Staying Focused.

There are many times during my day when I have difficulty staying focused. Nothing so bad that I would consider is ADD (note my explicit lack of a medical license.) Perhaps I just have ADOLAB; short for Attention Deficit Oh Look A Bunny!

Ahem, anyway, I have to consciously think about staying on track just so I have a hope to stay focused. Here are a couple coping mechanisms I've developed:

1. Cell phone timer. It would look a little more than odd to have an egg timer sitting on my desk; and quite unsettling for others should it go off. So I set the timer app on my phone for 10-20 minute chunks if I'm having trouble with a task. 5 is too short, 30 too long. A quick little "beep" lets me know when I can take a quick mental break.

2. Coffee. This is kinda a no brainer. I do love a good cup o' joe. But Just like pizza and um, anyway, just like pizza, bad coffee is still mostly good coffee. And the institutional brand coffee our office supplies is good enough for me. I sometimes wonder how it would affect productivity if the company were to invest in some Starbucks just for Monday. I think the return on investment would be worth it!

3. Controlled distractions. This one can sometimes be a minefield. When i start to feel my brain slip beyond my control, I make a deal with myself. "Ok, you can read ONE, maybe two, articles on Jezebel or Apartment Therapy, then you're getting back to work!" This usually works, as long as I make sure not to do it more than once per hour. Gawker's impressively crappy & alienating redesign helps make sure I don't spend too much time on their sites anymore.

4. Lunch. It breaks up the day, gives me something to look forward to, and a benchmark by which I can measure my success. "I'll get this done by lunch!" actually helps.

5. Facebook. Who the hell am I kidding! If I get on facebook, I might not get back to work! Thank heavens I don't play Farmville!

6. Small projects. Hey, if I'm going to get off track with a larger project, might as well use that time to work on a couple smaller, easier projects. Sometimes it's a paper for school, a grocery list, organizing my desk, cleaning out a drawer.

7. Ooooo.....something shiny.....

8. Music. Turning on the radio, hooking up the ipod, logging onto Pandora. Music is great at providing just the right level of background distraction. It also serves as a time measure. I figure the average song is 4 minutes (I really have no idea is that's right) so I can say "I'll work on X for 2 songs" Or "I'll allow myself to be distracted just for this song"

How do you guys stay focused?

So...Yeah...Stuff

It's been CRAZY! In addition to kid, there's work, then school, and now, a national competition! This first two weeks it was tough to adjust to the new schedule, but everything's in place now.
Hour long meal preparations have been replaced by chicken & fish and prewashed baby spinach. I know by heart the location of kid friendly restaurants with free wifi. Spring gardening has been replaced with a CSA. Saturday adventures are now punctuated by Saturday class + impromptu play dates w/ other student's kids. After the first time I brought The Girl to class, all the other children seemed to come out of the wood work. Give them a mat and a ton of legos and they're good :-)
Work has been more stressful, however. The pressure's really on and I have more responsibilities. Too bad it didn't come with a raise!
However April turns out, I will be relieved it's over. I'm sure my blood type is french roast at this point; and I, for one, am certainly looking forward to some down time.

BTW, revlotuions are happening in Africa & the Middle East, Japan suffered the worst natural disaster in my lifetime, we're appearently bombing Libya, the Senate & the House have lost their darn minds, and Big Love left way too many loose ends.

A Quick Word on Going Insane

I sometimes have the tendency to over schedule & commit to too many things. I do this because A: They all sounds like great things to do. B: I can be over ambitious. C: My concept of time must be all kinds of messed up.

Take the next 4 days.

Thursday:
   Work. It's schedule day. I output about 2000 pages of drawings and specs.
   Bank. Before 5 or bad things will happen (my bank sucks)
   School. Mid-Term and I have a whopping 10 minutes to restudy before class.
   Everything else. Bedtime routine for The Girl, eat, prep for Friday

Friday:
   Moving. I have to get everything out of my storage unit THIS DAY. This will involves lots of trips w/ my little car, heavy lifting for this tiny gal, and disassembling some desks so they fit in my car. All in 4 hours.
   Work. Tying together loose ends from the week.
   Shopping. My cupboards are getting more bare than I would like. I have plenty of food, but some fresh fruit & veggies would make everyone happier.
   Socializing. Visiting BMF in the next county so our kids can play and we can relax
   Prep. Getting everything ready for the Halloween party I will be attending. Also prepping for the Rally to Restore Sanity. God knows I could use some freakin' sanity!!! Making an overnight bag for The Girl's stay at her bestest Auntie's house.

Saturday:
   Pre-Rally Brunch. "Mimosas to Restore Sanity" For me it will be simply "Coffee to Restore Sanity" and "OJ for the Girl Who Has to Wait More Than 15 Years to Have a Mimosa to Restore Sanity"
   Rally. I'm not exactly sure how this will all pan out. I'll take pics for you all!
   Dinner. Taking The Girl to meet up w/ my sister & her friends to have a wonderful dinner at Oyamel. One of Jose Andres' awesome restaurants in the DC area.
  Halloween Party. I don't get to see too much of my DC friends, so this will be a real treat. No costume ideas. Might just slap on some fairy wings & call it a day.
 
Sunday:
   Breakfast with the girl; something simple. More coffee
   Trick-Or-Treating! The Girl will be a princess, again. I will make sure to inspect her candy and remove any Kit Kat bars I feel are in excess.

