Obstacles V Opportunities

Toni asks, "What are the possible obstacles to your resolutions? How will you overcome them?"

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One issue I deal with, oh, c-o-n-s-t-a-n-t-l-y, is procrastination.  It has landed me in hot water more than once.  You think that after a couple rounds of that, I'd change my ways.  Eh.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I'm also loads more distractable than I used to be.  I'll be working on an assignment at the computer and 'all of a sudden' I'll notice that there's a cup at my computer that needs to go back to the kitchen, or the dogs need water in the bowl, or I should really go get something out of the deep freeze for supper.  Please tell me I'm not the only one with this problem! *sigh*

Now I love calendars and lists and planners and all of that stuff, but sometimes I tend to get wrapped up too much in the plan - so much that I've left myself no room to move and put the plan into action.  Where is the Ronco Backside Kicker when I need one?

One thing that I've found works for me is to break big goals, jobs, projects, etc down into sufficiently small bits that it's still a stretch, but not uncomfortably so.  

For instance, one of my goals for 2014 is to read the Bible from cover to cover.  If I just sat down, opened to Genesis 1 and started reading, I would do ok until I got to the first round of 'begats' and my eyes would start to glaze over.

But if I break it down into monthly, weekly and/or daily goals, then when I hit a stretch of begats or that passage that irritates me (like the part in the OT where a man who suspects his wife of cheating can take her to the priests, who would cause her to drink polluted water.  If she got sick, then she was innocent.  If she did not get sick, she was considered guilty of adultery, taken out and stoned.)  

If I encounter questions when I'm working on something, that I just cannot figure out (even though I have tried), I can write it down and find out the answer by asking a family member, acquaintance, professor, etc etc etc.

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How do you work though obstacles?  Please share one of your strategies in the comments!  Thanks for visiting the porch!

REVIEW - Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

Oh, I am SO glad that it's f-i-n-a-l-l-y 2014 and I can start in on my reading challenges.  It has been increasingly difficult the last few days to hold off!

I am JUST SICK!  I had this done and then cross-posted the review on another site, and apparently hit "cut" instead of "copy".  Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the other site, and retracing my steps has proven fruitless.  *ARGH*

"Secret Adversary" was Agatha Christie's second book, published first in 1922.  It introduces the detective duo of Tommy and Tuppence, two young people fresh from their service in WWI (he as a soldier, she as a health-care worker).  After they have a chance meet-up, they determine to go into business together as "The Young Adventurers".  Of course, they become quickly embroiled in a mystery full of intrigue and international implications.

Agatha Christie was a very prolific author and her works have been adapted for the large and small screens, video games, graphic novels, stage plays ... just about anything of which one could think.

I enjoyed this book immensely.  I also remember seeing a miniseries with the Tommy and Tuppence characters, back in the early 1980's, which first caught my attention.  I just can't believe it's taken me so long to read the book!  I sincerely appreciated the fact that there was not a lot of 'romantic activity' going on in this book.  It did not take away a thing from my enjoyment of this read.

Not only do I highly recommend this book, I added this book to my lists at the following 2014 reading challenges:

• Cruising Through the Cozies (1/6)
• 50/50 Challenge (1/50, 0/50)
• Vintage Mystery 2014 Gold Edition (1/6)

So...had you heard of "cozy" books before this year?  If so, what is your favorite?  Share with us so we can feed our book addictions too! :O)

Working Well Under Pressure

Melissa at NaBloPoMo on BlogHer asks, "DO YOU WORK WELL UNDER PRESSURE?"

Well, yes and no.

I think some pressure helps, what they call in psychology, 'eustress'.  For example, I have acted in quite a number of stage plays.  There is a certain amount of stress encountered on opening night.  After all, it is the culmination of six to eight weeks of work.  Most actors have a 'day job' as well, or go to school - in other words, a life full of obligations.  You want the audience to enjoy the play.  You want to remember your lines and cues.  And when you come off the stage for the first time on opening night, there's a lot of fist-pumping, end-zone style dancing going on.  Eustress spurs you on to greater accomplishments and satisfaction.

Distress, the opposite of eustress, well ... sucks.  I remember one day, on the way to my job at a residential facility for adults with MR/DD, stopping in at the doctor's office for some samples of one of my medications.  They refused to see me due to a small, unpaid bill.  I left the crowded office in tears.  By the time I got to work, I knew my blood pressure was dangerously high.  Before reporting, I asked the cottage nurse to check my blood pressure.  She took the reading, and then went to get her supervisor.  The supervisor confirmed it at 212/120.  I tried to call my husband because they wanted to take me to the hospital.  I could not dial my phone and was having trouble talking.

The tricks, if you can call them that, is to:

- prepare for challenges as best you can.

