Butterfly Bliss-Volume 3

For those of you who haven’t read about my butterfly challenge, I’m following the lead of one of the bloggers I greatly admire, Charley Forness at Scribe for the Tribe, and trying to make small changes every week in the hopes that the small changes will add up to bigger changes in my life. The original challenge article is here. This weekly check in will include a report on last week’s progress and on my goals for next week.

Goal–Lose 30 lbs by 12/31/2009

Progress

  • Walk at least 20 minutes three times a week— I only walked twice this week. Once I get home from work, I just want to putz around the house and not do anything. I need to figure out a way to get more motivated on this one.
  • Drink three bottles (aluminum ones) of water a day–I didn’t do such a good job on this one. Two days I managed to drink two bottles of water and two days I managed one bottle.

Butterflies for this week (Based on my progress from last week, I’ll keep the same goals)

  • Walk at least 20 minutes three times a week—I think I need to work on this as it isn’t habit yet.
  • Drink two bottles of water a day—I need to be realistic about this and acknowledge that I’m struggling. Hopefully, I can start drinking two bottles and then work up to three.

Goal–Have Sean’s tuition and the taxes paid by 12/31/2009

Progress

  • Cook dinner at home six nights a week to save money.–We did a good job on this and we’ve worked on cutting the costs of the food that we eat as well. I’m also trying to work through the food in the freezer.
  • Pack my lunch four days a week–I didn’t pack lunch at all this week, but I did come home and eat one day. I ate out two days and skipped lunch one day. Definitely need to keep this as it is not a habit yet.
  • Not buy any magazines–I did buy a Woman’s World magazine, but resisted the urge to buy several more.

Butterflies for the week

  • Cook dinner at home six nights a week to save money. I still need to work on this as it is not ingrained yet.
  • Pack my lunch four days a week—This one needs to stay on the list as it is not a habit yet.
  • Not buy any magazines—I’m going to keep this one until I can eliminate buying the Woman’s World.

Goal–Build my online presence

Progress

  • Post five book reviews at Amazon—I didn’t get any book reviews posted as I spent my time working on articles for KUDOS Power. I also wrote an article for More magazine that I’m waiting to see if they post online.
  • Comment on at least 10 blog entries around the blogosphere—This was pretty easy as I read a lot of good blog entries this week. I’m going to eliminate this one as a butterfly as it is ingrained.
  • Get listed on three more blog sites–No progress on this one.

Butterflies for the Week

  • Post five book reviews at Amazon
  • Get listed on three more blog sites
  • Write two more articles for online sites

Goal–Build KUDOS Power

Progress

  • Write five articles—I wrote four articles for KPI and two articles for KPO this week. Good progress on this one.
  • Find five sites to post articles on–I found a list of sites where you can post articles for free. I also found that I can post articles on More magazine and several paper magazine sites. This is definately something I will explore.
  • Reorganize the site for both individuals and organizations–Site has been completely redesigned.
  • Rewrite The Portable Coach–Did not do this one. Am going to postpone it until next week as I will spend time this week working on articles.

Butterflies for the Week

  • Write three articles for KPI
  • Write three articles for KPO
  • Write an article for More
  • Write an article for Divine Caroline
  • Rewrite The Portable Coach

Goal–Build better relationships with my family

Progress

  • One dinner or activity with John this week—I didn’t make it out with John this week
  • One dinner or activity with Cat this week—Did not get time to spend with Cat this week as she had layout for pacer every night this week.
  • One dinner or activity with Sean–Sean and I went to the Holocaust museum this week.

Butterflies for the week

  • One dinner or activity with John this week
  • One dinner or activity with Cat this week
  • One Dinner or activity with Sean

Wish me luck this week. I’ll check back in next Sunday.