When thinking about time lines like these, I begin to worry about how I'm going to pull everything off and who I'm going to likely disappoint. Somewhere along the line, I will run late, forget something, or have to cancel on someone. Crap happens and The Girl always has to come first. I just have to stop, take deep breaths, and remind myself that at one point, I'll get to take a break and it'll all be ok in the end.

On Monday Starbucks will start selling their gingerbread lattes. It couldn't come soon enough!

Sometimes it just gets crazy

I only have 20 minutes for lunch today. We are insanely busy at work. Great news for the housing industry!! Bad news for my already tired looking skin. I'll have 8 hours here at the office, 1 hour transporting the girl to her friend's house and myself to campus, 3.5 hours in class, 30 minutes bringing the girl home. I. Am. So. Tired.

I normally don't work on Friday. It's a wonderful day to have off. Everything's open and I have the option of taking the girl to preschool or keeping her out. It's a great day for adventures to Ikea, the South Mountain Creamery, or Sugarloaf Mountain. But last week, this week, and next, I will be working full days at the office. *Pout*


Can you imaging how happy the cows must be to live here?

No one is taking this well. My friends are disappointed I canceled our Ikea trip, the girl is upset she isn't going to the cow farm, and I certainly needed that day off to recharge from such a busy, no good, week. It hurts most that my mommy friends are upset with me. Three or four times in three weeks I've had to cancel because of unscheduled work, late babysitter, or the STBX. My mommy friends have been especially understanding of the difficulties I face as a single mom, working & going to school. But I guess even they have limits. The girl and I will be hanging out with Best Mommy Friend tomorrow evening. I'll bring over some wine & maybe a Starbucks card. Hopefully I can buy my way back into her good graces!


Note:
South Mountain Creamery isn't giving me, or paying me, anything. I just think they're totally awesome.

Thursday Randomness

I'm sitting here, blogging on my lunch break. I somehow went accidental vegetarian today. Toast & an apple for breakfast. Chick'N patty & kale for lunch. Will have yogurt for mid day snack. Potato w/ fake bacon bits & more kale for pre-school snack. Maybe I have some meaty goodness in my fridge for my after-school pretend dinner snack.

I've tried the three square meals a day thing. It's soooo not for me. I have about 4 hours between breakfast and lunch. But then I have anywhere from 6-10 hours between lunch and dinner. After lunch I get hungry; really hungry. My blood sugar drops, and I go from sweet go getter to angry murderous dinosaur in no time.

That's supposed to be a butcher knife. Most people don't go on rampages with the number four.

So I usually have a small lunch and two lunch sized snacks before a small dinner. On school nights, I pretty much do nothing but snack. And I keep emergency anti-dinosaur food on hand, like apples, potatoes, granola bars, packs of instant oatmeal.

Some of my coworkers cautiously eye the random potato that usually sits on my desk. What they don't know is that lowly potato is sometimes the only thing in between them and the number four.

(Ok, that's a gross exaggeration. I really like all my coworkers, and my job, and would never think about hurting anyone with the number of the day. But I do get might cranky if I don't eat enough)

A Typical Tuesday

6:00 am
First alarm goes off. A silver double bell from Target. No snooze button, so I fumble & manually turn it off

6:15 am
Second alarm. Cell phone across the room. Stumble across the room & hit snooze.

6:20-6:45 am
All alarms go off. Clock radio w/ two alarms & cell phone. Ok, now I'm up, but I'm not happy about it! Make my way to the little one's room and sing her the "good morning" song. She is not amused.

7:00 am
Get dressed. Nudge, tickle, sing to, and otherwise coax little one out of bed. Luckily, getting her dressed is easy. I pick out all her clothes for the week on Sundays.
7:30 am
Everyone into the car! Bags of cereal, bags of lunch, school work, jackets, sunglasses, cell phone, hair clips. Will forget at least one of these things in most cases.

8:00 am
Drop little one off at preschool. Brush her hair (it wouldn't survive the car ride), hugs & kisses.

8:30ish am
Make it to the office. Open email, get crappy office coffee (hey, it's free.) Wooooorrrrrrkkkkk.........

12:30 pm
Heat up lunch & Facebook/Pay bills while eating.

3:00 pm
Talk a walk, see the sun, hear the wind. Keeps me sane during my fluorescent lighted day.

4:30 pm
Clock out and touch up homework. Print out any needed materials and study for any tests

5:00 pm
Pick little one up from preschool and make way to friend's house across town...at 3mph with all red lights.

5:30 pm
Catch up w/ friend; chat about kids/school/weather/dogs. More hugs & kisses for the little one and I'm off to school

6:00 pm
Park a thousand miles from the school and head to the classroom. Schoooooollllll.....

9ish pm
Snag a tired child from friend's house. She's fed, bathed, and content. But I need a crow bar to pry her away from the toy cars.

9:30 pm
Story time & bed time for the little one. More songs, hugs & kisses.

10:00 pm
Finally, some time for myself. Do the dishes, heat up some dinner and plant myself in front of the TV. Sort mail, do homework, play w/ my Google phone, write notes while watching tv (Rachel Zoe?)

11ish pm
Shower routine, check facebook/email, snag magazine/book and head for bed.

12am ish
Guess it's Wednesday! Sleep.....