The Patient Princess {SOL 11.22.16}

Once upon a time, there lived a princess who was blessed with incredible patience and a sparky sense of humor. She lived in a castle in the country with her handsome prince, young daughter, and two naughty (yet adorable) dogs.

The princess prided herself on her ability to remain calm in the face of chaos, for she knew that in order to keep peace throughout the land (and her castle), someone had to take some deep breaths and remember the wise words once shared by the princess's mother, "This too shall pass."

One Sunday morning, the princess was cleaning up the breakfast dishes and decided to make soup for the castle lunch. She reached into the cabinet drawer where she kept the canned vegetables, broth, and other necessities for making soup, discovering that all of the cans were stuck to the cabinet bottom. Apparently, one of the castle inhabitants put away the new bottle of corn syrup without tightening the cap, allowing it to spill out all over the drawer, hardening, and attaching everything rather securely to the drawer bottom.

No bother, the patient princess thought. This too shall pass. She set about to removing the cans from their sticky trap with the aid of the royal hairdryer and a metal spatula.

When that job was finished, the princess walked into her bedroom and was frightened by the ghastly sight before her, for the royal mutts had made quite a mess on the carpet after frolicking in the castle yard. No bother, the patient princess moaned, glaring at the two naughty (yet adorable) dogs.  She took a few deep breaths.  This too shall pass.

The patient princess got out the castle carpet cleaner and began to soak the carpet with cleaning solution. After spraying down a rather large container of cleaning solution, the princess began the task of going over the carpet again to remove it.  It didn't take long for the princess to realize that something was wrong, for the cleaner would not suck.

The princess tried and tried to make the cleaner work, taking it apart and putting it back together several times. The princess, who was beginning to lose her patience with the carpet cleaner, got a little huffy when reassembling the cleaner for the final time and struggled a bit with reattaching the hose, finally snapping it back into the holder rather abruptly (and not at all patiently). The hose responded by squirting the princess in the eye with some remaining solution. The princess wiped her eye, glared again at the dogs, then went in search of some box fans to dry the carpet.

Later that evening, the princess's daughter suggested that since the patient princess had such a rough day, perhaps a bubble bath was in order. The princess agreed.

She walked into the castle bathroom, carefully passing by the box fans still trying to dry the carpet, and began running her bath. As the water filled the tub, the patient princess put away a few items of laundry. When the bath was ready, she stepped into the tub, and squealed. EEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!

The princess, who did not take baths very often, had filled the tub with cold water, not hot. She should have been more patient before leaving the castle bathroom after turning on the water apparently. This is a bother, the princess thought, reaching for a towel and then her pajamas.

"I'm going to bed," the princess announced to her handsome prince and darling daughter, who were sitting in the living room enjoying the Green Bay Packer football game. "I've had enough of today."

"Don't worry, mama, this too shall pass," the darling daughter said to the princess as she bent to kiss her good night. "Tomorrow will be a better day."

The princess went off to bed, avoiding any more catastrophes that might have been lurking around the castle corners.

When the princess awoke the next day, her patience and sense of humor had returned. She laughed to herself about the adversities of the previous day -- right as she walked into the box fan that was still drying the carpet.

Oh, bother, the princess thought.

25 Hour Day {SOL 11.08.16}

I am always wishing I had more time in my day. (Aren't we all?) On early Sunday morning, that wish was granted as the clocks were rolled back one hour, leaving 25 hours to the day.

My mind excitedly considered the options of what to do with all this extra time. I could:

   Sleep late (Wait -- that would feel like wasting time. Strike it from the list.)
   Write
   Read
   Start a creative project
   Go for a walk
   Bake something special
   Rake leaves
   Take a nap (I don't consider napping and sleeping late to be in the same category, do you?)

As the day went on and I pondered what I would do with my extra hour (not wanting to waste it, of course), I found myself constantly rolling the time forward an hour every time I looked at the clock. I kept telling myself, "At this time yesterday, I was (eating lunch, making dinner, feeding the dogs, etc.)." It's an annoying habit that seems to stick with me for a few days after every time change.

When I went to bed, my husband said, "But it's only 8:15. Aren't you going to sleep a bit early?"

"Yes, but it feels like 9:15, which is past my bedtime," I replied, yawning. (I must have tired myself out doing all that elapsed time calculation all day long.)

Source

What did I end up doing with my extra hour?  I spent it on Monday morning, rising super early at 4:00 am (real time) and heading down to the basement to work out. (It seemed like 5:00 am after all -- a perfectly normal time to exercise, right?)

I hope you found something exciting to do with your extra hour this weekend. We will need the memories of this longer day in the spring when we have to give it back.

 

Simple Celebrations

I sit here this morning, thinking of the events from this past week that were noteworthy enough to write about in this celebration post.  There is nothing BIG that comes to mind, so instead I will write small and simple today:

This week, I celebrate:
   * Cinnamon
   * New pens
   * Figuring out my lesson plans
   * An offer of strawberries
   * Water
   * After work walks
   * Kids helping others
   * Student discussions
   * Falling leaves
   * Apple scented candles
   * Friendship

The lesson? Big or small, all celebrations count.

Unsubscribe Me {SOL 11.01.16}

There are only so many minutes in a day, yet there's so much I want to do.

I get frustrated with myself when I pull back the covers at the end of the day and think about all the things I didn't get done. Or when it's Sunday night and I think of all the big plans I had for the weekend that are still sitting on my to do list.

I need to simplify.

Focus on what's important.

Control my time instead of letting it control me.

I began this morning, like I do every morning, scrolling through my emails. Before I knew it, 30 minutes had passed. That's 30 minutes of reading shopping offers, Facebook updates, and messages from companies that I once did online business with. (It's also important to note that none of the messages I received this morning were from an actual person, asking me actual questions, or sharing actual news.)

I liken my morning routine to going through the paper mail. As I search through the envelopes, I pull out the junk mail, tear it up, and recycle it. I never even read it, even though many days, that's all that's in my mailbox.

So why don't I do this with my Inbox as well? Why am I wasting precious time reading electronic junk mail?

Good question.

I went back into my email and scrolled to the bottom of most every one, searching for the 'Unsubscribe' button and clicking it.

As I did, I felt this amazing sense of freedom. I felt my time coming back to me. I was taking control.

Are there things in your life that you need to 'Unsubscribe' from? I encourage you to click that button too.