End of Work Day Roundup

Well, I can't say I've done any work today, and no excuses - just got redirected. Mom called and wanted me to help her pick out a printer and wanted to take me to lunch at a restuarant owned by friends (and they're clients), so it was necessary. I guess I can kind of skate since MLK day had everything closed down.
So I'm going to straighten up the house, make a to do list, excercise, eat dinner, take a bath, go to bed and hit the day running tomorrow.

So how's that "Fresh on Monday" thing working out for me?

Meh. I overslept again. I acually feel great this morning, though. I spoke with my mom and we're meeting for a late lunch, then off to home depot for office supplies. Yay. I have a monetary goal set for each week and I have hit it for this week, so my goal this week it to call 20 clients, prospects and set 10 appointments. and get my marketing plan going. i've had the plan for a while, I've just never implemented it
Since it's a holiday - i'll be slightly hampered, but no matter.
So on to important things: What is rolling around in my head right now?
1) i need to call Walgreens and refill my prescription
2) if i were to leave the country and fly to England (I've always wanted to go and I have family there) no matter what the law says, I would take my pistol and carry it (concealed of course).
3)I'm supposed to go to the gym tonight, but I don't feel like going. I'm going to try to make my mood change before then.

Good Morning World!

So where am I from yesterday? Well, I overslept by about 45 minutes, but I'm not too fussed about it today, since there was one hellacious storm last night with thunder and lightening. I did not have a restful sleep. No excuses, just fact.
I've been up less than 15 minutes and am writing - good thing! Bad thing: did not get up and go at get ready and go in the office. What's worse is I'm leaving at noon to go to Odessa for the weekend. And now I'm about to do something that all "life coaches" and experts, etc would say is very wrong. Here goes: "I'm going to start fresh on Monday." Procrastination - my middle name. Oh well. I have done some positive things in the last few days. I'm going to try to post again before I leave for Odessa this afternoon so I can develop the habit.

Mid-day Report

So I'm eating lunch (oatmeal) and I'm thinking to myself, what is my biggest challenge RIGHT NOW? Meaning today, at this moment.
My biggest challenge is leaving my house. I don't know if I'd go as far as calling myself a shut-in because I'm not afraid to leave the house, I just don't want to leave the house. I go to a meeting when I must, I go to the ranch, I go to things that I feel obliged to go to, but if there is no one demanding my presence anywhere, I stay home. This is not good for obvious reasons. What's worse is that I work for myself, so not going to the office means not making money. Even the prospect of being broke is not enough to make me leave. This suggests a deeper problem than not wanting to leave.
I have no excuse and have resolved not to make excuses anymore. I have done some progressive things today which are good.
1) I woke up at an appropriate time (no sleeping in anymore) and got up
2) I started writing again and working on my goals
3) I am making a conscious effort not to obsess over the things I want to obsess over, which I have no control over (this deserves it's own post)
4) Although I have seriously bad breakfast habits (this week - Coke and M&M's) I chose to eat oatmeal for lunch instead of junk. Although since I'm trying to be honest, I added brown sugar, cinnamon honey buter and more M&M's to the oatmeal. I'm not sure that doesn't turn oatmeal into junk...
5) I also started stretching again. 15 years of classical ballet, 7 years of gymnastics, cheerleading and dance team - none of my muscles have been used since my back surgery in 1992. I feel like they've atrophied or something. But I put on my old leotards, ballet shoes and did my ballet streches (not that I got very far on day 1).
However, all of those things that are positives cannot excuse that I did not get up and go into my office FIRST and take care of business. I cannot use the rationalization that I know the problem and I'm taking good baby steps to develop better habits, because in the end, it becomes a crutch. "No, I didn't go to work, but look at all the positive stuff I've done." That can't fly.
So the question becomes - How do I get out of the house?

Third Time's the Charm?

I'm back to posting again - or at least trying to post. Every time I look at the posting box I freeze up. What do I post about. My personal life and journey? Politics? Football and Rodeo? My brain goes all over the place. I guess I'll just have to post the random chaos in my brain until I find a pattern. Maybe it will help to organize my brain and therefore my life.

