Declutter de life, declutter de house

One of the worst parts of ADD is my complete lack of organizational skills when it come to my house, my desk and my car. When I've admitted to this problem, I often surprised friends as they've seen me organize huge events and such. I can't explain why I can do one and not the other.

At a time when I'm been struggling to manage the chaos over flowing from my job, I know that coming home to a place that is equally chaotic is not helpful. I've been reading a blog by Molly Snyder that talks about her 500 lb declutter challenge. While it seems to be an overwhelming feat, she's doing it one drawer, one shelf, one closet at a time. She's getting rid of at least 500 pounds of things that are cluttering up her life. Donate, recycle, put away or throw away.

And tonight I started. I started with the front hall closet. Decluttering is a great form of therapy as it forces you to look at all your material things and determine if you could really live without it.

In just one night, I've already figured out:

1. Out of sight means out of mind (and out of my memory)

Recently my niece asked if she could have my old set of dishes; "Sure, not a problem - they're in the front hall closet." As I dug through the tub, I have not one, not two, not three, but four sets of old dishes. As with most sets of dishes, they're incomplete. The largest set was the one my mom gave me when she moved into a senior living apartment. It is a set of 16 place settings. I live in a 950 square foot condo - When would I ever need 16 place settings?

2. My front hall closet was my toxic waste dump with four cans of paint

3. I'm not good about recycling phone books - I found four phone books in there.

4. I am a magazine junkie and throwing magazines into the recycling bin is painful (cuz what if there is something I need in there...)

I've been working on getting better on this one, but there are two magazines that cause super glue to appear on my fingers - quilting magazines and Cooking Light.

I have little post-it-note flags throughout the Cooking Light magazine - marking all the recipes I just have to try. One small thing - I Don't Cook! At least not with the regularity that I would ever actually try all the recipes I have marked up.

The quilting magazines contain patterns of quilts that I really like and would like to try some day. For instance, there's this great pattern for a "Storms At Sea" quilt from a 1993 issue. 17 years! I guess I'm just pacing myself with that plan.

One thing that didn't get tossed are my family home movies - dating back to Christmas 1960 -that I will one day get transferred to a DVD before the Super 8 film completely deteriorates.

I still have to weigh the trash to find how much I'm tossing...

Oh, just discovered that my most recent issue of Real Simple just arrived - cover story on "Organize Your Life."  Wonder how long it will take before I toss that magazine into the recycling.

Waiting for someone else is like waiting for Godot

Each day, as part of my job, I schedule tweets for the work account. The tweets are part of our website's "Thought For The Day" pages, which are incredibly popular. Usually one or two each day seem to apply to my life, but none so much as one from today. 

Karen Casey's wonderfully written daily meditation book, "Each Day A New Beginning," features a quote from Kathleen Tierney Crilly in today's message: 

To wait for someone else, or to expect someone else to make my life richer, or fuller, or more satisfying, puts me in a constant state of suspension; and I miss all those moments that pass. They never come back to be experienced again.

Those are words seem to describe the first forty years of my life.  I was always waiting for that person, that someone to come along and make my life complete. I couldn't fathom a life where I was enough; where I could be comfortable with myself, just myself. 

And I know that I have missed much in my life because I had those expectations. 

I saw the play "Waiting for Godot" as a college production. The play itself (not my favorite) is painful to attend, let alone a college production of it. I just remember really, really wanting to get out of the theatre before I shouted out "Godot isn't coming! Get on with your lives." 

Maybe the reason I was waiting was due to the messages I received growing up. I really didn't have any role models in my life that were single women. Everywhere I looked, people were coupled up and then had families.  Growing up in a small town, I never had friends with divorced parents until I was out of college. 


I know I missed so much in that state of suspension. I don't remember any conscious choice to walk away from an opportunity because I was waiting, but it is possible that I didn't take risks that I might have.

Today, while watching President Obama announce his nominee for Supreme Court Justice, Elena Kagen, I realized that she was single (as was his first nominee, Sonia Sotomayor). Two highly successful career women moving into the ultimate job for their vocation.  Did they have single women role models? Or maybe they just figured it out long before I did. 

From everything I see today, the current generation of young women have role models at all levels of success. While I wouldn't see myself as a role model, I could offer myself as a cautionary tale- "Don't wait for someone else to make yourself whole - You already are." 


Image: "Waiting in Cuba" by wahoorob 80

Juggling fire and burning my bum

I know that the first step is admitting that we are powerless over (blank) and that our lives have been unmanageable. 

So here it is: I am powerless over the chaos and my life has become unmanageable. Chaos has invaded every part of my life - work, home, relationships, and daily life. I was ready to break yesterday; and considering the rant that my boss had to endure, it's possible that I actually did break. (Sorry, Matt) But in fairness to the rest of my life, I gotta believe it is the craziness of work that has seemed to create the overflowing river of chaos that I'm swimming in. (visual image of a salmon trying to swim upstream while trying to avoid the bears looking for dinner)

Like a lot of organizations, we had staff cut backs when the economy went sour in 2008.  These were pretty deep cuts and the remaining staff was asked to pick up the slack, which we gladly did, thankful that we still had a job. A recent reorganization in our department switched around duties and new responsibilities. For me, it has felt like a pressure cooker as my ADD symptoms have increased with so much to do and trying to absorb a lot of new information.

Short term memory? (what was I going to say about short term memory???) Oh yes, my short term memory has gotten even shorter. I'll take notes in meetings to remember what I need to do when I'm done with the meeting, but I forget the action step in the middle of writing it down! 

