The Curtain and Pen

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Post-turkey Stress Syndrome

Well, here we are. Back to reality.

I don’t know what it is about Thanksgiving… but I feel like the Monday after it’s over always catches me with my pants down.  (I typed that… thought about changing it to “catches me off-guard,” and decided to stick with my original phrasing.)

In the preceding weeks, I must have gone into shut-down mode or something, because Sunday night showed up and BLAMMO I was behind on everything.

Budget! New schedule! Dentist appointments! Doctor’s appointments! Hey SURPRISE your kid’s turning two this month ALSO CHRISTMAS WHEEEEEEEEEEE!

I’m still figuring out how to keep sane during the week after Turkey Day… but I think I’ve gathered a few techniques that help me stay calm. Mostly calm. Mostly.

Rip off the Band-aid

What is the ultimate goal when I’m stressed out? Having the stressful things not be there anymore. Unfortunately, the only way to reach this lofty goal is to make the stressful things not be there anymore.

It’s a total bummer, but that’s it. I just have to make the phone calls, send in the payments, set the budget for the month, go to the dentist, and cross things off the list.

I’ve really gotten into using my Google Calendar for this. I list my tasks for the day, and mark each one off as it gets completed. If I’m feeling extra stressed, I make myself power through the WORST ones on the list, and then reward myself with one of my fun tasks… like some creative client work or catching up on work-related blog posts.

Also, marking off each task in the calendar, then clicking the trash can button is pretty satisfying.

What can you do about it? Right now?

I’m a worrier by nature, and it only gets worse at night… when my brain gets a chance to slow down and think about things other than herding children (lovingly…herding them lovingly).

Luckily, I’ve got a very pragmatic dude for a husband, and he’s had a huge role in keeping me calm this week.

Loosely Paraphrased Example in Play Form:

LAUREN: Holy crap, I totally forgot about ______! I can’t believe I forgot that! (Smacks forehead with heel of hand)

PAUL: (Sets down coffee mug) Okay, yeah. That sucks. Don’t freak out.

LAUREN: Gahhhhhhh, crap! (Throws hands in air, gives up on everything.)

PAUL: Well, what can we do about it right now? Seriously? Can you call them? No. So, let’s deal with it tomorrow. (Calmly drinks coffee like Zen master.)

(End scene.)

So, moral of the story is this: I have to do my best to worry about things I can control right now… not something that can’t be tackled until the next day.

Word to Your Sanity

I’m usually really grossed out by motivational quotes. Memes with pictures of sunsets in the background preaching to me that “No one ever regrets going for that run,” or “If your dreams don’t scare you they’re not big enough,” generally make me want to do the exact opposite of what they’re trying to motivate me to do.

BUT I have found that, if written the right way, certain words really can light a fire under my butt or help me feel reassured.

My mom gave me this daybook a while back, and it’s kind of creepy in how accurate it can be sometimes. I’m not so good at reading it every day, and some of the things the author says get a little ridiculous, but I do like to return to it when I get stressed out. Sometimes it fires me up, and sometimes it helps me feel like I’m not the only one in the world feeling the way I do.

But you know what? If those memes actually do make you want to dance like there’s no one watching, by God, do it! Dance! Love like there’s no tomorrow! Don’t eat yellow snow! Whatever it takes to get you through this week!

So.

I didn’t really intend for this to turn into a tip post or anything… that’s just how it came out. My path to post-Thanksgiving sanity is far from finished, though, so if you’ve got some hints, I’ll totally take ‘em!

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Sit Down and Type Sunday: Fairy Tales

It’s official: At this point in my life I am not capable of keeping up a regular weekly feature on my personal blog. Give me a weekly work deadline and I’m your gal… those Benjamins, you know?

Anyway, I’d like to set a timer and free-write, but it’s not Monday, so… let’s just call this one “Sit Down and Type Sunday.”

Sometimes I like to find something creative and cool to read before I sit down to work… just get my brain kick-started. One of my awesome new friends posted this story on Facebook, and it was such a great read. Perfect for reading while drinking coffee and thinking on a drizzly Sunday morning. A super-quick summary is that it’s an interview with author Neil Gaiman in which he discusses the history of fairy tales, as well as his personal transformations of them.

Okay, timer time. 10 minutes. Here we go.

Honestly, this doesn’t have much to do with the article… it just got me thinking.

Fairy tales. I LOVED them when I was younger. I still love them… but loving fairy tales today has turned out to be much more of a thing than I ever thought it would be. Now they’re political, controversial, sexist, old fashioned, preachy… and I don’t really disagree with that line of thought. So what do I do with my feelings for a good-old traditional (in the 90’s sense, I suppose) fairy tale?

In the interest of full disclosure, I was smitten with the tales of princesses being rescued by princes. Yep, you show me a gorgeous, dashing dude with perfect 90’s heartthrob hair riding on a white steed to rescue me from some vaguely evil story element and you will probably get a small swoon out of me.

