Sharpening My Focus

For the past month or so I’ve slowly begun to realize that I’ve lost my focus. I don’t mean that I’ve lost my focus in the sense that I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing or I’m unable to concentrate on anything. My problem, I’m finding, is that I can’t focus on just one thing at a time. Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:

At work: I’m on the computer all day. Almost all my tasks come to me via email, which is fine; I love the efficiency of email. But I also like to multi task. Which is fine…to a point. The Firefighter and I got smart phones a few months ago, and since then, I have it sitting on my desk at work (charging most of the time, because the battery dies so often!). So, while I’m checking my work emails and beginning a project, I often also have my phone in my hand, checking Facebook or texting or reading home emails. And I’m doing all this while I’m answering the phone and trying to do paperwork. Not the optimal attention to detail that my job- or really any job- requires.

At home: We have a laptop with a wireless connection, which is fantastic. I can’t imagine being tied to a desktop computer any more. But having a laptop means it can be used in any room at any time. This usually translates to being used in the living room, where the TV is often on. And the Firefighter is often found. Mix all this together and you get the perfect storm: distracted television watching, conversation that lacks depth, quality, or even interest, which leads to frustration by one or both parties.

Anywhere where there’s lots of people: Whenever I’m in a group of people that I know, I always want to visit with everyone. With my newly discovered focus problem, this often leads to broken conversations, incoherent responses, frustration for the speaker and the listener, disappointment on the speaker’s part because I’m not 100% committed to the present conversation, and ultimately, a less-than-fulfilling visit with someone.

I can’t devote my entire attention to anything when I’m trying to do a little bit of everything.

And so, as the old school paper writing lessons say, identify the problem and develop strategies to address it.

I’ve identified the problem quite readily. The strategy? Sharpen my focus. When I’m at work, focus on the task at hand. If I get a text message, wait until I’m at a good stopping point to respond- and even read!- it. When I’m at home, make the Firefighter my priority for all things conversational and attention-taking. Put the laptop away if we’re watching TV together. Shut the TV off if I’m home already when he gets home. When I’m in social settings, show the person I’m talking with that he/she and what he/she has to say really is important to me- and listen. Don’t try to catch someone else’s eye because I need to talk to them, too. Don’t try to listen to another conversation while I’m trying to carry on my own (I can’t imagine I’d EVER do that….). In essence, be present in the present. Completely.

This is my goal, starting today. Can I do it? Yes…if I give the situation my full attention.

Shutterfly's Holiday Card Promotion

I am an avid blog reader. Every day I have a list of blogs I check, waiting eagerly for the page to load and reveal a new blog post. It’s kind of sad how sad I get when the blog hasn’t been updated. :)

A few days ago I was reading one of my “dailies” and discovered that Shutterfly is giving away 50 free holiday cards to bloggers! WOW!

I have heard so many positive things about Shutterfly. A family member who is an avid photographer swears her allegiance to Shutterfly; they’re the only site she trusts her photos to for storage and for getting really high quality prints.

I must say I have never used Shutterfly. I love taking pictures and love the idea of creating so many neat gifts with them, but just never did it. When I read about Shutterfly’s promotion, I got excited. This would be the chance I’ve been waiting for to try out Shutterfly for myself!

I clicked the blog’s link to Shutterfly’s page, and immediately was drawn into the really large variety of cards and gift ideas that are available there. Take a peek...

They have beautiful Christmas cards- I think this one is particularly adorable.

Their holiday cards are so nicely done- this one is one of my favorites.

Their Christmas photo cards look like they are such great quality! Wouldn't you love getting one like this in your mailbox this season?

I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these personalized mugs for my desk at work. My niece and nephew's shiny little faces would be a perfect fit. :)

If only I had known about these birthday party invitation cards when planning the Firefighter's latest birthday party! I'd have used this one, for sure. It'd be so fitting as he's such a history buff.

I am a huge fan of throwing a Christmas dinner party. Last year was the first annual Nichols' Christmas Dinner Party, and I can't wait for the second annual one this year. It's so fun to make it into a real event. I think I'm giong to use this holiday invitation to send to everyone on my guest list this year.

This is by far my favorite product- isn't it so classy?

If you're interested in making up some Christmas cards using Shutterfly's exemplary services, check out the information here: http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/ . I'm also going to chat about this on my Facebook page. I want to spread the free card love!

I'm off to find my favorite photo of the Firefighter and I to use for this year's Christmas card. How delightful!

Back again!

