Hmm, should I be concerned?
My child is beating himself in the head with a frying pan.
Now before someone calls child services on me for letting him, it is a small toy, aluminum frying pan. That doesn't make it any less strange, just less serious. I'm pretty sure he likes the ringing sound it makes. Then, when he saw me laughing at him, he started doing it to make me laugh. They're such performers.
I spent much of the weekend and part of last week learning how to go in up to 5 directions at once and actually be productive in each direction (not to be confused with multitasking, this is one task at a time, just many interests being juggled over a given period of time). I've got a little under 50 pages left to read in The Renaissance Soul : Life design for people with too many passions to pick just one (ugh, almost 2 years later and I still can't shake AACR2 formatting when I write book titles). chrystalline blogged about her excitement over the book and as I read her experience with it, I snagged a cheap used copy at Amazon immediately. I got it last week and I'm nearly done with it and my first set of exercises to get going in the five interests I chose to pursue at this moment in my life (yeah, I couldn't narrow down to the suggested four, but she said up to five are ok, just no more than five). I have attainable goals set out in each category, or as she calls them, focal points, the longest of which only lasts for 8 months.
So, my five focal points are:
Spirituality - Finishing my meditations and writings on the Tao Te Ching. I got 30 chapters into it back in September/October. The original plan was to do a chapter each weekday, carrying out an 81 day meditation on it. I'll be resuming my work by reviewing what I've already done this week and then starting with Chapter 31 a week from today and continuing until I've finished all 81 chapters. My aim is to spend no more than one hour a day on this. It seemed adequate time before, I just didn't stick to it as I picked up vigorous work on my Halloween costume.
Physical Fitness - Starting today with 1 mile a day, Mondays-Thursdays then an hour of yoga on Fridays. Increasing mileage as I'm able up to 3+ miles (more if I'm able). Hoping to run a comfortable 5k by October 13th in time for the Germantown Oktoberfest 5k. Really, I just want to run a race where they give you a stein of beer at the end. But a comfortable 5k seems attainable to me.
Gardening - Typical seasonal work of planning vegetable and annual gardens. Re-cultivating the bed I never got around to planting last year under the dining room windows. Possibly cutting and building a new raised bed for herbs and strawberries (just a 4x4 plot). Planting a maple and possibly a couple of smaller ornamental trees. Planting shrubs (azaleas) as foundation plantings in the front bed under the living room windows. Starting seeds for vegetables, herbs and annuals and setting the plants out when appropriate (first weekend in May when steffany53 has plans to come up and help with plantings). All beds need more dirt and mulch. Have all work done by the end of May.
Costuming - Going to A long expected party in September and have a long, but I think attainable list of costumes I want to have completed for it. Won't really get into much more detail on that here since I have another journal for that. There are at least one or two on the list I'd like to have done by May for the Tennessee Renaissance Festival. Trainless gowns a must in all that dust and dirt and right now I have none. There's no way I'm dragging silk velvet around in that mess!
Jewelry work - Not killing myself on this one and I'm definitely not ready to start a business yet, I just want to spend maybe 4 hours per week on it at this point to get me back into practice. I want to see if I can make $200 in time for the rescheduled silversmithing class I want to take April 29th. Just 10 $20 items would get me there. It would be very gratifying to be able to pay for the class by selling jewelry. With all the other possible expenses we'll have around that time, our budget could use the break as well. A secondary goal here is to try to use up as many of the materials I have on hand as I can using the skills I already know. I'm really going to try to not spend a dime (other than listing fees) to make these items. I'm going to set up an Etsy store, but I also need to brainstorm for other selling outlets, specifically local ones that might be more lucrative, or at least a faster turn over. Ebay will be reserved for a clearance outlet only, since I'd be lost in a sea of $20-$50 jewelry items (as has been my experience in the past). But, I've found if I lower prices to absolute rock bottom, I can clear them out quickly through ebay.
It sounds like a lot to accomplish all listed together right there, but each one only requires a few hours of work per week. The secret is to not tie yourself down to a specific task at a specific time, but to just schedule blocks of time in which to work on something to do with one of your focal points. Every week there's a list of more specific goals to be reached for each one with their own sets of tasks and you can choose any of them to work on during the blocks you've scheduled. It's a system of small victories which I think will work nicely for me.
I also don't want to overwhelm myself too much, at which point I seem to just lock up and not accomplish anything because there's just too much to be done. The only two I'm integrating this week will be the meditation and the exercise. The rest still require some planning and strategy and I feel the first two will grant me a little more energy toward integrating the rest. I'm feeling good about it and clear headed moving forward.
At the same time and under the book's direction, I'm coming up with ways to integrate all the "have-tos" (keeping the house clean, cooking meals, taking good care of Jonah, etc.) along with my "want-tos" (as listed above). I'll also be looking more seriously into a 1 or 2 day per week day care for Jonah this week. That would give me an extra 4-8 hours per week to work with and do things I can't always do with him around (like work in the yard or meditate). It would give him 4-8 hours per week to socialize with other children his age, including our neighbors' daughter, if we decide to go with the one she's in. I talked to Maitane about that yesterday to see how much it was and if she enjoyed it. Just so happens, she said they're enrolling right now and it seems very affordable.
