[juliebarkley]

No matter how many or how few flowers you plant in your garden, you will eventually want to do some work with them that is not about planting more. Spruce up the borders. Build an automatic watering system. Make nicer pathways. Heck, build a cute picnic table that you can eat some of those home-grown veggies at. This is that time.

 

I noted WAY back, not long after I first joined if I recall correctly, that my challenge items tend to fall into the "habit" or the "goal" category, and that mixing both tends to mean I succeed on goals but fail spectacularly on my habits. Probably this is because habits are harder and more nebulous in their benefit and wanting, and they are never completed, whereas goals have normally a more urgent (or at least current) reason for coming about, you can throw yourself into them for hours at a time, there's an end date, and you get something out of it at the end.

 

And I like to front-load my work, because I am lazy like that. If I can put in some time to automate a thing so that I either never have to do it again or it is forever easier somehow, this is HIGHLY motivating for me, as my day of building out my work dashboard at the end of the last challenge proved. But committing to doing something forever without end feels like the exact opposite of that. It is adding work to my life.

 

So I'm going to take a page from @KeysMcGee, and my own past challenges, this time around. I'm going to focus on goals that I can (hopefully) complete in this challenge time period. I will also have some habit-based stuff thrown in, because I never learn. But I am going to try to frame them more like goals.

 

Anyway. Here we go.

 

Goals

1. Sort out my investments.

Pretty sure I have had this on the list before and didn't finish on the follow-through. I built a plan a couple of challenges ago with categories and percentages and everything! Now I just need to apply it.

 

This goal has three steps:

1. Finish moving money. There is a limit to how much can be moved per day, and some things I need to watch with moving things between accounts. The money that should be in investments accounts is not yet all there.
2. Research categories. For each category, pick one ETF. Two or more if there is a good reason for it (but do not get lost looking for the perfect in the good! That can come later!).
3. Purchase things. Self-explanatory.

 

 

2. Fix my bicycle.

I have an electric bike. It's a bit of a mess right now. Needs a new battery, issues with the tube. I've wanted to get it rideable again ever since we moved here (and indeed before), but I cannot motivate myself to work on this in an unheated room in the winter. I know this as surely as I know my own name. This is a summer-or-bust job.

 

This goal has three parts. Not so much steps; they can be worked on independently and each have multiple parts, but we started with a numbered list so we're sticking with it:

1. Fix the battery. This basically involves getting a new battery (or two), wiring it in, and disposing of the old one(s). This is both an exciting project and a frightening one. My father was an electrician. I have respect for electric current.
2. Fix the tires. The tube in one of the tires (possibly both) has a slow leak. When repaired, it returns. So the last time I rode this bike, I would just pump it up before I went out, and that would normally last the day, but it would be flat in a day or two. (I did take the pump with me.) I am not 100% sure what the issue is, but I have some ideas to test. This step is done when both tires hold air for a reasonable length of time after a ride.
3. General maintenance spruce-up. check the brakes. Check the cables. Oil things a little. See if the chain needs replacing. The usual stuff.

 

 

3. Finish knitting scarf.

I have a commission to knit a scarf. I have already been paid. I set the deadline in the contract I wrote for the end of August. The buyer has extended it into December, but if I can honour my original terms, I will feel better.

 

This project has but one step, but the step is easily broken down into measurable pieces. I am currently at row 325 of 780. A little more than 40%. Two rows takes approximately 3-3.5 minutes to knit, so I need to average about 30 minutes per day in order to finish "on time".

 

 

Habits

Many of the habit things from last challenge that weren't going well were lacking a trigger, or had a bad one. I need to apply the Tiny Habit spirit of experimentation here, rather than just complaining that I need a good trigger and then doing nothing about it as I have been.

 

So my habit goal for this challenge is to take one goal per week that has not been consistent (or even existent), and play with its parameters. Try a new prompt. Turn it from a starter action into a scaled-back behaviour, or vice versa. Think about what makes this action difficult. Change the habit entirely to something that better meets the intention behind the habit. And so on. I took notes. I just haven't been applying them.

