Tuesday is bin day. Like many people, that means I have issued roller bins that have to go out to the curb. Should be easy, right? You would think.
Every Tuesday poses a stark reminder of how life, by necessity, is lived. Every day is a series of decisions. As I build my plan for each day I have to ask myself:
Does this have to happen today?
What happens if this does not occur today?
Can I still do (B) if I do (A)?
What happens if (B) does not occur today?
What is the “easy escape” option for dinner if I push too hard?
Today specifically, at the start of the day, I had the following concrete things on my plan:
Bins
Catboxes
Shower
Clear floor so robots can run
Dentist
1-hour tele-appointment
Dinner
with the following potential addition:
Take cat to see Dr. Gokhale to see why he has been dropping weight and see if the swelling on his face is dental related or
And so, to a normal person, this is just a fine day with no challenges. To me, it is a full day. The bins, which should be an easy task, are made more complicated by the small yet severe hill that they must go up to get to the roadside. Today, as I have been out of town and the trash cancelled the week I left and it has rained for days, the bins are full and heavy. An adjustment that I usually make is to move the trash bin empty and fill it at the curb so I can just manhandle the empty bin up the hill and get it chocked so it doesn’t roll backwards. Unless I want to completely pull out all of the trash bags and re-load (more effort), that is not an option. But it is more effort to try to take the full bin up… which is more added effort? In this instance, the resignation that dragging the full bin will be hard somehow makes it easier. I know, right?
So while the ladies (Arya and Charlie) pee, I wrestle. Having the Dentist and the need to shower crunches the usual time frame that I would have, so I move on quickly, knowing that the inactivity at the Dentist will help me to “pay the piper” as it were. My scheduling is a real-time exhibition of Newton’s First Law of Motion. Energy investments must be paid for with down time, either for the purpose of allowing flare-ups in body ineffectiveness to settle down or purely for energy refill. The catboxes have to happen. I do that next. I usually front-load my schedule so that the things that need to happen on a day can.
The catboxes and the bins pose particular challenges to my body, so stacking them frequently has an exponential effect on me. For the catboxes, it is the repetitive stretching for the scooping followed by the weight to carry the bagged litter to the bin. Fortunately, Newton is around. While it may not be the most convenient or monetarily efficient work around, there is a litter company that alongside 40-lb boxes of litter offers a 42-lb tray (bagged in 13-lb bags) that allows me to move only as much litter as I need on any particular day. It’s brilliant and I love it and it is something that makes my life a lot easier. I have to find those things.
The hard part of the day is over, so the rest is cake. The disposition of the other things is not as important, but for the sake of being thorough:
The dentist canceled and rescheduled to Thursday
The dentist time was dedicated to getting the cat to his appointment
The other appointment went off as planned
The robots had a wonderful day. Probably.
When I was out of the house, I stopped by the store for onions. Neither of my grocery deliveries have had onions for an amount of time. The good part of that is that I can put “make and freeze breakfast burritos” on the plan for tomorrow
Now I look forward to dinner in a few hours. I have a couple options that will get me back toward the way I *should* be eating. I do feel better the fewer carbs that I eat for instance. Recovering from travel is much more about recovering from the way I eat when I travel. In this instance it was an educated choice that I made… but time and experience have helped me to know what my situation will be if I eat a certain way. I know also that it will counteract itself in the body chemicals of being with long-time friends in a fun, nourishing environment. So I make that trade willingly. I get through this day and start it again tomorrow. Now with breakfast burritos!
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