Commitment

Well this month has taken me on quite a ride of self-reflection on what I could do for myself to make this year of 2011 something special, something different.  So here is my list.  I will work on it.  I will study it.  I will listen to it.  I. Will. Do. It.

Commitment: I. Will. Do. It.

Reverence: Remember to have it.

365: Daily blogs.

Quotes: Post them.

Train: Take one.

Reading: Do more of it.

Motto: Have one and live it.

Move: Around more often.

Naps: Take more of them.

Cookin’: Do more of it.

Thank You’s: Say more of them.

Learning: Something new.

Laughter: Daily medicine.

Seed: Grow into something better.

Posture: Become a taller me.

Memorize: Spend time doing it.

Hard Things: I can do hard things.

Time: Make the most of it.

No Offense: I won't be offended.

Timeout: Remember to take a break.

Elephants: One bite at a time.

Sleep: Get some.

Interruptions and Distractions: Limit them.

Birthdays: Remember them.

Focus: My word of the year.

New State: Visit a new one.

Sewing: Do some (I have).

Simplify: Trying.

Camera Ready: It's in my purse!

My New Beginnings!

Reverence

Last week in church the speaker spoke about reverence.  Seems like when we think of reverence we think of folded arms and low voices.  But really reverence is much more than that.  Reverence is respect. Reverence is an attitude. There is reverence for life.  Reverence for past generations. Reverence invites revelation. Reverence for our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ brings peace.

On this Sabbath Day of 2011, I will remember to

 give reverence to this day of rest.



365

I've been thinking about this one for a while.  Could I really do it?  Blog 365 consecutive days?  That's a lot of days.  That's a whole year of days.  I have blogged consecutively (minus two tiny days) since October 1, 2010, that's 123 days (not minus the two tiny days) so far.  So I guess I could say to myself I only have 242 days left to finish off 365 days.  But what I'm talking about is 365 in this year of 2011.  Can I do it?  I think I can, one day at a time. There I said it.  It is official I'm going for 365!



Quotes

I love quotes.  I live by quotes.  Quotes lift me.  Quotes teach me.  Quotes make me think. Quotes make me better.  I have a blog of quotes. I started it last year.  I wanted to do a quote a day; 365 quotes.  I struggled with the 365 part.  I was new to the whole idea of the 365.  I only got through half the year. I guess my mind was just not ready for it.  But this is a new year and although I have no intention of looking back on what I didn't do, I know I can look forward to what I can do.  So to my List of 31 New Beginnings I shall add to my blog of quotes.

Train

Recently a friend told me about a friend who told her about the virtues of taking the train.  Love those friends of a friend, they have useful information.  It got me to thinking.  We could do that; take a trip on a train.  Who doesn’t love a train ride?  Sounds like fun.  It could be fun…….it will be fun.  Not to mention we will come full circle. We drive automobiles and we take planes, now it is time to take the train. Planes, trains, and automobiles; that has a familiar ring.  I think in this year of 2011, we will have to check this train business out. 

I think I will! I think I can!

Reading

I'm a lover of reading.  This can be problematic for me as sometimes it is hard to put a good book down.  Which in turn shortens my sleep pattern.  I can't go to sleep without at least reading a little something, something.  So in recent years my reading has been reduced to things like magazines or the Church News; where stories and articles are short.  Last year I bought Mr. Man a Kindle.....he's a big reader and I thought this would be perfect, we can cut down on the numerous paperbacks that are everywhere.  He loves his Kindle so much that I decided I would love one too.  So now we are a double Kindle household.  And I do love my Kindle.  I love that I can have a Kindle app on my phone or laptop too.  So if I don't have my Kindle with me, I can read whatever I'm reading on my phone or laptop; it even remembers where I am in my book. Love that feature.  This was not intended to be a Kindle commercial but I do love it and because of it I have started to do some real reading of books again.  With a promise to myself I won't read the night away........I'm disciplined like that!  So in the year 2011, I shall do more reading of good books.  If you have recommendations please send them my way.

Birthday Shout Out

I pause to interrupt this 31 Days of New Beginnings to bring you a Happy Birthday Shout Out.

Today is birthday Number Six for Gran #4.

 Happy Birthday Bub!

I love you so!

Motto

A motto a motto. Words to live by. This isn’t original and has been around for I'm sure a very long time but it is fantastic nevertheless. I think I will embrace it for myself in 2011.

"Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without."

