A couple of very productive days

Very decently productive past couple of days. I’m feeling comfortably back into my routines, especially with help from David Allen.

Yesterday we brought Tisha back home from the vet’s, and he seemed remarkably active and normal for a cat who’d just undergone surgery and a night away from home. He was clearly glad to be back home, but unfortunately we had to put the Cone of Shame on him (the vet’s office called it an Elizabethan collar), and this totally disoriented and demoralized him… and freaked out Lyapa. So we had a wounded cat lurching through the house banging into things, and a healthy cat growling and hissing at everyone and everything.

I got back to overhauling my crafting space, but then realized I had some baby trees to plant, so I went out to our deck and started tidying it too. I had a lot of dead plants to get rid of; when things got crazy last fall I kind of neglected the garden. I found myself really enjoying the process, though — being outside in the cool, clear breeze and digging and watering and planting. It occurred to me that I was doing the same thing outdoors as I’d been doing indoors: seeing what needed to be changed, tending to that, carting away the deadwood (not just a metaphor in this case!). After an hour and a half I’d finished everything that needed to be done, and I felt great, but kind of tired.

Since gardening took out all my energy for indoor cleaning, I sat down at the computer and started discounting items in the shop and learning to use MailChimp. About three and a half hours later, I had a storewide sale set up, and a snazzy newsletter all sent out. I went to bed.

It was really hard to sleep with the two cats being the way they were… Tisha hitting the cone on things and licking himself constantly, and Lyapa growling and snapping at every move. On top of that, I was hungry. So neither Erik nor I slept very soundly… but that’s what the weekend is for!

This morning I ran some errands, then returned and processed almost all of the stuff I’d cleared away from my crafting area. It looks really good now, and I’m so pleased. Then I went through some new crafting books I’d gotten from the library — lots of good ideas there. Just before dinner I began drawing up a project list and individual action lists for all the projects, which is another David Allen suggestion, and now I’m feeling really on top of things and ready to start working next week.

My plan is to finish the project sheets (action lists) and go through a giant file box tonight, and then overhaul my computing area tomorrow. That way, my office will be completely reorganized come Monday, and I’ll be totally ready to start work — and, since I’ve got these action lists now, I know exactly what that work entails!