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THE SIMPLE LIFE

Sometimes…Life should just be simple…



But…It never really is…



Sometimes…It should slow down…



But…It never really does…



Sometimes…Life should be peaceful…



But…It rarely ever is…



Sometimes…Life should have less…



But then…We always want for more…



Sometimes…We seek for pleasure…



When…Wholesome is what we need…



Sometimes…We long to escape…



When...All we really need…

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Is to go home…

THE WEEK...

Just as the roads outside have been hard to manage, so too have the goals I have set. I’ve been slipping with them just as I have slipped on the ice outside...

And the ruts...Like those in the streets...Are difficult to get out of.



It has been just over 12 years since I have had a good routine at home. Back then...My house was in order and clean, meals were routinely cooked...I had a garden...home-schooled...and accomplished other domesticities. Upon going to work, those things...though not by design...took a back seat.

It is my desire now...To meld my two worlds, as indeed that is what they seem to me to be...Into one...

So, as I have been in this rut for over a decade, it is time for a change. Ruts are very difficult to get out of…ask anyone who has been in one for any length of time. Nonetheless…They CAN be overcome, and I intend to do so!



I just love opportunity...Don’t you? A fresh week…To start anew…To put behind past failures and to have another go. The Lord gave us this; for He does not want us to fail...And, I use those words very lightly, for we do not fail until we stop trying…

FLEXIBILITY

I was always blessed with the ability to be flexible and could never quite understand those around me who were less so. Well…these days, I tend to be more rigid myself. Maybe it’s part of aging…Maybe it’s part of becoming more organized…I want to stick to my schedule…

That is okay…TO A POINT…

For we must always remember what is most important…

Family…

People…

Helping others...

These MUST always come first…Else why are we here?



One day this past week...I was determined to carry out my schedule…To accomplish my goals for the week. It was Friday night, and I had my bedding to change from the previous night’s chore, which I hadn’t gotten done…I also had my chore for that night to do. It was late evening, and I started about working…

DS came down to talk. We talked for a bit while I padiddled around. I figured that shortly he would go about his business, and I would commence with my own duties…But, he stayed…

It was midnight and beyond by the time we finished talking…He was concerned about college, finances, marriage and relationships, and the like…

In the past, the Lord blessed me to be mainly Mary (see the story of Mary and Martha in the Bible when Christ is visiting in their home). Now, however, as years have passed, and also with my new goals of organization, Martha resides within me to a great extent…

And, that night she was yelling that I HAD to get my chores done…I had goals to accomplish…I had a deadline to meet! “Get on with it!” she yelled…”How will you feel if you don’t get the bathroom cleaned?!...Get busy!”

I made a choice…Martha would have to be quiet…

I had a son…A precious son who needed me more. How honored I was—and always am—when my children want to talk to ME…Not a friend…But ME. He will be gone in just over a month…I want to treasure every spare moment that he will give me.

While I prefer this rendition of the story...

This one better portrays the concern on Martha's face that her sister is not helping her...

I never want to be one of those that says, when a member of their family has passed on, “If only”…

If only I had spent more time with them…If only I showed my love more…If only…

The bathroom will always be there ready to share its dirt with me, but I will NOT always have the opportunity of Family whenever I want it…

And So…

I try to take that opportunity whenever it presents itself.

SIDE NOTE

Dear Son just walked in to show me his new Pumas…He has waited for two years (didn’t want to spend the $80) and was just able to purchase them for $34!

It’s these little things that really are the big things…those that matter most….

I want to be remembered as a mom who cared…Not only about the big things in life…but the seemingly insignificant as well.

I pray that we may all choose to Love our families…To Love those around us…And to be the Mary in other people’s lives.

OF THINGS PINK

Quick definitions (pink)

▸ noun: a light shade of red
▸ noun: any of various flowers of plants of the genus Dianthus cultivated for their fragrant flowers
▸ verb: sound like a car engine that is firing too early ("The car pinked when the ignition was too far retarded")
▸ verb: cut in a zig-zag pattern with pinking shears, in sewing
▸ verb: make light, repeated taps on a surface
▸ adjective: of a light shade of red
▸ name: A surname (rare: 1 in 100000 families; popularity rank in the U.S.: #8703)

PINK

I have always liked the color pink...It's joyful, playful, and sunny...



It's upbeat…



Whimsical...



Pleasing...



And Pretty...



It’s can signify love…As in Valentine’s Day…



SIDE NOTE...

DH and I went and saw Valentine’s Day the movie tonight, and I would not recommend it…It was extremely immoral.

Pink can also mean fun…On our 25th anniversary a couple of years ago, DH and I went on a very long adventure…



One of our favorite spots was Phoenix, Arizona. After a long hot drive up from Mexico, I was ready just to lie in the coolness of the motel room and relax for the rest of the night. Being our 25th, however, DH went and found a great little restaurant to celebrate at…

The Pink Taco…



It was in Scottsdale, a beautiful little city outside of Phoenix...



As I LOVE all things Mexican and as we had just come from Mexico, this was so apropos…

And…they had the BEST Mexican shrimp cocktail…To die for!

SIDE NOTE...

Apparently the name means something less than decent in slang, and so last year it closed its doors…

Fashion Square Mall…A great mall in Scottsdale…





Interestingly, I never shop our local malls….

Number 1…I dislike shopping…

And number 2…they’re too expensive…

On vacation though, I enjoy perusing a fancy shopping mall…



Well, everyone, I hope that you're Sunday is blessed and that we may all look for the good in others. Let us try to be positively pink examples to those around us!

