A Whole Bunch of THINGYS!

I have really been dragging on any new postings recently.  Not a good thing! It just seems like things are so much busier right now.  Like what you may ask? I don't know....just THINGS!

For one THING it is the beginning of spring and so much yard work has yet to be done. I wish it would just stay frozen over the winter and pick right back up where I left off. Nope! Weeds grow everywhere, mulch beds need replaced. Plantings need to be added and of course all the over growth needs to be cut back or cut out.  Add this to all the other THINGS I am doing and I cannot keep up with the basic lawn mowing. Was out of town for two weeks and the front lawn was crazy.....what is worse that that? Well before I went out of town I didn't have time to mow the back lawn....Now that is a crazy jungle.  I think our small pup felt he was in a safari every time he ventured out in the back for a pee. Poor guy.

RESULT: This weekend (before another rainfall) I got the front lawn mowed and bagged, I worked on another mulch bed that needed mulch work. Yes a play on words.....lol. (Keep in mind I probably have about 13 mulch beds around the house...why 13....because lawn work in itself is unlucky). I trim a few bushes and transplanted a bush/tree...whatever you call that THING. Oh yeah, if you ask me what plants I have in my yard....I don't know.  It is a green tall thingy and the yellow flowers on a stick like branch and there are some growy purple stuff.....you get the idea! The most best piece (poor grammar is prevalent in today's writing) this weekend was a wack down of the back yard grass.  It needs a couple more mows before it is back in shape but at least my pup can go out there without being threatened by wildlife.

STILL TO DO: I always have the "still to do" lists.  They never end because I am never satisfied.  These lists may last for days, weeks and yes even years.  But at least I will add them today so we can all see my pathetic attempt to complete them this year.  I need to remove all the stone patio that I put down a few years ago.  The thought was a nice stone area to dine on in the evenings. The actual result... a constant weed battle that grew up between the cracks.  I am over it.  I will pull up the stone and use them as planter walls in the front yard and then add a concrete and stone (cannot describe because it is just a weird THING...that's what I do) in its place.  Maybe a fountain THING, I will have to see how adventurous I am. I also need to replace all the patio furniture....it has met its day.....do you know how expensive that stuff is?! Crazy. Oh yeah and don't forget the sunscreen trellis THING over the the wood patio that has been planned for maybe 5 years.....still not built.  I did get the posts buried in concrete at the edge of the deck.  Speaking of deck....It all needs replaced as it is beginning to deteriorate.  One area is torn up due to pup getting stuck under the deck last year just before a thunder storm.  I had to tear up a chunck of it to get him out.

So there is one THING. But now I am too tired to type about all the others.  I could mention, work...see my business blog....if I can keep up with that too, travel (vacation)...yes that is a thingy too.... a much needed thingy from all the other thingys, Finish the inside of the house....too long of a list to notate, the need for new interior furniture, the diet and health thingy.....doing good there! To date over the last 9 weeks I have lost over 30 pounds.....yeah! Now I have to work at the running part.  Another 8K  thingy in a few weeks. Am I missing something else?...probably so.  I guess I better stop writing  this blog thingy and get up and start working on some of these other thingys......just after one more cup of coffee.....My friends....enjoy your day....before you know it...it will have slipped away and you will have filled it up with a bunch of THINGYS!

Home Alone

Well it is just me and Mavrick this weekend, Home Alone. The girls headed off to Tennessee for the annual Winterfest Youth Rally in Gaitlinburg. So pup and I have just been hanging out.  Not really accomplishing much at all either.  I have been working on a few rendering and a few new models for potential projects. Other than that, I have just been roaming the house looking for snack food.....there is none! My wife did a good job of keeping the fatty foods away from me.

Truly bored though. There is only so much old television, rendering, and wandering a person can do. Funny, the house used to be a thriving bustle of noise but now the noise of kids just comes from the neighborhood kids playing out in the evening on probably one of the last warm days before the snow hits.

So Mavrick and I watch some TV, eat some.....so called food and SLEEP.  Mavrick sleeps alot....and takes up too much room on the bed.  He sprawls out everywhere.  I rolled over on my side last night on the edge of the bed and he rolled up right against me.  I could even roll back.  He was dead. I had to drag him by his paws to move him over.  Funny dog.  The rest of the time he stole my wife's spot.  I guess he misses her too.

Sleeping in Mom's spot

This is one of those weekends where I really could have got some things accomplished but I already knew I was going to be swamped with work next week.  I have four jobsites that I need to field measure and one of them is in Raleigh. I will be wiped out I am sure.  So, I am taking my rest time now. I could have played a little bit of XBox Kinects but wasn't really into it.  I could have played a bit of Sim City....I did...just a bit. I love that game. I could have exercised.....really? I know I should.  I will run today...I promise! Other than that, I plan on being lazy.

