a single step

If Chains.cc just isn't working for you, don't give up! Try HabitRPG. Gain gold and XP while improving your life! Collect pets, armor, weapons, and potions, while doing the boring tasks you need to do anyway!

The best part? It's free! It works on the web, so you don't need a mobile app for it (it's mobile compatible too, tho.)

EARN GOLD: MAKE YOUR BED.

I got the flu, got over it, and promptly got a cold, to go with bitchin' seasonal allergies. Getting ready to move, too, so life is half in and half out of boxes. I've been focusing on making my bed. It's nice to have a clean oasis.

I find before/after sets tricky, but today was perfect for one: THE KITCHEN.

Here it is Before:

The Good: Coming back. Droppin' some chains, pickin' up new ones.

The Bad: Entire desk is an enormous invisible corner, and feng shui wise, that is my reputation area! D:

The Ugly: Writer's block with gifts on the line. Family emergencies that turn out to be All Clear, but still mean an entire day spent with our old friend the panic attack. Injury-related exhaustion.

Successes Today: So far, it's laundry getting back on track, and posting this before anything else goes wrong.

 <--Before

 <-- After one 20/10! (Not pictured: the sneakers and dog toys that were sprawled around UNDER the table, and also found their proper home! The incense stuff is also now living neatly underneath the candle tray, and I replaced a candle. The X-Box controller 'lives' next to the TV remote, because that is its home. X-Boxes are where Netflix comes from.)

The Good: Flattened a quasi-fucked kitchen into something I'll be able to manage easily tomorrow. Got a day out! That was good. Fresh perspective: GET.

The Bad: Not kicking the Knicks up one side of the court and down the other! And not quite getting all the files I needed to do my best possible work away from home. I still did homework, but wound up duplicating a lot of effort to get there.

The Ugly: I hate coming home to dog turds, but I cleaned up both spots! The holes that are gonna be in my chains tomorrow. (At least I get to tick off "This Post" XD)

Successes Today: I relearned the ropes with CSS .classes, and I put the dishes in to soak (like, to actually soak, burned-on-grimy-disgusting-soak, with real just-boiling water over baking soda and soap) AND I AM GOING TO WASH THEM TOMORROW.

That's Chains.cc , and it seems weird and too-minimal at first, but it's really fun.

The Good: This post! Doggy bed and vest thing are clean, SINK IS EMPTY, LAUNDRY HILL IS GONE.

The Bad: None today? Mood stuff, but that's not new. I am still resisting that table. I will make it the first thing I do Wednesday.

The Ugly: The only thing worse than finding a roach in your sink is finding PARTS of a roach in your sink. ALL OF THE SHRIEKING. FOLLOWED BY ALL OF THE SCRUBBING. SO MUCH SCRUBBING AFTERWARD. The bathroom may never smell like anything but Pine Sol, ever again--and I'm okay with that, really.

TWO DAYS IN A ROW. This is officially longer than I ever did a NaNo. And it's that time again! Here we go: The Good: Using Chains in a way that makes the most sense to me--just clicking the previous 'day' every time I hit a chore again. (Because, hello, there's more than one load of laundry to do, and three meals a day to clean up after.) I'm the one who knows what 'time' it is, anyway. Keeping the grill clean. Actually did that homework; I still have more to do, but now I'm actually ON schedule again.

The Bad: Today, it was my left knee; it's not happy about the hip flexors I have to do. I didn't get to the dog's bedding or leash-harness-vest thing because Laundry Hill (the mess formerly known as Big Stank Laundry Mountain) was still just a bit too tall, FOUR LOADS LATER.  But all those loads got DONE, and got FOLDED, and are all waiting IN THE RIGHT BINS for me to use 20 minutes shuttling them around the house into the right closets and stuff tomorrow.

The Ugly: I AM NOT CLEANING THE STUPID LIVING ROOM TABLE TODAY. I am the only person who ever cleans it and I am having a resentment party because GUESS WHAT, YOUR BOOKS DO NOT BELONG THERE, AND I AM NOT A LIBRARIAN. IT IS NOT MY JOB TO SHELVE THEM FOR YOU.

