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2023 - Week 44

Exhausted from the weeks prior, Monday was a bit slow moving for me. The first snow had occurred and neither I nor the squirrel who habitually visits my deck were having it. Squirrel pictured here for posterity:

By noon, the snow had mostly melted away and the grey, nearly November sky held clouds that would likely bring more of the fluffy, white, precipitation. Some friends were delighted to be heading into the colder months, while others dreaded the emotional and mental impacts of the winter season. I was personally looking forward to more time at home for crafting, gaming, reading, streaming, and writing. I was also looking forward to the hearty, comfort foods of the season like soups, stews, and chilis.

As tired as I was, I also wanted to get things done around Tiny Condo. Those things included installing a curtain wall and slightly moving my desk. I was quickly able to come up with a mount for my crafting camera using a cross-stitch frame that I didn't love using for cross-stitching along with some wire. It will likely need something more to fix it more firmly and prevent jiggling, but I liked how quickly it came together.

On Hallowe'en, I curled in a Cubone onesie I had fashioned a few years ago from a blond teddy bear onesie. I tied for second place with someone dressed up as a Montreal Canadien. One woman had an interesting expression when I explained Cubone's backstory to her and my own connection with that kind of loss. I learned something to help tweak my aiming and I hope I soon learn to be better on being on the broom instead of inside it. I suppose inside may be better than outside though. We all stuck around and stayed past midnight, which may not have been the smartest idea, but great conversations were had that made us lose track of the time.

Wednesday was the start of National Novel Writing Month. Since it was Wednesday when I got home, I logged in and created my project. It's a horror anthology and later in the day I had written 1,007 words. This is 660 less than I should have had, but it was a hectic day at work and I've been editing my novel so long that I'm a bit out of drafting practice.

On Thursday, I got my Covid and flu shots updated. I got some more words written, but didn't meet word count. I've been telling too much and not showing enough. This isn't unusual for a first draft of mine. I tend to expand on thoughts and fix those things when I edit. Part of me wanted to edit it right away, but I think it would cost me too much of the target, so I decided that finishing the short story I was working on and move on to another in the anthology.

I awoke several times during the night due to arm pain. A side effect I am prone to with the Covid vaccine, but I noticed I could use the arm far better than I could before I did curling last season and softball in the summer. I'm slowly getting my body back. It was an in-office day, which was a little difficult given the lack of sleep, but a colleague was moving to a new client account, so we had a farewell lunch for them. After returning home, I finished the word day and had a nap before moving onto the evening and NaNoWriMo.

On Saturday, I went out with a friend to Dewberry Trail. It was a beautiful day for it. The walk was lovely except for the part where we hit water because we ended up on the wrong path. Then it became an adventure of climbing through the woods to higher and mostly drier ground. We eventually found our way out and were probably a site with our walking sticks, muddy shoes, and my burr laden coat. Despite the cold, wet feet, I had a great time.

Treasure Hunt at Dewberry Trail by Rae Roy

On Sunday, I met with a doctor and will finally have meds for my ADHD whenever the pharmacy receives the fax. Other than that, I got a little bit of writing in, some decluttering, and some relaxing. My calves were quite sore from Saturday's 11,439 steps, so I needed to rest. I even went to bed a bit early.

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