Saturday 29 December 2007

Apartment, Clutter

Robert and I are trying to prepare the apartment for the furniture we’re having delivered Monday. It wouldn’t be such a big deal, but the second bedroom is a mess. Things have a way of making it just inside the door in this room, then they don’t get put away until something comes up. Whether that means we need room to bring in the old dining table or I’m losing my mind over the mess... Well, it just depends on the situation.

It’s both this time, really. We’re both adults, so why is it so hard to put something away when we’re done with it? Sometimes I feel like all I’m doing is picking up after Robert. Sometimes I feel like I can‘t get my own act straight. I feel nothing short of lazy when I walk into a room and see a huge mess. Whether it’s my mess or not doesn’t matter. It’s there, and it’s in my home. I hate clutter.

I always say I’m going to clean the mess once and for all, and it’s going to stay clean this time. Then I get sick or my back hurts, and I’ll put something off until the next day. Sometimes I do clean up after myself the next day, and sometimes I find the mess has multiplied and grown talons in a week.

I’m perfectly capable of dealing with a large mess a few minutes at a time (thank you, Fly Lady), but it doesn’t work when people keep adding onto it. When I’m trying to clean a mess, I usually start putting things away when I’m done with them so they don’t add to the mess. My mistake is that I don’t always remember to tell Robert when I’ve started working on a pile of clutter...

Thursday 27 December 2007

Procter and Gamble, Animal Testing, Goals, Animal Welfare

I posted this in 43 Things, and I wanted to keep it:

“I was asked why I’m boycotting Procter and Gamble products. I realize I never explained my reasons. It is a controversial issue, so I initially chose not to say anything. I’m not going to ignore someone’s question, and I knew I was going to explain eventually.

I’ve come to believe that testing on animals in unnecessary, even for medicinal purposes. If it really did any good, there wouldn’t be so many drugs on the market causing casualties. Human clinical trials, for that reason as well, are not as effective as most people would believe. I realize that animal testing for medical purposes is required by law, so I will not boycott medicine or health care. To do so would not accomplish anything, and I would only suffer myself when I was ill or injured. I would, however, like to see the law that requires medicinal testing repealed.

Testing on animals for cosmetic purposes is not legally required for most things. I find it offensive that a company would place the importance of eye shadow sales above animal welfare. It is not a legal requirement. There have been technological advances that make animal testing fairly unnecessary, yet some companies refuse to utilize them. I believe that some, if not most or all, of the newer methods of testing would be more cost efficient.

I decided to start my boycott with Procter and Gamble for a few reasons. They are a large company with many products; if they decide to forgo unnecessary animal testing, other companies are likely to follow. They may not test on animals for things like Pringles, but I would be supporting CoverGirl if I bought them, so I skip the company’s entire product line. Another main reason that I chose to boycott Procter and Gamble the way they treat their laboratory animals. There is plenty of information to be found about the animals used in the Iams and Eukanuba experiments online, if anyone is interested enough.

I am not a member of PETA, nor do I agree with all of their tenets. I choose what to believe and not to believe based on what I read, how it is written, and by following my instincts. I am also not going to say that animal testing was never necessary, because I cannot prove that one way or another. I simply chose to boycott Procter and Gamble due to my morals.”

Sunday 23 December 2007

Resolutions

I suppose I do have one resolution I can make, but I have to explain something before I can say what it is.

Last year, 2006, I wasted a lot of time. I could have wasted that time reading books or magazines. I could have spent hours sitting in front of the television. It may have been from an exorbitant amount of sleeping. I could have wasted the time writing wish lists. None of these are the reason I wasted so much time in 2006.

The culprit was internet celebrity gossip, which I find funny, because I’ve never wasted the time or money on supermarket tabloids. Why did I choose to waste my time on the internet version? I still can’t answer that, because it was never something I enjoyed that much. It was just something I did mindlessly to pass the time. That is also funny, because I can’t sit still in front of the television if I don’t have something to do.

