Abundance

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into. Wayne Dyer

This past week my sister in law, Tiffany, had an experience that she shared with me and it really was so motivational for me. She said that her 4 year old son went to go outside and the screen door literally blew off it's hinges. I know if it were me, I would have probably been extremely frustrated that this happened. Then add to the equation that her husband was gone for the week and the day to day challenges that come with raising 5 boys. But instead, she totally turned the experience into something positive. She chose to see it as a projection of how her month could turn out- business wise(Mary Kay). She decided that March was going to be the month that she was going to blow the doors off. What a great perspective. Her director took it a bit farther and talked about living a life of abundance.

How often do we look at trying experiences in our life and see the negative? Do we focus on what is lacking from the situation? I am trying to take the challenge to live my life in abundance. I look at my life and see so many incredible blessings. I really want to strive to keep the richness in my life at the center of my thoughts.

As many of you know, I am trying really hard to eat healthy and lose weight in the process. And typically when I have started a "diet", it is really hard because you see all the things you are missing out on. Friday night, we had a ward dinner and instead of being sad that I was not able to eat the yummy looking brownie sundae that they served, I chose to focus on all I was gaining from the situation. I felt good that I didn't need to eat dessert to be satisfied.

I can apply this way of thinking to so many aspects of my life: my material possessions, my relationships, and my insecurities to name a few. I am not saying I have perfected this attitude by any means. I just am trying to tune my attitude more towards recognizing the abundance in all I have.

30 Minutes or less

It is a amazing to me all that you can actually accomplish in a 1/2 an hour if you put your mind to it.

I love watching Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals. I rarely make anything that she does- just because I don't usually have the plethora of gourmet foods at my fingertips like she does. Watching her show always gets me in the mood to actually go make dinner for my family. Anyway, Tuesday night, Troy and I watched her show together and saw her make this recipe. Surprisingly I had all the ingredients on hand except the pita rounds, which I fixed when I went to the store. And I was pleased to have actually completed the meal in around 30 minutes, despite not having a few of the time saving elements like she had like chicken tenders instead of breasts and washed bagged salad, instead of a head I had to chop myself. The Greek Chicken Tikka turned out to be a really yummy dinner at our house- if I do say so myself. You just wouldn't have wanted to look anywhere besides the table while we were eating, because the rest of the kitchen was a disaster area because I was rushing to finish in a timely manner. Wish I had a crew that came in during the commercials and tidied up so I could concentrate on cleaning.

Then this morning, I did my Leslie Sansone's Walk and Kick DVD.
My sweet sister, Lorilee sent it to me after we split a package deal from Sam's Club. 2 workout DVD's for $20, isn't a bad price, in my book. Anyway, it is a 1/2 hour workout. And I honestly found myself wishing it was longer. I had such a fun time doing it. If you have never tried any of her workouts, I highly recommend them.

My goal for the day is to whip my office into shape. The pile of sharing time stuff from Primary, the stack of bills and a bunch of fun ribbons from my friend Amber are all just waiting for me to put them away. And I am pretty sure I can do it in 30 minutes or less. What can you do in 30 minutes today?

More games

It is a good thing people tag me or I would never get around to blogging some weeks. I was tagged by Marilyn.

Three things you wish for:

1. That I didn’t have to worry about money
2. that my children would be the best of friends
3. that houses would come with a self clean button

3 Things You Would Do To/For Yourself If There Was No One To Judge You (…or if you had the guts to do it!)

1. Have Lazer eye surgery
2. Have some cosmetic procedures done including Liposuction- there are areas of my body that will never look good without this
3. Say bye-bye to the fun varicose veins that I inherited

3 Bad Habits You Have

1. Spending too much money- I am not a good saver, I don’t have a stopping off place in my checkbook where I don’t spend anymore- except for when it is in the red

2. Letting myself get annoyed with people for silly reasons

3. Almost always having a messy office- it usually takes 20 minutes to clean, but I put it off for days at a time

3 Insecurities You Feel

1. I am always afraid people are judging my mothering skills by my children’s actions

2. That my clothes aren’t good enough- I guess this dates back to the days of not owning a pair of Guess jeans when everyone else did- however, as an adult I am not willing to fork over the $$ to make my clothes good enough- I’d rather stay home with my kids

3. See above- that I am making a mess of my families’ finances

3 Talents/Skills You Wish You Had

1. organization- I can fake it for a while, but I always gravitate back to chaos

2. wittiness and a better sense of humor

3. patience with my children- I wish I could say I was a Mom who never yelled at their kids- but I don’t handle stress well

3 Things That You Would Do If You Had More Time(most of the stuff I want to do is more contigent on having $$, I think you make time for the stuff you really want to do- so if I had more $$, I would….)

1. go back to school and renew my teaching certificate

2. go to more plays and cultural events

3. build shelves in my garage and storage room

3 Things That Bring You Peace/Relaxation

1. reading a good book
2. snuggling up in bed with the remote in MY hand
3. definitely a quiet house after the kids are alseep

3 Things That Spark Your Creativity

1. walking through a scrapbook store and seeing fun new products
2. the garden at 2peas
3. looking through my pictures

I tag:

1. Amy Grendell

2. Becky Thompson

3. April Peterson

Kids....

Sometimes the adult mind has a hard time wrapping itself around a child's notions and ideas. This week we have had some gorgeous weather here in Nebraska. The boys have rushed through their afternoon chores to be able to go out and play. The construction site next door has become a treasure trove of fun for them. There are all sorts of fascinating items to find that the workers have left behind. Never mind that all of them belong in a trash can- but I don't want to rain on their parade, so I smile and get out the antibacterial soap. I did have to laugh out loud when Connor brought the little tv/vcr combo outside with a Star Wars video. Apparently they are loving the outdoors so much, they thought they should combine it with one of their other favorite activities. Maybe their idea wasn't completely unfounded- I know, I thought it was a pretty good idea to take all my friends to the drive in to see Staying Alive for my 11th birthday.

Doh!

Hey, I just realized I forgot to tag someone else for the scrapbooking survey I posted the other day.

Drumroll, please.....


Teresa and Marilyn consider yourself tagged!