Have you ever cooked a dish that was so terrible, you had to throw it out? Is there something cooking in your life that needs to be tossed?
IT & A/V Tech
Dear Nathan,
You would be so totally stinkin’ proud of me right now! I wish I could pick up the phone and call you to brag. I’m thinking about adding IT & A/V Tech to my resume. 🙂
In addition to clearing out three large bookcases, all of the boys’ school papers and random cr@p that they’ve collected in the study because it seemed special at the time, we also had to disassemble the computers in the study and electronics in the living room (ie, tv room) in preparation for the flooring work this week. (They moved the furniture, but it had to be emptied, and they don’t handle electronics. Fair enough!) The new laminate floor looks so nice, and it will be much easier to maintain than carpet.
Mama came over after dinner tonight and supervised the younger three as they restocked the two kids’ bookshelves, while Nos. 1 & 2 helped me rewire the house. I say “the house” because we literally reconnected everything: the cable box, modem, wireless router, video game consoles, Tivo, dvd player & surround sound speakers (which had previously only worked when the dvd player was on, but I made it so that they work with the tv!). We had to try a couple of different configurations to get the audio working properly, but honestly, we had it up and going in a surprisingly short period of time!
I was so impressed with us. We whooped and cheered for ourselves when the tv came on – in color, with sound – and all of the peripheral devices seemed to work. The surround sound thing was a bonus accomplishment.
I may not be able to move tomorrow from all the bending, leaning, crawling around and carrying relatively heavy things, but it was worth it. I’m back online; we have tv again; and the boys can play video games. The digital world in which we live is, once again, in balance. 😉
I even took some of my big-lil’ brother’s advice and twist-tied the slack wires to help keep them organized. (See — I did listen to you … sometimes!) Seriously, though – you can act like it’s no big deal, because you could’ve totally done it right the first time (yeah, yeah – I know), but I can see right through you … I know you’re proud of me. 🙂
I love you & miss you each and every day.
P.S. Guess what we found as we were stacking books? Surviving Fights With Your Brothers & Sisters. Heehee … Mama suggested that we add it to our devotional/reading time before bed, and I agreed. I don’t know how much it really helped us change our behavior back in the day, but at least we were more mindful of how mean we were to each other (mostly you toward me, of course! Heh)! 😉
Prayer prompt for Thursday, May 3
How are you influencing others with your life? Does your example encourage them to stay on track or derail?
Decaf for Breakfast
We are having flooring work done at home today & tomorrow, and they will be taking up the carpet in the living room. On an unrelated note, No. 3 asked me last night if I would fix decaf coffee for them this morning, and I agreed. (Who knew — they all like coffee!) So, as a special treat (just because we could), we decided to sit in the living room and drink our coffee on the old carpet (a big no-no, normally!). It was quite a hoot, and we felt luxurious sipping our coffee mugs on the floor.
Nos. 1 & 2 had already finished breakfast, and they left for the bus shortly, as usual. The other three got their backpacks ready and went off to a bedroom to play video games before time to go to school. We completely forgot to eat breakfast!! No one reminded me, and I had already eaten with Nos. 1 & 2, so I didn’t think about it.
I can just hear them when they realize later that they are hungry, then tell their teachers that I didn’t feed them this morning. Oh, dear! Haha! Oh, well – I guess the decaf was their breakfast, and they won’t starve before lunch. I know that some people seldom eat breakfast, but I’m not one to skip a meal (the scale can attest to that!), so it’s a foreign idea to me to go without breakfast.
Prayer prompt for Wednesday, May 2
Paul reminds us in Galatians that a little yeast works on the whole batch of dough. What is the “yeast” that’s influencing in your life now?
Management Styles
There are tens of thousands of management books on the market, not to mention academic articles on the subject. One that came to my mind today was popularized by Kotkin and Kishimoto (1986), dubbed the “Theory F” style of management.
Theory F is different from micro-management, because the supervisor is not necessarily over the employees’ shoulders, though the staff are certainly under the manager’s thumb. Theory F is a fear-mongering style of management, one that means being concerned about losing your job for mistakenly ghostwriting a letter with the closing “Sincerely” instead of the preferred “Yours sincerely” (capital Y, never S). Theory F means saying yes to whatever is thrown your way, because the alternative is not having a job.
Except for rare cases in which one’s job is truly a matter of life and death, the implementation of Theory F management is generally dehumanizing and belittling and should be avoided.
Reference
Kotkin, J. and Y. Kishimoto. April 1, 1986. “Theory F.” Inc. Magazine. New York City, NY: Inc.
Wanted: Personal Assistant
Well, apparently, I’m a day ahead of myself! Oops – I hope you enjoyed tomorrow’s Wednesday Words a day early. Ha!
Have you ever thought about how nice it would be to have a personal assistant? Someone to keep track of your calendar, run errands, etc.? I think it might be nice for a while, but my independent streak might get the best of me. There are times when I begrudge busy work (like driving to campus just to pick up a letter from a dean because I don’t have a student worker or assistant anymore who can go and do it for me), but then, I don’t really mind getting out of the office for a few minutes, either. So, I can’t really complain.
The calendar thing, though – that would be wonderful. Perhaps then, I wouldn’t forget that I bought a ticket for a luncheon an hour before time to head over there! Thankfully, a) I ran into a friend in the hallway who asked if I was going, and b) I didn’t make conflicting lunch plans. Perhaps also, I would realize sooner than the afternoon before that the two 1st graders have a book report due the next day. Thankfully, their “reports” consist of three sentences describing the story, so we managed.
These are the tongue-in-cheek things that I point to when people say, “I don’t know how you do it.” I just laugh and say, “Apparently, I don’t always do it well!” 🙂
Wednesday Words: Fun reading
I am in the middle of a light-hearted suspense novel by Julie Anne Lindsey: Death By Chocolate. I had the opportunity to chime in as an advance reader on her debut novella, Bloom, which was a lot of fun. I’m proud of what this gal has accomplished, and she inspires me to stick with creative writing … in my spare time, ha!
Death By Chocolate takes the reader on a raucous adventure through Ruby Russell’s comedy of errors. Unfortunately, her poor choices keep leading to the untimely demise of innocent by-standers with a sweet tooth. Ruby is not a character to whom I have warmed up easily, because she is rather conniving and self-centered. I’m looking forward to finishing the tale, though, and I feel pretty confident that things will work out, in the end. At the very least, she could take over supervision of the mess hall in prison! :p
Prayer prompt for Tuesday, May 1
Think about the way your body feels when you exercise. What compels you to push through the hard parts? Can you do that spiritually, too?
Monday Musings: It’s Monday
I got nuthin’ muse-worthy for you today, except to share that I’ve been at work for nearly two hours and have already had four meetings. Oh, and “Manic Monday” from The Bangles is stuck in my head.
Now, it is also stuck in yours. You’re welcome. 🙂
Have a blessed week!
faith, sweat & tears 