Chilly Chuckles

I have mixed feelings about winter. Pretty to look at, sure - but, I'm still not such a fan of any season that requires its own special wardrobe and heavy equipment just for basic survival. The combination of cold, dark, and dreariness can sometimes make it hard to stay upbeat and positive. If you're having trouble finding humor in the doldrums of winter, take a gander at this collection of cartoons. They're sure to tickle your funny bone and make your day brighter!

Iowa

I am not a native-born Iowan. For those of you who are, likewise, not from the state, you probably do not understand what this means. To be a true Iowan, at the very least, your grandparents and parents must have grown up here, and you are most likely related to at least half the people in the county. During my elementary years, I used to marvel at how everybody in my class knew who you could pick on, and who you couldn't. Family duty required you to stick up for your first cousins, see, but once you got to the seconds and 'once-removeds' the lines got fuzzy. I was the only one who wasn't related to anybody, so I was fair game for everyone.

Fortunately, I married in to an old-time Iowa family from this neck of the woods (yes - that is the proper way to describe my general geographic area), so I have learned the joys of what it means to be any relation to... As in, "are you any relation to the Farriers who live in Brighton?" Yes. Yes I am, and it feels good. I can now catch the question before the words are even fired, while they are still being loaded and the eyebrow quizzically cocked.

As much as I do love this state, and all of the down-home, wonderful, traditional elements that it embodies, there is one thing I will always despise about the land between two rivers - the winters. Our average January temperature is a balmy 17 degrees Fahrenheit, usually coupled with a thirty-mile-per-hour wind and blinding snow. And here's the thing - that's exactly what the weather was like in December, and what it will continue to be like in February. Winter is not a season here. It is an endurance trial. The best we can hope for is good company, plenty of hot cocoa, and something to smile about. The first two are your responsibility, but I hope this list, compiled from various anonymous emails I've received throughout the years, will at least help you out with the last:

You Know You're An Iowan If:

• You design your kids' Halloween costumes to fit over a snowsuit
• You have more miles on your snow blower than your car
• Driving in winter is actually better than any other time of year, because at least the potholes are filled with snow
• You've ever gotten a snowshovel stuck on your roof
• You describe 0 degrees as 'a bit chilly'
• You've ever called in 'snowed in' to work
• You've ever gone to work when you should have called in 'snowed in'
• You consider drilling a hole through 18 inches of ice and sitting on a bucket in a blizzard a sport
• You're either as white as a sow's belly (winter) or you have a farmer's tan (summer)
• You've worn shorts and a parka at the same time
• You just stick your head out the window until the ice clears so you don't have to bother with your scraper each morning
• You've ever used your heater and your A/C in one day
• Your labor day picnic has ever been moved inside because of frost
• You own a separate vehicle just for winter
• You've driven a four-wheeler or snowmobile to work or school
• You don't stop golfing for the season until the snow is deep enough you can't find your ball
• Your New Year's resolution to exercise more means shoveling the neighbor's walk as well as your own
• Despite how hard the winters all, you still love this state and are proud to call it home

Quotable Quotes

Sometimes I like to flatter myself into thinking that each and every blog post I write is 100% though-provoking, life-changing, earth-shattering brilliance. (Well... maybe more like 90%. Everyone has an off day.) Fortunately, however, I have several live-in humility inducers (ages are 10, 6, and almost 4) who remind me on a daily basis that I may not be quite as witty and intelligent as I sometimes fancy myself to be. After all, having to be told for the umpteenth time which person likes mayo, who owns the Cinderella panties, and how to turn on the video game machine tends to highlight my cognitive failings as quickly as any graduate school entrance exam ever could. To their credit, my children do boost my ego when it comes to my snuggling, cooking, and owie-kissing skills. You know - the really important stuff.

At any rate,  I do really enjoy sharing my world with y'all, but once in a while it's nice to invite in a 'guest writer,' so to speak. I mean, why struggle to make up something pithy and witty when I can just borrow what someone else has said (with due credit included, of course)? So, here is my quotable quote for you today.

