2007-01-30
multi-tasking and loving it!
|I love to multi-task. I don't know why, perhaps it feeds into my desire to be efficient and productive. I don't know why I have that desire either. But I do.
Here's a strange tidbit: my father has given me the side label of The Efficient One. That's not my official title; I believe my official title in the family is three-fold: The Baby, The One Who Cries and The One Who Can't Handle Bad News.
But let's talk about positive stuff. I learned early on not to announce intentions or plans to my family until they are done and I can talk about them in the past tense. Otherwise, my dad would hound me and question my plans and want to know what I had done so far, etc. So I never talk about the future, just the past. It works well that way and has earned me my efficiency moniker -- which is just fine by me.
Isn't that crazy? I actually beam when my 80-year-old father tells me I am efficient! Nothing like seeking out parental approval at the age of 39. Way to go, self-esteem.
Anyway, I pretty much drop everything when my dad asks me to do him a favor so I can get it done and get him off my back. Of course I don't tell him that. But that behavior just reinforces my title of The Efficient One. I wonder if he knows he is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. Maybe he has a blog somewhere and he bitches about me. Wouldn't that be poetic justice?
Moving on. I just love the idea of accomplishing two things at once, like throwing a load in the washing machine and doing my Kathy Smith exercise DVD. (I have to engage in a side note here regarding Kathy Smith. I don't love workout videos, but of the bunch out there I have to say Kathy is the best. That woman can make a hamstring beg for mercy. She doesn't sugar coat it like Denise Austin does. Kathy will casually say, "You should be feeling that now." Denise, on the other hand, is like an overgrown cheerleader addressing a group of 5-year-olds. In fact, I cannot do a Denise Austin video without muting it. Her voice grates on me like nails on a chalkboard. To summarize, Kathy Smith two thumbs up. Denise Austin burn the video in effigy.)
Another favorite multi-tasking trio is turning the dishwasher on, putting a Lean Cuisine meal in the microwave then ascending the stairs to lie the baby down for a nap. I like hearing the microwave chirp announcing "Lunch is ready," as I tuck her in under the covers.
I'm sure I would have languished and died had I been born in the late 1800s. I can't imagine having to spend hours at a washboard scrubbing the shit (literally, what with having small children) out of clothes, then wringing them through a contraption to get the excess water out. Follow that by having to hang them on a line somewhere to let those suckers dry, stiff and crusty no less, seeing as there were no Bounce dryer sheets back then.
I'll take life in the 21st century any day of the week, thank you.
I'm sure there must be a strange psychological reason for this huge feeling of accomplishment I garner from completing tasks. But I don't know what it is and I'm not sure I want to figure it out.
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Another overdue thanks: I'm sending an extra 1000 strides on the elliptical trainer to shaded-lily who added me as a favorite recently. Thanks Lily!
2007-01-30 at 6:38 a.m.
