Simplify: My Week in Review 4/22/07-4/28/07

The best $10 I ever spent was on Beth Dargis' ecourse on how to simplify your life! I have been working this week on my tolerations. Tolerations are things that really bug us, but for a myriad of reasons, we don't do anything about! All of these tolerations take a toll on us emotionally and detract from the satisfaction we feel in our various environments such as home, work, relationships, etc. The first toleration I took care of was to call the garbage company and ask them to bring us a new garbage can. A couple months ago, the workers left the can too far out on the shoulder of the road and a car hit it. Half the front was missing and stuff was "escaping" out onto the road on garbage day. The night before, I would drag the wounded can to the road and promise myself that I would call the garbage company the very next day. This went on for two months. Finally, because of the ecourse assignment, I picked up the phone and got a new can ordered. This sounds silly, but I felt wonderful-lighter-happier just getting that stupid cracked garbage can off my mind! Multiply that by all the little nagging stuff we let go...that adds up to a lot of irritation on a daily basis. Why should we put up with stuff like this when it's easy enough to fix? I have been working on eliminating one toleration each day. In addition, Beth has me decluttering again. I did this intently last year about this time, got burned out, then just quit! It's amazing how quickly the clutter begins to take over again! So, I have been decluttering for 15 minutes each day. There again, I am feeling calmer, more peaceful and happier in my home. This does as much to lift my spirits as losing weigh does! I am very thankful that I connected with Beth and that she has gotten me going again on creating a life that I love. I'm convinced that a lot of the problems people go to therapy for could be solved or greatly improved by putting things in order and by eliminating the chaos of clutter.
Sunday, April 22: I woke up early and cleaned my house top to bottom. I knew this would be the only time frame I would have to put things right at home and I hate facing the week with a messy house. Another thing Beth coached me to do is to develop a morning and evening routine. That saves so much time and effort just by not having to think about what to do next.I called my parents in Oregon and had a nice visit over the phone, which I try to do at least weekly. I am so glad that my trip to Oregon is coming up soon. My dad's health is on the decline, which is understandable at his age, but, I live 3,000 miles away and didn't get to go home last summer because of finances, so this visit has monumental significance to me. It is bittersweet. I feel that this could very possibly be the last time I visit with my Dad here on this earthly plane. I want to cherish every moment I get with my family in Oregon. As you get older, you realize just how important your family is. At the end of your life, I think the only things that really matter are the quality of our relationship to God and the quality of our relationships with the people in our lives. Everything else seems to pale by comparison. I went to work at the shelter in the afternoon. and enjoyed working with the clients there. In the evening I got a crash course in the Nintendo Wii. I've never been one to play video games but this is addictive! I played the tennis game. You actually have to go through the motions of playing tennis! What I loved about it was the simplicity-of course! Not a bunch of buttons to push. You simply put the controller on your wrist to track the movement of your arm. Even I can do that! The weird thing is, I actually had a sore arm the next day from playing it. I think this will be good for kids who otherwise will not get any exercise! You're never too old to learn something new. This is the benefit of still having younger people in my environment. You do stay current that way. How am I going to stay young and on the cutting edge once the boys move out? Well, when I think about it, that doesn't seem to be looming on the immediate horizon. In fact, we call Tyler the boomerang kid because he's moved in and out so many times! Perhaps it should be my turn next...
Monday, April 23: I worked my 9-3 shift and did some things at home before going to small group. The topic for this week was: Keeping Your Heart of Compassion Open. The focus is on being sensitive to meeting the needs of others and being willing to be interrupted and inconvenienced in order to initiate a healing process in the lives of people that God brings across our path.
