Thursday, March 30, 2006

My Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Peeps, I'm antsy. And a tad hungover. And stuck at the office where I can't do anything about either malady. And so, I kvetch. Join me, will you?

First, here's a nice photo of a little succulent farm I planted last weekend in my free 10 minutes. I offer it to you as a reward for reading on through my whining...Is it working?


I want spring to be here.

I want my garden planted and growing wildly.

I want my garage rebuilt STAT (it leaks like a sieve).

I want my fence rebuilt (it is literally falling down piece by piece).

I want my puppy dog.

I want my car to show up, finally.

I want to know all about BackTack III.

I want my kitchen finished (yes, we're still working on this beast -- one last piece to go. Yay.)

I want time to stare blankly into the morning sky and let my brain unravel.

I want the random house projects finished (oh yeah, we've moved on to other rooms in the house because we've not had enough fun with the first one).

I want. I want. I want. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, like a big baby, I know. But I'm finding that lately I have less and less time to get anything done. My weekends get planned months in advance. I had to actually schedule, in my calendar like a psycho, a day three weeks in advance to spend with one of my very best friends just so we could see each other and exchange CHRISTMAS GIFTS. Last year we didn't do this until July. I should have seen this as a sign. But no, here I am, without a weekend in sight to tend to any one of the aforementioned projects that I have bogging down my Mental Mind List.

I simply have no time.

What's worse, I have a prolific group of seedlings just screaming to be planted in the garden and no time to do it. I mean look at these guys: (cuke, Pumkinzilla)



I've even gotten so desperate that when I saw this months issue of Real Simple, which proclaimed on the cover, "How to Make Time for Yourself" I nearly knocked down the cashier to get to the rack. It's sad.

And really, I didn't find anything in there that has enriched my life. All I have now are Windex wipes under my sink (so that I can quickly clean up the bathroom while I brush my teeth instead of taking the 10 minutes to do it with a paper towel and spray bottle) a compost bucket on my countertop (so I don't have to take the precious time to, god forbid, walk out to the compost bin more than once a week) and an unreal desire to take a plane ride ANYWHERE so that I can get an hour to myself to read a book. It's come to the point where I just do not do one thing at a time -- I always double up.

So, if I'm sitting on the couch "relaxing" and watching TV, I'm also flipping through one of my magazines in the growing heap of magazine subscriptions, checking off a weekly call by talking to one of my family members on the phone, knitting a gift for an upcoming birthday, thinking about the work event I'll be attending the next day and planning the outfit/transportation/logistics/preparation for said event, trying to recall which bills I've paid and schedule time to pay them, feeding/brushing/kicking the cat, sorting mail, doing my nails, Dustbusting grodiness, starting the Scooba and making an attempt at QT with hubby by grabbing his butt while I run past him with the cat under one arm and a toilet brush in the other.

And there seems to be no end in site.

This weekend: Ski + all other recurring weekend chores
Next weekend: See estranged best friend, plant garden, finish kitchen, paint walls, fix door, gather everything for upcoming out of town visitors before garage caves in + all other recurring weekend chores
Weekend after: Passover + Dad's birthday party + all other recurring weekend chores
Weekend after: Out of town friends in town + all other recurring weekend chores
Weekend after: Have seizure + all other recurring weekend chores

And here's a picture of my friend's sweet dog, Dixie, to reward you for reading this much of my Waaaaa:



Isn't she a doll? Love this dog. She nibbles your leg when she's feeling luvy.

And what is the point of this blog? Well, I'm wondering if, out in smartie-pants blogland, you all have better tips on how to not drive yourself into a bridge abutment out of pure stress. So, since the Real Simple article failed to deliver any really useful advice on making time, I thought I'd extend the question to my blogging public. All three of you.

If you have time (insert ironic giggle here), hit "COMMENT" and tell me what you do about making time for everything and yourself while maintaining a sufficient level of sanity.


I'll nibble your leg?

2 comments:

  1. I can say with some certainty that I am by far not sane..But I have managed to come up with an idear for you....Would you like me to give you the name of my house cleaners? They work as a family (2 or 3 of them) super nice, and relatively inexpensive. I know you're against it, but it would save you so much time. They charge me ~$65 every other week...With our dog, cat, the honey, and little guy running my household, I simply could not keep up.
    I love my house cleaners. I give them gifts at Christmas, I leave them food if I have it, and above all, I owe them appreciation for helping me keep my head on straight...well, okay, it's on there just hanging by a thread..

    Whaddya say. hmm?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, a trick I've recently learned and am trying to implement is making a point of buying my week's (or better yet, two weeks) worth of groceries on Sunday. Then I get home, pull out my planner and figure out how many breakfast/lunch meetings I have. Then I pack according to the week ahead. And I take snacks to work each Monday to last me the week.

    On Saturdays, I get up, strip the bed and grab the towels and have the washing machine and dish washer going when I leave for my morning bagel. If there is time, I walk to the bagel shop, listening to NPR. I can't tell you the last time I watched TV and I wasn't really knitting or sewing with TV on in the background.
    Multitasking is the best way. I think you've got more under control than you know!
    I hope you have some time to get balanced this weekend and enjoy the wonderful upcoming events you have scheduled.

    And sure, nibble away. :)

    ReplyDelete

[2013 update: You can't comment as an anonymous person anymore. Too many douchebags were leaving bullshit SPAM comments and my inbox was getting flooded, but if you're here to comment in a real way like a real person, go to it.]

Look at you commenting, that's fun.

So, here's the thing with commenting, unless you have an email address associated with your own profile, your comment will still post, but I won't have an email address with which to reply to you personally.

Sucks, right?

Anyway, to remedy this, I usually come back to my posts and post replies in the comment field with you.

But, if you ever want to email me directly to talk about pumpkins or shoes or what it's like to spend a good part of your day Swiffering - shoot me an email to finnyknitsATgmailDOTcom.

Cheers.