, and I got a lot of gadgets and cookbooks to add some new techniques to my #quarantinechef game. That's a good thing, since #quarantinechef has no real end in sight yet...but now is not the time to think about that. And I like cooking, so I will choose to focus on the positive of how much more experimenting I'm going to get to do in the next few months.

After opening presents, I took a shower and switched into almost-pajamas (my winter leggings are basically pajamas and now I live in them) for my daytime activities. We had Christmas brunch (breakfast casserole, muffins, ambrosia), which was all perfect. Then I had a v. lazy afternoon - I had to suffer through [censored] winning at Ticket to Ride again, and then I relaxed and took a long nap. For supper, we had prime rib, which was an excellent way to get some protein/iron after too many days of my own cooking (I mostly make chicken, sorry guys). All in all, it was a really nice day, and hopefully things stay nice for the rest of my trip.

After all of that, I really just wanted to go to bed - but I rallied for a late family dinner (Christmas version) that came together somewhat last-minute with Adit and Priyanka, John and Jess, and Claudia and Sam. Ritu was too tired to join and Chandlord was mysteriously absent, but it was nice to talk to everyone else - and as much as this year is ridiculous, I do enjoy that it is forcing people who live in California to include me in their social plans because all social plans happen online now.

And now, I need to sleep - I have grand plans to do a bunch of writing-related stuff tomorrow and maybe start bingeing Bridgerton (a Netflix show based on one of my favorite historical romance series from back in the day) - we shall see, we shall see. Goodnight!

Thursday, December 24, 2020

lord of the toads

No blog tonight - it's late and I left my laptop upstairs and I can't go get it because I might disturb Santa Claus. Today was good, though - I did some reading, did some planning for 2021, hung out, and made my grandma's ham balls for dinner, which turned out pretty amazing if I do say so myself.

But now I need to sleep - goodnight!

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

the greatest of teachers won't hesitate to leave you there by yourself chained to fate

Today was decent, all in all - at least I got a lot of tings accomplished, which I'll take. I woke up relatively early and did some journaling with my coffee, which is always a good way to start the day. I also ate breakfast, showered, and wrapped some presents - 'tis the season for wrapping, obvi. I thought about taking a walk, since it was over fifty degrees when I woke up - but the wind was already brutal and the temperatures were dropping all day (it was down to 25 by four p.m.), so I decided that a walk wasn't in the cards.

Eventually, my mom and I vacated the house (via car, not via walking) and drove over to my sister's house to drop off Christmas presents. We aren't getting together with her extended family due to the 'rona and the fact that her kids have partners and/or kids, and those kids go to multiple households as well, which means seeing them is like seeing a hundred people. But we dropped some stuff off for them, and it was good to see my sister for a bit, so at least there was that bit of holiday spirit.

Then my mom and I went grocery shopping to prep for the next few days of feasting. Then we came home, put tings away, and then [censored] and I drove into town to pick up takeout Mexican food. This is really the only takeout option in town, which is v. unusual compared to my extravagant takeout life in Denver - but luckily, this takeout option is excellent and I'll happily eat fajitas once a week if I need to. While we were in town, [censored] and I paused to watch a Christmas light display put together by FFA (Future Farmers of America, if you weren't aware) at the high school - they timed the lights to a Christmas song you could listen to on a specific radio frequency, and it was a delight.

Then, after supper, I said goodnight to the parents and came downstairs to wrap more gifts with [censored]. We're ahead of schedule - usually this is a late Christmas Eve activity, but we're done with the exception of some stuff that I'm wrapping for my dad (he always succeeds in conning me into wrapping the stuff he's giving my mom).

I then spent the rest of the evening writing some more Christmas cards, messing around online, and reading a book. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

thigh juice

The wind is picking up in rather dramatic fashion outside - it's always windier here than it is most places, but tonight is really bringing it. It was a very nice day for December in Iowa - over fifty degrees, and a bit windy but not so windy that I couldn't take a walk (which I did). But tomorrow the temperature is going to drop all day, and it might get down into the single digits tomorrow night, so that's something to not look forward to.

