Week Eight was February break, so I did a lot of lying in and on my bed. It was a productive spot for me, though. I read a book, wrote, got my BuJo March spreads done, and finished reading the first draft of my novel — which didn’t turn out to be as bad as I thought it was; there are at least 4,000 (of the 72,737) words worth keeping! I also tried to let my immune system kick the harsh cold I contracted the week before. Meds I’m on suppress my immune system, so my body appreciated the full nights of sleep and the leisurely paced days. When school breaks come around, people always ask, “Are you doing anything?” And for some reason it’s implied that not making extravagant plans is a waste. And of course I love to travel, travel, travel. But I also love coffee and cats and books in bed.
Sunday
Shockingly, we’re starting this week off with a picture of one of my cats. Here we see him being his best self. “No, it’s actually not time to write,” he says.
Monday
Fishes (Amanda), had President’s Day off, too. We spent the day working on our March Bullet Journal spreads. For Christmas, she wanted me to make her a journal not unlike the ones I’ve been keeping for the past two years. I set up her Future Log, drew in the goals page she asked for, and added some inspirational quote art. Then I designed a January spread to help get her started. Now we get together to share washi tape and ideas. And my mess ups always feel less calamitous when I can laugh about them with her.
Tuesday
Well, I shoveled the driveway. He shoveled a spot to feed the pigeons. He did do the bulk of the shoveling last storm, though, and I enjoy the pigeons, too. Our neighbors? Less so.
Wednesday
The cardinal perched on the mirror of my mom’s car has been coming around my parent’s house for a few days (according to my dad). He casually pecks on the window of the car for a few minutes. When nothing happens, he flies across the street and does the same thing to the neighbor’s car. Back and forth. When no cars are in the driveways, he pecks at the house windows. Back and forth. We’re not quite sure why.
Thursday
A screenshot might be a bit of a cop out, but this conversation cracked me up. And it’s pretty exemplary of our usual exchanges. A little context: My dad had his colonoscopy and was letting my brother and I know that all went well.
Friday
So here’s the thing… My car is leased. I’m one year and ten months into a three-year, 36,000 mile lease. I’m at a little over 32,000. This is obviously problematic. I switched vehicles with my mom for a few weeks when she was recovering from her knee surgery, but now that she’s back to work, I’ve taken my dad’s jeep and left Ozzie with him. He’s carefully calculated things; he’s retired and is up to the challenge.
And so I have his Jeep, which I have nicknamed Jay. Jay is a tall (literally — I’m 5’9″ and have to climb in), proud (it sports a dark grey, American flag on the hood), no frills vehicle, that my dad has stuck bullet hole stickers all over to cover up dents from the previous owner. It has standard transmission, not automatic, and, in fact, doesn’t boast anything automatic. Old school windows, no aux input, and certainly no bluetooth. But the real problem, as you might notice in the picture, is that the lights don’t automatically turn off and there’s NO WARNING when you leave them on!
I drove to the gym in the morning when it was still dark, came out and realized I left the lights on. Shit.
In the evening, I went to yoga. I came out and realized I left the lights on. God damn it.
The next night, I went to Barnes & Noble (or The Nobe, as I affectionately call it), came out, and as you can clearly see in the picture, realized I never turned the goddamn, mother fucking lights off. Son. Of. A. Bitch.
Think I remembered when I scooted over to the grocery store after?
Saturday
Our cats are indoor cats. This is right outside our back door. The paw traffic from the street cats is real.