Eating the Elephant–Volume 2

I started my Butterfly Bliss Housekeeping Edition last week, but after thinking it over and thinking about the metaphors of butterflies, I’ve decided that for this challange, I’m going to go with the metaphor of eating an elephant. The old story begins with the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer, of course, is one bite at a time. To me that symbolizes internalizing something and making it part of your being and that is what I want to do with the housekeeping habits I’m trying to instill in myself. Going forward, you’ll see my housekeeping challange titled “Eating the Elephant” and my general challange is Butterfly Bliss.

Goal–Have a Clean Kitchen

Progress

  • Empty the dishwasher and actually put the dishes away when it is finished–I’ve done well with this one and as a result, I only have a few dishes left to be put in the dishwasher. Normally on weekends, I end up spending an entire day doing dishes.
  • As dishes become dirty, load them in the dishwasher and start it when it is full.–We’ve still been piling dishes in the sink, but it has become more managable than it was before.
  • Wipe up spills as they happen–Great progress on this one. I’m still not perfect, but I did make progress.
  • Throw garbage away as it happens versus letting the empty boxes and cans sit on the counter.–Was fairly successful on this one. I did leave the garbage can without a bag in it for a day and that resulted in garbage on the counter.

Elephant Ears for the Week–I’m going to leave the same elephant ears as they are not ingrained yet.

  • Empty the dishwasher and actually put the dishes away when it is finished
  • As dishes become dirty, load them in the dishwasher and start it when it is full.
  • Wipe up spills as they happen
  • Throw garbage away as it happens versus letting the empty boxes and cans sit on the counter

Goal–Always have clothes ready to wear in the morning

Progress

  • Put clothes away as soon as the dryer is done–I haven’t done perfectly at this, but I have started putting my clothes in one bag to take upstairs and put away. I need to figure out if I want to do laundry two or three times a week or do one big batch on the weekend.
  • Mend clothes when buttons fall off etc, instead of sitting them aside to do something with later–Didn’t do this. I have a pair of pants that I need to sew a button on and I’ve been procrastinating.
  • Put clothes away after work (hamper, hang up jackets, take jewelry off, etc.)–Did a pretty good job of this one. I have realized I’m really bad though about throwing my jackets in the backseat of the car. I need to do a better job at this.

Elephant Ears–I’m going to keep the same ones this week as I didn’t do a stellar job.

  • Put clothes away as soon as the dryer is done
  • Mend clothes when buttons fall off etc, instead of sitting them aside to do something with later
  • Put clothes away after work (hamper, hang up jackets, take jewelry off, etc.)

Goal–Clean Living Room

I’m in the process of doing a deep clean on the living room, so some of these are getting taken care of that.

Progress

  • Carry dishes into the kitchen when you are done with them–Have done a better job on this one, but I’m still not great. I ended up taking three things into the kitchen today that had sat there for a few days.
  • Carry the kids belongings up to their room instead of waiting for them to do it–I did a good job at this one and I’m actually starting to get the kids to put there own things away.
  • Put shoes away instead of kicking them off on the floor–Total loser on this one.
  • Throw papers and other trash away instead of piling it up–Not a total loser, but I didn’t do a great job on this one.
  • Go through mail once a week–I did go through the mail this week and didn’t let it pile up.

Elephant Ears–Not enough progress to justify moving on to new habits.

  • Carry dishes into the kitchen when you are done with them
  • Carry the kids belongings up to their room instead of waiting for them to do it
  • Put shoes away instead of kicking them off on the floor
  • Throw papers and other trash away instead of piling it up
  • Go through mail once a week

Goal–Clean Bathroom

I made less progress in keeping the bathroom clean than in any other area. I’m still awful about throwing my clothes down and not in the hamper and at putting things away.

 

Progress

  • Refill the toilet paper as soon as it is empty–I did do this one, but I didn’t carry rolls into the bathroom from the laundry room when I should have.
  • Put clothes in the hamper instead of on the floor–Loserville on this one
  • Put away bottles, jars, etc.–I did an okay job on this one, but not stellar.
  • Don’t leave books, magazines, etc. in the bathroom–Did okay on this one.

