To-Do Lists and Me by Bonnie Le Hamilton

My To-Do List is never as long or detailed as Konnie’s, but yesterday, I woke up with a few things I needed to get done.

The only problem is that I didn’t manage to get any of them done, and honestly, a few of them have been on my To-Do List for quite a while. I keep trying to tell myself to work harder at getting them done, and I even wrote a list some time ago, but actually remembering it and getting stuff done off that list? That’s another issue altogether.

This last week, I set one single goal for several days in a row, which I did because I didn’t manage to get it done until the fourth day. This week, I have another goal, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get it done. I should have managed it yesterday, but I just couldn’t work up the gumption.

Honestly, not being able to work up the gumption was what took me four days to accomplish my previous goal. It’s a good thing I don’t have any deadlines to meet because I’m getting nowhere fast.

Of course, unlike Konnie, I have issues with getting things done that have nothing to do with outside forces. I can goof off all day even when I have things I should be getting done.

Konnie on the other hand tends to actively attempt to get through her To-Do List just to have life and family get in her way. The only thing really in my way is my brain being unwilling to concentrate on those tasks “just yet” until I’m yawning every few seconds.

I am, of course, on the spectrum, which would say it all, except part of my problem is how much physical exertion the tasks on my list would require.

Another thing is, Konnie talked about needing to make some calls. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Not for me. Before I can make a call, I have to work out what I’m going to say, and why I’m going to say it, and I have to emotionally prepare myself for the interaction. Making a phone call can take me several days, if not weeks, to accomplish. And the less I can figure out all possible scenarios, the more likely I’ll put off making the call.

I for one can call my sister-in-law or Konnie with no issues, I have to be pretty desperate to call my friend Elizabeth. When it is someone, I don’t know as well, it’s even harder.

And sometimes I just forget I need to make the call until it’s too late in the day.

Actually, I do that a lot.

Then there is the issue of doing things like everyday chores or balancing my checkbook. Those are again things I have to work up the stamina to do them, and, in the case of balancing my checkbook, I have to have the correct amount of alertness, and the precisely required setting in order to accomplice that difficult task.

Konnie doesn’t have my issues with math, or rather numbers.

Though both of us always had difficulty reading a face clock, even back in grade school when we were being taught how to do it. I had to sit there for a minute or two to work out what the time was.

I can remember as a teenager being at the city swimming pool and wanting to know the time. Now that place had a huge clock on the wall in the office that could be seen from the pool if you were by the one lifeguard station. That is if you weren’t nearsighted.

I went up to that lifeguard and asked him what time it was. He pointed at the clock behind him. A clock I could see was there, but without my glasses, I couldn’t see it clearly enough to see the hands.

I told him, “I’m fully aware there’s a clock there, but my glasses are in my locker.”

He told me the time.

I was just glad I couldn’t actually see it clearly enough because that gave me a valid excuse to ask, rather than just look for myself. I promise it was faster to ask. And when the first digital watches came out, I couldn’t wait to get one. No more struggle!

Nowadays, the only time I have to worry about that issue is when I’m at my sister-in-law’s and I am faced with all those clocks everywhere. Sometimes I panic about that, but I don’t need to depend on all those things for the time, so I’m fine. That’s what I get for having a sister-in-law who collects clocks.

As far as I’m concerned, the digital age is wonderful.

Anyway, happy writing everyone!

 

Of To-Do Lists and Late Nights by Konnie Enos

 

I woke up yesterday with a whole list of things I wanted to get done.

Cook some stir fry.

Do three loads of laundry.

Do some necessary phone calls regarding bills and such.

Update my checkbooks.

Clean the kitchen.

But most importantly, write my post.

When I finally woke up, I dilly dallied in bed because it get cold at night in the desert. (I mean freezing, as in under 32 degrees Fahrenheit.) It warms up to more comfortable temperatures when the sun comes up. So therefore, I stayed in bed until the early morning sun had time to warm things up.

Then, after I had breakfast, I started my laundry and went to work on the checkbooks. I would have done the cooking first, but Melinda was cooking one of her favorite dishes that happens to be too spicy for my palate. All things considered, two people using the one stove at the same time is rather crowded so I waited.

After my first load of laundry was in, I started making those phone calls then worked on updating my checkbooks. Doing that caused me a few moments of concern because my personal checkbook wasn’t balancing. It took me a few minutes of effort to find out what the issue was and correct it.

I was still working on it when Jerry returned from his Tuesday morning job and my first load finished. I told him to get it in the dryer and put my second load in before returning to the checkbook issue.

