Gobnait limps along

[Gobnait]

Two goals.  The first is to account for every day with housework, food, and play.  The second is to check my master list of things I should be doing instead of futzing away on the internet.

 

Master list of things I should be doing:

• Misc Routines:
  • Know what's for dinner
  • Groomed and dressed (Earrings today?)
  • Do art
  • Write down art and writing ideas
  • Check on the busywork preparations

• Housework

  • Laundry put away

  • Tables cleared

• Kitchen
  • Put dishwasher on dirty, run if full
  • Cutting boards clean
  • Knives clean
  • Large pan and lid clean
  • Counters wiped
  • Sink drains cleared
• Play
  • Origami and paper stars
  • Cross-stitch
  • Coloring pages
  • Wooden blocks
  • Physical puzzles
  • Board game solitaire (Tsuro, Quirkle, or Dominoes)
• Play preparation, have these things ready and waiting for fussy moments.
  • Cross-stitch projects chosen and aida cloth cut to size
  • Origami paper and star strips already cut
  • Coloring book pages photocopied
• Art
  •  

[Gobnait]

I'm not doing so well.  I hope that this time is the one where I finally get my act together. 

 

The house is in major upheaval because we just moved hubby's office downstairs, but it wasn't so great to begin with.  With this in mind, I've got a bunch of soft goals to start and hopefully I can start working towards my end goals mid-challenge.

 

I want to organize.

 

I want a routine.

 

I want to work on meal preparation and food waste.

 

I want to limit screen time.

 

I want to support sleep.

 

I want to art and sew.

 

These are interconnected goals.  Organizing will give me room to limit screen time and to use up art supplies.  The routine will help keep things organized and help with the cooking.  Limiting the screen time will hopefully help with sleep, but having a place to quietly play should also help with getting worked up in the middle of the night.

 

I think I have the goals prioritized right.  Right now, I don't like leaving the house, I also don't like being in the house.  I browse the web and play games all day because I feel that's the only thing I have room for.  (Remembering time in empty houses, I didn't have the stuff to do what I wanted.)  Hopefully getting organized and following a routine first will make everything else easier to introduce as the challenge goes on.  Sewing is the last thing, so I'm not a failure as long as I get close to ready for it.

 

Things that I want to prepare for the next challenge.

 

I want to sew.

 

I want to dress up when I leave the house.

 

I want to have adventures.

 

I want to make a journal comic like Wasted Talent.

 

I think having nice clothes that are comfortable and durable will either help with the self-consciousness or cause more of it.  Right now, I run around in jeans and t-shirts because that's the way I have dressed since I was a kid.  I feel like an immature frump when I wear my normal stuff, but I feel like a fraud when I try to wear something nicer.  I'm going to create my own style and really try to own it.  (It's a little late in the season to run around in victorian underwear, but hopefully I can do that next year.)

 

The journal comic would be boring if it's just about me naval-gazing and arguing with the cat.

[Fearkiller]

I need to limit computer time when I'm not writing or doing digital art, basically limit mindless browsing and gaming that falls into boredom and not research.  (*2)

 

You do art?! Exciting, how did I not notice it sooner?

(I read you telling about art supplies and stuff, and it took this long to register )

Would your art be something you'd be willing to share?

[Gobnait]

You do art?! Exciting, how did I not notice it sooner?

(I read you telling about art supplies and stuff, and it took this long to register )

Would your art be something you'd be willing to share?

 

Well, I don't do art right now, but I want to get back into it.  It'll be a few weeks because I want to start with real paper, but I'll start sharing it once I get something.

 

I think I did this at the beginning of summer.  Turns out that brand of paper was discontinued.  I haven't tried the stuff I bought instead.  (It doesn't look that pink IRL.)

[Silverwitch]

Your goals in your "I want" list so resonate with me!

I agree, your goals are very much connected to each other, and this will help you to gain all the momentum needed to get it done.

 

I'll follow along to watch you succeed!

[oldnews]

Good luck on your goals this time around. I've been in a bit of a clothing frump myself. It's an unofficial goal this fall.

[Gobnait]

I was just going through my old challenges.  1 and 2 were lost in a software migration, but 3 onwards seem to all focus on the same things... getting my domestic life under control.  It's funny because it was number 3 where I was trying to limit how much housework I tried to do in one day, as in getting frustrated that I had to stop to sleep.  Then I started getting bummed.

 

 

I think there's a mental fatigue component to housecleaning that people don't talk about much. Kind of like a factory job, it's so much of the same thing over and over, it never feels like you are ever done. With a lot of paid jobs, you work on projects which have definite starts and clear ends. With housework, you get something all nice and clean and shiny, then some member if the family walks through the room and you're right back to where you started! And housework is definitely work, but often doesn't get the respect it should.

