On being cold and grouchy

I have been grouchy since Monday.  It's been cold and snowy.  Yes.  I live in New England.  Yes.  It's December.  No.  I wasn't ready for it!

All of a sudden, this week, the weather decided to be winter.  The temperatures dropped, and the precipitation turned white.  And I got cold and sore.  Does it happen as you get older the cold just eats through you worse and worse?  Then there was the roads.  I don't prefer to drive when the roads are icky.  Plus, I had planned on Tuesday to go shopping, which didn't really happen.  My plans got all messed up.

I quickly noticed a pattern.  My grouchiness was focused on me - my plans and my comfort.  So I told myself to stop grumbling and be thankful.  For the icky weather?  Well.  At least it was just a coating of snow.  I could see out the driveway, not like the year there was so much snow I couldn't see the traffic coming.  At least it's easy to stock up on food for the week, even the month, at the grocery store.  We're not stuck in the middle of the plains in a Long Winter like Laura Ingalls Wilder was.  They barely survived that winter.  Once I started with my thankfulness, it kept coming, and my attitude changed.

I'm still cold tonight, but I have a cup of hot tea, and a blanket waiting for me.  I'll survive the winter, and spring will come again. I suppose since time seems to go faster as you get older, the spring will be here before I know it!

Five Minute Friday: Reflect

Five Minute Fridays are a challenge for me these days, but I really like linking up to Lisa-Jo's writing community.  For me, Friday is full of wrapping up the week, and getting ready for Shabbat.  Now that the time has changed, candle-lighting for Shabbat comes just a little after 4 pm.  So.  I'm doing this week's Five Minute Friday on Sunday.  Because the link-up is still open.  Because I can.

This week's writing prompt is Reflect.

And GO.

I reflect on this past week.  It was crazy, totally crazy.  Birthdays hit, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, and a nasty nasty virus.  I feel like I need to hole up in a corner like a bear and hibernate for a few days before I can move on.   There were some fantastic moments, though.  The reflections of the Hanukkiahs in the dark window was stunning.  It reminds me of how we reflect when we let our lights shine in the world.

The moon has no internal light of its own, yet it shines brightly in the night sky.  The window does not have a light, but it certainly looked like it was lit up.  The moon reflects the bright sun, and even though we can't see the sun at night, we see the effects of its light.  My house was twice as bright for the window reflecting the Hanukkah candles.

and STOP.

Crazy Week and Birthday Earth Cake

I feel like since November 24th, I've just been running!  Between Thanksgiving and an early Hanukkah, we had two birthdays, including parties.  On top of it all, we all have been sharing a nasty virus in my family.  I wanted to share Rueben's birthday cake with you. I had so much fun making it, and everyone who shared it thought it was magnificent!

Hemisphere with fondant.

Sometime in May, Rueben and I saw this post, and Rueben was entranced.  He wanted a cake like that for his birthday in November.  His birthday was last week, and HE REMEMBERED!  So I had to figure out how to make a cake like that.

First things first, the cake.  I went for quick and easy and used good 'ole Betty Crocker cake mix and icing.  Making the continents required fondant, so I grabbed a container of ready-made fondant.  Food coloring for green and blue for the earth, and I figured my shopping was done.

Painted blue!

I followed the directions, and baked the first cake in the smallest pyrex bowl.  When it was done, I baked the first cake in the medium bowl with batter I colored.  After that cake was done baking, I baked the cake in the largest bowl, with new batter colored again.  I was so excited that it worked!!  With the cake done, I iced it with chocolate icing, and set the cake aside.

Hours later, after picking up the kids from school, dinner, bedtime and normal daily craziness, I returned to working on the cake.  I have been intimated by fondant for a long time, but the project called for it, so I had to do it.  Fondant is much easier than I expected, however, very similar to rolling out pie crust.

It looks like the earth!

Once the fondant was on, color.  I found many directions via google that said to mix the gel food coloring with vodka to paint the fondant.  Seeing as I forgot to buy vodka, I found another link that directed to use clear vanilla extract.  Aha!  I had vanilla extract.  I mixed the food coloring with extract, and set to painting the ocean.


Now.  How would I get the continents on the cake?  Luckily, I found this website, and I printed off the sheets.  I cut around the continents as best as I could.  Voila! The earth!!!

But please. DON'T ask me to point out where anything more than the continents are!

Of course, the first thing Rueben wanted to know was where each state was.  I wasn't able to be THAT accurate!

 Tonight is the last day of Hanukkah, and my life is slowing down enough for me to catch my breath again.  May this season find your homes full of joy and love, even if your house is like mine and full of germs as well!

Happy Hanukkah!

