It's stereotypical to want to clean the house when January comes around, isn't it? But I can't help it... I've made a list in my techo of things I want to accomplish around the house, and divided by room every month. Yes, it might be a little strange to take a month for each room, but I work full time and I'm the only adult in the house, so this kind of process takes a while for me.
January: Kitchen
I've already rearranged a couple of pieces of furniture and cleared off the counter space so I have more room to do prep, organized the pantry and my bento supplies, and thrown away several things I'm not using anymore.
Yesterday I tried an Avocado Egg Salad recipe that I kind of adapted from several I found online. (I don't have a link because I'm honestly not sure who invented it!)
Note: I don't measure ingredients carefully when I'm cooking for myself! I used a big pinch of the katsuoboshi, a splash of soy sauce, and a little dollup of the yuzu paste.
And the finished recipe! It was really tasty, I recommend it!
And finally~
I had a really hard day at work on Friday, so my lovely partner sent me some treats and flowers!!! Birdy, you are so sweet to me!!!
The two things I've been dealing with since I was young as far as mental health goes, are Anxiety, and this ridiculous tendency to get excited about something to the point where I get really sad if it doesn't work out. I don't know, maybe it's a normal amount of disappointment I feel? But over the years it's been the kind of sadness that I can tell is inconvenient to people. So, I've tried to become better at "releasing things into the Force," as it were.
(Because if I inconvenience people it causes my anxiety to flare up!)
But I think I'm coming to terms with the fact that my system, if you can call it that, isn't really serving me. Here's how it typically goes:
- Want something
- Get excited about it, do prep for it, talk about it a lot
- Plan falls through
- Shunt feelings of sadness to the side because I don't want to deal with it, don't want to put people in a position where they're making something happen just for my sake, don't want to be resented, etc. (What does it mean that I think one of the worst feelings in the world would be to know someone was only doing something because I wanted them to?)
- If the opportunity comes around again, keep a distance just in case
I haven't really left space in my life for fighting for things I want. I'm not exactly sure what kind of person I'd be if I did fight for things.
But I know step one is to stop thinking of things I want in terms of "unimportant because they're what I want."
I shouldn't be surprised when I get sick over the winter, but it always catches me off guard! I'm sitting at home with a tissue in my nose to keep it from running long enough to make this post, drinking hot tea constantly, and not planning on putting on real clothes at any point today. At least, luckily, colds don't usually last very long for me. I'm hoping I'll feel well enough tomorrow to go have Christmas breakfast with my family.
But, in better news, here are some lovely Chai Gingerbread cookies that my mom made a few days ago!
Do you ever spiral about the state of your house/flat? There are so many things I need to clean, so many things I want to pack up into boxes and store so they're out of the way. But after being at work all day it's really hard to find the motivation. And then when I do have extra time I get sick or I have family responsibilities, etc.
Someday. Someday I'll completely clean out my house and make it as cute as I want it to be!
I've never gone before, but for the past few years they've been doing holiday lights at a local place! They were really pretty, and it was so fun to walk around enjoying them while sipping hot chocolate. Now if only we could get some snow...
Sorry I've been gone for a bit!
We had a bit of a scare with the onset of a chronic illness in the family, so I've been in the hospital for a few days and then home just trying to relax and de-stress. But everything is going to be ok, we're going to get it figured out, and get on with life!
I have eaten some really tasty food recently, which is always good~
An omelette from the hospital cafeteria
Pumpkin pie at my mom's house
Leftover Lahsa for breakfast - my first time making it!
In website news, I made a section for recommended pages! My friends' sites, fun webgames I found, art, etc. This list will definitely be getting longer!
I found a Star Wars Character dress-up game, and I made a new OC~ They don't have a name yet... but I'll be thinking about it today!
Is it weird to make a post when I don't have a whole lot to write about today? It was a normal day at work, not too busy which was nice. I had leftover taco bar stuff for lunch, and then dumplings for dinner. There must be something I can share...
Oh!
There is this fun mini design game where you make a lightsaber!
Here's the one I designed just now. I think it's changed from the last time I did it, but that seems normal right? Changing over time, that is, not losing my first lightsaber.
This morning I tried that coffee that I picked up yesterday in my pour over. It said it was a fruity coffee, which I don't typically like, but it can't hurt to try things again just in case~
It was...still not my favorite type of coffee. (ᵕ,—ᴗ—,) But I'll give myself a few more days to get used to it before I find someone to give it to.
One of my coworkers is going to have a baby soon, so we had a little shower/lunch at work today to celebrate! The organizer decided to do a "taco bar," so everyone brought ingredients for tacos, as well as several desserts. It was really tasty!
After work I started playing the new DLC to one of my favorite games, Planet Crafter! They've got a whole new planet which is covered in toxic goo, and you have to clean the planet while also terraforming.
And here is a rail car I got working, which I have also filled with goo that I picked up but didn't have room for in my inventory~
Isn't it lovely when you get invited for dinner when you weren't expecting it? Especially after a busy workday when you were trying to figure out what to cook and then suddenly not only do you not have to worry about it, but you get to spend time with people you love, and relax, and add a little meaning to the day other than work.
But I'm getting ahead of myself!
This morning I stopped by the neighborhood shop to get some coffee, and I got a muffin while I was there.
