Category: Work

Things We’ll Do When We Get Out Of Debt

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While more giving is a given (we have a long list of causes and people we’d like to give more to), this is mostly a personal spending list. It’s long because every time one of us says, “let’s do this,” or “can we do that,” we end by saying, “I guess we will when we get out of debt.” The list will continue to grow, I’m sure, until we’re out of debt. Also, just because something is on this list doesn’t mean that it’s 100% off limits to us now. Just most likely.

  • More Organo Gold Coffee and tea
  • More DC/Reston Weekend Trips
  • Marshall’s clothes shopping trip ( I like that store)
  • Bicycle(s)
  • Buy wine
  • Go to yoga classes
  • Go to dancing lessons together
  • Start a Walden house fund (or some other house)
  • Drive to Nashville
  • Get manis and pedis (me, not Nate)
  • Buy an Audi SUV (at which point I will inherit the Audi sedan)
  • Get more blow money
  • Send more care packages to my family in Africa
  • Sponsor an IJM table at benefit dinner again (we did this once and it was one of the most fulfilling ways I’ve ever spent money)
  • Seven7 jeans (but probably the discounts)
  • Nate – kickboxing
  • New swimsuit – http://divinemodestee.com
  • Yes to blueberries wipes instead of 99 cent ones
  • Massage therapy
  • Travel – visit family more
  • Inglot Eyeshadows
  • Breadmaker
  • Oven (thank God for pan bread right now, but I sure miss cinnamon toast)
  • Inglot shadows
  • Other eyeshadow palettes – http://www.sephora.com/ladybird-true-romance-eyeshadow-palette-P378616
  • More brushes
  • Go to Lemongrass Thai in Lancaster

Gandhi.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Gandhi.

By Enduring

I don’t know why this Wednesday seems gloomier than other days the past few weeks when I’ve really been very level and happy for weeks.

Maybe it’s because it’s seems too long until the weekend, and it’s my first week of getting up at 5:30 to work out and I’m tired. Maybe it’s because it’s been a few Fridays since I’ve been paid (oh the life of a freelancer). Maybe it’s because, though we’ve come so far in our debt payoff goals (from $120,000 to $39,000 since June of 2010), we still have $39,000 to go. Maybe it’s because it’s been two months since we were actually able to make a debt snowball payment because of unfair taxes (yes, I think it’s unfair to charge unemployment tax – whose bright idea is it to tax the stuffing out of people who are brave and create jobs?). Maybe it’s because I just really wish my best friend Nate was home to work with me (a treat I get a few hours a month – Nate works from home). Maybe it’s because I feel like there is all this creativity inside me and I have about 12 blog post ideas and 4 youtube video ideas and no time to work on them because I’m too busy. Busy doing things I like, yes. I like graphic design. But I like blogging and music soooo much.

Hang in there. Get through this day. I think Wednesday night might be our new date night because Thursday night is one of our gym nights. So hang in there until a fun date night tonight with Nate. There will be good food at home and maybe Season 3 of Psyche. And today some time http://ourlifeinaction.wordpress.com should publish her weekly Wednesday post to make us laugh (see how I’m looking forward to it). 🙂

And some day we will pay off our debt and buy the house at Walden and adopt and have a successful business we work in together and maybe even a successful blogging and youtube enterprise….ok so maybe I’m dreaming but I know some of those things will happen and think all of them could.

I’m not just a dreamer. I’m a dreamer with plans and work ethic.

Happy Wednesday lovely blogger friends.

Happy Thursday!!!!

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I think we should rename Thursdays to Procrastination Thursday! I’m too happy on Thursdays to take anything too seriously and I just love Thursdays!

Working on New Year’s Eve Day

Maybe I should have just decided to take off. I’m having a lot of trouble concentrating or working. I remember these days from corporate America. The difference was, not matter how hard of a time I had getting things done on a given day, I still got a paycheck at the end of the week, deserving or not (though my work ethic was really pretty good).

Now productivity is immediately and directly linked to my paycheck at the end of the week.

That’s actually a really good thing for me at times. I often felt under-challenged, or challenged in the wrong ways, at my typical 9 to 5 jobs.

But today, well today is New Year’s Eve Day and I’m blogging instead of working.

