Day 27: How to cope with things you’re dreading to do

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 27: Dread – How to cope with things you’re dreading to do

We all have things we don’t want to do or put off for as long as possible. For some people it’s house chores, for others it’s a task around the office, for others still it’s simply getting out of bed every morning. How to cope with things you’re dreading to do often have a simple solution.

Waking up

Few things are worse than waking up early in the morning to an annoying bell of an alarm clock. For a more pleasant awakening experience, select a musical tune on your iPhone. Waking up to music is far more preferable than hearing beep beep beep.

Personally, I hate waking up at 6:00 a.m. in the morning and I think I inherited this from my father. One morning he got so annoyed by his alarm clock, he pitched the bloody thing out the window.

Doing dishes

Ask 9 out of 10 people what their most hated chore around the house is and they might say doing dishes. Why do you think automatic dishwashers became so popular ...

If you have no choice but doing the dishes by hand, make things a little easier on yourself by doing part of the dishes before sitting down to lunch or dinner. 

After dishing up, you can wash the pots, that way after dinner all that’s left to do are the plates and cutlery. 

Or better yet, have your partner or children do the dishes. Hey, you cooked the meal, it’s only fair that someone else takes care of the clean-up.

Ironing

Another much-hated chore is ironing. The iron may have become more sophisticated over the years and lighter to handle, but it’s still a boring activity that takes its toll on one’s lower back and leg muscles. 

In all my life, I’ve ever come across one woman who stated that she loved ironing. She loved it so much, she ironed everything, from her husband’s underwear to his jeans. 

If you’re like the rest of the population and think ironing is boring, watch something on TV while you’re behind the ironing board or listen to an audiobook. You’ll be surprised how much more enjoyable ironing is while your favorite author is whispering sweet nothings in your ear.

Around the office

Personally, I love filing, but a surprising number of people hate it. I used to too until I decided to change my routine. Shortly after I started with the company, my filing basket was groaning under a number of papers and it took me hours to create order out of chaos. 

When I was finished I vowed never again to let this happen. From that day forward I did my filing daily. Usually, it took me less than 10 minutes to have everything in its proper place.

Going to the gym

Many people know that they should go to the gym to lose weight or simply stay in shape, but they keep putting it off. They’re too tired, they have too much to do, they don’t have the right clothes, they hate going alone ... you name it and they’ll use it as an excuse.

Fact is, once you’ve been to a gym, you’ll want to go again and again. If you don’t like going alone, ask a family member, a friend, a colleague or even a neighbor to come along. They might feel the way you do and might just be waiting for an invitation.

If you don’t have anyone to accompany you, go anyway, chances are before long you’ll hook up with someone who is alone too.

Going on a diet

Most people have gone on a diet at one time or another in their life and failed spectacularly. In most cases, that’s because people tend to be way too hard on themselves. They make their diet so strict that within a matter of days their good intentions go out the window. Or they don’t see results quick enough and hurt their toes by kicking the scale in a dark corner.

The right way to go about a diet is to make an appointment with a dietician. These people are trained professionals who can advise you on losing weight the healthy way. They can also recommend the right book for your weight loss program.

For everything you dread to do there’s a solution. If you can’t think of anything practical, give yourself a reward once you’ve dealt with something.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Day 19: Cleaning - Getting a little help from my cats

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts.

Day 19: Cleaning – Write about doing laundry, dishes and other cleaning activities.

Cleaning? They want me to write about cleaning! In all my years, I have never come across anyone who likes to clean. Most, if not all people, do it because they have to, including me. Still, let’s see what I can come up with. Since today is international cat day, let's involve cats in this post.

Making the beds

In our house, the cats dictate when the beds are made. I never make my bed right after getting out of it. I believe that a bed has to air to keep it fresh. Unfortunately, while I shower, get dressed and have breakfast, one, two or even all four cats have taken possession of my bed. And I mean really, look at Charlotte, would you have the heart to disturb her slumber?

Dusting

Once again, the cats have to be taken into account. When I see Mickey sprawled out so elegantly on the coffee table, or Charlotte resting on the cabinet, I just let them be. There’s always time to dust the table and the cabinet later.

