Done for the Week: First Things Last?

I'm continuing to fight the good fight--with myself.  And I'm continuing to lose.  I just can't get it all done.  I can't even remember what it all is. 

Despite having read about a zillion books and articles on slowing down, and simplifying, and living at the speed of life, I find myself busier and busier.  New assignments creep in under the door while I'm not looking.  New wrinkles, in time, on my face, and in the form of complications present themselves at every turn.

Things continue to get done, somehow.  Not necessarily the most important things, but . . .


Done for the Week:  Mar. 19-24, 2012

1. Biked twice
2. Worked with physical therapist once to restore injured foot
3. Continued reading Elizabeth George's A Place of Hiding aloud with my husband
4. Read A Mind to Murder, by P.D. James
5. Continued reading Proust's Remembrance of Things Past
6. Continued to work my two part-time jobs
7. Published 3 Put it to Bed blog posts
8. Attended an Altitude Design Summit web class
9. Continued work on current clients' projects
10. Contracted with new client
11. Prepared bid for prospective client
12. Attended one yoga class
13. Did laundry
14. Continued college conversations with youngest son
15. Meditated 2 times
16. Met with Communications Team co-chair
17. Co-chaired Communications Team meeting 
18. Spent hours mocking up potential newsletter
19. Helped take my baby granddaughter swimming for the first time
20. Had lunch date with my husband
21. Took my dog to the dog park
22. Spent time digging out the kitchen
23. Made arrangements to convert stock to IRA
24. Made changes to the nonprofit website I volunteer manage
25. Attended church service on e. e. cummings

The most important thing I did last week was. . .   Actually, I have no idea what the most important thing on this long and somewhat exhausting list was. 


Sometimes, I can answer this self-imposed question rather easily.  Something jumps out.  Today, I'm too tired to judge.  And to busy to take the time.  Not good signs.

Last week, I continued to try to focus on meditating and writing daily--or at least regularly.  

But, to my chagrin, "it's still not working."   I'm beginning to think I don't know much about focusing.  Maybe I'm missing the gene for this important human capability. 

If I'm honest, I have to admit that I never really give up trying to do all the other things on my literal and mental lists, so focus goals don't enjoy real primacy. 

For next week, I'm going to experiment with not setting a focus goal.  I wonder if it will make any difference to how I allot my time and energy, and to the results.

Done for the Week: Up the River

Another crazy busy week.  And the coming one promises to be worse.  Lots of stuff seems to be getting done; not much of it particularly well planned.  Planning takes a bit more time and energy than seems to be available to me just now.

At any rate, here's the list.


Done for the Week:  Mar. 12-18, 2012

1. Swam once with my workout partner; canoed once
2. Worked with physical therapist twice to restore injured foot
3. Continued reading Elizabeth George's A Place of Hiding aloud with my husband
4. Read The Black Cat, by Martha Grimes; Rise and Shine, by Anna Quindlen
5. Continued reading Proust's Remembrance of Things Past
6. Continued to work my two part-time jobs
7. Published 4 Put it to Bed blog posts
8. Continued to participate more in the BlogHer community
9. Continued work on current clients' projects
10. Resumed work on previous client's large project
11. Attended two yoga classes
12. Did laundry
13. Continued college conversations with youngest son
14. Meditated 2 times
15. Straightened my work room
16. Attended Board meeting
17. Attended Issues Night meeting; joined new voter id task force
18. Traveled to Minneapolis with my husband and one son, to visit with my stepdaughter and her family
19. Met my newest step-grandson
20. Experienced a "wild ride" adventurous late evening canoe trip down the St. Croix River
21. Celebrated St. Patrick's Day Eve Happy Hour with my husband
22. Spent extra time babysitting my sick grandson
23. Took my dog to the dog park

The most important thing I did last week was traveling with my husband and son to visit my stepdaughter and her family, including their new baby.  

