Squirrel!
Have you ever seen the Disney movie Up? If you have kids or grandkids, you probably have. It is one of my favorites to watch with my grandkids.
Anyway, there is a dog named Dug (yes Dug, not Doug, haha) and he can talk because of a collar that his master made him. He is a cute dog that loves humans but gets distracted easily by a squirrel. As he is talking to the humans, in mid-sentence he stops talking and says "SQUIRREL" and turns his head towards the squirrel.
Well, this is about how I feel my mind works between my COPD and RA. I have a double whammy because they both can cause brain fog. Do you know how everyone will say LOL for laughing out loud? My friend Deb and I say LOO for lack of oxygen. At least that's our excuse and we're sticking to it. LOO!
Squirrel moments
My cousin, Jody, and I will say squirrel all the time as we are talking to each other. We will forget what we are saying mid-sentence or interrupt each other before we forget what we are going to say. We both usually say "squirrel" at the same time. When we have our "squirrel" moments, we both get a big laugh and move on until our next moment.
I have these moments often, for example, while cleaning. I’ll go to start the dishes. While the sink is filling, I will go around the house to see if there are any more dirty dishes.
While doing so, I stop and see that a few things need to be dusted, so then I will go to dust them real quick but on my way to get a dust rag in the bathroom; I see that the load that I put in the washer is finished, so I stop to put it in the dryer. I then remember that I have the sink filling up with water, so I go turn that off and start the dishes.
From one thought to the next
From there, I remember we need more dish soap, so I go get my phone to add to my grocery list and see that I have a notification of an email that I have been waiting for. I then read and answer that and think, oh, I’ll check out Facebook while I’m on and see what everyone is up to today.
I get lost in Facebook land for a bit and then remember that my dishwater is probably getting cold, so I return to do them. While cleaning a frying pan, I think about how good our rosemary chicken was the night before and I want to add the ingredients to my grocery list so we can have it again next week.
Here I go again, adding to the grocery list. After I’m done, I realize that I never did dust and while I’m at it, I may as well vacuum. Before I know it, so much time has passed and I feel like I have gotten nothing done. If my husband would have done everything I did, it would have only taken him a few minutes. It's so discouraging!
Taking a breather
I think I’ll sit down and take a breather and, while I do, I think I’ll check the weather. Wait, what was I going to look up online the next time I got on my phone? Oh, yeah, I was going to look up the recipe for that chicken so I'll know if I have any more ingredients that I need to add to the list. No, there was something else? What was it? Oh well.
I’ll check out Facebook again and see what’s going on. While scrolling, I see an ad for a face mask. Oh yeah, that is what I was going to do earlier today when I got up, I was going to order some new masks online. Yet, another "squirrel" moment of many throughout the day.
My husband can usually do the entire house in 30- 45 minutes and I take all day because of all of my "squirrel" moments. Do you have these moments? I’m sure I’m not alone. How do you keep yourself on task for the day? Please let me know in the comments below. Thanks!
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