But, BUT, I also like to think of myself as a modern-thinking, progressive, quietly feminist human being. So how do I reconcile these warm feelings toward that White Knight with the feeling that I want my kids to grow up reading fairy tales about that White Knight being a strong, independent female who ends up saving a prince from his tower? Or princess from her tower? Who knows, you know?

I know; the answer to almost any question like this is one of moderation. Appreciate the warm fuzzies you’ve got, and keep your mind open to modern versions, too. I don’t need to ban my kids from watching Sleeping Beauty or Aladdin… but I do need to find some shows that combat that traditional representation with some powerful female leads. As much as I didn’t like Frozen, I have to admit that the values it highlights are more appealing than waiting for someone to swoop in and rescue you.

There’s the timer.

That was rambly… maybe even a little generic… but, it was on my mind, and now I have a new blog post, so there we go. This is TOTALLY a discussable post, dudes, so what are your thoughts? How do you feel about all of this?

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Curtain & Pen Book Club!

I’m happy! I’m excited! I’m satisfied!

Something new has started on The Curtain and Pen’s Facebook page, and it seems to actually be working out.

Ladies and gents, I’m here today to introduce The Curtain & Pen Online Bookclub.

Every month and a half or so, an eager group of people from all over will be convening on that crazy Internet thing to chat about a book.  The beauty of this is that it’s always at 10 pm, and it’s always online, so you don’t have to put on fancy clothes, and the only bottle of wine you have to bring is the one that’s already on your counter… and you don’t have to share it with anyone.

Here’s the breakdown:

Step 1: Genre

To kick off a round of bookclub, I’ll start by throwing out three genres. Everyone will get about two days to vote for their genre of choice.

Step 2: Titles

Next, unless there are suggestions from club members, I’ll pick out three different titles from the winning genre. Another two days will pass to allow for clubbers to vote.

Step 3: Date

After we’ve got our book nailed down, I’ll follow tradition and throw out three possible dates… and two days of voting will ensue.

Step 4: READING YEAH!

Now everyone has about 45 days to read a book. That’s totally doable, right?

Step 5: Log in and wait for my signal

I’ll sit around my computer till 10 pm CST and post an initial welcome post. Next, I’ll ask a few questions in the comments. You can reply to those specific comments to start discussing. Just for an idea on time, the trial run lasted for about an hour, with five people participating, but I’m willing to type till I start falling asleep at my laptop.

The beauty of this book club is that you can still participate, even if the date/time doesn’t work for you. You can always hop on and add your thoughts the next day, because it’s just chillin’ out on Facebook, happy as a clam. In fact, you can hop over right now to get an idea of what it’s all about.

Go forth! Read! Seriously, please join us!

Even with only having a handful of people participating, we had a fantastic time. We got together with friends from all over to chat about something we’d been reading together, and didn’t even have to change out of our comfy pants or clean the house. That’s just plain living the dream, right?

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10 Minute Monday, Wistful November Edition

I’m itching to be creative, but feeling completely sapped of motivation… so I’ve decided to inflict “10 Minute Monday” upon myself. It sounds like a weekly feature, but I’ll probably never do it again… you know me when it comes to keeping up with a regular blog feature.  Anyway, I’ve got the timer set for ten minutes and I’m just going to ramble.

NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo are going on right now, and I’m really yearning to create something massive and meaningful. Something like 30 days straight of blogging or 50,000 words of a novel.  I always wondered why November was the chosen month for these two behemoth organized creative endeavors, and I think I’m finally beginning to understand it. Something about that feeling of impending hibernation makes my mind a little frantic to get artistic and creative things done before Winter officially settles in and all I can think about is driving through the snow to get to my kids’ doctor’s appointments. Because, trust me, come December, we’ll all be full of snot and nasty coughs.

I finally went back and started reading my 50,000 word piece that I wrote back in 2012. I’ve only gotten about 4 pages in, and it’s spurred a lot of mixed feelings. Some of it is ugh stop it, Lauren, and some of it is actually good. I mean, like really actually good. But when I say “some of it,” I mean, “a paragraph here or there.” Is this the writing process? Is this for real what successful writers do? Sit down for HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS and slave over a keyboard, just to pick out 12 decent pages from 104?

I just read a manuscript written by one of my friends, and cripes it was fun. It had me thinking about high school and the early days of the internet and 90’s music and how perfect Vanessa Carlton’s CD was when that one guy broke up with me, completely out of the blue, right in time for Christmas vacation.

It had all of these memories bubbling up… from high school to college. These memories could all be stories, in one way or another… but I don’t think I’m as brave as my friend, who can lay it all out there, first person, and totally crush it. I do think, though, that I could pull it off in the third person… in a much more fictional way.

Sigh. Who knows? There’s the timer.

This was good. I should do this more often.