Blockhead

Yesterday was not the best day for my husband's or my foreheads. Are you intrigued? Would you like me to tell you the reasons? Have I piqued your interest? OK you've twisted my arm, I'll tell....

Yesterday morning my husband was being such a loving husband and trying to get ready in the dark so that I could remain asleep a little longer before the day was to start. He successfully got himself dressed but in an effort to leave the room, he held his hands out to feel for the door and then proceeded to walk right into the door which was open and met him square in the middle of his forehead...his hands never hit the door but his head surely did. Well of course he thinks "now that's gotta leave a mark" and goes on to check to make sure he doesn't have some huge knot on his head for his very important stressful meeting that day. Luckily there were little to no signs of his 'misstep' but what a way to start the day, eh...all in the name of love too!

Fast forward to last night. I was getting my gym clothes on and as I slipped my shirt over my head I swiped my fingernail right down the middle of my forehead. I felt it, it kinda hurt but I thought it was just owie not something that would leave a mark. Was I EVER WRONG. I have a lovely BRIGHT RED (as in blood red) very fine line running down the middle of my forehead and it STILL HURTS. It is like a paper cut on my forehead. How do you explain that one? Well, I was liking an envelope and it cut me? It is so obvious that I told my daughter that from now until it is healed, people who talk to me will only be able to look at my forehead not my eyes. I was trying to come up with a really good story and here is one I came up with...tell me if you think this is good.

I've been having some awful headaches lately and the doctors have no cure so they looked in the alternative medicine books and found an ancient technique where your 'bleed' the patient to relieve the pain. Since it was a headache they cut a tiny slit into my forehead to release the pressure and the blood. How about that?

Not convincing....aww shucks...I guess I'll just have to tell the truth that it was a tiny slip of the hand that caused such an amazingly obvious AND PAINFUL mark. If you see me please TRY to look in my eyes! Thanks.

Moving onward and upward

OK...here is my confession. I do not do well in January. I tried to change that this year. I was prepared to counteract my issues and work through them and NOT do like I do in other Januaries. Admittedly, I did better than last year....but I have some work to do. What is my "issue"? I get into a slump. I lose my energy to do normal daily activities, I would prefer to stay in jammies all day than to get out and about, I set goals for the day and achieve nothing. Some days I read all day and no housework gets done. It feels like an amorphous blob of low energy, low drive and just blah! I attribute this to the upswing of December with Christmas, travel, eating too much, imbibing too much etc. When January hits...I've had it with that stuff and I kind of just 'drop it all'. As I see the last days of this month coming, I actually feel a legitimate excitement for February. I'm starting to set achievable goals. I can see my energy increase. I want to clean my house (ish - really I think it is a Superbowl party that is creating this desire to clean). I have made plans for the month. I can feel my desire for an increased 'energy' toward my coaching practice coming. I am beginning to buzz.

So...hats off to January. I didn't NOT enjoy it, it was just as it was...an amorphous blob. I'm ready willing and able to move to a higher energy level. Am I the only one with this issue? Just curious.

Things I'd miss

Here are things I'd be sad about if I lost them.....

My husband

My kids

My family

My house (shelter)

My engagement and wedding ring

My Mont Blanc pen from my first job

My Grandma H.s Victorian-era necklace (see picture)

My Photographs (thank goodness for online storage)

I may be missing something 'huge' but really I believe I am 'want' for little and the things I hold most dear are few but deep. The 4 on the end are 'material' things but they provide joy for me. Without them I'd be fine, but with them....life is good.

I am grateful!

I vote for fun

This past week, my children have surprised me. They actually have been playing with their toys. For some reason, in my view, they don't play with their toys that much and I have had thoughts of sweeping through their rooms and getting rid of a lot of the 'junk'. Well, this week, they must have sensed this desire because they are playing with all kinds of stuff...legos, barbies, polly pockets, dinosaurs....to name a few. This warms my heart to think that they actually still are little kids with imaginations....I was wondering. By the end of last night, my kids were acting like dogs and decided to have a dog camp. They got their sleeping bags out, and set up camp. It was a school night, but I let them sleep on the floor in their sleeping bags...I say 'screw the rules and enjoy life'.