Five Minute Friday :: Fly

I'm linking up again to Lisa-Jo Baker's blog where she hosts a Five Minute Friday Party where she invites other bloggers to write freely for five minutes.  This week, the prompt is fly.

GO.

Fly
Fly away.

I think some of my favorite dreams are those in which I'm flying.  I feel powerful, full of possibility, like I can do anything.  I don't fly in an airplane, or like a bird.  Generally, it's like Peter Pan and Wendy, just flying.  It feels an awful lot like swimming, but swimming in the air.  I've done somersaults in the air before.  It's quite beautiful, actually.  I get to see a different perspective of life from way up high.  I get to fly over conflict and danger to get myself where I need to go.  I can even share the power with others in my dreams.  Sometimes I can teach others to fly.  I remember once in a dream I taught my children to fly with me.  It was such a joy to fly with my little ones!



I wonder why the word fly brought out my dreams.  I could have thought about flying in airplanes and cellphone usage (that was on the news this morning).  I could have thought about flying creatures.  I could have thought about flies.  But I think about my dreams about flying.  I used to think that it would be amazing to learn how to go hang-gliding, to soar like an eagle from the Alps.  I suppose when you have the ability to fly, you no longer have to fear heights in the same way if you don't know how to fly.  Flying means you can control your descent as you jump off the cliff.

Flying means you don't fall anymore.

STOP

Five Minute Friday:: Tree

I'm linking up again to Lisa-Jo Baker's blog where she hosts a Five Minute Friday Party where she invites other bloggers to write freely for five minutes.  This week, the prompt is tree.

the last oak tree before school

I walk my children to school, rustling the leaves as we go.  My mother taught me to rustle, that it was worth going out of your way just to make noise in the leaves.  I, too, tell my kids to walk through the piles of leaves directly in front of them that I might miss.  We walk under the few trees to the last oak tree before school.  It's where we kiss and say goodbye before school, because otherwise I don't get goodbye kisses before school.  As soon as they hit the door at school, my kids go directly where they need to go.  They have a life of their own at school, and almost don't need me anymore.  They need me, I know, but they're all set for the few hours they're at school.

I'm happy to have the last oak tree before school.  It has become a line of demarcation, our place to stop and say farewell.  If I'm ever in a rush, and forget to stop, my kids remind me.  "Mom, THIS is the tree we need to stop by."  I chose it because it's far enough away from school not to be seen for a growing fifth grader, but it's close enough to school to be at school and no longer at home.

And STOP.  Wow.  Five minutes goes quickly sometimes!

I haven't written enough this month.  I'm trying to find the right rhythm for my life and my blog.

Five Minute Friday :: Grace

I'm linking up again to Lisa-Jo Baker's blog where she hosts a Five Minute Friday Party where she invites other bloggers to write freely for five minutes.  This week, the prompt is grace.  I wrote this on the train to NYC on Friday, but I was not able to format the way I wanted before posting since I left my computer at home!

Grace.  Grace to my husband because he tried his hardest, and was still late.  I had plans.  My plans needed to go just right.  But they didn't.  I tried my hardest, but I couldn't change any of the delay.  It just happened.  So what do you do when your best laid plans are foiled.  (Ha! Foiled again!)

You move on.  You have grace.  Even though things don't go as plan, you can be gracious about things rather than anxious.  I was getting anxious.  Dinner starts at 7:30, and if I'm late, I'll miss it and have to make other dinner plans.  I'd rather not change my plans.  I like going with plan A, not usually plan B.  Plan C makes me anxious.

Now.  If my husband had deliberately messed up my plans, I would have had the right to be angry.  Even still, it's best to have grace.

I love the Newsboys song that goes, "When you get what you don't deserve, it's a real good thing, When you don't get what you deserve, it's a real good thing."  Grace and mercy go hand-in-hand.  Grace is when you don't get what you deserve.  So.  My anxious self wanted to deal out anxiety to those around me in response to being excited about this trip, and making the train.  But in light of grace, I can swallow the anxiety, trust in God, and make it on the train. 

I made the train.  Not the 5:24 train I'd hoped to be on, or the 5:33, but the 5:53.  I didn't have to wait until the following train at 6:50.  There are so many things to be thankful for.  Me being anxious doesn't help the situation any at all.

So, now, New York City. People. Worship. Connections.  I don't even know what to start hoping for. 

Maybe a little grace?

I did it!

When I dropped off my kindergartner yesterday, his friends were all excited about October 31.

"It's pajama day!" "AND it's Halloween!" "AND it's the last day of October!"

Wow! A lot of things to happen all on one day!  For me, however, this October 31 is extra special. I followed through on the 31 day challenge. I completed 31 days of being me.

