Friday, December 31, 2010

What a Wonderful Week!

This week did not go as planed. On Monday I received a phone call to let me know that a film I was a part of was going to be set back because of weather. I am thrilled for each opportunity I am given and I was crushed to find out that this opportunity would be put off. My sister was disappointed that she would no longer be needed to babysit. Paul was a Fabulous husband and aloud me to be a bit sad and did his best to cheer me up. I decided that I would be best off to use this week to get stuff done. Lucky for me the cold snowy outside made it easy to want to just stay home.

I love taking down from Christmas. It is amazing how much bigger and cleaner the living room looks when all the extra stuff is put away. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy having the cute decorations and things that sparkle all around the house for a month. However, I always look forward to putting it all away.

Our family was blessed with the stomach flu. It didn't last long, but it was really nice to have a couple of days just for our family. I believe just about everyone of Hannah's friends called that day, and the best part was when I had to tell them that she was sick and could not play Hannah didn't get upset. The kids spent the whole day just playing together.

This has been such a wonderful winter break. It has been so nice to have a break from homework. I have loved sleeping in. I think I have woken up around 8:50 almost everyday this week. I even took a little break from working out. Although, my body dose feel so much better after getting up and exercising this morning.

I am so grateful that I got to spend the last week of this year getting things more organized around my house. I feel like I have gotten things done and that is a good feeling. The challenge when it comes to organization, house cleaning, and trying to stay fit. None of these things last. They are all things that have to been done over and over again. What I know is that if you do a little at a time; put things away when your are done with them, clean the bathrooms and vacuum weekly, exercise and eat better foods it is so much easier to keep up with everything. It is when life gets too busy and we don't make time to simply keep up with life we no longer get to enjoy it. My Goal for this new year is to keep life simple. I have heard countless talks from leaders of the church trying to remind me that life needs to be simple. It is good to have some down time. The first thing for me to learn is that it is OK if I don't have a long list of things to do each day, but to make sure that I don't idle the time that I have away.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Think and Speak or Speak and Think?

Think and Speak or Speak and Think? I believe one or the other comes more natural to each of us. Paul is the type of person that more often thinks and then speaks. I more often speak and then think. Both have good and bad that comes with them. People that speak before thinking usually say exactly how they feel, but sometimes it does not come out very nice. People that think first probably talk less, and don't share what is on their mind as easily. This is all just my opinion. You can agree or disagree. But I had a moment today that I realized that I should think about what I say just a little bit more.

In a conversation with a friend yesterday I was describing an individual. I used the term "White Trash" to explain them. I have heard and used this term many times and never really thought much about it. If you are wondering if I was talking about you, the answer is NO.

This morning my mind was just wondering as I was getting ready, and the thought came to me, "You should NEVER describe someone as TRASH." I thought for a moment what trash is to me. Things that are waste, something broken, something no good, something I no longer want to keep. People are NOT TRASH. They may be rough, have a hard life, and even look run down, but that does not make them trash.

I realized today that it is important to stop and think about things that we say. Sometimes when we say things just playing around those are the moments we hurt someone. I recall being told often that I am mean or rude. I have the personality that when told something like that my first reaction is to say I will show you have not seen anything yet. If you think I am mean just wait, and honestly I am a NICE pearson. It is easy to rude and selfIt only depends on what you are focusing on when you speak with you. My very favorite saying I learned from a sociology class is, "I am what I think you think that I am". I can not remember what famous sociologist termed this, but it is so true. We influence what others think about them selves. For good or for bad. What we say to our children and are neighbors is equally important. This doesn't stop after you turn a certain age. We continue to make in impact on others our entire life.

Think and then speak or speak and then think. No matter what we do I realized that I need to more often take a little time and think about what I am saying about others. I believe it does make a difference.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Dave Ramsey

I have to put a little shout out there for Dave Ramsey. I myself have never actually met or talked to the man myself, but I am grateful for the time that he takes to educate people about their fiances. I've heard that he doesn't teach anything that your grandparents wouldn't tell you to do. It is just the basics, but some of us didn't grow up learning the basics. It is about three years shy of when we started our Total Money Make Over and every time we make a smart decision that keep us moving forward it makes you feel so good.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Short Film

This is kind of fun. I hope this link works. I had the opportunity to play the role of Mother in this short film called "Hugs and Kisses". It is really fun to see the finished product.

Real Life!

Sometimes I have this idea in my mind of what life should be. As a teenager I imagined my life. I was married to a wonderful man with beautiful kids. I thought I would marry a Mexican, so in my mind my kids had dark brown eyes and tan skin. In real life I did marry a wonderful man, and although my kids are not bronzed they are beautiful.

As an adult I have this idea in my mind that I should have a beautiful clean home with kids that say please and thank you and play nicely with each other all the time. In real life I have a very nice home that has clean toilets for about a minute and clean laundry for maybe five minutes. My children love to tease each other just to see how the other will react, and would choose to go play with a friend over being home playing with their siblings.

As I began to get very frustrated yesterday with my life I began to realize that the problem is not with my life. The problem is with my expectation of my life. My life is just like everyone else. My kids sometimes fight and disobey, but other times they are so fun to watch as they play together and surprise me when they do what I ask the first time I ask them. Yes, my house is not perfectly clean, but we live here and play here, and are learning how to function as a family.

What we imagine our life to be is not always reality, but those ideas that we place in our minds gets us closer to what we desire. I will continue to want children that always obey and a home that is meticulously clean. If I stop hoping for those things I will lose my desire to discipline my kids and continue the every day clean up around the house. However, I realize how important it is to not get so caught up in this idea of what life should be and realize that this is REAL LIFE I am living, and for the most part it is REAL GOOD.