Life in progress

Category Archives: Life


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The curse of the treadmill

No, I don’t mean the treadmill that life feels like sometimes.

I’m talking about my literal treadmill.

You know what I miss?

The fact that it’s so easy to look out the window or glance at the weather online and say nah, the weather isn’t delightful enough for me. I think I’ll just stay in and walk today.

I used to take a lot more pictures. I used to be forced to go outside and get my exercise, even when it wasn’t that nice out.

I used to have a daily paper route!

I had no choice but to go out every day. Rain, shine, sleet, hail, snow, ice, fog, wind, cold, hot … didn’t matter.

Am I going to go back to delivering the paper?

Nuh, uh. No way.

But … pictures!

Could I take pictures when I’m on my treadmill?

Sure I could.

But the neighbours might complain that there’s a weird woman shooting pictures of them out the front window as they walk past my house.

Maybe I just need spring to hurry up and get here.

Some pictures of spring 2013 when I had my paper route.


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A small life

I don’t live a big life. My world is small.

Where once I used to travel to places like the Caribbean and Japan, my trips are reduced to the distance between my house and the grocery store, Alex’s day program, and the pharmacy. And occasionally out of town for appointments.

I don’t fly—I drive or if it’s close enough, walk.

So it’s no wonder that I live much of my life outside the confines of my office by exploring online.

And lately, the world online is nothing to write home about. Or if it is, the letter home is overshadowed with fear.

I know I said I’d try to stay away from talking about politics, and I really do try to avoid doom scrolling, but it’s all getting to the point where it affects me personally. And I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to hold out.

I don’t want to be consumed by the news. It’s not good for my health.

The question is becoming whether I want to bury my head in the sand and be surprised by whatever is going to change my life, or if it’s better to see it coming.

Stay tuned.

I’m still trying not to talk about it.


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You know you’re distracted when…

I’m so distracted this morning, I just tried to pour cream into my coffee without taking the lid off the cream container.

Or maybe I just need more coffee.

Yeah. That last one.

Anyway, that was my laugh for the day.


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#SoCS – What I’ve got

The bulk of what I’ve got is time.

And work.

And procrastination.

They take up all my time.

They fill me up until my head explodes.

But it’s weird; I can’t do nothing. I used to be able to do nothing, once upon a time. I could sit and just stare out the window, or listen to music and just daydream.

Daydreaming, I guess, has become my job. My daydreams go on paper to be shared.

Does that mean I keep none of my daydreams to myself?

No.

Because some daydreams shouldn’t be shared.

And some are just too big and don’t feel like they’d fit in the world outside of my head.

They’re way too bulky.

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This wildly random absolutely stream of consciousness post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Find the prompt here and join in! It’s fun!


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When having a to-do list sucks

This morning I woke up ready to take on my to-do list. I was pumped and raring to go.

I got out to get my grocery shopping done as I usually do every Tuesday morning … and it only took me 20 minutes to clean off the car and shovel it out.

Got back home at a decent time, and after a bit of doom scrolling I took Alex to his program. Great! I had a couple of hours to get some things crossed off my to-do list.

I just had to get gas first. And pick up Alex’s computer from Best Buy. And stop at Tim Horton’s for lunch—gotta keep my energy up for my to-do list. Oh! And I needed sausages from a different store than I get my groceries at.

Finally I got home … just in time to pick Alex up from his program!

Now, at 4:30, I’m sitting at my computer getting the first thing done that was actually on my to-do list (blogging), and feeling a combination of satisfaction at getting so many things done and frustration that only one of them was on my list.

I don’t know if I need a longer list or I should just say to hell with everything else. 🙄

Suggestions welcome.


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Hmm

I’m sitting at my desk in front of my laptop, drinking my coffee and staring at a blank page. Okay, not quite blank, because it now has two sentences on it.

Hmm.

When I’m writing a story, I often launch into it with no idea what’s going to come out. What’s going to flow from my fingertips. That’s why I love stream of consciousness writing so much, I guess. It comes natural to me.

Far more natural than, say, speaking.

If I’m faced with talking about something? If I don’t know what to say, I usually end up saying something stupid. Something that plays on repeat in my head, making me want to slap myself.

Why is it always the stupid things you say that you remember most often?

Or maybe it’s just me.

Hmm.


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Hey!

I’ve decided I want to try to keep blogging every day. We’ll see how long that lasts.

So what are we all talking about these days aside from politics?

The weather? That I can do.

But not today. I’m staying indoors. 🥶


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#SoCS – I don’t believe it

I have to preface this by saying I’ve never actually tried it.

Or maybe I have, but if so, I was too young to remember it now.

But I refuse to believe that a spoonful of sugar would help the medicine go down.

I’m, like, imagining popping a Tylenol into my mouth and trying to wash it down with sugar.

It would be so … dry!

Don’t you think?

Either way, not helpful in the slightest.

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This silly post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Find the prompt here and join in! It’s fun!


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JusJoJan25 the 31st – Infinity

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “fini.” See how to join in here!

It occurred to me tonight that being a parent means having to accept help sometimes.

Even when you don’t want it.

Because sometimes your kids want to help.

And what would have taken you five minutes to do, ends up taking an infinity.

Or so it seems.

But you’ve gotta love ’em, don’t you?

🙄😂

This whiny post is the last post of Just Jot it January 2025! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks to everyone who joined me in Just Jot it January!


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JusJoJan25 the 30th – Hesitation

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “hesitation,” comes to us from Wendy. Check out her blog here!

Hesitation has to be my biggest downfall. It happens on different levels.

At the smallest level, take this post, for instance.

I got the title and the first two lines ready to go almost two hours before I finally started writing what was going to be in the body of the post.

At the most critical level (of my writing and publishing career), I tend to hesitate before I publish a book, putting it off—putting off the steps to getting ready—sometimes for months, leaving me to scramble at the last minute to get everything set to go.

I’ve often thought this might be a form of self-sabotage.

And maybe it is.

But the core reason behind my hesitation is the NEED for everything to be perfect.

And it never is and never will be.

What sucks is my hesitation causes me actual physical pain.

Before I started writing this post, my heartburn was extremely painful. Now? After, like, four minutes of writing? It’s almost gone. In fact it was gone before I started writing this paragraph, but now that I’m thinking about it … (Stop thinking about it, Linda. It’s entirely stress-related.)

So yeah. I wish there was a cure for hesitation.

For perfectionism.

And for worrying about screwing up when I’ll never know if things will go smoothly unless I actually start doing them.

This woeful post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again to Wendy for the prompt!