A Virtual Spring Cleaning

As promised I did some thinking concerning my blog this past week. I first want to thank all of you who left such encouraging comments. Your kind words have kept me motivated and I’m honored that you read the words that tumble out of my mind unto my electronic page. This period of re-evaluation has been coming for a while now. It happens to me in most areas of my life from time to time. I feel this build up of pressure that at first is unidentifiable, as in I don’t know what the pressure is targeted at. All I know is that something is going to come to a head and/or a change is about to take place. As the pressure intensifies it makes its target clear. I can’t stop thinking about the identified subject, at first feeling hopeless that anything can make it better, which then moves into determination to “fix it” and finally frustration that I don’t know how to fix it. That’s when it POPS! And not unlike a pimple, once the messiness of it is out in the open (whether that be publicly on my blog or crying to B in private as he assures me it’s going to be ok) the problem can start to heal/mend/correct itself….etc. My mind clears and I can see the solution or a few solutions.

So what solutions have I come up with for my Unforgettably Ordinary?

Phase 1: Get organized
Getting organized is possibly the most powerful tool in my tool box. It allows me take all the pieces apart, lay them out for me to consider and then put back together in a way that makes sense to me. I may not ever have to actually change anything, I just may need to reorganize what I already have. That is the case with UO. I was feeling like my grasp on it was slipping and my vision wasn’t clear anymore. After literally outlining what I already have (B and I sat down and wrote out an outline not unlike those I used for school projects waaayyyyy back when I was still in school), it became clear that by categorizing my posts in a way that makes sense to me I have some consistency in my topics. What a relief! The only side affect?  I didn’t realize that when I went through all my uncategorized posts and put them into a category they re-posted! I had about twenty tweets and Facebook posts go out that day! If you are following me on either, I sincerely apologize for blowing up your pick of social media!

Example of my outline:

• Parenting
• Divorce
• Self-discovery
• Love
• Friendship
• B’s posts…(this was supposed to roll out a while ago, but life happens and since we love B we will patiently wait until he’s ready! RIGHT?)

Phase 2: New Look
I know you are all so focused on the content of my writing (haha), but if you look around you may notice I’ve changed the look of UO. Spring is the time for spring cleaning and redecorating! I was itching to change up the look and finally decided on a new Theme. If only redecorating my house was this easy. If I hint at painting a room or re-arranging the furniture I’m pretty sure I can hear the internal groaning in B’s head before he very sweetly says, “Sure. Let’s do it!” He’s the best! I may just have to be satisfied with this new look for the time being though. I hope you like it, but as always I’d like to hear your thoughts on it.

Phase 3: Keep plugging away
I received some really helpful hints and ideas to make things run a bit more smoothly regarding scheduling. From that advice I am taking away the following:

1. Keep an idea list that is continuously added to. Now that I have my categories this should be a bit easier. It may also help to keep them all in one place. At the moment I think I have ideas in any number of notebooks, on my kindle, on this computer and I’m sure various other places.

2. Start as many drafts as possible when I’m given the time to write. I don’t have to start and finish one blog at a time. I can have several ideas started at one time. Note to self: try to avoid the mistake I made the other day. Instead of clicking on “save draft” I clicked on “Publish” and had to quickly “Trash” the post. Since my posts automatically update to Twitter, I had to delete it there as well. Oh, but that’s not all! My Twitter automatically updates to my Facebook! You can imagine what came next. I was running all over the inter-webs trying to right my wrong. If I’m looking at the bright side I gave everyone a teaser to a future post…sure, I meant to do that!

3. Have a consistant day of the week to post. This will very likely be the hardest one for me to follow. I am going to aim for Wednesdays but no later than Thursdays. We’ll see how that works.

So there you have it. My plan for moving forward with Unforgettably Ordinary. If you have any feedback PLEASE leave it in the comments section. I really do love to hear your thoughts!

Excuses, Excuses!

I’ve been pretty darn happy with myself for getting a post out every week until last week happened. I went back on my word to myself and anyone else that cares. I would normally blame my laziness for missing a week’s post, but that wasn’t it at all. On the contrary. I was too busy last week. It wasn’t a bad busy, just one that kept me from writing because by the time I’d sat down at my computer my mind was numb with exhaustion. What was keeping me so busy that I couldn’t share even a few hundred words with my favorite people? (Meaning you of course.) Here is a peek at my week and my main reasons for the neglect:

Friday: Worked my second job
Saturday: Full Frame Film Festival
Sunday: Food shopped, Cleaned the house, Arbonne spa party at my house
Monday: Frightened Rabbit concert
Tuesday through Thursday: Being a Mom in the evenings
Friday: Worked my second job
Saturday: Yard work, Food shopped, Finished taxes, Cleaned, took the kids to the park
Sunday: Church, worked my Origami Owl business

I didn’t add my full time job, but you get the picture.

I wish I could say these are the ONLY reasons, but alas, there’s more. Truth is I’ve been a bit unmotivated about writing lately. I feel stuck in a rut and I’ve been trying to find my way out. I’ve got nothing so far. When I started this blog I had a clear vision for it that has gotten blurry. It isn’t like I have one specified subject I write about. I have visited plenty of successful blogs that specialize in weddings, or parenting, or fashion…etc. You know what you’re going to get when you visit these sights. I’ve written about all of the above, minus the wedding stuff, plus divorce and relationships. I’m all over the place! My goal is to come up with a unified theme that will encompass all of life while still focusing on one main idea. Please be patient with me as I work through this and regain my vision.