Elephant Ears

  • Refill the toilet paper as soon as it is empty
  • Put clothes in the hamper instead of on the floor
  • Put away bottles, jars, etc.
  • Don’t leave books, magazines, etc. in the bathroom

Goal–Clean Family Room

Progress

  • Don’t leave my computer bag sitting down stairs. Put it and all the related junk by my desk.–I was okay at this until Friday when I brought my bag downstairs and left it all weekend.
  • Carry dishes and food upstairs as soon as I’m done–I was pretty good at this one.
  • Pick up garbage (magazines, soda bottles, etc.) as soon as I’m done–There are still coke bottles sitting around that I left out.

Elephant Ears for the week

  • Don’t leave my computer bag sitting down stairs. Put it and all the related junk by my desk.
    Carry dishes and food upstairs as soon as I’m done
    Pick up garbage (magazines, soda bottles, etc.) as soon as I’m done

 

Overall, I was really disappointed by my progress as I didn’t think that any of these things were that difficult. I do know that the house is cleaner than it was at the beginning of the week. I’ll just keep plugging away and eventually, these habits will become engrained.

Balancing Evil

Eight years ago, the world stood still as the planet stared transfixed as the images of jumbo jets flying into the World Trade center played over and over and over on every TV in the nation. I still remember where I was that awful day as the worst attack on our nation’s soil since Pearl Harbor played out. I know it’s a cliche to say that we lost our innocence that day, but I felt as if my heart and soul had been ripped out as I realized that terror could come to our doorstep.

That day and the weeks that followed were filled with heartbreaking moments:

  • The photos of doctors and nurses waiting outside hospitals for patients who would never come because there were few survivors.
  • The walls of photos of family members putting up pleas for information on loved ones who would never come home.
  • The rescue dogs who couldn’t find anyone to rescue.
  • The sight of people jumping out of buildings because the alternative was to burn alive.
  • The sight of firefighters rushing up the stairs when everyone else was rushing down.

However, even in those darkest moments, there was overwhelming evidence that for every act of evil there are moments where the goodness of humanity shines through. There was evidence in the smallest gesture that we as a nation were still a nation of heros, still a nation of people who cared, still a nation full of people who were and are “Proud to be an American.”

In the hours after the horror, firefighters drove hours from around the country to pull shifts in the pit that was Ground Zero. They worked around the clock in dirty, grimy, and dangerous conditions hoping against hope that they’d be able to pull out survivors. Rescue dogs and their handlers descended on the site in hopes of finding life.

Ordinary people who weren’t allowed into Ground Zero passed out sandwiches and water to the rescue workers and held up signs to let them know that their efforts and sacrifices were appreciated. Thousands attended memorial services for the grief of one was the grief of all.

The story of Flight 93 gave us all heroes and hope for these were ordinary citizens who had a choice: they could go quietly to their deaths or they could fight back and maybe save others from becoming victims of hate. They chose to fight and in doing so etched their story in the annals of history. They gave us hope in that terrible time when everything seemed wrong with the world and when we, as Americans, were hated simply for having been born in America.

The days after 9/11 were filled with horror, with hope, and with patriotism. I never felt more fully an American than on the Friday after 9/11 when I stood outside with my family, lit candles and sang the Star Spangled Banner. As we stood together outside, we saw the first planes flying out of O’Hare and we knew America would recover.

Two years ago, my family traveled to the field in Pennsylvania where Flight 93 flew nose first into the rich dark soil and 4o innocents lost their lives. Humans are comforted by memorials and in the absence of formal statues and shrines, we visit the places where tragedies have occurred and leave tokens of remembrance. It was dark the first time we saw the Flight 93 memorial and the cool evening air seemed tinged in sorrow as we looked at the hundreds of tokens people around the world had left in memory of the greatness of ordinary citizens.

