Tag Archive | life

Time management or life management?

“Just Enough Hours “. . . . . what does that mean? What was I thinking?

I moved over to this blog coming off of a LONG period, maybe a lifetime, of thinking I could do it all. No, scratch that. I didn’t really think (as in believe) I could do it all, I just DID a lot.

Because I ‘had’ to. And no, I don’t really qualify the ‘had’. I really sort of did have to. No, scratch that. I didn’t have to.

Where, let’s start again – Yes, there were a lot of things I needed to do. (HAD to do) (as a single mom, an employee, etc)

But there were a lot of things I was choosing to do.

In any event, I would hear people say ‘there aren’t enough hours in the day’ and I was guilty of saying that too, but then I got to thinking about how much I already do, and what if there were MORE than 24 hours in a day….can you imagine? Could I imagine? NO! I’d be dead from all the ‘doing’.

so I came to believe that really we have JUST enough hours in each day. God set the light and dark for just the right amount of time. 🙂

How we choose to spend that time is up to us.

More recently I got to thinking about how people used to ask all the time – how do you do it all? Or they would say “wow, I don’t know how you do it all”. And either way it was phrased, I’d honestly try to tell them that I really wasn’t do it all WELL . Yes, I was doing a lot of things, had a lot of irons in the fire — but so much of it was only getting a tiny bit of me. And I finally hit a breaking point. Not really in terms of stress or anxiety or like I had a nervous break down. I just sort of started to think about my time and again thought about the ‘just enough hours’ and this time from the standpoint of – there are JUST so many hours in the day — a finite number – how am I spending them?

And it’s not just about time management. It’s larger than that. It’s about life management.

How am I valuing my time but more than that how am I valuing my life and the people in it. . . . .

I came across this quote a while back (erroneously attributed to Meryl Streep) and although I don’t agree with every word and I realize that it’s not a blanket to cover every situation (for instance, I do believe in loving others even if they don’t love me and I am big on smiling at EVERY one….) but overall, this struck a chord in me.

So WOW, that’s a mouthful. And while I do many of these things I am much more conscious these days of what I ‘bring in’ in addition to what I’m putting out.

I had been struggling for a couple of years with leaving some things behind. Letting go of things and people who I had chosen to make a part of my life that really weren’t aligning with my core values or what I wanted to surround myself with. And because of that dichotomy, it wasn’t healthy for me. The truth is, I should have let go a lot sooner. It would have been easier, more seamless, less painful. . . . . .

It has become less about managing time, using the hours and more about aligning it all with my values – who I am and what’s truly important to me.

Life is short and unpredictable and tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone.

Not only are there ‘just enough hours’ in a day but there are only so many hours in a life.

Is how you are choosing to use your hours in alignment with what you think and believe and what from life? Time management is really life management. Shouldn’t it all align?

Share your thoughts below!

Mid life crisis?

Jun15

Tick-tock, tick-tock….

It sounds cliche – but it is so true – life goes by SO fast. Even when we think it’s dragging on — maybe because we’re waiting on something or we’re enveloped in some monotony or tedious task……..eventually we get to those points where we look back and go “holy cow, five years in the blink on an eye!”.

I have that recurring feeling lately as I realize we’ve been in our ‘new’ house for four years now. FOUR years.

Huh? Really?

And ummmm, HOW? How is it the time has gone SO fast?????

Do you ever have these little questions pop up — like:

It’s Monday again already ?

Laundry needs done? Didn’t I just do that?

High school classes? Seems like I just sent him off to elementary school – Where did the time go?

How did she (or he) (or they) get so big?

How did I get to be “xyz” years old? (48 this summer)

Do you ever think back to the ideas you had when you were 5, or 10, or 16 or 20?

Are you where you thought you’d be?

That’s not even what I find myself wondering…what I’m wondering lately is more like “what HAPPENED to the things I used to love?”

I mean, I know what happened – life happened, I made choices, I had children, I poured my heart and soul into them (and still do and will and don’t even want that to change!) – I did what I needed to do at times – for me, for my family. and I’m ok with that.

I wish I had done some things differently….that I hadn’t squandered so much of my youth…..I did some things great, some things not so great…I’ve made good choices and bad choices, and really really bad choices…..but I’m in a good place. I’m blessed and I’m thankful.

And I’m ready to revisit some of the things I’ve let go along the way. I’m ready to begin thinking and planning about the next set of choices, the next set of years that are going to go whizzing by……AND I’m SUPER excited!

