Fan Friday—What Do I Do All Day?


Well, first I get up. I mean, doesn’t everyone? Then I get coffee. Again, doesn’t everyone? And then I work—my job, business, whatever you want to call it. All the promo, answering emails, checking my calendar. Oh, and social media and reading the news. Usually I eat breakfast: two slices of bacon.

And take my drugs. Legal ones, that is. Blood pressure meds, because the doc insisted; I did talk him down from 40mg to 20mg. I don’t take everything at once. I’m weird. I space them out. The thought of all of them rolling around in my stomach at once makes me feel a little icky.

And of course, by now, I’ve had a second and maybe a third cup of coffee. Well, my husband doesn’t call the stuff I drink “coffee.” It’s that instant orange cappuccino. Love it. Get crabby without it.

Snack time: homemade granola. In case fish oil—blech— doesn’t bring down my cholesterol. In the summer, I might substitute a smoothie. Not one of those gross “throw all the green crap in the blender” smoothies, but one made with fruit and low-fat frozen yogurt. See, I’m not a complete heathen.

At some point, and I shoot for 9:00 but it doesn’t always happen, I shower and dress. Usually sweats, unless I’m going somewhere, but still. It counts. Oh, if I’m going somewhere? Jeans and boots. I have a reputation, you know.

I do aerobics throughout the day (often while waiting for coffee) and stretches and some special exercises for the parts that are getting creaky. I take a walk as long as the temp is above 32 and I play soccer with the puppy outside. I also walk to the mailbox.

The rest of the my morning is spent answering more emails, messages, filling orders, and editing/formatting. In between, I jump up and do the dishes, make the bed, clean a little, pick up cat and dog messes, etc.

Glamorous and exciting, no? “No” is indeed the correct answer here.

After lunch (leftovers), I often take a nap. I’ve already put in about 6 hours at this point, and I don’t really sleep well at night. I thought I was just being a lazy bum until I tracked my sleep time for a month. Turns out that I get 7 1/2 hours of sleep each day—WITH a nap! Yay, justification!

From 2:00 or 2:30, I drink more coffee, take care of family and household stuff, and then I work some more. I finally, finally got to the point where I try to shut it down by 6:00 p.m. After dinner, we mostly just watch TV, unless I have an event or something. Movies. The fewer rating stars, the better!

During that, I’m usually on the phone, finishing up a few things or texting for a bit. Not much of a bit. Texting tends to annoy me unless it’s a quick note. I do NOT like texting conversations—just call me already!

So that’s the long, extended, boring version of my workdays. Six days a week. The only variation is if I have an errand or two to run, an appointment of some sort, or just feel like doing something different.

I’d like to say, “And on the seventh day, she rested,” but that wouldn’t be strictly true. I try to do “nothing,” but somehow all the daily tasks still fall to me. And while I do write during the week, a couple days at least, Sunday is my blogging day, the day I Google myself to make sure there’s nothing, er, embarrassing out there, and the day we often drive out and look for our future property.

Gee, I sound like an old fogey—Sunday drives! And now that I write it all down, my life does sound extremely dull. So let’s think for a moment. What else do I like to do?

I like to dance. Once in a while, we put on music and pour the wine and dance in the living room. Good luck getting my husband to actually go anywhere to do this. Of course, we’re better at it if we’re drinking, like everyone, right? Unless it’s ballroom—yes, we do ballroom dancing. We took lessons a while back, for a solid year. Our instructor was 90 years old—he could dance circles around me!

I also play the guitar and the organ and do leather crafting. And I garden; well, not right now, but soon! I do a lot of cooking—from scratch—love to cook. I bake and I can or dehydrate the stuff I grow.

Oh, yes, of course I read—I have over 1,000 books, even if the majority of my reading these days consists of manuscripts. But I read books sometimes 2-3 times, and I never, ever give them away.

And I shoot. I can hit the target too. Generally in the center.

We camp often, March through October at least. I like to try to make “regular stuff” over the fire, especially in cast iron. And yes, we camp in a tent. We have firebuckets and a handwashing station—good ol’ Girl Scout training. We hike and sit around the fire and sometimes play our “special” version of a parachute game . . .

So, what do YOU like to do? How do you spend your days?

 

 

 

Fan Friday—Getting to Know Me


Rather than “interviewing myself,” whatever that is, I’m going to answer ten questions. Things you may not know about me, and maybe you don’t want to know . . .  Just kidding, these are pretty innocuous:

Favorite color: Green. Second favorite color: Blue. Third favorite: Yellow.

I don’t know why I have three, I just do. I guess that comes from having to answer this question repeatedly and rather often, depending on who’s doing the asking and for what reason. Facebook quizzes, for example, may get a different answer, and the answer may also depend on the item in question. I like my trees green, my sky blue, and the sun yellow. I also like red, say, for my truck, my iPhone, and my kitchen canisters. I would not like a yellow truck, and I’ve already had green and blue vehicles.

Doesn’t make any sense, does it? Good.

Favorite season: Spring. Okay, and summer, and fall. Not winter. Not a fan.

I like when things are growing, when the days are warm but the nights are cooler. I like being out in the heat, to a point—that point is about 90 degrees, with a heat index of zero. Anything over that, I melt and get miserable. And have a hot flash. Why can’t those damn things come in the dead of winter?

Fall is nice, too. Cool and crisp, especially after summer, and all the beautiful leaves. Holidays to look forward to and fire in the fireplace, lit candles, a blanket and a good book.

Favorite book(s): Gone With the Wind and The Little White Horse. Hands down.

If you have read either, by Margaret Mitchell and Elizabeth Goudge, respectively, you really should. The first is epic, of course, and the second will make you believe in magic and fairy tales. That is, if you don’t already . . .

Favorite food cuisine: Mexican or Italian.

No way could I pick a favorite food! But both of these are so versatile. And delicious. I mean, you could eat Italian for a week—lasagne, spaghetti, toasted ravs, pizza, manicotti. Or tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, quesadillas, tamales. Yeah, it’d be a tough choice if I had to go with just one food.

Favorite drink: Water

Bet you thought I was going to say “beer,” right? I actually drink mostly water, and cappuccino. When I do have alcohol, it really depends on whether it’s wine season (winter, sometimes fall) or beer season (all other times of the year).

I’m really pretty simple. A good, regular beer, or at least quite a few of them; for wine, I’ll go with Moscato every time. And I usually don’t pick the expensive ones, either.

 

So, anything else you want to know? Just ask. I’m always here . . .