It was on this day just two years ago that my first cochlear implant was activated. Reading my first impressions again was refreshing to me, so I thought I would share it again for those who are new here. Good times š
First Impressions | Still Mindy
https://stillmindy.com/2014/06/17/first-impressions/
Your Child’s Messy Room is Your Fault – Minimalist at Home
This article is so right on. So many thoughts here. I’m currently feeling a struggle with my daughter (age 6)Ā and her room. While she is actually not opposed to cleaning her room (she’s done it voluntarily a number of times), it’s gotten to the point where “cleaning” it doesn’t make a lick of difference. There’s just too much stuff in too small a space.Ā So as the adult here, I do see it as my responsibility to help her.
I found some smelly and sticky things inĀ her room today. Mementos she had forgotten she saved, because time had passed and they were hidden by so many other “important” mementos. Until now, I’ve been hesitant to take a strong and drastic stance with my kids on the subject, becauseĀ I do believe that even young children deserve our respect.Ā As parents weĀ teach them to respect other people’s property, so if I were to go in while she was away and throw away half her toys and treasures (which constantly tempts me), that would kind of negate the whole message now, wouldn’t it? We need to lead by example.
You may ask why this is such a hot button for me. Why do I care so much about it? Well, because she is me. I was that little girl holding onto every memorable toy and trinketĀ (and they were ALL memorable, of course), and proudly “organizing” every last item. Only it’s true – you can’t organize clutter. You may think you’reĀ organizing but you’re not, you’re just rearranging. It takes aĀ LOT of time and energy. Ā And whileĀ the end resultĀ feels nice for a second, it quickly fades (and quickly gets re-disorganized) and you are still left with the stress of the stuff and who knows what’s growing in it. I didn’t learn to come out of this cycle until my thirties, and I’ll be darned if I’m going to let my children enter adulthood stuck in the same cycle. I want to teach them good and healthy habits and attitudes toward “stuff” and I am in no way interested in a short term solution.
So that leaves me needing to land somewhere in the middle. And this article suggests a fairly simple method for doing that. Yes, this strategy involves the mom doing all the work, but she’s merely taking the blame/responsibility for letting the clutter build over the years, and is using the purge as a sort of reset button. That’s what I’m looking for. A reset button.
“Did they interrogate me about what I threw out? Yep, they did. My reply was to challenge them to tell ME what was missing and then weād discuss it. Of course, they couldnāt identify a single thing.”
That right there not only makes me chuckle with a snarky sparkle in my eyes, but I suspect thatĀ will be exactly what happens with my daughter. So I’m gonna try it! I’ll just take a few hours, lockĀ her out of the room, and pack up everything I suspect she doesn’t care to play with anymore (and throw away the trash in between). She’s in a stage right now where her tastes are changing quite dramatically, so I’ll be sure to have a good heart-to-heart with her beforehand, to get a good idea of what she will still make use of and what she won’t. I think as long as I do this with kind and thorough communication, it can really work. It’s worth a shot, anyway. Wish me luck!
As I’m sitting out on my newly stained deck, enjoying a hot cup of coffee onĀ a gorgeous day, I want so badly to write. To tell you all what I did today, what I did yesterday, how my family is doing. I have so many stories swirling around in my head and I just can’t seem to pick one. So I’m going with the most important for now, and the rest I can just save for later.
I received aĀ really great devotional this morning. It was toying with the idea of tattooing being a sixthĀ love language, which is why it got my attention (both tattoos and love languages intrigue me, more on the latter later). In case you’re curious how the author would come up with such a preposterous idea,Ā I’ll tell you he used the following verse as a reference: Isaiah 49:16 “I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” And then he went on to explain why God would do something like that.
Instead of makingĀ a lame attempt to rewrite the article, I just felt compelled to share the heart of the message. Why would God carveĀ your name on his palm? Because he loves you.Ā Jesus loves you. It gives him great joy toĀ have a constant reminder of you.Ā And that’s all you need to know today. He offers all the grace you need, so striving is futile. Just give it up and rest, Jesus loves you.
A Trip to the Store; Sensory Overload – MultipleSclerosis.net
https://multiplesclerosis.net/living-with-ms/a-trip-to-the-store-sensory-overload/
“I have to walk down the aisle like I am balancing on a tightrope in a circus, look for what I need like I am looking for an abnormal tissue cell under a microscope”
Yes! This is so so ME! And meanwhile there are people waiting to get by or to get to where I’m standing and they don’t know why I’m taking so long and I feel pressured which makes the focusing even more impossible. This is also why I let people cut in line sometimes. At fast good restaurants, for example, while I’m straining to read the menu. I just don’t like making people wait on me.
I am still working on adjusting and adapting to vision loss. I’ll get there, eventually.
Coffee, good.
Fruity fiber smoothie, good.
Shower, good.
Sleeping in, good!
Feeling fancy, dressed up to celebrate a cousin’s high school graduation. All good.
