productivity: fascinating

I freely admit it: I am a planner. It is indeed part of my DNA, and it has also become more than necessary. Working full-time with an active kiddo as part of a large blended family plus a couple of miles of running every week.. well a good deal of every minute of my days is planned. 


I make lists left and right. Lists calm me. I'll rewrite a list over again if it has scratch outs, or Heaven Forbid is a grocery list and does NOT match the order of aisles in the store. And when I say re-write, I do mean write.  By hand, with a pen. I love my iPhone and iPad and all my gadgets and apps and such. But my lists, those I write.  I don't have a photographic memory (but my that would be handy), but I DO remember actually writing something by hand.. so if by chance I have flitted off to the store without the sacred list, I can generally picture it in my head and manage to get most of the things on it. 

Usually by Thursday morning of each week, I have made a list of what we need to get done on the weekend. In January I bought a pink notebook; not full size but bigger than pocket size. It has become my LIFE.  I write everything in it, and it is always with me. And it has made remembering what needs to be done so much easier! 


Anyway. Last Thursday I didn't make a list. Work had been busy, and I knew Nana and Grampie were on their way to town.  I figured we'd kind of just see what they were doing and work around them. And you know what? We got so much crap done that it shocked both me and Bill.  

In a 48 hour period we managed to:

• have people in for dinner two nights in a row; one night had a new recipe and the second night I made homemade Spaghetti Sauce
• make goodies to bring to Josh and Sarah's pool party on Sunday
• plant a tree, dig up two flowers/plants that didn't make it
• clean the garage
• clean out &organize two junk drawers in the kitchen
• put up bars on the screen door (so Gracie won't head butt the screen out when she goes beserk at the sight of a squirrel..)
• write half of our wedding thank you notes
• have a 5year old Sleepover with Sydney
• do my nails, Eileen's nails, and Edie's nails
• roughly 5 loads of laundry done
• spend two afternoons at a pool; one of which I managed to read a good chunk of my book
• two super hard workouts for me 
• all that and we had fun too!

(See, another list!)

So. Now comes the part where you'll assume that, since we did so much withOUT a list.. that maybe I'll stop making them.  BWAHAHAHA. Not a chance in hell. 

See, even if we don't DO everything on a list, I still have a mental and written note that at some point we'll get to it. 

You know what?  I even keep a running list of blog topics.... 

Picture Perfect.

I take a LOT of pictures. Not exactly a secret right?  Some I like, some not so much.


<----Some, I simply adore. Adore. This is one of those that I adore. 


We were out with friends, taking candid shots just for fun. And Bill got ^ that one of us. And silly as it is, I think it may be my most favorite picture ever of us. I think I shall frame it. I daresay it will make it onto the yearly Holiday Card. 

<--- now THIS picture. Oh-Mah-Gawd. 


That is a fake wolf. Or coyote.  (sorry readers, I am really not up to date on violent creatures of the wild..). Whatever it is, it has been placed on the shore of the lake on our office campus. 


I swear on my running shoes that this picture is not photo-shopped!  A coworker had posted it last night, and I did think it was a hoax. And I walked outside this morning, and seriously people. I damn near squealed. 


Even though I know it isn't real, it is creepy, I mean CREEPY.  Apparently it is meant to scare away the Canadian Geese who tend to set up camp here. I think the Geese keep eating the baby ducks that have hatched. I can't make this up.  


OK- so that being said... and I'm no expert on the intelligence level of Canadian Geese.. but at some point, won't they figure out that this Coyote Wolf Thing never moves? That he constantly stays crouched like that? That they don't smell him? At some point won't they just honk in amusement and poop on his head? 

And then one has to wonder, where in the world does one find such a yard decoration? I mean, are these found in your local Home Depot?

<-- Of course, then I remembered that not too long ago - I posted THIS lovely (it is maddening that even when I rotate a photo it shows up sideways here..). It was an insert in the Sunday Paper. So if somewhere in this world, glowing meerkats are being produced, well then of course scary as sh*t fake coyote/wolf things are being produced.  




And now dear readers, carry on with your day. 

Copycat Me

Imitation is flattery, isn't it? So I like to think that in today's post I am flattering my friend SLV.  I adore her blog and if you live within a 120mile radius of our Happy Holler then you should too.

So today I have two yummies to share. One of which I just had after my lunch, the other I    can't wait to try ASAP. I saw the granola bars when I was in the 'lunchbox' aisle at Super Target. I was looking for somewhat ok food for my extremely picky Mini. The girl could challenge, and beat, anyone who might be interested in a hunger strike. 

As for me, I am making a valiant effort to consume more real foods and way less processed ones. I know better than to think I'd eliminate ALL processed foods from my diet, but if i can manage to at least eat way less of them I'll be content. Anyway, I saw those Nature Valley thins. And I just ate one after my grilled chx & green bean lunch. Y-U-M. I had to put practically a whole pack of gum into my mouth to keep from consuming the entire box.  Which would of course defeat the purpose of the small sweet. So if you're looking for a little crunchy sweet treat, go for the Nature's Valley Granola Thin. 

I often start out a Monday morning with the "I will NOT drink any cocktails until at least Thursday" - all in the name of saving calories. And by Monday around 9:45am, I decide that I could get hit by a bus tomorrow but at least I'll have enjoyed a glass of red wine the night before. Now that Skinny Girl has come out with wine, I'm willing to give it a try. 

So that's my quick nod to SLV. Her posts are much more entertaining, and involve actual places. But she inspired me to share my two new finds. Well really so far it's one new find, and one on the way.

Backyard Shenanigans

Mercy. 
I got so caught up last time in actually getting a post written, I forgot to tell you to notice my new template.

