Happy Thanksgiving!

For Family Home Evening on Monday, we each filled out a list of 100 things we were grateful for. I was trying for some shock value, and thought the kids would freak out at the idea of 100 things, but they said, "OK, and started writing. I had to stop them. "Wait!" I said. "There are categories!"
We really only had to think of 10 things in each category.

I got the idea at the Red Headed Hostess, though I changed several of the categories. Here are the ones we used:

1. Things (Items) you are thankful for
2. People you are thankfrul for
3. Things people have made that you are thankful for
      *This was hard to explain, but I meant books, movies, songs, art...stuff like that
4. Memories you are thankful for, distilled into a word or two
5. Things about yourself that you are thankful for
 6. People who have gone before you that you are thankful for
7. Things you have a testimony of that you are thankful for (things you know)
8. Things that have happened this week that you are thankful for
9. Things about today that you are thankful for
10. Things about your family that you are thankful for

The Red Headed Hostess has a very cute paper you can print out for your 100 things.

I had thought of sharing some of the highlights from the 600+ things we came up with, but I changed my mind. Instead, I want to tell you how grateful I am for my family, and the great attitude they have when  I try out silly projects like this. I am incredibly blessed by their goodness every single day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Top Ten Books on My Fall 2013 To Be Read List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish.  Every Tuesday they post a new Top Ten List on something bookish.  Click on the link above if you wish to participate.

Top Ten Books On My Fall 2013 To Be Read List

Vortex by S.J. Kinkaid.

The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson

The Slayers by C.J. Hill

Do you like how I just slipped this one in here?

Alchemy by: Sheena Boekweg, Melanie Crouse and Sabrina West

Publication date: October 11, 2013

 

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

The Get Yourself Organized Project by Kathi Lipp

The Outcasts by John Flanagan

Ever After High

There are a bunch of these short stories, one for each of the characters that

are in Shannon Hale's upcoming book. At least that's how I understand

it. I'm excited to read them all!

Q Is For...Quotes

Q Is For...Quotes

Specifically, quotes about happiness.

This is something I need to work on.

I only have one pair of pants that fits well. It's been like that for years. I know that if I just lost 15 pounds, I would have an entire wardrobe of clothes. So I only allow myself the one pair, and I wash it a lot. I either wear my pajama bottoms or squeeze into something uncomfortable while I wait for that one pair of pants to dry.

If I forced one of my children to wear the same thing over and over until they looked prettier, it would be considered abusive. I've been planning to lose that weight for a long, long time, and it hasn't happened. I still want it to. I still plan to do it. Deep in my heart, I hope that weight loss is a side affect of happiness. But, in all my soul-searching, I'm finally realizing that trying to beat myself into good health is backfiring. It is making me miserable AND I'm steadily gaining weight.

So, here are a few quotes from The Happiness Project about being happy.

• The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit.  -Gretchen Rubin

• What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.-Gretchen Rubin 
• When I find myself focusing overmuch on the anticipated future happiness of arriving at a certain goal, I remind myself to 'Enjoy now'. If I can enjoy the present, I don't need to count on the happiness that is (or isn't) waiting for me in the future.
•  ... one flaw throws the loveliness of [everything else] into focus. I remember reading that Shakers deliberately introduced a mistake into the things they made, to show that man shouldn't aspire to the perfection of God. Flawed can be more perfect than perfection. -Gretchen Rubin
• Life isn’t about waiting for the storms to pass, it’s about learning how to dance in the rain. -Unknown
• A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires. -Paulo Coelho
• Our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate. So practice happy thinking everyday. Cultivate the merry heart, develop the happiness habit, and life with become a continual feast. -Norman Vincent Peale
• Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. -Unknown
• I have been running so sweaty my whole life, urgent for a finish line, and I have been missing the rapture this whole time.
  Of being forever incomplete – Alanis Morissette
• Exercise for sanity, not vanity. -Gretchen Rubin

This one is from Hungry For Change:

• Whatever you hold in your mind on a consistent basis is exactly what you will experience in your life. -Anthony Robbins

P Is For...Panjandrum

pan·jan·drum  (pn-jndrm)

n.

An important or self-important person; a pompous self-important official or person of rank; 

---

[After the Grand Panjandrum, a character in a nonsense farrago written by Samuel Foote (1720-1777).]

For the Letter O, my good friend Susan wrote a post about out of print books that reminded me of a story my children discovered in one of their grandmother's books a few years ago. It tickled their funny bones so much that they memorized it and would just start spouting it at random. This would usually make them laugh so hard that they couldn't catch their breath, or speak, except to gasp out, "a cabbage-leaf! (much mirth) To bake (gasp, gasp)...an apple pie!" "WHAT?!? No soap!!?" I have such happy memories of this poem that I decided to share it with you. You'll just have to imagine my children though. WHY didn't I take a video? I guess I thought those days would last forever.

