Environmental Conservation #1

I have a deep passion for the protection of our natural resources. I've taken Environmental Sociology, Environmental Conservation, and have done research and presentations for some of my other classes regarding various environmental topics. I'm going to share a tip here and there regarding things we can all do to help the cause. Some of this will be old news to some, but there may be novel concepts as well here and there.

Let's start with the basics. The energy it takes to produce one aluminum can is equal to the amount it takes to power a TV for three hours. Many states, including Iowa, give a redemption refund. Instead of throwing cans away, turn them in, give them to the neighbor kid, donate them to a school, etc. Simple step, comes with a personal reward, and saves landfill space while conserving energy. As Michael Scott would say, "win, win, win."

Please feel free to share this link and pass this information along. It is the responsibility of every human being that breathes the air, drinks the water, eats the food grown in the ground, enjoys the shade, appreciates the flowers, and so on and on and on, to do their part to protect Mother Earth.

                                                                       

Inspiration

I mentioned in my first entry (here) that some blogs inspire me. One of the main ones is written by my mother-in-law, Deb. It's called Coffee With Chloe, and it's fantastic. Before my husband and I started dating, when we were still just friends, I found out his mom was an English teacher. I thought that was great, and then when we started getting serious and I knew I was going to meet his parents, I started feeling a little intimidated. One of the MANY careers I've been interested in during my life has been being an English teacher. One of the most influential people in my young life was my AP English teacher, Mary Taylor. I honed my love of words, reading, writing, and looking beyond what was on the page to the subtext, the imagery, the symbolism, the raw emotion, and the sheer capacity for change that the written word possesses in her class. I knew without meeting Deb that this woman would be amazing, so needless to say, I wanted to make a good impression--and I was so nervous! I made my then boyfriend stop at a local bar when we got close to the lake (a four hour drive from us) where my in-laws stay during the summer, so I could take a  tequila shot before I met his family (shhh, don't tell them!).

Well, I was right about her being amazing. She, my father-in-law, my husband's grandmother, and his aunt all made me feel right at home. The nervousness dissipated quickly, and while I was still a little shy, I knew then that someday this would be my family. I felt so lucky. No one could ask for more caring, down to earth people to have as in-laws. As for Deb, if you read her blog, you'll know that she's so much more than an English teacher. Speech, debate, and drama are all part of her repertoire, but that's not all I mean. She truly cares. Her students mean so much to her. You see it all the time--teachers get burnt out, and they stop caring after a certain number of years. Not Deb. She is passionate, and she's exactly what our children need and deserve in a teacher.

Sometimes, I think we're a lot alike. We're strong women. We have aspirations that go beyond what seems possible. Family is so important to us. We love to read, to laugh, to share, to inspire. We love a good glass of wine, a good book, musicals, old movies, and a good cry. We can be a little too tough sometimes, maybe a little too smart for our own good, and perhaps a little too insightful too--which can lead to trouble once in awhile! We realize we are works in progress. We know through persistence, the world can change. We are idealistic some days, and cynical others. We care too much about other people some days. Other days, we're afraid we don't care enough. We can express ourselves well out loud, but even better in written words. I see this woman in myself all of the time, and I'm not surprised that my husband and I ended up together. He is attracted to a strong, caring, passionate, intelligent kind of woman, because that is who raised him to be the man that he is. And that's exactly how I want my boys to be.

While I will never change who I fundamentally am to please others, I strive to emulate characteristics that I admire in others--ones that are already within me, but when consciously acted upon, make me a better person. Well, Deb is one of those people for me. No one has it all figured out in this crazy life, but I think she's doing a pretty good job of raising the curve. I love you, Deb. Thank you for being an inspiration to me.

Possibilities

I'm having one of those days. Usually when I say that, it doesn't really have a positive connotation. Today is different. Today is one of those days that seems like life is filled with endless possibilities, and I need only affirm my resolve, do a little proverbial buckling down, and dive in. Leap, and the net shall appear, right? I have the potential to do great things in my life, I just need to see it through. It means a lot of hard work, but we all make the choice to succeed or to fail on a daily basis. Today, I choose to fly.

