This and That

Last week was spring break so in this post I'll share some photos from our trip to Duluth, Minnesota where we went skiing at Spirit Mountain...

These are my feet in ski boots.  I got down half a hill before crying and hyper-ventilating while I looked down the rest of the hill.  My dear husband walked me back up to the lodge and that was that.

I have a new plan to give myself more time and less distraction in my days.  After reading Zen Habits' recent post on how to overcome information addiction, I latched onto the idea of negative consequences.  According to Leo's list of "how to tell if you're addicted", I still don't know if I'm truly addicted to Facebook and Pinterest because I don't feel I qualify for many of his items and I actually like being unplugged sometimes.  However, I'm online ALL day long most days and I do frequently and habitually check the two social networking sites to see if I have any notifications.  Yes, if I *am* addicted, "notifications" are my trigger.  My husband looks at Facebook and doesn't even see the little red boxes with numbers in them.  I look at the page and see little else, every time one pops up.

Elijah and Rose at Spirit Mountain, Duluth, Minnesota

So...dum, duh, dum...my plan: If I check Facebook or Pinterest any time outside of the hours of 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., I have to donate $10 to Rick Santorum's presidential campaign.  I personally can't think of anything I'd hate to do more right now, and not just because of the cash but because I do not want to be on that man's, or any other GOPer's, LIST.  Ever.  Yes, I am an unabashed liberal in my politics.  I might live a fairly conservative, traditional life, but I am a liberal when it comes to politics (lo and behold, most liberals live normal lives!).  And Rick Santorum's campaign is just a little lot too Handmaid's-Tale-come-to-life for me.  Thus, I have set up a very negative consequence and I have a feeling I will not be tempted to check social networking outside my planned hours any.time.soon.  And when Santorum's out of the race, I'll pick someone else potentially even worse--Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin come to mind here.  I think Ms. Palin will be taking donations for a long time, don't you?  The girl likes her money.  And hopefully, none of it will ever come from me.

Elijah the super-relaxed skier

Okay, politics aside, why am I doing this?  I would like more time in my day.

My mornings are now going to be reserved for exercising (already do this); cleaning (also do most days); reading actual books; my "office work" like meal planning, budgeting, bill paying and filing; some TV watching; and mostly, writing.  Writing seems to be the thing I kick to the side most of the time.  I'm afraid to write.  I procrastinate writing.  Writing is both a big "should" and a big "want to" in my life.  I will hope to write more on this blog, more stories of my life and maybe even do some novel writing again.

Rose the speed-demon skier

My evenings are going to be for family.  Plain and simple.  I almost always cook our dinner.  We always eat dinner together.  We like some TV shows.  We like to play games.  Some nights I have to bring the kids places.  And some nights we all sit around reading, too.  My evenings usually have been for family, but my new plan rules out the temptation to stare at a computer for even part of the night.  (Of course, I spent the entire morning and afternoon cleaning today so I'm blogging this evening.  Oh well.  I'll get better at this.)

Dad the former ski instructor and ski bum wannabe

A book I just finished reading is Party of One: The Loner's Manifesto by anneli rufus.  I found the book's subject very interesting, though the book itself isn't the most entertaining read.  She dwells a lot on various "loners" throughout history and the present as she tries to reclaim the word "loner" from criminal profiling.  Ms. Rufus is talking about introverts, and being one myself, and feeling the need to stick up for introverts in our extrovert-biased society, I am happy to see someone doing this.  I'm doing a bit of a study of books on introversion, in fact, and I'll talk about this more as I get to them.  Next up is Introverts in the Church by Adam S. McHugh.

Alas, spring break has ended and George and the kids went back to school today.  We savored every minute of the week we had, though.  Yesterday we visited both of my grandmothers in their towns a ways west of our own.  Before we left, I browned a roast and put it in the slow cooker, along with potatoes, onions, carrots, a can of diced tomatoes, 1/4 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce and plenty of salt and pepper.  We came home to a heavenly smell and the table set as above.  I love the combination of dark and denim blue, white, yellow and a bit of red.  With the addition of a green salad, and a finish of ginger tea, this is my very favorite meal.  (Usually I crave chocolate pudding with roast, but since we'd brought chocolate cake to Grandma's we skipped the pudding.  I still craved it though!)