I’m sitting here on an extra DAY OFF (yes!!) feeling quite literally and figuratively frozen at the moment. I mean, it’s perfectly warm in my house, thankfully, because my phone says it is -5F outside with a “feels like” temp of -12F. So it is literally freezing, but I’m actually feeling frozen in terms of not knowing what to do with my open day.
Hmm. A holiday off or even a vacation day off when I don’t actually have holiday plans (e.g. 4th of July, Christmas, etc.) or travel plans is very rare. I take maybe a couple days like this per year.
MLK Jr Day (today!), Labor Day in September and Memorial Day in May are my main work holidays where we normally do not have plans, though on Memorial Day we often end up seeming to do yard work to get things ready for summer. We’re so fun.
The boys and Ivan are all off today, too, so this isn’t one of those “I get the whole day all to myself!” days. Which is fine! I’m glad they’re home. 🙂
But I’m not sure exactly what to do.
I have a long list of “productive-y” things I “could do” and probably should do. (e.g. We need to wash our sheets and towels. My office can use cleaning. Our bedroom and master bath could use attention.)
But I also have several “project-y” things on my 2025 goals list that I also could do, and would really like to do. (e.g. Work on my photo project! Tackle some of the decluttering things on my list. Keep working on my closet clean out/ wardrobe spreadsheet! Sit down and play around with different budget tracking options.)
I also need to get to the gym. Monday is normally a cardio-only day, which is quick and could be done from home. But I ended up shifting my workouts by a day since my parents were in town Friday-Sunday, so, now I need to play catch up with my leg day. 🫤 AND do my cardio.
Asher has swim practice this morning (8:30-10:30) then lifting from 10:45-11:45. (Yes, please sign me up to go jump in a cold pool when it’s -6 degrees out! Brrr. 🥶)
Ethan asked last night if we could have a “family Chipotle lunch outing” today. Ummm…. maybe? That sounds delicious, but also, it’s cold out… was sort of hoping to just not leave the house….But then Ivan also mentioned something about wanting us to go to a movie later….?
My MAIN plan for today (besides all of the above, lol) had actually been to sit and do some travel planning for our upcoming London trip which is now somehow only 58 days away. Besides our flights and lodging and some random online reading here and there, I have done no planning yet. And if you’ve been around here a while, you’ll know that is not how I roll with travel stuff.
I have various ideas and thoughts all just sort of floating around loosely in my head, undefined, which is just making me dizzy. I know of certain big things we’ll do, sort of, but I really need some time to sit down and look at it all. You know, figure out which sites/attractions are on our “must do” list, which are on the “maybe/if time”, which are a “nah”…. Which things are near each other? How long do these things take? Do I need advance tickets for xyz? Are there certain days they’re closed? What about day trips? Etc.
But I have all these other things I also wish I could do today! I guess I wish I just had the whole week off, lol. Obviously, there is no possible way to do even a fraction of all the stuff I listed above today. Haha. Which is why I’m sitting here feeling frozen. What to do?!
So far this weekend has been really great, but has NOT been very heavy on getting-things-done because Asher had swim meets both Friday night and all afternoon on Saturday. Plus, my parents came to town Friday afternoon through about noon on Sunday! ❤️Exciting playoff football games also sucked us in…. I did do a massive and looooong overdue email clean out on Saturday (while watching football) and got my inbox from over 1,200 down to ZERO!! And my mom helped get all my basement Christmas decorations taken down and put away, and we finally hung artwork in the new bathroom. So I guess it wasn’t actually that unproductive.
Anyway, I guess I’ll just have to pick a couple things from the list and the rest will keep. Anyone else ever have this problem on a day off?! Between have-to-dos and want-to-dos, it can be hard to narrow down what to do.
Charlie knows exactly what he wants to do on a cold day:
He is such a snuggle bug! Last night when Ivan was at soccer, I was watching the Bills/Ravens game and puttering around on my laptop…. Charlie had to work his way in and right ONTO my lap, as usual. Haha.
