In Pursuit of Excellence

I'm inspired to excellence these days. 

• Inspired by excellence I see in one of my co-workers. 
• Inspired by the beauty that excellence creates. 
• Inspired by the need to reflect excellence as a way of mirroring God's love and purity.
• Inspired by the difference that increasing the excellence in the quality of food I eat makes in my energy level - proving that excellence had rewards!
• Inspired by excellent writing in books like "To Kill a Mocking Bird" and "The Scarlet Letter."
• Inspired by my own general lack of excellence and the consequences that leads to - like being out of control in so many ways.

But I have a long way to go to achieve excellence.

I want it in all areas of my life!  Why? 

• Because it glorifies God. 
• Because it is emotionally rewarding to know I did well. 
• Because it allows me to achieve my goals. 
• Because even if I don't get all the things I want having worked at the level of excellence means there is no room for regret.

What do I need to do to attain excellence?  That's a good question.  Probably pray with out ceasing for one.  Because without prayer I'm not really able to much of anything well - oh, I can pretend, but really, I can't actually do it well.

Next, I need to get organized.  It is really hard to be excellent at anything when you are surrounded by chaos.  And right now, I'm surrounded by chaos of my own making - I just cannot seem to keep my house clean.  It's been a challenge always, but especially the past six or seven months since I got sick, figured out what the issue was, began to recover, and then just never got caught up before starting my job in January.

Nevertheless, I must get organized now!  Starting with getting taxes done, then office billing, and then, by March 7th, I want my house clean!  I mean even the basement rooms that company will never see need to be clean!  All of it.  Clutter removed, grime cleaned, closets organized, windows all spiffy.

Then, the challenge will be to keep it all clean.  So, I'll need some systems of excellence - schedules, help from my two guys, restrictions on number of activities so things don't get out of hand again.

And once I get the house clean and organized, what am I going to pursue next?  Excellence of course. 

• Excellence in my spiritual life, including more time in the Word, some time to serve others, and excellence in my role as wife and mother.  I want to be joyful as I meet my family's needs.  I want to praise God for the opportunities I have to be with my family!
• Excellence in photography - like start taking more photos, engaging in photo challenges on web sites, save my money for classes locally.

• Excellence in art - from scrapbooking to mixed media to fabrics!  I want to be better.  I want to finish projects.  I want to make things that I can enjoy! 
• Continued excellence in my job - it is one of the places where I feel like I'm attaining some excellence.

Valentine's Day Crafting

I left my crafting to the last minute this year - thanks in large part to an extreme lower GI virus that pretty much took me out of all activities for several days.

Anyway, I was well enough yesterday to do a little crafting.  I've wanted to work on old distressed pieces of wood for awhile, so I did.

This one was for J - at his request after he saw what I made for his dad:

And this one is for my love:

That paper is the backdrop I've used for spraying Luminart's sprays on projects for the last few months.  I just tore a piece off of it and modge podged it onto the face of a piece of wood from the chicken coop.

The rusty nails are also fromthe chicken coop area.

These were inspired by something I saw last month on Ruth Rae's blog.

Off to a busy week again!

Last week, on the way to church I noticed how this barn looked so peaceful in the fog and snow.  I didn't have my camera with me, but I went back that afternoon, hoping to catch that special lighting of evening.  It wasn't the same as I had seen in the morning.  But in the morning there wasn't a resident waiting to get in either.  Pretty cool!

Basketball season is half way done at this point.  J is loving it.  He plays defense very well - pretty much shutting down anyone he is guarding.  His team had a rough start to the season, but achieved their first win yesterday - prior to that they lost by two points in over time, and then were competely blown out. 

J keeps up and is really in the game all the way.  Durning that tied game he played all four quarters - then came home, ate everything he could find and then laid on the couch in pure exhaustion!

I'm still adjusting to the whole being a working mom thing.  Love my job, but often frustated by how little time I have at home.  Can't have it both ways, so I'll just have to adjust my expectations!

Sacrifice

We went downtown for the funeral procession of Cpl. Nicholas K. Uzenski, a 21-year-old Marine killed in Afghanistan and burried here in Bozeman today.  J was off of school for the day, so we thought it would be a good experience for him and it would show the family support from the community.

There was an almost 2 hour wait for the procession, because the service went longer than expected. And the wind was whipping making us very cold.

