The Sprague Lab

I’m here getting things ready to head out to Nashville tomorrow for CKC. Hopefully I’ll see some of you there! :D

Wendy  won my funny of the day yesterday, but it was too late to go ahead and post it, so here it is today (she actually beat out Round 2 of Rowen’s “But my clock says 7!” comedy routine). We were chatting. It was like 11:45 p.m. and I said, “I’ve been busy all day taking care of the kids and whatnot.”

And she said, what has become my title for this post, “It’s the whatnot that gets you every time.”

Funny, and true. 

How many 5-minute jobs have spiraled into hours-long adventures that end up with you surrounded by the contents of the cupboards underneath your sink, or all your sheets of cardstock strewn about the floor while you try to decide, is this one pink? or is it more of  a peach? Is that just me?

How many of the items on your to-do list, are more like to-do events?  I love making lists, but I must say that after working for 7 solid hours on a single project today, it was very small and even kind of bitter gratification to check that thing off on my list. That’s it? That’s all I get? One black mark? (Actually, red. And I think it’s crayon…)

Oh no, I think. I am actually going to put this item on my next list, and check it off again, to remind myself of how awesome I was today. In fact, that thing might be carried forward and checked off on every list in perpetuty now, just to get my due.

The good news is, that project goes up at DesignerDigitals on Sunday. ;)

Photoshop and Friday, and Guess What? She’s (gonna be) a Hybrid! 

I’m working on Photoshop Friday as well, since I won’t be in town to freak out about it at midnight on Thursday, as is what usually happens. But worth it. A good freak-out. And now that the aforementioned freak-out doesn’t include stomping around waiting for the List newsletter to send (and fail, and send again, and fail again), I can go right back to freaking out about things that are truly important. One more whatnot off the list.

But it’s all paying off I think - I made it onto the blog of my friend Kristina Contes, who NEVER blogs about me (come on, lady!), and I do believe that she is officially the LAST person that I would have imagined picking up the Computer Tricks special issue (Ms. Paint-n-inky-fingers). But even SHE liked it. So far.

N S D 

 So what are your plans for National Scrapbook day, coming up this Saturday? Me, I’ll be spending it with a whole bunch of scrapbookers in Nashville, so that is awesome. Someone planned that, I think. Not me, I’m just flying there and wearing the swag and slinging some PowerPoints while we make very cool projects in class, and eat all this chocolate I’m bringing. Can’t wait!

A New Laptop! Coming soon to a lap near me! 

Also, somehow my laptop cords got packed into the printer boxes at CKU. Remember that photo, with the room full of printers? That was hella cables, I must say.  But it kind of stinks not being able to turn on my laptop til I get another one. Another laptop, that is, yahooo! New machine on its way next week. :D But what that means is I probably won’t be posting until Saturday night (except that Jared will hack in to post the PSF, which I still need to write… and whatnot).

Cool Tip: Problem Solving using Email 

In my wanderin’ the other night I stumbled on this AMAZING blog entry, which I wanted to share (he filed this away in Life Hacks, by the way, which I think is awesome). It’s a way to solve problems, and the suggestion is that you write an email. It goes a little like this:

Open up your email client and write a note to yourself as if you were writing to the smartest, and most likely, the busiest person you know. Explain your problem to them, and what you’ve already done to solve it. Most of the time, you will figure out the problem.

How awesome is that? I relate to this because it has worked for me. I can’t even count the number of times I’m halfway through an email and a solution occurs to me. Maybe not about THAT problem, but I am very easily distracted, you see… I also relate to this because I’m often the recipient of a lot of email. ;) But seriously, I appreciate the compliment - send away!

Alright, more laundry. More packing. More finishing up of this PSF layout. More emails. More whatnot. It gets me every time.