2017 Visit from St. What’s-his-Name

ADD and Christmas Too
Something wonderful from years ago becoming an OFI tradition

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

Merry Christmas!  I’m sharing one of my favorite Christmas presents with YOU below.

Found HERE

‘Twas the nite before Christmas . . .

I’m about to share one of the most clever of the versions of the rewriting of the Clement Moore original — ESPECIALLY for ADD/EFDers, ADD Coaches and everyone struggling with Executive Functioning challenges and last-minute Christmas oopses!

When you click the link below – and I truly hope you WILL – you will find only a couple of paragraphs of back-story before jumping directly into a really fun story about a Christmas that was almost a disaster.

If you have kids, you will definitely recognize many of your very own Christmas Eves when your children were little – and maybe even STILL!

So I’ll give you a taste below, and then send you over to read the rest — instead of spending my time to keep posting it again and again.  (It’s not that long, and the best part is still to come – so DO click to read it!)

If you share it (and I hope you WILL), you must provide a link back to the post and credit both the Optimal Functioning Institute™ and the author.

BECAUSE it is slated for inclusion in an upcoming ADD Anthology, make sure you don’t drop out “ownership” and link or things might get legal, okay?

Neat links to more Christmas stuff below, by the way.  Check ’em out, and feel free to leave a link to one of your own in the comments below.

IMPORTANT: only one link per comment or you’ll be autospammed.
If you have several, leave ’em in separate comments.

Friday Fun: Happy Thanksgiving!

Things that inspire GRATITUDE
heheheh!
(Let’s laugh the whole thing off)

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Friday Funnies Series

Quick Intro before we get to the Funnies

Let me begin by wishing a sincere (though belated) Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends who celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday of every October – no doubt because the harvest comes earlier “up there.”

I hope it was joyful —
and that you can all finally button your pants again.

Last year’s American Thanksgiving post started out sincerely and crept into funnies.  Although most of us somehow made it through the year since last November’s election here in the used-to-be-good ole’ USA, I think we need a lot more humor to lift our spirits as we limp toward the New Year holding our collective breath.

So even if you’re rushing around hoping to be able to celebrate Turkey-lurkey Day with a modicum of calm this coming Thursday, here’s a bit of humor to help you keep some perspective.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Are you hosting the upcoming feast, taking assorted dishes prepared in your own kitchen to somebody else’s table, or not cooking at all this year because you have been invited elsewhere or plan to dine on restaurant cousine?

Is anybody currently dieting in preparation for Thursday’s pig-out, or have we all already given up and given in to the 10 pound holiday creep?

Whatever! Let’s get the weekend started with a few chuckles.

Take a look at a few time-related funnies that I tripped across on Pinterest.

How many of the situations below make YOU nod your head?

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment.

Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome.

AND NOW for some more humor TODAY . . .

Friday Fun: Springing & Falling

PLEASE don’t make us
change our clocks again! ::sigh::
Meanwhile, let’s try to laugh the whole thing off

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Friday Funnies Series

Quick Intro before we get to the Funnies

Is it just me or didn’t we just change all the clocks?  Or at least we were supposed to. (Surely I’m not the only one who still has some of her clocks and watches set at the same time they were supposed to be set the last time we fell back?)

Am I the only one confused by the fact that in America they call it “Daylight Saving Time” whichever way the clock gets set?

Hmmm . . . well, in case anyone doubts the fact that my expertise is the result of life-long personal experience, this post might remove the doubts, at least where my relationship to time is concerned!

Source: cartoonaday.com

Who WANTS this nonsense?  Does anybody actually like dancing this springingly/fallingly two-step?

Ho hum.  It’s not like it matters to anyone in charge anyway.

Don’t forget it’s coming up again this Sunday, at least for those of us living in America (or is that technically Monday morning – or maybe Saturday night late?)

Whatever! Let’s get the weekend started with a few chuckles.

Take a look at a few time-related funnies that I tripped across, mostly on Pinterest.

How many of the situations below make YOU nod your head?

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment.

Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome.

AND NOW for some more humor TODAY . . .

Things that scare dogs on Halloween

Who Needs Ghost Stories?!
Guest RE-blogger: TinkerToy

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

Happy Halloween everybody!

Found HERE

Mom said I could write another post for Halloween this year, but she hogged our computer so much I couldn’t get it done.  Sheesh!

But I didn’t want to give up the chance to say hello to all my fur and feather pals (and their two-legses), so I decided to try the “press this” thing on the one I finally convinced her to let me write last year.

I even repeated the links to some of the blogs of my buds on the bottom of this “reblog”, so you could get to be friends with them too.

Some of my Mom’s two-legses friends have some pretty cool Halloween offerings this year, and there are links to a few of those below as well.

I hope you like my Halloween post (I promise that it’s A LOT shorter than most of Mom’s stuff) – and that you’ll let me know that you took the time to click over to the original to see some of the photos I included.

If they weren’t so scary they’d be really funny!

---

Scary things done to dogs

Found HERE

TinkerToy here, reminding you not judge me for that. (Remember, I didn’t get much of a vote, and Killer wasn’t on the menu.)

That’s NOT me over there, by the way. It’s one of the scary things — done to a dog that looks a lot like me.

Mom wasn’t planning to let me at the computer for a few more weeks last year. BUT, since my first ever post, Blogging Tips from a Shih Tzu got more comments than any of hers, she couldn’t exactly think up a good reason to say no.

