I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude lately. About appreciating what I have and not yearning for what I don’t have. I’ve been reading about happiness and one of the things I learned is that the old adage of “don’t go to bed angry” isn’t always true. Sometimes it’s better to leave things unsaid. To not argue every detail and just let things go. It turns out, it’s better to focus on the good. (Not really a surprise when you think about it, is it?)
Another thing I’ve read about happiness is that it’s just as much about reducing the things that make you feel bad as it is about increasing the things that make you feel good. This might be bad to admit but there are certain blogs that make me feel bad when I read them. This is not because of the blogger but because of things that I already feel that I’m lacking. I might see someone’s beautiful decor and yearn for the same furniture. Or the cooking. Or maybe I read about all their success in an area where I am struggling right now. And while I never ever wish anyone ill, I do notice that some blogs skew my perspective of my own life more than others.
I know blogging is one of those mediums where people only share what they choose to. Most people prefer to only share the good and I understand that. Having read what I have about happiness, I even welcome that. And I know their life isn’t all good. Just like the neighbor next door who might look perfect, but is struggling with an eating disorder, the blogger might have lost a parent. Might have a cheating husband. Or maybe a chronic disease. A sick child. Ongoing career struggles. Who knows? No one’s life is perfect. And everyone has struggles of their own, some bigger than others but we all do. And I know this. I know that even things that look perfect on the outside aren’t really perfect. But it still doesn’t always stop me from feeling bad about myself. I’ve noticed that this feeling is heightened when I am in a weaker place than usual. If I am struggling, then I take things more personally than usual. I make it all about myself. (and how I am lacking.)
So, a few weeks ago, I decided to take a break from reading some of these blogs. Just until I felt stronger and could stop making it personal. And while I am sad about some of the inspiration I’m missing, I must admit it works. Avoiding these blogs gives me room to focus on what I have and appreciate it and be in a more positive space.
Maybe it’s denial. Maybe it’s being weak. I don’t know. I just know it works. Just like it’s important to surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you, I think it’s important to spend my time reading sites that make me feel better, regardless of the reason.
Eventually I will have to work on my issues (or maybe they will just go away) but for now, denial is perfectly okay with me.
I am actually on top of my project but I thought it might be boring to update daily. Not sure how to do this on the blog. I have a Google Spreadsheet that I am using to keep track daily, so it’s easy to do these blog posts in batch.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – He tried snap pea crisps and loved them. Then he tried spinach quiche. He wasn’t a fan. We didn’t try anything today but I have plans for tomorrow.
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – We did reading with 3 and 4-letter words that start with d and f. He’s getting really good at reading, I am so glad. We also did some writing letters g, h, i, j, and k. Upper and lowercase. And today we did more math. Addition with two digit numbers (no carryover though) and began subtraction. David’s really doing well with all of our work together. I need to buy some books so I know how to teach him some things. Going to do some research on this tomorrow.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – I did one face a day. Friday was super-rushed since I did it literally 4 minutes before the baby sitter showed up. And I hate today’s but here it is. I am not sure these are getting better but there are 91 more to go so we’ll see.
2. Make one art journal page daily – I did so some embroidery today and I am loving it so far. I love using this sampler.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week -32 minutes on the Wii yesterday. I’ve been doing well with one day on and one day off. I hope to do a little even on my off days this week, let’s see. I generally wake up with lots of pain so I don’t want to say for sure.
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – Lots of watermelon, some grapes and a banana. Still doing bad on the veggies but I had some tomatoes today and I have broccoli and zucchini and carrots for this week.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I started on a task for my friend’s webpage but waiting on her. I sent a photo to a friend I’d promised almost a month ago. And I finally backed up all my photos and files so I can reboot which I will do as soon as I am done here.
2. Start and End each day better – For the most part I am doing great here. Some days I take off but really very good.
Soul:
1. Write a thank you email every day – I caught up and I sent one to Wendela, too. I have Margie and Monika to write tonight. I will do so after the reboot.
That’s it. Honestly, the things that matter the most are working with David and exercising and I am doing relatively good on those so I promised myself I won’t beat myself up for anything else. Happy happy.
Here’s one I didn’t think I would tackle until December but here we are:
38. Make a wreath
I wanted to make an indoor wreath since I already have one on my house door that I love. I searched and searched for a long time and finally settled on this one that I love love loved.
Mine’s a bit different cause I stuck to mostly cone shapes. Not sure why, it spoke to me the most:
I did it mostly as I watched TV, just tore, folded and glued without too much thought.
here’s a bit of a closeup.
I love looking at it on my wall. It makes me happy which I guess means project accomplished.
Journaling Reads:
My sister and I haven’t always gotten along.