Eight years doesn’t change the awful events of September 11, 2001, but the evil that destroyed our innocence has been balanced out by the heroics of those who chose to make their last few minutes on earth matter and by those who stepped forward to help heal the wounds.

Elk Bliss

Despite living in Cook County, one of the most urban areas in the country, we are blissed to have a number of forest preserves within ten minutes of our house. The Cook County Forest preserve owns and maintains over 21,000 acres, including Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Botanic Garden. To me it is amazing and a testament to some forward thinking folks who over a 100 years ago realized there would be a need to set aside acerage to give city dwellers and suburbanites the opportunity to quickly escape into the serenity of nature.

One of our favorites is the Elk Pasture in Elk Grove Village. Here, within 10 miles of O’Hare Airport, a herd of Elk graze in a fenced enclosure. There is something mistical about seeing these beautiful creatures almost free and wild. There enclosure is huge and surrounding it on one side are Busse woods. The trail that goes around the enclosure, takes you through grassy knolls and old forests. Within the woods, you can hear birds chirping and frogs croaking. Except fo the occasional plane flying overhead, you can almost imagine you’re truly in the wild.
Cat and I intended to head to the Chicago Botanic Garden tonight, but by the time we got done with work, tanning, and all the rest of our evening engagements, it was too late to get there and hav etime to do it justice. Instead we decided to head to the Friendship Conservatory in Mt. Prospect. This beautiful little conservatory has beautiful gardens, a greenhouse, and a pond. Although the greenhouse was closed by the time we got there, we spent some enjoyable time walking around and enjoying the beautiful flowers and the frogs in the pond.

We headed to the Elk Pasture after the conservatory and spent some time walking and destressing. A lot of folks were out enjoying the evening and work seemed very far away as we were walking along the trail and enjoying the woods. I called my mom as we were out on the path to tell her I was thinking of Daddy, who’d always enjoyed driving out in the woods near his home to look for deer. Talking to my mom, thinking of my dad, and walking with Caitlin, gave me a truly blissful feeling of being connected to people who matter.

Planting Bliss

There is something primal about digging my hands in the dark, fertile earth that makes me feel alive and connected to my prehistoric ancestors. Granted there isn’t much call to grow all my own food in the wild and woolly suburbs of Chicago, but I did take some time this year to plant some flowers out front. My ground is rough and sort of rocky so instead of tilling the earth, I took a shortcut and planted a container garden.

Now being tremendously cheap and not wanting to invest in containers, I scrounged through the house and found old pots with no lids, a few garbage cans we weren’t using, and a few baskets to use as my containers. I’d done my research online and found that a lot of other people were using recycled materials to do their planting in, so I figured there was a precedent.

A trip to Home Depot in May yielded a host of plants including dahlias, azaleas, petunias, and a bunch of other plants that I thought looked cool. I brought them all home, sat them outside and went inside to congratulate myself on at least getting the plants purchased. Of course, once I got inside, I got lost in the Web and it was dark before I remembered that I had plants outside that I needed to plant. I figured they’d be okay overnight after all they’d been sitting out at Home Depot for goddess knows how long.

The next morning dawned beautifully so I headed outside with my bags of potting soil and my found containers and started dumping dirt in containers. Realistically, I know that I should have drilled holes in the containers before I started planting, but I figured there’d be enough dirt in there that my plants wouldn’t get swamped, besides they were calling for a really dry hot summer. The plants looked gorgeous once I got them all planted so I headed inside to congratulate myself and take a shower.

Everything looked fresh and green and wonderful the first week. The wave petunias looked fantastic falling out of the baskets and overall things looked great. Then it started to rain. The first few days everything still looked bright and wonderful and then puddles started to form in my containers. I dumped them out and prayed for drought. No one was listening and it continued to rain and drown my flowers. I think it rained every day for three weeks.

