This morning is not as hurried as most, and for that I am thankful. I got up at 5 a.m. this morning, right on time. It seems when I get up later than that, the entire mood of the house is different. I'm more rushed and everyone in turn is too. I get up early to read my Bible, but also to get my coffee into my system so I can get a head start on everyone.
Today I am thankful for:
1. Productivity
I've made a few small changes this week which has resulted in an increase in my productivity. Little things like washing dishes last night even though I was falling over exhausted and timing myself on vacuuming. Yesterday I was able to get my email box, which had 1,500+ emails in it down to 188. That will help me sort through the important action items and the forwards.
2. Dogs snoring
Wesley Eugene, our Yorkie, has finally decided it's okay to be friends with Cpt. Midnight Sugar Dot Express. A couple of mornings ago both dogs were snoring in my lap while I did my morning devotional. Super cute and it made me sad when I had to get up.
3. Half Price Books clearance aisle
I'm in the midst of reading a mystery series--Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series. The other day I finished one and wanted the next one. It was $10 to buy digitally, but I went to Half Price Books and found the next three books for $1 each. Score.
4. Sunshine
No matter how I'm feeling that day, when it's a beautiful sunny day, my mood is always lifted. It's hard to be stressed out or grumpy when the sun is shining perfectly and you're driving with the windows down and the music playing.
5. Silly kids songs
Claire is always making up songs. When she sings a song she knows part of, she just makes up the rest of the verses. Hilarious. I wish I had written down the song she made up yesterday.
6. Lunch with Claire
On Wednesday we had some flexibility in the schedule, so Paul and I brought Claire lunch. She was proud and I think we visited with every kid in her class. It was sweet to sit amongst her kindergartner friends and hear what was on their minds. One girl unpacked her lunch and shouted with excitement when she found a container of croutons in her lunchbox. Many of them showed me what was on their lunch plates. I was disappointed to see zero vegetables with the school lunches, but encouraged to see that bringing your lunch really is cool at Claire's school.
7. Progress with Diego
Paul and I have been tutoring a boy at Claire's school for most of the year. Finally he can say all the letters in his name and a few others in the alphabet. I disturbed the entire library with my enthusiasm for his progress.
8. Wii dance
I keep having to stop typing this to watch Paul because he's dancing to the Wii. He just finished "I am Your Robot Friend." Thanks to Stacy for getting us onto the Just Dance craze. We've been jumping like Five Little Monkeys nearly every day.
9. Escape for a day
Tomorrow is Project Mom, a conference for moms in Fort Worth. I will be spending the day in seminars learning how to be the best mom I can be. It sounds fun to me, but what sounds the best is that Adam will be taking care of the kids for the ENTIRE day! This is a welcome relief, especially since he's been working such long hours lately.
10. Old friends
I have had a chance recently to reconnect with some of my friends from years ago before I even wore the name Boyette. It's nice to catch up and remember and know that there are people out there that have known you for so long and still love you.
Here's a place where Sarah writes what's on her heart and mind for whomever will read it. Sometimes it's hilarious, sometimes it's little pieces of life that I'm grateful for. Enjoy!
Friday, February 24, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Lent 2012
Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten Season. What I love about Lent is it's just like New Year's without all the champagne and post-Christmas to-dos. Christmas and Valentine's are over, so our schedule is more flexible without all the shopping lists and preparations. You get to make New Year's resolutions without it even being the New Year. You can try on the resolutions for the season and if they don't work, they become a habit for Lent, but if they do, you get to bring them into the rhythms of your daily life.
Here are my resolutions for this Lenten season:
1. Focus on what's important, not what's urgent.
I got this from the book Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. She talks about how in our fast-paced world, we often can't see what's important because we're distracted by what's urgent. I practiced this on Monday while playing baseball with Paul, who was pretending to be a meerkat. (If you want to know how meerkats play baseball, just ask.) My cell phone rang, and it was a call that needed to be attended to. I didn't answer it. As hard as it was for me not to stop playing and go answer the phone and take care of what was needed (work stuff), I let it go to voice mail and then kept playing baseball. So I didn't let the phone (urgent) interrupt what was important (meerkat baseball.)
