Please click here & pray for baby Addison

I found this interesting idea over at Embroider the Silence

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday, month and day only.
2. List 3 events that occurred on that day.
3. List 2 important birthdays.
4. List 1 death.
5. List a holiday or observance. (if any)
6. Tag 5 other bloggers.

Birthday: February 7

Events:

1795 – The 11th amendment to the constitution was passed
1964 – The Beatles arrive for their first visit to the US
1985 – New York, New York becomes the official city anthem of New York City

Two important birthdays:

1867 – Laura Ingalls Wilder
1885 – Sinclair Lewis

One death:

2001 – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

One holiday or observance:

Independence Day in Grenada (1974)

And I tag whomever would like to play!

I don’t know if it was the remnants of the killer headache from yesterday or what but I was cranky today. I don’t think I started out that way but as soon as I opened my email, it began.

I always like to just let people know of my crankiness from the get-go, trying then to not let it pervade everything else. I tried to focus on a few unique projects I’ve got going this week – a presentation tomorrow, some deadlines later in the week, a presentation next Monday to the largest group I’ve ever spoken in front of, plus the normal projects, church stuff, etc. I ended up staying a little bit later than usual and then running some errands on my way home.

Now I am sitting here, alternating between the need to do some things around the house, the desire to learn more about something so I can start a part-time gig at it, and getting into bed and watching a DVD.

The DVD will probably win.

Speaking of DVDs, last night I finally watched “The Illusionist”. It was a fine film – I highly recommend it. Despite my innate desire to figure everything out, I was surprised in the end. Not totally 100% surprised but a very good part surprised.

And because I have completely random, eclectic taste…tonight’s movie will be “Click”*. (I guess that decides it – I’m not doing anything productive tonight!)

I need to put “Blood Diamond” and “The Queen” in my queue. Any other suggestions? I heard “The Prestige” is very good.

*UPDATED: Ok, maybe it is my cranky mood but I could really have done without seeing this one….

In an effort to work on my new habit, here’s my menu plan for this week. It got a little altered today because I came home not feeling well but hopefully the rest of the week will work out!

Monday – bread & cheese
Tuesday – Italian chicken in the crockpot
Wednesday – take out
Thursday – Pecan-crusted pork chops (this one is a Dream Dinner)

Friday – pasta w/artichoke and parmesan sauce (and this sauce is Tastefully Simple)

Saturday – leftovers!
Sunday – pulled pork in the crockpot

I was hiding out and slightly napping while watching “Emma”. The doorbell rang.

And I was afraid. My slothfulness* had been discovered!

I slowly went to the door, hair askew. The neighbor was there and she said…

I FOUND SOMEONE WITH A PLOW.

Glory be!

Her cousin apparently has a backhoe and came over and did our driveway. Meanwhile, the landlord’s kids chopped away at the ice on the sidewalk closest to the street and the neighbor’s boyfriend (who drove here this morning from a neighboring state where he had NO SNOW) helped chop the ice off a path to my door.

I cannot tell you the joy that fills my heart at this development.

I’m so joyful to be free from our (somewhat) landlockedness…I may just go get my driver’s license picture taken.

Yeehaw!

Updated: Slothfulness, indeed. The sloth is over here! : )

Ah, finally the weekend has arrived. We had a whole day of sleet/snow yesterday and it is completely impossible to shovel this morning so I am hiding out watching tv and surfing the web instead (and hoping that the upstairs neighbor will not try to shovel it and make me feel guilty!)

As for my habits, I was doing well with the vitamins but did not take them yesterday. I’ve been taking them later and later, sometimes at dinner or bedtime…and am wondering if that is the problem with my sleep. So today I will take them earlier and see what happens. I will say that I feel better than usual lately, especially in terms of energy…and I’m sure it’s the vitamins, so that is a positive!

On the new habit from last week – drinking more water – I’ve done slightly better but I am not anywhere near where I should be with that. But a habit is not made in a week!! I’ve found I’m more likely to drink water in a bottle for some reason, so I bought some on sale at Target yesterday. I can always refill them, I guess, if it works for me!

I’ve been tossing around what my new habit should be for this week. I have a couple things in mind but in some ways I think I need to “prepare” for starting them, if that makes any sense. (Maybe I am thinking too much about this.) So instead, for this week, I’ll bring up one that I’ve worked on intermittently but never consistently enough to make it a habit – menu planning. I know a lot of bloggers participate in Menu Plan Monday, sharing recipes and staying accountable, so I may give that a shot. I know it’s not thrilling content for the blog but then, how often is my content thrilling? My goal is not to be a thrill-a-minute but instead to be real and normal and everyday. And this is certainly everyday stuff!

Anyway, Dream Dinners has helped me a great deal. I used to buy groceries and then, on the way home from work, decide I wanted something completely different that I of course didn’t have a home, despite the grocery shopping. So I would stop at the store for whatever had caught my fancy that day or by something already prepared. Food in my fridge would go to waste because I needed to give in to my dinner “whim”. I guess because of the cost of Dream Dinners, I’ve made a point to eat at least two or three a week and have been doing better with that. But I think laying out a menu plan would be helpful in many ways…and so it shall be done!

Is it Friday yet?

I’ve been having a terrible time sleeping again. I was up for no apparent reason Saturday night at 3:30 AM and then again Sunday at 4:30 (though this one was from the neighbors upstairs – but that’s another story). I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe too much floating around my subconscious.

I’m looking forward to the weekend. I want to finish up my work in my office and take care of organizing all my scrapbooking stuff. Then Saturday night, we’re showing “Facing the Giants” to the congregation – we need this message right now, so desperately. I know many people are trying to stay positive and upbeat with the challenges we are facing but sometimes it’s hard. I think it’s really important to try to stay inspired and to focus on God’s hand in all this. If the movie impacts others the way it impacted me, I think we’ll be moving in the right direction.

Yesterday, I actually made progress on the home office situation. A lot of progress! Mamacita was here, “helping me” spring clean my bedroom, while I focused on cleaning and making the office space functional again. I have photos to post but I need to put a couple of finishing touches in place first. The desk and space there-around is cleaned up and functional now; my new labelmaker has become my new best friend (you always knew I was a geek!) I had a lot of shredding to do as part of the “finishing touches” – so much so, I broke my shredder and had to buy a new one – which in turn overheated 3 times today. Guess I should keep up on that shredding, huh? (Note: I still have more to shred but it will have to wait until tomorrow!)

The scrapbooking station hasn’t been setup yet but the space is cleared for it. The closet still needs work and there are a couple rubbermaid tubs that need to be sorted and reorganized but the room is up and running! Yahoo!

For me, it should be Smart Habit Sunday! I can’t seem to get my act together on Saturday to post. Anyway, despite the ginormousness of the vitamins I purchased (Dr. Weill’s multivitamin and Omega 3):

I have been taking them everday! I have noticed increased energy, though I seem to crash in the evening. I’ve been trying different times of day to mitigate this. But I do need to take them with food, which can be challenging depending on the time of day. Any ideas?