UGH!

Well, yesterday was completely unproductive. I had one of those days where I literally did not get out of my house/pajamas/comfort zone ALL DAY. I like the beginning of those days but hate the ending. At first I always say to myself, 'You deserve a day off. You deserve not to do anything for a full day.' By the end of it I'm thinking, 'You are SO lazy! You didn't get anything accomplished and you had all day.' It's kind of how I feel when I miss work.....guilty.

So, to make up for it I became very productive today. First off, I got out of bed and got dressed. That was just the start I needed. I got my kids up, took them to school, and went to work. Whew! I did have to fight with myself not to call in.

After work I cooked dinner, folded/hung/ironed all the mountains that were piling up and danced to my Pandora radio station while doing so. Then I fixed my girls beds. (It seems that they do not like sheets. Am I the only one who has to reapply sheets every morning/night?) Read them some bedtime stories and now I am off to bed. I feel so much better. I feel like I have justified my day of being a sloth.

At work in the quiet moments where I am thinking I came to some realizations.

The main reason I have chosen the title of my blog is because I am.....a procrastinator. There. I said it. The first step is admitting it right? I need motivation to keep going sometimes, but then...who doesn't? Unfortunately being a procrastinator I need a LOT.

So some key things that I am wanting to change/do is:
Lose weight - Which means exercising and eating right. Sorry Sonic, our friendship has run it's course.
Spend more time with my husband - We need that connection that six years and four kids can sometimes take away.
Spend more time with my kids - Taking on this great job I have of teaching and helping their minds grow and enjoying the little things they bring to MY life.
Keep my house organized - I was always very organized when I was younger, but somehow it's gotten away from me. I also have a tendency to hold on to things longer than needed. Such as my high school journals.
Get closer to God - I have only really been on this path with Him for the past six years. I feel I have the potential to do more.

There it is. My list. In no certain order. This really doesn't contain ALL the things I have conjured up in my head to do before I die, but they are the most important. When talking to my mom about some of the things I've been getting frustrated with she said, "Delaina, you have all these dreams. First, start with your home." I think she meant I needed to clean, but it means something different to me.

My first realization is that I CAN LOSE WEIGHT. If I want to. I've been kind of hitting my head on the metaphorical wall thinking that I really can't. Then I see all these old friends of mine or even just acquaintances that used to be bigger and now they are all skinny. If they can do it, I CAN TOO! Why not? So, I'm starting there. We'll see where it takes me (hopefully out of the plus size section at all the clothing stores).

Another thing my mother said was that I should start going to bed when my husband does and wake up when he does. I am going to do that starting tomorrow. This will give me the time I need to get my chores done so I have time to spend with my family. I am also hoping going to take the time to be with God.

Wish me luck and please, any motivational stories you may have....send them my way. Remember I need a LOT.

Journals, Journals and More Journals

Hi, My name is Delaina and I am addicted to Journals.

It's true. My husband has to literally pull me away from them in stores. 

 

 Journals designed by Elum

 

Aren't these so pretty?

I came to this realization when I went looking for what thoughts I had written down for myself that I thought I would share. 

And there they were. I've found about 10 of them so far. I'm gonna stop looking. 

I looked through them and saw that I may be scatter brained. Now I think the better word is just indecisive...I just couldn't decide which one to write in! 

My journals contain a lot of my interests. I don't really keep them like diaries much anymore. (Did that in high school. Threw those away about two years ago. Who really wants to remember all those stupid decisions we made in high school anyway? And the boys??) I keep my journals around for sudden strokes of genius, or just an impromptu grocery list. Whatever works. 

I found one that my mom bought for me when we went to see Joyce Meyer two years or so ago. (Lots of good things in that one. ) One of them my husband went through and wrote sweet nothings on a couple different pages. It's a keeper...so is he. Another one has a bunch of recipes, craft, decorating and beauty tips/ideas from other blogs I have read. My favorite one is the one where I keep lessons I hope to teach my girls. I love the influence I have on them. 

There's just so many different things I either don't want to forget or hope to work on more. I look at all these journals and wonder 'what AM I going to do with all this?' I like to think that at some point I will have accomplished all the crafts I thought were noteworthy or teach my daughters the lessons I should have learned, but I don't know... 

There are so many things in those journals that inspire me. So for now I'll just keep filling them up with my or someone else's ideas.I hope to at some point share these things with you. For now I am just astounded at all the ones I have.

