Category: Personal

Last week, Stephanie McPhee – aka The Yarn Harlot – provided the world with what is, in my opinion, quite possibly the best blog post ever written. The post is titled Juggling and in it she discusses her priorities and the fact that she never feels like she is able to do it all – so many things fall to the wayside while she focuses on what she does want to do. She also introduced me to the phrase “dust buffaloes” (the larger and more aggressive cousin to the familiar dust bunny) – a concept I was familiar with (especially with 2 dogs in the house), but I had not seen it named so perfectly before… While the post is wonderful – the comments make it even better.
There are a whole lot of women out there who have set their priorities and are not so worried about the rest. Like many of the commenters, I have farmed out some of the work of maintaining a home so that I can focus on doing the stuff that I enjoy doing (and that pays me to do it).  For me, it’s an economic decision – if I closet myself in my office for the amount of time it takes for the maid(s) to do their thing, I can make more money from writing, web development or presentation creation than I pay them. Even if it was a closer thing, though, it would still be worth it because I really hate doing the big stuff – mopping the floor, vaccuming and sweeping and that sort of thing. I don’t really like picking up and doing the dishes, either, but I’ve yet to figure out how to get someone else to do that part for me…

That little digression aside – I’m all for anything that makes my life easier and lets me spend more time doing what I love with the people I love. Stephanie said it well, the folks who commented on that post said it emphatically and I feel the need to say it again – nobody can do it all, we all have to decide what is important and focus on that. If the rest gets left behind and you don’t have a perfect house, or a garden that wins awards or the baking skills of Betty Crocker – it’s ok. Do what you love and hire out what you can!

But there are some things that I would like to do more of in the coming year… Now that I’m not in school full time, along with being a mom, full-time employee and doing enough writing/presenting to qualify as a part-time job, I’m ready to start focusing on things other than school and work.
First is cooking. I do sooooo much better when I spend a few minutes each weekend before hitting the grocery store just going through some cookbooks (super-easy with all the resources I have on my iPad!) and picking out meals for each day of the week. I get the ingredients on my weekly shopping excursion and I don’t have to wonder each night what I’m going to make when I get home (something that generally encourages a close enough relationship with *more than one* restaurant delivery person that they start asking how my life is going between visits), it’s already planned and in my RTM daily to-do list. Not only will this be cheaper than ordering take-out a couple (or more) times a week, but it should be healthier – especially since I’m going to really try to keep red meat to a weekend-only indulgence. I’m not saying we’ll stop ordering take-out, just that we might try to limit it to weekly, instead of what seems like all-the-freaking-time.
Second is knitting. I’m going to work on getting Christmas gifts knitted in advance this year. I’m still working on the last Christmas gift scarf, days after Christmas is over, and I have spent way too much energy freaking out about getting stuff done this year. I may take January off (since I’ll still be knitting that last scarf into January, I think…), but I’m going to work on a Christmas knitting project a month starting in Feb. That should get everyone on my list *something* next Christmas!!
Third is yoga. I’ve done something really, really mean to my back and last night was miserable – finding a position that didn’t make what feels like a pulled muscle hurt even more (and I really haven’t done anything to earn a pulled muscle!!). I’m hoping that spending some quality time stretching and toning with some yoga will help stave off these random aches and pains. Combine this with healthier eating by cooking at home rather than out all the time and I may just lose a pound or two as well!
Again, these are not resolutions that I’m making – these are just things that I’d like to focus on a bit more in the coming year. No hard-and-fast goals attached to them (well, maybe the knitting one, but other than that…), no pressure on me to keep resolutions, just some things to consider as I try to figure out what to do with the extra time I’ve been devoting to homework and school participation.

I’m coming up on the final classes needed to complete my BSIT (Bachelor’s of Science, Information Technology) degree. Now I need to consider what I’m going to do after that milestone is reached. I’m considering (while whimpering about student loans) going on to get a Master’s degree (in Library Science? In IT? In ???) but that will put me at paying back my student loans just about the time my son goes to college and I have to start paying for that…
Basically, I’m trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up. I’m excited about finally graduating from college, but now I have to consider what I’m going to do after that. I’m positive I’ll stay in IT, but as a librarian? As something else? This grown-up stuff is hard. Can I opt out?