Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life - Shannon

Back at the beginning of January, Jenn and I both did a post reflecting on the past 10 years of our life. Jenn also mentioned that we were on board with something going on with @Darrenhardy over at Success Magazine . We are both participating in the Design the Best 10 Years of Your Life course.
I was of course a little behind in getting started due to being sick most of January. However, I signed up, printed off the worksheets and have since gotten started.

The first set of Worksheets are titled Review and you go through the last 10 years and the last year and list things that you are proud of, contributions you have made, etc. This was fairly easy because I had already given this some thought for my New Year's post. Although they do ask you to list 10 victories of the past 10 years and I found 10 difficult I had to sit with it and think about what I considered a victory.

Next we move on to Gratitude which again was fairly easy as I keep a gratitude journal and was able to list things beside the various questions. The one that gave me pause was list 3 times I have experienced LUCK in my life. That is a great question! I loved it.

Next on to Contemplation interesting 24 hours to live and answer a series of questions. End result for me. Hubby and I need to update our WILL!

Next was a tricky exercise that I have done before, Write your own obituary. Morbid I know!. But once I got started it was not as complicated as I thought it would be, it came to me as I started writing, how I hoped to be remembered.

So this is how far I am, at the beginning, next we are moving on to Core Values so I am interested to get started on that.

This series is an investment in time probably a good 30 -60 minutes per set of worksheets, maybe more for some people, but it feels good already to get this information down on paper.

Also by registering for this program (which is FREE) you receive extra messages from Darren Hardy as well as excerpt of interviews or seminars from world famous speakers.

Again you can sign up for this program here. If your at all interested in Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life I strongly recommend you get started now. I don't think this will ever be offered as a FREE course again.

What is the one thing you for sure want to accomplish in the next 10 years?

Shannon:)

quote

...always forgive your enemies..nothing annoys them so much.

--- Oscar Wilde


So much can be said about that quote. How true is it though? Really, why bother to hold anger, resentment against someone else. They don't care. You are only hurting yourself. Easier said then done sometimes, but it really is the best way. Let it go. Besides when you can let it go and they do notice that (and they will notice) they will be annoyed! ;)


Who are you mad at?
Who do you dislike right now?

Breathe deeply...

Let it all out...

Move on.

Happy Wednesday.

Sweet Day Off

So as part of my New Year's resolution. I took a week off in January to make some decisions and plan out my time until this new person arrives sometime in May.

I decided that I was going to use my full 4weeks vacation before my maternity leave to give me time to do all those things that need to be done before a baby arrives. I also took off the days that I have doctors appointments so that I didn't have to feel rushed to get back to work or pissed off at my doctor because he was late and that would make me late for work.

So today is one of those days that I am off for the day. I have had most of the morning to myself to catch up on things around the house and on my computer (cleaning out email !!). I have completed the boys scholastic book order (ordering ahead for the spring birthdays), I have been able to do some reasearch on a few courses that I would like to take. AND just for fun I was home and was able to take a call from our insurance agent who let me know that my insurance was actually going down (by $18.00 a year) but I take the reduction at this point.

I was able to touch base with a few friends (which is one of my goals for 2010) to say hello and ask how they are doing.

This afternoon I am off for my pre-registration appointment at the Hospital or as I like to call it the Social Services Interogation. I willingly let my hubby bow out of this appointment as I find it a total waste of time and really really annoying. I understand they are trying to identify people who may require services so they can get them on caseloads before the need is at a crisis point. I just get annoying with the constant questions about my drug use, marital status, and support systems within the community. I still remember our first visit when I was pregnant with our first child. Our appointment was the day before we were getting married (a civil ceremony in our backyard) the social worker asked if we were married, I shot my husband a look that said now is not the time for the truth, and I turned smiled politely and said yes! I'll be damned if I was going to get into a new series of questions over one measly day. To this day my husband likes to bring up the time I lied to the "government". Whatever!

Then I have scheduled a massage for myself which I so desperately need since I feel like my hip joints just want to fall apart on me.

Then I still want to plot some budget numbers down for me and hubby to look at so we can make some decisions about what to do with our mortgage, debt repayment schedule and living expenses while we still have a few more months of full income left and before we do our taxes.

If you had a day off, what are the top three things you would do???

shann
:)

Sunday Preparation

Last week was a little hectic and boy did I feel it. I was tired every day and every night I fell into bed exhausted.

This week I decided to prepare a little better in hopes that this week won't be quite so taxing.

I made a menu plan and grocery list on Saturday and then went shopping today and spent two hours cooking to prepare tonights meal and two meals for this week and two meals for the freezer.
I made Hamburgers, fries and veggies
I made two sets of meatballs (to go with spagehtti)
I made two Lasagnas

So here is how my week should go:

Mondays - pick up the girl from the farm Family dinner night at the In-laws (god bless nonna)
Tuesday - Day off for appointments - Ham and Mashed Potatoes and veggies
Wednesday - Crazy Activity Night - Spagehtti and Meatballs, Garlic Bread and Spinach salad
Thursday - Frittata with leftovers from above
Friday - Lasagna, Garlic Bread and spinach salad
Saturday - We have a party to go to so we will order Pizza in for the kids and the babysitter

Saturday start planning all over again. whew!