-ShadowLion, two years ago in challenge 4.

 

This has started to get to me.  I hate having to cook and clean the kitchen because once I've done that, the only thing I have energy or room for is internet.

[Gobnait]

Stealing this from http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/70965-bekahs-finding-her-inner-rainbow-yellow/#entry1630665 for my own reference later...

 

Sorry Bekah.

 

Tanktimus the Encourager, on 11 Sept 2015 - 3:22 PM, said:

 

I hear you that it is difficult for you. You are feeling the emotional equivalent of DOMS (DOES perhaps, but far too easy to misinterpret). You exercise a new muscle and it screams like heck the next day because you made it do all kinds of things it wasn't used to. Your emotions are the same way. In writing out what you did above, you cared for yourself, using some emotional muscles that had been pretty inactive.

And do you know the best way to deal with DOMS? It's to work out again. You get moving again and work out all the lactic acid, and the second time the muscle is a little more used to things and adapts more easily. The same goes for your DOES. You will get better at this the longer you go on. And then once you get really good at it, you will find the sad isn't so strong and you have more time to really focus on butterfly wings even more than if you had just ignored things.

[sterre]

I'm also a jeans and t-shirt sort of person. I think the only difference between my style now and my style in high school is that the jeans aren't extremely wide legged and the t-shirts don't have cartoons on them (for the most part, at least). I don't quite have the feeling of being a fraud when I dress differently, for me it's more laziness and the part where I don't really know what to do that keeps me dressing this way.

 

Dressing more like an adult is definitely a good goal though.

[Relic]

good luck on the should list!

[Gobnait]

Yesterday, I managed to get a pile of junk moved elsewhere, though I'm not sure it really accomplished anything except make the front of the living room less cluttered.

 

Today's to-do list is to go grocery shopping and know what I want to cook until at least Wednesday.  And to load thrift-store junk into my trunk.

 

I'm not going to implement the limiting of screen time until I have something to fill the time with.

[Gobnait]

I'm awake in the middle of the night again, and drinking caffeinated tea.  I don't think I really got anything accomplished yesterday except grocery shopping.  Well, I cycled the dishwasher once when it needed to be done twice and got some laundry put through the machines.  Oh, my trunk is full of thrift store stuff.  I didn't do enough, but I guess it's okay.

 

I suspect that I bought too much meat again.  Huge packages of chicken legs and chicken thighs, plus hubby wanted beef stew so I got some london broils that need cutting up.  And colored peppers were on sale so I got to chop those up and freeze them before they go bad.

 

There's still a bit of ground beef from a week ago.  I'm going to try to eat it but I think it counts as waste.

[Silverwitch]

List of accomplishments:

 

Living room front looks less cluttered.

Trunk got loaded with thrift-store junk.

Grocery shopping done.

Laundry put through the machines.

Cycled dishwasher once.

 

Uhm... why do you say that you didn't do anything?

 

Suggestion for today:

 

Chop them peppers

Freeze part of the chicken legs and thighs and part of the peppers.

 

Use cookie tray to put several chicken legs on, brush them with oil, add salt and pepper, maybe even some cayenne pepper (easy on that one!) and bake for 45 min. at medium heat, until crispy golden brown looking. Makes a nice meal, and sometimes, eating those with your fingers is a fun as well as a sort of sensual experience!

 

The one week old ground beef I would toss. Might make you sick if you eat that.

 

Have a wonderful day one of the challenge!

[Silverwitch]

Ha, now this was weird… I posted the above text in the morning (from my computer at work), and even though I always saw it in your thread, it was never counted in the "content I follow" section…?!?

 

So I just copied the text, posted it again - and all of a sudden it shows up in the list, but not counting - again - the double post, which I'm just editing right now in order not to have a double post… 

 

I'm puzzled! *scratchinghead*

[Gobnait]

I found something inspirational.  http://www.buzzfeed.com/theangryluddite/40-shitty-watercolor-interpretations-of-photos-o-5dn9

[Gobnait]

List of accomplishments:

 

Living room front looks less cluttered.

Trunk got loaded with thrift-store junk.

Grocery shopping done.

Laundry put through the machines.

Cycled dishwasher once.

 

Uhm... why do you say that you didn't do anything?

 

Suggestion for today:

 

Chop them peppers

Freeze part of the chicken legs and thighs and part of the peppers.

