Mouse's Secret Triage Process Revealed

Dear Friends and Family,

One of the people I work with is going through a rough time. His wife's pregnant. He has a new job. He just moved his wife here after doing the long distance thing for several months. The move did not go smoothly. He has boxes everywhere. A close friend of his just passed away unexpectedly. And, the list goes on.

I think there are moments when your life feels like a bad country song, and I'm not sure what can be done about it. I think different people have different reactions to it all.

I've been there. And, I think my reaction is pretty consistent.

First, and most important to me, is recognizing that the chaos is temporary. I have a pulse on what normal looks like and I know that the typical amount of chaos in my life is something I can handle. Just recognizing it's temporary helps a ton because it means I just need to get over the hump.

Then, I make a list to wrap my head around it all. Sometimes the list is of what is bothering me. Sometimes the list is of what needs to be done. Sometimes the list is whatever is spinning through my mind at 100 miles per hour.

Next, I examine my list. I make sure I understand it. Perhaps something is bothering me that is outside of my control. Well, I can cross it off the list. Perhaps something is on my mind that I can prevent or confront. Well, I can prevent it or confront it and then cross it off the list. Perhaps something can wait until after the crisis. Well, then I can move it into a new bucket of don't worry about it now.

Last, I power through, recognizing that there's really no other option. Getting angry or frustrated or anxious isn't going to help any so I might as well focus on the positive.

And, that, my friends is my plan for the next two weeks. I'll enjoy our quick visit with friends. I'll pack as well as I can for the funeral. I'll roll with the punches. I'll pack as well as I can for the race. I'll use the long weekend after the funeral to unwind and truly relax with friends. I'll deal with unpacking, cleaning the house, the broken dryer, and the questionable hard drive when I get back.


Cheers!
mouse

Top 3 Update

Dear Friends and Family,

April showers bring May flowers. What do May flowers bring? Pilgrims!

Or, in this case, a Top 3 Update.

What will my focus be for June?

Well, what are my options?

I can focus on getting back to goal weight. I can keep my nails growing. I can keep my teeth cleaned. I can clean up 15 minutes every morning. I can keep getting rid of big things. I can keep tackling my to do list. I can sleep. I can focus on spending time with family. I can enjoy time with friends. I will travel. I can work on my idea. I can work on my budget.

Wow. I'm not short of options.

I'm actually going to break June into two halves.

The first half of June, I will focus on the travel. We've got a lot of it planned. Instead of letting it stress me out, I'm going to enjoy it. I'll get to spend a lot of time with friends. And, I'll be spending time with Mr. mouse's family. It'll be good.

The second half of June, I will not think about now. I can't think about now. It's only a couple of weeks away, but it's too far away to focus on right now. I will figure it out once we're done with our travel.


Cheers!
mouse

PS: here's a link to the site on how to get the clutter in the house under control

05.29.12: Memorial Day with the Cotton Woods

Dear Friends and Family,

We're back.

We flew out Friday to the Emerald City to spend time with my cousin and with Mr. mouse's close friend from school. I love spending time with friends and family. It's a fabulous chance to catch up and share ideas and refresh.

Saturday was spent with my cousin and her husband and the new baby. P didn't have any interest in the baby. He's still in the crying a lot and needing a lot of holding phase. That's not P's cup of tea. I had fun catching up with my cousin. She's doing well and seems happy and we shared a lot of info about family history. P went on a drive with Mr. mouse and then slept for three hours. I think that gave my cousin a measure of hope that at some point in the future life will become more sane.

Sunday was centered around boats and food. We went to sign up for free boat rides. Then, we sailed boats on a fountain before going out for hamburgers. We returned for our free ride which was an hour of glorious fun. P fell asleep on Mr. mouse's lap near the end. We went home and had dinner and then went out for ice cream.

Monday disappeared to travel.

And, now, we're back and a little tired and very congested and looking forward to a short week. I hope my Claritin kicks in.


Cheers!
mouse

Goal: 52 Things Will Leave the Mouse Pad Update

Dear Friends and Family,

There's a site, I like, that I'm using as inspiration on how to get the clutter in the house under control.

