Awkward dish moments -

I try and avoid awkward dish moments at the end of any party or event. I do not like having to look through someone’s cabinets or scour the room for a Ziploc to dump any leftover food into so I can take my pretty tray home with me.  I also don't want to leave my tray and take the chance that I will: a) never see my tray again or b) have to call and ask to come pick up my pretty tray – both make me feel icky so I try and skip it. 

My goal is to have my food be such a big hit that there are no leftovers and I can just pick up my plate and head home.  Regardless though of the over-all popularity of my food I just don’t really want to go there with dishes. I try to only bring foods that can be packaged in a disposable way or buy something cheap and cute that I don’t mind leaving at someone’s house or at an event. 

Food brought on disposable items benefit both me and the host (who wants to wash a million dishes that don’t belong to you and then pass them all back out again or have the guilt hang over you that you STILL have Nicole’s plate – aaaaaaahhh -  not me).  I buy cute paper plates at Marshalls/TJMaxx/Target – one pack of 10 high quality, charmingly decorated, full size plates are about $3.50 and last me awhile (because I don’t actually leave my house if I can help it).  When I make a casserole for a family with a new baby I buy the foil casserole tins w/ the lid – bake it and deliver in that – they throw away when they are done – everyone is happy.



Deviled eggs on a pretty paper plate -- preventing an akward moment - I can walk away from any leftover eggs and the plate.

If it’s a really good friend then either you can bring your item in a Ziploc, dig through their cabinets for a pretty bowl to use, or you can bring your own plate and know that when you see them 6 more times that week they will either bring it to you or you don’t mind asking for it.  Those are the friends we all want to exclusively have. 

If anyone is still awake reading this then I have one last thing to say – when I do have people to my house – that is the time I pull out my pretty stuff or fun chip and dip bowl or tray shaped like a gator (for my husband). 

This small thing allows me to spend more time elsewhere  - like perfecting another dip to add to my repertoire (I wanted to use that word again!) or sitting on the couch doing nothing.

One power cord away from a tantrum -

One power cord away from a tantrum.
Sometimes I have a plan and one small thing gets in my way – I shouldn’t say sometimes I should say always.  

Sometimes (always) the only thing standing between me and a complete melt down is a power cord of some kind – laptop, ipad, camera, phone – you name it.  My brilliant friend (who is a new-mom), Lydia, wrote this to me about the same thing -  basically a camera cord standing between her and her Christmas cards.  I will say that as she is new mom she emailed me this in the middle of the night I think, so I have taken the liberty of correcting her typos.


“Tired Girls think about getting a really cute photo Christmas card of the new family (complete with baby's first Christmas) but they never get around to it, and then they think about doing one of those really cute e-cards where you can post your faces on dancing elves or something (saves on addressing all those envelopes!), but then you realize that would mean you have to download pics from your camera to the laptop.  Maybe this year I will just do a "Christmas photo" Facebook post!! "


I love this Tired Girl idea.  The time, money and especially energy saved is immeasurable.  The important thing is telling friends you care and a Facebook post counts. 


On a side note I do have a power cord basket ( I heart baskets ).  

Any power cord I come across, any time, goes in this basket.  The cords I use all the time (phone & ipad) are permanently plugged in at “their” spot in my house, but all other cords go in the basket.  My husband panics when he looks in there and sees a tangle of wires, but I love it because I know somewhere in there is the cord I am looking for or one that will fit atleast.

Holidays: not a hobby I choose to have -

Tired girl holidays – I am even too tired right now to come up with a clever title.   I like the holidays fine – I do not love them.  I am one of the ones that is excited to hang up the January calendar and am perfectly happy to have 11 months between me and the next holiday season.  The good and the bad news is I live with Santa in the form of an attorney – which is another issue – but the bottom line my husband is idealistic about the joy of the season, and consequently very helpful - he does a lot of the Christmasy things in our house.  I am mostly lucky.

The holidays add about 7 more items to my to-do list every day.  7 more things standing between me and getting in bed at 8pm.  And I wish I could say I had  great time-saving resolutions, but I don’t really.  I try my hardest to keep the holidays simple – here is a list, in no particular order, about my idea of simple.  I could really use your tips to simplyfing and streamling the holidays. 

It’s short list – because I don’t know how.

Email me your Tired Girl holiday ideas - tiredgirl.notes@gmail.com

Adulthood -

This is how I feel today.

Do you have more money or more time?

Do you have more money or more time? This is a question I ask myself almost daily.

Sometimes I have more money than time, which means I shop on the internet for a friend and have the gift mailed off to her (etsy.com and amazon prime are my faves). Probably spending a little more money, but getting it done. Also when I have more money, I would get a dress dry-cleaned so it looks perfect for an event, buy an item at CVS, because it's on my way somewhere instead of heading to Target or Wal-Mart.

