Friday evening things

 * I am still doing the PT exercises at home most days. They take maybe 15-20 minutes, which, yeah, that means 15-20 fewer minutes of actual "free time" for me, but I think I need to keep doing them

Because darn it? I am waking up without pain now, and I do feel better. It annoys me a bit that the physical challenges I have are fixable with just giving up a tiny bit more of my free time (though many days the free time I have is tiny to begin with)

* I suppose it actually means I'm too busy if 15 minutes a day feels like it's eating a big chunk of the time I have to do the things I want to do.

* I did get a squishy "workout pad" from wal-mart which works well. I can't do them directly on the floor; hardwood floors are way too hard. I also have a yoga ball that I use for some of the ones where you have to put your lower legs up on something (like for the modified crunches) and a small playground-type ball for one where you are basically generating resistance against your thigh or knee. I also got a yoga strap to help with hamstring stretches; I feel like I"m getting better, I'm closer to being able to touch my toes again.

* I went in today and finished the Asteraceae lecture (this is very picture heavy, so it was a lot of work in powerpoint to get it together)

* One thing I have noticed though, these days, is when I do prolonged mental work of that kind - lots of searching, lots of trying to condense information down/make more-basic complicated information for beginners, in the evening after it, I experience a very low and pessimistic mood. I don't know if it's overwork or mental tiredness or the fact that I didn't really speak to another human being all day long or what. But I do have to watch out for the evenings a lot these days; sometimes things seem far, far worse than they actually are. (This actually started in 2020).

* One thing I want to do soon is start putting a kit I'm getting in installments together. A company has released a buildable Moominhouse and I've wanted one for a while (but the finished ones - designed to be toys - you buy all at once and they're quite expensive). This, you get a package every month. I have the first two months' in my sewing room (as well as the craft knife and double stick tape I had to buy as extras - got them the last time I was at JoAnn's). I've just not had the time or energy but maybe that's an Easter Sunday afternoon activity, I don't know. 

* I've mostly been working on the big garter stitch blanket but want to either start another new thing, or switch to something else. But also, I've felt less motivation in the evenings to work on things like that - I guess I'm just tired when I get home these days.