Fuzzyred's Marvelous Reading Nook

I hesitate to call it a weekly post, but here I am again, posting something. (I actually started this post last Thursday... oops.) It's been a good summer and a good September so far. I never managed to do my August goal review but I think I did pretty decently. I know I haven't been good with yard work, and I'm behind on my books for the year, but I completed a puzzle over my summer shutdown and I have now finished the paint by number my sister got me for Christmas.

In no particular order, here are some things I've done since my last post: I went horseback riding with my boyfriend, we went to a nearby comic-con, we did a local river cruise with some friends, we went to a local nature reserve to watch some of the hawk migration, I had weekly lunches with my good friend, and I've put together a costume for an early halloween party one of my coworkers is having.

Coming up, I'd like to be more diligent about posting and read some more books. I would also like to work on the next puzzle I started and tidy up the yard before the frost comes and all the trees dump their leaves on my yard. Duolingo is still going okay, but I think it's starting to lose some of its appeal. I might also need to take a closer look at my goals for the remainder of the year/next year. I already tentatively did this, but it might be time to make some more concrete plans.

I hope you all are doing well and hopefully it isn't quite so long before my next post!

Hi everyone :) This week's post might be a little different than normal, since I've been feeling a bit out of sorts lately. I did have a good weekend that just passed; it was a long weekend and I spent lots of time with my boyfriend as well as having plenty of time to relax and flop. This weekend, I'm going to a weekend with my boyfriend, which should be fun and my sister is having a get together that I'm really looking forward to. I also get to have lunch with my good friend tomorrow, which is always a nice thing. :)

Everything has felt like a lot lately and I'm not sure how to deal with it. Social interactions seem to take so much effort, my to-do list seems forever long, I have so many things I *want* to do, but I seem to have no energy for anything. I'm finding it hard to budget my time appropriately and switch from one task to another, even if I'm switching between two fun things. I'm not sure where to go from here, but it feels like I need to figure out something, because the status quo is not super great.

Hopefully in the next few days I will have a bit of energy for the small things and everything else will find a way to sort itself out. I hope you all are doing well, talk to you again soon! <3

This one is a little late, but Thursday was super hot and frustrating, then yesterday was busier than expected. It's been an okay week overall, if a bit on the warm side. I've managed to do my Duolingo and most of my yoga, but reading fanfic is still consuming most of my time. I'm not very good at separating what I want to do from what I need to do, or even switching between two tasks I both enjoy. This unfortunately means that there are a lot of things that I've been ignoring lately and I'm not quite sure how to fix that.

Last weekend I went camping with my boyfriend and we had a great time despite having a holey air mattress the forst night and a bit of rain the second night. We got to the beach and did a lot of walking though, and spent quality time together, so it was a very good trip. Yesterday I had lunch with my good friend and my boyfriend, which was very nice since we don't get to do that too often.

Coming up, I'm going to a rodeo tomorrow with my boyfriend and I'm going to try to get into the garden to do some weeding. I really need to focus on getting back on track this week and trying to make progress on more of my goals.

I hope everyone is staying safe in this weather and you all have a fabulous weekend!

Hi all! This is a very late weekly update, seeing as it's Monday and I have missed three or four posts at this point. I do like making my weekly posts, and I'd like to continue with them, but I've been feeling a pretty big social and creative drain lately. I'll try to get better at sticking to my schedule, but sometimes it feels like a whole lot of work. I also need to make my June Review post, but that will have to wait until at least tomorrow.

The last month has included a lot of fun things, including a pool party, a trip to a provincial museum and an amusement park, two weekends of Carrousel of Nations -a festival showcasing International foods and cultures,- relaxing time with my boyfriend, and some lunches with my good friend. The museum and amusement park in particular were a lot of fun and it was a wonderful long weekend spent with my boyfriend. :)

Another exciting thing that happened in June is that I completed a 30 Days of Yoga challenge. :D I'm really proud of doing this because I didn't miss any days for the whole month, even the ones when I was out of town. I also finished the French course on Duolingo and I've made a bit of progress weeding and reading some books, although not as much as I might wish.