I'm juggling flaming items and dropping enough that I have singe marks on my back side.

Today was my regular appointment with my favorite psychiatrist, Dr. Heather. It was only for my regular med check, but I went into the appointment with a list of my recent crazies. On the positive side, I'm not suffering from depression (a very common ADD symptom) and my mood is generally good, but my patience is nil. (Sorry, work cohorts.)

So today, we decided to up my ADD medication and see if it helps. A good idea except for the timing. Right now, I'm about 20,000 feet above the U.S. (Love, love, love Delta Wifi) on a five-day trip to California. I'm hoping that the transition is smooth.

The trip is part work and part vacation and I've informed my boss and cohorts that at 5 p.m. Wednesday, when I'm done with my meetings in California, I am disconnecting from work - no guilt, no worries, no checking emails or voice mails.  I didn't even bring my work laptop with me.

Step two? Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.  Technically, this could be Big Pharm, but I think I have another option. 

 

Photo of Girl: Jeroen van Daelen

Photo of Fire: ebby

It's Greek to Me

Jen, also known as the Prior Fat Girl, did a post on her blog last week talking about greek yogurt. She had never tried it, but had heard individuals talking about how much they loved it. Being the fair minded individual she is, she tried it out.

The impetus for her post was a sample of Yoplait's Greek Yogurt that she had been given. She wasn't impressed with it. She thought eating a can of tuna was a better option. While honest that tuna would be higher in protein and lower in calories, practically not really appealing. (at least for me)

Sorry, Jen, I'm of the opposite opinion. I've been a regular consumer of Fage Greek Yogurt for the last 12 months or more. I love it with fresh strawberries, frozen blueberries, or raspberries. But the down point of greek yogurt - $1.79 for a 6 oz serving (SuperTarget). I was willing to pay the high price since it was a great option for calcium and protein. So, I was thrilled to learn that Yoplait has added greek yogurt to their product line for a more competitive price of less than a $1.00 for a 6 oz serving. 

But what about taste? I did a taste test and the Yoplait greek yogurt tasted as good as the more expensive Fage. YEA!!

Full Disclosure: I learned about the new Yoplait greek yogurt through my membership in Psst (through which I occassionally get information and free products from General Mills). 

I didn't get any free samples of the Yoplait - I purchased it from the Kowalski's on Grand. Yet, yesterday, when I was the Roseville SuperTarget (where I most often shop), I couldn't find the Yoplait Greek Yogurt.

If you'd like to try it, click here for free coupons!

Health is about the body, mind & spirit

Ever have one of those meetings where you're not sure what will come out of it, but by the end, there are hundreds of ideas that fill your head? It's like a first date where you think the guy might be someone you could pass time with for awhile, but by the end the date, you're thinking you have to marry him. 

That's the type of meeting I had this morning. 

I had the opportunity to meet with leadership at the University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality and Healing (CSH). What amazing, diverse and innovative programs make up this center. Their mission is to enrich health and well-being by providing high-quality interdisciplinary education, conducting rigorous research, and delivering ground-breaking programs that advance integrative health and healing.

Don't let the name make you think that this is just a some new age type of place or that they are riding on current trends in healthcare marketing - it is anything but!  CSH is about educating medical professionals, empowering consumers, partnering with the community and so much more.  And they are not some "Johnny-Come-Lately," as they have been around for 15 years.

The Center has been designated by the National Institutes of Health as a Developmental Center for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a distinction attained by only five institutions in the U.S. Being designated by the NIH is like receiving the Nobel Peace Prize - it's a big deal! 

If you care about being healthy (I know I do), you have to check out their "Taking Charge of Your Health" website.  It provides tools for creating a healthy lifestyle and they have a great resource for older individuals (our parents) who have to navigate the sometimes crazy healthcare system. Plus, making points with me and my crowd, a blog that is written by the Center's founder and current director, Mary Jo Kreitzer. (Only posting once a month, but what is there, is quality)

As it happens, Tony Baisley, the Center's Communications Director, and I have been friends for years. He had been suggesting (for more than a year) that we sit down and talk, but because my work load has been nuts, I kept putting off. Poor decision, but today that has been remedied. I'm so glad and I'm so excited about working with this amazing place.

Running Agoraphobia

It's a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining, the spring time air is the perfect temperature and there is a light breeze that would keep your body cool as you go for a run.

And so I do. On my treadmill by the windows so I can see the beautiful day outside.

I have committed to doing a 5K run on June 5th in Burnsville and I'm using the Couch to 5K program iPhone app. While I'm not as far into the program as I should be by now (and that worries me), I haven't started trying to think of excuses to get me out of the run.  I do face one pretty significant challenge: I've never run outside...in public...where anyone could see me.

I'm pretty sure that I won't be allowed to put my treadmill on the back of a flatbed and have it driven along the route with me running on it.

I don't know why I have this fear. It could be that the fear is based in struggling with my weight my entire life and/or having body issues. I love going out on my bike for rides and I'm never self-conscious about that. So what's the deal with running?

I wasn't a jock in high school. I was on the track team, but threw shot-put. I didn't run. The only memory of running outside was in 5th Grade at Northside school trying to get the President's Physical Fitness Award. I didn't get the award. I don't think I was even close.


So that's my goal: to do at least one training session a week outside...where people can see me.

In addition to the June 5th 5K, I'm also taking the Lutheran Geek's Couch to 5K Challenge and the 5K she's planning on doing is in September. I'd love to do a 5K run every month (dang, that's another goal).