September's Out! On to October!
Oct. 2nd, 2019 01:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarotgalWell, I made it through alive in constant motion with only one almost-crashing moment last Friday when my headache was bad and I just couldn't deal and had to curl up on couch and make myself be still for just a few hours. I woke up after 2 hours in a complete panic that a coworker might have sent the invoices out while I was asleep and I'd forgotten to update the copy in the description. Luckily, she hadn't, and I made the change in a few minutes and everything was perfectly fine. But that moment of panic was enough to keep me up and get me going again for the rest of the month. Yay for terror & worry that you've done your job wrong and inconvenienced people because of it!
I did a great job on the Hogwarts House Battle Reading Challenge. Ravenclaw was announced as the winning house this morning, but we Hufflepuffs gave it our all! I finished 27 books, completed all 4 weekly challenges, and completed 14 (of 15) classes. Several of the books counted to help me complete a 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge, so it was nice to be able to multi-task a bit there and feel even MORE productive. Plus, I ended up really loving the books, which is an added bonus.
I worked out EVERY DAY in September. Unfortunately, I've been eating some things I shouldn't be (I had to buy scones for last week's reading challenge and couldn't let them go to waste...). So I'm going to have to be better about this. I'm still really proud of another perfect month of workouts. It's not easy for me to do, especially on days when I feel like crap or am super busy, but taking time to help my body is really important. It's the only meat suit I get, so I want to make sure it lasts.
I finished my LEGO goal of cleaning my building space/loft. It took more than 5 sessions of cleaning and organizing, and it's not completely done. But everything is put away and organized so I can easily find it. And I can walk through the room itself, so that's a win in my book!
I also completed my Promptember stories. I wrote & posted one story every single day in September, without failing once! I came close with one that I didn't get posted until about 11:30pm one night. But I'm really proud of the results. Some of the stories are short and not very clever, but I actually think a few of them turned out well. And getting into the habit of writing every day was great. I find story-a-day challenges SO much harder to do than NaNoWriMo, because I can't fall behind. I have to write an entire story from start to finish and post it every single day. With NaNoWriMo, i just write whatever pieces whenever I want to as long as I get 50,000 words by the end of the month. If I can keep up with Promptember 2019, I can DO ANYTHING! November will be a piece of cake!
I forgot to mention in my last post that I'm working on a bunch of raffle baskets at the moment. I made 7 raffle baskets for the convention I went to in August, and I LOVE doing that. One year I gave my family themed baskets for Christmas, even. I'm working on 3 right now for a church fundraising auction. I have finished 2 of them and the third is almost done but has gone from being one box of my favorite books to two boxes. So I'm not sure if I should just buy a bigger box for everything to fit into or mark them as part 1 and 2 (I don't want people to think it's two separate baskets). I've gone to 5 different book sales buying books to put into the baskets, and I thought I was done on Saturday, but I just thought of 2 other books I should really add, though there's no space for them. So we'll see. It's still something like 30 books and a bunch of other things book-lovers might like (mug, tea, hot chocolate, bookmarks, blanket, book page holder, etc.). I'm working on 5 raffle baskets for the local NaNoWriMo kickoff party as well. I'm having fun with them, though I don't have a lot of table space to store them as the other raffle baskets have taken up my whole table. Unfortunately, both events are taking place on the same day in October, just an hour apart! So I'll have to drive the NaNo ones over, drop them off, and then head back to the other event. I'll be sad to miss the kickoff party, as that really helps me get in the mood, and there are some friends I only see once a year there, so I love catching up with them.
I'm also going to have to start working on two new projects: a vase of paper flowers I'm making for church for the first weekend of November (in honor of NaNoWriMo) and a pumpkin made out of LEGO with a hollow middle so I can put a scene inside (this is my LEGO goal for the month). The pumpkin is something I've wanted to build for about 8 years now, so I'm excited to finally make it happen. I need to finish it before going on my vacation because the Halloween party is the 19th.
Speaking of vacation... OMG I CAN'T WAIT! I will be headed to Orlando the week of the 14 for 3-4 days at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and 1 day at Disney Hollywood Studios (mostly Galaxy's Edge, of course). I am so excited to be back in the wizarding world. I feel so... myself when I'm there and cry every time I have to leave. It's just so... I don't know. It just goes right to my soul. And I'm super thrilled to get to just BE in the Star Wars universe, walking around, emersed in it all. I have a traveling buddy (who has the same name as I do and who is also a Hufflepuff) so it will be the first vacation I've had with someone else in years. I'm so used to doing whatever I want whenever I want to do it. So this will be much different from my trip to Orlando last year. But I'm sure we'll have lots of fun.
