The L.A. Times has a great travel checklist online. It gives a “to do” list from one year before your trip up to two days before your trip. I cut and pasted the list into Word. Then I highlight the items as I go along. If you cut and paste into Word you can also edit out or edit in items as you see fit.
You can click on “single page” at the bottom of the article so you can get the whole list on one page.
Here’s a great website for finding forms for weekly schedules, budget planners…even “cleaning charts” that let you know when you should do certain household tasks. And it’s all free! You have to create a user ID and password to download documents. You also have to wade through some advertising, but I guess that is the price one pays for getting free documents! File formats include Word, Excel, and PDF.
I’m currently reading (amongst the other 25 books I’m reading) Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the “Immigrant Menace” by Alan M. Kraut. The book is a fascinating historical look at how epidemics are spread, and the politics and class issues that are involved in determining the cause and treatment of epidemics.
While reading the book, I started thinking about my great-grandmother, who was a nurse during the 1918 Flu Epidemic. According to family records, she took care of many flu patients, including her dying husband. But she never caught the flu.
I’ve thought about the possible reasons for this.
1. She was exposed to the flu early on, and was able to build up antibodies.
2. She inherited a gene or genes that rendered her immune to the flu.
3. She had an immunity to the flu that was the result of a genetic mutation.
4. She just luckily never came in contact with the flu “germ”. (However, this seems highly unlikely due to the highly contagious nature of the flu and the fact that she was in close contact with flu patients.)
Now that I think of it, I never caught the chicken pox, even though I was exposed to it several times throughout my life. It was thought that maybe I had caught the chicken pox and my symptoms were so mild that a rash didn’t appear. However, when I was in my 20s and was tested prior to receiving the vaccine, my blood showed no signs of ever having chicken pox.
So is it possible that I inherited an immunity to certain “bugs”? Could chicken pox and the 1918 flu have some similarities? Or is it coincidental that my great-grandmother never caught the 1918 flu and I never caught chicken pox? I’d like to think I’ve inherited an immunity - that sounds good to me!
The final copy edits have been completed for “ADD and Your Money”! The book will be out in December this year. It gives readers information on: money issues common to people with ADD; how to curb impulsive spending; the ABCs of investing; hiring professionals to help you manage your money; organizing your financial papers; and issues in relationships regarding money management.
You can pre-order “ADD and Your Money” here: Amazon link
In addition, “10 Simple Solutions” is now available in digital format on Kindle at Amazon. Kindle version
I’m guessing this is common amongst people with ADD…at least I hope so, and it’s not just me! I have no sense of direction. Some people have a type of “internal compass”. You can put them in the middle of a cornfield and they just know the location of north, south, east, and west. You put me in a cornfield, and all your going to get out of me is “Oooh, look…pretty corn!” Yep, no sense of direction.
Let me preface this by saying I have only lived in South Florida for 6 months. Yes, that is my excuse this time. (I just realized it’s actually been 7 months, but 6 months sounds a lot better.)
So today I go to Palm Beach to see Isabella Rossellini give a lecture. It was great. She’s a very engaging speaker and unbelievably beautiful. I’m driving home, and I’m proud of myself because I’ve found the exit for I-95. Now those of you who know the area know that Boca Raton is SOUTH of Palm Beach. So naturally, I take the NORTH exit. And in addition to that, it starts pouring. So about 10 miles down I-95, I realize I’m going the wrong direction. The reason I know I’m going the wrong direction is that I recognize an exit for the dog beach. The dog beach is NORTH of Palm Beach. Oops. (This would be great if I had the dogs with me and it wasn’t raining.)
The good thing is that I’ve come to accept my non-directional sense, so it doesn’t really bother me much anymore. And one of the nice things about going the wrong way is that you see things you otherwise wouldn’t see. (Hey, if you’re lost, you might as well enjoy the view.)
One of the ways I determine north, south, east, and west is by superimposing a map of the United States over where I’m going. This sounds odd, but here’s how it works. If I know I’m going north on I-95 and the directions say I need to go east, I envision a map of the U.S. I’m driving towards Wisconsin. If I was going east, would I be going towards California or Massachusetts? Massachusetts. So I turn right when I exit the highway. Sounds silly, but it works. Well, most of the time, anyway…
I think people with ADD/ADHD are drawn to each other by some inexplicable force. I was at the beach today, and this dog goes flying past me. Like a blur. A guy standing near me goes, “Sorry…she’s really ADD.” And man, that dog was active. She made Toby look like he was on Quaaludes. So his dog and my dog, being kindred spirits, ran and played happily down the beach, leaving the other dogs in the dust (sand).
I can’t tell you how many times this happens to me. I’ll be at Target, and a mom will start talking to me about her child’s delay in development. Or I’ll be at a restaurant and the people sitting at the table next to me start talking about their kid in college who has dyslexia. Or I’m sitting on a plane next to someone who just bought my book online the day before (that’s a really cool experience).
I don’t think there’s any such thing as coincidence. And I think we happily (and serendipitously)stumble upon people that share our outlook and concerns about life. And I think we meet these people when the timing is right, and we need each other in our lives…whether it’s for a brief moment, or longer.
I think it also helps that I really enjoy talking with people. No, more like I enjoy listening to people. And maybe people pick up on that. Or I pick up on their need to share their stories. Either way, there’s no such thing as coincidence.
Speaking of fast dogs, here’s Toby’s demonstration of centripetal force:
