Peace of Mind Organizing

Easing back into real life

14 October 2008

I’m home from my latest trip. And I’m here to stay for awhile! It’s nice to be back sleeping in my own bed, though I’m feeling a little foggy. I blame Pip, my standard poodle, who had me up in the night several times last night needing to go out.

While I enjoyed my various trips and conferences (three trips, two conferences, one trade show and vacation with family), being away so much is throwing me off my game. I feel a bit as if I don’t know which end is up.

I always have difficulty with reentry when I’ve been traveling and it’s because it it takes me a little while to get back into my daily routines. It really emphasizes the power of routines.

I took care of some essentials today, but tomorrow I’ll shake the cobwebs out of my head and really go to town with my to-do list. I’m going to do some big-picture brainstorming and get a handle on what I need to be doing. I feel as though I’ve my business on hold to a certain extent and it’s time to dive back in. And that includes daily blogging. Watch this space!

This is relevant to nothing, but since I have this picture in my computer, I have to share. It’s my niece, Miranda, and nephew, Taylor, sitting in the rumble seat of the Model A Ford, owned by my aunt, Gwen Gerow. This was right before they left for a ride around Walla Walla. (The photo was taken by their father, Larry.)

That's the way to travel!

Hello from Walla Walla

10 October 2008

Yesterday, I wrote a long (and trust me, really well written) blog post about my hometown of Walla Walla, Washington, where I am right now visiting family. It went on about the Norman Rockwellian nature of this town, which often seems like the land that time forgot.

But then I lost my internet connection and unwittingly lost my glorious post before I could upload it. Poof.

I’ll summarize by saying that I’m having a lovely time with my parents, brothers, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. One set of the family, my brother Larry, his wife Margaret, and kids Miranda and Taylor, live in Australia, so it’s a rare treat to spend time with them. We’re participating in wholesome family activities, like playing cards. That’s my idea of a good time.

Here’s a photo of Miranda and Taylor wearing t-shirts I brought them from my friend Sally Brown’s t-shirt company, Roll Over Rover.

My niece, Miranda, and nephew, Taylor, in their Roll Over Rover t-shirts

My husband Barry is coming in this afternoon, along with our friend, Jim, who is also a good friend of my brother and his family. In the days ahead, we have a family talent show to look forward to (and prepare for), a birthday party, bowling, and (I fervently hope), some quality time at some tasting rooms. Walla Walla is a now a wine-making mecca, with some really delicious wines.

We return on Monday evening. After that, I’ll get back into the swing of regular blogging. And regular living and working. I’ve done little but travel or be in conferences for the last month and I’m looking forward to getting back to real life.

Knitting update

6 October 2008

I live in a fantasy world in which the readers of my blog actually care about my knitting, so today I’m going to share with you a knitting triumph and let you know what I’m working on.

First, the exciting news. I actually finished a sweater with sleeves (albeit short sleeves). And it fits! This is just the third sweater I’ve knit. The first two, which I created early in my knitting career, scared me off of sweater knitting, because I ended up unravelling both of them. It took me a couple of years to try again.

Here it is:

It’s the Tempting II from knitty.com. It’s a simple 1 × 1 rib, knit as a tube in Rowan Calmer, a delightful yarn made of cotton and microfiber. There’s actually no shaping — it’s form fitting (your body shapes it), so perhaps it’s not that big an achievement.

Anyway it was a lesson in perseverance. The neck band was way too large when I knit it according to the pattern directions. (If you’re not a knitter, skip to the next paragraph). The pattern called for a decrease round of k1, k2tog all the way around. After I finished it, I tried on the sweater and the neck was huge. So I ripped out the neckband and reknit the decrease round k2tog all the way around. Still too big. So I tore out the neckband again and k2tog on the front and back and k3tog on the shoulders. That did the trick. I also changed the pattern by tying the ends of the neckband, rather than using a buckle. The buckle I’d purchased was too heavy.

Speaking of perseverance, I’ve cast on for the Reversible Brioche Hat at least 10 times. It’s proven to be a challenge, but I think I have it now. I’m about 8 rounds in and its looking okay, thank goodness. In a couple of weeks’ time, after I have my second class on making this hat (that class will cover the decreases), I’ll have something to post.

In other knitting news, I’m working on the Felted Knitting Basket. It’s an adaptation of the Ballband Bag Recipe by Monica Jines. This adaptation, by Lynn, who’s ravelry avatar is Ravellyn, is a larger knitting basket. Here’s a photo of Ravellyn’s Felted Knitting Basket.

Isn't this basket beautiful?

I love it! So I’ve used a different colorway and am about halfway through mine. It’s a very simple knit. Here’s a photo of the work in progress:

I like the autumnal colors.

I’m mildly concerned that the needles I’m using are too small (usually I knit objects that will be felted in the washing machine on larger needles), but I’m following Ravellyn’s instructions, so I’m hopeful.

My friend, Sally, gave me a skein of Fleece Artist Sea Wool, which is 70 percent merino wool and 30 percent seacell, which is derived from seaweed. It’s in a beautiful purple, green and blue colorway. I’m looking forward to finding just the right project to knit with it.

