Calvin : You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.
Hobbes : What mood is that?
Calvin : Last-minute panic.
Does anybody else relate?
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday Wisdom
This is definitely not your "conventional" wisdom, but I thought it was funny...and pretty much how I come up with any of my ideas!
Calvin : You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.
Hobbes : What mood is that?
Calvin : Last-minute panic.
Does anybody else relate?
Calvin : You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.
Hobbes : What mood is that?
Calvin : Last-minute panic.
Does anybody else relate?
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday Mom-blings
Life seems to get busier and busier everyday. Either that or I'm getting less and less organized. I'm inclined to think that it's a little bit of both.
Take yesterday for instance. I thought we were prepared to have a nice relaxing Sunday. The first in a while. But we seemed to run from meeting to meeting from about 9 am until 9 pm. Not bad necessarily. In fact, the meetings were all very good. (One of them probably inspired my thoughts for today.) I just had other ideas of how I would have liked the day to play out...church, lunch, snoozes, dinner, maybe play a game with the kids. Didn't happen. *sigh* Maybe next week.
I think I used to be organized. I remember a time when I had a specified cleaning day, errand day, etc. Our family ran like a well oiled machine, but as the kids have gotten older, we've gotten more things to do. I guess it's time for me to get more organized again. Not in the sense that everything is scheduled on a calendar (I'm not that way, and believe me, that could take up an entire wall in my house!) but just in the sense that there is a time for everything.
My point in this is not to complain about everything that we have to do, but simply to point out that life is busy, and getting seemingly busier everyday, and that if we're not careful the most important things may be replaced with things that SEEM important. I think that's where I'm at right now. It's time to declutter...not only the house, but my schedule. Make time for the important things. I'm not very good at that. I tend to take a really practical view of things: Work first...play later (if there's time...which of course there never is!) So my goal for the next little while is to get organized and get to work, so that I can also have fun doing the things that are most important in life...being with my family.
What about you? How do you keep your hectic life organized? Are you a work first, play later gal or have you found a way to mix in the fun? Do tell! I'm up for ideas!
Take yesterday for instance. I thought we were prepared to have a nice relaxing Sunday. The first in a while. But we seemed to run from meeting to meeting from about 9 am until 9 pm. Not bad necessarily. In fact, the meetings were all very good. (One of them probably inspired my thoughts for today.) I just had other ideas of how I would have liked the day to play out...church, lunch, snoozes, dinner, maybe play a game with the kids. Didn't happen. *sigh* Maybe next week.
I think I used to be organized. I remember a time when I had a specified cleaning day, errand day, etc. Our family ran like a well oiled machine, but as the kids have gotten older, we've gotten more things to do. I guess it's time for me to get more organized again. Not in the sense that everything is scheduled on a calendar (I'm not that way, and believe me, that could take up an entire wall in my house!) but just in the sense that there is a time for everything.
My point in this is not to complain about everything that we have to do, but simply to point out that life is busy, and getting seemingly busier everyday, and that if we're not careful the most important things may be replaced with things that SEEM important. I think that's where I'm at right now. It's time to declutter...not only the house, but my schedule. Make time for the important things. I'm not very good at that. I tend to take a really practical view of things: Work first...play later (if there's time...which of course there never is!) So my goal for the next little while is to get organized and get to work, so that I can also have fun doing the things that are most important in life...being with my family.
What about you? How do you keep your hectic life organized? Are you a work first, play later gal or have you found a way to mix in the fun? Do tell! I'm up for ideas!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Wednesday Wisdom
"The tendency to focus on the insignificant at the expense of the profound happens...to everyone. We know what is important in life...Our weakness is in failing to align our actions with our conscience.
Pause for a moment and check where your own heart and thoughts are. Are you focused on the things that matter most? How you spend your quiet time may provide a valuable clue. Where do your thoughts go when the pressure of deadlines is gone? Are your thoughts and heart focused on those short-lived fleeting things that matter only in the moment, or on things that matter most?"
Pause for a moment and check where your own heart and thoughts are. Are you focused on the things that matter most? How you spend your quiet time may provide a valuable clue. Where do your thoughts go when the pressure of deadlines is gone? Are your thoughts and heart focused on those short-lived fleeting things that matter only in the moment, or on things that matter most?"
-Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf
We Are Doing a Great Work and Cannot Come Down, Apr. 2009 General Conference
We Are Doing a Great Work and Cannot Come Down, Apr. 2009 General Conference
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Tuesday Tip
Here's my tip of the day
(somewhat tongue in cheek...but a tip nonetheless!)
I got out of the shower this morning, wrapped up in a towel, and went over to the mirror to comb my hair. I picked up the brush, started pulling it through my freshly washed hair, and stopped abruptly when I realized that all of a sudden there was white stuff in my black hair...and NO, it was not "gray" coming through. Upon further inspection of the brush, I found that one of my lovely little monsters (who shall remain nameless) thought that it would be wonderful to leave a little toothpaste in mommy's brush. Obviously it would help make my hair smell minty fresh. Mmmmm! So, here's my tip for the day:
*ALWAYS LOOK BEFORE YOU BRUSH*
(Note: This may not only apply to your hairbrush!)
(somewhat tongue in cheek...but a tip nonetheless!)
