Last week was mostly wasted on me trying to file things away and deal with our overdue taxes (see here for some good misery). Though my desk is still a disaster:
I am happy to report that at least the flat table is clear:
(That’s actually a lie. I had to clear off a small stack of papers before taking that photo – evidence on the stool to the right of the flat table).
Almost all of the things that were causing me anxiety were finally taken care of, and I’m generally feeling a lot better, in spite of the fact that I got almost nothing else done last week. I did finally tear down our yearly calendar from last year…
…after being told that it was bad chi to have it hanging there, reminding us of all the things that we didn’t do.
Begone, bad chi!
The baddest chi about it was that the calendar was titled “2012: A Year of Productivity,” and we bought it thinking it would help us be more organized with the onset of Bobbledy. Notice just how long it took for us to fall of the bandwagon:
Also notice the 11 months of neglect following our fall:
Well, at least we’re done with THAT. Though, I’d like to point out that we did, indeed, have quite a year of productivity. It’s just that we didn’t keep track of it and had no idea what was coming down the pike until the night before it was due and we were in a full-on panic. Next year I’m getting a calendar called “2014: A Year of Effortless Serenity.” I’m sure we’ll be over that by the end of January too.
Last week Bobbledy renewals began to trickle in. We realized that a good number of the subscriptions were gift subscriptions, and that we really ought to inform the giftees #1: that they had been re-upped, and #2: from whom. After hand-writing a few notes saying as much, it quickly became evident that this was not the way to go. So, we designed a simple postcard with an image from “The Imaginary Dragon” on the front and a fill-in-the-blank note on the back. I did a bunch of different versions, but the basic idea was this:
I sent off the design to our favorite low-budget but decent quality and fast turnaround online printer PsPrint (they are perpetually running a “sale” on postcards of 50%-60% off). And in 5 short days, we received our new baby, swaddled in brown paper:
As always, they weren’t perfect. The “writeable” uncoated back surface was still a little too slick for my favorite kind of pen (uniball vision elite 05mm, if you must know) so I had to do some experimenting to come up with the right kind of pen (warning: profanity):
What can I say? A week of taxes will put me in a mood.
I also ruined a drawing that I liked very much by trying to be too artsy when I painted it.
It was a bunch of power line/oil derricky-type things, and they looked SO much better in black and white. It was going to be an auction item, but now it’s headed for the bottom of the recycling bin (though Matthew tends to dig those and and put them in a file of failures, which he’ll surely whip out someday to taunt me with).
One good thing that happened is that I managed to fix a mysterious website problem. I will not bore you with the details. Suffice it to say, I owe myself about $300. Come to think of it, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.
In family news, I sent Matthew to the store to get some vegetables for a stir fry, and got a series of photos like this one, with accompanying text that said, “What about this?”
Alden and Kato spent a rainy afternoon making kites:
Kato was not satisfied:
Though he had taped a pencil in the bottom to act as a tail/handle, it kept wobbling around. It turns out, the solution was just more tape.
LOTS more tape.
Also: we ate strawberry shortcake for dinner.
And Alden, when forced to be separated from Kato for nap time, built herself a comfortable nest and promptly fell asleep.
If only we had known about this sooner.
Also: it rained like crazy.
This happened on First Friday, which is the day in Chestertown when stuff is actually going on – art openings, stores open late, people out and about. Our desire to be sociable was somewhat hampered by the rain, but the kids INSISTED that we go out.
There is a grating next the bank where Miss Lizzie works, below which water has collected in a mucky pool. A couple years ago, Miss Lizzie told us that there is a frog that lives down there, and so we check on it every time we walk by.
Legend has it, the bank employees once tried to free the frog, but it returned a few days later and has been down there ever since. Over the winter, the frog was not in evidence, much to the dismay of the kids. But the warm and dreary downpour must have brought him out to do some moisturizing. The kids demanded we take a picture to send to Baba. Apparently, they are under the impression that she cares for this frog.
We stopped in the Massoni Gallery to check out the latest Marc Castelli exhibition, which the kids discovered was the ideal spot for an impromptu game of peek-a-boo.
I bet Marc had no idea how fun his show was.
And then we swung by Doug the Baker’s to have a listen to the Pam Ortiz band.
Happening indeed.
And so, this week of not getting much done actually turns out to be a week quite full of things. I suppose being productive and being busy are two different things, but they don’t really need to be.
