Explanatory note: As discussed elsewhere, my brain and I have a Complicated Relationship. When it doesn’t have enough to do, it turns on itself. One of its favorite forms of cruelty is to declare that I could Do Better, accompanied by the assertion that I’m just sitting like a bump on a stump, doing Exactly Nothing. When this happens, I often resort to making a Done-To List as evidence that I actually am accomplishing things. Yesterday was one of those days.
What went before:
Done-To List as of 11:25 am
1. Ate breakfast (don’t laugh)
2. PR
3. Blog update
4. Handwrote scene +/- 800 words
5. Moved laptop and working stuff to living room rocking chair (because we are now entering the season when I can’t use my desktop for three hours in the morning on sunny days.)
6. Started and monitoring laundry
7. Answered correspondence
8. Started a Done-To List because my brain is being pissy
12:30pm
9. Scooped cat boxes
10 Took a 10 minute walk around the basement
11 Started the oven for heating fish
12 Wound and set the big regulator clock
13 Ordered a stainless steel cat fountain for the second bathroom, because it suddenly descended upon me like a bolt from the blue that the gravity waterer in there is plastic and will now be some years old.
14 Updated the Done-To List because I’m Just. That. Petty.
2:40 pm
15 Cooked and ate lunch (don’t laugh)
16 Reviewed ASL homework
17 Brought in cat litter from garage
18 Reviewed my Draft Schedule from BaltiCon and wrote emails re same because there seems to be a Misunderstanding
19 Snuggled cats
20 Updated the Done-To List
4:30 pm
21 Finished entering correx in WIP
22 Fetched in the mail
23 Ate a snack
24 Fed Trooper his meds mixed in gravy
25 Fed the Young Fry Blue Wilderness meat treats
26 Updated Done-To List
7:46 pm
27 Went to ASL class
28 Served up Coon Cat Happy Hour
29 Poured glass of wine.
Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.
#
Friday. Raining. Said to be changing to snow on the overnight.
Time check: April 11
Breakfast was cottage cheese and grapes. I’m finishing up my first mug of tea. Lunch … I have leftover soup and prolly enough stuff to throw together a salad, so that may be it.
Tali’s Fan Club has not had a report for some while. Tali is taking her time about settling in. She often comes to my lap, but she needs to stand up, instead of settling in. She’s free with her purrs, and occasionally delivers herself of little nips to my fingers, which — I appreciate the thought, but having your fingers nipped while you’re trying to type is … disconcerting at the least. Her Complicated Relationship with Rook continues to develop. I would say he’s her closest friend in the clowder. She and Firefly are cordial, and they both share the couch with me for the evening reading — Firefly against my right hip, and Tali against my left knee — but they don’t see each other out. She defers to Trooper, and I’ve seen her seek him out to wash his ears for him, or to just sit nearby.
We had a Major Breakthrough the other night, when Tali — at last! — seemed to figure out the Red Dot, and joined in the riot of trying to catch the damned thing before it got into the wall vent. She’s previously sat on the edges of the game, a puzzled observer, though she’s an enthusiastic cat dancer (I try to switch out the evening games).
She has gained about a pound in the two months she’s been here, and her daily cat wrasslin’ and back hall races with Rook are keeping her in shape. She’s still not sure I’m allowed to brush her, but we’re making some progress there, as well.
Summing up: Tali is being conservative in her approach but does not seem displeased with her new arrangements.
My first order of business today is to transcribe the scene I wrote out yesterday, after which I shall Cast About Me to see if any other scene catches my eye.
How’s everybody doing?
Below, Tali interrupted by the paparazzi:
Have you tried room-darkening shades or blinds (or drapes) in your office, for those unnecessarily bright summer mornings?
My office is a converted sunroom, and the problem is the clerestory windows at the top of the room. Since it *is* a sunroom, it does duty warming the kitchen, the dining room, and itself. It’s a minor hassle to shift to the laptop and the rocking chair — really hardly a hassle at all, as it’s a VERY comfy rocker.
Your Done-to list is impressive, I’m sure mine wouldn’t be half as productive most days.
I’m glad you’re putting fixing & eating breakfast and lunch on your To do / Done list too. I tend to occasionally forget to eat, or even worse, to drink anything in a timely manner when I’m occupied, and adding it on my schedule is helpful. I’ve even set daily alarms on my phone for both lunch and dinner to make sure I don’t look up from whatever I’m doing at 4 o’clock and think Hey, wasn’t I supposed to have lunch some hours ago? Or notice my lip splitting at 5 o’clock and then remembering I forgot to fetch any water to drink since breakfast… being good at concentrating is sometimes a bit too much of a good thing 😉 though generally the ability to be absorbed by what I’m doing feels good.
A Done-To list is an amazing idea!!! I too have a carnivorous brain that likes to tell me all the ways I am disappointing everyone around me, including me. Mostly I ignore it. But the past two years have thrust that part of me center stage and frankly, I’ve had enough. I will try to remember to write up a Done-To list to prove to said brain that I am doing things, and that I am quite competent, thank you.
I didn’t realize it until I read about your “done-to” list that I have been doing this mentally for exactly the same reasons.