Getting Started

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one. - Mark Twain

Sounds simple, right? It is and it isn't. We, and I speak from experience, look around at our house, our list of projects and suddenly feel overwhelmed. We may even utter the words "if only..." At this point it may seem easier to battle space aliens than deal with our tasks at hand.

It is easy to let things get out of hand and pile up to the point that we have no idea how it happened or where to begin. It can start by putting off one thing, saying "I'll do that tomorrow". We continue to do this in favor of what we'd rather be doing. After a while we have a backlog of undone tasks. 

These are often things that would have taken only a few minutes had they been done in a timely manner. Now we are faced with tackling a laundry list of tasks, one of which may actually include doing laundry.

As Mr. Twain states, break down your big task into little tasks. We will use a desk as example, and this is particularly apt with more people working from home these days.

First start by putting away everything that doesn't belong there. My desk is a catch-all for everything I don't want to deal with at the moment, and you know how quickly that can get out of hand. 

Next sort out the papers into file, recycle, shred piles. Put the recycles and shreds into their appropriate bins. Now you're left with filing, and that's everyone's favorite thing to do, right? No peeking at my desk now. To make filing easier, sort papers into related piles, e.g. bills, receipts, medical papers, work-related, and miscellaneous (which translates to "I still don't know where that goes".) Hopefully you already have a filing system –⁠ albeit neglected...or we wouldn't be here would we?

Most of us know these things, and once we have gone through the onerous process, we vow that we will never let it get that way again. Let me know how that works for you.

Merry Christmas

 Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Winter Cheer

It is feeling much like winter today, without the snow. We had freezing rain earlier, but now it is just cold, having apparently reached the high today of 36, and we are headed down to 28 degrees tonight. I would have much preferred to look out the window this morning to something akin to the scene below. Alas, the 10-day forecast is for dry and mild-ish days and cold nights so it seems there will be no white Christmas for us. 

Mild and cold are relative terms, of course. What is weather like where you are this year?

 

I Missed It!

Can you believe it? I actually missed my 11th Blog Anniversary Date! I guess this year has really messed up things. So, instead of reminiscing or rambling down memory lane, I will show you our lovely Sophie.

I love to use the features of my smart phone camera to enhance pictures, adding special effects and a frame. I took this one a step further into Autodesk Sketchbook and softened the background because this was just an random picture taken in a cluttered room. Pretty cat but not so pretty backdrop.

Thanks to Sophie for helping me belatedly acknowledge my 11th blogoversary (September 20, 2009).

 

Project Obliteration

The dog days of summer are brutal here in the South, and sweat runs in rivers before you have taken three steps. Alas, we must push onward. There is much to be done. Unfortunately, I again failed to take before pictures, so my description shall have to suffice.

This has been an eyesore for years with overgrown vines covering fallen sticks and hiding rocks from past flower gardens. The vines were mostly obliterated with the weed eater and out of control bushes were given a dramatic makeover. It's not finished, but at least it is not the embarrassing mess it was.

Project Obliteration shall continue until all the vines have been...well obliterated.

Garden update: We have gotten a number of shishitos from our one plant. The poblano has several peppers, as well as the bells. One tomato plant has some green tomatoes on it. The other, I think, is too chewed off to bloom. Maybe I can get some carrots planted for fall. Right now it is too stinking hot for tender plants to survive.