- find a way to vent your stress (which is probably different for everybody) so it doesn't affect your health.

So after all that, to answer Melissa's question - I believe I do work well under pressure, for the most part.  Whatever the situation, I can usually hold it together until the crisis is past.  After the pressure dissipates, how hard and for how long I crash depends on how I have prepared myself beforehand and how well I am able to vent the pressure.

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What about you?  Do you work well under pressure?  What is your best stress-relief tip?  Leave a comment and let us know!

I'm Not Doing Resolutions This Year

Toni at One Chocolate Box asks, "What are your resolutions this year? How do you plan to achieve your goals?"

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I'm not 'doing' resolutions like I usually do.

A few days ago I came across a blog post "Resolutions Stink:  And What Works Better for Me" at NicoleOnTheNet.com.  She had gotten an idea from a post at ChristineKane.com titled, "Resolution Revolution:  A Better Way to Start Your Year".  She advocates the use of one word as kind of a guiding principal for the year.

The word that chose me was "order".  Actually, it had to beat up another word that was vying for my attention too.

Last year, I was blessed to have Melanie at "Only a Breath" make me a button with my word for 2013 (abundance).  A couple hundred other people were blessed as well, and I think she wore herself out.  This year she offers a free template on her blog.

Save the blank template to your hard drive, then upload it to PicMonkey.com to add your own "one word" in the font and color of your choice, just like I did.

VVVVVVVV

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While my "one word" replaces resolutions, it does not replace goal-setting.

I found a free book on Amazon.com (free as of 9pm Eastern US time on 12/29):

If it's not free by the time you read this, you can go to DailyActionLog.com and get the first chapter and a download of the worksheets for your email address.

A partial list of my 12-month goals (by December 31, 2014) would be:

Financial

1.  We have rebuilt our savings after purchasing a house in 2013, and have 3 months emergency funds.

2.  We raised a large garden this year, and supplied 50% of our fresh fruits and vegetables.

Business/Career

1.  I have run a successful Kickstarter or Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.

2.  I have an Etsy shop up and running.

Health/Fitness

1.  I will have gotten my blood pressure down to 120/80.  

2.  I get 30 minutes of aerobic exercise at least 3x per week.

Relationships

1.  I will have documented my family history back to the ancestor who served in the Revolutionary War.

2.  My husband and I take turns planning at least semi-monthly date nights.

Overall Happiness

1.  I will have read the Bible and the Book of Mormon cover to cover.

2.  I volunteer personally (and with my family) at least one time per month.

Celebrate the New Year by leaving a comment with one (or more) of your goals for 2014.  Let's work together to ROCK THIS YEAR!!!

Bout of Books 9.0

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Since I've signed up for *ahem* quite a few reading challenges for 2014, I thought a little 'jump start' would be in order.  Then I found information about the Bout of Books Readathon on the blog "My Reader's Block".  I like the no-pressure feature of this readathon, because the last one I did lasted a contiguous 24 hours;  I don't know it if was my age, or my health, or a combination of the two, but that experience put me down HARD - towit, I have only done one blog post since that time.  But 2014 is a new year, and with reading challenges etc, I'm planning on coming back in a big way.  So...

If you are a reader, you should sign up (there are mini-challenges and giveaways to tempt you)!

If you are not a reader, YOU SHOULD REALLY SIGN UP!  *lol*  (Seriously, although I did not do well on my reading challenges in 2013, I read more than I have in years...and that is a very good thing!)

For some (like me) the cost of lots of books could be prohibitive.  There is, of course, a library.  And, there are kazillions of sources of free Kindle or e'books online...so many, that if I had to carry hardback copies of all the books I have on Kindle Cloud Reader (exclusively online), I'd probably wind up in traction. :O)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ringing in the new year with:

  

Musings on Ephesians 1:7,8

      

I had an epiphany of sorts this week, on the day it became easier to remember all of the verses together.  Each verse so far in Ephesians 1 talks about some facet of God's relationship to His children (us) and vice versa.  Must be important then. :O) 

7.  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

The emphasis on Jesus' blood has always made me a little squeamish, but it's one of those things that have to happen the way they do.  I mean, I would have liked to avoid some of the bad experiences in my life, but if it meant not having my family today ... I'd go through it all again.

It reminds me of a story I read about a man who worked in a big train yard, who had to choose between saving his son or saving a trainload of people.  It was an allegory to the relationship between God, Jesus and us.  How important must we be to God that He would sacrifice His Son for us?  It makes one thing.

8.  Wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence;

God wants to pour out blessings on us.  But He doesn't want to throw us in the deep end of the pool when we're just learning to walk.  It is not wise to get all the good things we will ever have in our lives all at once.  We would not be able to handle it.  Like the lottery jackpot winners who are broke a year or two later.  We learn, we grow day by day, just like plants in a garden.  Our abilities to handle both good and bad grow the same way.