I've spent a lot time recently watching YouTube videos by neurodivergent people, especially those with autism, and I'm more certain than before that I'm some kind of atypical. I'm not certain if it's autism (although that is still my leading guess), but it definitely seems to be something. I suppose an official diagnosis is unnecessary, since I don't need/want medication and I seem to get by okay without any external support, but some additional resources might be nice. I'll need to go hunting and see what I can find that I could adapt for my own use without needing medical advice/referrals. I may also need to look into seeing a therapist again, because life is once more overwhelming and having someone to talk to and offer coping strategies may help me process things.

All in all, life is going pretty well and I'm looking forward to what July brings. I hope you all are doing well and you are staying cool in this heat. See you next time! :D <3

Hello everyone! This week has been a good one, although I feel like I haven't gotten a lot of things done. I've read a lot of fanfic, I've done a lot of Duolingo, and I managed to keep on top of the dishes, but it feels like most other things fell to the wayside. I still struggle to find a balance between everything I want to do, but I am happy with what I accomplished this week.

On Friday, I hung out with my good friend in the evening, which was very nice. It's rare that we get to do that, but I was on day shift so everything worked out. Saturday was fairly low-key. I mostly did chores, but I also played Pandemic with my friends and we won the month of July, so that was very nice. :D On Sunday, my sister hosted an "Amazing Race," with tasks around our part of the town that were meant for walking. I ended up paired with my sister and we did more running than expected (I never run and my stamina sucks), so I was sore the next day but I has a lot of fun. She's done a couple different versions of this now and they are always a good time.

I am making decent progress on my yearly goals, although some are lagging further behind than others. I got a suggestion for changing the format of them for next year, since I was complaining about not having enough time to do everything I wanted, as well as having time to just relax. I think for next year (or possibly later this year), I'm going to try to split my goals into quarters. There will still be some goals that span the whole year, but I'm going to try to assign goals such as "knit this" or "do a puzzle" to a specific time of year so that I have less things to focus on. I don't know if it will work, but I'm willing to give it a try and see what happens.

One of the goals I routinely struggle with is my gardening goal. I dislike weeding but I do enjoy having a garden. So far, I have done decently with weeding and watering the garden, although I will need to weed again soon. My sister and I planted some flowers this year, mostly perennials, so the front garden will be fuller and we won't have as much to buy and plant next year. A fun fact that I hadn't really realized before: lettuce is perennial. At least, we have a type of lettuce that has been growing in our garden since we bought the house and we don't do anything to replant it year after year. It is nice having lettuce in the garden to pick though, and it's pretty low maintenance. :)

I'm also contemplating trying to find a therapist again. I feel like I could use some help finding coping and communication skills, although I don't feel nearly as out of my depth as the last time I had a therapist. I'd also like to talk to someone who has experience with neurodivergent people. I have no idea if I'm just quirky, if I fall in the range of "typical," or if there is something different about the way my brain functions. I'm not too concerned about this, since it doesn't interfere with my life, but I'm wondering if there are additional strategies and aids that would make things simpler if I had something more concrete than "different."

An outside opinion would be helpful, since I don't know the range for "typical" and "atypical" and I'm wondering if I'm seeing things that aren't really there, since I've been watching a lot of neurodivergent creators on YouTube recently. I haven't decided if this is something I want to pursue yet, but it's definitely been on my mind.

I hope you all are doing well. I hope you have a fantastic weekend, see you again next week!

It's been a good week. :) I went to a Jo Dee Messina concert on Friday with my boyfriend. It was a fantastic concert and we had a great time. :) The weekend was spent hanging out, doing a bit of shopping, and getting some relaxing in.

I haven't done a lot this week towards my goals, but I have managed to keep up with the daily ones for the most part. I did finally finish the trim on my blanket! I also untangled and rewound two skeins of yarn, which was an exercise in persistence, patience, and frustration. I've definitely learned my lesson for next time though: if I have a "twisted skein," I need to wind it into a ball before using it, rather than simply untwisting and trying to work from the loop. That went about as well as trying to pull the end of an extension cord free, rather than unwrapping it fully. O.o

Coming up, I'm going to do lunch with my good friend, which is always lots of fun. My sister and I are taking our mom out on Mother's Day, though I'm not sure for which meal yet. I'm also going to try to start on the deer for my blanket this weekend so that I can finally finish that project.

