A choose your own adventure.

As promised on Facebook- to those of you who follow me both places- a choose your own adventure! Well, sort of. Let me explain a little bit of background here first.

I love lists. I lived by them in collage. Well, my whole life actually. If I don't have a list, I don't get it done. However, since the birth of my son, I find that lists can be very discouraging. When DJ was first born, I would sit down at the beginning of the week, just as I used to, and make a "master list" of all that needed to be done that week. Then I'd break it up into days... These 5 things need to be done on Monday, I'm going to do these 2 big tasks on Tuesday, run errands on Wednesday, etc. However, when you're living with the beautiful unpredicability of a small child, it becomes hard to get things done. Monday would end, and I'd only have one thing (if that!) done. Tuesday would begin and I would be determined to get both Tuesday and Monday's list done. And, once again, major fail. It got discouraging very quickly. I tried to lower my expecations and not worry about getting anything done, only... I would end up not getting anything done, even when I did have the time to do it.

The following is something that has been brewing around in my head for a while. I have been starting the day without a real list, but with the attitude of trying to get as much done that day as I am able. This "Choose your own adventure" (Us scientists like to call them dichotomous keys) has guided how I approach my non-existent to-do list. At the end of the day I find I am able to look back and have a good number of things done.

So here you have it:

A choose your own adventure in getting things done that weren’t on your list.


#1) You see or think of a task that needs to be done.   Can you do it now?    Yes - go to #2. No- go to#3

#2) Don’t delay! Do it now! ~

#3) Why can’t you do it? If something else must be done before you can tackle this particular task, then go to #4. If you don’t have time- go to #5. If you don’t feel like it, throw your feelings out the door & pick one of the other two options. 

#4) Can you do that other task now? Yes -go to #2. No- go to #3

#5) You don’t have the time because: The task takes more time than you have right now – go to #6. If you are in the middle of something else- go to # 9.

#6) Do you have your schedule or paper handy? Yes- go to #7. No- go to #8.

#7) Yes! You always carry your schedule or paper with you. Write in the task that needs to be done in an appropriate time slot. ~

#8) No! You’re not one to have paper or scheduling devices handy. You need to either get it and write down the task, or (less desirable) make a mental note.~

#9) You are in the middle of something else. Is your current activity more important than the new task? (eg. - are you entertaining a baby? Or watching a TV show?) Yes- go to #10. No- go to #12

#10) Can you pause your activity? Yes- go to #6. No- go to #11

#11) Carry on with that very important activity! ~

#12) The activity isn’t as important as the task, so the task should be your first priority. However, does your current activity really need to be done? Yes- go to #13. No- go to #16

#13) Do you have paper/schedule book? Yes- to got #14. No- go to #15

#14) Write down your activity so you can remember to do it later, and start the new task. ~

#15) Get paper & write the activity down for later, or make a mental note, and start the new task. ~

#16) Drop whatever you were wasting time on & start the new task! ~

cupboards & drawers.

There is a problem with cupboards & drawers. They are great for keeping things organized around the house (I.e. keeping messes out of sight.) However, you can perfectly organize a cupboard, and no one would ever know. The rest of your house looks just as messy, or just as tidy (however it happens to be at the time). You do feel a little bit accomplished I suppose, but it is hard to keep that feeling once you look around. I guess you could always leave the cupboard door open to see your work & remind yourself of what you've done?

Just kidding. If you're tall, like we are, you'd hit your head.

So... I'm still chugging away at organizing things in our house- part of my list of October goals.

Less is more. Thats what I'm aiming for. Streamline- organize- reduce/re-use/recycle.

Oh. Quick cool comment on that- we got single stream recycling in our area  of Lansing. I am so excited! It makes it really easy to recycle- EVERYTHING goes in one box. I know that's totally off topic, but I just reminded myself of it and had to mention it here. I just broke my only blog rule: one topic per post! Oops. Please forgive me.

Until next time:
Me.

