Do-Overs and High-Fives- the cool binder edition

Whoosh… once again it seems like the week has just flown by.  It’s really Friday already.  Wow!

So you know what that means:  High-Fives and Do-Overs.  Time to celebrate the victories, large and small and note with compassion lessons learned (or not!).

Do-Overs:

Hmm.. I’m having a hard time with this one this week.  And I’m sure it’s not because I was the perfect mom, wife, friend, coach, etc….  I think it must be because I didn’t step out of my comfort zone much this week.  Guess maybe that deserves to be a do-over all by itself.

Reminds me of this quote I found not too long ago:

To improve, you have to make mistakes.  That is the problem with improving.  You have to accept that problem.

- Rafael Nadal

So I suppose my Do-over here is to figure out what area I want to stretch myself in- and go for it.  The mistakes will be evidence that I’m moving.

High-Fives

Tomatoes, Zucchini and Cukes, Oh My!

Almost a week of cool, wet weather has definitely slowed things down a bit, but now that the sun is back, things are ripening like crazy.  I had my first cherry tomato of the year and it was divine.   Lunch today was a bit informal- I ate some cucumber, a carrot and some cheese.

Binder Madness

Thanks to the lovely and talented Cariene MacDonald at Third Hand Works, I have binders and more binders.   And I’m loving it!  It all started with her Organic Business Manual class.  I’ve been slowly building my business manual (the blue one) in a binder and it’s been a great way to keep all the stuff I need where I can find it.  Amazing.

It’s been so great, I’ve even taken another stab at creating a household binder (I call it “Mom’s Brain”).  I’ve tried this before, without a whole lot of success.  I could usually manage to get the tabs and stuff made, but it never was something I could really use.  Now I’m all over it.

My greatest moment of triumph was when a babysitter returned a call and wanted to give me his cell phone number.  In previous days, I’d have rumaged for a sticky note or random scrap of paper, scribbled the number down and then left the paper out on the counter or my desk.  Heaven forbid anyone should spill something on the counter or that the delicate balance on my desk get upset in any way before I managed to put the number somewhere (where?) I could find it again.

This time, things were different.  I had figured out that my phone numbers needed to be right in the front of my binder- so when he said, “let me give you my number,”  I knew just where to put it.  I whipped out my binder, opened right to the phone list and wrote it down.  One time.  In the right place.  No little scrap of paper to keep track of.

For some of you this may not seem impressive- but for me it’s nothing short of a minor miracle.

I also made myself a binder for my newspaper gig (the turquoisy one).  It’s nothing very involved, but I have a list of all the deadlines, a place for phone numbers (it was kind of ridiculous how many times I looked up the same phone numbers) and a pocket for each article that I’m working on.  Now I don’t have piles of paper surrounding me as I’m interviewing and writing.  Well, OK, I still have them surrounding me when I’m writing, but I don’t have them all spread out when I’m NOT writing.  That’s the big improvement here!

I’m so into binders these days, I asked my son if he’d be interested in having a place to keep track of his chore chart, eye exercises, and other stuff.  He thought that sounded cool, so I took him to the craft store and he picked out some cool paper and stickers to decorate his very own binder.  I bet you can tell which one is his.  He’s totally into it right now as well.  Loves having his chore chart and the crayons handy to mark off things as he does them.

Retreat then Family Vacation

I’m off to a women’s retreat with some fabulous wise women for the week, and then off to vacate with my husband’s family.  I’m really looking forward to being unplugged for an extended period of time- though I will miss my internet buddies.

How about you?  What do you wish you could do over from this week?  What High-Fives would you like to celebrate?  Please share!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

In case you’re wondering, next Tuesday’s post (If Mama Ain’t Happy… part 2) is loaded up and ready to roll as scheduled.  Do-over and High-Fives will be on hiatus until I’m back (unless by some chance I manage to find my way to a computer week after next.)

See you back live in a couple of weeks!

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