Make it Fun Monday

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Sent off the annual report to the minister for her first read-through. I can't save it as a .doc file, that keeps crashing Open Office. So I gave up and sent her a .pdf which means she can't make any changes. Probably a good thing.

Now I can wash my hands of this for 24 hours.

I'm going to go outside and bring in the garbage cans. I might move the car out into the rain (yes, it was 10 degrees yesterday and today it is raining!) and shovel the salt and and out of the garage while I'm at it. It is zone one this week which is outside chores.

[OKay]

WOW!! What happy news this afternoon!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Indiana!! Your careful monitoring and taking such good care of your health is definitely a BIG reason to celebrate!! I am sooooooooooo very happy for you!

Helia - you are an inspiration. Staying up so well with so much going on in your home and loved ones. BWTG on your effort with the cards!! I don't remember keeping count of # completed when i did the analog cards, so I'm not much help with your question.

[Nancy]

Yea Indiana!
Just doing the bare minimums around here as I'm still healing up from the cold and have granny duty today. I got the floors swept and a did a bit of vacuuming and dusted a tiny bit. ~sigh~ dgd just woke up cranky from a too brief nap.

[BookSaver]

Helia ~ I am still doing P&P's original system with 1 task per card and the 31 daily dividers + 12 monthly dividers.

Then there is a divider labeled "completed" and that's where I put a card as soon as it's done so I can see them stack up. I re-file the cards either at the end of the day or, more often, first thing the next morning. Re-filing the whole group gives me visual validation that I did that much work, and lets me give myself another pat on the back for doing the boring chores.

I have tried grouping items on a card like their revised version, and also for a long time used the old school FranklinCovey forms. Unfortunately, those worked great for me at my paying job but not at home. I have just enough interuptions between "wash the dishes," "wipe the stove," and "sweep the kitchen floor" that sometimes 1 of the 3 won't get done and then I can't move that card to "complete" and I feel bad.

Yes, after this many years, I don't really need most of the cards. For example, dishes and laundry are almost always under control now. I was recently reminded, though, that in times of stress it's so much easier to (as Harriet says) "mind the cards" and do those things on autopilot.

Editing to add that as I am re-filing cards that were done the day before, at the same time I decide the priority for cards that are due to be done the current day. I'm not real strict about a lot of things -- if the kitchen floor doesn't get scrubbed we will survive -- but it does help to have that little reminder card floating around to remind me that sooner or later, I need to get around to deep cleaning the floor.

[Lilac]

How wonderful to hear how well you are doing Indiana!

Just as I hit the submit key today, the phone rang and it was dm. Yesterday morning they were suppose to dock at 8 am. There was heavy fog and they weren't able to dock until after 3. By the time they were checked out, waited on the shuttle and were taken to their vehicles, it was 5:30 pm. She said they grabbed something to eat and hit the road. They reached daunts at 6 am. She said she went to bed as soon as arrived home. When I didn't hear from her last night, I figured they were on the road.

I ran errands today. That should do me until the end of the week, so maybe I can get something accomplished.

Have talked to dd2 and she was in a better humor. She gets upset if I don't call her, but I find it is better to let her do the calling. I sure don't want to disturb anyones naps with a call.

I need 2 more chairs for my formal dining room set. What I have is an antique or close to it, Ethan Allen set that we bought from dhs daunts estate 26 years ago. There is a 48" round table with 2 15" leaves and 4 chairs. Since I have room, I want to put both leaves in and get 2 more chairs. Usually on ebay they have either the same chairs I have or the same ones in the captains chair style with arms on them. I would really like to have them for the ends of the table. Right before we moved they had them and since we moved there hasn't been 1 chair of the style I want. The color is nutmeg, it is a maple color. There are many other styles in the nutmeg color. Dh keeps finding some and saying well these would work because they will be on the ends, so it doesn't matter if they are a little different. I just know that if I give in and do that, the next day there will be the chairs I want. So I am impatiently waiting for an elusive pair of chairs.

Guess I better start some supper.

[lucylee]

So glad you're doing so much better, Indiana!!!

I would love to be able to offer WTG & get well wishes & hugs to everyone else all around... but my goodness, y'all have been busy today! On page 4 when I got in this afternoon!

We've done the Wmart/drug store/ironing lady round... and I've handled a phone call from dh @ dinlaws questioning one of the rx's, which was 15 pills short. This involved me talking to dh on the landline phone & pharmacist on the cell phone... and pharmacist finally figured out that pharmacy tech forgot to leave note w/the bottle: "Owe 15 pills." She said they would be there tomorrow. So, another crisis averted.

Must do some laundry and paper work.

Hope ddil had a good day @ new job!

[Twins' Mom]

LOL at Lucylee's excellent crisis management!

I am ready for the tax training tomorrow - I copied and pasted my notes to a PowerPoint and will switch back and forth between that and the actual tax software.

Kathryn's church dynamics are interesting. My situation is that this board member is the chair of the membership committee (actually he's never formed a committee and hasn't actually done much work that I can tell) but he is extremely critical of the rabbi. I have to wonder what he says to prospective members because he makes no secret of his dislike. So I need to talk to him about whether he can be effective at this position and is able to continue. No a pleasant conversation - he is a friend but can be very, very negative.

Mysterious phone call just now - a friend is coming over in a little later.

I still haven't written for the temple bulletin. Must do.

[Elizabeth]

I don't know yet whether the pet sitter is coming tonight or not. I left a message to cancel, but don't know if she got it. I am feeling really bad about this. Tonight I need to pick up DCat18's meds and pick up the living room in case the pet sitter does come. Maybe I can get some sewing done tonight, I need to design Bug-A-Boo's hands and feet. I wish I hadn't pushed for meeting tonight with the pet sitter. I hope she gets my message and does not show.

[Harriet]

Have a wonderful time sewing, Elizabeth. Sounds like so much fun.

BookSaver, what brilliant things are you writing for the sewing group? I wish there was some way you could "mark" your driveway/property so that no one could possibly miss that they were doing the wrong thing to throw snow onto it.

sherinjoy, did you have enough sunshine to get things done? Here my ddad looked out the window this morning and complained that every day it seems to be raining.

I have just enough interuptions between "wash the dishes," "wipe the stove," and "sweep the kitchen floor" that sometimes 1 of the 3 won't get done and then I can't move that card to "complete" and I feel bad.

Yeah, that's one drawback to grouped cards - not getting any "credit" for work that wasn't "enough" to complete a card. IF there is time (and sometimes interruptions don't even leave this much time) I use tiny post-it notes to record on the card what I had done before interruption. At least there's some satisfaction in that!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

When I first made up my card system there was one card for wash hair and another for style hair. Because they didn't always happen together and I wanted credit for at least getting my hair washed!

It was really slippery outside so I 'penguined' my way back up the driveway with the first two items and then put on dh's grippers (mine weren't handy) to get the last can and to wash the windows on the car. There was originally snow on over the ice on the driveway but the rain washed that away. Tomorrow it will be sheer ice.

The car is 'clean', and the garage is swept/shoveled. So I ticked of my zone work for the day. (I no longer use cards and my reminders come up in Google Calendar.)

I had homemade pizza for dinner and then remade the bed and put away laundry so that's another two items off my to-do list.

I'm debating going to bed super early since I'm tired and tomorrow is a busy day. It is only 8:45 but by the time I get the dishes washed up, it will be 9 and I'm not being productive right now. I don't feel like starting in on paperwork and I don't feel like reading or watching tv. So bed is a good option.