Best Laid Plans

I think that I stay up much later when I am on vacation because I want to savor as much time off as I can. I do it every time and it always backfires on me because the later I stay up, the later I sleep in the next morning. I then take hours to get myself motivated to get going. This week I had great plans of grandure. I was going to do lots of things around the house and do a lot of lesson plans and my report cards. Well, here it is late Friday night (really 2:29 a.m Saturday) and all I have done is been mom's taxi service and miraculously I cleaned out one closet. The house looks the same and my school bag is in the same corner I threw it last Wednesday night (untouched). It has taken me almost 25 years to realize that I am much more productive when I am working. During school days I am up at 6:15. I get showered, dressed, make lunches, get everyone else up and out and I'm out the door by 7:45 and I'm at work by 8:30. I teach all day. I run errands on the way home. I carpool with my daughter and her friends to dance class. I make dinner. I clean up dinner. I do lesson plans. When I'm home. I do hardly any of this. And I always tell myself "I'm going to get a lot done this week". I would make a lousy housewife! Well I've got two days to complete my "to do" list. I know I can just see myself now late Sunday night doing my report cards and my lesson plans (they are due Monday morning to the principal). This is exactly what I tell my kids not to do. I should listen to my own advice. Is there anyone else out there that does the same thing? Please share.

It's Been A Long Time

Wow! I haven't written on this bog in 4 years. I have to confess that I really felt I was running out of things to write about. But in reality I had loads of things to share but could not bring myself to write about them. My family and I have been on quite a journey these past 4 years. There have been many highs and lows. Unfortunately there were more lows than highs. There have been lay offs, changes in my teaching position, health issues with family members. The biggest and ongoing situation is my middle son's battle with drug addiction. With all of this I struggled to feel gratitude toward anything in my life. With this feeling of emptiness, we fell deeper into a slump. We struggled with our son to get him help. It is difficult to help someone who doesn't want help. This was coupled with my husband being laid off. This is probably when I should have been writing the most and yet I just couldn't bring myself to do it. However, we never gave up. We managed to bring ourselves together and stuck together as a family with great love. That is the one thing that never faultered. I truly believe it is the one thing that has helped us get through everything. My husband now has a great job with great monitory opportunities. Although my son adimently refused rehab, we were able to get him help with a great counselor that he sees every week. He has taken himself off of the misuse of prescription drugs, we are working to get him to stop smoking pot. His school has been supportive in allowing him to complete high school at home by doing the assignments at home. He has completed all of his work on his own with some minimal help. He is scheduled to graduate with his class in June. He hopes to attend a community college in the fall. He has had a couple of jobs but they were temporary and didn't quite work out. Tomorrow he wants me to take him to fill out more applications in the hope of getting another job. All of this is a step in the right direction for him.
We did have a series of good things happen as well. My older son graduated high school in 2010 and has been attending college on a half scholarship. My daughter is now a teenager. She does very well in school and has been on the honor roll many times. She has also been a member of her dance studio's competition team. She has become quite the beautiful dancer.
It has been difficult for us the past 4 years but our love is what got us through it successfully. It is the love that we have for eachother that I am most grateful for. This is what I have come to realize today as I begin to write in my gratitude journal again. I hope to continue and I hope that you will continue this gratitude journey with me. What are you most grateful for? Please share.