Move

There are some words that just don't work for me.  Works like exercise and diet to name two.  I know they are both words that are necessary and that some people, although I don't know who they are, enjoy these words.  I. Don't. Enjoy. Them. Either. One.  There is absolutely nothing I have ever been able to do to change my mind about these two words.  At this point in my life I can't think about chaning my mind about these words so I'm not going to. Exercise and Diet you are both officially out of all blog writing by me. I'm not using them and they can't make me.  However, in the spirit of New Beginnings I'ved found a new word that just might work for me......no promises but it might work.  The word is move.  I can move and need to move more in 2011 and as I add it to my list hopefully it will help me remember to just do it!

Naps

Prior to our empty nester days, I made sure each Sunday had a nap in it.  Over the years that tradition or necessity has kind of gone to the wayside.  Truth be told I believe I need it as much now as I did then.  But for whatever reason I don't make time for it.  As mentioned before sometimes sleep gets the short end of the stick in my world. In this year of 2011, I'm going to bring back the Sunday nap; after all it is the day of rest.

Cookin'

I won't kid myself but it is easy to not cook.  I like to cook........I love to cook really.  It's soothing, it's restful. It is also gives me a sense of great accomplishment when I've created something fun and yummy.  It just feels good.   But like I said it seems easy not to cook anymore.  Long work days make it easy to just come home and cook whatever, something easy, something I don't have to think about.  Sometimes something easy isn’t always the best thing health wise.  It is just eating to eat.  I know, I know easy and quick can be healthy.  I know what it comes down to is planning. This year I hope to change my lack of planning in the cooking department.  Long work days don’t have to limit what’s good for us to eat. 

In this year of 2011 I’m going to do more good cookin’!

Thank You's

For the whole month of November I wrote about being thankful.  It was 30 Days of Thanks.  But I realize that there is one thing I always think about but never seem to do it enough and that is to say thank you!  I read this recently, "Every time we remember to say “thank you,” we experience nothing less than heaven on earth." - Sarah Ban Breathnach

In this year of 2011 I will remember to say "thank you" more often!  It seems the least I could do to enjoy "heaven on earth."

Learning

I love learning.  Keeps the mind moving even when the rest of me doesn't want to.  This year I want to spend more time learning.  Learning something.........but what?  I have a few options.  Piano.  That is relearning.  I took piano lessons as a child. But I whined too much so my mother let me quit. Shoot! I wish I hadn't been a whiner.  But one is never too old to learn anew I suppose so I guess I could pick the piano. I have one.  I want to learn how to use Photoshop.  I have that too.  It vexes me.  I wish it didn't.  So there you have it.  Piano or Photoshop or both. 

Learning something new or all over again in this year of 2011!



Laughter

Can one ever laugh enough?  I’m not sure if that is possible.  But I do know that laughter is my best medicine.  If I’m going to laugh about it later I try to laugh about it now.  Laughter makes my world go-round!  In this year of 2011 I intend to do more of it!

Seed

I'm not sure where I read this. But in my effort to get that elephant eaten I came across this quote in one of my many stacks.  I know it was something I read recently but it something worth repeating for my sake.

"When a seed is planted in the ground it can stay dormant and remain a seed that never grows or produces anything.  Or it can take in the nutrients around it split open, send out roots and stem and grow into a flower or vegetable or fruit.  The important thing here is that in order to become something better, the seed has to give up being a seed.  Like the seed, we need to give up what we are in order to become something better.  People who cling to the old ways, their old habits, their old likes and dislikes, and remain forever in the boundaries of their comfort zone never grow into something better. So, let go. Let go of the past. Let go of the old you. Let the old you die and the new you come forth bearing wonderful fruit!"

In this year of 2011 I'm going to make a conscience effort to let go of old habits and step out of my comfort zone and let myself grow into something better.  It can happen.

Posture

When you are five feet it is important to have good posture - you don't want to be any shorter than you already are!  Yet I struggle with my posture.  I catch myself all the time with rounded shoulders.  Hello, head up shoulders back.  Time to strengthen those back muscles. Another important thing about posture is remembering to hold my head high even when or especially when situations arise that might lead me to lower my head or want to look the other way.  Again head up shoulders back.

Working on a taller me in this year of 2011.

Memorize

Memorize, that's right memorize.  I believe I will use my Sunday's in 2011 to memorize.  Memorize favorite quotes. Memorize favorite scriptures. Memorize the Articles of Faith.  Memorize it is a good thing to do.  So I shall, in this year of 2011!

