we have a winner

Thanks to random.org we have a winner! Andrea, please send your address to clumber at gmail dot com so I can put Getting Things Done into the mail for you. With any luck, it will not get lost in all the holiday hoopla.

And please keep me posted on your progress. If you need an accountability buddy, I'm here and struggling too.

gee-tee-dee

[Read to the end. There's something in it for YOU.]

I spent Tuesday downtown at a seminar, one that I forked over my own cash to attend. Let me start at the beginning. Back in 2002, not long after it was published, I happened upon David Allen's book, Getting Things Done. It seemed to be just what I needed to get my act together. I read it and knew it made a lot of sense. I tried to implement the system but failed miserably. I have re-read the book over the years, each time having the best of intentions but always lacking the 2 days it seemed I would need to get the ball rolling properly.

In the meantime, GTD has exploded in popularity. The best site for learning more is Merlin Mann's 43 Folders, named for the folders needed to create a GTD-esque tickler file.

Fast forward to October of this year, when I was once again feeling overwhelmed by everything on my plate. Time to get out the book and give it another whirl. I was looking at the company website, noticing what an industry the book had spawned. There was a deal on offer for a CD set. "Time to try something new if I want different results," I thought. I bought the CD set.

With the CDs came a discount on a seminar. I looked at the schedule. Yep. Pittsburgh, December 8. I later discovered I could get a bigger discount by telling them I work for a non-profit so I registered. And the CDs sat on my dresser, along with another copy of the book.

Last weekend I decided the seminar would be more helpful if I listened to the CDs. What I discovered was mind-blowing. I didn't *have* to find 2 days to do it right. I could make small steps in the right direction and that was okay. Holy moly. Unfortunately, I fell asleep about 20 minutes into the first CD. I decided not to take it as a sign.

So, Tuesday, I'm at a downtown hotel for the seminar. Found another copy of the book in my packet (can you see where this is going yet?). And for the next 8 hours I barely peeked at my iPhone. I was mesmerized by the ideas in the book coming to life. Apparently my reading comprehension is a bit lacking, and has been for at least seven years. Or maybe I'm just not someone who can learn from reading a book alone. Regardless, lightbulbs were going on for me.

On Wednesday I started putting one principle, getting one's inbox to zero, into practice on my email. My personal email inbox was at 1944. In 90 minutes I had it down to 37. By the end of the day it was under 10. My work inbox was over 500 and it was down to about 45 by the end of the day as well. Not to zero, but a serious dent was made in a relatively short time.

I have a long way to go but I'm moving in the right direction, on the way towards "not overwhelmed". I want to share the energy with my readers. If you would like your own copy of Getting Things Done just leave a comment by midnight on Thursday, December, December 17 and the random number generator will work it's magic Friday morning.

books you've never heard of

As the holidays approach, all too rapidly for my tastes, I'm thinking about gifts. And since, it's November, I'm grasping for blog fodder. Put these together and you get my list of favorite, and in a few cases obscure, children's books. They all get a big thumbs up from at least one of my kids and most are favorites of both.

So here they are, in no particular order. Nearly all are under $10.

Henry & the Buccaneer Bunnies

In the Night Kitchen

Chrysanthemum

Today Is Monday

Fifteen Animals!

Bark, George

The Knight and the Dragon

Skippyjon Jones in Mummy Trouble

Wag a Tail

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type

and last, but certainly not least, a few from Mem Fox:

Where Is the Green Sheep?

Possum Magic

The Magic Hat

Koala Lou

can you ever have enough?

Another day, another Skippyjon Jones book. Kind of appropriate, since Oliver has been in the doghouse a bit himself. He had to have a "sit down and think" at school each of the last two days. This is the first time since school started in September and in both cases it was due to not being a good listener and doing as he was told. The teachers tell me not to worry....it's December....all the kids are having issues....blah blah blah. He's acting up at home too, and spending a lot of time on the quiet stair. It really is the season, I suppose. And I'm way too much of a hardass. Bah humbug.

skippito bandito

Today's gift in the 24 days of Christmas went to Oliver. It was the book, Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones and accompaning CD with the story read by the author. As it happens, the author lives in a town I once lived in, just a block from one of my co-workers, whose husband also happens to be an author. He even wrote the screenplay for Minority Report. But I digress....

I have a lot of trouble reading Skippyjon Jones books. They make me feel like I need to practice in advance. I can't do the accent and generally feel pretty incompetent and silly when I read them. Oliver thinks it's a riot, no matter how much I mess up. That's unconditional love.

poop-free and dried

I am making an effort not to discuss any bodily emanations today. It's hard, but we're going to give it the college try.

Today was StoryWalk, and in many ways it was a lot like last year. It rained every few minutes, sometimes hard, and it was humid and sticky. Parking was much easier this year and the crowd seemed a bit less. The stories were great, also like last year. The difference is Oliver's attention span. We were there nearly 90 minutes this year, whereas last year I don't think we made it even 45. That means we heard more stories! He was really great about listening, and even thought about getting a book for Eleanor. He kept asking why she wasn't with us. I told him next year she would be the age he was last year and she could come too.

One story we didn't hear was Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies, but we bought it anyway and read it tonight at bedtime. Big hit! We also picked up Dear Zoo, mostly for Eleanor but Oliver wanted to read it too. I think in another day or two he will be "reading" it to her. His memory is really amazing. He's a month away from 3 1/2 and can tell you his address, his phone number, how to spell his name, and all the words to In the Night Kitchen. He is starting to spell all the street signs, and just about everything else he sees that has letters. I'm one proud mum.

Eleanor's new words:  balloon (she says "moon"), brother

some pig

As previously blogged, we went to the Biggest Bedtime Story on Saturday. All kids left with a bag of stuff that included a free book. It was entirely hit or miss on age appropriateness but Oliver's bag contained Charlotte's Web. This was one of my favorite books as a child so I thought it might be fun to read it with Oliver, a little bit each night. We started on Sunday and he was very fidgety. I thought we should give it another night before deciding it needed to wait a few years. Last night's chapter was short and held his interest a little better. This morning he asked, "What happened to Wilbur?" Ah, success!! I see lots of chapter books in our future.

[Forgive the light blogging this week. Trying to figure out the food for the birthday party that ate Pittsburgh and trying to get a few other projects done is sucking my will to live at the moment.]