[Sylvaa]

Last week was all over the place and was partly a dumpster fire. Yay.

• We finally got to celebrate the baby's 3rd birthday this weekend. We were going to do it last weekend, but there was an expected snowstorm so we moved it. We did pulled pork and mac and cheese. It was amazing. It was also just family, so not horrible in terms of being around people.
• We also played D&D with our group on Saturday night. It went well. We started up in our dining room area, then when it was time for the baby to go to bed, we moved to our downstairs area (we have our old dining room table in the basement set up for D&D - it's just colder down there). It was much smoother than the last time we tried to play here.
• I had a file get dumped on me last week that ended up taking up a full day and a half. I realized at about the day mark that there was an easier way for me to deal with the file, which was frustrating, but at least it was done. It was also frustrating because I should have had this file back in December, but no one thought about sending my way. It created an issue for the system I am supporting. But to be honest, I just kind of washed my hands of it. At this point, if the people I am supporting don't understand how the process works and what I need to make sure the process happens, I can't really do anything about that (we've been working with them almost two years).
• We also found out in week 2 that a file that was supposed to have been sent over to a supplier wasn't. And the expectation was that we would send it over in week 3. However, my coworker who is supposed to be managing that process didn't touch it until Thursday afternoon / Friday morning of week 3, so of course as of the beginning of week 4, it's not with the supplier. I'm partly mad at my coworker, because I shouldn't HAVE to micro-manage, but also partly mad at myself for NOT micro-managing. We are meeting later today to make sure it's ready to go out.
• Our gym flooring came in late last week and we started setting it up. The flooring fits pretty perfectly in the space, however we do need to figure out how we are going to have the rower and other pieces set up as it's a foam material, so the heavier pieces will mark it. It's definitely warmer than the concrete, but we'll still have to get a deadlifting platform to protect the floor. I'll have a better review as we use it, but so far, I'm happy for the price. 
• I'm thinking of not counting house tomatoes. My main goals are to get into a cleaning routine for the main floor to keep it looking nice and to have a strategy for completing non-weekly house tasks (i.e. cleaning things like the dishwasher, washing machine, and vacuum). But I don't really have my tomatoes ordered in a way that compares. So I'm thinking of just creating a spreadsheet and checking off everything and being done with it. I'm just not as into it without the internet on my personal computer (I hate doing things like that on my phone, but I might have to start). 
• Did I say I got back on the scale the other week? I did. It's a little higher than I want (even accounting for shark week fluctuations), but it's not as bad as I was afraid it was going to be. I would prefer it to be about 5 pounds lower than it is, but considering this would also account for holiday weight, I'm pretty happy. 

[Ann of Owlshire]

I’m catching up with Adventurer threads. Congratulations on moving to the new house! And 2 acres, and the gardening plans sound great!  I’m totally behind NF Hobbiton, and anyway I think Adventuring is even more wonderful when you know you have a lovely home base to return to!

 

I’m sorry your daughter has been relying on you all to look after the little for her. I’m a bit envious of the support she has while she’s struggling, but I guess if she’s accustomed to it, she probably doesn’t realize how lucky she is 🍀

 

I like your Tomatoes idea! I do something similar, but I like how you tally it by week rather than by day… maybe that’s something I should try… some days are usually better than others, after all. 

 

 

[Sylvaa]

6 minutes ago, Ann of Owlshire said:

I’m sorry your daughter has been relying on you all to look after the little for her. I’m a bit envious of the support she has while she’s struggling, but I guess if she’s accustomed to it, she probably doesn’t realize how lucky she is 🍀

 

I read your thread about dealing with sickness while your Mister was away. As a former single mom, I know how hard it can be, even if it's for a day. I've been working on being more verbal about when I can and can't help with him, which isn't making a difference right now, but I'm hoping it will.

 

17 minutes ago, Ann of Owlshire said:

I like your Tomatoes idea! I do something similar, but I like how you tally it by week rather than by day… maybe that’s something I should try… some days are usually better than others, after all.

 

Yeah, I technically have a tomato goal per day (8 work-wise), but I find that it is pretty unrealistic for me to hit it on a daily goal. I know that if I don't hit my daily goal, at the end of the week, I'm going to have a lot of additional things to do, so it keeps me more or less on schedule. I also know that technically most tomato timers are 25 minutes (which would make 16 tomatoes a reasonable goal), but I have a lot of meetings that are an hour in length, so I'd prefer to count them as one instead of two, so 8 it is. Once I'm in the habit of hitting all my weekly goals, I'd like to increase (to like 50 per week for work), but I need to focus on hitting my goals consistently before increasing.

 

Home-wise, tomatoes are harder based on the new house layout. Our main living area is open concept, so do I count that as one large space (for sweeping / mopping) or three (kitchen, dining, living room)? Do I count laundry as one tomato for doing all the laundry, do I count each load as an individual tomato, or do I count each step in the process as a tomato? I'm not certain what the best solution is, but as long as I'm getting everything done, I'm not too concerned. 

[Sylvaa]

Sylvaa is cranky. This week has been meeting heavy. Like 7.5 hours on Tuesday and 10 different meetings today. 

 

Sylvaa is spent. There is no Sylvaa, only puddle.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

2 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

Sylvaa is cranky. This week has been meeting heavy. Like 7.5 hours on Tuesday and 10 different meetings today. 

 

Sylvaa is spent. There is no Sylvaa, only puddle.

That is too many meetings. That many meetings is wrong.

[Snarkyfishguts]

2 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

That is too many meetings. That many meetings is wrong.

