Quick, I have 5 minutes

Yep, five minutes to begin a new challenge. New year, fresh chance at starting this thing.  30, 30 day challenges and blog at least 20 days of that 30.

So...this morning I have about five minutes to come up with a challenge.  What will it be?  Something diet seems very apropos. 

Thirty days to lose 10 lbs.  Okay...its on.  Gotta go weigh myself and think of a plan.  I will likely just count calories and stay under my limit using my app. 

So here goes...day one.  I want to lose 10 lbs in 30 days.  February 16 is the cut off and I WILL make it.

Where did 2016 go...

Where did 2016 go? I never blogged once.   I know where it went...in my job.  I started a new job in November of 2015 and seriously, I have never been so busy.  I guess I should have been more grateful for all those years I was self employed and made my own schedule.  Now, I work for "the man" and schedule my life around him (well, a corporation, but "him" is a metaphor for "not myself").  I have a love/hate relationship with my job.  I love the benefits.  I love having a day off sometimes and actually getting paid for it.  I like many of the people I work with, and barely tolerate others.  I remember how petty people can be and how sad lives can be that seem to be led for the simple purpose of getting to the weekend so they can drink. 

Anyhow, I really, really, really try to only focus on the positive and that is especially true with my job.  I daily tell myself the good things about my job so I can make it through the day.  I really like the kids I work with, I have dental insurance, I have life insurance, I have health insurance, I get some paid days off, I like some of the people I work with, I like that it is close to my mom's house and I can visit her most days on my lunch hour, I like that the parents are sweet and give gift cards at Christmas so I can treat myself, I like nap time for the kids when sometimes I can use that  hour during the day to have some "me" time (like watch Netflix or just relax), I like that I can wear a uniform to work during the week and now worry what I am wearing or how I look and that on Fridays I can wear my own clothes and feel more like me,  I like that I have a retirement account, though seriously it is so little that it is kind of pathetic....see I ran our of "good" things and am going to start of the negative in a minute if I am not careful.  I won't even begin on the horrible pay rate. 

I really should search for a new job but I am scared.  I was self employed for so long that it is really hard to follow the "rules" of someone else and that isn't what is scary.  I am scared I will REALLY try to find another job and won't be able to.  I am afraid of failure.  This job "sort of" came to me through a friend and I wasn't emotionally invested in getting it.  Therefore, if I didn't  get it (which I wasn't offered it at first, someone else got it and then they had another opening and asked me to join - I think simply because they didn't want to interview others) I wasn't going to be bothered by it much.   I have not gone after many jobs in my life.  I guess I lack some serious self confidence, but the weird thing is I feel I can do ANYTHING I set my mind to.  Except, convince others of that I guess.  I also can't take time off of work to interview since I am going on a vacation to Rome and am using all my time for that this spring.  Maybe I should set a goal of job hunting this summer.  Really going for something I want...or going back to self employment, though insurance is a HUGE thing....so I don't know what to do with my life.  Is this a midlife crisis? lol

I'm not very good at this. Will get better.

I need to get better.  Writing clears my mind and this gratitude thing is good for the soul.  When I get busy, it is just the last thing I think about.  Like the dishes or laundry.

I need to focus on something positive right now since I made the mistake at reading simple minded people's response to a news article.  Are people really that ignorant? 

Wait, that is the wrong attitude for this post, and the wrong blog.  I have another blog to write out peoples idiotic behavior and thoughts.

This is about me, and my thoughts and my being grateful. So today, what am I grateful for?

Looking out the window and seeing the sun in my backyard with the trees and leaves playing their light dances on the grass.  I know that sound cheesy, but sitting her looking out the window and hearing the birds is really peaceful.  And that is my little chunk of the world.  And I love it. I know I was already grateful for my deck, which is part of the backyard, but sitting inside at the table, I can look out the windows and enjoy it in air-conditioned comfort and it gives another thing to be grateful for.

I am grateful for church camp. It is where I dropped my daughter off yesterday.  It is where she was baptized a few years ago.  It is where she meets up with good friends every summer and lives five and a half days with no cell phone, growing closer to God and learning more about Jesus, and having the time of her life.  I wish I had had a church camp experience like that.  I had a few church trips, and they rank right up there, but to have a place that is on the lake and only about four miles from home but feels a million miles away - where she can go back as an adult and send her own kids to in future years.  That is something special.  I am truly grateful for her church camp.