I lost the kitchen battle the other morning when Mr. mouse claimed foul on the two additional measuring cups he never uses. Yep. That's the hill he wanted to die on. So, I'm trying a different tactic.

I am going to try and have 52 things meaningfully leave the mouse pad this year. What do I mean by meaningfully? No, it doesn't mean I'm giving away things loaded with meaning. It means it's purposeful decisions to remove something that has found a home in our home. In other words, clearing out old bananas doesn't count, they never found a home. Clearing out old toys counts since they would linger in the basement given no active actions on our parts.

The List (most recent departures listed first):

1. At my cousin's house, we agreed to a sale. She was willing to buy my "vials" at $0.50 a piece. I bought boxes upon boxes of the containers as storage for breast milk. They worked great. But, we're done with them and I'd just been too lazy to post them on eBay or Craigslist. I bought them for between $0.75 and $1.00 a piece, but I'm fine giving them away for a lower price. What's option B? Storing them for longer and then eventually donating them. Let's agree, the chances of my selling them are slim to none given my current priorities.
2. Friday morning, on the way to school, I reminded P that we had a list of things that we were going to give to the baby. (I didn't want her to have an awkward change of heart in front of company.) And, she thought about it a moment. And, I waited. And, she asked if she could give the baby her yellow rider truck. She said she was done with it. So, I asked Mr. mouse if he could add it to the pile. And, now the yellow push toy/rider truck is also out of the house. I love P.
3. P wants to give my cousin's son a thing. I'm not sure how to describe it. It's almost like a security blanket. It's almost like something you can lay a baby on. It's almost like a stuffed dog without the stuffing. She got it when she was born and never got attached to it. The other night, she pulled it out of her bin and asked me what it was. I told her it was for babies to lie on or little girls or little boys to sit on. She declared that she wanted to give it to my cousin's baby. So, we brought it downstairs and put it in a bag so that we can drop it off this weekend. I almost feel guilty and proud at the same time that she's so generous.
4. Toy train that Mr. mouse's parents gave P for her first Christmas - she liked playing with it in general. She loved dancing to it when we turned it on. It was one of her few battery operated toys. I like it, but I can't see keeping it forever. I think I'm okay with one toy per year as a memento, at least for now. The train will go to my cousin's house as long as Mr. mouse is okay parting with it. If he's not, it'll come off this list.
5. Stacking pyramids. P got them from one of my girlfriends for her first birthday. She loved wearing them as bracelets and jangling them. There's more inventive things for her to build with so I'm okay giving them to my cousin as well.
6. Hammer and eight nails toy - it was a gift from my parents for P's first Christmas. She never really played with it. It was good for when we had friends come over. I hope my cousin doesn't mind all of the toys. They're all in near new condition.
7. Mr. mouse's cane from his 40th birthday. He got it as a gag gift. It needs to go. Perhaps there's someone at Salvation Army who can use the cane. It's functional. It's just that no one in our house needs a cane right now.

We'll see if I can get to 52 this year. I'm cautiously optimistic.


Cheers!
mouse

Mouse and Time to Breathe

Dear Friends and Family,

June was supposed to be an easy month filled with long weekends with friends and time in between to breathe after the chaos that was my spring.

Alas, while the long weekends with friends are still planned, sandwiched in the midst of it all is helping Mr. mouse and being there for him with the assortment of things that need to be done for his grandmother's funeral. It involves a lot of time off from work and shuffling of vacation days, but it's the right thing to do.

Mr. mouse did the same, and more, for me, when my grandparents were ill.

I know I'll make it through all of this chaos in one piece. I always do.

And, by mid-June, I'll be able to take a step back and relax and find the time to breathe after the chaos that was my start to summer.


Cheers!
mouse

Mouse's Budget: Week 2

Dear Friends and Family,

Well. It's Thursday and I've used my weekly allowance. I'm not too distressed since this is a learning exercise and not a real crisis. I know I'm seeing behavioral changes and that's what counts.