This is a reblog of my second ever blog post — and it’s about the scariest thing about Halloween.

NOT what you think!

I’ll bet you were thinking I was going to blog about the hateful two-legs who abandon dogs, the horrors of puppy mills, or dog-abuse.

While those are ALL very scary things indeed, my Halloween post is going to focus on what the two-legs do to us on this one particular day each year — just because they think it’s funny, and just because they can.

Yep – dog costumes!

Even before I was born, Mom had a Pinterest Board called Deck the Dog where she pinned all sorts of pictures of puppies and dogs dressed in all manner of outfits. She said it made her laugh. (Weird sense of humor, this two-leg I live with.)

THEN, shortly after she heard about the Halloween Costume Party at my Cheers bar down the street, I caught her looking for “ideas” – and not very many of them looked like pictures of anything she’s thinking about for her.

Friday Fun: “Managing” Time?

Too much to do & not enough time?
Take a little break from the stress and . . .
Let’s laugh the whole thing off

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Friday Funnies Series

Quick Intro before we get to the Funnies

My recent articles about Time and Time Management have been very well received, but surely we deserve goof-off time in our lives, don’t we?

Found HERE

After all, we are ALL more than our To-Do Lists, right?

And, since the science guys tell us that laughter is great for our mental and physical health, who are we to argue?

Let’s get the weekend started with a few chuckles.

Take a look at a few time-related funnies that I tripped across,
mostly on Pinterest.

How many of the situations below make YOU nod your head?

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment.

Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome.

AND NOW for some more humor TODAY . . .

Friday Fun: More about SLEEP

Love/hate relationship with sleep?
Me too, so …
Let’s laugh the whole thing off

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Sleep and Friday Funnies Series

Quick Intro before we get to the Funnies

Since my Sleep Awareness post somehow jumped the queue and posted itself at the same time as Part-1 of my PTSD Awareness article, I decided to wait a bit to give readers a break before posting PTSD Awareness Part-2 (as well as a shot at catching up for those of you who want to have time to at least attempt to get a decent night’s sleep).

My apologies for seeming to inundate with info – certainly not intentional.

Here’s hoping that something light and humorous on one of the topics will make up for it: our mixed feelings about sleep.

We need to contribute just a bit of levity to National Sleep Awareness Week anyway, doncha’ think? (first week in June every year, btw – and it is STILL June)

By the by, if this one leaves you wanting still more (when you can’t sleep tonight either), check out my first post poking fun at sleep –  NAPLand.

How many of the situations below make YOU nod your head?

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment. Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome.

AND NOW for some more humor TODAY . . .

If I should die . . .

For The Second Time Around

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
Reflections post in the Whimsy Series

Found HERE

Six years ago now, I reblogged my own humorous article from a posting on the personal blog I maintained on a now defunct ADD site.  Here ’tis again, this time in it’s entirety, with just a few edits.

I hope it gives new readers a giggle as you get an up-close-and-personal look into the quirky way the ADD mind tends to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know the prayer:

Found HERE

Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Even I know the prayer, though I was not raised in a particularly religious household as I remember – which is always an iffy thing since I am the poster girl for a-historic.

I’m famous for the comment, “I didn’t see that movie,” to the very people who are in the position to say, “Yes you did. We saw it together!”

Now, wouldn’t you think they’d ALSO give me a clue about the occasion, their presence or the plot? But then again, why ruin a funny story?

But back to the prayer. Were you aware that most little kids are terrified by that prayer?

“But I don’t want to ask God to die!”
is a response many remember having, chins quivering.

ADD kids aren’t the ones with that response, however.

What terrifies ADDers . . .

Friday Fun: Writers Redux

Writing is your passion –
your obsession or addiction?
I feel your pain, so …
Let’s laugh the whole thing off

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Friday Funnies Series

Quick Intro before we get to the Funnies

There are so many memes and funnies about writers that I think somebody could do an entire blog featuring nothing else.

I am not that somebody – check out Debbie Ridpath Ohi and Will Write for Chocolate, for that one – but I do have a bit more to share on the topic.

So today we are revisiting the writers for a bit more Friday Fun, as promised (or threatened, depending on how you felt about the first one.)

I’m hoping to brighten the day for some poor writer who is reading my blog instead of getting back to his story.

Stuck, huh?

It happens to all of us – why do you think I do these funnies?

Science tells us that taking breaks enhances creativity, by the way — and I’m choosing to believe that study, replicated or not!

So lets get on with the break dance.

How many of the situations below make YOU nod your head?

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment. Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome.

AND NOW for some more humor TODAY . . .

My Computer has ADD

Stranger than fiction
But maybe more amusing?

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Whimsy Series

Madelyn’s Believe it or Not

Found HERE

What is it about Executive Functioning struggles that has things go wrong JUST at the moment you need everything to go right to stand a prayer of showing up like you have a brain at all?

Or is it just me?

I know that sometimes my Calamity Jane moments are my own darn fault because I procrastinated, or failed to write something down, or use my systems or whatever.  I’m not talking about those times.

I’m not talking about those times when I ADD-out and forget to give somebody an important message — like maybe, they changed the time for his only daughter’s wedding. (not my oops, actually – one from a client)

I’m not even thinking about those times when I say yes to one more request when I am already juggling more than any six humans could accomplish in a single lifetime if they worked together and never slept.