I have often commented that my "blended" family is more like something out of a Cuisinart gone wrong.  At this late date in my second--and last--marriage, I wish to provide all of us with as many pleasant experiences as possible.  And although this one required sitting in a car for more than 16 hours, among other inconveniences, it was completely worth it.  Wedging a seven-mile canoe trip, between river banks dotted with snow, against the wind and the dwindling light, sandwiched into a 2-1/2 hours round trip by car from their house, was totally over the top--and again, well worth it.  A high point was rowing past an island whose trees were filled with blue heron nests, and watching the beautiful awkward birds take flight.

We also took the scenic route home from Minneapolis, driving along the banks of the Mississippi.  The riverfront vistas of  bluffs and locks and aspen filled our eyes and souls with unaccustomed wonder.

Back in the everyday world, last week's focus goal was "to continue the effort to meditate regularly and to write every day for the remainder of March."

As in previous weeks, I continue to have difficulty pulling this one off.  According to all the magazine articles I peruse while on a stationary bike or at my physical therapist's office, all the books I'm slogging through, and all the blogs I consult, it should be a simple matter to effect these habit changes.  All I have to do is implement the programs dictated by the "new science of the brain," and voila!  I should be meditating and writing up a storm, as desired.

But as with my governor's job creation approach, "it's not working."   However, I'm not being recalled--at least not yet--and so I have some time to get it right. 

Next week:  same focus goal, same resolve in the face of anticipated same uncooperative circumstances.  I plan to tweak, and tweak some more.

Done for the Week: Focus Pocus

If Samson's voluminous hair was the source of his fabled strength, my formerly reliable left foot may have been mine.  

 

It has been months now that I've been struggling with pain and diminished mobility at the aggravated site of a five-year-old injury.  For much of that time, I have been ordered by various health care professionals to "rest" the offending appendage.  While I can bike and swim, and most recently use the elliptical trainer, I am still enjoined from running.  Which makes this newbie triathlete more of a bi-and-a-half-lete.  And not a very happy one.

 

The enforced suspension has kind of muted my overall motivation to train, and dented the athletic identity that kept me moving.  I am getting lazier and lazier about working out.  And that laziness threatens to expand into a general miasma.

 

I did get some things done last week, but I had to lash myself from time to time to do so.

Done for the Week:  Mar. 5-11, 2012

1. Biked once; swam once with my workout partner
   
2. Worked with physical therapist twice to restore injured foot
3. Continued reading Elizabeth George's A Place of Hiding aloud with my husband
4. Read Plain Truth, by Jodi Picoult
5. Continued reading Proust's Remembrance of Things Past
6. Continued to work my two part-time jobs
7. Published 5 Put it to Bed blog posts
8. Continued to participate more in the BlogHer community
9. Continued work on current clients' projects
10. Resumed work on previous client's large project
11. Attended two yoga classes
12. Went out to dinner with my two sons
13. Did laundry 
14. Continued college conversations with youngest son
15. Signed youngest son up for ACT testing
16. Meditated 3 times
17. In addition, attended day long Buddhist meditation retreat, involving approximately 200 minutes of sitting and 60 minutes of walking meditation 
18. Straightened my work room 
19. Attended Social Justice committee meeting 
20. Met with Communications team
21. Attended church service
22. Signed up for Journey to Membership classes at new church
23. Watched an episode of Trigun with my son
24. Survived transition to Daylight Savings Time

Continuing physical therapy on my injured foot was the most important thing I did last week.  I am coming to understand the importance of working through this injury, and the drain it has placed on my energy and exertion in all areas of my life.  So keeping the therapy appointments, and doing my "homework" in between is crucial.  In addition, I will need to keep fighting the urge to sit down and stay seated.  And that will mean forcing myself to get to the gym more often.

Last week's focus goal was "to concentrate on writing and meditating, continuing the approaches that have been working recently."  I would say that I succeeded in holding the line--more or less, and by hook and by crook.  A very intense day-long meditation retreat stood in for some of the shorter daily sessions I didn't manage to squeeze in during the week.  And though I fell short of my goal to write something each day, I did publish five original blog posts, begin work on a new poem, and complete a journal entry that led to a blog post.

I have finally learned, it seems, that I need to stay with a focus goal for at least a month in order for it to "take."  So I have decided to continue the effort to meditate regularly and to write every day for the remainder of March.    


