WE WEREN’T OVERLY BUSY at the weekend, but we did get a lot done.
Saturday
First of all we needed to go shopping, as always, and we did that on Saturday.
I’d promised our new milk supplier that we’d pop into their farm shop as soon as we could, and we did that first. We spent a lot of money on fresh meat, fresh pies, fresh fruit and fresh veg, and all local too. And we had a wander around to meet the characters in their petting farm, including a pair of emus. One of the emus was very inquisitive and came to scrutinise us. We kept our distance. We’ve seen Rod Hull and his emu!
Next, we were at a home store buying new pillows and pillowcases. Then it was an outdoor store to buy thermal cups for in the campervan. And then it was the supermarket for our weekly shop. On the way home we bought what garden bird food we could.
Sunday
On Sunday, the poet went and got the van and fitted a new fire extinguisher. He also moved a window hammer, and replaced the carbon monoxide detector. While he did that, I rearranged the furniture in the conservatory so we could actually use it. It gets very hot in there in the summer, and very cold in the winter, so I also measured up for new curtains. It could really do with blinds at the windows, not curtains, but curtains are cheaper and we can take them with us when we move.
We took the van back to the lockup and carried on to the DIY store to buy a new storage container for all the bird food. The food was taking over the conservatory and making it look like the Clamp-its lived there. If we want to use it as a room, then the bird food can’t stay there. So we bought a container for it all that’s weather-tight and mouse-proof.
When we got back, the poet put that together and moved all the food into it while I made an apple crumble for pudding. Before we went to bed, I had an email from an online magazine I’d sent one of the 12 Stories in 12 Months stories too, the January one. Our prompt was ‘found’ and this magazine is publishing an issue next year with the them ‘the lost sock’. So I put two and two together and came up with a short story written especially for THEMA, imaginatively titled ‘The Lost Sock’. My right palm had been itching all day, and now I knew why: right for receive, left for lose (money).
Monday
Monday morning we were both up with the alarm.
He was working at home, after a long-distance business trip was cancelled. We had our dirty cuppas in the conservatory (he had one too), then before work, he cut the lawns and I hung a washload out and fed and watered the birds. My first hour of the day is my ‘dirty cuppa’ hour, which is when I have my dirty cup of tea, I put a washload through if we have one, and I feed and water the birds.
My second hour of the day is my exercise hour. That’s when I do my chair and floor exercises to try and increase my body core strength and my leg strength as well as the exercises for the slipped vertebra. I also hung out the washload that went through first thing.
I was at my desk on time, and the first task was the advanced depth workshop, Week 2. I wrote and posted yesterday’s blog post. And I started today’s. I wrote to our milkman letting him know about our next holiday. And I printed off, signed, and returned the acceptance form to THEMA. That was my third and fourth hours of the day.
By then, my fifth hour of the day, it was time for our midday breakfast, and this time, for the first time ever, we got up from our desks and went into the conservatory to have our breakfast. This is something I’ve been striving for, and if we can carry on with it this week, for dinner breaks too, then the habit might start to form.
Of course, when I say ‘hour’, I usually mean a 50-minute pomodoro. And when I’m working through solid on only one job across more than one pomodoros, I have a ten-minute break in between to do the housework stuff and make cups of tea or bring in or put out washing. But my first, second and fifth hours mean I don’t need the ten-minute break in between, so those are full and complete hours.
After breakfast, I started one of the book reviews I’ll be posting to the blog next week. I have four to write and post or schedule this week, and they’ll be posted to NetGalley, Amazon and Instagram as soon as they’re done. But they won’t appear on here until next week. Once I’d finished this one, I scheduled it to post on here, then I posted it to NetGalley and to Instagram. I already had the artwork for this one.
I have a story due in to 12 Stories in 12 Months tomorrow, so I brainstormed and outlined that. The target length is 1,800 words exactly, and I identified a suitable market to send it to too, once the story is seen and commented on.
And by then it was time for our 3pm dinner, which we also took in the conservatory.
As I hadn’t heard from the client edit still, that gave me the rest of the day to work on Lady Mathilda and her baronet as well as today’s blog post. And as I did have a bit of time, I also wrote and scheduled a bank holiday post for on here.
I brought the washing in, then went to see if I could talk the poet into going to price up some curtains for the conservatory.
Excellent day, and congrats on the story! I hope you get the conservatory exactly the way you like it. I’m looking forward to working sometimes on the front porch and on the back balcony once the painters are gone. I mean, i’ll look forward to working in my home office again, once the painters are gone!
Thank you!
The conservatory has been a wasted room, too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. Hopefully a window treatment will make it more workable.