I look at some of the choices I’ve made in the past year and I think – wow, this must be why people get accused of ‘mid life crisis’ — But nope, it’s not. It’s an awakening. It’s another chapter. It’s a natural progression I think – especially when you’ve raised children. There is a lot of focus on them and then you get to this point where – ahhhh. look at that – a free afternoon….a free evening. I’m not an empty nester yet — but I’m starting to feel like there may be this really fun mix of empty nest/mid-life quasi-do-over/next chapter coming.

Tell me I’m not alone! Has anyone else gone through this? Or approaching this? Can anyone relate? 🙂

Oh and just so you know – I didn’t buy a sports car – I bought this instead

This is “Atomic Caesium” or Casey for short 🙂

She’s our newest addition and we are so incredibly excited to have her!

Horses are one of those things that I have loved all my life – having been blessed to own my own as a teenager into early adulthood and also to make a living with horses as a first career.

I’m so excited to revisit this and will share more as we go along!

Brushing the dust off

Jan5

It’s a new year, and that is always a great time for me to re-evaluate and reapply myself.

This blog is one of those things I’d like to take a look at, dust off, and apply myself anew.

I’ll start with a re-introduction –

Hi there!

I’m just another blogger carving out a little space on the net.

BUT – I believe that I have a unique perspective – as do you.

And I hope my perspective will resonate with some folks, maybe challenge some others…that I’ll learn more about myself and life

and maybe I’ll meet new people (please say hello!!)

I blog from Maryland, which is where I grew up.

I’m a single Mom to two (one grown, one finishing up middle school) and a Nanna to two little boys.

All of these little blessings live with me.

We also have two dogs – if you can call them that.

dogs_collage

Well, yes, you can call them that –

they ARE after all dogs.

But they are the tiniest silliest little things,

I sometimes wonder if they qualify.

I plan on blogging about my life in general with a focus on food, Crafts/DIY, and my Metalsmithing.

I suppose that’s a little broad, and I expect over time to hone in the vision for the blog.

But for now – it is what it is!!

So, let me start with a question – because I know some folks HATE that expression (it is what it is), what expression do you hate or are you just tired of hearing?

Comment below!

How to manage time spent on Facebook

Jul18

FBlogo Facebook has for me, like many other people, it become a HUGE time drain. In thinking about having ‘just enough hours’ I’ve come to the obvious conclusion that I need to cut back on my time on ‘social media’. And FB is the biggest offender for me.

I have over 840 ‘friends’ (which I know is not a lot in comparison to a lot of people) on FB but probably only 75% of those are people I actually know. Many have a one or two degree of separation based on common friends or metalsmithing interests. Only a fraction of my FB friends are really people I communicate with.

In order to get a grip on my FB feed, I’ve taken the following steps:

UNFOLLOW:
I have begun to ‘unfollow’ people. This removes their posts from my ‘homepage’ or newsfeed. This has reduced the amount of time it takes to go through new posts in my feed AND it allows items from people I have a genuine relationship with to be readily available. Many other ‘friends’ who are a degree or two separated I still see in the groups we have in common.

NOTIFICATIONS:
I have turned off notifications in all but two groups. The groups that I want to keep a fairly close connection to I have favorited which moves them to the top left sidebar where I can see how many new posts there are and then click through.

UNFRIENDING:
This isn’t something I use often. I know it can be controversial, but I find it necessary at times in order to maintain my sanity! I have unfriended a few people whose posts bring too much negativity to my newsfeed. I saw a comment recently that it is ‘sad’ to see friends unfriending friends because of differences in belief. I disagree. It’s not sad, It’s just a choice. This is MY life. It needs to work for me. I have people in my life that have different opinions and beliefs than I. I don’t live in a utopian bubble. I simply don’t have time for that on FB, it’s not how I choose to use FB.

FB can be a GREAT tool. IF we have clear expectations. Some people, like myself, use it for social outlet. Others use it for news and others for political discussion, etc.

I don’t judge other people for how they interact with FB – YOU need to decide what works for you. I’m ok with that.

FBUFUF

There are other tools that FB offers. Go to your home page and click the small down arrow in the upper right corner then use the ‘help’ link on the drop down. You can then search topics such as ‘organize’, ‘lists’, ‘manage’, etc.

We each have 24 hours in a day – it’s up to each of us individually to determine what our best use of that time is according to our responsibilities, goals, and dreams.

Do what works for you.

Don’t overlook the details

Jul10

I finally got a smartphone back in November of 2102. I was reluctant at first. WHY DO I NEED THIS!? Truth is, I didn’t NEED it. My simple old ‘dumb phone’ did what I ‘needed’ – it made phone calls.

