1. Accounting
Get taxes ready, get accounting up to date.
2. Leave on time each morning.
Once the kids are ready - LEAVE. Do not come back home. Be in the office by 8:30 a.m.
3. Go on an internet elimination diet.
I need my email, calendar, online banking and online fax. That's it. Anything else is a treat - 15 min. allowed while I'm eating a healthy lunch from home.
4. Get out of bed at 6 a.m.
Really, I don't sleep well when I press the snooze button. Getting up at 6 instead means time to get the lunches together without a big rush (including mine!), time to exercise and time to shower/dress, so that I can leave on time as per point 2.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Passover prep
One of the fun things about this is the planning and the clean sweep.
Even with mammoth meals, Passover tends to be good for me, diet-wise. Each year, I'm forced to be a little more organized. The key to the whole thing is planning, planning and more planning. I need to plan each and every meal, with not a whole lot of leeway, and I need to do my own cooking since kosher-for-Passover prepared/processed foods come in 2 varieties: hideously expensive and simply gross. The two categories are not mutually exclusive.
We have also embraced the idea of hosting LOTS of guests for meals. This means that I'll be having around 70 people for the seders, plus another meal for some friends from New York, plus misc. guests for Shabbat and throughout the week. I'm not complaining - I spent years being a guest of others on many occasions when we weren't in a position to reciprocate, I enjoy entertaining, I like this position in the family and the fights that it avoids (since there is no good answer to "why are we choosing your family over mine?" or "what do you mean you won't come eat with us because you're religious now?"), and I truly feel blessed to be in a position to do it. That said - it requires work, especially since my client's lives don't stop and my taxes are still due.
So....this time of year forces me to make a To Do list - and actually follow it. To make a menu, and stick to it. To think of all possible ways of using fruits and veggies, or risk massive constipation. To make a cooking plan that goes like clockwork. To finally clear that pile of junk on the dining room side table. To clean out the accumulated junk in my car, and wonder if there is an alternative to feeding Pringles to the kids on dance night. To realize that freedom and liberation have a price and require hard work, and it's easy to fall back and want to be a slave to bad habits. To have the discipline to think for myself - and not buy kosher-for-Passover junk just because everyone else in the store in frantic to do so.
Even with mammoth meals, Passover tends to be good for me, diet-wise. Each year, I'm forced to be a little more organized. The key to the whole thing is planning, planning and more planning. I need to plan each and every meal, with not a whole lot of leeway, and I need to do my own cooking since kosher-for-Passover prepared/processed foods come in 2 varieties: hideously expensive and simply gross. The two categories are not mutually exclusive.
We have also embraced the idea of hosting LOTS of guests for meals. This means that I'll be having around 70 people for the seders, plus another meal for some friends from New York, plus misc. guests for Shabbat and throughout the week. I'm not complaining - I spent years being a guest of others on many occasions when we weren't in a position to reciprocate, I enjoy entertaining, I like this position in the family and the fights that it avoids (since there is no good answer to "why are we choosing your family over mine?" or "what do you mean you won't come eat with us because you're religious now?"), and I truly feel blessed to be in a position to do it. That said - it requires work, especially since my client's lives don't stop and my taxes are still due.
So....this time of year forces me to make a To Do list - and actually follow it. To make a menu, and stick to it. To think of all possible ways of using fruits and veggies, or risk massive constipation. To make a cooking plan that goes like clockwork. To finally clear that pile of junk on the dining room side table. To clean out the accumulated junk in my car, and wonder if there is an alternative to feeding Pringles to the kids on dance night. To realize that freedom and liberation have a price and require hard work, and it's easy to fall back and want to be a slave to bad habits. To have the discipline to think for myself - and not buy kosher-for-Passover junk just because everyone else in the store in frantic to do so.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Stress reduction and production
I've been interviewing job candidates. It's a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg issue, since I interviewed law clerks before lawyers, and it's hard to commit to a full-time clerk position without knowing that there will be an associate to contribute to the workload. Ideally, I'll find a good candidate when my paid ad comes out next week, and be ready to go before Passover. I'd really like to have some emergency coverage.
Got some accounts done last night, which was great...right until I noticed that my laptop was really, really slow. At least I was able to back it up, and I'll do another backup onto my memory stick this morning, but it looks like I may need to start the process of migrating to a new one. I remember it was a royal PITA last time, with some significant downtime.
Got some accounts done last night, which was great...right until I noticed that my laptop was really, really slow. At least I was able to back it up, and I'll do another backup onto my memory stick this morning, but it looks like I may need to start the process of migrating to a new one. I remember it was a royal PITA last time, with some significant downtime.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Reducing work stress
In an effort to reduce work stress, I've been looking to hire.
My ideal fantasy involves having a clerk to take care of all the nitty-gritty administrative stuff that I can't stand and can't fully bill, and a junior to help generate income and take the work overflow.
The problem, though, is trying to turn all of this into reality. Some responses have been laughable, like the one who clearly knew no English (these are jobs where excellent English is the main requirement). I'm still hopeful, but it's a bit nerve-wracking knowing that a bad hiring mistake can be a risky and expensive headache. On the other hand, I did have some interviews that went better than I expected.
Here's hoping for success....
My ideal fantasy involves having a clerk to take care of all the nitty-gritty administrative stuff that I can't stand and can't fully bill, and a junior to help generate income and take the work overflow.
The problem, though, is trying to turn all of this into reality. Some responses have been laughable, like the one who clearly knew no English (these are jobs where excellent English is the main requirement). I'm still hopeful, but it's a bit nerve-wracking knowing that a bad hiring mistake can be a risky and expensive headache. On the other hand, I did have some interviews that went better than I expected.
Here's hoping for success....
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Nicer weather and more daylight
We are finally emerging from all the coldness and darkness of winter.
This means:
1. I'm finding it easier to get up early, since I can't stand getting up when I think it's the middle of the night.
2. Snow is finally melting, so I should be able to take some longer walks.
3. With the longer days and better weather, I may start to do the longer Saturday afternoon walks again. I found that they were great last year, until we got to November.
I'm also in a good mood because I found kosher vegan organic soups on a great sale, so I stocked up on the black bean and butternut squash flavors. My new easy snack strategy is simple: 1 carton of black bean soup per week goes to work, for a daily snack of 1 cup nuked in the microwave. Then, as soon as I get home from work, 1'll nuke 1 cup of squash soup as an appetizer.
Thought of the day: Am I a food geek if I get excited about being able to buy fresh kosher vegan nut-free pesto in basil, sundried tomato AND spicy cilantro flavors?
This means:
1. I'm finding it easier to get up early, since I can't stand getting up when I think it's the middle of the night.
2. Snow is finally melting, so I should be able to take some longer walks.
3. With the longer days and better weather, I may start to do the longer Saturday afternoon walks again. I found that they were great last year, until we got to November.
I'm also in a good mood because I found kosher vegan organic soups on a great sale, so I stocked up on the black bean and butternut squash flavors. My new easy snack strategy is simple: 1 carton of black bean soup per week goes to work, for a daily snack of 1 cup nuked in the microwave. Then, as soon as I get home from work, 1'll nuke 1 cup of squash soup as an appetizer.
Thought of the day: Am I a food geek if I get excited about being able to buy fresh kosher vegan nut-free pesto in basil, sundried tomato AND spicy cilantro flavors?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)