Having a day off means my alarm goes off at 8A.M. instead of 6A.M. I get to lie in bed for a few extra minutes, wishing I could sleep til 10. I stay in sweatpants and wear a flannel shirt that’s a hand-me-down from my father. I turn on the music and it stays on for hours as I move about the house.

I try a new pancake recipe, and breakfast goes onto my plate already nibbled. I do all the dishes after I eat, which I never have time for when I’m running to catch the bus.

The Rock Band overhead starts at 9:45A.M. By 10:15 I’ve decided that if you can’t beat em, join in, and head upstairs for the free concert. I really do have a lot to do, but….

…

It really was a quiet, slow day. I needed one. I have a lot that I need to get done, but sometimes taking some time to relax is important too. We watched an Arnold Schwarzenegger flick, which was a silly Bond imitation but redeemably funny. I finally got to catch up a bit with family and friends via Skype and cell phone. I love my job, but not having the time to be in regular communication with my friends and family makes me more aware of how few friends I’ve made locally. Hopefully I can rectify that soon.

My body is stuck in the rhythms of my workday, so I’ve been getting steadily tired since 3P.M. Leaves me completely uncertain what I did with my day. Hopefully I’ll get a good night’s sleep and feel more rested tomorrow. I really do have to get some things done tomorrow.

I have two days to sleep past 6am! I’ll be catching up with blog posts, I’ve had several in mind over the past few days. I’m really beat tonight, though, so this is going to be brief. I was thinking tonight about something I read recently… not sure where it was. Michael Pollan? Healthy Cooking? Both? But it was about the importance of presentation. How beautifully presented food makes the meal a better experience. And you know, I think that’s true. And it’s really not difficult to do quickly. Tonight’s dinner was simple – pasta and a quick saute of spinach, tomato, and olives with some basil and vegetarian beef flavoring, and a sprinkle of cheddar/parmesan on top – but doesn’t it look nice prepared like this? Not my best example, but that’s okay.

Dinner!

I love imagining hostessing someday when I have my own place. Pretty dishes and well-presented, delicious, food.

The rain came down in sheets at times, but we played. On the one hand – INSANE! On the other hand, if they’d rescheduled to Sunday I wouldn’t have been able to make the game and it’s supposed to rain anyhow.

The Soccer Moms brought me a chair! All season I’ve been sitting on the ground in the line of Soccer Moms. But they brought me a chair this time! I know I’m truly part of the team now.

We cheered and screamed and called out names. The boys scored 4 goals and the other team only scored their one goal in the second half. WE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!! And amazingly, we won every single game this season! Maybe I’m good luck

So what do I do with my life now??

Lol. Fortunately, there’s a month of indoor soccer – though I don’t know if my work schedule will allow me to make all the games. And I do have other things to be excited about. I’m incredibly excited to go to work tomorrow. And I love how I get home after work and not only feel like I’ve had a successful day, but I have plenty of time to get some of my personal projects done.

Funny, the boys aren’t here tonight. The first night in two weeks that Rock Band isn’t blasting over my head at 10pm. But I’m so hyped from the game, sleep might take a while anyways.

WE’RE GOING TO THE FINALS, BABY!

Tonight’s game was the most nerve-racking ever. We were playing the lowest-scoring team in the league, but they were playing hard tonight! Started out thinking three of our best players were missing – turns out one has the flu, one was late, and one cut his hair so I didn’t recognize him.

I was sitting there, yelling – not even caring when our Soccer Mom yells caused feedback in my hearing aids! – and in my head I was running through the “If you had fun, then you’re a winner” speech. But we won 3-1! WE ROCK!

My nephews did, however, request that we yell a little bit less at the Finals game. I’ll try to accomodate them…

So now I’m toasting my socks on the space heater, making tea, and settling in for my shiur. By the time that ends, it should be about bedtime….hopefully I sleep like a rock and wake up set to have a great day tomorrow! Wake up is at 6am!

I’m going to be quite busy soon, with a 7-day schedule. It won’t start all at once, but I expect it could be in full gear within the next two weeks.

So I’m thinking long-range, which is a nice change. It’s a nice difference from both the “not-much-going-on-to-plan-for” and the “too-much-happening-to-plan-past-the-next-few-hours.” It’s nice to think about big-pot recipes I can make to take for lunch and cover a few meals, and being sure to get my holiday cards done early, and I’m even getting ahead on my articles for once.

I’m even adjusting my sleep schedule ahead of time. I read recently that you sleep better if you stick to the same sleep schedule every day. I’m slowly easing that time forward so that when I have to start waking up around 6am it won’t be a huge shock. I’m enjoying the early mornings…. I’ve always been more of a daylight person. I love having lots of time – by noon I can have a fair bit accomplished and that makes me feel quite good. In fact, it gives me more time to relax and take my tasks at a comfortable pace.

And on the days I don’t need to be out that early, I’ll get to enjoy a leisurely breakfast (I’m obsessed with fritattas lately), catch up with my parents, have a little downtime before heading out.

For the record, I’m going to avoid caffeine like the plague if possible. Caffeine withdrawal does not equal good sleep or a very effective me.

I’m not illusioned about what this 7-day schedule is going to be like… I think the commuting will be the most frustrating part, because it feels like such a waste of time. I’ll be home early on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and I’ll have to be good about keeping up with the things that need to get done in the free time that I have.

It’ll be hard work, but it’s going to be worth it. In February my schedule will change again (Mondays and Tuesdays will be up for grabs), and we’ll see what happens then, what opportunities arise.