I started this week $11 in the red from the prior week. And, I spent:

1. $22, MON, manicure
2. $1, TUE, Diet Coke
3. $50, TUE, seat cushions
4. $3, TUE, french fries
5. $14, WED, going away lunch for a friend
6. $5, WED, train ticket
7. $15, WED, dinner

Which leaves me $21 in the red over the cumulative two weeks.

I don't think I'm changing what I am buying (I didn't downgrade to cheaper seat cushions), but I am buying less frequently (I didn't buy new books for P like I sometimes randomly do).

I'm not going to differently places to eat, but I am eating out less frequently. I drive home more often rather than have Mr. mouse come out to meet me which also means we eat out less frequently.

I have been bringing in my lunch, but I'm still going to take friends out to lunch if they are leaving for school. I'm not going to skimp on the manicures. I've learned the hard way that I need them to keep my nails whole.

I think I'll also start using up random gift cards and coupons we have at home more often. I used a $30 one on the seat cushions. And, I may use a gift card for lunch next week if it's still valid.

The other interesting quandary I had was how to treat travel spend. It doesn't make sense to count every meal as eating out, it's real, but I don't think that's the point of this initial exercise. I think I'm okay suspending disbelief once I park the car and picking up this fantasy land when I get back to the car when we get home.


Cheers!
mouse

Goal: 52 Things Will Leave the Mouse Pad

Dear Friends and Family,

There's a site, I like, that I'm using as inspiration on how to get the clutter in the house under control.

I lost the kitchen battle the other morning when Mr. mouse claimed foul on the two additional measuring cups he never uses. Yep. That's the hill he wanted to die on. So, I'm trying a different tactic.

I am going to try and have 52 things meaningfully leave the mouse pad this year. What do I mean by meaningfully? No, it doesn't mean I'm giving away things loaded with meaning. It means it's purposeful decisions to remove something that has found a home in our home. In other words, clearing out old bananas doesn't count, they never found a home. Clearing out old toys counts since they would linger in the basement given no active actions on our parts.

The List (most recent departures listed first):

1. P wants to give my cousin's son a thing. I'm not sure how to describe it. It's almost like a security blanket. It's almost like something you can lay a baby on. It's almost like a stuffed dog without the stuffing. She got it when she was born and never got attached to it. The other night, she pulled it out of her bin and asked me what it was. I told her it was for babies to lie on or little girls or little boys to sit on. She declared that she wanted to give it to my cousin's baby. So, we brought it downstairs and put it in a bag so that we can drop it off this weekend. I almost feel guilty and proud at the same time that she's so generous.
2. Toy train that Mr. mouse's parents gave P for her first Christmas - she liked playing with it in general. She loved dancing to it when we turned it on. It was one of her few battery operated toys. I like it, but I can't see keeping it forever. I think I'm okay with one toy per year as a memento, at least for now. The train will go to my cousin's house as long as Mr. mouse is okay parting with it. If he's not, it'll come off this list.
3. Stacking pyramids. P got them from one of my girlfriends for her first birthday. She loved wearing them as bracelets and jangling them. There's more inventive things for her to build with so I'm okay giving them to my cousin as well.
4. Hammer and eight nails toy - it was a gift from my parents for P's first Christmas. She never really played with it. It was good for when we had friends come over. I hope my cousin doesn't mind all of the toys. They're all in near new condition.
5. Mr. mouse's cane from his 40th birthday. He got it as a gag gift. It needs to go. Perhaps there's someone at Salvation Army who can use the cane. It's functional. It's just that no one in our house needs a cane right now.

We'll see if I can get to 52 this year. I'm cautiously optimistic.


Cheers!
mouse

Mouse Gets 71 Dora Dimes

Dear Friends and Family,

I was walking outside yesterday and I realized as trying as P can be at times, I'm going to miss this phase in life once we're through it. I'll forget about the fights to go potty and the fits over doing things herself. And, I'll remember all of the fun games we played.

Sunday, on ride out to P's play date, we were playing a game about dimes in the car.

To give some context, we found a dime on the way home from the park on Friday and I told P she could put it in her elephant bank.

On Sunday, she was finding pretend dimes left and right (in her pocket) and offering them to me to put in my pretend brown bunny bank. I can't recall the exact conversation, but it went along the lines of...

