So I’m a Multi-tasker….No Really!

I am a multi-tasker. It’s true. I don’t feel like I’m getting enough done unless I’m doing several things at once. 

Sometimes this is a really good thing, and helps me to accomplish a lot…other times it means I get absolutely nothing accomplished…or at least it becomes a form of procrastination, keeping me from accomplishing what I most need to get done.

From the minute I get up in the morning, I multi-task. I start by getting a load of laundry into the washer. While it’s washing, I make the bed, put some toothpaste on my toothbrush, hop in the shower, wash up, (I know this is WAY too much information, but bear with me…or bare with me, I am in the shower). I wash my hair, then condition, now my conditioner needs to stay in for two-three minutes…and I’m not going to twiddle my thumbs and count them off, so I pick up the toothbrush to brush my teeth…it’s timed for brushing your teeth for two minutes, but while I’m brushing my teeth, and conditioning my hair, I still feel like I could get more done, so I switch my toothbrush to my left hand, grab my razor, and shave my legs, while I brush my teeth, condition my hair and do laundry…ah, now I’ve got things in control. Look how much I can accomplish in two-three minutes!! Of course, I frequently knick my legs while I’m shaving this way because I’m not all that coordinated…but at least I’m using my time wisely, no really I am.

So, I get out of the shower, alright, I rinse my mouth out, rinse my hair, hose down my legs and get out of the shower. Wrap my hair in a turban, and dry off. Quickly, because I’m pretty sure my load of laundry is done, and this means I’m no longer multi-tasking, so of course, I’m wasting time.

I throw my laundry in the dryer, fill the washer with a new load, turn them on…yay! I’m washing and drying, now I can go fill the crockpot or bread machine, or some big pot on the stove with food for dinner so that I’m doing a few things at once. Maybe make cookie dough, so that I can bake cookies, while starting dinner, unload last night’s dinner dishes from the dishwasher…I’m really going now, and reload…phew, now I’m cooking, doing dishes and laundry all at once! But wait, the washer just finished, so I better go grab another load. So I can move the laundry from the dryer to a laundry basket, from the washer to the dryer, and reload the washer. Now I’m folding laundry, keeping an eye on whatever is cooking, burning a batch of cookies, waiting for the dishwasher to beep…and what was it I was planning on finishing today? Oh yeah, editing chapter twelve of my book.

So, the laundry is folded, dishwasher, washer and dryer are running, cookies are burnt and dinner is simmering. I grab my manuscript and red pen… but then the dryer buzzes AND the dishwasher dings…oh, and I can smell that I’m scorching whatever is in the pot simmering for dinner.

So, I go stir the pot, unload the washer and dryer first, I don’t want those clothes to wrinkle. Fold the laundry, put some toilet bowl cleaner in the toilets so that I’m still multi-tasking while I empty the dishwasher, realize there’s black dog hair everywhere, so I  better vacuum, but I don’t want to vacuum until I dust because, well everyone knows you dust before you vacuum…. but, then the dryer buzzes and the last load is done.

So, I rush to stir the pot again, grab the last load of laundry, fold them while I get my bank balance over the phone, now I need to go to the bathroom.

But, I’ve put toilet bowl cleaner in the toilet, and everyone knows you need to clean the rest of the bathroom first and the toilet last, so I wipe the counters, and the shower, quickly sweep, clean the toilets, finally go to the bathroom….and oh yeah, I still need to vacuum….but I haven’t dusted.

So I stir the simmering pot, start to dust, the phone rings, I dust while I’m on the phone…THIS IS MULTI-TASKING!! I hang up, realize it’s almost time for Hunky Hubby to get home…I’ll just vacuum the downstairs real quick. Finish putting dinner together, just enough time to put on some make-up, put my manuscript away. Take a quick look at my to do list….. there were only two things on it:

1. Exercise today
2. Edit chapter 12

 

Somehow I didn’t get anything done on my list! Maybe I should get up 15 minutes earlier tomorrow.

 

What about you? Are you a multi-tasker. Or do you check things off of your list one at a time? How do you get things done? Tell me, I’d love to know…really, I could use some help!

 

Just a note: Don’t forget to enter the contest from the August 23rd post: https://taristhread.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/where-are-you-from/

So about my skinny clothes….

On Tuesday, over at From Fact to Fiction,  I wrote about visiting my old writing, and alluded to the fact that I also “visit” my skinny clothes. Since I’m confessing all of my little quirks these days, visiting my skinny clothes is among my most challenging. It goes along with the “and lose weight” resolution that I tack on to the end of my list of New Year’s resolutions each year. If I get rid of these skinny clothes, it would be like giving up, and I don’t like to give up.

My favorite pencil skirt

So, I keep all of my skinny clothes from the 80’s hidden in my laundry room, and ‘visit’ them periodically. The boys know if they see my skinny clothes spread out on the bed, that it might be a good time to disappear, I might be a little weepy, I could be angry (at myself not them) or horror of horrors….I could get nostalgic….and then they’d have to hear the stories about when and where I may have worn some of those old skinny clothes I still have!!

Keep in mind that when I actually wore those ‘skinny’ clothes…they were my fat clothes. These are clothes that I still have from after I gave birth to my oldest son, Gerrod. But boy I’d love to be that ‘fat’ now!!!

Over the years these clothes have moved with me from Riverside to Orange County,  from Los Angeles to Wyoming, and from Wyoming back to Los Angeles again.  At this point they are classified as Vintage Clothing, and I could probably sell some of them on ebay and make a few bucks, but that isn’t likely to happen soon.

In the 80’s I loved U2, The Pet Shop Boys, Tears for Fears and Final Net for my big 80’s hair. I wore pleated skirts and suits with pencil skirts that were calf length or just below my knee, like Diane Keaton in Baby Boom. I loved Madonna, but didn’t have the guts to wear the tulle and fishnet stockings, or bustier tops that she made so popular here in L.A.. I rarely wore pants, and lived in high heels, in fact I didn’t know that I was short until I had babies and those heels were no longer practical.

The cool thing about my ‘skinny’ clothes, is that for the most part, they are so classic in style that if I were ever to get that small again…..they would still be in style. Of course, my clothes are merely vintage, and I may be considered antique!!

So I keep the skinny clothes as a reminder that I once was “that small” which means I could be again, as motivation to keep trying and never give up…..and at the worst, as play clothes for my future granddaughters to play dress up in…I have three sons…I should get a granddaughter  of one of them right??? (Keep in mind, that’s exactly what my father-in-law thought when his three sons grew up!!)

So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go visit my skinny clothes, then I’m going to figure out how to use the Zumba thingy my hunky hubby gave me when he bought that Wii for me at Christmas….anyone know how to use a Wii??