Doing this is going to be hard for me because I am a multi-tasker by trade and often pause and then get back to what I am doing.
I also recently read the book The Guinea Pig Diaries by A.J. Jacobs. Hilarious and I highly recommend it. One of the topics in the book is multi-tasking. A.J. tries for a month to uni-task. According to Jacobs, there is no multi-tasking, there is actually switch-tasking. This is also counter productive because it takes longer for our brains to switch focuses than it does to focus on one item to completion.
So this Lent I will focus on what is important and not what is urgent.
2. Setting limits
Several parts of my life have the potential to be the main focus for my life. Like my love of reading. I would be happy reading all day every day and just breaking for food and sleep. Or my job. There is always something happening at church so therefore always something that needs to be communicated or photos to be scheduled or website to be updated. Or house cleaning. I could clean house all day every day, and if you've ever seen my house, you know that's not exactly my focus, although it could be. Or playing with kids, or hanging with friends, or running errands, or a million other activities I do.
This Lent I am going to pay attention to what I am doing and set limits. Yes, the house always needs cleaning, but how much longer will the kids ask me to snuggle and read a book? Yes, there is always room for improvement with my job, but it's not supposed to be full-time. Yes, this book is really fascinating, but there are actual humans around that I can interact with!
3. Advocating for myself
I am a nurturer. I enjoy taking care of others. However, I'm not so good at taking care of myself. This Lent I am going to try to speak up for myself and communicate my needs to others. This one is also hard for me because I am a helper and people pleaser by nature, so if you ask me to do something and it is physically possible for me to do it, I will. I don't often say no and I don't often express any need for myself. I will try add myself to the list of people and things I take care of.
Whew! That's enough deep thoughts for the day. Now I will stop blogging (urgent) to go take care of what's important (getting everyone out of bed).
Here are my resolutions for this Lenten season:
1. Focus on what's important, not what's urgent.
I got this from the book Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. She talks about how in our fast-paced world, we often can't see what's important because we're distracted by what's urgent. I practiced this on Monday while playing baseball with Paul, who was pretending to be a meerkat. (If you want to know how meerkats play baseball, just ask.) My cell phone rang, and it was a call that needed to be attended to. I didn't answer it. As hard as it was for me not to stop playing and go answer the phone and take care of what was needed (work stuff), I let it go to voice mail and then kept playing baseball. So I didn't let the phone (urgent) interrupt what was important (meerkat baseball.)
Doing this is going to be hard for me because I am a multi-tasker by trade and often pause and then get back to what I am doing.
I also recently read the book The Guinea Pig Diaries by A.J. Jacobs. Hilarious and I highly recommend it. One of the topics in the book is multi-tasking. A.J. tries for a month to uni-task. According to Jacobs, there is no multi-tasking, there is actually switch-tasking. This is also counter productive because it takes longer for our brains to switch focuses than it does to focus on one item to completion.
So this Lent I will focus on what is important and not what is urgent.
2. Setting limits
Several parts of my life have the potential to be the main focus for my life. Like my love of reading. I would be happy reading all day every day and just breaking for food and sleep. Or my job. There is always something happening at church so therefore always something that needs to be communicated or photos to be scheduled or website to be updated. Or house cleaning. I could clean house all day every day, and if you've ever seen my house, you know that's not exactly my focus, although it could be. Or playing with kids, or hanging with friends, or running errands, or a million other activities I do.
This Lent I am going to pay attention to what I am doing and set limits. Yes, the house always needs cleaning, but how much longer will the kids ask me to snuggle and read a book? Yes, there is always room for improvement with my job, but it's not supposed to be full-time. Yes, this book is really fascinating, but there are actual humans around that I can interact with!
