Personal Digest Saturday (but posted on Sunday!): April 17 – April 23

Life news this week:

• Saturday I had a lovely epic phone call with Yasmin and cleaned my living room while we talked. Then I spent the rest of the day finishing up the cleaning and doing my blogging. Also texted with Meggie and got some floors cleaned.
  
  
• Sunday I mostly just did my housecleaning stuff and updated my sister about what I was doing because it helps motivate me. She cheered me on very helpfully. ;) I love having a clean house and knowing I am soon going to be able to invite vaccinated people over again has motivated me also. I got the entryway, hallway, and three bedrooms straightened up and cleaned. Plus laundry. After my shower I had some wine in bed to relax. :)
  
  
• Monday I made a fancy breakfast and had a pretty low-key work day. I put away my laundry and watched videos from my sister, and played online games with my friends--was lovely to see everyone as usual.
  
  
• Tuesday was another chill work day. I had to send plans to a bunch of people. After work, spent a bunch of time looking at the news because of the Chauvin trial. I also got my bathroom clean and recorded a karaoke song. Finished my webcomic drawings as well.
  
  
• Wednesday work was again not very busy. I did some work in the garden area and went out with Jeaux to get groceries. I took a little nap in his car while he was in Walmart buying shoes. Then we cooked curry with tofu and put it on couscous. Delicious! We hung out and took walks and chatted until it was time for him to go home.
  
  
• Thursday I cleaned up from our dinner prep and had another pretty slow work day. I've been able to get a lot of non-time-sensitive work done during these times. Did some more garden work and organized one of my closets. Talked to Victor on the phone and mostly the only thing he wanted to talk about was food. Argh.
  
  
• Friday I knocked out my reports and timesheets and had to go to a meeting. Then after work I got the patio ready and my friend Fen came over! Exciting that we finally got to meet for the first time after knowing each other online for eight years. We chilled at the patio table (since I still can't have indoor visitors), set up some repellent incense sticks when the mosquitoes arrived, and ate snacks and Mexican food. It was so great and we chatted late into the night until they had to go back to the hotel to sleep. Success!

New Reviews:

• TiSh gave The Invisible Orientation a four-star review on Goodreads.
  
• Lisa Butterworth gave The Invisible Orientation a five-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Seemed a little high this week, and I did eat more than usual all week but was also more active, so I guess sometimes stuff happens. Still well within normal fluctuations though. High weight: 112 pounds. Low weight: 110.8.
  
• Nutrition stuff: I ate an unusual amount of candy (because it was there) and ate a lot of big meals. Got veggies in several times more than usual so I consider that part a win.
  
• Activity stuff: I again made my step goal every day except the Friday my friend Fen came over. (We were sitting around talking so not much activity.) My high day was Saturday at 22,113 steps. My low day was Friday at 6,680 steps.

Reading progress:

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.

• Currently reading: What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera. I'm on page 331.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Roadhouse Blues" by the Doors.

Stuff Drawn:

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0832: "Biggest Weirdo." 

New videos: 

None this week.

New photos:

Curry with Couscous!

Hanging out with Fen

Social Media Counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,286 for swankivy (1 new), 669 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 121 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 931 for swankivy (1 new), 1,508 for JulieSondra (2 new). Facebook: 300 friends for swankivy (lost 1, don't know who), 627 likes for JulieSondra (3 new), 75 likes for Negative One (1 new), 226 likes for So You Write (no change), 87 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (1 new). Tumblr followers: 2,468 (no change). Instagram followers: 231 (1 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: April 10 – April 16

Life news this week:

• Saturday I finished some podcast planning and then made plans to go hang out with Mom (with Jeaux) and help her with her mail that she doesn't understand. But then the plans got shifted a little because Jeaux's car wouldn't start! I canceled with Mom but then Jeaux got a jump from the Roadside Assistance people and was instructed to drive around a while so we ended up doing it after all. I bought some sandwiches and supplies at the store and ate sammiches at Mom's and opened her mail, filed the file stuff and tossed the junk stuff and took some of it with me for records I keep. And then I got home just in time to do the podcast with Daria for two of my favorite episode ("Cry For Help" and "Keystone Motel")! And still got my blogging posted! Great day.
  