I guess it says something about me, and about my ongoing organizational challenges, that I would attempt to implement a "focus" approach that has more in common with a firefly than a laser beam. . .

Done for the Week: Leaps and Bounds, and a Bit of Limping

February was full of celebrations, this year even more than usual.  And as I am working with my physical therapist to repair my "gait mechanics," I am challenged as well to negotiate the choppy rhythms of my days with strength and grace.

March should present a more even surface.

In this last week of February, in between snowfalls and tantalizingly warm days, stress and happy moments, I managed to get the following done:

Done for the Week:  Feb. 27-Mar. 4, 2012

1. Biked once; used elliptical trainer once; swam once with my workout partner
   
2. Continued physical therapy for foot injury
3. Continued reading Elizabeth George's A Place of Hiding aloud with my husband
4. Read The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, by Aimee Bender
5. Continued reading Proust's Remembrance of Things Past
6. Continued to work my two part-time jobs
7. Finished participating in BlogHer's NaBloPoMo for February
8. Published 5 Put it to Bed blog posts
9. Published 2 ReVersing Course posts
10. Invented NaJusWriMo, to keep myself motivated to write; and signed on for March
11. Began to participate more in the BlogHer community
12. Continued work on current clients' projects
13. Attended two yoga classes
14. Had dinner with friends; baked and brought a (not particularly sad) lemon cake
15. Did laundry 
16. Continued college conversations with youngest son
17. Meditated 6 times
18. Straightened my work room
19. Took my dog to the dog park
20. Made and communicated the decision to leave my current church, coincidentally on Leap Day
21. Celebrated our Leap Day anniversary with a small late-night Champagne party for two on the actual day
22. Made arrangements to explore joining new church
23. Attended new church with my husband and a friend
24. Saw Art Museum's Accidental Genius exhibit of self-taught artists with my husband
25. Celebrated our Leap Day anniversary two days late at the County Clare Inn
26. Watched an episode of Eureka with my son
27. Watched Devil in a Blue Dress with my husband

Successfully finishing the February challenge of BlogHer's NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), and establishing my own NaJusWriMo (National Just Write Month) in order to continue the writing momentum inspired by NaBloPoMo, constituted last week's most significant achievement.  I am looking forward to continuing to take my writing more seriously, and to making more regular time for it.  I am beginning to believe that writing constitutes, at this time in my life, the deep yes I wrote about searching for some weeks ago.

Last week's focus goal was "to strategize; to figure out how to apply what I know and am learning to the problem of wanting and needing to meditate, but not making time for it."   

For whatever reason, I ended up skipping past the strategy part, and going straight to the meditating.  However, some semi-conscious tactical work appears to have taken place.  The key elements of last week's almost daily meditating, after weeks of wishful thinking about meditating, appear to have been these:

1. I identified a time of day that had worked for me in the past, slotting in my practice as close as possible to that time.
2. I forced myself to meditate before lunch, which in turn preceded leaving for my afternoon job three days a week.  In this way, lunch served as a buffer that promoted the feeling of having enough time to meditate, and as a reward for having done so.
3. I lowered the bar in three ways, so that meditation didn't seem so daunting as it had become:  a.  I shortened the time from 20 minutes to 10;  b.  I relied on relaxation videos of nature scenes and sounds as a way of easing into a time of quiet; and c.  I skipped the cushion that had become a nemesis, and did my sitting on the couch in my workroom.  I view these measures as a form of training wheels to facilitate my return to this "bike" I had become so accustomed to before.  My intention is to continue using them until the habit is stronger, and then to remove them one at a time until I am once again sitting unsupported.

 I observe that I am feeling somewhat calmer--though perhaps only because I am not spending as much time flogging myself about not meditating? 

For the coming week, I am focusing on writing and meditating, continuing the approaches that have been working recently.   

What comes to mind is Michelangelo's purported description of how he created his sculpture of David:  "It's simple.  I begin with a piece of marble and remove everything that isn't David."  I feel like I am engaged in the attempt to unearth myself from all the busyness and clutter that keep me from being who I want to be.

