Vampires

One more thing. I love reading. But I never really read the whole book. I read the first few chapters and then the last 3 or 4 chapters. If I can't figure the book out, I read from the back forward and the front backward until I can figure out the story.

Don't ask why. I don't know. I think it's because all books, most books at least are predictable. Plot specifics might change, but really the basic tenet of the book remains the same. (kind of like " the song remains  the same").

I don't like horror and I really never thought of myself as a lover of vampire stories. Not really. My son wanted to bond over True Blood. So we watched. But then I had to read all the books. every one. I read them so fast and out of order that I really couldn't tell you what happens. Not in any specific way.

when I see kids in clinic, I ask what they are reading. Some kids will barely get their nose out of the book to talk. But it's a fascinating world of what kids read. One kid was reading Vampire Academy. And again, to bond, I decided to read it. But I didn't really read it all. I read the beginning, figured out who the characters were. Learned strange words like moroi, dhampir, storgi. etc. Got the gist of the story and skipped to the end. But about the third book, I actually read the whole thing. And realized that I had missed a lot by skipping around. So now, I 'm left with the choice or re-reading the rest, or going forward without a real clue as to what happens. The kid in clinic, was thrilled that I had actually read the series she is reading. So, it's good. And hey, I can almost bluff my way through anything..... she thought I read the whole thing. and yeah, it's a little dishonest, but I did fess up to how I read books, which cracked the mom up. It went right over the kid's head.

There are books that I wish I could read from start to finish but I'd never be able to read if I did that. We decided at work that I was a dork because for about a week I fell asleep every night with nephrology books in my bed. who the heck reads nephrology before they go to bed? I do. I have a big bed, there was room for me and the books and my daughter when she climbed in late at night and a cat. and the laundry that sits at the bottom of the bed waiting to be put in drawers. I hate that part. I'll fold, but could I pay someone to actually put in the drawers or better yet, my kids don't even have drawers they have shelves. How freaking easy is that. But I still hate doing it. I usually fold it about 3 times before it makes it on to the shelves. yes, i"m lazy. and I hate putting away the clothes and emptying the dish washer.

Still Missing: a wonderful, but disturbing book. (and unfortunately, I only read the beginning and the end, so I don't know what she went through in the middle, but I'm okay with that). I mean I don't want to know what it was like to be held captive. But the end it was a shocker. SO I'm glad I sort of read it. I have the general idea and isn't that what counts. Sort of. someday when I have time, I'll read the whole book. but for now.... i'll settle with 6 chapters.

our work book club is trying to read eat, pray love. I put it on CD for one of my office workers, who loved the cd. Unfortunately, I dropped the bag carrying them and now they are out of order. She's says it's kind of fun, skipping from country to country when she changes the CD. She can't count which "bead" (chapter) shes on, because of that. I'm still on bead 6. Cuz I can't love the book. I only wanted to read it because I've been to all three of the countries and I think they are far more interesting than the book. (at bead 6).

Oh well. off I go.

It's been a year and what a year

It's been a year. Let's see in that year I've not gotten any closer to learning how you neat people do it. In fact, I think it's gotten worse. Why is it when I'm out walking or showering I think of things to say, but when I sit down to write; it's so much harder....


It's been a busy year. The bald kid is still a bald kid, but now a 4th grade bald kid. The little pink is still a little pink (but with pierced ears) and in 2nd grade. The biggest kid is finishing off those pesky three college classes to finish his degree. The second biggest kid is away at college in Florida.


We went on a long 2 1/2 week vacation this summer. Packing for three people in one suitcase for three different types of vacations . Never again. packing for diamond mining at Herkimer Diamond mines (in NY) A ton of fun. If you've never done it; give it a try. Then Great Wolf Lodge; with my ex and his wife. And my 79 yr old mom. That was also fun. Shockingly. Love the new wife, my ex, still glad he's the ex. Then to a fancy hotel on an island. The Grand Hotel. This was, also surprisingly, my kids favorite part of the adventure (although, by that time, I'd be surprised if they could remember diamond mining). They didn't want to leave. Want to move there. (that answer would be a NO). You have to ride a snowmobile across the lake in the winter. No, thank you.