It’s those OTHER times . . .

You know, like when you practically break your arm putting a gun in your own back to keep yourself on task so that you won’t seem flaky, and THEN the universe laughs in your face and you end up looking flaky anyway — for a bizarre reason that nobody would believe really happened, even if you had it on film.

Come to think of it, it seems that even when I am channeling somebody else’s reliable functioning, it doesn’t always work quite the same way for me.  I’m starting to believe that somebody up there doesn’t really WANT me to plan ahead.

Found HERE

Like that time the water gets turned off – through NO fault of my own, btw – before I have a chance to rinse off the dark brown hair dye I was wise enough to apply to my snowy roots two entire days before an important media event, for example.

I end up having to explain why I’m knocking on a strange neighbor’s door in snow boots, head wrapped in plastic and bod in terrycloth.

I need to use his phone, of course.

It’s urgent that I find out when my friend Janet will be coming home.  I need her to unlock the door to my apartment, simply because I spaced one tiny little detail in my haste to run next door to use her bathroom before my hair turned green: KEYS!

OK, I could have called to see if she was home before my mad dash, but I didn’t want to chance getting dark hair dye on my white phone — and Janet has no social life anyway – she’s ALWAYS home! (If anybody figures out who I’m really talking about, PLEASE don’t tell her I said that!)

Oh, and would this kind stranger and new best friend mind if I used his shower to wash out the hair dye so I won’t get it all over his nice living room furniture while I wait with him for Janet to arrive?

Surely he wouldn’t leave me out in the cold with wet hair, even if his wife IS away on a business trip?

And, by the way, I’m going to need towels.

Stuff like that.  Like I said, flaky!  

So I’m sure that you are not going to believe that what’s going on with my computer is really not my fault! But at least it’s not as outrageous as the experience of my friend Steven’s then fiance’s brother-in-law Jeff. THAT story is the stuff of legend!

TinkerToy’s Trip to the Woods

Getting away is REALLY FUN!
but getting Mom to do it is tricky

Guest blogger: TinkerToy

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

Everybody needs to get away – and so do their Shih Tzus!

Mom’s friend Sam decided that unless he kidnapped us, she would never stop writing stuff to help people and step away from her darned computer, and I would never get to see the rest of the world!

So he drove up from Knoxville, Tennessee and we all headed off to Cumberland Falls State Park in Corbin Kentucky – in the Daniel Boone National Forest.  Mom says it’s known as The Niagara of the South.

Found HERE

You can’t really tell from this picture – only how beautiful it is – but the waterfall forms a 125-foot-wide curtain that plunges 7 stories into a gorge through the rocks of the Cumberland Plateau.  The river is sided by big flat rocks like you see in the background, too, and strewn with huge boulders.

It’s magical in person; even the two-legses talk about the wonderful smells in the air. And there are more trees than I have ever seen in my whole life – even in the park or around the little lake we visit on our walks at home.

And wait ’til you read about the special rainbows.

The mist of the falls creates the magic of the moonbow, only visible on a clear night during a full moon. And, guess what?  An earthquake spoiled the one at Victoria Falls, so if you want to see a moonbow, this is the only place you can!

ALSO, it’s one of the few places in the world where you can see spray rainbows at the base of the falls on every sunny day.

First, a great car trip

We stopped a lot on the drive so that Sammy and I could stretch, Mom could go to the bathroom, and I could mark the territory so all the other 4-legses would know I was there, but we finally we started seeing signs that we were almost where we were going.

Roads got bumpier, for one thing – and the trees were a lot closer together and closer to the roads.

But, I meant that we REALLY started seeing signs that we were almost there.

Friday Fun: Fashion and Shopping

Can’t take fashion seriously?
(or maybe you take it TOO seriously?)
Whatever! …
Let’s ALL laugh the whole thing off

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Brain-Based and Friday Funnies Series

Quick Review before we get to the Funnies

Today is Jodie’s last installment of our collaboration exploring fashion as a “change agent.”  So before I send you over to A Touch of Style to finish up the series and read my closing observations, I want to review the point of fashion week before I inspire everybody to exit with a chuckle or two.

Don’t skip this review – it’s vital to everyone who wants to spend his or her “golden years” having fun rather than merely waiting for the inevitable.

Epigenetics and Fashion Week?

In Making Friends with CHANGE, posted  a week ago today, I briefly underscored the miracle of lifetime neuroplasticity — that the brain can change its structure and its function throughout our lifespan, depending on what we do with it.

We’re not stuck with – or blessed with – a lifetime contract on the brain we had when we were born.

Here’s the Good News

Gene expression is dependent upon our environment, the actions to which we commit ourselves, and even upon what we think and imagine.

The genes that shaped our brain in utero are literally capable of being turned on or off in reaction to how we respond to the targets of our focus, actually “rewiring” the brain we were born with with every new and different experience.

Changing anything is healthy-brain-aging friendly.

Change forces the brain to create new “roads” it can use when its usual pathway is damaged by any one of a number of things: stroke, concussion, medication, chronic stress – whatever.

If we change and grow as we go through life, our brain rewards us by creating new connections that will serve us well as we age.

Here’s the bad news: it works both ways

If we allow ourselves to stagnate, comfortable in our same ole’/same ole’ ways, we merely deepen the grooves of those same ole’/same ole’ pathways.

