My Lent Update...or revelation, so to speak

Sitting here, almost at the end of Lent and realizing that my choice of "giving up facebook" was an epic fail, I remember the words of wisdom our pastor spoke at a sermon years ago. Father Jim gave a sermon about Lent, talking about how so many people take this time to "give up" a bad habit, like smoking or drinking alcohol. He argued that we shouldn't use this time to just give up something we shouldn't be doing anyhow. He also asked what was the point of giving up, let's say, smoking for 40 days, if you planned to just go back to it. If we really are going to give up a bad habit, we should just do it - don't wait for Lent. Father Jim continued by saying we should use the time to "do more good" and think about how to make the world a better place - rather than taking something away, give something back; rather than depriving ourselves of something, we should add something positive to our lives and/or the lives of others.

One of his suggestions was to give thanks to someone each day - be it the grocery store clerk or a former teacher. That year, I did a Google search and wrote letters to two of my former high school teachers, thanking them for their support and inspiration during my nightmarish high school years. I heard back from one of them - and what a wonderful letter that was! :) Another year, I made sure to volunteer at least once a week - be it at my children's schools or passing out lunches to the homeless. Anyone who has spent time volunteering knows the joy it can bring.

Those are more meaningful than the old standbys of "give up (fill in the blank)" for Lent. Or at least, I believe so. And I thank Father Jim for those experiences. I understood what he meant. The idea was to focus more on, as Ken Collins' wrote on his website, "soul-searching and repentance...a season for reflection and taking stock...when the faithful rededicate themselves." Yes, it can be done by taking something away - fasting, so to speak - but it can also be done by doing something positive.

So, the year I volunteered to "give back," I also gave up Diet Coke. My idea was to do something hand-in-hand: trade something negative for something positive. And in doing both of those things, I was hopefully setting up a habit. I'm proud to say that I hardly ever drink Diet Coke now - maybe just when we go out to eat; I don't purchase it by the case any longer. I also regularly volunteer at different agencies.

Sadly, I forgot about that lesson this year and simply said, "Give up Facebook." I focused on the negative, rather than the positive this year. And it was an epic fail. I focused on trying NOT to log onto facebook. I was never focusing on something positive at the same time.

So, even though we are at the end of Lent, I decided to make a mid-game change: I should do some sort of cardio exercise every single day - even if just for 10-15 minutes. And while I may not have given up facebook 100%, I did successfully give up Farmtown 100%. I plan to not return to my "Stupid-town" - no matter what new items they try to tempt me with, no matter how much FarmCash I may actually have. And hopefully, this cardio thing will also become a new habit.

There may just be two weeks left, but I hope to keep it going for longer. Either way, I'm glad I remembered it is not always all about NOT doing something; it should also be about DOING SOMETHING.

Whoops

For those of you who have known me a long time, you know that I once swore like a sailor.  About the time my daughter was a toddler, I decided to stop.  Why?  I can remember the specific moment I knew I had to get my swearing under control: it was the moment my daughter dropped a sticker on the ground and said, "sh**" very innocently.  You see, she didn't think there was anything wrong with saying it - probably because I used the word so liberally. And she used it in the correct way.  Oy!

Hence, I learned to swear not in my child's presence.

I still do a pretty good job not swearing in front of the kids, or at least I thought I did.  The other day I learned that I needed to clean it up even more.

While waiting in the car, at the student pickup line, at my daughter's school (which can appear to many like a traffic jam), my son said in an impatient voice, "AH! C'MON!  GO, YOU IDIOT!"

Holy #(%*#$%#.

Whoops.

the things we do for our kids!

My husband was a vampire this Halloween.  That was a pretty big deal in our house!!!

Let me explain that he has almost never dressed up for Halloween.  Last year, for the first time I have known him, he agreed to wear a referee shirt with black jeans, but that was as close to a costume as I had ever seen him get...in the 15+ years we have been together....unless you include the time he wore a tuxedo for our wedding.  ha!

This year, my husband and I were not planning to dress up, but I think my son was about to break down into tears if we didn't.  His favorite holiday seems to be Halloween, you see.  He loves to dress up.  In fact, he dresses up on a regular basis.  He has a Batman costume, a Superman costume, a Spiderman costume, a pirate costume, and an Ironman costume.  He wears them semi-regularly and was ecstatic that he was able to wear them outside three days in a row (for a parade at school, a Halloween party, and then Halloween trick-or-treating).  So, I busted out my costume from last year - a generic cheerleading outfit - and wore that to the Halloween party I attended with my son.  Sadly, I just didn't get something else together in time.  And yesterday, my husband bought these weird contacts and fangs for Halloween night.

Our kids were thrilled.  Our daughter kept talking about it over and over.  You see, she is a tween and has only seen her father get dressed up last year and this one. HAHA.  Now our son, on the other hand, will expect him to dress up for years to come. haha. :)

The things we do for our kids!

