Room for Improvement

     It is often suggested that one take stock of their accomplishments to determine their progress toward reaching life goals. This is no such blog post. After realizing I inadvertently and unknowingly hung up on a cell conversation with my friend Eliza (for oh, the umpteenth time) yesterday, I decided to take stock of some areas that could use some work. I will lay myself bare, come clean and confess: these are some things I completely suck at doing. Hopefully, if you've witnessed any of these in action, you can have a good laugh.
      1. Operating a touch screen phone. Poor Eliza and I laugh all the time that it is a rare thing if we get through a whole conversation without me managing to hang up my cell phone. I like to blame it on my chubby little cheeks and dangling earrings, but the truth is sometimes I can't even manage to slide my finger across the screen to answer a call. That's why when a surprised reporter asked me why I didn't like to use my cell phone in the car, I told him "Because I know I'm not good at it." I'm a single task type of person. And my phones don't like me - I'm currently on my fourth Android in three years after several random failures.
      2. Doing the dishes. I loathe this task more than any other household responsibility. I like to think that I'm choosing to have meaningful time with my family while the dishes pile around the sink, but that is only part of the story. Having a dishwasher has made the task a little bit better, but I still try to shirk responsibility any time I can. In fact, just yesterday I swept all of my floors to procrastinate from putting a load in the washer. My grandmother used to insist on doing the dishes, nay, she would cry if not given the opportunity. I think it was how she used to work out her frustrations as she stood and scrubbed. She would be disappointed to know that in one flight of fancy, I considered throwing out all of the dirty dishes and buying new. Ok, it wasn't just one flight of fancy.
      3. Completing craft projects. I love to look at arts and crafts websites and blogs. I love to stroll along aisles of fabric and decorative papers and bins of beads and paint. Sometimes, I even indulge in the purchase of patterns and supplies. These patterns and supplies often find themselves in two drawers to the left of my desk, neatly organized and patiently waiting for me to work them into their intended project. I will let the contents of one of the drawers speak for itself: apron pattern, six yards of seasonal fabric to make aprons, four yards of fabric to make ottoman cover (wood to make ottoman in garage), wooden letters to paint for Christopher's room, brown paint for wooden letters, assorted zippers to make flower pins, pins, hot glue gun, hot glue gun sticks.
     I do feel like I've improved at each of these over the past few years, but they are all certainly works in progress. And this is by no means an exclusive list. Sometimes, I think my neurotic tendencies have no bounds. But those habits, my friends, are a post for another day.