Distractions!

I have wondered so many times about being diagnosed as an adult ADD case. Have I ever been diagnosed? Have I ever even seen anyone to diagnose me? No! Do I really think I'm one of those with adult ADD? Not really, I think what happens is that there are too many distractions in life and I apparently don't have enough focus on any one thing to stay on task. I'm sure there are many that will understand this.

It goes along like this: I go to the kitchen to get a drink. I see a stack of unread mail and go to open it---not getting the drink. Take the mail into the office area to read the mail--seeing something on the computer screen blinking. The unread mail gets put down and the computer is checked. Oh great, I have mail. Open the email inbox, see something of interest I go to that web page. That site makes me think, "Ooooh that is so cute, bet Kim and I could come up with directions and digitized design similar to that for the website." Let's check yahoo to see if she's online. Yep, chat for a bit, show her my idea taken from website idea. I have completely forgotten the mail, email, the drink.

Chat a while longer, start testing designs for her. A needle breaks, go get upset at machine, walk out of the room and find a sock the cat that has drug up the hallway. Go down the hall and pick up the remaining laundry and go to laundry room. On the way, see dishes in another room that were never taken to the kitchen, go back to that room to get the dishes. See a new computer game that DH has put onto that computer. Sit down and start playing the game (forgetting the dishes). Get bored with that and head towards the living room. Oh great, one of my favorite shows is on tv. All right, its a marathon. Get totally wrapped up in it.

The dogs come up wagging their tail and woofing. "Do you gotta go outside?" Take the dogs to the back door and let them out. Gee the table never got wiped off last night. Suppose I should do that. Go to kitchen and realize, I'm thirsty. Go to get a glass from the cabinet and there are none there. Empty the dishwasher, reload it. Go look for other dishes. Hmmm, wasn't I in here before to get these? Take them back, finish loading the dishwasher. Take the dirty dish rags to the laundry room. Hmmmm, why didn't I start this load earlier? etc., etc., etc., etc.

Seems like I have this kind of thing happen all the time. I have this "to do" list that is so long it could probably wrap around the house several times. My "I want to try that" or "to be made" or "make or find a pattern for this" list is even longer! I go to "research" or find a tutorial or pattern for something and then I find blog after blog to read through and find fabulous ideas for everything but what I'm looking for. Distraction: fabulous blogs from awesome "normal" people that write about their passions and share their knowledge with others. Is this distraction a bad thing? No, but it does keep me from doing what I intended to do in the first place.

I have an extensive stash of fabric. I decide to straighten up the stash and try to organize it a bit better. While going through the fabric I hit the DISTRACTION! And what exactly would that be? "Oh look, how cute that fabric is!!! That would be so cute as a ______ for ______." Now all I have to do is find the pattern for it. Is that a bad thing? Well, it isn't IF you find the pattern, put it with the fabric and put the rest of the fabric away. But that rarely happens--at least not in an organized fashion.

I start going through the patterns looking for something specific---and DISTRACTION: "Oh this would be cute, I forgot I had this pattern. OMG this is adorable, when did I get this? That would be so cute for.... Oh and this would fit.... I really need to find the right fabric for this." Now when you have so many patterns that you have them sorted by category and then sizes (who cares which company its from) and you have enough to fill an entire filing cabinet PLUS some, its easy to forget patterns that you have. Or when your children haven't been toddlers in 20 years you forget what baby and toddler patterns you have. So you start going pattern by pattern pulling out the ones you think you want to make "NOW." So much for looking for "the" pattern for the particular pattern.

Now I have a ton of fabric on the table because the "other stuff" never got put back up. I have about 10 patterns I want to make "NOW" sitting on the table. I look at the mess and try to figure out what I'm going to do now. I sit down in my sewing chair, swivel around to the computer and DISTRACTION: I see a really cute quilting pattern that would be awesome for..... But I'm not really a quilter. I play around at putting things together. Maybe I can watch the Quilting Quickly section .... and find an easy way to do that quilt. Oh that is awesome. That's so quick and easy. But if I make it will .... really like it? Probably not; but maybe I could make it and if they don't like it I could always give it to someone that really needs it. Now what fabrics would look good put together?

