Just Say No

Well, I'm just writing this morning about yesterday when I did pretty much nothing.  So if perhaps some where in your gene pool is a disposition to dying of boredom, you might want to log off.

Yesterday was the last official day I had all by myself for awhile because even though today is the actual last day of school, I will be hanging with the 4th grade at their End of the School Year party. I guess in my case, this would be called "Partying like it's 1979."  I wonder if anyone else will be wearing a terrycloth shirt with an emblem that matches her Luv It jeans and carrying a sweet jumbo sized comb in her back pocket. 

Anyway, yesterday I was in a mood where I had a gazillion and three things to do, but I just couldn't get anything done because of a host of reasons, the most overriding being that I DIDN'T WANT TO. I think being a grown up is kind of awesome because sometimes you can just not do stuff because you don't feel like it.  That's not to say that doesn't come back to bite you in the backside, but still yesterday I just was all

Usually when I'm in the mood to just say no to errands, emailing, cleaning and basically being a responsible adult and such, I think I will just spend the whole day at my computer with my writing trying to figure out what to do with that part of my life.  In the last couple of years or so, a little voice inside my heart and head has been telling me that in addition to my people, the writing is the THING.  This is the thing I want to do. This is the thing that fills me up and keeps me from being completely cuckoo for cocoa puffs.  These wonderful, precious people who are reading are those to whom I want to communicate and maybe, just maybe there might be some more people just like them out there, too, and I should try to find them.  So yesterday once I had decided to blow off my other responsibilities, I thought I'd buckle down and do some research and figure out the next steps to having an actual writing career sorta, kinda, maybe or maybe not. It's really hard to say it out loud and even harder to write it in black and white  What I found in my research was all manner of information on self-promotion and utilizing all kinds of social media and branding yourself.  And it makes me feel like this:

Still, in an effort to make one small step without gagging, I decided that since I have a handle on Facebook and I somewhat understand Twitter and Instagram, it might be time to check out Pinterest.  I read some where that Pinterest brings more traffic to blogs than any other social media outlet.
So, before I knew it, I had signed up for an account.  Then, much to my horror, I automatically got three emails from Pinterest and in huge bold letters it said,

DO YOU WANT TO CREATE YOUR FIRST BOARD????

Which led me straight to this reaction.

So I went for a run because often that clears my head so that I can really figure out what I need to get done and how I need to go about it.  But I felt like The Flintstones.  My feet were moving but it didn't seem like I was getting anywhere.  It was the slowest run of all time.  I had time to do one more mile, but my Fred Flintstone feet were all,

So I came home without finishing my last mile.  And I thought, "Well, now I'm ready. I will just get every last thing in order.  The boys will be home for the whole summer and I've got to get crackin'."  I saw a huge load of laundry that needed to be ironed.  And three pairs of baseball pants that needed to be Shouted Out.  Also, there were appointments to schedule, prescriptions to pick up, emails to return and calls to make.  And I'd like to tell you that I got after it and had a productive day, but while I might be lazy, I am not a liar.  With only a few hours left on my last day to get my house all set and ready for my boys to be home for the summer,  I was all,

The one thing I did do was to follow up on my plan to prepare healthy vegetable dishes for my family this summer by trying out a fabulous new recipe with the Brussels Sprouts I got from the Farmer's Market.  This was the one productive thing I did all day.  There was lots of chopping and measuring, sautéing and stirring.  And there was me feeling quite proud of my one accomplishment for the day.

And then there was this reaction to the Brussels Sprouts from a couple of my kids.

I spent the rest of the day puttering around, reading, talking to my sister on the phone and also, a ridiculous amount of time searching the internet for GIFs of people saying no.

But you know what?  I think that's okay.  Some days you just need to wander around aimlessly. Some days it's okay to quit right in the middle of your run.  Some days it's okay to leave the laundry basket overflowing and to slip your kids an extra roll made with all kinds of poly hydrogenated crap and white (!) flour to make up for the fact that there is no chance they are going to try a Brussels Sprout.  Some days are meant for that.

My "Just Say No" day was kind of awesome.  I highly recommend it.  Unless you don't want to.  I'm not the boss of you.  Do whatever you want.

Happy Last Day of School, Friends!  I'm off to the 4th grade party.  I hope they let me play my Donna Summer record!