Potpourri

I meant to post yesterday, but I had two partial posts bumping around in my head, and my brain wasn’t quite hitting on all four cylinders. So, have some random thoughts…

The weekend was kind of a bummer. We meant to go out, to the Farmer’s Market or the beach or a monthly Asian Games Workshop hosted by a friend. But we got up too late, there was a beach advisory which meant swimming would have been dangerous, and MrH’s back and shoulder were hurting him, so none of those got off the ground.

I started a leather pouch, and discovered that I can still stitch leather. Yay! But only if someone else cuts out the pieces and punches the holes for stitching. Boo!

I’m sure there are tools or templates that would let me mark, cut, and punch the pouches, but I’m not there yet, and it’s really aggravating.

This is the latest in a list of projects stalled by the need for someone sighted to do or show me one minor step, which makes it even more aggravating.

A group I’m involved in refuses to communicate in any way besides posting on FaceBook, which is very difficult for me to access. On the rare occasions they bother to call or text anyone, it’s my husband, despite his repeated requests that such communication go through me. Because he may remember to tell me, but I will remember to tell him.

We found out today that another much-beloved group is disbanding, as the founder is moving away. It’s possible the group could reform, or another rise up in its place, but I think it’s rather unlikely, and the person will be sorely missed whatever happens.

July in Review

Still and all, July hasn’t totally sucked. ;->

In June, I began trying to keep a freezer inventory and plan meals I could cook, both to save money and to ease the strain on MrH, who has hit that crunch time of his year and has as much work piled on his desk as he can stand.

I continued this in July, with good success. We did eat out a few times, most notably for my birthday breakfast, but in general, we did so because we wanted to eat out rather than because there wasn’t a plan. This both saved us money and eased some stress.

My plan in August is to continue, to do some pre-cooking and freezing to expedite quick meal preparation, and to do some stocking up and organizing, to cut out some of the last-minute trips to the store for missing ingredients.

Also in July, I started this blog and began staff writing at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, my friend Crystal’s blog.

To be honest, it about kicked my butt. There was a learning curve with WordPress (still ongoing!) but there’s also the sheer mental effort of coming up with a post idea, writing the post, and then trimming and toning it into a nice, coherent piece. I have mad respect for those who can do it daily, and the best bloggers make it look easy and conversational in the process!

On top of that, I put in an inquiry with an acquaintance who’s starting up a publishing concern. Said acquaintance invited me to submit a story, which means that I now have to produce said story.

Now, producing stories is something I enjoy doing, but I’m beginning to wonder whether, on top of blogging, I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. And the concern is looking for 5-10K stories, whereas everything I start lately wants to spin itself into a freaking novel.

There’s also the matter of the critique groups with which I’m involved. An electronic minion of one has recently popped up to remind me that I have not submitted a critique for an entire month, and to nag me to do so, on pain of having my account deemed inactive. This would not be a disaster, as I could take a hiatus and reactivate the account later, but I would lose all credit I’ve earned to this point and start over at zero, which is undesirable enough to make doing a critique worthwhile.

Between reading, writing, and researching, I’m spending enough time at the computer to make me headachy and cranky, which is a good sign that I need to spend less time at the computer. Which in turn is a sign that I must make more productive use of the time I do spend here.

To add insult to injury, the dryer has decided it’s on strike. We’ve reset the circuit breakers, so it’s not that. I suspect there’s something up with the switch, but I’m qualified neither to diagnose nor to repair appliances; it’s just a gut suspicion.

And one more aggravating thing to add to the list…lol

Better Things Ahead?

It looks like things are going to stay busy into August. MrH has as much work as he can do, and the first two weekends of the month are committed, which means either he’ll be working or we’ll both be crashing during the other two.

Groups that have been on summer hiatus, such as my local writer’s group, will start meeting again this month or next, and the Small Business Center will ramp up their class schedule. In theory, I’ll be taking an online class in technical writing through the community college, but that depends on whether funding pans out. I probably won’t know until the week the class is set to start.

So, what about you? How was your weekend, and was July good to you? Planning any changes for August? Let me know in the comments!