Agreed. That's horrible.  I hope tomorrow is NO meetings

[Endor]

On 1/25/2022 at 1:58 AM, Sylvaa said:

• Did I say I got back on the scale the other week? I did. It's a little higher than I want (even accounting for shark week fluctuations), but it's not as bad as I was afraid it was going to be. I would prefer it to be about 5 pounds lower than it is, but considering this would also account for holiday weight, I'm pretty happy. 

Winning! You're supposed to have a bit of extra insulation in winter anyway

[Sciread77]

On 1/19/2022 at 2:06 PM, Sylvaa said:

 

I guess I haven't talked too much about my gardening plans. Yes! I'm fully talking about a fruit and veggie garden, not flowers. We're planning on getting a few fruit trees (apples, cherries, plums, and apricot) to plant along the back side of the property and then next to the house we are landscaping stairs to the basement entrance and then putting in raised planter beds around them, with trellises around. Current plans include lettuce, tomato, carrots, potatoes, green onions, melons, squash, zucchini, garlic, assorted herbs, assorted berries, and whatever else I can find seeds for that grow. We are also doing some landscaping around the house and I'm including witch hazel, American hazelnut, elderberry, juniper, and American ginseng in the list of shrubs to include. And milkweed. Because monarchs.

 

My goal is to try to grow a good portion of the fruits and veggies that we eat (and also can / freeze what we can to use through the winter months) and include native plant species as much as possible. I'm also making sure to not include invasive species. Because it's kind of who I am as a person.

 

My dad (my mom and dad are building next door) is also planning on getting at least one bee hive too. 

This makes me so happy to hear. I know you’ve been looking forward to this!

 

On 1/19/2022 at 3:43 PM, Sylvaa said:

I feel like the Adventurer's guild is slowly turning into Hobbiton.

Yesss… it is all going according to plan. 
 

On 1/23/2022 at 4:42 PM, oromendur said:

 

I can (for obvious reasons) totally get behind this 

 

After all, the Shire is basically paradise. 

[Sciread77]

On 1/27/2022 at 5:50 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

That is too many meetings. That many meetings is wrong.

 

On 1/27/2022 at 9:35 PM, Endor said:

Winning! You're supposed to have a bit of extra insulation in winter anyway

And the vast majority of meetings could have been an email. Or involve fewer people. I’m tired just reading about it. 

[Endor]

7 hours ago, Sciread77 said:

And the vast majority of meetings could have been an email. Or involve fewer people. I’m tired just reading about it. 

Sounds interesting,  we should schedule a meeting to discuss that. 

[Sylvaa]

1 hour ago, Endor said:

9 hours ago, Sciread77 said:

And the vast majority of meetings could have been an email. Or involve fewer people. I’m tired just reading about it. 

Sounds interesting,  we should schedule a meeting to discuss that. 

 

I keep telling people that I am not important enough for so many meetings and they keep not listening!

 

What other way to end a busy week than to have a busy weekend. Friday, I ended up getting done with work in just enough time to throw on some relatively nice clothes and go with my daughter, mother, and MIL to another sign making workshop (my daughter works at one of those places where you get pieces of wood to stain, then paint and she likes to go with the family). It's not really my thing, but it's important to the rest of the family that goes, so I do it. 

 

Saturday was spent cleaning. I should have been prepared to pick up groceries, but with the Friday night plans, everything got bumped. We actually went to the grocery store on Sunday. It wasn't bad, but it also reminds me why I like to order grocery pick-up. Both of my girls had their bf's over this weekend to hang out, so that was extra people just around. Other than Friday, it wasn't really any busier than any other weekend, but after the past week, I really needed more quiet time than I got. I've already told the kids that this week would be super low key for everything. 

 

We also had a fairly close encounter with the deer herd in our neighborhood Thursday night. The dog was going crazy, so my husband turned on our back porch light. The deer were JUST on the edge of the light, but there were 5 - 8 of the suckers really close to the house. Coming back from our workshop Friday night, we actually had the deer herd on both sides of the road. It's kind of cool to have so many so close, but also not that great for garden designing. 

[Shello]

Hopefully those meetings were isolated and that trend doesn't continue.  I'm usually spent after days like that.  I feel like it should be a trade off, I'm not doing any of the regular 'work' because the meetings are the work you are accomplishing but they are exhausting! 

[Snarkyfishguts]

I don’t like deer getting too close to the house either. they bring too many problems. But it IS cool to see the nasty buggers

[Sylvaa]

Last update of the challenge for the last week of the challenge.

• My morning routine for the time being is set. Having the dishes put away in the morning is really nice because it really does make the kitchen look nicer (thanks Fly Lady). I still feel like I should do more, even though I don't have to. But I'm sure I'll get over that. 
  • There is kind of a balance here. The earlier I get moving, the greater potential the baby is going to want to be with me. Which means the less I can get done. 
• Work tomatoes have been going just fine. I'm consistently meeting my goal. I want to either increase that goal or have a separate meeting vs work set up for next challenge. I'm debating the merits of each one. 
• The house is regularly getting cleaned. I will never be one of those people who likes cleaning, but I do recognize there is something really nice about having a cleaned house. 
• I hit a daily active streak. It wasn't anything crazy any of those days, but I did something. I've been doing a Darebee program with my husband, running, and using an app (not all three every day, just in combination to hit my goals). Tonight, I am going to a different gym to potentially sign up. They have different classes every day, which I am very excited about. 

[Endor]

On 2/1/2022 at 1:17 AM, Sylvaa said:

It's kind of cool to have so many so close, but also not that great for garden designing. 

I'd imagine they would love to eat the (yet to be planted) veggies!

 

How much Ketchup did you make in the end?! 🙃 

[Sylvaa]

16 hours ago, Endor said:

How much Ketchup did you make in the end?! 🙃 

 

I'm more of a red sauce girl myself.