Sudden Urge

I had a sudden urge to write a blog post. Now that the window is staring back at me, I've lost the ability to string together more than two sentences and I'm left with a burning desire to redesign my blog... that I never write for... and that nobody reads.

So suddenly I have this brand new list of things to add to my already saturated to-do list:

1. Redesign blog
2. Think of something interesting to write about
3. Cry a little because no one cares about what I just wrote


Maybe I should have just tweeted this instead.

Blogging: Just something else to do

There are many facets to my identity: wife, co-worker, student, roller girl, daughter, friend. I thrive on never having free time. The very fact that I'm entertaining the idea of this blog is a testament to that.

Is my attempt to maintain a blog an effort to help balance home, work, school, roller derby, family, friends, art and everything else? There is no shortage of topics that might be covered, including the irony of a handwritten to-do list junkie trying to maintain an uber-techy to-do list blog.

I am a project coordinator by trade and spend the majority of my day writing, refining and completing tasks. In other words, I spend most of my day organizing. In my home life, however, I'm more of a natural disaster uprooting everything but the kitchen sink.

Why should I even try to compile this information for the vast sea of people who aren't even reading it? A lot of personal blogging is self rewarding. One of the most important rewards, those of discipline and commitment, are needed to maintain a successful personal blog. Let's say someone actually reads your posts and maybe even adds you to their RSS feed. You then become accountable.

The best part of hand written to-do lists is the physical act of scratching through a completed item with as much excitement as it took to complete the task; a sense of accomplishment. I'm not shy when I finish a project and it comes out better than expected (or in some cases when it materializes at all). I am my own cheerleader, grabbing the megaphone and gabbing to anyone who will listen.

Blogging will indirectly help complete another item on my to do list, specifically to write more and to write well. A good blog post includes organization and should be a reminder to yourself about what you have accomplished and what lies ahead.

So let's review:

I don't really have time to blog (due to all of my extra-curricular activities), and someone else has already written anything I might have to write about, and no one is actually reading this. I would benefit in the long run because I can increase organization skills, acquire a sense of accomplishment and self rewarding, consistently be reminded of said accomplishments, develop discipline and commitment in order to be held accountable, and improve my writing skills. Oh yes, and it's fun!

For anyone considering starting their own blog, these sites might be helpful.

Keys to Great Writing by Stephen Wilbers

This versatile guide will improve the skills of virtually every type of writer, from professional copywriters to students. Its interactive lessons entertain as they inform, encouraging writes to test their knowledge, learn new techniques and pay attention to detail.

Dictionary.com

They provide reliable, free online access to millions of English definitions, synonyms, spelling, audio pronunciations, example sentences, and translations from our Web properties at Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com and through our mobile iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and iPad applications and API data services.

NaBloPoMo

Essentially, it's a group of people who have committed to updating their blogs once a day for an entire month.

References: The School of Life: 7 Benefits of Blogging; Reason 4 Smile: Seven Benefits of blogging to your personal growth; Star Sunflower Studios: The Benefits of Creating a Personal or Business Blog

missed target

I had every intention of doing my very first true-to-blog-name, before and after post tonight about making some legwarmers out of a scarf that I got from Red White and Blue. Instead we breathed some new life into the ongoing gigantor back room project. The door frames are five ninths (5/9ths) of the way installed.

By finishing the door frames, I realized I have to add some more things to my to-do list. Now I have to paint the damn doors.

Maybe tonight I'll name my to-do list. Trish? Dixie? I've been naming a lot of things after female characters lately.

I think I'll go with Meredith, in honor of Dr. Rodney McKay from Stargate Atlantis. He's a pretty-annoying-yet-can't-do-without character.


Well Mer, maybe we should see about putting you on a diet.

all chewed up

My four day stay-cation is quickly coming to a close and although I'm sure I accomplished a lot for the average bear, I just don't have the sense of completion as I had hoped for this weekend.

1. Finish small black and white catering ad
   
2. Meet with, discuss & finish jeweler business card
   
3. Clean out some clutter & start some organizing
4. Go to Green Project for fun things: bed frame, privacy screen, back yard treats
   

Ok, so I guess I technically finished close to 90% of my list. I only halfway started cleaning out the massive amount of clutter that still lingers, and of that I only started organizing half of it.

In addition, I also managed to:

1. Start a filing system for 3 at home LLC's
2. Start my HTML(4)/CSS learning spree
3. Listed stuff to sell online
4. Completed 3+ episodes of Stargate SG1 and Atlantis
5. Finished all the backyard planting and mulching

I did not, in four days, make it to the grocery. I'll just have to take care of that one tomorrow during the day.


Small victories. I conquered the back yard this weekend. Unfortunately the boots were not enough to combat the mosquitoes.


The troops (Indy was around there somewhere).

big fat sharpie

This past week I managed to actually scratch a handful of things off of my list and I got all excited. I changed my g-chat status to big fat sharpie. There is nothing more satisfying than the physical motion of scratching something off of a hand written to-do list, which I usually write in smaller sharpie and scratch out in bigger sharpie.

My co-worker saw this without knowing the context IMed me this message:

c c ro: I don't know what your status means, but I think it would make either a great: A) band name, B) blog name, or C) bar name
c c ro: sharpies would be provided at the latter and customers would be allowed to write on all surfaces

When I first created this blog, I had this grand idea of every post being some huge before and after reveal of the multitude of tasks and projects I try to tackle. Coincidentally, the initials of the blog name are *a.d.d., so of course it wasn't before long when I thought I could handle two blogs AND I already had a name for it.

For now I'll stick with the one and forgo my original format idea. Soon I'm sure I'll be wrapping up some of these long time projects and the befores and afters will be aplenty... or something. Until then you get to listen to me consistently complain about how much stuff I have to do.

*Edit: I've since changed from "Already Done Different" to Big Fat Sharpie. Like you care.

Can freedom get here faster?

I've scheduled myself a nice 4-day stay-cation starting at 4pm and am already fine tuning my to-do list. For starters, I want to go to The Green Project. Or, I guess I should want to finish up some lingering projects.

1. Finish small black and white catering ad
2. Meet with, discuss & finish jeweler business card
3. Clean out some clutter & start some organizing

Which should finally lead me to... go to The Green Project!

I'll be looking for pieces/parts for a variety of projects: privacy screen for washer/dryer area, headboard for the master bedroom, something fun to accessorize the new backyard. I'll be doing some research and spending some quality time with my google reader.

See how it could use some accessorizing?