January 10

 

TONI ASKS, "WHAT ARE 5 THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT YOURSELF?"

1.  I'm taking better care of myself than I used to.

2.  I'm going back to college for a second bachelor's degree (and eventually a master's degree).

3.  I've been blogging a lot more regularly than I did last year.

4.  My wedding ring (which is a copy of my husband's, but in a different size).

5.  My stick-to-it-iveness.

*+*+*+*+*

JOY DARE

Jan 1

• dogs and puppies barking when I get home.
• any music from "The Piano Guys"
• birds chirping in the morning

Jan 10

• lemonade
• baklava
• cheesecake

So I'm a Day Late

As she does (every day of the week, not just on Monday!), Ramona at Create With Joy, inspires me.  She is responsible in no small part for the explosion of writing and reading I have done since the beginning of the year.  And I'm not the only one.  Use the button above to go see the other 178 (and counting) folks she inspires!  (Ok, ok, you don't really have to visit ALL 178 links, but you'll be missing out on some great blogs and ideas if you just drop a link and go.
Another person I find tremendously inspiring is Ann Voskamp.  She wrote a book titled, "One Thousand Gifts" (of which I won a copy from a drawing on Ramona's blog).  Ann has a blog of her own,

I've printed off so many wonderful things from her site that I'm going to have to go get more paper soon!  My favorites (so far) are:

• The Joy Dare Collection
• 25 for Sanity Manifesto
• 100 Days Calendar

I'm going to share the three things I have chosen to work on every day for the next 100 days (that's Tuesday, 23 July, 2013 to 31 October, 2013):

1. 5 minutes with God. Yeah, I know 5 minutes is no time at all.  But I've noticed in the past, when I say 1/2 hour or an hour, that when I slip up, I tend to give up.  Anyone can find 5 minutes in a day, even me!  I've already done that and more today so far, and wow...you can pack a LOT of inspiration into a paltry five minutes!
2. Keep my dishes washed and my kitchen counters clean.  It's not like I mean there can n-e-v-e-r be any speck of dust on them.  I'd just like them to look presentable at least once a day.  So far, that one;s working out well too.  Since we live in an older house, there is no dishwashing machine (unless you count me)!
3. Write something of value for someone else each day.  I thought at first that might be a lot of pressure, given that my blog posts have been few and far between at times.  But writing something each day is not the same as publishing a blog post every day.  If that happens - great;  if not - no big deal.  What I write will come out when its time comes.  My idea with this practice is to write every day and to remember why I'm doing it ... to benefit other people (or animals, etc etc etc).

My list of 3 things for the Joy Dare today?

1. We have a gift of a tall black walnut tree in our side yard.  We'll probably get a 5 gallon bucket of walnuts when all is said and done this year.  Through the summer the "fruit" will begin to fall off the tree (of its own accord), we'll gather them up and put them in the turn around so that cars can crush the fleshy part off without us staining our hands dark brown).  This does not harm the nut, because they are as rocks!
2. We have a glift of tiny baby plantlets, that will eventually find their way to our dinner table to nourish and strengthen us.
3. We have a gift of my brother, who is about 2000 miles away in Salt Lake City.  He is two years older than I am, and my only sibling.  He is a brilliant pianist (really!) and had most of our mother's care during the waning years of her life.

So, tell me, what is a "gift" you have received?