So this year, I'm not going to push myself. I'll go out if I feel like it, and stay home if I don't. I have committed to help out at the Highland Games in February, but only a little - just one day, and not all day at that. I'll walk around spinning, and do a waulking demonstration (because I have a leftover length of cloth from last year that didn't get done because of the rain). Otherwise I'll eat meat pies, watch the games, and admire men in kilts. And other than my potential annual trip to Boston to see Mike in the fall, I've got nothing scheduled.
After the several days of yard work, today was a "bits and pieces" day. There is always a "things to do" list, and the idea of it gets overwhelming. I have a strong tendency to feel that if I'm doing something - then I'm not doing something else. So rather than do anything - I find myself going down rabbit holes on the laptop, or flipping through youtube videos. Weird the way the mind works.
So today I tackled a bunch of those things. If I'm honest with myself, a lot of them don't take much time. Clean the fish tank. Pay a few bills. Put the flea meds on the cats. Send a text to a friend who is starting a new job (good luck, Sis!). Cut up the pineapple I brought home from work (Costco donated more to the museum than we can use).
A week or so ago the handle came off my microplaner. If I were a proper American, I would go out and buy a new one. But that's not how I roll. I mixed up some epoxy and put the handle back on. The little wooden treasure chest that I carry my tiny electric spinning wheel in had a split in one of the pieces of trim, so I got that glued.
Some months ago the toilet seat in the cottage broke. I got as far as buying a new one and it's just been sitting there, so I put it on.
Early last year, working in the cottage, I made the mistake of using the hairdryer to hurry up a project while I had the space heater running on the same circuit. I not only popped the circuit breaker but burned it out. At first I thought I had just burned out the wall socket and I replaced that, but that didn't work. Rik and his friend Steve were nice enough to come look at it, find that the circuit breaker was dead, and switched it out with one to a plug I didn't use often. A short time later Rik picked me up a new circuit breaker. That was last May. Today I replaced it. It's a basic and simple thing to do, but I will admit that electricity scares me. When Rik and Steve were messing with the circuit breakers - they just did it. Not me - I came to the house and cut the power to the cottage off completely, then put on a headlamp and put in the new breaker. Then I had to come back to the house to turn the power back on, then down the the cottage, pray for a moment, and flip on the circuit breaker. Nothing sparked, or exploded, and the outlet works now.
Those two projects, that I've been "getting around to them" for months, took maybe a half-hour each.
I even worked on a new skirt. Last year, for the Highland Games when I demonstrated all day, I made an 18th century pleated linen skirt. The skirt got soaking wet in the rain, and then had an encounter with a leaky pen, and pretty much got ruined. I liked that skirt (I wear skirts a lot in the summer - they're cooler than pants). So I've started a new one. Ebaida wants to co-watch the musical version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame (an excellent production) but I need something to fiddle with my hands when I watch stuff, so I got the skirt to the point where I can do some handwork on it.
All in all, a gratifying day.
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