Time Suckers

My New Year's Resolution for 2008 was the same resolution I made for 2007... and for 2006... and for 2005. The resolution is simple: respond to emails in a timely manner. Clearly, this is a resolution I struggle with, because here it is, January 7th, and I'm already failing miserably.

Last year I decided not to open emails unless I had time to respond. Phft... that strategy didn't work at all, as I LOVE getting emails and I couldn't stand not peeking at what people had to say. And so even though I held off reading them for a while, I eventually caved in and read them in one giant read-fest. It was like Christmas, and by the time I was finished reading my mail, there was no time left to reply. So there went that approach. This year, I decided to tackle my resolution using a different method - an approach that involved the reward system. Today it hit me - the reward system is not working at all. Not only is it not working, but I unknowingly set myself up for failure before I began. Case in point: I decided that I would not allow myself to write a blog entry until I caught up on the emails I received in December. Ha! What a joke that turned out to be, because while I continued to procrastinate responding to messages that are now very outdated, more emails began piling up. What is so funny is that the emails I'm now receiving regard one single subject, "Please update your blog." Thus, the reward system backfired in a way I had not considered. The emails are still sitting there, the blog has been sorely neglected, and rather than having a single problem, I now have two. And so it's back to square one for me, because come hell or high water, I am determined to overcome the email dilemma. Anyways... there you have it - Kelly's Guide to New Year's Resolution Failure. I don't suggest following my system because it is severely flawed!

So what the heck have I been doing all these days and weeks that I've been away from the blog? Time suckers... that's what I've been doing. In addition to my parenting duties for John, who is currently fighting some demons of his own, I have been playing with new toys - toys that suck the time right out of the day.

This toy has sucked at least twelve hours out of my life. But it's cute! And I like cute. I also like PINK, so I'm not complaining too much, other than to state that I have no freaking clue how to work this thing.

On December 15th my cell phone died. I didn't drop it. It didn't get wet. It wasn't abused in any way. It just got old and died. It was a sudden death and took me by complete surprise. Since this happened so close to Christmas, I was unwilling to buy a new cell phone until after the first of the year. And so on December 31, I ordered a new phone. It arrived on January 3, and my cost was ZERO! The problem is, I have only owned one cell phone in my life - the one that died. I don't know a darn thing about cell phones. The only thing I know is that I want them to work. And now I know something else: saving numbers to the phone instead of the SIM card is a very, very, very bad idea. I ended up losing over 150 phone numbers when my old phone died. So now I'm starting from scratch. I'm in the process of learning how to use this new phone and hunting down all those numbers, which is taking up a ton of time, and which is also frustrating the heck out of me. Of course, I only discovered the SIM card memory thing AFTER my old phone died, and AFTER I spent an entire afternoon and evening trying to figure out why my new phone was not reading my SIM card. And this explains why it is that I feel old and cranky when trying to figure out new technology.

Last week, as I anticipated success with my NY-Resolution of answering an in-box filled with emails, I was in the process of making a new blog banner for the new year. That was until I received yet another email. This one was in regard to Book Club. YIKES! I had totally forgotten about Book Club, which meant no new banner, no emails answered, no blog entry, but instead a reading marathon because I do not want to get kicked out of Book Club! I read The Boleyn Inheritance in three days (in between watching the America's Next Top Model marathon on VH1 and the bowl games on all the other channels). My thoughts on the book are that I enjoyed it more than The Other Boleyn Girl, but had I not read The Other Boleyn Girl first, I doubt I would have enjoyed this book at all. The Boleyn Inheritance is very much a continuation of the story of the Boleyns and King Henry VIII's rule, and in spite of the "off with their heads" theme, I liked how the story came full circle.

Before I read The Boleyn Inheritance, I was merrily marching along reading this:

John gave me The Dark Materials Trilogy for Christmas because he knew that I was dying to get my hands on these books. I will admit that I enjoy teen literature. There are several reason for this. Namely, I like to know what it is that my kids are reading and discussing. But I also just plain enjoy the genre of teen lit and I often find myself browsing the teen lit aisle at the bookstore. Additionally, these books are highly controversial and I am the kind of person who prefers to form my own opinion before passing judgment on whether or not books should be banned. Okay... that's not true. I don't believe in banning books for any reason. However, I do believe in being educated as to why others wish for books to be banned. In the case of these particular books, I now understand both arguments. I still don't think the books should be banned, but I do respect parents who choose to remove the books from their homes. As for me, the books will remain in my personal library because 1) my kids are old enough to understand that fantasy is just that... fantasy, and 2) my kids are of an age that is well past book censoring. Side-note: I really enjoyed the trilogy... but it did suck a lot of hours to read all three books back-to-back. I became thoroughly caught up in a world of mysterious fantasy where bears can talk and people can move between two worlds. And the time when I should have been doing other things (such as responding to emails) was sucked right out of my life.

