I'm following through on the new "10 Things" kick I started with my last blog post. I really believe we make time for the things we truly want to do. But what happens when the things you want to do are more than the time you have available? Oh, yeah. A priority list might help...unless you hate making lists and being confined to schedules. Am I the only person who desires to do lots of good things but never does them? I seem to have lots of good intentions but I never follow through on about half of them. So here's a list of confessions, things I want to do, have started to do, but never made the time to finish.
1. Stained glass-This one is easy. I never have the money to start this kind of project because of the plethora of other projects I always have going. I love the art of stained glass, though. So this is on my mental list of 'things to do before I die'.
2. Make stuff for all my friends-I always get some kind of compliment on the work I do. And I like to share. Currently, there are 5 projects in the works for friends. Are any of them finished? No. How many are actually started? Two, both just barely.
3. Keep my desk clean and organized-This is a hard one. I spend the most time at my desk. It gathers the most clutter. I tried the Fly Lady thing but the emails were so overwhelming, I felt unable to comply. Besides, I work better under pressure...well, that's what I tell myself anyway. Right now, my desk looks like an F-5 tornado swept through, followed by Hurricane Katrina, followed by a tidal wave of epic proportions. There's barely enough space for my water glass. I've tried organizing it. I bought great little drawer boxes and labeled them. Those are still functioning as described. It's mainly the paperwork that gets out of hand. I even simplified that but it's still like a paperwork swamp! (sigh)
4. Keep my house dust free-This one is practically impossible unless I walk around with dust rags or Swiffer mitts surgically fixed on my hands, feet and head. We live next to a dirt road and there are fields all around us. I'm beginning to think the dust rhinoceri are my pets and am getting quite attached. This is a sad thing, though, when I'm allergic to them. :(
5. Keep up with dishes and laundry-Well, in a family of five, I guess I'd be doing dishes and laundry non-stop. Not gonna happen. I have no desire to constantly stand at the sink or in front of the washer. I do love hanging laundry on the line but there's only so much room out there. I've come to the conclusion that I just need to accept the fact that there will always be some laundry in the laundry baskets and some dishes in the sink.
6. Indulge my budding inner artist-I love art in all forms. I see beauty in so many things. In fact, I see beauty in many areas most people turn away from in disgust. However, putting this down on a piece of sketchbook paper seems to be beyond me. At least, I can't seem to do it on a regular basis. I seem to do things in ragged lumps. For example: 1 week of sewing non-stop, 2 weeks of chainmail jewelry non-stop, 4 days of calligraphy non-stop, etc. As a result, I usually finish a couple of the projects I have going and get started on others so they can sit in a box for a couple of months before I get back to completing them.
7. Exercise-I'm not a sporty person. In fact, I hate sports. I realize the importance of staying fit. But I do not believe people should be paid more to play games than to make a building safe for thousands of the workers inside. That makes no logical sense to me. Anyway, I love the idea of a regular workout routine. I do well for about a week, then the novelty wears off. I'm not getting any younger and my metabolism will be changing before too long. But I can't seem to stick with it for long enough to make it a habit.
8. Eating a good breakfast-I used to eat breakfast every day. Now my breakfast usually consists of 2.5 cups of coffee. I know that's not a healthy breakfast but I can't seem to desire a good breakfast. Not only that, if I eat too early in the morning, I feel kinda yucky. If I do wait to eat breakfast, I'm usually sidetracked by something else that needs doing.
9. Writing a book-One day, I'd like to write a book. I can't really decide on subject matter, though. I thought a book of my blog posts might be interesting. But then I thought it might just be a bit redundant. I did take a course on writing books for children. And I wrote a book...and was told there was too much information in it for the target age. That was interesting since my little cousin didn't seem to have too much trouble with it. Anyway, I haven't tried again and that was years ago. It's not that the critic was dissing my attempt. It's more about me not being sure of what I really want to say.
10. Jam with some of my favorite musicians-I'd love to just sit in on a jam session with some of my favorite artists. There's nothing more comforting to me than sitting in a small, intimate setting with friends and just having fun with music. Sadly, I never seem to be in a position to make this happen. Ah, well...
So there are my ten things for this go round. I hope you find them interesting, funny or helpful in some way. Feel free to comment. I'm not looking for help or guidance. I know what I need to do to 'make' these things happen. I also know that some are more probable than others. I'm a realist, after all. ;) Have a great day!
