Favorite January Pins
I love Pinterest just like the next person. However, I try not to use it too much as a time vacuum. Generally I use it for inspiration to create something new. I only follow people who I admire their style and most of the people I follow I have never met face to face. Here are a few things that have inspired me over the last couple of weeks!!! You can sum it up best with books, food, knitting and words….some of my favorite things!
Weekly Day of Service
This blog has been a catalyst to so many wonderful things in my life. It started as a venue to share the small victories in life as I became a parent, then it literally got me out of bed to do something creative so I could post during the darkest point in my life thus far, now it has inspired me to take the time to organize my life in such a way that all of my passions can be lived out. I have so many amazing readers and the ones I hold most dear to my heart are those who choose to share their lives with me through comments and email.
My last post was about the Pomodoro Technique. You might have noticed that things got a little quiet around here shortly after that post went live. Well, thanks to a comment by a reader and now close friend, I have put into play both a rotational meal plan and most exciting…..a new weekly schedule. I am still tweaking things, but so far so good. Here is what it looks like….
Monday — Home Related Chores/Shopping
Tuesday — Work
Wednesday — A DAY OF SERVICE
Thursday — Work
Friday — Finish things up and time to myself
Weekend — Hang with friends and family…..be spontaneous
 I will need an entire post to cover each of these days…..especially “Work†since I do not work in the conventional sense of the word…..i.e. I am unemployed/ I do not receive monetary compensation for anything that I do in my life unless you count the birthday checks I receive each year. 
I figure I will start with the day that I am most excited about. Wednesday – A Day of Service. Homelessness, hunger, illiteracy, preventative health care….basically all issues dealing with those living in poverty is where my heart pulled me in college, graduate school and in my career. I am a HUGE fan of Ruby Payne and one of the things in my life I am most proud of is the Literacy Program that I used to run was the first Faith Based Organization to receive an AmeriCorps Grant in the state of Oklahoma. I am a huge advocate for finding ways that faith based organizations can contribute to eliminating issues of poverty in a non-judgmental and non-coercive way. Why faith based?….I live in Oklahoma….there are a lot of people of faith and this is what God calls us to do…..take care of God’s Children.
This passion is not something that I have completely neglected, but it has been on the back burner since I stopped working. Now, instead of daily putting myself out as a voice for the voiceless, advocating for literacy and equal education for all of our children, I provide more of a whisper. I tutor at the local Public School where my children attend. Tutor reading because that is where I feel I can make the biggest contribution. Public School because, although they are not perfect, I do believe in them and more than anything I want a society that is committed to educating all of OUR children.
My whisper also comes through collecting canned goods with my children for various food drives, caring for our toys and books and then giving them away in the best condition possible to those who do not have them, driving my kids all over the OKC metro area to purchase gifts for kids at Christmas, delivering food and gifts to the homebound, serving on the Mission Team at my church and then being asked to resign when I would not settle for anything less than a comprehensive approach to reach all of the needs of those struggling with poverty in our community. This passion has remained steadfast through much joy and  much dissapointment.
Although I am committed to these things, there is a voice in my head that says, “you would be much more influential if you went back to non-profit work.â€Â And, “who is going to take you seriously as a stay at home mom?â€Â Regardless, I press on and now I have a day, every week that I will commit to this passion. Now, every time that I find out about an opportunity or I am asked to commit to something that deals with these issues, I have a day that week that I can say “yesâ€. I am not sure how this will evolve, but I am excited to find out. I will let you know.
***The pictures in this post are just two of the many I took at the OKC Martin Luther King Parade a couple of weeks ago. Â The boys went for the first time and had a glimpse of what MLK did for us and celebrated A Day of Service.
Pomodoro Technique
One of the biggest challenges about not having an office to go to or a boss to hold you accountable is prioritizing. Around my house the things that go noticed are dirty dishes, refilling toilet paper rolls, piles of laundry (clean and dirty), hungry children, showered momma, non-returned phone calls/emails . Things that go unnoticed. Amazing rough draft, hand knit almost finished something, menu plan, budget, family meal plan, daily blog entry, Instagram (oh, how I love you), returned phone calls/emails, etc. You get the picture.
So, here lies the dilemma, where do I spend my time? I wake up on Monday and tell myself that I have so ordered my life that I can keep the must do balls in the air while I am working on my latest “project(s)â€. Then, I get up, go work out, return home and *BAM I am back to my hamster wheel doing laundry, picking up breakfast, retuning calls and emails….the day is over and I am exhausted and defeated.
