MetaChat - Up and at 'em!

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07 May 2011

Up and at 'em! Wherein I attempt to motivate myself and others. →[More:]

On the to-do list:
• Clean kitchen
• Rid house of dust (not particularly realistic, since the dustbunnies are well on their way to taking over. I'd better reserve an entire day for this one!)
• Unpack from vacation
• Laundry
• Dig up garden (Herculean task!)
• Buy seedlings
• Buy/find seeds
• Plant plant plant
• Trim hedges in front
• Pull poison oak my neighbor pointed out

What about you?

post by: Stewriffic at: 07:22 | 41 comments

Now I have to prioritize, because that list is intimidating!

I'm thinking "dig up garden" is the most time-sensitive task. I was supposed to plant summer vegetables like 2 weeks ago.

posted by Stewriffic 07 May | 07:24

OMG how could i forget this one?

• Get in touch with jonathanstrange and make sure I get to see her while she's here in NC!

posted by Stewriffic 07 May | 07:26

Yes! Catching up is high on my list!! We're going to Old Salem tonight, but if you send me your number on facebook I'll give you a call and we'll organise it!

At least I'm a fun thing on the list!

posted by jonathanstrange 07 May | 07:35

YES! you totally are. The best thing on the list, in fact!

Right now i'm in the process of cleaning the kitchen while I wait for the day to warm up and the grass to dry off a little so I don't get soaked while trying to garden. :-)

posted by Stewriffic 07 May | 07:40

This afternoon I whippersnippered, mowed, raked, washed all the windows, washed the outside of the house, scrubbed the front and back porches and cleaned out the light fittings.

Then inside a quick dust and vacuum through the house, and a mop of the tiles.

Plus I'm still nursing my mole-sliced arm. So go-go-go!

posted by gomichild 07 May | 08:16

What's whippersnippering?

In the process of doing my kitchen cleaning, I came across a past-due car tax bill, which I have now paid. Excellent.

posted by Stewriffic 07 May | 08:20

string trimmer

posted by gomichild 07 May | 08:28

Work
Work
Work
Work
Work
Drink wine
Work
Work

Did I mention I have a lot of work to do? I am absolutely swamped with work right now.

posted by msali 07 May | 08:33

Ah! AKA "weed whacking" "weed eating" and probably other things.

I've added to my list:
• Update and sync iPod

Meanwhile, I am experiencing massive ADD issues and am bouncing back and forth completing 1% of a task each time.

posted by Stewriffic 07 May | 08:37

I'd never heard whippersnipper, gomi (though I grasped immediately what it must be - odd how that works). I really like that.

My list:
- haircuts for me and sons
- finish paperwork so we can get plans going to relocate this summer
- get bikes to shop for Spring tune-up
- get some perennial bedding plants
- install same
- clean bathrooms
- day trip w/ the fam tomorrow
- go for a run
- continue with unpleasantly rigorous diet

posted by tortillathehun 07 May | 08:39

I was on my feet for for 13+ hours yesterday at my mother's house, cleaning up, doing chores, and then fixing a birthday dinner for her and her guests. (She's been incapacitated lately, and I knew she wouldn't invite people if he had to do any of the work. She was tremendously appreciative.)

I overdid it yesterday: I came home (after midnight), curled up in the living room with an ice pack on my back... and at 3:30 a.m., The Fella woke me so I could come to bed. I am pretty tuckered out.

So today, I am ~~going to take it easy, loll around with an ice pack~~ heading out the door to help her do some errand at her church. But I gently told her that THIS IS IT. After this, I come home and ~~do nothing!~~ probably clean up a bit. Sigh.

posted by Elsa 07 May | 08:43

Today's my uncle's funeral. At some point after the Memorial Mass for her baby brother, I've got to give my mom her Mother's Day card. Kind of a gear change there, but oh well. The good with the bad.

posted by Eideteker 07 May | 08:45

I'm getting up the gumption to take a crap. It's gonna be a big one. Might read a comic book or two while I'm at it.

posted by Hugh Janus 07 May | 08:46

I'm so sorry, Eideteker. I'm sure your mom appreciates your thoughtfulness right now more than ever.

posted by Elsa 07 May | 08:51

Oh, my timing sucks. Big props Eide, stay strong. Hug your mom.

posted by Hugh Janus 07 May | 08:56

Yes, be strong in the long term, Eide, but don't fear losing some of that strength in the meantime.

Kitchen is mostly cleaned. Just waiting for the dishes to air dry, and then eventually I'll need to clear off the table a bit better. Right now, though, it's serving as my home base for this iPod update.

posted by Stewriffic 07 May | 09:02

I lol'd.

posted by Eideteker 07 May | 09:03

Sorry Eide honey.

posted by gomichild 07 May | 09:11

I'm so sorry, Eide.

