It has been a journey…

Hi all,

I hope you are having a fabulous summer and are dealing with the heat that we've been experiencing around here!  I am honestly getting just a tad tired of it! I didn't realize how bad it was until I was in Salt Lake City last week and it was on average 96 degrees while we were there but it felt a bit more like 80!!  Yesterday I sat in the stands at the high school melting as I watched my sweet Ella run the mile in the mid 90's at the late hour of 9am and bless her heart, she knocked about a minute off her best time!  What a trooper…I took us all out for ice cream after (even though it was only 10:30 am).  For my local friends….can you believe 4 Queens wasn't open yet…WHAT?!  We settled for Mac Donalds…you can get just about anything there at any time! 🙂

So, this is what I've been up to for the last month:

  • My dear customers and downline helped me earn a trip to Fiji…my most sincere gratitude to you all for helping me achieve this goal!
  • We spent 8 days on a much needed vacation at our cabin only to literally melt most of the time there (why did the pounds not melt away on me?)
  • Andy went to Germany for 8 days and I was sad and missed him terribly
  • We had an emergency trip to Minneapolis to see Andy's Grandma, a sweet woman of 96 years who still lives on her own, but has been struggling lately.  Turns out a few good meals and a new Meals on Wheels set up will really help a lady out!  I suppose the energy of 4 of her Great Grand Kids helps lift your spirits, too!  I gotta hand it to her, she is amazing at 96…sharp as a tack and and very sweet!
  • I went to Stampin Up's convention and had a FABULOUS time
  • had a MIND-BLOWING conversation with my husband upon my return on how I should run my business and how to get back in the game without sacrificing my sanity (and my family).

Wow…that is a lot!  I even managed to clean out my bedroom closet from top to bottom and have since made a sizable donation to the Goodwill! 🙂

As many of you may know, I have really struggled this year with what to do with myself.  It is a place I really have never found myself in and must say it sucked!!  I have really not enjoyed being so depressed and feeling absolutely no energy, drive and not much joy.  Those who know me personally know that I am generally a really up-beat person and I must say I am DONE being depressed!  I attended convention where the theme was, "I am…"  fill in your own blank….and when they asked us to do that, my "I am" was… LOST

Toward the beginning and then at the end they put this up:

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So I figured I ought to figure that one out and quick because I think a year is more than enough to be pathetic and then just move on…at least for me.  Now don't be fooled, other I am statements are:  Lucky, Grateful, Blessed, Loved, and so on, but my overall best fitting word was LOST!

Now, everyone who knows me would probably agree that I am a talker!  :)  I do love to chat and I find it theraputic to talk to people about what was going on in my little world.  That is the FABULOUS thing about convention.  I talked to a LOT of friends (the other fabulous thing is I have a huge pool of truly amazing women who are just wonderful and are so fantastic whom I call friends).  I listened to a LOT of advice, and felt the love of a lot of people who knew what it was like to be in the place I was in, so after all that I figured it was time to snap out of it and put their words to good use.

Little did I know (and how dumb of me) was that my greatest resource, my best asset, my most wonderful friend in the world had the best advice for me…and all that from a MALE ENGINEER!  WHAT?  No really, WHAT?  My super amazing husband!  I mentioned to him that I had enlisted the assistance of a coach.  I was going to try it on a trial basis and figure out if it was worth the money.  I also told him that based on that, I was wondering what he thought, and at exactly what level he was willing to support me.  When you get right down to it, after 13 1/2 years, my dear husband has been awefully accomodating of this business and all that came with it:  the constant flow of women through my house, the putting kids to bed, the extra time I needed to figure out my classes, the computer help, and the endless honey-do's.  No matter what I was about to do, I needed to get him on board (and definately get his blessing).  So, he says to me (after I admit I need to work way less hard, and keep things under control):  YOU SUCK AT TIME MANAGEMENT….Yup!  That's right! I could only agree and admit it is my downfall!  While we women ADORE the concept of multitasking, it frankly is our downfall!  Or at the very least, my downfall!!