This morning my daughter joined me in bed for a moment and she brought her sleeping bag. She did something that immediately brought sweat to my pits (pips as my niece used to call them) and shallow breathing. She went head first into her bag. What kid doesn't do that? I didn't. It was terrifying for me to ever have my head covered where I couldn't breath in pure air. I would panic and believe that I couldn't get out in time. I'm sure I would have those same thoughts if I tried it to day. It was fascinating to watch my body react so intensely. I was tempted to ask her to stop...but that is NO FUN for her. So I suffered through and she finally came out with the biggest grin on her face. It was worth my personal struggle to see that face.

Here is what I vow...to say yes more often even when it may not be 'wise' on a school night! This age of my children is fleeting and life should be fun! As my dad has often said: "Are we having fun yet?"

FB

I just joined Face Book on Sunday. I had been prodded before to do it, but this past week 5 different people told me I should try it....so I joined. It felt almost like drug dealers pushing drugs and I took the bait...and by the way FB is like a drug. I can see that it is a time zapper already and I'm just getting to know my way around it. I already have my Internet issues with blog stalking (me doing the stalking) and YouTube strolling and general online waste so, this will be another added distraction.

I've had so much fun finding random people from my past. As much as I'm an extrovert and make friends easily, my life as a nomad has made me feel a little lonely. Lonely in that I didn't really have any High School reunions to go to, OR I don't have the story of that one friend that I went all the way from Kindergarten to High School with, OR that big network of friends who can fill you in on every one's life (not gossip just general curiosity). Just this week I was reminded of friends from my neighborhood in elementary school, high school contacts I'd forgotten about and some college friends I hadn't 'seen' in ages. There is something about just knowing that they are still 'there' makes me feel less lonely. Anyway, this little distraction has been a nice 'security blanket' for me this week that I'm sure will become more robust and interesting as the months go by. I am now imposing a NO INTERNET zone for myself for the next hour so I can clean the house, read some homework and other general real life stuff. I couldn't close the Internet without my daily blog though! Signing off for now.

Writing for writing sake

Today I had a meeting and the other participant didn't show up. I actually suspect that she might have called but a) I cannot find my cell phone and it isn't charged b) I've changed my phone number and my old phone has a message that I cannot hear c) my new phone rang several times but I couldn't reach it d) I don't know how to check voicemail on my new phone. It is amazing to me that every form of verbal communication has failed me today...I find it fascinating not frustrating...but it hasn't moved me to change any of the issues just yet. I am not an avid cell phone user and I just for Christmas got a modern phone versus the kind that has the cord. So...communicating by phone has never been a huge priority for some reason...but I am moving in the right direction....slowly.

Anyway, given that my client couldn't make the meeting, I had time to myself to sit and reflect. I opened my notebook and just started writing. I wrote just what came to my mind. At first I wanted to write on different topics separately...how to start a business, how to get new clients, what I am going to say in a phone meeting tomorrow, how to start a coaching group locally and so on and so forth. Well, my goals for taking time on each individual topic went out the window quite quickly so I just let my mind do the talking. It was amazing how quickly I wrote and how many pages I filled. I had lists, paragraphs, lists, side notes, thoughts, plans and then back again. I decided to end my writing session with the 30 things that came to my mind in that moment. Why 30? That is how many lines were on one side of my notebook. So the list contains both simple household things like clean the toilets to big things like write a business plan. What am I going to do with all this writing?....I don't know. It is possible that it just got out of my brain and into another form, OR I will commit to looking back on it to see if there are any nuggets to pull for me moving forward with plans in my life. Either way I believe it was a fabulous exercise for me to stop my brain from running in circles without an exit...the writing was an offramp for my thoughts. Interesting to me too is that I prefer to hand write in those moments versus type. I am an extremely fast typer (if I do say so myself) so I bet I could really make some amazing leaps...but the writing seems as though it is channeling a different part of my brain that helps me to process the information better...is that true? I have no clue, maybe there is brain research about that. Anyway, I recommend to everyone to buy a notebook specifically dedicated to dumping your thoughts (in no certain order OR if you are OCD..in a very orderly way). You may find that you lift a block in your brain, that you realize you've been putting something off, that you actually like writing and want to do more of it, or you'll realize that your hand hurts and you don't want to do that again and you toss the notebook in the river....either way, it might be something to break the circular thoughts in your mind....I'll get back to you if any big insights come my way!

Gratitude X 10

1. Sunshine


2. Snuggles with my kids


3. Snuggles with my husband


4. Coffee in the morning


5. My almost 9 year old still playing with her dolls


6. My son's toothless grin


7. Being grateful "Gratitude is the heart's memory" French Proverb


8. My friends


9. Connections


10. Love