I did it!

Month one down......on to two months in a row.

Exercise

I follow a librarian on Twitter and his blog as well who is also a runner. He has an amazing streak of never missing a day if running....it is in the 500s or something like that. I see his comments and often think I should do that.

Well, this week I finally started. I am now five for five. It has been tough. Tuesday I went to an exercise class that one of my co-workers runs. These legs haven't done any squats for years. Even though the class was pretty low key, it took me days before I could walk without wincing. I still went out and walked though. I am so proud of myself!! I plan to continue.

I also decided that I will keep a list of benefits of exercise. I decided while I was walking during the lunch hour today that there really are many benefits besides health benefits.

New Swim Season

HLast week swimming started. It feels like it never stopped. Well, sort of. This past summer was a harrowing one in our swim club.

Story summary: 

1. The board fired the coach

2. The members said, "Hey, why'd do that?"

3. The board said, "We're not telling nor are we going to answer your questions or meet with anyone. Our minds are made up and we are going forward."

4. The members fired the board.

5. We have a new board.

6. We have our coach back.

There seems to be a few changes in the club too. As much as I have a lot of poor feelings forwards the previous board for the mess they created, there are some good things that appear to have come out of  the potential NCSA slaughter. We have some great communication going on these days. There are some extra things happening: more dry land training by experts and physiotherapists being consulted to make sure kids don't get repetitive strain injuries. Coaching is being shared around and kids will be coached by more people. All in all it seems like some really great moves.

So, perhaps there was some good in it all.

Nerdlution

Exercise every day. Good goal.

That's all fine and dandy to say when you have a week off of school. So far it hasn't happened.

So, I'm a little leery to join in the nerdlution.
And I'm really eager to join the nerdlution.

What's the nerdlution? I heard about it on Twitter. I read about here and here and here and here and here.

Basically, it's a bunch of people committing to a new habit for 50 days - from today until Jan 20th.

I can't help it. I'm in. There is a long list of things I should do. I'm trying to keep it simple. For the next 50 days I will:

1. Spend time on my SS lesson each day - even if it's just 10 minutes. I will think about it and work on it a little every day.
2. Read for at least 30 minutes a day.
3. Plan something every school day to share my love of books and reading with my class.

I'd like to put exercise in there too....baby steps.

...and I'll blog about it. Here goes!

Inspiring Old Friends

Tonight Allen and I attended our stake's High Priest dinner and fireside. Mmmmm! Chinese food! Love it!

Even better than the Chinese food thoug, they had Lynn Rosenvall speak about his research on the geography of the Book of Mormon.  I have heard him speak on this topic before and I especially love watching how animated and excited he gets about it. He knows so much and has done some amazing work. When I listen to him it find myself wanting to be a more dedicated student, not only of scriptures and doctrine, but many other things too.

President Rosenvall's son, David, was a friend of mine in University. David has accomplished some amazing things. He basically created the online scriptures that the church uses and is currently responsible for all things involved with technology in the church. I remember so well when he was working on electronic scriptures. Who would have thought that the church would totally adopt what he had created? It is amazing.

I am amazed at the things some of the people I know have accomplished. I remember Brother Bennion speaking once at the institute and he said that the people we were rubbing shoulders with then would become our life long friends and that we would look back on those days as the formative days of our life. I never could have imagined how true that could be.

Gardening and Improving

I'm a terrible gardener. I can't even be called a gardener. I'm more of a 'try something in a pot now and then' kind of gardener. And then it ends up like this:



This little chrysanthemum though has been a real trooper. It has a pretty good spot for light, but I keep forgetting to water it. Despite that, it persists in growing new flowers. I never toss it because it seems to always be having new buds:





Today I was thinking about how we are a little bit like this plant. Somehow God put in all of us the ability to overcome. Even when we forget to give ourselves the nutrients we need, we should never give up on progress. There is always hope!