But I finally succumbed to peer pressure and upgraded. And I must admit – it was sorta kinda love at first sight. Although I do think there loads of DOWNSIDES to it – more on that another day – THIS post is all happy joy joy lovey dovey stuff. 🙂

Well, except for this one little next part. Back in mid-of June, it died. I dropped it while it was charging, the charger bent a little, and 8 hours later that puppy was smokin’. LITERALLY

It was a sad day with wailing and gnashing of teeth. Whatever that means. It really just means it was bad. Like baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad-bad. So sad.

Then, after juggling of some available upgrades on family lines, cue new phone. Same brand, different model, all should be fine.

Except that it wasn’t.

Not only was I unable to transfer any content, but the phone was………..well, different. Little details were different, how you swipe, what you press, where the buttons are located. ARGH!

I took for granted those little details, the phone was all I knew until I had to change phones. Then the impact of those little details was made known to me!

It got me thinking about the bigger picture in other areas too.

Like in LIFE.

(like WHOA, lol)

There are so many little details in the world that we often miss because they are just a part of our everyday ‘what we know’. We don’t see them or we don’t appreciate the value they add.

A big disappointment with the new phone was the camera. And it really was a BIG disappointment because the camera on my phone has become such an integral part of my daily routine. When it didn’t work as well as I expected it to I was QUITE sad.

But I kept teasing out the details – – and these are some photos I took in the backyard the other day – these are unedited and uncropped. They are SOOC (Straight Out Of Cell/Camera)

cone flower

flower, cell phone, android, camera

cone flower, macro, cellphone photo

Not too bad!

The details in the cell phone settings made all the difference. AND it allowed me to really see all the details in that flower.

The last photo was very close up and lost some sharpness with the upload but still – I love it. The details in that little flower. To see it, really SEE it. It’s beautiful. An eye opener.

We don’t always notice the little details, they are just a part of the bigger picture. But that is just it:

they are part of the bigger picture – more than that even –

they are what MAKE the bigger picture.

Without those details the bigger picture wouldn’t be as smooth, as vibrant, as interesting……..as grand, as beautiful.

Don’t take it all for granted, don’t overlook the details……

It’s a beautiful world out there. 🙂

CHOOSE to SEE it.

Those little things add up!

Jun12

I’ve been reminded of this in different ways recently.

How little things add up.

Metalsmithing is like this in so many ways.

Each piece we make is the product of so many small steps along the way. And not only do we build on those steps but how well we complete each step often impacts the final outcome.

Little things add up!

Most pieces we make are the product of smaller components that we’ve made. Make earwires, make connectors, make a focal, made small detail elements. . . .and…………

these little things add up!

Into a fully finished functional piece of jewelry.

Earring components by Doxallo Studio in progress

Earrings ready for final clean up and polish

Part of what has me thinking about little things though is this.

That is my bread dough getting ready for it’s first rise.

If making sandwich bread from scracth doesn’t teach me to slow down and see the little things, I don’t know what will!

Every little thing you do to that recipe, all along the way, impacts how it turns out.

From mixing proportions, to kneading time, to rising temperature and duration…..I am learning this by trial and error (and 3 loaves of bread in less than 10 days)

Every little thing, every choice, they build on each other.

This lovely little lump of dough belongs to my grandson. He often joins me in the kitchen.

He likes to help. and I like to let him. 🙂

From pouring ingredients, to stirring, to kneading dough…I even let him crack eggs.

He has his own technique he has developed – it goes like this:

tap tap tap, hold egg over secondary bowl, and fist it, smashing it to smithereens. It’s quite effective.

Yes, it’s messy. But it’s really effective. 🙂

I just scoop the shells out, wash his hand, and then he dumps the eggs into the main bowl.

it works for us.

and you know what? It’s a little thing that we do together. One of many little things — that will build on each other. and will contribute to something in him. Hopefully something positive. 🙂

In addition to baking bread, I have made brownies twice in a ten day period.

This is good — YUM!

and this is bad…… Ummm, YUM!

I have gotten in the habit of making my brownies in cupcake tins. Everyone gets a corner!

A round corner, but let’s not get technical. . . it’s the same effect.

Crunchy edges, chewy insides. Oh em gee.

hello calories! how’d you end up on my thighs?

ohhhhh, yes………………

remember?

little things add up.

So, I suggest cutting them in half BUT, here is another ‘little thing’ I started doing a few years ago. I add fresh ground flax seed to my brownies. . . and sometimes some ground oats.

This stretches the batter a little and adds some healthful qualities to the brownies.

It’s a little thing, but if done in various foods we eat, these little dietary changes will add up! (you can also sub out some fat and other things but I haven’t done any testing with that yet)

One last little thing. 🙂

Try adding a tablespoon of instant coffee granules to your brownie batter.

You’ll thank me for it.