TToT – The One in Which I Tell You All of the Things
The Internet swallowed me.
It seriously did. I hopped on the social media bandwagon and then…overwhelm. So many people – so many good people – to meet. And so many really amazing things to read. I couldn’t keep up. So I buried my head in the sand, stepped back, and said “whoa.” I am truly so excited to “meet” and talk with so many great bloggers. I just feel like I can’t possibly read everything, tweet everything, follow everybody…yikes!
I’ll get there. Baby steps.
I love what it’s doing for the #1000Speak campaign, though. There is so much good out there and to see it all come through that Facebook page…it’s also overwhelming, but in a whole different way. A good way.
So while the Internet was gnawing on me, I was writing my little fingers off. Not posting any of it, mind you, but writing my little fingers off. It’s all coming, I promise. Well some of it – a lot of the writing is for the books, not the blog. But I still owe you a smoothie story and the two soups. I’m way behind on Soup of the Week. I have some more of Kidzilla’s wisdom to share, and lots more in process in the drafts box.
So here’s what’s been happening around here this week. The thankfuls are all here…Monday was a snow day so Zilla and the Hub were at home and in my space all day. Not that it was bad…it’s completely nice. But since quitting my job in August, I have quickly grown accustomed to having the house to myself all day. So my day did not unfold as it usually does and that’s where the writing but not posting thing started to pick up speed. But my family was home with me, snug and warm and not out on snowy roads. I’m thankful for that. And I am still and always thankful to be working on my own from home, small as the payback may be right now, and not in a place that was not right for me.
We anticipated a snow day on Tuesday but our plans were thwarted and the massive blizzard never quite developed – at least not here in PA. Because we so foolishly assumed we would be home a second day, bedtime kind of got away from us. Zilla ended up staying home from school Tuesday anyway. Again, not what I’m used to so most of my plans for the day (which included the makeup work from Monday) got pushed aside. Distraction comes easy here in the house that ADD built. But I am thankful for the time Zilla and I spent on our own together. That is always so precious to me. We drive each other crazy some most days, but we do have a grand time together.
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Wednesday I had a lunch date with my former stepmom. (Is that even right? Sort of … she’s my deceased father’s second wife and is now remarried so I guess she’s …just her!) Anyway, we had a nice long lunch date which chopped up a large part of the early afternoon but it was really great because we looked at pictures and talked about lots of things I never expected and it was GOOD. And we had fantastic BLT sandwiches.
When I went to pick up Zilla at school that afternoon, I was a bit early. I was waiting in the parking lot with the car running and emergency brake on when BANG! I thought I had either been shot or someone had hit my car, but when I looked around, I saw neither gunman nor cars so it must have been the brake. And the brake light was on, so obviously we needed to have it serviced and I certainly wasn’t going to drive around with the brake system warning light on in the meantime.
That meant we needed a car for the evening’s events and that involved a major restructuring of the assignments for the evening – who would go where at what time and in which car. Again, in this house where every single person and at least one cat has ADD, this is not easy. The Hub’s parents are out of town and said to help ourselves to theirs. Hooray – we were thankful for that. But the Great Car Shuffle took a few minutes and as a result we were running significantly late for our evening event, Zilla’s Daisy Scout investiture ceremony.
The thing takes all of ten minutes and we were about that far behind. Zilla is no fool and quickly picked up on the fact that she was potentially going to miss the ceremony. To her credit, she held it together while stating how very much she didn’t want to miss it and did not cry or whine. I quickly texted one of the leaders and explained our situation. She said they’d wait for us. Thankful doesn’t begin to express how we felt about that. We flew in the door, Zilla hopped in line with her friends, and the ceremony went on! I sent both leaders an e-mail expressing buckets of gratitude.
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Thursday morning the car had to go to the garage before I dropped the Hub and Zilla need at work and school. Everybody had to be up earlier than usual to make this happen. Unfortunately, the Hub missed his alarm by a full thirty minutes so we had to go with the shot-out-of-a-cannon approach. Zilla cooperated like a champ and we made it everywhere we needed to be on time. Even better, the car was finished by the end of the day and the cost was manageable. Super Sister was able to help out by giving the Hub a ride to retrieve the car so Zilla and I didn’t have to schlepp out again in the middle of homework and dinner prep.
