The Wonderfully Rottenest Week

A few months ago I discovered an 8 week challenge on a blog I occasionally visit. It immediately sparked my interest so I picked up pen and paper and jotted it down. Weeks went by and I occasionally thought about the challenge but didn't do anything about it. Recently it has been brought to my mind several times, so last weekend I reviewed the paper and with determination I started this challenge last Monday. That's the wonderful part of my week.

Now for the rotten part. My week did not get off to a great start. You know how it is when a lot of "stuff" happens. None of it is necessarily "big stuff", but sometimes a lot of "little stuff" all added together feels like "big stuff"... and I felt like I had a lot of little stuff happening. And it really, truly just kept happening all week. 

Here is an example: we have a small construction job going on in our home. I hired a professional to do the job so that we wouldn't have the stress... HA! In order to do the job some of our carpet has been pulled back, there has been framing and drywall installed, consequently there is sheetrock dust everywhere. The excitement I had felt in anticipation of the project, and in the first couple of days of construction, was suddenly replaced with genuine regret that I had made this choice. Even worse was the knowledge of the money I had spent and the remainder I would have to pay upon completion of the project. This project has been a big part of my "stuff" this week.

Part of the 8 week challenge is to write in a gratitude journal. I have actually been keeping a gratitude journal off and on for many years. I think everyone knows the concept of the gratitude journal. Each night before I go to bed I write down five things which I am grateful for that day, but being in a not-so-pleasant mood all week I found it difficult to write down things I was grateful for. On days like these you are tempted to journal that you are only grateful for your cozy bed and clean sheets; ummm... I've actually written that before. But even during my frustrating week I could not ignore the fact that I have been blessed immensely and have much to be grateful for. Monday I wrote that I was grateful for Adam and Tanner, two grandsons who had birthdays that day (not twins.... cousins). Wednesday I was grateful for a friend at work who compassionately listened to me cry about sheetrock (literally) and offered good advice. Thursday I wrote that I was grateful to receive a card in the mail from my missionary, a card full of "best friend" stuff that the two of us share. Friday night I wrote in my little journal that I was grateful for my own trials. There are people all around us suffering heartache, grief, sorrow, illness, death, loss of employment, and many others major trials. I learned many years ago when going through the worst experience of my life, to never discredit somebody else's trials. No matter how big or how small... it is their trial.

This morning I awakened at 6:30 and decided "what the heck... I will get up and get my day started" (referring to the challenge listed below my wild card for the coming week will be get up an hour earlier). Eating 6 servings of fruits/veggies and drinking LOTS of water and not eating cookies at the Deli paid off when I weighed in at Weight Watchers at 8 am. By 11:00 I had cleaned my entire kitchen, done laundry, swifted away sheetrock dust, vacuumed, and overall accomplished more than I do most Saturdays. 

So regardless of the "rottenness" of my week (which was fueled by me and only me), week one of the 8 week challenge was a success. I could have easily given up when "stuff" started to happen, but I didn't. I hope the goals I work on will become better habits. I hope I am less grumpy this week; I'm sure my co-workers hope I'm not grumpy at all. I hope I see more of the wonderful and less of the rotten. And no matter what goes on around me, it's really up to me to make that happen.

Here's the challenge:

1- Read 20 minutes of holy writ each day

2- Eat 6 servings fruit/veggies each day

3- Drink 6 cups of water per day

4- Write in gratitude journal each day

5- Exercise for 30 minutes 5 days a week

6- Consume no more than 1 serving refined sugar per day

7- No eating after 8 pm

8- Work on a personal goal of your choosing

9- Wild card (change weekly)

10- Record daily point tally

Silver Bullet Too

 

Those nearest and dearest to me know how much I loved my car... Silver Bullet. Unfortunately we had to sell a car due to the fact that Caitlin's mission required her to bring a bike, not a car. We attempted to sell her car Walt, but let's face it... few people want a PT Cruiser. We had an interested buyer who preferred the Bullet over Walt... I mean who wouldn't? When Michael told me the interested party wanted to buy my car I burst into tears. Michael gave me his are-you-seriously-crying-over-a-car face. I was so ashamed, I mean it really was a blessing to be rid of one unnecessary car. So in December I bravely said goodbye to Silver Bullet forever and became the proud owner of Walt. Now I will mention here that Walt is the namesake of the creator of the happiest place on earth, but there was little about Walt to be happy about, I didn't even feel confident that I could drive Walt to the happiest place on earth. In Walt's early days with us he caused a few problems, but we thought he had overcome those. Not long after I claimed Walt as my own he was up to his old antics. It was annoying. I didn't want to murmur or complain, at least I had a car, but eventually I said to Michael "Walt has got to go". So we went to look for a new car. In Walt's defense it really wasn't his fault that he was a lemon within 24 hours of his purchase (that's a whole other story) in August 2012. In good conscience I felt Walt could only return from whence he came, so last month we took him back to the dealership where we got him and we returned home with... Silver Bullet Too. There is a possibility that a few more tears were shed.... but not for Walt. I'm really grateful to have a reliable car that can take me beyond the office. I'm going to give SBT the chance to prove his worth by taking him on a road trip in a few weeks, and we will be going to my happiest place on earth.

Singing Time

I think that this is the longest I have ever gone between posts. I'm going to do better, I have a plan, eventually I will implement it.

In my last post I mentioned my new church assignment as primary chorister. I love it! Each month we learn a new song that goes along with the monthly theme. For March our song is from the hymn book... "I Stand All Amazed". I felt strongly that while learning such a sacred hymn, fun and games and "hiding notes" would not be appropriate.

I referred to the churches "Sharing Time Outline" for an idea on teaching the song, and with a little added help from an idea I saw on Pinterest, felt confident about my singing time preparation. The first Sunday in March I went to primary ready to teach the song.

When the Jr. Primary children (ages 3-7) came to primary I quickly realized teaching the song to them that day wasn't going to happen. They were full of wiggles. Even spending our 20 minutes together singing wiggle songs didn't quite get the wiggles out. The children in Sr. Primary (ages 8-11) learned the song beautifully. My heart was touched. I knew that I was going to have to come up with a plan to capture the Jr. Primary's attention the next week in order to learn such a "non-wiggly" song as "I Stand All Amazed".

Our Jr. Primary is probably half the size of our Sr. Primary. I came up with a plan a little out of my comfort zone, but I felt confident it could work. I took my favorite quilt to primary and when it was time to sing I spread my quilt on the floor and invited all of the children to come sit on it. I sat down with them and we covered every inch of that quilt.

I showed the same pictures to the younger children that I had shared with the older children the previous week. We discussed the big words in the song. I asked them to show me their "amazed" faces and their "confused" faces. I sang a line to them and had them sing the line back to me. They were so sweet. Such a simple idea but something different that brought us together and kept their attention and helped them to learn a sacred song without fun and games and "hiding notes".