If you give a mom an iPad...

You know that book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"? This is my afternoon like that...

If you give a mom an iPad that goes to school that is to old to run the updated communication program she will have to choose a different, newer iPad to take it's place.

When she goes to update the new iPad she will see that it doesn't have the Facebook app on it so no one can update Max's Facebook page from it.

If it doesn't have the app she will download it and then she will see that she needs to log in with Max's email and password.

When she realizes she doesn't know the email or password she will swear, (j/k! well not j/k) and she will go back to the old iPad to see what it says about his account.

When she looks at his account she will see a very old email address associated with it that she does not remember.

When she tries to remember the email and password she will realize that she has no recollection of that email ever and no passwords that she tries will work and then she swears again.

While she is swearing she will start to think about where she might have written down either the FB info or the email info.

When she thinks about where to look she will go to the file folder for Max and find a sticky note with an email and a password (EUREKA! EUREKA? Maybe?).

When she tries the email and password on Facebook it won't work, when it won't work on FB she will try it on gmail.

When she tries it on gmail it will WORK!!! The angels sing and there is a small glimmer of hope in her heart that she might be able to solve this problem until she realizes that the email she just cracked was completely unrelated to Facebook so while she has successfully gotten into the email she is no closer to logging on to FB.

While being sad that she is still locked out of FB she will think of his school email address and wonder if that might be of any help.

When thinking about the school email she realizes she doesn't know how to log into that.

While thinking about how to log on to that she remembers that she has another smart child who does know how to log on to school email and she will ask for her help.

While getting help from child #2 she will remember that the log in for his email is written on a sticker in his communication notebook.

In looking for the communication notebook she feels smart and is able to log into the school email.

In her victory over the school email she will again realize she has again cracked AN email but not THE email.

More swearing, and sweating because hot flashes...

While cursing menopause and mulling over the problem, she will try to reset the password for FB but won't be able to because the email that is associated with the account is still the one that she can't get into and the phone number associated with it also no longer exists.

When she realizes she can't get into it she will feel sad and defeated.

While feeling sad and defeated she will remember that she might have written down the email and password for Facebook in one of Max's older communication notebooks.

While trying to remember if she wrote it down she realizes she must first find the old notebook.

While looking for the notebook she will marvel that it is right where she remembered it was which is great for the current adventure but also a result of having shoved it on a shelf.

While thinking about the shelf she will feel bad about her disorganized ways.

After feeling disorganized for a minute she feels happy that she found the notebook but sad that no passwords are inside.

When she finds no passwords she will go in search of the notebook from the year before.

When she goes looking she will feel afraid that it is lost forever before gathering her courage to search the awful and disorganized scrapbooking room.

While searching the scraproom she will find the notebook quickly and feel happy again.

While feeling happy she found it she will feel badly again about her disorganized ways.

After feeling badly, she will soon start feeling happy because she has found THE email and THE password for Max's Facebook account!!!!

The angels will trumpet as she types it into the site and it works!!!

While reveling in her victory she will quickly write down all that she has learned that afternoon and then put the paper in the folder where it belongs but not before she takes a picture of the info because the only place things are truly safe and easy to find is by putting them in her phone!

While being grateful for her phone she will remember that now the newer iPad has Facebook again but it still needs the communication program updated.

.

Oh hi there...

Remember those 18 times I wrote on my blog?  You don't?  Well don't feel bad, I hardly do either.  In perusing those old posts I have learned that sometimes I am boring and sometimes I am hilarious.  Or rather the things that happen to me are hilarious.  I am going to give this blog thing a try again and I will aim for more hilarious and less boring.

Since I do not have a reality television show (yet), I will use this space to regale you with the wackiness that is my life.

The latest episode would show the evening that my sister and I tried to book our tickets for Disneyland Paris in January.  Julianna, my sister and I are all headed on a grand adventure at the end of December to meet up with my niece Lexi who is studying abroad in Italy this semester.  We decided that we would make a stop in Paris while we are there and were excited to realize that Disneyland Paris would be nearby.  We love that Mouse so of course we must visit him.  In booking this visit we learned three things: 1. We do not know how to call an international phone number that has weirdly arranged sets of numbers, 2. Citibank is very serious about fraud detection and 3. Tami has a limit to her patience and niceness.

The night before I got a fraud alert on my Citicard because Lexi had booked us a few things from Italy, using my card (with my permission).  That made sense, I called and it was authorized and life went on.  Fast forward to the next afternoon.