But I made good use of today, after I finally decided to get out of bed. I ate some breakfast, drank coffee, showered, etc., and eventually drove into town to drop off several boxes of stuff at the thrift store. It is weird, when juxtaposing my parallel lives, to be someplace where I usually know someone in every store I go to (in this case, the woman running the place is the mom of some girls I went to high school with + is in the same club as me and my mom)...when I'm in Denver, and also in San Francisco, that kind of connection is non-existent.

Anyway, I dropped stuff off, which was great because I've been meaning to do it for months (but was thwarted over the summer bc they were closed due to covid). I also washed my car and picked something up for my dad. Then I came home, took care of some more tings, ran back into town to pick up something else for my dad, came home, took a walk around the property, did thirty minutes of day job stuff, etc. Then we ate supper, which was mostly leftovers of the previous evenings' meals, which meant bartering (I gave up rights to all but a bite of the tater tot casserole but got the whole remaining leg/thigh from the chicken I made the other day).

Then I wrapped some presents - 5 down, many many more to go. Then I had a friendship renewal call with Jen, Jane, and Joann - we were all doing a fancy face mask (the skincare kind, not the covid kind) that Joann had recommended, and while it was fun to do it together, it was a bit ill-conceived as a video chat because the solution hardened on our faces so much that it was hard to talk. But my skin feels amazing and it was great to see them, so it was #worthit.

Then I hung out with [censored] while finishing the peach bourbon and coke zero cocktail he'd so generously provided the alcohol for (and watching Billy Joel videos, because that's what we do). And now I should consider sleeping - goodnight!

Monday, December 21, 2020

tomorrow comes with one desire

I was much more productive today than I was yesterday, but that's not saying much since yesterday was ridiculously sloth-filled. Still, I'll take today and aim to compound it tomorrow. I took care of some tings around the house, showered, etc., and then made a quick trip to town to mail something + pick up some groceries + pick up [censored] from where he had dropped his [censored]. Then I did some more stuff around the house and hung out with the parents. I also had a call with Alyssa to discuss health stuff, which was great.

Then, I ate some avocado to make up for the dinner I embarked upon making - I made tater tot casserole, and I have to say it was pretty great. I think I've perfected my gluten free recipe - since it can't take the canned soup that traditional tater tot casserole uses, I had to improvise. I tweaked a recipe that I found online, and with my tweaking I think I've stumbled upon an excellent solution. So, dinner was v. tasty, and I don't think I have to give up my Iowa card yet since I can still make tater tots.

Somewhere in there, I also stepped outside a couple of times to see the so-called Christmas star - the conjuction of Jupiter and Saturn was pretty cool. It helped that we have relatively little light pollution (although the security light over our driveway doesn't help), so I was able to see it pretty clearly. I love geeky astronomy stuff, so this was right up my alley.

After dinner, I participated in a quick zoom call for Jess's birthday (happy birthday, Jess!), then chatted with my parents for a couple of hours. Then, [censored] and I watched a bunch of SNL clips. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

Sunday, December 20, 2020

chipmunks roasting on an open fire

Apologies for not blogging last night - I meant to, but instead I stayed up way too late researching 2021 planners + texting with Riturani. So, today I was v. lazy - I didn't get out of bed until after ten, and didn't eat lunch until two, and it was really almost too lazy given that I want to get tings done on this break.

But I did write a bunch of Christmas cards (finally...they probably will not reach people by Christmas, but I didn't have a lot of time because Minted delivered my order almost ten days later than planned). And I had a v. tasty supper with my family - my mom cooked tonight, and she made a perfect roast beef with potatoes and carrots. We're alternating cooking duties; I made chicken with a bacon/parmesan/mushroom/cream sauce last night, and I think I'm cooking tomorrow night, so we'll see what I come up with. Also, I took a walk around the yard, so at least I got outside for a bit of fresh air.

