So the kitchen is done!!!! New cabinets, hardware, appliances, countertops, flooring and finally the crown molding. I am no longer camping out so to speak. Still some finishing work with painting, baseboard & crown mold in the rest of the house but it should be completed by the end of the month. I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
My husband has been ill for the last 3 months with a viral condition called Bells Palsy but he is now up and kicking like normal and only a little of the paralysis in his face is remaining. The treatment involves steriods, lots of rest and no stress. So my normally hardworking, fun loving guy was pretty crabby and tired and because he is the kingpin in two different businesss well it was a scramble for the rest of us, taking care of things, ensuring he got plenty of rest and making his life as stress free as possible. Now he is back in the groove and I can step back out of his businesses, which takes a load off of me ... another light.
I am so far ahead on the #'s for sit ups and push ups its ridiculous. I completed 1000 sit ups twice ... and 400 push ups participating in both of the new year challenges. Is that cheating to use them for my requirement #'s? ... another light
13 more sleeps and my girls will be back from China.
Sparkly or what ...
Still behind on my tai chi form practice though ... what I want next is my living room, normally I practice my tai chi and dancing there but not since November, it has been a construction zone. Practice has been choppy little moments in any empty corner that I could find, it does the job but I couldn't get the feel and flow of the form which is actually the best part.
Also its time to start working on a new form that I committed to having developed by April, this is pretty exciting and scary all at the same time as I have never attempted anything like this before ... I have the music picked out and a general idea of the 'style' but so far that's it.
It is such a relief to see some of these things winding down, it is hard to be patient (not part of my personality) and also the time that will be available for projects and goals that I have been putting off .. well it looks to get way more fun in the future. Talk to you next week.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
I hate to be late ...
So I missed the Thursday deadline for posting my blog, it was such a frustrating week that I never even noticed the date. Sad but true, I am either too much in the moment or not enough, I am not sure which.
So today is Sunday and I will be spending a good portion of the day catching up on my Tai Chi practice, my swimming and my journaling. I have had to put my foot down as far as priorities go this week. Finish up the renovations and my committments at work made a serious dent in my Kung Fu plans so it has been a fight all week with myself to stay in groove.
Why oh why will I half kill myself to meet obligations for work and expectations of friends and family and leave myself (meaning Kung Fu, or dancing) for last. Do I not value my own wants and needs equal to others? Is this woman, wife, mother programming where we put others before ourselves? Is it all my ego that has me believing that only 'I' can take on these responsibilties /problems/needs and deal with them? It is my need to be in control that makes me feel safe and secure knowing that I am in charge? Ah such arrogance!
I believe I need to put on my black kung fu uniform to remind myself to be humble, allow others to take on the responsibilities so that they too can learn and grow, and trust that things will work out even if I am not in charge. Then I can focus and enjoy the tai chi practice and reward myself for the swimming with the tarzan swing at the pool, practice ballroom dancing with my husband, and enjoy next week instead of battling with my own ego.
Keep your fingers crossed for me.
So today is Sunday and I will be spending a good portion of the day catching up on my Tai Chi practice, my swimming and my journaling. I have had to put my foot down as far as priorities go this week. Finish up the renovations and my committments at work made a serious dent in my Kung Fu plans so it has been a fight all week with myself to stay in groove.
Why oh why will I half kill myself to meet obligations for work and expectations of friends and family and leave myself (meaning Kung Fu, or dancing) for last. Do I not value my own wants and needs equal to others? Is this woman, wife, mother programming where we put others before ourselves? Is it all my ego that has me believing that only 'I' can take on these responsibilties /problems/needs and deal with them? It is my need to be in control that makes me feel safe and secure knowing that I am in charge? Ah such arrogance!
I believe I need to put on my black kung fu uniform to remind myself to be humble, allow others to take on the responsibilities so that they too can learn and grow, and trust that things will work out even if I am not in charge. Then I can focus and enjoy the tai chi practice and reward myself for the swimming with the tarzan swing at the pool, practice ballroom dancing with my husband, and enjoy next week instead of battling with my own ego.
Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Week 2
Hi again,
I am stumped for anything insightful so here goes the actual which is not nearly as exciting.
As of Jan 9th ...
From the UBBT requirements I have selected swimming as my activity until the end of April. Its something that although I can keep my head above water for short periods of time I would not call myself especially skilled at. So I enthusiastically splashed my way through 10 lengths of the pool on sunday, the reward being that for every 3 lengths I then get to swing on the tarzan rope with the little kids. The kids gave me some pointers on pinching your nose, hooking your feet on the bottom knot of the rope, stuff like that, it was a total blast even though by the time I got to the third swing my arms were so tired from swimming that I had to pull myself back to the edge of the pool using the guide lines.
A tip here ... do your pushups before going swimming, I was reduced to knee pushups that night, no juice left in the muscles ... tsk tsk.
Master Brinker was totally correct about how easy it was to find the time for situps and pushups, so I have been reasonably successful in that area, which cannot be said for performing my Tai Chi Long Form everyday. This one is a time hog if you want to do a half decent job ... and I do. So I am behind in my numbers on this one already and I just got started, not looking good. It appears that either my planning or committment level are not as good as I thought. While I am making up the numbers next week and doing a LOT of Tai Chi I will have to rethink my approach.
I successfully completed my anger managment course and passed my test on Jan 13th, a month after my goal of a December 15th completion date. The time it took is a disappointment but the course itself was great. As a speed reader I figured that I would just whip right thru this course but there is alot of information in there that requires alot of thought. When you are multitasking as much as I was thru the months of November and December, well it just wasn't getting the attention it warranted. I had to set aside time to actually read and process the info, I learned ALOT! I added the certification to my work accreditation folder as well.