Family Vacations

For my recent birthday, my generous mother and stepfather gave me a trip for four to the "Happiest Place On Earth," so the husband and I put our kids in the car and drove to Disneyland for our 5 days, 4 nights vacation.  We were excited - okay, maybe not so much the husband, but the rest of us were!  We hadn't been there in years: it was our son's first visit to Mickey's place and our daughter's third though she hadn't been there in about 5 years.  I was looking forward to a nice, quiet vacation - a time to check out the Halloween decor and see the park during a non-busy month.

Why the heck did I think that? 

Apparently, Halloweentime is a pretty big deal at Disneyland.  Waits for Peter Pan's flight averaged 40 minutes, so we passed on that; Space Mountain's wait was a mighty 55 minutes, so we opted to get a fastpass, thereby cutting our wait to 10-15 minutes; and shows were packed.  I was shocked.  Where did all these people come from?  I guess the holiday season mixed with California's furlough days/weeks made the park hoppin' and a hoppin' it was.  Wow.  A lot of people sure go to this park.  I didn't expect the crowd at all.  People kept saying it wasn't that bad, but I surely didn't expect them all to be there!

I suppose this has a lot to do with the fact that I do recall going once during a non-peak time - many years ago - and it was empty.  I kid you not: empty.  My friend and I basically had free reign of the park.  We walked on all the rides with no wait.  We took photos with characters, simply because they were just walking around and no one was with them. 

I mean, look at this photo with Goofy.  Do you see anyone in the background?  Nope?  Yea, me neither.  That's because there were hardly any people there.

I had sadly thought that this would be the case this visit.

And instead, moms were pushing their strollers; children were crying; people were pushing; and lines were long.  I also met a couple families with traumatized preschoolers; their parents encouraged their frightened children to ride Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy.  One father was going to force his preschooler to get onto the Tower of Terror, but the Disneyland employee refused to force the child to get on the ride if she didn't want to.  One mom forced her toddler to go in the Haunted Mansion, even though he kept saying, "NO NO.  I don't want to go in there."  She looked annoyed at her child and walked away, leaving him with another family member.  He proceeded to be freaked out in the rooms.  Clearly, to this kid, Disneyland was not the "Happiest Place" anymore!  Sometimes, parents are insane.

While I definitely think that Disneyland has its magic, I also think that sometimes we - as in parents - get so caught up in the "you should see this" and "you gotta see that!" frenzy, that sometimes we forget they are children and they can get overwhelmed and they also get TIRED.  I had to remind myself of this a couple times.  Actually, one of the days, my daughter and I got up early to do the whole morning madness thing at 7am and my son and husband didn't meet up with us until after 10am.  Why?  Well, my son didn't awake until 9:30am and then he wanted to eat cereal and watch some TV.  Another day, my daughter wanted to leave the park to just go swim in the pool.  They definitely needed a break from the masses.

I admit this wasn't necessarily a relaxing trip.  We walked miles each day.  We rushed from one place to another.  But...it was still a great trip.  We ate with characters three times, ate at restaurants we had never tried before (Ariel's Grotto, Blue Bayou, and Big Thunder Ranch BBQ), and rode on rides - old favorites like Small World and new rides (to us) like Astroblasters and Nemo.  It was fun to see the kids enjoying their time there.  It was fun getting the chance to actually ride my favorites (My daughter was too afraid to ride anything more than Small World last time.), like Pirates of the Carribean and the roller coasters. 

It was a good trip with a lot of positives, but I think the best thing that came out of the trip was the fact that we got to spend time together as a family - a time without work or school interrupting us, a few days with just each other (not to mention thousands of strangers, I suppose. HAHA). Disneyland was great fun, but I think next vacation we'll be picking a place without so many people. Any suggestions?

with Baloo the Bear (Jungle Book) at Goofy's Kitchen

Experimenting with Facebook...or lack thereof

I have been an active user of facebook for...years.  I can't recall about when I started, but since that day, I have progressively spent more time on the website.  A little sad, really.  Let's be real.  My office is a cluttered mess.  I have a ton of papers to grade, essentially ANYTIME class is in session.  I have two kids who would love more time with me - even just for playing an additional board game of Kids Charades (my preschooler) or watching another episode of Clean House (my tween).

It's not like I don't have more productive things I could be doing. 

And yet...still I spent hours on facebook.  Granted, I didn't ignore my children all the time, but I'm sure once in awhile I was guilty of checking my newsfeed instead of spending time with them.  What parent engaged in a social networking site hasn't done that?  And I can definitely tell you that my office has been a cluttered mess for quite some time.

But you know what?