Done for the Week: The Frailty of My Powers

Twenty-one years ago, my middle child was born in the early hours of Valentine's Day.  And into a complicated family structure that has meant multiple celebrations.

Add to that our culture's Valentine's Day hype and promotion, which lays on a host of rituals and expectations, from personally addressed cards for the classmates of each of our children to blissful romantic rendezvous with our mates.  Stir in a little perfectionism, a pinch of über-mothering, a spouse's long-distance commute, and an abundance of sugar (what with all the cakes, and the chocolate), and . . . voila!  My February crazies.

Of course, now that he's 21, and his brother is not far behind, we are not preparing 20+ Valentines each, or sending birthday treats to school.  My son bought donuts himself for his new workmates.  But it was a special birthday, requiring a bit more than the usual fuss, and entailing a rite of passage or two that invited parental "guidance." 

In between icing cakes and hosting parties, I tried to get a few things done.  Here's the list:

Done for the Week:  Feb. 13-Feb. 19, 2012

1. Biked twice; swam once with my workout partner
   
2. Finally chased down diagnosis of foot injury (not wonderful, but not fatal)
3. Got my husband and one son to the gym with me
4. Watched two basketball games with various family members
5. Continued reading Elizabeth George's A Place of Hiding aloud with my husband
6. Read Death of an Expert Witness by P.D. James
7. Continued reading Proust's Remembrance of Things Past
8. Continued to work my two part-time jobs
9. Continued participating in BlogHer's NaBloPoMo
10. Published 7 blog posts
11. Continued work on current clients' projects
12. Met with my adbook successor
13. Met with new communication team's members
14. Attended one yoga class
15. Did laundry 
16. Celebrated son's twenty-first birthday, at 3 separate family gatherings/outings 
17. Continued college conversations with youngest son
18. Meditated 2 times
19. Straightened my work room
20. Attended board meeting
21. Took my dog to the dog park
22. Gave my husband minor assistance with taxes
23. Celebrated Valentine's Day with my husband, in the background of Valentine's Day birthday observance

As in the previous two weeks, my most important accomplishment last week was continuing to participate in BlogHer's NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), which required posting a blog entry each day.  In the relative ease with which I am managing to stay with this undertaking, I am rediscovering how much I love blogging, and how much time I can make for writing when I commit to it.  When I am truly into it, it is the kind of work that doesn't feel like work.  I am learning something here.

Last week's focus goal was to try to meditate most days first thing in the morning.  Number of mornings on which I meditated?  One.  And that's using the word "meditate" loosely, to include some nearly pre-conscious, and all too brief focus on breathing.  My grade in this area?  F-

I don't think it's that I don't want to meditate.  In fact, at times I long for it.  Just never when I could actually be doing it.  

I've decided to move the book Willpower, by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney, to the top of my book pile, since 

1.  Daniel Gilbert--of Harvard, the PBS series This Emotional Life, and the book Stumbling on Happiness says it is

sinfully delicious . . . .[and a] fascinating account of the exciting new science of self-control, told by the scientist who made it happen and the journalist who made it news.

and

2.  Regular meditation is supposed to grow my willpower/self-control/discipline, and I can't make myself do this first thing.

Reading Willpower is my focus goal for this week.  Since reading is one of the things I do instead of meditating, this one should be a slam dunk.  And after weeks of dismal focus results, I am in desperate need of a win.

Done for the Week: "Not great, but not horrible."

Is it just me, or have we in the midwest experienced a couple of changes in season over the last week?

This has been such an odd winter that I've never really habituated to proper cold weather dress.  One day it's a jacket, no hat and no gloves.  The next, I'm digging in the closet for a warm scarf to wrap around my face, and clumping around in boots and mittens. 

Our recent snow fall, the day after a somewhat freakish warm spell, was welcome enough, especially to my four-year-old grandson and my lab/greyhound.  But the sub-zero windchill over the weekend, we could have done without.


Just when my personal foliage had started to bud, and my work to benefit from an infusion of life, it's back to the cave.  But we're holding our own in here, and getting stuff done anyway.

