It's Back to Routine - A Wonderful Thing

Today is the first "standard" Day Off I've had in quite a while and I'm going to try to make the most of it, although I have a million things on my mental to-do list. I'm going to try to get DH's website pounded out and uploaded onto the Google domain he purchased months ago (that'll be a challenge - OY!), and I have the usual grocery shopping and making Ogre Juice on my agenda. I need some dinners made - I haven't decided what yet, but it's getting colder, so maybe meatballs or something else with more substance than a soup. Grocery shopping will be a must. 

I'm thinking I might make a quick batch of sheet-pan chicken 
fajitas for a good quick dinner to have on hand. It doesn't 
take a lot of effort to make, it's tasty, and it keeps well in 
the refrigerator. I might make meatballs instead, but the 
fajitas might just be the winners at the grocery store - LOL. 

I have a bunch of Tabasco peppers to harvest, and I need to research and find out the best way to use them. My preference would be to dry them and grind them, but my dehydrator is used for my jewelry making and I've resisted purchasing one for food use for more than two years, even though I've wanted one. I'm just not sure about how often I would use such an item, and hate having one more thing cluttering up things in my house. 

I'm thinking about ordering one of these - a Septree 
Food Dehydrator. The reason I'm focusing on this 
one is the wide range of temperatures that it works 
with. I need a dehydrator that will have the ability 
to work at least at 165F for jerky, and it's amazing 
how many dehydrators won't go above 160, or 
even 158 (160 is useable, barely). This one, however, 
goes well above that, so I'd get the versatility I'm looking 
for in the appliance. The question is where do I put 
it? If I don't have a place, I won't buy it. 

I did return to my normal shower routine this morning, though - scrubbing two of the four walls of the shower and a good portion of the floor. If I can keep that routine up, I'll have no problem when Sharon comes again next year. I was VERY grateful for this routine when I fell down the stairs a bit over two weeks ago. There is no way this house would have been ready for company if I hadn't been ahead of the cleaning with my shower. A quick scrub, four days a week (I'm in the pool the other three days) seems to be the perfect schedule. 

I thrive with routine. My daily chat with my on-line 
friends through my blog, my time frames for getting 
some alone time, and my hours of awake and sleep. 
Those things are important to me. But I'm NOT a planner 
person. I've tried that and it drove me crazy. My routine 
is structure, rhythm and quiet. Writing things down is 
NOT for me at all. 

I was finally able to return to the swimming pool on Wednesday and Thursday this week, and what a relief to get back. I just feel so much better when I'm able to swim. I got my exercise while at the State Fair - we were walking 10,000 steps and more every day we were there. But walking for me just isn't the same as swimming is. My year goes into reset after Sharon's visits, back to zero and counting down once again until she returns again next year. My annual cycle begins when she leaves for home, and concludes when we have dinner at Olive Garden after Renaissance Festival. It's an odd cycle, but it works well for me. 

So, have a wonderful Friday as I return to a routine once again. I look forward to a "restful" day in the kitchen - LOL. I'll be back tomorrow and Slava Ukraini. 

Routines, Social Distance and Virtual Hugs

I'm starting to get into the rhythm of my new routine, but it's like anything new, it takes a bit of practice to make it a regular part of my life. Today is a Friday, so today is a swim day. That changes my morning routine from Awakening, Meditating, Getting dressed in running clothes, Running, Showering, Breakfast and Blog, to Awakening, Meditating, Getting dressed in swimming clothes, Blog, Swimming, Showering, Breakfast and Work. The two different activities require different time frames, and those things I deem of most importance must be accomplished. Also, today is Friday, so when I get home from the pool, I need to make my reservation for swimming on Monday morning. 

Most people are comforted by routine. When something 
changes that routine, especially on a long-term basis, 
it can cause confusion and anger. My routine is very 
slowly returning to what it had been before Covid, but 
it's nowhere close to that yet, and may never truly 
return to the "old days". I enjoy routine, though, and 
set personal schedules for myself often. It's the only way 
I actually get things accomplished. 

DH also asked me to drop by the grocery store this morning on my way to the shop. No real problem with that - I usually drop by the store on Fridays anyway. But I purchased maximally on Wednesday so that I wouldn't need to do this. Still, it's on the way to the shop, and we have a functional VERY OLD refrigerator in the basement, so it's a bit of time spent, but not much past that. 

We have a very old, probably 1950's vintage 
refrigerator in the basement of the shop. It 
was from our old location, and similar in 
age to the first refrigerator we had in his 
Grandmother's house. It still works, and 
that's all that's important. We keep our 
lunches in it during the work day. 

