I was scrolling through Facebook over my dirty cuppa yesterday morning when I saw a post from the Doncaster Free Press saying it was snowing across Doncaster ‘this morning’. I scoffed and muttered, ‘you’re a day late, pal,’ and just to prove it I glanced up at the window. And it was snowing.  I kid you not. Big, fat, fluffy flakes of snow were indeed falling in their abundance.

I’ve got out of the habit of writing today’s blog post during the previous day and scheduling it to post at 8am. I suppose the obvious reason for this is because my entire routine has been turned on its head in recent weeks. I’m getting there, though. I’m planning interruptions and shorter bursts of work time, and while the editing job is dragging on a bit, I’m still getting stuff done in between that perhaps I might not have got around to yet.

I’m not getting very many longer segments of time in which I can focus properly on a job that needs a lot of concentration at the moment. So I’m doing what I can when I can. Fortunately, the blocks of time are getting longer again. But for now, I’m doing little jobs or admin in the short windows of time and doing the heavier stuff when the poet finishes work and can take over dog duties for a while.

On Saturday I had to work. I still had that editing job to do and send off to be set and I wanted it off my desk sooner rather than later. Plus, I’d promised the next author on the list that I’d be starting his book today. The poet went and did the shopping while I worked, but no, spaniel wanted to play so I had to put my rain coat on and go outside and play with him and the puppy.

Storm Claudia arrived on Friday in the relatively early hours. I knew there was a storm brewing out at sea, but I didn’t know it was expected to make landfall. The dog had let me sleep until 7am. Sometimes the poet will get up with him during the night and take him out, but for the previous few nights he (the puppy) had been sleeping all the way through.

And here we are, Friday again. Already mid-November (almost). Christmas isn’t far away. Before we know it, it’ll be next year! Lazy late start yesterday. Pup very kindly didn’t wake me up until 7:30am. We must have all been tired. First of all pup went out. Then spaniel went out. And then it was time to feed them. After they’d been fed, *they* both went back to sleep.

I forgot to complete my food allergies diary on Tuesday, so that was the first job I did Wednesday morning, while it was still fresh in my mind. The second job I did was yesterday’s blog post. Fortunately I’d already started this and only had to tidy up the end, source an image, and post it. And I received a reply from the author who sent a message to the website email address, which I only saw yesterday and responded to myself.

Yesterday morning began, bright and early again, with me first letting the puppy out and then feeding them both about an hour later. I had my dirty cuppa and read another chapter of my book. The dogs have a bit of a mad 10 minutes and then both go to sleep. That’s an ideal quiet time for me to just sit and read and sip my tea.

Last week I ordered a food and allergies diary in a bid to see if there’s a pattern with my skin. That arrived on Friday, and I started it yesterday morning. This isn’t a calorie counting diary, just a general, broad diary to see if there’s a link between things I eat and my symptoms. Within minutes of starting it, the puppy had started chewing it.

I forgot to pre-write the blog on Friday again. Tut, tut. Not a lot happened…well, I was very busy, but it was all the same kind of thing. Editing, pet play, editing, pet play, editing, pet play…I also forgot to do my weekly finances, so those have been moved to today, and I forgot to do my weekly backup, so that will be done today as well.

The half-term school holiday was over, the clocks had gone back, and the cool, sunny days of a late Indian summer had finally given way to misty mornings, frosty patterns left on windows, and autumn leaves crunching underfoot. As Jessie Mackenzie carefully made her way back up the icy path after waving the kids off, the smell of wood smoke tickled her nostrils.

And here we are. Friday again already… Yesterday began rather like the day before had, with me making corrections to the blog post over a dirty cuppa on my mobile phone. I really ought to build in proofreading time again. The garden chap was coming to build a fence, so I had to get up with the poet and get dressed.