My A-Z

I saw this on my friend Julia's blog, and decided to play too!

A. Age: 35
B. Bed size: couch
C. Chore you dislike: scrubbing things... counters, floors, toilets...
D. Dogs: Would anyone believe I'm not really a dog person?
E. Essential start to your day: tea, of course! (Irish Breakfast or Chocolate-Cream)
F. Favorite color: sunflower-yellow
G. Gold or silver: silver
H. Height: 5' 3"
I. Instruments you play(ed): piano & alto wood-recorder
J. Job title: short-order chef, teacher, student, counselor, inventor, housekeeper, mentor, and friend (aka: mom)
K. Kids: 2
L. Live: Twin Cities, MN
M. Mom’s name: Patti
N. Nicknames: Mama, Mom, Mouse, Teacher...
O. Overnight hospital stays: two children, two hernias & a kidney infection
P. Pet peeves: telemarketers & intentional meanness
Q. Quote from a movie: A newt?!? ...I got better!
R. Righty or lefty: 90% ambidextrous
S. Siblings: two sisters
T. Time you wake up: around 8, most mornings
U. Underwear: What about them?
V. Vegetables you don’t like: I'm learning to appreciate eggplant - it's an uphill battle.
W. What makes you run late: procrastination
X. X-rays you’ve had: hundreds of broken fingers/toes/feet, chest x-rays for pneumonia, enough knee x-rays I've lost count, a couple CATs of my brain as a toddler, dental photos... I'm pretty sure I glow in the dark!
Y. Yummy food you make: I think my best attempts are baked goodies.
Z. Zoo animal favorites: the ever-adorable moustached tamarins

Spring Crafting - vintage wall-basket

I'm gearing up for St. Patricks Day & Easter decorations, and found the cutest little tin wall-cone at the thrift shop for eighty cents. I have been sitting, staring at this for about a month now, trying to decide how best to decorate it so it could sit on my front door for BOTH holidays. Today inspiration struck.

I have always had a fascination with European robins. They're not like the robins here, they're small, round, and just too cute for words. So I hunted through my vintage clipart for the cutest little Victorian bird print, and printed it onto transfer paper. This was ironed onto a heavy-duty faux-suede, and glued onto the front of the tin. Then I dug into my "stash" from my grandmother, and used a piece of vintage lace & the prettiest little antique brass & glass button to finish it off. Voila! One adorable little tin basket, to hang on my door this spring!

Now I just need to decide what to put IN it!

Modern-Day "Good Samaritans"

A friend of mine shared THIS news-link yesterday on Facebook about Muslims & Christians in Egypt. As I read through the article, tears came to my eyes... and today as I sit buried in fabric, paper, yarn & glue making Valentines Day decorations, this story and a single Bible verse fill my head.

John 15:13 reads:"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

How easy it is to say that we would lay our life down for our friends. How much more so, to be willing to lay your life down for a perfect stranger. And yet this is just what these people were willing to do.

What a beautiful act of selflessness these Muslims displayed. In a time when it seems that everyone is against anyone who is not the same religion (or sometimes denomination) as oneself, it lightens my heart to see such an act of selfless love.

A new year, and new goals

I started today, contemplating Isaiah as I took up the task of completing my list of goals for the new year. Isaiah 42:8-10 reads: "I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you." Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them.

This is what I am basing my goals for this year on; eliminating distractive "idols" from my life, and "singing new praises" to God. That seems easy enough, right?

The distractions in my life are everywhere. Being a naturally-distracted person, I have troubles completing tasks that take more than an hour or so. I have begun straightening one room, to bring something into another room, to be distracted by the floor that needs vacuuming there, to finding a dirty dish on my way to the vacuum cleaner, to finding a book that needs putting away on the kitchen counter, to deciding to straighten the bookshelves, to finding a ball of yarn on the shelf... yep, it's really no wonder that my bedroom is in a constant state of disaster. But that's only half the battle. Choosing the idols to eliminate is the hard part.

What are my idols? Those things that rob me of the time I SHOULD be spending on God or my family or... those things that I use as excuses for why I haven't enough time to exercise? Being honest with myself, there's really ONE huge culprit. The computer. That's a tricky one too, because I *need* the computer for so many parts of my life! I use it for comparison & discount shopping. I hunt for new recipes & healthy-living ideas. I brainstorm decorating & renovation ideas & hunt up instructions for things like fixing the dishwasher. I use it for teaching the kids. I connect with my friends. Oh, the excuses and the LEGITIMATE uses I can list are endless! But... do I NEED to be playing online games? MUST I check in with facebook nearly as often? SHOULD I get sidetracked into searching Youtube for funny videos of talking dogs or laughing babies? Yeah, I think that's my biggest idol and YES it's a distraction - not only to God, but also to my family. So goal number one for 2011 is to limit my "free time" use of the computer.

So to work on eliminating my distractive-idol, I plan to:
* limit mindless youtube-meanderings & online gaming to weekend-only passtimes, AFTER the daily housework AND school planning has been finished
* not begin using the computer until I've finished my morning exercises, gotten the kids started on school AND finished my morning chores
* limit myself to checking Facebook AND my other usual online "haunts" to twice daily; once at lunchtime & once in the evening.
* and the computer WILL be turned off each night by 9pm.

One goal down, one to go.

When I think of singing new praises, I think of beginning something new; something that I haven't done before OR haven't done in quite some time. I could say that I'll read the Bible through in a year, but I KNOW I would get bogged-down in numbers & fail. (been there, done that) I COULD say any number of things, but what comes to mind first is my daily quiet time. It needs more structure and FOCUS! (there's that easily-distracted personality again!)

