Hope....

Such victories started to feel less satisfying. I started to appreciate his need to feel respected in his home. I realized that abiding by his rules would cost me little, but to him it would mean a lot. I recognized that sometimes he really did have a point & in insisting on getting my own way all the time without regards to his feelings or needs, I was in someway diminishing myself.

I'm listening to Obama's Audacity of Hope on my Ipod as I get some desk work done today. I also use it when I'm on the treadmill. I had one of those moments of revelation today as I'm in the middle of chapter two. He speaks of Values and how he learned them. He credits his mother mostly, but in the above quote he speaks of himself in High School and those typical rebellions we see many teenagers have. He speaks a few pages later that we, as a country, are experiencing an "empathy deficit". That principle of "how does that make you feel" that we teach our infants with, but somehow have lost touch with as we got older.

It's like when I was watching television last night. I'm hooked on a show called True Beauty. At first glance, its a real fluff show. A bunch of snobby "pretty" people thrown together and given challenges. But the underlying challenge that they don't know about until they are eliminated from the show is that their search is more for inner beauty than for outer. That those small things you say or do does make a difference. Do you still live by the GOLDEN RULE?

Stampin' Up interuppts this blog to bring you...

The new SU catalog! No I'm not a rep, which is why I'm only now seeing this. I also don't have shows or a regular customer/hostess. I buy when the whim strikes me but I'm always excited to see new. ;) I wonder if I have a shopping problem?


At any rate, stay tuned for my likes and dislikes. Oh yeah...no I'm not looking for a cns. I have a few friends in various states who are more than happy to help me with my order!

21:365

I've mentioned it a few times in previous posts. Had I been updating this on a daily basis like I should have been (LOL) you would have seen posts from earlier days that mention driving and starting to drive. I got my driver's license this past September on my Birthday. My 32nd birthday to be specific. It's been much harder to handle because we own a stick shift and Jack isn't a patient person. But we rented an Automatic Transmission car and did some driving around to get me situated and scheduled the drive. Once I had my license, I taught myself Stick shift on my husband's car. But his wisdom tooth extraction made it necessary that I go farther than the grocery store a mile away. I needed to know that I could handle the stick shift among other cars in case he needed to go to the doctor. I'm proud to say I did it, and the following work day after his surgery, he announced that I since I did so well, I would now be driving myself to work! I was properly shocked and panicked.

Luckily, it was also a floating holiday for me and he had originally intended to work from home. He discovered that he didn't have access to all the tools he needed and was going to go into work. Armed with the knowledge that I would be driving to work the next day, I opted to tag along for some "practice" time in that area. But I got distracted and instead went shopping. ;) I digress though. This picture was taken on my 2nd day of driving. As I was warming up the car to go drive to his work (we carpool...in the AM, he drives to work and I drive to my work from there)I realized that I didn't have a picture of me "driving". So I set the camera on Timer and took this picture while the car warmed up. Isn't it an exciting milestone?

20:365

Inauguration day was a big day for many people. Many people choose to commemorate the day by taking a picture of their local newspaper, advertisements from Obama's campaign, their family members watching the inauguration and some just the TV itself. I set up my camera remotely to capture me watching it on my computer at work and discovered the added benefit of having also captured a shot of Mr President himself in the middle of his oath. The smile on both are faces are because of the blunder the Chief Justice made in delivering the oath. OOPS! Just goes to show you that we're all human, prone to simple mistakes in moments of excitement.

19:365

When I chose my word for the year on Ali Edwards word for the year challenge I picked the word Hope. Emotionally, the last nine months have been difficult. When She issued the challenge, I originally that that HOPE was something I needed in my life. Hope for the peace we all wish for, hope for better outcomes in personal situations...HOPE. I wasn't sure how I would scrapbook it, but I wanted this word. Imagine my surprise when I found it all over the place!

18:365

LISTEN HERE MISSY! He looks so serious doesn't he. He was still sick and just now getting over his tooth extraction from the previous day. He actually texted me while I was gone and said "Vanilla & Chocolate Ice Cream Pops an puddings please" When I got the message I was weirded out. I didn't recall asking him anyting because I wasn't ready to head home yet. But I called him I discovered that he was being preemptive.