A lot of my plants were casualties of the rain, including the Azalea, which looked sick and spindly when the rain was over. Someone with more time on their hands, would have probably dumped out the plants, drilled holes in the containers and started over. However, I didn’t have a lot of time so I left all my poor spindly little plants sitting outside in their makeshift containers and averted my eyes when I walked in the door.

Coming home one evening, I realized that there were beautiful pink flowers popping out of one of my containers. Closer inspection revealed that the Azalea bush that I’d thought was dead was blooming and it’s been blooming ever since. Surrounded by its poor dead little neighbors, it looks like a rock star.

There’s a certain fundamental bliss in knowing that beauty can bloom even when neglected, over watered, and planted with no drainage. It’s a great reminder that life can surprise us with its beauty, its wonder, and its bliss.

Sky Blue Balance

I first read about the color sky blue pink in a Reader’s Digest article where the writer had talked about her grandmother’s description of sunset as sky blue pink. That was one of those wonderfully wordy descriptions that has stuck with me and every time I look up at the sunset, I think about how beautifully sky blue pink the sky is.

Sunset and sunrise book end the day between wonderful displays of nature’s glory. Sunrise always seems to be alive with possibilities as the first rays of sun peep over the horizon and spread their light across a world just waking from slumber. The sensation of watching the world go from darkness, to the rosy haze of dawn, to daylight is like watching a miracle happen. It’s a reminder that the sun has come up and given us the promise of another day.

It’s been raining a lot in Chicago the last few weeks and the other day my alarm went off and I almost turned it off thinking it was a mistake because the sky was still dark and gray. I pulled myself out of bed and, looking at the clock, realized that despite the darkness, it really was time to get up. Looking out the window, I saw that this was one of those days where there’d be no defined sunrise, just a lightening in the gray.
If sunrise is the promise of another day, sunset is a gift that comes at the end of the day and reminds us that despite whatever we’ve gone through during the day, there is still beauty and wonder in the world. Many would say that tall buildings detract from the beauty of nature, but I think tall buildings enhance the beauty of sunsets. I was driving back to work to pick something up the other day around 6 pm and the sun was starting to set. Its reflection in the glass magnified the rosiness of the sunset and created magnificent shadows. As I watched that beautiful sunset, I felt as if all the cares in the world were melting from my shoulders.
Sunset and sunrise provide balance in life as they draw the boundaries between light and dark and in the olden days they mirrored the boundaries of people’s lives. In the days before electric light, daylight was the time to hunt and gather and night time was the time to sit around the fire and socialize and share time with those you loved. The days were not equal throughout the year with the long days of summer being the time to work ahead and fill the larder with the food you’d need throughout the long winter. I’m trying to use sunrise and sunset to create balance in my own life and to leave my employer’s work at work at the end of the day and to fill the night with activities that bring me joy. It isn’t always easy, but I’m trying to lead a more balanced life.

