Fun last Thursday evening!

5-7-09 Silly brain


Amy and her husband moved onto the street in 1997, four years after Greg and I. Amy was a young mother in her early twenty’s back then, with a toddler son. Shortly after they moved to Iowa from Georgia, Amy found out she was expecting twin boys. Two years later came boy number 4!

I am one of Amy’s biggest fans. Amy is fun, beautiful, and creative, with a wonderful spirit. She also makes being a mother look easy, although I do know she struggles at times.

I’m blessed to have many interesting, kind, and fun neighbors on my street in Des Moines like Amy. We range in age from mid 20’s up to 70. The women of the street enjoy spending time together and started the tradition of “Allison Avenue Ladies Night Out” at some point around 1995 or 1996. We first just would go out to a local restaurant a few times a year, just to have dinner together. Over the years our “nights out” have been varied and included things like Silpada Jewelry parties, Pampered Chef Parties or Tastefully Simple cooking parties. Not to mention our other annual family events we do throughout the year.

Last Thursday, my adorable neighbor AMY, set the bar high. She threw one of the most memorable events for the Allison Avenue ladies. This was an “Oscar Party” she and her husband had won in a charity silent auction.

I wasn’t sure by the invitation what the dress code would be, so I emailed Amy to ask her what we were suppose wear. She said she was wearing an old prom dress, and hoped others would dress up for fun, but anything was appropriate. I told neighbor Carolyn, who like me, also likes to dress up for Halloween, that we should find something fun to wear. So we did, to everyone’s surprise! Carolyn was Audrey Hepburn like character and I went as a Marilyn Monroe- or an aging star/cougar type character.

I’m not going to be able to live this down…. Every time I walk down the street this week, I’m being called “Marilyn”…. Thanks Amy for a fun night with wonderful food and drink! It was too much silly fun for a Thursday night!

Energy Crisis part II

5-6-09 non-functioning brain

TIPS for Energy and Balance
Source: Harvard Business Review, Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time, October 2007

Physical Energy (Body)
 Enhance your sleep by setting an earlier bedtime and reducing alcohol use.
 Reduce stress by engaging in cardiovascular activity at least 3X a week and strength training at least once.
 Eat small meals and light snacks every three hours.
 Learn to notice signs of imminent energy flagging, including restlessness, yawning, hunger, and difficulty concentrating.
 Take brief but regular breaks, away from your desk, at 90- to 120-minute intervals throughout the day.

Mental Energy (Mind)
 Reduce interruptions by performing high-concentration tasks away from phones and e-mail.
 Respond to voice mails and e-mails at designated times during the day.
 Every night, identify the most important challenge for the next day. Then make it your first priority when you arrive at work in the morning.

Emotional Energy (Emotions)
 Defuse negative emotions—irritability, impatience, anxiety, insecurity—through deep abdominal breathing.
 Fuel positive emotions in yourself and others by regularly expressing appreciation to others in detailed, specific terms through notes, e-mails, calls, or conversations.
 Look at upsetting situations through new lenses. Adopt a “reverse lens” to ask, “What would the other person in this conflict say, and how might he be right?” Use a “long lens” to ask, “How will I likely view this situation in six months?” Employ a “wide lens” to ask, “How can I grow and learn from this situation?”

Spiritual Energy (Spirit)
 Identify your “sweet spot” activities—those that give you feelings of effectiveness, effortless absorption, and fulfillment. Find ways to do more of these. One executive who hated doing sales reports delegated them to someone who loved that activity.
 Allocate time and energy to what you consider most important. For example, spend the last 20 minutes of your evening commute relaxing, so you can connect with your family once you’re home.
 Live your core values. For instance, if consideration is important to you but you’re perpetually late for meetings, practice intentionally showing up five minutes early for meetings.

Energy Crisis?

5-5-09 Fatigue brain
I'm worn out.... how about you?

