Buckling Down

So, I'm off work this week for the holiday, and for once, I'm not traveling anywhere. There are many reasons for this. For one thing, even though I'm not going to physically go into the office, I should really do some work at some point, and doing work work at someone else's house just never seems to pan out. Then there's the question of what to do with my pets . . . trying to find someone to take care of them at this time of year can be a challenge. And then, of course, there's the fact that it's like negative 20 friggin' degrees outside, not exactly pleasant traveling weather. So, in lieu of traveling, I instead developed an ambitious plan of getting a bunch of stuff done around the house. You know, a bunch of stuff I've been putting off for . . . oh, about three years, since I moved in here. My plan, in fact, is eerily similar to this guy's. Only, I was bound and determined (and still am, in fact) NOT to wind up like him, although the description of his Monday and my Sunday are almost identical (except that I was reading The Prisoner of Azkaban, and for the first time--thanks, burb!). 

And so far, so good. True, I didn't get much done over the weekend, unless you count managing to NOT shoot myself in the head after an excruciatingly boring date. Yesterday, though was a different story, in which I managed the following:

*Doing almost all of my holiday shopping. (Notice I said "doing," not "finishing." Yes, I am a last-minute shopper, and I don't apologize for it. I simply refuse to start stressing and planning for this one day a month ahead of time--there's just too much else going on in life.)

*Figuring out how to reload my iPod with playlists I select myself instead of just letting the iPod chose a selection for me (which I used to do and which really gives the iPod way too much power, don't you think?).

*Mopping all of the hardwood floor downstairs, including moving all of the furniture and washing all of the baseboards.

Pretty impressive, huh? And, more significant than what I actually accomplished, I feel I have momentum . . . I've got a whole new list of things to do today, and I have a great deal of confidence that I will actually do them rather than simply plopping down on the couch with a book and/or a stack of Netflix. I'm feeling good.

Of course, it maybe doesn't bode so well that I've already wasted 45 minutes this morning tracking down that Onion article. . . .