While at the computer, Kim buzzes me and says she has some new designs that she needs tested. Oh what a cute idea for a baby bib or bib and burp set. I've got the diapers already, I think I'll go ahead and test on them. The tests are always almost perfect if not perfect the first time. I'll just find the fabric to make the coordinating bib with. What's this? Is it another DISTRACTION I see coming my way? Ah, yes it is! Now I have cloth diapers and onesies sitting out on the table, too. What was it I started looking for in the first place?

I've forgotten. And there is another full day of not getting anything done--but I have tons of ideas. Guess I need to write some of these ideas down before I forget them altogether. Now where did I put the last "working" notebook? Oh yeah, its on the shelf. Which one is the current book? and OMG its yet another DISTRACTION! I start looking through the ideas books. Oh yeah, I remember when we started working on this embroidery set. I wonder if Kim and I ever got this set of designs finalized and finished? I wonder which hard drive these designs are on?

And I wonder why I never get anything finished. I wonder why I start looking at things a month or two ahead of time for the grandbabies "events" and never get anything completed on time (if at all). My children think I'm a horrible grandparent because of this trait. And I probably am. I procrastinate and then I have all these DISTRACTIONS that get in the way. Oh and we haven't even talked about the daily distractions of doing laundry, dishes, normal housework (oh yeah, that's how this all started) and then of course there's the "One-eyed Monster." What you're not familiar with the one-eyed monster? Sure you are, most people call it the TV! Y'all excuse me while I go find another DISTRACTION to keep me busy again!

The day of OMG's!

Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, what a day! I just don't know where to begin even! The daughter of a friend of mine (her children and my children grew up together) that just had her first grand child--although the baby decided it was time to be born, baby Emma was still premature and mother and baby are in separate hospitals. Poor Rachel had not even seen Emma yet the last I saw on fb. OMG I can't imagine having a baby and not being able to see or hold her.

One of our best and dearest friends from the Krewe of Harlequin died last night and we did not find out until today. What a way to start the day--learning that a dear friend lost the battle of his time on earth. I've cried off and on all day from that. OMG I can't imagine how our krewe will be continue with court costumes as it has for the past 36 years. OMG is this why he kept trying to get DH and I to be there for all the cutting and making of head pieces, and court costumes last year? Did he know that he was possibly training the next ones to be able to continue with this for future years?

Today marks the one week mark of when I had back surgery--with a total of 50+ staples in my back. The three drains are gone--they were gone of course before leaving the hospital. I was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday of last week and released on Saturday--with my trusty muscle relaxers and pain killers in hand. I've actually done quite well. I'm able to walk most of the time without my walker and have gotten to where I'm only taking 1 pain killer in about 12 hours (unless it gets excruciating) as opposed to the 2 every 4-6 hours that they were prescribed. OMG how it hurts to stand or sit; and even more so to lay on my back.

My 21 month old grandson came over and found the tile and grout cleaner that was used to clean the tile and grout in the living room today. Only thing is, he found it by picking it up and spraying it in his face! We spent a panicked 10 minutes with DH standing in the shower completely clothed trying to flush DGS's eyes and skin with water; Trying to find the poison control center phone number--finally had to put poison control center in computer search engine to find a number to call. Why is it that the number that should be most prominent on a chemical is the number not listed ANYWHERE!!! Spent the same time trying to calm DD who thought her son was being drowned--because he was screaming so much with us trying to flush the chemicals off him. Did I mention I just had back surgery 1 week ago and I'm not supposed to be doing anything "normal" like bending, twisting, lifting, etc. and I couldn't think of ANYTHING but making sure this baby was ok. My second DD who is "due any time" was trying to calm the sister down, calm the grandson down, get me to go sit down, trying to find the phone number, and she feels like crap and is so ready to have this baby--but the baby keeps saying she's not ready yet.

I got up this morning and found all the plates that had been stacked up last night and were sitting in the kitchen on the counter were NOW on the floor--upside down with 2 of the 4 plates broken. Thank you animals that think that they are my dishwasher! OMG how am I supposed to get this cleaned up? I HATE having to rely on someone else to do everything that I've been doing all this time. I hate having to wake up DH just to tell him, "um honey, we have a problem, our plates from last night are all over the kitchen floor--can you go clean it up?"

My paperwork from the school office was never submitted for my retirement paperwork to go through! OMG this is like less than a month before my retirement is supposed to be finalized and it was never submitted!?! And of course the people in the office that have control of this are on vacation, out of the office or just ignoring the phone calls. Did I mention I've just had surgery and can't just hop in a car and go take care of this?