Are You Headed for an Energy Crisis?
Source: Harvard Business Review, Manage Your Energy, Not your Time, October 2007

Please check the statements below that are true for you.
Body
__ I don’t regularly get at least seven to eight hours of sleep, and I often wake up feeling tired.
__ I frequently skip breakfast, or I settle for something that isn’t nutritious.
__ I don’t work out enough (meaning cardiovascular training at least three times a week and strength training at least once a week).
__ I don’t take regular breaks during the day to truly renew and recharge, or I often eat lunch at my desk, if I eat it at all.

Emotions
__ I frequently find myself feeling irritable, impatient, or anxious at work, especially when work is demanding.
__ I don’t have enough time with my family and loved ones, and when I’m with them, I’m not always really with them.
__ I have too little time for the activities that I most deeply enjoy.
__ I don’t stop frequently enough to express my appreciation to others or to savor my accomplishments and blessings.

Mind
__ I have difficulty focusing on one thing at a time, and I am easily distracted during the day, especially by e-mail.
__ I spend much of my day reacting to immediate crises and demands rather than focusing on activities with longer-term value and high leverage.
__ I don’t take enough time for reflection, strategizing, and creative thinking.
__ I work in the evenings or on weekends, and I almost never take an e-mail–free vacation.

Spirit
__ I don’t spend enough time at work doing what I do best and enjoy most.
__ There are significant gaps between what I say is most important to me in my life and how I actually allocate my time and energy.
__ My decisions at work are more often influenced by external demands than by a strong, clear sense of my own purpose.
__ I don’t invest enough time and energy in making a positive difference to others or to the world.


How is your overall energy?

Total number of statements checked: ____

Guide to scores
0–3: Excellent energy management skills
4–6: Reasonable energy management skills
7–10: Significant energy management deficits
11–16: A full-fledged energy management crisis


What do you need to work on?

Number of checks in each category:

____ Body
____ Mind
____ Emotions
____ Spirit

Guide to category scores
0: Excellent energy management skills
1: Strong energy management skills
2: Significant deficits
3: Poor energy management skills
4: A full-fledged energy crisis

Season's firsts

5-4-09 worn out brain

It’s Sunday evening and this will be my post for Monday. I didn’t do any major blogging all weekend…. I guess that was a good thing but now I’m in a funk and not in the best mood to write. I think I am just tired after a busy weekend. It was one gorgeous weekend here in Des Moines. Today was about as perfect as it gets, sunny and warm. The flowering trees are at their peak.

It was a day of “firsts” for the season. The first time Greg got the grill out and he grilled hamburgers for us, which tasted ever so good! …. “De-lish!”…. We also got the back patio furniture out and I washed off the layer of dust. This also was the first day I got the hammock out. I really wanted to just lay back in it this afternoon; however, I was finding it hard to get in relaxation mode after being so productive on Saturday.

Instead I decided to get my pastels out and doodle a little while as I sat outside enjoying the great day. This was my first art project since November, and first since I had my eye surgery in January. I started with just a small piece of paper which I could hold in my lap…. I enjoyed painting clouds, but not yet happy with the landscape portion. It’s still a work in progress.




Next I got my bike out for the first time this spring and rode up to the video store to return a movie we rented last night. It was an older movie from around 1990 called “Mr. and Mrs. Bridges”. This movie had Paul Newman and his wife Joan Woodward playing a married couple in the late 1930’s and 40’s. The reason we wanted to watch this movie was that it was filmed in Kansas City and there were many KC references. All in all, I found the movie a little slow… and I even started to fall asleep during the last ½ hour of the movie. But it was an interesting study of communications in a family which appeared to be rather dysfunctional.

I have several fun things to blog about this week. I just hope I can get back in the mood to write. For now I’m headed to the soaking tub and to bed early! Tomorrow is a new day.

ADDENDUM: after 9.5 in bed, I do feel better this morning!

Here's Kimby

5-3-09 sabbatical brain

Last week I mentioned that Greg and I visiting a former pastor's church on Sunday while I was spending time in KC. I know several of you know Kimby, so I will post our picture taken while we waited for a table for lunch.


