Here's another free download to help keep track of things when there's a lot of cooking to do.
It's an "Oven Scheduler". Print one out for the refrigerator to help prevent oven overload (and human memory overloads!)
[Maybe this should be filed under "better (almost) late than never..." but I've received quite a few requests for these meal planners. I'll try to get the Sukkot version uploaded shortly after Rosh Hashanah, and update the link below with it then. In the mean time, please accept my wishes for everyone to enjoy health, happiness, peace and prosperity in the coming year.]
Per request, here are my meal planners for your (free) downloading pleasure:
One of the fundamental principles of "Getting Things Done" is to establish and rely upon a "trusted system" to free brain cells for thinking, rather than remembering.
Today I learned how this good advice can be taken a bit too far.
I have a magpie-like tendency to collect casually-mentioned social information in my calendar in the form of dated but untimed notes. If a friend mentions that they're expecting a baby next October, I might put a note on October 1st with "So-and-so's baby due". When a cousin mentions the closing date on his new house, I scribble or enter it in the notes for that day.
Life gets busy, and it's hard enough to keep track of my own comings and goings, never mind those of the people I care about. So these little reminders help me remember others' important milestones, without taking up too much of my limited and taxed bandwidth.
This system has saved me from making awkward and inappropriate comments on more than one occasion. Sometimes I get to masquerade as a more thoughtful and caring person than I really am. Other times, this technique counterbalances an absentmindedness that could otherwise be mistaken for a lack of interest.
But, like any system, it is merely a tool. One can't rely on auto-pilot for take-off and landing.
Two years ago, a friend mentioned the date of her son's bar mitzvah in passing, and I quietly blocked off that weekend in my calendar. I wanted to be sure to be available to help. For her older children, I helped design, print, and stuff the invitations, hosted overnight guests, and was involved with much of the general schlepping and fretting associated with running the events.
I had every expectation to be similarly involved with her son's bar mitzvah.
So, as you can imagine, I was surprised and disappointed last week, when I went to book something for two weeks from now and saw it conflicted with the time I had blocked off.
The last time I spoke with my friend was the beginning of the Summer. I didn't give it much thought, because all of her children go to sleep-away camp, and she has a demanding career.
But, here was the reminder of this major family milestone, and she hadn't mentioned word one about the upcoming events. Clearly, I was not consulted because our family wasn't invited.
I started to agitate about this. Did I do something wrong? Did I offend her or her family in some way? Was I supposed to have done something that I forgot about? No. She must have had some need to cut off the guest list at a much smaller number than last time.
Or maybe she did invite us, and I misplaced the invitation. Maybe she didn't consult with me because she didn't really like the invitations last time, and she didn't want to be insulting. Or maybe it got lost in the mail. Maybe she's annoyed with me for not responding to this invitation I don't remember receiving. She could be sitting at home, right now, aggravated because she never received a response from me.
So, I spent the past week obsessing about this, making myself crazy with anxious speculation:
Should I call her and ask how the plans are going? No. If she didn't call to discuss the plans, maybe she's hoping that I won't remember them. Bringing it up would embarrass her. Or me.
Should I call her, just to chat, and see if she mentions it on her own? No. There isn't any precedent for phone chatting in our relationship, and she's probably really busy with the preparations. This would be the last thing she needs. Besides, it might seem like a hint for an invite, which would be awkward and annoying for both of us.
Maybe I should just buy the gift and send it now. But that's also easily interpreted as hint-like. What if I send the gift now, and get the invitation next week? Then it will clearly have been an afterthought to have invited us, and we shouldn't attend. If she invited us out of a feeling of obligation or guilt, our company would bring no pleasure and just increase her catering bill.
If we're not invited, do we send the same size gift as if we were? Is that very question fair, reasonable, or petty?
I could call our close mutual friend, and ask if she's helping. No. That's not fair, putting her in the middle of things.
I was hurt. And I was annoyed with myself for feeling hurt. There are so many factors in compiling a guest list, not the least of which is the cost of the event. Nobody's budget is infinite. The list has to be cut somewhere. How dare I presume that I'd be invited.
Perhaps we're not as close as I thought we were. Or maybe, she opted for a family-only celebration. But if she did that, I would have expected some mention of it. But then again....
This morning, I just couldn't stand it any more. I had to make a decision about scheduling something else on that date, and decided it was ridiculous to keep it blocked off just in case we were invited last-minute.
I saw it, just as I was contriving a pretext for the call while looking up her phone number. In the notes next to her phone number was the date of her son's bar mitzvah. In 2009. Next year.
