Grumble
Bookworm on Oct 18 2009 at 8:33 pm | Filed under: Uncategorized
I think I blog, at least sometimes, because it’s the emotional equivalent of going on a bender when the other things in my life are overwhelming. I should be working now, but I’m at my Mom’s place because she isn’t feeling well. I’m not actually sure I should be worried. My sister and I define her as a drama queen and hypochondriac with genuine health problems. She see-saws between really sick and really dramatic, and we never know what we’ve been watching until after the fact. This would happen, of course, on the night my husband is away on a business trip.
So here I am in her sweet little apartment, trying to work through GoToMyPC, when I get a phone call from my daughter telling me that, since she and her brother forgot to walk the dog (despite a couple of reminders), the dog peed on the carpet. And so I stop working altogether and blog about everything, ’cause it’s better to blog about these things than actually to deal with them.
Anyway, I hope my Mom is having a drama queen moment, because I love her dearly, and would hate for her to be genuinely sick. Having raised the subject of her health tonight, I’ll try to let y’all know what’s going on tomorrow.
Whine, whine, whine. I’ll stop now. I’ve had my blogging catharsis and feel much better.
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14 Responses to “Grumble”
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First, good hopes for your mother’s help.
Second, BW, if the world (or at least your household) is your oyster, then this blog is the pearl, and we get to enjoy your wisdom.
Hang in there!
“good hopes for your mother’s HEALTH” — sorry for the typo; if you want to edit the above and delete this correction, please feel free. Aarrgh.
No worries, gpc31. I’ve been typing word soup today (lived/loved/left, for example, get all jumbled together, first in my brain, and then coming out my fingers). I tend to be good at reading the sentiment without worrying about the specific word.
Thanks for your good thoughts. They really do help on days like this.
It’s not whining – It’s wondering about your mom.
Of course, you can be sure the dog peed on the carpet – no wondering about that.
Don’t ya just love the way the kids ‘conveniently’ forgot to walk the dog while you are with your mom.
Some days are just some daze! I hope all is well with your mom.
“I should be working now”
So what’s your position on procrastination:
1) Vastly overrated
2) Always my backup plan
3) I’ll let you know tomorrow
Bonus question: What do procrastination and hyperchondria have in common?
Since karma always delivers a trifecta and you already have a sick mom and a peed on carpet, I’d be treading softly.
I do hope your mother isn’t seriously ill. And I realize you aren’t procrastinating, but it came to mind because I am.
For years I thought my procrastination was due to my perfectionism, but I’ve slowly come to the realization it’s more related to my laziness.
My procrastination is definitely related to perfectionism. It’s also related to the fact that there are things in my life that I can’t stand doing, and I simply defer the inevitable as long as possible. So it’s not really laziness. It’s more like the kid who tries to hold off on eating the spinach in the hope that it will just magically vanish. It never does, though. It just gets cold and nasty, but you still have to eat it.
The two things I never procrastinate about doing are blogging, reading novels, and doing martial arts, all of which deliver intense levels of pleasure to my little lizard brain.
It just gets cold and nasty, but you still have to eat it.
That’s like a fake liberal, right?
Sometimes I think Book channels me. I am a champeen procrastinator (except for when it comes to handing my two cents worth to the dear folk here).
Book, grump all you want. You’ve created a nice little space here with some terrific people. If you can’t wilt, rant and grouse before friends, then with whom?
BW,
Ours poop on the carpet. With no warning and lots of out door time.
Al
I tried to find the classic Dave Barry column about the day his two dogs met the new oriental rug, but couldn’t.
Try these, and remember that the drool factories love you even when you don’t give them treats. And they feel really, really bad about whatever it was they did.
The Hidden Life of Dogs
Dog Spit and Baldness
If the kids haven’t already left for school…
Tell them to take multiple paper towels, place it on the pee spot, and then step on it (with shoes on). If it _instantly_ gets through to the top layer, repeat. If no sign of wet on the top layer, just leave the towel there…it’ll continue to pull up the moisture as it evaporates.
Of course you have to use rug cleaner later, but that will at least get rid of the major wetness part and it’s a method the kids might actually do.
I’ve done this once or twice…!!
Q. How do you write the Great American Novel?
A. You start by cleaning the refrigerator.
(By that measure, I’d have more Nobels than Obama by now.)
The only trick for procrastination that has worked for me is to set up two tasks, 1A and 1B. Naturally I put off 1A and so work on 1B. That way at least something important gets done. (Of course, there are times when I dumpster dive in my to-do list all the way down to 27E, but then again nothing is fool-proof when it comes to me.)
The only infallible remedy is when I get so disgusted by the undone mess that I actually get this intolerable feeling of caffeine-like jitters. Too bad that that feeling runs on its own clock.
gpc31
You reminded me of a writing exercise that I gave to a friend’s daughter, who just loved to write – anything and everything. She only needed to be jump started with an idea and like her mother, a Gold Medalist in Procrastination. The refrigerator was her general point for distractions, using it to ‘find a snack’ or just opening the door to stare. She was a fussy eater.
I suggested the title, If Food Could Talk.
I asked her how would the leftover chicken feel about sitting near the leftover pizza and what on earth did the mayonnaise think about the ketchup and would everyone get along. I wanted her to think about the food as if it had a personality.
She became very excited about the idea and starting writing furiously. I think she turned out 6 pages. The ‘kicker’ on her little story was wonderful. She had the mayonnaise and the ketchup in a battle. Fighting and arguing with one another, until they threw themselves at one another and magically became:
Given the update – forgetting to take the dog out is definitely forgivable…!