Done for the Week:  Feb. 6-Feb. 12, 2012

1. Biked twice
   
2. Played phone tag with orthopedist, unsuccessfully trying to obtain results from MRI of foot injury
3. Watched two basketball games with various family members
4. Continued reading Elizabeth George's A Place of Hiding aloud with my husband
5. Read The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie; The Uncoupling, by Meg Wolitzer; A Pocket Full of Rye, by Agatha Christie
6. Began reading Proust's Remembrance of Things Past--my third attempt; made it to page 97, farthest yet
7. Continued to work my two part-time jobs, putting in extra hours
8. Continued participating in BlogHer's NaBloPoMo
9. Published 7 blog posts
10. Continued work on current clients' projects
11. Referred potential client to colleague 
12. Met with organization's fund-raising committee regarding ad book
13. Attended one yoga class
14. Did laundry 
15. Rescheduled college visit, previously cancelled by cold feet
16. Traveled to college visit with my son and husband
17. Went out to dinner with my husband 
18. Meditated 3 times
19. Cleaned wall-sized bathroom mirror
20. Straightened my work room
21. Spent 1/2 day with my grandson, shoveling snow, walking a dog, & playing trains
22. Planned birthday celebrationS for almost-twenty-one-year-old
23. Saw an old friend for coffee and catching up

My most important accomplishment last week was continuing to participate in BlogHer's NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), which required posting a blog entry each day.  What I hope to gain from this project is two things:  1) a reinvigoration of this blog, which has been languishing a bit from lack of attention; and 2) reconditioning of my writing "muscles."  After twelve days, I am beginning to see results on both fronts.  


Despite a long string of career makeovers, all I've ever really wanted to "be" was a writer.  And since, as last week's quote from George Eliot reminds us "It is never too late to be what you might have been," a writer is what I'm determined to be.  I claim the label only when I'm writing, or have recently written.  Walter Mosley, creator of the Easy Rawlins mystery series and author of This Year You Write Your Novel, says “If you want to be a writer, you have to write every day... You don't go to a well once but daily. You don't skip a child's breakfast or forget to wake up in the morning...”



So I'm using the NaBloPoMo challenge to train myself to write daily.


And discipline is a muscle necessary to this practice. 

Last week, I planned to focus on figuring out some kind of workable meditation schedule, and on meditating as many days as I could manage.  Also requiring/developing discipline.  So how did it go with this focus goal?  As Becker's least-favorite patient Mr. Ehrlich whines in the "Lucky Day" episode, "Well, you know.  Not good, but not bad.  Not great, but not horrible."  (And yes, I watch too many Becker reruns.)

Some months ago, I was relying on a routine practice of meditating immediately after lunch.  Apparently, that midday time is compatible with my biorhythms, or whatever, because it did work for me more days than not.  Unfortunately, my work schedule changed so that my morning's writing time is abbreviated, and lunch is on the run.  I have not been able to establish a different regular time that I stick with.  This week, I'll focus on trying to meditate most days first thing in the morning.  On those days that I have to be out of the house early, I will shorten the sitting. 

Namaste.

Done for the Week: Taking the Energy Up a Notch

Maybe it's a perverse reaction to Punxsutawney Phil's prediction of six more weeks of bleakness.  Maybe it's because my countdown clock registers 10% of 2012 gone.  Or maybe the worm has turned.  (See Words@Random's exposition of this vermicultural phrase's "roots.")

For whatever reason, I have been a bit more focused and energetic this past week.  Here's hoping the worm in question remains in this position.  And here's the evidence of its workings.