We stained our deck, and what a chore that was! But it looks so nice. We’ll have the furniture back on it soon and I’m really excited to get back out there for my morning coffees and devotions, now that the weather is warmer.
I did zero running last week as I was trying to get caught up on so many other things. I do miss it and hope to get back out there this week, though I’ll have to squeeze it in between kids’ end of school year activities. Even if they are short runs, we’ll make it happen.
And with that brief update, I’m off again to be with the family! Good day!
I have some things I obsess about.Ā Some are the kind that only last for a season, and others never go away. My newest and latest (but perhaps shortest) obsession is with LuLaRoe leggings. They really are fantastic. They are the most comfortable leggings I have ever worn, and I love wearing the three pair that I own. But I refuse to stock up on more, as they come in lots of crazy patterns I just don’t have the love for, and they cost $25 a pair. Of the three I own, I only paid full price for one. I would maybe be more tempted to go hog wild with these if summer weren’t on the way. I just can’t stomach wearing leggings in the summer. My calves need to breathe, y’all.
And that brings me to my next obsession: Wonder Woman. I’ve been a fan since I was in kindergarten. She is a symbol of major female bad-assery, she’s got awesome hair, and a pretty fun theme song (I could sing and dance it for you!). My sister and I have always 
shared in this appreciation, and over the years have used the image and logo as a genuine reminder of not only the strength we each possess and the unique struggles we have each survived,Ā but the joy we choose to hold onto in spite of all that. So, guess what we did? We got some matching Wonder Woman tattoos to make it super official. We chose to get them on our legs because she is a runner and IĀ am becoming one. My calf is on the left… see how the calf segue makes sense now? A little? Anyway, I think they are awesome, don’t you?
So I have Wonder Woman coffee mugs, a water bottle, a tattoo, and also a mixer. I ordered the decals awhile ago but I just put them on this past weekend. I think it looks pretty awesom
e, and makes baking a lot more fun. I’m not quite sure what the white arrow on the top was supposed to be for, but maybe I could do some internet research and find out. It’s entirely possible that it wasn’t supposed to go on the mixer at all, and that it was just some random decal included with zero purpose. But oh well.
My other longstanding obsession is paisley. I just can’t resist it. Every time I see something covered in a paisley patternĀ my heart sort of skips a beat and I smile all over. I get ridiculous giddy, and it makes me feel like a kid in a candy store. Seriousl
y. A couple weeks ago I saw a woman at Panera Bread walking around in a flowy pair of pants covered in black and white paisley and I could not stop staring.Ā She probably thought I was some kind of a freak. I probably am; IĀ took this picture of my daughter, with the pants in the background,Ā hoping to get a better look at them, but youĀ really can’t see them all that well. It’s a cute picture of my goofy girl though!
I don’t really know where this obsession with paisley comes from, but I have a guess. I remember loving to play dress up with my mom’s bandanas when I was a kid. You know the ones you see bikers wear around their heads? Who knows why she had a collection of them, but now I haveĀ my o
wnĀ collection of them and I can’t seem to let them go. One of them I think I actually stole from her, and it’s by far my favorite. It’s a sage green color, with paisley of course, and it’s been used so many times it’s super soft and cozy. It makes me happy just to touch it. And maybe that’s the one that started it all, I don’t know. I just know that I am a sucker for paisley. I put it everywhere I can, my phone, my keychain, my purses, my clothes. Heck, I even have a giant splash of it tattooed on my arm. It’s a wonder I didn’t name my daughter Paisley. Oh geez, why didn’t I think of it then? What a missed opportunity. Maybe I’ll save it for our next dog.
So I downloaded the eBay app a couple days ago to search specifically for paisley LuLaRoe leggings and found that they are surprisingly popular. I mean, we’re talking 200% markup popular. I told you I didn’t want to spend $25 for a pair of leggings, didn’t I? But how about a pair of paisley leggings? Would you pay $75 for those?? No. No, no, no, no. I will not go so far. I mean, they are beautiful, yes, but they are still just a pair of leggings. It took some dragging folks, but I managed to move on. I gave up the search. I did not, however, give up the app. I figured while I had it on my phone I may as well search for some new summer clothes, which I kind of need anyway. It’s amazing all the brand new clothing you can find for super dirt cheap on eBay. This is not a new obsession folks. This is an obsession revisited. When I worked in an office, almost my entire wardrobe was obtained through eBay. It was a lot of fun then, and it’s a lot of fun now. But I still have to be careful not to get too carried away. A stay at home mom only needs so many pair of shorts, right?
Sorry for all that rambling. I’m done now! Tell me, do you have a unique obsession or quirk that everyone knows you for?
Whew! Made it to the weekend, just barely. I’ve been dragging the last several days, struggling to keep up with the mundane but necessary tasks. But the dragging is thankfully still movement in the right direction, and it’s all just gonna be fine.
