Phera's Focus

You should get some sleep

2013-07-09T05:18:00.001-05:00

I spent four days talking to friends and family. I loved every minute of it. I can also feel myself on the brink of getting sick. Not sure where the balance is between sleeping and soaking up time with those you love, but I think I'm on the way far end of it.

Today's priority: sleep

7 minutes

2013-06-11T21:11:00.003-05:00

Ever read those spam posts that promise you the world in five minutes a day? Well, I read an interesting article in the New York Times a while back and I'm aiming for better health seven minutes at a time.
No, that's not me in the video. I'll let you know how it goes though.

No excuses

2013-06-11T18:21:00.004-05:00

My husband went on a trip for two months and I had no excuses not to diet and exercise. I did an amazing job and lost about 15 pounds (go me!)

He's been back for two months now, and I've gained back 7.

I don't know why I eat so much healthier and get my feet pointed in the direction of the park when he's not around. Ideas?

Have keyboard, will blog

2013-06-08T18:08:00.004-05:00

I have a full size all-mine keyboard at home again. With that my biggest excuse for not blogging or recording is gone. So hello world!

Peer Pressure & Making it Easy

2011-07-07T21:14:00.001-05:00

I downloaded a Blogger app a few days ago. I remember thinking "This way I have no excuse not to blog" I also have a group of friends # NaBloPoMo blogging with me, and I really don't want to drop the ball.

So what do I write about?! Do I write about how irritated I get when my guys leave their dishes on the table? Nah, that's not really fair since my P-Hero made dinner.

Maybe I'll blog about the challenge of cooking all the CSA veggies in one week ( believe me, it's harder than it looks, and we're a veggie friendly family) Oh wait, I was going to do that next week so I can include pics of the pickup and our share veggies. Hmmmm.

Okay, I got it! I'll write about the domino effect of having too much stuff: stress levels, living costs, not to mention how one thing topples over every time you try to move something else.

*yawn*

Hey, look, this is long enough to be a blog post all by itself! Cool :-) Even better, I have topics for the next couple of days. I really love how just doing something, anything, tends to move you a little closer to your goals.

*yawn*

I think my next goal is getting a good nights rest. ' night

Views

2011-07-06T22:24:00.001-05:00

This was last week's view. I kind of miss it.

Some Days are More Random Than Others

2011-07-05T22:02:00.003-05:00

I live in New York City. There's over 8 million people here, it's said that there are 800 languages spoken here as well. Imagine the surprise of this lil'ol Texas gal when I saw a bonafide turkey in my lane today.

Staten Island Wild Turkey (not a zoo escapee)

Yup, you read that right, a turkey. Now, before you accuse me of distracted driving, let me just point out the big red light in the picture. Yup, I was stopped when I snapped this shot. I couldn't even pull up because of the gobbler in front of me. And before you ask, no, it's not a zoo escapee, it's a wild turkey, one of a flock that roam the forgotten borough.

Yes, some days are just more random than others.

:)

~Phera

PS ~ In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit I knew about the band of wild turkeys on Staten Island. I even have a pic of part of the flock near the St. John's campus. This shot today was the first good picture I've taken and had a great story to go with it, so it made it into the blog. Hey, all's fair for #nablopomo as long as I get that daily post up, right Super Jenn?

Bone Tired and Unforgettable Routines

2011-07-04T20:21:00.000-05:00

We planned our vacation so that we'd come back on a holiday weekend. This means we had a day of buffer before we have to head back into work, and I'm so thankful to have it. I woke up this morning around 2 AM and I've been up ever since. Believe me, I TRIED to go back to sleep until about 5:30 when I just got up. My body is crying out for sleep, but I know from brutal past experience that if I sleep at these odd times it'll just prolong the jetlag.

I've been pretty brain dead today, but thanks to routines that my podcasts and just plain doing over and over tattooed into my DNA, my suitcase is unpacked, I made lunch, mopped the floor, and most of the stuff is put away, Hey, I even got the dishes done! I say mostly put away because my guys slept like the dead all day today and I had to tiptoe around the bedroom. The wall of fatigue waited for them to get up before it hit me and I can now barely move enough to get this post up. If it weren't for the Sassy Bridesmaid and some awesome-sauce peer pressure I'd be... well, I'd probably be sitting on the couch trying to talk myself out of falling asleep.

Speaking of routines, there's a walking carpet aka the dog asking for a walk. He knows what to do at this time of day, and my feet do, too.

Super Secret Awesome Sauce

2011-07-03T22:02:00.000-05:00

"You have the potential to never make another mistake in your life"

No, I didn't come up with this, a keynote speaker at a conference did. What he meant was that between our social web and access to search engines, if we ask the right questions of the right people and do what they tell us to do... we might never make another mistake.