 How does this happen EVERY WEEK??? Newish plan (well, I do this with housecleaning, because I despise cleaning my house….I know, what a great house wife I am….please refer to last week’s post). The Pomodoro Technique. It goes something like this…
- Make a list of your to-do’s
- Set a timer for (25 Minutes)
- Do a task
- Take a 5 Minute Break (more coffee for me)
- On to the next task (every 4 breaks you take a longer break)
This seems totally doable. So the first thing I did was find an alarm on my phone that would not send me into a seizure every time it goes off…I currently have it set to church bells. Then, I made my list and I am off. We will see how it goes but if nothing else, I will have thoughts of Tomatoes in my head all of the time. I love a good Sin Apple. And who knew there is even an App for that although I kind of just want a cute Tomato Timer!  What do you do to stay focused?
Landlocked No More
Oklahoma gets a bad wrap. Not all the time…it deserves an eye roll every time there is a shirtless man telling about the latest tornado. Not to mention summers are HOT with only the relief of luke warm pools and dirty holes in the ground to cool off. Winter is usually cold  with little snow and an abundance of ice.
But, things are really looking up around here. We now have the Thunder, our local NBA team. Devon is erecting a huge tower in downtown that will forever change our city’s skyline. The Myriad Gardens have become a amazing place to spend an afternoon and I cannot get enough of the amazing restaurants and multiple art districts.
Law Man and I love our date nights. Last week was no different. I was feeling a little under the weather and he was running late so I killed a little time on Twitter. @LudivineOKC was serving a Seafood Stew and it sounded delicious. Much to my surprise, when LM walked in and said we were heading to Ludivine I was THRILLED and I knew exactly what I was going to order. The Stew was delicious and I got a crazy hair that I could recreate this little bit of heaven.
Tuesday I stopped by Whole Foods (Oklahoma even has a Whole Foods now and it is minutes from my house). I stocked up on fresh seafood (Squid, Scallops and EVEN Mussels) and headed down the bean aisle to find some dark colored lentils. I measured out the correct amount and checked out. I was sure not to close off the bag mussels because they “would suffocate” I was told. Who knew they were still alive in the store? Probably a stupid question, but I am in the middle of the landlocked states.
It took me a good 24 hours to find the courage to combine the two recipes that I thought I could adjust to create just the meal I was going for, but I did it. Last night I, Amy Curran, made a seafood stew from scratch….fresh fish and all. And, it did not disappoint. I will definitely make this stew again. Next time I will invite over some friends because it made enough for the entire street. So, I am officially landlocked no more.
Passions Can be Passions Without Seeking Profit….shhhh don’t tell
Sometimes I just want to keep my passions a passion not a paycheck. I have come close to biting my tongue completely off when I get comments such as
- “You knit, do you ever sell your work?â€
- “What great parties you throw, have you considered becoming a party planner?â€
- “I can hardly imagine what it is like to wake up every morning and have nothing that I just have to do for work.â€
- “With all your talent, surely you can find someway to market it and make some money.â€
Now, don’t get me wrong. Making money is good and some day I may even find my way back into the work force. I made a very conscious decision not to work after I had Little Guy. I did not come to this conclusion because I wanted to be there for every possible need my children and Law Man had from then to eternity. I made the decision that life was about relationships and experiences and that I have a finite amount of time to be a mother to these sweet (often very ornery) kids and Law Man and I were in a financial position we could manage it.
I feel privileged to have the opportunity to stay home with my boys and I know that it is not for everyone. It took me several years to learn that I can say no just like the mom who has a 60 hours a week career. Not only can I say no, I must say no sometimes. I have learned, over time, that I can be in the moment when the weather is perfect and all of our obligations are met and the boys and I spend the whole day at the park with nothing on our minds but the warm sun on our faces. I am also in the moment when I have failed to meet expectation, boys are ill and the world seems to judge me for allowing balls to fall since “all I do is stay home with the kids.â€
Just like the days when I was a working mom, I take the good with the bad. I pat myself on the back during those “I can do it all†days and give myself a bit of grace when it is clear I cannot. I spend time with those I love. I enjoy the company of myself. I laugh when I make mistakes that I know my mother tried to teach me to avoid. And, I will continue to bite my tongue when very well intentioned people try to turn my passions into profit. I have more than I could ever want or need and when I knit or party plan or paint or create it is out of love for that person who will receive it and often it is just for me.
I was asked once after a snarky remark, if I saw myself as a pessimist or a realist. Â I guess in the same vain one could ask if I am selfish or self actualized. Â Perhaps it is in the eye of the beholder. Â I know that those who love me see me more as the latter in both accounts.