 

And I plan to continue the habits I already have (or like to believe I do). The ones I will track will be getting rid of one thing per day, exercise in some form (probably GMB), and reading and posting on NF  (this last one will be one of the weekly items to work on, but it can stay here in the meantime).

 

So there we are. Three goals, one "goal", and three continuing habits. It is enough.

 

Happy challenge everyone!

[WhiteGhost]

Here to see you habitually crush those goals

[KeysMcGee]

I love this challenge.  Following.

 

4 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

• Finish moving money. There is a limit to how much can be moved per day, and some things I need to watch with moving things between accounts. The money that should be in investments accounts is not yet all there.
• Research categories. For each category, pick one ETF. Two or more if there is a good reason for it (but do not get lost looking for the perfect in the good! That can come later!).
• Purchase things. Self-explanatory.

 

If you're open to recommendations, I'm a big believer in keeping things simple in this realm. One stock ETF and one bond ETF, and (in general, but it depends on your objectives) most of your stuff in stocks. VOO is my go-to stock ETF (low fees, it's passively managed, and has broad market exposure). Problem is that VOO costs a bit much, so I park my cash in a cheaper stock ETF (I just pick an okay-looking one) until I can afford it. Don't know if that's an ideal strategy, but it's good enough. BND is my Bond ETF for similar reasons.

[Mad Hatter]

20 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

If I can put in some time to automate a thing so that I either never have to do it again or it is forever easier somehow, this is HIGHLY motivating for me

Spirit of a software developer. 😄

[juliebarkley]

21 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Here to see you habitually crush those goals

Always lovely to have you on board.

 

18 hours ago, KeysMcGee said:

I love this challenge.  Following.

 

If you're open to recommendations, I'm a big believer in keeping things simple in this realm. One stock ETF and one bond ETF, and (in general, but it depends on your objectives) most of your stuff in stocks. VOO is my go-to stock ETF (low fees, it's passively managed, and has broad market exposure). Problem is that VOO costs a bit much, so I park my cash in a cheaper stock ETF (I just pick an okay-looking one) until I can afford it. Don't know if that's an ideal strategy, but it's good enough. BND is my Bond ETF for similar reasons.

Welcome!

 

My personal strategy doesn't really use bonds. I have a small allocation to preferred shares, but my stocks are heavily geared towards dividend income. This provides a similar stability of income in the face of stock market volatility that bonds would, but in a different way.

 

Plus I'm in Canada, so American ETFs often don't make sense for tax reasons (both withholding and income). I have a margin account, a TFSA (I think similar to a Roth IRA), and an RRSP (more like a 401k). They all have different tax rules about Canadian dividends, US dividends, other foreign dividends, interest.... It just makes sense for me to buy different ETF for different kinds of things so that I can stash them in the appropriate places. And the few all-in-ones available here don't have asset allocations that make sense to me and are structured in an odd way. So I plan to build my own.

 

2 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Spirit of a software developer. 😄

Automate all the things! There no moral superiority in doing more work than you need to. It just means you never bothered to think if there's a better way.

 

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Goals

1. Sort out my investments.

1. Finish moving money. Moved what I could (there is a daily limit).
2. Research categories. No.
3. Purchase things. Dependent on step 2.

 

2. Fix my bicycle.

1. Fix the battery. I need to work out what type of battery I need, and find some plan for how to change them out. This requires some research time, and today was not a day that gave me time. I will be able to work on this Friday at the earliest.
2. Fix the tires. This one requires both time and light, because my workspace has non-existent artificial lighting. I didn't get home until 8:30 today, so this was not going to happen. This will also likely not be possible until Friday at the earliest.
3. General maintenance spruce-up. Less time-consuming, but still needs light. Also makes more sense to do after the tires are fixed, since the fiddling may affect brakes and such.

