So, upon recommendation of a much wiser and cooler mom than me (Starts with Jo, ends with Anna Reid...), I'm reading a book called "Living Simply with Children." I got it last night and read the last chapter first to testify to my consumer-mentality...can't wait to finish something, you know? Turns out it was the most timely chapter, though, as it advises on how to actually do what you really want to do to celebrate Christmas and not a thing more or less. Of course, I always wanna get my friends to do this stuff with me! So, if you're interested, the first step to a simpler Christmas is to do some Soul Searching, says the book. Here are the questions you're supposed to ask yourself and your family:
1. What did you love most about Christmas as a child? sights, smells, sounds, feelings
2. What do you enjoy about Christmas now?
3. What do you want your focus to be during the holidays?
4. Describe your "perfect" Christmas.
5. What aspects of Christmas do you truly dislike? Possibilities here might include in-law gift exchange, the whole Christmas card ordeal (amen!), traveling to three relatives' homes on Christmas Eve. Then again, these may be your favorites.
Then, you're supposed to summarize all this into two lists of "Keep/Add" & "Get Rid Of/Change".
Some websites, if you're curious:
http://www.simpleliving.org/
www.adbusters.org
www.simplifytheholidays.org
http://www.newdream.org/holiday/index.php
I'd be interested to know how any of my friends are 'simplifying' this year. And I'll post what we come up with.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Potential Career Paths i.e. Ways You May Find Me Embarassing Myself:
So, mostly this is just a list for me to keep all the latest Dreameries in my head straight. They are more "Dreameries" than "Dreams" in that they are being Dreamed, like at Cold Stone, the Cream is being Creamed and is therefore a Creamery...
These are all the things I could be...someday...or someday sooner than that. These are things I'm thinking about doing so often that they make me sick that I'm not doing them. So I will write them down in hopes that maybe it will make something happen.
So, I guess I should come out with the fact that I've decided me and the Two Year Old need some time apart. He has demonstrated his willingness to move on by his sudden interest in three-year-old blondes. Sylvie, Azura, and now Sicily (he has a thing for unusual names, apparently, as well) have all been subject to his amorous attention--being followed around a room, randomly held against their will in a side bear-hug, and in Sicily's case, a relentless desire to feed her grapes and popcorn. Many a poor girl has received my judgemental SAHM-eye when telling me they just "can't imagine staying home" and to them, I would like to say, I'm kind of sorry. I'm sorry because NOW I feel you, but also, I'm kind of annoyed still by you that you didn't even give it a try, at least get to know your kid a bit before you decide they'd make you miserable, but then again, maybe its better not to go there...? but all judgemental eyes aside, I am ready for some (this phrase makes me kinda queasy to eek out) Me Time.
Part of what helped me conclude this: I left Anderson with Amanda and her two girls on Tuesday to take Berea to a dr's appointment and when I got back he was FINE. Can you believe it? Approx. 5 hours away and Nothing Happened. Except a trip to the park, a walk around the block, sidewalk chalk hopscotching, and apparently an encounter with a Dinosaur, he later shared with us at dinner. And he seemed so happy when I got home!
Ahem. Dreameries. Here goes.
Hem Me In. The name of a sewing shop I want to open in downtown Siloam. The name is taken from Psalm 139. I imagine starting out doing alterations, etc. with the hopes of designing and sewing Clothes I Would Wear. And hopefully, you would too. If you're a girl. Ideally, the shop would be a little sliver of a building in between two other shops. To further illustrate the name, see. And how fun would it be to also pedal interesting/vintage/rare fabric outta there? Ok, so this is the dream that is currently closest to my heart and furthest from my reach. But me and this dream: we're in love. And I could probably do this with minimal Other People Raising My Kids.
Beauty School Not-Drop-Out. I really only kinda want to do this, so that's why I emphasize not dropping out. But I can see myself talking to lots of different gals all day long and making them like their hair. And getting to smell all those chemicals and perfumes all day. I walked into Sally's the other day, and you'd think I opened the door to a bakery, it made me so happy. Meghan, my sweet friend with superior hair and hair-fixing supplies, appeared to become ill. Also, I hear they make lotsa money, even tips during school. Cash, as Anderson calls it. So, I can imagine Jesse bringing the babies by the shop in the evening and him asking, "Mommy Cash? Mommy Cash? Muffin!" Cause they would be on their way to the coffee shop, of course.
So, my options here are to put both babies in some form of daycare. EeeK. And probably an unfamiliar form, as we will probably rely on government funding to be able to afford it. Double EeeK. And I still really can't imagine doing this with Berea. She is only eight months old and I don't think I'm ready to let someone else see her first steps, hear her first words, etc. Ugh, I miss her already, thinking about it. Does anyone know of any bring-your-baby-to-beauty-school programs? As I mentioned earlier, I think Anderson would actually enjoy being away from Momma some during the day, but Berea's just hitting Stranger Anxiety stage, and I think it would be No Fun for either of us.
Some of you knew about me wanting to be a teacher. I don't know what grade, really, but I was thinking maybe Kindergarten or 3rd and so I looked into the JBU Advance Education program and it turns out I have a GPA of 1.6. Eek, how embarassing. Anyway, obviously, I have some classes to re-take in order to be admissable into that program. It would be a pretty ideal schedule, just one or two nights a week away from home for a couple years. And I guess my options are to take the classes I need to make up (about 9) at the UofA or NWACC. This is probably my most respectable option, as far as education, I'm just having a hard time with the long-termed-ness of the plan. While it would provide for some out-of-the-house time, it wouldn't provide immediate income, which is a desperate need around here.