                                                                       

How Do You Define Yourself?

I remember reading and discussing in a Women's Studies class I took many moons ago (around 2001, so forgive me that I don't remember specifics) that women, when asked, tend to define themselves with their relationships to other people--daughter, sister, wife, mother, etc. Men, however, define themselves by what they do--engineer, mechanic, writer, etc. I've consciously thought about that when asked about myself for the last ten years, whether I've been working, staying home with my kids, going to school, or any combination of the three. Let me set the record straight--the most important thing in the world to me is my family. Period. However, there are so many more things about me than just being my kids' mom, or my husband's wife, or my parents' child. I have so many interests, passions, and skills--which I'm cultivating every day, whether I'm covered in spit up, debating a point in class, hanging out with friends, or writing this blog while I make dinner, tell the twins a story, bounce the baby on my knee, and mentally review material for an upcoming test. "Who are you" can be a loaded question, if you let it be. As for me, I think I'll just let you get to know me...and then you can answer that question for yourself.

Pink Ribbons Abound

I've been sick, my husband had oral surgery today, and I've been very busy with my classes and the kids (side note: I SWEAR we didn't have this much stuff going on with school when I was young!) so, I've neglected my blog for a few days. Just a quick update then off to cross things off my to-do list.

I've been working on things I can do to be kinder (see here) and small things to make the world a better place. I just ordered half a dozen things from the Greater Good site to help fund mammograms for women who are uninsured or underinsured. You can do it too--click here!

As for kindness, I bought a fundraiser coupon book from a kid who was selling them to raise money for his hockey team. Not many people had purchased them and he was genuinely grateful. It made a not so big gesture feel pretty good. Nothing earth shattering here, but again--small things really can make a big difference. I'll continue working on it, and I hope you do too.

Hello, Dalai!

"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." --The Dalai Lama

This isn't really a theological debate...although I may venture into that territory someday if I'm feeling squirrely. 

This is simply a one human being beseeching other human beings to be gentle with one another. You never know what people are going through. We all know someone who may come off as grouchy, hard to get along with, or just plain irritable. The thing is, we have no way of knowing if they're trying to be difficult, or if there's an actual reason (or several) for their behavior. If you show others kindness and consideration, and they still snap at you, at least you know you're being the best person you can be. And isn't that worth something?

So, I'm giving myself a challenge, and I propose that you try it as well. This week, extend compassion to at least one other person every day. There are countless ways to accomplish this: holding a door for someone who has their hands full, letting someone who seems to be in a hurry take your place in line at the store, calling someone you haven't spoken to in awhile and checking in, visiting a lonely neighbor, and so on. I try to be kind most of the time, but the point is to be more aware of it for awhile, so that it becomes more of a second nature. I am a true believer in karma, and I believe you get back what you put out there in the universe. However, if you do so with selfish intentions--karma knows. Practice being kind for the sake of kindness, and see how it enriches your life. I'll report back with some reflections on my quest to be a kinder, more compassionate human being. I hope you'll do the same.

Things to Come

I've got buckets of reading/studying to do for the two tests and quiz that I have coming up this week (ah, the week a new semester starts getting serious--never fails to roll around when you have a hundred "other" things going on) so I just wanted to post today to keep myself accountable. Nothing too specific, but I want to list a few subjects that I'd like to visit in coming posts:

1) Book discussions
2) More about "what I want to be when I grow up"
3) Things that I most likely won't study/obtain a degree in (or might, who knows what the future holds!), but that I am interested in and/or passionate about
4) Environmental conservation
5) Pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone to make myself a better, more well-rounded individual
6) Places I'd like to go, and why I want to go there
7) What I can do to make the world a better place
8) Accountability for #7--choose some things, do them, and write about the experience
9) Leaving an indelible legacy

And much, much more. These are not in any particular order, nor am I choosing to put a time limit on anything. I'm hoping to use this blog for self-reflection, as a learning tool (and hopefully a teaching one, in some respects),  and a way to help get me to some of the places I wish to eventually be, both literally and figuratively.

