lilac

Okay, okay...let's try again.

Find the Kitty!

Can you spot him in all his camouflage?

and now....

Another installment of:

Spot the Kitty! Yay!

The housecat is an unlikely predator, blending in with his surroundings, ready to pounce in an instant.

Look carefully - the housecats camouflage can be quite deceiving.

[Removed by blog owner until further notice.]

Did you spot him?

Good work.

Until the next installment of....Spot the Kitty!

a recipe for success [hopefully]

What do you get when you add:

Preach my Gospel, chapter 8, How Do I Use Time Wisely?

My friends idea, which is based on this idea.

And a little dash of this song,

With a pinch of life lessons,

Combine with a spiffy new notebook and colored pencils,

and what do you get?

I'm hoping for a year in which the successes I experience are measurable.

Here is my plan:

The theme word for the year is happy. This year, I would like to come to a better understanding of the word. This is not to say I am unhappy, indeed, far from it. Yet, I have an inkling that there is so much more to being happy, then having a smile on one's face.

I was influenced in this 'word theme' From the Cook Shack, an overarching yearly resolution was to be summed up in one simple word. Her word is glow. I have chosen the word happy. This will be what all my little goals are leading towards: gaining a greater understanding of the word happy.

A few years ago I realized that throughout my life I inadvertently had scripture themes in my life; verses that had particular meaning to me at that time. I will pick some scripture verses that relate and expound on the yearly theme of happiness.

From Preach My Gospel (PMG), we get the idea of having monthly goals that are achieved because of the weekly goals that are achieved because of the reachable daily goal.

Missionaries are to set goals based on key indicators found in successful missionaries. I am no longer a missionary, so I had to make myself a new list of key indicators - area of life that are important to me. Enter the song. In the chorus of the song, the children state, 'At home, at school, at play.' Those are to be my key indicators.

Key Indicators explained -

Home includes both homemaking goals, and personal 'keep Heidi sane' goals.

     i.e. learn a new recipe this week, and give myself a manicure

School includes both oboe and academic goals.

     i.e. have the last movement's tempo up 10 clicks, find five more articles on my paper topic

Play includes social goals.

     i.e. say HI to five new people at school, invite people over after FHE for cookies

These are just examples, but I think you get the idea.

To further clarify:

If a weekly goal was to learn a new recipe, the daily goals would include, deciding on a recipe, buying the ingredients, etc. etc. Or, if I were to increase the tempo by the end of the week, I would need to have daily goals with more minute increases in tempo to achieve the end result satisfactorily.

Combine all these with the spiffy new notebook in which I will record said goals, and we're all set for the New Year! woo hoo.

I'll keep you updated on the process.

Oh, and ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

sucker song

So, in a forthcoming post, I am to detail my brilliant plan for goal setting, that I will actually follow.

Needless to say, one includes getting more active. I have a plan. There's a YMCA with a pool not that far from my house - and it's the other way from everything, which is perfect. Why? Because I won't feel obligated to start my day directly after going to the pool. If it were, say, the same direction as school, or work, then I would feel the need to be practical, and continue in the same direction. (It makes sense in my head, okay.)

So, there is a monthly membership, but there are no contracts (Hallelujah!) so when I realize I probably won't keep this up, I just stop. Brilliant. And, there are still benefits to being a college student.

To cover the monthly membership (that I haven't officially done - remember, this is all in the planning stages), I decided to cancel my movie supplier membership, and my audio book membership. No worries, these are steps I contemplated taking anyway; currently because they've became more of an obligation - 'Thou MUST find movies/books to enjoy. NOW!' Someday that will change, and I'll begin again.

I'm waiting for my last movie of the month to come before I cancel the one before the next renewal period. No big deal. (Actually, it was. What movie is the perfect last movie? It was so hard deciding between a new installment of the Belgian Detective and his  Little Grey Cells, and Tim Burton and Danny Elfman's 9. I still fret it I made the right choice.)

Last night, as I was searching for the perfect swimsuit to replace the one that doesn't fit anymore (thus the desire for being more active), I thought, what a perfect time to cancel the audio book membership! I have absolutely no problems remembering things. My problem is remembering things when they are needed.

I digress from the thrilling narration but for a moment:

While in Rome, doing what the Romans do, we occasionally were stopped by street vendors and the like to partake of their wares. I even angered one man who gave me a 'free' rose in exchange for a donation. I gave him the rose back.

Cousin Paul taught us a song his dad had sung when attending a family wedding in Cancun. It's a very popular song among vendors: 'suuucker sucker sucker sucker suuuucccckkkker!'

Quite the lovely song, no?

Okay, back to the story.

I begin the process of stopping my membership. They ask you why you are canceling. Not needing to burden them with the reason I stated above (must enjoy books NOW) I chose the other reason of saving a few dollars.

Mmmhmm, they know a sucker when they see one.

The next page took you to an offer to accept a $20 coupon.

Ya. I caved.

Last night I fell asleep to From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

I can hear the strains now.... 'Suuuccker sucker suuccckkerrr....'

what do you think?