As a child, I am pretty sure I was not what she had in mind when she found out she was getting a sibling. She liked climbing trees and I liked playing with dolls. She was popular and happy and I was not. We had a lot of differences and she was often quite mean to me. I wasn’t a fan.
Then she went away. I was still in high school and she was in Canada. That’s when we realized how much we really loved each other. We wrote letters, sent cards, and really enjoyed each other’s company.
Unfortunately for us, we never really got to be in the same country again. She went from Canada to London and by the time she came back to Turkey, I was leaving for the United States. We never really got to enjoy each other’s company in person. But thanks to the internet and Skype, we get to talk often and our kids get to see each other and know each other and they get to see how much we love each other. I am so grateful for how much she loves my kids and they love her. And I am so grateful that we finally realized how good we had it all along.
Ok, I did do a bit of catch up. I am still not 100% on schedule and decided this is too much. I might go back to doing all of them but for now I need to pare down. So here’s the update.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – He tried salami (he liked) and soy burgers (he did NOT like. more like really disliked).
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – We did math again. We reviewed the places 1s, 10s, 100s. And then we compared two numbers, two digit ones and 3 digit ones. He circled the bigger of the two numbers. We then talked about addition. He can do addition with his fingers but I wanted him to get out of that habit so now he can mentally add pretty much any two single-digit numbers. We also talked about the Commutative Property of Addition (without mentioning the title) so he could look at two numbers and add them whichever way is easier for him. We also talked about adding zero and adding one as super simple cases. That was it for today.
3. Read 20 minutes a day from a book – This is on hold until my jaw-pain disappears. Might be on hold for a long while.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – I did three faces today.
2. Make one art journal page daily – I think this is going to go on hold, too until I am done with my layouts. I still have 3 to do for AMM and I have The Girls’ Paperie CHA stuff on the way and they will need to be turned around quickly. So until mid-month or so, this is on hold.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week -32 minutes on the Wii today.
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – Watermelon. No veggies. I have veggies at home but I’ve been too tired, sick, or frustrated to take the time to cook them. Gotta work on this one.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I bought stuff for jake that I’d meant to months ago, bought some ink for my printer, scheduled doctor and gynie appointments, checked my sons’ dentist and checkup appointments and added them to my calendar and same with my upcoming hair appointments, and I did one more big nagging task today. Doing ok on this one.
2. Start and End each day better – I’m all over this one. Doing it like a champ.
Soul:
1. Journal for 15 minutes a day – This, too, is going on hold, not feeling it and too tired. Won’t feel guilty about it any more.
2. Mediate for 5 minutes a day – I’ve sort of incorporated this into my morning workout. So far, so good.
3. Write a thank you email every day – Need to catch up on these. I have ones to send to Kayce, Stacy, and Melody. I plan to get on top of this asap. I am not worried though cause I love doing these.
And that’s that. Not doing perfectly but it’s been a rough-ish month so far and this was a lot more stuff than it first looked like.
It’s amazing how many people come in and out of our lives every single day. People we don’t always pay attention to. The mailman who delivers your mail every day, rain or shine. The FedEx guy and the UPS one. The garbage and recycling collectors. The people who clean the streets you walk down. And the ones who keep the city you live in safe.
I read a short story collection recently called Let the Great World Spin and it’s about several interconnected stories that are taking place at the same time. And there’s a person or two that’s connected in each of them, some more visibly than others. That made me realize that if we were to zoom way way out and look down upon our lives, we’d discover that so many of us come in and out of each other’s lives daily. The woman you pay at the grocery store and the neighbor who’s walking his dog. The waitress who brings your sandwich or the one who prepares your coffee. We touch each other’s lives in small and big ways, often without even realizing it.
Who knows what’s happening in their lives. What tragedies they might be facing. What sickness. Or anticipation of something big. Fear. Even joy.
So, I thought, today we should take a moment to express some gratitude to the people in the edges of our life. The people that otherwise recede to the background. Maybe with a wide smile. Or a little note in the mailbox. A big tip.
You never know, it might be the highlight of their day. What you do know is that it’s guaranteed to be one of yours.
The following is cross-posted from the Weekly Gratitude Blog. I will post there every Tuesday and decided to post those posts here, too. For those of you who read both blogs, I apologize in advance. Some weeks the content might be different and other weeks, exactly the same.
I decided to combine day 4 and 5 since both of them were mostly days off for us.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – He tried lychee which he wasn’t a fan of. Neither was I and nor was Jake. We didn’t make Nathaniel try.
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – We skipped this.
3. Read 20 minutes a day from a book – Skipped this, too.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – No faces but maybe I’ll do one tonight.