Quote of the Day:
I saw something online the other day that I just loved, and immediately saved in my Google Keep. It said:
Never admire quietly. If I admire something about someone, I tell them. Never admire quietly.”
I LOVED this. I really do try to do this, actually, but there’s always room for improvement. I think it’s fairly easy to be like, “Hey, I love those shoes!” or something. But there are times where I’ll admire something about someone’s personality, and that can be a little harder for me to remember to articulate.
Like someone who is exceptionally calm and collected when things get crazy, who brings a peacefulness that I never could to an otherwise chaotic situation. Or is a great and thoughtful listener. Or has a million balls in the air yet juggles them all so skillfully! Or is amazing at saying things succinctly, yet somehow, still so completely. Or is so good at asking the right questions. Or is markedly open-minded to hearing differing opinions, in a world where this is not really commonplace anymore. Or always knows how to make someone feel important, special and heard. Etc.
These are the types of things that I may notice about someone, and the thought will flit through my head after an encounter with another person “wow, that’s impressive/amazing/awesome!”, but do I remember to tell them? Definitely not often enough.
I love “Never admire quietly” as a mantra. 🙂
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for a functioning furnace. I was thinking this morning, on a day like today, could you imagine waking up to your furnace going out?!
GRATEFUL KAE 
I know that feeling!! I usually end of squandering my precious free hours on things like laundry or cleaning… I wish I could just disregard the mess and go read a book… I can’t.
I love the Sherlock Holmes museum on Baker street in London… Also, Harrods, just to tour it, maybe not buy anything?.. St Catherine’s dock, docks in general are cool. The Greenwich part and its meridian, plus the military academy…
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Thanks for those tips! Will add to list of things to check out! 🙂
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Yes Kae, feeling exactly the same way about today!
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Haha, ok, I’m glad it’s not just me!!
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Oof, it is hard to want to be productive on a day off on a super cold day. I worked out and talked on the phone with an old friend for an hour this morning, which I feel like was a nice start to the day, and now I just kind of want to hibernate in my house and do nothing before watching the OSU-Notre Dame game tonight. My children are also being super lazy and vegging out on screens…
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Talking on the phone to a friend sounds like a wonderful way to spend a cold morning off! 💗
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It’s so cold here too, but it will warm up tomorrow which I’m looking forward to! This is going to be a pretty lazy day for me. I have the day off but did about an hour of work this morning to make tomorrow a bit less hectic. Taco has daycare today, which is nice because I wouldn’t have wanted to entertain him indoors for another day! Phil and Paul went to run some errands and go to golf Galaxy together so I have the house to myself for a bit. I just brewed a pot of tea and plan to read some of my book and maybe take a nap, but I’m giving myself permission to rest. The cold weather makes me feel less guilty about all the loafing around, too!
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Yes, it definitely is good loafing around weather ! I am tired of this super cold snap now. It “sort of” warmed up but my watch still currently says -1 right now…. I took Charlie on a short lunch time walk yesterday for the first time all week and it was bright and sunny out but still felt FREEZING! ugh. I am so jealous of your upcoming Mexico trip. I have not historically been someone who “feels the need” exactly to get away from the cold, like many people do in the winter, but these last couple of years I have been feeling a bigger and bigger itch to do this! We have no warm plans in the near future, lol, so that is unfortunate. Haha. Maybe my body and mind are mentally preparing to be a future snow bird. 😉
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In case you don’t know: on all public transport in London you just have to offer your debit/credit card to the electronic device at the beginning of your journey (actually on the bus rather than the ‘gate’ thing). Just don’t forget to log out on your way off/out. I hope that makes sense?
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Ooh, ok, not sure I totally follow but I haven’t read up on how the public transport works yet! That’s on my list of things to figure out. I am sure it’s not hard, but I just haven’t used it before!
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Basically you don’t need cash….just a credit or debit card. It’s so much simpler than it used to be. I’m a Londoner/Brit living in the US (12 years and counting). I go back every few years. This new way of using public transport is really great. Also, the public transport in London is SO good!