It’s a funny thing. In movies and books, it often seems like “New Chapter” begins and everything in the past is in the past. Sometimes I try to think “Okay, New Chapter!” but the truth is, life is one continuous thread. So we’ll see what happens over the next few months. I’m looking forward to it.

2Pm - Either soccer refreshed my supply of patience, or I’m resigned to this week.

I’m taking my laptop into the shop in about two hours… I had a similar issue with an iPod once, so I’m pretty sure they are going to send the laptop into the factory. Nothing I can do about it, so I’m just backing up everything I can and working on holiday cards in the meantime. I’ll find a library or such place with internet access so I can keep working until I get it back, not much else I can do. Didn’t even freak when a disc jammed in the laptop an hour ago, just found directions to fix it.

Even when my laptop is having issues, I’m willing to enter a flame war with my friend in favor of Macs vs. PCs. Lol.

In any case, as I told a friend…. this, too, shall pass.

4:30PM - Soo…. today was a big waste of time. I spent the whole day backing up files – didn’t even work on next week’s article other than to convert it to a Word file in case I had to give up my Mac- and all Apple would tell me is that they didn’t see the problem(s) happening.
But I got a lot done on my Chanukah cards, and I’m not overly upset. I figure I’ll work hard tonight…. and if I have to, post a backup article. Have an interview for a p/t temp position tomorrow morning, and a phone interview for a f/t position near D.C. next week. So all in all, I’m not upset with today.

5:45PM – My secret weapon for writing in the house: Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name”. It blasts out the Rock Band upstairs but is so familiar that I can tune it out and focus (Anne Marie claims this is “very New Jersey.” Is hearing your 13-year old nephew crooning ‘One Way Or Another’ upstairs also very New Jersey?). I did mention that I had to work tonight, but apparently that wasn’t deemed relevant… and I don’t feel like making an issue out of it. So, hello Bon Jovi!

9PM - I’ve never been so grateful for homework. Music works for blocking out noise while I’m writing, but reading through what I’ve written is more difficult with the background music. At about 7:15 I reminded my sister that the boys probably had homework… they are supposed to start homework at 7. Rock Band went off and it was suddenly easy to concentrate….

I went to Starbucks today to work from there… just to get out of the house and hopefully pull out of this funk that waiting has put me in. I had reasonable goals for my work output today, and I even took my craft supplies in case I needed a break or even finished early. Since traffic becomes impossible from 3-7, there was a chance of being stranded for a few hours, so I was prepared.

I’m aware that I’m not as productive when I work from Starbucks, but I figured it’d be alright.

What I failed to factor in is that I’ve barely consumed caffeine in the last month. I failed to consider the fact that the last time I DID have caffeine, I was up til 4am. I went ahead and ordered a chai latte.

Starbucks is always a bit distracting. People, ringing cell phones, movement, cold. But on a heavy caffeine dose, my focus is shattered. It’s the equivalent of injecting me with a gene for ADD.

It didn’t improve my funk, except for a brief period of time when I was rather amusing in conversation with my friends online (if I do say so myself). I’m more afraid of the sugar crash than anything else now.

But I came home and worked out – did the full 42 minutes of DWTS on the elliptical, because Starbucks = massive empty calories – and that did leave me a bit better off. I did manage to write a fairly solid first page today, so although I didn’t achieve half of what I’d hoped, I wasn’t entirely unproductive. Soccer is tonight, a late evening game, so I’m hoping the caffeine carries me through – but since I finished drinking the caffeine by 11AM, I’m praying the effects wear off before bedtime.

 

11:30PM Update: Soccer was AWESOME and although I was crashing before the game, the cold air woke me up – that and all the cheering (I asked my nephew tonight if they can really hear us – we’ve often wondered from the sidelines. He replied “Yes!”) So I came home from soccer more awake and up than I’ve felt in days…. and have been having energy highs and crashes since then. Going to attempt to go to sleep now and praying I’m not up til 4AM!

November 10th is the birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps!

I was at the Post Office the other day, balancing a large package to send to my Marine in Afghanistan. He won’t be able to receive any mail after January 1st, so this was a holiday/birthday/last-chance package. A woman asked if it was for my husband! I told her all about AnySoldier.com and wrote down the address for her – hopefully she’ll try it out

But I was amused to learn that I must finally be starting to look my age. People tend to assume I’m in college, or even high school. I wasn’t even wearing makeup or particularly “grown up” clothes.

But then that night I picked up my 15 year old nephew and his friend’s mother thought I was my nephew’s sister. So maybe not.

On Friday, I went to the Museum of Art and Design – awesome exhibits! There was a papercuts exhibit- doesn’t really do justice to the amazing artworks to call it that. There was a German WWII tank – out of papers with Jewish Hebrew prayers on them – and stag beetles cut so they stood up out of the prayers. The artist described the stag beetles who normally hide in the desert sands but have the armor to defend themselves when necessary. Plus he did some kool technical adaptations out of respect for Jewish laws against destroying holy books – ie the beetles can fold back into place on the pages – they are not cut off (not entirely sure that solves the issue, but I was impressed nonetheless).

Pietro Ruffo, Youth of the Hills (2008)

Close up of the stag beetles. Pietro Ruffo, Youth of the Hills (2008)

There was also a very kool exhibit on Madeleine Albright’s pins. It was fascinating to see how she used her jewelry to convey messages and set the tone for her work. And can you imagine, a pin made out of a piece of the Berlin Wall? I can’t find an image of it, but that fascinates me.