Today I volunteered in the library at Zilla’s school – that is always a crazy little experience. I got some writing down this afternoon before picking her up and we had a fun dinner out with Super Sister and my Mom to celebrate Zilla’s Book It! achievements for the month. Have I ever mentioned how thankful I am that she’s such a great and eager reader?
And there you have pretty much the basis of my crazy life for the week, which is more than anyone probably wanted to read.
I am thankful to be part of the 1000 Voices Speak for Compassion initiative and am quite excited to be connecting with so many good people. I just love what I see happening already…and we’re nowhere near February 20th yet.
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I am thankful for the stunning clouds Zilla and I saw on the way home Friday afternoon and that we were able to see them together. I am thankful for Friday night silliness and snuggles with Zilla and that she decided to get herself ready for bed without being asked. If only we grownups listened to our bodies as well! I am thankful for my spending some time working near the Hub while he patiently waits for me to finish this. OK, he may or may not be playing a video game while he waits, but still.
So what’s new with you?
Your turn: What are you thankful for this week? What craziness has filled your days? Are you tired of snow days yet? Will the groundhog see his shadow next week? You know the drill…share ’em or link ’em!
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So cool they held the ceremony! Love that kid! So where does all the spare writing thats not blog fodder go? You writing a book or somethin?
It was really cool. Some of the waiting parents were grumbling a bit, but I can understand that.
The spare writing goes to poetry that I squirrel away in my poetry notebook until such time as I think it should be read. I’m working on a kids’ book series and have a second one nagging to get out of my head, too. I’m working on an ADD book as well – that one not so much for kids. 😀
NO WAY! FRIST AGAIN*** silly happy dance!***
**dancing with you***
Ooooooooh look at the gorgeous silver linings on those clouds. LOVE it 😀
Glad you made the ceremony for Zilla – and huge kudos to her for holding it together – she’s an inspiration. Handled that, AND the early bed, much better than I probably would have.
I hope that your week of playing cars is all over and done with, and that yours is fixed for a good long time. How frustrating! (You JUST REMINDED ME to move money to pay for insurance – THANK YOU! I had been meaning to do it…)
LOVE having you on Facebook.
And yeah – having people (even those you love) suddenly IN YOUR SPACE can be quite the adjustment. Glad that went well, too 🙂
Yes, I thought you’d like those. They actually came off much more GOLD in person than silver, but they were gorgeous. Worth standing outside for a few minutes in the freezing cold and wind to get the picture.
Zilla has her not-so-fine moments, believe me. But overall, she is a really great kid and considering all she has on her plate with the ADHD, etc., she does a pretty damn good job of things. I was STUNNED when she said “I’m going up to bed now” without being told and got ready so efficiently. If only she’d do that on a school night…
The car is fixed – we do need to get new tires, but the brake thing was actually minor and it’s done with.
I will admit that I have been enjoying connecting with everyone more than just through the blogs. It’s kind of amazing. I still don’t want to be tracked down by the general universe, but I just have to remember that I do have control over who sees anything.
I love having the Hub and Zilla in my spaced. But like all true introverts, even that is difficult from time to time and we need to just spread out a bit. Luckily, they are both much the same and it works OK for all of us.
Golden ‘in person’…I kind of love that idea. Clouds in person. Beautiful 🙂
All kids have their moments. I was hearing today about several particularly horrendous ones Neff had in the week. They’re all usually explainable though, aren’t they?
I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying Facebook. You and Crystal are striking up a lovely little friendship 🙂
Zilla thought the right edge of the cloud formation looked a bit like a polar bear.
You make a good point – kids horrendous moments are often explainable. We generally know precisely why Zilla is behaving poorly, but that’s probably a good thing that we understand it and can teach her how to identify it so that perhaps in time she’ll be able to modify it on her own before it’s a problem. And really that’s a skill that most adults can’t handle so expecting it of my very precocious six year old is much to ask.
Yes, I think Crystal and I have hit it off very nicely – you never know where another pea for your pod will turn up.
