A Good Start

I woke this morning around 6:30, feeling pretty well-rested. 

I went to the gym and included cardio for the first time in a month.  

I ran three errands, changed the bed, and sorted the laundry. 

I took Jace on three walks. 

It's not a red-letter day by any means, but it's not the day of a lethargic person in a deep funk.

Plans, Schedules, and Self-Sabotage

It's been a frustrating week for me. But I still have the rest of today and tomorrow to make the most of it. 

I'll start by discussing the end of last week. I had planned to write a post about plans gone awry focusing on our visit to the Christmas Shoppe at the Merwinsville Hotel. It takes about an hour to get there; I wanted to leave home at 1 and return around 4. I figured I would exercise then and maybe clean the bathroom.

I wanted to take Lola out at 11. I didn't take into account time to get gas and cash. Backed up traffic on I-95 led me to go to Cranbury Park instead of Sherwood Island Park. Then Lola and I made a wrong turn in the woods. It was 1 before I returned home and still had to eat lunch. By the time we got on the road, it was almost 2: we returned just before 5. 

One hour isn't a big deal. As a friend said, we didn't have appointments or other obligations. But if I had planned a little better, I could have taken care of my chores and left for the Hotel at 1. If I had gotten home at 4, I wouldn't have blown off exercise. As for cleaning the bathroom, that was never realistic. 

For the next several days, I got off to slow starts and faced distractions. I spent an hour Sunday looking to buy a map of Gaylordsville, only to discover that Jeff probably had the best map already as part of his Western Connecticut book of maps. D'oh. 

On Monday, Jeff couldn't find his phone. It was in my car, but I didn't find it despite searching and despite both of us being in the car until after we bought new phones. Double D'oh! Jeff needed a cell phone to log into work, so it became an urgent task to get a new phone. Our service plan had expired, Jeff had talked about getting new phones, and apparently our old phones are from the Jurassic Era. So, we needed new phones, but I didn't want to spend two hours on Monday getting them. 

The rest of the week--well, I seemed to be rebelling against all the things I should have been doing. Many to-dos were left undone. One to-do from Sunday was to bring Christmas decorations from our storage bin in the basement. The boxes still sit in the dining area. 

On the positive side, I was more productive today. Not as productive as I had hoped, but that's a rare occurrence. Tomorrow will be better. 

Class Dismissed

I've taught three classes this summer and am just over halfway through a fourth. In the past, I've never taught more than two courses per summer.  Ironically we offer fewer courses now, but I guess we also have fewer teachers.

My second SAT course was challenging in many ways. I regret that I didn't do a good job with that class. At this point, I can only do better on future classes.

I'm going to take a hiatus from teaching. Mainly because the next class offerings will interfere with vacation plans. Jeff and I have a destination wedding for our niece in upstate New York next month. We've decided to take the days off between our anniversary and the wedding and explore. We may combine the trip with a visit to Interlaken Inn. We received gift certificates for Christmas. 

Now that we're about a month away, we can start planning, but not too much. Many of  the best times we've enjoyed on vacation have been the unexpected or spontaneous stops.

We can use a getaway.

This Week

I'm glad the week is winding down--it was a long one. Funny how one week can feel so differently from another. The Superbowl feels like a month ago.

I had a busy work week. I dealt with a student who missed one appointment and had to cut a second short, a parent who was annoyed with me about a technical glitch, extra pressure that I put on myself by poor planning, and a few minor household problems. The last session of my ACT class was Wednesday. It snowed, sleeted and rained all day, but we managed to get the class in and everyone attended. I didn't feel I was at my best. That's not a good way to end the course, but I received a glowing email from one of my students so I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought.

To top the week off, Lola got sick yesterday. Luckily the vet was able to squeeze her in, and Lola's much better today.

And so it goes.

Mis-Scheduling

Last Sunday we bought a dishwasher. Our current machine hasn't been working properly for some time; it would stop in mid-cycle. It wasn't so bad if it happened once, but it got to he point that it took all day to run a full cycle.

I thought the dishwasher would be delivered today. I had selected an 8 to 12 window. But d'oh. The actual delivery date is next Thursday, the 15th. I was annoyed because I adjusted my schedule around the delivery time today. It's not a big deal; I worked on some things that I could do at home, but it wasn't the best use of time.

One of my most exasperating traits is that when I have extra time to get somewhere I manage to just make it or I'm a little late. Similarly when I have a full day to do something, I often don't accomplish anything.

Sometimes this failure to accomplish things extends into weeks. When I have a week free, I often waste most of it.

I've been working on this by tracking my time, making to-do lists and plans. But it's frustrating to see how easily I can be thrown off my game. Next week, I have to devote another morning home for the real delivery. Another day I have to take my mother to her ear doctor.

And so it goes

A Time Management Paradox

As I've written before, I started tracking my time for a week. I decided that I should track another week or two before I do any analysis.

Unfortunately, my computer died last Friday. On Monday when I planned to start the time log for my new week, I realized that I had saved my time log worksheet on my computer that was in the shop. I tried to download the form again, but the link wasn't working.

There must be several other time spreadsheets. But when I tried to download another, it printed a blank page. I gave up.

So I wasted a half hour trying to manage my time efficiently.


Sigh.

In Praise of Routines

Routines have derogatory connotations. People are encouraged to break out of their routines. Routines are dull, boring, unsexy.

I've found that I need routines. I work part time, and don't have a normal work schedule. It changes day to day. That means I should have plenty of time to work out, clean, cook gourmet meals and write.

Right?

Well, no. It doesn't work that way--at least for me. I need to make plans and schedules for myself. Even if I can't complete those plans and schedules, I accomplish more. 

Spike's morning routine has changed, which means mine has also. He now needs to go out first thing in the morning--sometimes as early as 5:30. Most of the time I go back to bed to catch a few more minutes of sleep--or 1.5 hours if he gets me up at 5:30. But this can be an opportunity to jump start my day.

I was intrigued by this article that I read two weeks ago. Today I tried the lemon water (good) and did 15 minutes of exercise before I ate breakfast. I didn't follow all of the other suggestions--I'm on my laptop right now. But it's a start. 

What's Today's Schedule?

I have to be flexible with my tutoring students. A small group tutorial has set meeting and testing times. Individual tutoring sessions are more fluid. Most of the kids I tutor are heavily scheduled. Figuring out when they can meet with me can be difficult.

Luckily for me, I like flexibility and variety, but it does get confusing. I often check my calendars  multiple times each day just to make sure I end up at the right time, right place.

Measuring Your Life--Stephanie Klein

My last post started with housework and ended with deadlines and schedules. The next day I was browsing some blogs that I hadn't read for a while and found this post.

Stephanie asked how do you get things done and what's your daily schedule? She listed some of her to-do's. Many items on Stephanie's list aren't on mine--and getting monogrammed aprons for the kids wouldn't make my list even if I had kids--but that's not the important part. Apparently, many of us struggle to complete all the things that we need or at least think we need to do. It's comforting to know that I'm not alone in this struggle.

It's almost midnight. I think about my priorities for tomorrow, then remember tomorrow is Friday. How about I put myself on a schedule next week? Yeah--next week I'll get my act together.