P: I have a dime in my pocket, would you like a dime?
M: Okay, I would like a dime.

P: How many dimes?
M: Do you have 5 dimes?

P: Yes, I have 5 dimes, but they are Dora dimes.
M: Oh. But, I would like Roosevelt dimes like the president in Clifford Goes to Washington.

P: But, I only have Dora dimes.
M: Are they pretend dimes?

P: No, they are real dimes. Here, you may have 71 Dora dimes for your elephant bank.
M: Okay. I cannot reach my elephant bank. Can you get it for me?

P: Yeah, sure. Oh, your elephant bank is broken. Would you like a different bank?
M: Okay. What banks do you have?

P: I have a Dora bank.
M: Do you have any other banks?

P: No. Oh. Wait. I have a bunny bank.
M: I will take the bunny bank.

P: I have a brown bunny bank, a purple bunny bank and a pink bunny bank. Which one would you like?
M: I'll take the brown bunny bank, please.

P: Okay, here you go.
M: Thanks. One. Two. Three... (up to 71 as I put my pretend Dora dimes in the bank)

And, that's what a typical car ride with P is like.


Cheers!
mouse

05.21.12: P Has a Play Date (or Two)

Dear Friends and Family,

It's Monday and I'm electing to work from home since the traffic today's a game of Russian roulette and I'm just not all that interested in playing Russian roulette.

Saturday, we had a birthday party to go to. P had fun. We had fun. But, I'm not sure if I'll be scheduling regular play dates with the kids from the party. Not to come across as overly critical, which means I will come across as overly critical, but the kids were a run around and wrestle bunch. I'm just not sure it's a good use of precious weekend time.

Sunday, we had a play date with another kid from school. P and Q got to be kids, but at the same time, they had marble races, rode their bikes down the street, got to watch a sprinkler in action, made popcorn, and talk with the grown ups. Play, but with some end in mind - I think it's more up our alley.

Sprinkled throughout our weekend was fixing our hard drive. It started giving warning signals so I tried replacing the drive. We got more warning signals so Mr. mouse tried replacing the memory. It's up and running now, but enough has changed that we're not really sure what caused the problem in the first place.

I replaced the hard drive. Mr. mouse cleaned the casing. It's in a new location. The AC was on all weekend. Mr. mouse replaced the memory and put the old drive back in. In other words, no chance of running a Design of Experiments on this one. The engineers in us are deeply ashamed. But, it's up and running for now so we're not going to go back and try all of the combinations. We'll just see if it continues to go problem free from here.

On the budget front - I made it through the week in one piece. I spent $111 which is $11 over my original goal, but a lot under my typical spend for a week. Where did my $111 go?

1. $54 went towards an eBay purchase to add to P's airport set which she loves
2. $4 went towards Diet Cokes throughout the week
3. $2 went towards French fries for P
4. $16 went towards dinner on Friday night
5. $35 went towards dinner on Sunday

The biggest cost savings was bringing in my lunch each day. Since I overspent the last week by $11, I'm starting off this week with $89. $25 will go towards a manicure and the remaining $64 I'll save for now. I'm sure I'll have other big weeks later on and it'll be nice to build up a cushion.


Cheers!
mouse

Mouse Needs a Break

Dear Friends and Family,

I need a break. I'd love 2 or 3 days away from it all without work, outside of the house, without P.

Is that bad?

Just the thought of reading a book uninterrupted or of watching a movie or of eating a quiet meal makes me realize I need a break. I love P and I love spending time with her, but a couple of days of down time wouldn't be so bad either.


Cheers!
mouse

Mouse Buys a Hard Drive

Dear Friends and Family,

Wow. This is feeling impossible.

Our hard drive light is blinking and we're getting warning emails that it's on its last legs. That means we need to buy a new hard drive. Fortunately, I'm 100% fine with billing that to the house budget and not to my $100 budget. Let's be real, I have three years worth of photos of P backed-up on that drive. Even if it's a back-up, I'm not going to let that light blink for long. That's not the point of this budgeting exercise. But, that's the kind of thing households with real budgets deal with every day.