It has felt like there were so many more OMGs for today; but I don't know how many more could you fit into one day? I appreciate y'all letting me vent! I will be back (hopefully tomorrow) with all the "stuff" I'm currently working on! Until, hopefully no more OMGs for the day.

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Living Without Cell Phones!

The other day I wrote about some of the changes that have occurred in the last 50 years.  Today I received (ok, so I didn't GET it today, I just opened it today) an email entitled Growing Up Without a Cell Phone.  I've got to share this email with you.  I have no idea who the original author was; but they definitely hit the nail on the head!
Hilarious! Growing up without a cell phone


If you are 36, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways...yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

1) I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up in the card catalog!! or pull out the encyclopedias!!

2) There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

3) Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

4) There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

6) We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

7) There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MYGOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

8) And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

9) We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.. Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE! and if you lived in the country like me you didn't even have an Atari 2600!!.

10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

11) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little brats!

12) And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

13) And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

14) And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1970 or any time before!

Regards,


The Over 40 Crowd

What is 50 years?

Fifty years....half a century....half a lifetime....a drop in time infinite....a mere spec of time to God....an entire lifetime for some....an unachievable goal for others....today....a birthday....an anniversary.....gold.....old....young.....What is 50 years really?

Fifty years ago, computers were huge machines that took entire rooms or buildings to house that processed information at a mere fraction of what man could do with pencil and paper and yet look at computers today. Computers can access information from across the world, across space, across the years with the flick of a button---or as in the case of i-pads and i-phones, with just the touch of a screen. They can fit into the palm of your hand, into just the smallest of microchips that can transform so many things into a working computerized system. Who would have thought 50 years ago that the computer would be a personalized object that so many people now feel they can't live without?--and I'll admit, I'd have a hard time doing without one.

Fifty years ago, we had mostly stay at home mothers who were there when school got out at the end of the day. They wore aprons and cooked home cooked meals that were on the table about the time the man of the house got home. Those same aprons wiped away tears, washed skinned knees, dried wet hands, and accepted flour from the evenings dinner rolls or dessert. Moms were able to use a kiss to "heal" skinned knees and elbows and sent their children back outside to play. They weren't worried about where their children were--because they were always within calling (by mouth, not by phone) distance either outside or at a neighbors house. And she knew all the neighbors. Do you know all the people that live around you? on your block? I certainly don't.

Fifty years ago, people had kitchens with ice boxes (now called refrigerators) that held ice cube trays that had to be emptied and refilled with water. People had milk delivered that was then put into the refrigerator. Grocery stores were mom and pop owned operations and you could have groceries delivered to your door. The refrigerators weren't mini computers with TVs inside the door, ice, water, and maybe even your favorite beverage delivered through the door. The food inside the refrigerator didn't hold foods that were processed to death--they were fresh from someone's garden or from the local butcher.

Fifty years ago, going to a fast food restaurant (or any restaurant for that matter) was considered a huge deal and was a special occasion. Now we stop by this place or that one on the way to work for coffee, another for a quick bite for lunch and because everyone is too tired to stop and cook, we go out for dinner. And people wonder why we're such an unhealthy and overweight nation. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. All the high carbs and high fats that you get from all the prefixed meals, no more playing or walking---after all, we drive around the corner to see friends instead of walking and all our game playing involves the thumbs and fingers--and we wonder why we can't lose weight. If we had to work the fields (even small ones) to tend our vegetables that would feed us all winter and until the next harvest, if we played outside and walked everywhere, we might not have to worry about what we ate. Sure our parents, grandparents and beyond ate real butter, eggs and bacon and fried foods in pig fat. But they also did more physical work in a few hours each morning (let alone all day) than most of us do in several days worth of living. They didn't have to worry about high cholesterol and fatty arteries----they worked it all off and there was nothing extra to store.

Fifty years ago, we had party lines and you had to wait for someone to get off the phone to make your call. And chances are good there was always someone listening in on what you were saying. Oh wait, 50 years ago, not every household had a phone. Well, I suppose you could say that now. After Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Mississippi Gulf Coast, many people never bothered to have "land" lines reconnected. After all, everyone in the family had access to or actually had their own cell phone number. We carry the little phones around with us like they were gold. We can't seem to get off of them. We play games on them, talk to people on them, use them as our walking rolodex, listen to music on them, watch tv on them, watch videos on them. Phones went from just a simple means of talking to someone that wasn't in the same building with you to a way of connecting with the entire world through them.

