Discoveries Pt. 2

I've been tracking my schedule on MS Outlook for over a week now. The first thing that has been revealed to me is that I am tired. I don't mean "I could take a nap." I mean exhausted and drained of energy; to the core. Henceforth, I have decided to stop beating myself up for my lack of productivity on my weeknights.
I have about 5 hours each evening before I go to bed. Once I started tracking how long it actually takes to eat dinner, get ready for work the next day, and maintain a basic minimum of organization to my home and personal life, I realized I am lucky to blog and to return phone calls and emails in a timely manner. I now grant myself permission to "waste" the remaining 47 minutes of my evenings watching TV, messing around on Facebook, reading, or scoring Katerina some great catnip and watching the resulting amusement.
I know there are parents who do much more with their evenings, and many authors have managed to write more than one book with the same few hours. I admire them. Once upon a time, I was among the super achievers as well. My standards have changed. Those little color coded blocks of time graphically illustrate work, creativity, family, and church as my priorities. I can't force a clean house or a sold manuscript into the remaining sliver of white space. So I'm going to go watch TV with my cat.

Katerina's Twin

more animals

More Smiles

The folks at Kleenex have made me smile. At their site, you can make a custom box of Kleenex. And there are tons of options, so it really is custom, not just a choice of a couple color combos. For five bucks you can customize a box of Kleenex. I have no idea why this tickles me so, but it does.
I stopped by Borders today & I was just going to warm up while reading a magazine. I had no intention of making any purchases. Then a the manager announced over the loudspeaker that all candy was buy 2, get 1 free. I couldn't just buy chocolate at Borders so I bought a magazine as well. Was this God speaking over the intercom and telling me to buy chocolate, or was it the voice of temptation attempting to sway me? I decided to avoid making it a theological issue and stock up on post-chemo chocolate. My smile was a bit wry in this case, but it was a smile nonetheless.
I'm looking forward to the local library sale tomorrow. I will get stacks of books, including some gifts, for the price of 1 book at the aforementioned bookstore.
While I restrained myself from making too many purchases that weren't on my list, I saw so many potential gifts that made me smile today. I love those little gifts that just beg to be given to the right person on your list. The trouble is, I see so many of them that once I get one, I'm hooked and before you know it I can blow my Christmas money on people I'm not even supposed to buy for! I try to get my friends and family bought for and then indulge in a few "extras" for the people I don't formally exchange with.
Finally, Katerina was extra cuddly today which is always cause for more smiles.

Makes Me Smile

I've been disgruntled lately. Health, weather, work, people, it's all bugging me these days. I'm working on finding things that make me smile to try to help out with the things that don't.

• Katerina sleeping in her new, fluffy, blue bed. Someday I'll get around to posting a picture.
• The folks at LOLcats make me smile. I love that these cats can't spell, have poor grammar, and fail to understand stuff like the laws of physics. But they do have a remarkably sound theological doctrine.
• When I paused from writing this, I turned to find Katerina at eye level with me, sitting right in the middle of my 7ft Christmas tree.

Sunday Funnies

This morning started out peacefully as my kitten, Katerina, curled up next to me enjoying the last few minutes before I had to get up for church. She was the picture of adorable contentment; a purring ball of gray fur. That is, until her tail tickled her nose and woke her up. Her meow effectively communicated her disgruntled state as she grabbed the offending tail and commenced retaliation.
Try as she might, Katerina's tail would not be subdued. She attempted to stalk off haughtily, ostensibly to give her tail some time to think about what it had done. After a few steps, Katerina looked behind her. To her dismay, that disobedient tail was right behind her! The chase was on. Katerina ran through the house wailing and meowing urgently. Her tail never tired of following in hot pursuit. Every time Katerina turned around to see if she'd evaded it, the darn tail was still there!
Yes, I've heard that some people's pets chase their tails. My cat's tail chases her.