Our lesson in Relief Society today was about improving. The teacher asked how we can make sure we aren't getting discouraged about our frailties, but instead, are getting better each day. I have really learned from my walking the past 10 months how fun it gets when you keep track of progress. I often think it isn't that my walking isn't that big a deal. But when I look at my progress on Daily Mile.com I realize how far I've come. I find doing 100 km a month now not that big a deal at all. It's just 5 or 6 km a day. Last August I did 90 km and it pretty much killed me. I'd go walking with Patti and then afterwards come home and have a nap. My feet hurt. My knees hurt. I was worn out. Now I do it, work all day, and come home and do all the family stuff too. It's crazy! It's also very motivating.

I've found the same thing is happening with the children in my class with reading. When I challenged them to read 10 chapter books by the end of the school year some of them thought that would be impossible. One in particular told me he really couldn't do that. However, in the last two weeks he's read a book each week. Each time he has come to me to let me know he's finished a book. He always shows me the book and asks me if it counts. It's funny that he asks because the books he has read are certainly ones that do count! Each time he acts a little surprised. I encourage him to go write them in his reading notebook and he goes off happily to do so. He's a real example of someone who I'm pretty sure doesn't believe he's a reader, but as he continues to record the books he's read, and as he works towards the goal, I think he's going to start to realize he is a great reader. It's very exciting!

I wonder if God feels as happy when he sees us accomplish the things we thought were too hard that he knows that we can do. My guess is he does.

Small Improvements

Last night I volunteered at a hockey game at the Saddledome. The Flames organization has a program where you volunteer in the concessions and the money goes towards sports or school trips. I have done it for about a year off and on at Flames games, Hitmen Games, Stamps games, Roughneck games and concerts. It is a pretty sweet deal.

It has probably been 6 months since I have volunteered at at game at the Saddledome. Last night when I was there I realized I have come a long ways in fitness. There are two long flights of stairs and then about 4 shorter sets of stairs you have to climb up to get to the concessions. When I worked games there before I would get extremely winded going up the stairs. Often I would stop in the bathroom or wander a bit just so I wouldn't be so out of breath when I arrived in the concession. Last night I was late and I hurried up the stairs. Actually, I ran. Then I went straight to the concession. I was breathing a little heavy, but nothing embarrassing or worth going to hide for a few minutes to compose myself.

This was a great moment for me! I AM getting better! It motivates me to continue on.

Goals for September and on....

I tried to go back in January to see if I had posted about my goals for 2012. I didn't! Weird!!

One of my goals this year was to wear lipstick. I can't say as I am a regular lip stick wearer at all. I can't even say I'm committed to that goal. Allen wants me to wear lip stick. I still need to work on this habit.

My other goal was a load of laundry a day. I have to say that that goal has happened! I did make a few adjustments as the year wore on by making my kids do a load sometimes. They became responsible for doing their own laundry this year, and it's been a wonderful thing. I just couldn't keep up with laundry while working. The best part of having them do their own laundry is now and then when I fold a load for them they're soooo grateful!

This summer I have a goal to read 58 books...a book a day. I think I just might reach the goal too! I also had a goal to be an exerciser. I have made good strides there.

 too.

So, now I've been thinking about what goal I should set for when school starts. I should have a school goal or two, but I think what I really want to focus on is menu planning. I have tried to plan our menus out for a whole month at a time. When I do that life is so great! I only have to think about what's for dinner once, and the rest of the month I just follow the plan. I don't always follow the plan perfectly, and that's okay. Sometimes I move things around. Sometimes we go out for dinner. If that happens I just forward plan the meal we were to have that night. Sometimes I find we have so many left overs that we have a left over night.  I actually get more than a month's worth of meals from one session of planning.

In addition to my menu planning goal I plan to continue exercising an hour a day and I plan to do a better job of daily scripture study. And here's where I'm upping the ante! From this day on, I am not going to let myself get on Facebook until I've exercised, studied scriptures, and have dinner on the go (or at least figured out). I'm really addicted to Facebook, so it's going to be hard at first, but I think it will make my life much more productive.

Here's to new goals!!