Wow, powerful, huh?

My shorthand for this is Super Secret Awesome Sauce. Thanks to the recipe (women) in my Super Secret Awesome Sauce I get asked tough questions that help keep me from making mistakes. Even better, I get to answer some of their tough life questions like how do I get two dishes that are stuck together unstuck. (drop the two stuck dishes in a tub of hot water, it'll expand the air between the dishes and push them apart)

Of course, there's a lot more to it than that, but I've been in transit since 4:PM EST Friday until about 5:PM EST Sunday and this is about all my brain can spit out today.

not amused

2011-02-03T21:22:00.002-06:00

I'm irritated by fake @replies I get on twitter and not getting my coffee at all today. My dad is doing an awesome Flat Stanley trip for a friend, but I don't want to get flamed for his commentary so I'm not posting it. A student told me he was too busy to go to a time management seminar even though his study hall was cancelled and to top it all off there was no parking outside my apartment so I had to park on campus and walk home.

I am not amused.

However, I am tired, so I'm going to bed. Tomorrow I hope to be in a better mood.

Blogger's Block

2011-02-02T19:38:00.001-06:00

I've been having a hard time blogging because I don't know what direction I want to go in or what I want to focus on. It's been a lot easier to just let time go by. The crazy thing is that when I start writing again (like I am for #NaBloPoMo) I remember how much I enjoy it. It's a kind of active meditation for me. The act of writing helps me calm the monkey mind that creeps in, set priorities, and in some cases vent my frustrations.

So I'm back, at least for this month. Thanks for stopping by and saying hi :)

Batting Practice

2011-02-01T21:04:00.001-06:00

Life throws curveballs. The thing is, they look just like fastballs until they curve right towards you at the last minute. What's worse? Swinging and missing? Flinching because it looks like the ball is going to hit you? Or just watching the ball go by?

Lately I've been swinging and missing. I've flinched at a couple of life's recent curveballs. And somehow or another I've been letting a couple of pitches just whomp right into the catcher's mitt. I'm going to try and get a couple of solid hits in this batting practice we call life. Today I'm just going to round the bases after practice and call this a #NaBloPoMo start.

If Only They Had People Power, Too...

2010-12-16T15:33:00.000-06:00

This product rocks. If I don't win it in Super Jenn's Give Away I'm totally buying it.

iGo PS00273-0001 Charge Anywhere Universal Power Extender (Black)

Now, if only they had people power, too... There are some days I'm just so run down at the end of the day...

Kid Stuff

2010-12-06T13:10:00.002-06:00

Kids grow so fast, and even though some items like scarves and hats can be reused from year to year, now is a great time to check on wear and tear and if it still fits. Consider donating gently used items to your child's school or pass them on with freecycle.org. High value items can be sold at a consignment store, eBay, or through Craigslist.org. Whatever you do, stay warm!

Dead Batteries

2010-11-19T23:50:00.001-06:00

I really enjoy checking in on foursquare and gowalla. Unfortunately the internal GPS runs my phone battery down in a heartbeat. My charger was a 1/2 mile hike away so I had to live with a dead phone.

Life is kind of like that, too. We can sometimes do the things we really enjoy, but we have to see if the toll they take on our mental, physical, and spiritual batteries is worth it.

And sometimes we can get an external boost. I need to break down and finally buy the iGo charger that @superjennblogs raves about.

Listen to Your Self

2010-11-17T11:44:00.000-06:00

I had a chiropractor appointment this morning. These interactions are very interesting to me as she's reintroducing me to a person I've known for years: me. My chiropractor serves as a combination translator and medium for my body. She takes what I'm feeling (I feel bad) and clarifies it (where, when, how bad). She also has me move in certain ways and then listen to my body to see what it tells her.

I've been very insensitive.

That's the only conclusion I can come to. Some of the "I feel bad" sensations I can clearly attribute to the collision. Some of the "I feel bad" sensations I only notice when she has me pay attention and feel for them. It really makes me wonder what other messages my body has been sending me that I haven't been paying attention to.

Thanks to her, I've realized I need to schedule more conversations with myself.

I used to meditate fairly regularly. I had some deep relaxation sessions on my mp3 player and I'd use the time during kid practices or my lunch to just completely and totally immerse myself in my breath. It really helped me refresh and renew my focus. It looks like it might be time to start meditating again.

I'll look for the links to the meditation podcasts I used to use. If I can find them again I'll share them in the comments.

Oh, and my chiropractor has one more very important job: she makes me feel better.

