Neglect

ne·glect Pronunciation[ni-glekt]
–verb (used with object)

1. to pay no attention or too little attention to; disregard or slight: The public neglected his genius for many years.
2. to be remiss in the care or treatment of: to neglect one’s family; to neglect one’s appearance; to neglect one’s blog.

Hey, it looks like I’m three-for-three on that last one. Let’s see . . . I spent most of the weekend Flickring because I participated in a contest. J.P. was neglected on Saturday because I had to create my entry, and I neglected him on Sunday because I was busy refreshing the results page every three minutes. (I didn’t win.)

I’m neglecting my appearance today. I did shower this morning, but skipped the make-up and then got dressed in sweats and worked from the kitchen table.

And, well . . . you KNOW I’m guilty of neglecting the blog. I think this may be a record for the length of time between posts.

I am in trouble

I hate to waste things. I can’t stand to throw away a perfectly good magazine, even though I’ve already read it. So we stack them on the coffee table until the pile is in danger of toppling over. Then we move it to the butler’s pantry, and eventually I take everything to the doctor’s office so patients in the waiting room can read six-month-old issues of Philadelphia Magazine instead of three-year-old issues of Numismatic News.

Every night, J.P. turns on the shower while he brushes his teeth. Because it seems to take FOREVER for our water to get hot, I’m fine with it running down the drain for a minute or two. But if the water is already hot because the dishwasher is running, or because I’ve already run enough to warm it up? It drives me crazy!

When I was in college, my roommates teased me because I washed and reused Ziploc bags. We weren’t exactly rolling in money, but I didn’t do it because of the cost. If a big heavy-duty gallon-sized bag only held a sleeve of crackers or something else that was already wrapped before it went in the bag, why wouldn’t I reuse it? (Note: I would never reuse a bag that had held raw meat, something that had gotten moldy, or anything that was sticky, gooey, or messy.)

When J.P. started buying Oscar Mayer Ready to Serve bacon, he’d put it in a Ziploc bag after he’d opened it (inside its little plastic tub thingy). Then when the bacon was gone, he’d throw the bag away. What a waste! So we labeled the bag, and now we put it back in the drawer to wait until the next time we need it.

::Mrtl-style tangent #1::
Yes, we eat the ready-to-serve bacon. No, we’re not particularly proud of that fact. However, it’s a heck of a lot easier than cooking real bacon, and there’s a lot less packaging than the Hormel microwave version.
::end Mrtl-style tangent #1::

::Mrtl-style tangent #2::
Would you believe that Oscar Meyer Mayer/Kraft Foods doesn’t own the oscarmeyer.com domain?

Update: It seems Kraft does own the Oscar Mayer domain. But Oscar Meyer? Never heard of him.
::Mrtl-style tangent #2::

Now that you know how the Bacon Bag works, you can understand why I was simultaneously horrified and delighted to open the drawer yesterday and find this:

Trippin’

This afternoon, J.P. and I went to Target so I could pick up some travel-size toiletries. I’m heading to Chicago tomorrow, and I want to be able to cram everything into my carry-on bag.

Before we even got into the store, I found myself swearing in the presence of a two-year-old. I’ll skip the thousand words and let you figure out what might’ve happened.

Conscious Competence

I’m not usually one to write New Year’s resolutions. They’re too much like goals, and I don’t do goals either. I think it’s because of my perfectionist tendencies—if I don’t think I can do something perfectly, I might not try it at all. If I make a resolution and then don’t stick to it, or set a goal and don’t achieve it, I’ve failed. And I can’t have that now, can I?

After our guests left last week and I got sick, I spent a lot of time lying around like a slug. Not only did it give me time to think, but in a strange way it also motivated me. By Monday, I just wanted to do something. I’ve decided what that something is, and I think I’m even making a little resolution here. And I’m putting it on the internet. This is a big step for me, people!