Intermission

Today is the 15th day of my month of New Beginnings and well the month is half over; well almost lets just pretend there are 30 days in January instead 31.  So intermissions.  Remember those?  Back in the day there were many movies that had intermissions.  Movies like:

Gone With the Wind

Lawrence of Arabia

Oklahoma

Fiddler on the Roof

The Sound of Music

Ben-Hur

West Side Story

Dr. Zhivago

So what does this have to do with January or New Beginnings.  Well this is my intermission.  Time to stop and review what I've committed myself to do and what I need to add to my list.  This is a 365 plan.  These are things I hope to improve on, accomplish, and complete this year of 2011.  So this is my list so far:

Hard Things: I can do hard things.

Time: Make the most of it.

No Offense: I won't be offended.

Timeout: Remember to take a break.

Elephants: One bite at a time.

Sleep: Get some.

Interruptions and Distractions: Limit them. 

Birthdays: Remember them. 

Focus: My word of the year. 

New State: Visit a new one.

Sewing: Do some (I have).

Simplify: Trying.

Camera Ready: It's in my purse!

Stay tuned for things to come.........

Hard Things

A set back is a setup for a come back.  In this year of 2011, I will remember this because I know I can do hard things. Even when it's not the popular thing to do.  Even when it hurts.

I. Can. Do. Hard. Things!

Time

Who doesn't need more of it.  We all have the same amount no one person has more or less.  We each get 24 hours of time everyday to do something with.  But there are so many times to choose from.

There's the food times:

 Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Snack.

Then there's the season times:

Winter. Spring. Summer.

Fall Time doesn't flow for me.

Then there's all these other times:

Bed Time

Nap Time (one of my personal favorites)

Quiet Time (Love that one too)

Me Time
Our Time
First Time

Good Time

Happy Time

Bad Time

Sad Time

Hard Time

Party Time

Game Time
Half Time

Play Time

Free Time

Vacation Time

Drive Time (the physical act of driving)

Travel Time (the time it takes to get from point A to B)

In Time

This Time
Same Time
Real Time

Next Time

That Time

Part Time

Last Time

No Time

Out of Time

Indeed there are so many times and so many choices.  Time, it seems to be the thing I can never get enough of.  In this year of 2011 I will make the time to do those things I want to do because there is always enough time for that.

No Offense

There is a quote by David A. Bednar that I love and it goes like this:

"Certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean

spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people

that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is

impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me.

Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally

false. To be offended is a choice we make, it is not a condition

inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else."

I love this quote more and more everyday and I try to live it and remember it in every aspect of my life.  It speaks to me; in so many ways it is freeing to me.  And in this year of 2011 I'm going to try even harder to make it my own!
 

Amen!

Timeout!

Sometimes one just needs a timeout!  After all there are timeouts for your children, there are television timeouts, there are timeouts in sports, there are computer timeouts which we all hate when that happens and there is even a mascot called timeout (Fresno State).  So I think this year I will give myself a timeout every now and again.  After all who doesn’t deserve a break!

I'll look like this mascot
if I don't take a timeout!

P.S. Today is one great number day 1-11-11; there will be two more great numbers days in November, 11-1-11 and 11-11-11.  I love that, but that's just me!

Elephants

There are "areas" in my house that need attention.  There are about 30'ish of these areas. When I think about these areas.......I get a wee bit overwhelmed and think no time for that now.........I'll do it later.  When exactly is later?  Well I've decide later is in this year of 2011.  I've come up with a list of these areas.  So with list in hand, I will knock out my list of areas one elephant bite at a time!

Sleep

Beings that this is the day of rest and all it seems appropriate to talk about sleep. Generally speaking I don't get enough of it. Part of the problem is somewhere between eight o'clock and nine o'clock in the evening I start to get my second wind; in fact the later I stay up the more energy I seem to derive. But morning still comes and then I have to get up for work. That said I generally try to avoid sitting at my desk or turning on my laptop much after eight for fear I will be sucked into the vortex of endless energy only to turn into a pumpkin or worse when the clock strikes midnight or later. Just the other night morning it was two three and I was still going strong. Writing. Working. Organizing. Planning. And then I learned this:

Getting too little sleep could prevent dieters from losing body fat, according to a study published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers observed 10 overweight men and women ages 35 to 49 who slept in a sleep lab for two separate two-week periods; participants logged 5.5 nightly hours in one of the trials and 8.5 nightly hours in the other. The dieters lost the same amount of weight during each trial, but when they were sleeping fewer hours, they lost muscle, rather than fat. Sleeping 8.5 hours a night, meanwhile, was associated with losing mostly fat.

Thank goodness for the day of rest and nine o'clock church. 

Ahhhhhhh Sleep Got to Get More in 2011!