Showing posts with label helping others. Show all posts
Showing posts with label helping others. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Awesome Giveaway From Simply Stacie!
http://simplystacie.net/spring-bling-mystic-pieces-giveaway/#comment-34296 Here's a link to Simply Stacie's blog. She's giving away some Spring Bling! :) Hope you enjoy your visit to her blog and to Mystic Pieces on Etsy. Have fun and good luck!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Why Help Haiti When We Have Hurting People In Our Own Country?
One of my dear friends (who is my one and only firned) posted a 'forward' status. You know, one of those "99.9% of people are cowards and they won't post this" forwards. I usually ignore those since I disagree with so many of them. I don't harbor sour feelings against anyone who does post these or who's feelings differ from mine. They have as much right to post any status as I do. Having said that, I would like to put down my thoughts on this recent 'forward' status and then I might attack a few more of them, just for some twisted fun. :) (And a heads up to my dear firned, this is not aimed at anyone in particular and most especially not at you. Love you, my firned!)
Here is the status that went up today: Shame on you America: the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment - yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations. 99% of people won't have the guts to copy and repost this
My rebuttal: My first problem with this status is that last statement that you always see on these statuses. It calls me a coward! How dare it! It's not bad enough I get bombarded by tv shows and video games and movies and music and emails that all come against my happy little bubble, but now I have to add fb statuses to that list! How wrong is that?
We do live in a country that is unprecedented in privilege and human rights. And we've lived this way so long we don't understand how anyone else can't see the 'rightness' of our ways. How arrogant! How conceited! How much we take for granted. We are living on the edge of a precipice and the abyss is waiting to swallow us whole. But that doesn't mean I will sit around and not help when I see a need, a genuine, honest-to-goodness need. If your desire is to help the people in our own country, then do it! Don't berate others for making a choice to help in a different area! What if we all chose to help disadvantaged teens. Then what would happen to breast cancer research? What would happen to the World Wildlife Fund? What would happen to the rain forests? All these causes have their place. And we are so blessed to have such a diverse community that we can all help in some way. Why do we disparage the choices of others?
Now that I’ve tackled that part of this little problem-I replied to that status with this sarcastic comment. “See the thing is this. Most people here have jobs. And they can't understand why someone else doesn't have a job. They figure that person wasn't trying hard enough or else they must not care. And as for the homeless, it's their own fault of course. They should have handled their money better, right? (end sarcasm)
We all have the same rights and privileges as all the rest of the people who are citizens of our Nation. We can either choose to give up when bad things happen to us. Or we can choose to fight through those bad times to get to the good ones. I'm not saying there are no exceptions. There are always exceptions to the rule. The exceptions are just harder to find b/c of all the people who are the 'rule'. Until Obama has his way with the slaughter of our rights as a Nation, we all have the same possibility to succeed. The people in Haiti had a major disaster hit them. Why is it so wrong to help people who have a genuine need?
If you don’t believe me about Obama taking away our rights, if you don’t think he can, you should check out these links. These links will take you to info about how the UN plans to confiscate our guns (first link), an executive order to create a 'council of governors' to usurp the power of our senators and representatives and also demolish the states' rights (second link), an order allowing INTERPOL to invade our privacy (third link), and one more verifying link about our President's plan to let INTERPOL invade our privacy (fourth link).
http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/hostedemail/email.htm?h=0e2e19eb79463ccc98246e0d70ab7e17&CID=5589975108&ch=20346EBC934F8E7A034D958C48EE534E
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/2010executive_order.pdf
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-amending-executive-order-12425 (Amending of EO 12425)
http://threatswatch.org/analysis/2009/12/wither-sovereignty/ (More info on the amending of EO12425)
And that’s all I’m going to say on that score because concerning Obama, he’s not going to let anyone stop his agenda at this point. He will rip our country to shreds unless something drastic happens.
My friend is among the thousands of people who feel that their $10 could be put to better use somewhere else and that’s ok. But she also felt that her $10 wouldn’t make that much difference. I disagree. If $10 can buy 8 gallons of water or 6 packages of ground meat or a 20 pound bag of potatoes, that’s definitely something. $10 is $10 and it's still $10 more or $10 less than what they had before. We chose to make a donation b/c we couldn't actively go down there to help out. And honestly, I'd do that. I'll donate money when I feel there is a real need and sometimes, I'll donate money just because I feel like it. Everyone has to decide which cause is worthy on their own, though. And to disparage another person’s choice is a miserable thing to do.
