Thursday, October 14, 2010

Down in the Doldrums

I get pretty hard on myself when I feel a little depressed, lack the energy I want to have and can't seem to accomplish anything that makes me feel good. I've been in such a period lately and can't seem to talk myself out of acting and feeling so poopy.

There's no good reason for my malaise. I live such a good life with so many choices (too many choices?) compared to other folks who are having a truly rough time these difficult days. Sure there are those irritating few things to deal with that I'd rather weren't part of my life at all, but who doesn't at certain times have to struggle a bit to find a bridge over the troubled waters?

So in an attempt to get a jump start back to my more normal, eager-beaver, hard-working, goal oriented, content self, I am hereby holding myself accountable to you, dear readers, by setting forth in this blog post my list of tasks I need and/or want to get done tomorrow.

At the end of the day, I'll report back to you and be honest about what I did/didn't do and decide whether using you as an impetus helped to bring my lagging, flagging, drooping energy level back up to paar. (Yes, I am heaping a LOT of responsibility on you but somebody's gotta be big and strong for me.)

Here's my list for tomorrow:

MAKE BLOG POST - Duh, I think this is gonna be easy. I'm doing that right here and now if you'll be generous enough to consider it my post for tomorrow morning.

GET INFO TO CHICKEN MAMA - There have been several changes I've been wanting to make on my blog sidebars, etc., and my dear daughter, being my Computer/Blog/Website Guru, needs to have a list of the work I'd like her to do. She may not have time to do it immediately, but she sure can't get it done until I get my wants and desires to her. (I've been going to do this for at least a month now.)

MAKE A COUPLE PHONE CALLS - These are time-sensitive phone calls and won't take that much time (I hope), but I dislike talking on the phone so have, again, been putting them off. Too long.

ORDER SUPPLEMENTS - We take some vitamin/mineral supplements and I need to put in about three orders to three different companies. Something tells me they are never going to ship the products unless I order them.

GO THRU TWO MAGAZINES AND ONE CATALOG - I have a baaad habit of letting magazines and catalogs (that I say I'm interested in - do I need to re-evaluate here?) collect on a corner of my desk and avoid going through them until the stack reaches epic proportions. The couple/few nights I've been awake in the middle of the night lately have been put to good use. I'm down to the last couple of magazines and one catalog. Geesh, just sit down and look through them, for heaven's sake, and be done with it! (And don't pick up anymore mail for a month or so.)

VACUUM - I can see the dust bunnies are breeding up a storm under the kitchen table and behind doors again. I blame the dog on bringing in so many leaves this time of year, but in reality I think anybody who comes through a door drags some in. (If I kept the front deck and back porch swept free and clean that would no doubt help, too.)

CLEAN BATHROOM - We have only one, but it's always in need of cleaning. Ugh.

REPOT ALOE PLANTS - We have two huge, over-crowded, over-grown aloe vera plants upstairs in hubby's office. I've been going to replant them for months. (Years? Nah, couldn't be that long. Could it?) The other day dear husband asked me how to do it so he could do the job himself. Now that's an indication of how badly it needs to be done. (He's never repotted a plant in his life.) I need to do it now while the weather is still decent so it can be done on the table outside on the deck. (Anybody want an aloe vera? I will have somewhere around 2,108 of them if I save them all.)

MAKE EGG SALAD - I got the eggs boiled today, but that was it.

HANG FALL SHOWER CURTAIN - No wonder I feel so wonky. Here it is mid-October and I still have the "summer" shower curtain up. (How many days has this task been on my daily list?)

CHARGE CAMERA BATTERY - Now there's one that shouldn't be too hard or time-consuming.

MANICURE - Well, not a real manicure. I just have to cut and file my fingernails. They grow so fast that they soon have a talon-like appearance if I don't take the time to cut them. (I used to have lovely, always painted fingernails. I will someday again. When I find the time. Sigh.)

HAIRCUT AND BEARD TRIM FOR HUBBY - There is an old, scruffy looking gentlemen who is well-known in our town and whenever hubby's beard and hair get too long, I start calling him by that old guy's name. It's definitely time for a salon appointment for hubby. The whole operation takes only about 30 minutes and I've cut his hair all the years we've been married . . . but I hate the job. (How's that for being negative? Bad, Mama Pea, bad.)