And, squarely within my budget is this week's activities downtown are throwing a monkey wrench into my commute. Really, it could be a family of screaming mutt monkeys coming at me tomorrow, but suffice it to say, I am thinking about alternatives. The easy answer is to take P out to dinner and then avoid the traffic. And, money enables that. But, that's what I'm trying to solve with my budget this week.

So, I guess I have a couple of options.

Option 1: Tough it out. I'll get home sooner or later.

Option 2: Go out to dinner, make up the money elsewhere. Like we could do a picnic brunch on Saturday where we take food from home and go to the park and eat outside. Or I can push my manicure to Monday which isn't as convenient but within the spirit of the budget.

Option 3: Cut myself some slack and go over this week. While obviously the easiest answer, it's the one I like the least. It's pretty lame if I can't manage to a budget for a single lousy week.

I think I'll float the idea of a picnic brunch to P and see if she's excited by it. That'll be the easiest. If I can't get her jazzed about that, then I guess the next most palatable option is to push the manicure out to Monday.


Cheers!
mouse

$54 eBay Purchases

Dear Friends and Family,

After figuring out my weekly plan, I logged onto my email and remembered I had bid on an item for P on eBay. Well, that's $54 I didn't have in my budget. So, here's the new plan.

1. $54, TUE, eBay
2. $20, SAT, brunch with P
3. $25, SUN, manicure

That assumes no help from Mr. mouse on the commute this week and it assumes no dinner out with P if the traffic is bad.

Actually, my contingency is if traffic is truly atrocious, I'll take P out to dinner and hold until Monday for my manicure. Wow, $54 really chews up a good piece of $100.

I've also been thinking of what I do at the end of the week. If I under-spend, do I get to roll the unused dollars into my next week? It might be a little more book keeping, but I'm inclined to roll it.


Cheers!
mouse

Mouse Realizes We Need a Budget

Dear Friends and Family,

Every so often things get out of control and Mr. mouse and I forget that money doesn't grow on trees. And, we need to remind ourselves that we can live within our means.

Now is one of those times. And, because I don't have time for complicated new habit loops, I'm going to try a very simple approach.

For the seven days, I am going to try and spend under $100. And, by spend I mean anything I would normally charge to my credit card, not including gas. Guess I’m bringing in lunch all week.

What I've got planned:

1. $30, WED or THU, dinner with P
2. $25, SAT, brunch with P
3. $10, SAT, bakery with P
4. $25, SUN, manicure, just me

For gas:

1. $51, MON, I had already filled the tank
2. $49, WED or THU

That leaves $10 to spare, if I make it the whole week bringing in lunch and not buying anything and not have Mr. mouse meet me to drive home together - it's $5 a trip for that luxury.

I don't think one week's budget will save the world. But, it's a mindset that cues spending.

For example, yesterday, traffic wasn't great and Mr. mouse offered to meet me. But, if we met, the chances were high we'd go out to dinner. And, that would be $5 + dinner that I hadn't budgeted. So, I declined his offer.

Cue 1: offer to meet → Routine 1: accept and then go out to dinner → Reward 1: dinner and a nap on the way home

Cue 2: offer to meet → Routine 2: bounce offer against budget and then decline → Reward 2: a lower credit card bill

I realize there are a lot of people on a lot tighter a budget than we are on. But, I'm not going to try and over-complicate this. I've had success with my habit loops so far. I don't feel the need to have my house of cards come tumbling down on me.


Cheers!
mouse

05.14.12: Sinusoidal Life

Dear Friends and Family,

We made it!

I've come to realize that April and May will be crazy months until P enters school. Why?

Because April kicks off with kid's week at school where each day something or other is planned for the kids. This includes wearing special clothes, bringing particular items, and preparing for daily activities. Yep.

Then, there's Teacher Appreciate Week which brings with it making cards, buying and wrapping presents, mini scrapbook pages, and organizing teacher lunches.

Added on top of all of this is P's transition. Since the kids at school transition rooms right around their birthday, P is inevitably transitioning during this madness. There's the visiting of the new rooms, the transition conferences, the stress associated with the move, the trouble shooting of the details of the transition.

