General Sorts of Stuff

Me, at work.

My husband has been sick for the past few days so for the first two days of this work week, I have been opening his shop first thing in the morning for his staff.*

Having a fixed time to be ‘at work’ has made me realize that I need to get up earlier overall.

I have to leave at 8:15 to open his shop on time and I’ve been getting up at 7:30, which felt like plenty of time.

And maybe it is, on paper, but it doesn’t FEEL like enough time.

45 minutes is not enough time for my brain to wrap itself around feeding the dog, having my own breakfast, and getting ready for the day.

This is especially true for when I have to leave the house for part of the day but I think the same holds true for working at home.

I often wish I had gotten down to work earlier but I struggle to make the switch from ‘just waking up’ me to ‘I can work now’ me.

And if my morning goes a bit sideways, it can throw off my whole day.

So, if I want to have lots of time to do the things that are important to me, if I want to feel in charge of my schedule, I have to change when I get up.

And I probably need a plan for what I will do before work and ‘at work’, even if I am not actually leaving my house that day.

Now I guess I have to experiment with how much earlier I should set my alarm.

*His senior staff are working on a project at another location.

A weekend to reset

This is a long weekend and I have a family dinner to go to tomorrow but otherwise my weekend is pretty open.

I’m trying to figure out how to balance relaxation with doing some resetting around the house.

It’s always tricky for me to dig into any household project because once I start I just want to keep going and then I burn myself out on the task.

But I am tired of having so much stuff cluttering up parts of my house so I have to find a way to get started.

Perhaps if I consider this weekend a time to organize my project plan rather than a time to finish the projects?

Let’s see how that goes.

Early Morning

It’s 6:14am and I have been awake for at least an hour.

This is the second time this week that I have been lying awake in the early morning listening to my husband sleep and just letting my mind wander wherever it wants to go.

I’m not distressed about being awake and there’s nothing bothering me, I’m just…not asleep.

I know this is pretty common for women my age and if it starts happening regularly I will work on some habits in hopes of sleeping better.

But, for now, I’m perfectly happy to lie awake musing until I either fall asleep or I feel the need to get up and make tea.

This morning, I’m sitting up in bed with my Moroccan Mint tea brewing in a cup next to me on one side and himself sleeping on the other.

Not a bad start to a day, really.

A work time experiment

Tomorrow, I’m going to assign a time to each group of tasks and see if it helps my brain focus,

I really want my work days to feel more orderly and solid.

And I want it to be clear when I’m done for the day.

If it works, great!

If it doesn’t, I want to commit to tweaking the process instead of tossing it out and starting over.

Let’s see how it goes.

Friday 5

5 things I want to do this summer, in no particular order.

1) hula hoop in the back yard

2) go on a day hike with my friend Jan and stop for a reading break

3) swim in a pond

4) have tea with Mom on her patio

5) have a long chat around the firepit with my friends