WORK ON WALL HANGING - Shortly after our daughter took her small office in town, she asked me if I would make quilted seasonal wall hangings to go on her outer door. Hers is a very, very nice office space but kinda tucked in a dark corner off a large lobby so she thought having a colorful wall hanging on the door would make it more noticeable. I've been working on the one for fall that will be appropriate right up through Thanksgiving. I just haven't found what I consider enough time to put in on it. If I had a whole day, I could get it done. Can't devote the day to it right now, but by working on it a little each day, I'll get it done that much sooner.

PAINT SIDING - This week we got the exterior siding up on the pantry addition to the house. Now I need to find a warm enough day to caulk the seams and then get at least one coat of paint on it before winter. If it doesn't rain (possible precipitation predicted), the temps look favorable for the job tomorrow.

HARVEST SQUASH - The Red Kuri squash is still out in the garden. I need to harvest it and get it inside in a 50-55 degree storage space (somewhere - where?) until I can give some away and cook and freeze a lot for winter usage. We've had no hard frost yet but I don't want to be unpleasantly surprised when it does hit and I have failed to get the squash in. I know I'm pushing my luck here already.

Okay, that's it. These are (nearly) all tasks that have been on my list day after day for waaay too many days. They're not getting done and they're dragging me down.

Tomorrow is a new day. A new, wonderful day. I'm gonna put on my big girl panties and hit it. Are y'all watchin' me?

19 comments:

Yart said...

Your list made me tired.... I have a similar list that is just waiting for the right time to get done... LOL! I wish you all the luck with getting yours done!

Sparkless said...

That's a mighty big list. I'm not sure I could get through that list in a week.
I actually got a couple of things off my list today. Unfortunately I also added about 5 new things to every one thing I get done. sigh

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Don't beat yourself up - that is some kind of long list! Take it one thing at a time and you'll be done before you know it.

Sue said...

Ah, if only I lived closer--I'd come over and help you with your list and we'd LAUGH and TALK and it would all be done before you know it! And then, you'd have to pay me in beer.
:D
But alas, I can only stand in the cheering section and say Rah Rah Rah-Go Mama Pea-Go!! Ugh, did something THAT CHEERFUL just come out of ME???????
Just muddle through it dear, and when you get done, celebrate with your nicely groomed hubby!

Anonymous said...

You can do it! Yes you can!! Sorry, had to channel my inner "Bob the Builder" for you:) Praying you have a successful day today!

Erin said...

Can I borrow your list? We have several similar to-do's! I also take a barrage of supplements to maintain my BP & heart health and put the order in last week and almost fell over at the total. Yikes, but they work - so what can I do? I'm the same with my manicure, the one thing I can't go without is that white pencil with the sharp tip on it, LOVE IT! I keep them really short so that thing is my only "beauty" my nails get, although I always have painted toenails LOL. Definitely work on that wall hanging because you love doing it and the weather is perfect, that should help your mood! I'm with Sue, would love to have a girls' chat day under the disguise of helping with chores! Although your hubby might get scared when he sees all of us coming at the hair & beard for his trim :) Hope your spirits get a lift today!

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

Even if you do a few things on that list you will feel better. Sometimes we don't feel like doing anything because we need a rest. You might be better off taking a whole day to just do nothing, and pick it up the next day. It is the change of seasons and our bodies are more in tune with it than you think. You need to rest, molt, and come out the other side ready to be productive again (gotta love a chicken reference)

MaineCelt said...

Maybe you need to build something absolutely silly into your list, a sort of steam-valve activity that will help you grin or chuckle your way through some of the less-lovely tasks. Besides, silly creative actions can literally bump our brains out of their neurological ruts by forcing neurons to travel less-frequented paths, so if you have been "stuck" with one set of wearisome, recycled thoughts and feelings, you can hop out of it and practice feeling/thinking differently.

What if your to-do-list included three daily five-minute spurts of ridiculous behavior--for purely therapeutic reasons? Here are a few suggestions to get your started:

1) Assemble the most outrageous outfit you can think of. Wear it in front of the mirror and give a brief, self-important oration.

2) Put a flowerpot on your head (maybe the one you'll use for one of those aloes?) and sing either the scarecrow's song from the Wizard of Oz or "I'm a little teapot" or "I'm a lonely little petunia..." Bonus points if you accompany yourself on the ukelele.