Do you keep a journal(s)? What do you write in it/them? Do you have regrets that you'd like to throw away?

Well, I am finding that some of my real life cheerleaders aren’t so much on the up & up with blogs. So I thought I’d fill them in as well as give those of you who are familiar something you may not have seen.

Now, I don’t know the ins and outs of blogging, all I really know is that it is a wonderful way to connect with people ”out there”, to learn something from someone with a common interest, and to be inspired to do things in your own life. I came across these blogs from an old friend (old meaning relationship, not person.) who decided to do her own blog. She seems to be in love with all things paper. Her name is Jenni and her blog is Peas {and} Tanks. She loves this world of paper so much that she has started a business called SwellMail Designs as well as a blog by the same name. You should definitely check her out.

In reading Jenni’s blogs I came across many other blogs. Some were ok and others were GREAT. For me the thing that makes them GREAT is how well I can relate. First I subscribed to The Pleated Poppy. This is where a lovely woman named Lindsey Cheney talks about her family and her love for sewing. She is a great crafter and comes up with all kinds of things for her kids. (Which are beautiful.)  She also sells her sewing creations which means she has taken something she loves and made money out of it. Jenni obviously did the same. 

They inspire me.

From here I did a lot of just looking around at the blogs she follows and the blogs they follow and so on. You can check out all the ones I follow over to the side and you may find something you like.

 My top faves are Annie Blogs and Stuff Christians Like. The two people who write these blogs are also writers.

Annie Downs from Annie Blogs is a freelance writer. She also writes a "few" other blogs and writes for inCourage on occasion. This girl is wonderful. I absolutely love her sense of humor, her positivity and the way she loves everyone around her especially God.

Jon Acuff from Stuff Christians Like now has a book out by the same title. I love his blog because it is a friendly way of making fun of Christians while being Christian. (If you know my family, then you know we love to make fun of each other….it’s our love language.) This guy is hilarious. He also has a second blog called Prodigal Son. Jon is a preacher's son and copywriter.

If you never follow any other blogs (but mine, of course) I would definitely recommend these few that I've mentioned and maybe take a gander at some on the side. 

So I won't keep you. Go ahead, family who thinks I'm crazy and don't understand me. I just wanna do me! Ahem. Excuse me for getting personal. Check em out and don't forget to follow me.

For those of you who already check out the blog world. Tell me, which ones are your faves?

Kid Friendly

Well, kids are officially back to school. It has been a crazy couple days.

Thursday we finished up school clothes shopping. Let me tell you, I was thoroughly impressed by God for that too. I am a complete bargain shopper. I will NOT buy clothes at full price unless it is a major need. I only shop at the clearance racks, goodwill, Ross, etc. So we started at Target. The racks had been picked through so I decided we had to go to Wal-Mart…I was not looking forward to it. When we got to the clearance rack the first thing that caught my eye was a very cute Hannah Montana dress. Price: $1.00. What?! No way! It was the size that I needed and there were two!! My girls and I were SO excited. We found deal after deal after deal. I spent about $40 and wound up with 4 dresses, 2 2-piece outfits, and 2 shirts. It was a steal!

Did the meet the teacher thing that night and ran into some issues there, but we’re all good now.

Girls did their first day Friday. Went GREAT! This was my four year olds first day at sissy’s school. They wore their matching Hannah Montana dresses. So cute!

Saturday, after work, my husband and I took the entire brood to the water park. (We have a case of yours, mine, and ours. I had one, he had two and together we have one. His two come see us every other weekend.) They had a great time. My husband did not enjoy it so much. Only because there was a bee hive forming by the trash cans and he seems to be deathly afraid of anything that stings. Needless to say, between the kids running around and my husband running from bees, we all slept very well.

Sunday I got to teach the children’s Sunday School. I had had an idea inspired by the book Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. (There are a million and one things that that book has inspired me to do. Read it and I promise you will be forever changed.) The idea was a prayer box, in which you write a prayer on a little piece of paper, put it in the box and let God do the rest. The best part is you can open it at a later date and see that your prayers have been answered. Now for those that were not answered this teaches us about patience, needs and wants, and God’s timing. I didn’t get into too much of this last part, but we did speak a lot about prayer. In fact, our lesson was The Lords Prayer which I picked up from this great site called DLTK. The kids loved the boxes and my hope is that they will use them. So I will be asking regularly.