What now – well now it’s lunch time.

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If I start working now, when I’m not really rested this could upset my thinking, which is not good at all

I love my job. I left my corporate job in June to do freelance graphic design and web design. I had a number of contracts lined up so I felt fairly confident that it was a reasonable decision. It has had its ups and downs but it’s working out.

I usually get so lost in what I do that the hours just fly by.

Today I had to switch gears from a really fun project to one that I felt less confident about. Immediately I thought, “I’m thirsty. I’m hungry. My lips are dry. The house needs vacuuming. I need to do some yoga. My makeup needs doing.” I actually addressed several of these needs before finding myself up at my desk again staring at a powerpoint I wasn’t sure what to do with.

My dog is lonely. I’m sure of it. I should go talk to her. I bet I would feel more like working if I vacuumed the house. There are hairballs everywhere. I wonder if I could restyle my hair…..”if I start writing now, when I’m not really rested, it could upset my thinking, which is not good at all…I could get a fresh start tomorrow/.I work best under pressure/There’ll be lots of pressure/ If I wait til tomorrow. …….”

http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/time-management/procrastination-00000000055281/index.html

Stars will Align

Stars will align

And you will find

Your right abode.

Stars will align

And you will find

Where you belong.

Stars will align

And you will find

Your treasure gold.

Stars will align

And you will find

Your proper fit.

Stars will align

And life will give

In to your gift.

 

Why Monday mornings don’t work – or running low on Caffeine and Creativity

They’re just not good.

They’re not good for production. They’re not good for mood. They’re only good for more tea and more lattes.

The world would be much better off if I was allowed to sleep until 10. Only on Mondays. The rest of the week I’m relatively productive even in the morning.

I begin to come alive Monday afternoon. I start to blog, to work (that’s what I’m supposed to be doing), to think. I design things, solve problems, answer email, imagine stories, and write love letters in my mind all at the same time. My eyes get that wide open crazy feeling I have when I am wide awake and on sufficient amounts of caffeine and creativity to make life worth it.

Caffeine and creativity – I’m running low on both on Monday morning.

When are your most productive times? How do you handle the bear of Monday morning? Please tell me!!

If I ran a company

If I were the operations manager of a large company, people would come to my place of business on daylight savings morning and the store would still be closed.

If I were an editor the Declaration of Independence would have typos (inkos?)

If I were a diplomat I’d probably accidentally start wars.

I have friends who don’t like art or writing who jump through hoops to avoid this type of work. It’s quite possible to avoid, too.

But I’m an artist. And unfortunately I can’t avoid the “other” type of work – detailed administrative work, diplomatic work, communications, organizing projects, policing other people to do their work.

We all have to do things we don’t like. But nobody should have for a profession that which is so far from their skill set that it messes every day with their mind.

Because work is worship

Because work is worship…that is why.

This was an answer that struck me today as I wondered why it mattered SO MUCH to me that I find the right things to do. The right job. The right place to engage my heart which loves words and music so much. Why does it matter so much that God show me the way the next couple of years as my husband and I go through the journey that has been one of the most arduous and adventurous that I have ever been through (tackling a mountain of debt and being victorious). Why does it matter that God help me with the outcome of the interview I had last week, and show me whether I should take the writing course, audition for the Hershey Symphony Orchestra, find graphic design jobs, or all three?

Because work is worship – and I want to be in a place where I can worship God through that work.   And because it just seems much more worshipful to work in your strengths than badger your weaknesses. Because I truly believe, as some of reading believe, and as some of you may not, that God gives us our gifts for a purpose, a real, deep, earth-touching, people-connecting, and even income earning purpose. Why did I tack on income earning? Because even money can be of faith. And because you need it to eat, pay the mortgage, drive to church, help out your friends, buy clothes, etc.

But that does not mean that any of the above paths have to lead to earning income. Only one does (perhaps the job interview). The rest can just be abiding parts of my life that I know I should continue in.

When I see anyone who feels the least bit satisfied with their work, something that they feel is slightly “vocational” to them, I am jealous.

“If we love our work and find it meaningful, how is it different from worship?” Siobhan Curious says.

It is one of the most beautiful forms of worship. That I am sure of.