The Next Day

As no one reads this, I don't mind sharing the truly boring and mundane. It's supposed to be therapeutic, and above all, it gets me writng again. Today was, well, a decent day. I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted to, although I did manage to get out of the house and do some shopping and I did some work - not a full days work, but I did thngs I've managed to put off for a while.
I als worked out - it's all about the baby steps. Not going be a long post ranting about things I can't change yet until I get my health back. I need to buy a scale. One month ago at the doctor I weighed in at 88 pounds. I've weighed 105 to 108 for as long as I can remember, then I got down to 95 and the doc told me not to worry, but 88 pounds was cause for worry.
As of tonight, I don't know what I weith, but I look way better. I'm going to try to write short psts every night until I feel like really talking and starting up my novel wiritn again

Update on the Happiness Project

Well, the happiness project did not go well. I finally had to break down and go to the doctor. It's helped except that I have a long way to go on my own. After lots of tests the doctor ultimately put me on thyroid medicine which helped for a few weeks. I felt great! Then I crashed and burned. I went back on Ambien, but it doesn't last all night, so the doc gave me xanax to take with the ambien since the ambien CR does not have a generic. and funnily enough, it's working like a charm. I take my pills at 9:30 and drift off to sleep by eleven and sleep all night. I don't even take my pain pills for my back anymore.

but i'm still far from where i want to be. more on that later.

Day 3 of the Happiness Project

It' not going so well. Partly its just because I have fallen into a very unhealthy routine and I know it's going to be tough to kick it. (Nothing really bad, mind you. In a word: laziness) However, this morning I missed work, and even though it was my fault, there was no help for it. I had some prescriptions refilled and for the first time I did them online at Walgreens. However, following my M.O. I rushed through the online system and didn't pay attention to what I was doing.
I checked the refill box for the wrong prescription. It was for a scrip that my doctor gave me months ago to help me sleep and control back pain. I hated the side effects so I quit taking it. I didn't bother to check the bottle when I took a pill this morning. When I got into the truck to leave for work, I was so dizzy and tired I just couldn't believe it. That's when I went in the house and looked at the pharmacy packaging and realized that I had taken a sleeping pill this morning.
Nothing to be done. I can't drive like that. So I didn't make it into work until 12:30. I feel lethargic and blah.

Happiness Project - Day 1

So I'm midway through Day 1 of my Happiness Project. My focus right now is to work hard on item #2 of Ben Franklin's Thirteen Virtues.
Order - Let each part of your business have it's time.

I'm making good progress. I've stayed focused on the task at hand. When I've wanted to stray to the internet I have successfully resisited the temptation (I am such a news junkie!! It's pathetic!) I'm following the goals I've set on Joe's Goals with one minor blip. I didn't sleep in this morning, but I didn't get here as early as I wanted. But I won't beat myself up over it. Baby steps...

I'm having a lunch break right now and I feel good about treating myself to some down time. Yay me!

My Own Happiness Project

I just ran across Gretchen Rubin's site discussing the Happiness Project and I decided to start one of my own!


I have no idea how it works, but I guess I'll figure it out as I go along.

I've now set up a chart from Joe's Goals (although so far, I only have one goal!) and I'm posting Benjamin Franklin's Thirteen Subjects.


Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.

Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

So where am I on these? Well, I'm not going to worry about Temperance. I'm there on that one. Order, well, that's going to take some work.

Strictly speaking, on the first half of that sentence - I'm there. "Let all your things have their places". I like my life orderly and I want my life orderly. All things in my home and in my office have their place and sometimes I can get slightly obessive about it, but I realize that it is just me trying to control things when I'm feeling out of control. I'm not worried about the "chaos" in that respect.

The second part of that sentence, not so much. "Let each part of your business have its time". This is where I have a big problem. I get distracted very easily and some days I will spend so much time doing everything but work during working hours that I can't sleep at night because of the guilt.