I got out of the shower this morning, wrapped up in a towel, and went over to the mirror to comb my hair. I picked up the brush, started pulling it through my freshly washed hair, and stopped abruptly when I realized that all of a sudden there was white stuff in my black hair...and NO, it was not "gray" coming through. Upon further inspection of the brush, I found that one of my lovely little monsters (who shall remain nameless) thought that it would be wonderful to leave a little toothpaste in mommy's brush. Obviously it would help make my hair smell minty fresh. Mmmmm! So, here's my tip for the day:
*ALWAYS LOOK BEFORE YOU BRUSH*
(Note: This may not only apply to your hairbrush!)
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday Mom-blings
As you can see, I took a little vacation from just about everything last week...didn't go anywhere, but didn't do much of anything either, so it was a vacation of my own making! The kids had fun spending spring break being spoiled by grandma and grandpa. I enjoyed catching up on reading and doing a few other little fun things. Now it's back to the grind...and I'm ALMOST regretting (but not quite), ever taking the break in the first place because there's so much to catch up on. Do you ever feel like that?? You need the break, but getting back into the groove of things is soooooo not fun!
I've got the lists of everything that needs to be done going through my head right now and I'm half-heartedly willing myself to get up off this chair and get started. *sigh* The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak! (Maybe I'll move all the fun things to the top of the list, and leave the cleaning for the kids...on second thought, that's probably why I'm in this mess in the first place!)
I've got the lists of everything that needs to be done going through my head right now and I'm half-heartedly willing myself to get up off this chair and get started. *sigh* The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak! (Maybe I'll move all the fun things to the top of the list, and leave the cleaning for the kids...on second thought, that's probably why I'm in this mess in the first place!)
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Tuesday Tutorial/Tip
Good news: I finished Ashlynn's skirt before Easter Sunday, so she was able to wear it to church.
Bad news: I forgot to take pictures.
So....I'll do the skirt post next week!
One of the things that I didn't quite finish before Easter was the little quiet book about Christ that I was making for Rylen and my sister's kids' Easter baskets. Oops! Better late than never though...right?? I figure this book will still be good to use during sacrament meeting while the sacrament is being passed, to help the kids think of the Savior.
I will not claim credit for the idea, because as I've said before...Someone else has to be the creative genius...I'll just piggy back off them. You can find the directions and picture ideas for this book under Picture Book of Christ at www.theideadoor.com. Most of the pictures that I used were the ones that were suggested, but I had to get creative with a couple to avoid infringing on copyright laws. (I think that small prints of all the suggested pictures can be found at Deseret Book and on-line...but I didn't use some of them because of copyright laws. However, if YOU would like to switch the pics, you're welcome to do it!) The pictures were found in the LDS Gospel Art Kit, Gospel Art Book, and the Friend. (I'm not sure if the one of Christ coming out of the tomb is in the gak or gab, but hopefully it's not copyright...yikes! Let me know if you know something I don't know) All of the text comes directly from the gospel art kit or the primary song book.
The idea is to print the pages off, mount them on cardstock, and put them into a small 4X6 photo album book that the kids can look at during church. As always, let me know if you find any mistakes or if you have trouble downloading or printing. Enjoy!
Tell Me the Stories of Jesus Binder
Bad news: I forgot to take pictures.
So....I'll do the skirt post next week!
One of the things that I didn't quite finish before Easter was the little quiet book about Christ that I was making for Rylen and my sister's kids' Easter baskets. Oops! Better late than never though...right?? I figure this book will still be good to use during sacrament meeting while the sacrament is being passed, to help the kids think of the Savior.
I will not claim credit for the idea, because as I've said before...Someone else has to be the creative genius...I'll just piggy back off them. You can find the directions and picture ideas for this book under Picture Book of Christ at www.theideadoor.com. Most of the pictures that I used were the ones that were suggested, but I had to get creative with a couple to avoid infringing on copyright laws. (I think that small prints of all the suggested pictures can be found at Deseret Book and on-line...but I didn't use some of them because of copyright laws. However, if YOU would like to switch the pics, you're welcome to do it!) The pictures were found in the LDS Gospel Art Kit, Gospel Art Book, and the Friend. (I'm not sure if the one of Christ coming out of the tomb is in the gak or gab, but hopefully it's not copyright...yikes! Let me know if you know something I don't know) All of the text comes directly from the gospel art kit or the primary song book.
The idea is to print the pages off, mount them on cardstock, and put them into a small 4X6 photo album book that the kids can look at during church. As always, let me know if you find any mistakes or if you have trouble downloading or printing. Enjoy!
Tell Me the Stories of Jesus Binder
Monday, April 13, 2009
Monday Mom-blings
I'm sure there are plenty of things that I should be doing today, but I'm taking a mom day. It's spring break. The kids get a break from school, so I'm gonna take a break from "mom work" for a little bit today.
I've decided that I'm only going to do the things that I want to today. So, laundry's probably going to wait for another day. It's a nice day outside, so maybe I'll go and do a little bit of weeding in the yard. I think I'll catch up on my little TOFW webinars that I've missed for the last couple of weeks and who knows...I might even make it to the park with Bright and Rylen today (if I happen to decide to change out of my pj's.)
Some might call it being lazy. That's ok. I prefer to call it a little rejuvination and I'm rather enjoying it. I'd recommend it to anyone. Pres. Monson said (in Oct. 08 conference) that we need to learn to distinguish between what's important and what's not important. In my little TOFW webinar, Sis. Dew said that we need to know when to give things our best effort and when to just get things done. I'm not sure that they were necessarily talking about taking a day off from being a mom/housewife/cook/taxi driver/teacher/etc., but I'd right now I'd say a little R & R is just what's needed! You know the saying, "When mama's happy, everyone's happy!"
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