Sooooo.... I failed at "You Capture" when the topic was Yellow. And then again last week when it was "Lunch." And now I am already 2 days behind on this week's challenge of "Shoes." BUT I think I can handle this one, easily. We have no less than 569 pairs of shoes in this house and at any given time there are at least 10 pair (or sometimes not a pair) in the middle of my living room floor. So again I will say Challenge Accepted! Let's just hope I can follow through this time. Stay tuned!
These past couple of weeks have been busy. And in times like this my former self would have been in pure panic mode by now and would have already collapsed in bed 3 hours ago. (That's a lie. I would have fallen asleep on the couch and then been left there by my husband who attempted, numerous times, to wake me up but finally gave up and went to bed.) But as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I am feeling this sudden sense of calm. And strangely and rarely enough it has actually stuck with me! Usually this stuff goes away in a day, if it even sticks around that long. But I think in my life I have finally come to realize that some things just are what they are and you can't control them.
And since I have let myself actually believe this I have been a different person. My workload has not led to any late-night stressing. I feel a bit more organized. (I said a bit. This house is still mostly chaos!) I am checking things off my to-do list and the things that don't get checked off are not causing me to have a melt down.
All of this is a tad unreal, especially in the midst of the holiday season. I just hope I can stick with it and not lose my mind by Christmas like I do most years. I'm actually further ahead on Christmas shopping than I have ever been in November. (Be quiet all of you who are finished shopping! I don't want to hear it!) We are going to visit Santa this Saturday, the FIRST day of December. We will also put up our tree and lights and all the other fun stuff of the season. We will have FUN and not stress about other (mostly unimportant) stuff.
This morning I made a to-do list that was a page long. (A small page, but still a page.) I forgot that I would be gone this evening. Absolutely nothing got checked off that list. But you know what? I'm OK with that. I had a fantastic night celebrating my daughter's First Reconciliation, I watched my favorite, can't miss show on TV and did a little work. Now I'm writing this. Tomorrow I will pick up the list again and get to work. But until then I will just enjoy what is.
(And in reference to the title of this post... I see that "Keep Calm..." stuff everywhere. I have no idea what it means. It just seemed appropriate.)
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Friday, November 16, 2012
The Light
I scrolled through my previous posts because I was certain I had written something with this title before. Apparently not. (Apparently I am losing my mind. Not breaking news.)
So as all my (very few) loyal readers may have noticed, I have been absent from blog-land lately. I look back and I feel like I should have a really exciting story to tell you about why I just didn't have the time to sit down and write. Sadly that is not the case. But happily, it is because we were simply really super-busy living life. A new school year, 2 soccer seasons, fundraisers, a traveling husband, holidays and birthdays... nothing stellar, nothing out of the ordinary, but just a lot of STUFF. So much stuff, in fact, that I often felt like I was losing my mind. Or at the very least, a very small piece of myself. I have been so busy taking care of everybody else and all their needs that I haven't devoted much time to myself lately. And I feel the time I HAVE devoted to me has revolved around work.
But now... well, now I am writing, so that's a start! Twice this month! And the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to get a little brighter. I checked two books out of the library last week. Grown-up books! I watched my favorite Thursday night TV shows last night when they were actually on, not on DVR. (In retrospect that may not have been the best decision because I did not plan well for my Friday and that made things a little hectic.) But I am slowly getting back the things I have loved and missed. It's not all there... I haven't linked up with You Capture in forever. On several occassions I have actually taken pictures and never got around to uploading them. (This week's challenge is Yellow. Challenge accepted!) I still want to read all the other blogs I used to and the stack of books I bought at the library used book sale this summer. And I want to organize my house. And I want to get crafty with some pictures I took over the summer. And... well, you get the idea. Baby steps, my friends! Slowly but surely I will get there.
Not only do I see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I am starting to see light shed on certain situations. Recently I have taken a step back from things and put a lot of time into evaluating where my life is going and where I want it to go. I know where I WANT it to go, but most days I don't feel that is the direction I'm heading and I don't know how to redirect. Some days I don't even know if I can. I feel a constant pull between working towards what I want and working towards what I feel is best for others or what others want me to do. But the past couple of days I spent a lot of time working on my personal goals and somewhat neglecting other things. This led to panic. And stress. And worry. And after a surprisingly short amount of time, it led to an amazing release. The stress was suddenly lifted and I felt calm. I don't know that I can adequately explain it, but I just knew I was doing the right thing.
So hopefully that little pinhead of a light at the far end of the very long tunnel continues to come closer. And hopefully that light from above continues to not only shine down on me, but to open my eyes when it does.