But next year, it's not going to be a 3-in-1 deal.


It's been a year of fun and sadness. but still a year gone by incredibly quickly. Now as we enter the gorgeous Fall; I'm ready for time to slow down a little bit.
New goals have to be reached (walking 10,000 steps per day, tackling the clutter, putting down new flooring, losing 15 lbs so I can't pinch 6 inches).


But for now. I realized I have to finish at work and go home and fold the mountain of laundry that comes with 2 kids who change their clothes every 5 mins.


I said, gee if I stayed up for 48 hours I could probably get every thing I need to do done. Alex said, you could get it done in that amount of time. ???


Getting back to the fat: I'm not really fat; but I do weigh more than I used to. In fact, my kids were saying my fingers were fat. But they are basing that on the fact that I can't type on my cell phone. Not that my fingers are really fat. They are pretty skinny.


But I was thinking about how getting fat. How easy it is to get fat because it happens gradually. Slowly, incidiously. Like grass growing. You don't notice the grass has grown until its tall enough to cut. And you think, ' I just mowed how'd it get so tall?' I think getting fat is like that. By the time you realize you've gained all that weight; it's already on you. When i look in the mirror, I think how'd this happen? What changed? Where has my athletic sense gone?


I joke with my sisters that are they get older they have all discovered their inner athlete. I've discovered my inner laziness. Seriously. When I think that I trained for a triathleon at one point (meaning I biked about 120 miles / week, ran about 25 miles and swam 3-4 miles, plus stair master, etc ) I think What was I thinking? But I'd like to have that body back; but I'm not really interested in doing the work. So, I'll continue to lament, that somehow, like quietly growing grass, my body fat continues to grow..... and that is a shame.


My mother, at 79, is more active than me. Really??? I mean really? For one, she has the time, no kids at home, and is retired. Umm, I still don't think I'd be that active. I'll be lazy.


But new goals for now:
 - get a hair cut.
 - get a pedometer and start getting to 10,000 steps per day. I always feel tired at the end of the day, like I've done a lot, but I have come to realize that as adults we're tired because our brains work so hard each day, not actually our bodies.
 - finish putting down new floors.
 - lose 15 pounds
 - finish the de-clutter process.
 - buy christmas presents before December 25 or 26 (I HATE buying presents. it's not the present it's deciding what to buy).


Okay done for now.

Too many people

There are seriously too many people in my house right now (and sounds I do not recognize). My two oldest boys (24, 22) who SWORE they would never live with me after high school when I bought this current house, are both home. My mom is here for an extended stay for surgery. And the two little ones. In a 3 BR house. WAY too many people.

De-clutter progress. None. I like reading the book and dreaming I can decluter and have the perfectly clean house and organized kids who NEVER scream or flick their fingers at me.

It's like walking on the treadmill; you keep going but you're really not making any progress. None. At. All.

So September is pretty much a wash. Seriously, how do you clean neat people do it?

I'm no longer secretly envious or making snide remarks. I just want the secret. I do. I really do. If I could afford it, I'd pay someone to come over and declutter and make a schedule.

We're having a "spirit" day at work tomorrow (and a tailgate party minus alcohol). We're supposed to wear our favorite teams jerseys. I asked if I could wear Ricky Hatton's ; it was pointed out quite quickly that boxer's do not wear shirts (forgot that). Well going topless at work is not a sight most can see; me with my able to tuck into my pants breasts (unless I wear the bra that perks them up to my shoulders and seriously I have one of those). might be a little much. I 'll settle for wearing jeans.

Okay, I know how I did this (yellow background, purple writing) but I can't figure out how to get rid of it.

September goals:

met: many

not met: most

How can I de-clutter if I can't read the book?

Okay, so here's the thing.

