Check! Check! Check!

I'm checking things off lists left and right.

First off, I finished moving.  After five solid months of a carload of things here and there, I hired movers for the last of the stuff (check!), had a yard sale (check!), donated all the yard sale leftovers to Community Warehouse and Free Geek, a couple of organizations I admire greatly (check, check!), cleaned the place (check!), actually moved the compost bin and all the compost (check!), and returned my keys (check!).  Whew!

Then I joined some sort of wellness challenge at work.  The list of things I get points for is totally random and disorganized.  I got up this morning and took a multivitamin (check!), made a meal (breakfast) at home (okay, I scooped last night's dessert of strawberry-rhubarb pudding cake into a plastic container to take to work, but still, since I didn't eat out, check!), ate five servings of fruits and veggies by lunch (check!), came home and made dinner at home (ditto check!), then went for a very long walk...to Beermongers for a Raging Bitch Belgian IPA from Flying Dog that was rad, a marvelous balance between Belgian candy spice and IPA bitter/aromatic hops (I get a point for each 10 minutes of walking... checkcheckcheckcheckcheckcheck checkcheckcheckcheck...!!!).  I'm trying to decide whether it's fair to count drinking a delicious beer and watching the 9th inning of the Twins beating the Mariners as "Doing something that makes me feel good" for 20 minutes or more.  I mean, I have to fill in what that thing is, and I'm not sure "sports-watching beer-drinking barstool-potato" won't get disqualified.  But damn, it sure felt good.  Given that I'm turning this thing in to Human Resources every week, I'm also trying to decide what to do about good sex.  Healthy, good for me physically and mentally, absolutely.  Do I really want to report how many times a week for a point apiece?  Um...I'll get back to you on that.  Before bed, I plan to collect a few more points for writing in my journal (okay, blog), drinking another glass of water to make eight, volunteering (I've got some nonprofit-related emails to return), and flossing my teeth (hey, decades of dentists haven't convinced me, but make it a competition and I'm on that shit!).

Things that aren't on this checklist that really ought to be:  Eating breakfast.  I'm terrible at it.  Eight or more hours of sleep would be another good one.  I'm pretty consistent in getting more than 7 and a half.  I'm going to count going out to see live music as one of the "things that make me feel good."  I think I only get to list three of those things per week, though (though each one I can check every day for a point).  This diversity/ADHD in hobbies is going to kill me on that front.  What about learning something new?  I get "exploring a new physical activity" as an option, but there isn't a whole lot I've never done even once that I can fit into a Tuesday evening.  I guess I could try an introductory karate class, but I'm probably not experimenting with kayaking or kiteboarding or skydiving every day for a week.


Things I'll be doing to kick some ass in this wellness competition thing:  Crafting.  Finally, some impetus to really make me get back to making some stuff and keeping up my Etsy site!  Gardening.  Those tomatoes have got to get in the ground, and that compost has got to get laid down.  Biking to work.  It's only seven blocks or something, that really ought to be an easy three points per day. 

Also work-related, I've discharged three clients in the past two weeks, and I'm down to four.  That's just crazy.  I'm getting caught up on paperwork!  I hope.  I've got a ways to go.

Next on the to-do list: Sunburn!

Holy shit was it beautiful out today.  Beautiful!  The sun was shining, it was about 70 degrees, it was real spring to go along with May Day.  I spent the entire day, literally, in the yard.  My back is sore, my thighs are sore, my ass is sore, and it feels wonderful.  I have approximately 600 bulbs, almost entirely dug out of a 12-square-foot area, mostly (400 or so) some sort of bluebell-like thing (the closest I can come up with is Spanish Bluebells) and about 200 daffodil bulbs.  I could rip up the yard and do it all in flowers in what I dug out of that little spot behind the fence.  And then I dug up some dandelions (maybe 0.2%) and raked up some winter-leftover leaves.  Today was all about the yard, and I didn't leave home.  (Then tonight, for fun, we watched Roman Holiday...such a wonderful movie.  All about running away for the day and forgetting everything just to have fun.)  Oh, yeah, and I made biscuits and eggs over-easy for breakfast.  For the record, until I have a pastry blender, I don't intend to ever cut butter into anything.  Ever.  Sheesh, that was hard!  But the biscuits are pretty delicious.


Yesterday, I put a big push into moving.  "She's still doing that?" you're thinking?  Sadly, yes.  But...and this is big...yesterday I managed to get all my CDs packed!  Now all I've got to do is hire movers for a half dozen pieces of furniture that won't fit in my car, deal with the yard stuff and the basement storage, and have a yard sale.  Whew!  We also went to the farmer's market (the big one at PSU, my favorite) for some chard and collards, radishes, black trumpet mushrooms, bok choy...and ribs.  That was Lovely Partner's project for today, and they were delicious (he also tossed the bok choy on the smoker which was lovely, though needs some adjustment so the leaves don't end up crispy).  We found a recipe for winter greens pesto that sounds like an awesome thing to do with the chard and collards.  A week ago I made a wild sorrel pesto that was pretty good, too.  I tossed it into some (from a box) mac and cheese this afternoon and I was pretty pleased with the results.  The plan for the mushrooms is a quiche, because the black trumpets have such an affinity for eggs.  

The one thing I didn't get done this weekend was a hike.  I was going to do that today, but I was totally wiped out by crouching and wresting bulbs out of the clay for hours on end.  My plan is to work up to being able to hike up to the top of Mt. St. Helens.  Well, that and I didn't make anything that wasn't food, I suppose.  I dug stuff up rather than making stuff.

I feel creative.  I feel productive.  And yet my only visible end products are consumed (or composted) by the end of the week.  Huh...I think I'm okay with that sometimes.  

P.S.  The potatoes are sprouting!  A couple dozen leaves!  I am a real gardener officially for this year!