Living a Nail Polish Existence?

For the past two weeks I've been having fun with my daughter painting our nails all kinds of interesting colors. Last week it was pearly pink with purple glitter, this week it was dark purple with purple glitter (yes, I like purple glitter on my nails!), and this week? I have yet to decide. 

I chipped off the old polish (which was chipping and falling off anyway), and began choosing my new color (one that will probably don purple glitter) when I noticed my nails. Stuff I didn't see after I don the polish.

There was a little dirt, some uneven spots, and a few nicks in my nails. Not big ones mind you, but enough that I knew I had to trim them a little and do that nail board thing to shape and smooth them. A nail goddess I surely ain't- I had to look up nail care advice on the Internet first!

God decided to turn this recent little vanity into a lesson. Only when I removed the pretty polish did I notice my nails needed work. How many times have we done this in our spiritual lives? How many times have we covered up some blemish in our hearts with a little purple sparkle? How many times have we quickly chosen another color to brush on so we don't have to look at the dirt under our souls? 

More importantly, do we even bother to try cleaning that stuff out before we add a new coat of polish?

Personally, I don't like the idea of dirt under my nails before I polish them. I like the feeling I get when I do a job well (like staying in the stinkin' nail-bed and not hitting my skin- which isn't often), and that means cleaning the nails, shaping all the rough spots and washing my hands before I start polishing them. If I don't, I feel like I have zombie nails under all that color. 

And no, I'm not a nail diva- the second the polish is dry I'm back in the kitchen getting chips in it by washing the dishes. 

I like the feeling that my nails are as good as I can get them before I make them pretty. I also like the feeling I get when I get rid of some soul dirt. That makes me feel pretty too!

Do your nails reflect your spirit? Do you need to trim this, smooth out that? Have you regretted doing something and feel a little grit in your soul when you think about it? You don't need colorful polish- just do your best to get your spirit right, pray, and let God's colors shine through you!

Seeing With New Eyes

I want you to do something for me after you read this paragraph. I want you to close your eyes for a few minutes. Why? For two reasons. One, I want you to use your other senses to 'see' your environment, and Two, to get a better perspective on things. Closing your eyes will allow you to imagine your life differently. I want you to forget what your messes look like, and allow yourself to create the life you really want in your mind. Not only your home, but your inner self life as well. What would you come up with if you could make any changes? Do this for at least two minutes, and remember to keep it positive.

Ready, Set, GO!

What happened? Did you imagine a life without clutter, or did you imagine the house smelling of fresh-baked bread? Was your life less stressful? Did you find joy in hearing your children playing in the background? Write down what you 'saw' in your mind. Does it compare with your current life? Can you look around and see what changes you can make for the better? Did you pray? Did your mind wander?

Did you do a little bit of everything?

This weekend God opened my eyes to many things- self reflection isn't always pretty, but can change your life once you realize that you are the one who can change things if you don't like them. That includes your environment as well as your inner being. 

If there's not enough joy in your life, you need to make room for it. It can be something small- for me it was an 'out of the box' moment- I bought nail polish for my daughter and I. One was pink shimmer, and the other was clear with purple sparkles. Both of us now don pink nails with the purple sparkles on top, and we look awesome! I barely have nails to paint (and it always chips off when I do the dishes), but it doesn't matter- when that sparkle catches my eye, it makes me smile. And my daughter loves to chip it off the next day so we can have another nail-painting session.

Don't get me wrong, she loves the polish- but it's the time I spend with her that matters. And yes, I'm going back to the dollar store for more colors so we can try new things!

When doing this self- reflecting, I've learned a lot about myself- and what I don't like I'm changing. You can too- just stop making excuses (like I used to) and do it. Make yourself and your environment better. Step out of that box - it hinders the view of the horizon!

Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

Change is never easy. 

If you're like me, you hate having to step outside of your Comfort Zone. It doesn't matter if the change is large or small- if you tend to resist change, your reactions will reflect in the size of that change, whether it be ant-sized or the size of an elephant.

Think of your comfort zone as a balloon. You leave it alone for a while and it starts to shrink- but if you untie the knot and blow fresh air into it regularly, it expands and widens your perspective. The problem is people are so afraid of popping their Comfort Zone balloons that they don't even try to untie the knot- and their comfort zone shrivels up like an old grape, with them feeling trapped inside.

We have to step out of our comfort zones on a regular basis- We become stagnant and afraid if we don't!

Let me give you a few examples:

1. We plan to buy a home for the first time. It will be cheaper than renting, but fear is causing me to hesitate. What if we can't handle the responsibilities? What if we miss a payment? What if the house leaks, or we have rats the size of horses? What if the place collapses five minutes after settlement?