We decide we want to book the hotel and park tickets for Disneyland Paris (DLP from now on) and searched around for any deals.  Melissa found a great one on her phone but we couldn't get the same one to be an option on my laptop.  So after messing around for awhile we thought we would just use her phone.  So we began the tedious job of entering in everyone's information on her iPhone.  We click payment, I put in my cc info and submit.  There is an error, try again.  We try again.  And again.  Then I get a fraud alert on my phone from Citicard.  Oh that explains it, thanks Citicard for looking out for me. I call and speak to a very nice man with a pretty significant accent.  I do not have the best hearing and I am terrible with accents but I did my best.  I spent at least 15 minutes on the phone with him, verifying Lexi's purchases AGAIN, explaining what I am trying to do, giving him my travel plans, he says he's removed the bock and entered my trip info and I should be good.  We go back to the phone and try again.  NOPE!  GRRRRR.  So I called again and went through the automated system by yelling (well loudly stating in an aggravated voice) CUSTOMER SERVICE!  CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!  NO...NO...CUSTOMER SERVICE  until I got a live but different lady.  I explained everything I had just done with the last guy and the guy from the night before, answer a million of the same questions, she supposedly does the SAME thing that the last two people did and after another 15 minutes I should be good but she will remove the large purchase limit and that involves transferring me to a different lady. By this time I am really losing patience, I'm holding my head and muttering.  This lady proceeds to make me do it ALLLLLL again,  ALLL of it, that I've done 3 times now.  I say to her, "I appreciate that you are protecting me from fraud and I know it's not your fault but I have gone through this 3 times and it's making things VERY DIFFICULT!" Of course she's sorry, blah blah blah, fast forward another 1000 years and she says it's set.  I tell her to stay on the line with me until it is finished and it finally works.  We did get a good deal and I better get some gold plated Mickey ears or a lap dance from Tinkerbell after all that work.

Well that went fast...

My last post was in January talking about focusing on a resolution each month.  Yeah, I forgot about that.  BUT it's back to school (almost) so that always gets me thinking about organizing, setting up routines etc.  This August I have a LOT of things I'm hoping to accomplish.  The biggest thing on the list is Julianna's room makeover. 

I had been putting her off for ages every time she asked about redoing her room, repainting etc.  It all sounded so overwhelming.  But for her 12th Birthday last month we decided a room makeover would be a good present.  She has picked out her paint and bedding and is now safely ensconced at sleepaway camp for two weeks.  I am using this as my motivation to get it DONE before she gets back.  When I set that goal I don't think I quite knew what I was up against.  I think I was secretly hoping that Peter Walsh or someone from HGTV would show up and just do it all for me but that is looking more and more unlikely :-( so I guess it's up to me.


I think she has inherited our hoarder genes because good gravy does that child have a lot of stuff.  She did a great job sorting through her toys and gave away 5 HUGE bags of toys that she has outgrown.  This is awesome but she still has so much stuff!.  I'm trying to break it into manageable tasks so I don't get overwhelmed.  I thought this blog would be a good place to post pictures and updates along the way.

So my mission for today, (which I have to accept), is to finish pulling everything out of the room, except her bed which is to heavy but will get pushed to the middle of the room.  If I am still standing after that I will tackle vacuuming and maybe start taping. Pictures below are the "before" shots.  The last view of her very pink room.

Week one

The first week of January is behind me and I'm pretty happy with myself.  The pantry challenge is going well although I don't think $200 will last the whole month.  I have done well sticking to my small list when going into the store and have not bought anything that wasn't on the list and "needed".  I did buy items for my practice meal swap meal (that was good but too complicated to be the mealswap meal) and I didn't use the $200 for that.  When I shop for my actual meal swap ingredients I won't use that money for that either.  The only unexpected purchases that couldn't wait were the $14.70 to Netflix when Murray ate the DVD, and $72 for repairing two flat tractor tires and then $13 today for Julianna's next Violin book for her lessons.  All in all I feel good about our money progress and it has really emphasized how much mindless spending was going on.

I still haven't found a meal planning app that I love so the monthly menu is probably going to be old school with pen and paper.

My other resolutions are going pretty well too.  I have been taking my makeup off every night even though I always think, "ugh it's so much work, I don't want to" and then I tell myself, "Self, it's your resolution and you have to report back on your blog and it will take 20 seconds so just do it!" and I do.  This accountability stuff really works.  My going to sleep by midnight 5 out of 7 nights is slightly less successful.  I only had one night when I was up really late (2am) and went to bed by 11ish some nights, was up to midnight a couple times and after midnight a couple times.  So not a total success but much better than it had been.  I'll keep working on that.

It wasn't a resolution but I am working hard to get back to yoga.  I went this morning and it was great.  I was pleased to find that I wasn't as rusty (literally or figuratively) as I expected and it felt great to have done it.  I am signing up for the adult ed yoga and am going to make an effort to do 2-3 classes a week and try to do something daily at home  Maybe that will be my February resolution.

How are you doing with your resolutions?

A brand new year

So it's 2012 already and time for some New Years Resolutions.  I find it interesting that my last post (a long time ago) was about the exact same thing I'm about to post.  The Great Pantry Challenge of 2012.  I gave it a snazzier name so that I would be more successful with it than I was with the Pantry Challenge I did last year.  So January 1st a time of new beginnings.  I have decided that for this year's resolutions rather than having a bunch for January that I don't achieve because there are too many, I will focus on one a month for 12 months and hopefully be more successful.  The theme for 2012 should be focus I think.  But before I get to my first resolution I need to talk about what else will happen in January.

1. The Great Pantry Challenge of 2012 - I am again going to try to use up what I have in my cupboards and my two freezers in an effort to be able to see what I have, use up things that will expire an save money.  The downside of trying to extreme coupon is that you need a place to put your great buys and my cupboards were already groaning so now they are downright dangerous!  My plan for January is to take $200 cash and put it in an envelope and use that for all the groceries we will buy in January.  We will only buy the staples of our people.  You know, important things like bread, milk, bananas and diet coke.  I will only extreme coupon for things that are free, nearly free or a staple that I need that is at a stock up price.  This doesn't count the things I need to buy for my meal swap meal.  My first activity for this will be to use my new app on my new iPad to make a monthly menu.