Sous Chef Marissa

Today is Columbus Day and of course all of us teachers and students are off from school. YEAH!! Today was a day to catch up on laundry and stuff around the house. I also decided to make a nice big dinner- Eggplant Parm. I took a quick jaunt to the store to pick up some fresh eggplant. When I returned from the store, my daughter Marissa decided that she would help. She wanted to learn how to make it. I was reluctant at first. I sometimes run on the policy that I can do things faster by myself. But I stopped myself from turning her away and let her hang with me and help. I gave her the job of flouring the slices of eggplant. She mastered that pretty well and soon she had graduated to flouring AND dipping in the egg mixture. It took us a while to fry the eggplant but I do think that she helped me go a little faster. Hanging with Marissa in the kitchen brought me back to when I was her age and helped my mom and grandma make dinner. That's how I learned to cook. Hanging out in the kitchen and helping (peeling potatoes, breading chicken breasts, shaking the chicken in the shake-n-bake bag, setting the table). This was a very important part of my growing up. I learned a lot from my mom and grandma and it was a lot more than just cooking. Granted I had to learn my husband's favorites from my mother-in-law (hence- Eggplant Parm.) I think that these moments with our kids are important in their growing up. Not only did we have fun together, but she learned something. She was also very proud of her accomplishment in the making of that meal. When everyone sat down to dinner tonight she made the big proclamation that she cooked the Eggplant. I think she had the biggest piece.

Today's Affirmation:
"I am willing to let go.
I release others to experience whatever is meaningful to them, and I am free to create that which is meaningful to me."

Today I let go of the reigns a little today and let Marissa help with dinner. It was important for her to hang with me and learn something "grown-up". She felt very grown up when claiming credit for tonight's dinner. It was also very meaningful to me to pass my knowledge down to her. Some day she will do the same with her own kids. I was very proud of her today!

When have you let go to let others experience what is meaningful to them and in turn became meaningful to you?

P.S. For those of you who are wondering- I had a great experience at the mall the other day- shopping by myself (AAAHHHH-Bliss!!!) I found a great outfit for the wedding on Saturday. I was a woman on a mission and found something within 1 hour and it was on SALE!!!! I decided not to buy shoes. I couldn't justify spending some sick amount of money for shoes that I will only wear once in a while. I have a pair of shoes that I have hardly worn and will do just fine. I will take pictures at the wedding and post them next week.

Busy, Crazy, Sicky Week!

The writing of this post was done over a span of time.
Wednesday I wrote this:
My 14-year-old son came home from school last Thursday with a really bad cold. Then 16-year-old son caught it shortly after him. Well now, it is my turn. Although, I do not have a complete cold, I just have an all over achiness, headache, stomachache and crummy feeling from head to toe. Tuesday I was home sick. I literally called in sick, crawled back into bed, pulled the covers over my head, and slept until early afternoon. Neither of the boys has really missed any school. They are both in high school and feel that unless they are throwing up, they truly cannot miss any school. Me too, I am right back at work today. I long for the days when I was in elementary school, when I could stay home for a few days. My mom or my grandma would give me soup in bed, and my teacher would send home work and a note from the class saying that they hoped I feel better soon and get caught up on the work when I could. In high school there is no excuse for not having homework, even if you’re really sick. It is the student’s responsibility to find out the missing work and make sure they are all caught up on the day in which they return to school. For us in the working place, everyone wonders where you were and there is little post its all over your desk.
Sunday I write:
Well, I took care of all of the little post it notes on Wednesday. Thursday night at dance class my daughter had a great honor bestowed upon her. She and some of her friends were asked to join the dance competition team!! She is still beaming!! We are so proud of her. She works so hard. She wanted this so bad!
I spent Friday in an all day meeting. Saturday I cleaned the house all day :( I'm feeling a lot better now but my headache did not leave me until Friday morning. Today I am going shopping ALL BY MYSELF!!!!!!! My husband and I are going to a wedding in Manhatten next Saturday. It's going to be quite an elegant affair and I just don't have anything in my closet that is suitable. So as soon as I'm finished writing and posting I will be jumping in the shower, getting dressed and I'll be off to the mall- ALONE!! :)
It's been a crazy week and I've missed blogging!! I'm back! I'm still here! I look forward to reading all of the posts I've missed on the blogs that I follow.

So, here is today's affirmation:
"I am at Peace
Divine peace and harmony surround me and dwell in me. I feel tolerance, compassion, and love for all people, myself included."