That’s GREAT for habit creation to handle those nattering Treadmill Tasks (distraction insurance that releases cognitive bandwidth for more important endeavors), but not a great strategy for brain-health overall.

For most of us, doing what we’ve always done is a recipe for functional backsliding called “age-related cognitive decline“ – unless we are very, very lucky.

But in order to experience the benefits of brain-change, we must actually CHANGE what we ask it to do, with activities like:

• studying something completely new to us
• learning a new language
• practicing a new musical instrument
• exploring a new environment
• taking up a brand new & challenging hobby

WARNING: if we don’t keep it up, the pathways created by our brain-healthy changes actually atrophy and die from disuse.

So, just like physical exercise, it’s important to pick something we actually enjoy to keep us motivated to keep it up — so we keep on making friends with new changes.

Making friends with CHANGE as we change our clothes

Jodie and I decided it would be fun to put our heads together to see if we could come up with a week’s worth of challenges specifically designed to shake things up, forcing change to our SELF-images on the way to helping us become more “change-friendly” overall.

As I commented in Jodie’s first post of this 3-part series . . .

Not only have researchers begun to discover the importance of “play” to healthy brain development and continued health, any time we spend making friends with change is what is called “neuro-protective.”

Together we explored how playing with what we choose to wear – recombining items we already own or adding something inexpensive to alter the look – can be a terrific way of making friends with change.

Stay tuned for more about change and healthy brain aging – including tips, techniques and work arounds. Meanwhile . . .

I’ve left you links to all three of Jodie’s posts at the bottom of the funnies, so be sure to pop over to see how three different challenges were interpreted by three different “real person” models representing three different decades — along with some additional comments from me to underscore the brain- benefits.

---

AND NOW for some fashion-related humor TODAY . . .

How many of the situations below make YOU nod your head
(or shake it)?

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment. (Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome).

Friday Fun: One for the Writers

Writing for a Living?
or merely dreaming of the day
there are trials & travails we all hate, so …
Let’s laugh the whole thing off

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Friday Funnies Series

Quick Intro before we get to the Funnies

I spent so much time pouring through funnies about writers, I finally concluded that writers either have the best senses of self-depricating humor in the universe, or they all have writer’s block and are creating memes while they await the return of their respective muses.

I have too much material for a single post, so ere long I’ll put together Part II – Return of the Writers.

Meanwhile, I hope all you writers who visit here from time to time will enjoy a bit of levity at your expense.

Everybody else:  by the time you get to the end, I think your own job won’t seem like such a bad fit after all.

Bloggers — let me know where you fit in.

How many of the situations below make YOU nod your head?

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment. Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome.

AND NOW for some more humor TODAY . . .

Friday Fun: Exercise and Diet

Trying to get healthy?
Since nobody really likes
paying attention to diet and exercise …
Let’s laugh the whole thing off

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Friday Funnies Series

Quick Intro before we get to the Funnies

My previous weight-themed Friday Funny was so well-received, I think I’ll see if we can get a bit more smileage by revisiting the topic from a slightly different perspective: exercise and diet.  Groan!

Running, jogging, power walking, treadmills, weights and more.

Handball, Zumba, spinning or gymnastics — boxing, hiking, climbing.

Soccer, softball, swimming, skiing, tennis, even volleyball . . .

um, skate-boarding anyone?

As one female comic put it, quite a few years ago now:

“Call it anything you like.
I call it GYM.
I don’t have to go anymore and I don’t.”

Let’s take a look at the perspective of a few more diet and exercise-averse comics that I tripped across on Pinterest.

How many of the situations below make YOU nod your head?

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment. Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome.

AND NOW for some more humor TODAY . . .

Friday Fun: Napland!

Trouble falling asleep?
staying asleep?
waking up on time – or napping?
I feel your pain, so …
Let’s laugh the whole thing off

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Sleep and Friday Funnies Series

National Sleep Awareness Week  — March 2 – 9

Quick Intro before we get to the Funnies

I think I struck a chord with my recent Sleep Awareness Post on the napping studies.  Opinions and experiences were varied, and some comments from a few folks seemed a tad frustrated or misunderstood.

So today, even though National Sleep Awareness Week ended yesterday, Thursday the 9th, we are lightening up for a bit of Friday Fun as we continue to think about sleep.

After all, sleep is supposed to comprise a third of our lives – for most of us, anyway.

So the topic is worth at least
an extra day of blog time,
doncha’ think?

Scientists tell us that taking naps enhances creativity, by the way — and I’m choosing to believe them!

So lets get to it.

How many of the situations below make YOU nod your head?

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment. Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome.

AND NOW for some more humor TODAY . . .

Friday Fun: Diet Dilemmas

Wrestling with weight?
Since nobody really likes dieting …
Let’s laugh the whole thing off

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Friday Funnies Series

Quick Intro before we get to the Funnies

A hop around the internet will tell you that many of us online are obsessed with how much we weigh. And nobody seems any too happy about it either – except, of course, people who make their living selling diet food, diet tips, exercise videos and workout gear.

Baby weight, winter poundage, the freshman fifteen, mid-life creep, post-surgery weight gain, medication side-effects – it seems that many of us in first world nations are fighting fat.

At the other end of the scale are people – mostly women, but men too – who are trying valiantly to gain weight, and none too happy about the “anorexic” comments that heavier humans sling around.

But let’s put all that aside for now, and take a moment to lighten up
(no pun intended).

