Be Happy Anyway

Be Happy Anyway
From Brave Girls Club

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Bold Images

From week to week this could start sounding like same stuff different day if I wasn't living with purpose. The other day I completed my application to return to my former school district. I had spoken to a former principal who said she hadn't heard of any openings so I wasn't expecting much right away. Surprisingly enough, three days later I got a call from personnel asking if I was available for this school year or if I was wanting to wait until the fall. I was driving in my car at the time (no lectures please) and would have hit the Interstate at the moment if she said we have a position for you right now. Fortunately, I didn't have to drive back to Texas that day. Instead, I have a job interview over the phone on Tuesday. Yay! Things are moving in the right direction. I am very excited.

The rest of the week was mostly the same stuff. I am still working out at the gym as often as possible. I bought some Glucosamine/Chondroitine to help with my joint damage. Hopefully that will eventually ease the pain I feel daily. (I fell on my kneecap when I was pregnant with my youngest.) There is no surgery for my condition at this point. I was able to exercise for an hour and a half on Friday which I promptly rewarded with a night out with friends.

Monday, James was invited to attend a hip hop class with a classmate. I sneaked a video peek.

Thursday, I took the evening off to take Caitlin to curriculum night to research more about the remaining high school years coursework. She will be focusing on art and fashion design. :-) Here is her latest piece of work for school.
My friend "A" and I went for martinis after work and then met her husband for dinner. It has been a long time since I have enjoyed the company of "grown ups." I will miss these people when I move back to Texas, but I hear they have a hankering for some Texas living as well, so there is always hope.

Thursday and Saturday, I spent with the pens and water colors.

 Wishing for some warmer weather.

Her hair is made of tissue paper and newspaper.

This week, I will be praying for more job interviews or at least for the interview I have on Tuesday to be successful.

Monday, January 23, 2012

The Scanner is Working Now

I have a Lexmark printer/scanner. It is finicky. Sometimes it forgets that it knows my computer. When this happens there isn't much I can do but wait. So...last night, I waited, and tried again, and waited, and tried again. Then this morning, I restarted the computer and lo and behold, the computer and scanner were on speaking terms.

So let's get on to the sketches and doodles that lay waiting their turn to be seen by you all.

This is my traditional doodle style.
This one I cut the white spaces away at the top and bottom to reveal part of the next doodle that can be seen below.

Floral fantasies.
She looks a little perplexed or upset, not intentionally though. When you draw directly on paper with a marker it's hard to undo a mark.

I draw a different doodle everyday. This one was completed yesterday.

The Sketchbook Challenge has a monthly theme. This month is doodle. Can you tell it was my kind of theme? They kind of make me want to break out the crayons. How about you?

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Week 3 - Invest in Yourself

 So what's next in my journey to living boldly?? I decided that I must invest in myself.
 A page from my Sketchbook Project




Although this does include a financial investment, it also means investing time in myself as well. Most days after work I really am thinking I should run home and get dinner ready for the kids before I rush off to teach my night class. Now I take time for myself. This often takes the form of working out at the gym. This week however, I felt really sore after a day of running and day of weights. I had to tell myself to lay off a couple of days and not feel guilty about it. Instead of working out on Thursday, I went to the store and bought some Aleve and a joint complex to ward off the arthritis building in my right knee. I then went home and read a good book and got out the sketchbook.
Friday, I allowed myself to stay in my pajamas until 11. I texted my trainer/friend and told her I was staying home. I went to the post office in the late afternoon to mail out my Sketchbook Project to the Art House Coop. The day ended with a nice phone call from Miruspeg.

Saturday, I met "A" and her girls K2 for lunch and shopping. I invited Cait along, but she chose to be the almost 15 year old and stayed home. We then went on a hunt for the perfect running shoes. I thought for sure I was going to have to go to a specialty store because of my supination. However, I found the perfect sneakers at Kohl's department store AND they were on sale.

This meant I had money left over to buy a new shoulder bag, one that would really stand out from the crowd.
This one fit the bill.