Spreading misery doesn’t help anyone and only tears down those who choose to believe in it. One shame that our United States must own to is the tearing down of the spirits of her own people. Heaven forbid someone choose to be different! Heaven forbid someone choose to take a stand for someone or something that’s been disparaged by the masses! Heaven forbid we actually take literally all those rights we /are/ entitled to. And for the record, only CITIZENS (legal citizens, thank you) are entitled to these rights. If you want to talk about problems in our country, let’s talk about giving our rights away to illegal aliens in our country or the unconstitutional acts of the man who is supposed to be protecting our rights. But that’s another blog for another time.
Here is the status that went up today: Shame on you America: the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment - yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations. 99% of people won't have the guts to copy and repost this
My rebuttal: My first problem with this status is that last statement that you always see on these statuses. It calls me a coward! How dare it! It's not bad enough I get bombarded by tv shows and video games and movies and music and emails that all come against my happy little bubble, but now I have to add fb statuses to that list! How wrong is that?
We do live in a country that is unprecedented in privilege and human rights. And we've lived this way so long we don't understand how anyone else can't see the 'rightness' of our ways. How arrogant! How conceited! How much we take for granted. We are living on the edge of a precipice and the abyss is waiting to swallow us whole. But that doesn't mean I will sit around and not help when I see a need, a genuine, honest-to-goodness need. If your desire is to help the people in our own country, then do it! Don't berate others for making a choice to help in a different area! What if we all chose to help disadvantaged teens. Then what would happen to breast cancer research? What would happen to the World Wildlife Fund? What would happen to the rain forests? All these causes have their place. And we are so blessed to have such a diverse community that we can all help in some way. Why do we disparage the choices of others?
Now that I’ve tackled that part of this little problem-I replied to that status with this sarcastic comment. “See the thing is this. Most people here have jobs. And they can't understand why someone else doesn't have a job. They figure that person wasn't trying hard enough or else they must not care. And as for the homeless, it's their own fault of course. They should have handled their money better, right? (end sarcasm)
We all have the same rights and privileges as all the rest of the people who are citizens of our Nation. We can either choose to give up when bad things happen to us. Or we can choose to fight through those bad times to get to the good ones. I'm not saying there are no exceptions. There are always exceptions to the rule. The exceptions are just harder to find b/c of all the people who are the 'rule'. Until Obama has his way with the slaughter of our rights as a Nation, we all have the same possibility to succeed. The people in Haiti had a major disaster hit them. Why is it so wrong to help people who have a genuine need?
If you don’t believe me about Obama taking away our rights, if you don’t think he can, you should check out these links. These links will take you to info about how the UN plans to confiscate our guns (first link), an executive order to create a 'council of governors' to usurp the power of our senators and representatives and also demolish the states' rights (second link), an order allowing INTERPOL to invade our privacy (third link), and one more verifying link about our President's plan to let INTERPOL invade our privacy (fourth link).
http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/hostedemail/email.htm?h=0e2e19eb79463ccc98246e0d70ab7e17&CID=5589975108&ch=20346EBC934F8E7A034D958C48EE534E
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/2010executive_order.pdf
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-amending-executive-order-12425 (Amending of EO 12425)
http://threatswatch.org/analysis/2009/12/wither-sovereignty/ (More info on the amending of EO12425)
And that’s all I’m going to say on that score because concerning Obama, he’s not going to let anyone stop his agenda at this point. He will rip our country to shreds unless something drastic happens.
My friend is among the thousands of people who feel that their $10 could be put to better use somewhere else and that’s ok. But she also felt that her $10 wouldn’t make that much difference. I disagree. If $10 can buy 8 gallons of water or 6 packages of ground meat or a 20 pound bag of potatoes, that’s definitely something. $10 is $10 and it's still $10 more or $10 less than what they had before. We chose to make a donation b/c we couldn't actively go down there to help out. And honestly, I'd do that. I'll donate money when I feel there is a real need and sometimes, I'll donate money just because I feel like it. Everyone has to decide which cause is worthy on their own, though. And to disparage another person’s choice is a miserable thing to do.