My daughter is all done with soccer and now Girl Scouts, at least until meetings start up again in September. My son is in baseball, and that will continue through most of the summer. This is the first year I’m actually really looking forward to the school year ending, because even though the kids are home full time with me, the activities slow down and for us as a family it feels as if we can breathe a little easier. Summer activities are a must, of course, but the schedule is a lot more flexible. And, no more 7 am alarm clocks buzzing, yay!
Along with the dragging I was feeling quite down, emotionally speaking. I get this way every once in awhile, and I usually just wait it out until the feeling passes. But this time it was lingering for many days, longer than I was comfortable with. So you know what I did? I called my mom.Ā She helped talk some sense into me, helped me straighten out all the gunk in my brain. And after I hung up the phone, I realized I really did feel so much better. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought to call her sooner, but I’m so grateful to have her, and to be able to get in touch with her when I need her.
So today was looking like just an okay day, but then it turned out much better than I expected.
Today is World MS Day. From their webpage:
For World MS Day 2016 weāre celebrating all the ways that people affected by MS maintain independence and get on with their lives.
By sharing examples of independence from lots of different countries, we want to inspire people to challenge perceptions of what people with MS can do.
I’ve shared lots on the blog here about my struggles and victories with MS. While I’ve struggled with losing aspects of my independence, I am determined not to let MS get the best of me. This year I stepped out of my comfort zone and became a runner. You can read about my 1st race HERE. This has been a life changing experience for me in so many ways, and I’m thankful for every day I am still able to run. So today, I guess,Ā I am celebrating running as my way ofĀ maintaining independence and getting on with my life, in spite of MS.
These are some things Iām thankful for today: an air conditioned home, freshly ground coffee, andĀ a body that moves when I tell it to. What about you? What are you thankful for today? Do you have struggles you are overcoming? Toot your own horn here so we can all celebrate together!
Today for most of the day I was feeling unwell. Not outright sick, not even on the verge of sick, just unwell. It’s hard to describe, but I was feeling a little more off-balance than usual, borderline dizzy, and I was getting short of breath after singing only one or two songs at church. I just felt like something wasn’t right. And while this sort of strange feeling would typically go unnoticed or ignored by the average person, I was feeling a little uneasy about it. MS is not a controlling factor in my life every day, but when it does hit, itĀ can hitĀ hard.That uneasy feeling I was having was quickly veering towards an all out fear that I could easily go back to where I was in the fall of 2013 – sleeping 20 hours a day, not knowing what was going on the other 4. We’ll never know what really caused all that, but since it accompanied the loss of vision – which was caused by the MS – it’s probably safe to say MS was the culprit.
So I guess this is just a confession that sometimes I do still Ā get scared. I really don’t want MS to steal any more life from me than it already has. I know there is no cure, so it will always be around, but I can’t dwell there. I can only take this one day at a time. Today was just a slow day. But I rested as best I could, spent quality time with my family, and will go to bed tonight thanking God for allowing me another day on this earth. We must enjoy the moments we are given. Make those memories, and hold onto them. Seize the day.
So! This morning I decided to join the kids at the bus stop (I haven’t been, because it had been cold, and I can seeĀ the bus stop from our kitchen window). While there, I was chatting with some of the other moms and one of them mentioned that she gets up at 4:30 am. She was talking about something else, I can’t remember what, I was just stuck on that little piece of information. She gets up at 4:30 am, voluntarily, and says it with a smile on her face. It’s a choice she makes. It sounds like she does it in order to have time to exercise, run or whatever, before the rest of the family is awake. I so admire that, and I’ve always sort of fantasizedĀ – yes, fantasized – about becoming a super-duper early riser like that, but I’ve never managed to make it happen. And now I could, but why? I have ALL DAY now to exercise, meditate, relax and have alone time. No real sense in getting up early now. But maybe when summer comes I’ll try it out. To get my “Me Time” in before the kids are awake. Maybe, we’ll see. It’s just a thought.
I’m still running, even post 5k. It’s just been such a good thing for my body and spirit, so I want to keep going, race or no race. I went on two shorter runs earlier this week but then today was the big run. I do intervals between slow and steady, because that’s suppose to help you build stamina without overworking your muscles. I think. Something like that, I forget now. Today I ran/walked just under 4 miles, which is my farthest distance yet! It felt really great, but when I got home I was ravished with hunger. And while digging in the fridge for leftovers to reheat, I found there were still two pieces of Ema’s homemade rhubarb pie left from last Friday.Ā Did you know leftovers should never be kept for more than a week? So you eat it or throw it out. And throwing out a delicious homemade rhubarb pie was not even an option to consider, so of course I had to eat it. And it was soooo yummy, I have no regrets.
I’m happy it’s Friday. It appears that warmer, spring weather has finally arrived in Michigan so everyone is emerging from their cocoons. We have a busy weekend coming up, full with kids’ activities. That’s the best way to spend a weekend if you ask me. As long as you get some napping done in between š
Happy Friday, y’all!
Little M.S. Runner 