Well it’s no surprise that last week flew by. Coming back to my life after a big break felt really good, despite all the catching up there was to do. Doing this review on Monday may take a little getting used to, and I can feel that there’s another category that I’m going to want if I’m doing this post on Mondays so check out the Moving Forward section below.
Do-Overs…
Did we really need this???
This week there was a flood in my son’s classroom building. Our beloved teacher showed up on Tuesday morning to a busted hot-water heater and a few inches of water in the building that the 3rd and 4th grades share. Instead of dashing home and catching up on all the stuff I had to do at home, I spent a couple of hours helping to move desks and chairs to another classroom while some of the dads scooped water out the door with snow shovels.
I started sorting out a stack of paintings and drawings that had gotten wet. As much as I would have liked to leave these for later, the paint was turning to glue as it dried and the paintings were in immanent danger of permanent damage. Since there was no place to put them at school, I brought them home. My husband helped me string some clothesline in the basement and I hung all I could. By the time it was all said and done, the basement was filled with about 4 rows of clothesline and papers spread all over the floor.
I’m now adding ‘art restoration’ to my mommy resume.
More re-entry time
I alluded to this in Friday’s blog, and I’m adding it here just to remind myself. When returning from vacation/retreat/time away for any reason, allow more re-entry time than you think you need. Even just to delete 100 emails takes time. Never mind those that need attention.
I’m still playing catch-up on some fronts, but I’m getting there!
The sooner you ask for help, the sooner you get it…
Sooner or later I’m really gonna get this one figured out! I was all ready to go with my teleclass except for the little matter of figuring out how the payment process works. I buy stuff online all the time and it usually looks so easy- you hit the ‘buy now’ button, enter the info, and like magic, you get an e-book, an audio, or something cool sent to your house. But it was taking me awhile to figure out how to get all the pieces to fit together and play nicely.
This stuff was giving me fits. I didn’t want to screw it up and either a) confuse or annoy some lovely person who wanted to sign up for my class. Or b) look like an idiot who didn’t know how to configure a payment process.
Well guess what…. Not wanting to look like an idiot meant that I spent way too much time circling round on my own when help (nice help! not scary expensive help!) was available.
Finally I checked in with Wendy Cholbi, who talked me through the whole thing and checked out my checkout process. She’s a gem! And now I have a teleclass I can offer. Yay!
Which brings us directly to:
High-Fives
Teleclass!!
Seeds of Change is live and open for registrations. You can read all about it here!
Workshop!
This one is still under development, but I’m very excited about the live workshop I’ve got planned for the end of the month here in Colorado. It will be based on the ideas and suggestions in this post: Plans, Planning and the Illusion of Control.
Systems are the bomb!
Ever since taking Cairene MacDonald’s Organic Business Manual class, I’ve been a binder freak and a systems apprentice. You can read about the beginnings of this obsession here.
Here’s the thing. Buying the binders is easy. I think I’m up to 6 or 7 by now. Using them is a whole other thing. But here’s what’s so cool. As I’m busting my butt learning how to configure payment processing and getting all the pieces to play nicely together, I’m taking notes like crazy so I don’t have to suffer like this the next time (and yes, I’m planning on there being a next time!) I want to do this. And the beauty of it all is that I have a place to put these notes so I’ll be able to find them when I need them.
This, my friends, is nothing short of magic.
And as I’m creating more workshops, classes and other cool stuff, I have a place to put things. Whether its my notes for works in progress, or finished workbooks or information about the facilities I might want to use, I have a place for this stuff. Where I can find it. (This is the part I still find just a little unbelievable.)
Other fun things….
Even though there’s still snow on the ground in some places, spring is definitely in the air. We’re at the time of year when we need the heater for the morning drive too school and the A/C for the afternoon drive home.
AJ is loving hockey and I’m coming around. He played a full game in goal on Sunday and had a blast. Having never seen the goalie padding procedure, I was amused to see the kids lie face down on top of the shin pads while the dads buckled them in.
I’ve been guzzling homemade Chai tea by the potful since I got the recipe from Real Simple magazine last month. Here it is if you’re interested:
Easy Chai Tea
8 cardamom seeds
8 cloves
4 black peppercorns
2 cinnamon sticks
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, sliced
2 C whole milk
4 bags black tea
8 t sugar (or to taste)
Place cardamom, cloves and peppercorns in a plastic bag and crush with a heavy skillet.
Place crushed spices, cinnamon sticks, ginger milk and 2 cups water in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add tea bags, cover and let steep for 10 minutes.
Strain into cups. Add sweetener to taste.
Notes: I prefer to leave out the peppercorns. I also ran out of cinnamon sticks, so I used a healthy dash of ground cinnamon instead. It worked fine. You can use decaf tea if you want.
I prefer agave to sugar for sweetener.
If you don’t drink it all in one sitting, strain the leftovers into a glass jar and refrigerate.
Moving Forward
Monday might be my favorite day… weird I know. But it’s so full of possibilities!
So here’s my list of things I’m looking forward to for this week:
- Getting the word out about Planting the Seeds of Change. It’s going to be a blast and I hope lots of folks are able to come play with me.
- Putting the finishing touches on the workshop.
- Oy! It’s deadline week for the paper, so I’ll be busy interviewing and writing… this may impact my availability for the above!
- Book club Friday night! We’re reading Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. Juicy, juicy story. Can’t wait to talk about the hard choices people make between obligation and passion, commitments to self vs. commitments to others… the duties and privileges of the ‘great artist.’ Like I said… juicy stuff!
So now it’s your turn!
Got anything you’d like to do-over from last week? Anything you’d like to celebrate with a high-five? What about moving forward? What are you looking forward to in the week to come?
Please share in the comments!
And don’t forget to check out Seeds of Change Teleclass!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
So true for me too, re: “Buying the binders is easy. … Using them is a whole other thing.” It’s tough for me to think through all the details; whenever I need to declutter or organize, I want to run out to the store to buy binders and containers.
Emily-Sarah,
If I had a nickel for every bin, basket, plastic tub, etc. thing I’d bought… Let’s just say the container store is just a dangerous place!