The news is full of people blindly following their GPS instructions, driving off cliffs, bridges, and off the road, ignoring visible hazards. (Like Howie Carr says, "Who're you gonna believe? Me, or your lying eyes?")
I let my system steer me off a cliff, despite all the contrary evidence of our many years of friendship.
Maybe I'll show her this post. I don't know. I'm a bit embarrassed about the whole thing.
But for sure, I've learned a lesson about not putting more trust in a system than in a valued relationship.
I needed another Rolodex-compatible file, but didn't want to pay for a real one. So I made one from a box-bottom and a pair of chopsticks.
Here's a way to make a 3"x5" Rolodex compatible folder to hold related cards together. The cards can be removed, relocated, and replaced together.
The folder is made from a single 8"x5" index card. In this example, I used a blank blue one.
Hold a 5"x8" index card in portrait orientation and a 3"x5" Rolodex card in landscape orientation.
Fold the large card BACKWARDS from the bottom of the smaller card.
The back will be longer than the front.
Using the hole punch set up for making Rolodex-compatible cards from 3x5 index cards, punch the folder as though it were a regular card, on the side that has the folded edge.
Use a scissors to cut from the folded edge to the punched holes.
Trim the back of the card to the same height as the front, with a bulge for an index tab.
This is what it looks like when held open:
Write a label on the index tab. Individual related cards go inside the folder. They can be removed, relocated, and reinserted together as a unit.
See also:
As mentioned previously, I like to keep Rolodex 3"x5" compatible
3"x5" cards have a real following. Check out Merlin Mann's Hipster PDA or DIY Planner's templates.
Some people even get a bit carried away with them, turning capture into full-throttle pursuit!
Here are a couple of card holders I've made. One is for placing near telephones, and the other is for use in the car.
Near telephones (this one is on our refrigerator, which serves as our household Mission Control Center) we have this one:
to its back with a hot glue gun.
The holes in the index card binder are spaced the same as a standard (American) 3-hole punched 8.5"x11" page.
For Rolodex compatible cards
To facilitate quick use of the cards, I snipped them with a scissors from the edge of the card to the top of these holes. This allows the cards to slip in and out of the binder, without opening the binder's rings.
Rolodex cards are much more expensive than plain index cards, and they don't come in as many varieties and colors.
To convert regular index cards to Rolodex-compatible cards, I moved the third hole of the standard three-hole punch to the width of the holes in a Rolodex card. I used a card as a guide.
To make the guideline on this side, I used a small blue piece of electrical tape.
Thus, the same standard 3 hole punch will punch the cards for the binder using the top and middle holes and black marker guidelines, and also convert index cards to Rolodex-compatible using the middle and bottom holes, lining things up with the blue tape.
Snipping the card from the edge to the holes makes it fit into the Rolodex device.
I made the car clipboard from a torn and stained 3-ring binder.
First I cut off the front cover. Then I trimmed the back cover to about 6.5" past the ends of the rings.
I covered the cut edges with white duct tape. To cover without lumps, cut the excess at a 45 degree angle, with the cut flush with the corners. This picture is of the back (sticky side) of the tape, as seen from the back of the notebook cover.
These flaps can then be folded (toward the viewer of this picture) on the back side, without lumps or wrinkles.
I wanted to have some real scrap paper in the car, too. This will be replenished from the backs of pages of junk mail and school fliers. Each page yields 6 sheets, by folding in half width-wise, and then in thirds.
The resulting pages are about 5.5" long by 2.7"
Just one hole punched in these, as they'll be hanging from the third binder ring.
To keep the pen from rolling around the car, I attached it with a retractable ID card reel.
I marked the width of the clip on the badge reel and used a hand drill to make a hole that size.
This is the badge clip, as seen from the back. To hold it in place and keep it from catching on things, I covered it with duct tape on the back.
While the badge reel held the pen nicely, I wanted it to be more secure, so I cut off the snap, and threaded a twist-tie through the grommet and attached the pen this way.
This part wasn't strictly necessary, but I anticipated children yanking on the pen, and wanted it to be as secure as possible. I even added a dot of glue from the hot glue gun to secure the twist-tie.
Here it is in action, as a clip board on the passenger seat (above), and in the driver's door pocket (below).
And here it is on the steering wheel. A full-sized clip board would be very uncomfortable on the steering wheel. This shorter version is perfect!
Wondering where the rest of the notebook went? If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you can see it, covered with foil, masquerading as a cake platter.
See also:
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