Category: Slice of Life

Monopoly

Did you ever play Monopoly as a child?

My cousins, sibs, and I would stage marathon Monopoly sessions. Everyone argued over who would get the thimble.

Everyone wanted Boardwalk, of course, but I focused on buying the yellow properties: Atlantic Ave, Ventnor Ave, and Marvin Gardens.  I also liked the light blue ones: Connecticut, Vermont, and Oriental. I usually could put hotels on them and make a fortune.

I still have my board, game pieces, cards, etc, but the box that contained them is long gone.

So are the days when a large group of people had time at the same time to play the game that would not end.

 

 

Clean Out Your Fridge

Today is National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day.

This is something my Day Job does about every other month. TV Stevie and I try to do it weekly, on Sundays (because garbage day is Monday). Unfortunately, a lot of produce ends up in the trash.

About once a year, I go through the bottles of salad dressings and mustards to see what can be tossed.

How often do you clean your fridge?

 

The Organized Writer 2018

I love planners. I love the idea of being organized, and I am the type of person who needs to see a list.

Yes, I broke down and purchased an Erin Condren planner for 2018. Many of the aspects of the planner can be customized.  I chose this cover…”She designed a life she loved” in the colors I wanted, along with my “real” name and my author name. (Please excuse the reflections on the cover. It is very glossy!)

I went with a horizontal weekly layout.

The planner comes with stickers. There is also an option to purchase snap-in “dash boards”. I went with bill paying, to-do list/goal setting, and meal planning.  The planner also comes with a snap-in ruler, sticky notes, a pouch for carry stuff. There are a few blank lined pages, a few dot-grid pages of the sort Bullet Journalists like, and 4 “coloring book” pages.Because I went with the colorful layout, almost everything I received is bright and cheerful. EC also caters to those who prefer something more subdued.

I really think this might be what I’ve been look for.

 

 

Goodbye DST, Return to Real Time

Most people love Daylight Savings Time because it “gives them an extra hour.” Well, no, it doesn’t. DST simply rearranges time in an official way so businesses adjust hours of operation without appearing to do so. And the weekend we change from standard to daylight savings time we actually lose an hour our lives. We got that back today. It’s not a gain of an hour. It’s a return of an hour we lent to DST.

Standard time is real time. The sun is directly overhead at noon. Which begs me to ask: when experts say to avoid lying out in the sun between 11AM and 1PM do they mean daylight savings time or standard time? So during the summer, when the US is mostly on DST, wouldn’t the hours be 10AM-12NN?

Another oddity about the time change: I have a deplorable habit of waking up at 4AM. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 4AM EST or 4AM EDT, it’s always 4AM.

If you’re interested in the pros, cons, whys, and wherefores of DST, this website lays it out in an understandable manner.

 

The Organized Writer-2017

A year ago, I was investigating new ways to keep track of my life. I had evolved from a person who needed a Day Runner to organize family, professional, and pre-published writing lives to a published author with an empty-nest who was no longer on a corporate career path. The revival of the Day Runner in 2016 did not work for me.

In 2017, I tried a Bullet Journal. I made extensive lists of everything I thought I would track: food journal, blog schedule, books to read, brain dumps, dream journal, meal planning, mood tracker, and so on. I bought (a small amount) of washi tape. I bought colored markers. I used an old spiral notebook from my stash.

But my ideas about what I would track weren’t practical for my life. And using a Bullet Journal is all about the individual need.

I do like the layout on which I eventually settled. For months, I convinced myself that sitting down each week to draw my spread for the following week was therapeutic. I gave it a year. A few weeks ago, I even made a spread about what I wanted for next year’s bullet journal. I’ve even narrowed the choice of notebook from my stash to two.

But I’m tired of the set-up work. I need a planner to maintain my life, not the other way around. That’s not to say I won’t ever go back to a Bullet Journal, but I think I want to try something else.

I’ve been looking at Erin Condren. I wince at the cost, but I’m drawn to the lively colors and the ability to customize. I need to explore further.