So there’s the knitting update. I leave tomorrow for six days in Walla Walla, Washington, my hometown. I’m hoping get some good knitting time in there.

It's t-shirt time again

3 October 2008

I leave this morning for Chicago, where I’m going to staff my friend Sally’s booth at the H.H. Backer Christmas Trade Show. Sally is the creative and business genius behind Roll Over Rover, a company that sells design-conscious apparel for dog lovers. Sally’s illustrations are whimsical and sophisticated. I’m a proud booster.

Last May, I went to Baltimore to help Sally at the smaller HH Backer spring trade show. If you’re a pet lover, like I am, it’s great fun to see the latest and greatest pet products (though the show isn’t open to the public, just product retailers and wholesalers). There will be 834 exhibitors. That’s a lot of pet stuff.

Back on Monday for the afternoon, then I take off in the morning for Walla Walla.

S-L-O-W down

2 October 2008

Yesterday’s Oprah show revolved around the theme of slowing down. It featured the tragic story of Brenda Slaby, a Chicago educator and mom who forgot her sleeping two-year-old daughter was in the car and left her there for eight hours last August. The child died. We relived that experience with the guilt-ridden mother. Such a sad, sad story.

Oprah’s message was that people, particularly mothers, are overwhelmed and running a mile a minute, putting themselves and their children at risk. I think this is a valuable message. If we don’t take time to actually live consciously and to take care of ourselves, we can’t take care of others.

I met this week with a successful business owner who routinely stays up until 3 a.m. After just three or four hours sleep, she gets up and starts all over again. She’s exhausted. We talked about her perfectionist tendencies which make her inclined to stay up and keep working until everything is done perfectly. And we talked about some low-consequence activities she might be able to experiment with allowing to remain imperfect.

When I told her my policy is that I don’t work after dark, she looked at me in wonderment and said, “And you’re successful.” She thought the only way to be successful was to work all her waking hours. I encouraged her to examine her definition of success and allow herself to allow working less to be a measure of success.

If you’re someone who is so stressed that you could see accidentally endangering a family member or someone who’s working so hard you never even see your family, I encourage you to slow down, take time for yourself, and lighten up that to-do list. One of Oprah’s guests, Norman Fischer, a zen teacher, encouraged viewers to get up a half hour early to meditate. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Personally, I don’t meditate (though I’ve taken meditation classes). But I do knit. What I love about knitting is that it forces me to slow down. It’s not easy to knit unless you’re sitting down. Some knitting requires more focus than others, but the act of knitting is a bit like meditation to me.

My advice? Take time for yourself. Do something pleasurable like knitting, running, taking a bubble bath, meeting a friend for coffee, or stroking your cat. Allow your brain to rejuvenate on a regular basis. And please, please don’t feel guilty about it.

Fluent Self: Blog of the Week

1 October 2008

This week’s blog of the week can help you get unstuck. I first learned about habits guru Havi Brooks from my friend and life coach, Shannon Wilkinson, who is taking the Self Promotion for Wimps course taught by Havi and Naomi Dunford.

Havi’s Fluent Self Blog, which she characterizes as a habits blog for people who need destuckification, is a fun read. Havi is irreverent, smart-alecky and insightful. Yesterday’s post, about how she named her business both inspired me and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Havi is a coach whom you could hire to identify your patterns and rework them if you’re stuck. I get the feeling that she’s fabulous at it. If you don’t need full-on one-one coaching, though, her blog can give you insights and inspiration to work on your habits, keep you going, and perhaps get unstuck.

And, besides, what’s not to love about a person who advises, “When in doubt, take a nap”?

The value of the to-do list

30 September 2008

Yesterday I blogged about how I couldn’t get anything done. The basic culprit was fatigue from attending back-to-back conferences and sleep deprivation from a needy poodle. But after a good night’s sleep and a little reflection, I identified another reason for yesterday’s lack of focus: I didn’t have a to-do list.

As I’ve blogged about before, I’m a follower of Mark Forster’s Do It Tomorrow method of time management. (Link to his book at right.) Among other things, he advocates a daily “will-do list,” one that contains only the things you actually plan to accomplish that day.

The crazy thing about time management systems and human nature is that when you need it most—that is, when you are crazy busy—you tend to ignore your time management system. That’s what happens with me. I’ve been traveling, going to conferences, and having relatively little control over my time, so I haven’t bothered with creating a daily task list. What I really needed yesterday, my first at-my-desk workday in a week and a half, was a really good, realistic to-do list. I did have a scribbled semblance of one, created at the NSGCD conference, but it related only to things that occurred to me as I listened to talks.

So today I shared some quality time with my task diary. I leave on Friday for eleven days of travel (two trips with a roughly 12-hour stint at home in between), so I really needed some time for reflection. My fear is that my lists for the next three days aren’t short enough to be realistic, but if I can keep control of my day, I have a fighting chance of getting done what needs to be done.

The key will be consult and modify the list each day. Wish me luck!