MEASURE (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

I'm having real difficulty with this particular writing prompt.  Ugh.  Well, here goes!


"Measure" reminds me of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, and "measure twice, cut once."

And quotes:

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."  (Samuel Johnson)

"The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have."  (Vince Lombardi)

"The measure of a man is what he does with power."  (Plato)

"If you can't measure it, you can't improve it."  (Peter Drucker)  This one is my favorite, at least right now.

When I was going to physical therapy after my knee replacement, the therapist periodically measured the angle of my bent knee.  Over the course of just a few weeks, it went from 95 to 105 to 110 to 120 to 126 to 130, but to me, it felt pretty much the same.  I couldn't see the angle myself, and I just bent my knee as far as possible, so it always felt pretty similar.  Although I could tell my foot was getting closer and closer to my rear end, I couldn't tell how much.  Because I had goal numbers, and I had measurements for comparison, I knew I was improving rapidly.

I'm trying to declutter the house (it's an ongoing process).  I work on particular spaces, and it's amazing how much STUFF is STUFFED into them!  I'll work and work and do what feels like a lot, but when I look at the space afterward, I don't see much improvement.  So I started keeping track of how many trash bags I fill, and how many boxes I empty.  Otherwise, I'd think I've been spinning my wheels.

Make a list of the things you measure every day.

How could you use those measurements to improve your life?

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "MEASURE."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

CONVENIENT (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

When I got home from the hospital after my knee replacement, I had to set up a sort of command center - a place I could spend most of the day where everything would be convenient for me to reach.  So the recliner became my base of operations.

I've spent most of the past two weeks ensconced on my comfortable throne, cable remote, cryo-cuff, cold drinks, and rehab exercise instructions conveniently at hand.

That Man did a great job getting me through that initial time home.

"Please fill my cryo-cuff!"

"I'd like Taco Bell for lunch."

"How about KFC?"

"Could you bring me the walker?"

"I need a Coke."

So demanding!!!  But he has fetched and carried and driven me to a doctor appointment and several physical therapy sessions so far.  Not to mention his attentiveness at the hospital!  I'm supposed to be doing a lot more for myself now, so he's gone back to work.  It was really convenient to have him home the past couple of weeks.  Plus, I miss his company.

I still have control of the recliner, though, so that will have to be my consolation for now!

STILL (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.  (Exodus 14:14 NIV)

How can you be still?  The way things are now, it's difficult to find a place or time to be quiet, still, and centered.  With 24-hour news, entertainment, and connectivity, there's no place to hide!

My place to be still is in nature.  In the woods.  On the water.  On a trail.  In a park.  Sailing.  Running.  Hiking.  Camping.

I turn off the phone and get away from the TV.

I go alone.

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "STILL."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

BALANCE (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

I had to think about this one for a bit, so I'm late posting.

There has been so much written about work/life balance in the past several years, and I've found it an elusive thing.  Everybody's chasing it, and nobody thinks they've achieved the magical state of perfect balance.

Well, we all know there's no such thing, so why do people keep writing about it?  And why do we devour the books and articles supposedly giving us the answer?  Are we crazy?  Unbalanced?  (HA!)

So if it's unreachable, what do we do?

First of all, we need to redefine what "balance" is.  The books and magazines and seminars make it sound like we need to balance our time every day, or at least every week.

I've decided it's a lot of hooey (that's a highly technical term, if you didn't know).

Life goes through stages, and overall, if you're paying attention, it does balance, eventually.  Think about it.  When you have small children and you're working, I'm sorry, you're just naturally going to be focused on small children things, and it's difficult to focus on your spouse (if you're married) and work at that stage.  Oh, you're focused on work, too, but really, it's a vehicle to provide for those small children.  And the spouse should be focused on the kid stuff, too, and take some of the pressure off.  Some weeks, you'll have to have kid stuff in the front of your brain.   Other weeks, you'll be all work.  I used to travel for my job, and I'd be away from home overnight from time to time.  We figured it out.

When the kids were older and into sports and Scouts and stuff, I got involved in their activities, and my weekends and some weeknights were full of that stuff - meetings and practices and games.  I chose to be involved in those things.  I took vacation days from work to go to Boy Scout or Girl Scout camp.  But when I was at work, I worked like mad.  And on the weekends, That Man did the kid stuff, too.

Just because you can't be there all day doesn't mean you're a bad parent.  Everybody does what they can with what they have.  Some stages are easier, some stages are harder.  Eventually, some of your time becomes yours again.  You can work, and advance, too.  But you have to pick your battles and decide what you're willing to do, and what you're not willing to do.

Remember, it's only temporary!  EVERYTHING is only temporary.  It's all about choices and what you do with them.  It all balances out in the end.

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "BALANCE."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

DEEP (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

When That Girl was in high school, when I'd get "definite" about some issue, she would say, "Calm down!  It's not that deep."   Of course, those issues often involved some misbehavior on her part!

But really, aren't most things we get all worked up about not all that important?  We have to learn to choose our battles, as they say.  Or, as I like to say, you have to choose your own reaction.  You can choose to be angry, or you can choose to say, "Well, it is what it is."

It used to exasperate That Girl when she'd say that someone had "made her mad," and I'd tell her, "No, you chose to be mad."  For the most part, people just do what they do, and they're too wrapped up in themselves to bother to purposely make you angry.  

That doesn't mean you have to accept, agree with, or condone whatever it is, but what good does it do you to allow yourself to be angry and start shouting, which blocks logical thought and civil discourse.  It doesn't do your blood pressure or your digestive system any favors, either, and you'll probably regret the things you say and the loss of control .  