My husband and I also take ballroom dance lessons, which have started up again in the new year. After our class on Tuesday night working on cuban motion in the cha cha we were sore, my husband in his hips and me in my knees. Who would have thought ballroom dancing would be so demanding!
Talk to you next week.
I am stumped for anything insightful so here goes the actual which is not nearly as exciting.
As of Jan 9th ...
From the UBBT requirements I have selected swimming as my activity until the end of April. Its something that although I can keep my head above water for short periods of time I would not call myself especially skilled at. So I enthusiastically splashed my way through 10 lengths of the pool on sunday, the reward being that for every 3 lengths I then get to swing on the tarzan rope with the little kids. The kids gave me some pointers on pinching your nose, hooking your feet on the bottom knot of the rope, stuff like that, it was a total blast even though by the time I got to the third swing my arms were so tired from swimming that I had to pull myself back to the edge of the pool using the guide lines.
A tip here ... do your pushups before going swimming, I was reduced to knee pushups that night, no juice left in the muscles ... tsk tsk.
Master Brinker was totally correct about how easy it was to find the time for situps and pushups, so I have been reasonably successful in that area, which cannot be said for performing my Tai Chi Long Form everyday. This one is a time hog if you want to do a half decent job ... and I do. So I am behind in my numbers on this one already and I just got started, not looking good. It appears that either my planning or committment level are not as good as I thought. While I am making up the numbers next week and doing a LOT of Tai Chi I will have to rethink my approach.
I successfully completed my anger managment course and passed my test on Jan 13th, a month after my goal of a December 15th completion date. The time it took is a disappointment but the course itself was great. As a speed reader I figured that I would just whip right thru this course but there is alot of information in there that requires alot of thought. When you are multitasking as much as I was thru the months of November and December, well it just wasn't getting the attention it warranted. I had to set aside time to actually read and process the info, I learned ALOT! I added the certification to my work accreditation folder as well.
My husband and I also take ballroom dance lessons, which have started up again in the new year. After our class on Tuesday night working on cuban motion in the cha cha we were sore, my husband in his hips and me in my knees. Who would have thought ballroom dancing would be so demanding!
Talk to you next week.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Naked in public!
This is the first time I have ever posted any type of blog, people may read it or they may not. Still I feel like I am standing out in public only in my underwear. Sharing my thoughts, struggles, triumphs on such a public venue is nerve wracking. I guess I have a fear of being judged, other people thinking I'm weird or bad in some way, but that is the reason I decided to do this. Although I am not officially part of the UBBT at Silent River Kung Fu (due to other conflicting commitments) I believe the program has a great deal of value so I am participating as best I can. One of the requirements is to journal publicly, something that makes my stomach tighten up and my breath get choppy (FEAR). I am committing to a weekly posting on this blog site and I will send the link to Master Brinker as part of the challenge that I have (with his help) designed for myself. Hopefully I will have something intelligent or insightful to share.
Fear is a unique condition, physiologically it is designed to enable you to take action when your life is threatened in some way. As human beings we have added imagination, this enables us to come up with all the worst case scenarios so that we can then WORRY and FRET about all said scenarios. We build the fear, bigger and bigger, until it incapacitates us, the exact opposite of what it is designed to do which is save us from injury or death.
Many, many times it is the unknown, that scares us the most. Something we have never done before, situations that are outside the comfort zone that most of us wallow in. I am very knowledgeable about this, as I have conciously designed and wallow in this comfortable area. I strongly resist any sudden or drastic changes. I have only taken on one extreme challenge, my black belt grading, and it took me years to work up the nerve. I have a very limited circle of friends, my daughters and my husband, with some select family members (in and outlaws). I like my life to flow along without to many ripples, surrounded by the people I love. I don't want to have to work to hard to achieve things and luckily for me I am reasonably intelligent so I get by okay. Lets face it my life is VERY comfortable.
Unfortunately it limits personal growth. My philosophy/belief is that the creator put me here to learn and grow and achieve, life from day one to the end should be an evolution of you/me/them as a person. I truly wish that it wasn't such hard work.
The whole UBBT challenge is about expanding horizons and experiences, I couldn't ignore that. Some opportunities that cross your path, can change your path, I expect for myself and many of the UBBT members to discover new roads as a result our participation in this program, officially or not.
Talk to you next week.
Fear is a unique condition, physiologically it is designed to enable you to take action when your life is threatened in some way. As human beings we have added imagination, this enables us to come up with all the worst case scenarios so that we can then WORRY and FRET about all said scenarios. We build the fear, bigger and bigger, until it incapacitates us, the exact opposite of what it is designed to do which is save us from injury or death.
Many, many times it is the unknown, that scares us the most. Something we have never done before, situations that are outside the comfort zone that most of us wallow in. I am very knowledgeable about this, as I have conciously designed and wallow in this comfortable area. I strongly resist any sudden or drastic changes. I have only taken on one extreme challenge, my black belt grading, and it took me years to work up the nerve. I have a very limited circle of friends, my daughters and my husband, with some select family members (in and outlaws). I like my life to flow along without to many ripples, surrounded by the people I love. I don't want to have to work to hard to achieve things and luckily for me I am reasonably intelligent so I get by okay. Lets face it my life is VERY comfortable.
Unfortunately it limits personal growth. My philosophy/belief is that the creator put me here to learn and grow and achieve, life from day one to the end should be an evolution of you/me/them as a person. I truly wish that it wasn't such hard work.
The whole UBBT challenge is about expanding horizons and experiences, I couldn't ignore that. Some opportunities that cross your path, can change your path, I expect for myself and many of the UBBT members to discover new roads as a result our participation in this program, officially or not.
Talk to you next week.
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