This is how my thoughts run when I become afraid- they jump from reasonable to mind-numbing unreality. Here's another:

2. I'm working on becoming a public speaker. What if my topics are uninteresting? What if I stutter or my voice shakes during a talk? What if I forget what I'm talking about? What if they hate me and either fall asleep or start pelting me with fruit? What if my clothes decide to pop a button or rip during my presentation, and fall off because I'm shaking so badly?

You see what I'm taking about here? It doesn't matter if it's big or small, my fearful reaction to stepping out of my comfort zone will only yield one result if I let the fear take control. I'll stay in my Comfort Zone and do nothing, where my fear wants me to be. 

But that's not where God wants me to be.

When my thoughts run this little gambit, God tells me to answer in faith. He wants us to step out of our Comfort Zones. He wants us to expand as His followers. He wants us to grow, become confident, and face our fears, no matter how big or small. Why? Because He's right there beside us, egging us on or holding out His arms to catch us if we fail.

No, change is never easy. But it's necessary to become a better, more confident person. 

Face your fears. Step outside your Comfort Zone. Expand that balloon and see where it takes you. You might be surprised where you end up!

Treehouse Faith

Have you ever felt like your faith was strong, until something shakes you up so bad you wonder if you ever had any real faith to start with?

Me too.

Recent events have shaken my faith like a rickety tree-house in a windstorm. Despite the tree-house looking sturdy, it wasn't- and my faith came crashing down the moment the wind kicked up. But God is good and left me enough debris to rebuild a better, stronger faith. And this time I want to build it the right way- slowly with more supports!

God tests our faith every day by the things that happen to us and around us, both good and bad. Why? Because He wants us to be better, stronger people in the long run. What would you rather have, a faith like a tree-house thrown together with scraps of rotting wood, or one made with solid, seasoned wood that can stand the elements?

God sends those windstorms not to punish us, but to show us where our faith is lacking so we can make the proper repairs. That's where Free Will comes in- either we make the repairs, or we leave it, hoping the tree-house will survive the next storm. 

As for me, I waited too long and my tree-house collapsed. Now I'm smarter for the experience. It will take time to rebuild my tree-house the right way. Sometimes I might  use some old boards or rusted nails, thinking that will be good enough- and if I do, God will surely let me know of my mistakes and give me another chance to make repairs. He's good like that.


Yesterday my faith was a single board. Today I nailed another board to it. Soon enough I'll have a floor, then one wall, then another three. Then the roof. By the time my tree-house is fully built, there will be no trace of rotted wood or rusty nails, and it will survive a tornado. And God will be smiling the entire time.


Inspect your tree-house faith and see how sturdy it is before the windstorm comes. You might be surprised! It could be stronger than you thought, or it could need some work. Either way you'll benefit from it!




 

MommyZuma's Revenge

I was amazed at how fast my kids went from "YAY! No more school!" to "I'm bored!"- I think it took about 2.3 seconds.

My daughter graduated from 5th grade, and will be attending a new school next year. My son made it to 7th grade, by the skin of his math grade- but he made it. Both my babies will be attending the same school once more, though I doubt they would ever actually see each other next school year.

Friday was the first official day off for them both, and it wasn't long before the 'I'm bored!' began resounding in my ears. But I remembered what happened last year, and I had a plan. Heh, heh, heh....

I let them get away with the plaints for the entire weekend. But this morning, I just smiled at them, oh-so-lovingly. They knew something was up, but had no idea what. My son was more savvy than my daughter, because I overheard them talking.

Daughter: "She must have something awesome planned- Mom's smiling a lot!"
Son: "Don't count on it- Mom smiles when she's giving us work to do."
Daughter: "Why would she do that?"
Son: "Because she likes to build character by making us miserable and sweat to death."

Dead in the black, my son....dead in the black.

I gathered my children together after breakfast, then handed them each a check-off list. Then I told them my plan. "To assuage any boredom this summer, I'll be teaching you some new life skills."
My children groaned. I heard my son mutter, 'I told you so."
Undaunted, I proceeded to explain the list, which was pretty extensive. They would be sharing chores that their sibling was in charge of before every other week, therefore, learning a lot more skills by the end of the summer- some were new to them, but more were not. The emotions were mixed.


My son was happy that he wasn't going to be doing laundry forever, and my daughter wasn't going to be doing the dishwasher until she died. However, my son hated folding clothes (new chore) and my daughter really didn't like taking out the trash. Tough Noogies, kiddos- you were the ones that were bored!


I used to have one child in charge of washing the table in the morning, and the other in the evening. this became troublesome because both kids would bicker because someone wasn't doing his or her job, and they had to clean up a big mess that the other left. I fixed that by scheduling one child for clearing one week, and washing it off the next. List One was one set of chores, and List Two has a second set. This week my daughter has List One, and my son has List Two. Next week they switch.

