Today has been frustrating challenging, to say the least. Some progress was made and some remains to be made . . . I hope!

I began the morning cleaning out my email accounts. That in itself was a bit of a mess. When I first began blogging, I had 3 email accounts, and I had hoped at that time to consolidate them into 2 — one for my personal correspondence and the other for emails dealing with this blog, writing, etc. Unfortunately, some of the tech “things” I needed for this blog required a specific email provider, and I didn’t have an email address with that provider. Easily fixed, right? Well, yes, but then I had 4 email accounts. That was okay. I figured I’d focus on doing what needed to be done to get the blog up and running, and then I’d go back and consolidate the email accounts as best as possible. I’m embarrassed to admit that 15 months later, I still hadn’t even begun that task.

Last night — prompted by a fb conversation with my wonderful tech guy — I began searching for a email message with some information he needed. I searched high and low, in every email account I could think of, and found nothing. I worked for 3 hours — until 1 a.m. — resetting passwords to get into almost-forgotten email accounts. By then, I was too tired to sort through the folders in each of the accounts, so I left that tech house-keeping chore for this morning.

By lunch time, I had cleaned up every email account I knew I had, and I had even listened to 5 or 6 podcasts I’ve been meaning to listen to. I was feeling quite pleased with what I’d accomplished, but then I realized I still hadn’t found that one piece of information my tech expert needed. Drat!

That’s when the frustration began. Four hours later, I was ready to throw in the towel. My tech guru has found a solution or two, but I’m not overjoyed with the changes either one brings. It’s a long and confusing situation, but either way I go, I’m going to have to switch my URL to one ending in .net . It’s one of those “you can do it now, or you can do it later” scenarios. Neither appeals to me.

signed off in a huff took a break to fix supper, and while bumbling around in the kitchen, I realized something . . . and then another thing . . . and then another. Things I already knew, but things I tend to forget because I don’t like them. Not one little bit. I’ll share them with you, and you can let me know if you share my dislike.

1. I don’t always get to have things my way.

2. Life is sometimes complicated.

3. It is often necessary, when trying to straighten something out and make it more simple, to first endure more complications and mess .  If you don’t believe me, think back to the last time you cleaned out — really cleaned out — a closet or even just a junk drawer.

4. In that “making it more complicated and more messy in order to straighten it out and streamline it” process,  I often confront some not-so-nice things. Today, for example, I was reminded of how snippy I get when I am frustrated because things are not going my way (see #1).

Yes, today was at times frustrating, but there were lessons to be learned . . . and I hope I did just that.