October Goals

Hey guys!
I'd like to start something on this blog. I want to post lists of my goals: In January, my new years resolutions. Goals for the next week, next month... etc. Feel free to post a goal or two of your own in the comments. After that time frame is over, I'll check back in and see how I (we) did. And hopefully we can encourage each other in how we did.

So for October:

A few things I'd like to see done by the end of this month:

1) get a good chunk of my Chrstmas knitting done- particularly the gifts for my Canada family & friends, as we're going to visit in November.

2) I've been trying to do some organizing & streamlining of my life and things (Remember project 333?) and I'd like to continue with that. A closet or drawer or two a week perhaps?

3) As the leaves start to turn, I'd like to keep up with raking them.

4) I think that's about good for now! I'd rather have a few good goals that I know I can reach than a huge long list that I'll be discoraged by when I read it at the end of the month.

What are your goals for October?

I was wrong...

About not getting sick again. Turns out I've got a full fledged stuffy, runny nose, sneezes, coughs... not fun at all. Today has become a knit, tea & snuggles kind of day. I've been missing D a ton too, cause even though he's around, he has been (wisely) limiting all conact with me to the occational pat on the back or brief side hug... no snuggles there! Hopefully DJ won't come down too hard with this. He's been nursing almost non stop, through the night, hours &hours on end during the day...which I have heard to be a good thing for baby's immune system.

So. I'm drinking tea with honey & lemon juice,upping my Vit. C, taking echinacea, and trying to increase the water intake & limit the sugar.

What's your favorite thing to do for yourself when you're sick? A good remedy? Something to do to help you pass the time? For you parents, how do you manage to keep a house running when you're sick? I wish I had someone to cook my meals for me, bring me more tea & tissues when I run out like my mom did when I was little... but now I'm the mom, not the kid! I don't know how my amazing mother did it.

Tell me about your sick day traditions!

Update

Since you last heard from me, I've:

Gotten DJ's owl sweater finished
Got a lot of Christmas knitting done
Started working on Christmas cards for Etsy
Went on the shop hop (I'll explain a little later) with a good friend of mine.
Decided to participate in the Project 333 (again, more later)
Went to a fiber festival with another friend, and bought some fiber and a drop spindle to learn how to spin!

The Shop hop is an event put on by the Capitol area Yarn Shop Coopertive. Participatants purchased a "passport" for twenty dollars, and then visited each of the four yarn stores. Holding a passpot entitled the bearer to special deals at each store, as well as a free pattern designed by that store when you bought something there (anything- even just a 50 cent trinket) and... at the second store, you got an extra free pattern from a well know designer ( special just for the shop hop.) And... one more extra pattern when you visited all four shops. You've got a weekend (Thursday through Sunday) to get to all the shops.

DJ got his first cold the Wednesday before Shop hop. Mommy came down with it shortly afterwards too, and though we both got over it about a week later, now mommy has a throat that feels like a sea urchin is stuck in it- swallowing is no fun! I doubt it'll become more than just a sore throat though... I've got lots of tricks up my sleeve to fight it off!

I find it very hard to get things done when I'm sick. I really just want to snuggle under blankets, drink tea & knit. I did try to get work done- I decided that I'd do a one task per day sort of list- which ended up being more like one task the whole week... my poor hubby had to fend for himself most of the days while me & baby were sick.

Project 333:
In short: you chose 33 fashion items (so not underwear, PJs, wedding rings or workout clothes, but everything else is included) such as tops, pants, jackets, earings, shoes, purses, accessories, etc. and those are the only 33 items you wear for 3 months, from October 1-Decmber 31. I'll proably dedicate a post to this at some point, showing you what 33 items I have in my closet. :) For now, there is more info here.

I suppose now that I've mentioned Etsy I ought to explain a litte more about that as well. I opened an etsy shop, under my blog domain name (I.e. Our Humble Castle) I haven't gotten very far on it yet, it's one of those things that I am working on in my spare time (What spare time you ask? Ya, I wonder that too... :P ) Anyway, the web page is:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ourhumblecastle
Expect more cards & dyed yarn to come!

So... do you feel updated? ;)