Augh! I did it again.

I've been trying for two weeks to pick up two cans of jellied cranberries for the church turkey supper. I keep forgetting it when I go to the store or forgetting to put it on the grocery list anyways. I'll make a special trip up to Fareway to get it tomorrow. They might have it on sale. Now mind you, I don't go to the turkey supper: I hate turkey with a passion, makes me very ill when I eat it. I suppose that comes from when I ate some and got food poisoning. The very thought of eating it makes me ill. I can handle the cranberries. They're my donation to the turkey supper.

Got back from getting groceries this morning (but not the cranberries). Had lunch and some Bible time and started working on the computer. I'm trying to get the results from the Thanksgiving Ingathering for the Cedar Falls Site together. Have to make a bunch of reports and some analysis on the giving spreadsheet and marking on the vouchers what certain church's quilts and bazaar items sold for. I'll have it done by our meeting Saturday. The treasurers at all the sites have to keep a copy of the vouchers showing cash and in-kind giving. I do it differently than everyone else. I get one copy of the vouchers together and scan them into my computer. That way if I have to look something up or print off a voucher it is easy to do.

My ADHD meds are wearing off, so I am loosing focus on what I'm doing. Better quit at this and work on something that requires less focus.

Why didn't I take this class before I started blogging?

Having a fun time today in a class on blogging. I'm learning more about my options with Google Blogger. Also some interesting things about Picassa. I have to look at that program. The Waterloo Public Library has some great classes. Genealogy Month classes are especially fun.

Well, the elections are over and somebody won and somebody lost. The real test will be if the winners can cooperate. They didn't before the elections but they had better do so now. People are so fed up with our elected officials, especially at the national level that they'll be looking to take names and kick ass in the next election.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

There was an interesting episode on the Today show today. They covered a woman who went on a mirror fast for 30 days. She made it through it and finds herself less self-centered. She put a towel up over the bathroom mirror and hasn't removed it even after the 30 days were up. She lifts the towel now to check her makeup, but otherwise doesn't use it. She talked about how it has helped her to be less concerned with looks.

I have a rather strange relationship with my bathroom mirror. 95% of the time I don't even look at myself in it. And if I do, I don't remember what I looked like. I have to make a deliberate effort to remember what I look like. Most of the time my self image doesn't bear a close relationship with what I actually look like. I blame in on my ADHD. In most aspects of my life I am floating on the edge of reality. I really try to pay attention and to focus on things, but a good percent of the time I'm off in Na-Na land. Facing up to the reality of the real world is a drag, and so I maintain a perceived image of myself and my environment. It just seems so much more survivable to me. But I do try.

I'm sick of it...

There are a lot of things I'm sick of. First and Foremost is the political wrangling that's going on. There's so much mud flying that the pigs are running dry. They're watching the political ads just so they can remember what mud is like. I wish that all political ads had to have an electronic header and trailer and that somebody would invent a box you could hook up to your TV that would blank out the ads. (Are you listening out there?) Fat chance.

I'm also sick of the arthritis in my knees. It's very painful and the pain meds just give me a little relief. I can hardly walk. A lot of it is my fault. I've got as fat as one of those pigs I was writing about above. Weight loss would help, but that seems to be something I just can't achieve. Really depressing. But I'm going to start again today with my lifestyle change. I have to keep trying or I won't have any hope at all. The ADHD isn't any help in this. Neither are the meds I take that promote weight gain. No good option on those, so I have to work harder at it.

Of course, I do have my blessings. I have a wife who loves me and helps me as she can. I have a few friends and some family left. I am able to walk some, so at least I'm not in a wheel chair. And I have my relationship with Jesus Christ. That is the most important to me. Without him, I would have no hope.

What an Olympics!

What an Olympics this has been. Lots of action, disgraceful by some teams, but the best by most. The US won the most medals but had some real competition out there. But I want to say "Hurray for the French women's basketball team!" They weren't expected to do good, but they were 7 and 1 in the tournament. Beat some tough opponents they were expected to lose to and made it to the Gold Medal round. They were the real dream team in the basketball tournament! Sure, they didn't win the Gold, but they gave it their all and surpassed all expectations. Congratulations to them!

I'll watch the closing ceremony tonight, and I'll miss the Olympic action tomorrow, but it's only two years to the next winter Olympics and four to the the next summer games. Something to look forward to.

A whole lot of TV watchin' goin' on!

Anybody else watching the Olympics? I've had the TV on every day. I mainly listen and watch the interesting parts as they come up. My wife's been following the women's gymnastic competition. I generally watch anything that's on. The women's beach volleyball hasn't been as interesting as the weather's been too cold for their usual uniforms. I have to admit that my favorite to watch is the swimming events. Goes fast and keeps my attention. That ADHD attention span isn't the greatest and the shortness of the swimming events fits just fine. Long distance running? I browse on it. I do have to admit though that the bicycle road races were fun to watch. Root for the home team!

Still haven't heard anything new on the Prepology cookware. I did receive an email with the same information in the phone call. I'm looking forwards to hearing more from them.

Getting ready to switch the license plates on my truck. They say my old ones are worn out and they're issuing new ones. Now I have to memorize this plate. Once I get that done, I'll have my last four license plate numbers memorized. More useless junk in my head.

