Quick Update

My bad for not following up. LOL! I feel bad that I haven't posted. I just read over my last post of things I wanted to do.

Swimming: Well, my son and I are both taking swim lessons. He's been taking them since September and I started in November. He's going to have to continue to take them.

Credit: I started credit monitoring. I went on the credit boards site a few times, but not like should've. I disputed something on one credit agency and need to follow up with the others. I didn't cause they wanted some credit report number which I didn't have and don't know how to get and can't remember to call to find out. What sucks is that I got in a car accident and my car is totalled and I have to buy a new car and I haven't got this credit crap straight. I did pay off a very old credit card.

Work: I'm much more productive at work and it feels good. We have a new supervisor and I know him from when he worked with us before. I like him. He says what he feels and he is more easy to talk to than my other supervisor. He's cool as all get out but we didn't have the best working relationship, not that it was bad, but just cause I'm not that friendly. I gave up on that report, since we have one similiar to it coming out and I wasn't doing any work avoiding that report. So I put it away and started doing other work and things were better.

Getting son to school on time: I have fell sooooo badly. We may be on time once or twice a week. Bad I know. It's a combination of things, but mostly me not getting up, even with the clocks and the wake up calls. I've gotten in a routine and it's so hard to break it. Monday, we will be on time.

At first I was looking for things to do make extra income, than I just stopped and then started thinking about ways to cut the fat. I've been much better at not squandering cash and wondering where it went.

Working out: Started off slow, than did really well, exercising 5-6 days a week, but my eating wasn't that great. I still have yet to combine the 5-6 days working out with lean eating.

Spanish: FAIL big time. I remembered just today when my son pulled it out and tried to read it. I have to put that back in things to do, but realistically not this month, probably January.


I've been having great times, drama, hard times, illness and all of that, but I'm doing great. We have a new President, my son and the rest of my family are great and my friends are good so I can't complain.

Back in the Swing of Things.

School has started for my son, so the heat is on. If I don't get him to school on time, it's counted as absent from school for however many minute he's late. This means that if I'm repeatedly late, that I can be faced with having to go to family court, and be put in the children and families system. I take parenting very seriously so this would be horrible. So I see myself as not having a choice to be late and am aiming to get there early. Last week I went 2 for 3. I had been relying on my cell phone alarm and a wake up call and on the last day I didn't hear my cell and my wake up call didn't call. I got out of the house in enough time to just make it, but then there was an accident and I was late 9 minutes. So I have to plug in my other clocks and make sure the alarm is set, even pull out the bag and lock. I ironed for the week and that helped a lot, but I didn't prepare our lunch and snacks every night and that really is a must, just in case anything comes up in the morning. I feel like I'm going to be alright.

At work, I'm stuck in a rut. I'm trying to finish up a report that I can't seem to find an interest in, so it's sooooo haaaard to finish. This thing was due back in June and it's freaking August now. I've had a lot of stuff in between but it's still ridiculous. I have most of the charts and tables done. I just need to add some things, add in the tables and charts and tweaked the wording but I try to start doing it and I don't want to and start doing something that stimulates me. I will feel so much better once this thing is done, but I don't know what it's going to take for me to actually get going on it. I took my black screen off so any internetting will be out in the open, but now I just try to click off of it when I hear someone passing. I'm going to try and think of something by tomorrow, cause I really want this monkey off my back, cause it's going to become obvious that I'm not doing shit and I like checks and need checks so I'm effing up.

I realize that I have to do other things that I'm interested in, to help me get through the things that aren't interesting to me. Learning and doing new things are what stimulates me the most. So I've decided that it's the perfect time for my son I to learn how to swim, which we need to do since we live around so much water anyways plus I have a renewed love for the beach. My goal is for us to go snorkeling here. It'll be our little adventure, something to keep on track with our swimming and hopefully with our other goals.

I bought this learn to speak spanish book and audio cd set that I've slept on but I reallllly want to speak Spanish. I hate not knowing what people are saying and not being able communicate with people who speak the language.

So my goals are:

1.Get son to school on time.
What it takes: Getting our stuff together at night, getting to bed before 2a.m and getting up by 6 a.m.

2. Finish up this damn report by the end of the month.
This is a lofty goal that I haven't figured out how I'm going to make myself do.

3.Do my Spanish 5 days a week.

4.Finalize our swim lessons by next week.

5. Work out 5 days a week

6. Do something fun with my son every weekend.

7. Work on repairing my credit.
What it takes: 1. Getting information from creditboards.com 2. Get credit monitoring service, so I can see progress by getting monthly reports 3. Start disputing inaccuracies by sending out letters 4. Keeping track and following up. 5. Not to mention pay something old off twice a month.

8. Find some ways to make some extra money, cause it's hard trying to pay off things, save and still spend on things I want to do.

So as you can see I have a lot shit to work on. I swear I feel like I have to walk on a tight rope to get all this stuff done everyday or even 5 days a week. But I need these things done to get what I want, so as I love to say I JUST HAVE TO KEEP IT MOVING.

