After being trapped indoors most of the day at work, we picked our daughter up from daycare and rather than heading home, sat by the lakeshore and enjoyed icecream instead. We used to live close to where we sat and we spent quite a lot of time around this area, but it is changing a lot now, as they are in the process of rejuvenating and building a suburb of apartments for thousands of people.
I am glad we moved when we did. One of the benefits of living in an established area of detached homes is, there aren't going to be any major changes to the immediate population anytime soon. Although after just a week on the market, the house next to us sold. I was well priced, but needs a lot of work to get it into decent shape. I hope they are decent people.
At the lake, also took some pictures (unfortunately, I only had my phone) of the water lapping at the shore and as you can see, it isn't exactly clear. It is yellow because it is thick with pollen which has fallen to the surface of the very large lake and then been pushed by the tides to gather in trap points. It looked pretty cool, like liquid plastic.
My allergies have been really bad this season, but I am hoping it will start easing up in the next week or two. I rarely take pain killers, but my coughing has been so bad that my neck and back are in pretty bad shape and I have popped some pills to deaden the pain for when I am training. I also take antihistamines, which make me very tired.
Getting old sucks.
But there is more to it than just getting old. For the last year I have been mostly working from home (like many others) without decent equipment. It was technically very easy for the company I work for and even my own business to "go remote", as in Finland internet conditions are fast and stable and I work in IT and consultancy, but most people don't have the right kind of office equipment. Making do for a couple months isn't the end of the world, but as this extends further and further, it starts to get quite damaging on the body.
Not only on the body though, as there has been additional mental pressure too, as most people aren't used to working from home constantly, as well as spending all of their free time in lockdowns. I know quite a few people who are suffering because they feel that they can never get away from the office, even on weekends and holidays. Life becomes all work and no play.
This has been even a little more pronounced around my home perhaps, as we have had a renovation going on the entire time, with constant dust, noise and disruption, day, night and most weekends, as the tradies come and go at all hours, as well as us doing a lot of the work when we can, which is after our normal days and after our daughter goes to bed. The benefit of this is that we are doing all of the work for ourselves and once complete, we will hopefully have a place that we enjoy and can sit down and relax in, forgetting the work and money that went into it, and all the problems along the way.
To this end, this weekend we are going to take Smallsteps shopping for some new shoes for the summer as she is fast growing out of those she has and, spend some time out of the house as a family. Even a few hours away can make a difference and renew the energy levels a bit, but the last weeks have taken their toll on me personally, and I hope that I can get more of a rest in the summer vacation time I will take in July.
One of my saving graces and has been for years, is ending the day with some writing to clear my head before bed. It helps me sleep much better and now that it is part of my routine, it feels weird to not do it. I should probably start earlier however, as it is already approaching two in the morning and I will get up again at around half past six. I normally stick around for an hour after posting in case I get comments that come in, but some nights, I just post and run, with tonight being one of those nights, I think.
The funny thing is, I will generally still check for comments as I get into bed from my phone, but I don't like answering comments on the phone usually, as they end up shorter and less structured. There is a difference in the way I write if it is on the Pc or on the phone and, I far prefer the communication style of the full keyboard, as it feels more conversational. From the phone, it feels like I am looking for ways to cut corners, so I don't have to type on the touchscreen any more than I must. This is not what I want to do normally though, as it feels like I am shortchanging people who took the time to reply, so often I will add a short comment or two on comments that only require that, but leave the other comments for the next day. It isn't always easy to get back to them all at the moment, but I have been trying to "binge reply" when I find some time during the day or early evening.
I take all of this pretty seriously, even tough I am not an overly serious personality. I am not sure if others do, but I still have the "if it's a job worth doing" mindset, so put in the effort where I believe there is value. Value is pretty much always subjective, as preference plays a role in the evaluation process. Part of respecting myself and my time, is respecting what I do enough, to do it well. And if I don't care to put the effort in, it is unlikely that anyone else is going to value it much either.
Mixing pollen in water, doesn't make honey.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Funny how the pictures look like an Oreo Cookie vanilla milk shake being spilled all over the place. That is a lot of pollen though, so with allergies I can see where it would be pretty bad.
With the house close by selling did it go for more than yours and how did the evaluation go, did you get an extension or was it done enough to all be rolled into one?
Yep, it is kind of cool, though I wonder what happens if I drink it?
It went for a lot less, because it is in need of a lot of work, as the owner who passed was an alcoholic and didn't really do much inside for years. It is also much smaller than ours.
We didn't get an extension and the real estate agent submitted an evaluation of some kind to the bank, but we are waiting to hear back if it is enough for them to jig the loan.
Hopefully it will be good news.
Sorry about the allergies. You should also sleep more in my opinion to facilitate recovery. 2 in the morning is definitely too late to be awake, except you have the privilege of an afternoon nap
I should sleep more for sure - Supposedly nettle tea helps too - but I haven't drunk that either.
My privilege's have been revoked the last few weeks!!
"Only had my phone" and shows pics with amazing detail. Nice pics!
