back in routine

Current work: Capri medical revisions
Listening to: Sheryl Crow
Reading: Lucy Dillon, Walking Back to Happiness (enjoying)

Now the children have been back at school for a week, I’m finally back in routine. Yesterday was tough, and I will admit to sitting at my desk bawling my eyes out first thing after the school run – it was the first ‘normal’ Tuesday since Dad died, except it wasn’t normal because I wasn’t visiting him. I mentioned yesterday that I’ve had no headspace since the funeral, so I guess that was probably the grief starting to come out. But hopefully things will start to get easier from now.

My mate India Grey posted a very thoughtful blog the other day about a gratitude journal. Three things for which I am grateful (very much so): for the friends who emailed me and rang me yesterday with common sense and kindness (you know who you are); for the hug and decent coffee dispensed by my lovely guitar teacher; and for the continued patience of my editor. Work has been a wipeout for way too long, and I want my career back on track.

Hence the next part of the routine: work. This means being more disciplined. Effectively: (a) schedule email/net breaks instead of letting myself get distracted; (b) call-screening during work time and only picking up calls from school/my editor/real emergencies. Harsh, perhaps; but working from home means the same as working from an office, except without the commute. I need to get that across to certain people. (Not blogging more on the subject but yes, this is heavily connected to the Family Crisis.)

I’m also being more disciplined with myself. Though I admit I haven’t quite started the exercise routine yet. Why not? Firstly, the Kinect fitness program only arrived yesterday, and I really need to get the revisions finished before I start playing (though I did have a quick taster and I like what I’ve seen so far). Secondly, yesterday I wasn’t really up to putting on a smiley face and going to an exercise class with complete strangers. Thirdly, DH has the lurgy, so swimming is definitely not going to happen this week. (He's the only man I know who refuses to have man-flu. He really needs to be home in bed, with me taking him a hot drink every so often and dispensing paracetamol every four hours, rather than going to work and spreading his germs. But will he listen? No. Male selective hearing.)

But I will get to the exercise :o) And my food diary is back in place. I think I’ve mentioned caloriecount.about.com before; they’ve made logging your food intake even easier now, and the analysis section is excellent (both numbers and very clear visual representation). It's really well thought out and executed, so kudos to the designers. (And it’s free, btw. I haven’t joined the community as such, but I have posted some of my recipes and made them 'available to all', so hopefully that’s my bit of ‘giving back’ that will help someone else.)

Oh, and a message to the guy who tailgated me all the way into the city yesterday, then started making obscene gestures when I touched my brakes (all of twice) in a vain attempt to make him back off to a safer distance (on a wet road – and I was keeping up with the traffic, dead on the speed limit, too!). I hope you get stuck in a very, VERY long queue and have a huge revelation about your behaviour, then as a result grow up and drive much more sensibly, before you cause an accident.