3) Using dried fruit and/or chocolate, arrange the pieces in the shape of a happy face on a counter or a plate. Now gobble them up without using your hands. Now you have a belly full of happy!

Susan said...

Ah, Mama Pea, 'tis the season of doldrums. Make sure you put Vitamin D3 on your supplement list. I think you've created a too-big list, but what the heck - I am guilty of the same. You have also listed (except for the sewing part) all of the things I don't like to do - talk on the phone, clean the bathroom, cut people's hair. I say just pick one onerous task a day and get it over with. We all love you and are cheering you on.

Erin said...

I'm with MaineCelt, great ideas! And I can see you with a flowerpot on your head.... easily!

Susan said...

And don't forget to check in, now that you have us worried about you and your doldrums and your big list....

The Apple Pie Gal said...

Mama, Mama...dearest one! Me thinks your list is way too long! I know you are a real go-getter, but I don't want you to beat yourself up if you can't get thru it all! That will only add to your poopy mood! I loved all the other suggestions and if you can't tell, your readers love you!

So when these seasonal changes hit us like a ton of bricks, just one thing at a time and know that you will get thru it and we are rootin' for ya!

A nap never hurts! I took one yesterday and I NEVER take naps! But it sure felt good!

Big hugs to you! xoxo

Mama Pea said...

Yart - There IS NO right time! At least I'll never find it. :o) That's been my excuse for weeks. Those ornery chores just need to be done so they don't keep hanging over my head.

Sparkless - Why does that happen? You get through your could-choke-a-horse list one day and the next the list is twice as long. Drat.

Jen - Could it be that the list is as long as it is because I've been moving as if I were underwater lately? Pep! Energy! Vim! Vigor! That's what I gotta find.

Sue - Our spare refrig is currently chuck full of beer. And if we don't have your favorite, I'll go get it! The only women folk involved in our type of life around here are ones my daughter's age with little kids and that seems to put me in a different category than them. Most all people around here my and hubby's age have opted to "take it easy" living in their condos and going south for the winter. What I'm trying to say is I'd LOVE to have a gal pal like you living near. You're right, we would laugh and talk and the work wouldn't seem like work.

Mama Pea said...

Stephanie - I can do it! Yes, I can! Thanks, I needed that.

Erin - You always give me a chirk up. Remember how the pioneer women used to get together for a day of working together? Finishing a quilt, canning, baking? How I wish it were possible for all of us like-minded gals to do that. How I wish.

Jane - You're right. I haven't given much thought to the changing season which is probably affecting me more than a little. Trouble is I have to keep pushing on the outside stuff. Once the hard frosts come here in northern Minnie-soda, it's 100 times more difficult getting anything done outside.

MaineCelt - I did all three things you suggested between 10 am and noon today. Shortly thereafter I overheard my husband on the phone with Social Services inquiring as to what programs might be available for me. Should I be worried?

Mama Pea said...

Susan - Got my Vitamin D3. And have also been lying nekked on the deck at high noon in order to get all the sun on my skin I can.

I so, so appreciate your loving support. This, too, shall pass, I know.

Erin - I'm habing a hart time typeng thiz 'cauze I have a flowwer pod on my hed.

Susan - Here I be. Sitting with a drink (non-alcoholic, it's only 3:30 pm) for a rest period. Zooming right through that list I am. And getting warm fuzzies from all the support y'all are giving me. Thank you, thank you, thank you all!

Apple Pie Gal - Much to my consternation, I slept 9 hours last night! Did I need it or was it an avoidance tactic to being up a couple of extra hours and getting something done?? Glad your nap helped. On the rare times I've taken one, I feel so much worse afterwards. Just not a napper. Again, thanks for allll the support! It surely does mean the world to me.

Erin said...

good to hear! Now go in your quilting room for a bit after dinner, even if it's only to "look"!

Mama Pea said...

Erin - Well, if you say I have to, what choice do I have?? ;o)

Melissa said...

Mama Pea,
You need to read a humorous book and I may have recently found one for you to check out from the library. It's called, "Cake Wrecks" by Jen Yates. Oh man, you will bust a gut over the cakes in this book! A co-worker who works in a bakery on the side brought it in for all of us cooks to see. Hope you perk up soon!

Mama Pea said...

Melissa - CAKE WRECKS is on order! Thanks!