Let me set the scene. Pick any night of any week: Dinner time. Samara sits at the table with her food on her plate (sometimes a portioned plate) and negotiates. "How many bites do I have to take for a piece of cheese?" "How many pieces of chicken do I have to have for an Oreo?" "If I eat two spoonfuls of macaroni and cheese, do I still have to eat my peas?" This is the conversation on her end for the entire dinner period. It is exhausting. Partially because it requires my actually keeping up with her negotiation and partially because if she just ATE rather than TALKED about eating, she'd be finished.
How many times have I said that to her? If you just ATE rather than asked me about eating you'd be FINISHED WITH YOUR DINNER... Ugh!
Rrealize, she tracks what she "earns" - "Okay, so now I can have two sips of apple juice, and if I have just one more piece of broccoli I can have cheese. Then if I eat the 7 pieces of meat, I'll have my Oreo. That's apple juice, and cheese and an Oreo. What can I eat to get a yogurt bite?" Her Dessert List. Aye de mi! At least SOMEONE can keep track of all of this!!
As this was happening to the nth degree today I realized the obvious lesson in this situation. I write lists, explain what I'm going to do, post blogs, make schedules, track progress... but I am hardly DOING the work. Hardly WRITING any more these days... Part of this challenge is to get me to DO. Not talk about it, write about it, think about it but just do it and then I can have my list of 75 things to do as it will be when I finish: my Dessert List.
Okay - those were the thoughts for today. I'm so very tired. I've added a few things onto my to-do list so that I'll be sure to have 75 on October 15.
Dessert List
15. Okay - don't think I'm crazy - but write to publish. I had a very good idea for a law article today. This will be one I don't pursue right away but I do think I would like it.
14. Email both Z and Mari at least once every other day with my thoughts on them, us, life, God.
13. Track all of the funny stories I've posted of Samara on Facebook and either email them to her and/or put them in a book for her. (Note: this doesn't include Z because she doesn't talk yet and I hope I finish my diss. before she starts to talk...)
12. In relation to #11, gather all of my user names and passwords and put them in a list somewhere... figuring out where that place will be should be another to-do list item but we'll save it for later.
11. Figure out whether Instagram is worth my time or just another account with a password.
10. Apply as a USDOE Federal Reviewer (not a full time job, or anything. A side-gig)
9. PINTEREST, Baby! That's right, I've never looked KNOWING it is a time-sucker!
8. Clean out the garage
7. Complete the scrapbooking projects I have for the girls
6. Fix up the area I envision as a mudroom (which will cut down on dirt in the house)
5. GO TO THE GYM as often as I want (without feeling guilty)
4. Read a newspaper with coffee in the morning (without feeling guilty)
3. Write our wills, guardianship documents, etc.
2. Read a novel (without feeling guilty)
1. Learn Spanish with Mari and Z
No comments:
Post a Comment