Routine Progress

17. August 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

So the routines.  The kids are doing great.  They’ve gotten up every day at the appointed time and balanced their day well between work and play.  Geeky Boy is on a strict 3-hours per day computer schedule.  The rest of his time is spent reading, watching tv with his sister (they’re on a Phineas and Ferb kick right now), playing Boggle, or doing household chores.  I had planned to do my workouts before coffee, but it’s just not working out that way.  For one, my shoulder injury is making it difficult for me to sleep, so I wake up feeling just awful.  I have worked out in the afternoon, though, and I think that’s where the workout needs to stay.  I can’t force myself into a habit that I think just isn’t going to take hold.  I’m planning to work out again this afternoon (after skipping yesterday).  And I’m going to also aim for working out tomorrow, skip Friday, and do either Saturday or Sunday.  I’m also having to do PT exercises for my shoulder–but those are mostly stretches.  So the routine is coming along, though it’s been tweaked.

On the house front, I’m now tackling the master bathroom and the office.  Both are going pretty well.  I dumped a bunch of things in both places, and I plan on tackling my main filing box today, which should be a really good thing.

I’m hoping to continue progress next week, and, when school starts up, I plan to make a real effort to keep at it.  The payoff will be less chaos, and hopefully, fewer pounds. :)

Update 7: Murphy’s Law

16. July 2010 · 4 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Besides paperwork, this has been a week of mishaps, continued issues, and missteps.  On Tuesday, the basement flooded again, taking out our hot water heater.  Thankfully, I’d had a shower before that happened.  I made an attempt to re-light the heater myself, but chickened out after I’d found the pilot light.  I had images of myself going up in flames.  Mr. Geeky was out of town until late Wednesday night.  I might get a hot shower Thursday.

Wednesday night, Mr. Geeky called me from the airport.  He couldn’t find his car and he and his students were stranded.  His plates had just expired, so he was worried he might have been towed.  A cop told him they wouldn’t do that, but that they might have moved his car for construction.  So, I went and picked him up.  The next day, he made some phone calls.  Turns out, they were looking on the wrong level.  All the levels look the same, with the same letters to indicate the area you’re in, with no indication of what level you are on, except at the exit.  I took him back to the airport to get the car, dropped him off and zipped back home.  I didn’t have my phone with me, so he couldn’t call me to tell me that his battery was dead.  Luckily, they have a guy for that, but it took him a while to find Mr. Geeky.

Meanwhile, my computer had started to flail.  Considering that I’m trying to prepare some computer science/technology courses for the fall, this was a very. bad. thing.  After some diagnostics and suggestions from the Apple forums, I’m happy to say that it’s working just fine now.

But. Still no hot water.  Someone’s coming today around lunchtime to look at it.  When I called Mr. Geeky to tell him about it, I was ready to go out and buy a new one.  That might happen anyway. Sigh.  So, let’s see–3 days without a shower.  I have washed my hair in cold water, but do not have the fortitude to put my whole body in.

And. Still having neck issues.  Trying to do my physical therapy exercises, but I need to go back to actual physical therapy.  And said issues keep me from doing too much at the computer.  I need a new chair, I think, and a keyboard drawer.  Suggestions welcome.

We joined a new pool this summer, but we’ve yet to go.  We just haven’t had the time.  Aside from the above-mentioned issues, we’ve had appointments and lessons and whatnot.  Next week gets even worse, with meetings for me and then a trip to a workshop.  Maybe August.  Sigh.

Update 6: Paperwork, paperwork

14. July 2010 · 7 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

I’ve spent the last few days dealing with paperwork of all kinds, but mostly paperwork for school crap.  There are health forms–for school and for sports–registration forms, emergency contact forms.  You name it, there’s a form for it.  What I wouldn’t give for some automation of all this crap.  It’s gotta be a pain for the data entry/filing people to receive hundreds of forms, figure out if they’re complete, etc.  And I don’t even have forms yet for Geeky Girl’s new school–did I mention she’s going to go to the school where I teach?  (Yes, yes we’re excited.).  And I don’t have any kids with issues–as Laura at 11D pointed out in a Tweet.  Just navigating the regular forms is a pain.  I can’t imagine filling out other forms, especially in situations where the system tries to hide behind its bureaucracy.

I find the health forms particularly painful.  In my ideal scenario, my kids’ health records (or at least their immunization records, which is what most schools really care about) would be stored at a statewide data center.  Every year, I’d have the option of doing the form by hand or simply going to a web site, finding the school to send it to, and then clicking the send button.  Hell, I’d even pay a fee for that; I already pay my doctor for the records, so I’d be happy to pay someone else.  Emergency contact information seems like it could be automated too.  Every year, I fill out the same information (and yes, there have been years when the info has changed, but still).  An online form seems like a much nicer option.  Having spent the better part of today building my own online form, I know they can take some time, but surely, the time saved in the end for us all would be worth it.  Pop that info into a secure database and be done with it, I say.

Weekly Update 1: Birthday Edition

04. June 2010 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Yeah, so I couldn’t even hold back for a week.  :) But seriously, I think once a week will work for me.  This time of year is always insane.  My kids’ birthdays are two days apart, Geeky Boy’s tomorrow and Geeky Girl’s two days later.  There are parties to plan, family dinners to cook, and often visitors to host.  When I was working, it was even worse because it was also the beginning of the summer program I ran.  No matter how much in advance I tried to plan things, there was always a lot of rushing around at the last minute.  This year, the parties and visits are postponed a week, but we are still doing nice family dinners plus dessert on the kids’ actual birthdays.  A few years ago, I had a kind of mini-breakdown on Geeky Boy’s birthday.  Though I didn’t say so in that post, I was stressed beyond belief.  I was basically doing everything I could to minimize my work load.  My job was sucking the life force out of me and that year was the beginning of my thinking about leaving.  I had begun to cry every once in a while over stuff at work.  I also cried over stuff at home.  I had some issues.  I am much, much less stressed today.  Yes, I find this time of year semi backbreaking and yes, as usual, I’m trying to do too many things at once, but I’m stepping back from it and not worrying.  I’m making sure that we at least have a nice celebration for each kid, that they get to feel special for a day, that they know we love them.

Today, I bought herb plants and a nice box planter to hang on the deck.  I spend almost every afternoon out there, sipping on an adult beverage.  Mr. Geeky joins me when he returns from work.  I’ve almost finished painting.  I’m suffering from some pretty bad back pain that I hope will be resolved during my massage tday.  It has, unfortunately, hindered me from working too much at anything.  I am in the process of learning all kinds of new things and honing my old skills in preparation for the fall.  I’m sure I won’t accomplish everything I want to, but I’m happy with the progress so far.  Yesterday, Mr. Geeky and Geeky Girl were away at a field trip all day.  Geeky Boy and I held down the fort, but then he went off to a pool party.  I skipped dog training class so that I could relax a little, have a beer and watch tv.  Just what my back needed, quite frankly.

Next week the inlaws descend to participate in birthday celebrations.  It’s always nice to see them, but of course, preparing for the visit is a lot of work.  I’ve started the Fly Lady baby steps.  Don’t laugh.  I need someone to just tell me what to do.  My sink is ridiculously shiny, and she’s right, it made me happy.