So Glad Someone Cares

I lay in bed yesterday morning, dreading to get out of it.  The bed was so warm and I was still so tired and I honestly couldn't think of one reason why I wanted to get out.  There are many reasons why I should get out of bed.  Usually, my sense of duty gets me up, but I'm tired of feeling duty-bound.  I want to get up because I want to get up.  I want to be excited about the day ahead.

I laid there thinking, "This just isn't going to do.  I HAVE to get up."  I tried to rouse myself to the sense of duty, but it just didn't work.  I knew there had to be something that would get me out of bed.

Finally, I thought once I'm out of bed, being out of bed just won't be enough.  Once I'm out, I'll have to do something, and I don't want to do anything.  So forget it!  I continued to lay there.

I decided that I needed to pray.  Maybe God would get me out of bed.  I told Him how I knew He could work miracles and expressed my need for one because getting out of bed was going to be one.  Not only that, but I pushed my prayer a bit further.  I told Him that after I got out of bed, I wanted to have energy and feel motivated.  I wanted to get some things done and feel good about what I'd accomplished.  Just getting out of bed wasn't going to cut it.

I closed my prayer and continued to lay there.  Then I remembered what faith really is.  If I wanted that prayer to come to pass, I was going to have to make the first move.  I needed to give Him something to work with.  I had to show Him my desire.

I sat up.  The next thing I knew, I was on my feet and in the shower.

By the end of the day, I had straightened the entire house (including the toy closet), entertained three children besides my own, cleaned out my laundry room so that you could dance in it (and we did as I showed it off to the kids when they got home from school), made cookies and a Valentine's box completely with spray paint and googley eyes, washed and folded all the laundry in the house, cleaned the office area a bit more, read the next chapter of Harry Potter to #5, helped #4 make homemade pizza for dinner, prepared and shared the Family Home Evening lesson on this very topic, and worked with #3 on her algebra.

So, yup.  Yesterday was a miracle.  So glad He cares about even simple things like getting me out of bed.

An Addition to the New Plan

Insomnia strikes again....

I was up for about two hours, and right after I climbed back into bed, I came up with an addition to the new plan.  We tried it out today, and it worked beautifully.

First, I grabbed a bunch of cookbooks, the menu calendar, a bunch of pieces of paper and a pen for each child.

Second, I gathered the kids together and had them go through the cookbooks and figure out what they were planning to cook for their days.  Here's how it looks:

Saturday/tonight (#2) -
  Spicy cornmeal tilapia (a HUGE winner)

Sunday -
  Lunch (the Warden): omelet - He makes AMAZING omelets.
  Dinner (me):  meatball soup

Monday (#4) -
  Homemade pepperoni pizza

Tuesday (#6) -
  Homemade chicken noodle soup and crescent rolls

Wednesday (#5) -
  German pancakes in a mug and sausages

Thursday (#3) -
  Sloppy Joes

Friday (#1) -
  Crockpot macaroni and cheese


I have to say that I was impressed that a number of the kids ventured outside the normal box.  #2's gutsy move to serve fish was one of those.  He asked why we don't eat more fish, so he decided that that's what he was going to do.  EVERYBODY ate and ate and ate some more of the fish he made tonight.  SO GOOD!

Third, I had each child create an ingredient list on a little piece of paper.  They were then to go around the house and mark off the items we already have in the house.  Those left unmarked were the things they would shop for at the store.

Fourth, I told the kids our budget, and we went to the grocery store with their lists.  Each person picked up what they needed.  We stuck pretty close together; although, the girls, who tend to be a bit more comfortable with the store layout ventured away and would come back with items for the cart.

We ended up going over our budget by $3, but we hadn't paid attention to it much, so I think that was pretty good.  We cut our shopping time in half.

Since the boys bagged the groceries, the girls had to take them and put them in the car.  Everyone helped tote them into the house.  We put many of the refrigerated items in the garage fridge so no one would be tempted to eat them before it was time to cook them.

I'm thinking we have a new Saturday tradition here.


I've shared this here....
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Commandment #4: Do It Now!

This is a little ditty I learned from taking college classes.  Originally, when I set up my class schedule, I put statistics as the very last class I would take.  I absolutely DREADED taking it!

As time went on, and I took other courses, I realized that I really wanted to end the experience on a good note, so I changed the timing of statistics.  I placed three electives last--things I thought would be fun (I was a little bit wrong thinking that personal finance was going to be fun, but I still learned a lot).

In the end, I was very glad that I did this.  What I really wish, though, was that I'd taken stats first and just gotten it out of the way.

