Monday, December 7, 2009
a nice reviewerly picture of the whimsy household
Can we talk? I am personally not much of a fan of the I'm So Busy I Want to Die blog posts. Mostly because they're boring. And also a little counter intuitive (if you're really so busy, why the heck are you WRITING A BLOG ENTRY ABOUT IT when you could be, you know, actually getting stuff done?).
But. I'm calling this exception because.... B-U-S-Y. When I left my parents' to head home, I had this buzzing creepy-crawly feeling of impending doom about the coming few days. I got home and tried to do as much as I could, but being the sole parent-figure at the time, a lot of my bandwidth was spent doing the Daily Required Bean Tasks. So as soon as Chip came home on Thursday night, we sat down and stratagized about the days to come--- what needed to be done, when we were going to do it, and who was going to be doing each thing. Which lead us to this past weekend: three days of constant pushing. I have several work-related deadlines along with personal things that HAVE to get done not to mention the Etsy shop I'm frantically trying to get up and running.
It's enough to make a normal person lose their cool. And I'm not a normal person. I am a freak about scheduling and planning and making lists. On top of the deadlines, we had several commitments we also had to meet: our church Christmas breakfast on Saturday morning, a Christmas concert that Chip was performing in with a friend on Saturday night, church stuff to get done before Sunday morning. And have I mentioned that Chip is leaving bright and early on Monday morning for his company's week-long annual conference? Yes. And so.
Now this is your time to wonder why the heck Whimsy is bothering to write this all down, to post it. Why tell you that she's BUSY?
Well... I feel like this kind of insanity usually leads me into one of two places: either I feel energized and compelled to exceed my own expectations OR I find myself sputtering into a frenzied spiral of ineffectual dithering. So far, my needle is pointing to the very ugly ineffectual dithering. What I want to know from you guys is this: what do you do when you're faced with So! Much! To! Do! that you don't even know where to start? I'm in the market for some solid ideas, dudes. Whatcha got? (I wouldn't be opposed to Toddler Activity Ideas, either, because let's face it-- I'm on my own all this week and the To Do list isn't any shorter but that doesn't deter the Bean from asking me to pick her up and play with her every couple of minutes. OH! And one more thing! Our DVR is broken and we have lost every single life-saving episode of Sesame Street and it looks like we're not going to get a replacement DVR until late in the week. Essentially, what I'm telling you here, is that I've got all the ingredients -PLUS EXTRA FLAVORFUL BITS- for the Suckage Trifecta. KILL ME NOW.)
(Also, I wouldn't be opposed to some nice sympathy. I mean, if we're really being honest with each other--- I feel terrible and I desperately want to get in front of the train and past it instead of having it flatten me to some kind of awful bloody pulp.)
To review:
Whimsy BUSY.
Chip MIA.
Bean BORED.
Dvr BROKEN.
Whimsy WANTS TO CRY.
You HAVE A MILLION IDEAS THAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO POST TO SAVE WHIMSY'S BACON.
That is all.
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8 comments:
Well, my Friend. Welcome to the land of Dither. I've been here for quite some time, I don't get much done but I think you'll find the atmosphere endearing.
I actually devoted all of last Friday to FINISHING. I had approximately 37 projects that were half-way finished and I needed to FINISH something. So I brought out all of the Boy's favorite toys, plus some that have been in storage in his closet (I'm a big fan of toy rotation because his memory is sufficiently short that Hey! This is NEW! when it really isn't), scattered them through the apartment, plopped him in the midst with a snack cup and some water and I prayed fervently for some Divine Assistance.
Then I worked and worked and worked and made sure to hit the Boy's meals and nap times and worked through the naptime and Lo, I got stuff done. But then...I'm maybe a bit stricter than you are with Alice. He plays with toys by himself, I only stopped what I was doing if he brought me a book and then we read it once and if he wanted to read it again he had to sit next to me and look at it by himself. We don't do this all the time so I can justify it once a month (or in my case once every 3 months, as you know, I am very seldom crafty).
that's all I've got for you, sorry. We're making 3 kinds of cookies today and maybe a batch of toffee. But he'll stand on a chair and "help" me (which means I'll give him a plate of flour or sugar to play in while I bake).
Now, get back to work! The Land of Dither is just a transitional place between the Land of To Do Lists and the Land of Productivity.
I have just come from where you are, and yes, it sucks. Big time. What I had to do (and what I hated to do) was call in some reinforcements. I needed HELP. I passed off work things to coworkers, cried in front of Jason so he would help with home stuff, etc., etc.
Do you have anyone close by who could watch Bean for awhile? That way, you get some solid Busy Work Time, plus you have a built-in deadline (e.g., they watch her for 2 hours or whatever).
Anyway, I totally sympathize and hope you make a huge dent in your to-do list!
First - {{SYMPATHY}}. I am not a fan of this feeling either, and even without kids, I arrive here every so often. My first suggestion was already shared - find a babysitter. Even if it is somebody a little younger than babysitter-age (we used to call ourselves mother's helpers, but really we just wanted an in to play with the child and have you call us to babysit when we had proven ourselves) you can bring into the home to just play with Bean. My other suggestion is to try and look at smaller chunks instead of the big picture. Once you have a plan, there is no need to look three days down the road. You can do anything for 15 or 30 or 60 minutes. Then do something else - another project, a story with Bean, a bathroom break and a glass of water! I know you can do it. Good luck!
I'm with Sara on the smaller chunks of time- think in hour blocks or the time between breakfast and snack as a good time for you to do things. I spread out some toys around the house, put on music that he likes and then let him play. There is whining that he wants me to play to but I explain that "mommy's working" and Fussbot gets to play. If I'm cooking he gets a plastic bowl and a wooden spoon to cook with. I also turn a blind eye to the destruction caused during this time which helps not stress me out further. Good luck!
Oh, I haaaaate that feeling, I haaate it! SYMPATHY SYMPATHY SYMPATHY.
What I do when I'm mired is I try to catch just ONE SINGLE FLUFF of the swirling dandelion-fluff cloud. Can I put ONE SINGLE TINY THING? ANY single tiny thing? Not "the most important thing," just ANYTHING.
I feel like this a lot of my days. I get so overwhelmed that I don't know what to do, even though I make lists and prioritize and check and manage tasks. If I feel too overwhelmed, I just do nothing. It's terrible. And then I feel even worse.
But! Just this past week, I somehow pushed past it. We worked on our garage last Tuesday (have lived in our house over a year and still have tons and tons of unopened boxes, mostly books, and toys from the old house, blah blah blah). Somehow, finally DOING something got me out of this funk I've been in. I've been working - small tasks - every day since, and I'm feeling so much better about life.
As for Bean activities, what can you do outside? Anything? Is it cold? Are there parks you can visit? A mall you can walk with an elderly?
Do you know anyone of the "mother's helper" age? Someone to just come play while you are in the same house but busy?
To be honest, I clean best when I'm extremely angry at my husband. I wouldn't recommend it, but as a last resort....
Good luck dear. My method is attempting to get one thing done a day, and I rarely can do that.
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