2  The second thing happening is that it is "No Buy January".  December is always a month when (pardon my language) "money pours out my ass" so January is a time to stop spending.  This means no buying things that weren't already planned to buy.  No new books, no new music, no kitchen gadgets, no clothes etc.  I'm curious to see the bottom line at the end of January.

So now on to my first resolution, it's pretty easy since I'll be busy with the no buying and using up my pantry in creative ways.


January - Take off my makeup before bed and moisturize.  I am 42 years old and this seems like something a 42 year old mom should be doing.  My face says thank you.

Part two of the January resolution is getting more sleep.  I am a terrible night owl and NOT a morning person at all but I know that more sleep will only benefit me.  So I'm going to make it my resolution to be in bed, ready for sleep by midnight or earlier at least 5 nights a week.

So here we go, hope to have some good reports to give over the next few weeks.  My job for today is to investigate my pantry and freezer and make that menu. 

What are your resolutions?

Tami

The Great Pantry Challenge

My big goal these days is to cut my grocery bill.  In plotting out our budget I realized that our grocery bill was embarrassingly high.  There are a lot of lines in the budget that aren't negotiable but food costs seemed like a logical place to tackle.  If you have spent any time in my house you will know that my refrigerator and cupboards are full.  Like way too, jump out of the way when you open the door, full.  I have been working on becoming an extreme couponer to save money but the other angle I really need to address is why I want/need to have so much food in the house.  My justification has been that I don't have the kind of life where I can drop everything and run to the store if I am out of something, because Max and stores are not fun.  I also have a great fear of wanting to make something and not having an ingredient.  Why this is so important to me is a mystery.  I know that I like having choices and options.  When I go to a restaurant and they have some kind of sampler or combo meal I am all about that because I like options.  Maybe my food hoarding is like that.  I did not come from a home where we were underfed, we had plenty of food.  The only thing I can remotely link (read, blame) on my parents was that my Dad had a stockpile of food in the cellar.  It was stuff from Caswells (you know that liquidation center in Waterville with the questionable perishables and the cereal with foreign writing) like canned goods, staples etc.  I don't remember us eating much of it but we sure had a lot.

The problem with my largesse is the storage and the waste.  If you have so much food that you can't see what you have you end up buying multiples and food goes to waste if you exceed sell by dates or it gets gross before you uncover it.  So that is a long way of saying that I'm working on a "Pantry Challenge".  If I called it "Eat what you have on hand" I would not be into it but by calling it a "challenge" I can pretend it's a cool Food Network Show that I'm participating in.

Over the past few weeks as I've been extreme couponing (sort of) and doing the pantry challenge it has really changed the way I grocery shop.  In the past I paid no attention to what the total would be, I would see something and think, "oh I should get that because I might want to make ______ soon."  This is how I ended up with 7 cans of bread crumbs (seasoned, unseasoned and panko...you know, options).  So now I have a menu planned and I only buy things that are:

1. Needed for the menu THIS WEEK
2. A super good buy and/or something I have a coupon for that we regularly eat (cereal, yogurt etc)

It has been hard to go by things that I normally would throw in the cart and I find myself talking to myself (in my head, not out loud) and telling myself the "rules".  I do think I've spent less and there may actually be a few cupboards that aren't dangerous to open.  I think I need to do the pantry challenge for at least another month to see real progress.

Another thing that helped was that our refrigerator died and we lost a bunch of stuff and had to start over.  It's weird to only have one kind of mustard (which I don't even like), one of each thing, we had way too many condiments, sauces etc.but I'm learning to embrace it.

I'm proud of myself for paying attention to this and really think it will make a difference in both the organization of the kitchen, my ability to find things (and not buy duplicates) and save money.

Anyone who wants to join me on the Great Pantry Challenge come aboard!  Maybe you have hoarded something I can mix with all those bread crumbs.

Leave me a comment on your pantry issues or any tips that might help me.

What is my time worth?

Amidst the fun of trying to be an extreme couponer I have also increased my involvement in other online things such as bzzagent, survey sites and signing up for freebies.  Right now that is all fun and there is the thrill of the chase but I'm wondering in the long run if my time is worth the freebie I get in the mail or the points I earn on a site that will eventually be redeemable.  I'm still trying to weigh it all out.  One site I do enjoy is bzzagent.  You get products to try and review and you bzz about it to get others interested in the program or product.  I have four going right now, one for old cat catfood which my old cat seems to LOVE, one for monitoring your child's online activity (good idea), one for creating one site to manage all your social networking which would probably be very advantageous to someone doing self marketing rather than just being actively online.  The final one is for werthers caramels which have not arrived yet but I'm already excited about them!

I'd love to hear what other folks do to save or make money online that is LEGITIMATE and not a pain in the butt. 

Uh, hi again...

Well that was embarrassing.  I can't believe I last blogged in January.  I sure hope no one was holding their breath waiting for my next thoughts.  It's my hope that I'll start blogging again now that it's...drumroll please...