Something else I have done is relegated cooking Tuesday through Thursday to my husband. This leaves time for me and "encourages" him to take a more active part in caring for the kids. On Sunday when I go grocery shopping, I include three things that he can make/will make so I am not worried that he is feeding them ice cream and pop tarts. In fact, today while we were sitting at the breakfast table, I included him in the grocery planning so he would have ingredients that he likes to use. Now he can't say there was nothing to make.

Despite impending challenges, my goal is to make 2012 a banner year to be bold, and investing in myself will play a big part in that endeavor.

 How will you invest in yourself in 2012?

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Living Boldly Week 2

I am here as promised. Since this covers a week...be prepared for a lot of info.

This has been a good week. Starting with Monday which will now be known as my lazy day, the day I do nothing and enjoy it. Before when I was unemployed, I felt bad about sitting around doing nothing, but now I savor it. I watch what I want, get dressed or not, eat or not, and I have to time to think about what I want to cook for dinner and make it good. This means we had enchiladas, rice and black beans. I am very proud of my little man who ate it all without complaining. Glad to see he can be bold, too.
 I made them in the electric skillet because I couldn't find my baking dishes. Notice that three don't have cheese for my son.
They were made using leftover pot roast. It was definitely a good use of leftovers.

Tuesday began the busy part of my week. My new class started so I had to be there by 9:30. I am still getting used to being up earlier. When that class was over I had to make it down to the next exit on the Interstate to our new campus to meet with my next class by 10:30. Needless to say I was a bit late but he (yes just one student on my roll) was understanding. After all of my classes, I completed day 2 of the Couch to 5K. I went home to clean up and returned to campus for an evening psychology class.

Wednesday was a repeat of Tuesday except at the gym I did strength training. It was fun to see how far I could push myself. I do need to work on those biceps though. They are much weaker than the triceps.

Thursday you can copy and paste Tuesday in there, too, but by now I am falling into the routine a little better. The highlight of the day was...well, I guess there were a few:
  1. January's first snow.
  2. I actually made it to a whole mile on the treadmill without thinking about it.
  3. This beautiful sunset!
Yes, I was driving.

I am proud of myself for getting out of the house on Friday and heading to the gym for a workout. I exercised for a whole hour. I then treated myself to lunch with Angela at Dean & Deluca. Wow! What a place!


Cajun Chicken Sandwich

That sandwich was so big I could hardly take a bite, but it was so delicious with big flavors like chipotle mayo, apricot mustard and fontina cheese. All those tasty sweets, yum. I ended up going with an almond biscotti. "A" and I had good convo and finished our day by picking up our paychecks. It was fun helping her play hookey from work for a little bit.

Saturday was probably the best day, although it is hard to top Dean & Deluca. I went to a scrapbook store because they were having a garage sale where customers could come and sell their unwanted scrap supplies. I was hoping there would be some girls there I could meet but no such luck. I did walk away with some fun tissue tape from Tim Holtz that I used on my Smashbook. I drove to downtown Blue Springs, thriving metropolis of western Missouri :-), where I found the Memories on Main Street Tea Room and Cafe. They make wonderful spinach and feta quiche. (This is my first time purposely ordering spinach.)

I finished the meal off with a decadent turtle pie which went well with my book, The Girl Who Kicked a Hornets Nest.

Then I went across the street to Lowe's soda fountain.

I met the owner, Clay, who has owned the store for ten years and bought it from the original family who installed the fountain in 1952. They were the Lowe family. He kept the name. I asked him if he minded me taking pictures in his store. He didn't and then he regaled me with stories of David Cook of American Idol fame coming from that little town and how they used the fountain for a tv spot.
(I couldn't find that one, but I found another interesting one.)
(Hey! You see that chair says SOUTH?? That's my daughter's school.)

I also learned about Clay's daughter who is studying to be a teacher. It's funny how much you can learn just by asking, "How long have had this store?"
I ended my Saturday by making pizzas. The kids got pepperoni and I made a yummy Spinach Chicken Pizza. I loved it.

The weekend isn't over but I will end my post now with some shots from my Smash Book. Boy, I am having fun filling it up. (Are you still with me??)
 I learned a little trick from Michelle. She used another page from her Smash Book to extend her page by taping it along the edge.