So for the first part of my Happiness Project, this will be what I focus on to begin with.
Baby steps, baby steps...

Update
I've gone back to Joe's Goals and added everything I can think of off the top of my head to keep focused on the task at hand. Namely, work first, everything else later.

I also made Joe's Goals my homepage, so every time I turn my computer on, I go there first.

My Upcoming Trip

So I'm going hunting in Montana in less than 3 weeks. I cannot wait! I've never been to Montana before and this trip will definately test my mettle. The boyfriend and I are going to be gone for 10 days.

So I had to get a new gun. I usually shoot a .243, but I need a bit more firepower to take down an elk. So I got this:

It's a Tikka T3 30-06, synthetic stock and stainless steel barrel. I'm normally a fan of the wood grain, just because I'm a traditionalist, but for extreme temperatures, I decided to go the other way.

I love, love, love it!!! It's so light, so it will be a breeze hiking in the mountains with it, however, it does pack a punch! I knew to expect a recoil, but it was a bit overwhelming.

I named it Sarah.

Third Time's the Charm?

Ok, I going to try one more time to do this blog thing. Every day I watch the news and I think, omg, I'm going to post about that! Then I read exactly what I'm thinking on five different blogs, so then I go... meh.

Well, I think I'll give it another try. We'll see...

That Kinky Friedman

You know, Kinky is not of my political persuasion, but he sure is teh funny! Here's a quote from his O'Reilley appearance:

Politics: poli meaning many and tics meaning blood-sucking insects.

Ha!!!!

It's a Two-fer! The ROP vs. Undocumented Workers

I'm watching "Law & Order" re-runs on TNT and boy does the lefty brain indoctrination just smack you in the face!

It's re-run from 2007 "ripped from the headlines" type story. An actress is found hanging in her office and dectectives quickly discover that she received a blow to the head prior to the hanging. Sound familiar? It's the story of the illegal alien who killed the actress and tried to make it look like a suicide.

Of course, the alien is shown as a poor desparate young man who is filled with remorse and didn't mean to do it. He only did it because he was afraid that if he got caught by police, his starving mother and five siblings in Colombia would starve and die. Here's a direct quote:

"most people who live and work here illegally do it out of desperation." Cry me a f*&^ing river.

Oh but there's more. Just for extra flair, just add a dash of anti-Muslim bigotry. You know how Law & Order likes to pull the old bait 'n switch? Well, you see, in the show, the actress wasn't making it acting, so she turned to writing and producing. She is killed right after finishing a movie based on the subjugation of Muslim women in Saudi Arabia, and one of the potential suspects is, wait for it, the handy Muslim sound editor! Of course he's arrested and harrassed and of course, it's Bad Amerikkka's police to blame. They profiled!

But guess who the real culprit is? It's not the sympathetic illegal alien just tryin to make a buck, and it's not the Religion of Peace martyr. No, No, No. It's "good, old fashioned American Greed!" (That's a direct line from the show.) Yep. It's the owner of the construction company who's making a fortune off the illegal alien workers and doesn't want the woman to call the cops, thus bringing the working situation to light. Yep, the muderer is Whitey. The Evil, Greedy, White, American, Capitalist Pig man!

Case closed, and we all sleep easier in our beds knowing that evil whitey is locked up!

The End.

Friday Funnies

Since today is Friday, I've decided to list things that I think are funny. Without further ado:

The Free Credit Report.com commercials

F-R-E-E that spells Free, ...Credit Report dot com, Bay-Bee!





Shepard Smith
I leave the Tee Vee on all day at my office, so I try to leave it on, shall we say, educational things, like Fox News. I usually enjoy Studio B with Shepard Smith because, even though its a news program, the manner in which it is presented is a bit more light-hearted. But what, you ask, is so funny about Shepard Smith? Well look at him!!!! He's downright orange, for crying out loud!



