Joys In My Life

Staying home during this Coronavirus, I've had a lot of time to think and watch stuff on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and research on the Internet.  I turned 49 this year.  Being in my thirties or forties never bothered me.  But I'm looking at 50 a year from now and I want to work even more to set myself up for a long, enjoyable life. I know genetically, I won the lottery on looking younger than I am, but I want to know what I can do to maximize those lottery earnings. I watched the Goop Lab episode on Netflix yesterday about aging and it was really interesting and provoked a lot of thoughts.  Some of these episodes are not my cup of tea - magic mushrooms and cold-therapy, not really my thing.  I'm petrified of drugs and I hate to be cold more than anything!  This episode on aging was right up my alley.... In the beginning of the episode, they asked the three ladies (Gwyneth was one of them) what scared them about aging.  I thought about that for myself.  I fear losing

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've last posted.  There is so much to say, but up until now, I've had very little time!  With COVID-19 having me working from home, slowing down my husband's looking for a new job, Phoebe home from college, and the boys home from school, all we have is time! We are looking to make the best of our time here at home, as we are lucky to have what we need to stay at home (food, water, wi-fi, movies) and all of our family is healthy.  This week, the boys were working off a checklist of things to do for schoolwork, they had a piano lesson using FaceTime, and I started exercising on our elliptical most mornings and getting dressed for my day.  I'm trying really hard not to lounge around in leggings and work out clothes!  I even put on a little makeup every day, at least to not scare myself in the mirror or look totally awful on Zoom calls with work. We're definitely making good food in this house.  With Tom being

The more I work on my personal development, the more I realize I need to stop listening to and changing the negative things I tell myself in my head.  I'm also noticing the older I get the more the negative things I hold as beliefs about myself are not true.  This reinforces that I should second guess the other negative beliefs I hold inside ... maybe those are not true either.  Here are a few things I've realized are not true: I need help to put air in my car tires - This was one of the first things I learned as my husband had to move to Colorado for work. I did this at the Wawa up the street where the machine will stop and beep when your tires are at the right pressure.  I also learned and committed to memory that the pressure you want your tires at is inside your gas cap, something I have to open at least once a week.  This was something that was super easy to learn to do and had me zipping along the roads in a few minutes without the anxiety that I was goin

I finished watching the first season of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo and I loved it!  I think I was finally able to understand the concepts in her book, by seeing it all in a video format.  I started re-listening to the audio book over the weekend while I was doing the weekly cleaning and it really started to speak to me and things I needed to hear.  Here are the top things I've learned about the process I need to go through: I do not want my daughter's cast offs.  Those are items that are not going to spark joy for me!  I am the mom that when my daughter purges stuff from her room, that I go through her bags and look for things I want.  I have sweaters from my daughter in with my clothes that I thought I would wear, but never do.  I still like her old sweatpants.  She got rid of them as they were too small in the leg, but my legs are shorter than hers. I do not want to sell anything that I am purging.  That is poor thinking. I can take my unwanted things to Goodwill and ble

Boys after piano recital yesterday morning. They are getting so big!!! Phoebe and I had a great time yesterday cleaning out the boys toy room.  We involved the boys in the parts that we thought were important for them, like cleaning through stuffed animals.  However, their toys in bins needed to be sorted through as some was junk (old McDonalds toys) and others just needed to put together - Playmobile castles vs. Legos.  They did help make some major decisions of toys they've outgrown - a Cars car track for preschool age children.  We did come out with about 6 bags of trash.  Thank goodness the trash went to the curb last night, as the bin was overflowing.  I think the only thing we didn't do very well was thanking some of the items that were put in the trash for the service they did to us.  I'm sure they did entertain the boys a bit before they were put to the side and piled up. I am taking the things I was going to donate to Goodwill to the basement for now.  I'm

Phoebe and I started watching Tidying Up with Marie Kondo last night.  I think this is finally a reality TV show I can love!  What I believe it's inspiring me is how she's getting the whole family involved. I see now that is something I need to work on more with the kids - teaching them tidying up, so it's not something just Mommy does. I have the perfect projects for us to start with - the boys' closets, drawers and playroom.  The playroom is also the guest room and right now, no guests can stay in there.  There is a bed in there that is covered in toys.  There is also a desk that matches their bedroom furniture in the other room that is in the same state (covered with toys).  I'd like to clean out their toys with them involved in every step  and decide what ones they will not play with anymore that can be given away or sold.  I'd like to repaint the room, get some guest room furniture (bed to put the mattress on, bedside table and one dresser), make some