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Anchor

This weekend we went to a swim meet in Fernie. For this meet the kids all go on a bus together and the parents follow in their vehicles. This means I had about four hours all to myself! It was bliss.

I listened to a book on CD called The Happiness Advantage. It's science behind Art Williams principles of always be positive. One this website it says:

Most people believe that once they become successful, then they'll be happy. But recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology and neuroscience have shown that this formula is actually backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around. When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work. This isn’t just an empty mantra. This discovery has been repeatedly borne out by rigorous research in psychology and neuroscience, management studies, and the bottom lines of organizations around the globe.




In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor, who spent over a decade living, researching, and lecturing at Harvard University, draws on his own research—including one of the largest studies of happiness and potential at Harvard and others at companies like UBS and KPMG—to fix this broken formula. Using stories and case studies from his work with thousands of Fortune 500 executives in 42 countries, Achor explains how we can reprogram our brains to become more positive in order to gain a competitive edge at work.

It was really great stuff. His seven principles are:


1. The happiness advantage--the way we can retrain our brains to maximize positivity and provide our the biological advantage needed to optimize our productivity and performance.



2. The fulcrum and the lever--the way we can adjust our mindset (fulcrum) to be able to have the power (lever) to be more fulfilled and successful.



3. The tetris effect--the principle by which we retrain our brains to spot patterns of possibility and opportunity, instead of getting stuck in spotting patterns that focus on negativity.



4. Falling up--how we can not only get ourselves up after failure or suffering, but also become happier and more successful in spite--and because--of the fall.



5. The Zorro circle--the principle by which we can regain control when feeling overwhelmed by focusing on small and manageable goals, and gradually expanding the circle to achieve increasingly bigger ones.



6. The 20 second rule--how we can decrease the "activation energy" of forming new (and healthier) habits by rerouting the path of least resistance.



7. Social investment--the principle by which we can invest more in our social networks, which are one of the greatest predictors of happiness and success.




I started working on this with my class today. I explained to them that I had listened to this book on CD and it said if we write down the great things that happen each day we will find we will have more great things happen. It was heart warming to see the things they wrote down. We are going to continue this!!

Conquering Mount Laundromas

Ever since I went back to working full time there have been a few things that are a big challenge. One of them is laundry.

I just can't seem to keep up with it! I started off  2012 by committing to doing a load of laundry a day. I was talking about this at school one day and one of my dear married-with-no-children friends said, "A load a day? How is that even possible?!"

Truth be told, a load a day doesn't quite cut it - but it seems to keep us all in clean underwear at least.

I did alright for the first two months. Then something happened (report cards? swim meets? who knows...some asundry activity that sucks all the free time I have out of my life) and I started to falter. Eventually I decided it was time to go back to the drawing board.

The conclusion: a load a day is still a necessity - but it doesn't mean I have to do it! Today Peirce did all his own laundry - even without being prompted (well, actually, the lack of underwear might have prompted him...but I didn't ask).

After all was said and done he proudly asked me to come to his room and see his organized drawers.
Wow! I was truly amazed.

He never cared about neat drawers before. (Insert: Things that make you go hmmmm.....)

I posted on Facebook that today was a great day because Peirce was doing his own laundry. An entertaining discussion ensued, and then a dear friend posted, "Why don't you gals like doing laundry? Just wondering."

Like laundry?
I don't think "like" even crossed my mind.
It's not that I like it or don't like it.
But I do hate drowning in it.
And I decided I don't have to be the keeper of the laundry either!

We went through a phase where some unnamed darlings in the house would rather put stuff in the laundry basket than put it away. After warnings, threats, and utter frustration, I finally quit. Retired. Stomped out. Raised a flag. No more gathering, washing, drying, folding, putting away, only to do it all over again with clothes that are negotiably dirty. Nope. They can do their own!

One friend told me her kids have to have all their laundry done before they have any fun on Saturday. And her six year old does his own laundry!

I'm all for it.

Yup. It's going to change my life.
(I hope!)

