Wheel Spinning

I try to lead a productive life. This is what it gets me:

I turn my back to, say, scrub a toilet (hypothetically). Or to pluck my eyebrows, which have, sound the alarm, grown together in the middle of my forehead from neglect. Or to stand in front of my closet wondering how, exactly, I came to Spring 2010 with not one weather-appropriate shirt that is fit to be worn in public. And in those precious, fleeting moments, one or more of my children starts to weep, needs help applying rubber cement to his or her eyelids (!) or spills an entire, full box of cereal on the stairs.

And still we press on, don’t we? Trying to get something accomplished during the daylight hours? Here are a few of the items I cannot seem to scratch off my list:
~Editing a manuscript about a quirky girl and an Amish boy, to be released next spring. Incidentally, the Amish are woefully productive, as is my friend and fellow writer, Erik Wesner, who just released his book on the Amish. Check out his book and his fascinating blog and further decrease your productivity but have MUCH more fun than organizing your silverware drawer.
~I’ve been getting some speaking things together for The Sweet Life this Friday (Come on out to Connxions, Des Moines girls! There will be chocolate!) and some upcoming fun in Austin, Texas, and Sioux City, Iowa.
~And I’ve REALLY been trying to pluck my eyebrows with more regularity. It boggles the mind how quickly one can go from looking sufficiently groomed to the female counterpart to a Yeti.

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What are you up to? What happens when you turn your back these days? Anybody else in need of one of those weird vacuums that follow you around like a stray cat, picking up your messes? How’s the productivity quotient out there?