Collections

Collecting things with the kids.

Something that me and the kids to together is collecting things. We save tabs to donate to non-profit organizations, we collect shells and buttons. We save their best artwork and hang it for everyone to see. When the kids are young they like to pick up little rocks and give them away. Sometimes this is all that they can give. I save them and make little rock gardens so that when they are older and I am alone, I will have all their little memories to see when I don't have them around. We collect all the pennies that we find on the ground. A friend of mine once told me that she collected them because they were pennies sent from heaven. So when we find them, they are little reminders from our loved ones that have passed, letting us know that they aren't far. This collecting stuff passes time and after enough time, you slowly collect enough. What do you collect?

the best you

the best you

The Best You

The biggest problem I find myself having lately is the amount of attention I put into things.

The things that don't necessarily need to be done now are getting done, and when it comes time to do the important things, it slips my mind or I find an excuse.

These plants are ones my grandmother used to care for when she was alive. Less than a year ago we lost her. Today this is what they look like. I worried about them when I left, but a close friend still maintains her home for anyone to come visit.

It reminds me that some way or another it needs to be done. It's not going to magically happen. There is effort that needs to be put forth to get certain results, and participating in things like schoolwork is what needs to be done. There are only a couple weeks left, and I'm never going to get this same experience again.

What am I going to do with it? 

Usually I give up because I'm bored, but remain satisfied at the results because I gained more than what I had, but why not try? At least then I can say I did right...hmmm.

Curious...

TIP FOR GETTING OVER A URINARY TRACT INFECTION

I was looking at a few different home remedies and this one came up. I have dealt with urinary tract infections my entire life, and medications are what it resorts to. When I found this one I was excited to try it because doctors visits can become pricey if you do not have insurance.

This also saves you from having to sit in the doctors office for two to three hours. Time saver!!!!

I will be posting some other home remedies soon.

Have a great day everyone. Remember to go to www.onebestyou.com

to show our class some support in trying to reach a million page views.

Thank you in advance.

This is a really good way to get through some minor panic attacks. When I feel myself starting to panic, I find one of the easiest things to do, like wiping the counter off, and distract myself long enough to try and work through it. Sometimes this helps. Not always though, but it helps to try something, and it leaves you not so helpless. Chewing gum is another way I have learned to use while dealing with anxiety. Don't forget to check out www.onebestyou.com to help support some of our classmates reach a million likes. Thank you fellow bloggers!!!

It is very important to me to see people succeed. There is hope for everyone I come into contact with. I believe that with enough effort put forth from the people around me, we can change the world. It takes us to do one thing at a time and have hope that everything will work out. Bad things happen to good people, but they don't have to be defined by that. We get through those things one day at a time. Try to stay in the moment. Each moment is one more moment that turns into the past. Don't waste yours by having hate, or regretting the things that you've done. Use each moment to better the future. Let go of the things that hurt you the most, because the only person it is hurting is you. Resentments are a b****. Don't waste the only time you have dwelling on them. If you knew you wouldn't make it to tomorrow would you be grateful for today? Why wait. Be grateful now...Turn your negative into a positive. If your dealing with bad things in your life, find the one great thing about it. Hey, at least you woke up. Your not a waste of space. You wouldn't have been created to be a waste. you have a purpose. Find it!!!

          Here is something helpful that I found to help remind me that I am right where I am supposed to be. When I first moved here I started collecting tabs with the kids for the Ronald McDonald house. I was going through some personal issues at the time and had a hard time appreciating the the life I was given. Every time we went for a walk we would look for tabs. I used these tabs a friendly reminders that I am exactly where I need to be. Right at that moment if I were anywhere else in this world, I would not have had the opportunity to find this one tab to add to our collection. When we finish filling up our jar, we find the first place that accepts them as donations and we give it to that cause. We all like to do it and it is kind of interesting the weird places we end up being at the right times.

