There are three ways of getting things done:

1.  Procrastinating until the last minute.  Deadlines are motivating.

2.  Sucking it up and just doing it.  Pain works!

3.  Perfect planning, organization, and execution.

[If you are #3 I don't want to talk to you.  You are clearly a robot.  You can leave now.  Go!  Shoo!]

There, we’re alone now and we can talk.  I’m not a fan of pain, are you?  I hate making myself do stuff I don’t wanna.  It’s so much easier to pretend it’s not there as long as possible … and then do it.  You know, after I’ve let it hang over my head awhile, making me crazy.  I’m funny that way.

While the just-get-it-over-with approach has some merit, I’m proposing that instead we find ways to make procrastination work.  Here’s how: Read the rest of this entry »

Forgive the self-centered theme of this post but I’m about to embark on four of the busiest weeks I think I’ve ever had, short of preparing for the birth of my two kids. Though I have to admit those days were riddled with lying around and giant bowls of ice cream on a kicking belly.

We’ve sold our house, I have my grandparents here for my brother’s wife-to-be’s bridal shower, I have to secure a place to rent while our house gets built, notify all utility companies (etc) of our move, pack our current house, (splitting our stuff between what gets stored and what comes with us to the rental), have a wedding rehearsal, a separate rehearsal dinner, get our toddler fitted for his tuxedo, get fitted for my dress, fit into my dress (kind of key, yes?), do all of my bridesmaid duties, move, get the kids ready for school, and then plop into a heap of tired bones at the end of it all. In there? Work, freelance writing, taking care of kids while hubby is out of town all week, and managing to find time to work out. (Oh right, and make MANY decisions on the house that is being built.)
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I’ve been on the road, on the go, for something over five weeks now.  I’ve lost count.  I left my old home on about June 20 and I’ve been staying with old friends, new friends, people I’ve never met in real life, and in hotels, ever since.  And I am tired.  I’ve landed for the week in a nice house about 3000 miles from my old home, a temporary spot still some distance from my eventual landing place across the border into Canada, and I’m tired.  It’s been a frenetic pace of working, meeting/greeting, driving, always the push to the next place and the next set of wonderful people, and now that I have the opportunity to rest I am taking it.  I am welded to the couch.  It’s highly recommended, and this is why: Read the rest of this entry »

Let me say right up front that I’m sort of horrible with deadlines. I’m a procrastinator. Well, I create in my head my idea of the perfect atmosphere in which to do a task, and I wait and wait and wait for that perfect time and then that perfect ideal never happens. Huh! On top of that I take my commitments very seriously, which seems at odds with my mad time-management skilz, but there you go. It all leads to a lot of sleepless nights. I leave things to the last minute and then drive myself crazy worrying at night when I’m supposed to be sleeping, at a time when there’s nothing I can do about it.

And now we know how stress is born: created out of thin air! I’m magic! Yay me! Read the rest of this entry »

Us Moms have full days, no question. So where in those busy days are we supposed to find the time to exercise?

Recently I’ve been noticing more and more Moms blogging about when they are finding that all-important time for themselves.

Sarah has been getting up at 5 a.m. to use her elliptical. Yikes, that’s early, but she promises it has given her more energy for the rest of the day.

One of my favorite fellow runners, Nat, is always running (and blogging it here). Her and I are training for a marathon together in October. We’re both undecided as to if we’ll be doing the half or the whole thing.

Andrew, (though not a woman, but definitely a parent) finds time sandwiched between his daughter’s first bottle and his work day.

Me?

Read the rest of this entry »

Karen’s recent column “Live Like a Toddler: Six Ways To Change Your Life” got me thinking about our kids and how they are always moving. A couple of weeks ago, I asked my 9 year old to join me on an outside run in the snow.

One great part about working out with your kid is that you get to talk to them about stuff when their pesky little brother isn’t tugging on you for a peanut butter sandwich. We chatted all the way to the high school and started around the track.

The other great part about working out with a child? Dylan was sprinting around me in circles, inspiring me to keep going. While the ground was soppy with leftover snow and our feet were getting wet, we laughed and ran like little kids and it sure made those 5K go faster than I had anticipated. After running, we played on the monkey bars and held our own mini-competition to see who could stay up there the longest. We stretched, then headed home, doing lunges until our thighs couldn’t take any more. By the time we got back to our block, we both had a second wind and raced “to the next tree!” over and over again. It was so much fun and we were laughing the whole time.

Talk about balance between being a Mom and taking care of myself. Acting like a kid, with my kid, was a great workout!

Other great ways to get yourself and your family moving:
Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes things seem to just come at you. All at once. And then you’re buried by an avalanche of overwhelmedness, just hoping to carve out a tiny breathing space because you’ve forgotten what “normal” is like. Ever have one of those times?

There are tricks to getting through them, things to remember the next time you are hit with All the Bad Stuff You Could Ever Imagine. Read the rest of this entry »

I was going to write for you all today about meditation, but just as I was getting myself into that inner space where I do my composing and creating, my youngest began wailing on his &@#%! Little Tykes Baby Xylophone, causing my ears to spontaneously implode and all the thoughts to leak out into a puddle of good intention.

Ah, I see by the way you’re nodding your head that you know the feeling.

So…how do we find a bit of quiet space for ourselves when there’s chaos all around? How do we reach peace amidst an energetic family? Read the rest of this entry »

So it’s Monday and Mondays are days when we sometimes need a little something to get going. Something beyond that bagel. Something inspirational.

Um, not that I’m feeling inspirational today exactly. Actually, I was more thinking myself in need of inspiration. Something about the Monday-morning thing, I think. Do you get that too? Sure, my office now is the couch in my livingroom and I’m sitting here with cats and coffee, but I remember those office days and I will tell you that it was just as hard to leap into Mondays then as it is now.

Except now it’s with kids. Lots of them.

And they both provide and suck away inspiration on a regular basis. Sometimes at the same time, have you noticed this? Here! (suck) Here! (suck) Here! (suck). Er, something like that anyway.

So, here we go then. Something inspirational. Because we deserve it. Read the rest of this entry »

Um. I’ve been notorious for years about remembering what day of the week it is, or rather, NOT remembering. Which is partly the reason why *ahem* I forgot to write my post for you all this morning.

Partly.

The other part is maybe more, what, exciting? Interesting? Something-I-can-turn-into-a-blog-post? BINGO!

See, this is what happened: someone-who-shall-not-be-named-here, someone from my past-present-future, spent some time in my home this morning when I should have been writing for you in discussion with me. Past discussions with this person have been on the, shall we say, difficult side in the past, and it’s been my intent to begin a process that will eventually and hopefully wade through the misunderstandings and mischaracterizations of the past couple of years to create what will, in my idealistic world, a more harmonious relationship in the future.

That was the intent, but the reality was perhaps something different, which leads me to something I think we all think about from time to time, and that is Dealing With Difficult People. Read the rest of this entry »