I don't want to be like that.  I don't want to be one of those people who opts to "relax" surfing the web while many things could be accomplished.  If I need to relax, I'm pretty sure there are alternatives.  The bottom line is that I don't want to be so addicted to something that I have to check it multiple times a day.  And with my iPhone, that was all too common - checking on my phone everywhere, checking on my computer at work, checking at home.  It was a little obsessive, really.  Do I really need to know that a friend checked into a club downtown?  Do I want to know that a "friend" got stuck in traffic?  Do I care if someone sent a friend a flower, a cat, a smile, a kiss?  Do I want to help someone mow their lawn?

The answers to those question are the same: NO!

So, I have decided to decrease my time on facebook.  I'm not insane.  I know I can't go "cold turkey" and never log on.  I also know that it may not be permanent.  But it's an effort...an experiment with not being "tied" to a social networking site.  The majority of my time is spent reading walls and commenting on people's statuses.  So, if I close my wall and limit my commenting, then I should be on less, right?

That's the plan. 

Yesterday I shut down the wall.  I put up this image about being on a FB break.  And you know what?

So far, I spent more time grading. That's a plus. I also slept more hours last night than the norm - a definite plus.

And guess what!! I didn't really miss it.  Sure, I am still on it: I sent a few messages, wished a few people Happy Birthday, and updated my class page.

But endless hours on facebook?  That didn't happen.  And let us hope it doesn't happen...ever again.

Here's hoping my "experiement with facebook...or lack thereof" is a success.

Oy...

I'm not sure what else to title this.  I'm completely overloaded...again...or is it...as always?  I suffer from what one of my friends call "CRC," which stands for "Can't Remember Crap."  There's always something I need to do, and that interrupts the other thing I'm doing, so then I forget to complete that first thing - or that second thing.  Lost?  Great!  Me, too!  Bottom line is that I'm forever behind...at least lately.

I wasn't always like this. I have had great spells of being completely "Type A" organized, with a list and pen in hand, marking things off, one by one.  Apparently, September wasn't one of those months.  October isn't starting off too well, either!

Maybe it's because my daughter had come down with something or other once a week, never seeming to fully recuperate from any of the afflictions.  Or maybe it's because those couple of days put me back even further in my workload.  Or maybe trying to manage a larger workload, a household, and two kids' schedules almost all on my own is proving impossible.  (Don't get me wrong.  My husband helps, but let's keep in mind that he's not home until well after dinnertime - closer to bedtime - and most days the kids and I are out of the house before he wakes up.) 

Whatever the reason, it feels like it's neverending.  Papers are already piling up and it's only the beginning of the semester.  Since I'm backlogged with my "new" class because of all the prep, I'm behind on grading the papers.  And, oh, did I mention two of my classes then took tests - tests that are handgraded, not scantrons.

Shoot me now.  It would be less painful...okay, I exaggerate.

Oy.  Something had to be done: I gave up facebook.  I put up a new profile pic, shut down the wall, and logged out.  Aside from logging on for my work (the class group), I don't plan to spend much time on there...not until I give those papers back to the students.

I'm already a chronic procrastinator.  Facebook was the end of me.  And everyone knows that facebook is just a time-wasting cesspool of neuroses.  Too bad I had been sucked into that vortex for years.

Here's hoping I can stay out of it...or off facebook.  Of course, I'm not sure if sitting here blogging is a good use of my time, either.

But...time is up.  And I've spent a lot less time on here than I would have on facebook!  :P

Yes, I am a thrill seeker!

There is no other way to put it: I love me some adventure.  For whatever reason, I have always enjoyed a good adrenaline rush.  From climbing rooftops as a kid in the city to skydiving as an adult, I have always loved the excitement of doing something daring.  And let me say this: whitewater rafting is a great way to satisfy that lust for adventure.

Each time I go whitewater rafting, I know I want to go back.  Unfortunately, sometimes life just gets in the way...or other things come up that I also want to do!  This year, however, I was able to go!

And it did not disappoint!!!

Our rafting guide, Scott, was awesome: great sense of humor, friendly, and fun...with great leadership skills.  The company was fabulous!  Catching up with a former student is always awesome...and meeting our raft buddies - a family of four - was fun.  We all had a good time, joking around and playing in the water! The rapids were great.

But the best part was being able to go with my daughter.  I'm so proud of her.  She has been showing so much more independence recently.  She is willing to try things she wouldn't have been open to earlier, even if it sounds challenging or difficult or scary.  Even when the rapids were looking "scary," she was giggling, overcome with excitement, and bouncing up and down on her seat (of course, while holding onto one of the straps!).  She was so comfortable that during the rapids, once she spotted the camera, she even raised her hand to give the peace sign and a cheesy smile!

I can't wait to go back again...with my daughter.  Maybe this will be an annual mother-daughter trip.  How fun would that be?!  I had a blast with everyone.  Thanks for the fun time!