I think with wind chill it was probably close to 0 degrees - seriously.  But we toughed it out and waited.

Then when the procession came it was so quiet from the people along the street, but the wind was making a haunting low moaning sound. 

It was quite approriate!

It broke my heart to see his mother, looking out the window of her car, and when she saw my son their on the corner, the only child to be scene, and standing out from the crowd, waiving his little tiny flag.  Her black gloved hand came up and pressed on the window, as if her wave was suddenly stopped and she was reaching out to touch.  I just cried.

I can't imagine her pain.  The sacrifice she has made for all of us.

I'm glad we were there.

Took me long enough!

At long last, here are two layouts I did earlier this month.  Funny thing happened when I sat down to scrapbook after the new year began - suddenly I hardly used any embellishments.  HUH????  So not my usual style.  But I feel like they are complete, so I'm just going with it.

This whole working mom life is crazy busy!  I can't believe how fast the weekends fly by, and the evenings are done before I have time to take a breath.  I like my job, but I miss my home time.  All part of the adjustment.  I knew things had changed when I found myself scheduling my Saturday hour by hour - when to clean the house, when to make dinner, when to go for a walk, and when to SCRAPBOOK!

Wind skiing?

I guess this would be called Wind Skiing.  Or Para-skiing.  It sure looks like fun.  J and I seem them doing this as we are driving home most afternoons.

Work is going well.  Today I went to a meeting with the City of Bozeman planners regarding so prelimnary issues on our new school building.  That was a bit of the familiar from my past career as an enviornmental attorney - land use and environmental law have some cross-over issues.  It was fun and stimiulating to go, although my main interest for my job is to know about timing on getting permits approved and unexpected costs, because those issues dictate how much and by when I need to raise money.

Adjusting to working is going pretty well.  This week I've stuck to my schedule of what I want to be the "normal" day.  There will be times when this cannot work, but so far this week, so good.  I get home with time to do step aerobics and make dinner while J does homework.  Then we have the rest of the evening to enjoy and relax.  Of course there are little issues like laundry and doing the dishes that take up some of that relaxing time, but I'll get used to it.

The hardest part of the adjustment is definately the early rising in the morning.  I used to be able to get J off to school before I had to shower, and often I stayed in sweats or p.j.s until noon.  Not any more!  I have to be up, showered, and dressed in a skirt or dress every morning.  Saturdays sleeping in until 9 a.m. is going to be a real luxury!

Hope to have more tomorrow.  I've got two layouts I did over a week ago to photograph and share.  Maybe I'll get that done after school tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and my heart goes out to all those hurting and frightened people in Haitti!

A Difference In Transitions

I remember almost twelve years ago when I quit my full time job to stay home and do infertility treatments I really had a hard time adjusting. I quit on July 10th, and all the way through the following January I struggled with what to do with all this time I had on my hands.

Of course, it didn't help that just after I quit we moved to a community where I knew nobody by my in-laws, and even they were traveling about half the time. And my husband had a ninety minute commute each way, so was gone before I got up in the morning, and back after dark! It was the first time I'd been without a job since I was about 15 years old.

It was a struggle to fill my days and find something that made me feel like I was valuable. I wasn't depressed, but I did have to learn to relax. It was a gift my husband gave me.

Of course, I had left a job as a litigation attorney where days were full and things moved at a quick pace. I had felt important and successful. So daily walks in local parks, reading magazines, and waiting for my husband to get home was really a big change.

But eventually I adjusted. During that time I focused more on my photography than ever before. I took my first quilting class, which really is part of what lead to me becoming a scrapbooker (that's another story). I started lunching with some of the older women in my life from time to time and learned to sit at their feet and absorb their wisdom. It was good for me!

Now, the reverse transition is proving to be a bit easier - at least if the first day is any indication.

I was really engaged in what I was doing today. The time went by nicely, and at the end of the day I felt like I had accomplished something. Okay, well go back to the post about this year's word: PROGRESS, because that is what I accomplished. Nothing is complete yet, but I made progress. Just some baby steps in many ways, but emotionally, it was huge!

I did a whole day at work. I was a self-starter! I learned a few new skills (like using the wireless printing system they've got going there at the school). And I was with people I really enjoyed.

What a gift from God this new job is!