Bear with me, this post may feel scattered. I’m retracing my steps in an effort to figure out what moved me out of procrastination on some long awaited activities/projects this morning. Maybe I’ll learn something and hopefully, if you’re reading this maybe you can too or at least help me figure it out.

Here’s where we end: I start to download pictures from my phone to work on a new blog post. Opening my file organizer I see a great deal of piled up files that keep getting dumped into my generic “documents” folder, instead of rolling my eyes like I usually do and telling myself I need to start cleaning that up, I actually start creating folders and moving files. After a few minutes my pictures are downloaded, I’ve made a significant difference in my digital clutter and I find myself inspired to continue the digital cleaning. Weird. I just killed some long lived procrastination and now I feel ready to keep it up. As I stop to ponder what just happened so I can figure out how to store it and use it again in the future, I decide to write it out as I’m thinking it. So here goes.

This morning I sat down at my computer to do the routine checks: email, google reader, blog, etc. What’s different? 1) I come to a clean inbox, 2) I break a pattern.

1) The inbox; stupid thing always gets full too fast. I’ve gotten so bad that I usually have two to three hundred read emails in there before I do a clean out. I hit that mark a few days ago so this morning my inbox was clean. (Side note, I’ve also noticed the cleaner my inbox, the less stuff I end up keeping. I like this.)

Lesson: Clean and organized - no matter how small - has a big impact, especially at the starting line of a day’s activities.

2) Pattern break. I usually go straight from my e-mail check to status checks of friends and family on Facebook. Naturally, this lends to games and other time suckers. This morning I go from e-mail to google reader and my blog.

Lesson: Patterns can become ruts that support energy drain and deter productivity. A little break goes a long way.

I move into my google reader. What’s different? 1) New features, 2) Obvious neglect.

1) New features were the first thing I found when I went to my feed reader this morning. While I’m not sure I’ll use many of them, it was inspiring to see the effort invested in improvement. I wonder what things I should be investing more improvement in myself.

2) Obvious neglect. At least 85% of my blogs I’ve subscribed to are completely inactive now. I can’t help but remember what it was like several years ago when these blogs were active. I reflect on my own blog, what it’s purpose was/is for me and if my actions support it.

Lesson: If it’s worth doing, it’s worth continuing to do and improve.

I respond to a comment on my blog about a file download. What happened? 1) I’m reminded of how badly I need to update and tackle this concept of file compilation and sharing. 2) I’m inspired that someone found something helpful.

1) Outdated - There simply has to be a better solution out there for me to share my files, teaching and creating ideas. I’m thinking about it again and how nice it would be to have a system that worked.

2) It’s helpful. This is the most inspiring piece of the morning. Someone is commenting on using something I’ve shared. Another comment reminds me there are still a few people reading my blog. I need to do better.

Lesson: Action begins with a thought, it is motivated by encouragement.

Inspired to do better on my blog I decide to write an article today. Halloween was yesterday, I have photos and things I could share about my son’s face painting success and failure. I need to download pictures. The device opens my file organizer where I see a mass of cluttered mess. I start moving/cleaning files. What happened? 1) I may have ADD, 2) Action is contagious.

1) The Attention Deficit Factor. This isn’t all bad. After all, these many steps lead to other steps right?

2) Action is contagious. This is an awesome recognition.

Lesson: Focus is necessary but if overdone can actually feed procrastination. There’s something to be said for the phrase “Do it now”.

Recap:
1) Start with something clean or organized.
2) Shake it up, do something different - break a routine.
3) Identify activities worth your time.
4) Think, act, feed.
5) Focus with flexibility, just do it.

I’m on the war path.

About this same time six years ago (yikes!) I shared this article. It’s worthy of repeating. It was called: Point of View Truths.

Several years ago I received a copy of the following story. It hit me with deep impact. Maybe it was because my own mother taught me at an early age that a great person always argued a point from the opposite side before casting an opinion, or maybe it’s just because it’s a fantastic story. At any rate, it’s worth sharing.

~~~~~~~~~~
Limited Vision
Four people were in a barn and each one had a knothole to look through. One looked to the east, one to the west, one to the south and one to the north.

The person looking to the east saw the sun come up and said, “The whole world is nothing but sunrises”

The person looking to the west said, “You are wrong, the whole world is nothing but sunsets.”

The person to the north who could see nothing but a haystack said, “You are both wrong, the entire world is nothing but hay.”

The fourth person looking to the south said, “I can’t understand how all of you can be so stupid. The world is nothing but bales of straw.”
~~~~~~~~~~

From his own viewpoint, each was right. But, obviously, each one’s viewpoint was limited by the size and direction of the knothole through which he was looking.

