BulgingButtons

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Five More Simple Things That Make Me Happy

images1. Getting out of bed when the sun is already up and shining.

2. The computer expertise that my sweetheart freely gives to help me out.

3. My son’s willingness to help out with whatever task is asked of him.

4. Seeing my son’s artwork.

5. My dog’s smile.

What makes you happy?


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Happy June

I don’t have a cute alliteration for this month as it relates to selling my house. I guess “Just Buy It, Already!” is the closest I’ve got. People keep coming to look, but nobody wants to buy. Oh, someone did, but they cancelled their contract. Ugh. I know it’s a great house. I know it will sell eventually. Maybe even today.

On to other things for the month of June. Tomorrow I start teaching a writing workshop for students entering grades 4 to 8.  I have three boys and six girls. WriterI have been preparing lessons for them, hunting down YouTube videos of spoken word poets, gathering picture books to use as mentor texts, and generally stressing about how the whole thing will come together. Yesterday my family took a ride out to the site and we walked the campus, mapping out the relationships between the drop off site, the bathrooms, and the classroom. This is all important information. I’m really excited to start working with these young writers. I know we’re going to learn a lot from each other.

In other news, I’ve finally started exercising again! My pool has finally warmed up and with daily temperatures over 100 degrees I’m glad to get in it and get moving. Since I started Weight Watchers a month ago I’ve lost 15 pounds. This addition of exercise can only help that loss along. I’ve done Weight Watchers before, but this time they have something called “Smart Start” where you don’t start tracking and counting points right away. You start by eating certain foods that they refer to as power foods. It’s all common sense really. Eat fruits, vegetables, lean protein, non-fat dairy, whole grains, etc. It’s not that difficult, and there’s room for “indulgences,” the foods and beverages that make life worth living. This is what I’ve been doing, and it’s working for me, so I’m not switching over the all the crazy point counting as long as it keeps working.

I’m not down on the point counting, but for me it makes me focus way more on food and eating than I normally would. I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about how many points this or that food is, and how many points will I have left for the day after I eat something, and will I end up hungry? This way works better for me. At least so far.

The move into June has also brought into sharp focus the many items on the 47 for 47 challenge that I have yet to accomplish. The year is up on July 3, so I have just over a month to get in gear and see if I can knock a few more items off the list. I know it’s too late for some of them, but maybe I could sneak in a Zumba class in the next month? I have to revisit that list and see what I can get done.

What are your goals for June? In a nutshell mine are 1. Sell this house  2. Run a successful Writing Camp  3.  Continue to eat well  4. Continue to exercise  5. Write!  6. Revisit my 47 for 47 Challenge and complete a few more items.

In the meantime, please enjoy Sarah Kay, a remarkable Spoken Word poet. The video is about 18 minutes, as it’s a Ted Talk, but the poem is just the first three and a half minutes. I believe it is worth your time.

 

 

 

 


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Just What Are You Trying To Tell Us?

This evening the local news featured a piece on several class action lawsuits that you, too, can “get in on.” The reporter mentioned that you probably should have actually purchased said products, which ranged from sunscreen to dog food to just about anything from Trader Joe’s, but the tone and message of the piece was “hey folks, these companies are giving out free money so hop on board and get your piece of the pie.”moneytree

Over and over the amounts that people could claim, without any receipts, flashed across the screen. The way they presented it made it sound like free money. I can imagine a person who is pinching pennies might think, “these companies don’t know whether or not I actually bought their product, so what would it hurt to make a claim?” After all, twenty dollars here and thirty-five dollars there can really make a difference when your family is struggling.

What are these suits about, anyway? Well, the dog food suit actually stemmed from some harm coming to some pets. That doesn’t sound unreasonable, but why open it up to just anyone who claims to have bought the food? Then there was the one from the fancy flip flop company. Apparently they claimed some health benefits that they shouldn’t have. Really, people? You’re going to sue a flip flop company because your feet still have issues after wearing flip flops? How is this sane? It’s like the person suing McDonald’s after spilling hot coffee. Coffee is supposed to be hot, isn’t it? You just have to be careful and use some common sense.

I believe we’re too quick to look for blame and to try to get something for nothing. I didn’t buy that sunscreen. I won’t put in a claim for the eight dollars or whatever it was, even if I don’t need a receipt. I know easy money is hard to pass up, but Karma’s a bitch, so I don’t mess with it. Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. Is the world black and white? I don’t think so. You need to feed your babies, you need to keep safe, but do you really need twenty dollars from Trader Joe’s because they may have mislabeled some of their products? I doubt it.