When December rolled around last year, I decided that in 2007 I was going to spend a lot less time reading internet tabloids. That is the only resolution I truly made last year. I believe I have succeeded with honors. I feel like I’ve had so many more productive hours this year. I have literally spent hours a day less than last year reading celebrity gossip. Most days, I haven’t read any at all, which brings me to the only resolution I am going to make for 2008.

I have decided that I am going to read as little celebrity gossip as possible. Last year, I read all the gossip I came across. This year I only read what caught my eye. Next year, I will only read what peaks my interest. Maybe I will cut celebrity gossip out of my life completely in 2009. Who knows, especially if I enjoy as much extra free time in 2008 as I did this year.

I want to look at this in a very bald and simple way. It boils down to the fact that I’m refusing to do things that aren’t worth my time, and that’s a pretty good way to be.

Friday 21 December 2007

Ill, Crochet, Goals

I guess I’m starting to feel better. I’m not coughing as much as I was, and I’m awake for most of the day now. The exception is my back. I’m not doing too well there. Robert’s been helping me to get up and down, and he’s been doing what he can for me while he’s home. The good part is that I’m awake enough of the time to be able to keep track of the days again, and while I’m not able to clean, do laundry, or other standing activities right now, I am working on what can be accomplished while seated.

I have taken a few balls of Red Heart Bay Print, and with it, I have made a beret, a short scarf, an mp3 necklace, a pair of mittens, and a purse. The pattern for all of them are simple, as I wrote them all. For the most part, they’re double crochet only. I’m proud of myself for making the mittens because of how they came about. I wanted to make a pair of mittens to go with the rest of my Bay Print items, but I had never made mittens before. I changed that fact by finding a simple Lion Brand pattern and making most of a single mitten. From there, I frogged that mitten-portion, and I wrote my own mitten pattern. I can happily say it turned out well. The purse, on the other hand, may not be my favourite purse ever. I wrote the pattern for it as I went. While the pattern is simple and has everything I want, it just didn’t come out quite right. I wanted my purse to be mostly double crochet, to have a bottom, be able to be worn over a shoulder across my body, and have no definite front or back side. I like it for the most part; I’m just not sure about when I’m actually wearing it. I may just not be a yarn-purse kind of person.

I’ve also worked on my goals a little since I’ve been sitting so much. Robert and I decided to try Swheat Scoop (which I always try to write and type as either Swheat Shcoop or Swheat Schoop) as our first environmentally friendly cat litter attempt. I’ve made my Procter & Gamble brands list into an Excel document. I’ve titled it “Do Not Buy”. It has two columns, one for brand/item name, and one for the reason we won’t buy it / from it. I only have Procter & Gamble on it at the moment, but I will be adding things like Yum! Brands Foods (KFC, Taco Bell, A&W, etc.), McDonald's (it literally smells like road kill to us), and general things like fur and pet stores that SELL animals. I’ve made a list of the brands that are Leaping Bunny certified, and it will go in my shopping binder as well. I haven’t progressed in my Welsh studies yet, but I have an excuse: All of the “ll”s and “ch”s are hard to pronounce when I’m sick, and I don’t want to train myself into an incorrect pronunciation. I know what I have in front of me in that concern as soon as I get well. I have worked on my Welsh binder a little, though, so I am happy about that.

Another, smaller, goal (yet a more expensive one) that I (we) have accomplished is to get a reading chair in the Study. My back has been hurting me so badly lately, and sitting on the couch in the Living Room only made it worse. Robert and I finally sucked it up and bought a loveseat (and ottoman) for the Living Room. The couch is being moved into the Study, where it will still hurt my back, but not as much as the chair I use at the desk (table) in there. It’s a win-win situation for me. I get a more comfortable piece of furniture in the Study and something even more comfortable in the Living Room at the same time. Also, the giant coffee table of doom is going into the Study. We opted for the ottoman for my back as well. Now we have to buy end tables for the loveseat. Help!

Internet, MySpace

So many times, I’ve heard (or read) someone saying (or writing) that, “It’s just the internet, it can’t (fill in the blank)”. I’m here to call bull. My life has changed so much for the better in the past year, and it’s because I joined MySpace. Maybe you only get out of something what you put into it. I don’t know. I have spent a lot of time on MySpace in the last year, but look at what I’ve gotten out of it.

