Less Hustle More Coffee

A Day Off! I took today off against the long holiday weekend to get some things done on my list that I’ve wanted to do for the last quarter and cannot get to. I’m hoping today to do things like update the blog, do some training sessions, clean my office, get organized, work on files, start Christmas lists, ORGANIZE myself for fall, send some cards to some people, fall decorating, clean my house, work on new intro to Vlogs including Dexter, organize photo files, plan 2023’s vlogging changes, learn the back scenes of YouTube, how to use TubeBuddy, update YouTube’s look and description.

Yeah, I won’t get to all that today or even this weekend. I’ll just be happy if I get some of it done. The word of the day is SYNERGY. I plan to do a variety of things today and throughout the weekend, including laundry, cleaning, a bit of cooking, amongst all these things above. SYNERGY is the name of the game. I had thought about JUST being in my office all day doing all these vlog, blog, training things but decided it works best to SYNERGIZE the day to infuse things like laundry and cleaning if it makes sense. So while I’m in a room if the trash needs emptying – go ahead and do it. Have laundry going while I’m doing other things – that sort of thing. That way I can be efficient and get a lot of things done in a quicker time. But I’m elated to have GEEK time in my office!

I had hoped to have time to plan today so I’d already have my day prioritized but that is ok. I thought that would be fun to do, but didn’t have the luxury of time to do EVEN that. In my mind I’d said I would start with the blog anyway. So after getting a shower and starting laundry, I will do that.

I’m just excited to have the day and have looked forward to this day since I scheduled it last week. A 4 day weekend. Rare for me.

Here’s a phone wallpaper. It’s a pic of my purse design, lol. It could have been more flat I guess but it wasn’t.

I think I have a sunshine state of mind right now being off for 4 days. Except it IS filled with chaos because I have a legal pad with about 80 to do’s on it and tons of notes and ideas sitting around and just no time to do it, organize it, or manifest it – until now. So Thank You Lord for this time.

Update Time. So the week has been busy trying to get work done. I’ve blogged and video edited at night. So much so I’ve ignored chores. I guess knowing that this weekend was coming, but truly, I should have been better at getting some chores done. The problem with doing blogs/vlogs after work is that I don’t have to stop and can keep going, and I do. So much so that I skip chore time. I kinda feel bad but then enhhh, there is so much of my time that I have given to others lately that I’m going to be ok with getting back some time for myself.

Next Video. I was oh so close to being able to get a video out tomorrow and I could zap my day today and finish, but not gonna. I’ll be mad if I don’t get those other things done. So that is ok it’s going to be ready by the following Saturday. It’s about spending the day with me on a much needed day off back in March. Surprisingly looking ahead. I only have about 2 to 3 more videos before Dexter is introduced! At that point I don’t really have a lot of footage after that other than of him. So I think I can begin my “new approach” to vlogging sooner than 2023. But we’ll see. Getting closer to catching up. This having to stop and work on a few things will put me a bit behind but it’s necessary if the vlog and blog will evolve. I’m ready for the next steps and honestly I bet you guys are too. My people are still out there somewhere – my niche followers – but I’ll get them plugged in soon. ;-O. I just need to define my niche a little better but I’m not gonna box myself in. Anything goes and it’s still gonna be a Southern Lifestyle Blog and Vlog. 🙂

Mom. Mom’s doctor called and wanted to change the doc appointment from 3:30 to 12:30 Thursday because the doctor wanted to get out earlier. (Never schedule a doc appt before a holiday weekend?). We made the appt way in advance so we could get the time we wanted and this doc is known for changing his appointments around. Also Mom changed it once herself b/c of the foot/gout issue. So I was afraid to postpone it as Mom needed her test results so I went with the flow. It put me in a state of panic though as I had a lot to do at work and I had to work over Wednesday for 2 hours and then will just use 2 hours of my “bucket” time where I have worked over on other days and kept track. I already worked over Tuesday (an hour every week to cover the monthly eye appts). But I managed to get everything done that I could and when I left yesterday morning after working 6:30 to 10:30 I was in a good position – two of the four hours worked the night before and using 2 bucket hours from previously worked and tracked time where I had stayed beyond a full day.

I don’t like to use bucket hours but one to two hours at a time. I think I had 4.25 in my bucket. Mainly just want to make sure I get my “time” in for a full time work job while I’m having to leave some for myself and for Mom. When it’s just yourself it is no big deal as everyone has doc appts, but then when you start shuttling another person around for all their appointments too, I felt I need to make sure I’m getting my hours in. Also there are always prying and spying eyes every where (Ms. Kravitz’s, lol) and if they do their homework they will see I’m getting the hours in. The problem is those folks don’t see you come in at 6:30 – they just see you leave early. lol. So another reason I track is so I can show if needed what I’ve done, in case someone tries to start something. Of course it’s the talk behind your back that you don’t hear, that can damage your name and persona, and you can’t do anything about it as you don’t know about it. But you are familiar with people and what they are capable of, and you have seen it before, so you know it is there. But what can you do? At this point in my life, I really don’t care what anyone thinks, but if I need to prove anything I can. I’d rather people just be nice instead of nosy and gossipy. It’ll be what it will.

