T's New Project

Well, well, well.  October.  Once again, I'm astounded at the passage of time.  I'm taking your advice though, and doing more floating than treading water...  I mean, why make it harder than it needs to be, right? So, floating.  October is floating by.

I thought I'd just give a quick update on the latest thing round our place.  Remember that we have a vintage travel trailer that we love?  The one I still haven't gotten any pictures of to post...  yeah, that one!  Well, we were going to be taking her out one more time this month -- next weekend, in fact, but have had a change in plans.  For one thing, this long stretch of sunny weather is coming to an end, and even though having a trailer means that one can camp in the rain, we're not going.

This summer, T decided that she had done such a wonderful job of rehabbing our trailer that she would look for another one to rebuild as a project.  Sure, I said, that's a good project for you, but where are you going to put it???  Our driveway is far too small and already has a trailer parked in it.  There's no room for a second one.  She made arrangements to park the new trailer over at her mom's house.  There's plenty of room!

So, she found a trailer and bought it for $100.  Probably, the guy should have paid her to haul it off.  Wow, was it rotten inside!  She felt ok about it though because the appliances were worth more than $100, so yeah.  She's been hard at work gutting it out, saving what is salvageable, and rebuilding it from the frame up. I don't know why this is fun for her, but it is.  And, she's doing a fantastic job!  This trailer will be stronger, lighter, and watertight.  All in all a good thing.  But, right now, it's not sealed up and wet weather is on it's way.  So, while we were looking forward to the weekend campout in Bend, no, we'll have to postpone it so that T can get the new trailer buttoned up.

Want to know the very best thing about this project?  It's at her mom's house and she has been spending a lot of time over there.  Which means that I have had lots more time by myself of late and that is a gift.  I know, I make it sound like I don't want to spend time with my partner, it's not that... entirely.  I just don't get enough time alone.  So, this has been really, really nice for me.

What's going on with you this fall?

This year things will be better

They have to be, right?

I have been doing a whole lotta thinking of late, naturally.  About things like longevity and mortality and, you know, the meaning of life.  Just the average thoughts that come up when one's mother dies and then the New Year rolls around.

For the short term, I have a couple of resolutions.  Or, perhaps I'll call them adjustments.  They are simple and achievable, and oh-so-average.  That's ok, though, because we all want to do these things and collectively we can encourage each other.  They are:

• Get back to a regular work out schedule and ride my bike as often as the weather permits.  I worked out regularly last year until my mum got sick.  And, I rode my bike even when I didn't have the time to make it to the gym.  That is, I rode until the weather got too crappy and until I had to start going over to the parent's house in the evening as well as the morning.  There just wasn't enough time at that point. So, without regular exercise... let's just say that my pants are uncomfortably tight right now and I don't like it.
• Reduce alcohol consumption to weekends only (with a caveat for special occasions).  Last year T and I went teetotal for the month of January and weekends only for the month of February.  After that our imbibition gradually crept up until we were drinking every day after work and all day long on the weekends.  That's just too much.  For one thing, it's a lot of empty calories.  For another thing, I don't like to feel that I need a drink.  I want to drink because I enjoy the taste or the fizziness of the bubbles not because I had a rough day at the office.  T is not joining me this year (which bugs me just a little) but so far so good.  I've actually been enjoying our delicious tap water and really feeling good about preserving my liver rather than pickling it.
• Increase my time spent meditating.  I feel quite strongly the need to spend more time with an inward focus.  I may need to rearrange some physical spaces in my house to make this possible, but that's easily done.  The harder part of it is dedicating the time and encouraging the other members of my household to leave me alone.

Just those three adjustments for 2012.  There is one that fell by the wayside in 2011 that I would like to get back to, but I'm not going to pressure myself over it.  That one was reducing the amount of *stuff* in my basement.  I was going to go through a box a week but I only did about 7 or so boxes.  I really would love to take a month off and take everything out of my basement, throw 3/4's of it away, build some shelves and storage and put the rest back in an orderly manner.  That would be a pleasure!  I'll work on saving up the time and resources for that, but in the meantime it wouldn't hurt to just get rid of stuff.

Besides these immediate adjustments, I have been spending some time thinking about what is important to me in the long term.  I would like to retire in 2 years and 5 months (yeah, you bet I'm counting) and in order to do that I need to be confident about my goals and directions.  I will not be able to stop working completely, but I would very much like to get off the 40 hour/week schedule.  That is a major goal.  

So, my priorities for the rest of my life are this:

• Make sure Zoe is safe and set up in some comfortable situation (as much as a parent can with an adult child)
• Spend time regularly with my Pop
• Work enough to make ends meet and have benefits
• Have time to ponder and to pursue interests

These are not unreachable, unrealistic goals, right?  I sorely need the time to ponder.  I need quiet and undisturbed time on a regular basis.  I would like to get my thoughts in order and write more and communicate better and for this I need to be able to sit and think... I'd also like more time to walk the dog and pet the cats.  

Those are my resolutions, adjustments, goals and plans.  What are yours?