A quick warm-up

The more you weigh,
the harder you are to kidnap.
Stay safe. Eat cake.
~~~~~

Did you lose your appetite?
I think I have it.
~~~~~

Sausages, cheese and the like are all fattening —
unless impaled on frilled toothpicks.
The insertion of a sharp object
allows the calories to leak out the bottom.
~~~~

The toughest part of a diet isn’t watching what you eat.
It’s watching what other people eat.
~~~~~

Find More at: Funny Diet Jokes

So let’s move on to temper our diet frustrations with a quick hit of visual humor.
How many of the situations below make YOU nod your head?

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment. Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome.

AND NOW for some more humor TODAY . . .

Friday Fun: Memory

I know we’ve met many times,
but what was your name again?
Let’s laugh the whole thing off

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Friday Funnies Series

Quick Intro before we get to the Funnies

What we can and cannot recall at any particular time depends on a lot of factors . . .

The Meta Picture.com

our generation … our cultural imperatives … what sticks out among the familiar … the time of day and how much sleep we’ve had lately … whether we are well-hydrated — even what we ate for breakfast.

Unfortunately, the mechanics of human memory still remain a mystery to the science crowd.

They now know a great many more things, however, for example:

* THAT memories are not stored in one part of the brain alone – nouns, names & faces are stored in different areas (and some brains have trouble with ALL of them)

* THAT bits of memories are distributed — each time they are recalled they are reconsolidated anew

* THAT how we feel and think when we recall them changes memory’s bits and bytes — which is why eye-witness testimony is not reliable

* THAT more recent memories become tougher to recall as we age, even when we can vividly remember what happened much earlier in great detail, and

* THAT attention and focus (and sleep) are essential for effective long-term storage. If we are paying attention elsewhere, storage for recall is iffy (and when we don’t sleep, brain filing is a crapshoot) — even our own promises to our significant others

But that is ALL little consolation when they can’t help us with CRS:
that disabling “disorder” when we Can’t Remember Stuff.

Related Comic — Winter Food Storage

All is not lost

Source: Wrong Hands

Fortunately, there are quite a few brain-based explanations and work-arounds for memory’s glitches.

I continue to share a great many coaching tips and tricks to help with more reliable storage and recall (and I’ve included links in this post to some of my longer, more serious articles on memory).

Today, however, we’re going to temper our frustrations with a quick bit of humor.
How many of the situations below have you experienced in YOUR life?

Oh, and after today, Funnies post only occasionally

Reminding you of what I disclosed in last Friday’s introduction to this series, Funnies about Perspective: unlike the ongoing Sunday Smiles and Monday Funnies you’ll find on Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog, my Friday Funnies will show up only occasionally, usually clustered around a theme.

If I get the feeling that things have gotten a tad serious here in the world – or on ADDandSoMuchMORE.com – get ready for another hit of humor, most likely another Friday Funny.

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment. Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome.

AND NOW for some more humor . . .

TinkerToy’s FIRST Meet and Greet for 4-legses

Inspired by the ones hosted by 2-legses
(but we 4-legged bloggers have a lot to say too!)

Guest blogger: TinkerToy

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

It’s never too late to party with us! 
Comments never close here – so leave your calling card.

Found HERE

CALLING ALL DOGS
cats, squirrels, pigs, hamsters, rabbits, rats, turtles, even parrots and budgies

We can do it too

If you’ve been over to PuppyDoc’s blog, you already know she’s not a real dog.

Her actual name is Phoebe and she’s a 2-legs who is also a super doctor with a HUGE heart — but who can blame her for adopting a great nickname like that, huh? (She explains why on her own blog, so jump over there if you want to know the back-story.)

Anyway, she hosted this big Meet-and-Greet Party where some of my pals and I left links to our blogs. I guess it was a great party for Mom, but not so much for me.

No offense, PuppyDoc, but I had to scroll through screen-loads of links to 2-legs’es blogs to find the ones written by possible blogging buds for ME.

So I thought I’d throw a party of my own to see if I could host a spot where us 4-legses stand out because we’re the only ones there (no offense to you blogging birds, btw – you are more than welcome too).

Friday Fun: Perspective is ALL

You say Po-TAY-to
and I say Po-TAH-to
Let’s laugh the whole thing off

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
from the Friday Funnies Series

Quick Intro before we get to the Funnies

How things look depends on your point of view: where you are standing when you look at them — physically and perceptually.

Point of view depends on a lot of factors: how old you are, where you’re from, what’s familiar, your ethnicity, whether you are a male or a female, even what you’re looking FOR when you look.

To help clients get unstuck, coaches use a technique called reframing to help them change context — to stand somewhere else to look at a challenge or a situation with a fresh perspective.

Marriage counselors work with the problem of perspective all the time.  Things look one way to him and another to her, and off to the divorce attorney we go.

Related Comic — Blizzard Time: Romance in Wisconsin

Pinterest

And then there are the Funnies

Comics and comedians use reframing too, a sudden or quirky shift in perspective to make us laugh.  And that’s what the Fridays Funnies Series is going to play with.

Unlike the ongoing Sunday Smiles and Monday Funnies you’ll find on Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog,  these Friday Funnies will show up only occasionally, usually clustered around a theme.

If I get the feeling that things have gotten a tad serious here on ADDandSoMuchMORE.com – or in the world – get ready for another hit of humor, most likely another Friday Funny.

