Category: weeknotes

– i guess we’re buying a house? my head hurts from all the math we have to do in order to pull this through, and it’s scary not knowing how things will go. this is very much not our style… but we’ve talked to so many different people about it this week, and everyone says we’d be fools not to go ahead, so i think i feel a bit more at ease with the decision now. let’s see how it goes.

– now that i know we’ll be staying put for a few more years, i’m going to hang these cute birdhouses that my brother made for us. :) we’ll try to put them in spots that we can see from the house, so that we can spy their new occupants. i’m rooting for blue tits!

– finally got a prescription to treat a stupid nail fungus that has been bothering me for a while now. good riddance.

– 50% of parents have had one vaccine, and 50% have had 2! :D

– one year ago, we had plans and flight tickets to visit azores… but then the pandemic hit and it was all scrapped. this year, things feel a bit more settled, so we’re giving it another go in 2 weeks. the goal is to work like usual and spend the rest of it hiking around the islands of faial and pico, checking out all the trails and volcanos along the way.

– and now for the big cloud over our heads. what do you do when you get a letter from your landlord, stating they have a buyer for the house you’ve been renting for the past 6 years? as renters, we get to call dibs on the deal if we want to… but do we want to? i like the house well enough, and if we bought it at least we could finally fix some of its flaws… but it’s a huge place, and a huge chunk of money. on one hand, i like it here and don’t want to move (which might end up happening, if the new landlord decides). on the other hand, i don’t think i like it enough to get into debt over it. at the moment, it feels like all our options are bad, and it sucks. :(

– i wish we could do like tove jansson and get ourselves a little island to live on. sigh.

– spent the week in the north, helping the in-laws run errands and making sure they got the second round of vaccinations. all the parental units are either vaccinated or have appointments to get that done. hurray! :D

– currently using the momentum from our last hiking trip to plan new stuff. morale has been a bit low, so trying to remember there are things to look forward to.

– put together a walking desk of sorts in my parents old treadmill. it’s surprisingly comfy to type on it — i think i might make one at home, so that i don’t sit so much during working hours. raking up thousands of steps during the workday feels a bit like cheating, but if it works to strengthen the back and make me healthier, i’m all for it.

– while looking for stuff to draw, came up with an idea of drawing this day in (our) history. so everyday i go through our photos and draw something we photographed on this day, in previous years — an haphazard diary of sorts. it’s surprisingly soothing, and also nice to have an excuse to look back and remember.

– 25th of april, always!

– this week was just… ugh. being away is amazing, but coming back to work after a few days away feels like being slammed by an avalanche. it’s relentless and overwhelming, and it takes days to catch up.

– on better news, my air plant is blooming! i got it from a friend’s mom, and it has been hanging in our olive tree ever since it got here last summer, looking half-dead. we just let it be, and now there’s pink flowers in it, whoa!

– following our detour into the chinese supermarket last week, i cooked my first gong bao chicken. omg, it was amazing!! :D i feel like i performed some sort of sorcery involving a dozen ingredients that somehow leveled up my powers!

– i finished listening to the artist’s way. i’ve been writing morning pages on and off for years, so it feels good to finally read the book that started this idea of stream of consciousness writing as a sort of rambling meditation, of getting rid of the thoughts that just clutter the mind.