I’ve already had someone raise their eyebrows at me one day and ask me if I was leaving already at 3 p.m. after being there for over 8.5 hours already, lol. So…..yeah. In this day and age, I can’t give 10-12 hours a day to the work front anymore. Those days are over except I do it some for quarter end and year end – and this time those hours will also go in my “bucket”.

For one, I don’t feel like it anymore and two, I don’t have that kind of time to donate on a personal front anymore, and three, groceries and expenses are going up and salaries aren’t and four, so I have had to make those decisions and I want a life outside of work and taking care of Mom. I don’t get enough spare time as it is.

We went to get a burger after at Burger Republic. Mom was in the mood for a burger. We got side salads. Mom didn’t like their honey mustard. It was a little odd as they had put horseradish in it. I liked it myself but not a lot of people like horseradish. It was homemade, but different from what she had wanted and what she was used to- the sugary corn syrupy kind you buy – is her favorite and what most of us are used to. After that we went to Ashley Furniture as Mom wanted to get her two “mini” recliners to go with her sofa she already had. She found them quickly and they will be delivered on Sept 15th.

She told me to come home and tell George that he had to move her sofa. The area has to be clear for the new furniture to come in. I told George that she said that. It’ll be up to him whether he follows “her orders” or not. Maybe if she asks him nicely he might? He doesn’t respond well to my own demands. So I’m not sure he’ll respond to her demands. George will always do for me if I ask him nicely. Maybe he will do it for her if she asks? He didn’t answer me nor have a comment when I told him “Momma said you had to move her sofa”. lol. I’ll keep you posted. Mom has always preferred to tell you what to do rather than asking so we’ll see if it works out. I sure can’t move it so it’ll be up to their ability to communicate properly I guess. lol lol

If anyone wants this free sofa let me know, but I have to know you, trust you (lol) and you have to pick it up at Mom’s and move it to your truck. She can’t move anything. It’s in Lebanon, TN. It’s comfy!

She TOLD me to post this on Facebook and I took it to mean the Facebook sell page as that is what she did when she moved. I don’t even list my own furniture for sale on Facebook so I told her I was not going to do that. I don’t have time to fool with all those people calling me and sending messages. That would drive me nuts. And she doesn’t need to have all those strange people coming to look at it in her house. I told her I would put it on my personal page and I even made it public so others can share it. I have friends that have shared it. So at least it will be friends or friends of friends. It’s free and it’s a nice couch and in good condition. It just needs to go because she wants something different. She would have liked to have $40 bucks or so for it, but she’ll have to pay $100 to have someone haul it if someone doesn’t come get it. I like the sofa and wish we had a spot for it but we do not.

She told me yesterday she did not like her curtains that were up and wanted to get different curtains. She doesn’t like the way they hang. I’m not sure why she didn’t just return the curtains back then if they were not what she liked. She could have got her money back. It’ll be a while before I can take her curtain shopping. That may have to be a spring thing next year – we are getting into our fall season now and it’s going to be busy. I’ve been gone the last 3 weekends, two for her and one for George’s birthday – and I just don’t get many weekends to do things. Thus the day off. It’s been 4 weeks since I’ve had personal time to myself of anything more than an hour or two. I’m about to lose my freaking mind.

Dexter. He seems to be calming a bit in the last week or so. However, he had a bad day yesterday doing some damage to a door, breaking out of his hallway and through the bendable doors and chewed up two dog brush handles, a complete dog pee pad tear up, etc. But with us, he has been calmer. Yesterday was day 3 of a full day by himself and he was tired of it. Lucky him to have 3 of the 4 weekend days with one of us primarily here. Bless his heart. He’s been really good at night sleeping with me, but at times he goes to the floor. This mattress gets hot and also he doesn’t like my lavender under the nose so I try not to use that. He’s really good though if I have to get up and go potty. He’ll go back to bed, often snuggling with me. He won’t snuggle long though. I think he gets hot but he likes to be petted and get a tummy rub and then when I quit rubbing and petting he scoots over. He has less of those energy driven spells and he’s getting closer to adulthood. His snip (and chip) comes in about 5 weeks. :-O. Then we can decide on doggie daycare and boarding for Thanksgiving. I just don’t think he’s ready for a Texas trip. Or maybe we are not ready. I think we as his owners have to be able to board him or we’ll never go anywhere ever but home.

Ok I’m off of here to get some things going today and get a lot done. I’m nervous about the blog changes. But here I go – off to the races! Wonder if I will get much accomplished?

What are YOU doing this holiday weekend?