Monday Do Anything not Everything

[Twins' Mom]

You can do anything - but not everything. -David Allen

I've been letting it get me down that I just can't seem to get everything done these days....

The quote above is an excellent reminder to use our time wisely and pick our battles - I also found an old internet article about David Allen's philosophy that's also right on point: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/34/allen.html

David Allen is the author of the book "Getting Things Done: Mastering the Art of Stress-Free Productivity" which was published in 2002.

[Twins' Mom]

Yesterday by the time we went to the birthday party late in the afternoon and then went by the house, it was past seven p.m. when we got home, and I just gave up and went to read for the evening. My house looks worse now than it did on Friday afternoon, and I'm feeling like things are getting worse by the minute.

I'm so happy to have some alone time today and that ds drove himself to work (finally) today. Hoping (and a little whisper to G-d) that all goes well for him.

The cleaning lady is due here this morning, and I've decided it's just not reasonable to keep the regular cleaning routines going right now. I'm going to ask her to change sheets and clean bathrooms, clean the ceiling fans that are staying, and to clean out the fireplace. Maybe vacuum carpet upstairs? No dusting, no downstairs floors or kitchen clean up.

PODA:
-temple biz - several issues OMM
-make challah to send to dd tomorrow
-care package for dd - get it to rabbi
-call yard guy
-call handyman guy
-continue packing things up
-make li$t for yard sale on Saturday
-get by new house to see progress

I keep thinking of Helia using the term "bandwidth" to describe how there's just not room for another activity. Feels very apropos this week!

Round 1:
-breakfast
-clear kitchen counters (includes packing up books that dh & I took out of attic yesterday )
-fold laundry on the kitchen table
-empty dishwasher

[OKay]

Good Morning!

((((Twins))))) thinking of how wonderful it will be when your in your new home with all this moving activity behind you.

I enjoyed reading that article this morning. It has been awhile since I have read anything of his. My take away was this -

Much of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they've started.

I haven't been good at finishing things lately. I know a huge part of it is stress from the unknown. It seems like we are treading water and waiting for others to decide what our focus will be for the next 15 years. in about 3 hours the judge will be making a ruling concerning LO future. Our lawyer has told us the judge could rule in any direction -
** LO taken into DHS custody (unlikely)
** LO stay with us in status quo
** LO adoption approved
** Guardianship set aside
** set a date for trial
** another order issued giving DD another chance to answer the same questions of the court
Last night I showed LO pictures of the time he spent in NICU as a 2 month preemie and answered his questions he had about his parents. Kept the conversation light hearted....... focused on how much he is loved.

[Twins' Mom]

OKay, you have a lot on your mind today. A little whisper on your behalf today, too. Haven't heard anything from ds so assuming all went well. Parking has been a worry for him, and I pointed out a lot that is near his office but not as expensive as the covered parking by his work. We went over how to pay for it with his debit card, LOL.

I also got my meds and gave ddogs meds.

Next: throw on clothes and take ddogs for a walk around the block

Agreeing with OKay that the unfinished business is what wears one down.

A little vent ahead: Dh is the worst about pulling things out and leaving them for me to deal with. He does work full-time plus some, but when he "help" in a lot of cases he just makes more work for me. In the kitchen, some suitcases that we pulled out from under the eaves on Saturday are still in the floor and I don't know whether his plans were to yard sale them or put them in the POD. Likewise, he cleaned out dd's car on Saturday and dumped all that stuff on the kitchen table - backpacks, clothes, graduation gown from last year, leaving me to deal with it. I asked him to look in the guest bedroom and consider bringing some of that stuff down to the POD, and he brought down only some of his suits that he'll never wear again - and he left them on the back seat of my car to take to the Goodwill. So that's one reason (among the things that I personally leave unfinished!) that leaves stuff for me to deal with.


10:17 - later....What a quiet morning in the village!

Back from short walk - same walk as Saturday, we did longer walk yesterday. I have mild shin splints and I bet dMacs is feelin' it big time on those little shaky back legs of his.

I'm trying to decide what to start from here...house, temple biz (this or that?) or what? I think I'll get the challah started for dd.

[helia]

THanks for the article, Twins. I really enjoyed reading it. I think I have his book -- I think S and R gave it to me for Cmas a couple years ago. I started it but never finished it. . . . Um, case in point. LOL! --It is so true that much of our stress comes from unfinished tasks/projects. I'm not good at finishing things either, OK. Later in the article, he talks about stress from "infinite possibilities," which is something I know I have a very hard time with. When my options are limited, I ironically feel more comfortable. Good food for thought to start the week. . . .

Yes, I am looking forward to Twins new home too!! ((HUGS)) with "helpful" dh. My dh can be sorta similar. We are prepping this week to host a grad opn house for ds on Saturday. Side note: this seems to be a tradition here. Is this a tradition elsewhere? HS grad open houses were not a tradition when and where I grew up. We're keeping it on the smaller side, however. To help out, dh has plans to do some major decluttering throughout the house this week. He has a deadline today, and then he thinks he'll have some time. . . . I'm a little skeptical as to exactly how helpful that will be. . .I'm thinking more about deep cleaning and sprucing up the yard, and putting together some trifolds of photos, but maybe decluttering will prove helpful too - as long as any messes made in the process are taken care of as we go and as long as it doesn't detract from time to be spent on preparations. Dh has hired someone to help us with our yardwork, which is a truly helpful thing. The guy is here now and will do some weeding for us, probably about 4 hours' worth. If that goes well, we can have him do other tasks; he is trained and seems interested in tree trimming.