Ha. The camera in this phone is half decent (Huawei p30pro) which is why I bought it a few years ago. It is the first phone I have ever bought for the camera :)
That is a lot of pollen, we got just that kind of fluff, white puffy one from the tree, no yellow around my area.
There is that too, but it will get a bit worse later. This is from all the birch and spruce and most of Finland is forest :)
I'm not sure how you are holding yourself upright. The schedule you keep is horrendous! A body needs more than 3-4 hours of sleep. I had a schedule like that and was working too many hours on top of it.
It is all good and well, but, after you are done, I hope you scale back and enjoy life.
Life sounds hectic right now!
That is some fine-looking pollen! she sneezes
It is fine when I get my afternoon nap, like a toddler ;D
For short periods of time, these kinds of schedules are character building, but over extended periods, character killing perhaps....
Summer will be taken pretty easy this year I hope. I am tired.
Well, I am glad that you really are taking care of yourself before you fall over.
I smiled. Half of my problem is I cannot nap, but, I can meditate. I will admit to nodding off if I watch a movie. It's dark, I am reclined and well, tired. probably. These are character-building, but, slowly killing me. When this is all over, you will collapse for a long summer's nap. You deserve it.
The house is looking amazing and you and your wife deserve to be happily ever after in your beautiful home.
¡Holy Moly! if you hadn't said it and clarified it, I would have continued to think that all the photos were closeups of the ice creams that you and your daughter were eating. And I bet I wouldn't have been the only one who would have thought that.
On the other hand and as I was reading the post, I also came to think at some point. "What the hell must have happened to Taraz today? that decided posting photos of such an ugly looking ice cream?"
Honey ice cream is awesome!
However, When I was a kid, I had a watermelon ice cream that is still the best ice cream I have ever had. The worst thing is, I only ever got to have one and then I was never able to find it anywhere again.
As few others have already said: Darn that looks like vanilla ice-cream, and: You should sleep more.
I haven't looked at the pollen this close this year but that sure is lots of pollen. Thankfully most of it has decided to gather on that particular lake shore and not, for instance, in my nose or my lungs. I hate it when pollen has it's own world conquering ideas.
Not gonna say anything else about the sleeping part because you already know what I would say and what anyone would say who are concerned about your lack of sleep.
I hate it writing anything longer than perhaps five words with my phone! It takes ages to write anything and if it doesn't it takes ages to correct my mistakes.
A lot of it made it into my nose and lungs this year...
Some people rely solely on their phone by the looks of things, which I understand if there are no other options, but if there are - I don't know why anyone would do it! :D
All geared up for summer?
Absolutely no plans at all! Short day trips most probably but nothing major.
I've been following the summer cottage and house markets here (because it's that time of the year and perhaps one day) and jeez the prices in Tampere... almost astronomical! So Orivesi has begun to sound like a cool place to live. Only 20 minute train journey from Tampere.
We'll probably do some day trips too - perhaps Yyteri or something.
My in-laws just sold their summer place in Pohjanmaa a couple weeks ago, because they couldn't maintain it at their age. The prices there are not too bad imo, but it is also a couple hours away, which makes it not very handy. Orivesi would be far better.
Yyteri sounds (and is) nice. There are plenty of cool places nearby so traveling max just few hundred kilometers is fine for me.
I'd say now is the perfect time to sell a summer cottage, as was last year. So it's the worst time to buy one.
Distance is everything for me. Wouldn't want to travel half a day or buy a car to get there just to relax after stressing more about that traveling nuisance. And that's quite a lot from me, saying that I hate traveling as I actually love it. The journey. But traveling to an obligatory place that I would have bought is quite different than traveling with no purpose or just for fun.
Nice
Thanks :)
The phone pics are pretty decent XP
That is a lot of pollen O_O
Ahh housing developments. One of the reasons we bought into this area (because our block is big enough to subdivide and has the correct zoning) and one of the reasons I regret buying into this area (because the old fashioned way that everyone was relying on working out for us didn't, but it's all my fault for being too fussy, anyway there's some units happening in the area and I'm worried that now that there's some down the street they're going to keep coming).
I more have an issue with screen size in phones vs not-phones. I'm lazy and don't like scrolling x_x
I was trying to figure out what those images were. Chocolate milk came to mind and then maybe a light gravy :)
The work/life balance is a hard act to follow these days with the world as it is. I keep hearing it called the work/work balance. We all know those online interactions end up being cut back first for the more important things.
Take care and never forget about that me time wherever you can find it
You had me guessing there. The icecream mention early on took me in a dairy/dessert direction. I'd have picked it as Rum n Raisin.
Pollen in lake water is less tempting.
I don't post or comment on my phone. I don't like the idea of having my keys on there.
Now Splinterlands has given us the option of time-locking our cards I might reconsider.
Continue to take time for yourself @tarazkp. The work, the business and the money are on the outside.The most important thing has always been inside you... And never forget that material things did not come with us and will not go with us.TIME is the most important thing, that's why it is vital to dedicate it more to ourselves. Greetings and a hug from afar!