Hello!
Lots of us are traveling this week, some more on the work side, some on the fun side, and it feels like the summer is getting to the complicated part where we’re trying to fit many things into smaller and smaller spaces.
So, a simple flower this week – lovely pansies from my neighbour’s pots… They can make a wonderful visual impact even if they are small, and even a small pot of them can cheer up a whole deck or garden bed… And to me it does not seem that they have to work at it very hard it, it just sort of happens. Especially in the little miniature ones that self-seed in lawns!
For the prompt if you feel so inclined, what is something you do naturally or easily that people seem to be very impressed with, or makes them particularly happy, or makes an impact larger than the effort you actually put in? And, bonus challenge, can you do a bit of it this week?
Goals below!
Have a wonderful week!
DEH
Enjoy travels!
JaneB
SELF-CARE:
* 3x20 intentional movement, 2 x making, 2 x small things with people, reading
every day
* pacing myself more (three days work can get done over 4 or 5 days, I don't
need to push past brain-says-no
* do a couple of things from the "tasting menu"
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores
* spend half an hour or so researching the living room project
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* Do at least one block of T prep, various meetings
* an hour on tedious task
* integrate bits from the meeting last week into first semester slides for the
first years.
* Do required training for school leaver results handling
RESEARCH:
* Meeting about next steps on modelling project, draft a new section of text if
time
* reread and revise Rejected Paper
* do native speaker check and technical check for another paper
* check over my projects list.
Julie
1.
Big Article - leave parked on downward slope.
2. Check ILL loans, return those due back this month, read as necessary and
with 1 in mind.
3. Prep for tricky interview panel on Thursday.
4. Answer emails that need answering before I leave.
5. House/life admin: find shoes for wedding, pack for weekend, Canada prep that
can't be done last minute, transfer savings from one account to another.
6. Self-care/fun: read, journal, keep up running, watch Tour, colleague's book
event on Thursday, enjoy wedding.
heu mihi
Have
fun!
Susan
1.
Finish copy-edits for Big Collaboration
2. Do library stuff to plan research trips for summer
3. Contact a few friends about getting together
4. Pick up needlepoint project
5. Read for pleasure
6. Get back into deliberate exercise beyond walking
Daisy
Start
on dossier by doing content list and section outlines as required
Go to the beach, even if it has to be for field work with students
Do one fun thing with friends
Do student trips
Work on paper data
I love the deep velvety colour of that type of pansies! I'm having travel envy this week, and feeling sluggish and incompetent - my sister's family just spent a week in one of my favourite parts of England, the northern border, and kept sending me photos! And I managed to twist and injure my "good" knee earlier in the week which turned into ankle pain, honestly, I am so incompetent at being a human some weeks it's funny!
ReplyDeleteSELF-CARE:
* 3x20 intentional movement, 2 x making, 2 x small things with people, reading every day one because of Hurty Knee, yes, yes, yes
* pacing myself more (three days work can get done over 4 or 5 days, I don't need to push past brain-says-no ish but still had a very idle weekend, my brain just did not want to do anything even though the weather was nicely seasonal
* do a couple of things from the "tasting menu" yes but see below
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores not quite
* spend half an hour or so researching the living room project no, but the decluttering lady and I finally managed to spend half a day doing a variety of projects including progressing that project, so it counts!. it exhausted Mr Shoutypants, he had to supervise us all through two day time nap sessions and then meticulously sniff everywhere he likes to spend time which had been deep cleaned, he was completely wore out!
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* Do at least one block of T prep, various meetings no, yes
* an hour on tedious task no
* integrate bits from the meeting last week into first semester slides for the first years. began
* Do required training for school leaver results handling done!
RESEARCH:
* Meeting about next steps on modelling project, draft a new section of text if time yes, started
* reread and revise Rejected Paper yes, and it came back to me again for some extra details and checking, SIGH efficient collaborators!
