Getting my way on Mother’s Day

Greetings all,

First, let me wish all of you Mothers in the blogosphere a very happy Mother’s Day!

I’m being selfish with my time today, because I can get away with it. Mother’s Day, much like a birthday, is a good excuse to gather with family and friends, eat good food and enjoy each others company. It’s not necessarily my favorite holiday, as that slot has been occupied for a very long time by Thanksgiving, but it does have it’s good points. Top on the list of Mother’s Day’s good points is that I get to say what goes.

Here’s my list of things I want today… and by golly, I’m going to get all of it.

1. I want to spend time on my blog (check…mission accomplished!). I get precious little time to come out here anymore, to write or to read my favorite blogs. Today, I get to spend time here. Yes!

2. I want to cook lasagna from scratch today. I love to cook, and don’t get a chance to very often. I have invited my parents over for supper tonight, and when I told Mom what was on the menu, she tried to tell me I should buy a frozen lasagna instead of making it from scratch. I was surprised at how I almost came completely unhinged. I know her heart was in the right place – she didn’t want me to put too much effort into cooking dinner on Mother’s Day. She just doesn’t understand how much like to cook, and how deprived I am in that department. That’s ok… I’ll get my way in the end.

3. I want asparagus. (Demanding wench, aren’t I?) I haven’t had asparagus in years because my picky children won’t eat it, and it really doesn’t pay me to buy it if I am the only one that likes it. Today, it’s just too bad for everyone else that doesn’t like it. I. Will. Have. My. Asparagus! In fact, I have a lovely new recipe that I found on Pinterest for roasted asparagus with olive oil and thyme. I can’t wait!

4. I want to clean my house. The boys are generally pretty good about helping out around the house, but their idea of clean and my idea of clean are galaxies apart. I’ve spent such precious little time at home lately that what little I am able to do gets undone pretty quickly. Today, that gets corrected, even to the point of scrubbing out the fridge. I think something died in there, and is crying out for a decent burial. Argh!

5. I want to spend time in my yard. Spring finally did make it to North Dakota, and there hasn’t been a snowflake in sight for a good three weeks. I think Winter is finally gone for good this year, but I’ll leave my collection of snow shovels out until June 1, because I am just that superstitious about that sort of thing. My yard needs a good raking, and my strawberry/kitchen garden needs to be weeded. There are lots of plants returning from last year, but the grass is trying to overtake them. Time to get out the gloves and open a can of whoop-ass on that nasty invader.

There it is…my top five demands for today, in all of their glorious depravity. Like I said, today I get what I want, and no one best get in my way…or else!

Here’s hoping all of you Moms in the blogosphere get exactly what you want, how you want it, and when. More importantly, I hope you have a lovely day with your families and friends.

Aunt Salley Cookies…a recipe from happy times

Hi all…it’s been a long time.

Writer’s block has had me in its crusty iron grip, when I’ve tried to blog in between other things. I finally decided just to suck it up and get back on the blogging band wagon by posting a recipe I thought I’d lost. Here is as good a place to store it as any, so I’ll put it here not only for preservation’s sake, but also because it’s an amazing recipe I remember well from my childhood.

This recipe comes from the kitchen of my Aunty B, who I have blogged of once before. She had a way with food that made it feel like you were getting hugged when you sat down to her table, whether you were there for a big meal, or just visiting and being treated to some of these fabulous cookies. The interesting thing about these cookies is that they are rolled out, and a Spam can is used as the cookie cutter.

I haven’t ever attempted to make these myself, but it’s my plan to give it a try in the near future. First thing I’ll need to do is buy some Spam! When I do get around to making these, I’ll come back and update this post with a picture.

Cookies:
1 C sugar
1 C butter or oleo (margarine)
2 eggs (beaten)
2 tsp cream of tartar
4 tsp soda
5 C flour
1/2 C molasses
1 C sour milk or buttermilk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
Mix all together and chill in refrigerator on our. Roll out and cut with Spam can. Bake 10-12 mins in 350 oven. When cool, frost.

Frosting:
1 1/2 C sugar
1/2 C water
1 tsp vinegar
Boil to medium ball stage and add 2 well-beaten egg whites, then add 12 marshmallows cut up or 1 c miniature marshmallows.

Special instructions: Share liberally with friends and family. Enjoy!

Cat Herding Rule #2 – Avoid Scope Creep

Let me first begin by saying that I am guilty. I have let meetings get out of hand and I have had to learn how to run meetings the hard way. Scope creep is something that I have to consciously, and constantly, be aware of needing to avoid at all times.

So, what is scope creep? It is not a guy who hangs out in the mouthwash isle too much.

Scope creep happens when a group doesn’t stay on task, and allows themselves to get entangled in details outside the original parameters of a given project. That’s one definition. What that means in regular English is that scope creep is ADHD in a group format. If allowed to run unchecked, nothing of value will get accomplished except to blow peripheral issues way out of proportion.