Today's list:
- gym
- dosas for lunch by the comic shop, cause Free Comics day!
- hardware store, the old-school one, because I need advice on the best way to file out a negative carrier
- Target
- return stuff to Old Navy
- go look at kitchen stuff at Bed, Bath, and (One Step) Beyond...I am on a baking kick and volunteered to make this for my brother's birthday.
- look at herbs at the garden center

I also need to chop the front bushes down to size, and supervise Mr. Arkham's "scorched earth poison ivy eradication program" in the backyard, but I don't think we'll really get to that today.

posted by JoanArkham 07 May | 09:20

Sorry for your loss, Eideteker.

To do for today:

-Dentist appt for kids (yes they work on Saturday)
-clean kitchen
-get rid of closet stuff I piled on dining room table in effort to clean closet
-clean bathrooms
-walk one hour
-as many loads of laundry I can pack in until 8pm tonight
-vac and dust living room
-clean sliding glass doors

If I do above I will consider it a very productive day.

posted by LoriFLA 07 May | 09:56

I'm sorry Eideteker.

What I need to do:

Put away laundry
Order new shorts
Change light bulbs
Plot out the IA part of my trip--the workshop 75th anniversary starts the day after my meeting in PGH.

posted by brujita 07 May | 10:08

I have gotten up with the kid while husband slept in, gone to the playground and gotten coffee and bagels. Now we are playing while we wait for husband to get back from the gym. Then we will go out for lunch, come home. Husband and kid will take a nap* while I work. Then we'll head out to either the zoo or the natural history museum for a couple of hours, stop for a beer and dinner for the kid, home, bedtime routine, open a bottle of wine and cook our own dinner**.

* husband is one of those people who gets like 4 hours sleep a night on weekdays and sleeps half of saturday away.

** we do all of our housework on Thursdays and live in an apartment, so no outdoor stuff to do, thank goodness. I loathe yardwork.

posted by gaspode 07 May | 10:14

Update:
Kitchen totally cleaned
iPod updated
Apps in the middle of being updated
One bed weeded
One bed's weeds composted.
Second bed is being prepped.

posted by Stewriffic 07 May | 10:26

Oh, and I unpacked (mostly)

posted by Stewriffic 07 May | 10:28

All I have to do today is make collard greens for a derby party I'm going to at 3. I was going to finish my accounting final this morning, but I finished it last night!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 07 May | 10:30

I'm really sorry to hear about your uncle Eideteker.

I'm approaching my A exam and trying to stave off the panic. Today I just need to get my specific aims written, read up on all the papers I mention in there, and write maybe a quarter of the rest of my proposal and I will consider it a successful day.

Also, things are are going really well with the new guy so some cleaning up of the bedroom is in order.

posted by peacheater 07 May | 10:49

Good thoughts to you and your family, Eideteker.

I built my bean trellises yesterday (3 of them, 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide). After I figure out how to get them to my garden plot (will they fit on the hand truck? on the furniture dolly? should I bungee them to my bike? would it be easier just to carry them?), I'll take them over there to install them. The beans have been soaking overnight: Romano, Grandma Nellie's Mushroom Bean, Borlotti (my favorite!), Hidasta Shield, Rattlesnake, Red Noodle, Yardlong, Turkey Craw, and a purple pole bean, for a total of 84 plants. (I get a little carried away sometimes.) Also, a 10-foot row of Hutterites, which turn out to be bush beans, alas.

Then will plant my WALL OF OKRA along the border of my plot adjacent to the main path. It is my hope that the intimidating WALL OF OKRA will deter people from coming into my plot to snatch tomatoes, which happens sometimes. People here don't really know what do do with okra. It confuses them. Thus the WALL.

Cuke seeds and the rest of the pepper plants will go into the ground.

Then I need to come home and mow both lawns, fix the backyard gate so it stops opening on its own and releasing the chickens to their front-yard Nirvana while I'm at work, and repair all of the broken sprayers on the sprinklers in the flower beds (i.e., most of them).

I need to go back to work so I can get some rest.

posted by mudpuppie 07 May | 11:02

Eide: Sorry about your uncle :( I know your mom will be very glad you're with her today though.

Stew: Wow! Go go Stew! I'm feeling bad because I just got up and you're almost done with your list.

My list for today:
- get cat treats and vacuum filter
- get haircut and oil change
- give the apartment a once-over
- work on my personal project, which is a web app to help me organize all the stuff I have to do in the future

posted by Several 07 May | 11:07

That sucks Eide.

Today:
- make the fucking reservation for Mother's Day dinner tomorrow which is impossible because my brother has fucking stalled me over and over again and so now our 2 choices are for 4pm or 845pm. Thanks Alex, thanks.
- update journals
- read for ACA
- study Czech
- email advisor about potential shit hitting the fan since I completely failed GovDocs because I didn't really care about the last two assignments (and the prof was a dick, but I'm still pissed about bombing 2 assignments being enough to fail the class)

So far, this day has just gotten worse and worse. And it's only noonish. I'm afraid of what other catatsrophies are waiting in the wings.

posted by sperose 07 May | 11:28

My to-do list includes:
- Swap the winter and summer wheels and tires on my car (done!)
- Go grocery shopping
- Buy a mothers day card
- Probably visit my mother tomorrow to deliver said card
- Mow the lawn
- Print some pictures of mine a friend wants to frame and put up in her new house
- Go for my next quarterly set of blood tests
- See the doctor to review results of the above
- Go to the dentist
- Clean up the entire house
- Take the car in for annual maintenance

Actually the timing of this post is great because I needed to sit down and write out that to-do list anyway. There's no way I'm doing all of that this weekend, but it's good to have a list. So in terms of motivating others, it's working!