Done for the Week:  Jan. 30-Feb. 5, 2012

1. Biked three times; swam once
   
2. Used my newly purchased heart rate monitor for the first time
3. Had oh-so-pleasant deafening MRI of foot injury; awaiting results from vacationing orthopedist 
4. Watched four basketball games with various family members
5. Continued reading Elizabeth George's A Place of Hiding aloud with my husband
6. Read Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith
7. Continued to work my two part-time jobs, putting in extra hours
8. Signed on for BlogHer's NaBloPoMo
9. Published 6 blog posts
10. Continued work on current clients' projects
11. Attended two yoga classes
12. Did laundry 
13. Continued supporting my son in his college application process 
14. Set up college visit, subsequently cancelled by cold feet
15. Supported my other son in beginning his new--and first-ever real--job 
16. Took son out to dinner to celebrate job
17. Had lunch and coffee dates with my husband
18. Went out to dinner with my husband 
19. Watched an episode of Eureka with my son
20. Meditated 3 times, once in an MRI machine
21. Finished re-hanging bathroom window shutters
22. Completed repair on remaining bedroom closet door 
23. Talked my credit union into one day's grace which allowed commingling of  two IRA accounts
24. Took my grandson swimming
25. Took my dog to the dog park twice, with one son and one husband
26. Completed meal planning for coming week
27. Did massive and expensive grocery shopping solo while men watched the Super Bowl
28. Babysat grandchildren for daughter's doctor's appointment

Last week's most important accomplishment was the re-energizing of this blog. A result of my new overall verve?  Or a contributor to that improvement?  Both, I think.

Personal fitness trainer Sharon Sorrels tells us, referring to the process of physical reconditioning, that  "you have to spend energy to get energy - especially when it feels like you have no energy." If I remember the basic rules of logic, from the bygone days in which I learned them, this does not mean that spending energy always enhances our store of vitality.  Using energy may be a "necessary but not sufficient" condition of acquiring more.



But it has been my experience that there are times (when the stars are properly aligned?  "when the moon is in the seventh house?"  when the gods are smiling?) when one good thing leads to another.  When the result of putting out energy cheers me, or the act of moving off the dime inspires hope and a sense of efficacy.  And this past week seems to have been one of those times.


At the best of such times, putting to bed one thing after another becomes a spiral of effort and accomplishment.  And in this case, I am energized by my blog's return from its recent period of semi-dormancy, to tackle other things.  And the addressing of those other things leads me back to the blog with renewed purpose.


I should also give credit to the decision to participate in BlogHer's NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) project for the month of February.  This represents the kind of "precommitment" that Piers Steel (author of The Procrastination Equation) advises as a useful crutch for procrastinators.  For me, the public nature of this precommitment adds the frisson of exposure that puts me over the top, making me that much more motivated to deliver.

My focus goal for last week was to meditate as many days as I could manage.  Apparently, I could only manage 3, but it's a start.  I remain challenged by a schedule that seems to change by the hour.  It might be a good idea to try pegging meditating to one or both of the two things I can count on happening every day--getting up, and going to bed.  For the coming week, I will focus on figuring that out, and on meditating as many days as I can manage.

 

Done for the Week: Not Exactly the Best Laid Plans

Stuff got done last week.  Not all of it planned.  In fact, not much of it.

 

It was one of those weeks for which the "done list" was designed--a device to foster self-forgiveness, and to document forward motion.

Done for the Week:  Jan. 23-29, 2012

1. Biked three times; did hip-strengthening exercises twice
   
2. Watched three basketball games with various family members
3. Saw orthopedist to deal with foot injury; awaiting insurance approval for ordered MRI
4. Finished reading Elizabeth George's A Traitor to Memory aloud with my husband; Began reading A Place of Hiding
5. Read Please Look After Mom, by Kyung-Sook Shin; Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
6. Continued to work my two part-time jobs, putting in extra hours
7. Published 1 blog post
8. Continued work on current clients' projects
9. Attended Great Lakes Multisport Expo
10. Worked on Voter ID database
11. Attended State of the Union address party 
12. Attended Social Justice meeting
13. Attended Jobs & Transportation subcommittee meeting
14. Did laundry 
15. Continued to support my son in his finally successful search for an auto mechanic internship 
16. Began supporting my other son in his college application process
17. Had lunch and breakfast dates with my husband
18. Mailed March of Dimes appeal to my neighbors
19. Meditated 3 times 
20. Got dishwasher repaired
21. Completed repair on one bedroom closet door
22. Purged many pounds of old paperwork
23. Cleaned microwave

Once again, the most important thing I accomplished last week was continuing to fight the good fight to reclaim our house.  The degree of order I have achieved thus far is providing a bit of momentum to the overall campaign, and I am enjoying keeping up the spaces I have cleared thus far.  It has been years since I succumbed to the growing disorder of my apparently undomesticatable housemates.  Maybe it has just taken me this long to venture a rematch.  But I am feeling hopeful.  And my roomies are at least making appropriate noises about pitching in a bit.  To be continued. . .