I did eventually get the checkbooks updated and was able to switch the loads and put my third one in. Now at this point, I could have worked on my post, but I still had no idea what I was going to write about. I also might have been able to clean the kitchen, but I could still smell her spicy food, so I was avoiding the kitchen. But it was still fairly early in the day, so I did some more dilly dallying. Eventually, I got my third load out of the washer (they were all delicate, line dry items) and hung them up. Then I got my second load out of the dryer and miracle of miracles actually immediately folded them and put them and put them away. At this point, I still hadn’t done so with the first load.

By this time, I was getting hungry, and the spicy smell had dissipated so I went to the kitchen to cook my stir fry. I should have cleaned the kitchen after that but ended up going back to my room and putting away that first load of laundry and getting lost down that rabbit hole known as Facebook.

Now at this point I’m thinking Jerry has been going to bed around 9 p.m. so that was early enough to put some focus on my post and still get to bed at a reasonable hour myself. For this reason, I made the mistake of not paying attention to the time.

I did notice when the dogs got fed but didn’t move at all or even remind Jerry of the time. I also managed to take my medicine on time. I even saw my daughter head into the bathroom to get her nightly shower.

What I didn’t notice was her leaving the bathroom and Jerry hadn’t come to bed yet, so I still thought it was around 9 p.m., maybe 9:30. Then I heard a dog scratching at the bedroom door and wondered why Jerry wasn’t getting the door for whichever dog it was. Then before I could react, someone let Xavier in. It wasn’t Jerry because whoever it was didn’t walk into my line of sight. At this point I could see the bathroom door was closed and the light was on so I was assuming it was Melinda in there.

I told Xavier to find Jerry. Jerry responded from the bathroom. He also told me Melinda had gone to bed some time ago.

I looked. It was not only after midnight, but it was very nearly one in the morning.

Needless to say, I did not want to get up this morning, especially not that early. When my alarm went off I turned it off and snuggled back under my blanket. I finally managed to drag myself out of bed when I heard Melinda preparing Ivan’s food and medicines for his morning meal.

But I went right to work and my post so now I’ve completed everything on yesterday’s to-do list except clean the kitchen. Maybe after breakfast.

How is your week going?

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Of Reading and Collections by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

There is nothing like losing track of what day of the week it is, let alone forgetting you have stuff that needs to be done.

I’m sorry for the late post, but I didn’t even realize it was Wednesday until Konnie messaged me, and I wasn’t even awake at the time.

My sleep schedule is all messed up right now. I woke up early and got breakfast for myself and my cat, then back to sleep. I was still asleep when Konnie decided to call. Not that I didn’t realize I needed to write something, she had already messaged me, but like I said, I was asleep.

I guess I should point out that lately, I’m lucky if I’m awake by noon. I am trying, but that starts with getting to sleep at a decent hour. So far, I haven’t managed that feat.

And I’d like to say I have been staying up so late writing, but the fact is, I’ve been reading. I’ve been doing a ton of reading. I’m talking somewhere around six or seven books a week.

Yeah, that’s a lot of reading.

For starters I managed to purchase a few new eBooks and of course I had to read them! I had been smart about it when it came to the next three books in the Miss Fortune series and I only read those three, rather than starting at the beginning again. Though the truth is, I read the first twelve books a couple of weeks ago, then I realized I had enough money to buy just three more of them.

Now I have fifteen of the twenty-eight books in that series.

After I read them, I thought about rereading one of my Linda Goodnight series’, I have something like three of those.

Then I considered that I’d read quite a few of her books last month, so I decided I should reread my Brenda Minton books. Some of those are not eBooks, so I had to dig those few hard copy books out first.

The thing is, along with a few stand-alone books, I have one series mostly in hard copy with the last two of that series in eBooks, then the next series she has takes off where that series left off, I have seven books in that series, but I’m not sure that’s all there is. I’m also already on book five of that second series.

And let me remind you that I have several other series in my possession. I also have a whole ton of Dick and Felix Francis books, and they have two series in their collection.

And I have the Percy Jackson and Harry Potter books, but both of them have more books associated with those series’ which I don’t have, yet. Emphasis on the “yet.”

Then there is my Work and the Glory books (an LDS series) and I’m still missing some of the Fishers of Men series. I’d really like to get all of them.

Actually, I don’t have all of the Fairhaven series, yet but I do have the author’s book, The Healing Place. And I wouldn’t mind rereading that one.

