Rudi has gone to Colorado to run a ski camp for some of his athletes, which means I’m home alone. The only things that were in pen on my dance card are now in the past, which means I need to get a plan to fill my time a bit more productively than I have been lately. Here are ten things I’d be very happy to have crossed off before Rudi returns home Monday morning:

• Reduce Mt. Laundry significantly again. I picked up a roll of quarters Monday, and can always head back to the credit union on Friday if I need another.
• Get some more job applications in. Because I’ve been slacking on that the last little bit.
• Paint my nails. Rudi does not love the scent of nail polish, so I try not to do it while he’s awake/home.
• Get the kitchen cleaned up. Rudi did a rearranging of our kitchen shelves and pantry earlier this year, but never came up with something to do with the things he didn’t find a place for. Time’s up and everything is going where it fits. We can rejigger again as need be.
• Switch the rugs. We have two rugs in our living room and they need to be on the opposite sides of the room. Easier with two people, but better to have it just done.
• Donate the Toys for Tots. I meant to send them with Rudi when he went to the storage place on Monday, but I only mentioned it in my brain.
• Finish a knitting project. It’s been on the needles for way too long.
• Pick the last of the tomatoes and tomatillos in the garden. It finally looks like that freeze is coming.
• Get my clothes switched out. Right now there are piles everywhere.
• Buy tickets to see P!nk next summer. I mean, does that even need further explanation?

Today was not as productive as I had hoped it would be, but I’m feeling much better tonight than I did last night. Plus, tomorrow and Sunday are new days. Here’s what I’m going to try to get to this weekend:

• Play volleyball
• Drop off Toys for Tots
• Pick up toilet bowl cleaner
• Finish a book that can’t be renewed
• Make a pie (may bail on this one, but I’ll go take the pie dough out of the freezer just to be safe)
• See a friend
• Clean the kitchen
• Switch the rugs (I’m confident not doing this today saved us from the predicted 3″ of rain)
• Send a couple cards
• Do laundry, particularly the pile of handknit socks in the bathroom

How about you? What are you hoping your weekend includes?

Also, soliciting thoughts on this year’s Virtual Advent Tour. Do we want to do it again? More specifically, do you want to write posts? I’ll be making a decision by next weekend, so feel free to chime in with thoughts any time this week.

I’ve been thinking a lot in the past couple days about sticking things out.

There are some things I’m quick to quit: books I’m not enjoying, parties, situations that bore me.

But with most things in life, I’d say that I’m there until the bitter end, regardless of how it comes.

Sometimes that’s good. Democracy, for instance. When evil people take control of our government, some people are quick to suggest leaving. But if everyone who hates a new regime goes, who will bear witness to the demise? Who will help to right the ship? Who will put out the fire?

But sometimes, it’s bad. With my last job, there was a period of six months where I knew that the situation was untenable, but I thought that because I was good at my job that if I could ride out the uncomfortable, I could make it through to smooth seas again. I know now that I should have cut bait, should have gotten out when I knew that I couldn’t make the changes I knew would have to happen in order to stay and be happy.

A dear friend once told me that was both my superpower and my fatal flaw: I was deeply capable of holding on in uncomfortable situations. He was right. I can and I do, regardless of whether holding on or letting go would be better for me.

Less personally, I’m thinking of that specifically about Twitter, as are many users of the social media platform this week. The new owner is a stereotypical super-villain, who is used to getting his way by throwing money and power at problems. And I could live with that, if we agreed on what the actual problems were. But we don’t, and I wonder if this is a situation, like my last job, where I should leave while I see the writing on the wall, or if this is like democracy, where if I leave, I’m part of the problem, turning the platform over to trolls and bots and dooming it to failure.

A periodic consideration of what’s going on around me:

Seeing: The glow of the Halloween fairy lights on the living room wall.

Tasting: Toothpaste. I’m heading to bed as soon as I hit publish.

Hearing: Tires on wet roads. (But not the dripping of rain anymore. Corey shifting on the rug and trilling at me to hurry up so we can join Rudi in bed.

Feeling: Sore. I played volleyball for a couple hours today and came home with a couple minor aches and pains. And glad of the extra hour of sleep ahead.

Smelling: The faint whiff of laundry detergent, since these are fresh pj’s.

Give us a sense of what your world is like in the comments.

Things on my radar for this weekend:

• Finish reading Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
• Play volleyball
• Go on a Lewis Carroll-themed scavenger hunt with friends
• Cook quince
• Do laundry
• Clean the kitchen
• Find where the Goodwill stuff has migrated to and get it out of the apartment
• Drop off donations for Toys for Tots
• Knit
• Finalize some plans with friends

What are you hoping to get around to this weekend?

I’m starting to think ahead to winter. It’s the season I spend the most time alone (the perils of living with a ski coach) and it’s dark and cold and people don’t like to leave their houses to hang out.

Which means I have a challenging dozen weeks from January until mid-March.

I’ll have volleyball, of course. I suspect the team will play on Tuesdays, but I’ll try to add a Thursday night option, as well, to correspond with Rudi’s being away. Or I could add another sport, but I don’t know that my knees are excited about the running involved in soccer or basketball.

I could start a game night. Rudi likes games well enough, but not enough, I don’t think, that he’ll feel bad if I have folks over to play. That will require finding people who like playing games or maybe seeing if the Board Room or Labyrinth have a meetup.

I’m mulling a hot chocolate quest, to identify the best purveyor in the District. That should bring some of my friends out with me.

The library or one of the local bookshops might have a book group. I haven’t tried one in ages.

Or maybe one of the local yarn shops has an open knit night.

Any other ideas for getting out of the house (or getting other people into it) during the winter months?

(Oh, and if you’re looking for the answer for what I was for Halloween, Karen was correct, and I was a blue jay.)