I really took my own advice this Memorial Day weekend and had some down time. After work Friday I went out in the rain to the garden store to buy plants so I would be ready for Saturday.
Saturday was super-accomplished with planting, took Deuce to "Kung Fu Panda" and had dinner with the neighbors.
Sunday things came a halt for me. Bob was working on the gate for our fence and I just hung out with Deuce and our neighbor's mom while he played with the neighbor. We had a home cooked meal, vegged together for a while and after Deuce went to bed we sat and chatted under the stars.
Today was slow in the morning, then I went shopping! That was good and bad. Good because I got myself some summer clothes for work and casual that I was desperately needing. Bad b/c I had a whole route and a bunch of stops planned which didn't happen b/c I left my debit card at home accidentally. I was really annoyed with myself. But, in the spirit of taking things in stride, I came home and got the card, did what I absolutely had to do and came home to enjoy the rest of the day.
I find myself thinking I could have done a lot more. It's back to the grind tomorrow, so for now my mission is to stay relaxed!
Showing posts with label Baby steps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baby steps. Show all posts
Monday, May 30, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Some stuff I like
The point behind having this blog is to talk about my goals and my hobbies. But I don't think I've talked about what those hobbies actually are!
Here's a brainstorm of some things I like to do:
Not that "efficiency" and "enjoyable" are often used in the same sentence, but "less stress" is!
It's bath time, and then... I should pick something off this list to do!!
Here's a brainstorm of some things I like to do:
- I actually like my job (what? what?! I know...), so that's 9 hours a day, plus a commute. I love books, and manage to consume some literature thanks to audio books and this commute.
- There are some nice guys in my life like my husband and son who I like to do special things with and for, along with taking good care of each other and relaxing.
- We just moved into (another) house that is awesome but outdated, so there are projects and decorating to do.
- And the better the house looks, the more I love entertaining
- I cook and bake, and this is fairly easy to integrate into real life
- I love to garden, particularly veggies, fruits and flowers for cutting
- I want to much to be an amateur photographer. I'm a not even a novice. I have a DSLR and Photoshop Elements and I don't really know how to use either one yet. Bummer.
- I knit - this is one hobby I can combine with exhausted-couch-sitting at the end of the day, so I do a fair amount of this
- We have a dog. I should walk that beast, and maybe teach him manners some day. I actually like walking him, I think. I barely remember.
- I enjoy film, but that's just a joke at this point in my life. 2 hours of uninterrupted time? Go to a theater? Ha! Haha!
- I scrapbook. This is in bold because it's my favorite hobby. I'm always in the mood to scrapbook, but it is just for me, so gets pushed to the bottom of the list. Always. Except for...
- I really enjoy exercise, though you would not know it. This is very last on the list because given any free time to myself, I will gladly scrapbook rather than exercise!
Not that "efficiency" and "enjoyable" are often used in the same sentence, but "less stress" is!
It's bath time, and then... I should pick something off this list to do!!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
How not to schedule your day
Follow-up to the red velvet cake is coming - we aren't going to get to eat it until tomorrow afternoon, so I'll be able to discuss it better then. Cream cheese frosting licked from bowl gets an 'A', though.
So in the meantime, I'm on Mission: Figure Out My Mission.
In broad strokes, it's really simple - I want to have fun.
I also work full time and have a preschooler and a husband, so if I expect to do anything besides work, laundry and sleep, I need to be organized about it. I tend to sign up for everything I think would be fun, and cram in all my responsibilities and then end up having to cancel what I wanted to do b/c I'm overcommitted. It's awesome. So I want to have fun, and make time to do fun things.
For example, tonight after working all day I have a parents meeting at day care 5-6, the dog has a vet appointment at 6:15, dinner, and I have a craft group at 7. Seems like with two adults we can handle it, right?