YOU PLAY TOO

If you have something on your website or blog that relates to the theme, especially if it’s humorous, please feel free to leave a link in a comment.  Keep it to one link per comment or you’ll be auto-spammed, but multiple comments are just fine and most welcome.

AND NOW for some more humor . . .

Five Golden Rings – from a Post-Christmas Sale

Maids, Pipers, Lords, Drummers & Birds . . .
ALL Make Way for Twelfth Nite
January 6th: when sensible ADD Poster Girls prefer to hold the present-fest

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
An edited reposting of an earlier idea

Are Merry Christmas & Happy New Year behind you now?

If so, I hope your Christmas festivities were everything you wanted them to be, and that all of your gifts were happily received in more than the spirit of that thought-that-counts manner.

I also hope that you are so happy with the gifts you received that you spend not a nano-second in a returns line.

HOWEVER, as many of you are focused on recovering from celebrating the arrival of the New Year, a scant few of us are still anticipating Christmas celebrations ourselves – after a fashion.

We who NEED a Little Christmas . . . TIME!

Found HERE

 

I know – for those of us who celebrate Christmas at all – ever since we were young enough to eagerly await the visit of Santa Claus, most of us have been accustomed to the idea that opening presents happens on the morning of December 25th.

But haven’t we ALREADY made some modifications to that particular plan?

It’s not unusual for families to pick another day to get together to celebrate – a time when ALL the family members will be able to attend.

Blended families frequently have more than ONE unwrapping ceremony – both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – and sometimes extending to other days and times as well.

Many of us have long-ago relocated Christmas present unwrapping to Christmas Eve — sometimes to make it easier for everyone to focus on getting out door for Christmas services at various places of worship, or sometimes to allow them to sleep late on Christmas morning, hoping to recover from the exhaustion of the rush of December before ramping up for New Year’s Eve.

I would like to suggest that moving the present-fest earlier
is going the wrong way, Jose!

Artist Patience Brewster’s Nativity Wise Men

Good enough for THREE Wise Men equals perfect for us

Legend has it that those three Wise Men following that star-so-bright did NOT arrive with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh bright and early on the morning of December 25th.

It took twelve more days and nights for them to get there with the presents: they arrived on January 6th (which marks the beginning of the Mardi Gras Season, for New Orleans aficionados).

Far be it from me to suggest that those Men had a kludgy sense of direction or a sense of time similar to my own (which is to say, NONE!), but I don’t recall anyone considering them late to the party, do you?

So, not only is there is some serious precedence for taking a bit more time, there are more than a few substantially great reasons for delaying gift exchange.

Let’s take a look at a few of those reasons that is a bit more serious-minded than an older post on the topic.

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A Mardi Gras END to Christmas Festivities

As Mardi Gras/Carnival Season begins
(with festivities that continue until Lent)

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
Edited reblog from Happy Eve before Mardi Gras, 2015

About Mardi Gras – why here (and NOW)?

Since my ex-husband and I both attended grad school in New Orleans, we had three years to experience the celebrations of Mardi Gras – from King Cake parties to balls to parades and so-much-more. I relish the opportunity to share “insider” Mardi Gras knowledge gleaned from my personal experiences in New Orleans over several seasons.

I’m posting this reblog just a tad early this year, in case some of you might be inspired to set up a quick trip while there still might be a hotel room to be had.

Mardi Gras beads in the traditional colors: green, purple and gold – thrown from the floats by MANY different Krew members riding in the many, MANY parades they sponsor

A different kind of Christmas Special from PorterGirl

Christmas Special:
The Tale Of The Cursed Hat

A wonderfully presented, original Christmas tale
from the creator of The Secret Diary Of PorterGirl.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a GOOD night!

NOT your average Hallmark™ Fare

If you find yourself a bit over-“joy”ed by the time Christmas Eve rolls along, this is a different kind of Christmas story with just a bit of a gothic twist to the ending.

It is beautifully read by actor Paul Butterworth, whom some of you may know from appearances in more than a few of the PorterGirl videos, even if you are unaware of his other theatrical credits.

Paul plays the Head Porter in the PorterGirl adventures – and author Lucy Brazier has posted a great deal of them online for both your viewing and reading pleasure.

Keep an eye peeled for the credits too – his director son does a lovely job of telling him what to do onscreen.

You’ll have to hop over to HER site to access the video (what you see below is just a still), but below that is what she has to say about Paul and the story.

Click HERE for Video

‘Tis the season for festive storytelling, so please welcome Old College’s very own Head Porter – British actor Paul Butterworth – reading to us a Christmas tale I have written especially for the occasion.

Paul has appeared in films such as The Full Monty and Frank, and is a stalwart of British TV – performing in soap operas, The Bill, All Creatures Great & Small, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Holby City, Mysteries Of The Real Sherlock Holmes and many, many more.

The REAL Christmas Elves

Santa couldn’t do it without us!
Proof that we can do more than cuddle or blog

Guest blogger: TinkerToy

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

My FIRST Christmas post (and my first sort-of reblog)

Mom found this video and said I could use it in my first Christmas post.  It was originally posted by Xena on her Black Butterfly blog with the following introduction:

I never get enough of this video. It’s produced by Fresh Pets.

The music is festive, but really loud,
so you might want to lower the volume on your speakers
before you click on the little triangle thing in the middle.