I hope you all are doing well. See you next week!

This is going to be a quick one, but I still wanted to say hi! This week has been fantastic and I even managed to keep up with most of my daily goals. I went on vacation with my sister and some family and friends for her 30th birthday. We saw a bunch of cool tourist things, went to an excellent hockey game, and saw a superb show at the Grand Ole Oprey.

We are headed to breakfast soon, then travelling back home. If I have time, I will sneak in a quick yoga session today and I will need to make a quick grocery run tomorrow so I have food for work. I've had a really good time, but I'm definitely looking forward to being able to just relax this weekend. XD

Take care everyone, have a great weekend!

This week has been a good week. I missed a few weekly goals, but I feel like I've been finding more of my motivation, and I did accomplish some things. I started reading my next book, I did a few yoga practices, I didn't entirely skip the dishes, and I had time to read a lot of a fanfic that I really like and am re-reading for at least the third time.

Over the weekend, I went to a friend's birthday party on Saturday. It was sushi themed and a really good time. :) On Sunday, my boyfriend and I went up to Hamilton for a yarn fair and to see a waterfall. The yarn fair was a lot of fun! It was a lot of small vendors from around the area, with a lot of really fun colours and "fabrics." Most of the yarn was some form of merino/nylon mix, though there was some pure merino, some alpaca, and a few other fibres I believe. Many of the yarns were variegated or brightly coloured, but there was a nice selection of natural colours and a few pastels as well. I bought 16 skeins myself, including pink, bright blue, and some rust coloured yarn. The waterfall was beautiful and it was a nice day for a walk, though a bit chilly. Dinner afterward was a delicious and we still made it home in time to get some reasonable sleep.

I went boxing with some of my coworkers yesterday, which was a lot of fun. It was a little less intense than I expected, but I am still sore today. I will probably join them again the next time they go. :)

Coming up, I get to hang out with my good friend tomorrow after curling, which is always a good time. I have plans to make charms bracelets on Saturday, then a get together with some friends. I also need to get my taxes done soon so I don't forget and blow past the deadline. I want to make progress on my current fibre projects because I'm excited to use my new yarn. A few ideas include a couple t-shirts, a hat and fingerless gloves for my boyfriend, a hat for myself, and possibly a shawl. I also have plans for a lot of the yarn I already have, so I better get cracking. XD

I hope you all are doing well and staying safe, take care everyone!

Hello! This week has been a mostly good one, although my energy and motivation still seem to be missing in action. I had a wonderful weekend away with my boyfriend; the ropes course was fun, we got some shopping in, we walked around a local pond system, and we had the time to just enjoy each other's company. Today I had lunch with my good friend since I have a hair appointment tomorrow. We had good conversations and good burgers. :)

I haven't yet managed to work on my crochet or knitting projects, but I did read some of my book and I've gotten better at sticking with my yoga practice. I also managed to stay on top of the dishes this week, which is something I've struggled with lately. This coming week, I would like to stick with yoga, read more of my book, and work on at least one of my fiber projects. I also need to practice five more flute songs, since I practiced the first five from my Popular Hits book today.

This weekend, I have a one-day curling tournament with my good friend and my boyfriend, then a local hockey game the next day. Both events should be lots of fun, but I'll have to make sure to leave time for the chores as well.

I hope you all are doing well, have a great weekend everyone!

Sadly, I missed last week's post, but I am back now. Both weeks have been pretty standard, thiugh I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I would have liked. I've read a whole bunch of fanfic and I practised 10 flute songs, but I missed multiple days of yoga, I haven't read any of my book, and I have not managed to work on either of my yarn projects yet.

Last weekend, I had lunch with my good friend on Friday, which was very nice. On Saturday, my boyfriend and I attended a paint afternoon hosted by my work and we ended up with some very nice paintings to take home. We went to dinner after that, then spent Sunday just hanging out.

Coming up, I have lunch with my good friend tomorrow and a curling bonspiel on Saturday. I'm hoping to keep up with any snow that may fall and to do a better job of my daily goals. I would also really like to read some of my book and work on the blanket and my shawl.

I don't have any other major plans coming up, so I'm hopeful that I can make some progress on the small things. I hope you all are doing well and have a great weekend!