I know people who are whirlwinds of activity from sunup ’til sundown and frankly, spending time with them always makes me want to take a nap. I’m simply not that kind of person. I pretty much get everything accomplished that requires my attention, but I’ll never live in an immaculate house and have my holiday shopping completed before that first trick-or-treater knocks on the door.
But today was unusual. I woke early, despite reading in bed until late, and then somehow accomplished a bizarre amount of stuff today. If I had to take a stab at the source of this energy, I would guess it was the addition of a multivitamin with iron which I’ve been taking for the last week-and-a-half or so to treat my self-diagnosed anemia. It was surreal though, as if I were playing the part in a play about a very motivated woman.
Here’s what I did today:
- Colored my own hair, which turned out perfectly.
- Called the newspaper to clarify a billing issue.
- Drove to middle school to bring my 14-year-old his science homework and to drop off the 1000’s of heavy hardback library books that are threatening to damage the delicate foundation of our house.
- Made copies of financial paperwork.
- Drove to area hospital to print out recent pay-stubs as we’re refinancing our mortgage.
- Went to credit union.
- Went to grocery store.
- Went to Mailboxes etc. to have them weigh envelope and tell me how much it would cost to mail to mortgage broker.
- Used own stamps from hodge-podge from drawer at home, including lots of 2 cent stamps.
- Started to arrange moving the blog to self-hosted status. I’m “hiring” a friend who is much more computer savvy than I.
- Scooped the litter boxes. (I hate doing this, so I give myself full credit.)
- Hung laundry to dry in our unfinished attic-y room.
- Made a delicious, filling yet frugal dinner.
- Started making ginger snaps.
- Drove to grocery store to buy sugar.
- Mixed up ginger snap dough.
- Made homemade laundry soap.
- Cleaned up from dinner.
- Watched two re-runs of “The Office,” (which is a show I had never watched until lately.)
- Hid the kid’s iPods.
- Supervised homework.
- Wrote blog.
I have another day off from work tomorrow, and I’m hoping to continue with this git ‘er done momentum. Because the sad thing is that even though I was so accomplished today, my house is still pretty messy and there are an infinite number of tasks I could tackle before running out of stuff to do.
Gee, it’s almost as if I run a household, hold a part-time job, write and moderate a daily blog, parent two boys and try to cook almost entirely from scratch. No wonder the coffee table is all cluttered with art, homework, office supplies and books.
Do you feel like you’re on top of the tasks of life, or are you often a step behind? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
See here, now! You’re going to start making ME feel unproductive.
I get to stay home all day today, though, so I’m hoping to have an uber-productive day.
Why’d you hide their iPods? 🙂
Want to come to my house? I have a long list as well, which I’d be happy to share 🙂
I will always consider myself a step behind because I can always find another project, such as clean & org the shelves in the laundry room or improve the attic. But that’s in my head, ya ‘no? so the practical answer is not really but it takes work.
My problem is that I let the daily tasks push aside a couple dreaded big projects including getting the siding and trim replaced.
“Scooped the litter boxes. (I hate doing this, so I give myself full credit.) ”
Love it!
Quite the day! I love when that happens to me too 🙂
I was also wondering why you hid the iPods…
ALWAYS behind–I am a big paper clutter person– piles of stuff I clip and mean to file..and books everywhere too.Add in my stamp/collage crafting and what a mess.. I try to keep it all in one room but the books and magazines do begin to take over.
House is basically clean but often messy.
yes! The vitamins will do the trick! Keep it up!!
Cate,
I hid their iPods because BOTH of them had admitted to using their iPods, (one of which can do the internet, the other of which can play movies) after I had put them to bed the night before.
Which then makes the boys very difficult to get up in the morning.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
The Non-Consumer Advocate/Badass Mom
I had a day like yours this week too….got on a roll of tidying each room and put away all projects except the one I am currently working on. I am usually not so productive…would rather spend time outdoors.
I love your posts!
I usually have high energy but have to guard against being distracted…which happens way too easily for me. I’ve found that if I can stay focused on doing one thing at a time, overall I accomplish more. I’m plagued with a short attention span.
Definitely behind! I try to do at least one chore a day and yes our dinner table is covered with stuff!(ironing due to no board, coupons, etc) Keep meaning to get it straightened but other things take priority.
I have lately been pretty unmotivated to get more than just the basics done. Your comments about anemia have made me take more seriously the anemic/borderline anemic comment my doctor made the other week. I wonder if this is a common problem among women.
Katy, glad you’re feeling perkier. B vits work for me.
Love those kind of days! Unfortunately, they don’t happen all that often, guess that’s why I really appreciate when they do occur.
Yah, this happened to me when I was taking steroids. I’d wake up WAAAAY too early, ready to take on the world, and really, really focused. “So THIS,” thinks me, “is how Organized People are?” (Or, “So THIS is how speed freaks are?”) Got to where I was thinking maybe I should have a hairdo, instead of just letting the split ends fall where they may. Happily for all concerned, it wore off.
Congrats on your productive day and new web hosting arrangement! I probably qualify as a productive type most of the time, but as a result of the pace I set for myself, I can have problems with stress and not enough rest. To counter this, I try to exercise, my new thing is biking (I’m a new resident of Florida so can do so nearly year round!!). As I try to change this pattern, your comments on the valuable free time you can find by being a non-consumer (and thus not having to work as much) are very inspiring!!