  
• Sunday I decided to clean the kitchen. So I spent most of the day doing that and motivating myself by sending progress videos to my sister. Also did laundry and rewarded myself with opening new packages at the end of the night. Also got to talk to Meggie on the phone. I hurt my thumb during the cleaning though.
  
  
• Monday I had a couple letters due and everything went well at the office. After work I took a walk and talked to my sister, and then I met my friends for games but only three of us showed up so it wasn't really enough for most games and we just chatted. Steve showed up for the last bit of it and we still didn't play games but it was nice to see everyone. After that I hung a picture on my wall.
  
  
• Tuesday I had an omelet in the morning and did some loose ends at work, plus some reports. After work I cleaned the kitchen some more--cleaned out the fridge and organized all the cabinets. Then I did some karaoke during the wee hours.
  
  
• Wednesday I had some meetings at work and then did catch-up work before a long meeting at the end of the day. Jeaux's car didn't start again so he got to try the device he had bought because he liked that the roadside assistance people had a jumper that was electric, so he bought one. He made it to my place and we grocery shopped and it again wouldn't start in the parking lot. He made an appointment to take the car for repair. We made a Mexican casserole that was way soupier than we thought it would be and it wasn't great but wasn't terrible. And we watched some Colbert and took some walks. He had to jump the car again to get home. I finished recording the instrumentals and vocals for my cover of "Steven and the Crystal Gems" which requires me to play a bunch of instruments I don't really play anymore. Yikes.
  
  
• Thursday I worked on some forms for a proposal. After work I took a walk and talked to Victor. After we got off the phone I dressed up in various costumes and made video recordings for my music video of "Steven and the Crystal Gems." I got tired and decided to leave editing for the next day.
  
  
• Friday involved some low-pressure projects and research. After work I edited my video and posted it. It's cringey but I guess not much more could be expected when I'm faking that I play instruments. Then I was able to get my comic complete, post it, and still have time for a walk. Managed to do some relaxing but ate too many jellybeans.

New Reviews:

• Chelsea K gave The Invisible Orientation a two-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Stable. High weight: 110.8 pounds. Low weight: 109.7. It really seems like I've found my sweet spot and am not moving from my goal at this time.
  
• Nutrition stuff: I've been cooking more this week, which is awesome! But I still need to work on getting more vegetables into my diet. I bought extra spinach this week so I've been drinking a spinach smoothie almost every day, so that at least is something, but I really wish I could convince myself to gobble down some veggies more consistently. I think it would really help with my nutrition goals.
  
• I am not sure if I made my step goal every day this week because the app froze on Friday. I only noticed a couple significant laps into my biggest walk of the day and so I'll never know if I came in shy of the 10,000 step goal, but that was probably my lowest day. My high day was Thursday at 15,995 steps.

Reading progress:

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.

• Currently reading: What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera. I'm on page 331.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "I Love Rock 'N Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.



And here's my relatively cringey attempt to play four instruments and sing while in costume. You were warned, it's a bit of a mess. But it's cute.

Stuff Drawn:

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0831: "Because of Love." 

New videos: 

None this week.

New photos:

Here are some cute photos I took along with my quartet performance.

Garnet costume, playing keyboard

Amethyst costume, playing drum pad

Pearl costume, playing violin

Steven costume, playing ukulele

Social Media Counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,285 for swankivy (no change), 669 for JulieSondra (2 new), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 121 for Not-So-Giant Women (2 new). Twitter followers: 930 for swankivy (lost 2), 1,506 for JulieSondra (lost 3). Facebook: 301 friends for swankivy (no change), 624 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 74 likes for Negative One (no change), 226 likes for So You Write (no change), 86 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,468 (no change). Instagram followers: 230 (1 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: April 3 – April 9

Life news this week:

• Saturday I had a nice restful sleep and got up nice and late. I repotted some parsley seedlings so they could have more room to grow, and then I spent the entire day cleaning the garage aggressively. I actually never completely organized the garage when I moved in so I feel like I job I've been putting off since 2017 is finally complete. It looks amazing. You could drive a car in there if, like, I had one. I also got my blogging done and managed to find some more of the fun figures from the set I'm trying to complete from snack packages in Mexico. Worked on some podcast plans.
  
