Renai Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 (edited) I have ketchupped. Now I need to go scrub a tired, dirty, smelly goat. So did I! It's what one of my sub-major characters served. I had no idea what he was fixing, so I just sat back and watched him make it while I wrote what he did. Unfortunately, he's one of those people who don't need to measure--they just know, so I'm kind of stuck on exactly how and what went into the food. I know he roasted the quail. The stuffing was put on the butterflied quail and toasted, so I know that he must have baked it separately. No rice involved. Big chunks of rustic bread toasted and crisp. Aromatics, and either roasted chestnuts or pecans? Maybe hickory or butternuts, but those are hard to come by, so I thought I'd stay with a domestic and local nut (pecan). The sauce was absolutely white, and involved wine. To de-glaze after aromatics? Not sure. But I know he used wine. And shallots. And mushrooms. (The protagonist helped to chop the shallots, mushrooms and herbs-thyme, sage) So now I get to invent the whole recipe, because the writers' group wants a recipe, and that one sounded really good. :laugh: I don't know how to teach anybody how to write other than to say, "Let the movie play in your mind, and move the camera around." That's what I do. I see it, and I direct the focus of the writing where the action is. Also-don't worry a thing about spelling, grammar, plot or any other component when you write a first draft. Just let it flow. You deal with that mess during revision. It gets in the way of creation, so lock up the inner editor in a closet, and let him out when you are ready to revise. Dancer told me earlier that sage sounded like it belonged in that recipe. Great minds and all that, right? She said she thinks of stories the same way too! I don't know why she hasn't finished any of them. I do remember one pirate story, but since she couldn't think of where the story was headed, she stopped. So, you're saying to just write what she sees without worrying about exactly where it's going at the moment? ETA: Oh, wait. The sage conversation had to do with the lemon cream sauce someone posted about earlier. Edited August 25, 2016 by Renai 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 OK so I have a bunch of unseasoned pulled pork that I'd like to use to make something close to carnitas tacos. But the pork has no seasoning and I need to know what kind of seasonings I can add to make it taste at least a little authentic. I was planning to use flour tortillas with cabbage and peach/mango salsa. I usually use my left over crock pot pork for carnitas. I take the shredded pork and fry it with plenty of garlic,salt and pepper and cumin. It's very tasty that way! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Well, I'm back. Spent 7 hours out today, which is much longer than I wanted to. Three and a half at the doctor's. Apparently he was getting caught up from being gone a lot this summer and since he's the only pediatric opthalomologist.... Anyhow, looks like dry-eye is her problem. And eye allergies. She got a different prescription for allergy drops. Then we went to Cold stone creamery to cash in her gift card, and then to Costco, and then to McDonald's because it was getting late. And then it's 8:00 and we're finally home. Ugh! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 3rd day of camp recap: 1.. Dh talked me out of quitting. 2..I actually felt better after participating in a staff b*tch fest. I'm not the only one frustrated by the very same things. 3.. The day was too packed with activities and my younger group just fell apart because of it tonight. 4. Before they fell apart they listened well and really liked making boats even though half the boats sank. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Good Thursday Morning! (((Jean))) Sorry about the really frustrating and annoying parts of camp. Hope you guys come up with some good solutions / preventions for next year, if possible. And I hope the rest of this week blesses everyone, staff included. :grouphug: Krissi - good to get all those things done even if it did knock out a whole day! Renai - good to see you! Are you working? How's it going? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Openhearted Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Good Morning. It is Thursday. I didn't sleep well again. But I did sleep some. Mostly a real light, drifting, in and out, type of sleep. We are doing good with school. I hope we have another good day today. I have to go to town later to pick up mom's medication. I bet I called in about 10 refills yesterday. This is good. Maybe I can get most of them in one trip, and not have to run to the pharmacy every few days. Have a beautiful day. :) 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Thursday! The older girls have tutorial today and afterwards an ortho appt. to check dd13's headgear, which she says "feels weird". Time for breakfast. And coffee! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 (edited) 3rd day of camp recap: 1.. Dh talked me out of quitting. 2..I actually felt better after participating in a staff b*tch fest. I'm not the only one frustrated by the very same things. 3.. The day was too packed with activities and my younger group just fell apart because of it tonight. 