Critterfixer Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 First full week of February, and boy are the Februaries looming. Two weeks until out scheduled week off, and I can't wait. Not that I'll do anything special, but a week of not having school to plan feels good. Today: planning. Ugh. But groceries are shopped, there are brownies about to go in the oven, and burgers to go on the grill, and it's warming up rapidly due to all the sunshine. So, after I have schedules done, I think I'll go to the lake and write there for a while. Maybe draw a bit too. Get some live sketches done of any herons or waterbirds that are available. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Morning! It is definitely a February-onset sort of feeling here, too! Today here: get our week going. I realized last week that I am really burned out; thank goodness things are calming down on the social front (after the Great Church Disaster) though it is certainly a growth opportunity to keep running into folks from our church as we go about our lives (and we do a very tiny amount of volunteering for fire/disaster preparedness in our community; the woman who organized it has filled her rosters largely from our former church) and calming down on the health front with elder DS, who is growing again (he's up to 25th percentile in height & BMI) and his sweet face has started occasionally pimpling up again (who'd have thought I'd be so happy about that!) so puberty is kicking back in. But I'm just emotionally exhausted and can tell that I am near a serious mental health challenge. So I'm retrenching and trying to figure how to rest & restore myself while continuing to homeschool, parent, and wife effectively. This week we'll have a main focus of house & home, of plenty of exercise (elder DS is still quite weak, and I need it for my stress/sleep) and eating well, then 1/2 - 3/4 pace for our essential academics + art & music focus for the week. Today I'd like to get a start on this and sketch it out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted February 3, 2020 Author Share Posted February 3, 2020 Morning. I had a momentary lapse and thought I'd forgotten to post this week's thread. Methinks it's time for more caffeine. Today's tasks: House: laundry, dishes, cat boxes, linens, clean bedroom and bathroom. And it needs it badly. My paint stuff is everywhere because I have about four projects going and no place to put them all. This is normal for watercolor by the way. School: Boys have started on their usual work. We have a short week. Cooking: Chicken Alfredo, broccoli, strawberry shortcakes Writing: 1,000 words on short story, blog post, character work, personal reading Extra: type up a payment sheet because I don't have spreadsheets on this computer. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted February 3, 2020 Share Posted February 3, 2020 (edited) Morning! I say: let's meet at Critterfixer's for dinner 😃 !!! Today: burnout prevention/treatment, Day 2. Slow start: I'll kick off with some housecleaning while the boys read, then move us to AM exercise, piano & language work. The goal will be to cycle housecleaning, piano or outside time, and school subjects and get our exercise in. Today is 1/2 schedule b/c, well, burnout! plus elder DS is running a game tonight. There is maybe one more Monday of me or a boy running the games and then we are DONE with that until, good Lord willing, summer. I lift my cuppa in a toast to y'all: Happy February, friends. ETA: oh, I forgot: veggies. Lots of veggies. I've not been eating enough veggies lately & they are part of the Burnout Treatment Plan. Though I'm tempted to sub chocolate .... Edited February 3, 2020 by serendipitous journey 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted February 4, 2020 Author Share Posted February 4, 2020 Morning! Dinner was good. I'm looking forward to leftovers for lunch. Today's tasks: House: laundry, dishes, cat boxes Cooking: baked potatoes night, and I'll probably make some bacon for that. School: boys have the usual. They are struggling to find the flow with Henle 2, but we are getting there. Writing: 1,000 words in my short story (and by short, I mean it's not going to go 50K), a couple of backcopy blurbs for a few more of my books, and then I'm going to take some time and read the first pages of my sequels to the book that's out with my agent now. I want to make sure I have all the materials ready for those in case they are requested as part of a potential series deal. Unlikely, but just in case. And it won't hurt me to get all that ready. Character work for my next novel, too. Getting ready to start revisions on it in March unless I'm busy doing something else. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 Yesterday I graded physics, algebra 2 and American Literature. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 (edited) Morning! Adding migraine treatment to burnout prevention. So: for migraine, start with a cycle of 5-10" of some aerobic exercise followed with about 15" of difficult math (I tend to get post-stress migraines and these doses of "good" stress seem to help); exercise with boys; do some outside chores, some inside chores. Do 2 or 3 more exercise/math cycles today, and use the math time to have boys do math too. Focus on cleaning the house and garden; spend a bit of time planning. School will be languages, math, art. + memory, some reading? that's optional and unlikely (fortunately, the boys tend to read on their own) Dinner: ???? Prob. something cheesy, tomato soup, salad: I think I have the makings on hand. ETA: as it happens, we're hosting the next game night; which means that next Monday night, everybody will be here. Can I say that I just want to cry at the thought? I am so, so tired and I'm a strong introvert; I want a break after over a month of helping boys running the games or doing my own. It isn't anybody's fault; everyone in our group has stresses, and it makes sense for us to host, and so of course I am glad to do it & it is a great opportunity to support our group. But I'm tired and worn down. Whine, whine. !!!! thanks for letting me emote 🙂 Edited February 4, 2020 by serendipitous journey 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted February 4, 2020 Author Share Posted February 4, 2020 37 minutes ago, serendipitous journey said: ETA: as it happens, we're hosting the next game night; which means that next Monday night, everybody will be here. Can I say that I just want to cry at the thought? I am so, so tired and I'm a strong introvert; I want a break after over a month of helping boys running the games or doing my own. It isn't anybody's fault; everyone in our group has stresses, and it makes sense for us to host, and so of course I am glad to do it & it is a great opportunity to support our group. But I'm tired and worn down. Whine, whine. !!!! thanks for letting me emote 🙂 Ugh! Yes, I know. I have writers' group tonight, which I love, but it's like Thursday--whenever I'm around more than one or two people for more than a few hours, I'll just need some time to recover from that. It takes it out of me, and the only thing that puts it back in is some solitude time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof1 Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 Monday and Tuesday school done. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted February 5, 2020 Author Share Posted February 5, 2020 Morning. I was up with the neighbor's howling cat again. Why he feels he needs to sing around our window at two in the morning, I don't know. I wish he'd do it somewhere else. We have no lady cats here that would be glad to see him. We don't even have any outdoor cats at all. Today's tasks: House: laundry, dishes, cat boxes, kitchen Cooking: pizza, possibly I will cook a pumpkin or two to make into a pie or pumpkin bread tomorrow. I have a big one that really needs eating. School: boys have usual schedule. They are slowly acclimating to Henle--they've just been used to having a workbook, so constructing their own workbook based on the daily lesson plan is challenging for them, but they are getting it. Writing: 1000 words in my short story. Continue character work. Personal reading. Emotions course exercise today. Reading the first 50 of one of my sequels today, and the synopsis. Personal reading. I have two books to get to, and I really need to read the fun middle grade contemporary first. The last adult fantasy I finished was a disappointment, and so I've been a little hesitant about reading another fantasy so soon. Art: New character art to start today 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 Morning! Elder DS is having tummy problems, which is now a total trigger after the last year of serious, growth-inhibiting, un-diagnosable gut issues. However. My tummy is weird, too, so here's hoping it's just a bug. Today: be kind to everyone. Math, art, languages all around; younger gets a break from Greek b/c his online class was stressing him out so much & so regularly that I am taking him out of it and giving him a week to "de-school". It is odd, I don't think it is the amount of work per se that is the problem, but it is _something_ : he was fine doing Greek with me over the vacation. And he is 9 years old, he shouldn't be stressed about school. Well, other than the unavoidable horror of having to do school at all 😉 . The main goal of the class was social, anyhow, and that sort of fizzled b/c lately he's the only one in his class. And now that we have our gaming group, and a series of fairly regular get-togethers with a group member's delightful twin daughters (also homeschooled, so easy to schedule things), I think we're okay on the social front. Okay, to be honest the other goal of the class was to have him taught by a teacher who knows some Greek 😃 . However, it looks like we will all be learning together. And on the non-school front: exercise; spend some time cleaning front area, kitchen, living room, and "art room", get by store for some fruit & meat & maybe tea. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted February 6, 2020 Author Share Posted February 6, 2020 February has struck here. But today is a light day, with art, and tomorrow they have off. And my stomach just did a flip because an email just came, and I think it's my edits. Gah! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted February 7, 2020 Author Share Posted February 7, 2020 Morning. Yes it's early. I'm supposed to still be asleep, but I'm not. Today the boys have off. I have CE. I also have editing, and thinking about editing, which is not going to be easily done today. But I might as well start on some of that since I'm awake anyway. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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