The Utility of Hibernation

I've started asking myself (is this a good idea or a bad idea?), what am I doing these days?  I have undertaken a few cooking projects.  I've been busy with work, the nonprofit project, moving, home stuff.  Mostly nesting, it seems.  I haven't completed a new piece of jewelry in a few weeks.  I built an Ikea bookshelf today, but I wouldn't call that a creative project, not when it comes with picture instructions.  Moving into the Lovely Boyfriend's place has taken a lot of my creative energy.  How do I fit things into this box in an efficient way, yet one that makes sense?  (Yep, that kitchen utensil would fill that last little bit of space perfectly, but the rest of the box is filled with bookshelf stuff...there's gotta be something else more rational to go there?)  Where can we create storage space where there was none before?  How do I make this shitty closet work for my stuff?  How do I organize all my things in my mind, now that I get the opportunity to sort and organize and categorize everything?  What can I throw away (well, recycle or donate)?  (Yes, this last question is one that's calling on a high degree of creativity and imagination on my part, in ways I couldn't have imagined until I started). 

I've planted a few things recently.  Radishes, a new raspberry cane (this one fall-bearing, so I now have two summer-bearing black raspberries, a summer-bearing red, and a fall-bearing red), an evergreen huckleberry (yum!), and three blueberry bushes.  I'm thinking about where my garden will be this year, since it will be at the Lovely Boyfriend's place and not mine.  Where does the sun shine?  What will be easiest to dig up that isn't grassless because nothing will grow there?

Hibernation is all about asking the questions and developing the answers.  Action comes as the shoots poke out of the soil in the spring.  

When is Spring Coming?

Every February, I just get tired.  I feel like hibernating, holing up, nesting.  These are good things, right?  Yet my life really isn't set up to do these things.  I'm extra busy at work this month, and extra-extra busy this week, and I've got some volunteer commitments too.

Huh...that doesn't sound like much for the week, does it?  Work (even a long week at work), and some volunteer work.  A couple of bills to pay, called my dad, did some laundry, scrubbed the tub.  Why do I feel worn out and too busy?  It is clearly time to focus on the things that get me through the late winter blahs.  Focus on things I need.

Things I would like to do:  Take a sick day or two.  Sleep late.  Bake muffins.  Wear my pajamas until noon.  Drink hot tea all day.  Avoid everything.

Things that have worked to get me out of these blahs in the past:  A long weekend away, doing nothing but what I want to do.  Some physical exercise.  Sunshine.  Cleaning my apartment.  Getting some nagging tasks out of the way and feeling a sense of accomplishment.  Completing things.  Taking a sick day or two.   

Of course, this sick-day thing is tricky, because it doesn't leave me with any less work to do during the week, just fewer days to do it in, so I have to time it carefully.  But I noticed it showed up on both lists.  Apparently one thing I need is a little time away from work.  Some daylight hours that I'm somewhere other than my office.

Maybe I'll bake some muffins, too.