Where's Pam?

Where's Waldo? Pam? I know things have been pretty quiet around here lately so I thought I'd bring you up to date on what I've been up to. And also been keeping me so occupied that I haven't been writing blog posts.

• WORK STUFF - Every February the CEO gives his big annual speech and since I'm the administrative assistant to the speechwriter / media director, a lot of the logistics of this huge event falls to me. So I put in a few extra hours at work and when I'm actually at the office, things are very hectic so it leaves less "thinking time" for me to contemplate what I want to write to you about. Then, after the speech is over (it's the first week of Feb) I have a whole big long list of tasks that got put off while I was working on the speech stuff.... so right now I'm still swamped with stuff at the office. 
• SCHOOL STUFF - My Thursday night class (group dynamics) isn't very time consuming in terms of homework assignments. But my Saturday class (publication design) is sucking up a whole lot more time than I anticipated. I'm doing an independent study project for my Saturday class that involves writing my second book and I'm working hard to get the bulk of the book done before the end of the term. 
• GOAL STUFF - One of my Goals for 2011 is to declutter my house and I'm taking it pretty seriously this time around. My goal is to gather at least one box or bag of "stuff" to ship off to a charity donation and at least one bag of trash to get out of the house (it's been mostly old paperwork from the files so far). Since mid-January I've already donated 9 boxes of stuff and there's another box in my trunk and one more in the living room that's half filled. And I'm doing all this with just 10-15 minutes each day!
• MORE GOAL STUFF - Another goal I'm committed to is the whole "Slow Down" goal. This is nearly impossible for me to do on an everyday basis because my schedule just doesn't allow a lot of down time right now (working full time and going to school full time plus commuting 15 hours a week doesn't leave much time in the day). So I've committed to taking Friday nights off and doing something relaxing to rejuvenate myself - and I'm also trying to let this creep in to my Saturday mornings too by getting out of bed early enough that I have time to enjoy a cup of coffee in the quiet of the morning before I begin class stuff. 
• SUPPORT GROUP STUFF - Last week was a bit crazy for me in terms of WLS support groups. I got an email on Monday with a plea from my surgeon's office for me to fill in and teach the meeting that evening since their previously scheduled speaker cancelled. Then the following night was the peer-based group that I lead. When I lead a support group meeting I almost always bring a specific lesson and handouts and try to teach something new. As much as I love, love, love my support group families and as much as I love teaching about WLS - support meetings are very emotionally draining for me. So after back-to-back meetings last week, it ended up being a very tiring week for me - and unfortunately giving additional support here on the blog is very difficult after weeks like that. 
• WRITING STUFF - It seems so strange that I'm starting Book #2 before Book #1 is even up for sale. But the class project thing presented itself and I'm running with it. But of course, this makes life just that much more hectic right now and it seems whenever I'm at the computer I am spending time on one book project or the other  - editing Book One and writing/designing Book Two (I'll tell you all about Book Two in an upcoming post). Plus, since the two books are so closely related in terms of content, audiences and marketing strategies it's probably a good thing that they're being produced at nearly the same time -- or at least in quick succession to each other. (That's what I keep telling myself anyway.)
• IDEA STUFF - I've been writing this blog since August 2006. That's 4.5 years... which is like 95 years in blog time... so I'm old! And sometimes I just run out of stuff to say or I just get tired of hearing myself ramble on about my boring life. So if you've got stuff you want to hear me ramble about, shoot me an email and tell me! Lord knows I can use the help sometimes. LOL! I do have a notebook where I write down ideas and I've even got several partially written posts that just need to be refined and published... but I also need to be hit with inspiration just like the rest of you. 

So there you go. A typically long winded blog post about what I've been doing and where the heck I've been in the past couple months. I promise to do a better job of keeping in touch and being more regular with my posts....

What have you been up to?

~Pam