Busy = Happy?

2010-11-16T15:02:00.000-06:00

I think I'm happiest when I'm busiest. With a few footnotes...

I need to be working on something I believe in
I need to maintain my work/life balance

Other than that, life never seems quite so good as when I'm knee deep in stuff to do. It even makes the infrequent days on the beach so much sweeter because I can appreciate the feel of a job well done.

I hope you are happy with the level of busy-ness that today finds you at.

Do the Pieces Fit Together in Your Life?

Making My Own Touch Screen Gloves- Take 1

2010-11-15T20:54:00.001-06:00

Tectouch Gloves

I love my phone. I hardly go anywhere without it. But there's a small problem. It's getting cold outside and my hands really hurt when the temperature drops. I'd love to buy a pair of touch screen gloves, but I'm a little on the cheap side (If you're not, check these out!) I read this Instructables post a while back and have been planning to make my own touch screen gloves.

Gloves, Thread, Needle, Phone

I was so excited about this project because I figured it was a perfect project to blog, too. It's simple, it's a good way for me to demonstrate some of my living with ADD steps, it's tech-y, and I figured it would also photograph well.

I've learned that it's a really good idea for me to practice Mise En Place aka "Everything Set Up." The process of gathering my materials and getting them in one spot seems to center my mind. It also ensures that I have what I need at hand. Today that meant getting my gloves, the roll of thread, and a needle. I put my phone in the pic because I knew I'd be testing the gloves on the phone.

It Didn't Work!

A couple of quick stitches and I was ready to go!

Actually, I wasn't. Even though I followed the Instructables guide, my "new" touch screen gloves didn't work.

And I'm still blogging it.

I'm taking this as my daily lesson in humility. I figure it's much more interesting than telling you about how I messed up dinner because I forgot to get the super important ingredient that was whole reason I went to the grocery store in the first place. Plus that kind of story doesn't have cool pics.

What? Still reading? Well, as you probably expected, there's more to this story. I found a neat overview of the different types of Conductive Thread at Fashioning Technology. As for me, I'm thinking about buying a 10 ft thread card from Lamé Lifesaver.

That's it for today. Have fun and thanks to #NaBloPoMo I'll see you tomorrow, probably right around this same time.

#NaBloPoMo

Sunday is Funday

2010-11-14T16:45:00.001-06:00

More pics from the photo contest. He's not entering these, and I know they're not perfect, but it warmed my heart that my son stopped to smell the roses.

Blinded by the Brilliance

A Rose by Any Name Would Smell as Sweet

I hope you have a wonderful weekend

Picture My Day

2010-11-13T21:42:00.000-06:00

I read this article earlier this week and by chance ran into one of the organizers at lunch the next day. I've been wanting to get to know the island better, and participating in the SI 350 photography contest seemed like a great way to do it.

The photos have to be taken at one of the Staten Island locations listed at http://www.si350.org/History-Trails-Themes and submitted by midnight Sunday 11/14/2010.

Since I had to be out and about on Saturday (chiropractor's appointment really unkinked my shoulders!), we grabbed a camera on the way out the door and got snap happy as we did our errands.

It was a gorgeous day to be in New York City and these are a couple of my favorite shots:

I've always had a thing for Gargoyles. I may start a photo collection :)

I see this bridge every morning and evening when I'm out walking the dog. Today was so beautifully clear I just had to get a shot

This is my absolute fave.

Kiddo will be picking some of his favorite shots and entering them tomorrow. Wish him luck!

http://www.si350.org/Contests/Digital-Photo-Contest

Sleep? What's that?

2010-11-12T20:40:00.001-06:00

It's a vicious cycle: I fall behind on life and start cutting into my sleep time so I can catch up. Then I'm so rough around the edges that I can't keep up. Giving up even more sleep just makes me less effective and then...

If I'm lucky, a weekend comes along and I get to catch up on that delightful thing we call sleep.

If I'm not so lucky I survive on coffee.

I'm tucked into bed and blogging this on my phone. In about one minute I'm going to put this down and catch some shuteye.

Looks like I'm getting lucky tonight.

I Get It

2010-11-11T22:00:00.014-06:00

Malcolm Gladwell wrote in Outliers that it takes 10,000 hours or approximately 10 years to get really good at something. I'm pretty hard headed, so it might take me an extra 5,000 hours. But I think I'm starting to get it now.

You have to understand first of all that sometimes my brain amazes me. The other day I punched in the number of an old high school friend...even though I'd last dialed that number in 1992. And sometimes my brain disappoints me, like when I forget what I came into the kitchen to get even though it's just a few steps away from the living room.

