3 moments of Joy

In October of 2012, I started a facebook page with my friend Sara (an amazing mom currently living in Chile with her 3 children) documenting 3 joyful moments in each day. Making the effort even on the really hard days to document 3 things that brought joy to each day.

I have not done this in awhile, so while I was making rice this morning at 6:30am for  a delicious rice pudding breakfast for the kids. I was reminded of something I just read in  Laura Vandercamp's  newest book "Off the Clock: Feel less Busy While Getting More Done" she states that by documenting moments that bring you joy, those moments can  bring you even more joy when you write them down and get to reread them again at some point. 

1. Seeing the sun come up and filter through the forest of trees that sits in front of our house.

2.Hot coffee with this delicious dairy free creamer-called Nutpods  I use the Vanilla.

3. My husbands snoring. Yes,that's right I said his snoring!! His loud shake the room snoring woke me up at 5:13 am which prompted me to just start my day then instead of trying to go back to sleep and get up at am, which is when my alarm will go off anyhow.

4. Bonus moment: When looking through pictures to add to this blog entry I came across this picture of my Dad from last year. We were selling Girl Scout cookies at his retirement home and whatever he was saying was making my daughter laugh. He was a funny man, this photo made me smile and brought me back to that fun day. He died suddenly this year from a heart attack.

 I have gotten so much done in the last  2.5 hours that I have been awake while my 5 kids and husband are asleep. I need to do this more often, but most times my bed just seems the most comfortable in the early hours of the morning.

*Check out Laura's books they are great and have really been a game changer for me.

Steaks in Suburbia, The American Dream,

My favorite summertime activity is riding my bike, I feel alive and free! Although I live on 15 acres (14.6 to be exact) I sometimes enjoy popping over to many of  nearby subdivisions to ride my bike. They all have their own fancy names to set themselves apart from others and as I ride through them I like to imagine who lives there, what they do and what their life is like. I make up stories in my head about them, sometimes these stories are spawned by seeing people outside of these houses and other times I make up stories about those who dwell inside. Only to be sometimes be disappointed when I ride by one day and I see people unlike what my imagination made up.

So at 6pm this evening while riding through Deerfield Subdivision I smelled delicious steak being cooked to perfection on the grill by a hard working man who sat in an office all day making money for his family and my mind began to wander.

I think most of these houses would be what people would call the American dream home.These houses run about $300,000 and are all about 3-4 Bedrooms 2 Baths and near 2000 sq feet. I  know this because I read the for sale flyers sometimes when I stop for a drink from my water bottle.

These are the stories that played through my mind tonight.

This house has beautiful forested back yard. 2 Full time working parents live here with their 3 daughters (I have seen them outside, now I sound like a stalker) This is one of my favorite houses to drive past because a little later in the evening and the sun filters through the trees behind the house and it is such beautiful sight.

Divorced mother of 2 lives here with her new boyfriend, they have a little white dog named Gigi

This married couple is struggling, the husband has a real good feeling that his wife is cheating on him with the new guy she just hired at her office. He is struggling to come to terms with this and is trying his hardest to convince his wife that the life they built together is worth it, he is grilling  steak tonight!

This couple has been married for 14 years and could not be more happy, they know  life is not all sunshine and rainbows but they are true soul mates and cannot imagine being anywhere else but together.

There is a guy in a red shirt angry that his wife is making him do yard work tonight when his friends are meeting for poker night.

This woman was in her 50's and jogging, no story here just happy to see others getting fit!

You cannot tell from this picture but this woman is 6 months pregnant, no story here but happy to see more people getting out and getting fit, yay!

So I write....

Wake up between 5:30-6:00 am.  

Make coffee or tea depending on my mood.

Start a load of laundry.

Light a candle at my desk and say a silent prayer.

Surf social media for 15 minutes while I wait for the hot liquid of  my choice to be drinkable.

Start writing.

