The Power of 30 Minutes

 During the summer, I always have these grand plans about things I'm going to get caught up on in my house and in the yard. However, I run into the problem of balance. If I spend too much time cleaning and doing yard work, I start to feel like I'm getting ripped off. If I don't do it, I feel like I'm wasting all this extra time I have. 

A number of years ago I decided I would do a load of laundry every day. It changed everything when it comes to laundry. I still do it religiously every single day. The loads are never very big, which makes it easy to wash and dry and put away each day. Sometimes I even have to look for things that I should wash - but not that often. Bedding, towels, etc make up the lulls in empty baskets. The nice thing about it is that I never have baskets and baskets of laundry to fold and put away and I never have piles of laundry sorted on the floor waiting to be washed. It's just become a quick and easy thing that gets taken care of each day. 

I decided to implement this strategy for my housework and yard-work goals this summer. I committed to 30 minutes a day for each. It's amazing how much gets accomplished in 30 minutes! This morning was a great example. I have mostly been working in the front yard but now things are mostly caught up and it's hard to find 30 minutes of work to do each day so I decided I should venture into the back yard. It's been something I've stayed away from because we are working on building a new fence and a new deck and there is a lot going on back there. However, today I decided maybe what I should do is tidy up the pile of boards that have been left for a couple weeks from fence work. Imagine my surprise when it was all taken care of in only 7 minutes?! I went from this:

to this:

So then I had to figure out something to do for the last 20 minutes. See all those shoots around the lilac bush? I decided to get to work on them. It's amazing how much of that was taken care of in just 20 minutes! 

One of Gretchen Rubin's secrets of adulthood is that nothing is more exhausting than a task that is never started. That is so true! I looked at that pile for so many days and hated it....and it was so easy to look after! 

Connecting

One of my goals this month is to call someone each day. During this pandemic, I have enjoyed many aspects of my life at home - but over time I have found that I really miss people. This is one of my ways of addressing that. 

Today, my friend Kim stopped by in the middle of their walk to introduce us to their new puppy. It was so fun to visit! We hung out outside on our front lawn. The kids played. The dogs barked. It was wonderful.

Stories and Thoughts and Ideas

One thing about me is I'm definitely a morning person. Saturday mornings are some of my favorites because most of my family sleeps in - which means I can have a little more time to read and pray and putter and whatever else I want to do. This morning I did a little reading and then got working on seminary. I was feeling worried that I was neglecting some things with seminary because with school being so demanding this week. My patriarch blessing talks about how I should record stories and thoughts and ideas and that they will bless my life, as well as others who read them. This morning I was thinking about how much I miss seeing my seminary kids and how distant I feel from them. I was thinking about how I could have more contact with them and it struck me! I could use some of the things I learned this week and apply it to seminary. This was the product. It's a mash up of direction from my patriarchal blessing and a hope that I can give a daily reminder to my seminary kids about how important I think it is to be in the scriptures every day so that revelation can be received and also so that they know I'm thinking about them and care about them. It's not perfect. I'll learn some tricks along the way. I don't think it's too bad for a start though!



Today I went and gave blood. I think about my brother a lot whenever I go do that. They did a CT scan last week and his tumors have grown. They are pushing on some of his organs and causing pan that radiates up his back. This past week they did a nerve-blocking procedure to help him with his back pain. Hopefully that will help him sleep.

Learning From a Master

I've been visiting the hospital almost every day over the break. There is an old lady (83!) in our ward who fell and broke her ankle. I figured over winter break I have nothing but time, so I volunteered to visit her on quite a few days. I've known her for a number of years. I have always enjoyed visiting with her because we have a lot in common. She loves to read and she was an elementary school teacher. She's always super smiley and has positive things to say. Today when I visited she got talking to the husband of a lady in her room. It was amazing to watch her work her magic on him. She engaged him in conversation and was super interested in learning about him. She would ask him questions and compliment him and smile and ask him more questions. It was something to watch! It really made me think about how I engage people in conversation. Her conversation was really positive and kind. That's the kind of person I want to be.

Mission Complete! ....almost

I have great regrets over my lack of blogging. Once missionaries were allowed to call home, I really fell off the wagon with blogging about Jill's mission. Now this week she is coming home! I have decided to recommit to daily blogging. I've felt a longing for it lately. 

When Jill left, I decided I was going to also make it MY best 18 months ever. I'm not so sure I can say that it was though. It's not that anything bad or not good has happened, but I can't say it's been totally the significant time of growth like I hoped it would be for me. That just reminds me again that nothing really compares to a mission. You can't replicate it even if you really try. 

Jill has always been that kid who was excited about each new step. She made being a mom easy because I never worried about her being nervous or scared about things. There were no tears when she started kindergarten or grade one and life has kind of continued like that. I have never been able to watch those videos of kids coming home and hugging their moms without crying though. We will see how things go at the airport. Bottom line: I'm excited for her to be home.

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm ready or if I'm nervous or if I have done everything to be ready for you to be home...and I'm like, "Well, I think so." I'm not nervous. I will clean the bathroom, change the sheets, take the vacuum out of her room and put it back in the basement. ....not sure what else I'm supposed to do. LOL I'll try and get the tree up (if only I could find the extra bulbs that will make the entire string of lights work....argh!) 

Bottom line: Allen and I are just super proud of her. It is almost like  she was built for this mission experience. I'm so happy it was such a positive experience. It isn't always positive for everyone - but it can be SO great when it is great.  I am confident that Jill will come home with confidence and the  spirit of peace she so often possesses.  I love that she has spent so much time at the Paris, France temple. She will have a perspective on the temple that will be rare. I'm so happy for her!

Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.

 ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow