What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

One of the guys from the construction company came today to check out the stone wall that needs work on the side of the house. He wanted to take the stones from my garden for the wall, but I said I needed them, so he's going to find other ones. I hope. The landscaper has been looking for stone with no luck. So, anyway, we'll see. The contractor also said that someone would come by in a few days to work on the bathroom. It was funny, as the contractor felt that my Portuguese was pretty good (it isn't that good, but my pronunciation is good, which makes it seem like I am much better than I am) and thought that I was better at it than Joel. I'm not. However, I had to explain that I just talk more than Joel in general. I'm dithering about asking the landscaper if she does stuff like removing weeds along our wall or if she knows someone who could. Sometimes the city takes care of it, but I feel like they are pretty out of control. But there are so many things that need to be done. Ugh.

Anyway, I also got a bit more sewing done on the shirts and cut out a bag and lining that I can work on while going to and from neurofeedback on Wednesday.

The newest painting I'm working on is going well. I did some very pretty zentangle all around the edge to make an oval frame. Tomorrow, I need to paint some flowers in the middle. If I can get it to work out, that will wrap up this piece. I'll do something very similar for the next one, but instead of painting flowers, I'll paint a wild strawberry plant, since my friend grows them.

Wow! The crazy totally ramped up overnight. My anxiety has been a real issue this morning. I think I'm concerned about the government's response to the neurofeedback's lack of spectacular results. My psychologist has said from the beginning, though, that we are just going for small improvements. Or, I could be stressed about having to go back into town twice a week. Or, I could be stressed because I went into town yesterday. Or, it could be something else. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. In good news, the sky is blue today, and I was able to finally hang the laundry outside to dry instead of inside. I'm also happy with the new painting that I'm doing. I would like to paint some scenes from Murderbot, but I'm like a month behind on birthday cards, so I'll have to wait for a bit. I can at least paint a scene from Dungeon Crawler Carl for one of my friends in not too long. I really enjoyed painting a close up of some fancy mushrooms for Joel's mom, and I'm considering other closeups for some other projects or maybe some still lifes. I think next, though, I'll paint the Harry Potter owl, as I like owls. We'll see how it goes, though.

Update: Oh, yeah. And I should probably stop taking magnesium, since that can make me super anxious.

I'm nearly done with the waterfall painting for my aunt. I only have enough energy for about an hour and a half of painting at a time, though. Maybe because of all the detail. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with it. I didn't have any plans for a painting for Joel, but after some consultation, we decided that I could paint a picture of a boar that one of Joel's World of Warcraft characters had as a hunting companion.

In good news, the electrician came, fixed the fan in the bathroom (full of cruft, not actually broken) and the light over the front door (just needed a new lightbulb, but the cover is hard to remove), removed the lamp from the yard (I was worried that it might have live wires and didn't want anything to happen to one of us if it did), and installed a surge protector on the main electrical panel, so that we don't need to worry that power outages will destroy any more of our appliances, like they did the water heater. Yay!!

On Friday, the landscaper will come. We're still hoping the other contractor will come and fix the exterior stone wall and the bathroom, but I don't think they have tons of time and would like the raised bed done sooner. They keep asking questions, so I can tell they are really interested. Anyway, I'm hoping the landscaper can install some raised beds and maybe also put in some additional soil or otherwise suggest something for the part of the yard that was under the chicken coop, as we have a few inches (or more) of standing water there when it rains. We'll see. Ultimately, I'd like raised beds and trellises in a bunch of places in the yard. I think I'll start with just a few things and see how it goes.

In sewing news, Joel and I went through our fabric stockpile on Monday and reorganized it so that I could order other stuff that we need. Well, it turns out that we don't need much, beyond black thread. However, since I have material for two pairs of sleep pants and want three, I ordered some cheap cotton for those plus t-shirt material for three shirts to go with them. My sleeping shirts are just in tatters. I also discovered when we were sorting that I already had cut out two shirts to replace a couple that are also in tatters. So, my first project is to finish those. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, so I'm just doing one step a day. So far, it is working.

I have been grouchy and stressed recently. As usual, it seems to have been vitamin or food related. In this case, I now know that I need to quit vitamin D and my daytime dose of magnesium in mid-February. Good. Lesson learned.

I also finished my fun, fantasy sunset scene, which I'll post soon. It turned out pretty cool. Next up, I'll be painting a city in a cave.

We had a live birthday card opening via Skype today, which was a lot of fun. My friend really enjoyed the painting. I am always tempted to make more of them, but I have like five right now that need to be done, so I just can't. That's fine.

Now, I'm working on getting through a few more items on my to do list, but I don't want to push too much. I'm tired and not super stable. Better to go slow.

In interesting news, the book on classical music has been really fun. Okay, I've only been doing it for two days, but it is interesting to have something that forces you to look deeper and to try new things. Today, I listened to this string quartet by Fanny Mendelssohn. I didn't even realize that Feliz Mendelssohn published a lot of his sister's work as his own (I don't _think_ it was theft so much as the idea that she shouldn't be doing it because of her gender). I wasn't instantly in love with the piece, but once I found a recording that I liked, I really enjoyed it. I've started a list of music that I should buy (when the record company next has a sale). I would never have known about Fanny without this book, so there you go.

I recorded the podcast. Yay! Now, I've got 1.5 hours to work on the castle overlooking the sea painting. Go!

The physical therapist and I finally made some progress. Now, he understands that I have problems when I'm distracted, and we were able to reproduce this. I can walk fine if I am focused on walking. I can walk backwards. However, I cannot walk backwards and speak Portuguese. Likewise, I can't walk forward and bounce a ball at the same time. So, now we have a way to identify the problem.

I really like saying hi to the neighbors around town, but I can't talk very much with them, because my Portuguese is still very basic. Because of this, I dread seeing them, even as I look forward to it. I finally realized that the solution is to focus on improving my small talk. If I can talk about the weather, their health, their pets' health, local events, and a few other topics (probably my own health since everyone asks about the hiking poles), then I'll be able to more comfortably talk to people. Sometimes, I forget that the actual number of topics I need to know in a specific situation is pretty low. My flashcards usually focus on the situations that the language tests cover, like going to a restaurant or a hotel. However, I don't do these things. I talk to Uber drivers and the old people and construction workers along my walking route.

In other news, I'm pretty sure I'm going to paint the rocks in my flower zentangle. I don't think they work being white, and I think they would be too much if they were filled in with design. Hopefully, it will work.

I'm pretty worn out. Hormones? Not looking forward to going into Lisbon tomorrow? I don't know. Maybe it is because I'm eating fewer peanuts, although I ate all the peanuts in the entire world on Saturday, so * shrug *. I did email a tree maintenance company to see if they can come by and do some work and sent another email to the immigration people. It looks like the rain has ended for now, so I'm going to hang the laundry and then go on a walk before coming home and painting. Maybe I can finish the speeder bike chase painting.

Wow! So many people I know were born in February! I'm going to start having a lot of painting to do beginning next week, so if I want to paint the Star Wars scenes to go with a painting we already have, I need to get to work on it. Hopefully, I'll have a little time today. I also want to get back to sewing. If I can just keep from getting distracted by reading, I should have time for both.

The vitamin D increase seems to be helping my stability, although I'm more spacey lately. I also feel kind of rushed and have a lot going on, so perhaps it makes sense. The Godzilla painting is looking pretty good, although he needs to have more bumpy skin. It sounds like the neurofeedback clinic will have an appointment for me soon. Lots more holiday stuff coming up too. Hopefully, I'll manage to keep it all balanced.

In good news, the bike lock and cover were both delivered, so the new bike doesn't have to sit in the middle of the living room. Also, a camp shower came too, which will make it easier to bathe.