Friday, July 19, 2013

Mind and body harmony

I woke up this morning and worked out. I am not a very consistent person when it comes to this. I can do it for a little while get on a kick and then something comes up that seems more important at the time and I get away from it. I really do despise working out. I loathe sweating and being sticky and the exercise induced asthma that comes over my lungs.... yuck why on earth does anyone put themselves through this? But I decided today would be a great day anyway. Whether it is the pounds gained, the frumpiness I have felt, the stresses with keeping deals together, health issues that our parents have been having, getting older and not feeling the energy as I once did, my child who I wish I had 1/3 of his energy or a multitude of things that possessed me, I really don't know. But I went ahead and did it. Why don't I do it every day? Sweaty, sticky and out of breath, I still feel better about myself when I am done. Why doesn't that part of my brain remember that when I make up the excuses to not work out? That I don't think I will ever know. But for today I feel satisfied. This week different events and circumstances have made me remember a few things to practice. Have Faith, Believe, Learn More, Not Everything is Urgent, SLOW Down, Enjoy Mind and body in harmony provide all the necessary strength for happy, healthy living. - Charmaine Saunders

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Waking up on the Dark Side of the Bed

So the popular phrase waking up on the wrong side of the bed rang true for me this morning, and then I realized I wasn't on the wrong side of the bed.... I was just plain attitude and crabbiness, still on my own side. The night was extraordinarily a crappy nights sleep. For some reason my hubby snored louder and stranger than normal and then yelled at me in his sleep the several times I asked him to roll over so I could sleep, having no recollection of this upon waking this morning. My son was in and out of our room several times with nightmares about monsters he described to me. Finally at 4:00 am when the dog was in my face having to go out my son again woke up and I just let him in the bed with us, and I was too tired to get out of bed to go put him back where he belonged. Really my hubby's alarm was going to go off in 30 minutes anyway. My son decided that tossing and turning was totally what I ordered and he sure did serve it, up until the time the alarm went off that my husband didn't hear and I had to repeatedly poke him to shut it off. Where was it written in the manual that I signed up for this? Oh wait, darn, I think they forgot to issue me mine. Oh well! So try as I might with all the advice I give about controlling your attitude when you can't control your circumstances I still woke up yelling at the dog who was hovering over me licking my face because of course everyone wants to be fed at 5:30 AM. I got up to help my husband get his lunch together totally disgusted because I just wanted to sleep. Then somehow while opening the can of tuna over the sink the can opener came off and the tuna can lodged directly into the garbage disposal hole, REALLY? I am already crabby, is this happening I thought? A knife a fork and a husband later we managed to get it out so that I could open the can and proceed to make the tuna, all the while the dogs are stalking me in the kitchen because their internal time clock says "FEED ME, NOW... " with a "PRETTY PLEASE" on top I am sure of it! Not to mention my snappy attitude that I am sure my husband appreciated for the start to his day... OOPS.. sorry honey, I know I am suppose to be the good example. In our household we only have a 2 car garage which fits our Polaris, a mower, tool chests, a Power Wheel, shelving, bikes, a ping pong table and my hubby's work truck with expensive tools for his job- that we don't need to risk leaving outside to get broken into. This leaves absolutely no room for my vehicle or our F250 which sit in our driveway, but require someone to move a vehicle every morning so my hubby can leave for work. But since he leaves just in time to not be late for his job after an hour commute (praying no accidents occur on the freeway on his way that would possibly cause him a delay). I will move my car out of the driveway and pull into the garage when he leaves. I look at it as a blessing in disguise because I am able to move into the garage before it reaches 120 degrees outside and you don't even want to get in your car then. Phew I thought, I can feed the dogs and get to work on the computer, hopefully before my son wakes up. Which is usually at 8:00 but the last 3 days 6:15 is about his norm... ugh- I hope that streak goes away! I enjoy my morning cup of coffee and getting a start to my day with a "quiet" atmosphere. I make a pot of coffee, pour a glass and walk into the office, and oh what is the first thing I do, pick up the cup and almost drop it on the hardwood floor, barely holding onto the cup- one of my favorites- but proceed to spill all of it's contents all over.... Um, can I get a break over here, it is only 6:12 AM. A: I can let these circumstances pile up and continue to have a sour day! B: I can crawl back in bed and pretend like I can fall back asleep... laying there writing an internal list of all the things I need to do today. C: I can say a little prayer for guidance in my day going forward, I can shake it off, dust myself off, write a little to get my groove on and go about my day, believing that it will only get better, putting my positive vibe out there, throw my hands up in the air and remember that happiness isn't something that happens to me, it is something I create. I chose C and just in the knick of time, since the door just opened and a little boy emerged. Will he made it to 6:50 this morning, maybe I can hope he will sleep past 7:00 AM SOON PLEASE! Make today a great DAY, Ya'll!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Let Go, Let God; and GET SOME SLEEP

