Friday, January 30, 2009

Focus Friday

Focus Friday


This is something from Thrifty & Chic Mom. She encourages folks to focus on something(s) to accomplish in the next week, then check back in with her on Friday. Pretty cool, sort of like a weight watchers weigh-in, only, it is to be hoped, less humiliating.

I heard about it through Yaya, who also has a cool blog.

This fits in with my whole intentions (paving a three lane highway to my own personal Hell right now), posty notes and plans. So here I go.

At work, I've been making a list of what I wish to accomplish each week. This is supplemented by the tax returns, client crises, and daily research projects my boss likes to give me. It has worked so well that I've kept each week's to-do list so I can see what I have really gotten done.

At home, it's posty notes and letters on the fridge. Not quite as successful, but that is probably because I am at work 50+ hours a week and at home... not so much. Maybe I should put the posty notes on my pillow.

OK: THIS is what I need to do at home this week:

  1. Sort papers, especially the health/insurance papers.
  2. Complete Ellen's bookkeeping
  3. Either find someone to fix the stovetop or buy a new oven.

Did you know that the glass top of a stove will shatter if you drop a pan on it? And did you know that it costs almost as much to fix it as it would to buy a (cheaper) range? And did you know that some repair people won't work on Frigidaire?

Now, I'll write my list on posty notes and get to it.

Monday, January 19, 2009

writers and witches, and words...oh my!: announcing...

In other news:

A really interesting give-away. I plan to win, but go ahead and try. LOL

Go to this blog:

writers and witches, and words...oh my!: announcing...

Comment and be entered in a contest to win 13 things that will help you get through winter.

The Posty-Note Way of Life

OK, it's like three weeks into the new year and I'm still working on the good intentions thing. Actually, my system has worked well at work, where I have made a list of what I want to accomplish each week. I am saving the crossed-off lists because it makes me feel good. For one brief shining moment, there was: a done to-do list.

I realized that I had expressed some serious intentions, but then I sort of forgot about them. I had things to do, you know? So now, I know that I need to express the intention AND keep it up front. Not in my mind... there is no room there. Lists work at work, where I have a desk and a calendar. For my home/self/others intentions, I need... TA DA: Posty Notes!

I love Posty-Notes. They are small, so the list can't be too long. They are mobile, so you can stick one in the car (for instance) that says "stop by the post office." They are multi-colored, so they look pretty.

The trick (or one of them) is to throw away a done Posty. There is nothing worse than finding an undated Posty that says: "call Ted." Who is Ted and why was I supposed to call him? So now, I either file them or throw them away.

So these are my intentions for this week:
1) Eat mindfully. Remember Annie's Angel Way and eat protein (white) and a rainbow (or two) a day.
2) Pass it. Remember that I am not responsible for the whole world. It is not a sin or sign of weakness to say, "That is not my problem, that is not for me to solve."
3) Express love and appreciation. Always.
4) Walk. Walk. Walk.

I will put these on Posty Notes so that I will think of them through out the day. My family will ridicule me, but I'm used to that. They do it with love.

Monday, January 5, 2009

On Monday

I am thinking I am not good at intentions or goals or resolutions. Is there some sort of Loki/Coyote/Mercury god screwing around with all of my good intentions?

I had disturbing dreams all night. I dreamed my mother was alive, that there had been a mistake. I vaguely wondered how the cremation thing played into that, but I've been having these dreams the last two years, so I'm sort of used to them now. When I get them, it starts a series of struggle dreams. In this case, I was at a convention on the last day. I had to pack up the hotel room, but no one would move. I ended up trying to fix dinner for a bunch of people, including Bill and Hillary Clinton (Mom almost always brings them with her in my dreams.) There was strange food, like birthday cake and rainbow sherbet. Everyone kept going swimming. It was like herding cats.

I woke up when Bob came to bed and said (or thought I said), "I'm having crappy dreams, I'm glad you are here." I went back to sleep to more crappy dreams. In the morning, instead of feeling grateful to Bob for his warm presence, I was pissed off at him. I'm not sure why --- dream thing.

So, I go to my first job & it's OK. I get a lot done, which is good because there is a lot to do. I move on to my second job. Although I have a low-grade headache, I am feeling OK. I clean my desk and the space around it, which makes my boss happy. Then, I get yelled at by the employee of a client who is mad because I garnished her wages like the State of SC told me to. I politely (I swear, no eye rolling) told her I did what the letter said, and that I'd gotten an update on the amount. If there is a problem, she needs to call SCDOR. Another employee (a manager sort of) calls me. Between the two of them, they are in a tornado of a tizzy, and I am getting an earful. I am not amused. I am breathing deeply and thinking kind and patient thoughts. I am about to explode from an adrenaline rush that won't go anywhere, because I am a kind, patient, polite person. So when I get off the phone, I call my boss and threaten to quit. Then I calm down and he promises to back me up on the "no employees calling to bitch at Kathy" rule. I get through the day.

I go back to my other job and have another adrenaline rush when I find out I don't have the software to run payroll. Then I find out that it isn't ready, but they have a patch to download. It really isn't a crisis. So here I am with all of this extra adrenaline.

If I weren't sitting in my pajamas with an adrenaline headache, eating stale Breyer's coffee ice cream, I might go run around the block. Instead, I'm marveling at the fact that Breyers can get stale in my house. And I'm thinking I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. And hope for some help with my intentions for tomorrow.

But if it were easy, we'd all do it, right?

Sunday, January 4, 2009

It's not stealing if you footnote

I am taking ideas from Annie & Kim, and probably others I can't think of right now. Instead of writing goals (which worked out really well last year, huh?) or resolutions, I am writing out my Intentions for this week. I wrote some monthly goals on The Amortization of Goodwill, but I think I may need to take even that down a notch.

This week, I plan to walk at least one day. I will wear the cheap pedometer and try to reach 10,000 steps a day, even if I don't walk-walk. You know?

I will eat a good breakfast every day. I'm thinking peanut butter on whole wheat English muffins with a banana and low-salt V-8. Yum-yum.

I will make a list of things to do at work on Monday morning. No need to bore any of us with that right now.

I will be kind & patient, even if it kills me. No seriously. Practice breathing. Breath, don't sigh, don't roll the eyes.

I will read stuff that isn't so much fun as informative. The Board book & some stuff about middle schools & maybe a tax magazine. The good stuff.

I think that's enough. No wait: I'll wash dishes every day and not leave them in the sink.

That is definitely enough.

Friday, January 2, 2009

CRAZED MIND: #100 TA-DA!

CRAZED MIND: #100 TA-DA!

As part of the blog-link thing, I'm pointing you to this blog, which is pretty cool. Also I get points in the give-away. Chocolate is involved.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year

I am starting the year by preparing a traditional New Year's meal: roasted pork loin, hoppin' john, collards, and corn bread. The tradition has it that the hoppin' john (black eyed peas & rice) brings luck, the collards bring money, and the pork brings health. I've been hearing people say that pork is for "progress," but considering the large amount of pork eaten in SC compared to anything that can be called progressive, and I have to say, no. Health is ironic enough.

I don't make the collards like most people around here do. I don't throw in a slab of fat back and cook it until it looks like the lizard the cat puked up. If that's how you like collards, go for it. I cook some bacon, then saute the chopped collards in the grease. I add nutmeg and ginger and the crumbled bacon. (I put some of the bacon in the hoppin' john, though.) When it's wilted, I add some water, put on a lid and cook it until it's ready. For the family members who like the puked up lizard thing, I put some in another pot and boil the heck out of it. Collards are tougher than spinach, so you do have to cook them longer. Just not too long.

Hoppin' John is black eyed peas and rice, which can be pretty bland. I spice that up too, with onions, cumin, red pepper, & chili powder. If I had celery and green peppers, I'd add them too. However, the trip to the Food Lion last night after work was enough for now.

I make pork loin roast about twice a year, and it's pretty good, if I do say so myself. (Someone has to.) I marinate it in Paul Newman's oil and vinegar dressing (whatever I like at the time.) I cook it until it is NOT pink but not dry. It's hard to hit the exact time on that. I know that some chefs are saying a little pink is OK, trichinosis is not a threat anymore, but I don't buy that. Pork is the other WHITE meat, not the pink meat that makes you sick.

Other than eating, we'll sit around and watch the Gamecocks get their butts kicked, I mean win a bowl game. We'll play Risk, and take over the world by force, or maybe World Monopoly and just buy the world with debit cards.

And then with luck, health, and money in our future, we'll face the new year.