irrelevant (and sometimes questionable) ramblings

Oy.

Take one holiday weekend, add a hormonal roller-coaster and 2-3 days of unsettled, bouncing-barometer weather and you have one poor chicklet who’s been totally laid low.

In fact, my head still hurts somewhat, but at least it’s down to a dull roar rather than a razor-sharp scream.

As I’m sure you can surmise, I’ve been no good to anybody over the last few days, but I’m hoping that the tide has turned (or at least the weather…) because my house looks like it should be designated a national disaster and we’re all rapidly running out of clothing.

The kicker, too? I can’t take any heavy-duty meds because I’m still breastfeeding and we can’t let Ms. Junior Peanut get anything like that in her milk. So good ol’ regular-strength pain relievers it is. At least for now.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell anybody this, but being under the weather SUCKS. I will add here that I am certainly grateful that normally we’re all in good health and not suffering from anything chronic, because I can’t imagine being in pain on a daily, neverending basis. I feel for people who are.

Anyway. It’s time for me to take a dose of meds and head for bed. Morning comes way too soon sometimes.

…a-crafting we will go!

I have a baby shower to attend in a couple of weeks, and I would really like to make most of the parts of the gift. So that means I need to spend a bit of time at my sewing machine and crafting table. I’m going to try and get a bit done today; it’ll all depend on Ms. Junior Peanut’s level of co-operation (ie. time and duration of naps) of course.

I also have a small project to work on over Easter weekend. Details will be forthcoming eventually.

Seeing as how I’ve spent quite a bit of time cleaning lately the house is in good shape, so the only other things I need to do are change bedlinens and do some laundry, plus eventually get dinner prep started.

The sun’s shining, too. All ingredients for a comfortable day. Hope your Monday is as agreeable!

…with Pinterest.

(Yes, B.E., with you too!)

It’s one of the coolest sites I’ve ever seen. Think of it as a virtual “pinboard” where you can place images of neat stuff you find on the internet. It can be anything — home decor, crafts, food, “dream” items, beautiful images — you name it. The neat thing is when you “pin” the image to your board, the pin also grabs the source code for the place where you got the image in the first place. This way, you can go back and see the details (instructions, tutorial, where-to-buy, whatever) behind that image.

I guess it’s popular; there’s a waiting list to sign up for your own Pinterest account. I’ve put my name in for one — I just hope it’s not ages to get one. Anyway, even if you don’t have an account, you can browse what people have pinned to their boards, and various categories. I have to say, in a couple of sessions of browsing, I’ve found more cool stuff than in days’ worth of surfing regular craft sites, etc.

So for those who love beautiful images, design, creativity — this site is for you. Just don’t hate me when you lose track of time (speaking of time sucks…!)!

Happy browsing!

Time, time, time.

There’s never enough, it always goes too quickly, there’s too much of it on our hands.

Well, not usually the latter, I don’t think.

I’ve been thinking about time management and productivity a lot lately, mainly because I feel like I’m simply not getting everything done in a normal day that I’d like to do. So just for fun tonight (because I’m strange that way, I know) I made a list of my regular, everyday activities — everything from showering and dressing, to practicing the piano, to chores and cooking and looking after the baby — and estimated the length of time that each activity takes. I figured out that if I wanted to make the effort, I actually COULD fit it all into the day. Of course, that doesn’t take into account something taking longer than intended, or interruptions that throw a monkey wrench into the plan. And the world is definitely not perfect, so delays and the unexpected are certainly the norm, but I ended up with a surplus of time rather than a deficit. Cool!

It’s nice to know that on paper, doing it all is, indeed, possible! Maybe someday I’ll even manage to accomplish that. Who knows? We all have terrible time sucks in our lives — the Interwebz being a big one, of course — so I think the trick is learning to limit those black holes of activity, but it’s hard when you’re researching or looking for something important…or maybe those are just excuses? I don’t know.

I wonder how much time could be freed if we stopped refreshing the FaceBook page over and over again, or only checked our favourite websites once a day as opposed to multiple times. And really, is the weather forecast going to change dramatically in the span of a few hours? No, it isn’t. So there’s no point in going back there several times in a day, is there?

Hm. I think I’m going to try to cut back on the pointless surfing and see what happens. It would be nice to go to bed at night feeling like I’ve been really productive and being able to list my accomplishments.

But then again, maybe I’m just trying too hard to be an overachiever. *shrug* Who knows? We’ll have to see what kind of change in routine I can put together. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Are you?

Can you tell me honestly that everything in your life is precisely the way you want it to be?

No? Didn’t think so.

I don’t think any of us *can* say that we are completely and truly satisfied with our lives. There’s always something that can be improved, isn’t there?