2. Make one art journal page daily – I did a big zentangle and colored with my copics.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week – I think a lot of the camping work I did counts but I didn’t do Wii.
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – Banana and strawberries. No veggies.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I registered for a 5K, woot!
2. Start and End each day better – I’m all over this one. Doing it like a champ.
Soul:
1. Journal for 15 minutes a day – none of this. I know I’ve been slacking on it.
2. Mediate for 5 minutes a day – I think the very quiet time this morning counts.
3. Write a thank you email every day – Not one yet but I will send one to Katie and one to Opal today.
And that’s that.
This was one of the June layouts I did. It is for the Creative Imaginations sketch challenge for June. I turned the sketch sideways and used paper instead of extra photos.
Since Jake and I have almost been together 16 years, I thought it was a great topic to celebrate the man who makes me happy every single moment of every single day.
Still rough, mostly cause I am so tired.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – Today’s food was sweet pepper. Orange to be exact. He liked it! and we’ve saved more to eat tomorrow. Also, he did eat the rest of the snap peas and carrots today. At least most of them. This is big progress for us.
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – Today we did writing. He practiced letters a, b, c, d, e, and f. Upper and lowercase. He needs more practice but I think we made good progress.
3. Read 20 minutes a day from a book – We didn’t read today. It was his wii day.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – Another one today.
2. Make one art journal page daily – Zentangle again today. I did two layouts today so not a lot of time. Enjoying the zentangles though.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week – I did 21 minutes of Wii Fit today. It was painful and I didn’t think I was going to make it. But I did it. Yoga, strength, and step.
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – Banana and corn.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I finally folded all the laundry. This was weeks overdue.
2. Start and End each day better – Right after I worked out, I flossed, brushed my teeth and showered. It wasn’t first thing in the day but it was still better than I would have done otherwise.
Soul:
1. Journal for 15 minutes a day – didn’t do this today. My arms are in a lot of pain. I told myself it was ok to take a break. Might still do it before bed.
2. Mediate for 5 minutes a day – about 4 minutes today.
3. Write a thank you email every day – Wrote one to Amy today. She is so wonderful.
There you go. One more day down.
Since I bought a new camera, I had to do this one again:
13. Create my own camera strap
This time I just did my own little solution. I didn’t do the triangular edges and since the fabric I used is thin, I put a layer of batting underneath it. It’s nice and cushy now.
I love the colors and this fabric makes me happy.
Day two was even rougher.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – Today he tried a bite of celery – he didn’t like. He then tried snap peas which he did like. And carrots which he also did like. All in all, not so bad.
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – Today we did reading. We focused on b-words and c-words. He did great and he’s getting better and better at sounding things out and more importantly his confidence in himself is growing.
3. Read 20 minutes a day from a book – We’ve switched to another book by the Famous Five: Famous Five on a Secret Trail but we’re still reading and I make sure he tells me a short summary afterwards to ensure he really is following.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – One more today. I really dislike this one but I was so tired, I am lucky it happened at all.
2. Make one art journal page daily – I woke up late today and got started in my day even later. And then did a layout for CHA so I didn’t think I was going to get to this at all today. But then I felt like doing a zentangle so I did it.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week – No exercise today. I really needed the rest. The goal is 3-days-a-week after all.
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – Banana and celery today.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I delivered David’s application today, something I’d been meaning to do for over a week. I plan to do a few more nagging tasks that I’ve been ignoring.
2. Start and End each day better – Even though I didn’t work out, I flossed, brushed my teeth and showered right before I put Nathaniel down for his nap.
Soul:
1. Journal for 15 minutes a day – done. Still unsure I like to do this but I decided to give it the full month and then decide.
2. Mediate for 5 minutes a day – done.
3. Write a thank you email every day – Wrote one to my friend Larissa today. She is amazing and I am quite thankful for her.
There you go. Day two down.
Journaling Reads:
I have been blessed with the most amazing parents.
I must admit that I have not always been actively aware of this fact. As a child, I spent most of my time wondering how I ended up in this family where I felt like I obviously didn’t belong. It’s not that they were bad people, it’s just that they were so very different than I was. They had different priorities and ideas of fun than I did.
So I did a lot of sulking, a lot of doing my own thing and taking these amazing parents for granted. Yet, they never gave up on me and supported all my crazy and far-fetched dreams. When I told them I wanted to study in the United States, they did every single thing in their power to make it happen for me.
Even though they don’t really understand what I do and sometimes they aren’t sure why I make the choices I make, they are always 100% behind me and they are first to cheer me on. When I falter, they are the first to rush in an help me. I’ve always known that my parents were supportive but it’s only in the last few years that I’ve come to full appreciate them.
|
projects for twenty twenty-six
projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
|
