science projects

I hate them. I always put them off. I remember my first project in fifth grade. I did it the night before it was due while watching TV. It was clay study of the parts of the flower. I think my dad put more time into the project backdrop. (That was when they were made of wood and three dimensional.) I got an honorable mention. The next year, I copied one of my sister's projects and got a second place. I tried to copy her a second time and barely passed. Then I copied myself in the eight grade and got another honorable mention. I was lucky. In those four years, we had four different science teachers who didn't realize I was recycling my projects. I did do the work, I just wasn't original. I just didn't care.

Somehow, this apathy was passed onto my son. And the poor kid had to start early, in the third grade. We also share the tendency to procrastinate as well as not ask for help. In my case, I probably would not have gotten any help, just a lecture that I should have started earlier. In Ryan's case, he is worried about rejection so he won't ask.

I try to let Ryan do as much as the work himself. I get involved when I have to help with ideas and prod him along. I usually get frustrated with Ryan and my dad. My dad likes to chime in with complicated ideas. He doesn't understand that Ryan does have the drive or motivation to push himself to do more, to do his best. And Ryan will not say he doesn't understand so my dad thinks he has gotten through. The one year I let my dad type out Ryan's charts, Ryan got his lowest grade. He could not explain what was going on.

I do help Ryan with the presentation. Only because the artist in me cannot help it. I try not to do anything more than could be expected from him. I am sure other parents are helping out more than me. But Ryan has no interest in entering the science fair. He just wants to get it done and get a good grade.

All this leads us to this week when Ryan is conducting his experiment on water evaporation. He tried it last night and it was a failure. Ryan thought he would see results in an hour. He didn't see anything after four hours. The due date for the trial work is Thursday. A failed experiment is OK and acceptable but not to Ryan. He teacher is letting him rework and redo the experiment and turn it in a few days later. Ryan started this morning and planned to check the results this evening after 12 hours. I came home to see that my dad was checking every hour. I tried to explain that it wasn't necessary nor wanted since it was supposed to be Ryan's work and how could he get those readings while he was at school. This fell on deaf ears. Then I asked my dad if he was planning on getting up every hour during the night. He understood and stopped.

Getting Andy to do a book report seems so easy.

02 october 2011

Unclutter update.

I did well towards the process of getting rid of the clutter. I did an hour of scanning, an hour of filing, and an hour of shredding. I did not get any other tasks done from my goals.

The garage sale is Saturday so I am putting the scanning/filing/shredding on hold. I need to concentrate on preparing for the garage sale. I hope all the palm itching means the sale is going to be successful. That said, I volunteered to work at the school book fair two days, have an autism support group for parents meeting, and two other appointments this week. Oh well, what gets done, gets done.

from gowalla back to foursquare

Last December, Nung convinced me to try FourSquare. I had been using Yelp! to try and find places I was not familiar with. I admit, I did get hooked on FourSquare. I liked checking into places to keep track of where I had been. It was part of a daily diary especially when I used Momento to collect the data. And the competitive person in me really liked earning points and becoming "mayor."

Then I heard about Gowalla from a podcast. I decided to try it out. I liked it right away. The interface was nicer and no longer did I feel the need to log in just to earn a "mayorship." And I liked collecting thinks like found objects and special pins for visiting DisneyWorld. I do not go out much and socialize, I did not miss FourSquare's ability to help people connect. Gowalla also seemed to connect faster than FourSquare.

The Gowalla made a big change. No longer did you just check in, you now started "stories." Huh? I wasn't happy with the change but figured I would get used to it. Then I found that Momento was no longer registering my check-ins. I disconnected and when I tried to reconnect, I could no longer do it. I saw I wasn't the only one. I thought about waiting it out but decided to go back to FourSquare. Right away, I am back to checking my points. Ugh! I just want to keep track. I do not need to compete!

Gowalla, is listening to the complaints and we will see what they do with them. I may be back. Or not.

25 september 2011

I think my back pain is from my bed. It needs to be flipped/rotated. A bit of a conundrum as I can move the heavy mattress with the pain, but the pain will continue until I move the mattress.

I met my goals and did an hour each of scanning, filing, and shredding. I feel like I am filing making a small dent in those piles. I did about 3 hours of work in the scrap area. If I stick with the October 8 date, I have two weeks to get a lot more done.

Goals this week:

• Three hours of organizing in the scrap room/office.

• One hour of scanning documents

• One hour of shredding documents

• One hour of filing documents

reading

I have been trying to catch up on my reading. I belong to Goodreads and joined the 2011 reading challenge. I challenged myself to read 52 books this year. Fifty two books which I will admit to reading.