Spoiler Alert: I'm totally picking up the stupid books tomorrow.

Successes Today: I put aside some writing time and actually WROTE. I made this post! TWO DAYS IN A ROW~ if I just do tomorrow's, I'll beat my best streak. AWW YISSSSS.

Anyway, on finishing things and how to do it: if you can't finish? STOP. SWITCH. DO SOMETHING ELSE. BUT RETURN TO IT BEFORE YOU GO TO SLEEP. FINISH IT.

Alternative Solution Path: Admit that you're not going to do it. Be honest about it! Give yourself the space. PICK IT UP TOMORROW.

The Good: Today, I made a Chains account! I may do another/more posts on this. It's a little counterintuitive to those of us born before 1990, but I easily got the hang of it. I suck at doing things daily, so this will either be an unbelievable boost and shining success or...Hey, we'll find out if it works pretty quickly.

The Bad: Back pain today, on the level of "Too dumb to remember how to food and vitamins, let alone make the bed." Naproxen is awesome, okay? Taking my pills and sucking it up. We'll see how I do.

The Ugly: General low mood. Procrastinating about this tutorial project, and worse, hitting my deadlines conferred no achievement high.

Recent Successes: Cleared and cleaned (ACTUALLY SCRUBBED) the laundry stuff shelf! Wiped up all the gross spiderwebs/bug gunk/horrifying nastiness that used to be the garage window! I CAN SEE OUTSIDE AGAIN~ amazing.

Success Today: THIS POST. Painkillers instead of excuses. (To clarify: I do not need my painkillers to live. My pain is mild, manageable, and makes a great excuse when confronted with a full sink and a wrinkle pile in the dryer. People with more drastic medical needs should never, EVER, 'tough it out'.) Making a Chains account AND GETTING STARTED MAKING CHAINS.

The Good: Posted today! I meant to post my progress here every day, instead of NaNo, but my second goal here is NOT TO QUIT. Posting NOW, instead of just giving up, feels fucking awesome.

You know what else is awesome? Having the house clean when relatives come over! I've been lurking on UFyH since August, so the house is already on a new level of clean. But I'm super-busy (who isn't, at this end of the year?) and I had forgotten that grandma was coming over. So I was still all gross from sleeping and not having coffee, and the bathroom and kitchen both looked pretty shitty.

I threw the dishes into hot, soapy water, then jumped into the shower. In ONE 20/10, I had the dishes into the dishwasher, the dirty clothes OUT of the living room and IN the laundry, the living room table cleaned and cleared, and hit the toilet and tub both in a quick rinse-and-scrub.

It was a race to get dressed before she showed, but since I had my stuff set out the night before, it wasn't even a hassle. 

The Bad: I'm growing a laundry mountain. That's what happens when you go out for the weekend. At least I know how to fix it!

The Ugly: My floors are so gross. I live in an all-tile house and really, really need more mop-mitt things for my Shark steamer. Not looking forward to this. Ugh.

Successes Today: Got the house (and myself!) relative-ready IN TWENTY MINUTES. It's actually POSSIBLE! And I at least got the Big Stank Laundry Mountain sorted and ready for aggro-washing into submission tomorrow.

The Good: I got all my deadlines onto my wall calendar, so they're right there in my face and I can't ignore them. They're even color-coded! I may take a picture later. It reminds me that, guess what? I do actually have a lot of shit to do, and I even get most of it done.

The Bad: Has anyone else had a massive mood-backfire brought on by photographing all their Before pictures? And just gone, "Well, fuck; this'll never get clean."

I've been struggling since Saturday to get out from under the black flag of a mood doing this shoved me under. Mixed success; I can't seem to keep any one surface clean long enough to take an After picture of it.

The Ugly: Still need to get to the shit under the bedside table wedged up against the wall.