4. Before they fell apart they listened well and really liked making boats even though half the boats sank. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Good Morning. It is Thursday. I didn't sleep well again. But I did sleep some. Mostly a real light, drifting, in and out, type of sleep. We are doing good with school. I hope we have another good day today. I have to go to town later to pick up mom's medication. I bet I called in about 10 refills yesterday. This is good. Maybe I can get most of them in one trip, and not have to run to the pharmacy every few days. Have a beautiful day. :) Praying for a good day for both of you! A Praying for a Good Day Booyah! This is the thread that never ends, It just goes on and on my friends. People started posting not knowing what it was, And they will keep on posting here forever just because... This is the thread that never ends You'd best come join it with your friends 'Cuz it will replace Facebook as the latest web-based craze And everyone will post here instead for the rest of their days This is the thread that's always there They'll cheer you up so don't despair The group is growing well as more people start checking in And we'll keep sucking them in because our cheer is addictive This is the thread that never ends It's better than a Mercedes Benz It helps with coffee withdrawal and other troubles, too Eleven hundred pages of friends all cheering for you This thread keeps going on and on with record-setting length and fun It started s'venteen months ago from curiosity and all the fun and frolic has shown this is the place to be This is the thread that never ends.... Edited August 25, 2016 by Susan in TN 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 She said she thinks of stories the same way too! I don't know why she hasn't finished any of them. I do remember one pirate story, but since she couldn't think of where the story was headed, she stopped. So, you're saying to just write what she sees without worrying about exactly where it's going at the moment? Yep. And sometimes it is very hard to trust the characters and let them just act and react. But you can always delete scenes later. Just plow on, and be ready for the story to develop in new and exciting ways. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 And I'm awake. I'm sore all over from helping lay sod yesterday evening. And there's more to do. :svengo: There were fire ants in this batch. And they bit me. Not for my house. I don't have a great lawn, any interest in having a great lawn, and I abhor exercises in futility. :laugh: I need to plan history and science today, do some housekeeping, and write. I have an unexpected day off this Friday, and I'd like to spend the time working on my story and not school planning. It's supposed to rain. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Good morning. Today is a new day. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Argh Dh is gone again this week. The washing machine is broken. Laundry really plies up fast when your machine has been out of use for a week plus. I woke up with sore throat. I can't get sick we leave on vacation soon. Good news the weather were are going looks a little warmer than it did last night. I am freaking about the temps, because it got at least 10-15 degrees colder all of a sudden. Did I mention it is a pain in the butt to have your washing machine out of commission when you are trying to pack? Some more good news the car rental prices have dropped even more. I love saving money. So have hotels. I may re-book everything. I signed up 2 out of my 3 school aged kids for an online charter and I talked to their teachers and it sounds good. I am optimistic about it. I wish that my other kiddo would have gotten in. Oh well. I didn't even know this type of thing existed before April. Oh my family wants to get together this weekend. I am trying to talk them out of meeting at my house. It is a wreck. Dh has been gone for the month and now the washing machine. Plus packing. I am suggesting meeting at a museum. I hope they go for it. I just need to scream. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Ok. That felt good. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I do fine with the mind camera. It's the "getting it into words" part that I have trouble with. And as far as the editor, this is exactly why I let my creative writers be creative spellers. The editing can all be done later. Once the creative juices stop flowing, it is sometimes impossible to re-start. The words part is interesting. I've lost count of how many times my character supplies the words as we go. I do best with the words when I am very careful to stay in one person's head for a scene. If I try to sweep a scene with my eyes, then I'm going to stop, because I don't know exactly what I'm seeing or how to react to it. Like the dreaded assignments to look at a picture and write a story for it. Without seeing it through the eyes of a character, I don't know what to write or how to write it. But when I'm working with one character that I know and love, it's easy to flow with his mind, and to see what he sees, the way that he sees it. And then I write what he's seeing the way that he's seeing it. Example: I see an open strip pit quarry, muddy from recent rains. Kind a moonscape. Lots of red clay. People hard at work. He sees, "The rear face of the