This one always strikes right at the core of who I am. It makes the light inside of me burn brighter. Glow hotter. Get bigger. When I read it, the nebulous, tattered robe of excuses and fear falls away and I am tempted to go! do! be! with a new vigor and urgency. I hope it does the same for you. For, like Ms. Williamson said - you were designed to be something wonderful. Now go out and live it!

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
                                                                                    -- Marianne Williamson

My Favorite...

My favorite thing about the holiday season when I was a kid was the food. My family has a lot of terrific cooks, and we never lacked for good things to eat. However, this was the time of year when even my mom outdid herself and our cuisine went from fantastic to over-the-top. It always started with a traditional Thanksgiving, which is my favorite meal of the year, and ended with a spectacular array of finger foods artfully arranged for our annual New Year's Eve Movie Night. Stuffing and mashed potatoes with creamy gravy to start things off, and cheese ball, pickle-cream-cheese-and-ham wraps, and finger sandwiches to wrap the season up. It doesn't get much better than that.


But, best of all, was all the stuff in the middle. My mom had a special recipe box that she kept just for her Christmas goodies. Some families have sugar cookies and almond bark pretzels. We had decadent fudge, rich truffles, and delicate, hand-painted chocolate masterpieces, among many other things. The cooking started the week after Thanksgiving with my mom's chunky, aromatic, flavorful fruit cake. After chopping and measuring and mixing and baking, we wrapped each cake in rum-soaked cheesecloth and put them aside to age. While some people joked about the terror of receiving a store-bought fruit cake for Christmas, these were coveted and highly sought after gifts in our community and extended family.

The next weekend we always moved on to pumpkin bread, chocolate-cherry-thumbprints, and my great-grandmother's special oatmeal, chocolate chip, raisin cookies. Each person would be assigned a corner of the kitchen and a recipe, and we'd always end up clucking playfully at each other over who took the last stick of butter, and chuckling about how my dad could get powdered sugar on every square inch of his work area. When I close my eyes, I can still feel the warmth and smell the sweet goodness of those baking days.

Of course, there was also a lot of work involved. (It is only now, that I am a mother, that I understand how much time and energy my mom put into those endless weekends.) However, even when finances were lean, my grandfather was very ill, we had too much scheduled and not enough time to complete it all, and giggly little girls had been replaced by surly, moody teenagers, those weekends were an important tradition that we held on to, and that I will always treasure.

This year I am determined to pull out a few special recipes (most of which are the ones I loved so much as a kid) and share them with my children. I know that what I do with them will never be the same as the special time that I shared with my parents, but I want them to have great memories of us being together in the kitchen just like I had. Who knows - maybe someday it will be their favorite childhood memory of the holiday season as well.

Silly...

When was the last time you did something truly silly? I don't mean a little risque, like wearing navy socks with black slacks or trying takeout from somewhere other than your usual place. I mean stopping traffic, strangers craning their necks to get a better view, what-in-the-world-were-you-thinking silly. Bet it's been more than a day or two. In fact, if you're like most people, you probably do everything you can to not get into those types of situations. There is safety in conformity, and it feels nice to be like everyone else. But, there's also something to be said for standing out in a crowd - for being willing to take a chance, do something bold, and be different.

For me, it's usually not a choice. I tend to have what we have started calling "Annie Moments" at least once every few months. I can't seem to help it - all too often I find myself in some sitcom-esque situation, not entirely sure how I got there, and even more hazy about how to extricate myself gracefully before things get even worse. I have, for example, inadvertently used the 'members only' steps at my state capitol building and ended up (two small children in tow) at the back entrance to the senate chamber. Yep - peering in hesitantly right behind the President's desk. Of course, there was also the time at my local hardware store where I reached up to gently feel the nap of some lovely berber carpet, only to find myself seconds later being surrounded by yard after yard of the stuff as I helplessly watched the entire roll unwind at my feet. 

Though these situations tend to leave my husband shaking his head in bemusement, I have learned to take them in stride. Turns out, you cannot die of embarrassment. In fact, beyond the initial sting, it doesn't even hurt at all. And, in the process, you get to see some wonderful sights, meet some very lovely people, and build a repertoire of stories that are always crowd pleasers at parties and events.