Wellllll....I have to leave work early if I want to go to parents' group (Bob's not interested), but if I go to that, he has to take the dog to the vet. I want to take the dog to the vet b/c our vet does all this unecessary stuff to the dog that I refuse, but Bob won't argue w/ the vet. I can't get home to get the dog before the meeting, and I can't get home and to the vet in time if I pick him up after the meeting. It's not that easy to take our son to either of those activities, especially at dinner time. Deuce would eat a Happy Meal but Bob and I don't like fast food and if we order a pizza someone's going to end up eating it cold. Oh and we ate up the leftovers last night. Craft group is at someone's house so I can come late, but one of the reasons it's on Thursday night is b/c I can't go on Wednesday so I feel guilty blowing it off when everyone alternates days of the week for me.
At this point I have been known to fake a stomach bug and cancel everything.
Instead, I'm blowing off the parents meeting (his daycare is awesome, and I participate in the activities, I just obviously can be a leader too). If I leave work when I would have for the meeting, we can all eat hot food together, I can take the dog to the vet and still make craft night at a reasonable time. Assuming Bob had nothing he wanted to do this evening.
Not too shabby, but if I had the parents group and craft night on my calendar, I would not have schedule the vet the first Thursday of the month.
I'm thinking the best way to tackle this is (are you ready to groan? I'll wait), with scheduling and some ground rules. (cue the groan)
It won't be too bad though really! Scheduling like "putting commitments on the calendar" and "looking at the calendar" isn't a huge stretch. And for ground rules, I'm thinking "take at least one evening off each week." I mean, I'll never get anything done if I'm running all over town every night!
Before I started writing this, I looked at the calendar, and noticed one meeting and 4 activities Friday, but there is nothing on there on Saturday... Maybe there's something wrong with my computer... That's the only logical explanation. I should probably block it off and keep it that way!
So in the meantime, I'm on Mission: Figure Out My Mission.
In broad strokes, it's really simple - I want to have fun.
I also work full time and have a preschooler and a husband, so if I expect to do anything besides work, laundry and sleep, I need to be organized about it. I tend to sign up for everything I think would be fun, and cram in all my responsibilities and then end up having to cancel what I wanted to do b/c I'm overcommitted. It's awesome. So I want to have fun, and make time to do fun things.
For example, tonight after working all day I have a parents meeting at day care 5-6, the dog has a vet appointment at 6:15, dinner, and I have a craft group at 7. Seems like with two adults we can handle it, right?
Wellllll....I have to leave work early if I want to go to parents' group (Bob's not interested), but if I go to that, he has to take the dog to the vet. I want to take the dog to the vet b/c our vet does all this unecessary stuff to the dog that I refuse, but Bob won't argue w/ the vet. I can't get home to get the dog before the meeting, and I can't get home and to the vet in time if I pick him up after the meeting. It's not that easy to take our son to either of those activities, especially at dinner time. Deuce would eat a Happy Meal but Bob and I don't like fast food and if we order a pizza someone's going to end up eating it cold. Oh and we ate up the leftovers last night. Craft group is at someone's house so I can come late, but one of the reasons it's on Thursday night is b/c I can't go on Wednesday so I feel guilty blowing it off when everyone alternates days of the week for me.
At this point I have been known to fake a stomach bug and cancel everything.
Instead, I'm blowing off the parents meeting (his daycare is awesome, and I participate in the activities, I just obviously can be a leader too). If I leave work when I would have for the meeting, we can all eat hot food together, I can take the dog to the vet and still make craft night at a reasonable time. Assuming Bob had nothing he wanted to do this evening.
Not too shabby, but if I had the parents group and craft night on my calendar, I would not have schedule the vet the first Thursday of the month.
I'm thinking the best way to tackle this is (are you ready to groan? I'll wait), with scheduling and some ground rules. (cue the groan)
It won't be too bad though really! Scheduling like "putting commitments on the calendar" and "looking at the calendar" isn't a huge stretch. And for ground rules, I'm thinking "take at least one evening off each week." I mean, I'll never get anything done if I'm running all over town every night!
Before I started writing this, I looked at the calendar, and noticed one meeting and 4 activities Friday, but there is nothing on there on Saturday... Maybe there's something wrong with my computer... That's the only logical explanation. I should probably block it off and keep it that way!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
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