Finally "getting it" also means that I'm not arguing with myself that I oughta know this already. It means accepting that for me it sometimes takes a little bit more effort. Or a lot.

I get that I have to write everything down or it may not stick in my brain.

I get that I need to have a combination of a distraction and a focal point to get repetitive tasks done. Hello Podcast!

I get that I miss interpersonal cues. For me to get a message I either have to have all my active listening skills set to "ON" or have someone hit me over the head with a 2x4. The good news is that after 15000 hours of practice I'm getting better at this. The bad news is that it's still work, and it probably always will be.

I get that sometimes I have trouble stopping myself. Those are the days when it's better to go shopping at the flea market than at the mall.

I get that adding people to my mix increases my stamina and enthusiasm. If Aunt Polly asked me to whitewash the fence by myself I'd totally pull a Tom Sawyer and try to get out of it. Well, sorta.* But if I'm working with someone else I'm like the energizer bunny and just keep going and going.

I get that I have no concept of time. Not only does everything have to go on my calendar, I have to set every single reminder option so that time doesn't get away from me.

Most of all, after 15,000 hours of turning on my ears and using my calendar and grocery shopping list and doing a load of laundry a day and checking for my keys every time I walk through a door ... I get that this is who I am and that I'm really good at being me. You see, along with the distraction comes some really cool creativity and amazing energy. Since everything new draws my attention I've had the chance to meet all kinds of really cool people and do some really neat things. I am so thankful that I've been able to remain positive through everything. Even though I haven't always been thrilled with every thing that has come my way, things really work out once you rub a little persistence, creativity, and positive energy on it.

And I finally get it.

*I couldn't exactly do like Tom and collect marbles and a dead cat while my friends whitewashed the fence. But I might tweet about it

Oh My!

2010-11-10T22:39:00.007-06:00

Guinea Pigs and Oscars and Pythons and Boas and Pyrenees and Iguanas and Ferrets and Owtcharkas and Crawdads Oh My!

I may be addicted to twitter, but someone in my house has a pet addiction. Over the years this unnamed person has adopted, fostered, raised, bred and in a few cases barely tolerated just about every kind of pet known to man. For the most part none of these pets were bought, they sort of came our way as people we knew moved away or had changes in their living situations. In one case it was literally saved from the boiling pot.

Several intrepid culinary adventurers got together and had two massive bags of live New Orleans crayfish delivered to our local airport. The gentlemen proceeded from the airport to the home of the lucky hosts where they then dumped the whole bag into the boiling water.

Except for one plucky fellow who held onto the mesh bag with all his might.

A certain young scamp pleaded for the life of the crustacean and that night introduced the mudbug to his new life in a small fish bowl.

By the next morning all the original inhabitants had fallen prey to the new predator in the bowl. We began regular trips to procure feeder fish for the ravenous creature until one day we came home to an empty bowl.

I need to stop here for a second. Don't get me wrong, I love my 100 lb South Russian Owtcharka pound puppy. Ferrets are still my absolute favorite pet. But after a while I find that I have things to do that keep me from sitting in front of a cage or a tank and watching a python stalk a feeder rat or a male Flame Tail cichlid dance for the female. You know, things like laundry and dishes and filing and lawn mowing and sweeping and vacuuming. Little things, really, they just have to be done over and over and over again.

The other thing I try to do to make the repetitive tasks go a little faster is catch up on phone calls. It's not an uncommon sight to see me with a phone headset on and a basket of laundry going up and down the stairs.

On this particular evening I brushed past the pet detectives and brought in the last load of groceries. As I did so I pulled on my phone headset to return a call. Then I made a quick stop in the bedroom to kick off my shoes, grab the dirty laundry, and finally a trip downstairs to empty out the dryer and get a fresh load going.

As I was pulling out the clean dry laundry I felt something tickling my toes. I looked down and saw what I thought was the biggest scorpion on earth trying to get a hold of my big toe. I screamed with all the breath in my lungs. I scrambled backwards and was only stopped by the doorframe. Above me I could hear my stalwart heroes thundering towards the stairs to see what was distressing me. As I drew in another deep breath to scream I realized that I recognized the wayward wanderer. With my next breath I bellowed "WHY IS THERE A CRAWFISH UNDER MY DRYER?!"

I could hear the footsteps on the stairs slow. I heard a chuckle and "So that's where he went"

I was not amused.

Let me say this again. With emphasis.

I. Was. Not. Amused.

In other news, apparently I terrified my friend and neighbor. In the middle of our phone conversation she heard me scream bloody murder and then the phone went dead. Just as she was debating whether she should call 911 directly or walk over to check on me I called back to explain the situation. Unlike me she was greatly amused. and relieved.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my blog. And if a small pet ever turns up missing from your house, check under your dryer, especially if it's cold blooded.

