True strength

Monday Motivation

Have a wonderful Monday!

5FF: Holiday Shopping

*5 things. About Fibro. Every Friday*

My Favorite Places to Shop for the Holidays

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  I spent many, many years in retail before becoming an educator. During my retail days, most of my holiday purchases came from the store where I worked. I was just too tired to go other places during the holidays to shop! When I left retail, I vowed to have my shopping done by December 1 so that I could enjoy the season, and avoid the crowds. Fast forward to today, my first official Christmas with Fibromyalgia. I still want to get my shopping done by December 1, but I do not have the energy to go out and hit the stores. What's a girl to do? Shop online, of course!  (For an extra fee, many will wrap your gift as well) So today I though I would share some of my favorite online retailers.

1.  North Star Bison: This fab company will ship non-GMO, grass-fed, hormone and antibiotic-free buffalo to your door! They have a great gift selection as well as buying specific cuts of meat. Don't want bison? They also carry beef, chicken and lamb.

2.  The Body Shop:  I fell in love with this store when I lived in London. As much as I would love to go to London to stock up on fair trade beauty products, they now have retail locations across the US, as well as an online presence. I highly recommend the Satsuma line of products -citrusy goodness in a bottle!

3.  Stubby Pencil Studio:  Eco-friendly art supplies and stationery for children. Well, they say it's for children, but I want these things for my personal art stash! They have kits as well as supplies. I LOVE the paste imported from Italy -a great glue for those of us who miss Elmer's paste pots.

4.  Heifer International:  My favorite charity gift! Your money helps to buy animals for communities around the world (including the USA).  These are not hand-outs. The animals not only help improve nutrition, but provide an income source. Don't worry if you don't have a lot to give -your money can be pooled with other donations to buy more expensive animals. My favorite is the llama share.

5.  Barnes & Noble:  It's not just books! Games, toys, movies, and more. You could easily buy something for everyone from here. In fact, for many years all my holiday gifts came from here  :-P

Now, go make yourself a cup of tea, get comfy on the sofa, and start shopping!

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with any of these retailers, I just love their products. I have an immediate family member who works for one of these companies, so any purchases made  indirectly affects me.

Copyright (c) <a href='http://www.123rf.com'>123RF Stock Photos</a>

Fighting Fibro with the Flylady

I've had a long-term, on again-off again relationship with the Flylady. This relationship predates my Fibromyalgia. But now that I've come to accept that Fibro is a permanent part of my life, I'm beginning to fully appreciate the life management system offered by the Flylady.

Have you heard of her? Have you tried it? The basic premise is that you can do anything for 15 minutes, including things you'd rather not do. Like housework, for instance. Check out her website for details on how to reclaim your life from CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome). I know when I'm in the midst of a flare, it is very easy to feel bad about what I can't do to maintain my home. Setting a timer for 15 minutes and tackling a room always makes me feel better about myself, which in turn helps me feel better in general.

I've been rereading Sink Reflections with a few buddies on Twitter. After finishing the first chapter, I've decided to focus on:

• Clean counters: these make my small kitchen feel bigger. And organized.
• BBR (Before Bed Routine): This includes getting my gym bag ready, as well as preparing breakfast/lunch/snacks. This usually happens as soon as I get home from work so it is finished before I exhaust all my energy for the evening. When this is done, I can get out the door and have time for a good workout before getting to school.
• Going to bed at a decent hour: Ha! Going to bed at a decent hour sometimes means staying awake until AFTER I put Turtle to bed. The trick is to stay in bed (asleep) until my alarm goes off the next morning. Exercise helps me sleep through the night. But, in order to have enough time to exercise, I need to have completed my BBR (see point above).
• Doing something everyday that helps me feel special: This is a tough one! Right now, I make sure to indulge with my Body Shop Satsuma Body Oil with my post-workout shower. I've also unearthed my Satsuma Parfum Oil. I can't help but smile when I get a whiff of that orangey goodness!

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

I'm going to Art School!

In my own little fantasy world, I am a prolific writer with great wit, a keen eye, and a finger firmly on the pulse of humanity. In reality, I'm a blogger with a chronic pain condition, a great sense of humor, and a poor grasp of time management. The thought of even attempting to participate in a massive writing event such as NaNoWriMo leaves me in a cold sweat. If you are undertaking the endeavor this month, my hat is off to you!

Nevertheless, I feel a bit left out and feel the need to attempt my own bit of stunt journalism. Earlier in the summer, I became fascinated with art journaling. I dabbled a bit, but with the beginning of the school year I let it slide. Now that I am generally able to stay up until 8:00 (sometimes even 8:30!) most weeknights, I have the time to pick it back up again.