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The October Daily prompt for today, Sunday, October 13, 2013 is:

Comment on the following:  If you cannot find a way out, look up.

That is like a story I heard at church:  we spend so much time looking around at our neighbors and comparing ourselves to them.  We need to be looking up ... to God.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon My Post-a-thon

HOUR TWENTY-ONE

Well, I finished one more, a collection of short stories entitled "Leaping Out on Faith" by Rochelle Campbell.  There are four stories about women of different ages, coming to terms with difficult situations.  The final 3 stories were particularly resonant with me:  Chambray Curtains Blowing in the Wind, Knocking at the Door, and All God's Men.

Unfortunately, my body has decided it is time to shut down for a while.  And seeing as I have already outlived my father by 5 years (he passed at the age of 47 from heart disease), I have learned that I really need to listen to my body.

But I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Dewey's Read-a-Thon and will sign up early enough next time that I can help spread the word.

Some things I have learned:

1.  I can read an entire novel (even one of significant size) in a 24 hour period.

2.  I need to have a training program for the next read-a-thon.  Not sure exactly what that means yet, but I'm mulling over some ideas.

3.  Read-a-thon cheerleaders ROCK HARDER than regular cheerleaders.  Take an extra pom-pom out of petty cash  :O)

4.  Find out about the next read-a-thon more than 8 to 12 hours before the start time.

As soon as I can think clearly again, I'm sure there will be more.

If it is in your heart and your abilities, keep readin' on for 2-3 more hours!  ROCK ON, READERS AND CHEERLEADERS AND ORGANIZERS!!!

(See, I told ya - see hr 17 - that I ramble when I get overtired.)  Peace out.

HOUR SEVENTEEN

Two hours ago I did not know how I could go on.  Maybe it was the self-pep talk I gave myself outside.  Maybe it was the attack of the month old puppies who have just had their first semi-solid meal,  Maybe it was actually finishing a 2nd book (Designer Dirty Laundry by Diane Vallere - there is a link below ... somewhere).  

At least I don't feel like I'm going to explode anymore.  Always a plus, right?  But I should probably take a break and dispose of the collection of drink cans and bottles, snack wrappers, empty cappucino cup that held orange chicken and rice, and a small plate that was home to two insanely buttered toasted English muffins earlier.  

Yes, I'm rambling.  I do that at the best of times.  I'm just not the kind of gal who will say something in ten words that I can say in 50. *lol*  And then top that off with being, oh, a tad fatigued?

K.  Now I'm going to try and find where I left the Power of a Praying Woman, the other book I've been reading, and finish that.  Unfortunately I put it down somewhere and I don't quite remember where.  That strikes me as being funny at the moment.

HOUR THIRTEEN

Damn my blood pressure.  To hot and fiery places.  Really.  Hubby even cooked supper tonight.  And he and our oldest took on the task of feeding 8 of our 13 (or so) puppies their first non-mama meal.  Oh, BTW, anyone need a puppy? :O)

Up to page 85 of Designer Dirty Laundry, which is almost 1/3 of the way through the book.  It's quite interesting so far ... lots of intrigue.  But with $100,000 at stake, in a design contest ... it's almost like a reality tv shows with all the double-dealing going on behind the scenes.

Conquered several more chapters in The Power of a Praying Woman.  Lots of good quotes and Bible verses to add to my "memorize this" collection.

To answer the questions from the readathon home post:

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired?

Well, I kind of had a little rest, thanks to my health. *blah*

2) What have you finished reading?

Just the one short short book:  To Capture a Highlander's Heart: The Beginning (see HOUR THREE)

3) What is your favorite read so far?

Umm...all of them?

4) What about your favorite snacks?

Special K Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars

5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love!
I've tried to subscribe to as many new blogs as I've found, but it was taking away time from reading, so that's going to be a project for me for next week ... to go back and get ALL the ones I missed this weekend ... and it's a long, long list.

HOUR SEVEN

I've been trying to do some solid reading for the last couple of hours and it has worked, more or less.  Why is it, when you get into a challenge like this one, that the crazy parts of your life come out to deter you?

An extended family member (like the wife of my FIL's 2nd cousin or something like that) is having heart issues (BP approx 50/80).  We are the closest and most able (due to age/health issues) relatives, so our day has taken a left turn into the "there go our plans for the day" department.

Also, hubby did the madlib/hour seven challenge for me and now wants his monitor back, which was hooked up to my laptap.  

Mad-Lib Challenge

Original Paragraph from "Designer Dirty Laundry" by Diane Vallere)

"When you wear fishnet stockings to the grocery store, pleople tend to stare.  Women look at you like you're affiliated with the sex trade.  Men pretend they're not staring, doing so all the while.  It's probably because they're thinking the same thing."  