  
• Sunday I got up late again and had a hankering for French toast so I made some. Then I did some more querying (getting back into it after a several-month absence) and started cleaning the game room. There's a big project trying to restore the floor in there so I worked on it and kinda hurt my hands. Also did some laundry. Then I cooked some pasta and talked to my dad for his birthday and got karaoke recorded. And managed to get some videos to my sister and opened some packages.
  
  
• Monday I didn't have as much on my plate at work as I usually do on Mondays, but it was still a somewhat busy day. I did some data entry, some work on a proposal, and some processing of stamps on plans for the engineers. Did a little more querying stuff and cleaning the floor in the game room some more, and then played games with my pals. Meg couldn't come because she was wiped out and busy with school so I just got to visit with the others. Did some walking, finished reading a book, and drank wine in bed.
  
  
• Tuesday there was a letter due, which is weird for Tuesdays. I worked on it and got it turned in. Did some more stuff with utilities and data entry. Got the problematic corner of my game room floor clean. Now I've spent three days cleaning that floor and it is only about a quarter done. Welp. Took some walks, did some more query stuff, worked on podcast stuff, and ate a lot.
  
  
• Wednesday work started late for me because I got up late. Then I was really busy with helping with a package and doing stamps for engineers. And I had a meeting with a local city to meet them and find out if they might like to hire us for some upcoming work. After work, Jeaux took me to Publix and we got our groceries, and we came home and made stuffed shells! They were all right, not amazing but definitely good. We watched Colbert and John Oliver and took a nice walk. I fell asleep on the couch!
  
  
• Thursday I woke up on the couch and I didn't like that. I got a bunch of data entry done and ended up working late so I could be sure everything would be done to meet a deadline. I talked to Victor on the phone while doing some of this and took a few walks and worked on my comic. Victor's still in the facility but soon things may start moving to get him back home.
  
  
• Friday was good at work. I got my data entry done, got my reports finished, got my timesheet in, and got out in time to take a couple walks, talk to my sister, and finish my comic. Then I stayed up late opening packages from the Cartoon Network store, which I bought a lot of crap from because they were closing and I wanted to make sure I could still get the items. It was fun.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• A Reddit post about discovering asexuality involved reading my book.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Stable. High weight: 111.4 pounds. Low weight: 109.3. Seems to really be staying about the same even though I have a few high days a week.
  
• Nutrition stuff: This week I didn't eat enough fruits or veggies, and again seem to be eating some medium-snacky foods like granola bars or getting lazy with meals. I am still staying mostly within the calorie guidelines I was on when I was trying to bring my weight down and it's not going down further, so this seems to be appropriate for maintaining.
  
• I made my step goal every day this week. High day was Thursday: 14,851 steps. Low day was Saturday: 10,099 steps.

Reading progress:

• Finished Reading: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. Four-star review.

• Currently reading: What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera. I'm on page 73.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones.

Stuff Drawn:

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0830: "Listening to Love." 

New videos: 

None this week.

New photos:

My clean garage

Clean garage!

Our stuffed shells

Social Media Counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,285 for swankivy (lost 4), 667 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 119 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 932 for swankivy (lost 1), 1,509 for JulieSondra (1 new). Facebook: 301 friends for swankivy (no change), 625 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 74 likes for Negative One (no change), 226 likes for So You Write (no change), 86 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,468 (no change). Instagram followers: 229 (2 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: March 27 – April 2

Life news this week:

• Saturday I resumed preparation of the Cookie Cake that I started Friday night. I had baked the cakes already but I had to shape them into cat heads and create the frostings. It came out great! I did this to commemorate Steven Universe being over for one year. Jeaux came over briefly to help eat it and we rewatched a couple episodes. Got my blogging done after that.
  