Friday Randomness

Next week is going to be another busy and stressful week. I hope to post a couple of times, but I'm not making any promises.
I have added a few blogs to my list of friends in my sidebar. I found these blogs via networking on Facebook. I'm glad social networking utilities can be used for something other than procrastination and cures for insomnia. Anyway, while my posting is sparse, you might want to visit a few of these sites. These ladies are inspirational and insightful.
"My pen" recently went on sale at Levenger, hitting the price I'd targeted for when I'd break down & purchase it. So, I broke down & purchased it. A week later, they knocked another five bucks off the sale price and came out with a new pen that I'm drooling over! The way I see it, Levenger owes me five bucks and the new new pen. Right?
If nothing else, I hope to have some pictures of Katerina over the weekend and get them posted this week. She might even get a Halloween costume this weekend.
I'm currently reading 1984. I think it's very well written, but it certainly is intense & heavy. I'm stalled on it. I sometimes read two books at once. I think I'm going to have to pick something of a totally different flavor, particularly this coming week. It might be weird to read two very different books at once. Anyone got any ideas?

Marketing Lessons

The other day I went to Staples to get a laser pen for my kitten. Naturally, I got home and the thing did not work. So I waited until today when I had some free time to go return it. I was expecting them to try to get me to buy the upgraded model for an extra ten bucks. Of course, having to pay extra for something that actually functions is not a great way to create customer satisfaction, but that's about the only response I expected.
I didn't even get that. They scrutinized the receipt to make sure I was within my rights to even make the return. I've heard of "no questions asked" policies, but these people meant it. They did not even ask what was wrong with the product, or if I needed a replacement, or ask me anything for that matter. In spite of the fact that I told them it was broken, I wonder if they re shelved it anyway.
So I went across the street to CVS for a few things. I didn't expect them to have a laser pen, but I did find one in the office supply aisle. And, instead of being $17.00, it was $3.00. It also functions as a flashlight and a ballpoint pen. Yeah.
Pleased with this discovery, and the extra cash I now had, I accidentally wandered into the pet aisle. I found these cat toys that are designed to look like baby toys. Colorful "teething rings" that are even packaged to convince you that you are aiding your cat through crucial developmental processes. They are called "Petstages." I was completely aware that the whole thing was meant to appeal more to me as a cat owner rather than being particularly better for my cat than the empty toilet paper tubes she chews on. And I bought the darn toys anyway.
Then there's the fact that CVS may be one of the last places to carry Diet Coke Plus in the plastic bottles. Rather than spending $17.00 at Staples, I could have spent $3.00 at CVS. Instead, I spent $11.00 at CVS because they kept impressing me with stuff I didn't realize I needed! If you are going to be in the business of marketing a product or service to people, you need to deliver what you say you will, it needs to work, and it needs to be a good value to the customer. And it doesn't hurt to try to give a little something extra your customer wasn't expecting.

Irony

How come when people make a "new & improved" version of something it usually means it's going to be more expensive, less convenient, and more trouble in general?
Granted, I understand very little about economics, but how come we can spend billions of dollars to bail out people whose job it is to manage vast sums of money, and then when we need to balance the budget we will do it by taking the few dollars left to the very poorest in our society?
How come my cat can keep me up for hours on end by running wild all over the place and then want to cuddle and sleep in the 10 minutes before I need to get up? And how come I don't then listen to her when she tries to convince me to stay in bed and read stories all day?

Odds & Ends

I have a headache. I meant to post earlier, but life has been getting in the way. I'm hoping that will change a little this week.
My cat still has not learned to do the dishes. She's still young though, so there's hope.
I made a book yesterday, which I am quite pleased with. I originally had other plans for it, but it wants to be for my brother. And one should not argue with a book as that is just a little bit weird. I was going to post a photo of it, but I was pretty wiped out by the end of the day.
So I guess unless you are my brother, this post might be a bit boring. I have other things to say, but my cat's tendency to sleep 16 hours a day is apparently contagious.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Katerina