So, that's the nature of this commandment....Don't put off the things you dread.  Get them over with.

Along with this are two other ideas that go along with it.  If you truly dread something, cut it up into babysteps and do one, or two if you're feeling really adventurous, each day.  When you've done the babystep, take a minute to look at what you've accomplished and give yourself a pat on the back.

One thing BYU sent out with the first class was a form on which you assigned yourself different tasks for each day and how you would reward yourself once you were done.  I loved those things.  I got, over time, so I didn't need them any more, but they were great motivation there are first.

The big phrase in our house right now is "doing anything is better than doing nothing at all."  Those words tie in great with this commandment.  Just do something that'll get you going in the right direction--anything no matter how small that thing might be.

At church a number of weeks ago, a man spoke and shared something along these lines:  "Don’t let any generous/good impulse pass unfulfilled."  These have stuck with me ever since.  You know when you just think, "Oh, I should really help that person put her groceries on the conveyor belt" or "I should go over and talk to that person."  But, immediately following you think, "But she'll probably think I'm rude and being impatient" or "But I've got all these kids here right now, so I'd better not."  Along the lines of "do it now" fall these kinds of impulses.  If you feel it, do it!

So, here's what this commandment is all about....
*No more putting of things you're dreading--just dive in.
  I dove into my gift wrap box this evening.  Ugh!  But it's now done, and I have a newly cleaned corner of my laundry room.
*If you truly dread something, create babysteps that are a little less frightening to get you there.  While you take them, look back and cheer yourself on.
*Don't put off or excuse yourself from any generous impulse you might have.  You never know where this kind of action might lead you.

This all goes back to that quote I love so much...
The best time to plant a tree was 25 years ago; the second best time is now.
It's time to stop making excuses and just get 'er done.

Newton's First Law

Some of the laws of physics, I'm deciding, don't just relate to the physical world.  I have now experienced this (noticeably) three times in my life.  Let me explain....

Sir Isaac Newton's first law of motion is:  "Every body persists in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by force impressed."  


This law first talks about things being at rest: "An object that is at rest will stay at rest unless an unbalanced force acts upon it," and I guess that's pretty important too, but it's the second part of that law that I'm referring to here.

I guess we could also call "force impressed" "hitting the wall" or "changing direction" or "derailing" or "getting onto another track" or even getting "back on track."

Finishing school has become a "force impressed."  I was going along just doing everything required to graduate and suddenly, it's over.  Done.  Finito!  What's a girl supposed to do with that?  Weird!

When my mom died, similar feeling.  At her home for five days.  Seeing to her needs.  Helping where I could, and suddenly she's gone.  Having never experienced anything like that before, I wasn't sure what to expect.  Why was the world still revolving?  The need to help continued with funeral preparations, burial, etc., but it was so different and much decreased in its intensity.  It's something like having the ground disappear beneath your feet. Just hoping and praying there's a net or something that's going to catch you.

It's surprising when you find yourself still standing. But, as you get onto another track, for awhile it feels like the new track is spent on a tricycle with a bent wheel.

When I returned from my mission, WOW!  That was the hardest.  Completely submerged in a different culture and language.  Walking up to complete strangers and striking up conversations in their language.  Living a lifestyle much removed from the rest of the world--no TV, no newspapers, no radio.  Completely out of the loop.  The year and a half ends, and suddenly, back into the real world with you.  Just weird, and the adjustment period was remarkable.

I didn't bargain for this with the school thing.  I am amazed at all the avenues that are opening up.  I didn't even realize that they'd closed; in come cases, I'd closed them out of convenience sake.  I hated having them closed, but I knew there were going to have to be sacrifices if I was going to meet the goal and continue in my straight forward path.  There would be no detours and no shortcuts.

The thing that's opening a little more each day, and that I'm enjoying the most, is being able to spend more quality time with my kids.  My blinders have been removed, and I can see the opportunities more clearly.  It's wonderful!

When I told #2 about the dinner idea, he scoffed, "But Mom, we've done this before.  Over and over again.  It never works.  The kids forget that it's their turn to make dinner, and then we find ourselves at dinner time with nothing to eat, so we scramble to make something quick.  It won't work."

It was WONDERFUL to be able to reassure him that I'm now available.  I can be in the kitchen with whoever's cooking and can instruct as needed.  I'm AVAILABLE!

What a great feeling!

So, although having a "force impressed" on your comfortable uniform "straight forward" is not a comfortable thing, that force helps you get to a new straight forward, and sometimes, that straight forward is even better than the one you used to be on.  YAY for forces impressed!