 

3. Finish knitting scarf.

One podcast's worth of knitting done puts me at row 343 of 780.

 

 

Habits

 

Play with the parameters of one goal per week. I have chosen the goal (reading and posting on NF challenges), chosen because at the start of last challenge I actually did set the goal up with a meaningful Tiny Habit setup, which I then promptly forgot. I didn't choose the goal until a few minutes ago though, so I have not thought about how it could be tweaked today. I did remember though, that I had one challenge where this was very successful, and the thing that I did was to not post on my own challenge until I had posted on someone else's. I encouraged this by not leaving a tab open with my own challenge, so that when I posted on someone else's I would then see my post with my Current Challenge link in the sidebar, and could use that to get to my own challenge. Basically, changing my environment by making going straight to my own harder.

 

Get rid of one thing per day. More recipe cards.

 

Exercise every day. Nope. Nothing here.

 

Read and post on NF. Also nope.

 

Time after getting home was a bit tight (have to go to bed earlier than normal to get the cat to the vet) and I was pretty sure I wouldn't hit everything. I was right. But it feels like good momentum going forward.

 

Have a nice relaxing marble run to ease you to sleep, bring peace after a busy workday, or for whatever calm you may need in the moment you are in.
 

Spoiler

 

 

[Mad Hatter]

1 hour ago, juliebarkley said:

Automate all the things! There no moral superiority in doing more work than you need to. It just means you never bothered to think if there's a better way.

True. But also this 😅

 

[KeysMcGee]

6 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Plus I'm in Canada, so American ETFs often don't make sense for tax reasons (both withholding and income). I have a margin account, a TFSA (I think similar to a Roth IRA), and an RRSP (more like a 401k). They all have different tax rules about Canadian dividends, US dividends, other foreign dividends, interest.... It just makes sense for me to buy different ETF for different kinds of things so that I can stash them in the appropriate places. And the few all-in-ones available here don't have asset allocations that make sense to me and are structured in an odd way. So I plan to build my own

 

I respect it. I should do better about asking questions instead of offering advice off the top of my head but...hey, where's the fun in that? 😉

 

Does Canada do the double-taxing of corporate dividends like the US does? 

 

4 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

True. But also this 😅

 

 

I have a manager at work who routinely puts an inordinate amount of effort into the perfect optimization scheme for whatever task du jour. He needs to see this diagram.

[Everstorm]

On 7/25/2023 at 2:38 AM, juliebarkley said:

Probably this is because habits are harder and more nebulous in their benefit and wanting, and they are never completed, whereas goals have normally a more urgent (or at least current) reason for coming about, you can throw yourself into them for hours at a time, there's an end date, and you get something out of it at the end

This 💯 

 

I hope you will share pix of the scarf when it is completed!

[juliebarkley]

21 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

True. But also this 😅

 

Yes well.... fiddling with the setup is a lot more fun than doing the actual work....

 

I know this trap though. 😅But being aware of it, I hope not to fall to it.

 

16 hours ago, KeysMcGee said:

I respect it. I should do better about asking questions instead of offering advice off the top of my head but...hey, where's the fun in that? 😉

 

Does Canada do the double-taxing of corporate dividends like the US does? 

It's totally fine. It's perfectly fine and decent advice that I have given my own relatives who are currently paying way too much for "financial planning" that just puts them in mutual funds with too-high MERs because handling it on their own is "too scary" and they "can't".

 

Yes, but for domestic (eligible) dividends in a taxable account, the dividend amount is grossed up on the tax form to counter that (leaving them with favourable tax treatment in the end). Foreign dividends are subject to withholding tax, which can be partially reclaimed from some countries (if in a taxable account), but this is waived for US dividends in an RRSP.

 

16 hours ago, Everstorm said:

I hope you will share pix of the scarf when it is completed!

