What was that again?

My apologies - I have been trying to come up with good blog topics, but that isn't so easy with a foggy head.
I know that a few ideas popped into my head earlier today and the one lesson that is constantly being reminded to me over the last few days:

I must write everything down!

I like to think that I have a good memory and to a degree, I may be right.
I have a good memory for the past, not for tracking today.
I live with To Do Lists and reminders and post it notes...If it doesn't get written down - forget it!
My iPhone has started to replace the Franklin Planner, but I am still attached to both for different things.

I think my big hang-up is that I am scared I will lose the phone (okay MommyMarie - let's not talk about the time I left the Franklin at your place...).
Or, as many of us have experienced, will the phone have a melt down of electronic proportions?
I guess that is why I am primarily using apps that are also linked to the intranet - Google Reader, Grocery IQ, etc.
Without those, my organization would go to pot, but my data plan would look much smaller.
Heck, I admit it - my organization isn't that great most of the time (despite what some people think), but it would definitely be scary on its own!

Any other good intranet-based, get my world in order, type apps I need to know about?

Namaste.

Stress?

There are various levels of stress. . .
So I've been told.
I know that I have murmured those words myself a time or two.

And I think I feel stressed a lot.

Then, my body reminds me that it does know what stress is. . .
And reminds me that I should have remembered that on my own without any help.
And if I don't listen to that reminder, I get kicked in the rear and get to buy medicine.

Namaste.

Ickies...

Ever felt bad?
Not flu bad or cancer bad or labor bad. . .

But the can't think cause I feel like I have the sickies or ickies or whatever they are called today. . .
And I'm going through a lot of hot tea and Kleenex and Day Quil. . .

And all I wanna do is sleep?
Yep, that's me today.

Namaste.

Productive

I felt like I was pretty productive this weekend (yes, today is still part of my weekend).
Then, I went to update my To Do list and realized that most of the things that I got done, well, they weren't on the list.

Frustrating.

But, all of those things, well, they needed to be done and would have made it on the list eventually.

Maybe I should add them just so that I can cross them off. :)

Namaste.

Music

(NOTE: Anyone else having issues Blogger not posting things composed in IE correctly? I have to switch to Firefox for it to publish correctly!)

I believe that I posted awhile back about how big of a role that music played in my life (Yep - HERE).

Since then, becoming a parent to teens has taken a larger role and the music doesn't play as often as it used to. I am more focused on having conversations, dealing with day to day things that come with raising kids and spending time with them. It also doesn't help that all four of us have different tastes in music, so we usually listen to country when we are together.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with country, but I have been blessed over the years to meet quite a few people who are amazing musicians. . .And none of them are classified as country (but some are also song writers and have been recorded by country artists).

I have also been having a rough time the last few months. No, it hasn't been because music is less of a role in my life. But today I realized that music used to help me deal with those rough times, or at least make them a bit easier to navigate through.

I was blessed a few years ago to spend a week with two musicians who lead a retreat that I attended in Missouri. I was blessed today to spend time with one of those musicians today: Karen Taylor-Good is an amazing song-writer / singer who focuses on life issues and yes, can even moonlight as a Wonderful Water Woman any day! She is real, she is talented, she touched me today again.

One song in particular was co-written with Karen Drucker called "I Am A Gift":

I am a gift

No matter what age

No matter how I look

No matter what I weigh

I am a gift

And I promise every day

When I look in the mirror I'll say

I am a gift

I am a gift

I've loved really well

And every year I've lived, has a different tale to tell

I've made some mistakes, have some regrets

But I promise I'll never forget

I am a gift

There may be times

When I forget the truth about me

When it seems time and youth are just marching on without me

That's when I might need you to find me

And ever so gently remind me

I am a gift

I'm God's precious child

I was put here on this earth, but only for awhile

So I make this vow and I say it with love
I am perfect and whole and enough
I am gift

I am perfect and whole and enough
I am a gift
I am a gift
I am a gift
I am a gift

Namaste.

Drowning in Paperwork

I used to keep every scrap of paper that came into my home for seven years.
It easier - I had to keep the taxes for seven, why not everything else?

