A Day in the Life of an adult with A.D.D.

Date: Tuesday, February 2nd 2010
Let me begin by saying… I don’t expect you to read all of this, I know I wouldn’t (if you’re anything like me, you won’t sit here long enough to get through half of it), just wondering if any of you have days, weeks or you live like this? I love the creative side of my brain, but the other side is driving me crazy. I guess it’s time to go to the doctor, I guess it’s not funny any more ( I do tend to laugh about it), I still guess I’m normal, but who am I kidding… I think I have Adult Attention Deficit Disorder! AT least I’ll self diagnose this till they tell me it’s Alzheimer’s!

*6:30 a.m.- Wake up, turn on coffee pot (love my Keurig for one cup perfection) I can never remeber to drink more than two cups, so this is an A.D.D.’s dream come true.
*6:34- Sit down in front of my computer (forget to actually get the cup of coffee that brewed)~Bounce around from emails, to Facebook, to websites, then to Seek to get the latest article proofed and submitted. (My stomach growls to remind me about the cup of coffee getting cold).
*7:02- Make the first cup of coffee for the day (thinking…”this will get me focused”)~Turn on Dryer full of clothes which I forgot to pull out the night before.
*7:03- Sit back down to the computer to see if any one in the World Wide Web missed me and remember I need to pack for Nashville (leaving the next day!!!).
*7:38- Walk to closet w/ my half a cup of un-drank coffee, sit it on the counter and star at the mass of mess in my closet.~ Start to hang and put away laundry (which I haven’t done for a week) and begin laying out what to pack on the bed (it’s a day long event for sure).
*7:52- Get slightly side tracked looking at all my sparkly, shiny, colorful, jewelry I need to take (set it on the counter next to the same cup of “cold” coffee) and decide I better have a bite of breakfast. (WOW, it’s amazing how distracting jewelry can be, I’m like a 5 year old little girl playing with her grandma’s trinket box)!
*8:25- In the kitchen, I hear my youngest son waking up and decide I better tend to him. Get him set up next to my son who is glued to the TV for the 4th Snow day in a row. (and yes, he has been out PLENTY to play, cut this girl some slack!) Decide to sit a while and bond over the tube with the boys for a moment.
*8:43- Get phone calls from doc to check on my youngest who has been sick, my mom to chat, my friend to chat and can’t remember what I was suppose to be doing when I hang up.
*9:20- Oh yea, wash hands (I can remeber to do this, half the time, because I don’t want to get sick before heading out of town). Get meds for sick little D-, kiss him, hug on G-!
*9:36- Remember I still need breakfast, look at dishes in the sink (from night bedore) and grab a breakfast bar instead.~Get another phone call from a friend, while talking, see meds I left on counter and head to two kiddos in front of TV land.
*9:48- Decide to head back to closet to, fold, hang, and pack some more.
*10:01- Take a sip of my coffee (left on the counter from before) and realize, YIKES, way to cold and need another cup. (No can do on the microwaved coffee) On the way back to the bedroom, sit down at the computer , just to take a peak.
*10:40- Get side tracked as my 7 year old wants to show me his latest masterpiece of Legos. I’m mesmerized by those tiny little blocks of color and his ability to build as if he’s the world’s BEST engineer… EVER! Decide it’s way more fun building legos than doing “chores”. Both boys are happy!!!
*12:00 Noon- As I stand in the kitchen hanging up the phone with a friend. there is another phone call I need to make, but can’t decide, do I get out the phone book to look up the number, make my son’s lunch (after he’s polietly asked 3 times), turn on the dryer (to fluff for the 3rd time) or find a piece of paper to write down ALL my thoughts in the day of the life of an A.D.D. adult (I took option D).
* 12:16- I finally fix some lunch for G-, call the person back on my to-do list (an important call to “Loco for Coco” to order Dark Chocolate Sea Salt for the road trip), sit and read an e-mail which dinged me on my Black Berry (yet another distraction) and think about having a little lunch myself (yes, I’m actually multi-tasking!).
*12:20- Wash hands
*12:28- I too sit to have lunch… in the mean while wondering, “Do I eat the yummy lentils my son wants to share with me and a side of Dorritos, an apple, or a salad.” I settle for the so called ‘healthy’ crackers and veg-out on the TV for a bit. Doesn’t take long to realize, I forgot my drink, my youngest’ noon meds and contemplating how I’m going to “GET IT ALL DONE”?

