Monday Momentum

[bittersweet]

What can you do today to gain some momentum? To help get those "todos" turned into "tadas"? Whether it's your timer that inspires you, or music or SHEcards or just the thought of half an hour of "Me Time"..let's start off this week with a git 'er done! attitude.

This is actually the end of my workweek. After today, I have four days off. For some reason, I woke up with motivation and momentum this morning, and I plan to put them both to good use!

[bittersweet]

So far, I haven't accomplished a whole lot...let the dogs out, fed the cats, and gotten a cup of coffee. However...I do have a bit of a plan in place here

- upstairs critter care
- put away clean laundry
- get dressed
- downstairs critter care
- put/throw away 10 things from computer desk

[Emptynester]

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I feel like it anyway. I don't have any responsibilities other than this house and MH. The weight is off my shoulders. I feel like I might even get organized!!! What a concept.

Harriet: I just ordered a Kindle fire. It will be in addition to my Nook. The main reason I did is that there are a lot more free books for the Fire than the Nook. Also our local library loans books to both. Think of the Kindle as VHS tapes and the Nook as the old Beta tapes. They do the same thing but in different formats. Really the Kindle does a lot more. It is like a mini portable computer in your hand. If you find a WIFI hot spot you can do almost the same things on the Kindle as you can on a computer. I will probably use it for grocery lists when we go shopping. I was using the Droid for that but the print is pretty small.

First up today, after S2hiking boots and breakfast is working with the park beautification committee at 8 am. Then we will come home and get moving here. I have a lot of laundry to do and I need to start in on the den. It has become the depository for anything I don't know where it should go. I'm going to move a lot out in the LR temporarily and put a sorting table in here. Then will get the closet storage organized and go from there. I see it as at least a month project.

[helia]

thanks for starting us off, bsweet.

What a wonderful feeling, MT!!

I got up early-ish and did the high school run this a.m. We bring a friend of ds' who lives in a nearby neighborhood.

I'm feeling a little discombobulated by a comment from my mom in a conversation with her last night. Good conversation in general, though. I just get the impression that the fact that my life does not have the difficulties that other family members are dealing with is an affront to her. She does extremely well relating to people who are in difficult circumstances; she loves to be of help. But I'm not in that place right now. . . . . My parents show very little interest in my kids, have never even asked where ds has applied to Universities.

Alright, I'm off to finish the a.m. routine.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm up and at it but running slow.

Have suffered a packing setback. I was planning on taking my metallic pump but wore them to church yesterday. When I looked to see if they needed cleaning before being packed, I realized the vinyl is all cracked and they can't be worn on my cruiseline. I figure I can get away with wearing cheap clothes but they can't be in bad shape (most people wear gorgeous clothes and shoes.) My black pumps are in the same condition (so weren't on the take list.) My cream sandals are also too worn to wear.

I should have shopped last summer for sandals. This is the time of year where you can't buy winter boots but you also can't buy dressy sandals. I ran into this last year (and took the worn sandals because I had no choice.) Now I need to shop for a minimum of 3 pairs of shoes. I'm disappointed with the shoes wearing out so fast. These are a brand called Tender Tootsies (it is a Canadian company but the shoes are made overseas.) They are known for their comfortable shoes for old people but they also sell slightly stylish pumps with only 1 inch heels which is all my back can tolerate. When I'm preaching I'm on my feet for over an hour and need a dress shoe that is super comfortable. When traveling, I often walk a mile or more in my pumps (so maybe that's why they wore out so quickly.) Anyway, I need more and am not hopeful.

Last year I had to replace my black sandals before our cruise and ended up paying over $80 for a pair of Naturalizers. They are gorgeous but they creak when I walk which is very embarrassing. And the heel is 1.5" and narrow so I wobble on them too. So, all in all, bad value. But I was desperate last year and they were all that were available. I had hoped that with wear, they'd stop creaking (I noticed the creak in the store) but they still do.

Anyway, I think, if I can get a good start on the paperwork today, I might be going shoe shopping in the afternoon.

(((Helia))) My dmil was that way too. My life and hers had little points of overlap. I did nothing the way she would and yet my kids turned out great compared to their cousins (who were raised at Grandma saw fit.) That made her uncomfortable. Until she was dying and then we became good friends.

