Imagination & Paint

It takes forever and a day for me to post something. I know I need a writing rhythm (rhythm is so hard to spell!). Like, every Wednesday will be my day to write. But no, that’s too much pressure. Deadlines. Yuck.

Today, I looked at my childlike rainbow-colored board posted behind my bedroom door that displays all the things I want in my life. A car (check), a dog (check), a cruise (in 18 days), a better job (applied), weigh 135 lbs. (psh) and a few other things. But the better job is something I really want to come to life. My creativity that has been put away in a box and collecting dust needs to be taken out in my next job I hope for. I need to have my ideas going. I want to feel like anything is possible with my imagination.

The other day, I was reminiscing how I entertained myself when I was a kid. My reminiscing partly has to do with seeing all these moms and their kids causing havoc in the stores for the summer. You can tell it really puts a strain on everyone else when the kids are out of school. When I was little, my mom was not able to leave work to me up and run errands all day. But she did make an effort to come home from lunch every once and a while, cook some cream of chicken with a side of saltines and watch All My Children. Plus, it gave her a chance to make sure I was still sane. She would then return to work and I was *gasp* home alone! But I loved it. For some reason, I liked being by myself. I had my pets, a closet full of blankets, and my imagination. Everyday I’d probably pop in a Disney movie and later, bust out the biggest blanket from the closet to wrap around my waist to make a gown. My dog would be my partner in crime, my cat would either be the villain of fairy god mother.

Today, I can tell that kids have little to no imagination and it seems like neither do I. But it’s not so much my fault, it’s the iPhone’s fault. Instead of brainstorming something, I’ll just look it up on my phone.

It’s ok, I have my creativity and imagination somewhere in the spiderwebs. Maybe it’ll come out when I finally paint my room. Yup! We finally got paint!

Tips from a Pope

I have yet to get to the 2nd part of Jillian’s work out. I think I’m actually scared to do it. It’s pretty sad though, that a DVD that I can stop ANYTIME, is preventing me from actually starting it. I guess I just believe that, once is playing and in there, I follow through on it. Sooo in my mind, it’s better to not even start it. Bad method.

Because I really just needed a place to paste this before I go, here’s a list I copied from The Happiness Project:

So here are ten tips from Pope John XXIII about how to live a better life, day to day:

1. Only for today, I will seek to live the livelong day positively without wishing to solve the problems of my life all at once.

2. Only for today, I will take the greatest care of my appearance: I will dress modestly; I will not raise my voice; I will be courteous in my behavior; I will not criticize anyone; I will not claim to improve or to discipline anyone except myself.

3. Only for today, I will be happy in the certainty that I was created to be happy, not only in the other world but also in this one.

4. Only for today, I will adapt to circumstances, without requiring all circumstances to be adapted to my own wishes.

5. Only for today, I will devote 10 minutes of my time to some good reading, remembering that just as food is necessary to the life of the body, so good reading is necessary to the life of the soul.

6. Only for today, I will do one good deed and not tell anyone about it.

7. Only for today, I will do at least one thing I do not like doing; and if my feelings are hurt, I will make sure that no one notices.

8. Only for today, I will make a plan for myself: I may not follow it to the letter, but I will make it. And I will be on guard against two evils: hastiness and indecision.

9. Only for today, I will firmly believe, despite appearances, that the good Providence of God cares for me as no one else who exists in this world.

10. Only for today, I will have no fears. In particular, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe in goodness. Indeed, for 12 hours I can certainly do what might cause me consternation were I to believe I had to do it all my life.

Post-It Labels

One of the first things I think about when organizing is labeling, but I’m not a big fan of permanence. Once you stick that label sometimes, it’s stuck. Try to remove it and you have ugly paper left over. I need the freedom to change my mind without wasting money or time. So at work since we can’t afford labels anyway and somehow manage to have a stack of post-its, I label file folders with a Post-It. They fit perfectly on the tab of a file. Voila! The file is labeled and if I change my mind about it, I can easily remove it. Plus, I you can color code it if you’re fancy and can afford the multi-colored blocks.

Of course, Post-It came up with the tab idea:

But the Post-It labeling doesn’t stop there. Now, Post-it created larger labels that will label anything and have a good overall stickiness in the back.  Here’s the commercial:

Pretty nifty. Removable stickiness everywhere, plus with some scissors, you have DIY resizing.

-P