Interruptions and Distractions

My days are plagued by interruptions and distractions. I suppose that if I wouldn’t let things interrupt and distract me I wouldn’t be plagued by them. This year of 2011 I need to work on not letting “things” interrupt and distract me. I’m working on a project and an email pops up and immediately I turn my attention to it…………stop that I say or I need to say.

I have a note on my wall at work that reads: “Put focus time on your calendar in ‘concrete’ with exactly what project you will be working on during that time.” Tip: Focus time means no email, telephone calls or interruptions. One hour of focus time can equal up to four fours of interrupted time. To keep interruptions down, put a sign on your door letting others know when you will be available, saying, “Focus time – please only interrupt if smoke is coming out of the air vents.”

More proof that focus needs to be my word for 2011. It’s time to eradicate the plague of interruptions and distractions I’m living with and work on staying on course with my new found focus.

Just say NO to Interruptions and Distractions!

 

Birthdays

This year I want to do better in remembering the birthdays in my life.  This year of 2011 there are some pretty special birthdays coming up.  There are two eight year old birthdays, there is a forty year old birthday.........is that right?  And even a sixty year old birthday......yikes not mine!  I'd have to use a calculator to figure how old I am; so I won't!

Today I reserve my blog for a Happy Birthday Shout Out to the Boy; my #3 Gran!

Happy Birthday Boy!
I love you more than you know.



So so tender.

 

Exactly how did I get up here?





This one is for his mother!

 

The Boy and His Dog. No Greater Love.





Always the Student!

  

So Cool!



Never without a smile!



Focus

Last year my word of the year was Believe. D2 joined me in the word of the year idea and her word was Be. She used it quite nicely throughout her blog; I always loved when it showed up. This year her word is Remember. (I’m sure she will only remember the good stuff, because its all good stuff!) My comment back to her was "Funny I too have been thinking of the right word for 2011. Last year my word was believe. And I do believe it sometimes was lost on me. I must focus on finding a new word for 2011 and live it."  In response to that she said, "Perhaps focus is the word."

And in the end I do believe that focus is the word for me in this year of 2011. I wanted a word that would keep me on track so to speak. I wanted a word that would keep me focused and I believe it shall.

Focus. Focus. Focus.

New State

One of the things I wanted to accomplish this year in all our travels is to go to a new state.  I have never had much of a desire (ok any) to leave these grand United States. I’ve been to 16 states and of those 16 states I’ve lived in 4. I travel a lot it would seem but mostly in small circles.

As I’ve contemplated the new state I want to conquer this year, my mind started to wander……….that’s what happens when you’re doing all that driving, there is only so much Mr. Man and I can discuss. All those miles on the road you have to think about something! In doing so, I’ve come to realize there is more than just the United States. There’s state of mind, state of the art, state of the union, state of the economy (let’s not go there), state of affairs, there’s out of state, the state bar…. so many states. But I’m thinking I like the idea of state of mind. This year of 2011 I can work on my state of mind. No travel has to be involved; I can do it at home. If I want to go somewhere with my new state of mind I can. The world is my oyster or something like that!

What’s your state?

Sewing

Although I was second questioning my decision to make 13 pairs of pajamins for Christmas (on more than one occasion) I did accomplish the task I had placed before me.  Even without burning the midnight oil shockingly enough.  In doing so part of me that had been put on the shelf for more years than I care to mention came out and remembered how much I do love to sew and how good it felt to accomplish something that turned out pretty good if I do say so myself........and I do say so.  This year of 2011 will see me doing more sewing; because I can and I will........projects get in line!

Simplify

I do believe I need to add this word to my New Beginnings List; simplify.  I'm sure the reason this word keeps running through my brain is because we just returned from a 2,600 mile (give or take a mile or two) road trip. We traveled through six states (including California). Saw 10 awesome grans and their wonderful parents! And more snow than any human should travel through.  Yes, 2011 I do believe I need to think about the word simplify more often.........but then who doesn't!

Camera Ready

This year I'm going to work on being ready with my camera.  In all our travels (and we are on the road daily) there is much too see.  Even though our daily travels take us across familiar roads, each day is different when it comes to nature. I want to capture more of that.

This year I am going to be Camera Ready!

New Beginnings

Happy New Year!  I love the new part of the New Year.  Makes me think.  Fresh Starts. Unblemished. Do Over. Beginnings. This month.  This 31 days will for me be about new beginnings.  Making the commitment to do those things I've been putting off.  Maybe to try  something new; a first time adventure!  Resolutions can be hard to live up to. For me this direction feels right.  So join me won't you for this 31 Days of New Beginnings.