Filed under: Work
You have no idea how much this helps.
Filed under: Work
and the livin’ is…EASY? Hmmmm. Not buyin’ it right now.
Gotta walk. Be back asap. (Translation: Before fall)
Friday at last. The work day was busy enough to fly by but calmer than the hair-tearing pace of yesterday. I actually exhaled a few times. And peed. And drank a little water. Some days there’s no time for such luxuries.
Because we get zero kids for Halloween (busy street, no sidewalks) we headed out for dinner at our new favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Bennu. Well, dinner was actually an enormous beef quesdilla and a California wrap, which we split. Bennu’s owned by the same guy who runs our favorite pizza joint, and it’s just a few doors down from the pizza place in the same barely-hanging-on shopping center. Despite it’s shopping center location, this place has atmosphere with a capital A. It’s casual, the food’s great (and cheap), and the decor is calming and fun. Halfway through the quesadilla, I could feel my shoulders relax.
Now, fresh from the hot tub, I’m downright floppy. Monday, with its ringing phones and panicked jumble of requests, feels very far away.
Latest pen obsession…multipens. Jetstream multipens. The green one has blue, black, red, and pencil (0.7 mm), while the striped one has red, black, and pencil (0.05 mm). Smooth. Crisp. Dark lines. Perfect for grid paper. Need some? Visit Jet Pens.
Yeah…I guess this was a commercial.
To be honest, I should’ve taken a picture of poop to describe today. The rundown: an AM greeting of three blops of cat vomit, ice balls pelting the car on the way to work, a frazzled blast of little crises the minute I stepped into my office, impossible knotted projects piled onto my (full) plate, the finger from another driver on the way home (why???). Poop. Pure and unadulterated.
In an effort to shake the sourness, we headed to the downtown art museum to see “Man On Wire,” about Philippe Petit. In 1974, he rigged a wire between the Twin Towers, 1350 feet above the ground, then danced back and forth on it for 45 minutes. Impossible, it seemed. But no, it wasn’t.
Lesson learned.
Filed under: Work
I’m addicted. Everything’s on a list. Before I used this approach, my head was swimming with work stuff, church stuff, home stuff, groceries, projects, birthdays, and appointments. I color code my lists. I make little check boxes. I check off the little check boxes. My head is clear(er). All day long I add new stuff and check off completed stuff. So…yeah…lists. Post blog entry and picture. Check.
Sabbath #1Originally uploaded by Mary’s pics
Despite the 3.5 hour power outage last evening, I wrapped up all of my work-related activities (updated my action list for the week ahead, ironed enough work clothes for three days, blah blah blah) so that I could have a work-free Sabbath #1. Not that I sat around. I cooked a nice dinner, put together cookie dough (then let that chill), addressed my Christmas cards, took two walks, baked molasses cookies, and read the paper. It’s been nice, though, spending the whole day without spinning mental wheels on work issues that will be here soon enough.
Though it was only about 40 today, the sun and lack of wind made it feel almost warm. Yeah…temperature’s a relative thing. Just like time. Fast four-day weekend. Slow work week. Proven phenomenon.
Despite this being a three day work week, it felt LONG. Like, I keep thinking it’s Friday. But it’s Wednesday. And Thanksgiving Eve. I’m all disoriented.
We had some tasty leftovers for dinner, then took a nice walk with the boys. (So what else is new?) It’s calm and almost mild…good night for a spin around our usual route. I hate wind. No wind tonight so it’s all good.
We picked up just a few groceries, then came home and watched “Notes On a Scandal.” But right now there’s SU basketball blaring from the speaker above my head. I like basketball about as much as I like wind, so it might be time to settle down with my book.
I’m reading about “Sabbath keeping.” Not keeping it in any orthodox or Amish sense, but setting a day apart to stay away from all things related to work. To recharge and explore other things. To ignore the damn to-do list for one whole day. To make up my own rituals for my own Sabbath. So far, I’m intrigued.
Tomorrow: Cinnamon buns early, then a date with some sweet potatoes. Oh, and a bit of a feast at my sister’s.
Exhale.
My new loves (and one old one):
1) The otter cam from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Whenever I feel myself slipping into a sour mood (sometimes happens at work…imagine that), I hit the link and watch the otters paddling, rolling, and playing and I feel MUCH better. Calmer. Maybe even relaxed. Next lifetime? I’m coming back as a sea otter. Preferably one at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
2) The beta version of My Yahoo page. I tried it weeks ago and hated it. Capital H. Weird columns. No way to make changes. Yuck. But I tried it again Sunday evening and, wow, what a difference. I’m especially in love with the calendar/datebook and to-do list features. There’s nothing like adding tasks to a to-do list then ticking them OFF. Now my appointments and to-do lists stare me in the face every time I launch my homepage. And that’s a good thing.
Now for the old one- my multi-vitamins. I stopped taking them a few weeks ago and gradually started to feel like shit. Could NOT keep my eyes open. Being the optimist that I am, I started to suspect that I had a dread disease. Then it dawned on me…the vitamins! I’m back on them and feel MUCH better. Awake, even. So that’s cool.
Filed under: Work
I’ll be back at work in four days, and though I think that I’m ready to get back, I have to admit that I’m going to miss my days of pure leisure, especially now that I’m feeling better. I spent a lot of time on Tuesday revamping and updating my work to-do list(s)…ala the system presented in Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything. I feel like I’m ready to attack the back-log/mess that awaits me, but I know that I’ll be thrown for a loop within the first hour. That’s just how I’m wired…I love order/get hives with disorder. I can’t, though, let the mess get to me. I can’t take it personally, as I am prone to do, people-pleaser that I am.
It poured yesterday, so I took the opportunity to type up the minutes from Sunday’s board meeting at church. I labor over these, even though I don’t have to. Again, that’s how I’m wired. I edit and re-edit church minutes (that hardly anyone reads).
The chore of typing up minutes was mercifully broken up Bravo TV (my new love) and the full season of “Project Runway.” From one who was irreparably damaged by Jr. High Home Ec. sewing class, I don’t know how they do it. It took me a semester to put in a zipper.
I SO have the song (and whistling) from the BP commercials stuck in my head. “Say hey!”