Understand Procrastination

                                                             

Make little changes in daily behavior for success. After doing them repeatedly over a length of time, you will change your routine. I started showering with cold water as soon as I woke up, and sat outside and drank one cup of coffee. I was less likely to wake up and fall back asleep right away. Eventually I trained myself to be a morning person.

This is a really neat way to get the kids to quit bugging you about how bored they are. 

They will get tired of having to do chores and eventually just go and do something fun on their own. Either way it is a win win situation.

If you are looking for the inexpensive way, use pop sickle sticks and an empty coffee jar.

Have the kids help so that they can let you know what they feel is a reasonable chore. Maybe throw some incentive in there with some fun projects, not just chores. It helps them to look forward to something good coming out of the situation.

My Spring Break

  I realize I have to keep my life as simple as possible. With the kids not being in school, it seems like the house work and mundane tasks, that all moms have to do on a daily basis, are doubled. Washing one sink full of dishes sent me into a crying fit, and I ended up in the shower, with a head full of useless thoughts, and a lot of tears. I'm not able to fix anything if I can't fix myself. A friend of mine told me to take a deep breath, sit down, collect my thoughts, and take a moment for myself. The things that needed to get done could wait. They weren't going anywhere. She said that when I was done taking my time, start doing only one thing at a time. I started with the easiest thing I could find to do, washing a load of towels. When I was done, I had finally accomplished something. It wasn't much, but it was a start. I try to look at the big picture and get overwhelmed at everything that I know needs to be done. When I do, I get overwhelmed instantly and I then don't do anything at all. So by taking a moment to collect myself, I was able to finish one thing at a time, and those things turned into many things done. Then, it was all easy to maintain it. Its a process to retrain my behavior  and find pleasure in doing these things. It doesn't all happen in one day, so I try and remember easy does it. I can only change how I feel about these situations. Nobody but me is going to take care of my family and their needs, so I have to find ways to make this as easy as possible. Keep It Simple...It's as easy as 1, 2, 3...

A story of mine.

           When I first moved back to Lake Havasu , I was going through a lot of things. It was hard for me to function like a productive member of society. I couldn't handle everyday tasks like make lunch or make the bed. Showering regularly and staying up on hygiene was difficult as well. I was stuck in a fantasy land of conspiracy theories and sometimes wasn't able to tell the difference between reality and fantasy. I had moved in with my dad and step mom, with my two kids in 2012. I started a program of recovery. Every morning I would dread getting out of bed to start my day. I wanted to be stuck in the problem and feel sorry for myself. I wanted to be rescued. At my dad's, that wasn't happening. One day I decided to change. I told myself that I wouldn't be able to lay back down if the bed was made. Problem was I couldn't force myself out of bed. I was determined to get the bed made if it was the last thing I did. So, I stayed in bed. I made the bed while laying In it. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't the best job, but I got it done, eventually that is. After a couple weeks, I figured out that it was easier to stand up and make the bed, but I built the habit. Repeated tasks eventually turn into habits. Soon I started doing the floor after I made the bed. I would roll out of bed and sit on the floor until everything was picked up. Everyday I would do this and tell myself,"Do things you don't want to do." I would throw a fit every time I thought about doing these things. "I don't want to go to the store," so, I would do it anyways. Eventually I felt a little better about myself because I moved from staying in the problem, into working on the solution. It worked. I have my routine now. It may sound insane, but if it worked for me it can for you too. Now I am able to do things, like go fishing.

Internet service at home vs driving to libraries.

https://www.suddenlink.com

Last semester in college I did not have internet service in my home. I was new in college, and was only able to study for about half an hour at a time before my head would ache. I would spend 10 to 15 minutes to drive to the college, or public library, just to work for half an hour. I would drive back and forth all day, until finally, I was exhausted, with hardly any work to show for it. I was spent. I had assignments pilling up left and right, and no way out. So, this semester, I decided internet was definitely a must. I now pay $40 for my service with Suddenlink, and can work whenever I need to. I eliminated all that drive time and wasted gas and used the money I was spending on gas in a week to pay my bill for the month. Its a win win situation. In college they call this the Rogerian Logic. Everybody wins. Are you able to change up your routine, like this, in a way that would benefit you in the long run? Think about it.. I posted a link to Suddenlink if your interested in making your life a little bit easier, and save a little money in the process. It is a great start to avoid procrastination. Sometimes you just have to do it and then go with the flow. 