Something I have witnessed is that scope creep can skew a project way out of shape in under a minute. Here’s an example of a meeting where scope creep runs away with itself:

Susie: Good morning everyone, thanks so much to joining us today to discuss Cat Herding 101. Today’s topic will be how to provide structure in a project.

Bob: Herding cats sounds like fun, Susie, but what about dogs? Dogs have way more personality…

Diane: I like my hamster better. They take up less room and are easier to keep penned up, so don’t need any herding.

Ralph: I don’t know why we have to talk about herding cats, they sleep most of the time anyway.

I have literally been in meetings where the discussion got out of control this quickly, and the meeting facilitator didn’t do a very good job of making sure everyone stayed on task. There are a few things that one can do to keep the meeting on track and stay focused on the topic at hand:

1. Provide an agenda giving some details about the topic to help get the group started with what needs to be accomplished.

2. Begin the meeting by sharing your expectations about what will be discussed, and how much time the group has to get everything accomplished.

3. Everyone’s time is important. Make sure that the meeting has a purpose and get it accomplished as quickly as possible. Keep something with you that displays the time so you can make sure not to lose track. One of the things I despise most is a useless meeting, and especially if it goes on for an hour and nothing is really accomplished.

4. The instant someone gets off topic, drag the group back to center. You don’t have to be rude about it…. be kind, be funny, but be insistent that the group needs to focus.

5. When a topic pops up that is peripheral to the purpose of the meeting, but still needs to be talked about, form a “parking lot”.  A parking lot is a list of things that come out of the meeting that need attention, but aren’t necessary to accomplishing the task set before the group. Make a commitment to the people who bring up the topics to discuss it with them at another time soon, and then bring the group back to center.

6. Keep the group engaged in the topic by making sure to speak concisely and keep the flow of the meeting going. There’s nothing that will kill people’s attention so quickly as someone who drones on and on about the same thing several times over. Say it once, perhaps reiterate it at the end of the meeting if it’s super important, but don’t beat it to death.

7. Ask their opinions. People will better stay engaged if they can participate. This is especially important in brain storming session. Commonly the quiet ones, who might never speak up on their own, will pop out with some fantastic idea or worthwhile details when asked to share their thoughts.

8. Delegate/assign tasks to the group if possible. Just because you are the meeting facilitator it doesn’t always mean that you have to carry the lion’s share of the work. The group was formed for a purpose, and unless you as the facilitator are only there to provide information, the group needs to actively participate in the project at hand.

9. Send an email to all the attendees detailing what occurred at the meeting, and what the follow-up expectations are (who is to provide what for the next meeting).

10. Be aware that scope creep is something you must be constantly vigilant about. It can happen at every turn in your project. This is true whether you are in a work meeting, a religious meeting or just running a home improvement project. Always come back to the task at hand so you don’t get bogged down in the extra topics/situations that arise.

Well, that’s my cat herding lesson for today. Here’s hoping that your meetings run smooth, your project participants are engaged, and your project focus stays clear and uncluttered with wandering cats.

Cat Herding Rule #1 – Provide Structure

I have been given a task at work, which is a project that will last about two years. Essentially, the whole point of this task is cat herding.  Yep, you read that right. For the next two years my biggest daily responsibility will literally feel like I am trying to get a whole group of cats to go in one direction.

In trying to get my arms wrapped around just how I am going to organize people from three different countries, via computer and phone, I have come to the conclusion that the first thing I need here is structure. Well, let me rephrase that. My Cats at Work are the ones that need structure, so I will provide it.

You might ask, why would I compare cats and people so flippantly? Cats are interesting creatures in that they have ideas. Sometimes if you look carefully into their eyes, you can see the gears turning. Let’s use my real cat, Harley,  as an example:

Harley, who is thinking naughty thoughts

As you can see in this picture to the left, Harley has some thoughts rolling around in his head that probably add up to no good. Frequently he will look at me, and I know that he’s got ideas about something. The other day he took a nice long look at Older Son’s new girlfriend, as though she looked tasty. Luckily, I snatched him up just before he pounced. Needless to say, he spent the rest of the evening in the bathroom, in “time out”, to make sure he didn’t try it again while she was there.

Harley reminds me of people at work who have too much time on their hands, so much so that they have nothing else to do but think up ways to make more work for other people. Yeah…that doesn’t work for me.

Georgette, who didn’t have a naughty bone in her body

I had another cat once, Georgette, who was a sweetheart and never caused us a bit of grief. Well, very seldom anyway. The only problem we ever had with her is that she had a penchant for eating plastic Easter grass, and anything that looked like it. The problem with Easter grass, and most anything that looks like it, is that it doesn’t digest. The net result is that you end up with a cat trailing “processed” Easter grass behind them through the house.   You’ve not lived until you have chased a cat up and down a flight of stairs three times in a row, trying to catch her because she’s trailing Easter grass from her backside.