Like all of life, it essentially boils down to balance.
Now before someone calls child services on me for letting him, it is a small toy, aluminum frying pan. That doesn't make it any less strange, just less serious. I'm pretty sure he likes the ringing sound it makes. Then, when he saw me laughing at him, he started doing it to make me laugh. They're such performers.
I spent much of the weekend and part of last week learning how to go in up to 5 directions at once and actually be productive in each direction (not to be confused with multitasking, this is one task at a time, just many interests being juggled over a given period of time). I've got a little under 50 pages left to read in The Renaissance Soul : Life design for people with too many passions to pick just one (ugh, almost 2 years later and I still can't shake AACR2 formatting when I write book titles). chrystalline blogged about her excitement over the book and as I read her experience with it, I snagged a cheap used copy at Amazon immediately. I got it last week and I'm nearly done with it and my first set of exercises to get going in the five interests I chose to pursue at this moment in my life (yeah, I couldn't narrow down to the suggested four, but she said up to five are ok, just no more than five). I have attainable goals set out in each category, or as she calls them, focal points, the longest of which only lasts for 8 months.
So, my five focal points are:
Spirituality - Finishing my meditations and writings on the Tao Te Ching. I got 30 chapters into it back in September/October. The original plan was to do a chapter each weekday, carrying out an 81 day meditation on it. I'll be resuming my work by reviewing what I've already done this week and then starting with Chapter 31 a week from today and continuing until I've finished all 81 chapters. My aim is to spend no more than one hour a day on this. It seemed adequate time before, I just didn't stick to it as I picked up vigorous work on my Halloween costume.
Physical Fitness - Starting today with 1 mile a day, Mondays-Thursdays then an hour of yoga on Fridays. Increasing mileage as I'm able up to 3+ miles (more if I'm able). Hoping to run a comfortable 5k by October 13th in time for the Germantown Oktoberfest 5k. Really, I just want to run a race where they give you a stein of beer at the end. But a comfortable 5k seems attainable to me.
Gardening - Typical seasonal work of planning vegetable and annual gardens. Re-cultivating the bed I never got around to planting last year under the dining room windows. Possibly cutting and building a new raised bed for herbs and strawberries (just a 4x4 plot). Planting a maple and possibly a couple of smaller ornamental trees. Planting shrubs (azaleas) as foundation plantings in the front bed under the living room windows. Starting seeds for vegetables, herbs and annuals and setting the plants out when appropriate (first weekend in May when steffany53 has plans to come up and help with plantings). All beds need more dirt and mulch. Have all work done by the end of May.
Costuming - Going to A long expected party in September and have a long, but I think attainable list of costumes I want to have completed for it. Won't really get into much more detail on that here since I have another journal for that. There are at least one or two on the list I'd like to have done by May for the Tennessee Renaissance Festival. Trainless gowns a must in all that dust and dirt and right now I have none. There's no way I'm dragging silk velvet around in that mess!
Jewelry work - Not killing myself on this one and I'm definitely not ready to start a business yet, I just want to spend maybe 4 hours per week on it at this point to get me back into practice. I want to see if I can make $200 in time for the rescheduled silversmithing class I want to take April 29th. Just 10 $20 items would get me there. It would be very gratifying to be able to pay for the class by selling jewelry. With all the other possible expenses we'll have around that time, our budget could use the break as well. A secondary goal here is to try to use up as many of the materials I have on hand as I can using the skills I already know. I'm really going to try to not spend a dime (other than listing fees) to make these items. I'm going to set up an Etsy store, but I also need to brainstorm for other selling outlets, specifically local ones that might be more lucrative, or at least a faster turn over. Ebay will be reserved for a clearance outlet only, since I'd be lost in a sea of $20-$50 jewelry items (as has been my experience in the past). But, I've found if I lower prices to absolute rock bottom, I can clear them out quickly through ebay.
It sounds like a lot to accomplish all listed together right there, but each one only requires a few hours of work per week. The secret is to not tie yourself down to a specific task at a specific time, but to just schedule blocks of time in which to work on something to do with one of your focal points. Every week there's a list of more specific goals to be reached for each one with their own sets of tasks and you can choose any of them to work on during the blocks you've scheduled. It's a system of small victories which I think will work nicely for me.
I also don't want to overwhelm myself too much, at which point I seem to just lock up and not accomplish anything because there's just too much to be done. The only two I'm integrating this week will be the meditation and the exercise. The rest still require some planning and strategy and I feel the first two will grant me a little more energy toward integrating the rest. I'm feeling good about it and clear headed moving forward.
At the same time and under the book's direction, I'm coming up with ways to integrate all the "have-tos" (keeping the house clean, cooking meals, taking good care of Jonah, etc.) along with my "want-tos" (as listed above). I'll also be looking more seriously into a 1 or 2 day per week day care for Jonah this week. That would give me an extra 4-8 hours per week to work with and do things I can't always do with him around (like work in the yard or meditate). It would give him 4-8 hours per week to socialize with other children his age, including our neighbors' daughter, if we decide to go with the one she's in. I talked to Maitane about that yesterday to see how much it was and if she enjoyed it. Just so happens, she said they're enrolling right now and it seems very affordable.
Like all of life, it essentially boils down to balance.