 After church on to more kid fun! We went to my only niece’s 3^rd Birthday Party. It was held at this great place called Kaleidoscope. This place was completely kid friendly. Here are some pics of that. (Sorry for the quality guys, for the moment I only have a phone for pics.)

Here is my Riley with the Birthday girl Kendall. There is a stage here with tons of outfits to dress up in. The kids dress behind the curtains then come out in whatever concoction of clothing they have come up with.

 

 Alexis & Daddy on a climbing wall.

 Here is Kendall the birthday girl in all her glory. She is wearing the tiara we gave her along with a cute little ballerina outfit that her mommy got her. She typically has a much prettier smile but her daddy wanted a picture before she opened more presents and you can see in her eye she was thinking about punching him.

If you are in Tulsa and looking for some good indoor fun anytime of the year for your kids up to age 12, this is the place.

After the birthday party I thought it would be a good time for everyone to take a nap. Really, what’s better on Sundays than a nap? Apparently I was the only one with this idea, but after an hour of that I felt refreshed enough to…..do laundry and watch a movie. (Hey, that takes some energy people.)

Well, I had wanted to post up to this point last night, but with the busy week we've been having I could stay up no longer. So I've added more kid fun and am posting now.

Yesterday, Monday, I decided we should go see Shrek Ever After. So we went to the dollar movies and had a great time. After the movie my husband and I had a heated debate about wether there were three or four Shrek movies. At some point he wanted to put money on it. "Fifty Dollars." He says. I should have taken him up on it, but instead said, "How about five?" So now that we have placed our bets on whether Shrek has three or four movies the discussion is over. Well, if you don't know already there are four and I WON! Really wish I would have taken him up on that fifty, but when someone who watches iCarly, Big Time Rush and Spongebob all day with the girls says he knows his Shrek, I have to think twice about if I really know Shrek. 

This morning I had a bit of an issue maybe you can help me with. My girls, 4 and 7 (Gonna be 8 tomorrow!), got their ears pierced this summer. A friend at work bought them some earings so this morning I tried to switch them and they both ended up crying about how it hurt when I tried to take the originals ones out. (The 7 almost 8 yr old reared back to hit me...it was bad.) I decided to leave them alone but am a little concerned as to why it hurt so bad. Any thoughts? I can't really remember if I had any issues switching out my earings for the first time.

So how has your back to school experience been? Have you had any fun with some great kids lately? How about any gambling on what happens on the 198th episode of Spongebob? Any newly pierced ears to talk about?

Back To School

Obviously it's back to school time. Or have you been living under a rock? LOL! 

 Fred A Olds Elementary

The Kids are headed back and by Kids I also mean the College ones. This has me thinking about going to school myself. 

After the stress of high school I thought I would take some time off and in that time wound up pregnant. I didn't think I would be able to go to school and be a mom so I put it off. And for justification I've been telling myself for the past almost 8 years now that no one uses their degree, so it's a waste. Well, I've reconsidered. I realize now that it's not so much what you study but the fact that you have the degree that gets you more money in the working world out there. I get that people looking to hire want someone who is dedicated and realize that if you've been to college you had to have some kind of dedication to your education and are therefore focused on doing your job properly. (I love when I come to those realizations, just flips my perspective upside down.) 

So, now I'm thinking about heading off to college. (Not really heading off, I can't leave my family, but just getting into it.) I started looking at a community college thinking I would just get the basics and go from there. I went through what programs they offered and realized there were only about four different ones I was interested in. After that narrowing down I realized to make any money in those particular areas I would have to get, at least, a Masters. So now I've gone from no college to 6 years. (Whew! How did that happen?) I have done some checking and realize I could make it just as easily with a Bachelor's Degree (with less money). 

So, I pose the question(s): Do you have a degree? Do you use it in the job you have now? Did it make a difference on you being hired? Did it make a difference in the money you make? If you don't have a degree, what has been your justification?

 Brown Middle School

Through this process of thought I have really pondered what it is that I like doing. The way I see it, there's no point in finding a career unless I'm going to want to make it a career. I have to like it or it just becomes a job. This also brings to mind the fact that there is a job for just about anything you can think of out there. Otherwise, how would the world go 'round? (solar system I guess) So what is it that I like doing and can I make it a career? Or at least make money with it? That would be my ultimate goal in going back to school. I do LOVE to learn and, honestly, if I had the money to just go to school for the rest of my life, I probably would. (Words I never thought I would say: Check) But at this point I don't have the money and really don't even have it to go to school now. I look at it as an investment, as teachers will preach to you all through high school, but did I listen?...nnnnooooo. 