Also, I thought about just getting a plain ol' jobby job. Hobby Lobby offers $10 an hour and would maybe hire me this time of year. Again, is it worth the time away from the fam?
Also, I have a Mary Kay business that is sinking fast. I wish I knew how to get my poor friends to make me rich. But it just ain't happenin. Sorry, Mary, you did your best. I, on the other hand, probably did not.
Hmmm...what else, in the dreamery...OH, if I were a teacher, when I became a teacher, I thought it would be fun to write and illustrate children's books in the summer. Using stories and photographs I'd taken of my kids that year. I guess I could be doing this already?
One last dream: a little bakery. That delivered desserts at all hours of the night. This one developed while watching "Stranger than Fiction," probably late at night.
I would love to hear my sincere friends' sincere thoughts on these early morning meanderings. Thank you.
These are all the things I could be...someday...or someday sooner than that. These are things I'm thinking about doing so often that they make me sick that I'm not doing them. So I will write them down in hopes that maybe it will make something happen.
So, I guess I should come out with the fact that I've decided me and the Two Year Old need some time apart. He has demonstrated his willingness to move on by his sudden interest in three-year-old blondes. Sylvie, Azura, and now Sicily (he has a thing for unusual names, apparently, as well) have all been subject to his amorous attention--being followed around a room, randomly held against their will in a side bear-hug, and in Sicily's case, a relentless desire to feed her grapes and popcorn. Many a poor girl has received my judgemental SAHM-eye when telling me they just "can't imagine staying home" and to them, I would like to say, I'm kind of sorry. I'm sorry because NOW I feel you, but also, I'm kind of annoyed still by you that you didn't even give it a try, at least get to know your kid a bit before you decide they'd make you miserable, but then again, maybe its better not to go there...? but all judgemental eyes aside, I am ready for some (this phrase makes me kinda queasy to eek out) Me Time.
Part of what helped me conclude this: I left Anderson with Amanda and her two girls on Tuesday to take Berea to a dr's appointment and when I got back he was FINE. Can you believe it? Approx. 5 hours away and Nothing Happened. Except a trip to the park, a walk around the block, sidewalk chalk hopscotching, and apparently an encounter with a Dinosaur, he later shared with us at dinner. And he seemed so happy when I got home!
Ahem. Dreameries. Here goes.
Hem Me In. The name of a sewing shop I want to open in downtown Siloam. The name is taken from Psalm 139. I imagine starting out doing alterations, etc. with the hopes of designing and sewing Clothes I Would Wear. And hopefully, you would too. If you're a girl. Ideally, the shop would be a little sliver of a building in between two other shops. To further illustrate the name, see. And how fun would it be to also pedal interesting/vintage/rare fabric outta there? Ok, so this is the dream that is currently closest to my heart and furthest from my reach. But me and this dream: we're in love. And I could probably do this with minimal Other People Raising My Kids.
Beauty School Not-Drop-Out. I really only kinda want to do this, so that's why I emphasize not dropping out. But I can see myself talking to lots of different gals all day long and making them like their hair. And getting to smell all those chemicals and perfumes all day. I walked into Sally's the other day, and you'd think I opened the door to a bakery, it made me so happy. Meghan, my sweet friend with superior hair and hair-fixing supplies, appeared to become ill. Also, I hear they make lotsa money, even tips during school. Cash, as Anderson calls it. So, I can imagine Jesse bringing the babies by the shop in the evening and him asking, "Mommy Cash? Mommy Cash? Muffin!" Cause they would be on their way to the coffee shop, of course.
So, my options here are to put both babies in some form of daycare. EeeK. And probably an unfamiliar form, as we will probably rely on government funding to be able to afford it. Double EeeK. And I still really can't imagine doing this with Berea. She is only eight months old and I don't think I'm ready to let someone else see her first steps, hear her first words, etc. Ugh, I miss her already, thinking about it. Does anyone know of any bring-your-baby-to-beauty-school programs? As I mentioned earlier, I think Anderson would actually enjoy being away from Momma some during the day, but Berea's just hitting Stranger Anxiety stage, and I think it would be No Fun for either of us.
Some of you knew about me wanting to be a teacher. I don't know what grade, really, but I was thinking maybe Kindergarten or 3rd and so I looked into the JBU Advance Education program and it turns out I have a GPA of 1.6. Eek, how embarassing. Anyway, obviously, I have some classes to re-take in order to be admissable into that program. It would be a pretty ideal schedule, just one or two nights a week away from home for a couple years. And I guess my options are to take the classes I need to make up (about 9) at the UofA or NWACC. This is probably my most respectable option, as far as education, I'm just having a hard time with the long-termed-ness of the plan. While it would provide for some out-of-the-house time, it wouldn't provide immediate income, which is a desperate need around here.
Also, I thought about just getting a plain ol' jobby job. Hobby Lobby offers $10 an hour and would maybe hire me this time of year. Again, is it worth the time away from the fam?
Also, I have a Mary Kay business that is sinking fast. I wish I knew how to get my poor friends to make me rich. But it just ain't happenin. Sorry, Mary, you did your best. I, on the other hand, probably did not.
Hmmm...what else, in the dreamery...OH, if I were a teacher, when I became a teacher, I thought it would be fun to write and illustrate children's books in the summer. Using stories and photographs I'd taken of my kids that year. I guess I could be doing this already?
One last dream: a little bakery. That delivered desserts at all hours of the night. This one developed while watching "Stranger than Fiction," probably late at night.
I would love to hear my sincere friends' sincere thoughts on these early morning meanderings. Thank you.
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