Update on procrastination.

          This last week I have been recognizing when I procrastinate the most. My biggest problem seems to be homework. I don't like sitting down to study with a messy house, so I spend more time cleaning than I do on homework. I always find other things that I have to do, like paying bills or taking and picking up the kids from school. So I have devised a short term plan. When I have to go anywhere, I take my books with me. If I leave ten minutes early, I am able to sit and wait for the kids after school and study. I am either able to study or review. A great way of retaining information is by taking notes. If you can come up with a good note taking strategy, then you minimize reading time. Close reading is good for first time reading, but if you can summarize each paragraph into a sentence you can understand, you are able to read your question, and remember what you already read. Review, review, and more review. Making a to-do-list and putting it up where you can see it all the time, helps remind you, constantly, of important things that need to be done. Place to-do-lists and notes on the fridge, on the door, or next to the coffee pot so you see it whenever your in those areas. Little, helpful, reminders play an important role in recognizing and remembering what it is you have to do. Using features on a tablet can help you set up reminders also.

Realizing when I procrastinate.

OK so I'm laying in bed wondering when I'm gonna get up and go work on my sociology homework for class today. An hour has gone by and I haven't even looked at my book. I'm still in bed enjoying the quiet of everything. Kids are at school, guy friend is at work, house is clean, and there is no reason I should still be in bed right? Well this blog is part of my assignment for Psychology ad Sociology. So I came up with an idea that if every time I feel the need to lay in bed, which is often, I will log on and post new findings. My task for the Thursday til Sunday is to develop a way to work on homework while I also have to work. I am a hot cook at Golden Corral and I work from 6am til 3pm. So I'm thinking were gonna try this, make my books my best friend thing. I will be posting pics of all the places I go and figure out how to manage my time enough to study even though I'm working full time also. I will keep you posted.

Procrastination

What could I be doing instead of procrastinating?
A million different things. I am notorious for putting things off til the last minute or avoiding whatever it is I am supposed to be doing. I will show you different ways to avoid distractions and focus on the task at hand. I will teach you different tecniques for better time management, and also add a little extra stuff like how-to's on your leisure time. Overworking yourself in school leads to brain overload, so it is necessary to create a rewards system to go along with ways to minimize procrastination. My first post is going to be about identifying trouble areas of my life where I procrastinate the most and find small exercises to start breaking these habits. I will be posting videos in addition to my personal experiences and some added information from my peers in order to get this job done. I will be posting soon.

I am new at all this blogging stuff, but I hope to make it as interesting as possible. I am a single mom of two boys, a full-time college student majoring in Liberal Arts, and I work full time at Golden Corral as a hot cook. In school I am currently taking three classes, English 102, Psychology, and Sociology. One of the assignments in Psychology and Sociology is to create a blog. I have never done anything like this as I say so this is going to be a learning experience for us all. I am hoping to take the skills that I gain from school, work, and being a mom and integrate them all to have a more productive and successful life. All three of these things combined makes for a very busy and hectic schedule. If I am not making dinner, I am typing up essays, or writing rough drafts of argumentative essays. In between I am reading chapters on different types of psychology and the people that have contributed to it, like Socrates, Democritis, Sigmeund Freud, etc. So this is the first blog that I have made so far and I hope that the future ones I have will be more interesting, but for now it is a start. I hope to teach you something that I learn and give you a different perspective on the life of a busy college student, mother, and employee. Nothing in this life is easy i guess so we will just hope that whatever is meant to come out of this just adds to this experience called life.