I don't do a lot of car stuff myself any more, but swapping the wheels around is a 45-minute job including cleanup, which is faster than I could get it done at a tire place. It makes me feel like I haven't become completely useless at mechanical tasks yet.

Oh, and the whippersnipping thing? Whipper Snipper was an actual product whose name has now become genericised in some parts of the world. "String trimmer" is I guess the actual generic term, but it doesn't have the same... something.

posted by FishBike 07 May | 11:37

* Go to four-hour workshop that I don't really want to attend, but will count as four hours toward my required 3000 hours for getting my therapy license, so I'm going to suck it up and go.

* Go to the gym

* Find guest pass for the gym

* Watch Kentucky Derby on DVR

* Cook up yummy steaks for dinner

posted by occhiblu 07 May | 11:58

Oh, and laundry. Some laundry definitely needs to happen today.

posted by occhiblu 07 May | 11:59

Hugs to you and your family, Eide.

Umm, I need to make a to-do list. But I'm having a fine time puttering, so maybe later.

posted by theora55 07 May | 12:28

Bought seedlings, bought seeds, got movies from the library.

posted by Stewriffic 07 May | 13:41

Thinking of you and your family today, Eide.

So far I've done all the dishes, vacuumed, swept, cooked my lunches for the week (zucchini and spinach quiche, chicken salad,) finished a book, made arrangements for the race next weekend, and called my mom. I am rewarding myself with a beer and some old Saturday Night Live. But here's the rest of my to-do list.

- finish the laundry
- finish my application essays. So tired of thinking about that.
- make dinner reservations for tomorrow.
- clean out the trunk of my car
- find a place that will repair my laptop keyboard. It's working for the first time in a month and it's glorious! I can use all the letters!
- go for a run, either today or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow.

posted by punchtothehead 07 May | 13:50

Poor Eide. I am sorry.

Today I bought tomato and broccoli seedlings and onion sets. And a lot of dirt to replenish the raised beds. And groceries. I am shopping pooped.

Still need to fit exercise into today. And marinate the chicken for dinner. But right now I am having a glass of ice tea and eating a banana.

posted by JanetLand 07 May | 13:52

procrastinate
procrastinate
procrastinate
work on crappy (required) online ed workshops for state professional development hours so I don't lose my certification (and job)
procrastinate
procrastinate
grade papers
procrastinate
do dishes, make dinner (maybe order pizza)
procrastinate
more online coursework (June 12th deadline looming)
sleep

posted by Pips 07 May | 13:55

-Dentist appt for kids - done
-clean kitchen - done
-get rid of closet stuff I piled on dining room table in effort to clean closet- done
-vacuum and dust living room - done
-laundry - in process

I have not cleaned my bathrooms, though I did straighten and wipe down guest bath. I have not cleaned sliders. I have not walked but I may do that right now.

I ordered pizza for dinner. Neighborhood kids are here and I fed them, too. I want to go shopping and browsing by myself this evening but my husband is "stuck" at the dog track betting on the Kentucky Derby. There is a car double parked behind him and he can't get out. He better hurry home because I am ready to spend.

posted by LoriFLA 07 May | 17:42

Thursday night I got the ancestry.com bug and stayed up until 4.30am doing research. I got up at 8 on Friday and almost immediately got stuck in again. So after sleeping until 10.30am on Saturday I decided I was going to stay away from the computer and do some much needed chores. So I did all the laundry, washed my wife's CRV (well, detailed it as I cleaned it rather thoroughly), then cleaned the entire house. Moving all the stuff off the kitchen counters and scrubbing. I cleaned both bathrooms thoroughly. I vacuumed the entire house and then got the bug to mop the kitchen, downstairs bath and the mudroom. Oh and I took the mudroom mat and washed it outside and hung it to dry.

Turtlegirl gets home from a week visiting her mother and now the house and car are immaculate.

And I am tired and having a much-deserved beer.

posted by terrapin 07 May | 20:44

Ugh. The kitchen is just as ugly as it was before I cleaned it yesterday. How the hell does that happen, anyway??

OK, so on the list for today:
Get fertilizer (bone meal, blood meal)
Finish weeding garden space (HUGE deal)
Clean kitchen
Plan garden
PlanT garden.
Weed eat the edges of the yard. (aka whippersnippering)

Sadly, it's wet this morning.

posted by Stewriffic 08 May | 08:33

Oh wait, there's more.

Laundry
Call mom
Call stepmom (Talk to dad, so he doesn't feel left out)

posted by Stewriffic 08 May | 08:34

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