Work Before Play: Trying to Motivate Myself

This summer, before we drove across the U.S. and back again, I made sure every hotel we would stay in had a swimming pool. I thought it would help the kids-- they'd be trapped in the car all day. It's easier to endure when you can look forward to something.

The above picture was taken at our first hotel pool. We had it all to ourselves. The water was really cold. I planned to take pictures and wade a little. The kids and my husband were having fun and reassured me I'd get used to the water quickly, so I gave it a chance. They were right. We played sharks and minnows and had cannon ball contests. I actually swam instead of just wading for the first time in years. I discovered I float much more easily than I did when I was a young teen. It was great fun. As it turned out, having pools to look forward to at every hotel wasn't just good for the kids. It helped me endure the long drives too.

I've started writing on this blog to help me be more accountable and more disciplined. I don't like schedules or time constraints. I don't like being told what to do. At the same time, I need to work. I need something to keep me accountable. Most of the time, I prefer the feeling I get when I "work first, play later." Today, I did it all backwards and watched a long, lovely, BBC, Hugh Dancy movie while eating ice cream and Hot Tamales instead of all the other things I was supposed to do. Even though I managed to get in a bit of writing quickly and easily, I don't feel happy about it. I didn't work hard enough. I didn't accomplish enough. I could have saved the movie and used it as a reward.

Self-discipline isn't easy. Perhaps it's time I developed a schedule and a reward system.

Riding or Writing

I should change the title of this post to "Riding and Writing," but I'm not sure I'm going to make time today. Yeah, I'm making excuses again to not write. I'm getting good at that. There are so many distractions. It makes me wonder if I really want to be a writer. Biking is more fun.

This morning, the weather was perfect. I live in a great place for biking. It's one of my favorite things to do. I always take my camera with me, just in case. Today, there were geese all over the park. Thousands of them rest at the lake every year on their way south.

After I go to the store, do the laundry, and take a shower, maybe then I'll try writing about riding. Ha! That is if I have time.

Later: I hadn't finished everything I needed to do, but decided to quit making excuses and write anyway. I didn't want to disappoint myself and have 0 words written today. Keeping track on this blog is motivating. Writing about riding was fun.

White Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans and Dried Cranberries

I've been wanting to make these cookies for a while. The natural white chocolate chips I use are made with cane juice instead of sugar and also have cocoa butter and pure vanilla in them. They are delicious and not at all waxy. I added a little too much flour to this batch of cookies, but they were still very yummy. Here's the recipe:

8 oz. softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/2 cups flour

10 oz. package of white chocolate baking chips

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1 cup sweetened dried cranberries (I used orange-flavored this time.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together sugars and butter until smooth, beat in eggs, add vanilla. Blend in flour mixture. Fold in white chocolate chips, pecans, and cranberries.

Drop rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9 to 12 minutes until edges are slightly brown. Yum!

Perfectionism

(This image is from wikipedia and it's public domain. These are traditional Icelandic turf houses. Read on and you'll see why I could imagine living in one.)

I took a test on Psychology Today's website and discovered that according to my answers I'm only 67% perfectionist. I was surprised; I thought I would get closer to 100%. They don't give a lot of analysis of your results unless you pay for it, but it did mention I'd be happier if I overcame this tendency. Duh. There is a lot of information about perfectionism on their website.

On a different website, I read a very interesting article by Peter Bregman. You can read the whole article "How to Escape Perfectionism" HERE. This is the part I liked:

"According to the World Database of Happiness (yes, there is one), Iceland is the happiest place on earth. That's right, Iceland. Yes, I know it's cold and dark six months out of the year there. I'm just giving you the data.

"The secret to their happiness? Eric Weiner, Author of The Geography of Bliss, traveled to Iceland to find out. After interviewing a number of Icelanders, Weiner discovered that their culture doesn't stigmatize failure. Icelanders aren't afraid to fail — or to be imperfect — and so they're more willing to pursue what they enjoy. That's one reason Iceland has more artists per capita than any other nation. 'There's no one on the island telling them they're not good enough, so they just go ahead and sing and paint and write,' Weiner writes.

"Which makes them incredibly productive. They don't just sit around thinking they'd like to do something. They do it. According to the psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, who wrote the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, 'It is not the skills we actually have that determine how we feel but the ones we think we have.'"

Now I want to move to Iceland and live in a turf house.

Trying to Come Back

I don't know if it will last, but I'm going to try public blogging again.

We had an incredible, memorable summer-- one of the best of my life. We took a long and scenic drive from our home in New York to Salt Lake City, Utah and back again.

Now the kids are in school. I'm going to try to write more often. I hope this will be a place where I can be accountable to myself.

I may go private again tomorrow, but I'll try this for as long as I can.

Creating a Memory

I chose to create a memory over having complete control and duplicating an image. We had a great time.

The kids helped me throw paint on the desk. We each used one color at a time, four times. I put the paint on three separate plates and we washed them in between colors. We walked around the desk throwing paint at it and at each other. Then we smashed the paint on top with paper so the desk top would be smooth. Great times.

Delicious

Care for a little crocus?


My children picked these.


The cream pitcher was my grandmother's.