Day: October 7, 2022

It’s getting real close to 300 days of writing something, no matter how ludicrous, each day. I think I have it in me to make it to a year if I keep on it like I have been. Not going to lie, it has been a challenge, especially over the last three or four weeks where I have been consistently busy with paid work. Easy to commit to the ideal when your days are wide open. Felt the panic settle in during those longer than average (for me) work days, that bleed into weeks. Still came around and found the time. In some instances merely enough to write a partial paragraph. And, I’m ok with that. Also I’ve not done much of any creative writing in a fair few months. I think it was June the last time I did anything more than just a blog post/daily update. I have had a couple of ideas floating around, but just didn’t commit to putting a pen to paper, as it were. I typically write all my short fiction on my phone via thumbs. So – there we are.

This weekend will be the first time ever, in forty some odd years, that I will purchase, prepare, cook & eat my very own Thanksgiving dinner. Call me lucky! I’ve had family, inlaws & siblings do it every other year. But Covid came calling, so we’ll be a little isolated, and I’ll fire up the oven & stove top to prepare a Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, peas & green beans, plus corn for our family dinner. No hand made pies, or anything too niche this time around. If it’s edible, I’ll call it a win.

Other things that I have tried to be more aware of over the length of my writing every day challenge, are the reading one book a month, which I am 9 for 10, so far. Hoping to catch up, or over take the 12 books this calendar year. Could do it, we’ll see how it pans out. Also trying to exercise a little every day. Mainly free weights, plus sit ups, push up, air squats and the like. Less successful here, but any movement on that front is better than none. Might have to accelerate the plan, and actually go to a gym with more olympic weights, but that costs money & even more time to do. Quickly running out of suitable weather for bike rides, and use of my long board. Things that I can work on this year, and possibly every other year coming! Hurray for small but incremental behavioral change for the better! Go team!

Have done lots of wood working. Built some furniture (which has been a dream of mine for a while). Would love for that to culminate in a sizable gaming table & custom chairs. A few years yet for that to happen. Will need to build desks for my kids as they progress in grade school, and the demands on their time increases. A.k.a. Home work! Also I’m finding a groove with sculpting again. Which is very therapeutic, and gets the hands moving. Get a sense of the delicate touch back in ye olde finger tips. Also finding time to play my guitar more often is a lovely way to spend an hour. When that’s too much I pop over to the keyboard to tickle dome ivories of a sort. Feels more like plastic or nylon, but the sentiment stands. Ciao Bella!

Now two members of the extended family have Covid, so the long weekend festivities are on hold indefinitely. Which sucks, but, but he says, after the extremely busy fair weekend we just had some downtime around the house would be most welcome. No rushing off in holiday traffic, and late night drive home through even more nightmare traffic. That’s gotta be a blessing, anyway you slice it. So instead I’ll have the kids help me with the leaves, I’ll cut the grass, and then we can decorate for Halloween. That should be good for 2-3 hours of work tomorrow. We’ll dig out the two inflatables, caution tape, cob webs and such. Make a garbage bag man corpse to hang from a tree. You know – fun stuff. I’ll get my leaf mulcher up and running if it doesn’t rain, and the yard will be clean once more – momentarily.

The youngest is home sick with her long lasting cough that’s she’s had for five plus weeks now. It was getting better, but all that outdoor time & dust at the fair has set it off – again. It never really goes away. It dies down but never leaves. You can hear her hack & cough from the lingering post nasal drip. Then it gets irritated and ramps up to what we have now. A semi constant stream of sputtering coughs. It’s a whole thing. Horrendous.

So October 7th eh? Friday of the long weekend. Thankfully I have managed to knuckle down and complete a hefty chunk of work these last 3-4 weeks, and I don’t have anything major hanging over my head for the holiday. New things can, and will certainly pop up, but for this particular moment in time I am not under a crunch. Which is very pleasant. Busy, busy, rest period. It’s good to have time to think & rest. I had some new books delivered so now I can read those. I started a new bust sculpt out of Super Sculpey yesterday, of yet another monster. So that should be a fun way to relax. My air brush paint arrived, a black & grey surface primer. Nothing too crazy. I’m going to complete my latest sculpt and then see how I fare with my old air brush on painting up those busts. Could be a nightmare, could open up new exciting challenges, and thus new rewards. Wee! Or it’ll help me prime things quickly and I’ll end up hand brushing everything anyway. Hard to tell at this point.

What else is there to say? Might actually have some new packaging that isn’t alcoholic beverage related, or cigarettes out in the market come early 2023. That’s always fun to see. Cartons, trays, cans, bottle labels, glass wear and custom bottles are one thing, but getting to see a product outside of the beer store is pretty rad too. Even had a brief return to conference roll banners this week, which reminded me of my Moosehead Brewery days, and my time with PBC ( Premium Beer Company) and all of their partner brands doing stuff like that. A nice little stroll down memory lane.

The wind is kicking up today, so these trees should be bare in another three weeks. Seeing night time temperatures down to almost zero degrees Celsius. Winter will be here before we know it. Wash those jackets, and dirt out the snow pants before you get caught out! Heed my warning! Muah ah ah ah! Ciao Bella!