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR, also known as BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

One of the challenges of having a child with autism is that he thrives on routine.  Summer, while delightfully hot and full of adventures and lazy days, is also unstructured and hell for my kid.  I LOVE back to school, I love the fresh start, the new pencils, the return to routine.  I just love it all.  The kids had an extra, unexpected week of summer vacation due to school construction issues.  This meant that instead of going back last Wednesday they won't go back until this coming Tuesday.  44 hours from now, give or take, not that I'm counting.  Oh hell, of course I'm counting.  I began counting last June when school let out.

My hope for this Fall is to continue with my organizing and purging but also I'm trying to become an extreme couponer.  I have only been trying it for about a week or so but I'm obsessed.  I don't want to be one of the really extreme people who spend hours on their plans and cutting coupons and buy 57 cans of spam, because really, no one likes spam even if it is free or only four cents.

So far I have cut a lot of coupons, tried to organize them and I have learned a few things. 

1. There is a time investment required, especially when you begin because you won't know what the heck you are doing.
2. It will take time to figure out an organization system that will work for you.
3. You will be thrilled when you get something free or save a bunch of money on it.
4.  You need to watch out that you don't become a hoarder instead of an extreme couponer.

I plan to blog about my couponing and my finds as well as my flylady efforts and other adventures I have.
I still think I need a reality show, people would really have enjoyed seeing the tomato guts all over Max's fortress of solitude and watching us not kill him.

New Years Resolution Time...

January 1st is a time for fresh starts, new beginnings, hope for a bigger or at least better year to come.  2010 was good to me in a lot of ways and hard in a lot of ways.  Max had heart surgery last January and his nose cauterized twice under anesthesia over the summer.  I lost 80 lbs and feel pretty good about where I am although there is always more to lose.  I could easily make resolutions about losing 20 lbs, getting organized or getting out of debt.  All things I need and want to do BUT everything I read talks about small, measurable goals and I have years and years of experience with starting big in January and fizzling out before mud season.  So my goals for 2011, which I'll chronicle in my blog, can be summed up in one word:

NEW!

I am going to try NEW things.  I want to eat new food, learn to cook new food, go new places, try new things I've never done or maybe never thought I wanted to do.  I want to do something even if it scares me.  I want to read books I'd never read before and think new thoughts.  I want to say yes to things I'd automatically say no to in the past, and say no to things that don't work for me anymore.  I want to be more mindful and be in the present rather than focused on my to do list or what is ahead or what has already happened.   In order not to get overwhelmed by all the NEW I am going to focus on a couple specific things for January and add to them as time allows.

For January I am going to:
1. Eat something new
2. Cook something new
3. Learn something new (hopefully everyday like the saying goes)
4. Read something new

And in the midst of all that I will be trying to lose 20 lbs, get out of debt, be more mindful and get organized.  Whee, here we go!!!

Happy New Year to me!  What are your New Years Resolutions?

On this episode...Santa is defiled and there is lots of swearing...

If I did have my own reality show then tonights episode would be worthy of sweeps week.  I can just see the clips they'd show to promote the episode and none of them make me look particularly good.  The evening started out fine enough, I had made cookies and Max had made cookies with his worker.  I put them in ziploc bags inside a tupperware and inside the microwave.  This is usually a safe place where Max doesn't take things from.  I said usually.  Larry is at work, Julianna was in her fortress of solitude, and Max was on his computer and watching his tv in the living room.  The kitchen was locked up so I thought it was safe to go upstairs for a bit to check on my ebay auctions, put away a few things etc.  Some time passes, all is quiet downstairs (well honestly I did have my ipod on so maybe it wasn't quiet but I didn't care).  It gets to be close to 9 so I head downstairs to round the kiddos off to bed.  What I discover is not a pretty sight.

Max had found the cookies in the microwave and he liked the gingerbread ones he made a lot and ate a whole bunch of them.  He liked parts of the heart smart cookies I made, he didn't like the cherries so I found a massacre of cherries and decimated cookie parts from the microwave to the living room, ground into the couch, the chocolate chunks were melted all over his hands and face and supersuit (one piece outfit that zips in the back that prevents hands in the pull up messes).  His desk was in pieces on the floor with his laptop on the floor in the middle of it.  And there was a bad smell. 

After saying some swears (thats part of what I'm sure they would preview in the promos) I got the broom and swiffer and clorox wipes and began the clean up.  All the while he is capering about trying to get more cookies!  Finally after about 15 minutes I got things pretty well cleaned up. Julianna wisely went upstairs to get herself ready for bed to stay out of the danger zone.  He had his pills and two mini nilla wafer cookies.  His usual bedtime snack is more elaborate but there was no more deliciousness offered to him this night.  We headed upstairs where I fought him to deal with the bad smell, his butt was sore so there was quite a struggle that ended in the shower.  The kids showerhead is waiting for the plumber to come to deal with it, it leaks like crazy and sprays water all over me on a good day when I'm trying to wash the boy.  Tonight I managed to drop the showerhead as I was trying to put it back and it did a 360 turn in mid air spraying water all over the bathroom, reaching the mirror and soaking me.   There may or may not have been more swearing. 

