It's Back To School Day

Probably the day I look forward to the least all year.  The dog and I look at each other while we listen to the hum of the air conditioner.

I think that Moms can be a lot like paper clips sometimes.  So many colors, sizes and styles - but they function the same.  They hold things together.  They keep things organized.  They remind you of things to do.  They don't let go until you need to remove them.

As my kids head back to school, there is definitely some letting go involved.  But, the return to school also brings the return of the need to keep track of more and stay organized more.

I spent some time this thinking about the things that I wanted and needed to do this fall.  Things that would make it on THE LIST.  The LISTS that I would create.  Now, I actually have to go back to making that LIST.

The break has been awesome, but reality is setting in.

Unlike the last few years when it was really crazy, I hope that I can ease into things just a bit.  That days can be about what I accomplish and not how many things I can accomplish.  And, those things can be things that matter and help my family and not always everyone else!

For example, I am going to get my hair colored and trimmed tomorrow.  Probably not the most important thing that I need to do, but it's something for me.  There are times when it is ok to put things that I need first.  It's not something that I am very good at - but something that I hope to work on.

Keeping Reading on THE LIST

I really enjoy reading books and it has not been something that has made it on my LIST much the last few years.  I'm not usually your typical new fiction or romance reader.  I enjoy books that make me think more than feel.  So, mysteries usually top my LIST.  Or great spy thriller novels.  Biographies and memoirs make the LIST quite often too.  I loved reading "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin.  It made me think a lot about my life.  I feel really happy (most of the time!) as I am a true optimist always pointing out the silver lining.  I don't feel the need to be happier in my life, but I am hoping to apply some of the things I read in her book to my approach to things in life.  Most importantly, I love her advice on really accepting who you are - and not apologizing for it.  It's ok to not like the things that you think you should like because somewhere along the way in life you felt you were supposed to like something.  Embrace the things that you really love. That does not mean never try something new, but just don't feel that you have to push your self to love it.

This summer though I think I found a writer that I relate to even more - Jen Lancaster. I found one of her newest books at a little independent bookstore close to my house, One More Page Books.  "The Tao of Martha"  had me laughing out loud with many of the things that she tries.  I love how Jen explains that in an effort to pull things together and have a better year she wanted more of drill sergeant in her life and felt that Martha was the way to go.  

I really wanted more, so I moved to "Bitter is the New Black".  Even though it was her first book, it certainly did not disappoint.  I love her humor, and admire her willingness to be honest about the challenges that she encountered. I also really admire her work ethic.  

So, as the vacation wraps up, I plan to order another Jen Lancaster book and make sure I consciously choose to make reading a bigger part of my life this fall. 

PS:  I have stuck to spending at least 10 minutes a day to clean up my email - so far.  It's going to take a while, but I like knowing that I am making progress each day!

Organizing Email

Email has been the biggest driver of creating additional items on my LIST for the last few years.  Well, ok, more than that!!

I started my Yahoo! Mail account in 1999 and have been a user ever since.  I have so much in my email account.  Looking through old folders and emails is always a walk down memory lane.

I sometimes long for the days of getting real letters in the mail.  As a kid, I would get quite a few from relatives and friends in different parts of the country.  I have saved a few letters over the years.  I have some that were hand written by my Great Grandmother; letters from my Dad that he mailed from the airport each week the year he worked in DC and we were in Buffalo, NY; and a lot of letters that my husband and I exchanged during college (when email was still relatively new!).

As much as I love the memories that emails can capture, if each message was really a physical piece of paper or a photograph, I would have run out of storage space long ago!

The last few years, in an effort to keep my mailbox more manageable, I have created a lot of folders.  It has kept my inbox (sort of) manageable, but it was just an easy way to put off the process of cleaning up the mailbox overall.

Not unlike when people are coming over and you shove put things away in a closet only to come back to it weeks later!

One item on my LIST for a while has been to really deep clean my email.  I want to do something with the photos I have been sent from friends and family.  I want to capture the emails I have from my Grandfather so they are never lost.  I want to delete messages I wrote like "Great, see you soon!" in response to meeting confirmations.

So, each day, I plan to spend a few minutes going through my messages and deleting things I don't need, storing ones I want to keep and overall reducing the volume of messages that have collected over the last few years.

One service I have come to count on in this effort over the last few months is unrollme.com.  They provide one email each day that contains all of the marketing messages I have chosen for them to "rollup" for me each day.  As defined on their website - "The Rollup is the revolutionary inbox superhero that helps you achieve a clean inbox. It combines your selected subscriptions and organizes them into one convenient daily digest email."

This is an unsolicited endorsement of their service based on my experiences to date.  I was a very early adopter of just about everything online so the list of companies, online stores, and newsletters I have signed up for over the years is quite staggering.  I would literally get a hundred or more emails a day.  This service scans my email and provides a list of the emails it thinks I might want to either rollup - or unsubscribe from.  It make the process so organized with very little effort on my part.  Ok, you do have to get past the "something is scanning my inbox" issue - but the fact that I can read just the one email a day is totally worth it to me!  I also took advantage of how easy they make it to unsubscribe from sites or newsletters that are no longer relevant in my life.

So, between continuing with unrollme.com and my own work, my email should be in much better shape with the start of the new school year.

Pondering THE LIST

Summer.  A time of rest.  A time of relaxation.  And, with just a few weeks to go before the kids go back to school, it's time for THE LIST again.

We all have one (or in my case, many!) that we ponder.   The length changes, the priorities change, the types of things on the list oscillate. THE LIST can be a friend, an enemy, a nag, a support system.  On the best days, THE LIST accentuates accomplishments.  On the worst, a personification of the lack of motivation that can quickly wash over someone with the best of intentions.

Over the last four years, my lists have been several and long.  More reactive than proactive.  Much more about others than about me, our family and certainly our house!

Four years ago my husband started what has quickly become a very successful business.  I was a huge champion of the idea, at times more than he was.  In the very beginning I helped with many tasks, including all the book keeping. At the same time I remained very involved in volunteering at our elementary school, with our PTA and Girl Scouts.  Not to mention my role as Mom to our two wonderful kids!  As the business grew, we were fortunate to hire a trusted friend to manage the things I had been doing, and then some!  So, with my "free" time, I took on the role of PTA Treasurer for two years and President last year.  I feel a great deal of personal accomplishment and satisfaction with the contributions I have made to my community over the last few years.  But, lots of other things have slid through the cracks.  Lots of things went undone, or done to just the bare minimum standard (in stark contrast to the efforts I was putting into my volunteer roles!). Lots of days everyone in our family was just running to stay in place.

My birthday is in September.  Combined with the beginning of a new school year, it has always felt like a chance to start fresh.

No. THE LIST never ends.  And I for one am glad about that.  I like having things to strive for.  I'm not afraid of working hard.  I like the sense of accomplishment and value and drive that lists can provide. Starting now, though, I hope the focus of the lists can change.  Things that are important to me that have long been at the bottom should move up.  Things that I never even put on the list, knowing there was no time to ever be able to even start, should get a place. Things that I was too tired to do and kept putting off - I hope to have the energy to accomplish.  And, some days, I want to make sure we totally ignore THE LIST.

So, why a blog?  Like many people who do this, I want a place to record things for myself.  Good things, bad things, in between things.  Things I like.  Good advice. Great blogs. Fun gadgets I try out.  Strategies that help me and help my family. Awesome apps.  I want a way to keep myself accountable.  I like to write and have not done enough of it in a long time.  And, just maybe, there is a chance that my experiences might help someone else.