Spreading misery doesn’t help anyone and only tears down those who choose to believe in it. One shame that our United States must own to is the tearing down of the spirits of her own people. Heaven forbid someone choose to be different! Heaven forbid someone choose to take a stand for someone or something that’s been disparaged by the masses! Heaven forbid we actually take literally all those rights we /are/ entitled to. And for the record, only CITIZENS (legal citizens, thank you) are entitled to these rights. If you want to talk about problems in our country, let’s talk about giving our rights away to illegal aliens in our country or the unconstitutional acts of the man who is supposed to be protecting our rights. But that’s another blog for another time.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Creative Energies! Aw, rats! LOL
If you thought you'd be reading a blog that worked with clock-like regular postings, you were mistaken. Did I ever mention that I have a problem with focus? :) I stay pretty busy with little nothings and many times nothing really gets completely finished. Sometimes that frustrates me to the core but most of the time, I just ignore it and move on.
One place I can't allow that to happen is in my schoolroom. Sometimes I have to really MAKE myself focus on what needs to be accomplished for the day. And thankfully, it works more often than not. We've been doing well with our lessons since we started a new year and we were doing pretty well before the last one ended. I will now pause for a smile. :)
I woke up this morning feeling really good. I mean I felt really good, at peace with myself and my surroundings and just really good. I was ready to jump through hoops this morning! Then my 5 yr. old (The Ro) decided to pitch a major fit. Her brother (NoJo) tried to help her with something she was trying to do. She was making a watery mess. He saved her behind, really. But that was just so totally unacceptable to her so she started screeching at him. I was unable to attend to the situation just right at that moment and my husband was at the college taking care of his classes for the day so he couldn't really help out either. So I yell at them to just be quiet and I'll take care of it when I can get there. The Ro can't wait to tattle on NoJo since she is truly convinced he's wronged her in the extreme. She comes to meet me and I have to get her to look me in the eye. It was quite a job convincing her that her method was fallible and her brother had done nothing wrong. And I still think she wasn't totally convinced I was right. She went right back to telling him to apologize. He replied, "For helping you?" I really do think he was quite confused this time. He's 13 and pretty practical for his age.
"What did she do?" you may be asking. She had wet a washcloth and was washing her whiteboard with it. This doesn't sound really awful, does it? Except she was washing her whiteboard in my living room on my carpet. :) NoJo realized this was a very bad thing. He took the washcloth away from her and brought it back to the kitchen. That's it. That's all he did. Oh! And he tried to explain that she was getting water everywhere and making everything soaking wet. What she didn't realize was that she should've been worshiping at his feet since he'd saved her from 'the wrath of the mom-demon'.
So after that long, drawn-out, dramatic episode, I was /really/ in the mood to enjoy school. We did school and got that done for the day. I got a quick shower, washed a load of dishes and cleaned the hall bathroom. I taught a piano lesson after all that. Here's a bright note. I have one new student and 3 more interested. This is indeed a very bright note. :)
On days like today, I just feel like I need to do something really energetic like planting a garden or herding sheep. Why the snicker? If you knew me really well, you'd know how awful I am at growing anything except bulbs and I'm not really an animal person. They are OK if they live outside and can take care of themselves or if they are behind fences at the zoo. They are just a bit too unpredictable for me. I might do alright herding sheep but I'm really not sure. Anyone else ever feel like the first sentence of this paragraph?
Right now I'm listening to one of my favorite songs by the Newsboys: "Lead Me To The Cross" and I know what some of you may be thinking. But really, it is a great song beautifully written with very lovely lyrics and it really speaks to me. That last bit is what won me over. :) Before that Sting and the Chieftains were singing "Mo Ghile Mear (Our Hero)". As you can see, my taste in music ranges wildly all over the place. That has also been a great topic of conversation with several of our friends and it is really a help when you have friends that only like a certain genre.
Well, I will try to post more often for you, my two faithful followers. LOL And I hope to be able to keep my posts honest and down to earth...OK, well honest. Talk to you soon.