Finally he's clean, teeth are brushed etc.  We go to his room and I begin the application of the various salves and lotions.  He gets some cream on a rash on his arm, he gets sensitive skin moisturizer on his face and a generous slathering of Desiten on his sore bum.  At this point he is happy and dancing around so a moving target.  I manage to get a thick layer on all the parts and he picks up a stuffed Santa doll and is dancing it around.  Fine, good, be happy.  Well, fine and good until he wipes his ASS with SANTA!!!  So now Santa has non water soluble Desiten on his jolly red self.  In the struggle to keep him from wiping slimy Santa on anything else I get Desiten all over me including smeared into my newly repaired and shined up rings and Max gets it on his hands and belly.  Whatever.  I wrap Santa in a towel and chuck him into the hall.  I'm sure he'll be bringing me coal now.  After stuffing him into his pj's and arranging all the things that need it Max is happy and angelic and has no clue why mommy is soggy, exhausted and grumpy.  So I kiss him goodnight, beg him to sleep in and close his door.  The next thing I hear is his light clicking on and maniacal laughter.  I just know he's plotting for the next episode. 

It's over already?

I can't believe that October is coming to a close.  Seems I just got out my lace up shoes and my feather duster to tackle my month of Fly Lady and now it's done.  Here is my post-mortem on the event.  I did not do all the plans perfectly but I did try and keep her ideas in my head about 90% of the time.  My bed has been made almost every day for the last 2 weeks and my sink has been shiny about 70% of the time (I'll take it!).  I have gotten a bunch of holes de-cluttered and taken two trips to the thrift store unloading over 10 giant garbage bags of clothes, sheets, and other household "stuff".  I am "blessing the world" as Fly Lady says.  I find myself looking at things with a more critical eye both in terms of "do I want to buy it?" and also "do I want to keep it?" and most importantly, "where should this live?".  I think living the Fly Lady way is a lifelong process, some days I'll excel and other days I'll slack off.  But it's all about FLYING...Finally Loving Yourself and taking babysteps in the right direction. While I don't plan to formally blog about Flying anymore I'm sure it will come up sometimes.  I hope maybe I've encouraged some of you to check out her methods and find your way to less chaos (can't have anyone over syndrome).  Next month is all about gratitude.  In honor of November I am going to spend the month being positive and grateful, There is so much to be thankful for that I hope to really uncover and share much of it in the days to come.  My daily thankful's will be on facebook while my weekly thoughts will be here.  In honor of the last day of October, my sink is shiny, my bed is made and I'm going to bed at a decent hour.  In honor of tomorrow being November I will say I am thankful that it's Monday and the kiddos go back to school.  :-)

Flap, flap...

Can I just say how in awe I am of people who work fulltime, have kids and try to have a life?  Also single parents who work and have kids and try to have a life?  I work 2 days a week and I can barely get my sh** together on a good day, I cannot imagine the disaster that would be my life if I worked full time.  I was recently asked if I wanted to pick up a third day at work and I wisely set a boundary and respectfully said, "HELL NO, WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY?????!!!". 

I have found the past couple of weeks extra challenging and my flylady ways have both helped me and also been neglected.  There was unhelpful a**hole week where DH worked nights and was an unhelpful you know what.  Then the next week he was out of town for work for 3 days, coinciding with the days I work, coinciding with a trip to the ER for my daughters ear infection.  Then there was this past week in which I felt pretty competent but not superior in any way.

The good things from flylady that I have really incorporated are getting ready the night before (which I've mostly done for awhile but I do better now, mostly), making my bed daily (yay me), and keeping my sink shiny (again, mostly).  I have not been able to do all her missions because of time and energy issues, I will take responsibility and say I have "chosen" not to do them all rather than I "couldn't" because I "could have" if I'd been willing to stay up later, get up earlier or stop watching Dancing With The Stars.  It's all about priorities people. 

I have done most of my decluttering on the weekends when I have more chunks of time and that has worked out.  My linen closet is pared down considerably and nicely organized.  My Master Bathroom cupboards and drawers were cleaned out, purged and washed.  I have tackled one area at a time using her "give away, put away, throw away" bins which are super helpful.  I took 5 giant contractor bags of outgrown clothes, linens and shoes to the thrift store last Monday and that felt GREAT.  I try to look at how far I've come rather than how far I have to go because that's just depressing.

My focus for the next week will be on keeping up with the routines, bed making, sink shining, bedtime prep and continuing to declutter.  I need to work on getting to bed at a decent hour.  I am also trying to embrace her "DO IT NOW" philosophy.  That means if you notice a spill wipe it NOW not in three days when it's hard and crusty.  If you knock over a pile, pick it up and deal with it before it grows.  If you notice the plants need watering or the cat needs to be fed, do it NOW.  It's really a time saver in the end.  That Flylady is so smart.

Flylady also has us preparing for "Cruising Through The Holidays" these days and while I have not done her missions full out, I have dug out my holiday planner (a super cute altered notebook I made about 4 years ago that I keep track of everything in) and started doing some Christmas shopping in the hopes that I'm not all rammed up at the end, sucking the jolly out of the holly jolly.

So break-time is over, back to putting away the strange things I cleaned out of my nightstand.  Who needs 12 emery boards!!

Fluttering along...