I asked hubby to come up with an item of clothing, a location, 2 groups of people, a profession and two verbs.  Here is the result:

"When you wear clothing optional to the city, people tend to stare.  Women look at you like you're affiliated with the gynecologist.  Men pretend they're not often, doing so all the while.  It's probably because they're fasting the same thing."

Doesn't sound like his mind is on a reading/writing exercise, does it? :p

I'm on page 34 of the Kindle version of the above book.  

HOUR FOUR

Challenge - Spine Poetry

My 5th book, "Power of a Praying Woman" has a picture and link down below.  Crap.  I can't get a picture of the spines in the time allotted.  How 'bout if I type the titles in a list.  Can y'all use a little imagination and 'create' the spines around that? :O)

OOOOO[The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery]OOOOO

OOOOO[Crossing Troublesome]OOOOO

OOOOO[Basic Math and Pre-Algebra for Dummies]OOOOO

OOOOO[The Power of a Praying Woman]OOOOO

OOOOO[One Thousand Gifts]OOOOO

HOUR THREE

Why am I posting a new read-a-thon button each time?  Because there are so many dang cute ones!

I went looking for something short (Capture certainly fits that bill) and that involved Scotland in some way, shape or form.  This is still free on Amazon as of the time of this update.  

Reading this short story/book made me want to read more about the characters Grace and Gabriel.  Grace is a 21 year old ladies' maid, who has become interested in Gabriel, a widower some years older than herself.  She wants to marry him, but there's just one problem; he doesn't know she exists.  By the end of the story, he knows she exists, and he'd like the two of them to exist in closer proximity.  

Did not do so well with this hour's challenge.  I only got two of them.  I'm going to go back in the coming days and figure them all out (without peeking), but for now, I want to concentrate on reading, blogging and tweeting, self-appointed cheerleading, eating, snacking, and #hashtagging (get it? *lol*) with those other people who are hanging around the room where my computer is.

HOUR TWO

Well, I started out reading "The Power of a Praying Woman" by Stormie Omartian.  It's been sitting on my desk for quite a while.  I go back and forth with myself on whether to read straight through this type of book or to work through it chapter by chapter for a day or a week or whatever.  THANKS SO MUCH to Dewey's Read-a-thon for giving me an excuse to go cover to cover and not feel guilty!

I'm only on page 27 so far, and not making an excuse, but the rural mail carrier ran out of gas in front of our house and our dogs were going bat crazy, so we filled up her car with what was left in our 5-gallon can that we use for the lawnmower.  A few minutes later, she returned the can, so the dogs went off again.  They're not mean, just curious, but we don't want them that close to the road.

I got TweetDeck set up on my computer and made a column for #readathon  posts.  It's going almost as fast as my "activity" column.  Also saw Sharlene's comments, so responded to those, and played TweetTag with some #readathon buddies.

Now that I'm apparently parked at my computer for a little bit, I'm going to switch gears to an e-reader and find me something short to read. :O)

I have been trying to beef up my prayer life of late, so this seemed like a good book to dive into.  My song to go with it?  Patsy Cline singing Amazing Grace:

And a capella!  *shivers*  I'm going to need a truckload of grace to stay up for 24 hours!

(Someone cue the music from 2001:  A Space Odyssey)

I'm figuring on putting all my updates here so I don't spam my subscribers with lots and lots and lots of emails.

Hour One Intro Meme

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

I am reading from the rural area between Crab Orchard and Dog Walk, Kentucky, USA.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

Well, most of my books will be from my Kindle app.  There are only 4 physical books in any sort of stack on my desk, and they were there before I even knew of the challenge's existence.  Two are Appalachian cook books and two of them are devotionals.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

The Read-a-thon came on my radar late last night when I was poking around Faith, Hope and CherryTea.  So I haven't really had time to think about snacks.  Thank goodness hubby loaded me up on Coke Zero yesterday at the store.  And he got this bag of little salted and spiced bread bits in varying sizes and shapes that I think he meant to use for his clam chowder to which I could do some serious damage.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I turned 52 a week ago Wednesday.  We homeschool our children.  I recently returned to college to work on a 2nd degree to lead me to the grad school program of my choice - writing!  (Go figure, right?) :O)

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

Well, thanks to various web-based reading challenges, I have read more "for pleasure" this year than I have in many years past combined.  I'm also having a private challenge with myself to see if I can maintain my usually sweet, angelic nature throughout the entire 24 hours without my family wanting to spike my sweet tea with something to make me sleep.

Sending serious good reading karma out to sister and brother challengers, serious good karma brownie points to the cheerleading squad, and serious thumbs up to the hourly challenge captains.

Read on!