This is a picture of him just pointing the drumsticks at Katie during an evening of Rock Band. What a fun game! When you were a kid, do you recall playing that game with your siblings where you look at them and tell them that "I'm not touching you!"? That's what he was doing. Being his normal screwball self. Without the pain from his tooth, he's a much more jovial person.

17:365 In where I get the Fat Boy to cry.

Meet my nephew Aiden-Ikaika. He's a natural ham for the camera and the unfortunate part of that is that getting a picture like this is hard to get. You can literally get him to calm down by just pointing a camera at him. I love playing with my nephews and watching them grow. Watching Aiden grow hasn't been anyless gratifying than his older brother 9 years ago...

Did I mention I have no regrets in making him cry? ;) nothing serious, just teased him into it.

16:365

PENS?!?! why PENS? you ask? I was preparing for my first show of the year, my first live show in over two months. I had my fliers printed, and I even made sure that all my pens could WRITE! I was excited and nervous at the same time. The bad thing about taking a break from your Direct Sales business, is that you're nervous about getting started again. Thankfully, it was a great show and the hostess was very appreciative. The even neater part is that I made my first freeway drive. I also discovered that I have a very heavy foot and once I get more comfortable behind the wheel, I'm going to have to watch that carefully.

15:365

Before you start thinking this is an odd picture, let me explain. I carpool to work. The night prior to the 15th, Jack had a problem sleeping due to tooth pain. He didn't immediately communicate that it was tooth issues though until THAT night. He had gone home early on that Thursday and went to the dentist finally. But he fought the idea because he didn't want to leave me rideless. Thankfully one of the things my work provides is a Guaranteed Ride Home program for registered carpool members. I choose to take advantage of it because I ALSO had pool that evening. I didn't want to spend all evening on public transit either though. It was my first cab ride and it's NOT as big of a deal as I thought it would be. Just a guy driving me home and I sat in the back getting some reading done for work.

14:365

Most people won't say that the post office is the bane of their existance. I think I go AT LEAST every two weeks to mail of large envelopes or pkgs. On this day, the 14th day of the year, I FINALLY made it to the post office. Now despite the fact that I just now said that I go every two weeks, I haven't managed to go or even get my husband to go in over two months. On this day, I mailed off three pkgs. One for a swap, another a return and the third a gift for a friend. I felt REALLY really BAD because that swap was the one that was two months late. Thankfully though, she wasn't mad at me. I'm driving though, so it's been sooo much easier to get those packages off on time!

13:365

Meet the Weightloss Wonders! Wonder how the weight is gone, wonder how I'm going to accomplish my goals..wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder....Who wrote the book of LOVE! lol.... ok so back on track. This is our weight loss challenge team at work. We've got goals we want to accomplish and we home that this challenge will help keep us on track, we hope that we can encourage each other to reach our goals. It doesn't always work for everyone, and I'm sure WE ALL have a similar type challenge at your workplace. The problem for many people is in the follow through. Whether the "lack" of motivation comes from disappointment, or from lack of encouragement differs for many people. Given that it's my "only" goal this year, I hope I can make it. I've lost about 3 pounds so far, and hope to lose about 9 pounds by the end of march beginning of April, but we'll have to see.

12:365

Meet Dale. He's one of my co-workers and a great outlet for venting and questions. Many times I feel extremely naive with the questions I ask him, but he doesn't usually mind. He'll quip a quick joke and ALWAYS has something to say. Recently, we both started to make diet changes and are adding exercise to our "diets" in order to lose weight and feel better about ourselves. It's working so far, we've lost some weight and made positive changes in our daily habits, but it's a slow process. I'm glad to have a good friend at work like him. Like him, I enjoy a small snack and a good book during break time. I think it's an important thing to take your breaks at work. It gives you time to yourself in order to recenter and also gets you away from the stressors at work.

Dale and I both work in a very phone-centric department. People call ALL DAY LONG. It can drive you crazy to see ear your phone ring after ring after ring. Sometimes I come home and don't want to TOUCH my phone much less pick it up and talk on it. That idea doesn't help my Partylite business much, but I'm working on it. Do you have a friend like Dale at work?