Yikes! Don't use it!

If you have read my past posts, you may recall I bought a K37115-Prepology 5-piece Nonstick Microgrill Set Purple from QVC. I received an automated phone call from them last night telling me to stop using it. The sets have been arcing out in the microwave and overheating. Of course, I used mine to make bratwursts for supper last night. No problems for me, but I won't use it again. They said they'd be in contact we me in a few weeks. I hope I get my money back!

Had an exhausting day...

It started yesterday with a sharp pain in my right calf. I could hardly walk. Came home after church and plopped in the recliner. When I did get up, the pain came back. This morning I called my doctor's office, and they were so busy that they referred me to Urgent Care. So I went there and spent an hour waiting to be seen. They thought I might have a blood clot in the leg, so they sent me to a vascular specialist to have it checked out. It's a long walk in the hospital where he is so I valet parked and rode a wheelchair to his office. As an aside, the valet parking is free, provided by the hospital, and the workers who take you where you need to go are also. Allen hospital is a great hospital. Anyway, I waited about an hour and a half to be seen. To be fair, I arrived about 45 minutes early, so my real wait time was only 45 minutes. They did the sonograms on my leg, and much to my relief they didn't find a clot. What they did find was a Baker's cyst behind my knee. I'll have to research it on the internet, but if it has been causing my problems with walking, I can have it drained. I'll know more after I do the research. So I got home around 3pm, did a few things and watched some TV.

Boy was it hot today. We hit 103, tying a record from 1901. When I got back to my truck, it was boiling hot inside. I couldn't even touch the steering wheel. Fortunately I had a pair of gloves in the truck and I used them to buckle my seat belt and drive home. The air conditioner struggled to even cool the truck cab down by the time I reached home.

Some thoughts on Aurora

What happened at Aurora was a tragedy. It was a tragedy for the people who were shot, the people who didn't get shot, all their families, and the shooter. No reason is forthcoming for the shooting at the moment. Many people are speculating on the reason, but what matters is that it did.

From what I know now, I don't think this was a preventable incident. You can talk about gun control, but guns are available beyond the pale of the law. If he really wanted to get guns, regardless of the law, he would have been able to. He wasn't acting "funny", just being reclusive. We don't have a society like Iran where people spy on each other and report them to the police. God forbid that we should. We need to stay alert in today's world, but he wasn't even a blip on the RADAR of acting weird.

The only really controllable factor in this is that he was able to exit through the emergency exit and return the same way. Perhaps if there had been an alarm on the emergency exit door that alerted someone in the theater to check the door. The shooter had to block the door open or put tape over the locking mechanism to be able to re-enter. If someone had responded to a door alarm, the door could have been re-secured before the gunman re-entered. It took some time for him to get his ballistic suit on, so the tragedy could potentially been averted.

Regardless of all that, take time to pray for the victims and their families. Don't forget to pray for the shooter and his family also. And never forget.

Trying something new

Well, I did it. I joined those thousands of people who've bought something from QVC. I purchased the K37115-Prepology 5-piece Nonstick Microgrill Set Purple. I'm on a purple kick, so a lot of what I've been buying lately is purple. Not that I've been buying a lot. The troubling thing with this microgrill set is that they don't have it anymore, so you can't ask questions about it or get to any of the recipes they had on-line. I've used it a couple of times and I like it. I've cooked eggs and bratwurst in it with good results. The information they have in their recipe book for cooking times is off on some things. Here's how to cook bratwurst in the grill pan.

I cooked two bratwurst, about 4 ounces total. These were not frozen when I cooked them. First, I preheated the grill pan and the top press for the time indicated in the book. I should mention that I'm using a 1200 watt microwave oven. I then put the bratwurst in the grill pan and put the press part on top of the bratwurst. I microwaved it for a total of 9 minutes. The wurst were fully cooked and tasted delicious. The weren't really juicy, which I like because the juice just causes a mess. As far as I could tell, most of the fat was microwaved off the bratwurst. I'll definitely do this again as I don't have a grill and only cook for one. 

 

Last Tuesday

Last Tuesday turned into a total FUBAR. The barber wasn't I wanted wasn't in and the meeting was a dud for me. Lots of stuff done, but I was in the middle of my ADHD medicine wearing off, so I didn't participate very much. Didn't even eat any of the food they had prepared. Sometimes that crash from the meds hits me so hard that I'm virtually useless, and at other times no problem. Still haven't figured that out.

Send in the bankruptcy stuff, but I missed some things so I will get that done today or tomorrow and send it back in. I think I'll scan in the sheets and email it back to them, rather than doing it by snail mail. A lot cheaper.

Had a wild day yesterday. Preached at two churches and went out for supper. Ate too much, but I only do that on my birthday, and I lost about 3 lbs last week. May not do as good next week, but it was fun. Really pooped today, but I'm still making progress.

Have a meeting in a few minutes then it's back to work. I hope to get some stuff listed to sell.