Although I have been doing better at making a list and sticking to it I have been spending over $200.00 a week for the past three weeks. Now this is not too bad considering I have started buying diapers again, wanting to stock up a bit before the baby comes, however for our famly of 4.5 I really feel I should be able to do better.
I had a really small grocery list this week but somehow still managed to spend $222.00.

Goal for next week:
Menu plan
reduce grocery bill (I'm not even going to put a $$ amount to it just less than this week)
Meal Preparation on Sunday again

I'll let you know how I make out.

Shann
:)

Tips from Success Magazine

Shann and I both enjoy and read Success Magazine! It is a business magazine, but it is chalked full of positive attitude and living articles! One of the latest posts on their blog was the 12 Top Tips for 2009 and I thought I'd share a few!

You can check the full article here.

My favs are .....

8. Live in the moment. In the spring of 1994, Michael J. Fox began to accept Parkinson’s disease and live in and enjoy the moment. “Yesterday’s losses and tomorrow’s trials were no longer the only poles of my existence,” he writes in Lucky Man.

9. Make each day the very best. “There is no dress rehearsal. You can either lay in bed all day and feel sorry for yourself or you can get up every morning at 6 and try to make the best of the day.” —David Foster

11. Trust things will turn in your favor. “You may be going through great difficulties, and you’re tempted to think, I’m never going to get out of this. This is never going to change. I’m never going to win this situation. Stand strong. When negative thoughts come, reject them.” —Joel Osteen

Those are just three I like. Honestly LOVE the entire list. Its a good list to go look at!!! Remember attitude is everything! :) Living in the moment is not always easy to do but it is so essential for enjoying life! Too many people live life always looking forward or back. You need to look at the now and enjoy it! Making each day the best goes hand in hand with enjoying the moments! If you make every day the best day, you can't go wrong! The last one deals with attitude! If you think your doomed... you will be! If you think things will be okay and take the positive road, it likely will be that!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

jenn

Had to giggle today....

I was going to blog about health, but I had an email that made me laugh out loud, so i've decide to switch gears and talk about it!!! What was it about. Well it was customer service (or lack of) oriented!

A NUMBER of months ago I had emailed my mortgage broker to look into some different options. I stressed that we really wanted to check some things outs and as soon as possible. Well that was September. Actually that was September 23rd and TODAY (as in January 27th) I finally received an email back. Not even a real answer, just a lets get together email. That was my first contact with this person since my initial email.

SERIOUSLY????

I don't think they really wanted our business much!!!

In the words of Shannon EPIC FAIL on customer service.

If I didn't answer one of my customers back until four months later, it would be safe to say that I would not have that person anymore.

I guess that brings to me customer service. If your interested in reading up on it, check out Jeffrey Gitomer! He is a guru on customer service and sales! He's written books and seminars on it! You can check out some of his books here! I've read most of them and never been disappointed.


Maybe I should send my mortgage broker (or shall I say my ex-mortgage broker) a copy of some of these books ;)





Certainly provided me with my eye roll and chuckle for the day. We moved into action and found someone to help us by the beginning of October. She missed out by three months. Big deal?? Maybe not, but to us we know who we will never recommend or use again. Word of mouth can travel fast and make or destroy a business. It is wise words to treat your customers well. They are a BIG part of your business after all.

Gratitude

Finally, I am feeling a little better. Still stuffed up but not wincing in pain every time I swallow. That's an improvement I am thankful for.

I can't believe that January is almost over, that's just crazy, but I suppose that is what happens when all you can do is lay low and hope the illness goes away soon.

I feel like my body and mind has been on "life support only" for the past 30 days, just doing what I can do to maintain daily necessary functions. Lunches, Laundry, basic cleaning, minimal cooking.

I'm going to give it a few more days of laying low, but then I am itching to get going!

For anyone interested our canine companion is still with us, he is slowing down some days, however there has been no change to the size of his tumor or his personality so we are taking things day by day with him. One day he will sleep a lot and the next day he will jump around the house like a puppy. He can't jump into the car or on the bed anymore and needs help for that. When he gets up from a long nap he weebles and wobbles a little to get his "land legs" again. Having been through this before, I realize these are signs of what is to come. But for now his eyes are still sparkling and his temperment is good so we are greatful for each and every day he is still with us.

I'm starting to get itchy (not in a bad way).

• I feel the need to stretch my wings and my creativity this year!
• I have to prepare for this new family member.
• I have boxes of clothes to sort.
• I have a child to move into a new room.
• I have supplies like diapers and wipes to buy now while I can afford them vs. after when I am poor and on EI. I use cloth diapers and cloths for wiping when I am at home, but for night time and travel I use disposable. I figure half way is better than nothing at all.
• I have almost everything I need as far as Equipment goes a carseat, a bouncy chair, a crib, a highchair. But we are going to need a new stroller as our last one was old to begin with and we got rid of it when the girl was done with it.
• I have a batch of birthday cards to make for April, May, June and July because I'm sure the last thing I will want to do in the few weeks before and after the baby is make cards.

A few more days of laying low and healing and then I need to "kick-it" if I am going to be ready for the rest of 2010.

Anyone have any suggestions for baby products that I need to know about. It's been 4 years you know I am kinda out of the loop!