Last week's focus goal was to schedule three exercise sessions, three meditation sessions, and publishing of two blog posts (in addition to this one); and to stick to the schedule as circumstances permit, and re-work it, as they demand.  As John Becker said at the conclusion of the episode where his corner of the universe began to unravel, negatively impacting all the people around him, when he tried eating at a restaurant other than his regular haunt, "I think we learned three very valuable lessons."  Naturally, my lessons were somewhat different than his, since I was attempting a different kind of change, and since I am not a TV character in a sitcom set in the Bronx, and blessed with pretty darn good writers.  But you get the point.  So my lessons?  1:  I suck at schedules--making them and sticking to them.  2:  As Becker learned, "No good ever comes from change.  Ever."  And 3.  My life at present is not exactly schedule-friendly, even if I had the knack. 

All this is by way of saying that I didn't make much of a schedule, and I didn't keep to it much either.  I did manage to bike twice, to meditate twice, and to publish NO posts after the first one last week.  In my defense, several major departures from my anticipated work hours decimated my already half-assed plans.  

Life just keeps happening, and happening, and happening. . . . As in the days when my own children's illnesses blew up my days, and my mood, I now find myself similarly affected by my grandchildren's illnesses.  Last week's childcare "schedule" was greatly altered to accommodate a killer virus that featured pink eye, stomach distress, and the kind of sneezing and sniffling only a pre-schooler can do.  And then there was the trek to the other side of the planet to support my son's quest for an internship.  And the two hours spent in the doctor's office investigating a remedy for my injured foot.  And the snow.  And the repairman who bumped me to last on his list.  And the committee meeting I'd forgotten to put on my calendar.  And the challenges of sharing three cars among four drivers each with their own scheduling changes and challenges. . . . And . . . and . . . and . . .


For next week, I am returning to a simpler, smaller focus goal--to meditate as many days as I can manage.  This "change agent" is clearly not anywhere near ready for prime time.  (I read this evening, while on the stationary bike, that meditation can help grow the capacity for self-discipline.) 

Done for the Week: Out of Time and Out of Focus

I am desperately seeking routine.  In particular, one that will support/permit the blogging productivity (two to three posts per week) that I aspire to. 

Once again, I have fallen short. 

Here's why, in part:

Done for the Week:  Jan. 16-22, 2012

1. Made appointment with orthopedist to deal with foot injury
2. Biked once, and did weight training--foot injury prevented additional dry-land exercise; did hip-strengthening exercises twice
   
3. Watched two basketball games with various family members
4. Continued reading Elizabeth George's A Traitor to Memory aloud with my husband--almost finished
5. Read Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich; am in the middle of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" in The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle, and The House by the Sea:  A Journal, by May Sarton 
6. Continued to work my two part-time jobs, putting in extra hours
7. Published 1 blog post
8. Continued work on current clients' projects
9. Attended training and was sworn in as deputy voter registrar
10. Attended new church as visitor
11. Attended 1 yoga class
12. Did laundry 
13. Continued to support my son in his search for an internship
14. Had lunch and breakfast dates with my husband
15. Negotiated dishwasher repair appointment and customer relations deal; ongoing. . .
16. Shopped for final family Christmas celebration
17. Hosted final family Christmas celebration 
18. Paid the monthly bills
19. Meditated 3 times
20. Continued major decluttering, getting rid of approximately ten years of old bills and financial reports
21. Straightened, vacuumed and dusted living room

The most important thing I accomplished last week was the continuation of our household effort, mostly "womaned" by me, to dig out from the accretion of "the childrearing years."  I am entering a phase still short of "Maintenance", but beginning to be able to see more and more of the floor space in my ranch-style, full- (and fully occupied) basement house.  And lo and behold, we have closets!  And drawers!  And shelves and countertops!  I'm really counting on Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project promise that "outer order [will] contribute to inner calm."  If I continue at my current pace of outer "ordering," I should be comatose soon.