After browsing through the Autumn issue of Somerset Studio's Art Journaling magazine, someone referenced Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Art Journal Everyday Challenge. Basically, she takes away all the excuses for not getting something done every day. I have all these lovely art supplies on hand, so I decided to put them to use by making my own challenge to do some art journaling every day in the month of November. To make it more fun, I enrolled in Julie's Technique-a-Palooza. That's right, I'm going to (online) art school!

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

If I can keep it up for the month, I would love to enroll in her Art Journal Everyday: December! class. Ultimately, I would like to enroll in Life Book 2013.

I love having a creative outlet. Something outside my roll as a mother, a wife, a teacher. I look forward to the few minutes I have at my art table in the evening, which in turns motivates me to stay the course of exercising to manage my pain and fatigue.

But don't worry, I won't subject you to a daily array of my artistic efforts! Unless they turn out really, really cool.

Music Monday: Halloween Edition

Boo!

Did I scare you?   hehehehe

Because it is Halloween, I'm giving you not one, but TWO tunes to get you going:






That head-thingy on the stage certainly creeped me out!  At any rate,

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Music Monday: All You Need is Now

It took me awhile, but I finally got the latest Duran Duran album. Can I just say HAPPY HAPPY C-JOY?!!!



Let your hair flop in your face & slap on some bright red lippy while you bop to this catchy tune-enjoy your Monday  :-D

Music Monday: Strange Love Addiction

I find it a tad difficult to get myself going on Monday mornings.  I know, I know:  I'm the only one who has transition problems between the weekend and the work week.  But I figured I would share this motivational technique:  music!  Music puts me in a good mood faster than chocolate & champagne delivered by a cabana boy.

So kick back and enjoy this tune that gets my toes tapping & my synapses firing happy messages:  Strange Love Addiction by the Supreme Beings of Leisure.....

Preschoolers and Housework

I really don't want to spend all my waking hours working at my paid job as well as my unpaid ones (home & family).  I need help caring for the house in order to have time to recharge my own batteries.  Sadly, the Kitchen Fairy was last seen with the Cabana Boy heading for the Seychelles Islands so that source of free help is no longer available. 

There is however one source of help available to me nearly 24/7.  She's got red hair and loves being with mommy all the time.  She loves to mop the kitchen floor and handwash dishes. She can scrub potatoes and carrots like a pro and loves to wipe down cupboards and baseboards.  Turtle is a Montessori kid so she's learning how to do dishes, wash windows and scrub tables at school.  However she's not always the most motivated helper so one can't always depend on her helping when one needs it the most.  Due to my work with small people, I'm getting quite good at identifying the "currency" each little one uses.  My Turtle is turning into quite the girly-girl, so the key to motivating her to help around the house was the word pretty.

The words "clean your room" were replaced with "make your room pretty".  We have gone from Turtle emptying her dresser drawers and closet on a daily basis to keeping it tidy with just a five minute rescue.  Making things pretty is a concept she can understand.  It sounds like playing!  Cleaning is something Mommy doesn't like to do and should be avoided at all costs.  But now when Mommy says "I'm going to make the kitchen look pretty," a little voice can be heard to say "I want to help!"  It is also motivating Mommy because making things pretty is a lot more fun than doing chores.  Reading design/home/crafty blogs is finally paying off because they are inspiring me to prettify my home  :D

Junior Jar of Motivation

The Motivation in a Jar worked so well for me, I just had to know if it would work on children.  So I created a jar for the classroom and filled it with basic works that anyone could do.  Guess what -it worked!  It is perfect for the wanderers and the ones who just can't decide what to do.  They do meaningful work AND I haven't told them to do a thing.  The JAR tells them what to do.  I'll definitely have one of these in my classroom come fall!  Once Turtle is a bit older, she'll have one for home as well :)

Motivation in a Jar

I'm horrible with lists.  I start one, set it down, then promptly lose track of it.

I've used the task list on gmail.  I have a harder time losing it, but those lists can get awfully long.  Its not very satisfying either when it's time to cross something off.

So I decided to try writing down things I wanted to get done on pretty pieces of paper. 

I chose some fun things too.

I mixed them together & put them in the jar.  I decided when I had the time, I could just reach in & pull out a task to do.  Some things were quick & easy.  With some I added a 15 minute time limit.  I assumed it would take me a few days to work through my jar o'chores.  Guess what -it was exciting, it was thrilling!  I was eager to see what I would pull out next AND I blew through all but 3 items in one afternoon!  I guess you can put motivation in a jar for when you need it  :D