Step one: Go back to the beginning.
When I remember where my heart was at the  start of this blog  my desire was to share my experiences with others in the slight chance that anything I’ve learned might help someone else. That includes surviving a divorce, discovering who I am and liking myself again (or possibly for the first time), understanding the meaning and impact of friendship, adjusting to single parenthood and finding true love. I wanted to be an encouraging voice rather than adding to the abundance of negativity out there.

Step two: Evaluate the title.
Why “Unforgettably Ordinary”? In my self-discovery I learned that although I’ve ALWAYS felt ordinary and talent-less, I have some really great qualities. In the right environment those qualities flourish and become extraordinary making me unforgettable (or at least I hope so). I’m not tooting my own horn here. I believe this can be true for EVERYONE. I wanted to be able to help others discover what makes them extraordinary.

I can’t believe I used the term “tooting my own horn”!

Step three: Think.
Now I need to take some time and think about where to go from here. Do I set a monthly topic to discuss? Do I continue all willy nilly and go with the flow? Do I only focus on one of the above mentioned topics from here on out? How do I get my lovely readers commenting and submitting their own stories?* etc. etc.

I will keep you up to date on the result of all the hard thinking I’ll be doing this week.

AND while I am being so vulnerable, there is one other tiny little confession I need to make. I do have one more reason for not writing…Candy Crush Saga! There! I said it. I’m addicted!

*As my statement suggests, I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts on all this? Please feel free to leave a comment below. If you are more comfortable with email, please email me at unfogettablyordinary@gmail.com. 

The Dead Thing Saga Continues and Ends

I haven’t been very good about updating on the Dead Thing saga, but by the end of this post you will be fully informed.  Sadly this may be the last post on the subject because the Dead Thing was finally found! Two days ago as a matter of fact thanks to an invasion of flies and a VERY brave critter control specialist. But I am jumping ahead of myself.

My first account of the “the smell” confirmed there was something dead somewhere in the recesses of the crawl space under my place of work. The first critter controller was unable to find the body. However, during that initial search we discovered a significant hole in the back wall from which the smell was traveling into our office. That led to my next assignment: find a contractor to seal up the hole. Within two days the contractor arrived armed with spray foam and…moth balls! Not knowing the full effect of moth balls he explained to me that since there was a critter problem they would put the moth balls in the hole prior to sealing it up. Apparently critters do not like moth balls. Neither do humans. An hour after the contractor left, my boss was asking me to get him back now to get the moth balls out! It was worse than the smell we had been dealing with for a week. The strong toxic smell of moth balls times 100 because an entire box had been emptied into the wall +  a slightly less-powering smell of rotting animal (we hoped that’s what it was) = NOT a good combination!

It took a couple more days for the contractor to fit us in. He removed the foam, took as many moth balls out as possible and sealed the hole back up with foam. In case anyone ever asks you “as many moth balls as possible” is never enough. Even if you remove every single last one of them it can still take weeks for the smell to dissipate. And since he didn’t remove every last one of them the smell was only slightly less-overwhelming, leading to my next assignment: get the contractor back again to tear the wall out if he has to and get every single last ball out of the wall!

The next time the contractor came out (we are at week 3 now) it was with his boss. It was determined that the wall would have to be dismantled from the outside to remove the last remaining moth balls, and on the third try they got ALL the moth balls. So everything was right in the world again, right? Of course not! That would not make a very interesting story now would it?

Over the next week, the moth ball smell lessened and the death smell lingered and moved. Eventually it went away altogether. Instead of going out quietly (because how cool would that be?), it left in its place an invasion of the biggest, blackest flies I have ever seen. At first we noticed 6 – 8 of them in the windows. My boss and co-worker took up the challenge (a little too eagerly if you ask me) of ridding the office of these offensively buzzing creatures the old fashion way, rolled up newspaper style, and they were successful…until the next day. The flies had multiplied over night. There were now at least 12 – 14 flies in the building! After some more effective swatting, I suggested getting a fly catcher (you know, one of those strips that hang from the ceiling in almost every corner store I’ve ever been in).

I have a new appreciation for those fly strips. They really work! The only trick is trying to open them and hang them without getting stuck yourself. If only their were a hidden camera for all the mess ups I had.  However, for every one I put up I caught at least 15 – 20 flies,  sometimes more. This lasted at least week before…

enter Brave Critter Control guy!

When he saw the issue, he went on a search for the source of the flies. He climbed into the attic (without a ladder I might add). He just shimmed his way up there. Then he moved to the crawl space. When he finally emerged about 30 minutes later, he asked for a trash bag because he had found the dead thing! While in it’s current position it was unidentifiable he was able to confirm that it was indeed an animal and not a human. Phew! It wasn’t until he pulled it out that he discovered it was an opossum that has been dead for about – you guessed it – 2 months! This was not his first trip to the abyss so how did he finally find it?  The trail of really big, really black flies led him straight to it. He also discovered how they were entering into the office and  stopped it up for us. Since then there have been no new fly sightings!

So that is the end of this saga. Just thought you might want to know.