Anger itself isn't good or bad, but rather how we choose to express it.  You have to figure out just how truly deep the problem really is, then decide how to go about changing it.

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "DEEP."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

VALUE (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

I have a big family dinner on Thanksgiving.  I start on Friday, buying the turkey and putting it into a big cooler with some ice to thaw.  It is a BIG cooler for the BIG turkey.  This year’s was typical - twenty-six pounds.

You’re supposed to buy a turkey of about one pound per expected person.  We had twenty people, and my choice was limited to the single twenty-six-pound bird and a flock of measly little fourteen-pounders.  My oven isn’t big enough to roast two turkeys, so…!

I use oven roasting bags because they make the turkey cook a little faster and you don’t have to worry about having a tall enough covered roaster.  The bags say they’ll hold a turkey up to twenty-four pounds, but I can make my monsters fit.

I bought the turkey on Friday.  I finished my grocery shopping on Saturday, put the leaf in the table and made cranberry gelatin salad and deviled eggs on Monday, roasted the turkey, got out all the serving pieces, and cleaned the house on Tuesday.  Wednesday, I carved the turkey, baked pies, and cleaned some more.  Thursday, I made the gravy, assembled and cooked the side dishes, baked the rolls, and got ready for the ravening hordes.

They came, they saw, they ate, and ate, and ATE.  As is the custom, by the end of it all, we were all blissfully miserable.

Why do we do this every year?  Because we value family - all of them!  The crazy and the annoying.  The one who volunteers to bring three things, brings eight, and burns the one thing you really, really counted on.  Oh well.  It is what it is, and what it is, is family.

Now THAT’S value!

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "VALUE."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

ONE (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

One is the loneliest number you can ever do.
Two can be as bad as one.  It’s the loneliest number since the number one.
     - Three Dog Night


One is supposed to be lonely.  That’s what the song says.

But you know what?  Most of the time, I don’t mind being alone.  I can be lonely in the middle of a crowd.  I like being with my friends, but I don’t NEED to be with people all the time.  As an introvert, I need breaks from people; otherwise, my social tolerance is exhausted.

To me, ONE is the number for recovery of equilibrium.  ONE means I can choose to be, go, and do whatever and wherever I choose.

The more people involved, the more difficult it is to decide anything!  Where to eat, what to do, where to go.  Talk about a bottleneck!  With everyone’s conflicting food preferences, allergies, caloric restrictions, and usual meal times, it can end up with nobody happy and everyone irritated.

So ONE is re-energizing.  Give me time alone, and then I’ll be excited to be social again.  Just don’t expect me to do it indefinitely - you’ll be sorry!

HAHA!

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "ONE."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

BURDEN (A Five-Minute Friday post)

I remember my parents saying they never wanted to be a burden on anyone.  They had it all planned.  They had their finances in order, they traveled, they took part in their activities, they had FUN.

But then Mom started being afraid to drive, to get her hair done, to go out of the house, to have us visit.  She didn’t want Dad to go out, either.  She was afraid for him to leave her.  She was suffering from crippling anxiety. 

At the end, Dad was sitting with her all day, from early in the morning until late at night.  He didn’t have time to bathe, do his shopping, pay his taxes, or any of the things he enjoyed.  My sister and I spent alternate weekends sitting with Mom so she would have someone with her and he could get out and do the things he needed to do.  She didn’t like it much.  She really wanted HIM, not us. 

But, no matter how demanding she became, he stayed by her side. 

He never considered her to be a burden.

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "BURDEN."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

THIRTEEN (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear “THIRTEEN” is Friday the thirteenth, but I don’t think of thirteen as unlucky.  I’ve always thought of it as “lucky thirteen,” maybe because when I was growing up on the south side of Indianapolis, the cool radio station was WIFE, “Lucky Thirteen,” 1310 on the AM dial.  The DJs were our celebrities and heroes.

On another note, my mom told me about her close association with the number thirteen.  I knew her birthday was December 13, so obviously she turned 13 on the thirteenth.  But, when she was thirteen, her homeroom at school was room 13.  And I was born two days before my parents’ thirteenth wedding anniversary.

So the number thirteen has been a good sign in my family, and I call it my lucky number!

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "THIRTEEN."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

DONE (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

Seven months ago, I said, “Stick a fork in me - I’m DONE!”

I retired.  I was DONE with it all.  I was DONE with my so-called career.  I was DONE with working for someone else.  I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted the paychecks.

People ask me what I do, and my answer is whatever I want!

Well, that might not be completely accurate, but it’s close!  I can choose what to do, when to do it, whether to do it, how to do it, and how much of it to do.  I can pace myself.  If I’m tired, I can stop.  I can even take a nap!  Try doing that at work!

The important thing is, yes, I'm DONE with working, but that ending means I can begin to find the way to my best life - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  It's a new and exciting adventure!

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "DONE."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

RETURN (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

Waiting for an ice cube.

This Sunday, I'm driving to Baltimore to RETURN our dog to his original mommy, The Girl.  When she first moved to Baltimore with her husband, they didn't have their own place, so she left her animals (two cats and a LARGE dog) with us.   

They recently bought a house, so the dog has been called to reside with them.  He'll have a fenced yard and kids to play with - dog heaven!!!  

Zeke with one of the grands.

It's going to be rough for That Man, though.  He complains that he can't accomplish much with The Dog around, because The Dog always wants to play, but I know it will be rough on him.  We will miss Mr. Zeke the Dog.  His soulful dog eyes, His sweet dog face.  His happy dog yips when he sees Dairy Queen and anticipates a "pup cup" of soft serve!

But he's her dog, and a young dog needs a young family, so he and I will make the long drive east.

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "RETURN."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.