The Panda Bear on Her Poor Time Management Skills

The Panda Bear apologizes to her readers for not posting last week.   She has been very busy at her day job.  Mr. Panda may loose his job and The Panda Bear has had to help him prepare to hunt for jobs.  The Panda Bear has also had to keep up with her career coaching sessions with her employer.   Usually, in the US between Thanksgiving and New Years there is a lull in the working world where nothing major gets done or decided at work.   However, this year as in last year the working world seems as busy as ever.

WOMAC(the War On Mice And Clutter) is in full force.    The Panda Bear's next door neighbor had a rat in her unit.  The Panda Bear believes there is one mouse in her unit that is evading capture.   The Panda Bear has decided to get a cat in her fight against this unwelcome wildlife in her apartment.   She has never had a pet before and is very excited about the prospect and is learning all she can about cats.

The days are getting so short.   The Panda Bear comes home and wants to sleep after work.  It gets dark at now at 5:00.   The Panda Bear remembers when it used to be light in the summer until 9:00.   The Panda Bear has not gotten half the amount of work she has wanted to do over the past couple of weeks. 

In addition, the Panda Bear has been drinking too much coffee, eating too much and not getting enough exercises.  The Panda Bear wishes she had some secret for getting everything done that she wants to be alas she is just muddling along.   She is a perplexed and confused Panda Bear. 

Mr. Panda has been instructed to be quiet while the Panda Bear writes this post but he is having a hard keeping quiet.   Even though it is 7:00 the Panda Bear will probably end up going to sleep.

The Panda Bear on her Foreign Readers, US Economy and WOMAC Update

The Panda Bear has done some recent posts about her wish the US companies would hire more Americans.   The economy is very bad in the US and many Americans are unemployed.  US job growth is very slow.   The Panda Bear thinks it would help create jobs for Americans if some US overseas operations could be returned to the US.       Americans are among the hardest working people in the world.   Perhaps, some foreign countries should consider moving operations to the US; Americans are good workers.

However, the Panda Bear does not want her foreign readers to think she is an American Chauvinist.   However, she does think the US needs to look after its own interest (all nations need to do this).  The United States can't help anyone if its economy collapses. She thinks US power is in decline and that the US may end up like Great Britain-no longer the dominant world power but still having some influence.  

However, the most of the Panda Bear's attention this past week has been on WOMAC (The War on Mice and Clutter).    She thought the effort to get rid of the mice in her apartment had been a success.  She did not see a mouse for about a month.   However, last week she saw a mouse.   She set out mouse traps and caught six mice over the weekend.  

The Panda Bear lives in an urban area so one really has to kill the mouse-they will just go into someone else's house if it is not killed.  Mice have germs and cause damage to property.   In addition, they very quickly multiply.

The Panda Bear has found the web sites below helpful in dealing with mice:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/h/homeowner_resources/mice/index.html

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef617.asp

http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pchousemouse.htm

Sometimes in novels there is a point where several plot lines come together to make one story.  In WOMAC, several themes of the Panda Bear Blog come together.   The Panda Bear has learned through different relaxation techniques that there is no point in going into the panic about the situation.   The feeling of panic will just make things worse.    The Panda Bear needs to be calm, rational and relaxed to implement WOMAC.

The Panda Bear has tried to positively reframe her hatred of housework and home projects.   The Panda Bear has gotten to like the feeling of warm water and soap.   She tells herself these projects are connected to health as they get rid of germs.  WOMAC has been helpful in getting Mr. Panda to get rid of his clutter and extra papers (these give the mice places to hide). The Panda Bear has told Mr. Panda that there is no neutral position in WOMAC.  If he does not actively support her efforts to declutter she will assume the Mr. Panda is pro mouse and the Panda Bear has no toleration for that position.

WOMAC involves time management on the part of the Panda Bear.   The Panda Bear works full-time and finds it hard to find the time to do home projects.   However, the Panda Bear has postponed going to the gym twice a week and tries to exercise at home so she can find time for home projects.   She has learned one can't do everything at once-one has to prioritize.   Alas-even if it means giving up something good and fun for you like exercise.