Laugh a Lot
One place I can't allow that to happen is in my schoolroom. Sometimes I have to really MAKE myself focus on what needs to be accomplished for the day. And thankfully, it works more often than not. We've been doing well with our lessons since we started a new year and we were doing pretty well before the last one ended. I will now pause for a smile. :)
I woke up this morning feeling really good. I mean I felt really good, at peace with myself and my surroundings and just really good. I was ready to jump through hoops this morning! Then my 5 yr. old (The Ro) decided to pitch a major fit. Her brother (NoJo) tried to help her with something she was trying to do. She was making a watery mess. He saved her behind, really. But that was just so totally unacceptable to her so she started screeching at him. I was unable to attend to the situation just right at that moment and my husband was at the college taking care of his classes for the day so he couldn't really help out either. So I yell at them to just be quiet and I'll take care of it when I can get there. The Ro can't wait to tattle on NoJo since she is truly convinced he's wronged her in the extreme. She comes to meet me and I have to get her to look me in the eye. It was quite a job convincing her that her method was fallible and her brother had done nothing wrong. And I still think she wasn't totally convinced I was right. She went right back to telling him to apologize. He replied, "For helping you?" I really do think he was quite confused this time. He's 13 and pretty practical for his age.
"What did she do?" you may be asking. She had wet a washcloth and was washing her whiteboard with it. This doesn't sound really awful, does it? Except she was washing her whiteboard in my living room on my carpet. :) NoJo realized this was a very bad thing. He took the washcloth away from her and brought it back to the kitchen. That's it. That's all he did. Oh! And he tried to explain that she was getting water everywhere and making everything soaking wet. What she didn't realize was that she should've been worshiping at his feet since he'd saved her from 'the wrath of the mom-demon'.
So after that long, drawn-out, dramatic episode, I was /really/ in the mood to enjoy school. We did school and got that done for the day. I got a quick shower, washed a load of dishes and cleaned the hall bathroom. I taught a piano lesson after all that. Here's a bright note. I have one new student and 3 more interested. This is indeed a very bright note. :)
On days like today, I just feel like I need to do something really energetic like planting a garden or herding sheep.
Right now I'm listening to one of my favorite songs by the Newsboys: "Lead Me To The Cross" and I know what some of you may be thinking. But really, it is a great song beautifully written with very lovely lyrics and it really speaks to me. That last bit is what won me over. :) Before that Sting and the Chieftains were singing "Mo Ghile Mear (Our Hero)". As you can see, my taste in music ranges wildly all over the place. That has also been a great topic of conversation with several of our friends and it is really a help when you have friends that only like a certain genre.
Well, I will try to post more often for you, my two faithful followers. LOL And I hope to be able to keep my posts honest and down to earth...OK, well honest. Talk to you soon.
Laugh a Lot
Monday, August 17, 2009
Here We Go
I'm pretty amazed at how things occur and, in my own opinion, how God works. I am most satisfied when I find I can truly be of help to someone. It was nice to be able to offer help to someone this week...and it's only Monday!
So I'm sitting here watching the clouds roll in and rain down and roll out again and again. I am just hoping this posts. My internet has been awfully intermittent b/c of the cloud cover. I took the girls through their first day of school today. My husbands does the math with them. That helps a lot. We had a pretty productive day. When my youngest was finished and my middle child was working on her homework (Yes! You still have to do homework in homeschool.) I was busy putting the yearly special things together. I'm hunting up a few places to visit for field trips and fun projects to do throughout the year. My son starts tomorrow. We worked out a deal which will allow him to work on the farm with my dad on Mondays. Since my dad works nights (through the weekend), this is the only day Noah would be able to help him. He'll do a Tuesday thru Saturday schedule. This will be the first time we've tried it. I hope it works. I know how much he really enjoys working with my dad. Well, I'm hopeful that this year will be a fabulous year. For all those out there who school their children at home, have a great year! For all those who send your children off to school, have a great year! Shuckin's! For EVERYONE, have a great year!
Laugh a Lot!
So I'm sitting here watching the clouds roll in and rain down and roll out again and again. I am just hoping this posts. My internet has been awfully intermittent b/c of the cloud cover. I took the girls through their first day of school today. My husbands does the math with them. That helps a lot. We had a pretty productive day. When my youngest was finished and my middle child was working on her homework (Yes! You still have to do homework in homeschool.) I was busy putting the yearly special things together. I'm hunting up a few places to visit for field trips and fun projects to do throughout the year. My son starts tomorrow. We worked out a deal which will allow him to work on the farm with my dad on Mondays. Since my dad works nights (through the weekend), this is the only day Noah would be able to help him. He'll do a Tuesday thru Saturday schedule. This will be the first time we've tried it. I hope it works. I know how much he really enjoys working with my dad. Well, I'm hopeful that this year will be a fabulous year. For all those out there who school their children at home, have a great year! For all those who send your children off to school, have a great year! Shuckin's! For EVERYONE, have a great year!
Laugh a Lot!
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