Netflix

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF…

February 26th, day 26 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Our administrator suggests the topic of a day in the life of..YOU! He makes it sound exciting and since it is what I do anyways, I will carry on. It is my genre. My life does not seem exciting to me. I am bored though I am interested in many things. Can this be possible. This last stretch of February is for the birds. I’ve said this of other months also.

Today is March 1, 2021. As you can see I have bombed out of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I could not stretch myself to the finish line. I gave in to binging on Netflix. It was on a good series, Shetland. I fell in love with the characters, the Shetland Islands, Scotland and the stories of Ann Cleeve. I was hooked and could not help myself. Every day, after lunch and after my afternoon cross country ski, I would plop myself in front of my iMac with a cup of tea and a slice of Swedish thin bread. It was my matinee hour. It was ALL very addicting.

All that binging has made me feel very terrible because there was no possible end to it. That is until I came to the end of Season 3. That’s it. No more seasons of Shetland on Netflix Canada anyways. Now I’m in front of my keyboard with just a cup of tea, trying to tap away the angst of my withdrawal. I’ve still kept up with the100dayproject. I’m still sewing a logcabin quilt square a day. I have 30 squares now. I have also finished my cross stitch of Jesus I started many years ago. My fingers weren’t idle while watching Shetland. They were busy weaving in and out of those little squares. I can feel good about that.

I am happy, too, that I’ve kept up with the daily cross country skiing. Exercise and the great outdoors are good addictions. Otherwise, I don’t know what shape my head would be in. We went out to the Wildwood Golf Course this afternoon. I set my timer for a 20 minute ski out and then 20 minutes to get back. Having a set time gave me a sense of security that I can make it back to the parking lot.

I’m glad that I can wrap up the end of February and the Ultimate Blog Challenge with a final post, even if I’m a day late. I hate leaving things unfinished. It’s as if I don’t care and have given up. It is always good to care and give a damn. Things can get better. They can’t if we don’t care.

WINTER AND NETFLIX

My brain seemed to have fallen into a lazy rut lately. I’ve been staring at my blank screen for awhile. It feels a bit strange but I kind of like not talking. It is peaceful, restful and rather sublime. But it’s not optimal during a writing challenge. I shall have to give myself a hard nudge and a kick in the arse.

I tell myself every day that it would be better if I’m at my keyboard earlier than than later. That doesn’t seem to help. After I do my sewing in the morning for my 100dayproject, the sun is out. The sunroom is awash with glorious sunshine. I tell myself that I would have my cup of tea and then start. But then I feel a little blocked. I started searching Netflix for a little thing to watch. Anne with an E was a delightful series. I loved the dialogue, the way Anne talked. And it is Canadian, based on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. I went through 3 seasons in no time.

Someone on Instagram mentioned The Queen’s Gambit a little while ago. It is very good. I highly recommend it. I shall not give any of it away except that it is about a girl and her love of chess. It is so easy to while away the afternoon with a good series. One episode turned into another. I haven’t been able to stop after just one. I tell myself that these are really good happy and motivating stories. I am usually doing my cross stitch of Jesus while watching. I wasn’t idling my time away. Perhaps the third season of The Sinner was not such a good idea. It was a detective story and hooked me. It was very dark and probably not good for one’e mental health. I decided not to watch season 2.

I caved in again today and watched a movie this afternoon – Penquin Bloom. It was a very good choice. It is based on a true story about Sam Bloom and a magpie. And that is all I’m going to say. That’s been my days lately. I can’t really feel bad about it and I can’t blame myself either. We’re having a bit of frosty weather and it is nice just to relax and not try so hard so much.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MINUTE

Not every day and every minute are equal. I didn’t exactly bounce out of bed this morning. It was a slow wakening and lumbering up. No surprise that I did not do my reading nor meditation. However, one has to be flexible and try to work them in somehow. So this being an exercise morning, I did my mindfulness during the stepping up and down on the bench. I breathed in and out with the steps, putting my attention on my motions and body sensations. My mind did not wander much. When it did, I guided it back to what I was doing.

After class, someone mentioned how upset she was that someone left their dog poop right behind her car. That started me to recount a litany of my negative encounters with people while walking my dog. It left me with ugly feelings inside and the recognition that I must tell different stories. Reliving negative events serves no purpose except as a reminder not to revisit them. And just to show how hard it is to let sleeping dogs lie, I found a huge dog pile left behind our garage this afternoon. I’m fuming again. People and their shit!

I will make myself a cuppa and watch an episode of Call a Midwife for a treat. I got Season 2 and 3 from the library. I discovered the TV series on Netflix first free 30 days. Netflix lived up to its reputation of endless enterntainment. While I enjoyed it immensely, it was not good for my brain. It got easily addicted. I was quite content on the couch watching episode after episode. It required no effort. I was sucked into the vortex. In that 30 days I’ve watched the whole 6 seasons of Downton Abby. My brain felt sick after awhile. I did not renew after my 30 free days. It is harder for the addiction to kick in when I actually have to put a DVD into the player and hit play.

Now the day is over. I didn’t do my 20 minutes of reading. However, I did do my Jesus stitches. Sheba and I had our afternoon walk. Saskatoon is melting. Puddles of water everywhere. The snow is fast disappearing,  making visible loads of dog poop left behind by lazy dog owners. I’m still on that rant. I better leave it behind with the poop. I had my happy hour doing my free motion stitching with my Bernina and watching the setting sun. Life is good somehow.