I’ve been having so much fun on Goodreads, gathering the books that I want to read, rating the books that I have read, that I’ve actually neglected to READ. And I don’t claim to be too intelligent but isn’t that kind of the point? It’s kind of like when I’m making lunch and realize that I need glasses so I get online to buy them. But, I end up not buying them because I want to show them to my husband first. Which means I still don’t have glasses and whatever I was cooking is now a smoking mess on the stove. This kind of running-in-a-circle logic is what drives my daily routine. No wonder I’m tired. Add to the mix a spontaneous hubby, two small children with endless energy, and all I get done during the day is a lot of pacing. And yelling.
To what lengths have you gone to avoid doing what you need to do? Any funny stories? My jet-lag is telling me that I need to hear some funny stories. Like, NOW. Sue? I’m pretty sure you can oblige. Anyone else?
Nah. Yours sounds awfully familiar!
My problem is I try to get something done, but then I hear a scream down the hall, and after I have sorted that out, I forget what I was trying to get done. So I start something else that I need to get done, and then I walk out of the room to get something I need in order get something done, and immediately I forget what I wanted. So I find myself standing in the hall thinking, “I came this way for something, but what was it?” Our family loves the hereafter. You walk into a room and forget what you’re here after. It would be funny if it only happened once in a while, but several times a day? Where’s my omega 3 supplement? Hope I remember to take it when I get to the kitchen.
I highly recommend not trying to document what you have already read — it’s a major rabbit hole. Just do what you have read for the past 2-3 months and leave it at that. I mean, if you have a ton of time, go for it. But if not, just use it to manage what you want to read and are currently reading.
Some people might think, “why bother?” But I found it very useful. I have been a GoodReads user for a year now and as a result I a) read more books than I have in the past b) read a greater variety of books than I have in the past c) read, I think, on average a higher quality of books and d) am much more confident in and diligent with my list of books “to read” which in a prior incarnation was this huge awkward MS Word file that I would ignore for weeks at a time.
In terms of showing your husband, just send him the link for the RSS feed for your “To Read” shelf.
I am always forgetting to finish what I start. Case in point:
We were actually having family night (miracle of miracles) and I had prepared a great lesson on fire safety and what to do and where to meet in case of a fire. We were in the basement checking fire detector batteries when I realized we needed to replace some in one of them. So I went upstairs to get some and OH OH - I saw smoke! I started screaming, ran into the kitchen to see what was burning, just as my family was running upstairs to see what was wrong. Hubbie yelled “Stop, drop and roll” and ran to open the front door to get everyone out. I saw that a pan had burned dry and it was only smoke. I grabbed the pan -duh- and threw it outside. My house was completely smoke filled and it smelled like burned meat. Yum.
I had actually made dinner - homemade tacos. Brilliant me knew that if I boiled water in the same frypan that I had made taco meat in, it would be easier to clean. The only problem was, I forgot what I was doing and didn’t turn off the heat when I went downstairs to hold my perfectly planned FHE. Good thing I have an electric stove and not a gas one.
Needless to say, a very good lesson on what to do in case of a fire - and a very sad testament to my cooking ability.
I’ve been using goodreads to inventory our family library (I’m trying to convince myself it’s for insurance purposes and not to indulge my type A personality). I totally see how it could be a major rabbit hole!
I’m trying to let myself be injured for as long as possible to avoid cleaning toilets. Although I cleaned my very first one yesterday, I’ve been very successful at getting out of pretty much everything for 2 months now! I know I’m going to pay for it in the end. I’ve used my fabulous logic to say that the entire summer is written off, so I get to put off everything until after school starts. How’s that for great lengths?
tonya–had to share that one at our dinner table. I have to say that I snorted when I related it. Made my day. Thanks all!
Ha! Thanks for the link and for your confidence, tee hee. I’ll see what I can do. ;>
For inventory of the family library, Collecterz is cool software. The trial version will hold about 100 books, which is enough to find out if you like the interface. It’s also good for insurance documentation, and if you want to put your home library on the Library Of Congress system.
Oh see this is easy for a mom to do because you have so many things to do you can justify the importance of all of them.
Yesturday I avoided studying. Being a mom with 4 kids I found plenty of distractions- Cleaning, watering the garden, going online to order an additional book for my class, then IM my DH to ask him if the $ is OK right now only for us to discuss everything else under the sun and find a solution for world peace. By then it was time to make dinner so I justified that I should just wait to study until I get the additional book. So look at that- I avoided studying for at least another week.
The really crazy part is that no one is forcing me to go to school, I really want to. It just seems irrational to choose to do it during the summer.
That was a good story tonya.
For me, it’s reading blogs! I get the kids down for their nap (thank goodness they still nap), and I think, “I’ll just read a few blogs until they get settled.” Then I read one that riles me up or makes me laugh, or has a link to an interesting news story, or is something that I TOTALLY relate to…and when I look up, naptime is over and I’ve gotten NOTHING done. So my house is a mess, my laundry isn’t folded, my dishes aren’t done, but I’ve been highly amused for the afternoon.
quite often we jump on our bikes for a quick ride to avoid a plethora of things: the dinner dishes, bedtime, people…