Just some thoughts

Well, I'll be turning 63 this weekend. Another year closer to drawing Social Security. I don't usually care much about the years that have passed. And, in fact, turning 63 doesn't really bother me. It's just another year gone by. I don't worry about dieing either. When my time comes, I'll be gone and on to Heaven. Why worry? There will be things I didn't get done, people I didn't see, and a life I would have liked to live more fully. ADHD may have robbed me of some of my life, but it's also contributed to making it an interesting one. No regrets, because I can't change anything in the past. I just want to live life to the fullest now.

I'm trying to get my bankruptcy paperwork together so I can get it sent off. Should be done today and I can mail it today. There's a lot involved in this and I'll be happy when it's finished. Have to get a haircut today and I have a meeting to go to today. That will burn up a good part of the day. Had an on-line auction I wanted to attend tonight, but the meeting takes priority. There will be plenty of auctions to attend other times.

Some remembrances...

My family has been active in the military over the last century. As I think back about their service, I wish I had been able to ask them more about it. Here are some things I do remember.

My Uncle Clarence was a rear gunner in a plane during WWI. He was shot down and survived the crash, but, unfortunately, crashed in a field that was saturated with poison gas. He only lived until the '20's after the war. He had breathing and vision problems from the gas. I regret that I never knew him.

My Uncle Al, Clarence's brother, drove an ammo truck during WWI. I was stationed near Bitburg Germany and he told me of seeing the flattened city at the end of the war. One other thing I remember is his talking about his convoy being shelled, and he hid under his truck until he remembered what his truck carried. He ran away, but a shell hit the truck and left him mostly deaf.

My dad Mike, Al and Clarence's brother, served between WWI and WWII in the Navy. He never related much about it except that he couldn't swim when he joined. He said he learned to swim when they threw him off the dock in basic training.

My Uncle Bob served in WWII. He was part of Patton's army and didn't do the D-Day landing. He never talked about the war. I have a picture of him in uniform and some postcards he wrote to my Aunt Nellie saying he was fine.

My brother Clarence was in the Korean war. He was a heavy equipment operator and built airfields among other things. The only time he talked about the war he commented on how bomber would return from their missions with the central gun control shot out. This killed the gunner of course. It wasn't a good memory. He also recalled having to raise the bulldozer front blade as protection as his unit retreated from the Chinese. He had gunners on the arms of the blade firing at the Chinese.

I served in the Vietnam era, but never in Vietnam. I was part of the Cold War, doing repair on radar's in a HAWK missile unit. Did that for eight years. Everybody's dead now and how I miss them.

Mounting frustrations

I just CANNOT seem to write in this blog as often as I would like to. I have stuff going on in my life, but putting it down on "paper" is hard. For instance, I've been dealing with mental confusion for most of this week. It's been a lack of focus and the inability to prioritize jobs that has been frustrating. I know the ADD has a big part in this, but some of it seems to be based in my inability to sleep well at night and these freaking strange dreams I have when I do get to sleep. I woke up this morning at 5:30, but didn't get up until 6:30. I was trying to get some more sleep, but that didn't happen. I should have gotten up at 5:30 and started working on things. The fact that I didn't get up is just one more frustration for me. It didn't help that the lettuce I have been using for lunch has been recalled because of listeria. I haven't gotten sick from it so far, but that's another thing to bat around.

Well, made the wife happy a bit ago. Swept the kitchen floor and hooked up the dishwasher and started it running. We don't have a built in model. Our floor cabinets aren't deep enough to have one, so we have a portable that we move to the sink and run every few days. It's a pain in the rear, but it's likely the only thing we can do.

Oh, I did lose 1.6lbs last week. I've been on the down cycle for a while, so each victory there is encouraging. Don't know what will happen this week with the problems with the lettuce. I'll take it back and get my money back for it and hope the next batch I buy doesn't have any problems with it.

I guess I'll write some more tomorrow, I hope. I will definitely try to.

A Little of This and That

It's been a different week. I've been trying to get my information together for the bankruptcy, but it's slow going. Part of it is the ADD reluctance to start something I don't want to do and the other is the sheer immensity of the task. Lots of pages to fill out and information to gather, let alone the special class we have to take and the money we need for it that we don't have. Oh well, I'll get through it, one line at a time.

The lawn needs mowing, but it'll wait until tomorrow. I've got quite a bit to mow, but the lawn tractor helps me get through it fairly quickly. If I didn't have the mower, I'd have to have my lawn done by someone, and I can't afford that. The next job is to get the neighbor kid over here to help me with chores around the yard. His legs work and mine don't. He won't be mowing or trimming but I can use him for raking and picking up fallen branches. Then I have some inside chores he can help me with.

I did some planning ahead for next week. I've just been going from day to day right now, but I hope planning household chores ahead will help me. I'll forget to do them if I don't write it down. I'm hoping this will help extend my focus by planning some things ahead. No guarantees, but I'll try it for a while.

Tomorrow I think I'll write my thoughts on gay marriage and civil unions.

Following Dr. Fuhrman

I'm up to chapter 7 in his Volume 1 book. Interesting reading. I haven't started following his plan yet, but I am seriously planning to. There are probably a few things that will take time to adjust to. The first is that I am going to cut back on the amount of milk I drink. I really like milk, and I drink 3 glasses a day. I'll cut back by one or two glasses, one at a time and see how it works. I have some pills I have to take with milk or they tear up my stomach so I will have to take that into account. Reducing the amount of meat I eat won't be a problem, because I have already done this. I probably have meat once or twice a week. The only thing I won't eat is raw broccoli. My dog won't even eat it, and he eats almost everything! So it will be cooked broccoli only.

