Time Out for Women: part 2, plus some other stuff

I realized today that I never finished reporting on what I learned from Time Out for Women.  Then I realized that the following picture represents the mood I've been in ever since.  Behold, my Mascot:

Yea, I'm kind of a grinch this time of year.  I fully embrace my grinchiness and was THRILLED to find this t-shirt at Walmart.  I actually bought two, so if I play my laundry cards right, I could wear this face a couple times a week.

My bad mood is currently being caused by a multitude of things, but especially the names I've been called by the "campaign of civility" after our recent election.  My candidate lost, the recall was successful, and the gloaters have called me things that I can't post on this blog, because I have some very nice readers with delicate eyes.  They were hateful, which is so ironic because of what they claimed their candidate would bring to Arizona politics.  Civility.  *cough*bullshit*cough*  Sorry, a bad word slipped out, I couldn't help it.  Haters bring it out in me, and remember... right now I'm the grinchiest grinch there ever was.  There are other causes for it too, things happening with my kids, the school, the doctors, the budget, the holidays, the car repairs, the office, the insomnia, the doctors who are ignoring me and my breathing problems...

My bad mood usually passes sometime after New Years, but I'll try and lift it for a moment while I report on the second day of Time Out for Women.  Let's get out of the negativity for a moment and be happy!

The Saturday session had some GREAT speakers, and Hillary Weeks did some great storytelling and sang some silly songs, and spiritual songs.

Mary Ellen Edmunds spoke first about identity theft.  Satan wants to steal my identity, he wants to make me forget who I am, and who I'm meant to become.  She also said something interesting, she said that where I am today is no surprise to God.  My struggles with depression, with faith, with enduring, with giving up... it's no surprise to Him, He expected me to be here.  I'm just supposed to move from point A to point B and become who I'm supposed to become, and it's a slow process so don't beat yourself up.

Hillary Weeks talked about an experiment that she tried in her home for two weeks.  She read an article in a national news magazine that said the average woman thinks 300 negative thoughts a day, and she wanted to find out if this was true or not.  She got herself a "clicker" (that's what she calls it, it just one of those little devices that counts up every time you click it).  She told her family what she was doing so they would know what that thing was she was wearing around her wrist, and she started her Monday keeping track of those negative thoughts.  She got in the car at 7:30 to take the kids to school and her daughter said, "Mom, it's only 7:30 and you've already had 13 negative thoughts!?"  *click*  Make that 14.  So she covered it with masking tape so no one could see the numbers until the end off the day.  Her first day she had about 170 negative thoughts.  Gradually throughout the week she noticed the number going up a little bit, but it never got to 300.

Then she noticed that weekend that she was in a really bad mood.  She tried to pray, and she couldn't because she was just so angry!  She realized that by focusing on negativity all the time, she was becoming a negative person and driving away the spirit.

So she changed the experiment.  She decided to keep track of only her positive thoughts.  That first Monday she had over 400.  By the end of the week, she was sure her kids had been playing with it but they swore they hadn't touched it all day, but at the end of the day Friday the number was over 1000.  She had the spirit back, and she was feeling more gratitude and more happiness just because that's where she was putting her focus.  That was meaningful to me, because I do give a lot of focus and energy to the negative things in my life.  There's positives too, and I think I need to start that same experiment for myself.

You can buy the "clicker" on Hillary Weeks website, they're not much, and it sounds like lots of fun.

I can't remember where these next few quotes came from, there were several good speakers in a row and I didn't attribute them to anyone in my journal.

* I am real.  I am God's little girl.

* Remember who my children are.

* I am the perfect Mom for MY kids.

* We can have a bad day but still have a great life.

* Life is a sequence that begins in choices and ends in consequences.

* We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become.

And here's a goal I set for myself, based on something one of the speakers said:  I'm going to look in the mirror every day, study my face, and ponder who I am meant to be.  Today?  In the future?  Who am I supposed to become?  How am I going to get there?  Maybe it's positive affirmations in the mirror every day, like Stuart Smalley from Saturday Night Live, but I liked the idea.  Stare at myself and remember that I'm a daughter of God, He loves me, and He has plans for me.

My FAVORITE speaker was Kristin Belcher.  After the conference was over I went to the bookstore and bought one of her books, which I read in two days, and it was amazing.  Her story is available online, but she spoke about finding holy places wherever you are and about understanding that God wants her to become someone specific, and if this is the path she needs to take to become that person, then so be it.  Her faith was incredible, and her sense of humor is awesome!  She's had cancer twice, at least 10 surgeries starting at the age of 7 months, and is now completely blind.  I think I can find a YouTube clip, just a minute, I'll be right back...

Found a couple, YAY!  You're gonna LOVE her...



So, Time Out for Women was AWESOME and I was a better person for about two days.  In a row.  It was epic.  Now I'm the grinch again, but I'll work on that.

Now for some random funny family fun.

Ember and I accidentally dressed the same for church on Sunday, all black and white.  And yes, that is the PERFECT pencil skirt I was talking about a few weeks ago.  Don't we look darling?  :)

And today after school Grace asked for her usual snack, a tortilla.  She eats it like this every day, she bites out holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth.  She's perfected her technique.  I know it's past Halloween, but this picture is just a little bit creepy.  Maybe she can go as "Tortilla Face" next year for Halloween.

That's all for now.  I actually have a couple huge, long stories to tell that I'm not sure I'll put on the blog or not, because they're very grinchy and probably won't do anyone any good by reading about them.  And this post is already long enough!!

I talk too much.  (or type too much, whatever)