1) Time logging
I have spent my week time-logging, which is something I did last year around this time. It’s a tedious process, as I have to keep an eye on the clock and know what I’m doing in 15-minute increments, but I also find it fun to keep track of. This isn’t something I’d want to do often; once a year is feasible for me. It will be interesting to see if my time has changed dramatically from 2022! The practice of logging my time, though, has shown me how much time I spend on my phone. I already knew my phone is a great distraction for me and my way of dissociating from the world. But I’m also learning that I use my phone when I’m transitioning from one task to another. It seems like I can’t just go from task to task: from my workout to my shower to my morning routine to my desk… I need 15 minutes on my phone between tasks, which is a wildly ineffective time management strategy. I’m not exactly sure how to solve this, but at least I’m more aware of this practice now.
2) Valet trash update
Thanks to everyone who weighed in about the valet trash debacle from a few weeks ago. And for reminding me that valet trash is not a common thing. I thought it was! Almost every apartment complex where I live offers it. It’s so common, in fact, that I wouldn’t move to a complex that didn’t offer this service. Thankfully, after a few weeks of inconvenience, valet trash is back up and running. Yay! It’s so nice to just drop my trash bag in the valet trash container, set it outside my door, and know it will get picked up!
3) Commitment issues
I might be going through a book slump. Maybe. I’m not ready to call it that yet because I am determined to get myself out of it before it becomes too slump-y. This week alone, I have abandoned three books. I abandoned The Gown by Jennifer Robson (historical fiction) because I have grown so tired of historical fiction novels that jump back and forth between a past and present-day storyline. We don’t need this! Stop doing this! The present-day storyline was so boring and bland. So then I started Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig but the book was so disjointed and filled with so many long lists about nothing important. I abandoned that one after 50 pages. And lastly, I was about halfway through a romance with characters who kept doing annoying things that made no sense, and abandoned that one as well. Last night, I started The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb and I am hoping, hoping, hoping that this book works for me. I am pro-abandoning books, but I don’t like when it feels like that’s all I’m doing in my reading life.
4) Chip & Lucy
This month, Chip and Lucy have birthdays! I thought it might be cute to take each of them on a PetSmart shopping spree on my own, so that’s what Chip and I did last week. (His birthday is March 16th.) He got to zoom around the store in a cart and we tested out a whole bunch of toys for him to take home. My favorite part of the adventure was putting this hipster hat on him. Doesn’t he wear the hipster look so well?!
Next week, it will be Lucy’s turn! She was VERY upset with me for taking Chip away from her for the shopping spree, so hopefully, this will make up for it. She’s super attached to Chip, but we always joke that Chip can take or leave Lucy. It’ll be interesting to see how he reacts to Lucy leaving him!
5) Weekend plans
I have such a fun weekend planned! There’s not much going on tonight, but I do plan on watching a movie (Sleepless in Seattle, most likely) to fulfill one of my monthly goals. Saturday is book club! My friend Lynn is hosting at her house and we came up with the genius idea to do brunch “boards.” Each of us will do a special charcuterie-style board around a specific theme, like breads, dessert, fruit, etc. I’m doing a parfait board! On Sunday, Bri and I will be meeting up to record our final two episodes of season 4. I can’t believe it! Bri has a super busy April planned (she literally does not have a single weekend free!) so we jammed all of our recording dates into March to get ‘er done.
What are your weekend plans? What’s the last book you abandoned?
THAT PICTURE OF CHIP COULD BREAK THE INTERNET. The cuteness is too much.
Books are so funny, eh? Notes on a Nervous Planet was one of my favourite books from last year. So much has to do with timing and audience!
I’d never heard of a valet garbage service!
I think I tried reading Notes on a Nervous Planet at the wrong time. I might enjoy it more on audio, so maybe I’ll return to it in that medium someday.
Such a hipster, that Chip. That would definitely be his profile picture on a dating app. 😉
I am glad to hear about your book slump because this often happens to me as well. Solidarity.