So as all my (very few) loyal readers may have noticed, I have been absent from blog-land lately. I look back and I feel like I should have a really exciting story to tell you about why I just didn't have the time to sit down and write. Sadly that is not the case. But happily, it is because we were simply really super-busy living life. A new school year, 2 soccer seasons, fundraisers, a traveling husband, holidays and birthdays... nothing stellar, nothing out of the ordinary, but just a lot of STUFF. So much stuff, in fact, that I often felt like I was losing my mind. Or at the very least, a very small piece of myself. I have been so busy taking care of everybody else and all their needs that I haven't devoted much time to myself lately. And I feel the time I HAVE devoted to me has revolved around work.
But now... well, now I am writing, so that's a start! Twice this month! And the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to get a little brighter. I checked two books out of the library last week. Grown-up books! I watched my favorite Thursday night TV shows last night when they were actually on, not on DVR. (In retrospect that may not have been the best decision because I did not plan well for my Friday and that made things a little hectic.) But I am slowly getting back the things I have loved and missed. It's not all there... I haven't linked up with You Capture in forever. On several occassions I have actually taken pictures and never got around to uploading them. (This week's challenge is Yellow. Challenge accepted!) I still want to read all the other blogs I used to and the stack of books I bought at the library used book sale this summer. And I want to organize my house. And I want to get crafty with some pictures I took over the summer. And... well, you get the idea. Baby steps, my friends! Slowly but surely I will get there.
Not only do I see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I am starting to see light shed on certain situations. Recently I have taken a step back from things and put a lot of time into evaluating where my life is going and where I want it to go. I know where I WANT it to go, but most days I don't feel that is the direction I'm heading and I don't know how to redirect. Some days I don't even know if I can. I feel a constant pull between working towards what I want and working towards what I feel is best for others or what others want me to do. But the past couple of days I spent a lot of time working on my personal goals and somewhat neglecting other things. This led to panic. And stress. And worry. And after a surprisingly short amount of time, it led to an amazing release. The stress was suddenly lifted and I felt calm. I don't know that I can adequately explain it, but I just knew I was doing the right thing.
So hopefully that little pinhead of a light at the far end of the very long tunnel continues to come closer. And hopefully that light from above continues to not only shine down on me, but to open my eyes when it does.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Election Wrap-Up
AANNNNDDDD... I'm back! I'm not even going to attempt to explain why this blog was abandoned for over 2 months, I'm just jumping right back in!
As expected, this year's presidential election was HUGE. Monumental. Historic. And the cause of many arguments, much nastiness, and quite a bit of Facebook smack-talk and de-friending. And to that I say... grow up and get over yourself. As I have every year since I was legally able, I stood in line and voted like the proud American I am. I voted for a presidential candidate, a congressional candidate and quite a few other races on my local ballot. Some of my people won, some did not. I accepted it and went on with life. I did not post any status updates on Facebook gloating about "my wins" or bad-mouthing those who voted for "the other guys." I did not threaten to relocate my family to another city, state or country because the outcome may not have been exactly what I wanted. And I did not delete anybody from my friends list on Facebook, because I don't have any friendships that are built on political beliefs. (Although I will admit I did remove a few from my newsfeed. I still love ya, but I don't want to see all your negativity. See people?! That's how you do it!)
Now with that being said, I will admit that I am concerned about our future. I have never gone into an election with such uncertainty about who I was going to vote for. (I didn't decide on some of the races until I was driving to my polling place.) It bothers me (a lot) that I did not feel 100% confident in voting for either major Presidential candidate. I am more than a little frightened for my children's future and what will be awaiting them as they become adults. I am concerned about how I will provide them with the childhood I have always dreamed for them when our country is in such a state of chaos. And I am a tiny bit worried about how our family will manage on a day-to-day basis if this trend continues.
But more than any of those feelings, Election Day 2012 made me PROUD. What's that, you say? Do those two terms even go hand-in-hand after all this?? Yes, and let me tell you why.
For starters, voter turn-out was so high that several places ran out of ballots. Northern Kentucky was predicting a 70% turnout and they still ran out! Amazing! Now I will say, I will never understand why we don't have 100% turn-out every November, but that is an argument for another time. We'll take what we can get. Baby steps. It makes me proud that so many Americans feel so strongly about our current state and our future that they took the time to DO SOMETHING about it. Don't just sit on your couch (or computer) and complain!
Secondly, I am so very, very proud of my children. Growing up I'm certain I had no idea who was running for any elected office until I was in my teens. Nor did I really care. Now in many parts of the country, our county included, the polling places set up a "Kids Voting USA" booth. Kids can stop by and cast their private ballots, this year voting on the Presidential Race, the local Congressional race and 3 "issues" that were exclusive to the kids' ballots: Does your school do enough to prevent bullying? Do you think e-books should replace traditional text books in the classroom? Do you think the government should ban super-sized soft drinks?