  
• Sunday I got laundry started and had a lazy morning. Made a post about merchandise I'm still looking for. Bought a bunch of stuff from the Cartoon Network store because they were closing March 31. Had Dad over for an outdoor patio visit (since I was not yet vaccinated, though he is). Was a nice visit, lots of conversation on important topics. After he left I did dishes, sang karaoke, and took walks to keep enjoying the wonderful weather. My Cookie Cake got featured on SU Amino! Late at night I made hot dog buns from scratch.
  
  
• Monday was another pretty busy day with an unexpected letter to edit/put together and other fires to put out. Subsisted on hot dog buns all day because they were there and they are delicious. After work I wrote a storyboard for the writing comic and drew some of it while hanging out with my friends on Discord playing games. I walked and did laundry and talked to Jeaux while trying to meet my step goal.
  
  
• Tuesday I found out we won a project at work, which is our first in the category as prime consultant so that's super exciting. (I'm not on the team though.) Spent the day trying to get into the database for my data entry but it was kicking me out again. And I wrote utilities letters. After work I tried to help some lady find her lost puppy and didn't find her. Began working on a planogram for the display of all my SU merchandise for an epic photo. It is very nerdy. Worked on my writing comic.
  
  
• Wednesday I did some cleanup on utility projects and went to a meeting. Left work early to go get my vaccination at the grocery store pharmacy! One dose down, the second in a few weeks. We did our shopping and then went back to my place to unpack, and then visited my mom's place to get lasagnas she'd made for us. Found out my sister and her husband got Covid exposure while visiting Florida. Worried. Jeaux and I watched Digimon and silly videos and took a walk.
  
  
• Thursday I was really busy with applying stamps to engineering plans. Did some utilities stuff too. I got my comic written after work and had some time to talk to my lawn maintenance person Tony for a while before Victor called that night and we chatted. A light went out in my living room and it keeps flickering so I was worried it is an electrical issue. I did some drawing while talking to Victor.
  
  
• Friday I got a proposal edited and messed with stamps and utilities some more. Running out of time to get the data entry project done but I'm so busy. After work I made a funny post about the food of Steven Universe Future and got my comic done. Finally redecorated for springtime before going to bed!

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Stable. High weight: 111.4 pounds. Low weight: 109.7. I ate a lot of bread and cake. :D
  
• Nutrition stuff: I feel like I'm eating too much cheese and bread lately and not doing enough fruit. If I do a smoothie or oatmeal a banana is usually involved, but I need more fruit and more vegetables than that. Probably need to work harder at getting vegetables in, but this week I just had a lot of extra food that wasn't as good for me and I ate it up.
  
• Missed the step goal on Saturday, Monday, and Friday, though Monday was really the only day when it wasn't super close. I was very busy that day at work so I didn't have enough breaks for walks, then playing games with my friends meant I didn't make it. High day was Sunday: 12,338 steps. Low day was Friday: 8,322 steps.

Reading progress:

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.

• Currently reading: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. I'm on page 141.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane.

Stuff Drawn:

Webcomic So You Write Issue 0829: "Not an Agent." 

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0829: "Some Of It Is Good." 

New videos: 

None this week.

New photos:

The Cookie Cake:

Me in a cute shirt

Homemade Hot Dog Buns

Hot dogs in hot dog buns

Cute shield earrings!

Social Media Counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,289 for swankivy (lost 1), 667 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 119 for Not-So-Giant Women (6 new). Twitter followers: 933 for swankivy (lost 3), 1,508 for JulieSondra (lost 2). Facebook: 301 friends for swankivy (no change), 625 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 74 likes for Negative One (no change), 226 likes for So You Write (lost 1), 86 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,468 (no change). Instagram followers: 227 (lost 2).