Sometimes I have more time which is usually when I make a gift for a friend, shop around for an item I am looking for, or take my shopping list to Wal-Mart instead of Publix. I would hand wash, air dry, and iron my event dress (instead of dry-cleaning - although, as you know I don't really wash my clothes that often).  I will make cookies or an appetizer to bring to a friend instead of stopping at Publix for a bottle of wine to bring  - or whatever. These are little things that add up in my head.

It’s the whole “do the benefits outweigh the costs” idea - I base my life on that question.

Obviously having more time or more money is a perception – not necessarily reality. BUT if I feel pooped after a bunch of activities or I’m saving up energy for something else fun to do, then I perceive that I have more money than time. If my husband and I just got back from a vacation where we treated ourselves to dinners with dessert, etc , than I perceive that I have less money and therefore more time to make dinner at home for a while.

This is not rocket science, but in my opinion it is a very brilliant way to run your life.  I think I have more to say about this but I - shocker - I am too tired.

If you want to read about cost/benefit analysis here is wikipedia on it.  It is brutal though so don't read it - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost%E2%80%93benefit_analysis  

Economics was my WORST grade in college, but this idea rocks and I happily apply it daily.  Do you ever ask yourself "do the benefits outweigh the costs?" 

This idea is not rocket scienc, but this nail polish is.  I am not into it but I would love to have a job naming nail polish and lipstick.

source

Say no to stuff.

Set limits. It is okay to say no.  You can’t say no to funerals or to the health of your family, or unfortunately to lots of things, but you can say no sometimes.

Some friends from work asked me to join their bunco group and even though I really liked all of them I also knew that by the time I get home in the evenings I do not like to go back out – that’s just me.  So even though I was crazy about them and even though it was only once a month I knew I would only disappoint them if I said yes and then never went.  That’s a shitty thing to do. 
So I told them I just don’t commit to things during the week.  Maybe they thought I stunk, but it was best for everyone and I was still their friends and super friendly and always asked how it was and who made what kinds of snacks and what was the gossip, I just didn’t go. I have a list of 20 things like this that I say no to.

I have a friend who sets the limits with her school age children.  Anything that needs to be signed, paid for, made, etc. needs to be done the night before, then in the chaos of the morning rush she is not writing a check for the field trip while she is driving.  Her oldest daughter forgot this guideline one morning and begged her mom to sign her permission slip to watch a movie at school or something.  Mom said no, daughter didn’t watch the movie, daughter never forget again to get things signed the night before.

You might think this lady is a royal jerk for doing this. I like that she set reasonable limits for her kids and herself and stuck to it.  Doing things like this for yourself, kids, dogs, friends, partners, spouse can be a great way to save energy.  You aren’t forced to make that game time decision or possibly hurt someone’s feelings. You have set some limits and sometimes you say no.  (You probably say “no thank you”  though because you are a lady and not a jerk).   

Hillary Clinton, Condoleeza Rice and clean garages

Do Hillary Clinton and Condoleeza Rice clean out their garage? 
Sometimes I get so caught up with making my world run smoothly that I don’t take a step away and think about the BIG things I want. 

I want to have an organized garage so I don’t feel annoyed when I pull in and see stuff sitting around.  But those tasks and thoughts so easily can fill up my brain and my day.  Do I really want to spend my life organizing my garage, analyzing the shape of my eyebrows and thinking about fun art projects for myself? Not really. 

 All of those things are important, but I want my life to run like a top so that I have the energy to do something big or important. I want more Tired Girl tips so that I don’t get bogged down in the necessary, but mundane.  Please send me your tips so that I can one day be Secretary of State maybe.  

I have a vitamin organizer.

I have a vitamin organizer.  Does my husband make fun of it? Yes.  Do I care? No. 

I value my vitamin regimen, but don’t value it enough to pay attention to what I have taken or when.  Sometimes I don’t value my time enough, and as I run out the door I feel regretful that I didn’t take my calcium.   

So I have the 7 days AM & PM set.  I place all my vitamins in for the week and snap the little lids shut.  If I miss a day I don’t have to load that container.  If I have a pill I like to take a few times a week and not every day (don’t ask) then I can organize that out as well.  I understand that most normal people do not feel the need to even come close to this activity, but in case you do I highly recommend a vitamin organizer. There are a lot of fun ones on amazon. I got mine at Target – looks like this:

oh yeah!

 

Paying bills online -

I pay my bills online, by the way, and it has really helped me out.  I have my credit card and checking account through Bank of America (this is NOT an endorsement just a fact). I log in and can see the balance on both. 

I have almost every bill I pay set up for online billing, even a bill I only pay occassionally. No stamps or envelopes, or checks – these are all things that get in the way of me relaxing or sewing something. 

There used to be that commercial where the lady put popcorn in the microwave and pays her bills online while it pops – showing you can pay all your bills in 3 minutes.  It takes me a little longer.  I like to analyze each bill, compare it to the last month, look for hidden fees, etc, make sure I am not getting jipped.  But for me it is still a time saver, and paying bills doesn’t hang over my head.  I pull my “needs attention” bin out of my closet , go through and pull out all the bills, type it all up and I’m done and USUALLY I’m on time.