I can. It is the same scarf model but in different colours that I posted in a challenge a couple or three rounds ago, so if you have seen those, you will be disappointed by the sameness.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goals

1. Sort out my investments.

1. Finish moving money. More moving happened. I have 3-4 more lots to move before this step is done.
2. Research categories. No.
3. Purchase things. Dependent on step 2.

 

2. Fix my bicycle.

1. Fix the battery. No.
2. Fix the tires. No.
3. General maintenance spruce-up. No.

 

3. Finish knitting scarf.

Nothing today.

 

 

Habits

 

Play with the parameters of one goal per week. I tried not posting in my own until I read and posted elsewhere, and by gum it worked! I don't think this is a technique I can use every day, but it gives just enough of a push to get me to do the thing (especially with fresh new challenges easy to find and short to read).

 

Get rid of one thing per day. Some papery things. Nothing exciting.

 

Exercise every day. Yes. My legs were getting antsy, so I took that as a cue to stop the computing and MOVE.

 

Read and post on NF. I did!

 

About an hour after I got to work, we lost power. Now, the sky looked like rain was pending, but there had been no rain, no lightning, and no sign of any reason for the power to be out. Yet, out it was, and out it stayed. (This time, our manager was not on vacation, so we did not have to rely on the unreliable non-emergency line). When we got word that it wouldn't be back for at least two hours, we were redeployed to work at home for the rest of our shifts. This is the first time I have ever been sent to work at home (emergency early pandemic measures do not count), which was very exciting for me.

So home I went, and got lots of stuff done. I now have many books on order for my September storytime programs, and am starting to remember the books I have liked and how I build things out. I tweaked my new dashboard (but only in ways that made sense once I started entering data!). I thought of more places to get ideas, activities, and resources, and started making a plan for these. And I found some tasks that are currently at work, just because of the present file situation. So this glorious uninterrupted time helped me to figure out which tasks should be done where, and I am more confident for my upcoming programs. Thank you, power outage!

[Cheetah]

Happy Challenge!

[juliebarkley]

18 hours ago, Cheetah said:

Happy Challenge!

Thankee!

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goals

1. Sort out my investments.

1. Finish moving money. Uh, no. Oops.
2. Research categories. No.
3. Purchase things. Dependent on step 2.

 

2. Fix my bicycle.

1. Fix the battery. No.
2. Fix the tires. No.
3. General maintenance spruce-up. No.

 

3. Finish knitting scarf.

Nothing today.

 

 

Habits

 

Play with the parameters of one goal per week. The post-elsewhere technique is actually working for me! Only two days in, but still. Might not need further tweaking.

 

Get rid of one thing per day. Old computer documentation. Like, the quickstart guide that came with my 1998 lime iMac. (I kept the troubleshooting guide though, because I remember the Classic OS well enough to remember what a PITA extension conflicts were.)

 

Exercise every day. I took a walk after I finished my Duolingo rather than get back on the computer. This was the right choice - if I had waited, it would not have happened.

 

Read and post on NF. Yes.

 

No fancy power outage and work-from-home today. Just regular boring stuff at work and at home, plus lots of flipping through the library catalogue in both locations to find and order picture books I remember liking for storytime.

[shaar]

On 7/25/2023 at 2:38 AM, juliebarkley said:

take one goal per week that has not been consistent (or even existent), and play with its parameters. Try a new prompt. Turn it from a starter action into a scaled-back behaviour, or vice versa. Think about what makes this action difficult. Change the habit entirely to something that better meets the intention behind the habit. And so on.

 

 

This is exceedingly mindful and I love this goal! 😮 Super interested to see how it works for you over time - so far it seems to be going good yeah?

[juliebarkley]

On 7/28/2023 at 8:19 AM, shaar said:

This is exceedingly mindful and I love this goal! 😮 Super interested to see how it works for you over time - so far it seems to be going good yeah?