Never, ever tell Mom you're bored- especially this mom!


As we speak, they just finished their lists and are now collapsed on the couch- one is reading, the other is watching a movie. Neither child has told me how bored he/she is.


Silence is indeed, golden.

Changing the Life Bulb

I admit it takes a lot for me to make changes in my life. The issue itself doesn't matter- it's my refusal to accept change, at least at first. I have to shock myself with the idea of change, then fret over it, start making plans to change, then start making changes. 

It would have to be something dire for me to make an overnight transformation. For me, it might not be possible!

The bulb that is my lifestyle has been getting dimmer this past year. I've gotten myself into a rut, and I need to change that bulb to a brighter watt. But in order to change that bulb, I had to think outside the box..er, bulb. What I was doing had worked before, but not now. I needed to go to the next level. Maybe you're like me and want to make changes too- you just don't know how. So I'll tell you.

You have to start from scratch.

What do I mean by that? Think of your life as a big, cluttered room. You need to clear out that room entirely (mentally of course) so you can see the lay of the land, and how the furniture (aka, the issues you need to deal with) can be rearranged. Then see if anything needs to be adjusted.

Issues like:

Physical clutter in your home and/or office
People who drain your energy
Changes in diet and/or exercise
Relationships/Family
Beliefs
Balancing Work/Play/Home Time
Attitudes

If you have something not listed here, write it down.

Once you've established what you want to change, you need to believe you can actually make those changes. I told myself for years I was going to diet and exercise, but until I committed to it and signed up at a gym so I'd be accountable to someone, I didn't lose any weight. The clutter in my home stayed right where it was until I got off my butt and organized it. 

Start small. But start. That's the most important thing. Things won't change overnight (unless your only issue is clutter and you stayed up all night cleaning), but they will change. And these changes, when done over time, will become habits. Start small, refine, then start something else until the list is done. Then remake that list and start over, because life changes as we change!

But it's not all unicorns and rainbows either. Severing toxic relationships can be hard if it's a family member or your boss. You might not be able to sever certain relationships if he/she is someone you deal with every day. But you can limit your contact or communications with him/her as much as possible. Do what is within your power.

Dieting is hard when others around you are enjoying foods you want, but know you'll overeat if you taste them. It's hard getting up to exercise when you hurt from yesterday's adventures at the gym. Life is hard. Change is hard. But not changing your life for the better is worse, because you stagnate. The bulb dims.


Which would you rather have your life resemble, a swamp or a bright, happy room? I know which one I want! Do you?

Fun Isn't a Fantasy!

I see it happening every day.

People wanting to go on vacation, but they're too busy.  Whining about not having enough money, so they need to work harder or longer. In the meantime we're getting older, and our bodies will probably give out before our schedules will. 

That's what happened to my dad, and I see it happening to me and my family.

Why do we need to save a boatload of cash and find a lull in our lives that will 'allow' us to have some time off to relax? Why can't we take the proverbial bull by the horns, and turn him into a barbeque picnic pig-out? (or is that beef-out?)

I'd like to know who gave us the idea that relaxing must consist of beaches, room service, and plane rides- that guy needs some serious noogieing. 

You don't need any of that fancy stuff to retreat into relaxation. You don't need two weeks off. What you do need is the guts to tell everyone you and the family are going out to have fun this weekend, and hang the chores, the work, and all the other junk hindering you. 

Then work towards that goal like a ram on a roller coaster- don't let anyone stop you!

I'm not just talking spur-of-the-moment surprises (though I have to admit, those are fun too!), but plan everything so you have some time together every other month as a family- or as a couple. But make sure you go to relax, whether that's riding a bike on the boardwalk, or just sitting with your loved ones reading a book as they play in a park.

The point is you need to take the time to recharge- no one will do it for you. I've been married for fifteen years and I've just learned this! If we can start planning, so can you- it just takes a little self-discipline. 

Don't turn fun into a fantasy to be dreamed about. It can be achieved, if you make it part of your schedule! 


Sometimes my husband takes a day off for a three-day weekend. This is great for day trips, because we can shop, fly kites, or play frisbee without dealing with a lot of weekend traffic or crowds. I make food ahead of time so I don't have to cook, and we spend the weekend enjoying ourselves. Oh sure, the house is usually a wreck by Sunday, but the fun was totally worth it. 

And the best part is we're ready to face the world again on Monday because we're refreshed, recharged, and relaxed!

Make time for you and the family. Don't wait for the right time- it will never come. Plan these weekends every other month at least. No excuses, no whining, no procrastinating. You'll be happier, healthier, and have memories that will last a lifetime!