Source: Santa’s Canines (and Felines) Make Toys | We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident

Christmas Gifts – the thought that counts

Makin’ Your Lists:
Checkin’ ’em TWICE?

When are we going to learn
to start even EARLIER?!

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

Christmas Memories

Phillip Martin, artist/educator

Do you recall the gifts you received through the years?  I don’t.  Not really.

Oh, I can think of a few really special presents, but mostly they all dissolve into a blur of crumpled wrapping paper, bows and snips of ribbon — all over the floor.

I more clearly remember tearing into oversized felt stockings on Christmas morning, hand-crafted by my mother for each member of our family of seven, our names embroidered in sparkles on the cuffs.

Each of us were delighted with mere trinkets, chocolate treats, and the tangerine always stuffed into the toe.

She attached a string of jingle bells to each hanging loop to let everyone know that someone was getting into a stocking!

You see, what I remember most vividly are the memories of those Christmas times – and they are really all that remain from the Christmases of most of my life:

• finally digging out the ornaments, untangling the lights and trimming the tree
• snow-crusted mittens and red noses from sledding on glorious snow days (when the schools were closed!)
• wrapping presents purchased “with my own money”
• eggnog and my mother reading Christmas stories
• buttered popcorn and hot chocolate as we watched classic Christmas films in front of an old-style television set
• Helping to prepare Christmas dinners – even some of the conversations around those Christmas tables through the year.

What do YOU recall loving most?

A different kind of Christmas

©Phillip Martin, artist/educator

When I was a kid, a family down the street gave NO presents that could be unwrapped.  I was never sure whether to feel sorry for my friend or be jealous of her wonderful Christmases, year after year — but now that I am much older, there is no doubt in my mind which of us got the better deal.

Another Visit from St. What’s-his-Name

Found HERE

ADD and Christmas Too
“Reprint” of something wonderful from years ago

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

One of my FAVORITE Presents

I want to give you just a bit of back-story before I share one of the most clever of the versions of the rewriting of the Clement Moore original — ESPECIALLY for ADDers, ADD Coaches and anyone struggling with Executive Functioning challenges and oopses!

Janine Baker, one of my long-time best friends, is one of the most fabulously creative people I know. Although she does not have ADD herself, she GETS it, “thanks” to an up-close-and-personal relationship with me (and the fact that she was an early graduate of my ADD Coach Training)!

She also gives some of the very best presents. So when I tell you that this poem she wrote many years ago for my first website is among my very favorite presents EVER, understand that it has some stiff competition.

She gifted me the copyright along with the poem, so I own all rights to it.

If you share it (and I hope you WILL), you must provide a link back to this post and credit both the Optimal Functioning Institute™ and the author.  (It is slated for inclusion in an upcoming ADD Anthology, so don’t drop out “ownership” and link or things might get legal, okay?)

Elfing for Santa!

Deck the Halls & Play the Carols
(Watch the movies … bake the cookies … and jingle those bells!)

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
Edited from Happy Thanksgiving-Make Way for Christmas

Fair warning: This is not going to be a rant about the season.

Grab a drink!

Grinches and Humbugs are likely to need one, and the rest of us will be prepared for a merry toast to the season festivities to come.

Even before most of the Thanksgiving leftovers had been eaten or frozen, many of our neighbors began to string colored lights on the eaves of their houses, into their trees and winding ’round their bushes.

I am starting to see front door wreaths, lawn reindeer, and angels with glowing halos as well.  And I love it!

Anyone who knows me, even a little, will attest to the fact that I’m a card-carrying Christmas ELF – a regular Emmy Lou Who**.

I simply LOVE Christmas – the whole Christmas season (“Now please don’t ask why, no one quite knows the reason”)**

**Both from How the Grinch Stole Christmas
by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel

I start thinking about rounding up my humongous collection of MP3s, DVDs, CDs, and tapes of ALL types of Christmas music the very first day the horrid summer heat wave shows signs of dipping below 80 degrees.

I especially love decorating for the Christmas season

And I like to deck the halls with a-whole-lot-more than boughs of holly!

I’m big on candles and garlands, trees and wreaths and stockings, Santas, sleighs and reindeer — and nutcrackers, and sugar plums — and Byers Choice Carolers (which I began collecting long before anyone else had ever heard of Joyce Byers!)

click HERE for source

Don’t forget that you can always check out the sidebar
for a reminder of how links work on this site, they’re subtle ==>

Happy Santa Claus Day

Good Little Dutch Girls & Boys
will wake up to presents in their wooden shoes tomorrow

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
A Christmas Reflections Post

Found HERE

A bit of explanation

From the analysis of the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas on the [mostly Dutch-language] blog of Samhildanach, a Dutch religious studies scholar says:

click HERE for source (in Dutch)

“Sinterklaas is the festival of St. Nicholas of Myra . . . [which is surrounded by] a lot of mythology . . . although little of that is commonly known.

This saint is portrayed as a venerable man in a red and gold bishop’s gown . . . Principally, the festival is meant for young children to around the age of eight.

The young . . . believe that Sinterklaas lives in Spain [and] visits the Netherlands every year in a steam ship, accompanied by his helpers, the dark-skinned Zwarte Pieten ‘Black Petes’, dressed in frivolous colours, to offer presents to all [well-behaved] children.

Those [who] have been naughty risk [being] caned by Zwarte Piet, or in extreme cases, [being] forced in the sack and taken back to Spain.”