So not such a good nights sleep I have concluded this morning. Apparently I was able to fall asleep quickly but I didn't stay there. It may have been the groggy feeling that I was able to fall asleep but the abundance of coffee and green tea I drank throughout the day to stay on top of my tasks, that just may have been the culprit that kept me awake. I spent most of my day figuring out some more of my branding, and hopefully soon I can reveal what I chose. I think my session really helped me decide what I wanted for me. The things from my real estate past that worked and new things to help simplify my advertising. I had a couple disappointing moments in real estate yesterday, one that involved properties and one that involved people. The one involving properties consumed a lot of my time, energy and a fight to save, one of two properties was recovered and the other is hanging by a thread where all I can do is sit and wait, after an hour and 45 minutes on the phone and having to disappoint a few people today, still not sure what to say but allowing prayer time for the right thing to say. I think being unable to sleep for a good portion of the night that many of us mom's, wife's, and working women experience from time to time is our minds racing. "what could we have done differently? what did we do wrong? if we would have only ______ would it have worked out differently?" Time and time again we beat ourselves up over the what ifs. The ones that will never happen, the ones that we strain our energy and time consuming thoughts about things and worrying as much as we sometimes... OFTEN do. It is often hard to find out that something you worked so hard for can fall apart before your eyes. Sometimes it isn't even something we did wrong or didn't do. I pride myself on being a helpful person, I help others because it gives me satisfaction knowing that I am participating in making someone happy, their dreams come true. I feel truly blessed that God has called me to interact in other's lives and to help them succeed. I know that I cannot always control my circumstances or those of other people around me, and I shouldn't feel responsible when things don't turn out the way someone expected, especially when I am giving my 100% to help, but it is still disappointing. The other disappointment involved people. Those who seem extremely concerned about your well being, but don't follow through, they don't do the things that they promise and don't follow up. I know that we are all busy people, I know that sometimes I forget things because I have so much that I am committed to or that I want to do to help others. I hate the feeling that I have when this occurs and I am extremely sorry. I like to give others the benefit of the doubt too. However, when you have someone in a position where their job is to help you and they overpromise and under deliver, that is when I feel my most disappointment when they do not. Maybe this is my cue to under promise and over deliver in what I do. I don't know. I am constantly telling others to find the good in every situation. I am reminded that life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrong. (Charlotte Bronte) Sometimes it is hard when someone is unkind to you to not want to be unkind back, to be rude or to get emotionally negative toward that person. Going over and over in your head what you may want to say or do to get even. I am really not a grudge holder or a revenge taker, but in my mind I do beat myself up sometimes about what occurred and how I feel or have been under delivered to. I am reminded that God says See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 NKJV This brings me to another one of my daily affirmations on my bathroom mirror, Somehow everything works out. We cannot control another person's attitude, words, actions, reactions, or thoughts, we can only control our own. We are responsible for our self and what we are putting out there into the world for others to conjure our image. Think before you speak, is it kind? is it necessary? is it good? will you follow through? If you can't answer yes to these questions you may consider keeping it to yourself, because until you verbalize it, no one expects it of you. I am told that I need to be the example to others, I need to be patient, kind and giving. You should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Branding MYSELF decisions decisions!

Awww. So as of yesterday, I have decided now that my mom who has been and is my strong hold, who taught me everything I know and got me started in this career that I love in real estate, is phasing out of the center of the business to concentrate on other things I need to Re-brand myself as a Realtor and find my niche. For 12 years I have been in the business seen a lot of different market types, ups/downs, the bad the good and the ugly! I want to be know for who I am, what makes me ME! I have taken workshops on branding yourself and classes in marketing in the different jobs I have held over the years and at college. No matter what you have learned about marketing or creating a brand, it is something that you want to stick with you and give others your image, not something to take lightly or change with the seasons! There needs to be a solid reason to do so! I have always been a caring, giving person who easily gives to others and the soft touch of THE JEN TEAM' previous birdhouse image and tag line of "helping you find a house to call home" worked for my partnership with my mom, the mother daughter team that we built over the 12 years that we worked together. It was fun, amazing and worked for what we were trying to do... but now re-creating my brand is not only bittersweet it is fun, exciting and a little bit stressful! Being the perfectionist I am when it comes to certain things it is almost hard for me to decide. I am probably a big pain in my agent relations advisor's neck... thanks for sticking in there with me Danielle Gregorich, but heck we will get through this. Thanks for coming on board to help me make this a reality! I want it to be WOW, I want it to be catchy, and I want it to be ME! So hold tight everyone while I take this little journey (that needs to be super quick - I have a deadline for a marketing piece due next week!) and we will see all the "endless possibilities" it can create. As I autograph my Paxton and Mali Find Their Boat books: " the possibilities of your imagination are endless, DREAM BIG!"