According to Flylady I'm never behind so it's impossible to fail.  Ummm, ok.  My first week "flying" has been a mix of success and um not failure (because that would make Flylady sad) but maybe lesser success.  Friday started well (first day of the month and all), I shined my sink, cleaned out a few trouble spots and basically did as I was supposed to.  The weekend was busy, gone all day Saturday, out with Max's new worker for her shift on Sunday but I fluttered along, still mostly shining my sink (one night there were dishes left to soak but I did them the next a.m.).  Each day we get a mission (should we choose to accept it) to do in our zone for the week.  This week we are in the kitchen.  The first mission was to clean your garbage can, I didn't do it on Monday (that was the day I was overrun by my carrot harvest) but I did do it Tuesday.  The Tuesday mission was wiping down your counters, moving everything and really getting behind stuff.  I had just done this because of my carrot mess so I didn't do it again.  Today was Wednesday and I worked so I honestly haven't even looked at the mission.

If flylady did call people failures or losers or other nasty names she would have called me one today.  It started last night when I (foolishly) decided not to lay out my clothes and just do it in the a.m.  That was mistake #1.  We were running late this a.m. and it took me forever to decide what to wear which made us even more rushed.  I will NEVER do that again.  Flylady: 1   Me: 0

Then there was the matter of dinner.  Flylady encourages us to plan our menu and use our crock-pots and basically have a plan so that the family can eat well and stress-free and on time each day.  This is extra important on days I work.   Like today.   When I didn't make a plan.   So dinner was a hodgepodge affair wherein Larry and Julianna ate leftover ravioli and scrambled eggs (that he made), Max had pizza with his worker and I had grilled cheese (with awesome Indian tomato compote that I made...soooooo delicious!!).  I'd like to say I'll NEVER do that again but I know me and I'll say I'll TRY to NEVER do that again.
Flylady: 2    Me: 0 

Then there is the matter of laundry.  Remember Mt. Washmore?  Well it erupted all over my laundry room and bedroom.  Flylady teaches us to do a load a day start to finish, wash, dry, fold, put away.   I have been washing and drying but the folding and the putting away, well there was a problem with that this week and I blame Larry.  See he's working nights this week which means he is in our room, in our bed, sleeping all day which means I can't get in there to put anything away.  So yeah, that's totally his fault.  BUT tonight while watching Glee (poor Kurt!!), I finished folding all the clean laundry and sorted it and put it away (all but Julianna's clothes which are in a basket in her room, sorry, I ran out of steam).  So I have a clean slate (sort of) with the laundry.  Sadly...Flylady: 3  Me: 0

But since Flylady is such an awesome cheerleader she tells me not to get discouraged and to start where I am so I will start again tomorrow.  The lunches are made, the homework is done and signed, the sink is shining.  I almost left dishes in there but forced myself to wash them and shine it because I knew I had to report on my progress, and I knew it wouldn't take long, and I knew it would make me happy in the a.m. to see a shiny sink.  I have a meal in the freezer that I can take out for dinner tomorrow night so we can come home to a nice meal after Julianna's Field Hockey game.  And I'm off to pick out my clothes for the a.m.

So after nearly a week it's Flylady: 3 Me: 0  Lots of room for improvement but I'm on my way to ship shape life!

Happy flying!  Leave me a comment if you are fluttering with me!!!


PS:  Also this week, I bought a new book called:  The Make Today Matter Makeover: The 26 Best Ways to Recapture Daily Magic, Kick-start High-Energy Living, and Get the Most out of Life by Brook Noel

Brook Noel (Author)

› Visit Amazon's Brook Noel Page

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 I'll probably blog about that later.  Looks really cool, lots of checklist and note taking which I LOVE!!

October mission...

So I figure half the fun/reason to have a blog is to monitor some kind of project.  There was the one that Julie and Julia was based on where she cooked and blogged her way through Julia Child's cookbook.  There was the lady who followed every piece of Oprah's advice for a year and blogged about it. And there are hundreds even thousands of other great ideas.  I was thinking this morning that since it's October 1st I should pick something edifying to work on for the month.  I already plan to focus on thankfulness in the month of November so I didn't want to start on that already.  So I got thinking about what areas of my life might need a little help and it all came back to organization and clutter.  So I decided that I'll sign up for the flylady emails again and try to follow her plan to the letter for the month of October.  At the end of these 31 days my home will either be in better shape or I will want to strangle her with her fishing line (that's where the name flylady came from, she loves fly fishing). 

For anyone who wants to follow along the site is www.flylady.net.

The first thing she asks us to do is to shine our sink.  The logic is that it gives you one clean and sparkling focal point in your kitchen and it makes it easier to keep up on other things if your sink is shiny.  That's truly all she asks you to do on day one.  So I shined my sink, it's lovely :-).  Since I have done the program a bunch of times before I pretty much know where I'm headed.  Tomorrow I have to keep my sink shiny and get dressed to my shoes (lace up she insists!).  If you want to do "zone work" then today we are in the front hall and dining room.  In zone work you spend 15 minutes decluttering that area, because, "you can do anything for 15 minutes" or so she says. 

I already do a decent job of my before bed routine (except I never cared about the shiny sink) so tonight I will do a little better than usual and lay out clothes for tomorrow, remove my makeup and moisturize and you guessed it, shine my sink.

The other thing that flylady talks about is conquering Mt. Washmore which is a much cuter name than my pile of laundry deserves.  She maintains that you need to do a load start to finish each day.  A great plan that means you don't have several clothes baskets cluttering up your bedroom with laundry that needs to be put away.  I am going to embrace her system for this month and see if I can do a better job keeping on top of my mountain.