And let's not forget that I have the first nineteen of the Boxcar Children books. Please don’t consider getting me any of the rest, the original author only wrote the first nineteen. I’m not interested in any of the others which don’t pay attention to the timeline of the first nineteen. I read one once where Benny was still six, but they knew their great aunt, who they didn’t even meet until Benny was nine, and she as married to Andy in that book, but she didn’t marry Andy until Benny was at least eleven!

Yeah, I collect books along with Nativities or really anything depicting Christ’s life, owls, eagles, and well, Barbies. I just don’t have room to display the Barbies. I do have a lot. And being on the spectrum, I’m pretty fussy about which authors I like and which I don’t. Let alone being picky about sticking the established timeline, story.

Which is why I hate the Harry Potter movies. And it isn’t about what they left out. I understand that it is hard to condense over three hundred pages to only a one hundred and eighty pages at most, but I don’t understand taking out so much then adding in elements that wasn’t in the books! I really hate those shrunken heads. Enough said.

Anyway, Happy writing everyone.

Of The Holidays and Pets by Konnie Enos

We didn’t have multiple parties to attend. We didn’t have to do any stress inducing last minute shopping trips. (Okay, I generally plan well enough that I never have to do gift shopping at the last minute.) We didn’t have any company come over, unless you count my son coming home Christmas Eve for a day or two.

My son and daughter finally managed to get our tree up about a week before Christmas. And my daughter took it back down again by this past Sunday. I even got my Christmas Village taken down already. So, it has to be the shortest time we’ve have ever had our Christmas decorations up.

Beyond that, the only things that have happened in the last month are a couple of our dogs needing urgent trips to the vet.

It started with Xavier getting sick and throwing up just before Christmas. It was serious enough that we ran him to the doctor at the earliest possible moment. We didn’t wait for our preferred doctor to be on duty first. (She only works Friday thru Tuesday, and it was a Thursday.)

And, as usual for a vet visit, the cost was several hundred dollars to do some blood work and give him something to calm his stomach. All that and I don’t think anyone figured out what was wrong beyond possibly a cold. After a few days rest he returned to his normal happy self. Though the vet did have us repeat one of the blood tests because the numbers weren’t good. Thankfully the repeat showed they are fine now.

Then between Christmas and New Year’s, my daughter had to run Ivan to the doctor. More bloodwork. They came home again with no issues but within minutes of them getting home Ivan started bleeding again.

Now, when we call the vet’s office they generally ask us if we are having an emergency or if we can wait on hold for a few minutes. I assume because the front desk staff are doing three things at once most days. And in the nearly twenty years we’ve lived here, that was the first time I told them that no, I could not wait because I was positive it was an emergency.

We were told to get him back to the office as soon as possible. Now my daughter can drive, but at that point she was a bit panicked, and someone had to hold Ivan to keep pressure on where he was bleeding from.

We discussed me getting dressed and holding Ivan while she drove, but I didn’t think that was the best solution. One because my daughter was that upset about Ivan’s condition. Two because of the time it would take me to get dressed. And finally, three, because she has the most knowledge and skills to deal with a pet emergency to begin with. (She is a veterinary nurse after all.)

I told Jerry to drive while my daughter held Ivan.

What apparently happened is that the site they drew blood from started bleeding again. They stopped the bleeding and sent him home, but we had to keep him quiet for a few days.

Now we have three pets currently. Ivan and Xavier are both seniors. Lakota is barely fully grown, and still has some of her puppy exuberance. One would think keeping Lakota, our largest and youngest dog, away from Ivan would be the biggest issue. It was not.

Xavier, by then fully recovered from his bout of sickness, was energetic and playful enough that he was the reason Ivan started bleeding again. We were afraid we’d have to keep them apart for a few days, but Xavier managed to be his less than energetic, senior self while Ivan was recovering.

But the trip to get Xavier’s bloodwork rechecked was an experience.

Per his usual he rode in the backseat all the way to the vet but as soon as we parked he climbed into the front seat. And for whatever reason he never went back into the back seat. He stayed in my lap for the duration of the trip home.

Now he is not a huge dog, but having nearly thirty pounds of mass on my basically non-existent lap was a bit much for the roughly 20-minute drive. But the really annoying part was when he switched his position so he could see out the window better. He was pretty much standing on my stomach and completely blocking my view for the last five minutes or so of the trip home.

He clearly enjoyed it, but I wasn’t comfortable.

How are things so far this year, for you?

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Happy New Year! by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 As the new year approaches, I usually spend time considering goals for the coming year, particularly in my writing. However, the last few months has been far too hard on me and right now I am half out of it on pain meds. So, let me just say Happy New Year and I hope this year is better than the last!

Happy writing everyone.