After I get Volume 2 and the Workbook read, I'll ease my way into the eating plan. I've already replaced my noon lunch with a salad, but that was before I received the kit. Too much bread when having a sandwich for lunch. I don't remember if I mentioned this, but I only weighed 371 at the last weigh-in.

Time to address weight loss again

I've been doing so-so on my weight loss. I have lost weight, but last week I stayed at the same weight. I am 371 now and hope to lose more this week. One thing I have found that is a hindrance to my losing weight is eating bread. One or two slices a week doesn't hurt, but 10 or more a week is a sure formula for weight gain for me. There are, of course, other factors at work here. I ate out 3 times last week, so that didn't help my loss any. Nevertheless, I am still working to lose weight. However, I am about to take a new tack to it.

In March I contributed to IPTV and received Dr. Joel Fuhrman's "3 Steps to Incredible Health" kit. It came this week and I have been reading in the first book in the kit.There is two books in the kit, one on the basics of his nutrition plan. The second one is the recipe book, which I haven't looked at yet. There is also a workbook included in the kit providing practical guidance to following his nutrition plan. There are also 6 DVDs in the kit. I haven't watched any of them yet, but I will soon. I'm primarily reading in the first book. I've gotten about half-way through it. I want to finish it and the other book and workbook before I start the plan. That way I've got a heads-up on what I have to do in each step of the plan. I'll write more about this as I go along. My only disagreement so far is that I drink 2 or 4 cups of coffee a day and he suggests that only one should be consumed. He'll have to convince me to change.

That being said, I'm also searching the web to find what other people have to say about his plan. So far I find I have to search with his whole name, not just Fuhrman. Too many other references to other people and places. I'll keep you informed on this as well.

My how things don't change!

Recently I had a rant here about how busy I am and how I can't take on any more, and in fact have to cut back. My lightning quick response was to add another responsibility or two. Now I'm taking the weekly sermon and converting it from cassette to a posting on the internet. The conversion from cassette is easy, I use a cassette player with a USB connection and Audacity to convert the tape to a wave file. I then upload it and voila, pastor is on the web. Fortunately I can start the process and 90% of it doesn't need my intervention.

The other thing I'm doing is taping funerals at our church and converting the cassette tapes to CD. Once again, it doesn't take a lot of my time, but it is another thing to do. Fortunately, funerals don't occur all that often. And not everyone wants their funeral taped or converted.

I'm going to try something new for me: I'm going to boot my laptop from the HD of my last laptop. It's connected via USB and should work fine. The advantage is that I have certain software on that HD that I would have to buy new to install on my other HD. I'm also looking into software that will let me move my software off the old HD onto the new one and fool the software into thinking it can run there as though it were originally installed there. I won't be running it on the old HD after I do this, so it should be OK. I'll report on how it goes in a later post.

Still struggling with ADD and getting up in the morning. I'm having a hard time getting up at 6am or earlier. I tend to reset the alarm and go back to sleep. Gotta' quit that. I need to refocus my motivation on why to get up, as "Just because I want to." doesn't cut it. Any advice would be appreciated.

Gotta go! Millionaire and Jeopardy are going to be on soon. Alluring shows for an ADDer.

Tempus Fugit

My, how time flies! It's been a long time since I last posted. I think the ADHD is a part of the problem, but I wonder if I live a boring life. It seems I don't have anything to write about. Then again, I have stuff but put off writing until the evening and then it never gets done. Oh well, the past is past and I need to look to the here and now.

My life is so out of control. I plan, but I can't follow the plan, and when I have some unplanned time, I waste it watching TV or just sitting down unable to focus. My medications do help, but not enough. I've tried going without them and it's a total disaster. Nothing gets done. I ordered some storage solutions yesterday, but I'm not sure I'll use them. It's a "wait a while" mentality. I'll do the best I can to use them, because they'll be used for something I enjoy, but time will tell.

Anyone out there have a good ADHD coach to recommend? I can't seem to find anyone in Iowa and I don't know who to trust in other states.

I'm Late, I'm Late for a Very Important Date!

That date is now, and I have some important decisions to make. For one, I'm tired of ADD taking away bits and pieces and great big chunks of my life. I can't completely get rid of that happening, but I will be doing my best to control my situation. Being retired and living a less controlled lifestyle, I tend to let the days go past without noting their passing. That changes today. To the best of my ability I will be tracking what I'm doing and how I'm handling the situations I find myself in. I will also try to be forward looking in life, not just living in the moment but actually planning my days and weeks. I will have to do what I have to do.

I've been thinking about writing a book for some time now, and the time to begin is now. I have to start planning and recalling all I want to write about. The book will be about ADD and money, and how it has affected my ability to handle money, deal in relationships, and plan for retirement. This is just the first thoughts on this so more will be forthcoming. I've been dealing with the effects of a lack of planning and foresight. I've had my eyes open so wide by Suze Orman I can plainly see where I could have done so much better in my life. That old saying applies: "Too soon old, too late smart!"

