Wide-Open Saturday

I love Saturday mornings. Especially when I don't have a fully packed schedule ahead. My sister wants me to help with a Polish dinner/dance thing at 5:00 at her church. (I'm thinking about it, OK?) And I have plans to share a glass or two of wine with a dear friend later in the evening after her kiddies are in bed. And I have to figure out what to take for fellowship time at church tomorrow because it's my turn ...

But other than that? I have a day full of potential ahead. Woo-hoo!

Be right back. First things first. Gotta go grind the coffee beans and get the coffee brewing. And feed Claudette. She's asking nicely.

There. Claudette's been fed and watered. Oh! She fell off the bathroom sink again. That's at least the third time in the last few days. I hope she's not developing some sort of issue that will require expensive medical attention.

Oh ... speaking of pet care ... um, Lizz? The fish died this week. I'm so sorry. And I hope you will forgive me for telling you here. I didn't want to bother you with sad news of a piscine nature when you were so busy at school. But remember when I told you it was acting kind of sluggish before I cleaned the tank a couple of weeks ago? It/he/she got more sluggish after the cleaning and then when I got home from work on Tuesday, it/he/she was ... gone. Odd that it didn't float to the top. I thought they always floated? Claudette and I said a few words (I could tell she was distressed) and then, well, fishy went the way of all deceased fishies ...

So back to our wide-open day. The danger for someone like me is that when I don't have an agenda planning out every moment, the list continues and the lavender still calls ...

The problem with The List is that it keeps growing and transmogrifying. And a lot of those pesky things have to be done more than once. Go figure!

I know the other grownups out there have known that all along and are dutiful and disciplined with their to-do lists.

The theme of this year for me has been introspection and discernment. I know I have certain talents (still figuring them out) and other areas where I am not gifted - and in which I do not aspire to greatness (or even mere adequacy). Of course, there are tasks I don't want to do but have to find a better, saner way to do because really, only I can or should do them.

All of my THINKING flies in the face of the whole "Just do it" mentality. Probably drives some people nuts.

So ... the question is ... do I heed the call of the lavender today (so to speak, it's a bit beyond its season) or tackle the list or do a bit of both? It's shiny outside - sunny and blue and bright - so I think I'll do a bit of both. I'd still like it if someone else could be the grownup for me and do all this other stuff:

• Mail the correspondence (I seem unable to keep track of envelopes and stamps; I have a collection of never-mailed letters and thank you cards)
• Upload and organize the photos
• Make the phone calls (why can’t everyone just check their e-mail?)
• Balance the checkbook (and pay the bills)
• Put away the dishes ... and the laundry (seriously, why can't you do this once and just be done with it?)
• Clean out the dryer vent (how do you DO that, anyway?)
• Back up the computer
• Make the beds
• Sell dad's house - or figure out how to be a landlord
• Start an exercise plan – and then stick to it
• Caulk the tub and shower
• Change the light bulbs ... oh crap – there goes another one
• Watch the news and read the paper (but please tell me the highlights)
• Weatherstrip the doors
• Repair the tile
• Simplify my life!

One more cup of coffee. Then we'll see what happens.

Promises

Thousands of Michigan college students, my daughter among them, are asking how they can call it a Promise ... and then take it away. (I tried, really tried, to find unbiased news reports/web content/editorial. Yikes. You try to Google Michigan Promise Scholarship.)

In any event, it’s this loss of critical funding that’s in part responsible for me signing up for AdSense and enabling ads here ... to attempt to generate additional revenue to help my college student. Since she’s brilliant and had some good scholarships, I’ve been way too complacent about helping her fund college. Also feeling guilty that I’m still paying off my own student loans from my second time through the university. Yes, that time I thought I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up. A topic for another day.

When I first set up Something Shiny and Tuna on Wheatley earlier this year, I was brand new to the blogosphere. I was dabbling. Looking for a creative outlet. Exploring social media. Doing “research.” Now, I have dozens of favorite bloggers I regularly follow. And I’ve seen that ads can be placed tastefully and add value to the experience. I’m kind of intrigued by the “magic” of it all also – to see how ad content is based on key words or phrases in my posts.

In my contract I promised not to click on the ads because that messes up the tracking. I’m still playing with the placement and content. I don’t want them to be extra intrusive and obnoxious. Those are just pesky details. Mostly, I know that if I want this to work, I need to make this an interesting, perhaps helpful, destination. Perhaps we should call it the Something Shiny Café ... bring your cup of java and come hang out with me for a little bit every day. We can chat about lots of lovely shiny things. I’m open to suggestions.

I changed majors about as often as I changed jobs in college. I’m so glad I didn’t stick with the major in political science (which lasted about 2.3 seconds). Because I never could get the hang of Econ ... or things like why politicians can fund wars and give giant tax breaks (and bailout money) to big corporations ... but funding basics like food, health care, housing ... and education is just so very very difficult.

I know all of that is very complex. So I’m doing something simple. I promise to be here every day. I hope you’ll join me.

Not My Type

What is UP with all the different type sizes and styles in that last post? Geesh.