A few months ago, the LAST time I almost had a “mini mental breakdown” from trying to be superwoman ( GRACE, the damn costume does NOT fit) a really great friend of mine said, “Damn it Grace, will you just slow down?!?!? Focus on ONE THING, just one thing at a time!!!”  “Yeah, yeah” I replied. ” I got it. (as I added 20 more things to my to do list)

We finished our conversation and she said, “I’ve got it!  I am making something for you.”  Ok?  I didn’t really think much more about it…..

A month later, a box arrived from Florida, ( I live in Illinois)…..hmmmm Not medical supplies, (they come from Texas)…. Not my prescriptions…(THOSE came LAST week) too big of a box to be more bills ( besides that, medical collectors like to use big flashy envelopes so that all your neighbors know you are a slacker)

Duh, Florida!  Bones is from Florida!!!!!!!!

She said she was sending you something…..

My mind went back to what I THOUGHT was our last conversation in which we had talked about going thrift shop shopping for an ugly “tiki like” statue.

The side story behind the “Tiki statue”.

Although I have “known” Bones for almost 3 years, we have only ever “hung out” (in person) two times.  I live in Illinois, she lives in Florida.  We “met” playing an online game on facebook, and it was over a year of talking on the phone, skype etc before we actually met in person.  She was supposed to come stay with me for a week in Sept. of last year, even had purchased her airline ticket, but Hurricane Maria hit the day she was supposed to fly out. 😦 So the trip was cancelled.

We tried to find time in our schedules to pick another day, but with the holidays coming and my daughter’s upcoming wedding, we decided to wait and try again next year.  To hold ourselves “accountable” we agreed to purchase the ugliest statue that we could find to be left at the other ones house.  The only way you could get rid of the statue was to “deliver” it in person to the other one.

So back to the package…..

Why was she sending me the Tiki package?  That wasn’t our plan.  We were going to pick one out together…..  😦 and it was supposed to be HAND delivered or retrieved…. Hmmmm well I’m just not gonna open it!  😛

The box sat by the door for 2 hours before Einstein pestered me enough to open it.

I’m glad I was sitting on the floor when I did.  Fucking tears came out of no where.  When I opened the box this is what I saw…..

ONE THING

She had HAND MADE me my very own “One Thing”  box to remind me to….. SLOW THE HELL DOWN!!!

Who knew that this woman that lives more than 1000 miles away from me, that I met playing an online game, would become one of the best friends anyone could ask for?!?!?

The box is not only a box to collect my to do lists.  Bones did research on why I use the ORANGE ROSE as my blog picture.  (Orange is the color for MS awareness and I printed the rose on our 3d printer, when I was feeling especially blah one day to remind myself that there is still beauty in the world)  I know….. cheesy, but it works for me.  She found images of butterflies, which I didn’t know also represent MS awareness.

Inside of the box she taped the picture of me skydiving that I had posted on my newly created blog’s welcome page.  She included cut out One Thing “tags” with a letter explaining that how I was supposed to use this box. She said, ” This is for your LONG list of To-do’s, but…. BUT you can ONLY place ONE task on each piece of paper.”  Of course there were more “rules”, but you get the gist?

Well I’m still doing it wrong……

I THOUGHT I was doing it right, but I was writing tags like the ones on the left, when I probably should have done more like the ones on the right.

Just because the words fit in the box, does not mean they will fit into a day!!!!…smh

Plan BOSTON?!?!?  Seriously what the hell was I thinking?!?!?  Yep I’m gonna plan a trip with 3 other people all by myself in one day! Doh! I tried, I reached out to everyone to confirm airline selections before booking. I couldn’t reach anyone, but outgoing messages were sent.  So let’s start with cleaning the house.  I probably should have chosen to vacuum OR dust OR laundry instead of tackling all of the rooms and all of the chores at once....but but…the tag said ONE thing…. and I only wrote ONE THING!!!  CLEAN THE HOUSE!!!!!

I did manage to make a lot of progress on the lists on the left, but didn’t actually finish anything except for cleaning the house. ALL OF THE LAUNDRY washed, dried, folded AND put away!!!!  All the dishes, vacuuming, dusting, and I even washed the floors and cleaned the bathrooms.  As I laid down, (passed out) on the couch, utterly exhausted, I looked at the vacuum cleaner that I had neglected to empty or put away, and started the next day’s list….

The next day…..

I laid on the couch all damn day and most of the next….I was in so much pain.

WHEN will I learn?!?!?!?

I really don’t understand why I push myself so hard.  smh I’m sure it has something to do with no longer being able to work outside my house, and self worth and all that, but I KNOW I will PAY for it later, yet I keep doing it.