One of the reasons I started was to get into a rhythm of writing, and to be comfortable with myself as a writer. I think I've accomplished that.  I also wrote for almost all 31 days. I'm proud of myself. 

Give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done these days!

Thinking about the day that went wrong

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

So as I thought about my day yesterday, and all the things that went wrong, I realized something.  The things that stuck with me today were not the things that went wrong yesterday, but the things that went right.

I'm so thankful for all the little things that went well.  Toilet paper in the house is a good thing.  The yogurt I needed to get, I had previously found at Stop and Shop for $1.39.  At Walmart, they were $1 apiece!  At the farm, I bought some farm-fresh maple syrup.  I had forgotten how incredibly delicious real maple syrup is!  And dinner out at Denny's last night was a nice way to end a crazy day.

In life, we have choices to make.  We can choose to wallow in the negative, or we can pick up on the positive and focus on that.  When I decide to wallow, I get really crabby.  When I decide to focus on the positive, my day gets better, and I can enjoy the little things in life.

Pick one thing that makes you happy in the midst of all the craziness.  Hold on to that.  Count your blessings, and see where that takes you!

day twenty-six: Shalom Y'all
day twenty-seven: When, not if
day twenty-eight: On Waiting
day twenty-nine: Not quite the day I intended
day thirty: Thinking about the day that went wrong

Not quite the day I intended

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

Today was supposed to be my day to focus and get things done at home.  I had plans for coffee with a friend after dropping off the kids, which went as planned.  After that, I was supposed to accomplish many loads of laundry, organize food for the rest of the week, and so on and so forth.  Home work?

A few minutes after I came home from my coffee, I got a call from the fifth grade teacher.  My oldest, who has a feeding tube, had a leak spring in the formula bag.  (Remember my normal days?)  Daniel turned off his pump, but the bag was leaking all over the place.  Not only did the bag leak, they were at a field trip on a farm on a chilly day.  The poor teacher didn't know what to do.  So.  I had to drive 2o minutes to the Orchards to save my son...my son's teacher, actually!

Then, I had to run some errands, (we needed toilet paper.  desperately.) and give my husband a ride back to work from the car dealership.  With that, I got home in time to make a smoothie for my lunch, grab my music and Naomi's dance bag, some sandwiches for after school snacks, and leave again.

It wasn't quite the day I intended, but it turned out quite nicely anyway.  I discovered that there is still a Walmart in the area with a fabric section!  Yay!  I had some extra time with my husband on our 13th wedding anniversary.  We went to Denny's for dinner.  Since it was Tuesday, the kids ate free.  Eating out forced me to sit with the family instead of putzing around the kitchen before dinner.  

But here I am.  After one of those days, I'm here, pushing forward, doing what I have to do.  What about you?


day twenty-five: Five Minute Friday :: Together
day twenty-six: Shalom Y'all
day twenty-seven: When, not if
day twenty-eight: On Waiting
day twenty-nine: Not quite the day I intended

On waiting

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

I don't have a ton of posts hanging out in my drafts, but this is a post I put together in June during concert season.  Today I barely missed the 12:45 bus home, and had to wait until past 1 for the next bus.  At that point, I remembered this post I'd written:

Tonight I had rehearsal, and stayed downtown, while my family went home for dinner, and came to get me again when I was done.  I found a ledge to sit on to wait, and waited.  While I was waiting, I watched the Yale shuttle pass me twice.  Part of me wanted to hop on the bus and go, but it wouldn't take me home, no matter how much I'd want it to.  I had a ride coming, a direct line to my home, full of people I love on the way to just get me.  I wondered what the people around me waiting for the shuttle thought when I didn't get on.  Not much after perhaps noticing I wasn't joining them.

It occurred to me as I waited that this is like life: sometimes parts of life are like waiting for a ride.  You need to get somewhere (home), or accomplish something.  There are many options to take.  Some look great, but you have to make sure the options will take you where you need to go. Taking the bus that goes east won't help you if home is in the west. Taking a bus may be less effective than having a friend get you.  

Knowing what you want in life is important, as important as knowing your address.  When opportunities come past, you can filter them like you filter the shuttle that comes by.  Will this opportunity (job, relationship, purchase, etc.) lead me to my desired outcome (happiness at work, enough money, friendship, marriage, debt-free).

It is more challenging to filter opportunities in life the way you do when you pick your bus, but the process is the same.  Where do I want to go? Where does God want me to go?  Will this take me there? If it doesn't, then I will not hop aboard. 

The others waiting on the corner with me can go that way if they like, but not me.  I may have to wait longer, but my ride comes to take me home, exactly where I need to be.

Where do you need to be? Which ride will take you where you need to go?

day twenty-three: Inspired
day twenty-four:
day twenty-five: Five Minute Friday :: Together
day twenty-six: Shalom Y'all
day twenty-seven: When, not if
day twenty-eight: On Waiting

When, not if...

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

I'm not the hugest baseball fan, but my dear husband follows just about all things news and sports. Did you hear the one about James Taylor singing the national anthem to open Game 2 of the World Series?  He made a mistake.  He started singing America the Beautiful, but quickly recovered to what he was supposed to sing.



Because people, even professionals, make mistakes.   Being a professional means that you make fewer mistakes than most, and you are able to recover from mistakes quicker than others.  This video link calls James Taylor's performance a Epic fail.  I think it's an epic recovery.

Its not a matter of if you make a mistake or not.  Everyone makes mistakes.  The question is, when you make a mistake, can you recover well and move on?  This principle can be applied to just about every part of life: in parenting, in housekeeping, in your job, in your relationships.  When you make a mistake, are you able to make it right?

I think James Taylor did a nice job getting back to what he was supposed to be doing.  Don't you?

day twenty-three: Inspired
day twenty-four:
day twenty-five: Five Minute Friday :: Together
day twenty-six: Shalom Y'all
day twenty-seven: When, not if

Shalom Y'all

Friday night brings the Shabbat. From sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night, scripture asks us to give a day to God - to turn away from our own paths and turn to His.  In college, I fell in love with the idea of a family honoring God every week at the dinner table.  I thought that this would become the built-in time and place for my future family to talk about God.

Shabbat has truly become a rhythm in the life of my family.  As we grow and develop as a family unit, our needs change, but the day of rest comes.  Some weeks we are formal, some weeks we are informal. This week was very informal, but no matter what we do, Shabbat arrives.

With that, Shabbat shalom, friends!

Five Minute Friday :: Together

I'm linking up again to Lisa-Jo Baker's blog where she hosts a Five Minute Friday Party where she invites other bloggers to write freely for five minutes.  This week, the prompt is together.

GO

Together we go to the Fall Bash at school.  Costumes on, cash on hand for the PTO-provided dinner of hotdogs, drinks and juice.  It's not our usual Friday night dinner, but we were together, and that's what's important.

Together with other parents and kids, we got together in the gym and enjoyed each other.  A couple of pumpkin crafts later, some face painting, and dancing, we come home, together.  Exhausted.

Shabbat is about being together.  Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, it is good to do something different and say "yes" to an event on our special family night.  We did something different together tonight, and it was exactly what we needed.

STOP

I write slow today, so that was five minutes.  It is good to be together, and fun.  I love my family.







day nineteen: Shabbat Shalom!
day twenty: Zoo Day
day twenty-one: Memories
day twenty-two: Spelling Words
day twenty-three: Inspired
day twenty-four:
day twenty-five: Five Minute Friday :: Together

Inspired

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

I realized a few minutes ago how inspired I am by the wonderful people on the internet.  I feel that I've gained friends, sisters, that I've never met, and may never meet.  

Today, I thought about a blogger while I was grocery shopping with my meal plan. (Thinking about Don't Waste the Crumbs today, but so many blogs have talked about this!)

Today, I made pretzels, after learning that my entire family likes them.  We spent $11 at the pretzel shop on the road yesterday. Jessica from Life as Mom, has a great recipe to try.  Which I did.

Today, I'm here, writing, making art.  I also spent the better part of two hours making music, practicing piano, guitar, ukulele, and doing vocal warm-ups.  Thank you, Simple Mom, The Nester, and Chatting at the Sky for inspiring me to make art and pursue it.

Why blog?  For community.  We change each other's lives when we put ourselves out there.  So thank you, I'm inspired.

day nineteen: Shabbat Shalom!
day twenty: Zoo Day
day twenty-one: Memories
day twenty-two: Spelling Words
day twenty-three: Inspired

Spelling Words

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

Remember spelling homework in third grade?  Did you love writing sentences or stories with your spelling words?  I did.  I actually sometimes miss it as I watch my daughter enjoy it as much as I did.  So.  Why shouldn't I just go ahead and do it anyhow???  So fiction, here we come:)

The words:

gnarl gnome knee problem cell ever germ gnat gym knit birds cent gel glance gnaw knack knob bounce compute gem

"What's the problem little one?"  I bounce my baby on my knee.  It doesn't ever end.  Everyone needs something just about every other minute.  Not that I don't love it.  I love it.  It's just a little overwhelming sometimes.  A few minutes later, the trouble has passed, and the little one toddles over to the window.  "Bird," she points.  She gnaws on her sleeve as she watches out the window.  I glance at her as I wash the dishes.  She has a knack for breaking all my defenses.  I may get frustrated at all the interruptions, but I suppose it's worth it.  Nah.  I see the gnarl in her hair. It's really worth it.

This age is so sweet.  Everything is an adventure to a two-year old.  My darling little one is such a gem. I actually finish the dishes before another interruption, and I scoop up my little one.  They tell me to appreciate these moments, that they'll be gone before you know it.  The words gel with me, even on the tough days.  I rub my daughter's knit sweater and compute.  In ten years, she'll be twelve, almost a teenager!  And I'll probably look back over the years and miss the stage I worried about germs on the pacifier.

She jumps down to run in the backyard, sneaking up on the garden gnome.  I check my cell for messages.  I pull the knob shut behind us. Off the the gym.  If I'd only get a cent for every time I thought I was going, but didn't make it.  Brushing away the gnats, I sit down on the porch.  The gym will wait.  I'm going to enjoy my baby girl while she's still a baby.

Okay. So the story isn't quite the same as the stories that came out of me in third grade...or High School for that matter.  And it's not quite the story that comes out of my third grader now.

day eighteen: Five Minute Friday :: laundry

day nineteen: Shabbat Shalom!
day twenty: Zoo Day
day twenty-one: Memories
day twenty-two: Spelling Words

Memories

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

When you have a baby, the first few years are hectic. Then, another child comes along, and maybe a third.  If you're like me some things have taken precedent over others, such as having clean clothes, and food for meals.  After that, you can't deal with it.  I couldn't.  Not with a child with medical needs, a precocious middle child, and a little one who doesn't stay still.  So some things, like school papers and memories, were put in piles.  The piles were put into boxes, and the boxes sent to the attic.  Toys they no longer needed, but the baby might grow into were sent here, alongside CDs and cassettes.

This year, in my second year of kids at school, I am finally tackling the attic.  I'm being ruthless in what goes into the trash, but saving things to pass on.

One struggle I realized recently I have is that I keep things I've written, and things the kids have made, for far too long. I was wondering why I have trouble getting rid of things is that I don't want to get rid of things that tell my story.

My job now is to find a way to tell this story in a way that saves space and in a way that the story can be heard.  How do I preserve my memories (easily, mind you) and thereby clean the attic?

day sixteen: FlyLady

day seventeen: Koffee?
day eighteen: Five Minute Friday :: laundry
day nineteen: Shabbat Shalom!
day twenty: Zoo Day
day twenty-one: Memories

Zoo Day

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me. Part of who I am

"We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you, you, you, you can come too, too, too, we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo."  Today, we took a family trip to the zoo, just the five of us.  Sometimes you just need a day away from the normal to be able to rest.

Between the Dinosaur Safari, Butterfly Garden, Monorail ride, Tiger Mountain, Carousel ride, and the drive to the Bronx, I'm shot, and the words are just not flowing today.  Happiness is a good day with the family!


day sixteen: FlyLady
day seventeen: Koffee?
day eighteen: Five Minute Friday :: laundry
day nineteen: Shabbat Shalom!
day twenty: Zoo Day

Shabbat Shalom!

Friday night brings the Shabbat. From sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night, scripture asks us to give a day to God - to turn away from our own paths and turn to His.  In college, I fell in love with the idea of a family honoring God every week at the dinner table.  I thought that this would become the built-in time and place for my future family to talk about God.

Shabbat has truly become a rhythm in the life of my family.  As we grow and develop as a family unit, our needs change, but the day of rest comes.  Some weeks we are formal, some weeks we are informal.

With that, the table is ready. Shabbat shalom, friends!

Five Minute Friday :: laundry

I'm linking up again to Lisa-Jo Baker's blog where she hosts a Five Minute Friday Party where she invites other bloggers to write freely for five minutes.  This week, the prompt is laundry.

GO

The thing about laundry is that it never is completely done.  Neither are the dishes or cleaning the counters and the floors.  Are any projects completely done?  All we can hope for is to embrace the rhythm of the days.  I'm already influenced by Lisa-Jo's Five Minute response to laundry.  The ebb and flow of daily life is a rhythm we should be proud of, is a quick summary of her text.  And that is so true.

I guess the trick, then, is to find meaning and purposeful rhythm.  Laundry, chores, for that matter, when done haphazardly become haphazard.  The ebb and flow of life is haphazard.  But being routine oriented, taking the time to just do it is really important, and can make the days not haphazardly.  I woke up early for me this morning, and was downstairs at 6 am.  The laundry is already going, and by 6:30, the post will be posted.  Two things for my Friday already started, instead of me looking at the clock at 4 pm in the midst of homework and dinner preparation, and freaking out because the laundry needs to be done.