For example — and B.E. knows this and can roll his eyes in a patronizing way — I’m not the biggest fan of our car. It’s a good old generic Toyota Corolla. It’s dependable, reliable, basic…and boring. It’s also getting older and is starting to need more expensive work done on it. It’s a tight fit in the back seat when all three girls are squished in there. It’s just not what I want.

Same with the Macbook I’m currently typing on. It’s an ancient model that refuses to play any kind of streaming video and crashes if you have too many tabs open in Firefox. Definitely becoming a clunker, that’s for sure.

I’m sure we can all list a bunch of things that just don’t fit our lives the way we’d like them to, right? And it’s not always as easy as simply going out and buying a new one. Going into debt over new toys isn’t a good idea, no matter how you look at it.

So for the time being, I guess the answer is to just simply plug along and make do. Here’s where I say we’re supposed to be glad we have the Macbook and the Toyota in the first place, right? Well, I suppose you can consider it said.

Grudgingly.

;)

“Making do” is the order of the day, at least until we win the lottery or I sell the movie rights to one of my books. Holding one’s breath here would not be wise.

That’s all I’ve got to say today. I’m rather wiped and I think it’s time for bed. Hopefully this all made sense. If not, you can blame it on Mommy-brain. I know I will.

*SQUEE*

I am in total FanGirl mode today, gang — I just purchased tickets to see these guys:

(No, not in Toronto, but up here in Northern Canuckland. This is just the best promo spot I could find.)

I am so psyched! I’m a HUGE Whose Line is it Anyway? fan, and these guys were two of my favourites. My dream lineup would also include Tony Slattery, Greg Proops, Ryan Stiles, Josie Lawrence and Steven Frost. Mike McShane, too. Oh, and Steven Fry. Ha! Oh, just bring ‘em ALL back! What the hell!

*Happy Snoopy dance*

You know when you’re going along in life, simply doing what you can, and you get those crazy curveballs and monkey wrenches thrown at you?

Yeah. Those.

It’s frustrating and I certainly admit I sometimes get more stressed out and upset over things than I should (and more than they deserve, most of the time), but that’s the way I am. No wonder I have so many grey hairs. The minute I stop breastfeeding Ms. Junior Peanut I’m saying hello to Ms. Clairol.

But it’s all about being flexible, isn’t it? Rigidity doesn’t help with anything in life. (Well, I can think of one thing, but that’s not a for-public-consumption item… Heh.) We need to go with the flow or risk going bonkers trying to stem the tide.

You know what’s weird? Some days it feels like we’re just not getting anywhere — the kids are little, my writing career is idle, and so on — and then other days it feels like time is whooshing by at the speed of light, where nothing is getting done and the damned clock is ticking.

Crazy.

I probably shouldn’t write blog posts this late at night, but I realized I hadn’t been here for a couple of days and thought I’d better poke my head in and say howdy to y’all. I’m still around. I hope you’re participating in the NOR Spring Fling Scavenger Hunt — have you seen the list of prizes?? — and otherwise having fun.

I just booked the campsite for our annual summer camping trip in August. I can’t imagine August being here anytime soon, but I guess it will be eventually, won’t it? (See the time comment above…)

Okay. I’m off to bed. Be good. At least, try, okay?

I’ve been single-parenting for the last few days as B.E. has traveled for work, and to visit his daughter — my step-dd. (Hm. She needs a nickname of her own. I’ll have to think of something to refer to her as on here. Anyway.)

Let’s just say I’ll be rather glad when he gets home on Monday. We didn’t have any major traumas or anything, but it’s a million times easier to manage a household and the junior citizens in it when there’s a second pair of adult hands helping out. Thankfully, the Mater and Pater were around and able to provide a bit of assistance when needed, so that was good. But nothing lessens the excitement of having one’s partner home again.

So. Welcome home, B.E. We missed you!

In other news, Monday (as referred to above) will be returning once again. Let’s see what I can get accomplished this week.

Before Monday arrives, though, I have to get through Sunday night. And as I’m currently falling asleep on the couch, I think it’s time to get to bed. Night, peeps!

Good morning, all!

For those following along, today marks the beginning of Night Owl Reviews’ SPRING FLING SCAVENGER HUNT! You can find a code hidden somewhere here on my site (I will put up the proper graphic to take you back to their site later today; I forgot to do this last night and I’m rushing out the door shortly. Ah, the joys. ).

If you hadn’t yet heard of NOR’s Hunt, click HERE for all the details! Tons of cool prizes are up for grabs!

The official start is a Noon (PST), so good luck! And if you have a second, leave me a note to say hi! (Comments are moderated, so don’t panic if what you said doesn’t show up right away.)

Have a great day, all! And see if you can catch all those wascally wabbits!