Category: Musings

Musings

Did you hear the story?

my13daychallenge

Dear Readers,

Let me tell you a  story. Once upon a time the Accountant told me that if I didn’t write a Wonder Woman post about myself by my birthday that he would hack into my website and write one for me. I kept putting off my post. My birthday came and went about two months ago.

I learned a few things. First, the Accountant has pretty good writing skills. Second, you should not leave your computer unattended even if it is just for a quick bathroom break unless you want someone to write a post about you.

Yes, I was very surprised when I logged into my website and saw a sweet Wonder Women post on myself. It was  defiantly unexpected.

Love,

Book Worm

 

Musings

An Easter poem

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My little Easter poem

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The risen Lord

Forsook the tomb

So that we could

Rise when we fall.

The fallen man

Forsook the sins

So that we can be

Where He is

Boldly at his Throne

We kneel

Knowing his Grace

Is for all.

 

Challenge Seven: My Thoughts · Musings

Hold Please

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I had to call the bank this week. They put me on hold. The longer I waited the more frustrated I got. There are only so many times I can hear this.”Your call is very important to us. Hold please.” If my call was truly important, they would pick up sooner. I was on hold for a long time so I tried to stay busy. I got annoyed with the bank, put a load of laundry in the wash, clipped my fingernails, got annoyed with the bank again and finally decided that there had to be some hidden gem in this whole experience. I couldn’t think of any gems of great wisdom. There is no value in being stuck on hold with the bank for fifteen minutes.

This morning I found one. It’s easy to put yourself on hold. I’ll work on this goal later. Later. Next Month. Next Year. Later can easily become Never.

Take yourself off hold and start living your life!

 

 

Musings

Hello Feelings

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I was having my daily devotional with prayer and scripture study when I started thinking about feelings. Happy feelings. Sad feelings. I started thinking about the feelings I show to world and the feelings I keep to myself. With all those feelings running around my head, I knew I had to do something to validate them. I wrote words to describe the various  feelings I had felt that week. Frustrated. Happy.  Cute. Scared. Hope. Fat.  I then put the opposite of each feeling next to my first list.  Certainty. Sad. Unsure. Brave. Fear.  Beautiful.  I did something kind of unusual but it felt right.  I said hello to each feeling. “Hello  Frustrated. I know you’re here. It’s okay to be here. You are teaching me something and when it is safe to feel Certainty you will leave. Until that time, I love and honor you Frustrated”.  It was especially interesting to say hello to feelings that I normally consider positive ,such as happy, and at the same time acknowledge that it is also  safe to feel sad.

After my little validation ceremony, I just sat down on my bed and thought about the beauty of all feelings. What have your feelings taught you today?

My latest challenge is going well. I’m 17 days into not buying Fast Food.

 

Challenge 14: Gratitude · Musings

How to make me really happy

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Today I got a package from my amazing brother John. It made my day. I absolutely love getting mail. It’s so much fun.  There is just something wonderful about letters, packages and magazines with your very own name on it.

As a child, I would wait for the mailman to come. One day we got a new mail carrier. Her name was Mary. I was thrilled to discover girls could deliver the mail. I was headed for a career with the post office. Then I discovered the tragic news that Mary didn’t get to keep all the mail in her truck. I made new career plans.

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The first thing I do when I get home from vacation is to go to the post office and collect my held mail. I get my mail before I unpack my suitcase or even brush my hair. I have my priorities.

Question: How do you make me very happy?

Answer: Send me something in the mail. I love all mail. (OK, maybe not bills)

Challenge 14: Gratitude · Musings

New Years Goals

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2014 was hard. Hard in a lot of ways that I can’t write about on a public blog.