I finished one tonight, Watch Your Mouth by Daniel Handler. I have had this book since 2002. I am also trying to read the physical books before I buy anymore eBooks. I really enjoyed Handler's other books, the ones he wrote as Lemony Snicket. But Watch Your Mouth left me confused and perplexed. I just didn't see the humor. I did not enjoy it.

17 september 2011

Progress continued but a bit slower as I started having back pain. I felt a bit better after going to the chiropractor but the pain started coming back at the end of the week.

I worked in the office about 3 hours. I got more supplies yesterday so I can continue next week.

I scanned and filed about an hour. I did this in 15 minute sessions.

I uncovered the shredder and started shredding. I did not do an hour of shredding, it doesn't take that long to shred an hour's worth of scanning. I did shredding some very old files without scanning.

Goals this week:

• Organize one shelving unit of embellishments. (I completed two half shelves.)

• One hour of scanning documents

• One hour of shredding documents (Completed about 45 minutes of shredding.)

• One hour of filing documents

The boys have school photos on Wednesday and I am going to try to volunteer.

There might be a CBI for Andy on Thursday. Andy finally got info about a school dance after school on Thursday.

My goals for next week:

• Two hours of organizing in the "store."

• One hour of scanning documents

• One hour of shredding documents

• One hour of filing documents

As of today, there are 99 days until Christmas. I spent some time working on my gift list. If you want to play along, here are three sites:

100 Days to Christmas

Organized Home Christmas Countdown

Real Simple Ultimate Christmas Countdown

14 september 2011

1. Happy Birthday Arlyn!

2. Andy went bowling today for special Olympics. This is the first event of the school year. Most of his class went to a local bowling alley, play two games, eat lunch, and go back to school. In the past, it has been crazy and chaotic as there are loads of schools coming and going. This year, things seemed less crowded and ran more smoothly. Andy had only one other boy in his lane so the games did not drag on. And once we learned that Andy needed 30 points in each game to qualify for the next round, he had incentivtive to do well. Andy finished with 44 points in the first game, and 57 points in the second game. We were done before noon. Andy got a second place ribbon.

The one part that did not get better was the food line. The small grill can not handle all of the kids. It was taking 20-30 minutes to get a personal pizza. Andy did not want to eat at the bowling alley. He wanted to go to Chick-Fil-A. We stopped at the produce stand on the way.

11 september 2011

I made a small dent in my scrap goods. I managed to package 300 paper packs this week. Now I am out of clear bags and will have to order more. Until I can get more bags, I will have to concentrate on the embellishments. I have avoided them as there are so many and such a variety. How much should I charge? How should I organize them. Paper is standard and easy.

I also want to work more on my office space. I need to start working on the paper clutter. Years of receipts need to filed or scanned or shredded. Another overwhelming task that I tend to avoid.

Goals this week:
• Organize one shelving unit of embellishments.
• One hour of scanning documents
• One hour of shredding documents
• One hour of filing documents

07 september 2011

Another grey day and I wasn't feeling the motivation. But I still got some stuff done.

• Loaded the van with boxes to donate

• Dropped off the majority of the boxes at Goodwill. I had towels for the animal shelter but didn't feel like making the drive. Goodwill took the towels. I still have the 2 boxes of books in my van because the library was not open. I will drop them off another day.

• Worked for an hour making paper packs for the garage sale.

06 september 2011

Clearing out the clutter.

I used to be organized. I used to pay my bills on time and file everything right away.

I had kids and my priorities changed daily. I paid my bills but filing did not get done often. I discovered message boards and scrap booking and more of my routines fell away.

I opened an online store and just about everything non-essential got shoved aside. Things and crap and clutter accumulated.

Three years ago, I cleaned up the house and boxed a lot of crap I didn't have time to deal with.

I have time now and I want to get rid of it. But it is time consuming. And overwhelming.

I tried an online workshop to get me started. It was helpful in that it gave me small tasks to accomplish daily. This fueled my desire to do more and I did do more.

I would love to sign up for another workshop, one more in depth, but the money is just not available. Other workshops I would like to take are Organize Your Paper Clutter & Simplify Your Life With Habits & Routines

I purchased Unclutter Your Life in One Week. It had been in my wish list since it first came out. I started reading it while taking the workshop. I had decided to start doing those tasks when I finished the workshop. The workshop ends today and I have changed my mind. As much as I want to clean out my closet, I think I need to work on my office/living room. I need to have a garage sale so this takes priority over an area only I see.

This blog will be the journey as I get rid of the crap and find my house underneath it all.

I was productive today. I worked for about an hour laking paper collections. I cleaned up most of the laundry area and part of the pantry. I have 3 more boxes to give away.