To begin with, I have been thinking about reading through my books by Hannah Hurnard again. They have "resonated" more with me than any other devotion-style books I've read, so that's where I will begin. And rather than squeezing my devotions into the morning when I need to be three places at once I will NOT be beginning my days with God as so many people have suggested... I will END my day with Him - as for me, that's my time of clearest thinking!

So the "new praise" I intend to "sing" is:
* to go through a chapter of one of Hanna's books, complete with prayer, meditation AND journaling time (as this helps me focus my attention) IN MY BED rather than in the living room each evening at 10pm... beginning with Hinds Feet on High Places & continuing through each of her books.

These are not my usual annual goals, but these are the goals I feel are most important. Sure I'll continue to work on losing weight, and yes I still want to work on finishing more crafts this year. Somehow I get the feeling however that if I can keep up these four goals I WILL accomplish that as well.

Happy New Year! I'm ready now... are you?

Year-End Recap

With the end of the year in sight, I wanted to review my goals from the beginning of the year. It seems almost an exercise in futility as I KNOW I have failed in several places, but it's still important to see where I did & didn't measure up to my own expectations. So here they are again, my personal goals for 2010:

God & Family
* incorporating structured Bible studies into Wednesday's lesson plans. This was almost TOO easy to change. I am happy to say that we now have a weekly Bible study, as well as lessons on Christian role-models as they appear in history.

Around the House
* the daily chore-schedule... this one seems to have been hit-or-miss. We DO keep it up, but only 4 days per week. Perhaps a re-vamp of the system is in order?
* And the 15-minute morning cleanups? Not bad. We are finding the time to do this only twice per week rather than the five times I had planned, but this in combination with our evening chores is keeping the house nicely manageable.

and Just for ME
* losing 30 pounds... yeah. Oh, how I wish I could forget I ever promised this! Unfortunately I was not ALLOWED to exercise until August due to the dratted shingles. However from then 'til December I truly have no excuse other than laziness. I am now 20 pounds heavier than I was at this time last year, and absolutely hating it. However I AM almost a week into a new exercise regime, and have recruited my husband as accountability-police. So there is a light at the end of this long, dark, scary tunnel.
* And my weekly crafting? Yep, that was forgotten in the middle of hourly dilation drops & steroid-induced migraines. I HAVE been crafting more since fall however, and plan on continuing as I have these past three months. There are already quite a few new crafts lined up on my to-do list, and I have a happy little recruit who is looking forward to helping me which should ensure that this actually happens.

Well there it is. I've not completely failed, but I definitely need to stay motivated this coming year. This will be my contemplation for the rest of the week - determining how best to tweak, change & add to this knowledge for NEXT years goals!

the marks of motherhood

From the time I was three, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a mom and work with kids. I told people I was going to be the greatest mom that ever lived.

My first real "experience" with motherhood began while pregnant with my son. I had HUGE purple trails running from bellybutton-to-thigh, that were several inches wide and ITCHED. When I asked the doctor what they were he told me quite frankly, "Oh, those? They're the worst case of stretchmarks I've seen in 28 years!"

Welcome to motherhood... you're now marked for life.

And yes, they grew even LARGER with my second pregnancy. My son used them as racetracks for his Matchbox cars as he "played with the baby" in-utero, and my daughter's knuckles were clearly visible through my paper-thin skin. I was told that they would fade, promised that they would disappear, and people swore that they would stop itching. They were all wrong - they're still with me, still purple, and even after 15 years - they still itch!

Over the years I have been shocked & embarrassed by, resolved to endure, accepting of, and finally proud of these marks. They are a visible symbol of my efforts at becoming that "greatest mom that ever lived." Each one of these purple trails is here to show me that to become the greatest mom, there are things I will need to endure, and that things will happen beyond my control that I just need to accept. They are the merit-badges I have earned on my journey through motherhood.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said that "true friends will leave footprints in your heart." My kids chose to leave roadmaps on my belly - and as I look at them I no longer see scars or deformities... but a sunrise of hope & success rising above flames of frustration & failure. The marks that once terrified me have become my inspiration to try harder each day.

Every mom has a story, and every mom carries her own marks - I just wear a few of mine on the outside. I only pray that others can learn to accept their own marks sooner than it took me to accept my own.

New Year, New Goals

Nothing like starting the year by procrastinating, right? Here I am, a full week into the new year & only now getting around to compiling my annual goals. This is actually fairly important to me - because what I write down, I tend to accomplish. What I only tell myself I will do, doesn't always happen. For me, this is a time to sit down & go over the last year, and ponder what "worked" and what "needs changing" and plan to change one or two things in order to improve my life. I like to break things down by category, and change a little from several areas of my life rather than simply focusing on one aspect of me. So for THIS year, these are the things I would like to change. God & Family * I will be incorporating structured Bible studies into our Wednesday lesson plans. We already do Bible memorization, but it's time to STUDY now too!  Around the House * We have had a daily chore-schedule for years... starting this year, we will be USING it to keep our house company-ready & de-cluttered at all times. * And this leads to my second goal... I have been making the kids work in their rooms for 15 minutes each morning, but have NOT done so myself. This year they are holding Mama accountable... when they do their 15 minutes, Mama works in HER room too! and Just for ME * I will be working on losing another 30 pounds this year... more would be nice, but when I lose weight slower, I tend to keep it off. * And finally... this year I am putting my crafting on the calendar as well. The kids are old enough that I can "steal" two hours each week, so starting now every:

1st Saturday is sewing day 2nd Saturday is paper scrapbooking day 3rd Saturday is "miscellaneous crafting" day and 4th Saturday is digital scrapbooking day.

None of these are lofty goals... at the moment I am much more interested in being able to accomplish each of my goals than in creating imposing lists that sap my time & motivation. So now it's time to get everything written on the calendar, and begin the changes!