Another thing I'll be dealing with is everything I'm involved in! I've got so many iron in the fire that I'm about to go stark raving mad trying to keep up with it all. I'm committed to some of it until the end of the year, but then I am going to quit some of those seven plus positions I hold right now. I hate to do it, because of course I just want to please everybody, but I just can't do it any more. I'm about ready to have my phone taken out because I'm too accessible to those who "want some guidance" or have "just one little thing" they want me to do. I'll keep you informed how it goes.

Well, this is the end for today. I'll try and be back tomorrow with some insight or the other. 'Till then...

Adventures, Adventures...

Well, over 7 days again. My resolutions this week have come to naught. No journaling, didn't even find a notebook to journal in. My focus, or lack thereof is really being a problem to me. So, I'll start the journal next Sunday and try to post this week some.

Have you ever bought groceries and forgot them at the pick-up place? I've done that, more than once. Thursday was a new one for me, though. I went to the pick-up place and the store person wheeled over a cart with groceries in it, all in plastic bags. I don't use plastic bags. I told him mine were in the cloth bags and he said "I put them in the wrong car!" My cart number was 202 and the other person's was 902. I could see how they could get it mixed up, but their groceries were in plastic bags!? Didn't they notice? At any rate, I went back in the store and talked to the shift manager. He offered a couple of options, the best being they would bring my groceries to me when they found them. Fortunately, the people who took them put the fridge/freezer stuff in the fridge/freezer. A couple of hours later my groceries were delivered with a few extra Weight Watchers meals include. Thanks HyVee. I really appreciated the extras. I didn't get mad or anything so that went well.

I had a computer that started having problems, and finally gave up the ghost. I listed it on eBay and it sold for a good price. It was a little scary, as I started it at .99, but it sold and one more piece of clutter leaves the house. I'll find out who bought it shortly and get it ready to ship.

Challenges

Well, 7 days again. I don't know if enough doesn't happen in my life or I just can't seem to write in this blog. I know the ADD is a factor in this, I'm just not sure how much. In the "You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Lazy" book I'm reading, I've reached a section where I need to examine my life, try to plan for it, then plan again if I fail to achieve my goals. The first process I need to do is to keep a journal for two weeks of what I do and how much time it takes me to do it. That sounds easy, but I have to remember to journal. I'm going to start the journal this Sunday. We'll see how it goes.

They also recommend I get a Life Coach. I'd like to do that, but financially, it's just not feasible right now. Also, it would have to be a phone coach, as I don't know of any coaches here in Iowa. There may be some, but not in my area. Once I get through this bankruptcy, I re-asses my position. Until then, I have to do it on my own.

We had a good leadership development day here in the Northeast District. They had a choice of three presentations, although you could only attend two due to time limitations. I attended one on using social media and other internet resources to promote your church and mission. It was great. The presenter had a great cheat sheet and PowerPoint presentation. I emailed him yesterday and he sent me the presentation. It was well worth attending. The second presentation was on evangelism and the importance of personal evangelism. Lots of good information there too. She passed out a set of foils on her presentation.

Things get interesting today, as I start analyzing the evaluation sheets. I'll get some basic statistics off of them and also consolidate the comments and write up an executive summary for the Leadership Development Team. I'll be interested to see what the attendees thought of the presentations.

Can you say "Early!"

Once again I'm trying my get up early gig. Got up at 5 today. Processed a ton of information, designed a couple of forms, went through all my email and put this coming Sunday's hymns on my Sansa.Overall I had a very profitable early morning. Now I was looking through Outlook and saw that I could compress my data files. I told it to do it and I'm still waiting for it to finish. Oh well, the email will wait 'till it's done.

Never tell Outlook to delete your expired items. I had mine set that way and when the auto archive ran, it deleted the emails and didn't archive any. There go some passwords and links. Oh well, learn by doing.

Well, it's now Tuesday and I got up at 7. Just couldn't get the engine to fire. Still, I've gotten a fair amount of work done so far. I'll have to see what I do for the rest of the day.

Committment vs Follow-Through

I am committed to writing in this blog every day. Unfortunately my follow-through has been lacking. It's not that I don't have time to write. In some cases, it's just the simple fact that I didn't have anything to write about. On the other hand, I do have things I could write about, but am uncertain if I should be sharing those thoughts or experiences. Part of it is the ADD. I have a real problem with self-worth, and every time things don't go right I tend to pull into my shell a little more. Plus I don't know if anyone will or wants to read my blog. I have a couple of people that read it, but I never receive any feedback. So, once again I will try to do better in the future and be more regular in my posting things here.

There's one word I almost never use, unless I'm talking to myself. It's a common word and a lot of people use it, but I tend to be a people pleaser, so I almost never say it. That word is "NO." Example: I have been asked to be on many committees. My current list of things I said "YES" to is: Chair of the S/PPRC committee, Chair of Outreach Committee (Missions), on the district Leadership committee, on the district Lay Development committee, School for Lay Ministries Representative to the District Council, I'm the District Statistician, I create the evaluation and registration sheets for several committee's projects and I do the analysis on those evaluation sheets. Yes, I definitely need to add "NO" to my vocabulary.