Tuesday, April 24: I worked. I spent some time at home doing my tolerations and decluttering. At 6pm I went to a class at the Howard Miller Library on Simplifying Your Time. This was presented by Beth Dargis. She covered a lot of topics related to organizing your life with the goal of freeing up your time. Beth showed us a number of calendars and related tools to accomplish this, including some sites that help you plan your menus! I was in awe of all the organizational binders she had in designer motif, which were arranged attractively in a beautiful basket. I wasted no time in going straight to Walmart and copying her ideas! I am now the proud owner of an adorable basket with handles that contains 4 very spiffy binders of geometrical design. Not sure how that really helps-other than I feel great about how it looks and because of that I am more motivated to actually get myself on a system. Having fun things to work with energizes the process. I was lucky enough to win one of the door prizes which happened to be a huge, family-size calendar with color-coordinated post-its! I have been filling in the calendar with all the significant events and work and not forgetting to plan for fun!
Wednesday, April 25: That work thing again! Then I made some time to go visit a sweet lady from my church who has been living in a local nursing home the past few years. She often comes to my mind but I rarely follow through with a visit. I need to do this more. Her name is Jean Lambers. When I began going to church at Victory Point, Jean used to always come up to me and ask how she could support me and my family in prayer. This dear soldier of the cross is such a prayer warrior! I always knew that when Jean said she was going to pray for us, she really did. I could feel her prayers working in my life. In those days, I was facing a lot of challenges with Tyler in his teenage years and a lot of difficulties in my marriage.Nobody really knew this because I had just moved here and hardly knew a soul. It was tough being here without my own parents and family for support. Jean really stood in the gap. Even now that she has limited mobility, she is still focused on impacting the world around her using the vehicle of prayer. Even in the nursing home, she is trying to interest people in Bible Study and doing what she can to brighten the area that God has placed her in. Jean is 80 now and has been a Christian since the age of 15. She is such an inspiration! I went there to encourage Jean and express my thanks for all the prayers she's offered up on my behalf and I ended up leaving feeling encouraged by her and thankful for her continued friendship. Before I left, we had our picture made together. I think it turned out really cute!
I went to my Weight Watcher's meeting. My loss for the week was 1 3/4 lbs. I call this weight loss church. I always come away from there with new ideas and recipes and inspiration to continue on another week! I spent the night on-duty at the shelter.
Thursday, April 26: Another opportunity to contribute to the well-being of others via Body Perfections.My usual 12-hour day. This was Tyler's 22nd birthday. My friend at work, Brooke a.k.a Jen also has this birthday. I say she's my daughter since I don't happen to have one yet. We are going to celebrate with Tyler as soon as Lewis comes to town on Saturday.
Friday, April 27: My opportunity to assist others with their health maintenance at Body. This is my 10-hour day. I got off of work and much to my amazement and happiness, the boys were both at home cleaning for the open house our realtor was hosting in the morning. I helped finish up. We grilled out while involved in the cleaning process. I love it when we are all together, working together, and having some family fellowship.
Saturday, April 28: Final day of work for the week. The open house didn't yield anything promising but it sure was nice coming home to a spotless house! I went to church. This week we were still talking about temptations. Pastor Steve was putting emphasis on not presuming on God's will. Basically, this is the tendency many of us have to decide what WE want to do and then, as an afterthought, ask God to bless our choices instead of trusting God to lead us in the direction He would have us pursue. OK- I know I have been guilty of this one! What a mess I have made at times by working my own plan instead of seeking the face of God and putting Him first. I am doing this less these days. I can tell you what, there ain't nothin' like a spankin' from the Lord! I have learned by trial and error that His ways are definitely higher than my ways! After church I drove to Grand Rapids to pick up Lewis at the airport. The boys had wanted to see their dad but both were at work, so we decided to stop in and say hello to Tyler and Trevor at their jobs. Here's Lewis with the boys:

Tyler on the left, is the birthday boy. He works at Speedway. He's been there since at least December. On the right is Trevor, our "baby". He's 19, works at The Lost City in Holland and has been there about 4 years. He just completed his first year of college at GRCC.
Even though Lew and I are divorced and have our struggles, it is really nice that we can put aside our differences at times like this and allow our kids to enjoy being together once again as a family.