This website

Fart jokes and potty humor

Mullets

The fact that the more O'bama (that's the Irish spelling, in honor of the recent holiday) opens his mouth, the more holes he punches in his sinking ship. Just like McDonalds, I'm Lovin' It!

And lastly, an inside joke, known only to myself and KK Holiday, in honor of today:
He Was Reje-ec-ted, He Was Ne-gle-ec-ted...

Heh.

Yes, I stole that from Instapundit. But it is so appropriate. While perusing Deadspin this morning to get up to date on the NCAA tournament, I ran across this comment in the BYU/A&M thread:

This is a great match-up. One school is in a culturally remote area with weird traditions and has a fanbase fanatically devoted to a cause that outsiders really can't comprehend. The other school is run by the LDS.

I should be annoyed given that I am the most red-assed of Aggies, but damn, I got a good chuckle out of that.

It's funny cuz it's true.

Beer Blogging with the Adams Family

So I'm watching parts 1 and 2 of the HBO miniseries John Adams and I decided that I could not enjoy this momentous event with out the help of Mssr. Adams cousin, Sam Adams. I'm speaking of course, of his delicious beer. Tonight its Chicken Diavolo and Sam Adams beer. How could a Wednesday get any better?

Watching this movie, I find that I feel the weight on my own shoulders that these men must have felt. The question of independence that the Founding Fathers struggled with has never seemed so great a thing to me until now. These men were committing treason, by God. Do you remember learning about the Continental Congress in school as a youngster? I do. I was proud, but it didn't seem to be a big deal. I suppose, looking back, I probably thought that the Founding Fathers knew exactly what they were doing, and exactly what the outcome would be. After all, from my youthful perspective, America was the biggest, baddest country on the planet, and England was just a puny little island full of fairy tales.

The impassioned speech by Mr. Dickinson brings it home to me. I don't know who the actor is who is playing the part, but he is definately believable. You can hear in his voice the fear that all the men in that room must have shared. I mean, my God, England was the most powerful empire in the world and these feuding colonies who could barely get their act together were actually comtemplating givin King George and Parliament a big F*&% You! I'm actually moved to tears.

God Save the American States!
(and delicious Sam Adams beer!)

Yes, I'm a Loser...

and I'm getting back into blogging, by linking...
wait for it...
Drudge.

So last Wednesday I flew to Phoenix for the week, and two days before I left I spent untold amounts of quarters washing and waxing my truck. I flew back in last night, to San Antonio, and proceeded to my truck in Long Term Parking, where my very sweet and long-suffering parents had parked my truck for me earlier in the day. It was absolutely filthy!!!! I assumed that my father had used my truck at the ranch (his is in the shop, since he set it on fire. Yes, I said HE SET IT ON FIRE! Whole 'nother story). Well, I offered the use of the truck to hime, so I would never complain about it, but I was cussin' him all the way home.

And this morning, there's this article on Drudge

The dirty rain left vehicles across San Antonio looking like they’d been taken off-roading in the mud. The cars are covered, but that coating is not quite dust, not quite dirt and not quite mud.

Sorry, Pops!

The Supremes May Have a Hit on Their Hands

I saw on Drudge that the Supremes are likely to uphold the notion that many Americans hold: that the right to keep and bear arms is in fact an individual right.

To me, this is like pointing out the turd in the punch bowl. A simple reading of the 2nd amendment covers both the individual right which shall not be infringed and the collective right of the militia. A five year old could figure this out.

I sincerely hope that the Supremes not only rule in favor of the 2nd amendment, but I also hope that they do so decisively. They should not leave a lot of leeway for governments to over-regulate sale and possession of firearms, much less an outright ban such as the one in D.C.

I believe that if the D.C. ban is overturned and law-abiding citizens are able to arm themselves, we will see a huge drop in crime in that most crime-ridden city that is the District of Columbia.

Woo Hoo

So here I am, at the house on my brand new little laptop. No more feeling guilty about blogging at work, and, since I've been so busy at work, hopefully no more skipping months at a time. Yay me!