Taking a nap on the fancy pillow

The girls will be home tonight so I will need to make sure I clean up a few things.  I didn't make much of a mess or dirty any dishes...... (Mavrick cleaned the dishes for me)....Maybe I can make a nice treat for them when they get back as a surprise. A snack treat or something since I am not sure when they will get in exactly.......I guess that means I will have to go to the dreaded grocery store otherwise the only thing I could probably make is a dry sandwich or salsa favored popcorn.  By the way, why do we have so much salsa in this house but nothing to put it on? Take care my friends.  I believe I should be rescued from this solitude and saved from having to survive on Triskets and Laughing Cow Cheese. Don't worry, I wont let the girls know we missed them.....we will play it up like it was the best guy's weekend ever! Take care my friends....Stay lonely....NOT!

Spare Time?

So tell me....Do any of you actually have any spare time? Me neither.  I just squeeze something in if I want to do it bad enough.  Work keeps me busy enough at the office, but a great design staff allows me to take some time for myself every now and then.  But what do I do with that time? What do you do with your time? When you actually find that there are a few moments available what do you do with it?

Usually there are periods of time or lengths that become available.  Like 5 min.....15 min.....an hour.....an afternoon or morning.....the ever so infrequent DAY......maybe possibly but the unlikely  weekend. Forget about the full week vacation....and no longer does the month long get-a-way happen ever since college. (Maybe once I get all the office running independently I can take some sabbaticals to far away distant lands.....we will see.)

Well I do not plan on going through the entire "things I do" because it will make me feel like I need to DO all those things......and I don't want to right now! Primarily, at nearly 46 years of life, I like to find time to rest.  Rest and recovery (sounds like a computer necessity....a reboot). If I have a few minutes I actually like to keep up with the news, sports, yes facebook or even this silly blog. I can even burn through an hour reading up on stuff on the Internet. If we get to an hour time frame, there isn't really much I can PLAN for....it just becomes spontaneous. Yes, I should come up with a few tasks that need to be done around the house or office, even a few chores but alas that doesn't help in the recovery category.

When it comes to a morning or afternoon time slot, I often try to mix in the TASK along with some down time. There is much to do regarding the yard work.  It seems it always needs mowing or trimming or something.  Nice part about that is we are getting close to winter so that will come to a close soon. Maybe the home repairs lists will kick in at that point? It would be nice to finish the base cove, a new coat of paint, remodel the stairs, redo the main bathroom.....ahhhh and yes the new kitchen floor which includes the walls, demo, lighting, wood flooring, tile flooring....and more.......stop already! Maybe I will just take some time to watch TV......a total waste of time. But I can unwind.  Better yet, I will do a little city building in SIM CITY! (I know, a complete departure from what I do all day long at work! Plan for commerical, industrial and residential areas, make sure there are proper traffic flows both private and public transportation. Incorporate parks and recreational areas for ....get this.... DOWNTIME....I think I will go live in one of my sim cities. Make sure there is enough police, fire and medical facilities and plenty of options for education.  Don't get the city bogged down in traffic or don't let the air and water pollution overcome the occupants. And do all this under budget!)

Okay, if I had a weekend.....it never really consists of just down time.  I always have to DO SOMETHING.  We did get away to the camping site over labor day and that was a complete departure....mostly because it rained the entire time. I usually have to accomplish a bit of everything during a weekend....maybe a bit more relaxing time for a holiday weekend....a real holiday weekend not like Columbus Day.

What about a week long? Well that happen very infrequently.  I haven't taken a vacation in a while. Keeping an eye on the business prevents that mostly.....having no money prevents that the rest of the time. But again if it does occur....I have the tether of the laptop and blackberry that keeps it all at my finger tips......I need a few of these soon.....maybe half weeks?

If I had a month to DO SOMETHING it would have to be an agenda item....you know one of my bucket list items. I have a few that I would really enjoy doing and it would probably be much like a TASK than a VACATION......something to all planned out and coordinated and organized and budgeted and and and.....yep....WORK. I have a massive Bucket List already containing 50 or more items.  I may share that with you all soon........until then......I a going to play SIM CITY!

Get some rest my friends.....or go do something!

Another Day...Where Did it Go?