It always take a while to really hit stride in a new routine, though. It's always a bit of a learning curve, a hill with unexpected bumps, twists and turns. So much has changed in our world since Covid. We're not as free-and-easy, not as trusting as we were more than two years ago. We carry masks in our pockets, cars and handbags. We automatically back off a bit when people get a bit too close to our personal space. We don't embrace without second thoughts the way we used to. This virus, this hateful thing that has killed so many, has forced distance into our lives and perspective/retrospective into our lives. 

We're getting accustomed to social distancing and making 
sure to keep that distance between each other. As someone 
who really enjoys hugging, it's a total PITA. 

Is this a good thing? Is it a bad one? I will say that I miss hugs. I miss that close interaction with other people I feel close to. I don't particularly mind wearing a mask, but I rarely have to wear one for more than an hour at a time. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd feel if I had to wear one for long stretches of time. I'm used to barricades - usually clear plexiglass - between me and other people. I think that's a bit sad - the fact that we, as social beings, have to barricade ourselves away from contact with others. 

These days it's all about virtual hugs, and those 
are the only kind I can send over the are to my 
friends far and wide anyway. So here's a virtual 
hug from me to you. Have a wonderful day! 

So your task today is to interact with another person so that you feel hugged virtually. Make a difference in one life. Leave one place with positive feelings behind you. Be that one person reflected on at the end of the day by someone you had never met before today. Spread love in the midst of the pandemic. I'll be back tomorrow, be safe, be kind, long-distance *hugs* to you from me. 

A Return To Normal

The weekend is over and the work week returns. *sigh* Still, things could be worse. I have a job, I have a home, food on my table and money in the bank. I'm very fortunate. Around me Spring has finally sprung - our fruit trees are in bloom and all over town the tulips are blooming or getting ready to bloom. It was such a late Spring that we're running 2-3 weeks behind this year, but it finally arrived and I'm so happy! 

We're finally getting our flowering trees. It's my favorite time
of the year, only matched by our full color autumn. 

I'm delighted that I won't be shoveling the driveway before heading out to the gym every morning. I'm delighted that I won't be wondering if the roads will be icy. I will have to dodge raindrops - soft and gentle or hard and driving - but that's OK. I'll have to deal with occasional serious thunderstorms and tornado warnings, but we get thunderstorms in the winters too and tornadoes can happen any month of the year. Yes, even in the winter. 

Tornadoes can happen any month of the year, but we usually
will get them over the summer months. March through
November are our active tornado months. We're much
luckier than our neighbors in more southern states. We
don't get as many tornadoes, and they usually aren't quite
as severe. 

DH and I worked in the yard for a while yesterday, raking out the ornamental plant beds, raking up the grass thatch, and generally cleaning up the front yard a bit. He then raised the umbrella at our patio table, made us a couple of Margaritas, and we settled down for a nice stretch of just enjoying the beautiful weather, our backyard patio, and a wonderful afternoon. We don't get a chance to relax like that often, so it was a treat. 

I love the various flowering trees we have around town. Driving
down the roads, it seems like almost every home has at least
one flowering tree. The flowers won't be there for long, but
they are so beautiful! 

Today we're back to a normal schedule once more. Back to the swimming pool, then breakfast, then the shop, and finally back home again. Of course a lot of things happen between waking and returning to sleep, but that's the basics of the routine. It's a good one. 

I hope your Monday is fabulous and fantastic. I'll return tomorrow, at least that's the goal. Happy Monday to All! 

Habits, Routines and Addictions

Habits are hard to break. Just look carefully at your own lives and how easily things fall into a schedule and a set of expectations. It does't take much for things to become habit, and then for those habits to almost become ingrained. The human mind seems to enjoy schedules and regularity, and the unexpected can throw it for a loop. 

Habits can become routines and routines can become
habits. Walk the dog? Usually that's at a set time
of the morning and night. Whose routine/habit is it?
Actually, both you and the dog have trained each other. 

It's the simple things that can throw me off. I'm rediscovering what a creature of habit I am as I switch operations from my old phone to my new one. It's aggravating in some ways, and rewarding in others. 

Not all apps work across platforms. The
"Shake for Flashlight" app I used on my
Motorola phone, doesn't work on my
Google phone. I have a different app
installed, but it's a little more work. *sigh* 

I have discovered that there were a few Motorola features, like "shake for flashlight" that I really miss on the new phone. I have a flashlight app that I downloaded and have a widget for on my home screen, but I have to go through a few more steps before my light is available. Shake for flashlight was a wonderful feature and I miss it. (Leaving the house at 4:30 am every day for the gym means that I leave in the dark, and sometimes return in the dark. Navigation into and out of the house safely often requires a flashlight app.) 

