January 12, 2018 – I’m like a steamroller these days!

         It is January and step aside; I’m on a cleaning spree. I’ve become inspired on how nice my drawers and cabinets look after I’ve cleaned the clutter out of them and pared down my assets.  That old phrase:  LESS is MORE is chiming in my head these days.

         I’m on a roll one might say. Today I started on my writing center.  OH MY – I am a paper rat and I simply took everything off the top of my desk and plunked it elsewhere.  I will be wadding through it in the next few days.

I started this project with the follow mantra:

 “Do I actually need this for anything?”

“NO,” I said. I flung it in the trash [or recycling].  It felt so liberating.

         I cleaned my top credenza file drawer and even went so far as to type large print labels for the folders.  I usually purge these files the week I have my taxes done, so I am way ahead of schedule.  I’ve the bottom drawer to do tomorrow. But, just pulling the drawer open I see it all neat with plenty of room and lovely labels.  It makes my heart sing.  Somewhere I found real motivation to tackle this project, yet I can’t seem to muster up enough to tackle some of my other life-changing projects as in “DIET and EXERCISE”.

         Recently Terry Ledford’s column in The Daily Courier entitled, “How much do you want it?” discussed motivation.  He says,

         “I learned a long time ago that I can’t help someone change unless they really want to change.  Even with the right motivation, it is hard, but without it is impossible.”

         That sort of sums up my losing weight – at the moment I feel it is impossible.  Does anyone care, except me if I look awful in the mirror?  “NO.” I say to the fat – OINK - reflection in the mirror.

Ledford sums up the concept:

“We may want it, but is that enough?  There is a huge difference between wishing and wanting something, and deciding to make it happen.”

I understand that and my wishing isn’t enough wanting at this point when it comes to dieting.  I am settling for just behave around food for a while and work on other aspects of my life.  My determination and my motivation just isn’t there at the moment because it is hard and I am not in the mood for hard.  It is going to take a lot more determination, dedication and motivation, which I can’t seem to pull out of thin air at the moment. 

Meanwhile, I am working on other areas where I seem to have enough determination to complete the small project and see great results.  Maybe if I see enough great results in these small matters, I will get around to the big one – diet and exercise.

Ledford’s article gave me additional food for thought – against the diet as well as for the diet.

Against the diet: Research is well-known that mastery of a skill takes about 10,000 hours of practice.  If you take 3 hours a day for diet, including shopping, preparing, and cooking, [and cleaning up] and that time also includes exercise and multiply it for a year – that is 768 hours invested.  10,000 hours equates to roughly 13 years.  Have I actually figured out how to correctly diet and exercise yet?  Not exactly, as I’ve never really been successful. Ten or 15 pounds doesn’t make me svelte.  Obviously, I haven’t mastered the skill or the life changes yet.

However, for the diet Ledford suggests:

“Make sure every step you take is in that direction.”  Every step we take either takes us toward or away from our goals.  The steps can be small, but if taken in the right direction, they will get us to our goals.”

So, that is where I am, just behave around food and possibly I can make small daily changes that will end up as big changes in the long run. Meanwhile I can look forward to a clean house, and being so organized I can easily locate those 3 hours needed for the life changing step of diet and exercise.

Ledford finishes it with a nice pep talk:

“If the goal is good, right and worthwhile, it is worth the effort to make it happen.  Change can happen, if you really want it.”

I’ll revisit this when I’ve gotten the rest of my life in order – hopefully that is all that I am lacking.  

December 29, 2016 – Out with the old – in with the new.

          I’ve been cleaning house – drawers, closets, cabinets, everywhere.  I have been on a mission.  I bought three of the same item – one as a gift to a friend who was expected to travel – one for me – it was a nice item and the same item for a “steal a gift Christmas gift.”    I wrapped one in the handiest paper I could find – not my standard wrap – but I did it before she arrived after church one morning.  The other two – I still don’t know where they disappeared to.  I think I put them somewhere – but where?

          Vanished – gone.  I have looked every possible place and now that I have opened and cleaned and re-folded every item in every drawer, torn out the closets and sorted out the clothes and put them back.  Moved all the books to closets until I get into a “reading spell” and opened all the suitcases thinking that I might have stuffed the two unwrapped gifts in them . . . I have come up empty handed.

          Is this a sign of old age?   Did they get tossed out in the trash somehow? Wherever I put them is a swell hiding place.

          What I did find in this escapade was useless trash.   Toss it, toss it, toss it was my mantra.  I found I had duplicate shoe polish in three different drawers in three different rooms in the house.  They are now in one place – those that are still useable.

          Unmatched socks – they are all gone.  I dumped all the socks out on the bed, matched those that matched and the rest I tossed.  It was liberating.

          I even got to drawers I hadn’t thought of getting to and imagine the surprises.   I found what were meant to be stocking stuffers for my husband that I must have bought 3 or 4 years ago.   He got those today as a bonus from my cleaning.  He was good enough to take several bags of trash to the dump.

 I had another good find. My last visit home I worked in my Dad’s garden and in the evening it got chilly.  He dug in his closet and said, “You gave me this.  It didn’t fit – you can have it.”  I pulled the grey plaid flannel shirt on and it took the chill off.  I had been wondering where it was – it was off the hanger and on top of an open sewing basket – nope the missing items were not in that basket.  But, I immediately pulled the flannel shirt on.  It took off the chill, again.

          I’m still looking – still hunting for those two items.   So, what were they?

They were small pouches that would expand into a full size travel bag in fashionable Kelly green and navy blue plaid.  Light weight and handy and I thought perfect for myself when I saw it at the store this last summer.  I thought I could tuck it into my luggage on my next trip and then if I had some items I needed to bring back, I had a satchel to take care of the situation.   Then I liked the price and bought a second for the Christmas exchange – a good – all-purpose item for a steal-a-gift – then I thought of my friend who would be going back to Florida to settle her mother’s estate.  She might want to bring a few cherished items home with her.  I got her one too.   Well, she is the only one who got one.  I am still waiting to find mine and the extra for a spare gift.

          I can’t think of another place to look, but isn’t the old adage: You will find it the last place you look. I have something to look forward to.

          I ran out of steam late afternoon.  But I have to laugh at myself.  I was just about to quit the cleaning project as my mind was thinking, ‘Let me relax and work on my embroidery’.

          Every Christmas I buy a good book or a project to fill the extra quiet time over the holiday.  This year it was a set of pillow cases to be embroidered.  My mother taught me to embroider when I was a child and I admired some hand embroidery recently.  A few days before Christmas I was in Wal Mart and found pillow cases that were stamped with butterflies to embroider.  I bought them along with floss – ala - Santa.

          I started the butterfly pillow cases Christmas afternoon.    I work with one color at a time and am doing the leaves first – lots of satin stich – plump leaves.  I am slow at statin stich and I am taking care to do them “beautifully” for myself.

          Done with that closet I went to the last bedroom and went through the bureau drawers.  I wanted to get to my embroidery.  I was running out of steam.  The drawers were given a quick run through – out trash, and straighten and then I find a shopping bag folded around an item.  The right size for my missing items and I open it up and what do I pull out?

          Another package of the exact same butterfly pillow cases to embroider with a receipt dated three years ago.

          I don’t remember buying them.  If I can’t remember buying them, how am I going to remember where I put my missing items?

          On second thought - did I buy only one and not three?