[Harriet]

Thanks, Emptynester. I have not felt completely confident about this purchase and you made me feel better. It came as an attempt to help with the incessant errands around here. I often race out as soon as HRH gets home to stay with my ddad, or ask him to pick things up at places he doesn't know well. The Accelerated Reader program for dd13 has had me at libraries or local bookstores so often. Finally, another request by LA teacher now requires the book, "Monster" to be in students' hands today. A Barnes and Noble's (local store's) order of a group of them is delayed, and we are 6th in line in the library system.

Just giving up and buying "me" a Kindle Fire that she is allowed to use lets her have the book in her hands instantly. (Cost $7.99 and it would have been $8.99 in paperback if that order had come in on time - so no bargains yet). But now I don't have to race back and forth. Several other students are doing this - HRH is worried about theft. Frankly, if Kathryn will look away for a moment we took WMart up on their $50 gift card deal if you purchase one, and immediately spent the card, mostly on Ensure to get another sale and stock up on another errand-producing item.

helia, you are very blessed and those blessings have been tended with careful nurture from both you and dh, so that a lot of things are going right for you. You deserve bubbly happy phone calls to family these days. Sorry if they are not! Perhaps your dmother just doesn't know what to do with your contentment, because she is letting the "shoulds" and "oughts" of worry/concerns for others weigh too heavily. Do you think she is trying to enlist your "help with worrying"? I have some family members who seem to ask that. Maybe she wishes you would give advice? ((helia))

School run is done. Time to strip my bed for linens washing day and make some DPCs. I am going to have to call vet for Orphan Cat again. Sigh. She just doesn't feel good. Also cancel library hold, check with one of my ddad's drs who was supposed to already call me with appt time.

[DeeClutter]

I am going to TRY to post here while I at least momentarily have INTERNET!! What little time it's stayed on has been trying to untangle the Med Co debaucle! Still at it and I sure don't see an end in sight. We will be out of meds in about a week! We've talked to EVERYBODY at this point. DH is about ready for that lawyer.
Eeek!

Things continue here with dgd on a slow downward trend. Her counselor comes tonight and I think the behavior specialist later this week. She announced shortly after he arrived last Friday, "I don't like him". She used to just hang her head and not say anything around strangers. Times have changed.

DH is waiting for me to go for a walk.

Kathryn can you order anything online or is it too late?

Can see internet is acting up so am going to post while I can. Hope to bbl.

[DeeClutter]

I'm planning to buy the "Fire" for dh for Valentine's Day (don't usually do gifts, but I think he would enjoy it -he's been using dd's quite a bit). But I didn't know about Walmart's "deal", Harriet. I'll have to look and see if that's available here. Was going to order it from A m a z o n. I have a regular "kindle" and love it! I'm a voracious reader!

[OKay]

Good Morning!!

Booo! to discouraging phone calls. Helia - I'm thankful that your emotionally/mentally able to handle these difficult situations with grace. It would be easy to lash out when our children are involved.....or rather in this case....not being involved in their lives.

This is a good reminder to me to watch my words on the phone. Sometimes I'm busy and my mind is thinking "in the moment" and i forget how my conversations must sound to the person on the other end. Everyone welcomes a conversation showing how much we care.

DS called last night (he is traveling this week - on the left coast this time) and asked if I could come to DGS5 taekwondo belt graduations tomorrow night. DS hates missing his children special moments and wanted DGS5 to have a special feeling about the event. . Soooooo I'll be making a 8 hour drive Tue/Wed to watch a 3 minutes graduation......and loving every moment of it!!

[Elizabeth]

Good morning everyone! Yesterday was a very succesful day. I got up in time for church, then did the cat clinic. When I got home, I ate well (leftovers from a restaurant) and worked on Bug-A-Boo. I did this instead of moping around or doing endless post-mortems on my defunct marriage. Sometimes my mind gets stuck in a rut on the post-mortem. Today at payroll, I will be doing flowcharts of scripts. I like working with scripts. I also need to figure out how to get visas for my trip in July, call the bank about a transfer that i can't seem to cancel, and call DD9's school about eating with her.