What's on your mind?

I have to admit that I've had a really hard time focusing today. I often have trouble focusing, especially when I have to do some writing. Don't get me wrong - I love writing, even when, like today, it's all about writing Performance Appraisals for my employees (faithful minions, all). I just have a hard time getting all of the distractions of daily life out of the way so I can get down to writing.

When I was in college, I would clean my room and organize my desk before writing a paper or studying for a test. Now I don't always have the luxury of having the time to get my desk cleaned and organized before I have to write, so I have to find other ways of reigning in my thoughts. Sometimes I am successful. Today, however, I was not. Much of what was distracting me was still work . . . schedule stuff, staffing, budget, customers (bless them), projects, and my own required time on the public service desk, Caldecott and Newbery winners, email clean-up, to name a few. I also let myself become distracted by other things . . . hunger, stretching stiff muscles, news from Haiti, stuff I should have done over the weekend and is now on my mind. You know how it is, right?

So - everyone deals with distractions - how do you handle them at work? Do you work better with tight deadlines (like me) or long-range deadlines? Do you have any tips for me so I can have more success as the week progresses?

Jumble of Pics

Simon finally removed all the wrist bands he's been wearing and adding to for about 3 years. It was momentous. Look at the difference in his wrists! I'm surprised he didn't need physical therapy! He removed several months ago, but . .. well . . .you know. I'm just getting caught up!




Mike and I got away for a few days to go up to Lake Erie in October. We love it up there, and had a great time. This was at sunset, on the deck of our hotel.






I fished out a few pics of my in-laws at Xmas that I think they won't kill me for posting. We play Shanghai Rummy, and it was fun!






I love that Si is finally old enough to really be good at cards and other games.







This is Dodger, the oldest Terrier "Grand-dog" (my mom's got one grandson and now has 9 grand-dogs - LOL), with Jasper, the baby. Both are decked out in their winter duds.






OK - just one more puppy shot. Mike loved the little guy, too!








And sunset over Lake Erie. (Hey, I warned you it was a jumble!)

Christmases Galore!

I have finally uploaded pictures! Come to find out, I had 262 pictures on my camera that hadn't been loaded onto the computer yet. Yikes! I think I'll start with the most recent events and work my way backwards.

We had 3 Christmases this year. This is not unusual for us, since we end up traveling to my in-law's and then my family's, and we all love having multiple celebrations! First Christmas this year was with my in-laws. We had a great time, and got lots of loot. I took other pics, but I can't share them here because were in our jammies and my MIL and FIL would disown me if I published them. :-)

Christmas 2.0 was with the folks from the L. This is my new staff, and I made everyone hats. The best part of the night was having fun with them, playing games and eating great food.





I do have to admit to joy, though, that they all seem to like their hats (or most of them, anyway), and most of them are actually wearing them in the snow!



Our real Second Christmas was with my family over the New Year's weekend. We got to meet the new puppy that my Brother and SIL got (his name is Jasper).

I made him a little sweater, too, but I'm sure he's torn it up with wiggling by now! I'm going to have to find more stable patterns! He's a little ball of energy!



We had a great time with the family there making puzzles and playing games (and we got another load of loot, which was easier to transport because we also bought a van whilst we were up there).