 

As much as I can't get the hang of this blog stuff; I'm not certain I'll be able to de-clutter. It seems such a silly task when there are real things to worry about (the earthquake victims, school, work, ex, kids, mom, money, economy, etc) BUT I want a clean orderly space.

 

Here's why if I can't figure out how to read the book correctly how will I ever be able to do what's in the book? Seems simple. Pick book, open cover, start reading, implement suggestions. If only......

 

the book is divided into 12 months. Each month into 4 weeks (different tasks for each week). The book starts in January. I thought, I'll do January in September , (February in October etc etc etc). Umm. It actually doesn't work that way.

 

I did the January tasks for September. Then I thought, well it'd be nice if the kids have a better routine with the start of school. Thumbed through the book a little more and found September; start the school year off right. Duh. 

 

I wasted September on January and all I got out of it was a pretty clean kitchen. So it's probably worth it. But typical me, I'll probably try to do September and October together.  

 

My point being, if I can't read the book correctly, will I be able to do the tasks. 

 

It's almost 12:30 am and I hear one of my sons cooking in the kitchen. I think he's making brownies so Gabby will have some in the AM. Smells good. but why can't they do it at 10 pm? 

 

My mom is here and that could be a separate blog all in itself. She's a pretty easy houseguest.  She had cataract surgery about three weeks ago. On one eye. She created some drama at the surgery date (I think she was trying to get out of the surgery; I told her no way, I took the day off, you're getting surgery. " Only kidding, well I did say that to her, but she could have canceled it if she really wanted to.

 

She's had glasses since she was 4 years old. The ophthalmologist scolded her for waiting so long, but mentioned that she might see better than she ever had. She said no way. He also told she might not need glasses after the surgery; her reply: that will never happen.

 

Guess what ! it happened. Her fixed eye has 20/20 vision now. She can see colors for the first time in years. And she has taken great pleasure in the fact that she doesn't need the Large Print library books (but I need my readers even with the large print books) but I do.

 

She's also taken pleasure in pointing out that I have more gray hairs than she does (and she's 77). 

 

All in all, it's been a fun adventure.

 

But can I just say, I truly enjoyed that my little kids were with me most of the summer uninterrupted. Going back to the old schedule has been a very hard adjustment for me.  

3 weeks down; 49 weeks to go.

I love the thought of writing this, but I still cannot understand why it's so easy to think of things to write while I'm walking through the halls at work and why it becomes so difficult when I sit down to write it.

De-Clutter Update: 21 days to make a habit.
- that is so much harder than it sounds. My habit attempts for September were:
* take out the garbage (Thursday night and when full): 3
* enter and exit through the garage (ha ha ha ): 0
* complete the dishes after meals, empty dishwasher when clean, do pots, pans; wash counters: 10
* make a schedule for my kids: 2
* hang up clothes when I take them off: 5
* put folded laundry away immediately: 5
Okay so those are (for me) ambitious tasks. But in reality, they do get easier.

I watched my 6 yr daughter take out a CD and put the one she removed from her CD player back in the case and put the case back on her dresser. And I thought, she has it. She has that instinctive clean gene.

Here's another thing I've noticed about attempting to de-clutter. It really IS overwhelming. I can't even commit to writing in the journal every day, how can I commit to de-clutter. A mystery.

My new goals:
* establishing a bedtime routine for myself. That sounds silly, I mean after all, I'm old (48) I should KNOW how to do this, but I don't. I stay up way too late get up way too late and end up tired and crabby. So my new bedtime has to be midnight, so I can get up at 6:15 and eventually start walking on my treadmill.
* getting rid of the paper clutter.

The Journal Questions; Week 1.
Okay the journal questions. While I have not written them in a journal I have attempted to answer them for myself.

Question 1: Family/ home of origin. Were your parents on time? Never. and getting out the door was always a hssale and we were always always LATE. My dad would wait in the car quietly (sometimes honking the horn).
Enough for now. I was going to write some more, but I've had a headache all day and still feel ill.

1 year to declutter???

I'm sure all you very clean and neat people with your houses that are not at all cluttered cannot understand those of us who have clutter; we exist.