And STOP.  That was five.  Writing consistently this month, I'm noticing themes that creep through in posts during a week.  I talked about FlyLady this week, and doing things that make me tick.  Those things creep through in my Friday post.

day one: 31 Days of Being Me: day one
day two: who am i?
day three: standing in the waves
day four: playing piano
day five: Five Minute Friday: write
day six: My friend the uke
day seven:#31days blogs I'm reading
day eight: being me
day nine: Wacky Wednesday: random things, like TV
day ten: my normal
day eleven: Five Minute Friday:: Ordinary
day twelve:
day thirteen:
day fourteen:
day fifteen:
day sixteen: FlyLady
day seventeen: Koffee?
day eighteen: Five Minute Friday:: laundry

Koffee?

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

My senior year of college, waaay back in 1999-2000, I was working on my thesis in music.  I presented a piano recital along with a written expository on the pieces I played.  A long written expository.  I don't even remember how, but somehow waaay back then, I actually had the use of a laptop, which I brought with me to a favorite New Haven haunt, Koffee?  I did the bulk of my writing there...here....in the cozy local spot.

One of the reasons I'm happy not to homeschool is that I have come to truly adore these precious hours that my kids are in school. I find myself doing things that I used to do.  I'm as much myself as I ever have been.  Having kids has not changed the fact that I like to grab a cup of coffee and sit in the chair in the corner and write.  Around me, in my perifery vision, there are people chatting, or writing their own work.  Every once in a while someone steps out to have a conversation on the phone.  Blinking red Christmas lights line the walls.  I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

On another note.  I love it when I see pictures of where the other bloggers write, especially when they go to the coffee shop.  Perhaps because it's what I love to do, too.  This is why I add my photo to the mix.  Yes.  I'm not using a laptop.  My bag is too small to carry my laptop, which I didn't want to drag on the bus with me.  I'm using a Nexus 7 tablet with an Apple wireless keyboard.  It works for me.  I'll have to do some formatting when I get home to the computer, but this gets the words down, and is easy to carry.  Sometimes I use the iPad, I think I like the blogger app on the iPad than on Android.  There are more options in terms of formatting.

Has time erased your passions?  Do the things that made you happy a long time ago still make you happy? They may just!

Without any further ado, 31 Days of Being Me.

day one: 31 Days of Being Me: day one
day two: who am i?
day three: standing in the waves
day four: playing piano
day five: Five Minute Friday: write
day six: My friend the uke
day seven:#31days blogs I'm reading
day eight: being me
day nine: Wacky Wednesday: random things, like TV
day ten: my normal
day eleven: Five Minute Friday:: Ordinary
day twelve:
day thirteen:
day fourteen:
day fifteen:
day sixteen: FlyLady
day seventeen: Koffee?

FlyLady

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

There's nothing like Columbus Day, a day off, to break the rhythm of a good routine.  I wonder how homeschooling Moms edit a blog, keep house, stay sane and all that.  But then.  I read their blogs and I know that they are human, too, and that I should just start writing again.

Ever heard of FlyLady?  I met her website, along with a dear friend of mine, both of us fresh out of college, and married.  How do we keep a neat house?  How do we declutter?  How do we meal plan?  FlyLady came from there, and figured out a system to dig ourselves out of it.  It's not that her concepts are revolutionary, it's that they're framed in such a way that you don't feel guilty if you don't know how, or haven't learned before.  Or you know the times when you used to know what to do but all of a sudden, your house is a wreck and your routines disheveled?  Yeah.

Just do something! That something can lead to a little something else.  She says that you can do anything in 15 minutes.  I figure you can do something in five minutes!

That's what yesterday was, returning to routines, meal planning, decluttering.  My goal is to have dinner ready so that I don't have to do much preparation for dinner at dinner time.  Tonight, I'm making teriyaki chicken with cold sesame noodles.  It's all in the fridge ready to pull out and throw into the oven.  (Although I should not say throw in front of my children, they would tell me not to throw things into the oven!) Voila! Dinner is done and ready to eat and I can help with homework!

Have you heard of FlyLady?  Did Columbus Day mess with your routines?



day one: 31 Days of Being Me: day one
day two: who am i?
day three: standing in the waves
day four: playing piano
day five: Five Minute Friday: write
day six: My friend the uke
day seven:#31days blogs I'm reading
day eight: being me
day nine: Wacky Wednesday: random things, like TV
day ten: my normal
day eleven: Five Minute Friday:: Ordinary
day twelve:
day thirteen:
day fourteen:
day fifteen:
day sixteen: FlyLady

On sabbath

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

Friday night brings the Shabbat. From sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night, scripture asks us to give a day to God - to turn away from our own paths and turn to His.  In college, I fell in love with the idea of a family honoring God every week at the dinner table.  I thought that this would become the built-in time and place for my future family to talk about God.