"Eye" Wonder...

"If everyone took an eye for an eye, the whole world would be blind"

While stopped at a red light the other day, I saw that on a bumper sticker on the car ahead of me. Now that's something to think about. Sometimes, I know I can get a little caught up in my desire for vindication when it comes to certain situations. But I've been reminded lately that you really do have to choose your battles. If you don't, you'll go crazy. It's not worth the stress. I have more important things to do--we all do. I should mention, however, that this theory does not apply to college football. Now, it's been nice writing this quick little snippet of a thought, dear reader, but I have to go watch the Iowa game. GO HAWKS!!!

So, I've Been Thinking...

I've got to get back into writing. I've had this blog for a year, and this will be my first post. I've started a few blogs here and there before and let them go by the wayside. I read and like plenty of blogs, and have been inspired by some (more about that in another post).

Anyway, for my first post in this blog, I think I want to list some things that I find to be positive in my life, things that I'm thankful for, regardless of the fact that Thanksgiving is a few months away (is that all? Already??).

1) My kids and my husband
I have a lot to be grateful for here. There's nothing better than seeing your children smile, hearing them laugh, kicking their butts because they're fighting/screaming/crying/biting/drawing on the walls/spitting up on you right after a shower/eating an entire bottle of gummy vitamins and prompting a call to the poison control center at 6 am and loving them unconditionally anyway. It's good stuff. They never fail to make me smile. And the husband? Last week, he washed a load of dishes (never mind that his idea of a "load" of dishes is a plate, two cups, and a fork), and then went to the store to get dog food. Two minutes after he left I hear his key in the door, and while I'm looking on in surprise to see him and wondering what he forgot, he marches over to the top of the fridge, grabs his wedding ring that he put there while washing the dishes, puts it on, gives me a kiss, points at the ring on his finger, and walks out the door without a word. Come on now, I don't care who you are, that's sweet. He may be a pain in the rear sometimes (like when he threw an entire toddler bed across the room a few years ago when he was having trouble building it, or when he broke our daughter's window while helping her "clean her room" right before my dad showed up for a visit), but he's my pain in the rear, and I wouldn't change it for the world.

2) Health 
Pretty self explanatory. Mine is improving as I pay more attention to it, and that's always a good thing. Losing my grandma this year made me think a lot more about what I put into my body and how I want to take care of it so I can be healthy and accomplish all I want to do in this life. As far as family, most of mine is doing pretty well, with a few exceptions, so positive thoughts and love to them.

3) Things are difficult, but (almost) always end up working out in the end...
This is something I'm learning more and more each year. It's funny how priorities shift with the passage of time, and what once seemed important doesn't matter at all. I like to think of my life with a few different mantras--'Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best,' and my life, as well as myself as a person--'It takes both sunshine and rain to make a Rainbow.' I'm liking my late 20s. I'm learning a lot more about human nature. I'm growing as a human being, a student, a wife, and a mom. My thought process is evolving, and I'm learning to take some things in stride, to fight more passionately for others, and to stay true to myself.

4) I'm a life long learner, and I love it
When I was in ELP (many school districts refer to it as TAG), we studied the model of the life long learner. It was something we were taught to aspire to. I always wondered how I would accomplish this, because it seemed so straightforward: I would graduate high school, go to college, get a job, and the ways of the world would automatically bestow themselves upon my brain by the time I was an adult. (Go ahead, you can laugh at me--but I'll bet at least a few of you thought this way too). The things I mentioned in #3 are things that I'm still learning, but I do mean that in the classroom sense, too. I've gone back to school so many times that I should hold a Ph.D. Oh well. I've learned a lot in these many years, and one of them is that I have a TON of interests. I think (and I hope) that I'm going to have at least a few careers in my lifetime. And that excites me, and makes me look forward to the future.

There are a lot more things for me to be grateful about, and I'm sure I'll write about those in coming posts, as well as discover new ones along the way. I'll tell you one more thing I'm grateful for before I go:

5) Each new Day, even the Rainy ones...