Many thanks to Rayne, who pointed out that my comments weren't working. I've replaced them now with a new source so things should be put to rights, comments-wise.


    My de-acquisition mode continues to gain momentum. I've been gathering bag after bag of items to give away, donate or sell and cannot believe 1) how much stuff I'm finding that either never should have moved with us or I'd forgotten about entirely or 2) how much stuff is still left. It's like taking water from the ocean a cup at a time. How on earth did we manage to collect so much? Well, a couple words come to mind (luck and privilege, for starters) but I think my overall tendancy toward saving for "what if?" may have put us over the edge. A lot of what we're getting rid of now is from the "baby boy" category and, since I will deliver any day now the girl who will be our last child, I feel we can release the boy stuff we saved from when our first was new. Now, don't get excited - I'm not talking about the blue rompers or whatever. I have no problem putting a baby girl in blue, but I'd rather not put her in the snap-tee that has snakes and snails on it, you know? I'm a modern woman, but that only takes me so far.


    I'm also getting rid of (finally!) bridesmaid's dresses that (surprise!) I never wore after the weddings. Actually, the most expensive of these dresses (nearly $500) was worn the last time I ever saw or spoke to the bride (she didn't like that I had bought her present off the registry and cut off our friendship- strange how you can think you're so close to someone and then they sock you, eh?) so I have zero emotional attachment to it. Most of the maternity clothes - out. Mismatched towels from college days - out. Pots and pans saved in case we ever go camping (yeah, right) - out. Videos that haven't been watched in years - out. It's all going in the hopes that the universe will lead it to others who need it more than I (or at least have more storage space).


    There's some stuff I'm simply not ready to get rid of. My softball trophies, for instance. It's not that they're important in the day-to-day sense (since I rarely think of them, let alone open the box to look at them) but they represent something in my girlhood that proved critical to becoming the woman I am today: the ability to compete, to win without guilt and lose without shame, learning teamwork and leadership as well as how to follow. So they're staying - at least for now. My LPs are staying, too: Adam Ant, Duran Duran, OMD, and all the rest. I can't get rid of them just yet - more nostalgia for the girl I was.


    I wonder what moves an item from the "keep forever" to the "get rid of it now" column. Is there a specific moment in time, do you think, when something switches from indespensible to indefensible? Or is it a more gradual thing, taking place over time as we grow and change ourselves? Why is my Thompson Twins drumstick (caught while in the front row of a concert at Shea's Performing Arts Center, 1986) still so important to me while a letter of recommendation from a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (where I was a co-op in 1990) or even the wedding cards we received from people I genuinely love are so easy to toss? Clearly, logic has no place in the purging process. Good thing, I guess, or I'd still have the bubble skirt I wore to my junior year homecoming dance. Man, I loved that thing.

Post Title


Post URL

https://beat-hairstyles.blogspot.com/2004/01/many-thanks-to-rayne-who-pointed-out.html


Visit Trend Wallpapers And Desktop Background for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection
    I've got so many things on my to-do list(s) and am so unlikely to get to to the end of any of them that I'm feeling rather demoralized today. My lists are color coded: blue entries are work, green are household, red are personal, black are appointments and errands. Then I usually have an auxiliary list for things that I need to research but haven't made it to the main list: stuff like pricing carpet cleaning services (which would eventually have a black entry) or looking into a certain business topic (which would hopefully prompt some blue entries). These are then attached to a running "acquisition list" of stuff I need or want to buy - which are further subdivided into groceries, household items, capital goods, clothing/personal and gifts. I've never really been a Filoxfax kind of girl and this simple system usually helps keep me on top of things. Lately I've been hankering to add one of those calendars with a line item in every day for each member of a household. Using it with my lists, I think I'd be one organized woman.


    That's the theory anyway. More and more my system is falling down on the job, as it were. In the last week I've almost missed a doctor appointment, run out of bulk yeast, made a special trip (horrors!) to the post office, forgot to put the last load of wash into the dryer (requiring a re-wash upon its discovery five days later), bought a twelve roll pack of paper towels only to discover that I had already done this but hadn't eliminated the purchase from the list (I am now the proud owner of 26! rolls of paper towels),...you get the picture. And now. And now I've done the unthinkable. Hot Water Bath - the premier canning blog - has run out of canning jar lids. You know, the flat piece of the two-part dome lid. I had a burst of energy today and decided to make some mango jam after encountering a good price on organic mangoes. But somehow, the complete and utter absence of jar lids failed to make its way onto the acquisition list, where it would have been included on the errands portion of the to-do list. I feel as though I've let the side down. Surely I must have realized when making the grapefruit marmalade last week that I'd used the last of them. Right...right? So now a two hour activity will be stretched over two days and will require a special trip out just to finish.


    Clearly I need to evaluate my system. Either it can no longer accommodate my increasingly complex life (I wish I were saying this with tongue in cheek, alas I am not) or I have let things spin dangerously out of control. To run out of jar lids: now that's a wake-up call.


    My (belated) New Year's Resolution: to regain control of the organizational requirements of my life and household. Buckle up, folks, it's going to be quite a ride. With God as my witness I'll never run out of jar lids (or anything else) again.

Post Title


Post URL

https://beat-hairstyles.blogspot.com/2004/01/ive-got-so-many-things-on-my-to-do.html


Visit Trend Wallpapers And Desktop Background for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection
    Today I have the pleasure of having met a major client deadline. I have the further pleasure of wallowing in a small amount of schadenfreude since one of my fellow consultants - the one who was giving me so much trouble - did not make his deadline and, in fact, the work that he did complete will cause time and money spent on revision down the road. I am not proud of gloating, but there you have it. I tried to help him, but he knew best and wasn't prepared to listen even though I've been on the project for a full year longer than he. In fact, his absolute refusal to utilize standard processes and documentation - even though we are working in a "regulated environment" - will probably ultimately result in more work for me so I guess I owe him a debt of gratitude for being so hard headed.


    In other news, hardcore nesting continues with plans to straighten out the canning cupboard this evening. I simply cannot live another day with the spicy brussels sprouts placed willy nilly around all the other veggies. And why, please tell, did I think it was a good idea NOT to put labels on the strawberry sauce? No child of mine will enter a home where the strawberry sauce isn't properly labeled. Well, never mind because all will be put to rights tonight. Last night I tackled the linen closet - all the twin sheets are now together, as are the double and queen size. Beach towels have their own little nook and extra blankets are folded neatly by the door for easy access.


    Sadly for the rest of the family, this domestic zeal does not translate into yummy meals. Last night I made something my mother called "Texas Hash", which consists of ground beef, rice, tomato sauce, onion and peppers. Definitely not glamourous, although I supposed it's healthy enough with a veg or something. "Or something" - see how far gone I am? I'm sure my cooking mojo will return someday (soon, I hope), but for now I'm just interested in fast and minimal dish requirements. In fact, my husband just called to see what he can pick up on the way home and I asked for some Raspberry Ice Crystal Lite. I'm secretly hoping that he's inspired while he's there to get some lunchmeat or something. Or a one of those pre-cooked chickens. Or maybe even a can of chow-mein. Hey - if all else fails we've got peanut butter and some saltines. Yum...sounds like dinner to me.

Post Title


Post URL

https://beat-hairstyles.blogspot.com/2004/01/today-i-have-pleasure-of-having-met.html


Visit Trend Wallpapers And Desktop Background for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Popular Posts

My Blog List

Blog Archive