Interesting (to me) revelations

As you know by now, I am ADHD. I follow several ADHD blogs and an currently reading the book "You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?" The first third of the book has been a lot of theoretical information and some pointers for those who are newly ADHD diagnosed. Well, I've crossed the hump according to the authors. The rest of the book is about how to deal with your ADHD. The first pages I read were about the stages of discovery after you're diagnosed with ADHD. It's very similar to the stages of dieing. It was quite eye opening and I discovered after some reflection that I have been is several of those stages at once. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book. I'll post any insights I get while reading the book.

I really believe it's time to get out of Afghanistan. The rising suicide rate among soldiers, this latest episode of the soldier killing those civilians point in that direction. The Afghans don't want us there. The main ones receiving benefits are those in the corrupt government. The women of Afghanistan have benefited greatly from the Taliban being kicked out of control, but I fear for their safety if they should return to power. There's not easy solution there. Guess I need to pray more about it.

WARNING! RANT AHEAD!

I am tired of people complaining about red light cameras and speed cameras. If you're speeding and red light running, then you're a criminal. I don't worry about the cameras because I drive the speed limit and don't run red lights except when I'm in an ADHD moment. So what if it makes money for the cities that use the cameras? You want to speed you pay the price. If everybody obeyed the speed limit and didn't run red lights then the cameras would go away. Go ahead, complain about your self imposed tax. As for me, I say the more the merrier.

Some thoughts on today

Have you ever seen that cartoon showing an old man or woman who's saying "What's going on? What the hell is going on!?" I can relate to them. If I don't plan carefully for my day, I'm like a dangling participle, just hanging there and unable to relate. Sometimes my carefully planned day goes Crazy Eddie because on an unexpected bill or phone call that I need to do something about. The planning I did eventually helps me get back on track, but for a little while my life is like a web spun by a psychotic spider. Ever had days like that? Thanks to ADHD they occur all too often.

I see that yesterday was Super Tuesday. I didn't watch the results but it appears that the situation is normal. One man doesn't clinch the nomination and another scores bigger that expected victories. I don't pay a lot of attention to the campaigns because I won't be able to vote again until the presidential election comes around. So I just nibble the edges and take everything said with a grain of salt. I did think though, that Obama is campaigning on TV already. His speaking yesterday should be counted as a campaign speech and not another infomercial.

Well, I get my taxes done today. I have to file amended returns for 2010 because of an error in 2009. That puts a level of uncertainty into what I have to do to correct the taxes. I have to do it before I do this year's taxes so that is filed squarely.

Well, have a good day and remember that that lobster you're about to eat was cooked alive!

Bright eyed and bushy tailed!

This getting up between 5 and 6 am is really working out well. I set the alarm for 6 but I haven't been able to sleep in to then yet. Anyway, my ADHD focus seems to be much better early in the morning. I get a lot done on the computer and other things. By late in the afternoon I'm losing focus and I'm not very productive at all. It's especially bad in the evening. Overall, I get in a good 8 hours of work because of getting up early. I tried sleeping in 'till 7am, but that left me drowsy with low motivation. So, while I don't whistle while I work, I do get things done. I have found my niche!

I haven't commented much on politics lately because doing so is a lot like taking a belly flop in a field the cows have been grazing in. You tend to get into what came out of the wrong part of the cow! I really don't know what's going to come out of the republican primaries, and the Democratic side is already settled. I guess I'll do what the civilians did in the early part of the civil war: I'll pull up a chair and sit and watch the fight and hope a stray round doesn't come my way.

Heck of a storm system last night and today. We weren't involved, just a lot of wind here but it really was a killer and busted up a lot of property. Keep them in your prayers, friends.

Knock Knock...Is anyone still listening?

It's been a while since I posted, mainly because I haven't been disciplined enough to do and partly because I didn't have anything to write about. Plus that little deal with med problems....Anyway, I'm back and ready to post some of my thoughts and opinions.

My ADHD, while not "under control," has been manageable lately, except when I had the meds problem. Never, ever, run out of your meds. If you can only manage one thing in your life, manage your medications. It wasn't an ADHD med, but it did me a flick. I had talked to the doc about quitting this one, but now I know I can't do it, yet. A real scary time!

Another week is getting going. I set the alarm for 6am, but I was awake by 5:15 or so, so I got up and started working. I'm the district statistician for our church district. Not to bad a job until you run the reports that show who hasn't turned in their statistics. They have to be in by March 2nd or the get a penalty added to their apportionments. Of course some of them don't pay their apportionments anyway, so they don't care. But I do. Statistics to me is fun. I suppose it's because of all the variations in the data between previous years and this year, and between churches. It's quite interesting. Until today. Now I have to send out emails and make phone calls to those without email prompting them to turn in their data. And I have to keep at them for the rest of this week. Oh well, you have to peal a banana before you can eat it, as they say.

