Category Archives: Just Sara
The Tuesday Currents
I’m currently…
loving this spring weather
planting seeds way too early (into the greenhouse they will go!)
acclimating the chicks to the old flock. We’ve never had a whole flock of chicks A. completely survive and B. all be female so this is a very exciting flock! They all have such cool personalities.
training for another lobby day
listening to Pumpkin and Gizmo argue over the gaming chair (which was my office chair 15 years ago before Wood Sprite was born!). Gizmo, AKA The Sloppy Cuddler, won, of course. Grit wins over grace when it comes to cats.
delivering goodies, including her favorite cake from our local bakery, for my mom’s birthday
feeling super stoked about the Fortune Cookie Soap Create Your Own oil event. I saved up a ton of points just for this!
pet-sitting. Well, I’ll be done by the time this is posted. The puppo is very cute!
council training and looking for a shirt for my logo embroidering
LOVING my new office plants. Indy bought me ivy, succulents and bonsai trees. I potted them all and used all of my soil with my seeds before remembering that I’d bought it to re-pot my poor cramped aloe in the first place!
arguing with Charlie, this year’s kitchen spider. She keeps going past the boundaries I set her. I’m stoked that she wants to eat bugs in the window but not that she wants to extend her web to the faucet.
listening to a lot of classic rock and Irish playlists on Spotify. I love making my own playlists and have one for everything, but I really enjoy perusing other peoples’ playlists, too.
reading Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating (which I mostly loved, until the end), A Boy, a Mole, a Fox and a Horse (it’s lovely–get a copy for everyone on their birthdays!), and Enjoy the View (which I may or may not finish; I love the lead guy but it’s just boring and I’m about a quarter of the way in)
burning a gorgeous Serpent and Flame candle. They’re my favorite. I have a new favorite wax, too: Dark Candles. Holy. Cow. The little patchouli tart I bought has kept its scent for almost four days now and my living room smells so sexy.
making my own pink drinks at home, which tend to be purple due to the almond milk. I like to experiment with other flavors. Also, tea… I probably have over 100 varieties of tea in the kitchen at this point. Right now I have my daily calendula brewing (which is literally just the petals I steep, with some True Lemon and stevia added–this makes a wonderful iced lemonade, by the way) along with a cup of Bog Witch.
trying to drink more water, which means I’m filling my giant Pennywise mug every time I make a coffee or tea. The colder it is, the more likely I am to drink it!
discovering the brightness of my overhead light in virtual meetings. Whoops! Hopefully the lighting around my desk, some of which hasn’t been delivered yet, will be an improvement
trying out another math program with the kiddo. Hopefully this will be a winner!
watching The Closer while I write (not a good idea–she draws me in way too much), catching up on Prodigal Son (which was only one episode in weeks due to breaks, apparently) and finally seeing Soul with the family. It was good, but a very familiar story. Indy and I also watched Hellboy: The Dark. Meh. I’d love to see the final installment of Del Toro’s story but we all know that’s not going to happen. 😦
painting a giant mirror and plastic snakes (black and silver, respectively). This Slytherin mirror will hang in my office once dry.
grabbing random things out of Wood Sprite’s room during de-cluttering. The kid loves to get rid of things as much as I do, but fails to ask if I want, say, the Totoro figure said kid begged me for that was once mine… Wash, rinse, repeat.
Finishing staining the deck. It’s looking good! My glutes are killing me. Next up: the front shutters, lattice and mailbox. My sunburn isn’t bad after some ACV but it’s still a bit stiff.
still enjoying my progressive muscle training. I cleared a wall for some yoga stretches but didn’t really leave much room for my mat, let alone myself.
seeing how much space I didn’t make getting rid of seven boxes of books! Man. I thought I’d be able to make my shelves look more roomy but they are as packed as ever.
What are you up to?
Monday’s Music
The Tuesday Currents
I’m currently…
warring between opening and closing the windows or turning on the heat
writing with The Closer in the background. Brenda Johnson is my patronus right now.
making my own pink drink
LOVING my new office. It’s almost finished!
nursing a second degree burn I received while drilling in said office, of all things
printing the week’s homeschool materials
fighting the desire to nap while I try to meet today’s deadlines
catching up laundry. My office was spread all over the house for the past week and a half and we weren’t able to get to the laundry
eating yummy stir fry leftovers
What are you up to?
Monday’s Music
Things I Love Thursday
Some things I’m loving this week include…
Indy making Deadpool references. I bet he’s seen the movie over 60 times.
Fellow authors who help with promos! I’m so happy to reciprocate, especially when they do the labor of finding new opportunities and share them with us all.
reps who call or write you back with encouraging news (and not canned responses)
cookies from my mom
ONE bars from my sister
my cool journal
seeing my family from a distance
Charlie, this spring’s sink spider, eating the bugs coming through the window
fellow activists who give a crap
patient teachers
Tiktok. I’m way too addicted, but when my brain is fried from work/school/activism/house remodeling/housework in general/pandemic mind, I often find I can’t get into a book. This is inconvenient given how many I want to read (and how many we have from the library). But these quick, delightful, hilarious videos are like little cookies that are short enough to enjoy in between the big stuff. My favorites right now are 911 call spoofs and goofy metaphysical shop videos.
an enormous mirror my mom sent over. It’s not going to be painted and hung until the office is done and I don’t even know where we’re going to hang it for sure but it’s beautiful
What are you loving this week?