Speaking of time suckers, my husband gave me the ultimate time sucker as a Christmas gift. He knows me well, and he knew when he gave me this gift that it would become one of my favorite new toys. But what surprised me is that *I* had no idea I needed one of these things. I've ignored all conversations about them for months. I don't know if that was due to ignorance, or to fear, or maybe even stubbornness... probably a combination of all three, because once again, this is new technology and although it entices me, it also scares me. Therefore, I found myself saying, "That's not for me." And as always, I later stand corrected when I say, "How did I live without this for so long?" The toy I'm talking about is the digital photo frame. Seemingly simple. Seemingly innocent. And seemingly NOT a time sucker. But there's the rub. For a person who dabbles in digital scrapbooking, a digital frame is just another form of a photo album, and when the frame is approached as an album, the concept then takes on a life of its own.

I've got several thoughts and opinions on the digital frame. But since I've overextended this entry, I will save them for another day. Suffice it to say, the digital frame is a big time sucker, but it is honestly one of the most fun toys I've played with in a very long time. And although it's sucked hours from my days, I'm having a blast setting it up exactly how I want it. (More pictures to follow.)

Until then, I'm back to tackling those emails. If you sent me a message, I promise it's been read. What I can't promise is a response date. Just know that I'm making a strong effort to overcome the procrastination issue, and that I love getting emails and I love hearing from you. But those darn replies... I'm blaming the lack thereof on a time sucker, because I'm not kidding when I say that these toys seriously suck up the hours in my days.

Comments

[JenC (aka Kate77)]

Talk about a time sucker... I've been reading your blog! :) How have I missed it all this time? I'm the EXACT same way with emails. If I have one from a "real" person I have to read it. And then they sit in my inbox, waiting to be replied to.

[Patti Smith]

Glad your back I too have checked several times and was afraid son was sick again...Happy New Year and look forward to hearing and seeing what you are doing with the digital frame
...My son gave me one for Christmas also and I love it too!!
Patti Smith

[Keely]

Kelly, I hope you don't mind. I will not send you an email. I will only comment here. I totally enjoy your blog (one of my time-suckers - blog hopping)! The truth is you've been a busy girl doing fun stuff. If people really need to contact you, they will call (home #, not cell #) instead of email :) Happy 2008!!

[Becky H]

glad your back. happy new year.

[becky]

You're back!!!! Yipee do you realize how many times a day I check your blog to see if there is anything knew?

Glad life is ok. Hope John gets better soon.

[Randi]

Welcome back..It's been awhile. Winter quarter started on the 7th, only thing wrong with that is the books for Kelli's classes are not in yet. She's hoping that they will be in this week. Since all the students don't have books there is nothing the teacher can do. As for New Years Resolutions, Michael and I made one that we can keep, HAVE FUN ON OUR CRUISE IN MAY. Sounds good. We finally got Michaels Passport, so we have already done the advance checkin for the cruise. Just 4 1/2 more months. Love Randi

[slammie]

She's ALIVE!!!!! YAY! Love your new toys!

[Kelly Jo]

Happy, Happy New Year!!!...and No email. lol

[Kim B.]

Happy New Year, Kelli. Glad your back among the bloggers.

[Maria]

Glad you updated your blog! I was wondering if you were doing ok. Congrats on all your new toys. I enjoyed the Gregory books and they were totally out of my "normal genre" reads.

[Stacey]

Hi Kelly! I found your blog from 2Peas morning thread a while ago, and I really enjoy it! What photo frame do you have? We got one at Target and weren't happy with it at all, but it sounds so neat. So, would you recommend the one you have?
Stacey

[wendy]

good to see you.

but darling, you need to learn how to answer emails in 10 words or less. that way you can answer a lot of them all at once! LOL

hugs and i'll see you in anaheim!

[Barb]

Oh Kelly, would it be evil of me to send you an e-mail right this very minute?! lol Your post made me smile. I love your convoluted way of thinking. It's not to different than mine.

And finally, thanks for the warning about the digi frame. I've seen them around... my FIL has one, and I seriously thought of getting my mom and dad one. But I never thought of getting one to upload digi LOs onto! Eeeeeek!

[Amy Sorensen]

Kelly, I read the Dark Materials trilogy this December, too. Love thinking that we were reading the same books at the same time! I fully intend on blogging about it, as I have continued to think about it. Hugs!

[heather]

((((((Kelly)))))) Totally understand that email thing. I still have your emails in my inbox so that I remember to email you and get caught up now that Christmas is over!

Golden Compass -- we decided that it was not something that we wanted our kids to read at this point. . . however, they are quite a bit younger and more impressionable.

Loving the cute new phone!

[lynne]

I wonder if you have ever explored Season Affective Disorder about John. I seem to remember, you had difficulties with him this time last year. Some people don't have a full blown case but have tendancies toward a seasonal depressive cycle.