Speaking of bananas, I still haven't been doing good on tracking my eating. It goes well for the first half of the day but then I tend to slack off by supper time and after supper, my meds are worn off, and I forget to enter the figures. It's really interesting when I do it, and the CalorieKing website shows me my list of foods eaten, with the ability to drill down to see the calories, fiber, fat, etc. associated with that food. The summary of the food I ate, in five catagories, is tracked all day long and stored in a bar graph I can access. I have goals set for calories, fat, fiber, cholesterol, protein and sodium. It's a real motivator to watch what I eat. I'll weigh myself after I finish this blog to get my weight for the week. It'll be interesting to see if my ditching carbs at lunch has helped my weight loss. I've just been eating fruit and a desert (I know, I know!) for lunch. I'm never really hungry at lunch so this meets my needs. Well, I just weighed myself. I weighed 381.4. That's a loss of 3.4 lbs since the last time I weighed in. Not too bad. That was 3 weeks ago, so about a pound a week. A little less than I want but now I can adjust my eating.

By the way, my eating theory goes this way: A good breakfast followed at lunch with fruit and desert, then a medium supper. I do have a snack of peanuts or crackers in the afternoon, and milk and a granola bar in the evening to take with my stomache killing pill. My breakfast is almost always 29 grams of Cheerios with milk and juice and a hard boiled egg. Works for me.

Where have all the soldiers gone?

I see Obama is planning to cut the number of personal in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. I understand we all have to tighten our belts to get through his presidency, but this is equivalent to putting the belt around our neck. I don't have all the details of who and what he is cutting, but it seems to me we could save more by getting rid of some of these highly paid civil servants in Washington. I'm not meaning Congress, just their aides and staff workers, the President's hanger-ons and all those who are there contribute little but gain much.

Yeah, Congress needs to have it's pay and benefits cut. They're pushing so hard to get teachers and others judged by how well they do, wouldn't it be great if the Senators and Representatives were judged by how well they do their job? You might say that they are, the people know what they do and don't re-elect them if they don't get things done, but there's a problem with that line of thinking. How much does the average man-on-the-street know about what goes on in Washington, and especially the daily activities of our Congressmen and women?

Not much, I think. And they don't want us to know. There are some exceptions, like Senator Grassley who visits each county each year. But for the most part, what goes on in Washington stays in Washington. Let's have a board of military and civilian persons whose job is to watch them do their thing, and report to the people what goes on. Wait! Don't we have news reporters? Naw, either too biased to report fairly or too scared of repercussions to speak the truth. There are some who do, but they're not well represented. Oh well, I guess we'll have to dig out the information for ourselves and demand that our politicians we elect be responsible to their electors.

And the music goes 'round and 'round...

Well, this week is not starting out well. I carefully planned what I wanted to do today and wrote it all down. I got few things done, but now I can't find my Sansa! Ordinarily, this is not a big problem. I only use it a few times a week. I usually record the hymns for the coming worship service on it in case the pianist doesn't show for some reason. It's in an old Weight Watchers literature case, and it had slipped to the floor and the wife almost trod on it. I picked it up and put it some place safe! Now I can't find it. It's not hiding is plain sight and I don't remember where I put it. So much for the schedule.

I have other things to do yet, so it's not like I'm sitting here wondering what to do. The problem is that a lot of what I want to do can't be done until after 8 or 9 this morning, and it's only 6:42. Oh well. A huntin' I will go, a huntin' I will go...

Oh yes, and postage for letters went up a penny yesterday. And I've got these forms I need to send out. I should have sent them out a couple of months ago, but didn't. I suppose I can blame it on the ADHD, but it doesn't change the fact I didn't send them out. And postcard postage went up 3 cents! It's like they're bound and determined they don't want us to use their services! Now where did that Sansa go?

Finally found the Sansa, but in the process I forgot I was writing in the blog. It's quarter after 9pm now! Oh well. Had a profitable day today. Take care.

A discouraging week

I had a discouraging week last week. I had a terrible time focusing on what I wanted to do and in what order. Even though I write down a list of what I want to do, I couldn't seem to execute the tasks on it. I felt overwhelmed by the immensity of the tasks on the list. I'm hoping for a better week this week. Or at least a better day today.

I took some time and did a look-back at the way ADHD has affected my life. I can track what I did and how I did in the past. The bad was evident, but the good took a little more digging to find. I can see the problems with people relationships. I can talk with someone, as long as I don't know them. The ones I know I have problems relating to. The ones I don't know are like a tabula rasa, blank to my mind and I can explore all kinds of ways to talk with them. And I seem to believe that the ones I know are always judging me. It tends to make me go sit in the corner at meetings and family gatherings. There are always a few bright spots, the ones I can converse with and relate to.

The good comes in my ability to shed a new light or (of course) a new way of looking at problems. My new ideas aren't always appreciated, as non-ADHD'rs are confined to their Aristotelian ways of thinking. I seem to work in quantum leaps. I see a problem that can't be conventionally solved, and, after some thought, come up with an innovative solution that the nons have a hard time understanding. And of course, the ADHD causes me to have a hard time communicating how I came to the solution, especially when I'm put on the spot for an immediate answer.

It's Monday, and I've already gotten (with this writing) four things done on my list. I'll do my best to get the rest of the list done, if I can only decide what to do first!

I am ADHD

I am ADHD. That's a surprising statement from me. I've struggled about whether ADHD had me, or I had it. Read a very good blog post from Rick Green on the subject, and I agree with him: I am ADHD. It's an integral part of my life, I have to deal with it every day all day. The meds help, but they're no panacea. I've learned, not entirely effectively, to deal with it.