The day after I get back from my trip is my Harry Potter group's Halloween party, so I have to have all my decorations packed and games created and costume and pumpkin put together before I leave for Florida. The day after that is a BookCrossing meetup, so I have to have all my books gathered and registered before I leave for Florida. And the following weekend is when all the baskets have to get done! So, yep, I've got a lot to keep me going this month.
And somewhere in here, I have to squeeze in finishing another three 101 Things in 1001 Days goals in order to stay on track.
I have a book group meeting next week. We read The Hate U Give which gave me a good excuse to finally read that book. It was even better than I'd anticipated. The moderator of the group is giving up on it (for this whole year, it's just been her and 1 other person at meetings--usually that one other person is me). So I've been asked by the librarians to take it over for 2019. I've told them I will if we can find a different date for it (it currently conflicts with my poetry group every other month). But I'm hoping maybe moving it will mean other people might be available and able to attend.
I continue to struggle with work, but I'm trying to make it a happy place. I have been bringing cookies, popcorn, baked goods, fruit, etc. to make my coworkers happy. I brought a puzzle in this week, and lots of coworkers have been enjoying helping with it and seeing it come together (it's a metaphor/symbol for us coming together). This week I also bought a pack of fake leaves and used them to decorate the office for fall.
I'm struggling bigtime financially right now. I'm much more underwater than I'd like to be, but luckily my electricity bill is again $0 this month, so that is a huge help. And I have about $700 saved up for my vacation (most everything is already paid for, and splitting the hotel room is a big help), so I should be able to enjoy myself when I'm there without worrying about bills. But living paycheck to paycheck really sucks. Things like my cat's $300 medicine keep popping up, though. And dipping into the VERY LITTLE savings I have makes me super nervous. If I could just stick to my unrealistic budget, I would be FINE. But my unrealistic budget is-- surprise, suprise--unrealistic.
I'm looking forward to a good October. I finished a scene to workshop tonight at my writing roundtable group meeting. And I've made good progress on another story I'm writing and hoping to finish this month before NaNoWriMo hits. I'm also looking forward to finally reading Wayward Sons and seeing Rainbow Rowell on October 11 in my town at our book festival! Squee! I'll be leading a book discussion about it later this month for my Harry Potter group, so I definitely need to get it read.
Oh, and October means it's time for my annual flu shot. So, yeah, it's going to be a busy but FUN month!
*sings* Nonstop.
I did a great job on the Hogwarts House Battle Reading Challenge. Ravenclaw was announced as the winning house this morning, but we Hufflepuffs gave it our all! I finished 27 books, completed all 4 weekly challenges, and completed 14 (of 15) classes. Several of the books counted to help me complete a 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge, so it was nice to be able to multi-task a bit there and feel even MORE productive. Plus, I ended up really loving the books, which is an added bonus.
I worked out EVERY DAY in September. Unfortunately, I've been eating some things I shouldn't be (I had to buy scones for last week's reading challenge and couldn't let them go to waste...). So I'm going to have to be better about this. I'm still really proud of another perfect month of workouts. It's not easy for me to do, especially on days when I feel like crap or am super busy, but taking time to help my body is really important. It's the only meat suit I get, so I want to make sure it lasts.
I finished my LEGO goal of cleaning my building space/loft. It took more than 5 sessions of cleaning and organizing, and it's not completely done. But everything is put away and organized so I can easily find it. And I can walk through the room itself, so that's a win in my book!
I also completed my Promptember stories. I wrote & posted one story every single day in September, without failing once! I came close with one that I didn't get posted until about 11:30pm one night. But I'm really proud of the results. Some of the stories are short and not very clever, but I actually think a few of them turned out well. And getting into the habit of writing every day was great. I find story-a-day challenges SO much harder to do than NaNoWriMo, because I can't fall behind. I have to write an entire story from start to finish and post it every single day. With NaNoWriMo, i just write whatever pieces whenever I want to as long as I get 50,000 words by the end of the month. If I can keep up with Promptember 2019, I can DO ANYTHING! November will be a piece of cake!
