Evolving Update

Back in January I posted about my One Little Word for the year "evolve".

If you haven't read the post that started me on my journey for the year, you can check it out HERE

I thought it was time for me to give you a bit of an update. It is also my way of making myself accountable for actually making some progress.

1. I have decided to embrace my hair color--- not the one that I have been using to cover the ever-growing amount of gray. I am talking about my own personal hair color, INCLUDING the gray. I have not colored my hair since January 21. I have been growing it out and haven't had a trim either. (I really do need to schedule one, but I am kind of liking having a bit more length.)
2. I am reading a book about finding happiness and I am trying to make a definitive effort to find and keep my happiness and my smile more evident on a daily basis. You can read more about that in THIS POST. You can also follow along with my weekly posts about the "triggers" that we can all use to help increase our happiness level.
3. In my effort to give to others I have been trying to do more "little things" to help others: paying library fines for students, dropping off goodies at the local traffic department to thank them for their hard work this winter, opening more doors for others, and just making time to be there when people need me.
4. I have also kept a promise that I made to my children a VERY LONG time ago. Before my husband and I married I made a cross stitch stocking for him. I had been promising my children that I would also make one for them. I actually started them several years ago, but I had never found the time to actually finish the stitching and assemble them. I promised myself that THIS would be the year. I am happy to say that I have kept that promise!

Now we just have to wait until Christmas to hang them!

I wish I had some good news to report about my weight loss, but it is holding pretty steady. I just can't seem to give up some of the foods that I really enjoy and I haven't found time to add exercise into my daily routine. I am NOT giving up though!

Cleaning Calendar----- Trial One

Yesterday it finally happened----

After two weeks of Christmas break and an unexpected extra week of time off thanks to snow, ice, and the polar vortex, the day came when I had to return to school. This meant a return to early mornings, after school meetings, and paperwork.

But this time things were a bit different.....

When I chose my word for the year I decided to focus on evolving, changing, and rediscovering the joys of living. One of the big steps in making that happen has been to begin thinking about ways that I can actually reclaim some time for myself.

Like any other household, a large part of our time is spent cleaning. When I get started, it inevitably turns into a cleaning marathon. My daughter (Bless her heart) often complains that when I start cleaning I keep cleaning and it turns into chore after chore after chore. What might have been a Saturday afternoon of fun becomes a Saturday afternoon of exhaustion because of a Saturday morning full of cleaning.

This is the year that changes!

While cruising through Pinterest a while back I came across a great post about a Cleaning Calendar. Jennifer Scott (Bakerette as her blog is named) is a woman after my own heart. She really wanted a clean house but she wanted to break things down into smaller, more manageable bites, so she created a daily/weekly kind of breakdown that would enable her to have set things to do each day rather than try to get it all done on a Saturday.

I have downloaded her calendar, shown it to my hubby, and shared it with my daughter. This is only our second day trying to use it, but I think it may work. Things were much smoother yesterday and I actually got to relax for just a few minutes in the evening (even after our weekly after school faculty meeting).

Don't get me wrong..... the piles of things here and there are still bugging me. I have to figure out how to get dear daughter and sweet hubby to realize that stacks of things (organized though they may be) can still be clutter and need a home other than the kitchen table. Or maybe...... I will just have to change and learn to live with their stacks-------

Here is a link to the blog entry about Jennifer's Cleaning Calendar, just in case some of you would like to give it a try too!

Getting Organized: A Cleaning Calendar 

Living In-Between

A while back, I came across a description of THIS BOOK online:

I was intrigued and added it to my Christmas "wish list" that I make for my sweet hubby. On Christmas morning I found it inside one of the many packages that I received. As soon as the scraps of wrapping paper had been bagged, the new clothing had found a home in the closet, and some semblance of order had returned, I began reading.

In the weeks that have followed, I have found myself highlighting quote after quote.

I have always been one of those people who tried desperately to store away in my memory every significant moment that I could. I became a scrapbooker early in my son's life and he is now nineteen. I have book after book filled with photos and journaling documenting his achievements, his milestones, the laughter, and the tears. I continued this practice with my daughter who is now sixteen.

When I read on page 17 of the book, "Many of us fail to recognize that the best moments are the ones happening right now," I thought for a brief moment that I could pat myself on the back. After all, I had documented all of those best moments, right?

As I read on, I began to doubt myself.... I found myself agreeing that the important things, the events that really shape us are sometimes the things that we overlook- those minutes BETWEEN events.

I spent last year waiting to turn 50........... knowing that it was coming, and wondering what would change. Well, guess what? Nothing really happened. The day came, the day went, and I was the same person. That is part of the reason that I selected my word for this year- EVOLVE.

I want to take time during 2014 to really examine who I am, what is it that has shaped me, who do I want to be for the remaining years that I have? I want to enjoy each moment, not agonize over it. I want to LIVE in those in-between moments. I don't want to be one of those people that Jeff Goins talks about....... the ones who are "speeding up and skipping over, missing the important as we scan for the urgent." I want to be one of those people who is experiencing the meaningful things in life.

I have not finished the book yet; I am taking my time, trying to digest each chapter and see what the significance is for me personally, but I can honestly say that I recommend the book whole heartedly!

One Little Word....

A couple of years ago I was introduced to the concept of selecting a single word for the coming year. It was meant to be a way to help you focus on one particular aspect of your life that you wanted to change or refine..... kind of a new take on resolutions, I suppose.

Anyway, at the time I selected the word "reduce" and it worked. I took the year to focus on reducing my stress and reducing the size of my waistline. I was able to achieve both.

Last year, I didn't really join in. I just kind of drifted through the year........ living.

As I prepared to enter 2014, I wanted to once again join in the One Little Word movement, but I really wasn't very sure of the word to choose. I have spent the last week or so thinking about it and trying to decide what the one little thing would be for me for the upcoming twelve months. Finally, it came to me.....

My word for 2014 is.......

Allow me to take a minute to explain my word choice...

In looking over my life in recent years and what I wanted for the future I kept seeing a variety of elements of my life that I wanted to change. At the root of all of them was a change in ME.

I have reached that milestone age- 50. This year I will become an empty nester, as both of my children go off to college. Glenn has (semi) retired and is rediscovering his love for music, singing, and community service. I think the time has come for me to begin my own personal evolution.

I need to rediscover the things about me and about life that I love and use those to help shape my future. I need to allow myself to make changes and grow as a person... though I know that some of those changes will be difficult.

I looked up the definition of the word evolve and saw that it was "to undergo gradual change; to develop". That is exactly what I hope to accomplish this year.. I want to EVOLVE as a woman, a wife, a mother, and a human being and to allow myself to stumble a bit as I do so.  I want to take my time.... to explore just who I am at this stage in my life.... to rediscover the things that make me uniquely me... to develop into an even better version of me