Counting My Blessings & Turning My Face to the Sun
By mommy of many™. Filed in attitude, children, encouragement, family life, kids, mom, sharing, summer |Tags: children, family life, kids, mom, Mommy of Many, mommyofmany, MommyofMany.com, staying on a budget, summer, using free perks
Somedays I feel so overwhelmed that I can’t move past the mountainous list of To-Do’s. Now that sports have started and the 3 girls are gearing up for school, there’s a constant flow to my inbox and I simply can’t keep up with the little kiddos, who are still enjoying summer vacation and the bigger kiddos whose heads are in school mode and keep handing me papers to sign and lists of needs/wants/must-haves. I end up feeling like I’m in a dark tunnel with nothing to look at or think about except the next “must do” task. AND I’m trying to do it all on a teeny-tiny-super tight budget. ~breathe~
To keep sane and somewhat on-budget today, I loaded up the 4 lil kiddos when I had to take Arianna to her tennis practice at the school, which is 15 miles away. I decided that to save gas, we would stay by the school and explore the parks available to us there. So I packed snacks and off we went. We had a little more than 2 hours to kill and ended up visiting 2 parks. One without a bathroom and one with (note to all city park planners-BUILD BATHROOMS in ALL parks!).
I also used my free drink that I’d earned at Chauo Chocolatier, that just happens to be in that area. I don’t know about you, but I try to keep *free* coupons and earned items on hand for when the budget has been emptied out. This way I always have little perks to look forward to, even when I’m out of cash. Do you guys do that too? Come on, we all belong to groups and clubs that keep us earning free items. Do you save them up for the lean times?
So there I was, sipping my spicy, mayan mocha, in a beautiful park, watching my kids run around, play games and enjoy the summer day and I realized I needed to count the good things that were going on instead of mope around about my overwhelming schedule, looming to-do list and dwindling budget. Come on! I live in a fabulous place, my kids are in great schools, I had a free drink in my hand and the gorgeous park was open to my kiddos. ~sigh~ All good! I closed my eyes, said a silent, “thank you” and soaked up a little sun.
Yep, I’m back at home, where the ever-present work is waiting, but it’s ok. I can’t change the demands of this life, but I CAN try to change the focus.
Boy do I ever do a lot of self-talk. Gets me through though. Share your tips and tricks for remembering to count your blessings and face the sun.
Doing the Dance of the Children~
Friday, August 20th 2010 at 10:29 pm |
Having a daily prayer rule & staying close to the sacraments keeps me humble in this regard. Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is pray. We can never take any moment for granted; it can all be taken away in a split second & none of us “deserve” anything we have. It’s easy to wish for more or for some things to be different, but when I just sit and spend some time with God, how can I not just simply appreciate all that I have and the opportunities given to me.
Monday, August 30th 2010 at 7:02 pm |
I sure needed my dose of M.O.M. today – I loved this post! We are all back to school now, 2 in college, and this M.O.M. is looking for a job, and trying to figure out how in the heck I am going to fit a job in among the brood. You’re amazing, Jenn!! I just love reading all about the fam – and laughed so hard at JJ ‘s escapade to Portugal…yowza. What a trip!
Thursday, September 16th 2010 at 12:02 pm |
How did I miss this post. Wonderful introspection and perspective shared.
I find that when we’re broke, which pretty much happens twice a month as those last days before each pay day SLOWLY pass by, I learn the best lessons and have the best introspection/self talks. Even though at the time they were hard to endure, I am very grateful to God for those 5 early years of our marriage when we had a baby and were living off of under ~$20,000 a year in Orange County while my husband worked through graduate school. It taught me a lot about what true needs really are – not that I don’t slide and have those stupid days where I’m kicking myself as I round up anything that can possibly be returned to the store (read this to mean, stupid little things that I picked up because I wanted them, not because we really needed them in any way whatsoever) so that we can have money for another day of meals… And I am certainly no stranger to using my freebie coupons and gathering and using all “spare change” during those leaner times.
I think that some of our best ideas come during these times when we finally realize that we are needing to put our trust and focus on God alone (at all times and not just these leaner times), who is the only one who can truly pull us through. I know the wonderful angels in my house must have whispered many a great “pull together recipe” in my ear as I stare into what I think is a desolate pantry, thus resulting in some of our best meals. I also know that it is during these times that we really learn to take advantage of God’s creation – the beaches, parks, trails, and so on. We DO live in such a beautiful area, and I’m ashamed to say that we don’t take advantage of it near as much as we should. These free outings have certainly been some of our most favorite.
Anyway. I’m off to the store to return something I purchased but didn’t really need (I’ll admit it is a pretty wrought iron birdcage that I was planning on using to hang earrings and such from – so silly!). And we’ve got until Monday for our next payday to arrive, so I’ll be assessing the pantry to see what can be gleaned from it, as well as cleaning the refrigerator to see if any treasures might still remain in there (I do love that my refrigerator gets regular wipe downs as it is always almost completely empty just before paydays!).
I hope you have a lovely day as you do your dance.
Blessings, Susan