Get on top of the barn, look in all directions before casting your certainty on a matter. Know that your ideas may be right, but this does not necessarily make the other fellow’s wrong. He may be seeing the same wide, wonderful world through a different knothole.

Ever have that sinking feeling? So did this truck driver yesterday when he delivered a load of rock to mom’s yard.

He might have made it if he hadn’t stopped to make sure he wasn’t sinking too much. But those few moments gave those front tires enough time to sink to a point the back ones just couldn’t push them out. Even lightening the load by dumping the rock wasn’t enough.

For better reference on the level sunk, check out Taylor standing outside, and then inside the spot where that front tire was.

Now, the positive in this sunken tale is the good nature of people. Upon getting stuck, the driver asked if there were any neighbors that might have a tracker to provide the needed pull. After a few calls, my mom found a neighbor who willingly came to offer help. Leaving what they were doing, literally dropping everything to come to help in that moment. That is awesome to me.

Are we really any different? Too often, we take just a moment too long before action and find ourselves sunk. We think we can fix it ourselves by just offloading something, only to find the more we attempt at our own recovery, the deeper we make the ruts. Maybe our situation isn’t physically visible, but I’d wager we all have some personal ruts. Sometimes life is going to find us sunk and it’s going to take a helpful pull to get out. Wouldn’t it be sad if no one came?

No matter which side we’re on - needing a pull or being able to provide one - I think there’s a lesson in this sinking feeling.

More first snow pictures

Admittedly, I loved being a desert rat. Living in the desert southwest was full of the most amazing weather during what I knew to be the worst time of year growing up. The months of October through April are so beautiful in Arizona, the temperatures so mild and even. It was like the best of late spring and early fall temperatures of Idaho, but it lasts all fall, winter and spring long. I loved it. The tradeoff for this bliss was a lack of seasons. The only visible change in AZ during winter was the transition of green summer grass to green winter grass, this happens twice a year when lawns look brown for a short time while the new season’s grass takes hold. Halloween felt right, the weather turns from miserable hot to enjoyable all day and night long, but the signs of a season change were almost non-existant. I didn’t know how much I missed it.

This past weekend, we took our kids for a Sunday afternoon drive up through the Palisades reservoir, looping back through Victor on the circle drive home. I just kept snapping photos from inside the car, it was so pretty. The brilliant spots of color change were like touches of God’s paintbrush on the canvas of life. The drive itself brought back memories from my past and it felt wonderful to soak it all up. I’m so glad we did. This week the weather has turned. It’s raining with forecast of a cold front that will bring snow to some elevations. I’m glad we didn’t miss it, because seeing that spot of fall made me realize that I have been missing this season.

Lucky me! I was sent this free T-Shirt by Crazy Dog TShirts. They let me pick one I liked, and naturally anything Tommy Boy jumped right out at me!

You simply can’t go wrong with Callahan Auto Parts. This T-Shirt won’t make you look fat, doesn’t come with a thin candy shell, and won’t call you from a walkie talkie, but it will bring a smile to your face!

I think I’ll get Blake one and we can be a matching set for Halloween!

My thoughts this morning are centered around the time of year. The leaves are turning colors, getting ready for a winter sleep. This process of change, of preparing for a period of dormancy is a pattern in our lives too. A new baby makes me think of spring, a walk in the autumn air with an aged loved one makes me think of fall.

There is something about this turning I can’t quite explain. I think it is because it feels like something of a paradox to me. There is sadness in the knowledge of expiration, of a season’s growth and lifespan being completed and spent. Perhaps even a hint of dread for the quiet that is waiting around the corner. Yet, at the same time there is great joy and satisfaction in the results of a productive and full lifespan; a reminder that after the sleep will come a new season of renewal and new beginnings. It is odd that there can be both conflict and peace within the concept of turning. And yet, these are the thoughts tumbling around simultaneously in my head this morning.

There’s also the concept of clean up of that happens in the fall. The time when you’ve reaped your harvest and it’s time to clear the expired corn stalks and other plants away. This past weekend, I helped work on clearing the corn patch at my parent’s, I also took on getting some of the dead branches out of an old choke cherry bush. As I looked at the results of the work, I was struck with how often I should be doing this in my own life. How, I need to be looking for habits, choices, etc. that are in need of being cleaned out. This process is painful. I came home with many scratches from branches not wanting to be disturbed, and sore muscles from roots desperately trying to hold their ground. And as I look at this picture, I am filled with satisfaction and hope of what the results will bring next spring.