So I'm going back to my daily goals calender and I'm going to post it so I can have some kind of accountability, so check back with me and shout me out in the comments.


I gotta hit you up with some new music before I go. I thought it was kind of funny that this is my alarm for time to get out the door. It's my main man Andre 3000 featured in John Legend's song "Green Light". Also I want to share with you, an artist I just learned about from one of my alumni buddies. His name is Vikter Duplaix and his music is the sexiest smooth soul music that I have ever heard.


My ringtone alarm featuring my future husband clowning talking bout he's going to do somebody like he just did 2 years in the pen and that even Stevie Wonder got down! LOL!



OH and please believe only Andre 3000 himself could pull a "I'm ready to go right now" to get me to leave a party that was as jumping as the party in the video. Other than that I would be right there juking just as hard as my love is juking in that video. I love to dance and I love when most of the club or party is dancing too. So boooo to you wall flowers and chair warmers at the club and at parties. Booo!

Okay, here's Vikter:
Make a Baby, sexy even though I can't imagine, with everything I have on my plate, making a baby without imagining a husband singing that. LOL!



One of my favorites is "In the Middle of You"

Summer Tales

Hola! I've had so much on my mind and trying to decide what to share. I don't feel like talking about ADD right now. I just feel like sharing. I've had an awesome summer! My son spent time with his father's family and I got some me time. I spent alot of time working out, traveling, reading,thinking,volunteering for the Obama Campaign, showing myself some love and I had a brief long distance romance. Fun times!

Been thinking about starting a program to help excons and men and women who don't have a GED or highschool diploma find work or start their own businesses. It would help decrease crime and help men take better care of their families and be able to be a viable member of a family unit.

I'm going to start buying and passing out books that tell the young people in my neighborhood and that I know more on contributions of Black Folks around the world. The truth of the matter white readers is that we don't learn enough about Black people in schools so we have to seek it out and learn for ourselves. It's as if we weren't even part of history and that we have none prior to slavery and that's not true at all. I'm learning alot reading a book called World's Great Men of Color by J.A. Rogers. I read some really exciting stories about Cuban, French, Puerto Rican, European and Haitian men of color that made outstanding contributions in different areas. Another book that I really like is I Dream a World:Portraits of Black Women That have Changed America. The pictures are beautiful. It's filled with Black Women who've made changes that made the world a better place. I want young impressionable women to see more than what they see on t.v. and on B.E.T. and aspire to be great like women they know, or women they read about and see in this book. I get inspired reading these books so I hope to inspire some young people.

My travels:
I went to Houston with my best friend for her family reunion and it was great. It was different from our other trips where the main agenda was partying. We only went out one night and it was ok. The best thing about the trip was being around family even if it wasn't my own and appreciating the dynamics, the love, the support and fuzzy feelings of family. My bf's mom is funny as hell. She kept me rolling.

The second best thing about the trip is gaining knowledge of a rich history about black folks in Texas. We went on a tour that was hosted by an American Cowgirl named Mollie Taylor-Stevenson, whose family owned over 600 acres of land in Texas, and had an oil field that was like the second oldest one in Texas. I can't express how good I felt learning about her family and being on their land where she's erected a museum dedicated to the story of black and other minority cowboys and cowgirls that weren't talked about or shown anywhere else. She has such a strong sense of family and she knew alot about them. She had a copy of the slave bill of sale of her grandmother. She and her mother were the first living African American cowgirls inducted into the American cowgirl hall of fame link. She participated in rodeos and she loved cowgirl life. She's my shero. I think she is so cool. We also went to a black art gallery that had some really nice pieces. Please read her story here. We also got some history at the Buffalo Soldier's Museum that had artifacts from black soldiers that was during a time right after the abolition of slavery. They had a man there doing a live reenactment and it was soooo awesome and interesting. It was too bad we had to leave early. Check out these pics.

Summary: Houston is huge, has plenty of Universities, the people drive crazy as hell-saw many near accidents and my friend's cousin was hit in the back by a car, the men are huge- my phrase for a lot a guys I saw there was that those men "eat steaks and lift weights". They were big, just like I like my men. I got a chance to catch up with a very sexy friend and he gave me a little tour as well. It would've been nice to spend more time with him but it was cool. He also was looking like he eats steaks and lift weights again just like I like. LOL! Here are some pics.

Pictures from Houston:

Well I'll be back with more of my travels, random thoughts and conclusions from my summer. I'm going to go iron my clothes for tomorrow and attempt to get to bed at a decent hour.

Hey

I know it's been a while. I'm still struggling with my symptoms with the main ones being late and being productive and getting enough sleep. So why am I not in bed now? I don't know.

I have been feeling great because I take a multivitamin everyday, been working out regularly and eating well. My enery levels are good. I'm still taking 5mg instant release Adderall and the 15mg slow release Adderall and it works for me. Every once in a while I get a little anxious and sometimes I can't sleep right away.

