10 things I've been doing instead of blogging

(It's sad to say that the title came up automatically when I started typing "10." Guess I've been down this road before ...)

10.  Writing the Menlo Park Academy school e-newsletter every week.  Ever try to make field trip announcements, pleas for money, and reminders to FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE STOP SENDING FRUIT CUPS TO SCHOOL - THE KIDS CAN'T OPEN THEM WITHOUT SPILLING SYRUP EVERYWHERE!!!11! fun and interesting to read?  Yeah, me neither.  Hey, at least I'm using my degree!

9.  Working at River Colors Studio at least two days a week.  Heh - I get paid to fondle the yarn and organize things. Plus, employee discount for the win!

8.  Designing a knitting pattern - my first one ever!  Go forth, and make ye a pretty scarf.

7.  Spending way too much time posting on Facebook instead of here, because the Blogger iPhone interface is craptacular, and not in a good way.  It won't let me put the photos in the right order within the text, it just dumps them at the bottom of the post in seemingly random order.  Booo!  If you're on Facebook and not already my friend there, look me up (Gretchen Frick Woods) and say Hi!

6. Going to Florida and forcing my mother-in-law to swim with dolphins ... you know, the usual.

5. Writing and editing all the text for the web site update we're doing for the school.  It's a complete scrap-and-rebuild-from-scratch operation, complete with all new photos, a lot of new text, better organization, and more useful information for parents, students, and prospective families.  My brain hurts.  I'll let you know when it's done, and we can all have bourbon and pizza at my house, 'mkay?

4. Getting the kid ready for the spelling bee (again).  Yay.  They held the spell-offs in their classroom last week, and Liza was one of the four kids who will go on to the school competition.  The official study lists haven't been released yet, so we're using some online lists to eliminate the words she already knows how to spell, a few each day.  Turns out that's a great way to use up the commute time to the bus stop - the kid spells really well at 7:30am.  After school?  Not so much.  Only way I can get her to practice after school is to take turns and let her quiz me on the eighth-grade words, which involves rather a lot of embarrassed cursing on my part.

3. Getting the kid ready for the Lego Olympiad (again).  Double yay.  She's going solo this year, rather than as part of a team, so if she can't get it together this year, at least she's not holding any of the other students back.  We had the first meltdown yesterday, but I think we've recovered pretty well, and she's coming up with lots of really cute ideas.  Probably not going to win her any medals, but I honestly would rather have her have fun than win.

2. Cleaning.  Did you know that if you want your house to stay clean, you actually have to WORK at it?  Who knew?  I spent March tackling one major area each week, so large portions of my house are decidedly more tidy than they were before.  I also have tricked the kid into doing her own laundry, including running the machines and folding all the clothes.  It's amazing what a little reluctant "well ... I guess you might be old enough ... I don't know if you can handle it, though ..." can do when you've got a kid with a stubborn independent streak.  Buy her a hamper she can carry on her own, mark all the proper settings on the washer, and she's good to go.  I haven't had to fish her head-first out of the agitator yet!

1. Did you know there's a Zuma app for iPhone?  Yeah, there went most of my March ...