My block at this point is what do I go for? 

So, I'd love to hear what you think on the subject. Please refer again to my earlier questions and ponder these as well:  What is it that you LOVE to do? Is it a talent? hobby? or just something you do well? Are you making money with it?  

C

 Central Los Angeles Area High School

(Just threw in some cool pics of schools for a visual. Neat huh? Especially that last one.)

  

Body Image?

I know, I know. Not the best subject for just my second blog, but why not jump in?


For the past month our church has been doing VBS (Vacation Bible School) and I got to be in charge of crafts (Lots of fun). So, this past Sunday there was a slide show of our time with VBS and there I was...much larger than I recall seeing everyday. What is it about seeing yourself on a 32 or 37 in. flat screen in front of your church that causes you to feel so...huge? Oh. Never happened to you? Well, let me tell you...I found some motivation in that moment. Let me give you a little background.

I have an awesome husband who thinks I am sexy even when my clothes are off. (Which astounds me) He tells me I'm beautiful and all these wonderful things every day. So, now, after all this time he has built up this idea in my head that I am sexy, beautiful and all these other wonderful things. Then I see myself...on screen...in front of my church. It blows my body image out the window. I'm hurt and upset, but it's only me. I realize later that I like the idea I have of myself in my head much better than what I saw. So, I'm going to stick with that. (I did, however, go out and buy a bunch of healthy food at the grocery store that day and set up my own limits on what I will be eating for a while.)

In going through this experience I wondered how many other people have a different idea of themselves than what is being portrayed in the physical? Then I think about when I was younger. I look at pictures of myself from middle school or highschool and realize I was not nearly as grotesque as I thought I was at the time, so why did I feel that way? I realize our society has had a lot to do with that. I feel a little cheated looking back and wishing I had held my head higher, but...what are ya gonna do? The past is the past and now here I am at the highest number on a scale I have ever been without being pregnant.

Then I get some other type of wonderful motivation.

WOW!



On a typical day at work I look through msn.com like I'm reading a newspaper. I came across something called the Hundred Pound Club. This appears to be a club of people who have lost 100 lbs. This particular beauty, named Alisha, had reached 256 lbs after having a child and decided she was done being overweight. So she committed herself to losing 100 lbs in a year. AND THERE YOU HAVE IT! If these pictures are not motivating...I don't know what else is. Now, my husband loves me, but when I told him about this club and showed him the pictures he got very excited for my new found zing to cut the pounds. I think maybe I should print this and keep it somewhere. (I have a tendency to forget what I'm working for when the road gets too bumpy. )

Anyway, I've been a little all over the place, but my point is...be happy with who you are. If you aren't...change it. Only you can decide to be happy. Only you can decide if it's gonna be a good day.
I've decided I am happy with who I am, I just want to make some tweaks here and there and if I lose 100 lbs out of my tweaking...I'm good with that.

What is your body image? Have you recently decided to cut the pounds? And if so, what was the deciding factor? What keeps you motivated to stay healthy?

Getting Started

Hi! Hello. How are you?

So, I'm actually starting a blog. I have to say I am a little overly excited but really trying not to be a geek about it.

I started checking out blogs almost a year ago and fell in love. What is it about connecting with strangers that is so awesome? I don't know, but I'm ready to give it my own try!

So, here it is. I know it's not much to look at, but I'll get there. I went with What's My Motivation? because I really haven't quite got it figured out yet. I have the motivation to keep living but what about all the millions of things I have on my idea list? or eating healthier? or getting up earlier in the morning? or the more profound, just to be me? Like most women (or so I've heard) I think ALL. THE. TIME. I am constantly inspired by all kinds of things. My goal in life (at least right now) is to make it mine and make it simple. But I am a complicator at heart (and a procrastinator, but that's another issue for another day...LOL). Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who really does keep it simple. So he reels me back in when I'm wanting to take a right then a left and then another right to get to Walmart when we could just go straight. (OK, not literally, but you get the point)

So, I'm working on it people. I want a simpler life but...What's My Motivation? Better yet..What's Your Motivation? What gets you going? What keeps you true to yourself?

I want comments people. I want to hear what you have to say. I absolutely love when you meet someone new whether in person or over the internet and in a conversation you just *click*. I hope that we can *click*. I can't wait to get this started and share some of the things that I have been pondering. Thank you for reading and I hope you'll come back.