OH hey by the way…are we playing that game of Scrabble or what?
YES! Let me zip over there now. Not the best day my end. Am coming back…
It just got abandoned in the midst of other things and I wondered what happened to it. 😀
I can see why you’re so proud of your Zilla – she sounds like an amazing kid. I love having you on Facebook so don’t get discouraged! No one can read, tweet, comment on everything. Well no one but Lizzi, but she’s supernatural so don’t compare yourself to her.
She is amazing, Jen, and we are very proud of her. Lest anyone think she’s perfect, though, she is certainly not. I just replied to Sarah and said that we had a major discipline thing this week that we were not too proud of and that didn’t make my list of thankfuls, that’s for sure. I guess I could be thankful for the fact that the teacher communicated with us promptly and clearly when we asked for more detail about the situation. That’s good. She also offered some very complimentary statements which made it clear she sees progress and good, not just the misbehavior in this instance. Probably should have added that to the list. But I think it also kind of speaks to the fact that sometimes this process of doing the TToT lists does help us to bring the good to the surface over the bad. Not that we ignore it – that’s not reasonable – but it certainly puts things in better perspective.
I 2nd that one Jen!
Just so catchy, right?
You have had a week (italics), as they say! Most impressed by the no whining from Zilla. Impressive girl! So glad all was arranged, and there was an extra car at the ready!
No whining is huge here. I was really impressed because, frankly, I expected a tantrum about it. She stated her disappointment and held it together while we figured it out. She is impressive, but make no mistake we have our bad moments, too. In fact, we had one this week that I could have put on here, but I haven’t yet found a thankful to pull out of it. Bad day at school in the discipline department.
Love seeing you on facebook.
I often write and write and write and schedule it to post at a later date. I had to put it on a schedule to remember when they were scheduled.
clouds always amaze and often stun me.
Thanks, Erin. It’s cool to be there, I’ll admit.
I have been using an editorial calendar lately and scheduling my posts to publish on particular dates. The first one that went up got all messed up and something got crazy. I ended up having to re-do the post and change the title. Not sure if it’s the calendar or me yet.
I love clouds. I actually have several more photos – they looked like huge rolling waves. And we could see the ones in the distance where it was snowing – so very cool. These were great. The top edge of those clouds looked like gold – the sun hitting them was just amazing.
Hey, Lisa, it sounds like it was quite a happening week…and oh yes, I’m dying for a BLT right about now! Say hi to Zilla for us!
It was a busy one, Michelle, that’s for sure. There is nothing like a good BLT, done properly, of course. We went to a very good diner and diner BLTs are the bomb!
I will tell Zilla hello!
What a great week, even when snow and snow expectation turns you inside out. Yeah, that Facebook/internet thing sort of swallowed me up this week. You attested to that when you roused me from WWF to respond over at the Wakefield. When that happens I go “under the radar” and do a mini-hibernate. Thanks for knocking on my cave door. Yay for car repairs that aren’t too costly, the Daisy induction must have been precious (memories of me as a Daisy leader). And her snowman craft is adorable. If I was still teaching preschool, I’d steal the idea. See you during the week.
Well, I was reading everywhere and I did comment on a few places, but notice I hibernated here. We were SO glad the car fix wasn’t astronomical. I never like putting money into cars. Ugh.
The Daisy thing was cute. I even got a pin! I am a volunteer helper mom or whatever it’s called so I got pinned, too! Silly. 😀
I love that snowman – he’s great for right now when it’s not Christmas, but still winter. We have toilet paper crafts from both preschool and Kindergarten – the snowman, a bat, an Easter bunny, a leprechaun, an owl. They’re really cute and we use them to decorate. Nice reminders of her time in those grades. Dyanne could use them in her classroom!
Oh, and I just want you to know, I forget to check the spammer box EVERY TIME. But it reminds me.