At 4:29 a.m. this morning, I woke up with a desire to do my morning devotional. I went to bed pretty late so at first I wasn’t very happy to be woken up at such an early hour. It was such an odd time to wake up though. I lay there trying to go back to sleep and trying to fight the thought that I needed to do my morning devotional. I figured I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep until I did it so I got out of my bed. The routine is pretty basic. I say a prayer, read a few scriptures and then I do five minutes of a deep breathing meditation.  I’ve been told that meditation heals you and makes all your cells happy. I like happy and healed cells. Sometimes, I end my little routine with a song. I went along with the usual routine and then I did something different. I pretended it was December 31, 2015. I had met all of my 2015 New Years Resolutions. All of them. Even the ones I’m too afraid to speak out loud. I imagined myself on December 31, 2015 standing on a small mountain looking out to the ocean. It was a beautiful ocean that was framed by a rising sun. I looked beautiful next to that ocean. When I picture myself in the future, I always have perfect hair that never gets fuzzy and no acne. It’s amazing what your imagination can do for you. It was kind of cool, because in that moment it felt like I had already accomplished every single one of my goals for 2015.

With my morning devotional done, I promptly went back to sleep for three more delicious hours.

What are your goals for 2015?

Challenge 13: Relax · Musings

Putting up the tree

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Christmas trees are beautiful. They also take time to put up. That’s why my Christmas tree is still in the box waiting for me. My newest challenge is to set up the tree before Christmas Eve. It’s a worthy goal and I’m sure I can accomplish it.

I thought about putting up the Christmas tree two times last week.  Each time, I found something else more important to do. My dishes got done. I wrote a bunch of cards to people.  I started thinking about why I wasn’t putting up the Christmas tree.  So, instead of putting up the tree I did some research on procrastination. The theory I found most fascinating was the Temporal motivation theory. There was little equation and tons of writing all about it. Here is the gist of the theory. If you aren’t motivated to do something, you won’t do it.

Is my tree put up yet? Nope, but I do feel smarter for having spent my evening doing research.

 

Musings

What’s in the Book Bag

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I went to the library the other day. The man behind me in line saw the collection of books in my hands and he commented on the unique assortment. I said I was a unique girl with many interests. When I got home, I emptied my book bag and laughed. Maybe he is right. I have interesting tastes. Here is what in my book bag. What’s in your book bag?

1. The Chemistry of Alchemy: From Dragon’s Blood to Donkey Dung How Chemistry was Forged by Cathy Cobb, Monty L. Fetterolf and Harold Goldwhite.

Who wouldn’t want to read about medieval alchemists and all the crazy scientific things that they discovered and created on their path to make gold? As a science geek, this sounded fun.

2. The Motivation Breakthrough by Richard Lavoie

All the children on the cover are raising their hands and listening to their teacher. No one is poking their neighbor or day dreaming.  Let’s give Mr. Lavoie a chance to transform my classroom.

3. The Dancing Master by Julie Klassen.

Alec Valcourt moves his mother and sister to remote Devonshire hoping to start over. He is shocked to discover the village matriarch has prohibited all dancing. (Let’s all start start singing the song from the movie Foot Loose.) It looks like a very predictable, clean Christian romance novel.

4. Aromatherapy for Bodyworkers by Jade Shutes and Christina Weaver

I like oils. Flipping though the book, I saw a lot of descriptions of the Terpenoid Compounds found in essential oils with their family and functional groups so I knew this book was right for me. Yes, I know your neighbor’s son was healed by applying peppermint oil to his aching leg and I’d like to see the university study to back up the antispasmodic properties.

5.    50 Women Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Heroines of The Faith by Michelle DeRusha

There are a lot of martyrs, Saints and activists they forgot to tell you about in Sunday School. I like a good inspirational story and I always come away with a desire to try harder after learning about other faithful people.

What’s in your book bag?

 

 

 

 

 

Musings

Magic Tricks

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The Accountant is pretty proud of himself. He has learned how to do a magic trick. He can make the cup stay on his hand. Our dinner guests were very impressed.

Of course, they only saw the final trick. I observed all the cups that fell to the ground on the way to learning how to do the trick. It’s kind of like reaching a goal. You may spend hours, days and even years to reach a goal. The audience only sees the final show. People will tell you that you make it look easy. It’s a magic trick. There’s a lot of work that went into it. Go work on your magic trick!