flair buttons.

I heart the flair buttons on facebook!

You may have noticed I changed my blog header a while back using them. When I was a kid, I had lots of buttons. Something about those metal clackity things that I like. The other day I was shopping and I noticed a row of buttons on a shelf. Could it be? Buttons are making a comeback?!

Here’s some flair that has caught my eye…

splinters: a life lesson of sorts

Today a work buddy asked me to remove a splinter for him. I actually said “nah” at first because, well, I’ve never removed a splinter from someone before. A year ago, I couldn’t see well enough to be any help. But T did say please. And he did remind me he recently lost the tip of his middle finger on the other hand. What are ya gonna do. =)

Lesson no. 1: When your friend asks for help, you lend a hand! no. 2: Jump in and try new things.

The splinter had been in his finger for days but now he was annoyed enough to want it out. Lesson no. 3: Things that start out as minor nuisances eventually irritate us enough that we will no longer put up with them.

So I took the tweezers he had and they were no good. Very weak, cheap tweezers. After picking for a minute, we decided to get a needle. Lesson no. 4: In life, you need the proper tools.

As I stood there digging into my friend’s finger with a needle, he told me he was tough so don’t be afraid to dig in. He has a high pain threshold. So I dug in and we got that splinter out.  And right there, right there is the lesson speaking to me tonight:

no 5: Life is full of splinters. You have to be tough. You have to get the foreign objects out. You have to dig in.  You have to try, try again.

Yes, all this from a mere 5 minutes of nothing important.

self esteem

Today I had my second counseling session. I’m liking my counselor. We realized together that before I can tackle the failure of my marriage, I need to start getting comfortable in my own skin. I spent the last week trying to come up with 10 things I like about myself.  I’d rather have my fingernails pulled out! I did not come up with 10.  Here I stand waving a white flag. I surrender!

The reading this week for today’s session said, “We need to choose to accept our own worth even when another human chooses not to.”

I have struggled to find self worth my entire life.  I’ve willingly accepted other people’s negative words and actions towards me and formed a very negative picture of myself.  I could write a loooong list of my every flaw. Top of the list should probably be that I give other people too much power over me.  People are much too willing to point out your negative features than give you positive feedback. This has left me feeling like I would never measure up. It seemed for every positive step I made, I had even more pressure to do better. It was overwhelming. Everything was always my fault. I have hated every fiber of my being for way too long.

So I am a work in progress and this week I am being forced to finish my list of things I like about myself.

Oct 1

Welcome autumn with open arms! I love the beautiful colors of autumn, the crunch of fallen leaves, the chill in the air, the farmer’s fields are gold, the candied apples, pumpkins, warm socks, pumpkin spice candles, and hoodies!  BRILLIANT

We pulled into our driveway tonight to find a big, marvelous pumpkin placed by our door. We all new it was my parents doing. Thanks mom and dad for the fun surprise!

My new life has me waking up early and catching the sunrise from the shower. And I like this. The kids are still asleep and I put music on.  Lately I’m into Paul McCartney singing Let it Be or Jason Mraz One Love to start my day.  After the kids get up it’s a whirlwind to get them off  to school and then I have a peaceful 15 minute drive to work that I use to count my blessings and get centered.

Inhale

Exhale

You can do this.

Enjoy!