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

For Love...

On my recent vacation I had the opportunity to spend a little "quality" time with my husband. He suggested that we go for a drive into the woods on the Polaris early to see the sunrise and see if we could call in any coyotes. Me, I heard, husband and wife, sunrise, ride in the woods... romantic..... So if anyone knows me knows I am not one to sit still for any long period of time, I am a busy body. I can barely sit through a whole movie, my idea of this bonding time and my husband's idea soon became completely different. My idea of the romantic drive, talking about things we don't have a chance to say and beautiful sunrise photo opportunities awaited me, I could always take a book to read if I got bored waiting on the coyotes to come... or so I thought. His idea of a romantic bonding was me being into one of his hobbies and how liking something that interests him would be "hot" in his mind- turned out completely... not what I expected. I woke up at 3:30, and proceeded to put on my "camo", Super! I headed out to the kitchen where I had a camo mask placed on my face that made me immediately gag... I may have overreacted just a tad when I literally gag and exclaimed "blek what the --- is that" I am from the Midwest and my thoughts turned to my childhood in an instant- does anyone know what I am talking about when I say something smells like lightening bugs- seriously my immediate thought went to the Ball glass jars we collected lightening bugs in as a kid and poked holes in the top so they could breath. That is what this mask smelled like, it smelled like the inside of the bug collection container. Gross! Apparently there is some "scent" that you can put on that will mask your smell so that the predators out there will not smell humans and be more likely to come in when called. Fabulous but not something I desired to breath in or smell like for the rest of the day. People really find this fun? I was informed that I would have to sit still, be still, not talk, move around, make noise, shuffle my feet, or even read and taking pictures turned out to be completely prohibited, well... okay, we were still going to watch the sunrise right? Even though I couldn't capture it's essence. We parked the Polaris, proceeded to walk quietly into the meadow to set up our "calling" camp. with our back to guess what? The sunrise... FABULOUS!, not only did I have to sit quiet, not even next to my hubby, I couldn't move, couldn't read, couldn't talk and couldn't watch anything. But hey I got to enjoy the sound of nature, the birds singing and the trees swaying, the wind! What else could a girl ask for then to be close to God in his creation, and then the noise began. What noise, oh the noise of the call. Distressed animals, whiny animals, animals that sounded like a boy going Daaaad, daaad, daaad- I thought I left my kid at the cabin for some spouse bonding time... Wow, I went from peaceful to stressed out in 2.5 seconds. LOL- after what seemed like eternity of not being able to move, shuffle, talk, etc- and scared out of my mind sitting there, not armed yards away from the hubby, hoping in the back of my mind, praying actually, that one of these "called" animals wouldn't all of a sudden be standing behind me contemplating me for breakfast my hubby says we can move to another location since it had been a half an hour with no results. A half an hour, really- totally seemed like an hour and a half to me! Remember, I don't usually sit still for very long, I am often found fluttering between projects- I didn't even do well with the desk job I had for three years, even then I was on the phone talking! We picked up our belongings and trekked to the next location, set up our stands and waited, listened and called again. After another I sure was a half an hour of all the same things not going on, I hear "BOOM" - I looked over at Steve like do you shoot something searching in the field for our coyote- He looked my way and said he was getting bored so he shot at a bird on top of a plant. Apparently once the gunshot goes off animals in the vicinity scatter. Relief came over me that we were going to be able to leave since we had no more chances of calling in the animal. Steve asked if I wanted to try to shoot a bird. My brain said, "No, not really", I'm not all about killing things, but what are the chances of a rookie shooter like me hitting a bird 50 yards away anyway, so I thought, "okay- he wants me to shoot the gun, I will show that I am interested in his gun!" He helps me get it set up and positioned correctly, tells me to turn off the safety when I am ready. I look through the scope aiming at a bird on top of a very large slightly swaying weed and pull the trigger. Dang nice shot... I killed the poor little blue birdie! Really... I never in a million years expected that. But after all the thoughts racing in my head of how my little morning excursion wasn't turning out like I planned, I think that little shot made my husband and I's bond grow just a little stronger. Not sure I am going to be tagging along on too many hunting adventures. I think I will stick to the fishing I was raised to love. At least I can talk, move and read a book when nothing is biting... lol. Sometimes the smallest little step forward can come out of the most unexpected situations, and when you can take an experience and find one good thing, even if it is only one thing. I was reminded that the present moment was my point of power, rather than complain as I was in my head, I chose to find the one thing that made my trip exciting and that is the moment I shared with others when I got back to the cabin. Ephesians 4:2-3 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.