I have some friends that completely amaze me, like Victoria and Kat. I have friends that listen when I need an ear, like Jack and Crystal. I have friends that offer me much needed advice, like Ellen and Q. I’ve caught up with friends I’ve known in real life, like Bri and JennS.

I’ve also learned more about humanity and what it means to be humane from the people on MySpace than from most of the people I’ve known in person. I learned about animal testing, why it’s unnecessary and cruel. I have learned about what it really means to wear fur, all of the horrors that can befall a cat allowed outdoors, the truth about (and danger in) declawing, why it’s so important to spay and neuter, and the ins and outs of feline behaviour. I am a much better cat parent than I was, and it’s because the internet, and the people on it, really DO make a difference.

Perhaps I would have come across these things in time, but there is no way to tell. I doubt that I would have taken certain things as seriously as I do if I hadn’t met certain people. I wouldn’t know just how alarmed I should be if one of my cats uses the restroom outside of the litter box (it can be a sign of a fatal illness). I wouldn’t be able to trim Emily’s claws without coming away bloody. I wouldn’t know what an awful thing I’ve done to my sweet Fate by having him declawed. I would never have realized that it’s because he’s been declawed that he walks and runs the way he does.

There are so many more things that I’ve learned in ONE YEAR from MySpace alone, that I cannot simply write off the internet as a toy.

Movie, Pan’s Labyrinth, Transformers

Robert and I watched two movies recently, and they are both driving me nuts.

The first one we watched was “Pan’s Labyrinth”. It was awful. When I boil it down to the simplest possible explanation, it’s about a little girl that was murdered because her imagination was too big for her. It went too slow. There was too much gore. The general plot was just awful. “Pan’s Labyrinth” has been driving me nuts since we watched it, because it should have been a better movie. The visuals were wonderful. It’s just everything else that stank.

The other movie that I can’t get out of my head is “Transformers”. It was an amazing movie. I even have a little crush on Shia LaBeouf now, though that may be cured when I watch “Holes” next week. I cannot, at this moment, tell you the title of an action movie that I have enjoyed more than “Transformers”. It won’t get out of my head, but that’s alright, because I don’t want it to.

There is something funny to me in the fact that the two movies stuck in my head are at opposite ends of the spectrum. I rated “Pan’s Labyrinth” with one star on Netflix, though I would have rated it lower if possible. I rated “Transformers” with five stars, and I would have rated it higher if possible. I think I’ll be buying that one soon.

Resolutions

I keep trying to write New Year’s Resolutions for 2008, and I fail continuously. I’ve finally figured out why. I don’t need them. I’ve been actively working to achieve my goals lately, and I completely reassess them every time I accomplish a single goal. I’ve made a few adjustments to the steps I take when preparing my goal list, so now it’s easier for me to be sure I’m on the right path, according to me. My new steps are also more efficient than they were.

My new steps are as follows. (1) Write goals. That means to write down all of my goals, no matter how large or small, how long or short term they are. (2) Categorize goals. I currently have eight categories (career, family, financial, physical, religious, service, skills, and travel). (3) Select focus goals. This is where I choose the goals that I can complete sooner and ones that I want to focus on at the moment. (4) Narrow focus goals to ten or fifteen. When I do step number three, I let myself choose as many focus goals as I want. Step four is when I narrow my focus goals down to a level that I can concentrate (focus) on all of them at once. (5) Note goal deadlines. Not all of my goals have deadlines, but some of them do. It’s good to pay attention to the time constraints so that I don’t have to panic at the last minute. (6) Prioritize goals. (7) List goal steps. This may be the single hardest step for me. (8) List accomplished goals. I don’t want to forget what I have accomplished. It may help me with new goals, and it builds confidence. Who could blame me?

Saturday 08 December 2007

Anxiety

I had a small anxiety attack while we were staying at my parents’ house over the weekend. I just wasn’t prepared for the heat, and heat is definitely a factor in my anxiety. I’ve also had a small attack since we’ve gotten home. That one was because I’m sick, and I’m tired of it. I’m doing really well, actually.