My new best friend: PocketMod

About five minutes after yesterday's post about making lists to accomplish tasks, my sister calls. (This was totally out of the blue, I never talk to my sister.) She says, "You know how I need a to-do list?"

She hadn't yet read my blog. "Yes," I say.

"You know how I always forget to look at my Palm, and I hate to carry around a huge day planner?"

"Uh, huh?"

"Go to this website, PocketMod.com," she instructs.

Alright, now I love this little thing! It's a free little day planner that has eight booklet pages created by some clever paper folding. The website has tons of different templates for each booklet page, everything from the coveted to-do list to calendars and games.

My PocketMod for this week includes some sketch pages, a grocery list and a few calendars.

So go to the website and give it a try. A little morning origami never hurt anyone!

It's Monday

A good friend once told me: Smart women make lists.

So I make a list, because Mondays are always hard for me to manage. If I don't accomplish a lot, or at the very least gather my thoughts into a comprehensive list that will tell me exactly what needs to get done, I mess up the entire week.

Thomas' rebuttal: Successful women complete their lists.

I run those two lines through my head everyday. Motivation is a challenging mountain to climb, especially on a sunny Monday after a fun weekend.

Sometimes I'm successful, a lot of times I'm not.

A Stranglehold on my weekend

So apparently there's a new game out this week, Stranglehold. I discovered this because suddenly we weren't listening to the news, but rather gunshots rung through the house. I enjoy auto racing games, sports games and the like. These first person shooters ON THE BIGGEST TV IN THE WORLD with full surround sound and a blasting subwoofer are another thing all together.

I grew up in a fairly quiet home. My parents didn't listen to music too often, they wouldn't let my brother blast punk in the eighties, and the television was hidden away in a small room at one end of the house. As the drastically youngest of four children, my older siblings moved out by the time I was eight years old. Without the others in the house my parents and I lived in a quiet environment, with the exception of me and my girlfriends giggling about who knows what. That made me a creature that likes silence. This is where Thomas and I have a bit of disconnect, he being the eldest of four. I don't suspect his house was loud, but I think there was always something going on, somebody with a friend over, a sister practicing the piano or the television. Result: he's more comfortable with music on, I like silence.

So, I decided to spend my evening outside. I like Thomas to get some time doing what he likes to do even if it's not my favorite way of spending time at home. I'll make the most of it by tending to my plants that were slightly neglected in last week's unbearable heatwave.

And by admiring Lola and her dedication to eating sticks, playing with her toys and napping.

Our turn

Since moving to California, I have become more conscious of energy usage and especially electricity consumption. I rarely run any major appliance before 8pm, and we use our air conitioner so infrequently I didn't even realize it worked! I try to do my part to not overload our ailing powergrid. But today I guess our neighborhood drew the short straw and we had the priveledge of helping our fellow Californians stay cool by going without power for the entire afternoon. The power company decided roll down our street and flip us off.

A house guest

Why is it when someone comes to stay at our home, I suddenly feel the need to tidy and rearrange? Thomas would be content to leave yesterday's wardrobe stuffed between the couch cushions. Me on the other hand, I run around like a maniac five minutes before people arrive. I get sweaty, exhausted and out of breath I'm in such a cyclonic frenzy.

We can live with our own mess for years, but it's only when a visitor is on their way that I decide we really shouldn't be living with dog hair dust bunnies billowing around the foyer. I not only vacuum, but for some reason I find new storage solutions. I suddenly decide my stuff looks cuter in baskets, and why didn't I ever move my orchids on to those odd shelves in the bathroom?

They look so pretty in there, and they might ACTUALLY get watered!