I first tried to Feng Shui my house and that worked in part; at least I put color on the walls where I might have left them light yellow like I usually do. But beyond telling me to move this piece of furniture over there and do X, Y, and Z. I"m not sure the Feng Shui practitioner that came to my house gave me the tools to de -clutter.

Every time I try, I end up with a bigger mess and feel slightly annoyed (well, more than slightly annoyed) by the mess. It's funny, I don't mind living in a little bit of clutter, but now that I've started this process, I can't stand the clutter.

Okay, so every book that I've read about why de-cluttering your house is good for you and your family, not one tells you how to do. Not really. Start small, tackle one project at a time is what they say. I don't know how to organize. That I can handle, but when you've lived in (closet) clutter you don't understand what comes naturally to other people.

I used to joke that my house clean was other (really neat) people's house messy That probably holds true.

I've started to read a different book. Actually, what started this was a lecture I heard in Church about taking back your time. It made me think, how do I lose time? I'm always stating to my kids that if they just do things when asked or put their shoes, boots, coats, back packs, etc where they belong they will have more time. But how do they learn that if I don't know how to do that.???

So this new book; 12 months to de-clutter (or something like that) goes room by room. BUT what it does (that I've not seen in other books) is it makes you think about your family of origin and journal. Thinking about how your family dealt with the things in the house is really actually, well, eye opening. My mom is staying with us and while I"ve not learned a ton about her, I've learned a lot about why I say and do certain things.

So, the first chapter was to start a journal (this is going to be it). It's about the family of origin. I'm not going to answer the questions tonight because this is just the start of it.

But the second thing (that occurs in the first week in addition to the journal) is that you have to start two new habits in the kitchen. Mine are: empty the dishwasher (my least favorite task; it ranks just slightly higher than cleaning out the cat box or the frog cage) when it is done and to wash the dishes as soon as they are used. Okay, for most of you this sounds like an easy task. For me, it's not. It's really not. It's actually quite hard. But I am on a mission. Not as exciting as cooking the entire Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking but then again, I'm not a writer and I have learned to hate cooking, but it will be oh-so-exciting for me.

For people like me, learning to establish the routine is hard. I can purge my junk with the best (if I had the time), but organize it? Organizing the furniture? I've no idea how to do that.

So armed with the only tools I have available (the book and my determination) I set forth bravely to go where many clutter fools have attempted to go... the dismal abyss of our messiness.

One year to an organized life (Leeds). Here I come. I think it should count when my mom or my son do the dishes; after all they got done didn't they? And it's 21 days until something becomes a habit, so I've added a task count at the bottom of the page. After 21 days, I think it should be second hat to hang my keys, put my dish in the dishwasher.

And I yes, I admit (with shame) I used to make fun of the people who always had a perfect house (while secretly admiring the neatness of their house and feeling envious), who seemed anal about putting away their clothes after taking them off (Me, I hang them on the end of the bed until I can no longer see the dresser or they fall off into a heap before I hang them). I thought how does that work? And that is the piece I've come to realize; it is work, but it's work that takes less time if you do it when it needs to be done instead of trying to do it later.

and that is it for tonight. It's late and I have to work.

So 21 days to habit; 365 to a de-cluttered house.

long time no post

long busy summer.

no time for blogging.

who ever thought that de-cluttering a house would be easy. I think it is easy for the people who are already neat. But those of us who really need to de-clutter make a larger mess in the process.

let's see since May:

Alex returned from India (8/1); left for K-zoo

Mom visited; having eye surgery and will be here until December.

Ex-husband gave up most of his time with the kids in July and August. his wife returned from N.M. for two months and is now headed back to NM.

Josh applied to college.

Both little kids had a birthday. LEarned to ride a bike and read. They both attended summer school.

and we got two water frogs and an Italian Greyhound named LeFeviere. I have no idea what it means, but the kids love saying it. I think it either means, I'm on fire or I'm all fired up. But it's a cute little rat dog.