Done:
x finished paperwork for dd16's 2nd segment of drivers ed
x drove her to church where she is helping out with VBS this week (dfriend is bringing her home and then to drivers ed w/ her dd15, dd16's best friend; I'll bring the girls home and to drivers ed tomorrow. Her friend is also helping out w/ VBS.)
x bank - for cash
x library - returned 2 of dd16's books
x pedi office to drop off sample and let them know to contact the dermo. office with the results. I need to call the derm. myself to let them know that dd14 has started bc pills. She should be able to start isotretinoin? in a month
x searched for and found my cell phone, which had fallen out of my purse
x read/skimmed great article shared by Twins
x had light bfast - I really overate yesterday

Next:
-finish a.m. routine
- devo. time
- groc. list and menu plan
-groc. store

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Up and at it.

Have finally settled into the villa with all 6 of us. Rearranging the livingroom gave us more room since the giant easy chair was really in the way when the hide-a-bed was open.

Everyone is up now. Ds and I were up first and sat on the deck chatting. NTG (not the girlfriend) took forever to get up but we just gave up and sat around the table as more and more people got up. She loves to stay up really late and sleep in late which is not going to work well since she's in the living room. She'll adjust. Right now, she's the only one outside enjoying the sun.

The boys are playing dominoes and dh is waiting for me to go for a walk with him. Dd is making up her snack foods (she eats measured amounts of specific foods each day.)

Dd and dsil were going to do laundry today in town but discovered the nearest laundromat is almost an hour away. Since it is gorgeous weather, they hate to leave the beach for that. Ds has washed up a shirt and I washed up a few things and they are up on the balcony drying. Dsil is almost as anal as dd and won't wash the one pair of underwear he needs in the sink but is waiting until tomorrow instead because it won't dry in a day. Yeah, right.

[ellyphant]

Twins--I too am looking forward to your new home. It's exciting to follow along with your activities. What a confidence booster that is for your DS to get himself to work and back!

Okay--Praying for the best outcome today for you and LO. You are the best example of parenting/grandparenting!

Helia--I enjoy reading of all the activities with your teens. Mine were in band also. The drivers ed and volunteering at VBS brings back good memories. The HS grad open house is a tradition in New England. We did that for DD, but not for DS as he did not want to be center of attention. He had lots of friends, but with his attitude at the time, I just didn't force the issue.
DD's party was very nice--good food, perfect weather, neighbors, church friends, etc...I think DS wished later that he had let us do a party for him.

DH will be buying a small "handtruck" after work so we can move the good clothes dryer from walkout basement up to laundry room on second level of house. Don't have a clothes line here. We are on a ridge surrounded by woods, which we plan to thin out. I will be looking for a good spot to have some kind of clothes line.

[Harriet]

Must give Twins' Mom credit for having an excellent memory so often. I might not have been able to remember it was helia who first used "bandwidth". But I don't intend to let Twins' Mom forget that I remember she was the one who first called us a village.

OKay, bright and intelligent things are bound to happen today.

HRH got off on a rather late morning. Dd13 isn't feeling very well for some reason.

I got a little sun. Outdoor chores and Morning Daily Card done except for mid-day checking on animals during these very hot days.

Various village joy and concern remain in my heart today.

It's Desk Day.

the unfinished business is what wears one down

Interesting take on that - I believe quite true for me.

[Nancy]

59*-84* w/ showers in our forecast today.
I slept well had to shut the window at 3:15 bc the birds were starting to wake up
and making quite a bit of noise out side then.

BS was up today.
Yesterday we went to the moive "the lucky one" enjoyed it, the one about a sholider who finds a photo and comes home and finds her works for her at the dog grooming/kennel place she has quite a good plot I thought. H. said he enjoyed it as well.

It was slow at work today h. did not go in until eight today. I have more laundry to do to get current on that.

Harriet that quote is so true for me it's laundry! Going to pay attn. to that today hoping to finish up the last two tubs. Older two dgds might be coming here today so I'd better get a move on!

[OKay]

eating Popsicle and frozen orangeade for snack.....

Spent the last 2 hours outdoors with LO. Out of necessity I've set up a clothes line for his wet play clothes. Once he is done being wet, we hang the wet clothes onto the line and dress him in dry ones from the line (he is too modest to run around without clothes). Because of the many times he goes from wet to dry activities (sprinkler to driving battery car to playing in pool to jumping on trampoline, etc) I'm just leaving a couple sets of play clothes hanging outdoors all the time. Our thermometer was showing over 100 degrees before 10am this morning. Going to be a scorcher today so we did LO outdoor playing time earlier than normal.

I think I might need to a group of loved one surround me for an intervention. I gathered ANOTHER sack of squash this morning! I just keep gathering them when I don't want them and I everyone I know don't want anymore. Deep breathe......step away from the squash plants! Better yet - pull them up and be done with them!!

Individual graduation parties are not the norm here. DS/DD class size was about 25 students. Graduates are honored in groups at school, church, etc.