Aldi's grocery store.  Yep, maybe another weird thing to be grateful for but I appreciate it so much.  It offers so many good things.  You can get in and out of there quickly because it is about a quarter of the size of a regular grocery store.  And their food...yum.  Many people have a bit of a snobbish idea that they prefer to spend more and get better quality food.  I think in the last twenty years the food quality and variety has really increased.  But really, if you can tell the difference in Aldi's cream cheese and your favorite then you're better than me.  Sure, some thing may be different.  Take cereal for example.  If you are hooked on a national brand, then then store brand may not do it for you.  But we are not big cereal eaters so for us it makes no difference.  I can usually get 90-95% of my grocery list done at Aldi's and the last few specialty items (last week it was fresh basil and fresh ginger) at the larger, more expensive grocery store.  I do buy national brand spaghetti sauce and mac n cheese - and if I think hard, a few other things but I love the convenience and the prices (and no coupons) at Aldi's and am grateful we have one close to home.

Missed a day...or is it two?

Life get to busy I guess, but it is evening and I am carving out time to write extra items in my gratitude journal since I missed.

I've been taking notes of things to be grateful for, and in that end, this project has already accomplished its purpose.  When you know you're going to write about it, you look for items your grateful for.

The first is my neighbors.  A week or so ago, I mowed my elderly neighbors front and back yard.  Did I enjoy doing it?  Not at all.  I'm not one of those people who like to mow, but I derive some satisfaction when the job is done.  His normal lawn maintenance guy was out due to surgery and his lawn was very tall - making the mow job even more grueling.  Two nights ago, I drive up the street and thought to myself "I should probably break out the lawn mower again, but it is sooooo hot".  Yes,, I said the extra o's in my mind.  When I pull up I see my lawn completely done!  My neighbor paid me back by sending his lawn guy to do my yard.  By the way, he does a much better job than I do so it is looking fabulous.  It was such a welcome thing to find when I came home and we've had a couple days of high temps and humidity, so mowing was not going to be much fun.  So, I am thankful I have such wonderful neighbors.

My second is understanding people.  Yesterday, when leaving work I pulled right out in front of a car!  Scared me  and the lady I about hit to death. It was totally my fault....I have no idea why I didn't see her.  We pulled up to the stop and I expected whoever was in the car to cuss me out.  I rolled down my window and she rolled down hers and I began apologizing profusely.  She was shook up, but understood that is why they are called "accidents" and I left in near tears but grateful that she was so kind.  I was beating myself up for doing it enough and she didn't need to add to it.

Air conditioning - God how I love my air conditioning.  It has been hot and humid the last couple days.  I remember the days when I was young, newly married, and had no air conditioning. It was so miserable. Because I remember that, I literally thank God several times every summer that I have central air.  I also thank God that I live the era of air conditioning....those poor people who didn't have such things.

A strong man!  I am refinishing my cabinets.  I wanted to paint the hinges silver and have the vision in my head as soon as I bought my place and thought about refinishing the kitchen.  The problem is, I couldn't get the hinges off.  They had been painted over and I couldn't get the screwdriver in the screw head well enough to take it off without stripping the head.  I had resigned myself the painting them black and though it wouldn't look as good, I thought I had no choice.  Enter my boyfriend - after whining telling him my dilemma, he gave it a try and low and behold, his added strength was enough to get them off.  He is my hero today :)

Gratitute journal

Thought I would start this last night - seems I am better at doing thing in the morning.  Always have been, probably always will be.  Within a half hour of getting up I can get the bed made, a load of laundry done, vacuum the living room and water the plants.  In the evening in a half hour I can get done - well, nothing usually.  Which is why I usually wake up and have a messy kitchen because I am too tired to clean it at night.  However, I love waking up to a clean kitchen so it is a constant inner struggle.  Today, it was not clean.

What I am grateful for today. (I will try to do a few a day - no set number)

My washing machine.  Yes, I know that is silly, but not that long ago woman had to do laundry by hand and it took all day.  I will get mine done in about three hours this morning and it isn't a constant three hours.  I just load this miracle machine and push a button.  30 minutes later my clothes are clean.  Additionally, I am grateful for MY washing machine.  A few years ago my washer went out.  I shopped around and found a new machine at Best Buy that was the front loader I wanted, but was hugely marked down as it had been a display (and had some sticky stuff on the side - which came off with a bit of goo gone).  I was able to get a front loader machine for the price of a traditional low end top loader.  It uses so little water, which now that I bought a home on a septic system has to be better as it isn't dumping as much water into the septic.  I feel like the clothes come out cleaner in my washer, and they also come out dryer so that when I use my dryer less.  Which saves money.  Less water bill, less electricity, less waste in my septic.  I say it is something to be grateful for.