Amazing, isn't it? How another day jumps right in to action so quickly after the last.  I remember when there was a time early in my life that a day would last forever.....weeks would last for an eternity.....and the month of August...well, it just never ended. Now each week flies by.....And I mean flies....really flies.  Yesterday was March! It seems that the older I get the more I try to be organized and set up "bench-marks" or deadlines or goals....something that helps me plan out the week and get organized in some sort of manner.  I am King of Lists. Make a list, check it twice, revise a list, add to it, expand it.....recreate the list...you get the idea. And I do them all by hand, no computer lists....it just doesn't have the same feeling.

Maybe all of these lists that have been created are linked to the calendar. The calendar marks each task deadline to complete and with each completion of each task the line on the calendar moves right on as well.  The quicker I complete the tasks....the quicker the calendar moves too. I don't know....maybe.  All I know right now is this coming November I will be 46.  Wow....it was only the other day I was 26.....okay maybe I should use 36.....anyway, it is gone. Yeah, I know the new list is the "Bucket List"! I am not so eager to finish that one but it does have 50 items on it, so maybe another 50 years. We can only be so hopeful!

There are several things that I have noticed has changed as time is flying by:

1. My children going older and coming into their own.  Yes I should be happy and proud of this, but often times I feel very lonely around this house that was always so crowded.  The screaming for so-in-so to get out of the bathroom....they couldn't WAIT any longer. I miss it. It makes me sad.  My wife says get ready for the grandkids.....yeah, but that isn't the same. I enjoyed the massive "Christmas Lists" I always kept secret on my cell phone.
2. I like more and more to just be quiet.  It has always been hard for me to sit still.  I always had to get up and do something.  Mind you I wasn't a over-achiever on the "To-Do List" (my wife wrote that one) but I always wanted to get up and do something, go somewhere, get something, see someone...whatever.  Now, lets just sit and do nothing.  That is nice.  The best planned vacation....go somewhere and do nothing.
3. Medicine.....wow, let me just say I must be falling apart. I used to take vitamins all the time...more than you could name.....Now, so so many meds to keep me going....so many, yes, I have to make a list! "The Med List", in my phone! This gets real old and to set my watch to take a certain med at a certain time.....blah.
4. Not as much energy in the tank anymore.  I have noticed that I cannot do much of anything anymore without having to sit down.  Well first of all I would rather do item #2 above than mow the lawn. (my list of doing nothing vs my wife's list of to-dos). Fixing something around the house and before long I am sweating and just plain tuckered out. I need to get in shape.....I know what I will do....I will create an "Exercise List" with work outs set to a timeline for a deadline to run another half marathon....(already did it...hasnt worked)....alas, if only making a list would burn some calories.
5. Right along with Item #4 is the fact that I am fat.....cannot get the weight off very easily because of Item #3, don't have any energy from Item #4 and quite honestly enjoy Item #2 too much! Have a belly, have some flab, bone white skin, bald head....hey I am old too! Oh well.....that would be something nice to change....for the better and not let time and gravity take its effect.
6. Patience....never had it and often times caused internal explosions which resulted in outward casualties to anyone nearby. Some say "He so so patient"...poppy-cock! I just plain blow-up all the time...DID anyway.  Just ask my kids and my wife.  They could make an "Explosion List" of all the times I would get angry. They feared me when I got mad.  That probably made them all want to run away when they could! It has hurt my relationships I am sure of.  Now, I feel more times than not and have harnessed the ability to contain the blasts.....calm myself and direct others in a more peaceful manner.....don't get me wrong.....I still explode....you just don't see it.
7. Ironically, another thing I find I have more of is Time.  Okay maybe it isn't really more of, but maybe now I have found the ability after all these years to take better advantage of it.  I take time to reflect on my feelings and thoughts (in this blog). Enjoy the garden on my patio in the mornings with my wife and a cup of coffee. Maybe even a peaceful stroll from time to time.....(don't get this confused with the exercise list! - It doesn't happen THAT much). I guess I have finally taken time for myself now. This I won't try to make a list for.

There once was a time that everything took forever and we seemed to have all the time in the world.  not so true anymore.  LIFE IS SHORT, very short! Each day does move by quicker than the day before.  The hillside has changed. For so many years I was climbing upwards, not sure when it occurred but I know at some point in time that the scenery changed and now I am on the other side and going down the hillside.  That doesn't make it easier, doesn't mean I have accomplished all my goals and I can now enjoy the rewards. It would be nice, but it isn't so. So much more to get done just yet......but I feel I need to hurry before the bell rings and show is over. I probably haven't taken time as much as necessary but I really need to ENJOY LIFE. At least the rest of it.

Take advantage of it my friends...don't waste it...enjoy the short time we have here on this earth.