So far yes, but I have only really tried something that I had some success with in the past, so minimal trialling, really.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday's update today:

 

Moved some money and did very small and incidental amount of ETF research. Went out for walks twice, once carrying something. Read but didn't post. Got rid of all five season of the Kids in the Hall. Nothing done on bike or knitting.

[juliebarkley]

Guys, I have done nothing - literally NOTHING - other than work on marking picture books for work today while listening to podcasts. (Doing it at home because it's total overkill for what I actually need to do, but I want to do it.) Not gonna do anything else until this is done, either. REALLY hoping I can finish tonight, but probably will finish tomorrow. Silly obsessive projects.

[Everstorm]

5 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Silly obsessive projects.

Is there any other kind?  🤭

[juliebarkley]

19 hours ago, Everstorm said:

Is there any other kind?  🤭

My sensibly-paced get-rid-of-at-least-one-thing-per-day project suggests yes.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My obsessive project, however, only just finished a few minutes ago. While I'm glad to have that part behind me, I did just blow an ENTIRE weekend on it that I could have spent on other things. And now I just really want to read for a little bit with some popcorn or something before bed. Something that is not a huge project.

I have one more day off work, so. Plan for tomorrow.

 

Priority one. I need to get the research on the bike batteries done. I know nothing, and my two batteries are deader than dead. If I want to have any hope of getting them installed by the end of the project, I need to order them ASAP. Which means I need to know what to order. And where to order it from. And if I need any other tools to do the job that I don't presently have. Figure this out.

 

Priority two. Basic research on ETFs. Right now the whole process feels very nebulous because I don't have in place a simple list of Canadian ETFs that fit each category. Picking between them will be fairly easy once that information is in place, because that information turns a nebulous problem into a concrete one with a clear next step. So make the list.

[Vidd]

Good luck on the ETF's, I have no idea if it is optimal or not, but I love dividend investing too cause of the psychology of seeing the growing income each month. And thinking about what bills could be entirely taken over by that income, even though I am currently setting things up to automatically reinvest my dividends.

[juliebarkley]

23 hours ago, Vidd said:

Good luck on the ETF's, I have no idea if it is optimal or not, but I love dividend investing too cause of the psychology of seeing the growing income each month. And thinking about what bills could be entirely taken over by that income, even though I am currently setting things up to automatically reinvest my dividends.

Same! It's so cool to see your financial independence slowly building before your eyes.

 

You can only ever tell what were the optimal investments for any time period in the rear view mirror, and "optimal" on paper isn't necessarily the best choice for your goals anyway. I figure it's a good-enough thing - worry too much about it being the perfect thing and you will move your money around and lose in transaction fees and missed dividends. So make your best guess at a decent strategy that works for you and just do it is probably the best strategy.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing was done on habits.

 

Things were done on projects though.

 

On the bike project: I think I may end up calling an early end to the bike project. My research today tells me that this project is probably beyond my abilities. My little bike was a garage build, so not a name brand or made from name-brand parts (probably they were from China). That makes things very hard. It still might be possible if I could figure out the voltage and such of the original, but I cannot even figure out how to open the battery casing to see what brand the original batteries were. So I sent a text to someone with an engineer friend who was looking to build an electric bike a while back, and might ask around a little more if she doesn't bite, but I think I'm probably in the market for a new bike at some point. It's a shame - it's a cute little bike that works really well as a regular pedal cycle. It just needs to be loved in a way I don't know how to love it.

 

On the ETF project: Threw myself into this one after supper. I am not quite done the "make a list of all the ETFs that fit each category" yet (drat). Shouldn't take too long to finish though. Then I think I will take a little break to reacquaint myself with my hobbies and the challenges of other lovely folks. There are only so many obsessive projects one can do in quick succession.

[juliebarkley]

Okay, now where was I?...