My family doesn't understand. Like my pastor, they think it's a matter of self-control. I'm fat. Everybody thinks I could lose weight if I'd just eat less and exercise. Their right, in one way. It would help, but I've tracked my weight gain back to when I started on Prozac in the eighties and it's been a one-way trip up the elevator since then. I've been trying a 2000 calorie weight loss regimen, but I haven't lost any weight so I'm going to go down to 1800. I'm not on Prozac anymore, but the replacement has the same side effect. If this 1800 calorie doesn't do it, I'll go down to a 1500 one.

I watched Hour of Power last night. It's not something I do a lot. With all their financial troubles the constant asking for money gets tiring. Of course, as I think back, they've always asked for money. Anyway, a quote from Robert Schuller was used in the sermon and it really hit home for me. the quote is “The church is the only institution that’s doing everything it can to get bad people and hurt people and lost people and lonely people to join. Never forget that the church is a hospital for sinners and not a museum for saints.” I haven't had a problem for a long time with who comes to church or what they wear, but it does bug some of our members. The old guard wants the church to stay the same. Just like a tree that has reached a comfortable size, they're happy with what they've got. But churches, like trees, do one of two things: They either grow or they die, they never stay the same. We'll see what happens.

No brakes here!

One of the things I do when I shop at HyVee is to use the motorized carts. I can't walk far enough to do shopping without them. Sometimes that means I have to wait for quite a while when there are no carts available or their out of power. I don't mind waiting when people are using them to shop, but I really get torqued off when I finally get one and there are two or three carts at the food are with people who are eating or just shooting the bull. And, to continue my rant, I can't believe the number of people who walk right in front of me as I'm driving down an aisle. I haven't hit anyone yet, but there are times I am tempted to. The thing is, these carts don't have brakes. When you go to zero power forwards, it keeps on coasting. I drive cautiously, but one of these days I'll get someone.

Well, I still haven't listed anything for sale. I've got the items organized and I'll put some of them on-line today. Have to scan some of them and take pictures of others, so it will take some time. If you ever want to see what I've got for sale on BidStart, go to BidStart.com and search for RL_Merchandising as the vendor. You can do the same thing on eBay. Keep checking back, I've got a lot to list.

Nothing much else to report. I'll get back to work and hope you have a great day! Remember, ADHD'rs are people too.
'

Day One of Business

It's not really day one, because I've had the business for a while, but haven't done anything with it. That changes with today. I'm going to start listing items on eBay and postcards on BidStart. I decided to wait until the first of the year for this, just to start clean. So far I haven't listed anything. I had a bunch phone calls to make and to take the poodle to the groomer. I did stop at Staples to pick up some office supplies, but my business credit card didn't work. That was one of the calls I had to make to get that straightened out.

My meds are still working right now, so I'm able to get a bunch done. When it wears off later this afternoon I'll have to struggle to get things done, but even with reduced efficiency I'll be able to make progress. Waiting while I work for the groomer to call so I can go get the dog. He'll be happy to come home.

The caucuses are tonight, thank heaven. I've been getting more phone calls telling me who to caucus for than you can believe. Their down a bunch today, but I expect a flurry of them later this afternoon. I'm not going to caucus, not because I don't want to, but because Black Hawk County Republicans want all the precincts to meet in the UNIDome. I don't like the one big meeting idea, but that's not what keeps me from going. I'm handicapped, and my precinct meets up the east side of the dome in the seats. You have to climb a bunch of stairs to get there, and I just can't do it. I just hope it doesn't turn into another cluster like it did the last time. I went, but there were not any parking spaces left when I got there so I went home.

By the way, do you know why gorillas have large nostrils? Large fingers.

Happy New Year ( A day late)

Last year is gone, along with some relatives and friends. The problems we faced personally are still here, with no resolution in sight. Even the world's problems are still here. One Kim is gone, and another one takes his place. Still don't have the money to re-roof the house. Iran is getting friskier, and we didn't leave Iraq so much as we were kicked out. The damn politicians keep calling asking me to caucus for them. It's a bitter beginning to a new year. I hope yours goes well.

I'm getting started on my new business tomorrow. I'll be selling old postcards on BidStart.com and a miscellany of things on eBay. Look for me on eBay under the user name RL_Merchandising. That's the name of my company also. I will also be selling some things under my other user name, bisync, on eBay. That's to help me get rid of my clutter and some of my collections. I'm at the point I need to part with things and concentrate more on people.

That being said, I'm pretty stressed out about how my ADHD will affect my ability to sell. I'm not all that organized and how to allocate my time each day is a constant worry. Not only is there this business, but I need to keep up with everyday things. Little things like cleaning and sorting and recycling and maintaining a devotional life each day. I'm also trying to learn Visual Basic, but finding time for it is hard. It takes a lot of time and I really can't plan ahead any further than what I will do in the morning or afternoon or evening. Some things self-plan themselves, but for the most part I'm too intimidated if I plan too far ahead. It's like this huge pile of clutter that's ready to fall over on me.

I'll enjoy the Rose Parade today if those damn protesters let me, and I'll watch some football and have a treat or two. I'll probably be on-line a few times today and check my email and research some things I'll be trying to sell. Just to keep focused.

Have a happy New Year everyone!