3. Advocating for myself
I am a nurturer. I enjoy taking care of others. However, I'm not so good at taking care of myself. This Lent I am going to try to speak up for myself and communicate my needs to others. This one is also hard for me because I am a helper and people pleaser by nature, so if you ask me to do something and it is physically possible for me to do it, I will. I don't often say no and I don't often express any need for myself. I will try add myself to the list of people and things I take care of.
Whew! That's enough deep thoughts for the day. Now I will stop blogging (urgent) to go take care of what's important (getting everyone out of bed).
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Thankful for time to be thankful
Good morning! It's 5:19 a.m. and I am celebrating the quiet house and my delicious cup of coffee.
Today I am thankful for:
1. A working coffeemaker that sometimes beats me awake and delicious creamer. Today I am enjoying some Belgian chocolate. Fancy! I am thankful for the Cuisinart company that made an awesome coffeepot. I am thankful for the laborers that harvested the coffee beans. I am thankful for the friendly Costco employees that roasted the beans.
2. My laptop computer
Want to type during a meeting? While watching the kids jump on the trampoline? No problem! It's portable!
3. The World's Finest Customers
We're selling the World's Finest Chocolate (2 boxes left) and we appreciate everyone's generosity. Claire's school is buying new computers, but even more exciting than that is that she has almost earned the right to throw a pie at Mr. Gooch (one of the kindergarten teachers).
4. A fantastic kindergarten experience
I can't brag on Bruce Shulkey Elementary or Mrs. Alvarez or Claire's fantastic friends enough! The staff at the school create a positive environment for learning. Claire is learning both socially and academically. She never comes home telling me someone in her class was mean to her or catty. She is in the best place for her and I'm so glad! (Yes, I have been informed that I might be an exclamation point over-user, but I feel it's appropriate here. I now weigh the value of each exclamation point and try not to overuse them.)
5. A relationship based on harassment
Sure Adam and I love each other. We've been married nearly 11 years, but what really has kept us going is the harassment. We have a scary picture of Cher that we hide around the house to scare each other with. And there's the cardboard cutout of the Coors Light lady that has made me scream once. And the dumb ads for the baby figurines (I had to buy one for my grandpa and now they just keep coming). Or the ongoing contest to see who can say something the most disgusting. And the car magnets that appear and disappear. The never-ending fight of who has the most covers when we make the bed. If I wrote the entire list of ways we give each other a hard time, I think I'd have a book. Hmmmmmm...
6. My little bookclub
For three years, I think, every first Wednesday I've been meeting with the same ladies to discuss literature. I love these ladies! We rarely agree, but we always listen to each other and consider the other's opinions. We try to read books that expand our worldview. We laugh and have fun doing it.
7. Being able to help and learning a lesson, too
I bought my granddad groceries last week and then met a lady at the exit who needed milk for her baby. Thinking it was a scam, I decided not to give her cash, but then I learned my lesson. I "called her bluff" and offered to buy her milk. She gratefully accepted. Then I realized the error of my ways and tried to buy her groceries, but she wouldn't let me. I bought her milk, heard a little of her story, and learned that the next time I will say yes before I say no. It was $2.33. She was really in need, but even if it had been a scam, surely I can part with $2.33.
8. Babysitting a baby
On Monday, I was able to watch my friend Melody's daughter and infant son. I love Baby Corbin, but I also knew that as I held him, I am done having babies. I am officially okay with two wonderful kids. I love babysitting, though!
9. Construction excitement
Across the street, there has been some repair to one of the pipes in the street. On Monday, Paul and I got out lawn chairs and sat and watched the digger dig up the street. Then Paul got out his own digger and dump truck and got to work on our front yard. Yes, he dug some shallow holes and killed some grass, but he was having so much fun imitating the construction workers, it was worth it.
10. Membership to the museum
Because we are members at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, we get into the Stock Show for free. We've been to the Stock Show twice now and the kids have had so much fun seeing all the animals. I love how much they pay attention to each animal and point out interesting traits. I showed Paul a bunny with red eyes and he said, "Yeah, he's wearing red contacts." As if that weren't enough to be thankful for, yesterday I renewed our museum membership and saved 20 percent because it was during the Stock Show. Yeehaw! (And I'd like to thank Kaa and Paul March who bought this year's museum membership for our Christmas gift. I have been holding your check and will now deposit it. Thank you!)