(I will stop here to say that Brandon and I have talked to the kids about the election and who is running and a little about what the candidates stand for. But we have not pushed our opinions on them in the least and we didn't even tell them who we were voting for until Monday night.)
So we arrive at the local elementary school to vote. My 2 older kids were SO excited to vote! So excited that they voted before I did. Lucas (4 years) made his Presidential and Congressional selections based on the photos of the candidates. While he didn't really understand a lot of the issues, he recognized each candidate by picture and was able to put an X in the box of those he had told me he was going to vote for. I read the 3 issues to him and he firmly told me his answer and marked his X's. Ella (7 years) came in with her mind made up on all items on the ballot and voted as such. She had told me the reasons she was selecting the people she did and she had a thought process behind each of her selections on the Issues. What a proud Momma I was!!
So while the Election madness may not have brought out the best in everybody, it wasn't all bad. My kids were shown once again how important it is stand up for what you believe and take advantage of the wonderful priveledge we have to vote. Witnessing their little minds work through the selection process has made me hopeful for their future. One little baby step at a time, this world will become a better place.
As expected, this year's presidential election was HUGE. Monumental. Historic. And the cause of many arguments, much nastiness, and quite a bit of Facebook smack-talk and de-friending. And to that I say... grow up and get over yourself. As I have every year since I was legally able, I stood in line and voted like the proud American I am. I voted for a presidential candidate, a congressional candidate and quite a few other races on my local ballot. Some of my people won, some did not. I accepted it and went on with life. I did not post any status updates on Facebook gloating about "my wins" or bad-mouthing those who voted for "the other guys." I did not threaten to relocate my family to another city, state or country because the outcome may not have been exactly what I wanted. And I did not delete anybody from my friends list on Facebook, because I don't have any friendships that are built on political beliefs. (Although I will admit I did remove a few from my newsfeed. I still love ya, but I don't want to see all your negativity. See people?! That's how you do it!)
Now with that being said, I will admit that I am concerned about our future. I have never gone into an election with such uncertainty about who I was going to vote for. (I didn't decide on some of the races until I was driving to my polling place.) It bothers me (a lot) that I did not feel 100% confident in voting for either major Presidential candidate. I am more than a little frightened for my children's future and what will be awaiting them as they become adults. I am concerned about how I will provide them with the childhood I have always dreamed for them when our country is in such a state of chaos. And I am a tiny bit worried about how our family will manage on a day-to-day basis if this trend continues.
But more than any of those feelings, Election Day 2012 made me PROUD. What's that, you say? Do those two terms even go hand-in-hand after all this?? Yes, and let me tell you why.
For starters, voter turn-out was so high that several places ran out of ballots. Northern Kentucky was predicting a 70% turnout and they still ran out! Amazing! Now I will say, I will never understand why we don't have 100% turn-out every November, but that is an argument for another time. We'll take what we can get. Baby steps. It makes me proud that so many Americans feel so strongly about our current state and our future that they took the time to DO SOMETHING about it. Don't just sit on your couch (or computer) and complain!
Secondly, I am so very, very proud of my children. Growing up I'm certain I had no idea who was running for any elected office until I was in my teens. Nor did I really care. Now in many parts of the country, our county included, the polling places set up a "Kids Voting USA" booth. Kids can stop by and cast their private ballots, this year voting on the Presidential Race, the local Congressional race and 3 "issues" that were exclusive to the kids' ballots: Does your school do enough to prevent bullying? Do you think e-books should replace traditional text books in the classroom? Do you think the government should ban super-sized soft drinks?
(I will stop here to say that Brandon and I have talked to the kids about the election and who is running and a little about what the candidates stand for. But we have not pushed our opinions on them in the least and we didn't even tell them who we were voting for until Monday night.)
So we arrive at the local elementary school to vote. My 2 older kids were SO excited to vote! So excited that they voted before I did. Lucas (4 years) made his Presidential and Congressional selections based on the photos of the candidates. While he didn't really understand a lot of the issues, he recognized each candidate by picture and was able to put an X in the box of those he had told me he was going to vote for. I read the 3 issues to him and he firmly told me his answer and marked his X's. Ella (7 years) came in with her mind made up on all items on the ballot and voted as such. She had told me the reasons she was selecting the people she did and she had a thought process behind each of her selections on the Issues. What a proud Momma I was!!
So while the Election madness may not have brought out the best in everybody, it wasn't all bad. My kids were shown once again how important it is stand up for what you believe and take advantage of the wonderful priveledge we have to vote. Witnessing their little minds work through the selection process has made me hopeful for their future. One little baby step at a time, this world will become a better place.
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