Getting Organized for 2008

I bought Dave Allen’s Getting Things Done and have from time to time thumbed through it in an attempt to motivate myself to actually get things done! Sometimes just thinking about the book has inspired to get going on some things but I haven’t yet spent the necessary time to really get everything out of my head, written down and ready to work on. Why not? I think I may have thought that GTD was a bit anal-retentive too complicated. More likely, I was too lazy to do the work necessary to get all the “stuff” collected, out of my head and ready to process. During the next few weeks/months I’m going to pull it together and start working on GTD and begin the new year with an actionable plan to be more productive with my time.

I’ve been working on the workflow process (off an on) for years: collect, process, organize, review, and do. My left-brained self works comfortably in this mode. I’ve also been gathering and consolidating ideas on my vision of my different levels of focus. Allen’s next method in gaining control and perspective is achieved through what he calls natural planning. I know I get caught up in “reactive” planning and despite my best intentions I haven’t made the natural planning model work. I’m sure after I do the work of collecting everything that I’ll get to the “next actions” management that I’ve been missing.

My 6 levels of focus:

• Life Goals – Pursuit of happiness by living a full life: make it up, make it happen!
• 3 to 8 years – a broad celebration of life. A time to let go of “realizing expectations” and turn more towards leisure interests, living with more lightness and deepening friendships and personal relationships. I’m not sure what I’ll be five plus years from now but I do know that I want the journey over these years to be focused on:
  • Developing a more inner-driven behavior: an ease to enjoy many things; a focus on the here-and-now; comfort with assertiveness, compromise, and managing conflict; an inner contentment with life.
  • Broaden and deepen my expressions of intimacy or caring – allowing friendship to increase in importance.
  • Find outlets for social caring – know how to enrich my sensitivity to the world.
  • Appreciate play as a feature in my life and get more personal meaning from travel and leisure.
  • Know how to create a simpler more fulfilling time schedule
• next 3 years – I’ve pulled together many of the things I want to do in life and with my art work in two separate 101 tasks in 1001 days (here: life and art.) I still need to do one last review and check that I have, in fact, the integration I need from my 101 tasks through my areas of responsibilities to my current projects and activities.
• areas of responsibility -
  • Be and take care of me – mind, body, and spirit.
  • Infuse the joy of being a couple into my daily life – shaping, sharing and managing life together.
  • Actively affirm the lives of family and close friends – be optimistic, keep thinking fresh, and do what it takes to make sure they are well and loved.
  • Express and formulate my artistic work and distinctive character in various media.
  • Reach out and give back to a broader community.
• current projects – weekly review: revise projects and someday/maybe’s
• current activities – Deal with “stuff” and the daily to-do (next actions)

Well, that’s a start. Next, I need to get to the stuff and start a weekly list that I can start review each Friday.

Menu for Week 52

My third week with – with Laura’s I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Sunday: Left-overs.

Monday: Lentil Soup (This is getting ridiculous! We are really in a rut but I did get a new crock pot!)

Tuesday: Build your own Pizza (DH made pizza dough last night. He’ll roll the dough out and everyone can make their own individual pizza – plenty of red sauce, pesto, fresh mozzarella, provolone, feta, broccoli, olives, etc.)

Wednesday: Teriyaki Chicken, broccoli, and rice

Thursday: Crock Pot Hungarian Goulash… I giving this recipe a try.

Friday: DH’s Chicken Stir-fry with rice

Saturday: Turkey Noodle Soup (using turkey stock and turkey from Thanksgiving.)

I never got around to baking and making this no-knead bread. So, Monday we’ll make a few cookies and do the bread for dinner on Thursday.

Week 51’s menu

My second week with – with Laura’s I’m an Organizing Junkie. I’ve haven’t done much else on this blog.

Sunday: Smoked Salmon Quiche

Monday: Dinner out @ Company Holiday Party

Tuesday: Lentil Soup (again! it’s becoming a family favorite!)

Wednesday: Lemon Chicken and delicata squash

Thursday: Hot & Sour Soup

Friday: Dinner out – husband’s 51st birthday.

Saturday: Lasagna

I also want to do some Christmas baking this week and make this no-knead bread.

Domestic Arts

I’ve been struggling with what I put on my blog(s). I started this one to deal with posting issues each November when I participate in DrawMo! I had thought I would use this space to talk/ramble about what I’m doing with my artwork but during the last few weeks I’ve decided that blog I keep on blogger is where I’ll keep the vast majority of what I’m working on and where I’ll do my “show and tell” stories. I’ve been hoping to have a place to keep track of the domestic arts: cooking, home management and planning leisure time.

Have decided to join the Meal Plan Monday folks over at Laura’s I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Sunday: Lentil Soup and bread

Monday: Bake Potatoes with broccoli, cheese and bacon

Tuesday: Latkes, applesauce and Spinach Ricotta Pie

Wednesday: Lemon Chicken and delicata squash

Thursday: Pasta Bake with Lamb sausage

Friday: Chicken Cheese Sauce, rice and broccoli

Saturday: Leftovers

This will also give me the opportunity to experiment more with WordPress and figure out it’s pros and cons.

new month

November’s over, so is my structured commitment to DrawMo! and NaBloPoMo. Now what? I was trying to explain to someone who doesn’t blog ( she hardly ever uses a computer) why I blog. The short story is that it helps me maintain a record of accountability and it’s a place to journal my activities.