Shabbat has truly become a rhythm in the life of my family.  As we grow and develop as a family unit, our needs change, but the day of rest comes.  Some weeks we are formal, some weeks we are informal.

With that, the table is ready. Shabbat shalom, friends!

day one: 31 Days of Being Me: day one
day two: who am i?
day three: standing in the waves
day four: playing piano
day five: Five Minute Friday: write
day six: My friend the uke
day seven:#31days blogs I'm reading

Five Minute Friday:: Ordinary

I'm linking up again to Lisa-Jo Baker's blog where she hosts a Five Minute Friday Party where she invites other bloggers to write freely for five minutes.  This week, the prompt is ordinary.

GO

Ordinary is slightly different than normal.  Right?  Normal is "the norm", what happens on a regular basis, the status quo, perhaps.  Ordinary is...just ordinary?  Reading at Chatting at the Sky yesterday, Emily discussed "just".  Just ordinary implies that it's not enough, whatever it is.  I have an ordinary life, I'm nothing special.  But yet, my normal is entirely different than yours, so what I think is normal or ordinary may be spectacular to you.

Think about it this way.  The Doctor in Doctor Who has a very different normal.  His normal everyday is time-travelling, fighting aliens and saving the world.  Fans watch him long for the beauty of the ordinary, of the grow old, go to work, things we often consider dull.

Ordinary is beautiful.  There's a beauty in the simplicity.  Yeshua looked toward the ordinary people when he looked for disciples.

and STOP

Funny how when I've been in the habit of writing daily now for ten days, topics link together and merge to make some beautiful connections.  I talked about normal yesterday, and Doctor Who the other day.  My brain doesn't disconnect with other ideas when I am given a prompt to write about.  Rather, it connects the ideas all together in a lovely collage of thought.

my normal

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

My normal is different than your normal is different than someone else's normal.  Granted, there are things that connect us all as people, but the things you do for your morning routine are different than mine.

Wacky Wednesday: random things, like TV

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

It's not that I judge a person by his or her tastes in reading or in television-viewing, but I will certainly think of a person a little differently if I know that said person understands where my imagination has been.  I grew up with many of my best friends that existed only in books, or as a TV show.  In sixth grade, I think I started to live in Narnia.  In high school, I roamed the Enterprise with Captain Picard and Data.

being me

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

This afternoon, I get to go to work.  I've mentioned before that I get to play the piano for a part-time job.  Making music is a part of me.  It is so much harder, though, to fit afternoon dance classes into a schedule with a family than it was before kids!  This morning, I've spent my time preparing dinners for the rest of the week.  I notice how nice it is the days I've been really prepared.  I throw the dish into the oven, and let the oven do it's heating magic.  Or, I'll have left something in the crock-pot, and we return home to a completely prepared meal that just needs to be dished out.  Thinking ahead and being prepared not only saves me from that crazy time in the evening, but it saves me from myself.

#31days blogs I'm reading

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

So I'm writing for 31 days, but I'm also reading what others are writing, too.  Here's some links to some of the blogs I started following for their series.  When I read as well as write, I feel connected to the greater community of blogging.

My friend the uke

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

At the end of June this year, I was inspired, no, driven, to buy a ukulele. I picked one out for an early birthday present for myself. I've been playing almost obsessively since.  Today, for instance, after Shabbat services, we came home, and I played. Then, we went to the playground with the kids, and I figured I'd bring my little instrument with me to practice while the kids played. What I didn't bargain for was the little audience I gathered. Within five minutes, a small group of kids gathered around me, really interested in what I was doing.

Five Minute Friday: Write

I'm linking up again to Lisa-Jo Baker's blog where she hosts a Five Minute Friday Party where she invites other bloggers to write freely for five minutes.  This week, the prompt is write.

Write.  Go ahead, write.  What do I care what others think?  But when I write for others' eyes, I do care, I want to please.  I want to know that what I write matters, that what I say is important or different.  I write to write, to tell a story.

playing piano

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

I would not be myself without music.  I started playing the piano on my mother's lap when I was tiny.  Granted, the music wasn't cohesive at that time, but it's always been a part of me.  I started official piano lessons when I was 7, since Mom taught me before then.  I accompanied choirs in middle and high school, and played in the jazz band.  I constantly played the piano.  When I wasn't writing in a journal, I was probably playing out my emotions on the piano.  Accompanying for Ballet classes came naturally for me in college, and it is what I did for many years before my children were born.

standing in the waves

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

What's a mom to do when the only dentist appointment for all three kids is at 10:50 am?  With school from 9:15-3:30, it's not exactly early enough to return to school, and if they went to school in the morning, I'd have to get them an hour after I drop them off.  No. No school today. This mama decided to take advantage of the sunshine, and enjoy the day with the little ones!

who am i?