Don't get me wrong - I don't mean to suggest that you should throw off all social norms and rules for decency in order to stir up trouble. However, next time that delicious little thought of, "I wonder what would happen if..." sneaks into your consciousness, you might just consider following it through to its natural conclusion. At worst, you'll find yourself a little out of sorts and a few minutes behind schedule. Then again, you might just end up with an adventure under your belt and find out that embarrassment really isn't a terminal condition, but merely an occasional symptom of a life well lived.

Who Am I? Why Am I Here?

Every once in a while my children say things that catch me off guard. Most of the time they're funny. But, often they also carry a deeper, philosophical significance that makes me see the world in a different light.

Not that long ago, my middle daughter was sitting down to a meal and moodily poking around at what she found on her plate. (Of all of our three girls, she's the most likely to be a tiny bit picky about food.) It was clearly apparent that she wasn't happy...

In all of the hustle and bustle of getting lunch on the table, gathering everyone from the farthest reaches of the house, and tidying up the kitchen, I ended up (as usual) hollering out every name that I could summon to the tip of my tongue, and assigning them in a more-or-less random fashion to whichever child (or cat) was closest. I think I even called my youngest daughter by her grandmother's name at one point.

After everyone was seated and our food had been blessed, I encouraged my little reluctant diner to give the new food a chance.

Me: Try it, sweetheart. You'll like it!
Her: How do you know?
Me: I'm your mom. I know you. I know you'll think it's good.
Her: You don't know me. Sometimes you don't even know my name...

Well, she certainly had me there, didn't she? Of course, I'm not suggesting that my momentary amnesia when it comes to names was an indication that I don't know my own children. However, maybe sometimes we do make unfair assumptions about people. Perhaps we get to the place of being so sure that we already know someone, that we stop trying. Maybe it isn't that that we don't know each other, but that we become overconfident that we do know someone that causes children to feel misunderstood, married couples to drift apart, and colleagues to frustrate one another.

But, as bad as it can be to stop trying to get to know someone, have you ever considered what happens when that someone is you? I've come to the place where I'm starting to ask - have I boxed myself in? Am I missing out on opportunities to learn new things? Have new experiences? Be a better person? Have I limited myself because of what I assume to be true about me?

My daughter's statement was a funny but potent reminder to me that it's not fair to stop listening, stop learning, stop getting to know the people around us. But, as much as we owe the courtesy of continuing to learn to other people, we also owe it to ourselves. So, if you'll excuse me - I'm going to go try something new. You never know - I just might find that I like it!

Finish Up Friday

It's Friday, and that is reason to celebrate! (You know - technically, every day is reason to celebrate, since it represents another opportunity to spread joy, fulfill your purpose, and make the world a better place. Just food for thought...) Even with gloomy financial reports, nasty weather forecasts, and an overflowing inbox, it's hard not to smile on Friday morning. What is it about Friday that makes us all in a better mood than any other day of the week?

I know - the standard answer is that it's because it's the start of the weekend, and everyone likes weekends. However, maybe Friday is our favorite because it's as much about wrapping up the workweek as it is about opening the gift of Saturday and Sunday. For me, Fridays have a different feel to them than any other days of the week. I can leave a file open or an email unsent on a Wednesday afternoon, but on Fridays I become a superhero - Andrea the Finisher.

This is no small feat. I'm much happier opening up new projects (and cans of worms) than I am wrestling them down, tying up their loose ends, or putting them bed. However, the thrill of starting something new never really can compete with the deep sense of satisfaction that comes from finishing well.

So - I encourage you to make this Friday count! Finish up a project you've been procrastinating on. Send that difficult email. Make that dreaded call. I am determined to do something today that will enable me to get out my big red pen and make a giant, bold, satisfying check mark next to some lingering project that's been on my mind and my desk for far too long. After all - that project deserves to rest in peace, and I am ready for some peace of mind and rest as well...

Five, Ten, Fifteen

Here are the five best tips I try to implement when life gets crazy and I am running thin on resources. They take 10 minutes or less per day, but reap big results if you'll stick with them for 15 days. I call them my Five Rules of Ten for Fifteen Days.