So, I taped the horoscope from the Coffee News on one page and a page from the Word of Mouth Smash Pad to the other page. I taped them together using the Tim Holtz tissue tape I just bought yesterday.
I used the back of the horoscope on the Coffee News to paste pictures of yesterday's lunch.

So the question is: How is my Journey to Living Boldly going? I think it is going well. I no longer worry about what certain people want or think. I work hard for my kids and myself. I say what I think and do what I want when I want. And I am enjoying taking time out for myself to creatively keep track of each week's memories.

How are you remembering the important events in your life?

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Living Boldly Week 1

Well, I survived Week 1 of living boldly. What did I do? Well, my week started out slowly, but by Tuesday I finished off my workday with a quick workout at the gym where I work. (I teach psychology to students who are studying to be personal trainers.) I enjoyed my time focusing on me and no one else.

The next day, I went to a meeting after work but it was cancelled, so I took the opportunity to ask for what I needed from the supply secretary. Normally I would just suffer in silence. I walked away from her office with a large shopping bag full of office supplies. Why is this important?? Well, I work in a new building and there is NOTHING there. NOTHING. My cohort and I are the only ones working there until the full transition in April. Oh and come to think of it, I was bold the day before as well by calling my "acting" academic director to complain that I didn't have my own computer or projector at the new building either. I was tired of tippi toeing around my cohort waiting to use her computer when she wasn't using it. Next on my list?? A file cabinet. I shall be requesting one on Tuesday.

Thursday was a great workout. I used all of the weight machines on the circuit and came away feeling quite proud of myself. So much that I rewarded myself by going to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo BY MYSELF.  After making supper for everyone in my house, I got up from the table, directed them to please wash up the dishes, took a shower, got dressed, grabbed my purse and said, "I am going to the movies." I know my husband was a little confused but I didn't care. It felt great to go to a movie without children in tow and without worrying if my husband was going to like it or not. By the way - it is a very good movie.

Friday, I woke myself up at a decent hour even though it was my day off, packed my son's lunch, packed my workout gear and left the house. I was at the gym by 9 a.m. Friday was Day 1 of my Couch to 5K workout.

My cohort Angela was there monitoring the school's gym. After I finished my workout, she and I talked for over and hour. It was about that time that we both realized that we were very hungry so we went to Carraba's for lunch.

The old me would be worried about spending too much time away from the house, but it didn't cross my mind once. We ate and chatted and got to know each other. It felt good to make a friend. That is the biggest thing I miss about Texas.

On the way home, I spotted the geese that I have been wanting to take a picture of for months. I finally just pulled into the neighborhood and walked through someone's yard to get to the pond. (That move was inspired by mate Peggy.)
They put on a little show for me.

I documented my week in my new Smash Book 

(This is a poor scan, will do better and talk more about this later.)

Unless something major happens in the middle of the week, I will be back Sunday to share with you Week 2 of Living Boldly.

How was your first week of 2012? Hope it was good.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, I hope you all had a fine time ringing in the new year whether it was spent celebrating with family and friends, or spent enjoying a warm bed.

We spent our evening playing Wii "Family Game Night." That was a good time. There was a bowling version of Yahtzee, a basketball Connect 4, shuffleboard Sorry and more. We also pulled out Pente and an old classroom game of 101 to 200 Bingo. That game ended when a cola was spilled across the table. We then turned to some Wii Frisbee Golf and 100 Pin Bowling.


 It is good to know that my school supplies can still be put to good use.



 (sparkling grape juice)
As the midnight hour was drawing near, we pulled out the vintage crystal compliments of my dad's trip to "West" Germany in the 70s. I just love that the stickers are still on these glasses. We poured some sparkling juice and yelled "Happy New Year!" It was a good time.

Now that 2012 is here, I have lots of plans. Most I can't share. I will let you know about them as they happen. (How's that for a cliffhanger?) I will say that one of them has to do with looking for a more permanent full time employment. In the meantime, I am still exploring my creativity through my artwork. (Today I am trying to complete my Sketchbook Project journal.) I am also working as assistant editor for FEATURING Magazine.

My word for the year is

BOLD.

I will live my life more boldly. I will no longer do things timidly or out of fear.

Are you choosing a word for the year? What are your goals? I'd love to hear about them.
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