The Daily Grind

It's 11:20 am here in Oklahoma, and I'm listening to a podcast at my desk and updating my calendar with all the coffees, lunches, and calls I have coming up. The check I just wrote for our rent is sitting on the edge of my desk, my blog editorial calendar is open on my lap, and my Day Designer planner is open next to me. I have 10 tabs open, three Word documents, and Slack running in the background. 

The remnants of breakfast are sitting on the counter because last night's dishes are still in the sink. There are puppies barking at the window and a cat rubbing on my ankles. My coffee is getting cold and the candle I light to signal "work time" is sitting next to the lamp, still dark because I forgot to light it. The yoga pants I'm wearing definitely did not make it to yoga today. 

The podcast I'm listening to is called the Daily Grind, and it's hitting super hard today. My routines are still not in place. I need to designate writing time, but emails and phone calls have started to fill my calendar instead. Yesterday I meant to eat breakfast, but by 1:00 pm I still hadn't eaten lunch because I'd burned not one but two lunches. I'd put some leftover pizza in the oven to reheat and forgot it first. Then I tried to reheat this chicken dish and forgot it as well. I finally made myself shut the computer down and made some Hamburger Helper, because I was starving and it was 2 pm. 

The daily grind is real, but I'm so thankful for it. It's going to take some time to figure it out, and I have to give myself the grace to deal with dirty dishes in the sink. I need to decide what is important and make time for it (exercise, writing, paying bills) because it is so easy to let the urgent take over. The tyranny of the urgent is real and must be fought. 

I'm also asking you wonderful people to give me a little grace right now. I may not get a post up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It may be Tuesday and Wednesday, or Wednesday and Friday. But I'll be here! And I promise that every Wednesday between now and October 1 there will be a brand new installment in the When I Grow Up series. So just now you can always count on that for now! 

Until tomorrow, friends. Have a great day!

Previously on Mrs Robbins Sparkles...

Working From Home: Routines are Crucial

I've been working from home for two weeks now. It's been awesome and also a bit of a struggle. I didn't realize how reliant I had become on my routines, and now that I have no routine I've been thrown for a loop! 

Back when I had a day job I would wake up between 5:30 and 6 to shower, get some client work done, and get ready for the day. I'd drive 30+ minute downtown to the office, do the banking thing until lunch when I'd pull out my personal computer and do client work for an hour before going back to the banking thing until 4:30 when I would either go home to work more or head to a coffee shop to work before meeting a friend for dinner or something. 

Things varied a little, but that's what life looked like the past couple years. Busy but predictable. 

Now that I can do whatever I want whenever I want, it is a little overwhelming! Don't get me wrong - it is pretty wonderful too. Last week storms blew through our state, and James got to sleep in. So I decided to make biscuits and gravy for us!

The next day I took an hour in the afternoon to work out. And by work out, I mean I read a book and walked around our pool for about an hour. (Full disclosure: our pool turned green the next day. I have no idea what happened!)

My first week working for myself I took a quick trip to Dallas for a networking event - on a Tuesday! I stayed with a friend and worked from her couch. And last week I took a few hours in the afternoon to run errands and visit the AT&T store to get a new phone. (Upgraded to a 6! And I snagged a half-price Kate Spade case, so it was a win all around.)

Clearly I've been taking advantage of the flexibility. But two weeks in I realize I NEED routine to succeed. So I'm working on creating a routine I can stick with. If you work for yourself, any tips? I've got some ideas but I'd love to know how other people do it. 

Previously on Mrs Robbins Sparkles....

Hi, I'm Jennifer and I'm a Mac

I always loved those Mac vs PC commercials. You know the ones I'm talking about, when Justin Long plays the cool Mac and that guy who plays bit parts in everything plays the stodgy old PC. I desperately wanted to be a cool Mac back when those were airing, but I knew in my heart that I was a PC kinda person.

I'm proud to say that I've finally become that cool Mac. It only cost me a lot of money and one sleepless night.

My old laptop (it was an HP) had started acting up lately. And by old, I mean I bought in November 2013. It started running slow, doing weird things, just general doing what PCs do over time. I ran antivirus software and tried a few things but nothing helped. I'd finally decided I needed to take it to a professional for help - as in, I made the decision Monday night after trying to participate in a Google Hangout with my friends and having lots of issues. But that ol' HP didn't hang on long enough. After trying to restart it post-hangout, it never turned back on.

Well, it would start up. The HP logo would come on, and then it would go to a blackish gray screen. After removing the battery a time or two it finally gave me the option to try to "refresh" the system. Three hours later it finished. And by finished, I mean it popped up and said "Your PC could not be repaired."

It's always disheartening when your computer crashes or stops working. It's devastating when it does it the day you announce to the world that you quit your job to work for yourself as writer and content strategy - a job that requires a working computer! I got maybe an hour of sleep Monday night as I tossed and turned, worrying about what I should do next. Of course I started panicking. Maybe I shouldn't have quit my job! I hadn't budgeted a large purchase like this, what am I going to do?

Thankfully my husband talked me off the ledge. He assured me it would be ok, and that I had to buy a new laptop immediately. And that I should go ahead and invest in a MacBook. He actually encouraged me to buy a MacBook instead of the HP back in 2013, but I was trying to save money so I went PC. (I did the same thing back in 2011. Between those two computers I spent about $1600. Which is pretty much the cost of a MacBook Pro!)

Between his encouragement and all the comments I got on Facebook telling me to just go Mac, I decided to bite the bullet and do it. With a dip into savings, a little help from my parents (thank you) and the fortuitous arrival of a check from a client, I was able to purchase the MacBook Pro I wanted. Plus AppleCare and One-on-One.

So now I'm a Mac! And my worries about quitting my job have subsided as well. The client check arriving at exactly the right time helped, but so did the conversation I had later that day when I signed a new client whose fees will cover almost the entire cost of the MacBook.

I'm still hoping we can get my old computer repaired. I'll be taking it to a friend this weekend to have him look at it, so throw some good thoughts at the PC! And have a great weekend, friends.

Previously on Mrs Robbins Sparkles...