LONG, LONG, Long story short, we had a FABULOUS conversation about a system he uses at work (did I mention that he is a ROCKET SCIENTIST?)  and that it is very simple and straightforward in principle (and rediculously logical) but keeps you in line and on top of things as well as motivated!  Does that exist?  Really?  I figured there was no way that a system that an Engineer uses could possibly be useful to a creative goddess such as myself…as usual, I was wrong!

At the end of the night (and after a few hours worth of really good conversation regarding how it works, a trip to Target for a white-board and some post it notes, and a run-through of the system.) I realized that this was probably the longest conversation I had had with my husband in months.  I was really excited to have enjoyed so much chatting with my husband and he was excited to help me! While I adore my husband (and I am pretty sure the feeling is quite mutual), we have been going through the motions a bit lately, so this was a really great change of pace.  It seems like it is easy to go through your day without getting out of the "schedule" that all mom's are kind of forced into as a function of having 2 young kids…I recently read that you should talk to your husband about something other than work, kids, family, the household, etc.  at least 10 minutes a day so you can connect with each other (humph?  how can we not do that already?  Scary but probably true).

Well, I could hardly sleep, because when I am excited I am a little unstop-able, but I held it together until the next morning when I realized that I had to go to that track meet I mentioned earlier.  Now don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to watch my daughter, but let's say I wanted to get going on my new organizational system, and this weather has a habit of stopping you in your tracks, literally!  Plus it is hard to rule the world with your new fancy white board (around 2' x 3' in size by the way) and your pretty pack of post it's from the bleachers…

Well, the other good news was that my dear friend, Deb, who is my weekly (and sometimes daily) sounding board for me was coming over and she is to organization as Shelli is to Stampin Up!  So I KNEW she was going to like this new system.  I explained the basis of it to her, and low and behold, she was not only on board but was headed to Staples for her own white board because she was going to enlist the system for running her household.  I figure that is next on my list, but my business is my first priority for organization as it is in need of it the most.

Anywhoo, as I have rambled on long enough, suffice to say that my first day working this new system has netted me more productivity, more time for other things, and way way way less stress than I can imagine!  I am HOOKED and I am excited to share it with other people!  I'll be posting more info on this in the future once I have a little more time using it under my belt. Imagine what I will be able to do after a week…. 🙂

Suffice to say that I have not felt this happy in a really long time and I certainly have not felt this excited about my outlook in a really long time.  A gigantic THANK YOU to so many who have really stepped up and been so thoughtful and kind during my journey this past year, and most importantly thank you dearly to my customers and downline for not giving up on me.  You each are more dear to me than you could ever possibly know.  I am so thankful that I can touch your lives and I hope you know that you each touch mine.  I feel your joys, your heartaches, your fun and everything else right there with you.  Thank you for being part of my life!  Since I don't have a Mom anymore, I will lean on my Stampin Sisters as mothers, aunties, sisters, and best of friends! I apologize for the cheese, but I think you know by now I can't help myself! 

I couldn't leave you with out some inspiration (especially since I've been a little short on inspiration for my blog…)Here is one of my favorite cards that I have made recently…I traded it with my side-lines at our annual convention dinner.  I hope they liked it as much as I do!

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Stamps: None (gasp…you can add a greeting)

Colors:  Whisper White and Crumb Cake

Etc: Oval Accents Bigz Die, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Stitched Grograin: White, 1" square, Postage and Butterfly Punches, rhinestones, International Bazaar Printed Papers.

 

 

 

 

 

2 thoughts on “It has been a journey…”

  1. Dena – I’ve been thinking of you since convention and stopped by your blog today to “catch up”. So glad to hear you’re on track again. I’d love to hear more about your time management system. I’m sure there are many of us who could benefit from an improved system.

    Reply
  2. Dena – thank you so much for sharing your “system” with us at leadership – I can’t tell you how helpful it is – I end every single day unhappy about how little I’ve achieved, and how much time it’s taken me! Since I started the system you shared I feel so much better and more in control of the chaos (hah! barely!) Thank you so much for sharing. Take care, Brenda

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