mountain had been cut away with an ax, in great uneven chunks. No trees grew where the raw rock was exposed. A few scrubby post oaks clung to the edges of the pit, desperate and dying. Equipment lumbered across gravel roads that crisscrossed the plain between lakes of coalescing puddles, red as blood, reflecting the dull winter sun. Great heaps of rock of varying sizes had been piled around the field, an orderly arrangement of the viscera on the flayed landscape." Another character might well have described it another way, and if so, I would write it the way he saw it. The viewpoint character chooses his words based on his emotional reactions, and the way he thinks about what he's a part of. It's sometimes a very fun experiment to take a scene and write it through the eyes of various characters just to see how very differently they might think about a scene. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I was called out to see a large caterpillar. It was an Imperial Moth. Haven't seen one of those in a while. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 The words part is interesting. I've lost count of how many times my character supplies the words as we go. I do best with the words when I am very careful to stay in one person's head for a scene. If I try to sweep a scene with my eyes, then I'm going to stop, because I don't know exactly what I'm seeing or how to react to it. Like the dreaded assignments to look at a picture and write a story for it. Without seeing it through the eyes of a character, I don't know what to write or how to write it. But when I'm working with one character that I know and love, it's easy to flow with his mind, and to see what he sees, the way that he sees it. And then I write what he's seeing the way that he's seeing it. Example: I see an open strip pit quarry, muddy from recent rains. Kind a moonscape. Lots of red clay. People hard at work. He sees, "The rear face of the mountain had been cut away with an ax, in great uneven chunks. No trees grew where the raw rock was exposed. A few scrubby post oaks clung to the edges of the pit, desperate and dying. Equipment lumbered across gravel roads that crisscrossed the plain between lakes of coalescing puddles, red as blood, reflecting the dull winter sun. Great heaps of rock of varying sizes had been piled around the field, an orderly arrangement of the viscera on the flayed landscape." Another character might well have described it another way, and if so, I would write it the way he saw it. The viewpoint character chooses his words based on his emotional reactions, and the way he thinks about what he's a part of. It's sometimes a very fun experiment to take a scene and write it through the eyes of various characters just to see how very differently they might think about a scene. This helps a lot. I've been trying to write as a reader instead of as a character. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 This helps a lot. I've been trying to write as a reader instead of as a character. I'd say that writing as a reader comes in as part of the revision process. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 And... I just called dd12 into my room to share Critterfixer's writing advice. She said, "Mom, I already knew that." Well, then. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Good news the weather were are going looks a little warmer than it did last night. I am freaking about the temps, because it got at least 10-15 degrees colder all of a sudden. Did I mention it is a pain in the butt to have your washing machine out of commission when you are trying to pack? You can come use mine. Please bring the 10-15 degrees cooler temperatures with you. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 (edited) I just called dd12 into my room to share Critterfixer's writing advice. She said, "Mom, I already knew that." Well, then. Of course she did. I think adults hamper themselves in writing because to early in the process they start trying to confine the imagination. Every kid knows how to be someone else. It's the way you become part of a story. ETA: Just tell her not to forget how to do it. :laugh: Edited August 25, 2016 by Critterfixer 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Some good things that have helped me get into a characters mind for writing purposes: 1) Go be very visual for a while. Get out in nature. You might not need to chase a waterfall, but go look around. See people. See places. 2) Listen to music. I prefer things without words, but every now and then I'll find a song with words that seem to speak to a character's nature. 3) Do a character interview. Ask deep, probing, embarrassing questions. Answer in stream of consciousness writing, not as a reporter taking down the answer, but as the character answering it, with all the feels, anger, excitement, squirms and ranting that might go on. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Oooh boy do I need the Cranky Pantz! (The ones with the coffee and chocolate dispenser.) This whole morning has had my head in a mess of chaos. Dh told all the kids to just make their own breakfasts which means there were 6 people in the small galley kitchen all making breakfasts and lunches at the same time. I tried to hide in my room. Then kids were asking me if they could play outside and do this AND that AND the Other Thing and if I knew where everything was that they needed for tutorial classes today, and dh wanted to discuss car insurance, and Someone misplaced all the materials for today's astronomy lesson. And then my brain exploded. After cleaning up the scrambled brain mess, I will probably have to put myself in time out. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I keep getting kicked out of the forum, too, so that adds another layer of desperation! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Oooh boy do I need the Cranky Pantz! (The ones with the coffee and chocolate dispenser.) This whole morning has had my head in a mess of chaos. Dh told all the kids to just make their own breakfasts which means there were 6 people in the small galley kitchen all making breakfasts and lunches at the same time. I tried to hide in my room. Then kids were asking me if they could play outside and do this AND that AND the Other Thing and if I knew where everything was that they needed for tutorial classes today, and dh wanted to discuss car insurance, and Someone misplaced all the materials for today's astronomy lesson. And then my brain exploded. After cleaning up the scrambled brain mess, I will probably have to put myself in time out. Husbands - love 'em. Can't kill 'em. (ENB at your service to kindly remind dh to stop messing with the order!) 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikslo Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I had DS take pictures of his Lego world. I will try to post them later - work is too busy these days for me to be on ITT much. School is going well. We have 20 school days already put away on the books. DS really enjoyed the Caesar's English vocabulary discussion we had last night. MCT is a genius, in my book. It's like he is talking directly to my kid. He uses real writing examples to teach the vocabulary. "There is a prodigious stench in this room." Yeah, DS had fun with that one. :D 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikslo Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 COFFEE!!!! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 He uses real writing examples to teach the vocabulary. "There is a prodigious stench in this room." Yeah, DS had fun with that one. :D I can imagine. :laugh: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Help! Help! A robot just called to inform me that I am being sued by the IRS! It was my final notice! Oh whatever shall I do?!? ðŸ«ðŸ©ðŸŒµðŸŽƒ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Help! Help! A robot just called to inform me that I am being sued by the IRS! It was my final notice! Oh whatever shall I do?!? ðŸ«ðŸ©ðŸŒµðŸŽƒ I've gotten more "final" notices than I can count. Some were robo-calls. One was a man with a very thick accent. India probably. He said that he worked for the IRS. I said, "I doubt it" and hung up. :coolgleamA: 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Naptime. :) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJosMom Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Greetings from Glacier. DD declared yesterday's 14th "the Best Birthday Ever." We went hiking - with about a bazillion of our closest friends - to Avalanche Lake. Where we saw bears. :huh: Seriously, there were probably 60 people milling around, and there were bears right across this little bitty lake. The two little black bears - meh. But when I saw a grizzly... :huh: :huh: I am seriously disturbed that such dangerous critters have become so habituated to humans -YIKES. BUT it was a nice little hike, the weather is perfect, and we met some really neat people. We are getting a late start today, because the short person didn't want to miss her first Latin class ( :huh: ). But soon we are off the explore the west side of Lake MacDonald, hopefully without any bears. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! :seeya: 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 What's the epipen drama? I've been an ostrich lately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Argh Dh is gone again this week. The washing machine is broken. Laundry really plies up fast when your machine has been out of use for a week plus. I woke up with sore throat. I can't get sick we leave on vacation soon. Good news the weather were are going looks a little warmer than it did last night. I am freaking about the temps, because it got at least 10-15 degrees colder all of a sudden. Did I mention it is a pain in the butt to have your washing machine out of commission when you are trying to pack? Some more good news the car rental prices have dropped even more. I love saving money. So have hotels. I may re-book everything. I signed up 2 out of my 3 school aged kids for an online charter and I talked to their teachers and it sounds good. I am optimistic about it. I wish that my other kiddo would have gotten in. Oh well. I didn't even know this type of thing existed before April. Oh my family wants to get together this weekend. I am trying to talk them out of meeting at my house. It is a wreck. Dh has been gone for the month and now the washing machine. Plus packing. I am suggesting meeting at a museum. I hope they go for it. I just need to scream. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Ok. That felt good. Gathering your dirty laundry and heading off to a laundromat might be worthwhile at this point. At a laundromat you can do many loads at once. I don't know how long you will be gone or how busy you will be, but you can also consider running laundry during your vacation, too. We do this because it lessens the required packing. If we are visiting people who have laundry machines at home we ask ahead of time if it would be okay if we run laundry while we are there. If we are at hotels I will either use the hotel machines (if I have enough downtime, such as when kids were small -- DH would nap in the room with them while I ran a load or two) or visit a laundromat. I started doing this when I simply couldn't guess on how many days of hot weather and how many of cold we would have. By packing a few days of each and doing laundry along the way we didn't have to pack the entire closet to make sure we had the clothes we needed for whatever weather. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 (edited) The words part is interesting. I've lost count of how many times my character supplies the words as we go. I do best with the words when I am very careful to stay in one person's head for a scene. If I try to sweep a scene with my eyes, then I'm going to stop, because I don't know exactly what I'm seeing or how to react to it. Like the dreaded assignments to look at a picture and write a story for it. Without seeing it through the eyes of a character, I don't know what to write or how to write it. But when I'm working with one character that I know and love, it's easy to flow with his mind, and to see what he sees, the way that he sees it. And then I write what he's seeing the way that he's seeing it. Example: I see an open strip pit quarry, muddy from recent rains. Kind a moonscape. Lots of red clay. People hard at work. He sees, "The rear face of the mountain had been cut away with an ax, in great uneven chunks. No trees grew where the raw rock was exposed. A few scrubby post oaks clung to the edges of the pit, desperate and dying. Equipment lumbered across gravel roads that crisscrossed the plain between lakes of coalescing puddles, red as blood, reflecting the dull winter sun. Great heaps of rock of varying sizes had been piled around the field, an orderly arrangement of the viscera on the flayed landscape." Another character might well have described it another way, and if so, I would write it the way he saw it. The viewpoint character chooses his words based on his emotional reactions, and the way he thinks about what he's a part of. It's sometimes a very fun experiment to take a scene and write it through the eyes of various characters just to see how very differently they might think about a scene. Yes, exactly!!!! And right there I think you have pointed out the obvious thing I was somehow overlooking when I wondered how on earth I was going to write about certain people. I've got more digging to do so I can get inside their heads. Uh oh. One of the potential characters is a real creep. I'm not going to like that. Edited August 25, 2016 by AMJ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Some good things that have helped me get into a characters mind for writing purposes: 1) Go be very visual for a while. Get out in nature. You might not need to chase a waterfall, but go look around. See people. See places. 2) Listen to music. I prefer things without words, but every now and then I'll find a song with words that seem to speak to a character's nature. 3) Do a character interview. Ask deep, probing, embarrassing questions. Answer in stream of consciousness writing, not as a reporter taking down the answer, but as the character answering it, with all the feels, anger, excitement, squirms and ranting that might go on. I need to go back through this thread and start copying your posts out into a Critterfixer's Pointers document so I can find these gems later when I get to those points. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I just wrestled with our budget for hours. This isn't how I planned on spending my Thursday, but there it is. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I've got more digging to do so I can get inside their heads. Uh oh. One of the potential characters is a real creep. I'm not going to like that. I've had to deal with a few things that my protagonist thinks that are kind of hard for me to accept, too. Occupation hazard of writing, I guess. You get to work with all kinds of characters. Sometimes I even get characters that don't like me. I have two of those, and one of them is more of a pain than the other. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I guess I could post my best "digging inside the character" book. Noah Lukeman, The Plot Thickens. My copy is a rag. I need to order a new one. The first two chapters are gold, where there are sections detailing everything you could ask a character to learn more about him. Excellent book for character building. NOT FOR KIDS! (There are certain sections...) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 What's the epipen drama? I've been an ostrich lately. Epipens are majorly expensive - hundreds of dollars if you have no coverage. And if you have to carry one at all times, you may need to buy several each year just to keep non-expired ones on hand. For a couple years, the company lost a lot of money because of a competitor whose (many thought superior) product eventually had to be taken off the market, and so they may have driven up the price to make up for their losses. From what I understand, there are companies who will again be coming out with their own epipen-type things very soon, and the competition will likely drive the price down quite a bit. A couple years ago we bought 2 epipens and paid $90, and we have excellent full private medical and prescription coverage. I think the price has gone way up since then. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Oooh boy do I need the Cranky Pantz! (The ones with the coffee and chocolate dispenser.) This whole morning has had my head in a mess of chaos. Dh told all the kids to just make their own breakfasts which means there were 6 people in the small galley kitchen all making breakfasts and lunches at the same time. I tried to hide in my room. Then kids were asking me if they could play outside and do this AND that AND the Other Thing and if I knew where everything was that they needed for tutorial classes today, and dh wanted to discuss car insurance, and Someone misplaced all the materials for today's astronomy lesson. And then my brain exploded. After cleaning up the scrambled brain mess, I will probably have to put myself in time out. :grouphug: :grouphug: Go 'way, everyone! Susie needs a little privacy for a few minutes! I have been ignoring my kitchen because it's the living embodiment of scrambled-brain syndrome. I realized this week that getting the dietary changes and increased exercise firmly made into new parts of my ongoing life is probably going to take a year to accomplish. General wisdom states that it takes 3 weeks to set a new habit. Yes, that is true--so long as you can consistently practice (or try to practice) that habit every day, AND the schedule allows consistent time slots in which to do it. When you have no consistent schedule yet because you are still trying to rebuild one after it has been completely demolished, OR when a habit is non-schedule-able (like my doctor's insistence I check my blood pressure daily but at random times of day) it takes longer. And when your attempts at a routine are repeatedly and frequently interrupted or overruled then the clock resets back at the beginning, even if it has been 2 weeks and 6 days! Some habits require a LOT of time, attention, and their own set of resources. Changing one's diet is a biggie, and so is radically altering one's level of activity. It's not just the gear and the demand to be fit into the schedule, it's the diligence and hyper-awareness demanding constant attention so long as the habit is not yet firmly set, since heaven forbid you should slip back into the old eating and sitting habits. It's a baby screaming for attention because the baby is not yet confident that you won't neglect it. Changing one's eating isn't just a matter of buying different food. It's changing a mindset and learning new ways to approach eating, which is a very mentally taxing project to take on. Changing one's activity level isn't just a matter of spending less time sitting and getting up and moving. It's finding appropriate chunks of time in one's schedule when one CAN exercise to the level and duration one needs WITHOUT neglecting anything else, including sleep. When you then add in other changes that life throws at you, family moving away, elderly fathers showing decided decline, children starting the next stage of school (requiring more rigor, opportunity, and support right when they happen to be more moody), unexpected medical needs, the endless round of holidays and birthdays and observances to prepare for -- there are so many interruptions, so many oblivious-to-you occurrences that plow through your carefully set up schedule dominoes-- My mind is scrambled, so my kitchen is a mess. Starting the homeschool year right now hasn't been entirely fool-proof and I, right from the start, have to make sure we aren't letting anything slip studies-wise. My personal trainer can just get over the fact that I don't do my daily hour of cardio at home in one whack -- I simply don't have an uninterrupted hour in which to do so. Three 20-minute bouts is usually doable. I took the time to (mostly) get the school year planned out because I knew how much it would help. I scheduled personal training so I would be sure to get in rigorous and effective exercise at least 3 times a week. I have met these deadlines satisfactorily if not gloriously. It is now time to attend to the next screaming baby. My kitchen is a mess. My bathrooms all need cleaning. I am behind on getting bedding washed and beds remade. The dust is changing the color of everything in the house (and we have allergies to contend with). My plan to reconfigure DD12's stuffed animal storage has been postponed for too long. DD15's science lab for this week still needs to be completed, and we will largely have to count on some weekend time in which to do so. The rest of the weekend, however, I must grab some time to regroup and see what needs to be done to calm my house down. Family keep asking me what I want for my birthday. I want someone else to take on the cooking for a while so I can think my way through everything and just eat when I food. I want people to become more independent, to do their own laundry without me reminding them, to make GOOD food for themselves when they are hungry instead of waiting for Mom to intuit the need and feed them, to consider that THEY have the power to open the dishwasher and deal with dishes. I don't want stuff, I want TIME, time to think, time to breathe, time to not have to always be thinking. And apparently I needed time to whine and blather. I kept trying to make this post short and it kept going long. Thanks for listening. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I keep getting kicked out of the forum, too, so that adds another layer of desperation! NO! NOT FAIR! QUIT PICKING ON SUSAN, EVERYONE! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Help! Help! A robot just called to inform me that I am being sued by the IRS! It was my final notice! Oh whatever shall I do?!? ðŸ«ðŸ©ðŸŒµðŸŽƒ VENT. A non-robot called during our lessons to ask for Darren. I was nice and informed her politely that she had the wrong number. You know what comes next: "Oh, well perhaps YOU could help me. I'm from card servi--" The kids were a bit surprised at the sharp suddenness and abruptness of my response. Heather has a friend, though I didn't catch her name. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Naptime. :) I wish. Sweet dreams! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Okay, I'm all caught up here. DH says he can be home in time to take DD12 to Aikido. This will let me get in some more cardio, start unscrambling my kitchen, and figure out SOMETHING to do for supper. This is just the sort of day I would normally reach for frozen mandarin orange chicken or something similar, but I don't get to eat those anymore. I'm out of my approved insta-foods today, so I have to cook SOMETHING for supper tonight. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 General wisdom states that it takes 3 weeks to set a new habit. Yes, that is true--so long as you can consistently practice (or try to practice) that habit every day, AND the schedule allows consistent time slots in which to do it. Try more like three months. Six months for the people who have to adapt to your new habit. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Day 4 morning recap: We discussed yesterday's evening chaos and made some plans to avoid that in the future. My main assistant told me that he thought it was a "one off". That was encouraging. This morning's class went well. They loved our paper airplane competition. This was organized chaos- which is much preferable to the other kind. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 VENT. A non-robot called during our lessons to ask for Darren. I was nice and informed her politely that she had the wrong number. You know what comes next: "Oh, well perhaps YOU could help me. I'm from card servi--" The kids were a bit surprised at the sharp suddenness and abruptness of my response. Heather has a friend, though I didn't catch her name. The Robot has called 5 times today. I need caller ID. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 COFFEE! Don't hurry! Don't worry! (Charlotte's advice to Wilbur! This has become my mantra today.) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renai Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I just wrestled with our budget for hours. This isn't how I planned on spending my Thursday, but there it is. I wrestled too, and lost. But, hey, the bright side is the gas tanks are full and there is (some) food in the pantry. It all needs to last until Wednesday. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renai Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 What's the epipen drama? I've been an ostrich lately. According to an email from a petition website, the cost has gone up from $50 to over $300 each in the last few years. If you have a child in school, they may ask for at least 3 - one for the nurse's office, one for the classroom teacher, one for the emergency bag (if they must go offsite). Gymnast's zoned school did. (She doesn't have that severe reaction to her allergies, but the nurse said see if they'd prescribe them anyway.) That's $900 for just meds for school. That doesn't include what families need at home. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renai Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 VENT. A non-robot called during our lessons to ask for Darren. I was nice and informed her politely that she had the wrong number. You know what comes next: "Oh, well perhaps YOU could help me. I'm from card servi--" The kids were a bit surprised at the sharp suddenness and abruptness of my response. Heather has a friend, though I didn't catch her name. I've had that call too. I keep wondering how I can help them with someone I don't know. "This is a cell number. I don't know who had it before." Once, a few years ago, my bank called for someone I didn't know and said the account was in collections. I kindly informed the dude he had the wrong number. We hung up amicably. Dude called back and left a message that he KNEW it was the right number because it was listed on the account and I needed to get the account paid . I called the bank and told the nice lady that I think Dude is new, and let her know what happened. I also let her know it was a cell number, etc. She confirmed he was, in fact, new, and would be receiving more training. :D 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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