Now, though, I'm tired and am going to haul myself to bed before I get too distracted by the internet - goodnight!

Friday, December 18, 2020

cutting lines and blurring truth

Today was quite lovely, all things considered. I did some desultory journaling and task completion this morning, and then I made lunch - lunch is not something my family typically eats on normal Fridays, but today wasn't a normal Friday because it's my mom's birthday. So I made that fancy wrapped chicken breast with prosciutto and goat/cream cheese, and brussels sprouts, and it was delish. Also, Aunt Kathy came down to drop a couple of tings off, and it was great to see her since I haven't seen her since sometime this summer.

So, we hung out for awhile and it was all v. nice. [censored] showed up sometime around four and is now here for the duration of the holiday, and I'm happy to see him even if it means sharing a bathroom. We ended up having Mexican takeout for dinner; it was v. tasty, and while it was great to have queso, it was sad to discover that Iowa is no longer allowing takeout margaritas (this is not technically accurate - after further research, takeout alcohol is allowed, but it has to be in a tamper-evident sealed container and not a single-use styrofoam or paper cup, which is prohibitive for a lot of restaurants).

Then, after hanging out with the parents for awhile, I came downstairs, joked around with [censored], painted my toenails and fingernails, and generally relaxed. And now it's time for bed - happy birthday to my mother and also to the Chandlord! Goodnight!

Thursday, December 17, 2020

language of strangers

IT'S VACATION, BITCHES. Today was a slog, but not a bad one, and I was done by 5:30. I perhaps didn't finish everything on my list, but I finished enough to not feel guilty about shutting my laptop. And now I'm off for 2+ weeks and I'm v excited about that.

When I was done, I hung out with my parents - my mom made steak and baked potatoes and salad, and I had some open wine, so it was quite delicious. Then we hung out and chatted in the kitchen; eventually my dad and I moved to the living room, where we discussed travel while watching a PBS show about sacred sites. My mom joined us after she finished painting her fingernails, and it was all v. cozy.

And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

ethereal stepping

One more day...and with each day I have slightly fewer meetings, since everyone is ready to be done and so things are slowly dropping off calendar. I do have several things I need to do tomorrow before I can start my break, and if I don't do them tomorrow I will need to do them in the next few days, so I have some incentive to slog hard and fast tomorrow. But we'll see whether I'm successfully able to get in the zone - right now, my energy levels are resisting the idea of ramping up to anything approaching massive productivity.

Or maybe I just don't want to be massively productive at work - I did spend the last few hours taking care of personal tings, and that felt good. And today was overall pretty decent - I slogged, but it wasn't super onerous. And my mom made tenderloins and tater tots (and green beans, in a nod toward health), and it was all excellent. So, if I can carry a tiny bit of my personal momentum into tomorrow, I may be able to end the work week/month/year strong despite the fact that 2020 has been anything but strong.

But now I need to sleep if I'm going to accomplish feats of productivity tomorrow - goodnight!

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

they'll pull the nerves out through the pores

I'm too tired to effectively blog - I had a lot of meetings today, some of which were important, and the last of which was from 10-11pm (with a team in Asia, I hope they were happy I showed up). But all in all, it was a good day, and I had some time off in the evening to make home fries / bacon / eggs for my parents and hang out in the kitchen.

But now I need to sleep so I can do some of this again tomorrow - only two more days until break. Goodnight!

Monday, December 14, 2020

[untitled]

I'm too tired to think of a title, or of any substantive updates - I slogged most of the day, and then for another hour or two tonight, although tonight's session wasn't very productive and I should have just thrown in the towel early. But I did take an evening break to eat supper (taco salad, mmm) with my parents and hang out with my mom while discussing possible things to cook next week.

Or maybe I'm not tired...maybe I'm depressed because the Olive Garden in San Francisco is closing, and I will never go on another fantastic Tuscan voyage with the usual suspects. Or I'm sad because the Cliff House is also closing, which is a beloved meeting spot for my San Francisco writing friends. 2020 keeps striking. But I have three more work days to go before vacation and I think I can survive...goodnight!