Monday’s Music
The Tuesday Currents
Right now I’m…
working with my feet facing the mini heater. It’s surprisingly cold today!
drinking way too much coffee. I actually had banana coffee last night. It’s not my favorite by any means but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounded.
setting up a bunch of days to use Indy’s truck. We have pickups at different houses, moving a few things… our sedan is happy to not be a truck anymore!
writing until I fall asleep
re-potting plants that have grown
working on cleaning out the office to paint it. There is So. Much. Stuff. I’ve also decided to get a new, slimmer desk that’s more flexible for my needs.
loving Balefire Apothecary’s Dreadful Seance
laughing over chicks chasing the laser light
getting rid of a bunch of stuff only to bring a bunch back home.
enjoying the counter being cardboard-free! We got these cat scat mats and so far they seem to be working. I LOVE being able to use my counters once again!
writing testimonies and calling all my reps to vote against HB 33 and HJR 53. Please join me in doing so!
preparing for said testimony tomorrow. There’s a chance I won’t get to speak but if I do I want to be ready for my first time.
feeling grateful that this period is almost over. It’s been a doozy. 30 years of periods, or six years of my life… Yeah, I’m so done with this nonsense.
planning surprises for people I love
All. The. Classes. And. Meetings. There’s so much to do now that it’s all accessible! I have activist trainings, classes to attend or teach, meetings and much more. This looks like the busiest week of the year so far, including a mini GISH hunt and a conference that Wood Sprite is attending!
marveling over the different interpretations of the word “ethical.” The variations are extraordinary.
getting so jazzed up about returning to the Planner Pad. I love the Uncalendar so much but the PP setup is so perfect for me. I keep trying so many other layouts when there was nothing wrong with that one. Why mess with perfection?
loving that Wood Sprite gets up early to play outside
craving a really good mac and cheese
missing Indy so much while he’s at work. He actually had the weekend off, used a lot of it working on cars and I just miss him.
excited about the reps who write or call back! Wow! I have hope!
What are you up to this week?
Monday’s Music
Things I Love Thursday
Some things I love this week include…
sparkling new ideas and the enthusiasm behind them. We have so many cool things cooking up in the pot right now.
making up song parodies with my kid
how lovey dovey the critters get when they smell lunch meat
going outside to chase varmints away from my chickens. Actually, I hate doing this, and even though the coop is secure, I can’t stand it when there’s a raccoon prowling around my girls. The dogs and I tracked in plenty of mud chasing one away last night.
breakfast burritos
Rebel Potions wax melts. Being home has made me really appreciate making our house smell awesome all the time and I love that these melts are shaped like little skulls, come in yummy flavors and are made in Missouri by a small business.
switching back to a simpler lesson planner. The pretty, more complicated one a then-friend suggested was nice, but going through all my old paperwork makes me realize how simpler and easier those old cheapies were.
cats playing with toys dusted in catnip
Little Book Eater reopening
seeing other people’s screens through screen share. I’ve seen several in the past week and wanted to ask what model they’re using because wow, those look cool.
reading when the Internet is out (which was a few times in the past week) and I can’t sleep (which is always, but will hopefully change once our mattress is here Friday!). This week I read Batgirl: A League of Her Own, Take a Hint Dani Brown, Mine Forever and On the Island. Of them all, I loved one, liked one and didn’t care for the other two. It felt like being that 12-year-old who read a book or two a day (three in the summer!) again, but with more exhaustion and trouble focusing.
the Intercultural Competence Inventory. I’m so excited to be a part of a 4-H group forming learning circles using this tool.
a clean house It was for about four minutes on Wednesday morning. Ha! It’s way too muddy for it to be clean. I’m lucky if I keep the dogs clean.
a beautiful program on Black opera composers. I hope I get a recording because I’d love to listen to it all again, but even if not, I have the handout and can look it all up to listen to it.
the Tetris Effect soundtrack! Indy likes to play while I’m writing on the rare occasion he’s home and not working on something, and I love the soothing music. I found a playlist on YouTube featuring the songs and I’m looking forward to using it at work.
weekend takeout plans. That’s usually our most exciting event. Wood Sprite also has a distant visit with a friend coming up, and we can’t wait to use Swimply again once it warms up. I’m also looking at a bunch of trails we haven’t visited yet for some hiking and biking.
exchanging oils with my sister from a distance. She brought me some Hygge from Hexennacht and it’s heaven.
how excited the dogs get if they even hear me mention “walk”
cats sleeping in circles. Sally and Gizmo make little cinnamon roll shapes everywhere. Pumpkin, on the other hand… she’s often too anxious to relax. She’s usually at my side, perching and purring like an alert gargoyle who’s trying to look unalert. She’s waiting for me to crash so she can sleep on me, I swear. 24/7.
What are you loving this week?
Sara J. Schmidt 