 

Goals

1. Sort out my investments.

1. Finish moving money. No, nothing.
2. Research categories. Yes, finished!
3. Purchase things. Not yet.

 

2. Fix my bicycle. (ON HOLD)

1. Fix the battery. No.
2. Fix the tires. No.
3. General maintenance spruce-up. No.

 

3. Finish knitting scarf.

Dang. This would have been a better choice to relax after work than playing Ticket to Ride online.

 

 

Habits

 

Play with the parameters of one goal per week. I was in no mental headspace to pick a goal to analyze today. I will pick one before bed and have a think about it during the day tomorrow.

 

Get rid of one thing per day. Two pieces of clothing, including a sweater I have had since I was a teenage because it has cats, but which doesn't really suit me. Plus, I never wear sweaters.

 

Exercise every day. I did not. This would have helped with the after-work stress as well.

 

Read and post on NF. Yes.

 

Work was an absolute madhouse today. We normally get a delivery of about 12-13 boxes on a Tuesday. We got 26 today. I have never seen such a big delivery to our branch, and I haven't the faintest idea why we got one today. What it meant was that I had to throw away nearly all of my planning time to help out with the boxes, everyone on the desk was also working on them when they could (and the drop boxes too, which were quite busy), we were running out of cart space, and we ran out of shelf space for the holds coming in. I ended up leaving three boxes unprocessed because there was both no time and no space on the holds shelf to put the books anyway. No one pulled holds. No one tidied the branch. Nothing else but the most urgent work was done. Madness.

 

Because of that, I was working quite fast all day under some pressure, and the speed and the stress combined left me feeling out of breath and mentally racing all day. Took a long time to slow down again after getting back home. Did not want to do anything that felt even a little bit like work, rushing, or thinking.

 

I did get the ETF list done though. I was very surprised to find out how few REIT ETFs there are, and how very many odd specialty ones. The market look very different from the last time I looked at it.

 

That's it, that's all. I shall go choose my goal-habit-to-think-about now. (EDIT: I shall think about exercise and other conscious movement next. There is lots to think about there.)

[Sepherina]

Fellow knitter here.  Following to cheer you on!

[shaar]

Work days like that are the worst, the day sure goes by fast but you're exactly right in that when you get out of there and go home it feels like you just escaped a tornado and you can't ground yourself very well at all.  Hoping today is much kinder to you ❤️ 

[juliebarkley]

19 hours ago, Sepherina said:

Fellow knitter here.  Following to cheer you on!

Thank you! Do you have a project on the needles?

 

17 hours ago, shaar said:

Work days like that are the worst, the day sure goes by fast but you're exactly right in that when you get out of there and go home it feels like you just escaped a tornado and you can't ground yourself very well at all.  Hoping today is much kinder to you ❤️ 

Yeah, I love it when they go fast, but the gogogo stress takes all the joy out of it (and from at-home time until you can let it go). Today was back to normal levels of busy. Thanks for the well-wishes! I hope that your work does not give you the tornado treatment too often?

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goals

1. Sort out my investments.

1. Finish moving money. Another lot moved. Only one to go!
2. Research categories. The ETFs are now sorted into categories. I have not begun the process of choosing what to buy in each category. Got to save something for later in the challenge. Also, completely forgot that because I have US dollars in my RRSP because of the US dividend tax treatment (which I don't think I get if it's US stocks in a Canadian ETF; I think it has to be a US-listed security), I have to do the US part of my allocation with a US-listed ETF. Possibly some of the foreign stuff too, but we worry about that later. So more research, though I shan't be combing through the entire US ETF universe like I did for the Canadian one because I am not that much of a masochist.
3. Purchase things. Not yet.

 

2. Fix my bicycle. (ON HOLD)

1. Fix the battery. No.
2. Fix the tires. No.
3. General maintenance spruce-up. No.

 

3. Finish knitting scarf.

Two podcast episodes put me at 375/780. Would like to put some work into this tomorrow.

 

 

Habits

 

Play with the parameters of one goal per week. I thunk my thoughts.