1. Go to bed ten minutes earlier than you usually do. Even the busiest person can make this happen. Most people are sleep deprived, and research shows that it affects our productivity and health more than we realize. If you feel tired during the day, have a hard time waking up, get drowsy while driving, or fall asleep in front of the TV - chances are, you're not getting enough sleep. Giving yourself an extra ten minutes will ensure that you get to sleep sooner, and can get to all of the important stages of sleep faster. By adding just ten extra minutes for 15 days, you're going to be getting two and a half extra hours of sleep. Who couldn't use that!?

2. Get ten minutes of exercise each day. Thirty minutes, three times a week is best, but ten is better than nothing. Park farther away than you usually do. Walk in place during half of your favorite show. Or (my favorite) - put on an upbeat song or two and dance like no one is watching! Even if you flop back on the couch after exactly 600 seconds every one of those 15 days, you'll have exercised almost the same amount of time as if you'd have done the 'required' 30 minutes, three times per week. See - little things do add up!

3. Take ten less bites of food at supper. Challenge yourself to dish up what you normally would eat for supper, and leave at least ten bites on your plate each night. If each bite is a tablespoon in size, that equals about 2/3 of a cup. The could mean 160 less calories (plain mashed potatoes), 190 calories (stuffing), or even 300 calories ( ice cream). Even if you just cut 100 calories per day, you'll be eating 1500 calories less in those 15 days, which equals almost a half a pound of weight loss!

4. Laugh at least ten times per day. Not only are you no fun to be around when you're not making the time to laugh, but you're also imperiling your own health. Laughter releases feel-good hormones, lessens stress, burns calories, and even boosts immunity. Whether it's a simple chuckle, or a roaring belly laugh, getting your giggles out helps you and the people around you. Who knows - having ten good laughs a day for 15 days might just change the world!

5. Engage with your loved ones for ten minutes every day. What do I mean by 'engage?' Think of it this way - it's the difference between talking to your spouse while you're busy cooking dinner, and talking to your spouse with your full attention. If you really want to tell your loved ones that you care, engage with them using all of your focus. You'll be amazed about how much better you'll be able to communicate, and how much closer you'll feel with just ten simple minutes of real conversation a day for 15 days.

Here's to New Beginnings!

Happy New... Month! We're 30 days early for the official New Year hoopla, but I can't wait that long. Seems to me that December 1st is just as good of a day to celebrate our past and eagerly anticipate great things to come as January 1st. So, here's to new beginnings! It's a new day. It's a new month. And, it's a new start for me.

There are only 10 days of voting left in the Good Mood Gig contest. While I know that there will be other criteria used to pick the winner, if it was based on who had the best bunch of people supporting him/her, I'd win for sure. Heck - I already feel like a winner because of your help and kindness, and I can't thank you enough.

We may not have the most votes, but ours are sure heartfelt and genuine, and I think that counts for a lot. So much so, in fact, that I started thinking - maybe I'd better be doing some serious preparation for this job. Sure, I can talk the talk, but can I walk the walk? Could I really post a feel-good blog every day? Am I really the right person to be Sam-E's next Good Mood Blogger? Guess it's time to find out.

So - Merry Christmas. Or, Happy New Year. Or, maybe just Thank You. Whatever you choose to attribute it to, from now through December 10th, when voting ends, I've decided to do a good mood post every weekday. It's the least I can do to let you know how much I appreciate your support. Plus, I'm hoping you'll give me some feedback and let me know what you think. (You do know, of course, that once the voting stops you all become my editors and proofreaders, right? This is a life-long gig you've gotten yourself into. Anyone out there wash windows or give good advice on retirement investing?)

But, here's the thing...according to several studies that I found online, approximately 92% of New Year's resolutions fail. You don't want to become a tragic statistic, do you - your good intentions rubbed out by crushing odds? There is hope, however. As far as I can tell, there have never been any studies done on the percentage of New Month resolutions that fail, so let's make some magic!

I'm starting something new that's a bit challenging but really exciting today. What about you? What have you been putting off, getting around, giving in to, or just flat out ignoring that you're ready to take on? Whether it's losing a few pounds or gaining a few friends, I invite you to join me these next ten days in doing something new for yourself. The journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step, and what better day to start strutting our stuff than today?