So I’ve been organising all of these planners to see if I can organise my life a bit better than it has been of late – that’s my working life, not necessarily life in general. Yesterday was the first full day of trying it out. I did a bit of tweaking as the day went on but, in all, I think it was quite successful.
The dog did allow me to sleep through until about 6:30am, which was very good of him. However, he then didn’t allow me to go back to sleep. He nagged and nagged, barked, scratched, licked, jumped, and nagged until I eventually gave in, hoping that at least I might get an extra hour in the new regime.
I had an early dirty cuppa, during which I finalised the work planner and the activity planner. And then I added in a housework planner as well. I fed the dog, washed the dishes, put the dishes away, put a washload through, and folded a washload but didn’t put it away. I’ll do that today.
I did some of the housework in my activity hour and some of it in pomodoro breaks throughout the day. And I worked my way through the fitness workouts, all 18 of them. They’re all quite short and they seem easy, but I thought they were easy last week when I did some of them and, boy, could I feel it over the next couple of days!
I collected yesterday’s blog post from the tablet and got it ready for publication, adding a few paragraphs to the end. Hindsight does make a difference, but it took longer than it ought to do really. Hence, I’m writing this one up on the desktop again, at my desk, as I go.
The dog was still being very naughty, expecting me to jump every time he barked or whined or hurled himself at me – and he does hurl himself, launching himself from 2 rooms away so he gets a good run at it. Gosh, it hurts when he does that. Yes, it’s amusing, but it’s very difficult to get through much work.
I had the pomodoro timer ticking away on my phone, on continuous so I didn’t have to keep stopping and starting. It was useful to have the ticking, as there’s a gong at the end of each pomodoro before it goes silent for 10 minutes, then another at the end of the 10-minute break before it starts ticking.
The dog did not like that ticking sound! He kept attacking it and trying to run off with it. I had to put it where he couldn’t reach it in the end.
He really is a thief, loves to steal something so we chase him. And if we don’t play the game, he’ll chew it until it disintegrates. On Wednesday I caught him tearing a face cloth to shreds right after I rescued a shower gel bottle from his mouth – he creeps into the shower, pushes the door open, then steals whatever he can reach.
We’ve tried scolding him and taking it off him, then making him sit in his basket. That doesn’t work. We’ve tried ignoring him – he does even more damage. And now we’re trying to find him something he can have instead, like one of his own toys. That seems to work, but I wouldn’t put it past him to tire of that too.
And yesterday it was my phone’s turn, just for ticking. We’re wondering if perhaps there’s a high frequency on there that he can hear but we can’t. Or it might just be the steady, constant, loud ticking noise that does his bulb in. (Yorkshire expression!)
I took him for his walk in the end, just to try and tire him out, having already played ‘chase’ with him in the garden twice – with his own toys not our belongings! But I could only be bothered to go around the block with him. He would have loved to go down to the meadow again, but those horses were still out at midnight the night before and wandering along the main road – about 12 of them – I really wasn’t in the mood for him to start shouting and barking at them. So we went around the block.
When he got home I told him to look for the poet, which kept him occupied for a while, and I tried it a few times before the poet did indeed drive around the corner about an hour later. Then I let him and the poet catch up with each other while I tried to do some work. It was dark and late by now and I didn’t really hold out much hope, but I had to try, especially as I have a day filled with errands today and won’t have time to do anything else.
I tweaked the work schedule a little, merging 2 weekly half-hour tasks into 1 weekly hour-long admin task and removing all new writing until the new year. The writing segments are blocking me every single day at the moment, and I sit and fanny around if I haven’t met my quota rather than just move onto the next task. So I’m putting the brakes on again until the new year.
I have a big editing job to clear before the end of the month, and December isn’t very long with my 2-week holiday in the middle. I’ve done this before with the writing, taken a break and not done anything, and I’m usually champing at the bit to get going by the time I start up again. I’ll still republish 2 books per week.
I’m at the hospital this morning, taking my skin with me, all the way to Rotherham, which isn’t just 20 minutes up the road any more. Then I’m in Doncaster in the afternoon having my hair cut. The hospital appointment is 11:20am and the hair appointment is 2:30pm, but who knows what time the hospital will see me. If I’m still waiting at about 1:45pm, and it has happened before, I’ll have to get up and walk out. I know they’re busy, but they shouldn’t make appointments if they can’t see everyone.
Watch them see me straight away now!
Anyway, the plan is to grab something to eat at the hospital before heading to the hairdresser, depending on timing. The poet is working from home all day, so he can have the dog. I wouldn’t have been able to go out for so many hours on the trot if he wasn’t working from home. The house would be a wreck by the time I got back to it and the dog if I did that.
If I end up with a working bit in the middle, or a good chunk at the end. I’ll finish this week’s republishing and publishing work. If not, I may do it at the weekend. Apart from shopping and visiting, I don’t think we have much planned, but we’ll see.
Whatever you’re up to, have a great weekend! And a lucky Friday the 13th.