 

Use cookie tray to put several chicken legs on, brush them with oil, add salt and pepper, maybe even some cayenne pepper (easy on that one!) and bake for 45 min. at medium heat, until crispy golden brown looking. Makes a nice meal, and sometimes, eating those with your fingers is a fun as well as a sort of sensual experience!

 

The one week old ground beef I would toss. Might make you sick if you eat that.

 

Have a wonderful day one of the challenge!

 

I'm kinda harsh on myself because I look at things in terms of downtime vs what needs to be done and find a great imbalance.  I spend too much time futzing around and not enough on basic maintenance, much less getting things so I can really enjoy the benefits of a large house.  I have one previous challenge where people were exhausted just from watching me and I didn't feel like I was really doing much since it was my entire life. 

 

Today I did the dishwasher from clean to running to it finally receiving too little to run it.  I gave the counter a cursory wipe.  I cut up two London Broils for stew, one I threw raw into a freezer container with decent paprika and a blendered sauce of raw onion and V8.  (Basically it can be thawed and thrown into the small crock pot.)  I browned the old hamburger with lots of cheap paprika, threw it into a dish with frozen peas, and topped with mash potato mix.  (I really smelled it and determined that the old meat wasn't rotten, but I should keep on top of expiration dates.)  I went on a booze run and admired the weather.  I determined that I need to inventory the freezer.  

 

If I'm good, before bed I'll get the tshirts and underwear out of the laundry system.  Or have carrots, onions, and half the celery ready for a beef stew later in the week.  (Other half of the celery goes into a freezer bag marked chili starter.)  Peppers and chicken are on the list for tomorrow.  (Debone the thighs or plan to eat them.  Legs cooked for convenience.)  Freezer inventory should be soon so I know what's in there and how long I could possibly go without properly cooking once the fresh stuff is dealt with.  I also need to do something involving cucumber.  I have tomatoes and feta as well, so maybe greek salad for him and couscous salad for me.  (It hit sunset, if I'm slightly good I'll get the cutting boards washed and maybe give the counter a better scrub.)

 

I was talking with my mother about freezers.  I think mine could easily hold three dead people, hers is at least five.  I wasn't using dead-body volumes with her, but I was encouraging her to keep adding ice jugs until all the actual food was in a single layer.  (She can't actually give this freezer to anyone.  It's either keep it cold or let it mold.  When it was put in the basement, there was a straight-shot from the back steps to the stairs down... they remodeled.)  I keep encouraging her to get her laundry machines moved upstairs.  Once hubby and I are stable, she's getting set to move closer to us.

 

Other than beef stew, I have the "vaguely-African peanut butter and hot sauce" recipe planned.  The ingredient list is peanut butter, (twice as much natural peanut butter as processed peanut butter) hot sauce, (I use Louisianan ones that focus on flavor over heat) some combination of chicken, tomato, and green stuff like spinach.  (I have yet to try an okra variation, but I have skipped the green stuff completely.)  Onions and carrots are good.  I imagine that this would be an excellent tofu dish with the right spices.  It goes well with sweet potato.  Putting a good melting cheese on it requires a strong mood for it, and yogurt is something I haven't tried because I've never gotten carried away on the hot sauce.

[Relic]

heheh, dead body volume xcD

That's too bad that the big freezer got built in.

Now I wonder what the difference is between dead body volume and life body volume...

[Fearkiller]

You describe recipes that sound delicious. You have great cooking skills!

 

Slice the cucumbers thin, put some oil into a kettle, and on hot stove setting stir them frequently

until they soften, and some ground pepper and garlic for seasoning?

 

heheh, dead body volume xcD
That's too bad that the big freezer got built in.
Now I wonder what the difference is between dead body volume and life body volume...

Live bodies try to escape often. Annoying to add more stuff.

Hmm... also the required sound proof plating might decrease the volume of the freezer.

[Gobnait]

I wouldn't do a webcomic completely in colored pencil but this one is awesome inspiration for doing art. http://www.melaniegillman.com/?p=641

 

 

You describe recipes that sound delicious. You have great cooking skills!

 

Slice the cucumbers thin, put some oil into a kettle, and on hot stove setting stir them frequently

until they soften, and some ground pepper and garlic for seasoning?

 

Live bodies try to escape often. Annoying to add more stuff.

Hmm... also the required sound proof plating might decrease the volume of the freezer.

 

I haven't thought about cooked cucumbers.  Pasteurized pickles don't sound weird though.

 

heheh, dead body volume xcD
That's too bad that the big freezer got built in.
Now I wonder what the difference is between dead body volume and life body volume...

 

With live bodies you have to be careful with how tightly you pack them and how much the limbs can bend without breaking.