 

I have a bunch of issues with exercise from a habit point of view. First is that my schedule is not consistent from day to day; I work early some days, late others, and not the same days every week. That makes spacing workouts a bit annoying. Second, that variation also makes finding an existing trigger habit to tie it to quite hard, because even meals are not at consistent times. Third, while I am okay with doing stretching or walking or something non-sweat-inducing before work, I don't want to commit to anything that would make a shower pre-work advisable because that is not how I roll.

 

When I look at the times that I am available before and after work, it confirms that I am really looking at an evening workout habit. I have enough afternoons available, but they are available in an awkward three days in a row and then one other format. This would mean an alternation that would pretty much require a workout right before work on one day, which I would rather not. On evenings though, I really only have two days that are out of the question. Much easier to work with.

 

Unfortunately, I still have the issue of lack of habits to link it to. But I realized, one very successful habit from the first batch of habitmaking has been to fold a couple of items and bring the laundry downstairs immediately after work. At the moment, I just go back upstairs and get on the computer or something. BUT, if I expand my laundry habit to taking my phone out of my work bag (which I will have just put down), I can take that downstairs with me. And the downstairs has the weights, the pullup bar, and lots of empty floor space. It's actually a much better place for the workouts I've been doing than the space I have been using. And it's cooler because semi-basement. So this has a good feeling to it. We shall try!

 

Get rid of one thing per day. Some stamps that I apparently set aside to use as storytime hand stamps at work years ago. I have gotten rid of the rest of the set already, and I won't be using these.

 

Exercise every day. I took a walk. The moon was quite beautiful tonight. The frogs were quiet - only three or so could be heard - but the insect hum has grown and is quite varied. Had a car pull up when I was almost home to make sure I was okay "because I was walking alone". Which, while kind, is also a bit nervewracking while it happening. And it wasn't even super late, maybe 11pm? Reminds me why I usually stick to the walking paths.

 

Read and post on NF. Yes. But I have looked at few challenges so far and I am not moving at a speed that would ever catch me up in a million years, so I want to put in some reading time tomorrow too.

 

Nothing much new, except that I learned I'm going to be in charge of interviewing and hiring our teen volunteers in a month or so. Wish me luck in volunteer wrangling - I have zero experience with this.

[Sepherina]

2 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Thank you! Do you have a project on the needles?

I have a pair of toe up socks that I haven’t touched in months and I need some new dishrags for my kitchen.  I promised the hubs no more yarn buying until I knitted through a good portion of my stash. I probably should allocate some of it to holiday gifts.  That way I save money and then have room to buy more yarn. 

 

[KeysMcGee]

4 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

BUT, if I expand my laundry habit to taking my phone out of my work bag (which I will have just put down), I can take that downstairs with me. And the downstairs has the weights, the pullup bar, and lots of empty floor space. It's actually a much better place for the workouts I've been doing than the space I have been using. And it's cooler because semi-basement. So this has a good feeling to it. We shall try!

Looks promising!

 

4 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Had a car pull up when I was almost home to make sure I was okay "because I was walking alone". Which, while kind, is also a bit nervewracking while it happening.

 

"I wasn't concerned about my safety until you showed up."

 

[Teros]

On 7/25/2023 at 2:38 AM, juliebarkley said:

I have an electric bike. It's a bit of a mess right now. Needs a new battery, issues with the tube.

 I was looking at e-bikes over the winter and once I got a better job, I was going to save up and get one.  So it was a hybrid that you can pedal as well? 

 

The thing is, the e-bike that I want is very specific and I wish I knew how to build something like this.  I like the look of fat tires and also the stability.  Needs to be street-legal (there's some weird requirements I found out regarding this), and I wanted a hybrid so I could pedal if I wanted, but also use for a quick market run.  Let me know what you end up finding.  There was promise from a couple of bikes (Jeep was outsourcing to another company to make them one, as well as the uhhhh Volcon, I think it was called?) but there didn't seem to be exactly what I wanted available.