* do native speaker check and technical check for another paper yes
* check over my projects list.yes
NEXT WEEK:
I HAVE to get to some teaching prep work! Thankfully this week SHOULD have space as it has very few meetings in it. That can lead to lots of work, or can lead to me being overwhelmed and giving in to the tired/I don't want to feelings (or being distracted by fun things or new ideas).
SELF-CARE:
* 3x20 intentional movement, 2 x making, 1 x small things with people, reading every day
* pacing myself (although I wonder if effectively working on four days last week contributed to the feeling that the "weekend" was a wash/just recovery time?)
* do a couple of things from the "tasting menu"
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores
* spend half an hour or so researching the living room project
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* Do at least one block of T prep, one meeting
* an hour on tedious task
* finish integrating bits from the meeting last week into first semester slides for the first years.
RESEARCH:
* work on modelling project 1-2 hours
* reread and revise Former Visitor Paper
* final (hopefully!) touches on Rejected Paper
Oh I so hear you on the travel envy! All of my group chats are full of pictures of people in wonderful places and I want to go away but it is not going to happen this summer. I have to remember that my field work is a great substitute, and that I do get to go places at other times of the year. While Germany in winter is not exactly Iceland or Bahamas in summer it is still fun travel and I will live...
DeleteHope Mr. Shoutypants has recovered from his hard work supervising and checking the decluttering and cleaning process! Hope the paper revisions go well!
It's too hot to travel anywhere right now, anyway--I'm starting to feel that having summers "off" is no longer a good deal, since it's so hot and (here anyway) smoky that it's a great time to stay indoors with a/c and work. I want to be able to go places in, say, April and October!
DeleteSounds like good progress on many fronts last week, and what a good thing you have Shoutypants to provide supervision, as hoomans are always so incompetent without feline input. Good luck with the teaching prep! I need to do some of that myself but when?
Home again, home again, jiggety-jig, usual stuff & cats (yay!) plus terrible air quality from wildfires (boo). The trip is one of those that may be better in reminiscence than in the experience: I have some good pictures, there were some lovely meals with friends, I was pleased to find that I was plenty fit enough to handle the cycling, but it was SO HOT that there was little time/energy to do anything but the daily ride, plus organizing food. Mostly we were in hotels with a/c (thank Cat!) but there was one night in a B&B without it that was just unreal. On the first hand, though, it's something I'm glad to have done, and nothing went wrong (no heatstroke, injuries, lost items, all travel except the final flight on time), and it was a complete break from work for the first time in ages. On the longer flight back, I watched the complete first season of Murderbot and the Kaamelott movie, so bonus points for fun media! Thus, in spite of the stresses, it probably is my favorite thing from the summer so far (last week's prompt).
ReplyDeleteBTW, I loved last week's nasturtium pic! They are one of my favorite flowers, such great colors. Clothes in Books just did a post on an Elizabeth Bowen novel in which a character wears a dress printed with poppies, roses, and nasturtiums: WANT.
How I did two weeks ago:
- finish off and send W-essay: YES and before I left it came back with more revisions requested
- try to finish editing, or at least enough to dump it on co-editor: DUMPED but I don't think co-editor has done a damn thing, so once again I'm going to have to pick up where I left off
- 2 hours M-work: half an hour, better than nothing
- trip prep, packing, etc: YES
- write letters or e-mail various people: 2 out of 6, I think, again better than nothing
This week's prompt: what immediately springs to mind is that I can bend over, put my hands flat on the floor, and flex my elbows, without bending my knees. And I've already done a bit of it this week. I'm not sure this is the sort of thing you meant, however!
New goals:
- more revisions to W-essay
- try to finish editing before the press has conniptions
- 2 hours M-work; try to get conference draft done
- review grad student's conference draft
- get a massage, cut hair, swim 3 miles ONO, read book for SF/F group
- write letters or e-mail various people, including sending postcards acquired in France
- plan out the rest of the summer, mainly work, but also fitting in the fun summer things plus some Life Admin & Habitat Maintenance
BTW, I have an idea for a themed fall/autumn/3rd session and am hereby volunteering to host for the fall if you all are agreeable!