It's a Hard Knock Life

2010-11-09T21:38:00.002-06:00

Today was a rough day. It was totally a climb back into bed and pull the covers over your head kind of day. I definitely felt like calling it quits and doing just that multiple times. And yet I didn't.

Did I accomplish anything? I don't know. I'm pretty sure I made a positive impact in the lives of some high school students, and I'm fairly certain that I kept our family from making a bad financial decision. I took steps to preserve some memories of my son's school life and I performed a few random acts of kindness here and there.

Overall, I'd say I did good.

But it wasn't fun.

If the balance sheet is on the positive side at the end of the day but you feel like crap, do you call that a good day?

If you have a great day with lots of laughter, but you know you'll pay for it tomorrow, is that a bad day?

I wish I knew the answers.

And so I leave you with the song that's been running through my head all day. I hope your bed is warm, and that you have a loved one or three to kiss goodnight, and even if you feel it's a hard knock life that you indeed keep putting up a fight instead of throwing the towel in.

It's a Hard Knock Life

[ORPHANS]
It's the hard-knock life for us!
It's the hard-knock life for us!

[ANNIE]
'Steada treated,

[ORPHANS]
We get tricked!

[ANNIE]
'Steada kisses,

[ORPHANS]
We get kicked!

[ALL]
It's the hard-knock life!
Got no folks to speak of, so,
It's the hard-knock row we how!

[ANNIE]
Cotton blankets,

[ORPHANS]
'Steada of wool!

[ANNIE]
Empty Bellies

[ORPHANS]
'Steada of full!

[ALL]
It's the hard-knock life!

[ANNIE]
Don't if feel like the wind is always howl'n?

[KATE AND TESSIE]
Don't it seem like there's never any light!

[DUFFY AND JULY]
Once a day, don't you wanna throw the towel in?

[MOLLY AND PEPPER]
It's easier than puttin' up a fight.

[ANNIE]
No one's there when your dreams at night get creepy!
No one cares if you grow...of if you shrink!
No one dries when your eyes get wet an' weepy!

[ALL]
From all the cryin' you would think this place's a sink!
Ohhhh!!!!!!!
Empty belly life!
Rotten smelly life!
Full of sorrow life!
No tomorrow life!

[MOLLY]
Santa Claus we never see

[ANNIE]
Santa Claus, what's that?
Who's he?

[ALL]
No one cares for you a smidge
When you're in an orphanage!

[MOLLY]
(Making a whistling sound and imitating Miss. Hannigan)
You'll stay up till this dump shines
like the top of the Chrysler Building.

[ORPHANS]
Yank the whiskers from her chin
Jab her with a safety Pin
Make her drink a mickey finn
I love you, Miss Hannigan

[MOLLY]
(whistle) Get to work!
(whistle) Strip them beds!
(whistle) I said get to work!

[ALL]
It's the hard-knock life for us
It's the hard-knock life for us
No one cares for you a smidge
When your in an orphanage
It's the hard-knock life
It's the hard-knock life
It's the hard-knock life!

#NaBloPoMo Rocks

The Support of a Forest

2010-11-08T22:22:00.001-06:00

I read voraciously. I love that my phone allows me to read anywhere I go at any hour of the day or night. The drawback is that I don't always know where I read or heard stories. This is one story that I would love to be able to track the origin of.

The story of the majestic oak tree is very powerful for me. We are humbled by the ancient gnarled tree that grows on the mountain top. Buffeted by wind and clinging to the bare rocky soil with every one of its twisted roots it somehow manages to eke out an existence at the very edge, sometimes for hundreds of years. Yet its twisted and knotty wood is useless to the carpenter. The carpenter seeks the long tall trees that live in the forest. Forced by each other to stretch for the light, the wood of the forest tree is smooth and knot free. The trees protect each other from wind and storms by their sheer numbers, and their interlocking branches and roots provide food and shelter for all manner of wildlife. Each year their falling leaves contribute to the fertile soil and help start the cycle all over again.

I believe that people are kind of like the trees in the forest in that we need each other to reach our fullest potential. Alone at the edge of the mountain it is too easy to curl into ourselves and become twisted and immersed in our own survival. It is in the company of others that we reach for the light, support those around us, and nurture those that come after us.

Unlike trees, we people can move around and find a forest to join or build our own from scratch. With our recent move I'm currently looking for a new community that will help me stretch out and reach for the light. I'm very thankful that I have such a great online "forest", too.