And, if all that's not enough, there's P's actual birthday with invites and decorations and favor bags and cake and food and presents and clean up and thank you cards and...

And, we made it!

Theoretically, at some future point, this will all separate a little bit. Kid's week is specific to daycare. Teacher appreciation is usually closer to the end of the school year. P's transition to a new room will be in the fall. And, the only thing remaining in May will be her birthday which seems eminently more doable than life as I currently know it.

For now, I'm appreciating the upcoming weekend. We've got one birthday party and one play date and housecleaning and manicure.


Cheers!
mouse

P Turns Three Today

Dear Friends and Family,

P turns three today.

How's P doing?

There's the inability to sit still - bouncing, leaning, sliding in her chair routine - which led to a time out yesterday night. There's the acting out - kicking, hitting, sharp words routine - which led to multiple time outs this week. There's the meltdown when she doesn't get her way - crying while watching us to see if anyone's paying attention - which we get almost every night.

Yet, her teacher's say they would have 16 Ps in the room if they could. Perhaps, she saves it all for us.

P turns three today.

How are we doing?

We're still standing. I think we're both enjoying the time, but also recognizing that things will change a lot in the next two years. P will grow more independent and will morph from the little kid she is today to a full fledged kid. School will be changing and along with that work will be changing and potentially home will be changing as well.

To be honest, we don't have a lot of time for each other. With three hours each day consumed by commuting, it's no surprise we're short on time. But, two things will help. On the near front, I'm considering hiring a personal assistant - that will make time, theoretically. And, once we move school's I will most probably leave my current work (if not sooner than that) and that will return 12.5% of my day to me which will also help, theoretically.

P turns three today.

What are we doing to celebrate?

Well, there's the usual hand prints and foot prints and growth chart and weigh-ins and photos. There's the dinner and cupcake and presents and card. We're going to a show. And, somewhere in there we need to squeeze in a bath and a nap.

P turns three today. Yay for P!


Cheers!
mouse

Mouse Looks for Insurance

Dear Friends and Family,

I had high hopes for what I was going to accomplish with my day off. And, while I got a lot done, I ran into a stumbling block I wasn't expecting.

I'm waiting for confirmation on the licensing and registration. That, hopefully, should be no more than 2-4 days. But, I ran into an unexpected stumbling block. Insurance. I thought it'd be a quick call to my current agent and we'd go from there, but it turns out business insurance isn't the same as personal insurance.

I'm going to ask a friend for a recommendation on an agent. Hopefully, she's got someone she's worked with before.

Then, I'll open an account to manage my finances. And, hopefully, we're on our way.


Cheers!
mouse

Greek Yogurts

Dear Friends and Family,

Lured by the high protein content of Greek yogurt and dismayed by the points attributed to Stonyfield Lowfat Vanilla yogurt in the new Weight Watchers program, I ventured into the uncharted waters of new food.

I tried Chobani first based upon a recommendation of a friend and didn't care for it. I tried the 0% vanilla and ended up doctoring it with maple syrup to make it tolerable. Plus, it had a bunch of ingredients I didn't recognize or care for.

Then, Mr. mouse bought Stonyfield Oikos, but before I could try it, it turned to water in our fridge. I bought another two containers, and by the following day, they too had turned to water.

Then, I tried Dannon Oikos at work, but it had fructose in it which sounded suspiciously like corn syrup.

I was giving up hope. Who has the time?

Mr. mouse bought a container of Fage and I figured I had nothing to lose. I was skeptical because everyone spoke poorly about it. But, in the end, I like it enough to convert from regular yogurt to Greek yogurt. With a little bit of honey, I actually look forward to it in the morning.

Fage 0% plain with a little bit of honey. Breakfast of mouse champions.


Cheers!
mouse

Glass Cabinet Doors?

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm too tired to deal with posting pictures in the new blogger. But, I do want to write about my clutter progress. I have one cabinet under control. It's not a big cabinet. But, it feels good nonetheless.

The cabinet I conquered contained coffee mugs, a knife sharpener, a salt and pepper set, vitamins, P's medicines, and some plastic containers. It was full, but not overflowing.