I forgot to mention in my last post that I'm working on a bunch of raffle baskets at the moment. I made 7 raffle baskets for the convention I went to in August, and I LOVE doing that. One year I gave my family themed baskets for Christmas, even. I'm working on 3 right now for a church fundraising auction. I have finished 2 of them and the third is almost done but has gone from being one box of my favorite books to two boxes. So I'm not sure if I should just buy a bigger box for everything to fit into or mark them as part 1 and 2 (I don't want people to think it's two separate baskets). I've gone to 5 different book sales buying books to put into the baskets, and I thought I was done on Saturday, but I just thought of 2 other books I should really add, though there's no space for them. So we'll see. It's still something like 30 books and a bunch of other things book-lovers might like (mug, tea, hot chocolate, bookmarks, blanket, book page holder, etc.). I'm working on 5 raffle baskets for the local NaNoWriMo kickoff party as well. I'm having fun with them, though I don't have a lot of table space to store them as the other raffle baskets have taken up my whole table. Unfortunately, both events are taking place on the same day in October, just an hour apart! So I'll have to drive the NaNo ones over, drop them off, and then head back to the other event. I'll be sad to miss the kickoff party, as that really helps me get in the mood, and there are some friends I only see once a year there, so I love catching up with them.
I'm also going to have to start working on two new projects: a vase of paper flowers I'm making for church for the first weekend of November (in honor of NaNoWriMo) and a pumpkin made out of LEGO with a hollow middle so I can put a scene inside (this is my LEGO goal for the month). The pumpkin is something I've wanted to build for about 8 years now, so I'm excited to finally make it happen. I need to finish it before going on my vacation because the Halloween party is the 19th.
Speaking of vacation... OMG I CAN'T WAIT! I will be headed to Orlando the week of the 14 for 3-4 days at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and 1 day at Disney Hollywood Studios (mostly Galaxy's Edge, of course). I am so excited to be back in the wizarding world. I feel so... myself when I'm there and cry every time I have to leave. It's just so... I don't know. It just goes right to my soul. And I'm super thrilled to get to just BE in the Star Wars universe, walking around, emersed in it all. I have a traveling buddy (who has the same name as I do and who is also a Hufflepuff) so it will be the first vacation I've had with someone else in years. I'm so used to doing whatever I want whenever I want to do it. So this will be much different from my trip to Orlando last year. But I'm sure we'll have lots of fun.
The day after I get back from my trip is my Harry Potter group's Halloween party, so I have to have all my decorations packed and games created and costume and pumpkin put together before I leave for Florida. The day after that is a BookCrossing meetup, so I have to have all my books gathered and registered before I leave for Florida. And the following weekend is when all the baskets have to get done! So, yep, I've got a lot to keep me going this month.
And somewhere in here, I have to squeeze in finishing another three 101 Things in 1001 Days goals in order to stay on track.
I have a book group meeting next week. We read The Hate U Give which gave me a good excuse to finally read that book. It was even better than I'd anticipated. The moderator of the group is giving up on it (for this whole year, it's just been her and 1 other person at meetings--usually that one other person is me). So I've been asked by the librarians to take it over for 2019. I've told them I will if we can find a different date for it (it currently conflicts with my poetry group every other month). But I'm hoping maybe moving it will mean other people might be available and able to attend.
I continue to struggle with work, but I'm trying to make it a happy place. I have been bringing cookies, popcorn, baked goods, fruit, etc. to make my coworkers happy. I brought a puzzle in this week, and lots of coworkers have been enjoying helping with it and seeing it come together (it's a metaphor/symbol for us coming together). This week I also bought a pack of fake leaves and used them to decorate the office for fall.
I'm struggling bigtime financially right now. I'm much more underwater than I'd like to be, but luckily my electricity bill is again $0 this month, so that is a huge help. And I have about $700 saved up for my vacation (most everything is already paid for, and splitting the hotel room is a big help), so I should be able to enjoy myself when I'm there without worrying about bills. But living paycheck to paycheck really sucks. Things like my cat's $300 medicine keep popping up, though. And dipping into the VERY LITTLE savings I have makes me super nervous. If I could just stick to my unrealistic budget, I would be FINE. But my unrealistic budget is-- surprise, suprise--unrealistic.
I'm looking forward to a good October. I finished a scene to workshop tonight at my writing roundtable group meeting. And I've made good progress on another story I'm writing and hoping to finish this month before NaNoWriMo hits. I'm also looking forward to finally reading Wayward Sons and seeing Rainbow Rowell on October 11 in my town at our book festival! Squee! I'll be leading a book discussion about it later this month for my Harry Potter group, so I definitely need to get it read.
Oh, and October means it's time for my annual flu shot. So, yeah, it's going to be a busy but FUN month!
*sings* Nonstop.
