You might plan too much if you find yourself weeks before your vacation aware of EXACTLY how much money you have for vacation, down to the dollars and cents for each meal! Where does my brain go? Why, when I have down time is something like this where my brain takes me? I don't think about the cabin we'll be in. I don't think about playing air hockey with dash and the kids. I don't think about the interesting conversations I'll overhear all the kids saying. I think I have X dollars for D days. We'll be on the road R number of days, C days in the cabin. G dollars for groceries while in the cabin. (I then made a potentially reasonable grocery list--I'm not kidding for those 2 days!) Then I figured out how much money was left per day and assuming 3 meals a day for our family how much we could spend on each meal (if evenly distributed.) Now it's in my brain. So if and when we go over, I'll be recalculating on the trip...telling dash after every meal..."that means that we can only spend this much next time." Or if we're lucky and go light for a meal...."that means we have THIS much next time!"
I think I have an illness. I do this automatically. I really sat down today with paper in hand and started my list for the day....laundry, dusting, vacuuming, store.... I thought to myself, I wonder how much groceries we need for the next 2 weeks because we have a vacation coming up and dash is out of town the week before that! So I figure how much gas and grocery money we have, then I figure how much we'll need and when the money is coming in, so I can distribute evenly....(I'm still not kidding.) This is where...."well, if we get the oil changed in both vehicles before we go and do an estimate for brake work we need done".... that will be M amount of money....leaving X-M for the trip.
Before I realized what I had done, my paper has all this math on it and I'm thinking? How does X-M relate to my list of stuff to do when I get home? All this took place during a 20 minute kid's show! I sat on the couch watching Charlie watch 64 Zoo lane before Paige woke up! --It must be an illness I have with numbers because even the show he was watching had numbers in it! This is my regular thought process. I can't shut it off! I was this way in school too. I can't remember never knowing numbers. I did connect the dots at a very early age and I could write my numbers to 100 when I still had trouble spelling my name! (okay maybe not MY name, but my mom's for sure!) Numbers are cool and they really lend themselves to planning.
Maybe that's why I am a planner by nature! I like numbers! I think about how much time it will take me to do something and plan accordingly. I watch the clock. I know how much time it takes to get from my house to other destinations. I know how much money I have in my account and when I don't (especially on vacations) I am uneasy until I can sit down to figure it up. I walk in the door from any given venture out and (okay this is my compulsive thing....it's not having things in 3's or 4's or 16's) I head for my office to put things in the budget and readjust if needed.
Maybe that's why I go stir crazy on days I don't go out. I don't have a plan so I don't feel I am productive, so I feel like I HAVE to do SOMETHING! The whole time the clock is ticking away with all the numbers moving the wrong direction! WOW, I'm sounding more and more crazy! I guess I should stop while I'm ahead!
*****Btw, this was a very fun blog to write :) I'm not quiet as crazy as I sound, although I really didn't exaggerate much! I could keep going, but I feel that would be pushing it too far! *****
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I am also planning on getting the kids their own atlas with the trip highlighted so they can check out the states they are in, roads they are on and have fun with it! They both like maps and I loved maps when I was a kid! :) Never hurts to encourage planning at a young age! "Always be prepared!" I'm sure I've heard that before! LOL, but I won't mention where or my hubby will make this into something it's not! Since I had such a point I was driving at! (No pun, ahhhh who am I kidding...yes pun intended!:))
The next part of the list fun is when T calls me or corners me in the office at home to go over her calculations. I'm amazed at how much thought she puts into those variables that she was not so jokingly referencing in her blog.
One thing is for sure - she completes me. I can't get half-way through the bill at Mcdonald's without reaching for a calculator or trying to remember the couple weeks of "CHISIMBOP" (fancy counting system using your fingers) that I leared in grade school.
Dust has the same illness. I am not to the level you guys are. I like making to do lists and checking things off. You would think that being in accounting I would be more into the budget thing. I don't get that detailed.
So crazy, I'm not crazy?! :)
my blogs always evolve once I start typing.
Anyway, Quick:
Pythagorom therom?
Area of a circle?
Radius of a circle?
cosine?
Sine?
Tangent?
Forrest... sometimes your comments have this way of making me feel completely like I have no brain...
t... you are so cool! Not crazy... slightly OCD... but very cool!
yeah, I knew someone might take it down that road. I did set it up with the C days in cabin and X-M thing. I have to admit, I haven't used college math except for the occasional brain teaser, so I'd have to refer to a text book for those answers now. I did enjoy math in school, I just chose a path that didn't make me utilize it out of school.
I guess like I say on my homepage "Keep is simple, Keep it real" applies to my math skills as well! Sorry to disappoint! :) :)
One might say that while others strive for mediocrity, I have achieved success in that area repeatedly! (Being the mere mortal that I am!)
Oh my! And you were so worried about your responses...LOL!
Actually, you help me out alot with your talent for numbers...even though I still get a little dizzy at times! j/k
Dash--chisembop? I CAN'T believe someone else knows that!!! It is how I survived any math classes...and I am trying to teach my kids (who think I am weird) LOL!
I agree...if you start taping your calculations and cutting out newspaper clippings and seeing people chase after you (ie A Beautiful Mind)...then I will be the first to admit you! er...i mean...admit you are crazy...lol!
Sorry Gigi, I thought everyone would remember those fromulas from High School, but I forgot your from Cleveland. :)
I want to learn chisembop. Want to practice your teaching skills on a grown-up?!
Soemtimes the difference between an illness and a gift is in whether it actually benefits you. I think the ability to work through when you will have what money is a gift.
Also, regarding the way you move through topics, isn't that due to this being a journal of sorts. People tend to post the same way they talk (or think), so if you don't like limiting yourself to one topic in discussion, you probably won't want to limit yourself to one topic in a blog post.
I like your def. of gift/vs. illness!
Yes, it's painful for me to stay on just one topic. I often find myself deleting 1/2 my comments or blogs because I switch topics! It can be distracting to others or be difficult to follow, at least that's what I've been told!
Wow. I definitely don't have that math thing. I have the estimation thing. We have about X amount...hmmm I really should check that. Since we are operating now out of ATMs and US/Euro exchange rates, I really need the computer to know what we've got. And of course, I don't have everyday access, that would bug you wouldn't it?
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