Today's topic on Monday Listicles (hosted by Stasha at The Good Life and inspired by Jessica at My Time as Mom) are 10 Things You Can't Do. Sadly, I'm really good at listing my shortcomings. But hopefully, I'll be working these listicles more in future, so you'll hear some positives as well.- Phone Calls I have a serious phobia about the phone. I dread having to pick up the phone and call people - even people I know well, some of the time. What if I'm interrupting them? What if I sound like a complete idiot when I need to ask something important? What if what if what if? I'm not much better in person (or when people call me), but I can force myself in those instances. I'm incredibly grateful for the invention of the internet and e-mail, because it lets me avoid my phobia for other means of contact.
- Cooking Ok, if I actually tried I might get better at it. But I don't like cooking so I don't try it as often as I should. I haven't figured out how to spice things properly so I usually end up not spicing them at all and they come out bland. Luckily, my husband likes to cook... though he's trying to push me toward cooking more so he doesn't have to. Because if he didn't cook, it would probably be fast food and instant meals more often than not.
- Housework I try to keep on top of things but I suck royally. I was much better at it before being married with children - I could keep up with the clutter of one person. But trying to keep up with the clutter of four (because my husband doesn't see the need for neatness) is beyond my ability. I keep trying to find a way to organize myself and my life but so far, no luck. This, of course brings me to...
- Organization Again, I can't seem to get on top of this. I make lists. TONS of lists. I make schedules. I read books and websites about organization. But does it help? Of course not. When it comes to this, I think it's overload. I'm just trying too many things at once. What I really need is to get someone to come in, sit down with me for a month, and help me figure out a system for my life. But that's not likely to happen.
- Backing into a parking space I don't know what it is, but when it comes to backing up, I completely suck. I can't seem to make it between the two lines without trying about 30 times. Woe to anyone who is within about 3 spaces on either side. It's why I don't parallel park and I try to find somewhere that I can pull through in a parking lot.
- Remembering important things I blame this one on my kids. I'm convinced that both of them sucked memory and smarts out of me while they were in the womb. It's the only reasonable explanation as to why I used to have brains and a memory and don't any longer.
- Growing Things I try. Really I do. I've tried flowers, herbs, vegetables, you name it. I manage to kill them all. I even killed a cactus in college. Yes, my thumb is thoroughly black.
- Patience My patience is far lower than it should be for someone who wants to be crafty and is the mom to two boys. Sometimes I'll have flashes where I can explain over and over again something to my kids, but more often than not, I just want to get them out of my hair or be finished with something as quickly as I can.
- Fighting Depression I've suffered from depression for a long time. You'd think I know ways to keep myself from sinking in. But no... far more regularly than I would like, I allow myself to sink into it's depths and stay there. I know I should fight it, but it's too hard sometimes and I just can't force myself to do it.
- Staying on Top of Things I'm usually good for about a week. I keep on top of cleaning. I get my books reviewed right after I've read them. I get swaps out early. I clean out my e-mail on a daily basis. I post for my blogs daily. I do the memes that I enjoy doing. I read my favorite RSS feeds through my Google Reader or Feed Squares or whatever. Then something gets missed for a day. Then another day. And another. Next thing I know, I'm three months behind and know that I'm never going to get caught back up, so I scrap everything and start over again. At which point, I'm good for about a week...
So those are the things I can't see to do. And honestly, it was harder to come up with than I expected it would be. Part of it is because of the broader categories that I put in, but part of it is that I'm not feeling quite as down on myself today as I usually do. Having a little boy come in to snuggle and tell me about the monster in his room named Plan who has blue scales, a long nose, is spiky all over and is, most importantly, his friend, made me remember the things that I'm good at. But I did manage to come up with ten things for this list. So go me.