STARTING...CONTINUING...AGAIN

STARTING OVER…AGAIN

It is at this point where it would be quite easy to give up…I have slowly, over the past two or three weeks, waned in my goals to where, this past week, I don’t know that I accomplished any!

It is said that you are not a failure until you give up…

Well…In the past I may have given up…But not now!



I heard the world’s/America’s (?) oldest man say something yesterday that was great…

Said he…”Work until you can’t work any more…Then work some more”. Isn’t that great?! He retired at 99…He is now 112, and you would NEVER know it.

So…Today is Monday, a new day…Here are my set GOALS for the year and how I did…



BE MORE ORGANIZED…

I am finishing up the washing as we speak…Monday’s task…And I tidied up the living room…Nighttime duty.

I made some short-term goals for this week, and I finished half of two of them already…That was rather exciting once I crossed them off my list and had that realization.

SHORT-TERM GOALS

YARD—Clean up
Half done (Well, maybe 1/3)

PAPER WORK
Half done

LETTER TO PHYSICIANS
Not yet completed

CONTINUE TO IMPROVE MY HEALTH WITH...BODILY
NOURISHMENT…



Today, aside from the pops (my nemesis) and licorice, this is what I ate…

Cream of Wheat
Tricuits
Large banana
Nuts
Whole wheat toast-Two slices with organic butter
One-half of chili-Frito burrito (Taco John’s left-over)

CONTINUE TO IMPROVE MY HEALTH WITH EXERCISE…

I took a half-hour walk with the dog



QUIT WHINING AND JUST DO!

I did pretty well here…When I wanted to quit early at a project, I kept going and didn’t complain once!...(Out loud at least)

BACKING OFF MY GOALS…TEMPORARILY

I have found from past experience, that if the goals I set seem too high and I experience more over-all failure than success, backing them off a bit really helps.

So…for now…Rather than expecting 100% success seven days of the week, I expect 100% success three days of the week.

Now…This does not mean that I won’t continue to try all seven days.



RECAP…

DAILY GOALS:

Work
Tidy bedroom each morning
Cleaning challenge each evening
Dinner
Blog time
Something I like

I may not get in a blog every day, and I many not get in a for-me activity every day. Having those as goals, however, helps me to keep more on focus.

I find that if I do my chores, it is with a much cleaner conscience that I can reward myself with something I like to do like decorating, sewing, etc.

UPDATES…



This little baby...DD #2...Turned 24 this past week…Wow…



We’ve already passed that milestone with DD #1, but it seems odd each time a child turns a year older…One thinks…”Well, how did that happen?!”

DS passed another belt last week! He has advanced extremely quickly and has skipped several belts…



Attending He attends martial arts four times a week really helps in the advancement.

A few months ago, he jumped a belt, and then just a few weeks back, he got a stripe on his brown belt…

Now, he is a Brown/Black…The step just below Black. He has some requirements to fulfill, one of which is teaching. There are other criteria as well. Leaving for college in just a few weeks will be the challenge. He will be tracking his hours and hopes to test for his Black belt when he comes back in August.

HAPPY TUESDAY ALL…AND HERE’S TO YOUR DREAMS!

THINGS I WANT TO DO

TEACH ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE…



For years, I have wanted to learn Spanish. I took a nighttime Adult Ed. class at one point…

Then…A few years ago, I took a couple of college classes from a really good White-American-who-lived-and-grew-up-part-time-in-Spanish-speaking-countries professor.

In between those endeavors…I have self-studied and taken opportunities to learn from any Spanish natives that am fortunate enough to run into.



So…I know about an eighth of a cup of Spanish, and it’s time to get fluent!

TEACHING has always been in me…I currently teach and now that my children have flown the coop, I really think that it’s time to follow this dream…



TRAVEL…



I remember sitting in a classroom in the second grade. We were watching a movie, in which was shown a large city with cars everywhere…Moving swiftly on the freeways…It was at that point that I felt a surge of excitement…There was a part of me that awoke and has never gone to sleep.





Myriads of opportunity exist Travel…There is history…There is culture.

Moving about from one point to the next brings the great adventure of learning…!

I am quite sure that at some remote point in the history of my descendents, there must have been a nomadic relative…



When I lived in a large metropolis on the coast, there was SO much to do…And much of it was free…Driving downtown in the wee hours just looking at the window displays was exciting…Things that are never seen in towns are there displayed…Watching the street people…Taking the children to the sea to catch eels, crawdads, starfish, and the like…Riding the fairies…So much to do!

While living on the road, in an RV, for a spot of time, we traveled and learned…There is so much out there to soak up in our great country…In our great world! I feel much like a sponge…

SIDE NOTE…

For years, as I did self-hypnosis while lying in bed at night, I would picture a set of stairs leading me down to the warm sand of the beach…Over and over, this was the picture I created in my mind to relax me and take me to a far-away place. I felt the warm sand upon my feet, I smelled the salty air, and I heard the gentle waves break upon the sand.

Years later…From when I started the self-hypnosis and this vision in my mind…I had the opportunity to accompany my mom to Cancun. What a marvelous trip it was. As we walked from the hotel room among the palm trees, across the pool decks, there were stairs leading down to the ocean.

I halted…

They were my stairs! The ones I had seen in my mind! I cannot explain the feelings the engulfed me…They were my stairs!...Can we create what we want to happen? I’ll let you decide.



IF YOU CAN DREAM IT, YOU CAN DO IT!