Sunday, December 13, 2020

my anxiety and money just compounds

I had a lovely day in ye olde Iowa - not sure how I'm going to motivate myself to work for the next four days, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. I didn't sleep in nearly as late as I normally do when I'm here, since I need to prep myself to still get up at a reasonable hour for at least the next week. And I was motivated to get out of bed by the knowledge that I have a new coffeemaker here - it's the same coffeemaker I have at home, and it means that I can make a pot of coffee in the morning without either making my mom move her coffee into a thermos or messing around with a french press. Yes, I'm basically buying stuff for here like it's my vacation home, but since I usually spend 6+ weeks here over the course of a year, maybe that's not so far off.

I spent most of the day hanging out with my parents and settling in, which involved unpacking, organizing my room, putting together my new desk chair, etc., etc. I also ventured into town to visit the grocery store, which was wildly uneventful. And my mom made one of my favorites for supper (cheeseburgers and fried potatoes, with a side of roasted broccoli), so I'm a happy camper.

But now, I need to go to bed so that I can slog tomorrow - goodnight!

Saturday, December 12, 2020

I know I love you and you love the sea

I have arrived safely in ye olde iowa after an uneventful drive (although my phone, which I am typing on, tried to say "infection" instead of "uneventful", so hopefully it's not more knowledgeable than I am). The actual drive time was exactly ten hours, which was excellent (since it's 680mi), but I had to make a couple of stops for bathrooms and gas, so time on the road was more like 10.5hrs. But since I didn't stop for food or any other fun, I made good time.

However, I didn't leave Denver until after ten, so it was late when I got to Iowa. But my parents were kind enough to let me in, and we hung out for a bit before they went to bed and I did a bit of settling in. And now I desperately need to sleep - goodnight!

Friday, December 11, 2020

from the coveted touch of a girl in love

No blog tonight - it's only eleven p.m., but I meant to be in bed thirty minutes ago. That hasn't happened at any point in the last three+ weeks, so it's not exactly a surprise that I'm not in bed. But I'm headed to Iowa tomorrow, barring bad weather, and so I need to get a good night's sleep so I can get up and throw some stuff in my car and head out. Note that that process will prob take me at least two hours of putzing and loading and eating and reconsidering my packing strategy, which is why I need to go to bed asap. Goodnight!

Thursday, December 10, 2020

let's go out with a bang

Five more working days until vacation through the end of the year. Today was a bit of a doozy, though - I had meetings, I had stressful emails, I had more meetings and stressful emails, and it was all a bit more than I wanted to deal with (as evidenced by the fact that I took one of those meetings while sitting in my armchair with my comfy faux fur blanket). But it wasn't bad, all in all. And I took a walk even though it was only forty degrees, so I feel impossibly smug about that epic feat.

But I didn't wrap up work until after six, at which point I was a bit fried. I talked to my parents while eating leftover shepherd's pie, and then I spent the evening taking care of tings around the house, tings on my computer, tings involving laundry, etc., etc. None of it is exciting but all of it is necessary, which is pretty much the definition of most parts of adulthood.

And now I'm going to stop staring at my screen and do some more tings to unwind before bed - goodnight!

Wednesday, December 09, 2020

i could use a hug or a handshake, i could use some drugs or a band-aid

I'm exhausted and should have gone to bed an hour ago - I slept fitfully last night and woke up too early with the knowledge that I needed to get some day job work done. Usually I'm pretty good about boundaries in the morning and focus on journaling, meditation, etc, but today I spent an hour in my pajamas with my coffee, answering email and taking care of tings. That set me up for a much better day overall, but it was still not my preferred way to spend my morning.

Then I slogged all day, with a break for leftover Indian food and a twenty-minute walk. Sometime after five, I closed my work laptop and went to get a covid test in preparation for my trip to Iowa; happily it was negative. But I had to wait in the parking lot for thirty minutes or so, so I spent that time talking to [censored]. After the test, I drove by Bookbar to pick up a book, came home, cooked some shepherd's pie that I had previously made and frozen, did a bunch of laundry, tidied things up, did some Christmas shopping, did a bit of day job work, and overall it was just a lot.