I don't mind Google Photos, I had it on my
old phone too. But I also had "Gallery" on my
old phone and used that more frequently.
Still, I get free cloud storage for years
with the new phone, and I take a lot of
photos, so this might be an excellent
thing. 

The icons are arranged differently, and instead of "Gallery" for my photos, they are in the Google Photos icon. This isn't quite as much of a hardship since I had already had both options on my old phone, but it is a small stumble ... a "where is that icon ... oh yes, I'm using the pinwheel now" moment. 

Habits can become routine when you allow them, but
should you? Think of James Bond - as a secret agent, he
had to work constantly against developing habits. The
habits and their schedules could have ended up killing him
because of his routines. 

But I'll get used to the new icons and operations. I'm not worried about that. These are small bumps in the road and the new habits I'm developing aren't bad habits, just different ones. Unfortunately, habits can actually affect lives in negative ways and that can lead to illness, injury and tragedy. Addictions start out as habits, but quickly sink their claws into daily lives, fighting for supremacy. Addictions are like habits blown up large. Where habits can be difficult to change or break, addictions can be almost insurmountable. 

Habits can move over and become addictions. Notice
in the graphic that some of the items appear
on both sides. 

But addictions CAN and ARE broken. Lives are healed when they are removed, and scars left do heal over. Habits are just that - good or bad. They can be indulged or they can be retrained, and in extreme instances, they can be excised. If you have habits you're trying to change, remember that small steps can lead to large successes. All mountains are climbed one step at a time. 

Enjoy your Tuesday. It's going to be a busy one for me, but I'm happy. My weekend weight gain is gone and I'm back on track with my good habits - LOL. The month is almost over, and March is looming. Winter is slowly coming to a close. 

Ruts and Writing - A Discussion of Routine and References

The holidays are finally over, but routine is escaping me. I know that to be successful with my writing, my art and my business, I need to have a fairly strict routine. I need to write every morning, I need to work a regular schedule, and I need a predictable life. Predictable schedules may sound boring to my readers, but I thrive on them. Right now, it's as if I'm living in the end of 2013 without having moved on to 2014, yet the calendar is rather emphatic - time has moved on but I'm still bouncing over the ruts in the road.

Ruts in the road can stall anyone. To get around
them requires careful skill behind the wheel. 

I know this is temporary, but it's really bothering me that I've only written less than 1000 words in my novel over the past two weeks. There are very good reasons for it, but it's bothering me because my characters got left at a very bad part in their plot and they are screaming at me to get moving onward to a more exciting town and year in their lives.

My poor characters are stuck in one of the most boring
parts of their plot, and I haven't had the time to finish
that segment and get them moving once again. 

I was finally at work yesterday, after two days off, and we were happily busy all day with in-store and mail orders getting pulled, processed, and packed. One of my school district teachers placed a large order just after Christmas and it's looking like we finally were able to get a final decision on some items so that I could run a final invoice through to submit to her purchasing department. I should be getting the final go-ahead on this on Monday and it should be in the mail on Tuesday.

Wouldn't we all love a job like this?

I need to stop reading so much Janet Evanovich and get back to reading my "how to publicize your novel" and "self-editing for writers" books. They may not be as much fun as reading about the crazy life of Stephanie Plum, but the more serious books actually do teach me quite a lot. The problem is, I love reading the novels, but the do-it-yourself and how-to-improve books are a much slower and less enthralling read. If anyone could actually write a book on a serious topic that was as enthralling as good fiction, they would be set for life.

There are twenty books in the main Stephanie Plum series now, and
I have most of them on audio. I decided to buy a lot of them when
there was an e-book sale and I've been reading my way through them
again. So funny!

So I'm looking at my messy desk (yes, the clean desk I had a few months ago is once again ridiculously messy) and the books that surround me on all sides. Above me I have Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" next to my two copies of Beatrice Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" - one in English, the other in Egyptian hieroglyphs. To my immediate right are my copies of Tolkien's "The Silmarillion" and "The History of Middle Earth Index", along with six reference books dealing with places that my original characters pass through in my novel. The maps detailing their journey are on walls in the next room with the master within reach of me here at my desk.

I love my hieroglyphic edition of Beatrix Potter. My
BFF Sharon bought this for me for Christmas several
years ago and I treasure it. 

To my right on the floor are more reference materials along with catalogs from museum exhibitions. Behind me are technique books for metal and jewelry techniques. Looking around me I suddenly realize why my Nook and my e-reading apps on my phone are among my best gifts ever. I have almost 500 books on my Nook alone, not counting fanfic, and it has saved a lot of trees as well as allowing me to not have more books taking up my space. I love books, but over time I've realized that not all books need to be physical and that there is a definite place for e-books. Now to continue writing my own contribution to the library of cyberspace...