Marsden is Here

While having lunch on a not-braining day. Not braining day is probably due to a) stressful week b) lack of weekend c) ingesting two much gluten repeatedly over the past 3+ days. Not braining days are less inconvenient when I'm not supposed to be working. At least am at home as still haven't heard back about car and it's not really a day for cycling.

( Thursday )

( Friday )

( Saturday )

( Sunday )

( Monday (today) )

After a long week I had a pretty good time at last nights party, thanks mostly to the playlist. The unholy trinity with an additional three-track lead-in was a bit much though - I managed it but I am really feeling the after-effects from my feet to my butt this morning.

The edge was taken off a bit by my #damnedheart playing up - actually it's been doing that for the past few weeks but I've been sufficiently busy/exhausted to mostly ignore it. I'm putting it down to spring. (Probably not -really- my heart.)

So while today is one of those rare, miraculous days where there are very few things I need to get done, and beautiful weather as well, and I'm feeling quite good - a lot of things will probably still get done. That may include reading a book later this afternoon if no better options present themselves.

Really wish the first "I" in the preceding paragraph could be a "we" though.

Not really. Stayed in bed past 10 because the chesty tail-end of this head-cold is still not letting me sleep properly. Filled the green bin with a fern hair(frond?)cut and sundry other garden debris. Wrote an overdue blog post. Mowed the lawns. Whittled my RSS backlog down to size. Re-read my Tiny Discworld edition of Mort. Killed some time trying to find a computer game to play. Purged some old files / folders from my archive that I am seriously never going to need again and in some cases which had quite negative emotions attached.

It has actually felt like the first day of a holiday, perhaps suggesting how badly I need one. Alas it is not so and tomorrow I work again, with the goal of at least 6 hours a day for the next 3 days to enable the nearest I can hope for before Christmas - a day of appointments and other stuff on Thursday, a deliberately work-light day on Friday to catch up on a few other things, 48-hour-party weekend and recovery on Monday. This doesn't actually seem like much of a holiday to me. I may not be working and they may be self-imposed but there are still obligations and to a fairly full schedule.

I am going to try for an early night - through boredom and in hope of both sleep and being up at a reasonable time in the morning.

The party went off by most accounts. The day leading up to it wasn't so smooth, but everything was ready just in time - we had to de-tetris the lounge and spread as much as possible back through the other rooms as well as get the party decorations up. But all done - I went in feeling relaxed, unlike last year.

The playlist was pretty good and I even managed to dance through the unholy trinity (Constantinople, Rasputin and Farewell to the Crown) which indicates that my fitness level is a bit higher than I though it was. When food-time came around the savouries were devoured like never before - don't know what made people particularly peckish last night.

Wasn't the most extravagantly costumed or even the best attended Gothic Vampire party I've attended but almost everyone was in the right mood and seemed to be having a good time.

Unfortunately my own mood took a low turn about 12:30 that I was unable to shake. Maybe I should have grabbed a savoury from the first or even second batch myself. Maybe it was something else.

Kicked the last four hangers on out about 3am. As luck would have it the people I had been lined up to deliver home found another ride. The main outcome of this was that I got to dance to -all- the songs I had requested instead of having to miss one which of the things I wanted for me out of the party was the only one achieved.

Stayed in bed until 11 - it would be inaccurate to say I slept in that long. Awake about 8am feeling sore and lonely, dozed and drifted until I had the spoons to get up, shower, eat, start the cleanup.

In addition to cleanup the office had to be emptied again - the painting isn't finished but we moved some furniture back in there for the night. The computer is now set up in a different corner of the main lounge, handily next to the stereo, and the rest of the lounge can be used as such. The dining room is back to it's normal state and things are gradually finding their way back to their usual spots in the kitchen and laundry.

I keep slipping and thinking tomorrow is Monday and I'll have to work. Keep reminding myself I do actually have another day although the list of things I have to do tomorrow is quite long anyway. Photos of course but there is still some cleanup and I also have paperwork which needs sorted out - having just been piled in a drawer for a couple of weeks and having had more shoved in on to yesterday. Since it seems likely this corner will remain the office for some weeks now.

Some of these things were meant to happen today but come evening my brain ability to focus on a single task - even getting a couple of bits of furniture between ends of the house one after the other - gave out completely and I've just been playing FreeCiv.

So, Buckets of Dice weekend. I preface this post with having had approx 5 1/2 hours broken sleep for each of the last 5 nights. Only the late nights were due to BoD, the broken part was due to (false) alarms at AH.
( stream of consciousness )

So this week has been pretty work focused and by the end of yesterday it had made me pretty grumpy. Caught a second wind this morning for a couple of hours then ran out of steam for work about lunchtime and instead busied myself with to-dos around the house. So despite the few billable hours it feels like it has been a good day.