The coffee mugs? I saved a set of four because they are pretty and I like them. I also saved a set of two because they are insulated and therefore useful in a different way. One remaining coffee mug had sentimental value and made it into our cabinet in the living room. Three that Mr. mouse couldn't part with were moved into various roles in the house where we were already using coffee mugs (e.g. the pen mug) and those mugs were moved back into the pile of to-donate mugs.

The knife sharpener? It really shouldn't be taking up valuable cabinet space so I moved it into the laundry pantry with the other small kitchen appliances.

The salt and pepper set? It's cute, but we don't use it. So, I put it with the mugs to be donated.

The vitamins? I threw out two bottles that were expired. I kept the remaining ones since I take those daily.

P's medicines? I threw out the expired ones. I kept one general anti-fever and I kept her red-eye medicine.

The plastic containers? The form factor on them is just odd. I thought they would work as lunch containers, but the two compartments on the right aren't the right size for anything we eat. So, I put them in the recycling bin.

The cabinet now? Top row: two insulated mugs. Middle row: four pretty tea mugs. Bottom row: my vitamins (2 containers) and P's medicine (2 containers).

Bliss.

The next project? I don't think we can escape plastic containers. We use them to store food in the fridge. We use them to pack lunch for P and me. But, we don't need the hodgepodge of containers we have now. We need three sizes - small, medium, and large. Right now we have small, medium, and random.

I already tossed out the second form factor of medium we had. We had only the bottoms left since the tops had all broken. So, my next plan of attack - find one large that Mr. mouse likes and then get rid of all the random ones we have.

Ultimately, I'd like to see if I can get to a point where we could have glass doors on our cabinets and be okay with it. Not saying we'd ever have glass doors, just seeing if I can ever get that organized.


Cheers!
mouse

05.07.12: What Rhymes with Comet?

Dear Friends and Family,

P woke up early Saturday morning so we decided to "take advantage" of the "situation" and go out to breakfast at a place that normally has long wait times later on in the morning.

P was "on edge" the whole way there. But, she was the cutest button ever once we were seated. She gobbled the sample of peanut butter chocolate something or other and then promptly threw up all over Mr. mouse. I don't think it was a peanut butter thing. I think it was the culmination of the cold she caught the week before.

We made it through the rest of breakfast, came home, bathed P and Mr. mouse and did laundry.

We did some returns, napped P in the car, and then I headed out to dinner with a couple of girlfriends. We met up with a fourth friend afterwards for a show. And, because Mr. mouse is a darling, he picked me up when I was done.

Sunday? Bagel time. Park time. Play time. Nap time. Dinner time. Bath time. Sleep time.

I organized a list of things that need to happen over the next week and while it's daunting, I think it's manageable. I made a new to do list because the old one just wasn't capable of handling the amount of stuff we have going on right now.

I've got five columns - now through Friday, the weekend, the next two weekends, the idea, and other. Normally, I'd have one column that's a combination of now through Friday, the weekend and other. But, that's not possible given the number of items on the current list.

At some point, I'd like to get it down to four columns:

1. the weekend
2. the next two weekends
3. the idea
4. other

The first two would include all of our "now" to dos. And, the last column would be divided into two sections: Whenever and Yeah, Right.

Time to get ready for work. Big week ahead of us.


Cheers!
mouse

Managing the Stuff

Dear Friends and Family,

Clutter. I grew up in a house full of clutter. And, I fight the constant battle of clutter. I know I had clutter under control when I lived alone. I know I don't have clutter under control now.

I can either leave Mr. mouse over clutter which I'm not going to do. I can hope to change Mr. mouse which I'm not going to do. I can continue to incrementally fight clutter which seems like a good way to build a lot of frustration and angst. Or, I can build a better mouse trap, so to speak.

I think I'll go with the latter.

So, thinking broadly.

There's things we buy that were useful and no longer are useful.

This would be things like clothes from five years ago. This would be things like the mirror I just brought in for my friend. This would be things like the bookshelf we used in one of our former apartments that's now sitting in the garage.

Solution: I think I can try to tame this one. I can do a two for one exchange. For every new and useful thing that we buy, two things need to leave the house. This guarantees a level of progress, I think.

