My life has been a whirlwind since returning home from Aruba. Almost 3 weeks gone and on vacation is lovely while you’re gone. But then you have to get back to real life and in my case I had to do it without missing a beat and had to hit the ground running.
From the moment I stepped off the plane there was mail to sort
And product reviews I neeeded to write. Lots of them:
And: Snack Boxes
And: On a Stick!
And: Stevia & Chocolate
Whew.
But I think I am mostly caught up now.
I’ve also been knocking out some easy, fresh, fast meals and snacks.
Salads with veggies
Adding in some Sweet & Sour Honey Lemon Tofu would be great with the salad.
But I haven’t turned my oven on in a month!Everything I’ve made has either been on the stovetop…
Like Mango Balsamic Rice, Beans, & Mixed Vegetables
Or has been made in my Vita…
From Taste of the Tropics Smoothies
to No Bake Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites
I’ve been knocking out easy things that don’t heat up the house. Not that it’s that hot or anything here.
Truth be told, turning on my oven has nothing to do with heat index and everything to do with time management and just being so ridiculously busy.
I had to knock out getting a new computer all set up, too.
But that was a fun knock out!
From my last post, Stevia & Chocolate, it was fun to read if you’re a stevia fan or not. Most of you have tried it and really like it or are at least curious about trying it one of these days.
As suspected, most of you are chocolate fans. I knew that already! But there were a few people who said you’re just meh or whatever about chocolate. <— I don’t understand this!
Questions:
1. What have you been knocking out recently?
Any life stuff, chores, errands, projects that you’ve tackled and knocked out?
Or maybe you’ve made some knock-outs in the kitchen. Any gems you want to tell me about?
2. Do you feel stressed or anxious when things pile up?
I do! I hate the feeling of excess, pile-up, surplus, too much. It leaves me anxious.
It stresses me out when I feel that things are too piled up. I hate letting anything accumulate, especially blog writing and product reviews. Heather recently wrote that she wanted to move away from as many product reviews going forward and in the meantime had a ton to get through and was just going to knock them out as quickly as possible.
Not sure if I will start doing any less in the future, but I definitely don’t like them piling up for three weeks, and wanted to knock mine out, lickity split.
I like to work ahead of the curve, not behind it. And when things pile up and are waiting for me, it makes me a bit frazzled and frantic and I don’t stop and find peace until things are done. Or at least until I have things better controlled.
From my refrigerator busting at the seams with food I know we’ll have to scramble to eat before it goes bad to tons of phone calls that I have to return to emails I need to reply to, I really dislike the feeling of things being piled up!
What are your thoughts on pile ups and accumulation?
3. What do you do about it to either prevent it from happening or how to cope once things do just pile up?
I try to just take a deep breath, realize it’s not the end of the world if I can’t get to everything as promptly as I wish.
But, I also work as quickly and efficiently as possible to get things back on track.
Trying to just roll with the punches of life, practice some yoga breathing, and just be chill about things is my overall strategy.
P.S. Thanks for the Coconut Oil Giveaway entries!
Wow, sounds like a crazy schedule! I hate the mad catch up part after a vacation and the longer the vacation, the worse the catch up is.
1. Tons of laundry, housework and office upgrade planning and moving into my new computer.
2. Yes, I hate feeling like things are cluttered and out-of-control.
3. Breath, make a task list and focus on the progress I’m making while reminding myself I’ve got things under control.
I totally feel you! Just preparing a post on that myself: I feel like I’ve been doing three things at once at any given moment for days, and tomorrow a conference starts and then we go on another trip and it’ll all pile up again!
I love to work ahead of the curve too but I also find that i have to accept that I can’t always keep up with everything. I’m certainly not a superhero in that regard like you are! And I can’t imagine how I would do it with a kid too…
I just knocked out a whole lot of gardening this morning. Had to replace a couple of veggie plants that didn’t make it through the ridiculous amounts of rain we had in the past month, plus a bunch of weeding.
I just bought two of these at the farmer’s market last night: https://www.smartpots.com/smart-pot-air-prunes so I need to buy two more plants tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how they do in comparison to my other veggies.
Yes, I hate when ANYTHING gets piled up! Laundry, email, bills… I can’t sleep if something is looming!
You got so many awesome goodies while you were away. I’m sure you can believe it, but I have about 6 months of product reviews to do, which may never happen. I feel bad! I have a box of Pho from last October that I haven’t even opened. And all the Tastemaker coupons? They end up expiring before I can use them. Ugh.