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So hard to decide what to do! When I’m faced with a day like that, I usuallly try to do one hour of chores (the laundry is easy), a couple of hours of productivity (sounds like the travel planning is the top priority), and then the rest can be fun/relaxing. But that’s just me. Hope you’re having a great day regardless (snuggling on the couch with a cute puppy is also a great way to spend time too btw!)
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Yes, I love that approach too! I sometimes forget to do this. When I have a long laundry list of things and there’s no possible way to get them all to “completion”, the best option is to allocate X amount of time to a handful of items and call it good! And yes, puppy snuggles are always a worthy use of time. LOL! 😉
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hello! I’m a new reader but used to live in London and now live in Cambridge in the UK and travel regularly to London for work, so if you need any inside tips or planning help let me know! I’m at Karen.eyrewhite@gmail.com
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Hi Karen! Thank you for this!! Will totally reach out once I get further along in my planning and will let you know what questions I have!! Thank you!!!
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I also find it’s harder to en product when you have so many projects and tasks to do. Inertia sets in for me as well. Sometimes I’ll pick the job I hate most and do it first- then it gets easier.
I LOVE that quote and am so going. To steal it!!
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I know, the hardest thing for me is when all the projects are BIG!! Because there’s no possible way to complete them all in a day… I like Sophie’s suggestion above to allocate a certain amount of time to a few things. That moves the needle at least but keeps the day from spiraling out of control on just one thing.
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I love that mantra and I’m like you, I want to tell them but not always remember to do it right away. Practice practice practice I guess.
Seems like a good free day to just chill and not over thinking it. When the kids are at all, I don’t get to accomplish much so I don’t even try. 🙂
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Yeah, it is always harder when everyone else is home! Even if they don’t “need” me, I still have to work around what others are doing or want to do. Which is totally fine, but I just have to be realistic about what I’ll get done on a day like that, then!
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I felt accomplished because I had a kitchen drawer full of citrus fruit gifted by neighbors and have been wanting to juice it all before it goes bad. I did it today, now I’m freezing the lemon juice for future use. It’s the small things. Also went to Costco.
I think if it were me I’d be focusing on London!
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Ahh, I ended up not starting my London planning yet!! For some reason I just wasn’t really in the “mood” on Monday. But I have Saturday pretty open (tomorrow) so I already told Ivan that I am taking myself out for tea on Saturday and am blocking the whole morning to sit and plan/ research! I feel better knowing I have a block of time on the books when I won’t be interrupted.
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It’s a little tricky to have a day off when everyone else is home too. You can’t decide if you’re doing your own thing… or going out to lunch… or going to a movie… it’s not exactly a recipe for a productive day. But I hope you enjoyed it! I know- I need an entire week off to get caught up with everything.
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We ended up doing the Chipotle lunch, but no movie. Haha! I also didn’t make any progress on my London planning! But I DID tackle a few items on my declutter list, and got a good workout at the gym in, and did some household chores… Overall it was a good day!
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I have England tentatively on our travel list…would love any itinerary or travel plan you can share!
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Ooh yes! Once I actually plan our trip, and assuming it all goes well, lol!, I’d be happy to share!!
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Now I need to know what you ended up doing! I know you probably already know about this, but have you already done the ETA application for the UK? I feel like really it is yet another way for them to get money out of us, especially since they also require it even if you are just transiting through the airport! Anyway, I hope that it warmed up a little and you had a relaxing day in the end.
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Ended up doing some declutter work, including cleaning out a file cabinet drawer that had papers and handouts from Ethan’s 4K kindergarten year in it still!! HAHA! Also went to Chipotle for lunch, did some cleaning, changed and washed all our sheets and towels, and had a good strength + cardio session at the gym! London planning got bumped to tomorrow morning (Saturday). I already told the family that I am going OUT on Saturday morning to work on this, so don’t plan on needing me for anything during that time!! 😉
And I did NOT yet know about the ETA application! Thank you for the heads up! I just looked it up.
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I KNOW THAT FEELING. When I have a day off and no “plans” for the day, I often end up not using it the way I wanted to. I am not saying that a day of just “wasting away time” is bad, but I feel better if I did something productive.
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