In November of 2017 I knew that I was going to write and publish a book. I had a new book idea and I was going to make this happen. I spent the next 2 months gathering ideas for chapters and stopping at various points during the day to have Siri make notes for me when I came up with content to use in my book. I finally had enough ideas that could turn into a 70,000- 90,000 word novel. So I called my Dad excited to tell him that I was writing a book. This time I really am going to see it through not just 2 chapters but a book and ENTIRE BOOK and I was going to be proud to share this with him.

He died suddenly of a heart attack just weeks after I said this. I was devastated, ripped apart…. I stopped writing.

When I was cleaning out his apartment and going through all the things he left behind I decided that this was not going to stop me, I was sad but that should not stop me from writing. So, I started writing again knowing that although he is not with me in this physical world he is still with me in spirit and when this book is physical and in stores he will see it, he will be proud!

I started writing a book when I was 26, my college biology professor  and mentor was fascinated by my story. He looked over my first few chapters and said the book would be amazing. We kept in touch loosely through the years and he always asked if I was published yet.  Turns out writing a few chapters is easy but writing a book is HARD. I knew someday I would finish it, I have plenty of time I thought. He passed away this year just a few months after my Dad. He will never have the chance to read my book I have waited too long to make this happen.

The time is now

So I write

Every day at least 300 words or 2 hours of work researching. Some days are easy and some very hard and every day I hear two voices in my head:

Voice 1: “You got this, keep going, I know it is hard but if it was easy everyone would write a book. Even if I write and fail, I will learn and try again but no one can succeed if they do not even try.”

Voice 2: “You suck, you will never write a book that anyone will want to read. You should just quit now and save yourself the embarrassment.”

I must constantly keep voice 2 in check and I visually throat punch voice 2 all day long even when I am not writing.

So I write…

Back to the Classics 2018 reading challenge

I came across a photo of a bookstack by an Instagram follower and was intrigued by her choices. It lead me to Karen's blog Books and Chocolate ...... (Books and chocolate who doesn't love that name?)

I quickly grabbed my 11 year old daughter who is a voracious reader and asked her to join with me as a Mother daughter thing. She was not thrilled about it being classics but when I enticed her with a date night out just the two of us discussing each book over coffee and baked goods, she was sold! Food is a huge motivator!

So I sent her to my room for my secret stash of chocolates and we sat down together red wine in hand (only my hand) past her bedtime on a school night and came up with this list.

In less than 4  hours :

1. I found this challenge 
2. Bribed my daughter with date nights, coffee and baked goods to do it with me
3. Researched books and came up with our list
4. Signed up for the challenge 
5. And typed and posted my list on my blog.

Whew!

1. 19th Century Classic - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen This has been on my bookshelf for awhile but I have never read it.  Robin recalled my friend stating that her son was named after a character in the book. -  Robin's Choice

2. 20th Century -  The Jungle by  Upton Sinclair My choice it seemed interesting.

3. Woman Author - Black Beauty by Anna Sewell Robin's choice, one that has sat on her bookshelf since she started riding.

4. A Translation - The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupery Just last night Papabird and Canary were watching this on Netflix. This was Robins choice curious to read after her Dad wanted to watch it.

5. Children's Classic - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne I chose this, Robin and I both like the ocean and sea life so what the heck!

6. Classic Crime Story - The Crime at Black Dudley  by Margery Allingham (Robin does not want to read any crime with me) My choice

7. Travel or Journey - Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdhal This was a book I am requiring Robin to read for school this year so it just fits nicely.

8. Single Word - Heidi by Johanna Spyri Robin's choice, I have never read only seen the movie.

9. Color in the Title - The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel  Hawthorne Hoping this is okay for my 11 year old to read. I suggested this one she approved it after reading about it on Goodreads.

10. New Author - My Antonia by Willa Cather We both agreed on this and found it on a 20 classics to read list in a google search.

11. Classic that Scares Me - Dracula ( I may change this) I chose, not sure if we will keep this selection.

12. Old Favorite - A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burrnett (the memories of my oldest reading this melts my heart. I will write about it during a review post later in the year) Robin chose this and it is the only book we have both read. Although I have only ever read the abridged version when my oldest was very young. and before I knew that abridged  versions suck in comparison!

I am very excited for this challenge, to read the books and to have this special time with my daughter.