Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

I AM THE DJ (Series – 6)
January 6, 2015

We made it through the past few weeks of holiday listening to nothing but holiday music. Thankfully Spotify has some fun, and very comprehensive playlists already! The Ultimate Holiday Playlist was great, and there were lots of fun versions on the Indie Holiday Playlist.

But this past weekend, I was cooked. I don’t think I could handle another fa la la, or white Christmas. Since Michael Buble was a favorite Christmas album, I decided to try some of his non-holiday music. I’ve never really listened to him save for the Christmas album, nor had Cole. I’m old enough now that I can admit without shame that the songs we listened to weren’t bad. We both kind of liked them.

We also spent days listening to the Annie soundtrack after seeing the movie with some friends over the weekend. Cole had been a fan of the Broadway soundtrack, and acted in the play himself so the music is all familiar to and favored by him. The movie version, of course, has some updated versions and some originals so it felt fresh to him. He did let me know that he thought his friend Sami was a much better Miss Hannigan than Cameron Diaz. He thinks she sings better too.

His dad took a stab at DJing too. He’s introduced Cole to the Dandy Warhols with some success. I’m not sure what they listened to on the way to and fro school yesterday but I’m hoping it wasn’t holiday music. Come this weekend, I’m banning it from any driving I do! I’ll have to think about some new music to introduce him to. While Annie is okay, I don’t think I can listen to it with any regularity. I fell asleep with Hard Knock Life running through my head on a loop…contemplating some serious headbanging to get it out!

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MONDAY, MONDAY
January 5, 2015

General laziness won out yesterday…some things were handled, but quite enough to make today feel easy. Surprisingly, Cole got off to school without any fuss or drama. Hopefully it’s the start of a good day for him. I’m sure seeing all of his friends, even those he saw over the break, will be good for him as well as simply getting back to the structure of a school day. Besides exercising his brain with school work, the physical exercise will feel good for his body. He’s much more physically active at school where he walks in his gait trainer daily, as well as doing some standing, and P.E. class.

My intentions of getting out of the house early did not quite happen. It’s the first morning in the house that I’ve had to myself since the middle of December and I spent the morning finding little things to tend to. I am the queen of dawdle. I can putter around, not exactly wasting time, but definitely not doing what I’m supposed to be doing, all morning if left to my own devices. My hope for a dawdle free morning has already been thwarted. The dog needed brushing, the house needed a little picking up before the cleaners come later (yes, I’m one of those people who straightens up for the cleaners), and the cat needed a little focused attention.

It’s not that I’m dreading work. I actually like my job and I especially enjoy my coworkers. I just like time to myself more, and it’s a rarity in my life. I’ve got so much stuff to take with me to work today. Among them, the under the desk elliptical machine, some homemade chia water, my new tea infusing tea cup, some loose tea, and a few healthy snacks for the week. I’m prepared to have a great start to the year in terms of wellness.

I’ve also tucked my $1 away for the first week of the year savings. There’s a challenge going where each week you put away an amount equal to the corresponding week. This week 1, $1, next week 2, $2 (total saving $3), etc. By the end of year I’ll have $1,400 saved without ever really noticing.

I’m looking forward to coming home tonight to hear about my guys’ days. That’s one of the nice things about all having different days, sitting together at dinner sharing our experiences and laughing together. I guess I should get my day started so it can end…

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SUNDAY MORNING
January 4, 2015

The Sunday before the end of two weeks off work and school…There’s competing desires to indulge in utter laziness and to end the break feeling accomplished and productive.

Thus far, the laziness is winning out although we’re into the second load of laundry and the boy has had a mani-pedi to get ready to return to school well groomed. (it’s only just 10:00 am and we didn’t get out of bed until 8:30 so maybe we’re slowly moving towards productivity).

Today is intentionally plan-free. No one in the family seems to be excited about the prospect of returning to the work/school routine, although I suspect that a day or two into the routine, we’ll all be happier. Much as I love having time off and enjoy the time together, it can be challenging to find things to do that satisfy everyone, unless there is some travel involved, which unfortunately was not the case this holiday season.

There are lots of things to get organized for both the boy and myself. I’m preparing some healthy, easy snacks for the work week, have to pack up my new under the desk elliptical machine, along with some new note books – an effort to stay on top of everything – and making sure I have a plan of action for the day. Two weeks off means a lot of catch-up, even with most of my industry being off too.

We also need to get the boy organized for the return to school. That means sorting through the backpack and binder and making sure everything’s current and any outstanding assignments are complete, packing up supplies for the week, and resetting the general mindset from vacation to school. That’s the trickiest part. The school year has been a bit rough so he’s no longer excited and eager to return to school – a first for him. Until this year, he truly wished he could live at school. He loved it that much.

More laundry, quick errands run, and we’re once again back home and trying to motivate to get the random things handled. Why is it that after having two weeks of holiday, this final day is the day when everything seems hard to do? It’s that dragging one’s feet thing, hoping to eek every last second of holiday out of the day. We can’t even motivate to take down the Christmas stuff. That will wait until next Sunday…

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