Air Bliss

Air travel and airports have fascinated me most of life and I fell in love with the whole idea of flying off into the wild blue yonder long before I took my first flight. When I was a kid, my dad would sometimes take us to O’Hare to walk around and see the planes. I was fascinated by the thought of getting on a plane and a few hours later being someplace else.
I loved walking the corridors and imaging where all the people were going. The people dressed in business suits were obviously traveling to important meetings where the fate of world commerce would be decided (it was only later I realized that the most important thing decided in some meetings was what kind of donuts to have). The families were traveling to exotic locations to see grandma and grandpa. The teenagers were traveling to meet their friends. I created stories about everyone I saw and loved imagining interesting and exciting lives for all of the folks that could afford to travel by air.
Fast forward about 10 years and I took my very first flight from St. Louis to Memphis and I finally felt that magickal feeling that comes from taking off and slipping the surly bonds of earth to ride upon the clouds. Despite my best efforts to be sophisticated and worldly because after all I was a junior in college, inside I was a little kid excited about her first time on a plane. I’d heard about what it was like to look down on the earth from 30,000 feet, but nothing prepared me for how incredible it was to be above the clouds and to look down and see the checkerboard fields laid out below you.
The Air Force called me right out of college and I want to work at Scott Air Force Base as a civilian auditor and planes became a part of my everyday life as I got to see planes, planes, and more planes every day at work. We had everything from huge cargo planes to fighter jets grace our runway and I’d often spend my lunch hour watching the planes come and go.
I transferred to Kadena Air Base after a year and a half at Scott and the flight over almost killed my love of flying. Imagine flying for two days with a husband and four month old. Then imagine getting stuck in Anchorage, Alaska for two days with no winter clothes and a sick infant. That was the hellish beginning of my trip to Okinawa and my first exposure to the darker side of flying: delays, lost luggage, and really cranky flight attendants.
The thing about being stationed on a small island in the East China Sea is that if you want to go anywhere, you have to fly and you get to fly in some pretty interesting aircraft. I got to fly in net cargo seats in C-130s and in the very top of C-5’s where you’re actually seated backwards. I loved those flights as they fed my sense of adventure. I also got to fly in a small luxury Lear jet that normally ferried generals. If I wasn’t flying in cool planes, I was out on the flight line looking at them. I got to see the avionics in an AWACS plane and see the inside of a fighter.
I hung up my traveling wings for a few years when we returned to the US, but then in 2000 we took the family to Disney and the magick started when we got to the Indianapolis Airport and the kids realized we really were going to Disney. It was that trip that I discovered it wasn’t only the planes that could be pretty interesting, but the Airports as well. The Cleveland Airport has giant paper airplanes gracing their terminal and we had fun seeing what different ones we could spot.
Since that trip, I’ve found myself in lots of airports and I always try to look at them as interesting places in their own right versus just places I’m passing through and I’ve discovered the beauty and grace that some airports exhibit. The United terminal at O’Hare has long corridors filled with lighted globes that add sparkle and dazzle to the trip.

Heathrow is one of the grandaddies of them all when it comes to airports: it is huge, it is confusing, and it has the best shopping. I was fortunate enough to have a layover at Heathrow once and I spent a couple of hours wandering the corridors shopping the world. Burberry’s and Harrod’s offered traditional British shopping, Bally offered goods from Switzerland, and the resturants offered cuisine to suit even the most discerning palete. There was sushi, sandwiches, and traditional British fare.

The Atlanta Airport is an art museum in its own right. I ended up stuck at the airport for a six hour layover and I took the time to explore all the concourses and I found some amazing artwork. There were delicate glassworks whose undulating shapes seemed alive, there were stone sculptures mimiking traditional Afrikaan American art, and traditional folk art from the south.
As blissful as traveling the world is, there’s nothing quite so blissful as getting on a plane knowing that you’re flying to the most blissful location of all: home and family.

Butterfly Bliss–Volume 2

For those of you who haven’t read about my butterfly challenge, I’m following the lead of one of the bloggers I greatly admire, Charley Forness at Scribe for the Tribe, and trying to make small changes every week in the hopes that the small changes will add up to bigger changes in my life. Last week’s article is here. This weekly checki n will include a report on last week’s progress and on my goals for next week.

Goal–Lose 30 lbs by 12/31/2009

Progress

  • Walk at least 20 minutes three times a week— I did a good job of this one as Cat and I took one walk around the neighborhood this week, we walked around the Forest Preserve, and we went to the zoo today and walked quite a bit.
  • Drink three bottles (aluminum ones) of water a day–I didn’t do such a good job on this one. Three days I managed to drink two bottles of water, but there is still a lot of room for progress on this one.

Butterflies for this week

  • Walk at least 20 minutes three times a week—I think I need to work on this as it isn’t habit yet.
  • Drink two bottles of water a day—I need to be realistic about this and acknowledge that I’m struggling. Hopefully, I can start drinking two bottles and then work up to three.

