Weekly Mileage #290 and Back to Production Work

Monday I had tentatively planned to take Max for a walk or run in the morning, but the mid30s temps and a lingering sore throat convinced me to drop the idea. Instead, I went back to bed after dropping off Sunshine and even managed to doze a bit, just before it was time to go pick her up.

I finally got some work done. I figured out how to use my strap cutter that I bought months ago. It took longer than I’d anticipated and some tightening and rearranging of things, but I got it figured out, and it was worth the fiddling around. I cut 50 straps in a fraction of the time it used to with the handheld strap cutter, and they’re a lot more straight. I then used my edger to trim the edges of the straps, leaving me with quite the pile of leather spaghetti. After that, I cut the straps to length since I need three different lengths, but I ran out of time to oil them before it was time to get going on dinner and Scouts.

Tuesday I took a short nap again in between dropping off and picking up Sunshine. I was just so tired, which is frustrating. That was followed by music lessons and grocery shopping. I was pretty tired afterwards, so I rested before we went to karate class.

While we were at music lessons I’d tried to get a bit of work done and found out that an email I thought had been sent more than two weeks ago had never gone out <again>. Apparently I still have not figured out the program I’m using. Super frustrating since it pushes back some other emails I needed to send.

After the boys went to sleep that night I worked on blog posts for my shop site. It’s been on my to-do list for the last few weeks, but I hadn’t gotten it done because of being sick. Time to get caught up on things.

Wednesday I took another nap in between drop off and pick up since I was still super tired. This was at least in part from karate, which was a pretty intense class and left me (and Sunshine) with sore thigh muscles, which hasn’t happened in a long time. Part of it was also that I’m still getting over the crud. There’s still a little mucous in my lungs, though I’m mostly better. I’ working on getting to sleep earlier, though it’s still not as early as I’d like.

Wednesday afternoon I had a follow up doctor appointment where we talked about the endocrinology and narcolepsy appointments I had in the spring with other docs, got my flu shot, and I got a referral to get my thumb looked at since it’s still not healed and I can’t use it to grasp things. After eight months of waiting for it to heal on its own, it’s time to get it figured out.

After my appointment I rested since I was still tired. Then I got a package ready to mail, picked up milk, ran a couple errands and stopped by the post office. After that I worked some more on blog posts for the site. Once they’re written and scheduled I’ll make pinterest pins that link to them and drive traffic to my shop.

Thursday it was my turn to drive the carpool, so I didn’t get an early morning nap. I did get some writing done, though, so it was a good use of my time.

I worked on several posts for my shop site- I originally just had leather related posts, but I decided to add posts on living with chronic illness since that’s an aspect I want to speak about at upcoming conferences and an audience niche I want to grow. I’ve got several in the works, but they take thought and several rounds of editing since they’re heavier topics, not light and fluffy pieces.

I also worked on a graphic to go with one of the posts- something I’ve had in the back of my mind for awhile. Translating it to reality was a little easier than I’d anticipated, though still time consuming.

Thursday night I got a terrible night’s sleep, so I had no problems falling right back to sleep after dropping Sunshine off Friday morning. I also rested for awhile after picking her up since I had to drive her to an Order of the Arrow Scout campout in the evening.

After resting, I oiled straps, worked on blog posts, etc

In the evening Jeremy took the boys to karate while I drove Sunshine and a friend from her troop to their OA Scout campout.

Saturday I got a late start to the day as I still tried to recover from Thursday night. I cut canvas for pockets and buckets since I’d run out of some colors and need to get my shop restocked. I cut up all my pocket canvas, so I’ll need to order more soon, but I know at least one of the colors I need is out of stock till the end of the month, so I won’t place my order just yet.

I started cutting the leather for the pockets and buckets, but it was getting late and I had to stop before I finished. I used the strap cutter to cut the leather strips for the pockets and buckets. While it’s a bit of a pain to adjust the widths between the blades, it is worth it. It cuts the strips so much more quickly, and neater, than when I do it with a ruler and handheld rotary cutter.