Today I am thankful for:
1. A working coffeemaker that sometimes beats me awake and delicious creamer. Today I am enjoying some Belgian chocolate. Fancy! I am thankful for the Cuisinart company that made an awesome coffeepot. I am thankful for the laborers that harvested the coffee beans. I am thankful for the friendly Costco employees that roasted the beans.
2. My laptop computer
Want to type during a meeting? While watching the kids jump on the trampoline? No problem! It's portable!
3. The World's Finest Customers
We're selling the World's Finest Chocolate (2 boxes left) and we appreciate everyone's generosity. Claire's school is buying new computers, but even more exciting than that is that she has almost earned the right to throw a pie at Mr. Gooch (one of the kindergarten teachers).
4. A fantastic kindergarten experience
I can't brag on Bruce Shulkey Elementary or Mrs. Alvarez or Claire's fantastic friends enough! The staff at the school create a positive environment for learning. Claire is learning both socially and academically. She never comes home telling me someone in her class was mean to her or catty. She is in the best place for her and I'm so glad! (Yes, I have been informed that I might be an exclamation point over-user, but I feel it's appropriate here. I now weigh the value of each exclamation point and try not to overuse them.)
5. A relationship based on harassment
Sure Adam and I love each other. We've been married nearly 11 years, but what really has kept us going is the harassment. We have a scary picture of Cher that we hide around the house to scare each other with. And there's the cardboard cutout of the Coors Light lady that has made me scream once. And the dumb ads for the baby figurines (I had to buy one for my grandpa and now they just keep coming). Or the ongoing contest to see who can say something the most disgusting. And the car magnets that appear and disappear. The never-ending fight of who has the most covers when we make the bed. If I wrote the entire list of ways we give each other a hard time, I think I'd have a book. Hmmmmmm...
6. My little bookclub
For three years, I think, every first Wednesday I've been meeting with the same ladies to discuss literature. I love these ladies! We rarely agree, but we always listen to each other and consider the other's opinions. We try to read books that expand our worldview. We laugh and have fun doing it.
7. Being able to help and learning a lesson, too
I bought my granddad groceries last week and then met a lady at the exit who needed milk for her baby. Thinking it was a scam, I decided not to give her cash, but then I learned my lesson. I "called her bluff" and offered to buy her milk. She gratefully accepted. Then I realized the error of my ways and tried to buy her groceries, but she wouldn't let me. I bought her milk, heard a little of her story, and learned that the next time I will say yes before I say no. It was $2.33. She was really in need, but even if it had been a scam, surely I can part with $2.33.
8. Babysitting a baby
On Monday, I was able to watch my friend Melody's daughter and infant son. I love Baby Corbin, but I also knew that as I held him, I am done having babies. I am officially okay with two wonderful kids. I love babysitting, though!
9. Construction excitement
Across the street, there has been some repair to one of the pipes in the street. On Monday, Paul and I got out lawn chairs and sat and watched the digger dig up the street. Then Paul got out his own digger and dump truck and got to work on our front yard. Yes, he dug some shallow holes and killed some grass, but he was having so much fun imitating the construction workers, it was worth it.
10. Membership to the museum
Because we are members at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, we get into the Stock Show for free. We've been to the Stock Show twice now and the kids have had so much fun seeing all the animals. I love how much they pay attention to each animal and point out interesting traits. I showed Paul a bunny with red eyes and he said, "Yeah, he's wearing red contacts." As if that weren't enough to be thankful for, yesterday I renewed our museum membership and saved 20 percent because it was during the Stock Show. Yeehaw! (And I'd like to thank Kaa and Paul March who bought this year's museum membership for our Christmas gift. I have been holding your check and will now deposit it. Thank you!)
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