What I'll be doing tonight...

For the first time in quite a few nights (don't ask me how many because at this point it takes too much brain power) I have no plans to do anything. I am simply going home and staying there. This certainly doesn't mean I'll be doing nothing, but at least I'm just walking home. No pottery studio, no errands, no gym, nothing. Instead I can do any one of the following (0r all of them if I am content in not sleeping and skipping work tomorrow):

1. Make something (or multiple things) with the vegetables currently stuffed in my refrigerator. Any ideas for things to make with the celeriac, beets, turnips, onions, carrots, potatoes, peppers, eggplant and the herbs that have a stranglehold on my fridge?

2. Take the blueberry jam back out of its jars and cook it again in the hopes that it will set on the second go around.

3. Mend or hem about 6 pairs of pants.

4. Knit something.

5. Photograph some pottery.

6. Watch the Netflix movies currently burning a hole in my wallet.

7. Upholster.

That's just the short list. I think maybe I need help...

or maybe just a gin & tonic.

Better than it was

The last time I was here I laid out some rather grand plans for self improvment. I suppose I could call it my plan to unslothify (yes I totally made that word up... what are you going to do about it?). So, here is my first update.

Goal 1(that whole exercise thing): I've been pretty good about getting to the pool. Yay for me! Now for the bad news- the mangled ankle is a bit slow in recovering. Perhaps re-twisting it yesterday morning was not the best thing in terms of its speeding recovery.

Goal 2 (the Chair): Ha! Nothing happening here. Still need to order that silly cotton batting. Besides the chair is currently buried in sewing projects/items needing ironing. Crap. Those also need to be added to my goals. Just to give you an idea, this is what the chair looked like 2 years ago when I had just started working on it. Yes, it really is pretty hideous, as is the foot stool. And no, I haven't finished reupholstering it either.

Goal 3 (cleaning): Okay, here I definitely made progress. I've now got 3 bags of stuff to go to the salvation army. What I learned from this cleaning experience is as follows. (1) I have way, way too much stuff. (2) The last time I read a magazine was approximately 3 years ago. I know this because I have about 100 magazines in my apartment that need reading. I really want to recycle them, but I am going to force myself to read them first. (3) I need to repeat this cleaning process at least 3 more times, only then will it approach the level of cleanliness and order that I had envisioned. But here are some before and afters:

Goal 4 (knitting extravaganza): A non-starter. Well maybe this week. Can't you see all my time was taken up with exercise and house cleaning?

Goal 5 (work, I mean where they actually pay me): See goal 4... the answer is exactly the same.

So, all in all, I guess I could have done a little better, but I could have done a lot worse too. Besides, I also was dog sitting, visiting with my super cool friends Megan and Joshua who were only in town for the weekend and dealing with the sudden death of my wireless router (sadly, I require a wired connection to my modem, until I decide on which new router to purchase).

Therefore, I'll call Operation Unslothification a success (so far).

Motivation, or lack thereof, and how to get it back

I'm sorry. Really, I've been meaning to post something, anything, for the last five days. I don't know how it happens, but the days seem to just keep flying by, and somehow I don't manage to get a single word written here in Norahland (or much else done, for that matter).

Kinda sad.

So today I am writing. It finally turned to summer here in the finger lakes. Hot and sticky. Just in time for the invasion of the U-Hauls and the return of the students. Invasion is definitely the right word here- it is a bit frightening. I'm gonna miss the quiet, and I'm not even really a quiet person, although I may be becoming more quiet with each passing year. Do you think it works that way?

Anyway, on to more important matters.

Lately, I've had a distinct lack of motivation in nearly all of my endeavors. That includes this blog, my work, cleaning my apartment, exercise... you name it, and I've become a sloth in that area. Let me tell you, I'm getting sick of being this sloth; I don't know that I recognize myself anymore. It's starting to annoy me. Which I guess is a good thing, because maybe the annoyance will get me moving.

Soooo, really, what is my random blog about myself and my (non)adventures for if it isn't a place for me say what I want to do, and then see how I do in progressing towards that goal (or multiple goals.... I have a small tendency to bite off a bit more than I can chew). Maybe this small amount of accountability will help in the grand scheme of things.

Here are some things that I haven't been able to get up the energy to do, and now perhaps how I plan to work through the stupid, sloth-y haze.

(1) Get back in Pre-Brazil (or better) shape.

You know how I said I was going to be the size of a house by the time I returned from Brazil? Well its true I'm a lot bigger and a lot more out of shape than I was 4 months ago. Totally worth it, but I've got to stop the trend somewhere... and I refuse to buy more clothes, unless they are smaller than the ones I already own, and walking around naked is totally not an option.

Plan: Start swimming and sign up for a half marathon. Thanks to my friend Sheri, I think I might have gotten the kick in the pants that I needed. I've logged a couple days in the pool and about 11 miles on the road, and only have one slightly mangled ankle. Pretty good start. I'll let you know how it goes.

(2) Upholster the it's-been-half-finished-for-three-years chair that is sitting in my living room.

Plan: order the cotton batting necessary to get on with it (yes, that is pretty much what is holding me back... I'm an idiot). I'm sure you'll enjoy the pictures. The last time I upholstered chairs I got addicted to Gunsmoke. Now that I've got my nice new TV, there must be some good upholstery-worthy TV viewing. Any ideas?

(3) Really, really clean my apartment.

Plan: Fall cleaning is the new spring cleaning for me. Maybe I'll try posting some before and afters to get me motivated to really scrub what needs scrubbing.

(4) Finish the knitting projects I've started, so I can make some headway on the gigantic pile of yarn in my stash.

Plan: First up, the black sweater vest that is almost complete. Did you know I was a knitter? If not, be prepared to see a lot of knitting and purling.

oh yeah, and...

(5) get caught back up and on top of things at work, so I have more time to do all the fun stuff.

Plan: Not sure... but anything is better than my current state of frazzled disorganization.

Okay I think that is over ambitious enough for now, I'll let you know how it goes.