Goal–Have Sean’s tuition and the taxes paid by 12/31/2009

Progress

  • Cook dinner at home six nights a week to save money.–I did a great job at this one. We actually ate at home five nights this week (for us that is excellent) and when we did eat out were mindful about it and did not just go for junk food.
  • Update the budget in my online budget tracker.–I did update my budget for the week and know what I spent and what I’ll spend next week.
  • Cut my driving to use only one tank of gas a week–This one was actually the easiest of all my goals. I just filled up this morning, which meant that my last tank of gas lasted a little over a week.

Butterflies for the week

  • Cook dinner at home six nights a week to save money. This is really saving us money as I was spending over $100 a week on fast food. This is definitely one I need to keep.
  • Pack my lunch four days a week—I usually skip lunch, but that leads to me drinking more coke, which is also a waste of money.
  • Not buy any magazines—I usually buy two or three magazines a week, which is from five to six dollars wasted with information I could find online.

Goal–Build my online presence

Progress

  • Post five book reviews at Amazon—I actually posted four reviews, so I did make progress on this one.
  • Comment on at least 10 blog entries around the blogosphere—This was pretty easy as I read a lot of good blog entries this week.

Butterflies for the Week

  • Post five book reviews at Amazon
  • Comment on at least 10 blog entries around the blogosphere
  • Get listed on three more blog stes

Goal–Build KUDOS Power

Progress

  • Post three articles on KUDOS Power—I actually made two decisions that impacted this item. I decided that I would split my KUDOS Power entries into two blogs, one for individuals and one for organizations. There will be some cross over and I will post some entries on both blogs, but based on some guidance from the ProBlogger book, I decided this would give me the best possibility to grow my business. I also made the decision, that I was going to focus on writing articles and not posting them for a few weeks so that I have articles I can set to post on particular dates. This was a lesson I learned from this blog as I found when life got busy, I didn’t write so there were no new postings. Now I write blog entries ahead of time so that on days when I don’t have time to write, there is still new content.
  • Post three articles at free article sites with links back to KUDOS Power—Not done, because I don’t want to post articles on other sites until I formally launch KP.

Butterflies for the Week

  • Write five articles
  • Find five sites to post articles on
  • Reorganize the site in line with the above
  • Rewrite The Portable Coach

Goal–Build better relationships with my family

Progress

  • One dinner or activity with John this week—I didn’t make it out with John this week
  • One dinner or activity with Cat this week—Cat and I went to the forest preserve and the conservatory and went to the zoo with Sean this week.

Butterflies for the week

  • One dinner or activity with John this week
  • One dinner or activity with Cat this week
  • One Dinner or activity with Sean

Wish me luck this week. I’ll check back in next Sunday.

Butterfly Bliss–The Housekeeping Edition–Volume 1

To say that I am inherently a slob would be an understatement, but now that I have a home of my own I really want to be able to walk into my house and not trip over shoes left by the door, newspapers, book bags, etc. I want to be able to cook food without first having to wash every dish in the house and scrub down the counters. I want to be able to get dressed in the morning without having to search through the piles of clean clothes and the dryer to find something to wear. I’m new age enough to believe that like attracts like and that living in a cluttered and dirty house will attract more of the same.

It was amazing to me how accountable I felt when I posted my Butterfly Bliss goals on my blog and how I worked to accomplish them so I wouldn’t let anyone out in cyberspace who was reading me down. I also know that I’ve worked hard to find opportunities to make time to do my thirty blissmakers. I’ve decided that I’ll pick five areas of my house that really really bug me and choose some butterflies that I’ll work to accomplish this week. These are not so much things I want to accomplish as habits I want to instill in my life. I also realize that there are other people in my house who pig it up, but this is about changing my habits and not about changing anyone else so even though it really bugs me, I will pick up other people’s things and put them in their rooms versus repeatedly yelling at them to pick up.

