5 days on the road in 2022!

And only now I'm starting to get the feeling that I can somewhat get back into my rhythm. It's the same song every year. I'm just not at my best in the winter and have a lot of trouble keeping a 'normal rhythm'. Often this leads to going to bed way too late, and getting up way too late again. And that's just not very convenient. The first thing I'm going to notice is the feeling of running out of time to do all the tasks I want to do in a day. And yes, I'm only human...so it won't sound weird to anyone if I tell that I'll be the first to skip the tasks I don't like doing as much as others. In most cases, the household! Because I rather paint!

Vacation

Of course, I can do this once, but I shouldn't do it too regularly. After all, you don't want to live in a mess. Between Christmas and New Year's I had a well-deserved break! So I used this time to update my own account with some recent blogs, but also chilled with my partner. He also had a vacation from his shitty job, so we could do some fun things together. And that meant nice, cozy moments for the dogs. Because walking with both boss AND lady-boss is the best present for them in a day.

No training for the dogs either

Usually, my partner can never go on long walks, because he is working somewhere else. The past two weeks were therefore two festive weeks for the dogs. Boss who could come along, and went for a long walk. All dogs at once, instead of one at a time, which normally happens. I could handle 2 dogs at once, but 3 is too much for me. Especially because I'm still training with Skipper. He is still young, and yes, also brash in his behavior. It is, however, a wonderful dog that wants to learn and does his best for me. But the last two weeks it was vacation. And the dogs have been able to and enjoy it to the fullest. For Skipper, that meant walking with the girls, running and playing and not training. Just being allowed to be a dog, within certain limits, even if that meant using his ears only as decorative flaps. For the girls, it was exactly the same for the past 2 weeks, just doing what they love the most ... And for us as owners, that mainly meant enjoying the moment.

Recharging

Sometimes you just need that. Just recharge the battery, but that's the problem. I don't feel very charged at all. And that has everything to do with winter! It's not that I hate winter. On the contrary. For years, I have loved winter more than summer. The heat of the summer could be stolen from me. You made me happier with a thick layer of snow and temperatures that went well below zero. I can handle cold temperatures just fine. Or should I say, I COULD handle this just fine? In recent years, my preference has turned 180 degrees, and now you make me happy with temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, it shouldn't be like that now. The Dutch winter is here.

I can't hardly get out of bed!

And that means short days, and there's another problem. When it's dark for so long in the morning, I can hardly get out of bed! It's cold, it's dark, not at all tempting to get out of my warm bed and sit at my PC. My partner walks the dogs in the morning before he goes to work, so I don't have to get up for that either. And even though I really believe that getting up early is good for my mood, and for my rhythm, I just can't do it these days.

It's very impractical!

And that is not only uncomfortable for my partner, but also very impractical! I now wake up around 9 am, which means that I have already lost at least 2.5 hours of my 'production time'. Then I really have to get going, and give myself time to hang over a cup of tea so that I am really awake. And yes, it is now half past eleven, and I haven't done anything yet!

I want to do so much, and so little time

An hour and a half later, the dogs call me to go for a walk. I still want to paint, I still have to do this, I still have to do that, I still have to do this, and I still have to do… Sigh, one day is too short! No, Hetty, you've just been in bed too long. I have to be honest here. Every day I resolve to do better the next day, tomorrow I'll see if it works! I will really have to do it! If I don't, I keep running out of time! And sleeping too late, waking up too late, together with the lack of daylight, means that I have and keep a lack of energy. And that I still can't do all the tasks as I planned to do.

Household over hobby

This was already the case during the Christmas holidays, and then I was a good girl, and I always gave the household priority over my hobby. This week I did the household a little less precise, but I finally finished the painting that I already wanted to have finished by Christmas. Better late than never, we'll think.

Ordering some new brushes and hoping for the non-essential shops to re-open

Today I also took the time to order a few new brushes, and hopefully the non-essential shops can open again after January 14, because I also urgently need to get new canvases. Now that I've finished my Christmas painting, I only have 2 blank canvases left to paint, and that's just TOO few. Sometimes it takes a few weeks for a painting to be ready in my opinion, but other times I do 2 in a week now that I like it so much! So 2 canvases in stock is not enough! Yes, of course I can order them online, but not at the store where I always get them. And there I get them because they are good, and cheap! Online, I can order the same canvases, but for 5 times the price I pay. Then it is immediately a lot less attractive to buy new canvases, right?

I still have 2 canvasses, and ideas!

Let's hope for the best case, that the non-essential shops can open again. Although I see it gloomy, unfortunately! Anyway, I still have two canvases, and now that I'm slowly getting back into a more normal rhythm, they'll be painted soon enough.

But not this time with Christmas or Winter… I'm done with that already, and go for SPRING.