My back deck.  I lived in a duplex that had this tiny deck with no stairs leading down to it for the last four summers.  It had no cover, no trees nearby, and overlooked a corn field with a freeway in the distance.  It was blazing hot and the neighbors were so close that you had no privacy at all.  I sat out that about three times in four years.  My new deck (which I just painted and is looking even more fabulous) is a "normal" size deck.  I can put several sitting areas and best of all it is covered and I have tons and tons of trees in the backyard.  My neighbors are appropriate distances away and I can sit on my deck every day now and enjoy the backyard. It has steps and isn't like an apartment deck! The trees keep my yard cool and I can watch the horses in the pasture behind me.  It is paradise. 

Onto my next challenge

I am sitting here thinking I must do another challenge.  Literally, thinking this as I am typing this.

I feel like I can't do anything TOO challenging, as it is summer and I am having guest come so being a vegetarian for a month doesn't work.

And I am working a lot in the next week, so something like working out 5 days a week doesn't work right now either.  But isn't that the point of a challenge...to do something that is challenging?

But, then again, I don't want to set myself up for failure.

I could do 30 new recipes as I'm kind of enjoying cooking right now.   Or 30 days of drinking 8 glasses of water a day (no soda, would be an added challenge).  30 days of gratitude journaling (right here on the blog I suppose).

Okay, let's do that one.  I just decided.  I've heard this is life changing.  I want to give each day some actual thought and reflection.  So later this evening I will set some time aside and do a thirty day gratitude journal.  Maybe with a glass of wine in my hands..

My new adventure awaits...

So I suck....

Honestly, got so busy with my move that I didn't take to time reflect and post about my move.  All I can say is thank God that is over!  I dread moving and hope to not have to do it again unless I meet the man of my dreams who lives in a palace, or at least a small mansion, and sweeps me off my feet.  Therefore, he will defiantly have enough money to send a small crew in and move my possessions and clean my house for me and I won't have to do any of the work.  In fact, we will be sailing on a month long trip on his yacht during that time and come home all suntanned and carefree to my house magically being moved having been done by professions and paid for by him :)

Well, I can dream...

Actually, I am so loving my new house that short of that mansion with a full time maid, butler and cook (well, maybe not cook cause I like to do that) I can't imagine moving to someone else's home as this just already feels like home to me.

My neighbors, so far, have been awesome and friendly.  My dog loves his backyard and the ability to get out and run across the street to swim in the pond a couple times and week with his dog friends in the neighborhood.  My yard is full of surprises with new plants coming up.  (I recommend buying a house in the middle of the winter if you like plants and surprises).  Hyacinth, daffodils, ivy, clematis, bleeding hearts, columbine, peonies, and many more I've yet to identify or am forgetting at the moment.  This is just a couple of the things I love about my house. 

So...back to the move and that stress.  Despite trying to make it stress free, I think moving always will be (barring the scenario above).  My movers I hired were four hours late and it was freezing cold out.  I specifically said  I hired them to move just the big things, yet they came in and started moving small boxes.  We could handle the small boxes ourselves.  What I needed, was the heavy lifting and they didn't seem to be able to wrap their heads around the fact that they could ignore all those small boxes and sat around and plotted how to best load the moving truck to make use of the space.  To me, it should have been simple as I had a list of a couple dozen things that MUST be moved by them.  Then throw in whatever small items you can fit around those things and go.  When they were picking up dining room chains and taking them out I was aggravated.  I can lift a dining room chain.  I have an SUV and all six can fit in it, plus some boxes and I can take those over later.  I didn't need them to carry those items out but they couldn't seem to understand this.  On top of this, we were unloading in the dark since they were so late 

But I managed to do it without a nervous breakdown.  In hindsight, I should have had some good meds in my system to combat the stress.  Next time.  Wait, I don't want a next time :)  But, if for some unforeseen reason there is, I think a trip to my doctor and some Xanax will be in order.

So I am settled in.  Well mostly,- a few loose ends to tie up (like I have no living room furniture, though I do have a family room so no big deal and it will be coming in a couple more months) and I am now in the process of making the home my own.  Currently I am painting the deck which was in dire need of some attention.  I have also started my kitchen painting and really want to get more done on that soon. 

So moving challenge is over, lol  Really?  It has only been, what, four months?  On to the next challenge.