Stretchy skills totally count! Hats off, I have to work at that one, I use it as a test for how tense I am at any given time...
DeleteSo glad trip was good, the biking sounds amazing! Good luck with reentry!
I think I speak for everyone when I say we'd love to have you host the next session if you want to :) Thank you!
Checking in late and only for a day before travels. The weekend was taken up by the wedding and travel there and back, and yesterday I ran around frantically getting stuff for our trip. Today is theoretically a working day and it is currently quiet as the teens are still in bed, so I am going to try to write as much as possible.
ReplyDeletePrompt - hmm, not sure. I read very fast, which does mean with fiction I don't always remember plot details later, but does mean I can skim papers before meetings or get through a lot in libraries. I probably did more of this last week than there will be scope for this week!
Last week:
1. Big Article - leave parked on downward slope. - IN PROGRESS (more done than expected last week but not enough)
2. Check ILL loans, return those due back this month, read as necessary and with 1 in mind. - YES
3. Prep for tricky interview panel on Thursday. - YES (two internal colleagues, it was painful and took most of a day away from writing, but it's done)
4. Answer emails that need answering before I leave. SO FAR (depends on state of inbox this morning)
5. House/life admin: find shoes for wedding, pack for weekend, Canada prep that can't be done last minute, transfer savings from one account to another. - YES, YES, NOT ENOUGH, NO
6. Self-care/fun: read, journal, keep up running, watch Tour, colleague's book event on Thursday, enjoy wedding. - YES to all - the wedding was lovely. Flowers were all wildflowers the brides had picked themselves and roses from gardens of family and friends - I thought that was in keeping with the theme of this session!
This week:
1. Leave Big Article on downwards slope.
2. Other stuff ditto - make note of what will need picking up when back.
3. Pack, get frantic, try not to lose it with teens who will inevitably discover this afternoon they need something for the trip that I could have bought yesterday, print all documents.
4. Enjoy our travels!
I am back 10th August, so I think in time for the final week of the session. I may check back in later today/tomorrow morning, but otherwise I hope other people's travel and plans go well.
Glad the wedding was good, that sounds just lovely!
DeleteHappy travels! I hope your trip is fabulous and fun and all the logistics go perfectly!
Not a bad week, got three good days of field work in with students, got ice cream for everyone at one show-and-tell stop. We do a trip there with students for a class every year and it is always out of season and the ice cream shop is always closed and every time we vow to go back in summer and get beach ice cream, and I finally managed. Did some urgent admin stuff too, and some life organizing of appointments and house things and got a new hybrid bike because I took mine in for service and the bike tech’s only comment was “I wouldn’t ride this, service would make no difference”. RIP after 25 years of trails and roads… Also have to give up on idea of a bigger trip in August, kid wants to work at same place as most of summer and I do not want to discourage that enterprise, so I’m going to have to think of some other solo or friend things to do if I still take a week off.
ReplyDeleteI think the thing I do well with very little effort is make large amounts of good food! I think it is fun. Also, I’ve been told that I give really good gifts, that was nice to hear 😊 Work-wise, ability create summary documents or documents for procedures seem to be simple and somewhat useful… Not planning on doing any of that this week, but maybe baby gifts for someone next week?
Last week’s goals
Start on dossier by doing content list and section outlines as required STARTED, DID EXTERNALS TOO
Go to the beach, even if it has to be for field work with students FOR FIELD WORK BUT IT COUNTS
Do one fun thing with friends YES
Do student trips YES
Work on paper data YES, ONGOING
This week’s goals
Work on dossier, fill in more of section list, add content for teaching
New student chapters
Two fieldwork trips
Review data for new paper to plan new work
Major admin document and associated meetings
Plan a few local fun outings that are not work-related to replace August trip