Debi Simons 
Have you ever heard the proverb “Begin as you mean to go on”? It means that beginnings count. How you start is how you’ll continue. New beginnings are a way to start over. Gretchen Rubin (there she is again!) calls it “the strategy of the clean slate” in her book on habits. (The link is to a video she did on the subject.)
So, although I didn’t plan it that way, I started out in our new life here at Lowell & Jan’s with a clean slate about food: I just wasn’t going to eat any sweets.
Ain’t that just the way it always is? You finally solve a problem after weeks or even longer of delay, but one little thing is still wrong. So what do you focus on? That one little thing, of course.
Yesterday morning the second set of carpet installers arrived and immediately showed that they knew what they were doing. I mentioned to the guy before I left that they needed to check all the thresholds, which he assured me he would do. Arriving home after a great morning of Bible study and fellowship, I allowed myself not one second of enjoyment before going to the kitchen threshold and checking to make sure it had been done.
Both images are from their respective Amazon pages; click on the image to be taken to the appropriate page. I used my two available Audible.com credits to get these books in audio form and am almost finished with Sick Girl.
I’m not going to write much in the way of commentary here because it’s not needed. The book covers should tell you all you need to know about the worth contained between them. For those of us who are reasonably healthy, it’s good to be reminded of how precious that health and life is. It’s also helpful to be reminded of how utterly tactless we can be to those who are suffering. Even doctors and nurses–maybe even especially them–can add to the patient’s pain by their manner and words.
For an interesting and informative interview with Amy Silverstein about her second book (and her second heart transplant), go–where else?–to Gretchen Rubin’s recent blog post:
“I Simply Have to Put All My Energy into Hope and Life, Rather Than Trying to Avoid Doom and Death.”
That article will sell you on the books if nothing else will. You can get paper or digital versions at your library if you’d like. I was not able to find the audio versions at mine and thus went through Audible.
If you read my personal Facebook page you’ll know that I’m not exactly happy with the current resident-in-chief at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But you know what? I’m happy to be an American just the same. I get to voice my opposition freely, and loudly, and frequently. No one as yet has come pounding on my door.
Yesterday Jim and I helped out at a big community/church event for which the neighborhood was invited for games,
Well, Jim did something I wouldn’t have thought of doing about our whole carpet kerfuffle: he called in another carpet installer to give us his view on what can be done to get us over the finish line. This guy, whose full name I don’t know, had every reason in the world to tell us some big hoopty-doo about what he could/should do to help us out. But instead he assured us that the problem was eminently fixable. Yes, he said, it would have been best for all the old flooring to be completely removed and the new install to be over a clean concrete surface,
Yes, I know these aren’t really monkeys. They’re baboons. (Although I didn’t know it until I saw the title on the image.)
Wish I could take credit for ferreting out the above clever proverb (little animal joke there), but it’s from the Gretch and Liz “Happier” podcast episode from yesterday. Once again they’ve hit the mail squarely on the head, albeit about a principle I’ve been mulling a lot lately. I just had never heard that particular proverb before. (It’s Polish, and the original says, “Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy.“)
You don’t have to use any kind of digital tool to keep track of to-do lists and your time. If you have a system that works for you, then more power to you! I remember reading some time ago about a consultant who met with a very busy executive (I think she was a realtor) who used paper to-do lists and calendars to keep track of her tasks and schedule. She had Post-It notes stuck on her computer, pads of paper on her desk, and a duplicate set of lists for her assistant. It all looked very cluttered and low-tech, and she wanted to change to a computer-driven system.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen, available in many editions and formats. Link is to Amazon page. You can also visit the Getting Things Done website.
I’ve heard of David Allen and his “getting things done” (or “GTD”) method a number of times in the past and finally decided to read/listen to his classic book which first came out in 2001. I must have been reminded of him recently in some way, although I don’t remember just how, and I got the audio book from the library. It’s read by the author, who sounds very engaging and thoughtful, and I was really fired up by his introductory chapters. Then he kind of lost me as he headed into the chapters that delineate exactly how you’re supposed to do things his way. Most of his work has been done in the business world, and so many of his examples are drawn from that arena. I think that was part of why I drifted away.
We’ve decided, with our in-laws’ input and final say, that the only way to deal with our carpet problem downstairs is to get all of the old flooring removed and start with a bare concrete floor to which the tack strips can be firmly attached, with no issues of whether or not they’ll hold or the old flooring is too high to permit the new carpet to attach, etc., etc. Because of the permits involved, we are looking at several more weeks of chaos and disruption in our main living space and our bedroom, and we will have to remove all of the furniture, including the bedroom, once again. Because of our limited storage space, we will probably have to get another pod from U-Haul. All of this is taking place within the context of a time frame stretching until about July 18, which is the day we would like to be free to leave on our driving trip to the east coast. So three weeks from Monday is the deadline for getting this done. Otherwise we’ll have to finish it up after we return from our trip on July 31.
First let me say that my purpose in chronicling the sometimes-rocky path we’re traversing in our efforts to renovate the downstairs isn’t necessarily to be entertaining, as I’m well aware that perhaps not everyone is as fascinated as we are with this whole process. Most of this saga falls into the “lessons learned” category, although, as our favorite author on home remodeling/renovation, David Owen, says, in any home improvement project you learn what you need to know as you go along, so that by the time you’re finished you know what you’re doing—but by then it’s too late. The project is done. If you’re a professional, then of course every mistake you make helps you not to make that same one on the next job. But for those of us who are simply trying to do a one-time item, it can get a little discouraging to realize that we’ll probably never use our hard-won knowledge again.