Besides, the rebel feminist part of me says, "Do your own damn laundry! I'm not your slave!"

Applying the memorized stuff.....

Tonight I was driving home from a night out with Jill and Peirce. On the radio they were debating whether or not the Lord's Prayer should be repeated in schools. I didn't realize Jill was even listening...suddenly she starts repeating a motto they repeat in primary every Sunday:

....I am a child of God.
I love Heavenly Father and I know that he loves me.
I can pray to him any time, anywhere.

...then she goes...hmmm...that's dumb. Who cares about saying the Lord's prayer...anyone can pray to him anytime anywhere.

I just smiled....and enjoyed the fact that sometimes the things these kids are taught DOES stick..and they seem to even get it!

The Friend

We've recently started reading The Friend during lunch time. Peirce is a pretty slow eater and if everyone eats and then gets up and gets on with the day he quits eating too - and it's usually too soon for him to quit and it means he doesn't eat enough. I've started reading The Friend out loud to him and it's been great! We have some interesting gospel discussions - and he is getting more food in him too - which is a good thing.

This week we've read The Holy Ghost is Real , at his request, almost every day (he's a REAL repetition kid still!)

Well, last night the girl that is staying with us came to me and told me that Peirce had gone into her room and eaten her chocolate orange. She wasn't upset about the orange being eaten (as a matter of fact she said it isn't even really something she loves) but she thought I'd want to know because I've talked to Peirce a lot about not going into our guest's rooms when they're not there. So I approached him quietly and asked if he had perhaps taken the chocolate. He told me he had and so I asked him to go apologize. When he came back to me he had big tears in his eyes and we talked about how he felt. He said that he really felt the spirit and it was hard for him not to cry. I was so happy that he recognized that!! We had a little discussion about how the spirit tells us when we're doing something right and how sometimes when I feel the spirit I feel like crying too. He gave me a big long hug and I told him how proud I was of him for choosing the right.

I don't think we would have had this experience quite the same if we hadn't read that story this week. I just love it when you can see the things we're trying to teach our kids really make an impression!

Stupor of Thought

One of my favorite things is to watch my kids learn about having a relationship with God.

Today I had a nap. Just Jill was home. When I woke up Chico was nowhere to be found - and the sliding door was open. Jill hadn't seen him for quite a while so I told her she better get outside and start looking for him. I really didn't think he'd run away - but we sure couldn't find him! I called Allen on his cell phone to see if he had perhaps taken Chico with him - and sure enough he had. Jill was still gone searching though. Finally after about half an hour she came home and was very sad. She said she had prayed about where to go and just couldn't figure out where to go to find him, so she came home. I told her that Dad had him and she was very relieved. We had a great discussion about how to know what the spirit is trying to tell you. Sometimes it's not too easy! No wonder she couldn't figure out where to go after praying about it - there was nowhere to go!

Feeling the Spirit

I keep thinking I need to get caught up some of our summer events...but sometimes just continuing on is easier than catching up!!


Yesterday during church Peirce was lying with his head on my lap. Suddenly he sat up and asked me a question about why the speaker would burn his testimony. As I talked to him I realized he was referring to a comment the speaker had made about his testimony burning in his heart. To a 5 year old that was interpreted that as an idea that the guy had written his testimony down and burned it up in a fire. I quietly told him that he actually meant that when he shared his testimony his heart felt warm and that that was the Holy Ghost telling him that what he was saying was true. So tonight for FHE we followed up on that and had a discussion about feeling the spirit. We talked about how it feels and when you can feel it (i.e. what you have to do to feel the spirit). I asked Jill if she could tell us about a time that she felt the spirit and she said when she has blessings before school starts she has really felt the spirit. I asked if she'd ever felt the spirit at church, she thought for a second and matter of factly said, "Nope." I kind of had to chuckle. It really made me think about how important it is that we provide opportunities for our kids to learn the gospel. Sometimes it would be easier to just leave it to primary teachers and such - but clearly it isn't always totally covered that way! LOL