Do-Overs and High-Fives: Talk about Trimming the Tree!

Well I’m a wreck this week.  I bit off way more than I could chew and have paid the price in sleep deprivation.  I’ve been in front of my computer screen WAY too much and I’m really ready to step away from the keyboard.

But not before a quick roundup of this week’s do-overs and High-Fives

Do-overs:

Deadline week crash and burn

When will I ever learn?  This one is getting kind of old, I gotta tell you.  Seems like it happens every time- deadline week rolls around and everything else goes to hell while I make a dozen or so phone calls, do some interviews, take some photos and then sit down to pull it all together.

But really I thought I had it under control this month.  I only had two stories to do the week before deadline… and then there was another, and another and another.

At some point it occurred to me that maybe I really should say “no.”  But I didn’t.  (Note to self:  If you think maybe you should say “no,”  SAY “NO!”)

And so all week long, I’ve been either on the phone or at my computer.

The one piece of good news in all this is that I never quite reached that feeling of suffocating overwhelm.  And I’m pretty sure the reason for this is that (knowing it was going to be a busy week) I’d sat myself down and made a ridiculously detailed list of what I needed to do.

I wrote down who I needed to call, where I needed to go, etc. etc.

If I needed to find a phone number, “find X’s number” went on the list, if I needed directions, “get directions” went on the list.

The list itself went on for 2 pages.  But it was OK, because each of those things (with the exception of the actual writing) was fairly short and discrete.

In an attempt to avoid this scenario next month, I’m publically declaring my plan NOT to wait until deadline week to start my next set of articles.  I know the holidays are going to make it harder than usual to find people I’ll need to talk to, so I think I’ll make my list soon and start working my way through it.

Not today, however. I’m done for now!

In the middle of all this insanity there were quite a few noteworthy moments.  So here are this week’s

High-Fives

Setting boundaries

This was a biggie.  I won’t go into details, but will just say that I had an agreement with someone close to me about when certain things could happen.  This person then proceeded to make plans that were not in alignment with our agreement.

I had to make a really hard call about whether to stand up for the plans we had agreed to, or find some way to accommodate the new (not improved!) situation.

I didn’t really have to think too long, because the right decision was fairly obvious.

But still- it was a hard conversation.  The high-five in there was that I didn’t blame myself (which has been a habit of mine at times!) nor did I get upset at the other person.

What I said was, “I really wish you’d called me before you made these plans.  This wasn’t what we agreed to, and it’s really not going to work for us.”

I’m sure there were some unpleasant feelings on the other side- I know I wasn’t happy about having to make that call, but I’m hopeful that the relationship itself hasn’t been seriously damaged.

Teleclass!  Yay!

This is another biggie!  Part of the reason this week was so crazy was that in addition to my newspaper deadlines, I was committed to getting the word out about my teleclass.  I’ve signed up for many newsletters, teleclasses, e-books, etc. and it all looks so easy (most of the time!) from the front end.

Creating the content is not hard for me- that’s the part I love.

But oh my goodness getting the technical pieces to come together is not my area of expertise!

After a fair bit of fumbling around, I finally got all the parts to play nicely together.  It’s not fancy, but it’s done.

If you want to check it out- click here.  This will take you to a page that tells you a little more about the free class and has the sign-up box.

There are already a few slots taken, and I’d love to have you on the call as well!

Christmas tree

We got our Christmas tree this weekend and I have to say, I think it’s one of the most beautiful trees we’ve ever had.  When we got it inside and were spinning it around so we could put the ‘bad side’ to the wall, we realized that this tree had no bad side.  In fact as we looked closer, we realized that this tree had been carefully groomed- the tips of the branches clipped so that it was perfectly shaped.

Frankly, I’m not entirely sure what to think of this! I’m not exactly a fan of topiary if you know what I mean, and I’ve never seen this on any other Christmas tree before.

But whoever took the time to clip the ends of the branches did a lovely job and the tree is gorgeous!

Tonight we’ll put the lights and ornaments on it and that will be a good time.

Music!

AJ’s violin studio has an annual holiday concert and parents or siblings who play instruments are invited to play along.  So this week our violin practices have included me playing the harmony parts on my clarinet.  It’s fun stuff.

That’s about it for me- how about you?  Got anything you’d like to do over from this week?  Any high-fives to celebrate?

Let us know in the comments!

And if you haven’t already—be sure to check out the free teleclass  page here!  And tell all your friends!  No mom needs to suffer this December!

Have a great weekend!