So here goes lets see if butterflies can help me be a neater person.

Goal–Have a clean kitchen

  • Butterflies
  • Empty the dishwasher and actually put the dishes away when it is finished
  • As dishes become dirty, load them in the dishwasher and start it when it is full.
  • Wipe up spills as they happen
  • Throw garbage away as it happens versus letting the empty boxes and cans sit on the counter.

Goal–Always have clothes ready to wear in the morning

  • Butterflies
  • Put clothes away as soon as the dryer is done
  • Mend clothes when buttons fall off etc, instead of sitting them aside to do something with later
  • Put clothes away after work (hamper, hang up jackets, take jewelry off, etc.)

Goal–Clean Living Room

  • Butterflies
  • Carry dishes into the kitchen when you are done with them
  • Carry the kids belongings up to their room instead of waiting for them to do it
  • Put shoes away instead of kicking them off on the floor
  • Throw papers and other trash away instead of piling it up
  • Go through mail once a week

Goal–Clean Bathroom

  • Butterflies
  • Refill the toilet paper as soon as it is empty
  • Put clothes in the hamper instead of on the floor
  • Put away bottles, jars, etc.
  • Don’t leave books, magazines, etc. in the bathroom

Goal–Clean Family Room

  • Butterflies
  • Don’t leave my computer bag sitting down stairs. Put it and all the related junk by my desk.
  • Carry dishes and food upstairs as soon as I’m done
  • Pick up garbage (magazines, soda bottles, etc.) as soon as I’m done

So wish me luck.

Bliss Walk

Physical exercise has never been my thing, I’m much more content to spend an hour surfing the net than walking outside. However, one of the commitments I’ve made to myself this year is to treat my body better by eating better and getting more exercise. I put my daughter in charge of my exercise routine and gave her permission to push and prod me out the door every day for a walk. Of course, the week I decide to start walking is the week I come down with a killer case of the flu where walking from the bed to the bathroom was a course in endurance. My daughter barely gave me a pass on the days I was sick, but as soon as I was up and able to go to the store, she started prodding me to go walking.

Tonight we walked around a few blocks and although it was a slow walk because my lungs are still congested, it was a walk. As we walked we talked about life, about her going away to college, and about what’s going on in her–and her guinea pig’s–life. It seems as if I say it in every post that I write about my daughter that she is amazing, but she truly is. At 17, she’s bright, articulate, intelligent, and passionate about life. I’m amazed at what I learn by being around her.

Tonight we talked about the various men in her life (a favorite topic for any 17 year old). We talked about her first boyfriend who’s going away to college this year and decided to break it off with her due to emotional issues on both sides. Although, I’m a realist enough to see my daughter’s flaws, I also think Sam was bad for her because his overprotective mother insisted on choosing his friends, his clothes, and his after school activities. Unknown to them, Sam is a closet drinker who drinks alone. I worry about what’s going to happen to him when he heads off to college and his parents aren’t around to control his life.

My daughter’s editor in chief is the other man in her life at the moment and although she calls him “Pookie Bear” and he’d do almost anything for her, she isn’t interested in him as anything more than a friend. Unlike Sam’s parents, Josh’s parents think the world of Cat. For now, Cat and Josh are just friends who hang out together and run the world’s best high school newspaper together, but you never know what the future might bring.

My daughter’s future is also on her mind as she’s getting ready to apply to colleges. She’s narrowed it down to about six that she would like to go to and as I listen to her talk about why she’s chosen those six, I’m amazed once again at how grounded and mature she is. The school’s she’s picked are all ones that have programs she’s interested in and have activities she wants to participate in. Unlike some kid’s, my daughter is choosing a school based on academics and not partying.

Our walk around the block is ending and we’re both relishing the last hurrah of summer knowing that all too soon, the leaves will be falling and winter’s chill will be setting in. But we both know that with Cat as my personal trainer, there will be many more walks in the days to come.