Nice to know my blog is helpful. I often forget to click that button on blogs. 😀
What a lovely thankful post. It is so strange how we become accustomed to certain routines and how little things (well in our case 34 inches of snow) can throw you off track. Because I teach adjunct classes, every semester is a little different for me, and it takes a while for me to find my rhythm, but I haven’t yet had a full week of classes. So I haven’t quite figured out when to do the social media stuff, working on my next book, publicizing my current one, reading and responding to blog posts/comments, and all the stuff which goes with having a family. It can get overwhelming, but if I focus on being thankful I think that might help me get through it.
Hi, Lisa. I haven’t figured out how and when to balance all of that yet, either. I can’t believe January is over already and I still haven’t found my pace since the holidays. I’m taking full advantage of the new month starting on the new week to kick myself back into something that resembles a bit more structure for all of that. Now where’s my day planner…?
So glad you’re joining us on the TToT and I look forward to reading and getting to know you more!
Social media is extremely overwhelming! Sometimes I still marvel at how none of it existed when I was a kid (giving away my age a bit there), not even the cell phones. I am thankful for they way it allows me to keep in touch with friends as well as make new ones 🙂 That picture is gorgeous! Admit to laughing a bit at your husband playing a video game…exactly what mine is doing right now.
It really is and I’m there with you, Jean, in the age range that had none of this growing up. It’s kind of mind-boggling to think that my daughter doesn’t know a world without these things and I didn’t know one with them.
As beautiful as the picture is, the firsthand experience was a hundred times more magnificent.
My husband is a total geek and he knows it. I suppose if the worst thing he does is get wrapped up in a video game every now and then, it’s not a bad thing. So silly.
Beautiful clouds!
I can relate to your feelings of being overwhelmed with social media. There are so many good people out there, and so many blogs, tweets, facebook posts, etc. I’m constantly trying to find the balance between in real life stuff and online things.
I was absolutely stunned by the clouds – Zilla and I both were. We saw them driving home right after we came through a snow squall. The clouds (and the squall) were moving very quickly through the area and it gave us some great things to look out.
What you said is the right word, Kristi – balance. Finding what that is may depend on the day, the person, even the hour sometimes.
I can relate to the overwhelmed-by-internet syndrome, Lisa! I went to link-up on Fireworkerpeople, checked out the link ahead of me, then an interesting commenter on that blog, then one on the next blog, and . . . . good-bye whole hour! But each was so interesting, and new to me, and well done. Very enjoyable! However, it came at the expense of something else that I should have been doing. And yet we find a way to get done what needs to get done, don’t we? I’m thankful for the precious gift of time!
Love that you connected with extended family – whatEVER the current title! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Seems that most of us can, Shel. And what you describe is exactly how it happens…you see one thing, then another catches your attention. Time suck. It is enjoyable, but the tradeoff is what other thing isn’t being done. But that, I think, is true no matter what you’re talking about, Internet or otherwise. Work, play, reading, exercise, spending time with family or friends, etc. Somehow we get it all in – and people have been doing that for generations!
I love the opportunity to connect, too. I was kind of surprised by the conversation, but also very grateful for it.
I so understand your sense of being overwhelmed with the Internet! I love blogging, and Facebook, and of course Words with Friends. They provide my daily contact with really great people, and make my life so much nicer. They also provide the mental health breaks I need to stay relatively sane at my job. But one could easily spend hours and hours and never be caught up with reading, posting, commenting and such. I feel bad when I join hops and don’t hop to visit others, I feel bad when people reach out to me and I don’t get them messaged back, and I get frustrated that I never find enough time for these things that I love so very much! This is why I haven’t and probably won’t ever get active in Twitter, although I have an account there. I had to draw the line. I also have to acknowledge that my free time is very-limited and I spread myself as far as I am able/comfortable. I hope folks understand if I am slow to make an appearance or respond, it is never for lack of interest or desire. You have a very busy life with Zilla and your husband, and I think it’s understandable that it can easily become too much. I am glad your car troubles got resolved quickly and that Zilla’s Scout leaders were so great to wait for her, that was wonderful!
Twitter confuses the heck out of me. I really don’t get it. I find it kind of boring – maybe I like the interaction on FB better.
It was wonderful that Zilla’s leaders waited on her. That was huge for me and for Zilla.
I always figure if someone isn’t around that they have stuff going on because I know that’s what’s true for me. Always love our WWF chats!