And so now hopefully I'm tired enough to sleep as I need to - goodnight!

Tuesday, December 08, 2020

cut the dead weight, burn the red tape

I was not in it to win it today - I have a headache, and my skin is so dry that my thumb spontaneously cracked, and I didn't feel like doing anything at work. However, I forced out some productivity anyway - I didn't write this morning because I had to spend that time reviewing and signing a bunch of papers for my house refinance, and I also had an earlier start than usual to record a podcast for work (not exciting, just a minor internal thing). I took a break from the day job at eleven to greet a notary - we sat in my back yard so that I could sign all the mortgage papers that needed a wet signature, and while it's strange to sign that kind of paperwork in your backyard, covid times call for covid measures. And now my refinance is confirmed, and I shaved 1.25% off my mortgage rate, so that's pretty sweet.

To celebrate, I ordered a poke bowl for lunch and ate it outside - it was sixty degrees today and I feel like I need to soak in sun while I can get it. Then I slogged. Then I snuck out slightly early (easy to do when you're sneaking out of your house and not an office, but my office was easy to sneak out of too) and ran a couple of errands and picked up a few grocery items - I don't really need much for my fridge between now and Iowa, but I picked up some eggs and some meat to throw in the freezer so that I'm ready for whatever awaits when I return.

Then I ordered Indian food because I didn't feel like cooking, and then I was v. lazy and very nearly wasted the night staring at my phone - but I rallied and read part of a book (LOVE LETTERING, which has been recommended by several people). And now I'm going to try to go to bed early enough to get a decent amount of sleep tonight and hope that resets my crankiness - goodnight!

Monday, December 07, 2020

in the stillness of remembering what you had

Do you ever stop and think about how strange life is right now? Like seriously. I am wearing a red velvet sweatsuit, which is not a thing I ever would have purchased in the beforetimes. I had a zoom call with my writer friends in California tonight, which I would not have done in the past; I would have missed them, but no one would have been zooming (I didn't even know what zoom was tbh). I spent the whole day working in the my dining room, which is now my office, except for getting excited when I got a new kind of mask delivered (spoiler: it wasn't as great as I expected) and when I took a walk around the neighborhood (to make up for the fact that my natural routine yields approx five steps per day). And I just reread my blog from March and it's cute and quaint how I had been alone for five days and wasn't sure how I was going to make it through the "month" of not going into the office that had been announced then....

sssanyway, it is what it is, and I'm weirdly happier than I've been in at least a year, possibly more, so I guess this velvet sweatsuit is good for something. Today was fine - I got up in time to write before work, then slogged all day. I had to work until six, so I didn't bother to make anything fresh for dinner - I just ate leftover pasta and brussels sprouts, then took care of some tings. And then I talked to Barbara, Anne, Grace, and Veronica for a couple of hours - Anne finally convinced me to download tiktok, which means I spent thirty minutes after the call giggling at tiktok videos and I have #noregrets.

But I will have regrets tomorrow if I don't go to bed right now - goodnight!

Sunday, December 06, 2020

tryna stream my way to a better life

I'm trying to kick the coming week off better than this last week - not that this last week was bad, but the week before I was on vacation and going to bed at one and waking up at nine like my body would prefer, and so it was brutal to get back into day job timing. So, it's 10:10pm and I'm hoping to be in bed in twenty minutes (although I may read for a bit in bed, but that's dangerous....).

Today was good, though. I got up around 7:30 and actually left my house quite early - my usual order of Philz is weirdly delayed (and by 'weirdly' I mean 'entirely to be expected because everyone is ordering tons of shit online), and so I was out of coffee. So I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, put gas in my car for the first time in many weeks, and picked up a latte and a bag of beans from Huckleberry. When I got home, I made myself an omelette and reheated some fries (from a takeout order) and green beans (from a different leftover supper), and it made for a pretty tasty breakfast.