*12:40- Decide to get up, grab another hand full of crackers, get the meds ready (which are pushing an hour late) and wonder where I put the empty laundry basket so I can actually get the load out to fold.
*12:45- Get over to my son, D- to give “noon” day meds, only to smell he needs a changed diaper. Get him to the changing table and get the MESSY all over him, the change table, myself all while reaching for a phone because their is blood and mucus in his stool. Clean him up, lay him in his crib, page the doctor and head to the garage to keep the stench outside. On the way to the garage, I step over stuff from two days prior where I had cleaned out the boys closets and think to myself, “I’ll be right back to get that”, but proud I cleaned out both closets in one day flat!!!
*12:48- Wash hands!
*12:50- Call from doc, “Hi, Mrs. Naylor…” (It’s nice to think he “gets me”).
*1:01- Sit down and rock my sick little one and take the moment to think, “There’s nothing better than rocking a sleeping child”.~Take a breather, then lay him down to go get the laundry out of the dryer for the umpteenth time!!!
*1:22- Finally start folding that load of laundry, only to spot the pile of papers siting on the dining room table which need to be sorted, filed and trashed at some point. My oldest has the movie, “Major Payne” on and I think how stupid it is, how poor the acting is, but wish I could have Damon Waynes in my house for one day to keep me focused like I presume they do in the military (what do they do with the A.D.D.?)… maybe that’s what I’m lacking is military discipline. (They would eat me for lunch!)
*2:05- Mission accomplished. One load of laundry done!!!
*2:10- Packing continues, only to get side tracked about, “WHAT TO WEAR TO HARRY CONNICK,JR”!!! So of course that’s a feat of trying on 20 different combinations of leopard print outfits and shoes.
* 2:22- Get on the phone with, yet another doc about sick D-, a friend, my PIC going to Nashville with me… all the while praying for D- to get better.
* 2:35- Help clean-up another boout of poop and vomitt (OMG… am I still heading out in the morning? Am I going to be at the docs when they open the doors so I can hurry home? Am I crazy, am I A.D.D. or does everyone fell like this?)
* 2:42- Stop to wash hands, wash G’s hands, do the dishes (which still didn’t get done from the night before), oh yeah…. I forgot to go Clorox the floor from “sickie pants”.
*2:52- Get a phone call for something or another, head out to take the smelly trash out, stop and take a load of junk from the boys closet clean-out and get side tracked in my “Get A Way” room upstairs (wish I could just stay), but instead, I remember what I came up there for in the first place, grab an arm load of stuff that needs to go on our trip and go back downstairs to sit at the computer to check e-mails.
*At some point between 3:00 and 9:44, I finished packing, ate dinner (which hubby brought home since I couldn’t “get it done”), cooked cookies, put up the rest of the laundry, tucked my seet little ones in bed, talked to one of their teachers on the phone, made final plans before heading out of town, sat at the computer for an hour finishing up some work (giggle, giggle, MJ) and still have dishes and paper work to do… it’s a good thing I had a little caffeine at dinner to keep me up so I can finish doing whatever it was I started this morning so I can start all over again tomorrow. (Oh yea, that’s why I’m writing this tonight and all through the day to see if I accomplished anything… and to make a copy for the doc to say “SEE… I am self proclaiming myself with A.D.D.”)

* Can you imagine… I’m going to be in a car for 9 hours…. what do you think my conversations will be about, how many times do you think we’ll stop, wonder how many phone calls we’ll get and not to mention, we have BROADBAND!!! Watch out Nashville…
* And that’s a day in the life of Self diagnosed A.D.D. “T”!!!