But there are worse jobs to have, so I’m not complaining. :)
Yesterday, FG = yes; TS = ??
product reviews…if I dont do them ASAP they would get lost in the shuffle, for sure. i hate to overwhelm people with them but it’s either that or never happen.
good job on FG and TS…typical timeframe, lol.
Can I tell you how much I need a new computer. Yours is beyond dazzling right now my dear :)
Running all those workhorse programs like Lightroom was making my machine just not even WORK anymore after 4.5 yrs old.
I need to hear about your 7D reviews, too!
Miss you!
xo
i like your postal box Averie!!! very professional :)
big fan of enjoy life foods too.
i would write a better comment but im not sure if my computer will act up again and let this go through so im sort of testing it out. xo
I like working ahead of the curve too. I’d much rather be way ahead of schedule than to even be on time, let alone behind. I get really stressed out if I’m behind! I try and work hard so that I can keep ahead of schedule.
I love going on vacation, but it’s definitely a pain to come back to reality. Especially if there isn’t any time to reacclimate and I have to jump right back into things. I always try to plan at least a day to come back and relax before real life wants me back! It didn’t work out last time and I was sooo out of it for days.
New computer = Yay! I get stressed to the max when things pile up, but I it’s so rewarding and stress relieving when you knockout a bunch of stuff at once. Such a good feeling!
I definitely get stressed when I have a lot of things that I have to do. . . I end up doing a half-ass job just to get them out of the way and move on to the next. Procrastinating really sucks.
Yesterday, I made some vegetarian pulled “pork” using green jackfruit. I haven’t actually eaten it on a sandwich yet, and it turned out a little vinegary, but I think I’m going to like it because I like vinegary. I made it in the crock pot because it has been a little on the insane side of hot here in central PA for the last two days anyhow. So, I knocked that out, and I’m pretty excited about eating it for lunch. I also cleaned my husband’s side of the office last week. OMG, it was bad. I told him we are going to have to go on one of those reality shows, and not the fun kind, if it gets that bad again!
I love sorting through a big pile of mail when its fun packages!!!! LOL
I hate coming home from vacation too with laundry piles, bills accumulated, phone calls to return, unpacking…blah…..I’d much rather stay on a permanent vacation!!!
Do you know if there are any possible negative side-effects from stevia? I tried to do some research on the internet but I can’t figure out if it’s all a bunch of lies or if stevia could be dangerous.
Also, I was reading through the old post on the topic of “healthifying desserts” and I wanted to add my 2 cents:
I love to “healthify” desserts, but never sacrifice taste/texture for a few fat grams (or calories or whatnot). I like to know that what I put into my body is good for me, so I always try to use the best quality ingredients, pesticide-free fruits in my baking (especially when it’s peel-on) and usually not as much sugar as generally called for (I don’t have a big sweet tooth).
there’s negative effects from breathing air. there’s pollution in it :)
seriously there “can” be negatives in everything; you just have to do your research and go from there.
oh gosh, your photos have left me HUNGRY! like you, i don’t appreciate it when things pile up, i.e. dishes & especially LAUNDRY, ugh! i usually try and tackle it a little at a time {if there is a lot}, but sometimes i just “knock it out,” right then & there.
P.S. Averie, please check out this link ~ there’s mention of you ;) ;) https://beancakes.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/popcorn-tastes…-movie-popcorn/
xo~ kristina
^^ SORRY! that link won’t work. . . try this one!
https://beancakes.wordpress.com/
oops ;0
Today I’m knocking out PILES of baking for Mike’s little brother’s grad party. I’m kind of excited though- baking is always really really fun for me!! In general though, I get VERY stressed when things pile up. I’m easily overwhelmed and a perfectionist, so those things get to me. I try to remind myself that nothing is ever the be-all, end-all though. This too shall pass :)
I DEFINITELY feel the stress when things pile up, both metaphorically and literally. I hate hate hateeeee piles of stuff on my kitchen counter, especially when I’m trying to cook, and on those occasions (i.e. all the time) when my beau puts his change of clothes there post-gym, I always casually knock them to the floor/a chair.
Yes, I know this means they’re still in a pile, just on the floor. But I still get my space to chop and prep!
I’ve started knocking things off my new to-enjoy list. In turn, I’m finding myself also hitting some from my to-do list that I’ve been neglecting. Loving that.