Plan the work, work the plan
It's only January 3 and the craziness has begun. And I don't even start my class until tomorrow!
I've decided that the only way to make all this work is to a.) be hyper efficient and b.) delete anything extra from our lives. I'm still working on a, which progress is greatly diminished by the fact that I'm still hobbling around with a gimpy foot. I'm used to a fairly brisk pace, so being forced to walk slowly is a completely different feeling. a is also going to be negatively impacted by the Highway 40 shut down, which affects me indirectly as all the 40 drivers are now on my side roads. My fervent hope is that the 40 issue will be another Pope Visit (i.e. the media freaks everyone out to the point where no one shows up to see the Pope whiz by in his Popemobile). I call it the Invisible Crowd Syndrome, and I'm hoping that the Invisible Traffic Syndrome will hit the Lou soon. Judging by the 25 minutes it took me to get to Shop 'n Save last night, I'm thinking that's a pipe dream, but a girl can hope.
b is fairing better, as I've taken all the necessary steps to combat the influx of junkmail by removing our names/address from all the direct mail lists I could find. I also went through my e-mail box and unsubscribed from darn near everything. If I can cut 10 minutes a day sorting, shredding and deleting, then that's 10 minutes I can put to good use elsewhere (like playing with Zozer) (or studying) (or sleeping) (maybe eating).
M and I also sat down and hammered out our 2008 budget. We have issues, he and I, when it comes to the budget. He likes to keep all expenses the same from year to year, which means our salary increases fall straight to the bottom line and we have a tidy sum in savings at the end of the year. I insist on a bit of realism, like acknowledging the fact that gas prices have skyrocketed to about a bajillion dollars a gallon, which not only hits us in the gas tank but also impacts the everyday items we buy. Like food. And toiletries. Our monthly line item to cover all that hasn't gone up in a couple years, which I think is absolutely ridiculous.
So we have these little discussions in front of the spreadsheet, whereas he says, "Well, you'll just have to find it somewhere. You'll just have to cut something" and I reply, "Fine, I'm cutting your Budweiser and your Christmas lights" and he says, "Whoa, now, wait a minute, those things are vital..."
Then the conversation veers into other areas, such could we could rent our cats out as labor animals, or at least harvest the neverending supply of fur they produce for a new energy source.
We haven't found anything yet, but that doesn't mean we'll stop trying. There has got to be a good reason to have cats.
I've decided that the only way to make all this work is to a.) be hyper efficient and b.) delete anything extra from our lives. I'm still working on a, which progress is greatly diminished by the fact that I'm still hobbling around with a gimpy foot. I'm used to a fairly brisk pace, so being forced to walk slowly is a completely different feeling. a is also going to be negatively impacted by the Highway 40 shut down, which affects me indirectly as all the 40 drivers are now on my side roads. My fervent hope is that the 40 issue will be another Pope Visit (i.e. the media freaks everyone out to the point where no one shows up to see the Pope whiz by in his Popemobile). I call it the Invisible Crowd Syndrome, and I'm hoping that the Invisible Traffic Syndrome will hit the Lou soon. Judging by the 25 minutes it took me to get to Shop 'n Save last night, I'm thinking that's a pipe dream, but a girl can hope.
b is fairing better, as I've taken all the necessary steps to combat the influx of junkmail by removing our names/address from all the direct mail lists I could find. I also went through my e-mail box and unsubscribed from darn near everything. If I can cut 10 minutes a day sorting, shredding and deleting, then that's 10 minutes I can put to good use elsewhere (like playing with Zozer) (or studying) (or sleeping) (maybe eating).
M and I also sat down and hammered out our 2008 budget. We have issues, he and I, when it comes to the budget. He likes to keep all expenses the same from year to year, which means our salary increases fall straight to the bottom line and we have a tidy sum in savings at the end of the year. I insist on a bit of realism, like acknowledging the fact that gas prices have skyrocketed to about a bajillion dollars a gallon, which not only hits us in the gas tank but also impacts the everyday items we buy. Like food. And toiletries. Our monthly line item to cover all that hasn't gone up in a couple years, which I think is absolutely ridiculous.
So we have these little discussions in front of the spreadsheet, whereas he says, "Well, you'll just have to find it somewhere. You'll just have to cut something" and I reply, "Fine, I'm cutting your Budweiser and your Christmas lights" and he says, "Whoa, now, wait a minute, those things are vital..."
Then the conversation veers into other areas, such could we could rent our cats out as labor animals, or at least harvest the neverending supply of fur they produce for a new energy source.
We haven't found anything yet, but that doesn't mean we'll stop trying. There has got to be a good reason to have cats.
posted by Amy at 9:41 AM
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