Long Overdue Post
Ugh. Too busy to be around LJ as much as I had wanted.
Last Saturday was our annual winter holiday bash. The two weeks leading up to that was me doing a major house cleaning and generally getting stuff ready for the party. It was fine. Fun. Over.
Once the party was past and recovery in hand, I had to finish gift shopping and errand running and all the stuff that had been pushed to the backburner. Like writing. Scout left on Monday afternoon with two of her BFFs to the hobby farm of the grandparents of one of the girls. Three days to myself!
Unfortunately I underestimated the length of time it took to cross off items on my Shit That Needs To Get Done List, and I got almost no writing done. I was able to gain some familiarity with Scrivener and get character sketches and plot outlines typed in, so not a total waste, but I am disappointed my downtime was spent tied up in traffic, wading through crowds of fellow last-minute shoppers at Target World Market Best Buy Victoria Secret Dicks Off Broadway Macys WHY Louisville, waiting in line at the Post Office. Wrapping gifts, once they were all purchased, took at least three hours. Partly because diving into the mess in the basement to find boxes of appropriate size and shape that weren't moldy took forever. Partly because my mother bought Scout a bunch of painting supplies and had them shipped straight to us. Awesome of her, but lots of work for me. Not just the wrapping (at least I didn't have to worry about digging up boxes for that stuff) but the detritus of packing materials and having to break down several very large cardboard boxes into pieces that the recycling pick-up will pick up.
And of course the usual time sink of owning eight animals, getting holiday cards out, grocery, frantically knitting gifts for my parents and sisters. BUT it is ALL DONE! Not all...family members have already been informed their gifts will arrive late. But most of my knitting is done, so now I can write. Tomorrow after I run and shower, I am shutting myself in my room and will not come out until I've organized everything I've gotten into Scrivener so far. It's going to be the only opportunity for uninterrupted writing for most of the weekend. And I plan to take advantage. Stuart and Scout are going shopping for me. Quiet house, no reason to leave.
I really need to figure out a more workable way to balance my household obligations with writing. Writing always gets pushed back--it must gain a greater importance, but I also can't neglect the pets and Scout and food etc. It's only going to get worse because in three weeks or less I'll start my job. I'll demand more equitable sharing of chores with Stuart and Scout, but I need to maximize my time in ways I haven't had to do since I had an infant. I'm sorely out of practice.
Last night we went to the space my friends are renovating for their restaurant (the place I'll be working at) to check it out. They are having the soft opening on January 13th and I can't get over how much work they have until then. It looks great so far! But sooooo much work left.
Tomorrow night we have a party to go to, Saturday is brunch at the Smiths, Christmas Eve is when we do our nice meal (Fondue Bourguignonne this year). Busy but fun.
That's it for now. Have a good night, F-List!
Last Saturday was our annual winter holiday bash. The two weeks leading up to that was me doing a major house cleaning and generally getting stuff ready for the party. It was fine. Fun. Over.
Once the party was past and recovery in hand, I had to finish gift shopping and errand running and all the stuff that had been pushed to the backburner. Like writing. Scout left on Monday afternoon with two of her BFFs to the hobby farm of the grandparents of one of the girls. Three days to myself!
Unfortunately I underestimated the length of time it took to cross off items on my Shit That Needs To Get Done List, and I got almost no writing done. I was able to gain some familiarity with Scrivener and get character sketches and plot outlines typed in, so not a total waste, but I am disappointed my downtime was spent tied up in traffic, wading through crowds of fellow last-minute shoppers at Target World Market Best Buy Victoria Secret Dicks Off Broadway Macys WHY Louisville, waiting in line at the Post Office. Wrapping gifts, once they were all purchased, took at least three hours. Partly because diving into the mess in the basement to find boxes of appropriate size and shape that weren't moldy took forever. Partly because my mother bought Scout a bunch of painting supplies and had them shipped straight to us. Awesome of her, but lots of work for me. Not just the wrapping (at least I didn't have to worry about digging up boxes for that stuff) but the detritus of packing materials and having to break down several very large cardboard boxes into pieces that the recycling pick-up will pick up.
And of course the usual time sink of owning eight animals, getting holiday cards out, grocery, frantically knitting gifts for my parents and sisters. BUT it is ALL DONE! Not all...family members have already been informed their gifts will arrive late. But most of my knitting is done, so now I can write. Tomorrow after I run and shower, I am shutting myself in my room and will not come out until I've organized everything I've gotten into Scrivener so far. It's going to be the only opportunity for uninterrupted writing for most of the weekend. And I plan to take advantage. Stuart and Scout are going shopping for me. Quiet house, no reason to leave.
I really need to figure out a more workable way to balance my household obligations with writing. Writing always gets pushed back--it must gain a greater importance, but I also can't neglect the pets and Scout and food etc. It's only going to get worse because in three weeks or less I'll start my job. I'll demand more equitable sharing of chores with Stuart and Scout, but I need to maximize my time in ways I haven't had to do since I had an infant. I'm sorely out of practice.
Last night we went to the space my friends are renovating for their restaurant (the place I'll be working at) to check it out. They are having the soft opening on January 13th and I can't get over how much work they have until then. It looks great so far! But sooooo much work left.
Tomorrow night we have a party to go to, Saturday is brunch at the Smiths, Christmas Eve is when we do our nice meal (Fondue Bourguignonne this year). Busy but fun.
That's it for now. Have a good night, F-List!