I have gotten better about throwing things away quicker, but papers do get layed around the house until I get everything into Quicken. If you know how hard it has been for me to find time to post on this blog this past year, you can imagine how much time I found to take care of filing and all of that paperwork!

I finally had enough of all of the piles around the house. . .

I spent about five hours of h e ! ! today filling up a trash bag full of shredded papers and organizing files and. . .
I still have a few more hours to go.

My goal is to find those hours over the next few days to get caught up for the first time in four years!

Namaste.

The Tube. . .

I have never been a big TV watcher. . .
Well MommyMarie may dispute that statement (especially when Sixteen Candles was on).
Since I have owned my own home, I have rarely watched a lot of TV.

I would rather work on crafts, spend time with loved ones or work on the house.
When I lived in the condo, I would only have the TV on when I was working on something else.

Now, I have a family that loves TV. . .Sitcoms, Movies. . .
OB can probably recite dialogue.
I see a lot more TV now, but there are just a few shows that I really like and now that MBB has them set to record, I get to watched regularly.

Biggest Loser (the Aussie version is great too - but they have now restricted it from USA)
The Voice (though one of the judges may lessen my desire to watch this one)
The X Factor (this one surprised me a bit)
Switched at Birth (watching this one on the Internet)
Big Bang Theory

Any other shows that you think are must sees?


Speaking of X Factor, I must say that I was really impressed with Josh and Drew this week. Excellent versions of those songs!!!

Namaste.

I miss. . .

I miss being creative.
I miss making things.
I miss going into my space, blaring music and working away a few hours.

Some people use movies to "get-away from life" for awhile.
I admit that I do that with books. . .
But my main "get-away" was always working on stuff.

My craft supplies have been boxed up for awhile due to our remodeling.
I am beginning to wonder if some of the 2011 funk has been because of my creativity being stifled.

Things that make you go "Hmmmm". . .

Namaste.

Hobby?

As some of you may know, and some of you may not, I am a remodel-er.
It is so bad that I had to start listing it one of my hobbies.

No, it did not begin when I moved into my current house.
This bug hit me about 15 years ago when I bought my first piece of property. . .

I was single. . .
I was poor. . .
I had expensive tastes. . .
I was uncomfortable living in what felt like someone else's home. . .

So, I put the call out and many people in my family started teaching me how to do things.
Good thing I am a fast learner as some of those things have had to be done multiple times (I'm pretty darn good at changing door knobs!).
I also learned when to pinch pennies and outsource - hurt the wallet, but the bathrooms looked good!

Care to take a guess at when I got the Condo done?
The week after I moved out.
Yep, my renter is now enjoying all of the remodeling that I did.

But it was time to not be single anymore and I had something new to focus my attention on.
Yes, I moved out of that beautifully remodeled condo into another fixer-upper.

I am no longer single, which is nice to have someone co-sharing your hobby...
I am no longer poor, but I am pretty darn frugal...
I still had expensive tastes, but now there is something called compromise that gets involved...
I still didn't want to feel like I am living in someone else's home...

And the fun continues. . .

Namaste.

Trying to be back!

I took some time off from the blog. More than I usually do…
Does seem to be a trend around here though.

It wasn’t something that I consciously did…
It just happened.

I could blame it on MaBell’s Volleyball.
I could blame it on OB’s Football.
I could blame it on our remodeling.
I could blame it on changes at work.
I could blame it on the crowds at the grocery store.

But in the end, it simply was that something had to slip through the cracks and I didn’t want that something to be my sanity.

At any rate, I am going to make an attempt to get back into blogging (and not just picture posting). Sometimes putting words out there, even vague ones, seems to help keep things straight in my mind.

I heard a few people were participating in a “NaBloPoMo” (National Blog Posting Month) and I thought about giving it a try…

OK, OK, OK…
I am cheating as I am back dating this post, but I just found out about this activity today from Carmen and so I am posting twice today. Based on my current history of no posts, I think two in one day should definitely count! :)

Namaste.