So it is with me. Old habits die hard, but the promise of better ones to replace them are worth the pain and effort. I don’t want to look back on my life and regret time wasted. Perhaps a little less time spent playing games or socializing on the computer and a little more reading, reflecting and writing. Perhaps a little less time worrying about others and more worrying about myself. I’m feeling a sense that I need to follow nature’s lead this season.

I’d be lying if I said these thoughts don’t also cause a slight pang in my heart when I think of loved ones. This picture describes the very visuals and precious memories that I’m trying to describe.

This is my husband walking and talking with his grandpa in his garden. Grandpa Melvin turned 90 this year. How we love this sweet man. This picture sums up his amazing life of farming, teaching, loving and sharing. How can I help but want to keep him with us? Yet, knowing the joy that is waiting for him when he crosses this life’s veil, when he will be reunited with his sweetheart and loved ones on the other side causes me to also want for him to be able to go. I am back at my paradox. Turning is hard. Turning is necessary. Turning is progress. Turning is good.

Transition seems to have become a way of life for us lately. One year ago we were in the process of moving from our AZ home to a condo in the San Francisco Bay. The move was a wonderful one for Blake’s career, and it provided us the opportunity for the next job that would allow us to live anywhere. What we thought would be a couple years turned out to be only nine months. We were moving again, this time back to Idaho to be with our families and to get our kids into an education program we wanted. I’m happy to report that this has been everything we’d hoped.

The summer was full of projects and family time as we mapped out the next steps. We lived out of a few boxes with most of our stuff kept in storage. This past week we have moved into a home only three minutes away from my parents. We feel it a miracle to have found it when we did and are so grateful for it. The only real downsides include the place remaining on the market so if it were to sell we’d have to move again, and it has as much grass to mow as there is at my mom’s. From earlier posts, you can read and see that mowing job is a three hour process. If I were Giligan, I’d be stranded every time I get on the mower! We borrowed my brother’s lawnmower to mow the lawn here Saturday and it took just over two and a half hours. Can you say lawn service?!

Last week at this time I was drowning in boxes and mess. There were times I wanted to just sit and cry. But true to the adage “it came to pass not to stay” I’ve finally gotten everything unpacked and put away, minus those few nasty office boxes that just seem to remain no matter how many moves and attempts to get through them come to pass. Things feels like home more every day. I’m really hoping our transition stage can come to a pause for at least the next year or two. I don’t love moving, and I’m truly tired of it. I’m in awe that even though we got rid of easily half our “stuff” when we moved from AZ to CA, we still have too much. While everything fits nicely in the new place with lots of room to spare, I look forward to a continued lifestyle of removing, simplifying and streamlining.

I took a few pictures for a friend this morning of the new place and thought I’d just post them here. It makes it easier to share with others later.



Dexter enjoys the sunroom at the front, where he can look out the windows. We enjoy the under the ground wire fence in the large yard so we can let him out without worrying. The kids are feeling like ‘the hot tub room’ is a good tradeoff for their pool in AZ.

Enjoying holding my newest nephew and caffeine free Mountain Dew confirm I really am back in Rexburg.

I’m home, and you want to know how I’m certain?

And….





That’s how.

The ‘Reader’s Digest Condensed Version’ of the past ten weeks is 20+ hours on the mower, 60 quarts of raspberries, 20 quarts of apple preserves (so far). Yup, I’m home alright. *wink*

Apparently, I missed a month.

Things have been slightly crazy. That’s silly, there is no ’slightly’ there is or is not. It IS definitely crazy!

We’ve now been back in Idaho for six weeks. We’ve already fit in two birthday celebrations, one family reunion, one wedding, one business trip for Blake to Boston, two rounds of girl’s camp and a full calendar of fun with family and cousins in between. We’ve got a few more birthdays and school registration coming up in the next two weeks and I’m still looking for my white flag for calendaring. This past week we also had some extended family experience some real hardships. Blake’s cousin lost her 15 year old son to a drowning accident and another cousin has experienced complications with an early labor and delivery. Our hearts and prayers go out to them during this trying time.

Sanity checks are finding themselves in quiet moments spent outside. Picking raspberries, mowing the lawn, watching the kids play in the water and the dog run off energy in a huge yard. Maybe this month I’ll get more than one post up on my blog.