So after one day I don't feel redeemed of my clutter issues just yet but maybe in 30 short days I'll be a new woman.  I'll blog about it periodically to keep me honest and on task.

How many to do lists does it take to get something done?

I often wonder what life would be like without a long "to do" list.  I don't think it is even possible for me not to have a list in my head, on my phone, in my email, on my desk, in my car, at work etc. etc.  They often say the same things and I often lose them, re-write them and lose them again. I tend to think about making the phone calls on the to do list at either, lunchtime when no one is in the office or 5:15pm also when no one is in the office or if I'm super efficient at 7:30am when, you guessed it, no one is in the office.  Why I can't think of making phone calls at 10am or 2pm is a mystery of the universe.

I am an organizational product junkie, this is not to say that I am exceedingly organized, because I am not.  I love the IDEA of being organized, I love to read Real Simple magazine and buy the Real Simple products at Target and dream of a day when everything I own has a label on it.  I own a label maker, tons of file folders, boxes, bins, color coded this and that and still I have to hunt for pieces of paper, I take UPS items to the post office, I upend drawers looking for my septic plan and that was all just since Friday.  I have fantasies about a place for everything and everything in it's place, I periodically subscribe to www.flylady.net and get all gung ho about her ideas (which are fabulous and work if you do them) and then get overwhelmed and unsubscribe and go back to my unmade bed and my unshined sink with hotspots chasing me around the house threatening to burn me alive at any moment.  I have lots of books about clutter but I don't know where I put them.

I used to be organized, back before I had children I had it all together but then we moved to a giant house, I had twins, my son got diagnosed with autism and real life where you have more to do than time to do it, set in.  I have some systems in place that work for me, I have a "control journal" (ala Flylady) where I keep phone numbers, menus and a sheet protector for each member of the family, I keep schedule items in there and it works pretty well.  I make lunches and pack backpacks the night before, I lay out clothes the night before, in these ways I am organized.  But I am only as strong as my weakest link and my weak link (dh) packed the lunches last night and forgot the boy's cheese for his sandwich (realized this a.m. AT SCHOOL, guess it's PB&J for him today!). 

Every week I want to start fresh, I want to get my lace up shoes on (seriously, check out flylady if you have no idea what I'm talking about) and tackle some clutter but first I have to find my new color coded paper I bought so I can make the best to do list ever!

Mindfulness...

I think the universe is trying to tell me that I need to slow down and pay attention.  After a very mindful day on Saturday at Reiki training I've been thinking a lot about "stuff" and thinking I should start journaling (like I tell my clients to, you know, "Do as I say not as I do.").  I have also been listening to Louise Hay's book, "You Can Heal Your Life" an oldie but goodie that I highly recommend.  I ordered the paperback as well as the companion book to use at work.  I also downloaded some meditations.  I really WANT to meditate and be zen but that will involve sitting still and not getting distracted so I bet I'll need some practice and I thought guided meditation would be the way to go. 

Then today I went to a training for work on DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) and wouldn't you know it but the whole first part was about, can you guess?  Yup, mindfulness.  Last night I originally came into the office to find a journal but got distracted by writing a blog about getting distracted so I'm still without a journal.  BUT as soon as I finish up here I'm going to make myself be mindful long enough to go to the closet and find a journal to use.  Maybe tomorrow I'll be mindful enough to write in it.  Babysteps, babysteps.

Now I lay me down to sleep...no wait, now...no...now...

I was just reminded of the difference between how a mom goes to bed and how a dad goes to bed.  I'm sure you've all seen the joke make the rounds but in real life it really is like that!  Dh decides to go to bed, he gets up, brushes his teeth, takes off his clothes, sets his alarm and goes to bed.  I have to...tuck in J., this can be a long process depending on how many worries she is struggling with, whether or not she knows what she wants to wear, whether or not we can FIND said thing she wants to wear, feed her fish (I know she should do that but she has killed fish from overfeeding so it's easier to do it myself), maybe do a little "Ree-kay" on her (to help with the worrying), kiss her a bunch, hug her a bunch, help her find her sleep mask and her friends she sleeps with and finally shut out her light.  Then I have to go check on Max (who is long asleep), cover him up, check out the temperature in his room and turn on or off the fan, rearrange his pillows, and shut off his light.  THEN I have to pee, pick out what I'll wear tomorrow (hunt down items sometimes) right down to shoes and underwear (it's bad when I leave all this till morning), put on my pj's, take off my earrings, take off my makeup, put on moisturizer (it's hell to get old), brush my teeth, take my pills, inevitably go downstairs to put something on my "launch pad" (it's a www.flylady.net term for items you need to take with you) or find something, come back upstairs, pee and finally get into bed where I fall asleep with the tv on (much to Larry's irritation).  It usually takes me at least 3 nights to get through one 60 minute show because I keep falling asleep.


So who's with me?  Does it take you that long to get to bed?  Do you follow flylady?  What's your best tip for getting your morning off to a good start?  Mine is laying out clothes the night before and packing lunches and backpacks the night before.

It's 10:20pm and about 1/2 my list is done so I better shut off the computer.  I have to pee and then I have about 15 minutes of Top Chef waiting to lull me to sleep.

Oh the energy...

