Monday, October 10, 2022

After I came back from Texada the last time I had trouble doing anything productive, unless you consider making puzzles and playing games on my iPad productive. I decided I was probably depressed, gave myself “the talk” and got on with it. Friday was another bad day. I waited all day for the garbage pickup so that I could catch the ferry to Texada. No luck for the noon ferry, no luck for the afternoon ferry, but finally at six I was able to go across. That night I was a mess and went to bed almost as soon as I got to the studio. Again I realized that unless I keep busy I have too much time to think and, apparently, that is not a good thing.

After I got over my Friday night blues I had a good weekend. I caught up on both my Peppermint Purple project and my Botanical Garden. I finished my book and made some progress on my Diamond Dots. I didn’t think we would be coming home until today but I had forgotten about Pat’s guitar lesson at ten this morning. We had our turkey dinner as a late lunch on Sunday and caught the late afternoon ferry back home.

True to my word I’ve kept busy all day. I have the Hall’s filing cabinet ready to be taken away. The cabinet is empty and I put all the file folders into a couple of boxes as I thought it would be easier to get the cabinet downstairs and up into the attic at the Hall if they didn’t have to worry about papers shifting. In the empty space where the cabinet used to be I was able to move in a small cabinet full of sewing supplies. That cabinet came out from under my cutting table and in that space I have stacked my scrap bins so they will be more accessible.

For the rest of the afternoon I’ve been working on Pat’s accounting; I’ll keep at it for a bit longer.

Thursday, October 6, 2022

When I worked for a pay cheque my hours were usually seven to three. I’ve worked those hours and more today.

This morning I worked on Pat’s accounting. There were lots of questions but he was able to answer them quite quickly. I was also able to finish off the areas from yesterday where I had other questions.

This afternoon I’ve been working on cleaning out the Hall paper files. I think I’m about half finished, maybe more, but I have a huge bin of shredding to do. I think it will be something I can do in my first weeks of recovery after surgery; I’ll need help emptying the shredding bin though.

I had hoped to go across to Texada today but I was waiting for the garbage pickup. We had a bear get into the garbage while we were on Texada the last week; the night before last I was lucky to be looking out the kitchen window when I saw the bear (I’m assuming it is the same one) across the street at City Hall. Due to the holiday last weekend though the garbage pickup was put back a day and they won’t be here until tomorrow.

I was also waiting for a phone call to arrange an appointment for an ECG. I got a call from the hospital yesterday saying I needed some blood work and this ECG; I did the blood work yesterday but I had to wait for the cardiology department to phone me. They called just before noon and my appointment is set for next Tuesday.

I also got a surprise call from the hospital in Comox. The surgeon’s office told me to take the first ferry in the morning (on the 19th), head straight to the hospital and I might be able to have all the tests finished in time to catch the afternoon ferry back. The hospital have me down for an appointment at noon though and then a scan about two hours later. We’ll still have to take the early ferry over and we’ll be very lucky if we are able to catch the afternoon ferry home.

The plan now is that I’ll wait for the garbage pickup tomorrow before heading across to Texada for the weekend. Since I’m now on overtime I think I’ll go do some hand stitching – the pay is the same but I enjoy it more!

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

After several days of not getting much of anything done I gave myself a talking-to this morning and it might have worked. I woke up at four and by five I was still awake and thinking of all the things I needed to do. Of course all of those things have been on my list for weeks but I managed to get at some of them today. I was in my office working shortly after five.

I cleared out another paper file from the Hall’s cabinet. Still more to go and a bin load of shredding but I think I’ll be able to be done by the 15th when they do the work party at the Hall to clear out the attic. Part of that plan is to make room for this filing cabinet up there.

I usually do Pat’s accounting on a quarterly basis and yesterday I went looking for my reminder to do the work up to the end of September. Much to my surprise I didn’t have a reminder for the task; in fact, I hadn’t had a reminder since January when I finished off the 2021 business. It took some work on Pat’s part to pass me all the information I needed. I downloaded all the files and even got a bit of the accounting done this morning. By tax time I should be back to normal and I won’t have quite so much to catch up on.

I had a couple of decluttering tasks to take care of – clearing up my sewing tables and putting all my threads and bobbins away. I also cleaned the machines and changed the needles so they are ready to go for another month. I cleared off my cutting table even though it wasn’t on my list for today – a bonus for the next time it shows up.

This afternoon I got busy with some quilting. I don’t know if it was the mess that was keeping me from it but I’m pleased that I finished one of three projects I’d like to have done before my surgery. I’ll keep at it and see how far I get.

Pat headed back over to Texada before lunch but I’m staying home for a few more days. I’ll join him on Thursday and we’ll stay for the weekend. Now if I can just stay off my iPad and away from the TV perhaps I can catch up on that to-do list.

Monday, October 3, 2022

I’m having trouble motivating myself. I came back from Texada determined to get the yard cleaned up, some housecleaning done and a few projects completed prior to my surgery. I’ve managed to do some yard work but I can’t seem to motivate myself to do anything else.

I finished clearing the driveway this morning. It took longer than I thought it would so I didn’t have time to do any work on the stone wall. I really wanted to get up on the ledge and clear away some bindweed that has come through the fence from the neighbour’s yard but I heard my family saying “Don’t do it”, so I didn’t.

As a result of a short chat with a Yellowknife friend (who was also recently diagnosed with breast cancer) I did a few exercises to increase my upper body strength. Pat has always been very fit but if she’s suggesting it I felt I should get started right away. I found five exercises that don’t seem too hard but that supposedly do the trick so I’ll continue with them on a daily basis until my surgery date. I have a booklet that shows me a number of exercises to do post-surgery and Kathryn assures me we WILL be doing them.

I’ve puttered a bit since lunch – I picked up and put away some fabric off the cutting table, I cleared out a Cranberry Hall paper file, and I took care of a couple of technical tasks for the Hall. For the rest of the afternoon I’ll work on my Botanical Garden – not something that I had on my list as needing done but it puts in the time.