30 - A New Decade

I began the day with an email from a co-worker, just chatting, and it's his 32 birthday. So I of course, chatted about my birthday in April, and I realized I will be 30.
I don't feel any kind of remorse, dread, depression what so ever, but when you type 30. I suddenly realized, I'm about to change decades in my life. Weird.
30...what perks are there? Hmm....not old enough for the senior discount. I can already drive, vote, rent a car, and buy alcohol. Hmmm.....30? Does this mean I need to start dying the few white hairs I have brown again or start buying those calcium vitamins for my bones? Not sure.
40, I get the over-the-hill banners, toilet paper, balloons, and grim reaper birthday cards. But 30 seems to be the odd birthday. Not old, not young, and definitely would be pointed out as the odd ball if I showed up to a fraternity party or high school prom.
Having kids at the age of 30 changes your course of action. Not a good time to go back to school and get my masters degree, I don't have the time to write 30 page papers on the importance of Paganini's musical abilities in today's society or ponder the real meaning behind the book "Metamorphosis" by Franz Kaufka. Right now I am more focused on how to get Joey to read extremely important things like: Sam met Tom and add 1 + 2.
I was thinking, 30, I should have a party! A nice social get together, some finger foods and drinks. No kids, just adults. Then I realized, that would be a party with John and I. We don't really have any other people we socialize with, except family, and I am not sure if that sounds like a good idea. I think I'll pass on that....
Life takes interesting turns, can't wait to see where the ride takes me next. If my husband is listening, maybe Vegas for my 30th birthday is a good idea!

Duty Without Pain

Do something every day that you don't want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain. -Mark Twain

Came across this quote today, and it couldn't be more fitting for how I feel today. I don't really want to work, I really don't' want to deal with my normal day to day activities, and I definitely don't want to get up on a treadmill, but maybe I should do it anyway. I have been busy at work and I haven't had time for random thoughts, but when I saw this today, I figured, I'll set aside the time, just to send this one out.
It's not my idea of fun, hauling myself out of bed early to walk on a treadmill, not to mention, you don't really go anywhere and staring at the cobwebs in my laundry room gives me more reason to stay in bed. But I read somewhere that if you do something for 21 days without stop, it becomes a habit. BUT I still haven't decided if I want a new habit, least of all a new habit that makes me sweat....gross. Plus I don't know if I can squeeze in treadmill time after dinner and before American Idol, a girl has to have her priorities straight.
So all, tomorrow, do something you don't want to do. Maybe it'll be fun......or torturous...at least for the first 21 days. Unless it's dishes, laundry, or vacuuming, those are painful duties, not matter what you do!
Food for thought if nothing else.

Running Straight to the Goal

"So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step." (1 Corinthians 9:26)

I am working on my "weight" issues. This is not a fun task.
I have been good since Saturday, and really all I want to do is eat a Snickers bar, then hit Chipolte, and maybe Bennigans for a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and fries, with ranch and on my way back from there, I may end up at Starbucks for a venti no whip mocha and one of their old fashioned doughnuts....But I guess I'll pass on the food frenzied binge and pray for divine intervention.
I've been good, today I had a wonderful lunch of rice, with ham and lettuce sandwhiches....that's just because we are out of bread....will this torture ever end? I can feel my body going into healthy food over load. And someone in this office had brownies today, I could smell them!! Whoever that person was, is no longer on my list of favorite co-workers.
I am wondering if it would be easier to do lippo suction every year. Maybe I can budget for that instead of depriving myself of nachos, buttery popcorn, and spoonfuls of chocolate ice cream. Then again, I don't think they can lippo suction heart failure and diabetes away. What a downer.
My step-mom sent me this:
"Challenges are what makes life interesting; overcoming them is what
makes life meaningful."
Isnt' that the truth. It made me really think about what I am going to have to do to get myself out of my comfort zone and move on and up. I can do it. I graduated college, survived childbirth twice, made it thru my parents divorce, a car accident, several lay-offs, and I have worked with mortgage brokers. I can do anything!! So tomorrow, will be more lettuce and ham sandwhiches, at least until I go to the store, and I'll make it thru. I'll avoid driving by Starbucks, and when I watch Joey eat his Snicker's bar, I'll walk away.
The hard part will be exercise....I can feel the dread swelling up inside me. I don't want to treadmill my way into healthy weigh paradise. I really don't feel like doing squats, crunches, push ups, or jogging. I really don't like to sweat, and I don't like entertaining the thought of going to a gym where I will be next to the chick in the skin tight leggings. You know what girl I am talking about....the work-out freak. Thanks but no thanks. I may have to stay home and watch FIT TV, or that lippo suction thing is sounding good again.

Here's a few more quotes, maybe they'll help me "sweat" a little!

"I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power." (Philippians 4:13)


"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20)

Clutter, Junk, and Organizational Disasters

I know, it's been some time since I have random-ized. But I haven't been at work much, due to the blizzards and the holidays. So here I am back at it, in full swing! Or something like that.
Every year the holidays create a ton of clutter and junk in our house. It's everywhere. Stacked on tables, couches, under beds, stuffed on shelves, desks, and counter tops. Everything is a clutter of new stuff, old stuff, good stuff, bad stuff, and what-was-I-thinking stuff. It's a organizational nightmare, and I am a freak about these things, so my patience in my house is running thin. My goal this year is to take the space I have and make it look like I have twice what I really do have. Not sure if this is attainable, but I'll give it a shot.
I am bound to end up at Wal-Mart buying every shape, size, and color of plastic container, some with drawers, some without, and I will stuff them to the brim with toys, clothes, ribbon and tissue paper, tools, shoes, and miscellaneous odds and ends, like the LED emergency lights we got for Christmas, and the cans of cat food still taped together from "Santa" to our cats.
I am bound to come across items I forgot about. I will come across items I have been missing and looking for and inevitably bought replacements for. I will clean out, throw away, and donate a gaggle of kids toys and clothes, much to the disappointment of my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law. I have a small house, I can't keep everything, besides, how many worn pairs of used pants can I possibly keep in my house? And the kids won't miss the stuff they haven't played with in over a year. If it has time to collect dust in my house and get buried by other toys, and if we forget we had it, someone else will probably get better use out of it. I am sharing the joy with others!!
I have run every idea I can think of thru my mind, to create more space in my house. From shelves to sheds. From containers to hanging baskets. I have thought of it all. Short of buying a new house, I will have to rely on the creative genius of Rubber Maid and Sauder's CHEAP do-it-yourself furniture. I will make the clutter and mass of stuff look like it has a place and it all fits. So what if I have wall to wall furniture and every empty nook, cranny, and sliver of space, has been filled with a Rubber Maid container, basket, or "organizational tool".
I do this every year, and this year will be no different. Hopefully, I'll be able to abandon many items at Goodwill, or donate them to a member of my family who really needs LED emergency lights, or a wood-framed calendar holder. I am sure someone needs the extremely cheap toy tool bench, or the 400 McDonald's Happy Meal toys.
So my creative organizational genius will be called into play, and hopefully, I can turn the hurricane of junk, into a manageable storm.
Happy New Year All!