Getting things done
I did a large load of dishes tonight. First, I was astounded that I used so few bowls and so many spoons. Does not compute. Second, I take a great deal of pleasure in doing as many dishes as possible with as little water and the most appropriate amount of soap possible. Some people get virtuously off when they buy organic food; I enjoy aggressively conserving water. Other aggressive acts of conservation/cheapskatery: we've been using and washing and reusing the same 20 or so gallon storage bags for about three years.
In other news, June's going by very quickly. I'd worked out a complex explanation of why it feels this way, involving the long duration of the first week of June--which was a full week long--and also the pocket of business travel that interfered with my use of the Big Corporate Employer-granted summer hours (every other Friday off). I really thought I'd have a little more summer in my summer, but looking down the barrel of my remaining weeks I see a lot of plans and a little less time than I'd imagined back in May.
Anyway, with my girl in Peru I'd made myself a list of home improvements and crafty-type projects to tackle while I have lots of self time. The first was, ah, to blog regularly. So. Cross that one off. The balance:
* frame comic book (Buffy #1, signed; thanks KP!)
* have framed handpainted fabric from India (two years after acquisition!)
* reupholster chair (found it in the alley!)
* design & sew arm covers for sofa (bad kitty! no shreddy!)
* get all up under the range top on my old stove and clean all the crap left there by the previous tenants (and us...)
* clean and oil dining room table
* top the craft desk with cork
* set up sewing machine/craft table on newly corked desk
* make requested aprons (3x! Late Mother's Day, Christmas, and birthdays! Bad Nora!)
* find killer sundress pattern
* make same
* purge shoes
* organize closet
* organize storage room on back of apartment
* conduct a modest book purge; sell as many as possible via Half.com
* seal tub edge with caulked tape
* get made when this method fails epically
* buy TV from that one kid
* sell TV when it turns out to be completely not what we thought it was
* clean fridge interior
* turn moderately ratty cashmere sweater into cardigan
* turn very ratty cashmere into pillows
* turn super ratty duvet into pillows
I feel like my progress has been adequate, and if I remembered how to write the strikethrough tag in HTML, you'd also feel that way, on my behalf, as you view the many things crossed off. It's a shame I don't remember all that self-taught coding. That's for next year.
+ + +
Another thing on my list: eating breakfast. I was totally inspired by Sarah at Brood. This might not seem so big, but it is for me, for despite my firm belief that breakfast is The Most Important Meal of the Day, I cannot seem to haul my ass out of bed the sufficient five to seven minutes that a brief morning meal would require. I like to think that my first and second cups of coffee at the office are almost a meal, but that's completely delusional. So I've been making breakfast happen, and I've been successful for almost three weeks. I try for protein and speed, and I try not to, oh, slice my finger open or choke or spill on myself or anything. English muffins have been buy-one-get-one lately, so this morning I had one with goat cheese and honey and tomorrow I will eat one with peanut butter. Some mornings I have a hard boiled egg and a ton of fruit.
And what's the freaking deal with fruit salad? I would never sit down and eat a banana, 12 strawberries, a handful of frozen raspberries, and two kiwi fruit - that's a ton of fruit at once, and, having grown up lower middle class, I find eating that much fruit a little decadent. But I will readily scarf that amount of fruit in a fruit salad.
My breakfast has a first name, it's NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM.
In other news, June's going by very quickly. I'd worked out a complex explanation of why it feels this way, involving the long duration of the first week of June--which was a full week long--and also the pocket of business travel that interfered with my use of the Big Corporate Employer-granted summer hours (every other Friday off). I really thought I'd have a little more summer in my summer, but looking down the barrel of my remaining weeks I see a lot of plans and a little less time than I'd imagined back in May.
Anyway, with my girl in Peru I'd made myself a list of home improvements and crafty-type projects to tackle while I have lots of self time. The first was, ah, to blog regularly. So. Cross that one off. The balance:
* frame comic book (Buffy #1, signed; thanks KP!)
* have framed handpainted fabric from India (two years after acquisition!)
* reupholster chair (found it in the alley!)
* design & sew arm covers for sofa (bad kitty! no shreddy!)
* get all up under the range top on my old stove and clean all the crap left there by the previous tenants (and us...)
* clean and oil dining room table
* top the craft desk with cork
* set up sewing machine/craft table on newly corked desk
* make requested aprons (3x! Late Mother's Day, Christmas, and birthdays! Bad Nora!)
* find killer sundress pattern
* make same
* purge shoes
* organize closet
* organize storage room on back of apartment
* conduct a modest book purge; sell as many as possible via Half.com
* seal tub edge with caulked tape
* get made when this method fails epically
* buy TV from that one kid
* sell TV when it turns out to be completely not what we thought it was
* clean fridge interior
* turn moderately ratty cashmere sweater into cardigan
* turn very ratty cashmere into pillows
* turn super ratty duvet into pillows
I feel like my progress has been adequate, and if I remembered how to write the strikethrough tag in HTML, you'd also feel that way, on my behalf, as you view the many things crossed off. It's a shame I don't remember all that self-taught coding. That's for next year.
+ + +
Another thing on my list: eating breakfast. I was totally inspired by Sarah at Brood. This might not seem so big, but it is for me, for despite my firm belief that breakfast is The Most Important Meal of the Day, I cannot seem to haul my ass out of bed the sufficient five to seven minutes that a brief morning meal would require. I like to think that my first and second cups of coffee at the office are almost a meal, but that's completely delusional. So I've been making breakfast happen, and I've been successful for almost three weeks. I try for protein and speed, and I try not to, oh, slice my finger open or choke or spill on myself or anything. English muffins have been buy-one-get-one lately, so this morning I had one with goat cheese and honey and tomorrow I will eat one with peanut butter. Some mornings I have a hard boiled egg and a ton of fruit.
And what's the freaking deal with fruit salad? I would never sit down and eat a banana, 12 strawberries, a handful of frozen raspberries, and two kiwi fruit - that's a ton of fruit at once, and, having grown up lower middle class, I find eating that much fruit a little decadent. But I will readily scarf that amount of fruit in a fruit salad.
My breakfast has a first name, it's NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM.
Labels: breakfast, cheapskate, craft, home life, lists, summer, toil
posted by Nora Rocket at 10:50 PM
2 Comments:
How long have I been eating breakfast and extolling the virtues thereof? And it took some OTHER bro(a)d to convince you that you needed it?
I recently upped my fiber intake. I've never felt so...eh hem...normal.
You're totally right - but at the time, I was less receptive! Oh, for the genetic predisposition of Rockets everywhere: pigheaded. I consider it to be another step in my evolution to ADULT that I am getting up on time, eating breakfast, and getting to work before the appointed hour, if you can believe it.
Congrats on the fiber. I'm a big proponent thereof. And this marks the second time on the second blog in three days that I've spoken about the elimination habits of someone else. The true promise of the Internet has finally been fully realized!
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