Kimby always said her sermons usually dealt with LOVE as the center topic. I sure could tell that her new church, of the last 6 years, loves and respects Kimby as much as we all did at Westminster! I will look forward to visiting her again on my future trips to KC.

May Day Mystery!

5-2-09 perplexed brain
For some reason I thought May 1st was on Saturday this year. Sad to say, that means my May Baskets will be late. I did put one together late Friday afternoon and delivered to a neighbor, but worked on the rest Friday evening.


I was pleased with this one I created and happy that I still had daffodils blooming in the yard to include fresh flowers.

However, to my surprise and delight, when Greg and I arrived home from dinner Friday night, I found this fabulous gift on the front porch. Seeing no obvious gift card enclosed, my brain instantly ran through a list of neighbors whom I thought might have created such a wonderful May Basket. (Plant, gardening gloves, seed packet and cute butterfly stake)


Then I realized the true BLESSING was that not only could this come from several neighbor friends who wanted to surprise us, but I could think of at least two other possible friends, either living in Ankeny or Urbandale, that would be inclined to deliver such a gift…. Then I was even suspicious of my husband (not creating this gift himself, but buying it for me)….. I LOVE a good mystery and some mysteries don’t have to be solved to be truly enjoyed.

Thank you sweet mystery!

UPDATE 7:00 AM: I was able to deliver my May Baskets undetected this morning.... everyone was still asleep. Newspapers still remained on door steps and blinds were closed.

The Jock

5-1-09 "on my gosh it's May today" brain

I can see by rereading my post yesterday, I am self absorbed…. So this post won’t be “all about me”… I hope… And more about my parents.

I was looking through my notebook my Mom created for me; she also created one for my sister. These notebooks have old- old pictures of family and our family tree information. Towards the back of the book were “more current” pictures and I found this one of my Dad in his college days at Cornell College in Mt Vernon, Iowa; A nice private Methodist college in a small town just north of Iowa City and east of Cedar Rapids. (Dad is on the far right in the photo)

This was after WWII in the late 1940’s. Dad entered the war at age 17, and when he returned home he was only around 20-21 years of age. Since he grew up in Cedar Rapids and was a high school jock according to many reports….. he attended Cornell to play football, track and maybe a little basketball too. This is where he met my mother, who probably attended college there since she came from a German Methodist family. Mom was an only child and her father, a farmer, felt education was important even for girls. Her father, my Grandpa Huxsol, also helped finance my sister's and my college fund starting when we were born.

Yes, Dad was quite the jock! I’ve heard stories of how they met in a science class, and after one of the tests, when they walked out at the same time, Dad asked Mom out for coffee…. (I hope I have that correct)…. Or was it Mother asking him out? Mom always told me she thought Dad looked like Paul Newman. Mom always has had a thing for Paul!

College was a transition period for Dad returning back from the war. Mom has told us stories about him having nightmares for some time due to the war, and thus he moved from sleeping in the men’s dorm for awhile, to sleep on a cot in a backroom of a barber shop where he had a job sweeping and cleaning.

Of course we never learned about any of Dad’s war experiences until around the 50th Anniversary in 1995, when Dad and Mom went to a Marine Reunion and reconnected with some of his old friends. Then he slowly stared to tell us more and more over the years since.

I love this picture of Dad running track. As you can tell by his foot being closer to the ground, I believe he won the race. I too ran track for a year as a Freshman in high school. I was a sprinter like Dad and I did try my hand at the hurdles, but I never was too great at that. Then Dad talked me into playing on the girl’s golf team which he coached.

Over the years, I somehow took possession of Dad’s college track top….

I think I borrowed it when I was in college and thought it would be cool to wear. He probably doesn’t even know that I have it. My sister will be jealous…. But Jan, I will hand it down to your family, since you have the kids to pass onto!

Footnote: Mom and Dad will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this December!