So yesterday was our Reiki I/II class.  It went all day and we did not look like dumb-asses, hooray!  It was a long, emotional and powerful day.  I can't speak for anyone else but I left feeling very excited about learning more and getting better at doing energy work and I also felt completely drained by the day.  I was supposed to drive home afterward but ended up calling home and the sitter was willing to stay one more night, (yay Heidi).  It was heaven to get to sleep instead of driving two hours. 

One of the very cool things about Reiki is that you can send energy out into the world and there is one method of "clearing the way" so you can send your energy and intention out in order to improve traffic, clogged drains, busy signals etc.  After we returned to my sister's house and picked up my niece we decided we were starving (Reiki makes you hungry too) so we set out for Longhorn Steakhouse at 7:00 on a Saturday night, in the big city.  We got there and found a very, very full parking lot.  My sister and I looked at each other and decided to try to "clear the way" in the hopes that we wouldn't have a long wait.  She hopped out to check on the wait and I kept sending our message.  As she went in several large parties started coming out of the restaurant, one group got into their car right in front of where we were waiting and got ready to leave.  Then my sister came out with a big grin and said, they can seat us right now!  I parked in the now vacant spot right in front of the door and in we went to sit right down.  The restaurant was very full, there was a party of 8 waiting to be seated and people who came in after us were given pagers for their wait.  I uttered a prayer of thanks and we ate.  Was it coincidence?  Was it Reiki?  Was it luck?  Who knows.  We both became so overcome with fatigue during dinner that it was hard to enjoy, we couldn't wait to get home to sleep. 

This morning we both felt good and I headed home.  Since returning home I dug out hubby's old table from medical school (he is a D.O. and they had to do OMT (spinal manipulation) so he had a table similar to a massage table.  I did a treatment on my daughter and she was very curious about it all and said she liked it and it felt very relaxing.  I am eager to get better at it and feel like I know what I'm doing.  The classmate I practiced on told me that I was a natural and did everything perfect and it was the greatest thing since sliced bread (my words not hers) who knows, maybe this will be my next calling.  I guess the next thing to do is to practice, do more reading and try to learn to do a session without the aid of my manual

So I shall practice on the willing little girl, the skeptical husband and the unsuspecting son. 

On the road again...

One of the frustrating things in my life right now is all the time I spend driving.  Poor Max has had so many trips to the ENT 2 hours away as he's had to deal with nosebleeds and then getting his nose cauterized TWICE.  We splurged on the factory installed DVD player in the new van which is great when there is a second person to run it.  Almost all my trips with him have been just him and I which means he either has to suck it up and watch the show he chose originally or he screams till I can't stand it and pull over and change the show.  This stop and start makes an already long trip even longer.  So today we go for our (hopefully) last trip to the ENT for his post-op follow up.  All signs look good that this last cauterization did the trick so I'm VERY hopeful that we won't have to make this trip again anytime soon. 

So today after I get home from that 4 hour round trip I get to head off in the opposite direction 2 hours to visit my sister.  We are taking a Reiki I/II class tomorrow in Downeast Maine and I couldn't bear to leave my house at 4am so I'm going tonight.  I am grateful that I have some new books on the ipod so I can at least be entertained during my travels.  I think I'm going to start with, "The Year of Living Biblically", it got lots of good reviews and some friends suggested it as well.  I'm hoping it's entertaining.  Anyone read it?

I'm very intrigued by the Reiki class and am going into it with an open and curious mind.  I am hopeful that it will help me be more centered and less frenzied as I cope with everyday life.  I'll keep you posted on how that goes, it's a pretty tall order!  My sister and I are just hoping that we don't look like dumbasses and if we do I'll leave that part out when I tell the story :-)


Ready, set, zoom...here I go...

What have I done?

So is it ultimate narcissism or cutting edge trendiness that causes one to start a blog?  I guess time will tell.  I wanted to start a blog because I often think that I should have my own reality TV show and since that bitch Kate won't step aside to let the TLC cameras follow my (much more interesting and less prolific) family around, I had to take matters into my own hands. 

Take today for instance.  My son, M,  is very good at creating what would be "must see TV".  I left him unattended (he's 10) for about 20 minutes while I did important household tasks (read: update facebook status and check online bank statement) and returned to find that he had gotten a cantaloupe from the counter, bored a hole into it with his picky fingers and proceeded to eat the all the innards with his hands.  I found him with seeds and juice and pulpy bits all over his face, hands, clothes, TV, laptop and the living room floor.  Now before you judge a 10 year old for such poor manners I must let you in on the fact that he is quite severely autistic and his favorite pastime is stealing food.  Our kitchen looks like Fort Knox with a chain and padlock on the refrigerator and child safety locks on all the cupboards.  Sadly tonight I forgot the lonely cantaloupe on the counter so it was Son: 1 and Mom: 0.  After sucking cantaloupe seeds from the laptop and out of the front of the VCR it was definitely time for bed.

The other players in my cast of characters for my "show" are my 10 year old daughter, J, (twin of my son) who is typically developing and my husband L. who is a Dr. and is working nights this week.  We also have a very old cat with a thyroid condition who needs meds 2x a day.  Add to this my part time job as a therapist, my kids extra curricular activities, a large house and a garden of "abundance" and you'll see why I need a camera crew.  At the very least they could alert me to unlocked cupboards and mischief on my son's mind.