My first priority will be duct-taping your mouth shut…

I woke up GRUMPY this morning. Grump. EEEEE. This was likely because we were out of coffee. I love coffee in a nearly pathological way. There was a wee bit of (wonderfully delicious fantastic) coffee left from my holiday gift from my in-laws, but not enough for a full cup. I made it anyway.

I went up for my morning hour of writing, and kept getting sucked down a rabbit hole of google earth and wikipedia, because it is essential to have the exact distance between Chicago and Cincinnati down before writing a first draft. (Also, I need to be visiting new places. Book the first was set in Portland and the Black Hills, but book the second will go through Ohio, down to St. Louis-adjacent Illinois, up to Pennsylvania (I think – this is still up in the air) and then to New Orleans. All places I have never been. Well, I’ve been to St. Louis, but not the adjacent-Illinois.)

I sipped my heinous coffee and finally pounded out about 1000 words.

Then, I went downstairs to see the architect and the Bean. And the grumpy poured forth! The architect was being particularly funny (and, since he didn’t get any coffee at all, I guess we know which of us is the better adjusted person; I am usually much more on in the morning than him) and I was just beyond irritated.

After dropping off Alvie at daycare, I came back home for my Friday work-from-home day and stopped at a coffee shop on the way. I managed to catch up on all the emails that had arrived between 6 pm last night at 8 am this morning (not too many) and had a large, large latte.

And then I felt good.

I decided yesterday that as part of working to prioritize my self-care even when I don’t have extra time for it, that I would set the timer on my phone to go off every hour. When it dings, I drink my water (and refill if necessary) and then take a brisk walk. I’ve been much more focused and productive and completely cleared out my overflowing inbox yesterday. Today, I’m doing the same thing, but get to do my brisk walks outside because, well, working from home means fewer long hallways.

Post-work priority #1: Restocking the coffee.

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