 

Mom's freezer isn't a big deal.  It's at least 30 years old so it's probably not worth the trouble of getting out until it's non-functional and can be cut up.  She wants one that can barely hold one dead body.

[oldnews]

I 1000% agree with the emotion fatigue of housework. Of all the things I do, that's the one that seems to bring about the most treadmill/hamster wheel feelings. HOW IS IT TRASH DAY AGAIN?!

 

I also agree with not limiting screen time until you have a good replacement. I did that, and wound up just sort of listlessly sitting around for awhile.

[Gobnait]

I'm having a bad day.

 

I cleared the dishwasher of a weird load.  (When the normal loads fill all the space, weird incidentals pile up.  A full load of glasses can only handle four cooking utensils.  An overload of plates means I'm limited with how many bowls vs cooking vessels I can do.)

 

I'm good at chunking peppers.  My mild OCD means that I hate the task.  At least I treat the tops as a different process.  (Bodies are easy-ish to turn into chunks.  Tops should be finely diced or blendered.)  I'm kinda mad that a morning's worth of effort could fill a gallon bag and all be used for two days worth of bean chili.  (Also, peppers were a dollar each, so including them in meals is expensive even without me wasting a morning in cutting them up.)

 

Oh right, living on tuna helper reduces life expectancy and is expensive for the nutrition, not counting how it's less enjoyable to eat.

 

I was having fun with the kitchen drudgery until about the fifth golden pepper... then I had to do the sixth one, and maybe four reds, and a half-dozen orange, then the jalepenos...  I still have a bunch of tops that have been de-membraned but not turned into cooking ingredients.

 

I wish I could buy four chicken thighs at the same price as a family pack reliably.

 

The interfacing in this old shirt was tickling my cleavage.  I started trying to tear it away and it got a texture that I can't stand.  I got used to the cleavage-tickling, but I decided that I want to burn that part of the shirt to save the metal embellishments.  (The shirt has holes in it, not fit to go outside much less donating it for other than rags.)

 

horizontal rule because of time skip.

 

I kinda laundried in that I sorted and hubby's undershirts are folded in a basket.  I've started piling his outer uniform parts on the floor of his office for now.

 

For lunch, I had a complicated noodle kit.  I kinda didn't notice one of the dehydrated packs and microwaved it in the unit instead of opening it... luckily I noticed it when I cracked an egg in and nuked the thing for an extra minute for the sake of the egg.

 

I got the pepper tops de-membraned so I can just chop them up.

 

I didn't make dinner, but there was enough leftovers so hubby didn't have to cook or thaw anything.

 

I'm a nose-picker and nail-chewer.  My nose isn't suffering, but I keep tasting jalepeno whenever I run my fingernails through my teeth.

 

I was bummed enough to call my hubby at work.

[sterre]

I wouldn't do a webcomic completely in colored pencil but this one is awesome inspiration for doing art. http://www.melaniegillman.com/?p=641

 

Wow, that's pretty incredible!

[Gobnait]

Yesterday, I had managed to stay in bed until hubby's alarm went off.  I'm half-programmed to cling harder to sleep when I hear it because getting up at the exact same time as him is a little annoying.

 

All I did today was cut the bones out of the chicken.  That chicken and mushroom fry-up wasn't so good.  I was supposed to clean out the freezer but I wasn't up for it.

 

Hubby came home to change before workout, and I decided to ride in with him.  There is a nice bit of nature near one of the gyms he uses.  Near the fenceline is a trail, and then I found a tidal grassland with crabs living in it.  I miss riding in with him, so I told him to drag me to workouts when he's going back home to change.  Plus, going for a walk is good for me.  (I think I can use the same gyms.)

 

After dinner, I had a really small dish of ice cream and some cookies.  I also ate a chocolate eyeball or two earlier in the day.  I usually don't like sweets, but what's normal for many people counts as an excessive binge for me.  Hopefully I'm done for a while.  (Usually I just have 3-4 teaspoons of sugar in a pot of tea and some instant drink mixes.)

[Relic]

Keep up the good work.

I'm not OCD, but I can relate to it.

I sometimes dream of a bathroom cupbord that's at least 1/2 empty by volume with sorted non touching piles.

[Fearkiller]

I wouldn't do a webcomic completely in colored pencil but this one is awesome inspiration for doing art. http://www.melaniegillman.com/?p=641

I read that, and I'm throughout getting the feeling it is fun to read, that she fully enjoys drawing the comic.

There's something about her style to draw that does it. (Also in the earlier watercolor/real photo pairs you linked).

If I were to say something encouraging to you, it might be that it's enjoying the act of drawing/art itself,

and that shows in the final product, whatever it is. my 2 cents, anyhow.