Task List

So, first post-Christmas blog I think? Christmas was great, as it always is. And unlike the previous two Christmases I’ve had, I did not throw up once, or have to work. So that automatically made it the best Christmas since 2008! It was a pretty typical day, so I won’t really talk much more about it. But it is always lovely to spend time with family and just sit around and relax. As the family has gotten older, it has become much more relaxing than ever.

I do love the holidays, the hustle and bustle of getting presents and parties sorted out. But after this Halloween-Christmas season, I am completely wiped out. So I am actually very much ok that they are over. I finally feel like I can go home and just relax without a laundry list of things to do. Still have a list, but with much less “vitally important” items on it. What are top three on the list you might ask?

1) Organizing my iPod. Sounds a bit weird? Well, there was a bit of a mishap with the iPod a couple months ago and it got cleared completely. I had backed up my music fairly recently, so it was easy to get everything back on. I did have over 100 playlists though, and that is what I am working on restoring. When you have a lot of music on your iPod (especially when some of it you never listen to, or have ever listened to) I find that playlists are the best way to go. I was able to rebuild many quite quickly. I mean, how hard is it to make a Beatles playlist and put their music on it? But I’ve kind of been dragging my feet with some of the others that require me to scroll through 8000 songs to find my favorite running songs. The good thing about this though is that I am finding lots of songs I completely forgot existed! Remember Anastacia (not cartoon) anyone? Or Vengaboys? Quality.

2) Learning Spanish. Oi, this is the bane of my existence. Because I work at WIC, about 50% of the people (this is not an actual statistic, just what it feels likes) speak Spanish. So, I can’t do super in depth counseling. I can only ask brief sentences that require only one word answers. So no “how are things going?” questions or “what are his eating habits like?” types of things. Mostly things like “how many times does he eat vegetables every day?” and “how many ounces of milk does he drink every day?” So, I’ve bought books, and I’m in theory looking for Spanish classes. But I haven’t really made an effort, so that’s what I need to do.

3) Retool the family cookbook. For mother’s day, I headed the team to edit the family cookbook and put it online. Apparently some files or something got corrupted; so many recipes have the wrong amounts listed, which has caused excess sodium being added to foods. I now need to go through and fix everything and add new recipes that we have all cooked since May. I have been encouraged by other family members to get going on this, but obviously its number 3 on the list, not number 1.

So, that’s that. It was all put on hold last week and this week while I graded papers for Anne (this picture is one of the beauties I found while grading). It was not that bad though. I sat and watched the entire Vicar of Dibley series. Not as good as Ab Fab for those readers who read my previous blog. And I’ve been promised Benihana in payment. So, on tonight’s list, iPod and Spanish. But probably some iPod and mostly sitting around or trying to find some dinner.