Solidarity, indeed. It sucks when it happens but you just gotta lean into it and wait for it to pass.
OMG CHIP!!! That is a CUTE dog. He could be a model!
I hate being in book slump. I usually just reread a book I know I’ve loved in the past to get myself out of it. The last book I DNFed was Nightcrawling, but I just started reading The Goldfinch and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do it!!
Chip as a hipster is my favorite! How cute is he?!
Oh, The Goldfinch. I tried that book but super-long books like that just don’t work for me. Godspeed to you, if you’ve kept trucking along. <3
Omg Chip- I can’t stand it, he’s so cute! That hat! The shopping trip! Him picking out toys! I can’t wait to hear all about Lucy’s trip (and I must see a photo of that as well!)
I almost abandoned Ten Thousand Doors of January. I had mixed feelings about that book. I ended up sticking with it and I’m glad I did- I didn’t love it though.
Your weekend sounds really fun. Mine will be a little more laid-back, with a lot of basketball watching. Now I’m craving a charcuterie board!
Ooh, Ten Thousand Doors of January is coming up for me on my TBR. It just came in for me from the library. Good to know that it may have a slow start but is worth sticking with!
Chip makes the perfect little hipster, doesn’t he? Haha.
I did time logging last time and thought it was interesting. I think I might want to do it again in the future, although a lot of my routine is so repetitive that it doesn’t really change that much.
Chip looks so cute with his beanie LOL
I noticed the same thing – a lot didn’t change but there were some interesting things that I learned from the exercise! Maybe it’s something you could do every few years?
I am wondering how long you do the time logging thing. It would be interesting to see where my time goes but I feel it would be such an enormous task to log. it all. I do the one day in my life posts but there are just a snapshot. I feel the details are lost there. Would be interesting to hear how you do it.
I had times where every book seems a drag. For me I realized I was in some sort of anxious state of mind and nothing was right. So I assumed it wasn’t really the books fault. Own those times I tended to read. short stories or magazine articles and when I felt I calmed down a bit I grabbed a favorite know it makes me fly through the pages.
Hope you have better reading weeks ahead.
I only do time-logging for one week. Any more than that would be too much! It’s very tedious to do but I can handle it for one week a year, if only to figure out exactly where my time is going and what patterns emerge from the exercise. Here’s the blog post where I first learned about it, and she has sample time-logging spreadsheets you can use! https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/welcome-168-hours-time-tracking-challenge/
Hahahaha Hipster Chip (Chipster?!) is too freaking cute. Happy birthday to those two!
Chipster! OMG, I love it so much. 🙂
That is good you pinpointed the in-between moments as when you are losing the most time on your phone. That makes sense. I struggle with in-between times and have a lot of anxiety then. Now that you know, I bet you will act on it!
I have not read a Matt Haig book I’ve liked. LOL. Not for me.
Chip is toooo cute! I can’t wait to see pics from Lucy’s trip!
My weekend plans were helping a friend set up a POP Cats then going to it, then being grump Sunday because I was so exhausted. Ha.
Yes, I have known that I seemingly need a little bit of downtime as I’m transitioning tasks but it was really helpful to see how MUCH time I was spending there. It was really eye-opening and helpful to talk it through with my therapist and get some strategies together to help me need less of this transition time.
Chip. Oh, my goodness. How can you NOT love that dog? (They’re minis, right? I mean, they’re not regular sized dachshunds, so…)
The time tracking is fascinating but I almost don’t want to know how much time I spend doing things that don’t fill me up. I know, denial. But… I know it’s bad. I know it needs to improve. Do I need to know how it breaks down into 15 minute intervals?? Hm…
Hope the book slump retreats and you get into SOMEthing. I read Notes on a Nervous Planet and by the end was forcing myself to read just to finish it. I was too invested at that point. I started when I was in a good place for it and then by the time I (finally) finished it, not so much.
Yes – Chip and Lucy are both mini-dachshunds!