My goal for last week was to focus on walking; non-weight-bearing hip strengthening exercises; and swimming--and to make it to the gym three times. I can't say the week's effort was a smashing success in this realm.  As item 1 above reveals, I made it to the gym only one time, though I did manage to combine biking with weight-training.  I continue to have a hard time making myself swim.  Arctic temperatures, my hair-washing schedule, and a crazy round of appointments and activities provided a barrier sufficient to discourage my mild aquatic interest.  And despite my dog's encouragement (in the form of whining, and stealing pillows--his protest-of-choice), I didn't walk at all--other than from one job to another, and one room to another in search of sweets.  I did squeeze in a couple of hip exercise sessions, in addition to the one yoga class that wasn't preempted by an expanding work schedule.  But clearly, I could have done better. 

I had also planned to find more time for this blog last week.  Unfortunately, the universe seems determined to eat the time slots previously reserved for posting.  I'm not sure how this is going to shake out in future, as my work schedule and young-man-launching activities and obligations are growing like Topsy just now.  I am particularly challenged by an erratic schedule, which changes from day to day, week to week, and semester to semester. 

My focus goal for this coming week is to schedule three exercise sessions, three meditation sessions, and publishing of two blog posts (in addition to this one); and to stick to the schedule as circumstances permit, and re-work it, as they demand.

Wish me luck.  I don't seem to be especially good at "pre-meditated" work. (Pardon the pun, which I confess was intended.)

Done for the Week: So Soon Again

Last night's post, which was supposed to be last Monday's, reported on the previous week's achievements.  It's a bit time-warpy, I'll admit, but getting back on track requires this close-upon-the-heels account of the week that ended last night. 

Here's what got done:  (I know, I know.  Passive tense a no-no.)

Done for the Week:  Jan. 9-15, 2012

1. Consulted physical therapist for injury evaluation
   
2. Watched two basketball games, and against my feminist principles part of one football game, with various family members
3. Continued reading Elizabeth George's A Traitor to Memory aloud with my husband--nearing the end
4. Read "The Valley of Fear" from The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
5. Continued to work my two part-time jobs
6. Published 1 blog post
7. Continued work on current clients' projects
8. Spent 6 hours working on recall campaign
9. Helped with and attended recall celebration
10. Went out for a drink with recall friends
11. Attended board meeting
12. Attended annual prayer breakfast celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
13. Attended 2 yoga classes
14. Did laundry 
15. Called my mother
16. Continued to support my son in his search for an internship
17. Took my son out to dinner 
18. Had lunch and breakfast dates with my husband
19. Arranged dishwasher repair
20. Arranged final Christmas celebration, delayed by travel and new baby in the family
21. Meditated 3 times
22. Continued setting up new bedroom with my husband
23. Continued to help my son set up his new bedroom
24. Continued refurbishing upstairs bathroom, including major cleaning
25. Cleaned or reorganized upstairs linen closet
26. Continued major decluttering

The most important thing I accomplished last week was the completion of Phase 2 of a major household shift, involving exchanging bedrooms and bathrooms with my oldest son.   We are reaching the stage where the improvements are beginning to motivate continued progress.  Having the week off from the recently concluded recall process, before beginning to work on voter ID and registration, should free up some time for this ongoing project. 

My focus goal for last week was to make time to continue exercising regularly.  How did I do?  As my son would say, "Epic Fail!"  I did manage to get to yoga class twice, but otherwise succumbed to fatigue, busyness, and an increasingly bothersome foot injury.  The physical therapist I consulted about my foot ordered me to see an orthopedist, which I plan to do this week.  In the meantime, I intend to focus on walking, non-weight-bearing hip strengthening exercises, and swimming, and to make it to the gym three times this week.

And oh, yeah, concentrate on finding more time for Put it to Bed.