Then I ventured out again to pick up a writing book at Bookbar - and it felt like I was a Victorian orphan looking through the window at a wonderland of forbidden treats, because I couldn't go in to browse (browsing is by appointment only) and so I just stared in the window drooling and dreaming of reading books and drinking a glass of wine (Bookbar is a bookstore / wine bar / coffee bar) until the staff found the book I had ordered. Someday, my bookstore friends, we will be reunited...

Then I came home, talked to Veronica, contemplated the story, ate some leftover Thai food, and did a bunch of outdoor work (mostly watering things that needed to be watered). I also talked to my parents, who seemed to be doing well. Then I made supper (spaghetti carbonara and some brussels sprouts, yum), talked to [censored], wrapped up some stuff from the conference I attended this weekend, made some plotting notes for my book, etc.

And now, after a productive weekend and a lot of thoughts about what I should be doing next with my writing, it's time for bed - goodnight!

Saturday, December 05, 2020

pour a little salt we were never here

I had a surprisingly productive day, which I suppose is what happens when you get up at 6:30 on a Saturday - and probably also explains why I felt like going to bed at 5pm but have managed to stay up until ten (and am now considering going to sleep immediately). I spent most of the day watching videos from a virtual writing conference - while I am still deeply sad that I'm not in a fancy hotel drinking a fancy cocktail with my fancy friends, I am guessing that I saw way more actual content today because I watched a bunch of sessions rather than slacking off to hang out with people. Some of it was a hit, some of it was a miss - but overall I'm feeling more energized about the business side of writing than I have in ages, and I'm making plans to translate that into actual progress at some point in the near future.

But I couldn't bear to stare at screens all day, so I also took care of a bunch of stuff around the house. I finally put garland and lights along the banister leading upstairs, so my hallways looks delightful. I decorated my mantel and put a bunch of stuff away, so my living rooms feels perfectly cozy. I set up a couple of temperature sensors that I've been meaning to set up (one for the garage and one for my fridge, in addition to the one in the basement) so that I can remotely keep an eye on how tings are doing in the house when I'm gone (which is never these days, but someday will happen). I got a chip in my windshield fixed.  I washed my sheets and swapped out my duvet cover, and I'm counting remaking my bed as an aerobic workout due the challenges of switching duvet covers.

I also treated myself to delivery from Ash'kara, which was delicious and I wish I could sit at the bar and drink a cocktail with Katie. I gave myself a gel manicure (red, to match the season). And I'm wearing a new velvet sweatsuit, which feels utterly ridiculous and wonderful.

And now, after recounting a list of tings I did and absolutely nothing about what I learned in my conference, I'm going to leave you on a cliffhanger (someone at the conference said to do that) and go to bed. Goodnight!

Friday, December 04, 2020

it's a promise i can't make and i won't validate

I'm sleepy and I think I need to go to bed right now - I'm technically in a virtual writing conference this morning, and it's on central time because it was supposed to be in Houston (which means I should be at the Houston Four Seasons right now, but I am not because it's the end of the world). The first session starts tomorrow at 7am and it's unclear if I will make it to that because it's recorded and so it's tempting to sleep in....but if I sleep in, there's also a chance I won't get around to watching it. So sleep and getting up seems like a better idea, but we shall see.

Today was fine - I mostly worked, although I wasn't all that productive. But at least I slept a ton last night, so my energy was better. And I ran a quick end of day errand to return things and pick up things at Nordstrom and Crate and Barrel, which is pretty much my usual shopping pattern now. Then I ordered Thai delivery for dinner, watched the evening session of the conference, talked to my parents, and generally slacked off until now.

And so now it's time for bed - goodnight!

Thursday, December 03, 2020

spiracles

Today was kind of rough - I haven't been sleeping enough, and I was having nightmares this morning, so my energy was dragging and my concentration wasn't really available. It didn't help that I had a massive number of meetings, many of which required a lot of conversation, and so I had to be on. Everything was fine and none of it was dramatic, but it was more effort than I really felt like expending today.