Window washing 

If there’s one cleaning task I like to do it’s washing windows. If I didn’t have such a fear of heights, I would have applied at a window washing company in Toronto. Unfortunately, I can’t imagine dangling by a rope from the 82nd, 43rd or even 16th floor.

Anyway, when I wash the windows here at home, I invariably have an audience. Mickey, Charlotte, Gabriel, and Holly sit on the other side of the window and watch the sponge go up and down and from left to right. While Charlotte, Gabriel, and Holly quickly lose interest, Mickey supervises until I’m done. He even points out places where I've missed a spot.

          

Vacuuming

Mickey, Gabriel, and Holly couldn’t care less about the vacuum cleaner, but Charlotte is terrified of the machine. Even though we paid attention to buying one that doesn’t make much noise, it’s still too much for Charlotte. When the vacuum cleaner gets switched on, she goes and hides under my duvet. 

 Meanwhile, Gabriel lies on the cat tree or sit on a chair and sees to it that the work gets done properly.

Dishes

I’m not a fan of doing dishes. Then again, who is? Not sure why I dislike it as I generally like working with water. I get at my most creative when I’m surrounded by water (maybe I should move to Hawaii). Occasionally though, Dieter volunteers and on this occasion (this was several years ago), Mickey was once again there to supervise.

Cooking

When I cook, I generally keep the cats out of the kitchen. When I’m working with boiling water and hot butter, I like to keep them at a safe distance. However, when the potatoes are being peeled, Mick is there to count them.

Now in case you’re wondering why there are no pictures of Holly ... Holly is a lady and stays far away from housework. She prefers sitting in her basket, relaxing on her cushion, lazing in front of the fireplace, or spending time with Dieter while he reads her a story.

Feel free to comment. I’d love to hear from you.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Meet inspector Mickey

Anyone who has a pet, especially a cat or a dog, knows how curious they are with our daily activities.

Noisy activities, such as vacuum cleaning, might keep them at bay, but where it comes to dusting, doing the dishes, or mopping the floors, many of them take a front row seat. And as many pet owners will agree, window washing is their favorite entertainment.

When I filled a bucket with water today, Holly was there, peering in the bucket and looking at me with a face that said … what you doing?

She quickly caught on. As I took the bucket out on the balcony, she planted herself on the windowsill and waited in eager anticipation as to what I was up to.

As the sponge went up and down, and from left to right, so did Holly’s head. As the squeegee moved from the very top to the very bottom of the glass, Holly never took her eyes of this strange contraption.

When the windows were done, Holly took off and inspector Mickey took her place. He padded outside, jumped on the cat tree and had a close look if I had completed the job to his satisfaction.

Are you doubting my statement? See for yourself …

If your cat is not interested in what you’re doing … don’t worry about it, not all cats want to be where the action is.

Just look at Gabriel, he couldn’t care less about window washing and whether or not there are streaks in the glass. He trusts me enough to let me get on with my business while he gets on with his. As long as he gets his beauty sleep, it’s all good.

Time management

Some blogger I am. My last entry is dated November 2nd, which means I haven’t written anything in two weeks. Has life really been that boring or have I been super busy with other things? A little of both I suppose.

There was a time that I sat up until all hours of the night, but now that I’m working (for the past three months and one week I might add) I have to be in bed at a certain time.

Of course working gets in the way of blogging too. Not only is there not a moment to spare to put a blog entry together, but at the end of the working day blogging is not exactly at the top of my list.
I usually come home bone tired. After a change of clothing and a short rest with a cup of coffee, there are chores to be done and dinner to be made.
After dinner and some TV there are email messages to be read and replied to and a farm to tend to, a farm at Farmville I mean. Ah yes, who is not playing that game these days? I’m at level 61 with limited crops, but more animals than I can handle.

And soon I will be having even less time. Yesterday we went to pick out wallpaper for the bedrooms, living room, kitchen and bathroom and I’m the one who is going to do the papering. I’ve done it before, you could say I’m an old hand at wallpapering so I don’t foresee any problems, but still, it will take time so there will be even less time for blogging. How do other people manage? Do they have a time schedule? If you know something I don't, I'd love to hear from you.