[…] The Internet swallowed me. It seriously did. I hopped on the social media bandwagon and then…overwhelm. So many people – so many good people – to meet. And so many really amazing things to read. … […]
“And we had fantastic BLT sandwiches.‘
imo… the finest form of food that does not involve candles.
They are a very particular delicacy. But they have to be made correctly – a bad one is just a waste. These were quite perfect.
Yes! You know I join in that chorus – social media, the working of it is….overwhelming! I’m convinced you have to have a stalwart system in order to be successful in going/getting/being every where. Distraction lays (lies?) in wait and is ready to sabotage us! LOL I have confidence you will “get there”.
Your week doesn’t sound crazy at all Lisa! Sounds pretty fantastic. (except for the car thing).
Most excellent that Zilla enjoys reading so much. It opens up the world to kids like nothing else:)
I’m kind of glad to know that others feel similarly. On the outside it kind of looks like so many people are so on top of everything, but hey maybe I look that to the uninformed observer, too! Distraction is a major thing for me with the ADHD. I really have to guard against it.
You know as crazy as it was, the week was pretty fantastic (minus the car…although it could have cost a lot more so there is that). In the midst of it all, it feels like a whirlwind, though.
I am over the moon that my child loves reading. There really is nothing quite like it, for so many reasons.
Look at all that snow! I too have gotten accustom to the quiet of the house when the children are at school. It calls to that introvert side of me. And I need to find a balance of blogging, social media and truly writing. I love blogging — the immediate feedback, the immediate connection to my words and reading and interacting with others’ words.But I’ve had this story tumbling about in my head for a while and hadn’t gotten serious about putting it down. I need to start looking at my time better. Have a great week.
Yes, we have a bit of snow here. And more coming tonight. Nothing like they have in New England, though. They got hammered.
It’s amazing how quickly I got used to being on my own – well, me and the cats! But they pretty much leave me alone. 😀 Blogging has turned out to be something quite amazing to me. I never would have suspected enjoying the connection and meeting so many great people.
Time management is an issue no matter what we do in life, I think. I do know I could do better. Now if I could only find my planner… 😉
It was kind of the Daisy Scout people to wait for you.
The last photo is amazing!
It absolutely was, Romi. And I just loved the photo – wish it was as amazing as it was in person!
That was a wild week! I love those moments when the family works together so smoothly and worked out.
I get the taking a break from the interwebs. One of these days it will all get figured out.
You know, I think that was the part that impressed me – that even though our careful planning got turned upside down, we managed to make it work and nobody had a major meltdown or anything. In this house, that’s kind of huge. It felt like big progess.
Wow, I’m glad your car got fixed and it didn’t break the bank. Car issues always cause me having anxiety attacks, because it ends so easily in the 4-figure range. Love the craft! Oh, and I can imagine that it’s a BIG thankful this week for all of you that the ceremony was held until your daughter arrived. Have a wonderful week, Lisa!!
Yeah, I’m really glad about the car repair. Relatively minor, mostly just inconvenient.
Have a great week, too!
Great list. And those Book It pizzas? It is a measure of what a really good mom you are that the joy you take in your child’s growing mastery of the written word outweighs any disdain for those crappy little pizzas!
Book It pizza is special in its own way, isn’t it? We tried some of the Pizza Hut wings this time and they actually weren’t too bad! I am happy to take her for her reward, even if it is meh pizza. It’s a fun little celebration.
First of all, snowman craft? Darling!
Second, I’m glad you weren’t shot. There was a story on NPR one time about a woman who thought she was shot while in the car. If I can find it, I’ll send it to you.
Glad the Scout leaders were kind enough to wait for you. That ceremony was a big deal! Congratulations to your little Daisy Scout!
Car repair that didn’t break the bank? HUGE thankful!
Those clouds are absolutely stunning!
I am going to listen to my body, just like Zilla, and take a nap today 🙂
I think that was her Kindergarten teacher’s thing – we had to save and send in TP and paper towel rolls and they made a bunch of them.
I love that you spent time catching up on my posts – it was lovely to find all these comments! 😀