A Weekend Update

Project 365, Day 66/365

If you were here on Thursday and read this post, you might have remembered that I said I was finally going to paint my bedroom this weekend. Does going to the paint store in a double mask to buy paint and painting supplies count? Because I did that. However, the paint cans are still sitting on the floor behind the driver’s seat of my car. As Charles and I drove away from the Dunn-Edwards on Saturday early afternoon, we had the option of going back home to prep to paint or driving around aimlessly until my phone bleeped that our order for lobster rolls we placed on a whim was ready.

We chose option 2.

So, no, I haven’t painted my bedroom yet. And next week likely won’t be the time for it either as I have a work project on Saturday morning and a Zoom wedding to attend in the evening. (Had I read the second half of that sentence exactly a year ago, I would have asked for clarification, not understanding how “Zoom” and “wedding” could ever fit together on the same line.)

However, the weekend was not lost. As if I needed to do anything other than eat lobster rolls to count the last two days as a success, I caught up with two friends, separately mind you, I hadn’t spoken with in quite some time. On video chat and everything! Then, feeling high on the accomplishment, I meandered into my bedroom where I put away a mountain of clean clothes that have been sitting there, waiting for me to tend to it, for literal weeks. I’d do laundry, leave the clothes in the dryer, drag it out in a hurry when Charles would grunt “let me guess…your clothes are still in the dryer?” when he’d go to do laundry, and continue to build my clothes mountain. Standing up and all the bending and reaching that is involved with folding, hanging, and putting away clothes has been a task my body has struggled with lately. However, if Charles were standing behind my shoulder reading this, he’d not-to-gently remind me that I was an expert clothes mountain builder long before I injured myself. It’s a good thing he’s not standing behind me to say any of that.

AND AS IF THAT WEREN’T ENOUGH, I made the orange chocolate loaf I shared in this past Friday’s 5 Quick Things. I’m sad to report that it wasn’t everything I hope it would be. It turned out dense but not in that ooey-gooey way that’s so good, and was somehow moist but dry all at once? I didn’t top it with the frosting it called for, as I didn’t want to add additional sugar and butter but…maybe it needed it? I’m sure it’ll be something I eat all week, going back for bites and muttering “this just isn’t as good as I hoped” as I cut myself another sliver…and then it’ll be gone and I’ll say to Charles “you know…that actually wasn’t half bad,” dense chocolate crumbs probably still clinging to my hair strands.

Anyway, I’m going to call it quits today early. All that activity is knocking on my insides, reminding me that I’m not quite as strong and resilient as I was several months ago (not yet, at least, I’ll get there), and I have an earlier-than-normal physical therapy appointment.

Thank you for all the suggestions on new websites to check out. I plan on making a bookmarks folder with them all so I don’t forget. And thank you for your nice words on yesterday’s post. I’m not the first to say this and I won’t be the last to say this but FEAR CAN SUCK A BIG TOE. It’s awful. It’s made even more awful because it doesn’t automatically dissolve by just acknowledging that it sucks. It stands right by you, all casual, all mocking, eating a bowl of ice cream in a matching sweatsuit, muttering “ha, I know right? whoops!” between spoonfuls, not giving a rat’s rear end that it’s stopping you from living your life to its potential. But we can do hard things. And part of those hard things is somehow finding a way to mute that ice-cream-eating, sweatsuit-wearing jerk called fear.

Before I go, I just want to say, happy International Women’s Day to all you amazing, phenomenal women on the other side of the screen. You are glorious, marvelous, strong, beautiful, magical, and above all else, there is only one of you. How awe-inspiring is that, when you stop to think about it for a minute?

See you tomorrow, friends.