I'm trying to decide what to use the Year at a Glance section of my planner for...
Holidays? Habits? Trips?
Maybe habits... it's a very small space that doesn't fit much more than little filled in blocks. I'd like to try and make sure I'm drinking enough water, getting a walk in most days, doing something creative, doing something which makes the space I live in more pleasant for me.
Anyway, as I was saying, my parents invited me over for dinner and made wonderful fish and chips!
And then dessert was a homemade lemon tart with plum sauce from the fruits that grow wild on the land. It was so tart and refreshing, the perfect thing to eat after something fried.
Uh oh.
I've run out of coffee. I need to stop by the store in the neighborhood to get some tomorrow or I'll have a rough go of it this week!
When I woke up the sun was coming in through the window on the Obi-wan and Anakin figures my friend Jeni made, in a very foreshadowing kind of way.
I say it was a lazy day, but I actually got up pretty quickly to work on projects and do a couple of chores. For lunch I had a really indulgent tuna mayo rice bowl with a seasoned seaweed and little crispy things (I forget what they're called).
And then for dinner my wonderful partner ordered sushi and had it sent to me! They ate sushi out too, to celebrate completing their master's program, and they wanted me to celebrate with them from far away. It was really really sweet of them~ <3
The pieces of salmon were so generous they were wrapped almost all the way around the rice!
I haven't done a full setup yet, but I wanted to show the planner I'm using for this year. I love the pencil board; this little guy is so cute! And my whole year, planner and website apparently, will have this blue, yellow, and pink theme.
Oh! And my friend Tatooinelizard just wrote a really cute Obikin fic~ it's got a very cozy, wintery vibe and everyone should read it!
Ah~
The feeling of fiddling with something for an hour and then deciding not to change much. That's the life of a website LOL.
But I did have fun playing with that pixel art app, and will definitely be using it more!
I went to the cafe I mentioned yesterday to work, and got a snack and one of their seasonal drinks: a lotus refresher. It was really tasty!
I was glad to see the new location was so busy; lots of people playing card games, shopping, a couple of friend groups using the rooms in the back for tabletop games. They're continuing to do well! And it was so sweet, the barista commented that I'd been frequenting them ever since their first location, and that they appreciated it~ <3
I'm thinking about having a little section on the front page with the most recent onigiri I've had, because that is important information to know! I made this graphic, not sure if I'm going to use it yet:
What do you think?
Today was a long and strange day at work but at the end I got to pick up some tasty dinner to bring to my parents, and then afterwards we all got together to celebrate my brother's birthday!
I forgot to take pictures of the dinner because we wolfed it down too quickly, but I did remember the cake. It was such a cute design, like a national park because my brother loves camping and hiking.
The chocolate rocks are a cute touch, right?
I think tomorrow I'll go to one of my favorite cafes, which is honestly more of a gaming shop. People are always gathered there to play card/tabletop games, etc, and the vibe is excellent for getting work done. Just the right kind of background noise, you know?
While I'm there I'll try this app that was recommended online for pixel art called Pixquare The UI is simple and seems like it will be easy to use. I fully acknowledge the power of more complicated apps like Clip Studio Pro, but I feel more relaxed with things like Procreate, so I think this will be to my liking.
I'm brainstorming cute things I can put on my main page, and trying to fight against the voice that has been insisting all these years that websites are supposed to be simple and universally appealing. No! I want it to be cluttered with all sorts of things I like, arranged however I like!
A short post today, I'm afraid! I have a bit of a headache lingering...work was really busy!
Thankfully my mom sent me home with some Shepherd's Pie she made~
This weekend I can't wait until I have more energy and time to work on this website more~
Guess what this is:
.
.
.
Onigiri!
A little mismatched in size (//∇//)
With salmon~
It's almost December, which means time to set up my Hobonichi for next year. (This is my cue to say, "I swear this time I'll use every page!") I've gone with a cute, light blue, Weeks, and I've been setting aside stickers which I think would go with it over the past couple of months. I think I'll do a separate post showing how I'll set it up, what I've decided to do with the different sections, etc.
Oh! The Digital Hobonichi has been released this year too, with the international version coming out some time next month. I'd like to try that too, mostly for the feature where you can print out a picture from each day which perfectly fits the calendar spots.
Dinner was one of my favorite comfort foods, a runny egg on avocado toast.
I should cook something more complicated, but I've been so low-energy after work this week. Oh well...
OMG my first post!
I had the day off work today for the holiday, so I didn't have to wake up as early, thank goodness!
I can never get pancakes right for some reason...
Did some chores and then went to turn on the heat for the first time this season, and it didn't work! The usual fixes did nothing, so it was looking like I'd have to call a tech out, but in the meantime I bought a space heater so we wouldn't freeze at night. And then, of course, as soon as the space heater got to working, the regular heat did too.
The Big Heat must have needed a sacrifice of Small Heat... mysterious.
Made cabbage soup for lunch, which is becoming a recipe I make all the time.
(It's really easy! Thinly sliced pork, mushrooms, cabbage, cooked in a bit of olive oil. Enough stock to almost cover, simmer until everything is cooked, and then some curry powder added towards the end.)
Dinner was even simpler, just some frozen gyoza cooked on the stove!
Now it's evening and I think I'm going to make some coffee and relax, maybe watch some spooky videos and look for fun things to put on this site!