What's at the top of my to-do list?
--Get through the weekend (Ted is leaving for a golf weekend on Thursday and coming back Sunday)
--Catch up on laundry
--practice guitar for retreat coming up in 11 days
What have I accomplished?
--Printed 40 booklets full of responses from my CHRP group on questions regarding why, how and when they pray.
--Printed 40 song pamphlets of 25 or so songs for the CRHP retreat
--Had someone copy master CD's of songs that will be played on retreat --each participant will get a CD (and so will the team)
--Bought a guitar stand and a battery operated light so I can see my music in dim lighting
--Visited, held, fed and changed the diaper of my brand new niece, 9 lb 6 oz, Leah
--Bought groceries for the parents of said niece (I'm so practical...I don't bring flowers) and delivered them the same day I visited.
--Had a birthday party for Abby who is now EIGHT!!!
--Researched and selected my own Christmas gift (to be mentioned later)
--3 eye Doctor appointments (me, Ted and Sam)
What's bugging me?
--Ben won't poop on the potty chair
--I don't have the will power to keep food out of the family room and I've had apple sauce, gogurt and shredded cheese all spill at various times. I'm just all about keeping them happy and I hate stirring it up. I wish I could just say NO.
--I have been a poor housekeeper. I want to focus more on this.
--My lack of blogging
What have I said I was going to do but I haven't?
--The darn pile of clothes that was on top of the armoir in my laundry room (outgrown clothes) has been put in a basket and shoved into the forgotten dark hole of my storage room where they will be forgotten and never placed in their rightful home. Ugh. (It was a last minute birthday preparation thing)
What's my latest obsession?
--Ok...are you ready?? I have a new toy that I want for Christmas. I've been researching it on the internet and shopping oneBayy do price it. It's a.........PDA!!!! I'm a stay at home mom who desperately wants a PDA. You know...one of those Palm Pilot thingies? Yes that's me...I'm not a high powered executive who's reading huge Excel spreadsheets. I don't need power point presentations at the touch of a button. I don't need to dictate long memos into a voice recorder but gosh darnit I want a PDA!!!
Ok...I'll settle down. Let me tell you why I want one of these. First of all, I'm not kidding myself, I could probably serve the same function with a piece of paper and a pencil, but that is NO FUN! I love Microsoft Outlook. I enter all of our functions, activities and appointments on the Calendar. I love Contacts. I enter addresses, phone numbers, cell numbers, directions to houses...all in this handy little program. I love the Task system. I love getting reminders that I have an appointment (ok... so they aren't high powered executive things, but they are: Drs appointments, luncheons, soccer games, cubscout meetings, etc). All of these functions in Outlook can be downloaded to a PDA and carried with me wherever I go! NO need for duplication. I won't need a separate calendar in my purse (which I never update and is useless anyway), I won't need a separate piece of paper for my shopping list, or a separate address book for phone numbers, etc...it's all in one place! I never was good about programming numbers into my cell phone. Now I wouldn't have to. Just download it from the computer! Currently, I put my To Do lists on a notebook, but if I had this PDA, I would use the Task function for all of my To Do's and you can cross them off as I go.
Oh yah...it has a voice recorder too. So I can digitally record a reminder, an update on the kids that I want to enter in "Footprints" when I have time, or send a message of the kids screaming. "Footprints" also lets you enter a sound byte on any day. So it's like putting a recording in your journal...capturing the kids voices or cute things they say. If I had more time to spend on this blog (and one day I will), I would like to put sound bytes in my blog. I know someone who recorded her child's fit and it was awesome! And another thing...it plays MP3's. Is that not the coolest?
Now, being the tight wad that I am (not so tight, I guess, or I wouldn't be buying one), I am looking on eBay for a used one. I figured I could get one for $115 including shipping. And that's used! They go for $200-$400 new. And "Pocket PC's" are even more expensive. I've selected the Palm Tungsten T3. It came out about 2 years ago (older technology is cheaper). I know some of you are not techy at all so you probably have no interest in this stuff...but it is catching on to the mom market.
What's been making me happy?
--Most of CRHP preparation is behind me and all I have to do is practice guitar before the retreat.
--I'm excited about my new guitar stand and light (I think it's so funny these things make me happy).
--I'm starting to ease up on my nerves about the guitar playing on retreat. It'll be OK. I hope.
:-)
--Mom's Day OUT!!! Whew Hooo!!!! Another awesome day today. Mary cried at drop off but was good the rest of the day. No more crying for Ben. He jumps right in when I drop him off.
--Successful potty training by Ben! We use diapers when he wants to poop :-(, but the pee is fine 24/7 with underpants on through the night and no underpants. A huge "Praise God" on that one. --I'm a branch now. No longer a boring trunk. These activities are giving me life. I really just feel more alive. I'm happier with my kids and just happier all around. I'm so grateful for the timing of CRHP and the PTO and the PDA...and PDO (Parent's Day Out) and if I get another acronym I know you're going to jump off a cliff. I know you're sick of the acronyms "CRHP and PTO" cause I'm sick of typing it! But really, I'll type it til I'm blue in the face. I'm grateful.
One last thing, all you lurkers...could you please say HI every now and then? I'd love to hear from you. I love comments and feedback. Thank you!!
3 comments:
Baby Leah...congratulations to Becky! Hope they are settling in well. Aren't new babies just the best?
I've considered getting Sam a PDA for Christmas. He carries around a calendar that has everything written in it and always has post-it notes stuck everywhere. He would think it was frivolous, but I think it's just what he needs. I'll be interested to see what you end up getting.
Glad to hear Matthew caught up with you...growing up, isn't he?
Happy 8th Birthday Abbey! (I hope you'll post a picture from her party!)
PDA's are so much fun and VERY practical for anyone with a busy schedule, whether you work at a big corporation or manage a family and household! I had one and loved it! I used it for awhile but then I wasn't very savvy about sync-ing up with Outlook. So here's a big fat warning for ya - one day the battery just died on me and I LOST every bit of my calendar and everything else I had on there. I quickly recharged the battery, but it was no use, my PDA was a blank slate again. So I went back to paper and have never picked it up again. Good luck with yours when you get it, and may I suggest that you make a mental note - recharge the battery and sync up often!
Hey, I'm glad to hear mom's day out is going well. I would love to hear how your spending your 'free' hours!
I hope you guys don't feel like you have to comment every time. My point about "lurkers" is for those people who follow your blog but never say anything. I appreciate your feedback all the time, though! Ann, you made a good point...I need to fill you in on how I spend my free day. And by the way, I will be getting one that has battery protection. However, the ones that have replaceable batteries are more expensive...so when it goes, it goes. And Stacy, I'm dying to know what your present is!!! You know I wouldn't judge you!! Theresa, that's interesting about Sam. He could be one who likes it the old fashioned way. Good ole paper and pencil. However, a used one is a good way to start in case he doesn't like it.
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