Fifty years ago, John F. Kennedy was President of the USA. We've averted the Cuban Missile Crisis, participated in the Korean War, endured the Vietnam War, lived through the Cold War, and have been involved in the war against terrorism that I wonder if will ever end. And now there is talk of another Korean War and a Civil War in Libya. We've seen good presidents and bad--I won't say which were which as each person has their own opinions on who was/is good and/or bad. Was it the person that made it good or bad? The congressmen/women we elected that made him good or bad? The circumstances they were in office under? I wonder, if the same presidents were President during a different 4-8 year period than when they served, would the same outcomes have occurred? Makes for an interesting debate topic--one I'm sure my son-in-law could debate for hours--I just don't feel like debating.

Fifty years ago, a handsome young chaplain was stationed in Korea while his beautiful young wife was in Lakeland, Florida giving birth to an innocent baby girl. A lot has occurred in the last 50 years. People have come and gone. Musicians have changed music--or in some cases just borrowed the old stuff and made it new for the younger generation. We've put a man on the moon and brought him back. Space may still be considered a foreign and ominous "place"; but it isn't nearly as foreign as it was 50 years ago. Cars have become bigger or smaller (depending on the design style), faster, sleeker, less classy (in many cases), and more fuel efficient--after decades and decades of being fuel guzzlers. The beautiful woman who bore that innocent child spent 69 years on this Earth before meeting her maker. The young chaplain? He's still a chaplain--and has been for the better part of his life. He's ministered to young and old and will until the day he meets his maker--of that I'm sure. The innocent baby girl? Well, she isn't nearly as innocent and knows a whole lot more now than then. She's grown up and married and gave birth to three wonderful children. She has divorced and remarried the second man of her dreams---dreams aren't always what they seem when they are first dreamed. In doing so, she also got two more wonderful children. She's had the privilege of watching all five of those children grown into young adults--watching each graduate high school and watching three marry and getting pictures from the fourth wedding. The youngest has introduced his (latest) dream girl to her and hopefully is taking things slowly as they are both still very young. She's had the privilege to see two of her three grandchildren and the fourth grandchild is due in August. This same woman who started out so innocent and protected has grown up through so much of a changing world. She's graduated from high school and college and earned her way in the world teaching very special children for 25 of the last 50 years. She's had joys and pains--as all of us that have lived 50 years have done.

Fifty years, I used to think of people that were 50 as being OLD and joked about them being over the hill. Mom used to say that when she got to be 50 she would no longer age--she would spend the next 50 years counting backwards. Well she didn't get to 0; but I'm so grateful for everyday that I had her with me (us). Fifty years--seems like a long time doesn't it? To a small child 50 years is forever from now. For a college graduate, it is the time that they will spend working and hoping to retire at some point. To the 87 year old father of the woman, it seems like just yesterday he had his daughter placed into his arms upon his return from Korea.

To me? Today seems just like any other day--its a day I can spend with my loved ones and family members, a day I can receive well wishes from friends I've known since junior high school or to ones I only know through games on the social network. Today, is my 50th birthday. No big surprise that I made it to 50 I guess. We're living in an age where it is rare for people not to see their 50th birthday. But still, I feel like its somewhat of an accomplishment that I've made it this far. I'm blessed beyond imagination through God's love and hopefulness in me and people in general. I've lived in so many places and experienced things that only could be experienced because of Dad being in the military, me being married to one man for almost 20 years and my being married to another for 7 1/2 years.

Our experiences in life--good or bad-- are what makes us. And the past 50 years worth of experiences are what makes me ME! There are things about me that some don't like. Guess what--there are things about me I don't like either. But there are so many more things that I hope people do like about me. If not, I'm not going to try to be molded into someone that fits into someone else's perfect mold of who I should be. I am Me, I can't be anyone else. Whole or broken, with or without the different pieces of my personality, my being, my ME-ness--I am who I am.

Now I am starting on the next 50 years of experiences. I wonder what new things will be achieved in the next 50 years. Hopefully, I'll be around all 50 of those years to find out. So, who among you will join me for the next 50 years of experiences? Will you be someone I experience new (or old) things with? Will you be someone that just passes through my life unnoticed? Will I be someone that just passes you by unnoticed? Who knows. But we have the next 50 years to experience it together---one way or the other.