Some people at work remind me very much of Georgette in that they mean no harm, but don’t know what they are doing and make a large mess while others trail after them trying to clean it up.

You get my point. People have ideas, and most times they don’t mesh with what other people in the group want/need/think they need, etc. The end result is that there are too many cooks in the kitchen, and nothing is getting accomplished.

I think the first rule of herding cats has got to be that structure needs to not only be provided, but also adhered to. It will be my job to crack the proverbial whip and get all of these cats going in the same direction, rather than each chasing their own catnip mouse into corners where random ideas propagate like rabbits.

Not that having ideas is bad, but this group needs to THINK about what they bring to the table for discussion and make sure it is actually with in the scope of the project. Scope creep is rampant, but that is something I’ll expound on in another post.

Here’s hoping that the cats, and the people, in your life stay out of the real and proverbial Easter grass. Have a fabulous weekend!

 

Getting old, or getting practical?

Last night the plan was to watch a little tv with My Flirt and then we were going to go out and listen to some live music at a local bar. We were going to ring in the New Year in a place full of people, music and frivolity. I was tired, and didn’t feel so energetic, and he wasn’t feeling so well either, so I turned to him and let him know that if he was good with staying in, so was I.  So we did.

He commented to me some time later that we must be getting old for not wanting to go out on New Years Eve. After thinking about it, I have to say that we are practical. Why go out in the bitter cold when you don’t feel well, when you can have a perfectly nice time cuddled up with your sweetie watching a good movie?

I would imagine that getting older has a hand in making practical decisions. I know a great many people who are my age who still live very social lives, and love to party hard. I tried really hard for a great many years to keep up with everyone else, but have come to a place in my life where I recognize that I am just not the social butterfly I’d always wanted to be. And, I am finally ok with that.

My poor Flirt, on the other hand, is the total opposite. He is a very social creature, and loves to be amongst people. If he’d have felt better, I know we’d have gone out for the evening. However, he has come to an age of practicality as well, I think.

The fantastic news here is that there are lots of ways to celebrate the New Year, and our quiet evening home in front of the tv was exactly what we both needed.

In other news, I managed to pack in some last-minute fun into the end of my year:

~My friends and I managed to avoid the 2012 apocalypse by gathering at my house on the Winter Solstice. We enjoyed each others company, ate good food and laughed much. There are plans to do this more often. Why wait for a faux apocalypse to get together?

~My Flirt took Younger Son and I ice fishing. We had never been ice fishing before, and it was an interesting experience. Luckily we had a portable ice fishing hut because a terrible wind came up. I then made the terrible mistake of stepping into one of the test ice holes the guys had drilled earlier. It had filled in enough that I couldn’t see it, and I went in all the way up over my knee. I did dry out by sitting in front of the heater, dangling my sock and wet leg and boot liner in front of it.  After all of that, we only got a few bites, and no fish. I did witness a monster Northern Pike swim under several of our ice holes. It was still a good day, and I hope we get to go again sometime.

~We saw The Hobbit. Wow! As expected, this movie packs a lot into almost three hours. Not only was it visually stunning, but it’s a well done story. I haven’t read the book…yet. I sure want to now. Before we went to the movie, the Boys and I met my parents for lunch at a Thai restaurant. Yum!

In closing, my wish for you all in 2013 is that you all have prosperity, happiness and good health. I hope that you have everything you need, and that 2013 brings you opportunities for you to make your own excitement, and that no unwanted excitement lands on your doorstep. Blessings all!

 

Being open to happiness opportunities

Hi all…long time no blog.  It’s been a crazy couple of months, and I am finding myself shorter on time these days. However, I found an interesting little picture that I wanted to share with you:

It’s true that you can get surprised by things that cause happiness, but I think you have to meet the Universe half way and be open to those opportunities when they come knocking.

At this time of year I do a lot of reflection about how my year went. All things considered, I think this one went very well. Every year is full of highs and lows, but I can’t think of many years in the past twenty that held this many highs for me.

I attribute this year having been so good to my willingness to be open to things that make me happy. In the past, I had a tendency to keep to myself and not take any kind of risk, no matter how small. Well, as we have seen in the news recently, just getting up and leaving your house in the morning is risky.

Life is too short…be open to those small blessing lurking where you may not expect them to be. It’s my wish for you all today that you get surprised with something that brings you happiness and lots of warm fuzzies.

 

 

 

And now for something completely silly

I’ve been reading through my last several blog posts, and have come to realize that I am living inside my head more than is perhaps good for me.  So now, it’s time for something completely silly….

I have a feeling that all of you who read this and get the joke will sing along in your heads. Yes, I am just that evil…(snort, giggle) *wink*