But I survived and it could definitely worse. However, since I was dragging, I have nothing exciting to share - although I did have one of those rare days where I ordered both lunch (poke bowl) and dinner (chicken kebab and hummus plate) because I couldn't be bothered to even heat something up. And now I'm going to stop staring at screens and unwind so I can get some real sleep tonight - goodnight!

Wednesday, December 02, 2020

falling asleep at the wheel

It's ridiculously cold today, and it's a reminder that winter isn't just coming...it's here. But in my house, it's cozy - I have bought every faux fur blanket and fleecy loungewear it's possible to buy, and I have a space heater for my office and a fireplace for my living room and flannel sheets for my bed. Yes, I have gone so hard on #treatyoself quarantine goodies that I have basically fashioned a nest for myself out of material objects to replace tings like friends and family and restaurants and travel and the ability to walk into any store without worrying about catching a communicable disease (okay, I used to worry about communicable diseases in some places, but they were mostly places that I shouldn't have been and mostly diseases related to food poisoning).

ssssanyway. Today was pretty good - I had a long but productive day at work, and I had a break around 4:30 to start a chickpea stew, which was a good thing because it took two and a half hours to simmer. This was because I started with dried chickpeas rather than canned; I had soaked them overnight, but they still took awhile to soften. But I made a chickpea and chorizo stew, the recipe for which I got from a winery in Sonoma a million years ago, when I went on a Thanksgiving weekend trip with Ritu and the guy she was dating at the time (who is not Bill). She should have known it wasn't gonna work out when she invited me to share her two-bed hotel room with her and the guy - but I got a lot of fun memories and a recipe for chickpea and chorizo stew, so it was definitely worth it for me. Editor's note on the memories, though: I completely forgot that after we went to five wineries, we had dinner at Panda Express (according to the blog), which definitely tells you that it happened in 2004 when I was still relatively poor and also eating gluten. Ah, to be that young and innocent and able to soak up wine with orange chicken.

sssanyway again. The stew was delicious, and my kitchen is now clean, and I'm pretty sure I won't cook a damn thing tomorrow. I spent the last bit of time designing my Christmas card, and I'm hopeful that it will turn out beautifully, but we shall see. And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

Tuesday, December 01, 2020

time to raise hell or walk on by

I had a v. nice day, all in all - it certainly could have been terrible, because it was grey and gloomy all day, and my house was slightly too cold and I felt like I should be hunkering down for the cold front that is moving in. But I was determined to not let that overly affect me. Granted, I had to take a nap at three, which I haven't had to do for awhile...and I'm going to doom myself to that again tomorrow if I don't go to bed immediately.

But I woke up in time to meditate and journal a bit, and also read and make coffee, and also wash my hair, so that was all a lot of accomplishment. My coffee is from my beloved Philz in San Francisco, and I had ordered a bag of a darker blend that I used to love - I wasn't loving it so much this week, but then I remembered that I used to get it 'sweet and creamy'. So I added sugar and some heavy cream that I happened to have in the fridge, and suddenly I was transported back to Palo Alto, circa 2009, when I would stop at the Philz there to write at 6pm with an ill-advised nighttime coffee to wait out traffic before heading back to the city of sin. Ah, memories.

However, the sugar probably started a sugar spike/crash cycle that continued all day, since I was craving M&Ms after my nap (I really don't crave sweets). But I had leftover chicken and potatoes at lunch, and for dinner I roasted some excellent green beans to go with the last of my (unfrozen) leftover ham balls and potatoes gratin from last week. Thus properly restored, I did a bunch of stuff this evening, including making a batch of sweet potato hash for breakfast the rest of the week, which will hopefully keep me from sugar crashing the rest of the week. I also finished a writing book that Veronica had recommended (courtesy of Anne) that I thought was excellent, so I'm looking forward to playing with some of those techniques tomorrow.

But if I'm going to do that, I need to go to bed right now - goodnight!