I've been enjoying life, getting out, having fun traveling and keep looking for new things to try. I spend most of my time, working out, reading and internetting. The internet is a big time stealer and I've been decreasing my time on the net at home and work.

Long time, no blog and New Layout!

I've been busy working on the same old, same old and getting out and about. I still haven't managed to be consistently on time. I have had terrible relapses, like going a whole week without being on time and it's the same issues, mostly not getting up earlier. I loved the sonic boom alarm clock but I would get up and turn it off. I got a bag and a lock. I'd lock the alarm in the bag and put the key in the furthest part of the house or put it on a shelf where I would have to look for it. It worked for a little bit but eventually I'd get back in the bed. Lately I stopped locking the clock up cause I lost the lock and it wasn't working. Now I snooze 5 mins for 30 mins. It makes no sense. Every night I go to bed with the thought of getting up on time and every morning I say I'm going to get out of this house on time but sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. What's the worst is that we're late by less than 5 minutes. All I can say is that I'll keep trying.

I found myself focused solely on working on my issues and not doing other things. Finally I told myself that I need to come up for some air, stop spending so much time on the computer, get out and do things and cultivate friendships. I did and am having fun living, laughing and loving. I know that's so cliche but it's real. Right now I feel really blessed that serious as they are, these add & personality issues are all the issues I have, so I'm able to be positive and be there for my friends who may have other issues. Actually it goes vice versa cause I seem to choose friends who are like me in a lot of ways, but whose differences are usually in areas where I feel like I could be better in. So our personalities complement and we learn from each other.

Also I've read some things, been involved in various conversations on self esteem and it's helped me to stop criticizing myself so much.

I've been so consumed by the primary elections that I've haven't gotten a chance to review any articles related to ADD/ADHD. Feel free to check out the ADD news updates on the right side of the page. I'll do another post on the primaries because as usual, I need to take my butt to bed!

Here's two Kanye West songs that I think are befitting of the topic.

Sometimes we get so bogged down in our own issues we forget what's good about us, things other people do see.

Champion


Everything I Am


and lastly I'm about ready for some......


Honey by my girl Erykah Badu

Ring the Alarm

I had to laugh at myself this morning cause I realized that I have 4 alarm clocks and 1 talking timer to help me get up and and get out of the door on time. This seems crazy but it's not because I had all of these things yesterday and a wake up call and was still like 2 minutes late taking my son to school. That's my world. I took a 2 week sabbatical off of my prescription medicine. I did if for a couple of reasons, (1)procrastination on doctor's appointment and (2) to see if I could manage without them. Uuuum, it didn't work. In the last 2 weeks my energy has been very low and it didn't help, that I was staying up late and I was restricting my calories as well. I'm getting back on track with my eating and exercising after the holiday break. I felt extremely, extremely tired and getting up in the morning felt wrong by every muscle and bone in my body, so I was getting up late, a lot late. When I got to work I just wanted to lay my head on my desk, like my old crazy-snoring-coworker used to do. I was drinking morning sparks and power edge, a caffeine drink which has 160 mg of caffeine per pack. I drank 2 packs in the a.m. and 1 in the afternoon and it helped with my energy. Finally, I went to the doctor and I got my prescriptions. Last month I tried 15mg Focalin instant release and I hated it. I felt anxious, like my heart was beating faster than normal and I felt like I needed to be moving, like how used to feel when I would take too many of those ephedra pills back in the day. So I went back toAdderall extended release combined with a low dose instant release Adderall. I'm feeling so much better. I have way more energy and it's much easier getting up in the mornings. *Note to self* No More Medication Lapses!

I'm excited about my new clock and timer. I bought the Sonic Boom Vibrating Alarm Clock with the vibrating extension cord. I love it. There's no way to sleep through this thing. The alarm is very loud but not loud enough to wake neighbors. The vibrating feature is what I really like about this clock. I got the extension so that I would have to get out of the bed to turn the clock off. I didn't want to take any chances so I still keep my other alarm clock on and I keep on my cell phone alarm.

I also bought a talking timer that clips on to you, has a magnet for the refrigerator or stands alone. I love it. It counts up down and you can also set it to go off in increments. As soon as I get up I set it for the time I need to be getting out the door and clip to me. Yesterday I took it off before I was ready to walk out the door and I was already over the time I should've been leaving. Today though I respected the timer and we got to school on time. I also used the timer to jump rope so I don't have to keep looking at the clock. I set it to alarm me every 30 seconds and repeat, so I jumped 30 and rested 30. I'm really happy with this so far.

Check out more ADD related products at ADD Counsults.

A message from the Surgeon General

Former Surgeon General David Satcher, MD, a gives the Congressional Black Caucus a briefing about the importance of treating ADHD. Satcher’s remarks touch on the fact that African-American children are less likely than white children to receive quality mental health care.



Another message on ADD from my girl, Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Karen Harper-Royal.