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity. To get my writing flowing, I'm writing 31 Days of Being Me.

who am i?

I started truly loving the art of writing when I was in High School.  My English teacher gave us the assignment of journal writing - using the journal to explore ourselves, and to write.  One of the entries I remember (a good 20 years later ::gasp 20 years!::) is the one that started, who am I?  I am Dorothy, I am a daughter, and a sister.  I'm a student.  Something like that.  Years later, I've written on the same topic, and some of my names are different, but I think I find myself to be the same.  To quote my 7-year old daughter, "I don't think our hearts change."

Hi.  I'm Dorothy.  I love to read; I love to write; I love to make music; I love to learn new things; I love sci-fi.  My life is grounded in God.  Although He is the center of my life, it's hard for me to be freely open about my faith unless I'm in a comfortable setting.  We attend a Messianic Jewish Synagogue, in which we live to the rhythm of the Jewish calendar, follow Jewish traditions, and we also believe that Jesus is the Messiah.  (We use His Hebrew name, Yeshua) 

31 Days of Being Me: day one

31 Days of Being Me.

Yeah.

I really want to try to write something daily, and I really feel that I have things to say to the world.  I felt the drive and need to use the time that I have while my kids are in school to do some writing.  But finding a topic has been a challenge for me.  As I was driving this morning, I was brainstorming topic ideas.  All sorts of things came to mind, but they all seemed pretentious to me.  Not that any of the topics in themselves are pretentious topics, but they didn't fit what I want to say today.  This.  This is where I need to start.  Being me.

My challenge with this idea up front is my fear.  But then I'm talking about myself, won't that be selfish? Who wants to hear about me? But yet, this topic rings true to my soul.  Who else could I be?

A couple of years ago, I had a revelation as mom.  People would ask me, "Dorothy, how are you doing?" And I'd answer.  "We're fine."

31 Days of Being Me: intro

For a couple of years now, I've watched one of my favorite bloggers write for 31 days in a row in October. I found myself longing to join in, but never having the time, or I missed it altogether. This year, I'm going to join in.

The Nester created the 31 day writing challenge.  I'm looking forward to joining in and pushing to the end of 31 days with a breath of fresh air of creativity.

Without any further ado, 31 Days of Being Me.

day one: 31 Days of Being Me: day one
day two: who am i?
day three: standing in the waves
day four: playing piano
day five: Five Minute Friday: write
day six: My friend the uke
day seven:#31days blogs I'm reading
day eight: being me
day nine: Wacky Wednesday: random things, like TV
day ten: my normal
day eleven: Five Minute Friday:: Ordinary
day twelve: On sabbath
day thirteen:
day fourteen:
day fifteen:
day sixteen: FlyLady
day seventeen: Koffee?
day eighteen: Five Minute Friday :: laundry
day nineteen: Shabbat Shalom!
day twenty: Zoo Day
day twenty-one: Memories
day twenty-two: Spelling Words
day twenty-three: Inspired
day twenty-four:
day twenty-five: Five Minute Friday :: Together
day twenty-six: Shalom Y'all
day twenty-seven: When, not if
day twenty-eight: On Waiting
day twenty-nine: Not quite the day I intended
day thirty: Thinking about the day that went wrong
day thirty-one: I did it!

Five Minute Friday - She

I found a quick way to get myself writing - using a prompt from Lisa-Jo Baker.  For five minutes, you write on the prompt, and can link up to all the other writers.  So.  Here's my first shot!

She.

She finds that she wants to write about herself in third person.  She is me.  I am she.  When my brother sent me the photo of myself in the bridesmaid dress, I could see more objectively myself.  The dress didn't look as bad in the photo as I thought it did in person.  Seeing the dress on me in a photo brought some distance between myself and my feelings.  I was able to look at myself as if I were "her"  She looks good in the picture.  Oh.  She is me.

She sends her kids outside to play.  It's warm enough to be outside barefoot and without a sweater, but not for long these days.  They argue with her about playing, and it takes time for them to reacclamate with each other.  Soon they will be playing a great game, and she will have to coax them inside for dinner.  

She enjoys this weather, the time when it gets to be warm for mid-winter, but cold for mid-summer.  The leaves are starting to change color in clumps, a tree here, a tree there.  The year has begun.  Why does the new year not start in September?  So many cycles do start in September, it makes so much more sense than in midwinter.