The story was published in 1755 to test the memory of the actor Charles Macklin, who claimed he could read any paragraph once through and then recite it verbatim. It was published as part of an 1820 novel titled Harry and Lucy concluded (vol. 2) by Maria Edgeworth, and again as a poem in a picture book by Randolph Caldecott in 1885, with a few minor changes in wording ("grand Panjandrum" changed to "great Panjandrum" and she went down the street, instead of up the street.) My children memorized the 1885 version:

The Great Panjandrum

So she went into the garden
to cut a cabbage-leaf
to make an apple-pie;
and at the same time
a great she-bear, coming down the street,
pops its head into the shop.
What! no soap?
     So he died,
and she very imprudently married the Barber:
and there were present
the Picninnies,
     and the Joblillies,
          and the Garyulies,
and the great Panjandrum himself,
with the little round button at top;
and they all fell to playing the game of catch-as-catch-can,
till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots

J Is For...Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

It's too bad today's letter wasn't T...for Torpor, because that's what I've been in. I woke up early with an insurmountable to-do list running through my head. So I wrote it down, because often, once I see it on paper, I realize it's not quite as long a list as I'd originally feared. It didn't work. It was definitely insurmountable. That would have been such a good word for I.

I got going on life, getting the kids out of bed, packing lunches...then my husband called. I'd forgotten I was supposed to pick up my daughter from seminary this morning. I dashed out of the house in pajama bottoms and a jacket, and hurried from one thing to the next until I got home from swimming at 9:00. I settled down to read a manuscript I need to have read before a meeting tonight and somehow ended up watching an episode of Alias instead.

I made a few of the phone calls that were on my list, and then found myself mindlessly scrolling through my facebook page. I decided to go on a walk, and realized I was still wearing my pajama bottoms. Drat.  It's too ridiculous for words, the way sometimes I just LANGUISH when I should be thriving.

Finally, I decided to clean the kitchen (which wasn't on my list, but still had to get done) while I thought of a good J word.

J...J...J...

I was half-way through the Joseph soundtrack before I realized that I was dancing and cleaning and back on track. Music is magical.

I have subtle issues with the whole premise of Joseph, to tell the truth. I believe Jacob was a prophet, not some indolent man reclining on a chair while women danced for him. Still, I can't help but love this show, especially the talented Maria Friedman. I can't help but belt it out when I'm singing with her.

Thanks for the energy Maria. I needed it today.

I Is For...I'm Yours

This is my cop-out post. Life was full of "Oh. I wasn't planning to do that" moments today. Here's another one. I wasn't planning on discussing Jason Mraz yet. But I've run out of time for doing anything that would take more time, so here we are.

I'm Yours was my first Jason Mraz song, and it belongs at number one on my list of Top 5 Summer Songs. Enjoy.

As long as I'm sharing "I" music, here's a more recent hit by Imagine Dragons. It's a sign of how crazy this day has been that I'm not going to have time to listen to either of these songs until tomorrow.

The A-Z Challenge

A Is For American Pie

B Is For...Blue

C is for...Carriage Roads

D Is for...Diets

E Is for...The End

F Is for...Fred Rogers

G Is for...Goals

H Is For...I'm Yours

H Is For...The Happiness Project

I know the list of goals I wrote yesterday seemed a little ridiculous. You should have seen the on-going list in my head though. It was at least 5 times that long, and I regularly beat myself up for not making a bigger dent in it. I never realized how long the list was until I started writing it down.

At least this current list is do-able. It's really only 5 goals, with a checklist of the next thing to do on each one. I could really add a section for preschool and education, but I didn't, since that isn't a part of this blog.

My inspiration for updating the blog and writing that long list of goals came from a book I just read called The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin.

Here's the amazon blurb:

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. "The days are long, but the years are short," she realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project. 

In this lively and compelling account, Rubin chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Among other things, she found that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that money can help buy happiness, when spent wisely; that outer order contributes to inner calm; and that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference.

I really enjoyed this book. I'm a "memoir of happy things" fan anyway. It was one of those serendipitous book finds that helped to shape some changes that I was making in my life. There is also a fun and engaging website, if you are thinking about starting your own happiness project.

The A-Z Challenge

A Is For American Pie

B Is For...Blue

C is for...Carriage Roads

D Is for...Diets

E Is for...The End

F Is for...Fred Rogers

G Is for...Goals

F Is For...Fred Rogers

I watched Mr. Rogers as a child, and admit I wasn't really all that into him. But when my third child was preschool age, I was having a really hard time. She's a strong-willed little girl, and I felt like I had used up any residual strong-willedness inside of me. I just wasn't a match for her anymore. I prayed about it, and got the oddest answer to my prayer--watch Mr. Rogers with her. So we did, and it worked.

In my opinion, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood is actually a parenting class disguised as a children's show. We learned a new language for communicating with each other. And I held her tight for half an hour every day, which I soon realized was something she needed every bit as much as she needed food.

His show isn't as easy to find as it used to be. At least in my neck of the woods, PBS doesn't play Mr. Roger's anymore. (This is a crime, IMO). But you can still download his shows from amazon.

I own several Mr. Roger's quote books, and his insights on both relationships and creativity are pretty astounding.  Here are some of my favorites:

• You rarely have time for everything you want in life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.

• I believe it's a fact that what we have is less important than what we make of what we have.

• There's something unique about being a member of a family that really needs you in order to function well. One of the deepest longings a person can have is to feel needed and essential.

• I like to swim, but there are some days I just don't feel much like doing it--but I do it anyway. I know it's good for me and I promised myself I'd do it every day, and I like to keep my promises. That's one of my disciplines. And it's a good feeling after you've tried and done something well. Inside you think, "I've kept at this and I've really learned it--not by magic, but by my own work.

• Try your best to make goodness attractive. That's one of the toughest assignments you'll ever be given.

The A-Z Challenge

A Is For American Pie

B Is For...Blue

C is for...Carriage Roads

D Is for...Diets

E Is for...The End

C Is For...Carriage Roads

Hadlock Brook Carriage Road

In 2011, I made a goal to hike all the carriage roads at Acadia National Park. I love the carriage roads. Some of my best novel ideas have come while traversing them. For me, they are the perfect mix of walking and hiking. I'm still chipping away at the goal a little at a time.  I didn't keep very close track last year, but I think the list looks something like this:

1. Eagle Lake Loop - 6 miles(bike)
2. Aunt Betty's Pond Loop - 5.9 miles 
3. Witch Hole Pond Loop - 6.8 miles 
4. Jordan Bubble Loop - 8.6 miles 
5. Jordan Stream Loop 4.0 
6. Day Mountain loop - 5.5 miles 
7. Little Long Pond - 3.5 miles 
8. Redfield Loop - This is one of 2 trails you have to hike to get to. I can't remember the other trail. This trail is 4.3 miles, but when you add in the additional hiking, it's closer to 5.5
9. Hadlock Brook - 3.9 miles  
10. Ampitheatre Loop - 4.9 miles 
11. Giant Slide Loop - 8.2 

The underside of the Cobblestone Bridge on Jordan Stream Loop

A little history of the roads:

John D. Rockefeller bought a summer home at Seal Island, Maine in1910. It was the beginning of the era of the automobile, and he feared that automobile roads would ruin Mt. Desert Island. His dream was to create an elaborate system of auto-free roads and bridges that would provide access to the most beautiful parts of the island, which would later become Acadia National Park. Between 1913 and 1940 he worked tirelessly to oversee construction of 51 miles of roads, 17 bridges and 2 gatehouses. He presented the carriage road system and much of the land that would become Acadia as a gift to the people of the United States. The roads are made of broken stone, and follow the contours of the land to take advantage of the scenic views.
Today, you may occasionally see a horse drawn carriage or a horseback riders on the carriage trails, but you are more likely to see bikers, joggers and hikers. They are both accessible and beautiful. It's quite a drive from my house, but I'm still hoping to cross one or two off my list before the kids get out of school for the summer.

The End of the Challenge

This 31 Day Challenge has been awesome for me. Granted, I only did maybe, um, 10 of the posts, but I learned a lot of great things from it. Here's a few:

 1. I want to write to my kids, but this blog isn't the way to go. I couldn't even get them to look at it! And a lot of the things I wanted to say were not really "Hey World! Listen-to-me-talk-to-my-kids" things. They were Write It-In-My-Journal things. So, because of this post, I've begun writing in my journal again. I only give myself about 2 minutes a night to write, and I don't allow myself to go over. This gives me 3-6 lines a night of thoughts about my day. For 2 weeks now, I've been at 100%. It's a whole different format than the old "Write 10 pages once a year" that has been so successful for over a decade now.

 2. I still want to keep this blog. In that very first challenge post  I made a list of things I wanted to write about in this blog. Here they are:

• I'm shelving any writing projects that aren't already well underway. The ones that I truly care about will get my attention until they are finished. 
• I'm making my health a priority. 
• I'm going to turn my house into a home. 
• I'm going to strengthen the relationships with the most important people in my life--my family. 
• I'm going to find joy in the things I love to do.

I thought about doing it the way I see so many people blog--you know what I'm talking about Mojo Monday, Top Ten Tuesday, Works For Me Wednesday...but that isn't me. OK, cute titles for the days of the week might be me, but sticking that tightly to a schedule can't be me. Not if I'm going to be busy doing all the things on that list up there. Two or three random days a week is more my style.

3. I do want to be part of the IWSG. It's a great group, and I don't post on The Prosers on Wednesdays. But I CAN DO IT HERE!

Ta Da! 

Stay tuned for my first "Making My Health A Priority" post.