The article goes on to explain that the period of Sinterklaas begins at some point in November every year – a national, televised event when St. Nicholas of Myra arrives at the dock, disembarking with his white horse and his attendant(s).

“From this moment on, the children [may] put down their shoes in front of the hearth. [. . .] The morning after, a small present will be in their shoes.

The festival is mainly celebrated in the Netherlands, but there are some local variations to be found in Belgium and Germany, encompassing differentiated local traditions.”

Don’t forget that you can always check out the sidebar
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Happy Turkey Day!

Be Thankful Today
and every today, as we have this day to remind us
(and let’s have a bit of levity with our gratitude!)

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

Holidays can be hard at times

For any of you who need a little cheering up today, I’ve ended with a few cartoons that gave me a giggle.

8 Things I am trying to be especially thankful for today:

Found HERE

1. Even though I love to play holiday hostess, I’m thankful that I didn’t have to try to squeeze in several days of cooking and cleaning this year.
2. I’m thankful that I have a roof over my head, clothing choices that make me feel pretty as they keep me WARM, and that I won’t go hungry as the rest of the country feasts.
3. I’m thankful that TinkerToy is the best company a Mom could wish for on Thanksgiving, even if we never see another soul.
4. I’m thankful that I have so many wonderful and supportive virtual friends with whom to spend my time today.
   
5. I’m thankful that, even though I haven’t owned a television in decades and miss Manhattan like a lover, videos of Macy’s 2016 Thanksgiving Parade are sure to be posted online somewhere.
6. I’m thankful that TinkerToy’s post about N24 and chronorhythm disorders was finished early enough to be posted yesterday, so that I could commandeer our computer to wish all of my readers a very Happy Thanksgiving.
7. I’m particularly thankful that other than ADD, N-24, and presbyopia, I have usually been (and remain) amazingly healthy.
8. And I’m especially thankful that enough of that dreaded administrative work is behind me so that I can finally announce Open Enrollment for the upcoming Group Coaching opportunity!!

AND NOW . . . on to those cartoons!

September Song

Time to Get New Notebooks
(And ready the Fall Clothing!)

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

Swan Song for Summer!!

It’s still summer-hot here, but in a week or two we’ll have a few cool days in a row when I will have a brain again – harbingers of sweater weather.

For me, the year really begins in September, despite the fact that, except for the TeleClasses I offer, my official school days are a fond but distant memory.  As the leaves expire in a final burst of glory, I become eager to plan what I will do with nine months when I have drive and follow-through.

I realize that not everyone shares my loves of brisker weather, however.

Phillip Martin, artist/educator

If you’re a warm weather fan you’ll find your tribe on LuckyOttersHaven‘s patch of blog-heaven in 12 Reasons Why I Don’t Like Autumn.

She posts again (if a tad grudgingly), in 8 Good Things about Fall — some of which I celebrate as well, like the end of flea and fly season, so I won’t relist them in my own List of Ten.

Don’t forget that you can always check out the sidebar
for a reminder of how links work on this site,
they’re subtle (scroll DOWN for it) ==>

Happy Eve before Mardi Gras

I’m Finally Celebrating Christmas
as the Mardi Gras/Carnival Season begins

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

NOTE: If you’ve just come from my 2016 reblog, to read the rest,
scroll down to “Grand Balls and Call-outs“

About Mardi Gras – and why here?

Since I went to grad school in New Orleans, I had three years to experience the celebrations of Mardi Gras – from King Cake parties to balls to parades and so-much-more.

I LOVE a chance to share my knowledge of Mardi Gras from my experience there.

Mardi Gras beads in the traditional colors: green, purple and gold – thrown from the floats by MANY different Krew members riding in the many, MANY parades they sponsor

For a REALLY Happy New Year

2015 is breathing down our necks
(perhaps it might be wise to do more than a bit of thinking about it)

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

As I ready myself for my own Christmas celebration on Twelfth Night, let’s take a moment to focus on the other big end-of-year celebration: New Year’s Eve.

Nutshell New Years

We count backwards from ten as the clock chimes and the ball drops. We toast and kiss, and blow funny-sounding horns wearing funny-looking hats, often dressed in formal finery.  Many of us party on until dawn.

© Phillip Martin – artist/educator

Yep – that’s New Years Eve in a nutshell for many of us around the world – or at least the image in our minds.

And then what?

Regardless of how heartily we’ve partilied the night before, we awaken at some point on New Years Day, hoping for the best in the upcoming year.

Some of us even take the time to write down a few of those ubiquitous New Year’s Resolutions, without really expecting ourselves to follow through this year, anymore than the years before it.

Pinterest and the daily papers provide image upon image making fun of the practice – or at least of the people who don’t practice their practice.

And most of the plans of those who resolve and regret fail to materialize through lack of long-range planning.

source: isfunny.net/dogs-comics-and-new-year-resolutions-2015/

To fail to plan is to plan to fail?

As I implied in a much earlier article about planning for the New Year, unless we want the upcoming year to be exactly like the one in our rear view mirror, it’s time to get busy with some change-management.

A therapist I know has this to say about change:

“Everybody wants things to be different, but nobody wants anything to change.”

He doesn’t add, “especially anything about THEM” – but I have always believed that’s what he was really talking about: the devil we know, and all that.

What IS it about change that makes us cringe?

Don’t forget that you can always check out the sidebar
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