Urgh (but also, let's go!)

I slept well last night, but I still woke early due to having a coughing fit at 7 AM. Usually, I'd try to get back to sleep but I knew immediately that that was me for the day. So I'm up, showered and ready to go. There's adulting to be done today and I am strangely motivated, so let's go.

With regards to the coughing fit and the current lurgy, the cough is gradually getting worse, but there aren't really any other symptoms to speak of. Let's hope that continues. A sore throat/cough I can deal with, but my eyes have a tendency to get sore when looking at screens when I get a cold (or similar illness), and that's my job, so I'd like to avoid that.

Hmmm...

I was chatting to CC a few days ago about some of the work I was planning for the house this year. Surprisingly, she was rather supportive rather than being her usual bossy self. That also prompted me to look at some smallish chores I wanted to do, like (re)paint my bedroom ceiling, and a few other small tasks that I keep putting off.

A few years ago, I had a leak in the roof which dripped water onto the ceiling of my bedroom which has resulted in a couple of patches of discolouration. I had always planned to paint over it as a short-term solution once the roof was fixed (which it has been for a while now), but really, the ceilings probably need replaced.

A while back, I'd actually taken the first step and  gone over the affected areas with a sealant. Today, years later, I managed to do the second step, but it looks as if it won't work. I can still see the staining quite clearly. It might be that it will require a second coat, but I am not being optimistic about that, and I'm wondering if it's even worth the effort if I am going to replace the ceilings.

Blue Monday

It was extremely difficult to get out of bed this morning for work. I don't know why, there was nothing obvious on my mind this morning. Still I did manage it eventually, and things got back on track once I had a couple of large, strong coffees.

Was it because it was Blue Monday?

(I think the concept of Blue Monday is rubbish FWIW) 

Get flexible.

I wanted to make an effort to get back into yoga this week, but my motivation levels are near zero. We've been busy in work, so I am not getting the chance to do it during my lunchtime, which is when I've done it before. When it comes to logging off in the evening, I'm mentally exhausted, which is sucking my motivation.

The upside of being super busy is that the days are flying by. Well, two of 'em this week. 

Time out

Despite being really busy, I'm also in a bit of a motivational slump at work. Nothing bad has happened, I'm just completely de-motivated. I do have a lot of time off still to take. I think it's like 9 days still to take, and that doesn't count the time I already have booked off at Xmas.

I could, in theory, work a 4-day week between now and the end of the year, but while I'll probably end up doing something like that, I don't want to book the time now. I'd rather react as we get into party season and take time off accordingly.

I'm half expecting either The Crowd or KfW2 to suggest a trip to the Christmas market, which will likely be a Sunday, which means a Monday off is required.

Still, taking Friday off is tempting. 

YES!

A tradesman has just left the house after doing a piece of work that I have been contemplating for a few months now. He's done a great job, but after a few hours of hammers, sawing and various power tools, I have a splitting headache.

But I'm chuffed to bits that I've gotten some work done.

Roll on the next piece at the start of November... hopefully. 

Motivation.

One of the guys in work was talking about a local company who do bathroom remodelling. That's one of the things I have on my to-do list. The sums of money he was talking were surprisingly more affordable than I had realised (though still not a small amount of money). I should get them out to give me a quote on the work I'd like done to my house, and see if they have any interesting alternative ideas.

Meh.

 Motivation is at an all-time low. I have a few messages I need to reply to, including one from FP's widow from the start of July and I just don't have the energy for that.

I also need to get back into yoga. Again, it's something I dropped at the start of July but not picked back up yet.

I don't know what it is. I don't think I'm funking... but this lack of motivation and lack of energy is concerning.

Ooops.

Maybe KfW2 had a point. I realised this morning that I'd not done any yoga in about a week. This was partly lack of motivation but partly a recurrence of the back pain. Maybe I should have continued the yoga with a view to seeing if it eased, but I am super-paranoid about back pain.

Meh.

Despite not having any alcohol in weeks, I woke this morning feeling like I'd had a LOT to drink last night. I was lethargic, dehydrated, mentally fuzzy. I think there was a dream as well that featured KfW2 being cold to me that might also have had an effect on my mood.

Additionally, the weather is rubbish here, despite forecasts saying it was going to be dry.

I get the feeling that the productivity that I had planned for today might not pan out. The gardening is out unless it gets dryer this afternoon. I was going to do a session of Yoga, but these hangover-like symptoms are having a real issue on my motivation. Maybe that'll disappear this afternoon.

And despite the fact it's only just after Noon, I've been up since 9 AM and it feels like late afternoon. Weird.

Go me!

Phew that was tough. Not the walk. That was actually not that bad. I did the same route, though in reverse after a suggestion from USHW that maybe my pains were brought on by trying the uphill portion of the route too early in the walk and my muscles not being sufficiently warmed up.

Well, I got through the walk without too much pain. There were a few pangs towards the end, but nothing specific to one area and I'm assuming that this is a result of being a lazy bastard over the past three and a bit years and not being flexible enough.

So, some positivity. The tough part was motivating myself to leave the house, albeit only for 20 minutes to do the lap.

Just talkin'

It's taken until September, after a Summer of great weather, to actually use my garden furniture for hosting guests. This time, it was FP. We sat in the garden, with a fire lit, drinking beer and just chatting until near 2AM. It was really nice to sit, chill and spend time in someone's company. I've been a bit stressed recently.

It's unlikely that the furniture will get used again this year and I'll have think about storing it for the Winter.

Am very tired today, but I'll need to motivate myself to do an hour or so's prep for an interview that's likely to be the middle or end of this coming week.

Here we go again.

While the good news was that I still managed to lose weight last week, the bad news (though it's not really bad news) is that it's only 0.6 lbs. Saying that though, Saturday and Sunday were spent at KfW2's and my sis's respectively, drinking beer and not really calorie counting.

Back in the saddle today. Goal motivation is high. Work motivation is very low.

Back 2 school.

I've done about 15 minutes of my "homework" today. I wanted to do somewhere between an hour or 90 minutes. I could still achieve that, but the motivation has been rock bottom. It's kinda work related, but kinda personal too, which is why it's being done at nights and the weekend rather than during work hours.

I got about 90 minutes done yesterday, though I am knackered today and have had this minor though unshiftable headache for the past few days and don't feel like I absorbed any of the information I looked at.

I should just go and do it. I want to get the same done tomorrow, and I don't want to have to double up and do three hours. I don't think my brain could handle that!