There's things we buy that were never useful.

I've got several examples sitting on our kitchen counters right now. There's the baseball cap we got when we bought ice cream at the baseball game. There's the cross section of a whiskey barrel as a magnet that Mr. mouse got on a business trip. There's the pennies pressed into Warren Buffet's picture. Yes, all three of these are sitting on our kitchen island right now.

Solution: I need to convince Mr. mouse to stop buying this stuff.

There's the things we make.

This includes P's art work, wedding invitations, Christmas cards, ticket stubs, letters, receipts, and the list goes on. This list can go on forever because this is where Mr. mouse excels.

Solution: I'm not sure I can come up with a solution for this one now. I don't object to saving wedding invitations. I'm okay with converting P's art into a scrapbook. But, ticket stubs for every flight we've taken. I could lose those and not lose a wink of sleep over it.

There's things we get that were useful and no longer are useful.

This can be summarized as gifts we've outgrown. And, I think the solution is the same as the solution for things we buy that are no longer useful - a two for one exchange.

There's things we get that were never useful.

This includes gifts we don't find useful and now includes all the stuff P acquires at school and at birthday parties.

Solutions: For gifts, we should donate them right away instead of aging them first. And, the random stuff for P, I'm fine letting her play with it for a month or two and then donating it.


Cheers!
mouse

Clutter, Clutter, Everywhere

Dear Friends and Family,

Clutter, clutter, everywhere.

I came across two articles in one day and got inspired to do a little bit to tame the clutter in our house.

I am bringing in a mirror for a friend at work. I used to use it in the car when P was backward facing. I don't use it anymore. He needs it. Problem solved.

I threw away a stack of plastic containers. There's the ones with no lids since the lids tend to break for us faster than the bodies. And, there's the ones that are odd shaped and never worked for us.

I want to throw away a plant we have. A colleague gave it to me when I was in a car accident in 2003. I've kept it because it hasn't died. And, it sits by our window. I have the world's blackest thumb. I feel like I should do something about it. But, that's for another day.

This weekend, I should do a clean sweep of the house and make another box for my sister. With all of the babies this winter and spring - both friends and family - this is the best opportunity to gift all of the things P has outgrown that we don't intend to save for her.


Cheers!
mouse

Getting Closer

Dear Friends and Family,

It's Wednesday and I realized I need a vacation. Fortunately, I'm taking two days off next week.

Thursday to work on my idea and Friday to get ready for P's birthday party.

If all goes to plan, I should be able to get licenses, bonded and insured on Thursday. And, I'll set up my financial software to begin tracking money coming in and money going out. And, I'll enter myself in as the first employee and the first customer.

Then, will come the next big step - hiring my first employee. I have someone in mind. I need to set up lunch with her and then, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be in "business" sometime in May. I'd like to start with just myself for a couple of weeks to iron out the kinks. Then, I'd like to expand to 2-4 friends to iron out more kinks. Then, I'll put together a referral program.

And, then, summer will hit and I'll be struggling to juggle it all. And, hopefully, by fall, I'll have a read on whether this is working or not.

But, first, Thursday. Then, the world.


Cheers!
mouse

Play Acting

Dear Friends and Family,

This new blogger will take some getting used to.

Last night, P and I played together.

We play acted dropping off Babo at school and then leaving for work. P was Babo's Mommy. I was Babo's Daddy. We dropped off Babo together and told her we would be back at the end of the day. After hugs and kisses we walked away and then came back to pick her up. P gave Babo lots of hugs and kisses at pick up and told her she loved her and missed her and asked her how her day was.

In an alternate universe, P also played the role of Babo's teacher - holding her and giving her lots of hugs and telling her that her Mommy and Daddy would be back and crooning to her and comforting her.

When I asked her about it, she said her classmate at school was sad. (Her classmate just started school a couple of weeks ago for the first time.)

I think P needed to play out the scenario to help her understand it and explore it and try out different roles and scenarios.

She's also taken to helping potty train her friends (aka stuffed animals).

It's fun playing these different scenes out with her and listening to her talk about what is going on.


Cheers!
mouse