I started blogging as past time, curious about some of the how-to’s: learn some html; take digital photos; use photoshop; learn to upload/download; play with Flickr; share my artwork; etc. I don’t consider myself a writer so I always feel like I’m struggling to come up with something to say. I’m not a storyteller. If I went to the dentist, I might say so, but I wouldn’t feel compelled to give more information (unlike my husband who can go out to get the mail and spend 20 minutes telling me what took him 5 minutes to do!) I’m not trying to sell anything, the art I create is to indulge myself and decorate my home or give away as gifts. I still feel a little uncomfortable with the whole socializing/chatting stuff – I don’t think I play well with others. I know my family members read my blog, they never comment and I’m okay with that. When I do get comments, I try to respond, but “Gee, thanks!” wears thin after a while. I’ve joined a few communities and while I enjoy checking in on their activities I tend to look for the bottom line and look at the visuals. I have a hard time when it comes to making comments (even when I really like sometime) because it usually sounds like: “Wow, that’s beautiful! I love it.” and I know I’ll get a “Gee, thanks!” in my gmail inbox straight away. I must confess I do have a fondness for a few fellow bloggers and I do catch-up with their blogs from time to time. But I just don’t seem to have enough time and there are so many things I want to do!

So, where do I go with the future of my blogging? I’m tending to be more open with my blog being more of an online diary. Even when I was keeping a personal journal (offline), where I recorded my morning muses and nightly notes, it took the tone of how-am-I-going-to-get-from-A-to-B or a introductory paragraph that was the prelude to a To Do list! I don’t fret over would’ve/could’ve. I don’t have the time or energy for wallowing in angst. I don’t have the desire to persuade others to my way of thinking. I don’t feel the need to engage in controversy( my politics/religion/sex – my business!) I do want to improve my writing skills. I do want to keep an easily accessible record of what I’m working on and what I’m doing. I do want to share and socialize with a select group (I’m not sure what I mean by “select” – whether I select them, they select me – it’s both static and active – this new flavored social networking in the world-wide-web… but I do appreciate the opportunity to expand by community outside my physical small town!)

I’m going to try and post more frequently. Daily? maybe, if I can figure out some format for me that works with the who and am and the what I want to do.

late night tequila

It’s late, or at least it feels that way. I’ve gotten to the age when I should only drink alcohol between 5pm and 7pm. It seems that now it only makes me sleepy if I have a drink too late in the evening. Ah youth, when I could “indulge” and still feel capable of a myriad of creative endeavors.

exquisite writing

I’ve been reading Spring in Fialta by Vladimir Nabokov. It’s a short story but it took forever to finish it. The writing is exquisite! I read, then re-read – savoring each syllable.

I wonder if any of his writings have been recorded on audio tapes?

slow cooking

Always a battle balancing spending time in the studio with getting things done around the house. Doing laundry and making chicken broth seemed like a manageable complement while I worked in the studio. I’ve got the laundry routine fairly well established. Throwing in making chicken broth gave me a headache. It didn’t take much to get it started and I felt blissfully domestic as the fragrant brew filled the air. But then the odor starting bothering me! Five hours after I started it, it was time to strain the broth and discard the bones and vegetables. It seems like there is a film of chicken fat everywhere. I hope the broth tastes wonderful or I’m back to the boxed organic chicken broth without guilt.

Themes for 2008

I’ve been working with monthly themes for a while now when considering what to make for my textile art pieces – I suppose it’s like a writing prompt. For this next year, I’m toying with the idea of a single word that I can use to inspire me across what media I choose to work in – textile art, drawing, photography, etc. I still need to work out some “hows” but at least for now I’m planning:

• Jan – Transition
• Feb – Gratitude
• Mar – Simplicity
• Apr – Authenticity
• May – Order
• Jun – Contentment
• Jul – Harmony
• Aug – Transformation
• Sep – Beauty
• Oct – Remembrance
• Nov – Acceptance
• Dec – Joy

being inspired…

I started looking through Sarah Simblet’s Sketchbook for the Artist this evening. Wow! I love the feel of the pages, her words, the illustration. She wrote -

“There are countless reasons for drawing. We should not try to know how every finished picture will look, but it is important to be clear why we are making it. Decide before you start whether you are drawing to warm up, or to discover the best use of a new material, to express the beauty in a moment’s play of light, conduct an experiment, make a calculation, shout against a terrible injustice, or illustrate a dream.”

I really find those statements very helpful. As I have been sketching these last few days, that judging little petty voice in the back of my mind kept whispering that the sketches weren’t good enough. Why was I making the drawings? – obviously to draw everyday for DrawMo!, but mostly to figure out what I needed to do to make a stamp… conduct an experiment. Putting it in perspective, indeed.

Deciding in advance why I’m drawing is one thing, putting in the hard work and discipline quite another. We’ll see where the journey takes me.