In the background the builder has finished both the fireplace and painting the bathroom ceiling, which wraps up those projects. One of the things I did today was trimming up the carpet and tacking it back into place around the new hearth.

Ugh, I know I should complete all the other redecoration and renovation before getting the carpet/lino redone, but that is really the thing-most-in-need-of-attention. Barring windfalls though I'm not going to be able to afford another major project until after next winter. (Fortunately a heat pump doesn't rate as a major project, I want that done -before- next winter).

Operation pay-someone-else-to-clean-all-the-things is also underway so the house is presentable for the party next weekend.

Which I'm doing by sitting in the lounge with the laptop because it's windy outside and I don't seem to be able to tear myself away from a computer. Just possibly I have a problem.

I did get some weeding done and the lawns mown earlier, which may also count.

Anyway I've done all the work I intend to do today (yes it's a Saturday but significant parts of this week have been a wash) and now have a few precious hours just to sit back and not do anything important. Except perhaps, y'know, update my LJ with things that have been happening.
( stream of consciousness )
Drat, the sun has been clouded over. Time to move on.

Managed to get out of bed at a half-respectable time, got to where I wanted to be at end of work Friday, invoiced 4 digits, had a nap, socialised at uaekiwi's drinkies and as it started plenty early was home about midnight.

Thanks to those who have been concerned/supportive :) I'll get over it, I always do.

Since I don't have to catch up work today I'm making another run at digitising my late Grandma's photo collection. It's a bit of a long-term project but it's important to capture not only the photos but the bits of information about where/who/what with them.

I'd actually rather not be at the computer today, but it's not a good one to be outside. The dishes need doing, and maybe I'll turn the heater on in the lounge and watch a movie or some Highlander later, we'll see.

What I'm -avoiding- doing is replying to an email from my cousin, who wants me to quote on building him a website that will make money [sigh]

Monday
- Physio moved from my arm to my back. Apparently everything works perfectly and my sitting posture is perfect (and so it should be after all the chiro and effort of the past few years) but my standing posture is offset left, possible there's a slight difference in my legs. I should definitely not get a job which requires long periods of standing, conveniently I have one which mostly involves sitting :-)

Still doesn't explain the remaining sciatica symptoms....

- Took the day slowly, there was nothing really urgent. In the evening motivation struck and I have started a new personal project. Now things just have to stay quiet enough that I get more time to work on that.

- Enforced downtime in the evening by watching RED (on the TV, via the computer .... arrrr). Very enjoyable silly action movie.

- Compulsively checked my work email beofre bed to find one that completely undid the movies good work :( when will I learn?

Tuesday
- car in for warrant, water-pump recall and two new tyres (which were borderline last warrant so I had budgeted for them). They might have held out another 6 months but I'd rather have new tyres going into winter. They've done 7 1/2 years.

The other two (on the driving wheels) were replaced 18 months ago.

- Found chocolates and a note in the mailbox from an (unnecessarily) apologetic party-goer who apparently threw up in the garden Friday night. His name wasn't on my list, but the thought is appreciated.

- The kitchen sink decided it wasn't going to empty after I washed the dishes so I had to turn my hand to some amateur plumbing. After dismantling everything I could above the floorboards I ventured under the house to take a look.

Mere minutes after getting down there the days aftershock came rumbling though. They sound a bit different from down there, and they feel a bit different when you're lying on the ground as well. It was a nervous moment but nothing more.

The drain blockage was eventually resolved by
a) re-widening the pipe outlet which had been crushed close at some point (soft lead pipe) to let some gunk out, and
b) running the garden hose in through the kitchen window, under the bench and all the way down the drainpipe to punch through the blockage then flush out the pipe.

This did however chew through a bunch of time I'd meant to spend on other things. Additionally the entire day of work went on short-notice scrappy jobs without even starting the main projects I planned to get done.

Wednesday
- Work went better, getting to the point I had hoped to be at the end of Tuesday. Tomorrow [touch wood] I might finish the last significant outstanding job and be able to take a "day off" on Friday.

- I planned to do the weeding after lunch (in the sun) but which was finally done just as it set, as gardening therapy after a frustrating last couple of hours.

- Cooked a pudding tonight. Don't think it quite worked.

- Writing this in the lounge to kill time before the the "80's movie songs" hour on C4, more enforced downtime away from the computer desk/office.

until a nap will do more good than harm. So far this has resulted in vacumning, cleaning the shower & toilet, digging some potatoes, sundry weeding, mowing the lawns, digging a fresh compost trench.

I've run out of chores.

This is why I can be stupidly productive when I'm sick.

Actually I theoretically took today off to do the 2010-11 end-of-financial-year accounts (which is no more fun with a stuffed head, but I'm the only one any mistakes will affect), relax and get better - yet still urgent work arrived in my inbox :( Some of the not-so-urgent stuff is clearly waiting until Monday - I do not have the spoons.

Parental units are supposed to be arriving at some undetermined time.