Day: February 7, 2008

Being busy and handling email

By / February 7, 2008 / 9 Comments

Sometime last year I wrote a post in which I realized out loud that I’d changed from a Stay-at-home-mom into a Work-from-home-mom. This is now the post where I realize out loud that work has changed from a part time job into a full time one. I used to spend 10-20 hours per week. Now I spend about 30 hours per week with occasional dips into 20 hours or spikes into 40 or more hours. This change happened with the shipping of Tub of Happiness, but I did not realize it at the time. Because I did not recognize the increase in my work load, I did not shift the schedule to account for it. This January I did shift the schedule, but I didn’t fully realize why I had to do it until I realized that all the intended spaces in the new schedule were already filled with things.

A good example of this is my email box. It used to be that I’d get 0-3 emails on any given day. Because I’m compulsive about checking my email, I would catch them as they arrived and reply to them within hours. Then we started shipping books. Suddenly I started getting daily statements about credit card receipts for the day. I’d let those collect in my box until accounting day when I’d enter them all into my financial tracking software. I did the same with electronic receipts for orders placed online. Customer service emails began to show up in my box. Those needed quick responses. So that the emails that needed responses did not get lost in the clutter, I’d click the star icon next to it. This worked well and so I did it for every email that I couldn’t respond to right away, but needed to respond to.

Lately the system has stopped working so well. My mailbox gets buried under 20 or 30 emails and many of them have stars next to them. Right now I have a dozen emails that need responses of one kind or another. It weighs on my mind and makes me feel behind to have so many messages waiting for a response from me. And yet I’m afraid of throwing things into a filing system until after I’ve responded. If I don’t have the reminder right in front of my face, I’ll forget to respond at all. I have started pulling the receipt emails out of my inbox. They just create too much clutter. Unfortunately comments to this blog also get caught in this task mess. I’ll read a comment and want to respond, but don’t have the brainspace right that moment. So I tag it for later. Sometimes I actually get back to comment responses. Other times I just have to let it go without responding. I just don’t have enough time to track everything.

I like being involved. I like that I am necessary enough that I’m constantly getting email. I could do without the increasing amount of spam. But I need to pay attention to my handling of email to see if I can manage it better. It frustrates me when I discover an email that has been waiting three days for a response from me. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.

Cub scouts and Link

By / February 7, 2008 / 4 Comments

Lately I’ve been feeling burdened and not enthusiastic about my role as a cub scout webelos den leader. Yesterday I remembered why it is worth doing. I’ve got 6 boys in my den. They all show up to the meetings bright eyed and happy to be there. Only once in more than a year did I have a boy who wanted to be somewhere else. Because I am the mother of one of the boys, I know that the boys may moan and groan about having to go. They kick up a fuss about having to leave their games or their friends. But once they arrive, the are glad to be at cub scouts. They are excited to be in a place where a pair of adults have planned an activity or project just for them. Some of the projects are less exciting than others, but we try to make sure that we don’t trip their homework alarms even when using worksheets.

Right now my den is working on an athlete badge. This means that we go into the gym and take measurements of how many push-ups they can do, how far they can jump, how fast they can run. We’ll repeat these measurements for the next few weeks tracking progress. The boys loved it. They had a chance to run around for an hour and show us what they can do. I was a little worried about this badge because my Link is measurably not as good at these physical activities as some of his peers. We had one boy do 50 sit-ups. Link did 4. But not once did any boy make a disparaging comment to any other boy. All the emphasis was on each individual seeing what they could do and improving.

The emphasis on physical activity is going to be good for Link. Being stronger would be good for him, make him more confident, and now is a good time to push for it. Link continues to be fascinated with jumping rope. He brought it with him to scouts and was better at it than the other boys. That was a big boost for him. The only drawback is that he jumped around so much yesterday that he is very sore today. He hobbled and winced his way through getting dressed. I hope that he doesn’t let the pain of muscle soreness put him off of jumping rope.

Gleek fools me twice

By / February 7, 2008 / 1 Comment

On Monday morning Gleek complained that she didn’t feel well. However in between complaints she bounced around cheerfully, so I sent her to school anyway. All seemed well, but after returning from school Gleek curled up on the couch and stayed there. I looked at her and could tell that I’d misjudged. She was sick and shouldn’t have gone to school that day. Sure enough she spiked a fever and had a restless night.

Tuesday morning there was no question about sending Gleek to school. She spent all day curled up watching movies, eating nothing, and sleeping lots. By evening she had perked up some, so I had hopes that she would be better in the morning. I didn’t want her to be sick on Wednesday and miss her beloved tumbling class.

Wednesday morning Gleek said she felt a little bit sick, but upon realizing that it was the day of her class, she insisted that she was plenty well enough to go to school. She cheerfully got herself ready and I dropped her off. When I picked her up from school she was happily climbing snow piles and tightrope walking along the top of the bike rack. She went to her class happily. Unbeknownst to me, Gleek was acting healthy through sheer force of will. The fiction unravelled during the last ten minutes of her class when Gleek simply had no energy left. She curled herself up into a little ball with the softest object she could find in the gym. It happened to be a martial arts punching mitt. This was all reported to me by my neighbor who was running the carpool for the class. All I witnesses was that Gleek arrived back home tearful and ready to be snuggled. I took one look at her wan little face and could tell that she was still sick and should not have been at school or at the class.

This reassesment was further cinched at bedtime. Gleek said I should let her stay up later because she’d had a nap. I countered that she couldn’t possibly have had a nap because she’d been at school all day. This was when Gleek told me that at lunch time she had crawled under the table and fallen asleep. She only woke up when the bell rang and she ran back to class. I can totally picture the chaotic lunch room full of kids and lunch helpers, all of whom are so busy that they don’t notice the little pink-coated bundle sleeping under the table. The thought makes me want to snuggle her up and keep her safe for a week. She is so brave and such a trooper.

Gleek is home from school today. She may be home from school tomorrow too. She’s fooled me twice already this week and I want to make sure she is really and truly healthy before I send her back to school again. I want her naps to be on comfy couches instead of curled up under lunchroom tables. And I need to remember that unlike my other kids who will languish from a runny nose, Gleek will continue to seem healthy until she is nigh death. The other three need me to teach them how to keep going in the face of mild discomfort. Gleek needs me to teach her how to slow down and let her body heal itself.