We Can Turn This Around- Can't We?

Lately, I am quite grateful that my mortgage is up to date and my house is still worth more than I owe. My husband sent me the link to this clip and it truly hit me hard in the heart. Watch and you'll see:


I feel sorry for those who got caught up in this mess. This so called "bailout" bill is not going to help the homeowner in trouble. The bill is basically only going to help the banks. It is a shame that we are now relying on those who let this mess happen! Where is the bailout for the homeowner in trouble?
I know we will fix this! We Americans are a strong people! We have to work together to find our own solution!

I think this affirmation will work for this situation:
"There is plenty for everyone, including me. The ocean of life is lavish with its abundance. All my needs and desires are met before I even ask. My good comes from everywhere and everyone and everything."

What is your solution? Let's make a collection of ideas to help eachother out!

Economic Crisis or Turning Point?

The Law of Attraction simply says that you attract into your life whatever you think about. Your dominant thoughts will find a way to manifest. Essentially "if you really want something and believe it's possible, you'll probably get it" but that putting a lot of attention and thought onto something you don't want means you'll probably get that too. The past few days there has been a lot of talk about "economic crisis" "financial bailout" and many other situations that very well could insue panic and frenzy throughout. Why are we approaching this situation with such a negative attitude? Everything I listen to is doom, doom, doom! The law of attraction states that our thoughts become things. If we continue to stress the negative attitude to this situation, more negative experiences are going to occur. Why not use terms like "economice turning point" or "financial assistance"?
It seems that something definetly has to be done to turn the financial world around. While watching "The View" yesterday, Whoopie Goldberg used a very eloquent analogy to this situation: (I can't quote her exactly) She said something like this- There was a huge party and most of us went to the party. Some of us indulged more than others. Now the party is over and it's time to clean up and deal with the hang over.So I say let's deal with it in a positive manner so that all will be healed. It's time to understand that we are at an "Economic Turning Point" and give some "Financial Assistance" to secure our assets and keep the economy going and make the dollar strong.
Here are some affirmations that we can all say each day to assist in this situation:

"I am willing to change. I am willing to release old negative beliefs. They are only thoughts that stand in my way. My new thoughts are positive and fulfilling."

"My income is constantly increasing. I begin now today to open myself to ever-increasing prosperity."

What is your opinion? Does anybody have a solution to all of this?

Lazy Sunday Morning!

Don't you just love a lazy Sunday morning? This whole weekend has been rather lazy! I love it! We've spent the past many, many weekends going to christenings, showers, birthday parties etc... AAAAHHHH finally a weekend to do nothing. Yesterday as you know I worked on changing the layout of this blog while all the men in the house went to the homecoming game at the High School (we lost :() and then we all went for chinese food for dinner. This morning I woke up around 8:15. Chatted with husband for a bit. He got up and went to the living room to watch the Formula 1 race with older son Michael. I pulled the covers over my head for another half hour. I peeked my head out of the covers and grabbed the laptop to have a look around the blog world for a little while. I got up for about 10 minutes to make coffee and grab a bowl of cereal and then headed back to bed. Sitting up in bed with my cereal and coffee, I turned on the television and flipped around there for a while. Then I called my mom to talk to her for about an hour. Then my husband came back to bed for another chat, followed by daughter Marissa and then middle son Mark. Before you know it all 5 of us were hanging out in our room (kids to big to hop into bed) having a nice chat. I'm getting up now! At 12:15! I sent my husband out for the paper, so I could get the coupons to go grocery shopping. While he's out, I'll jump in the shower. I do need to go grocery shopping. I will at least do that today. But sometimes we all need to just relax and do nothing.
Here is today's affirmation: "Life is simple and easy. All that I need to know at any given moment is revealed to me. I trust myself and I trust life. All is well."

I think the affirmation speaks for itself. Sometimes we just need to relax and reset our clocks.
When was the last time you spent some time to yourself and relax?