OK, not MY new template. I mean, I am not that good people. I just picked a new one from our good friends here at blogger.


Fun huh? I figure now and then I should switch it up to see who's paying attention. 

You probably noticed Edie in loads of these photos. 
Yep. How can she NOT be in photos? She's so dang cute. 


Josh and Sarah got moved in a couple of weeks ago. Our houses are now a total of :60 apart. And they have a pool. See? That's me and Eileen at the pool.  Being close is a total perk. Last week it rained. Her raincoat was at Josh and Sarah's. Two minutes later, it was at our house on the way to camp with Eileen. Need a white tee to make a lab coat during CSI week at Camp? No problem. One of mommy's will work and Bill can run it over to the house.  And getting to see Eileen more is great for all four parents, not to mention Eileen getting to see Edie all the time. 


And yeah. duh. The Pool. 

Oh, and there are cows! Their yard backs up on to a farm. And it has two cows. A white one and a brownish black one. I have only see the white one. And it is HUGE.  


Of course, this is the girl who once asked how you tell a cow from a bull (to my credit, I had literally moved back from NYC two weeks before- I hadn't seen a real cow- or THOUGHT about a real cow- in well over six years!) - so to me ALL cows are massive. 


But even Bill agrees that this White Cow is huge. 

SEE?? I mean it's massive. And it expects a treat when it comes to the fence. Josh and Sarah also have a pear tree in their yard. So apparently everyone who's lived in this house has taken pears off the tree and given it to the cow.  So last week Eileen and I went to the fence to feed the cow.


Have you ever fed a cow? 
I sure have not. And I don't plan to do it ever again. 


I walk up to the cow - in my BATHING SUIT - with an audience of Sarah's parents, Bill, maybe Josh. I can't remember who was in the back yard with us. As I reach my hand - with pear - over the fence - everyone hollers for me to keep my palm open. 


OK. duh. I did at least know that. I HAVE fed other animals. Mainly turtles and dogs. But I still know better than to offer digits to an animal. Especially when it's head is as big as my torso. What they did not tell me was that this cow's TONGUE was as long as ME and that it would come all the way out of its mouth and that it would wrap around my entire forearm to get the nasty pear and that this tongue was all rough and scratchy like a cat's.  On a cat, it's cute. On a cow. it is NOT. 


I will not even discuss the SMELL. OMG I smelled like a zoo. And you all know I can't stand the zoo either. I only go for Eileen's sake.  It is only because Eileen was standing there that I didn't scream bloody murder, spin my head around 180degrees, and haul ASS back to my safe lounge chair and cocktail. Instead I calmly squealed just quiet enough to not break glass, and walked somewhat steadily far away from that beast. 


OK, she is super cute to look at. But I shall never get so close again. ICK.


(you can raise a girl in the south. she can live in the mountains. she can marry an amazing farm boy. but she will always be a city girl.)

Well Hello.

It totally bugs me when there's such a long time between my posts. I live in awe of those who blog more often. 
I've always got ideas running around in my head. They may or may not pop up at 2am. At which point I am NOT generally near the laptop. 


During the day at work, I do tend to be glued to my chair staring at the monitor. But I'm working, which doesn't generally lend itself to writing my personal blog. 


And as you most likely know, upon leaving the office, I either morph into Mom Mode and spend the next three hours cramming in quality time with Eileen, Bill and Gracie. Laundry, dinner, bath time, bed time, and so on. And if I don't morph into Mom Mode, then I morph into Social Butterfly.. Bill and I heading to $2Pint Night, or me tracking down the Ladies for  GNO.

The point being - by the time I either sit down on Mom nights or get home on Big Girl nights, I am too dang tired to drag out the laptop and make coherent sentences. Thus. My blog sits alone and dejected.  Too bad I'm not more melodramatic, huh? 

<----  Is that a photo of my child and the garbage can? (some of you may well remember the purchase of that garbage can. oh yes, there was a blog about it...) 


I imagine you are wondering
a) why we even took a photo of kid + garbage
b) why we then POSTED said photo....


Or ya know. Maybe you're not wondering those things. But I'm telling you anyway. That was the very.last.time Eileen had to take the nasty icky medicine. The kid has been taking it every single day since she was about two years old. it was to prevent bladder infections, as it had been determined she had urine reflux. after three years and she still hadn't outgrown it, and after her March procedure - we finally found out in May that it was successful- and thus - no more medicine!  She was elated. And therefore, we made a production of throwing away the bottle (after she'd taken her last dose).   THAT is why we have Eileen with a garbage can. 

So another issue with long breaks between posts? 
Not a clue what I told you guys last time. 
Seems like a fairly simple problem to solve right? I should just go LOOK at what I wrote. hellloo?? did you miss the part about being tight on time? do i seriously have time to go look at that last post and risk precious seconds here where I could be writing genius material?

I finally downloaded my first 'digital' book. I don't have a kindle. or nook. I have my iPad with the Kindle App. I have been itching to read The Bloggess Book - that woman is hilarious - but I didn't want to pay for the Hard Cover. The digital one was half the price, so it has been downloaded. First I just have to finish my Witch Book. Patience has never been my strength.


And actually that Witch Book is ok. Not horrible. Not great. But I'm too freakin anal to not finish a book. That bugs me. (sidebar: i did not finish twilight number two. i just couldn't get into it. which makes little sense since this Witch Book is indeed about Vampires).

OMG I am totally rambling. I mean really. 


See? Yet ANOTHER bad thing about long times between posts. Now I want to sit here and cram it all in to one post. And then risk losing all you awesome people who live to laugh along with me AT me. 

On that note, I'll sign off. Abrupt, yes. But maybe I'll entice you to come back for more...