Yet again, it's been a long time since I've been on here. We've been busy with a staycation (did I really just say that?), niece and nephew, family time, family surgeries, trips, celebrations, and life in general. 2010 has been an OK year- nothing too exciting, nothing horrific happened- just kind of an average year. I'm hoping 2011 will end up coming in with lots more exciting things!

The Firefighter and I are settling into our new church and L.O.V.I.N.G. it. The pastor and his family are fantastic people, and the church family is so welcoming. It's really been amazing to see what a great fit the church is for us. We're working on our Christmas play right now; that will be performed December 13. It's hard to believe we're scheduling Christmas things again!

That's all for today- I hope to get back into a regular bloggin routine. We'll see. :)

New Years Day Breakfast Pizza

I am so thankful to see a new year ushered in! 2009, like any year, had its share of happy times and challenging times. For some reason, that year seemed to weigh a little more heavily on the challenging times side. As a result, I breathed a sigh of relief when I woke up on January 1, 2010- a new year with it's own set of memories, both good and bad I'm sure, but now I can officially say "last year..." about 2009.

I decided to start the year off with something new. For a while now I've been an avid reader of several blogs, most especially of cooking blogs. There's the girl smitten with her kitchen , the one who creates lots of last night's dinners that the Firefighter and I wouldn't eat but I still enjoy reading about, and one who combines some poetic license and cake type in her blog name. I thought it would be fun to record some of the things that come out of my own kitchen. It probably won't be a daily occurance, and certainly won't be any gourmet food productions, but it will be an honest look at how one gal can concoct food, hopefully delicious most days, in a small space with fairly "normal" ingredients (normal to us anyway).

In my menu planning for this week, I thought it'd be fun to start the new year with a riff on a classic-pizza. Breakfast pizza is one of the Firefighter's new favorites, and I'm pretty fond of it myself, so on the menu it went. Much to the Firefighter's chagrin however, I decided to use wheat pizza dough; he's a white pizza dough kinda guy. Thankfully, he gave it a chance- and has declared that wheat pizza dough can be added to the regular pizza dough rotation. New year changes are abounding in our household already!

New Years Day Breakfast Pizza

1pizza dough ball (I bought mine at the grocery store deli; if you'd rather, make your own)

4 eggs

2-3 cups mozerella cheese

Your choice of toppings: bacon, ham, onions, peppers, mushrooms, sausage. I went with meat lovers pizza, ham and bacon, this time.

scant teaspoon cornmeal

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Prep your pizza baking dish- I use a pizza stone for all my pizza makings. Spread cornmeal on baking dish.

Stretch the pizza dough to get it big enough to cover your dish. If you have a difficult time stretching it to full size, let it rest a few minutes after initial stretching, then resume. Be sure to form a good pizza crust around the edge of the dough to keep the eggs contained.

Beat the eggs in a separate bowl; pour onto crust. Top with cheese, then toppings.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown and the outside crust sounds hollow when you tap it.

Enjoy!

A Little Bit About Me

As I was blog surfing the other day, I came across this fun survey. I thought, "Hey, it's been so long since I posted anything on my blog that even this is better than another day of nothing new!"


1. What is your favorite thing to snack on while you're blogging? My favorite thing to snack on any time, period, is tortilla chips. And if there happens to be homemade salsa to go with it, so be it. Or bean dip. or ranch dressing. or...

2. What is one thing you wouldn't want to live without? My glasses.

3. Beach, Mountains, or Farm? Mountains to live, mountains or beach to vacation

4. What's your least favorite chore/household duty? taking care of clean clothes! Ugh!

5. Who do people say you remind them of? If I'm with my sister, then her, because they say we look alike (not as much now as we used to though!) A lot of people say I look like my dad. Others say I look like my grandmother. Still others say my mannerisms are a lot like my other grandmother. So, I guess I remind people of lots of people!

6. Prefer parties and socializing or staying home? Almost always parties and socializing. I especially like socializing in my own home.

7. What's your all time favorite movie? Phew boy. Like, can only ever pick one movie to watch for the rest of my life? I can never pick just one. How about the top three? My Fair Lady, original version (ala Audrey Hepburn), Gone in 60 Seconds for my adrenaline/car fix, and Mathew McCoughney gift set (whatever movies of his are included are fine with me!). And Devil Wears Prada. And Something's Gotta Give.

8. Do you sleep in your make-up or remove it like a good little girl every night? I always remove it. Just ask the Firefighter. "What ELSE do you have to do before we go to bed?!"

9. Do you have a deep desire to learn something that you've never had a chance to learn? I'd love to learn to play the saxophone and violin. And also how to properly bind a quilt.

10. What's one thing you're really good at? Sensing direction- not north/south/east/west (very bad at that), but what direction I'd need to go to return from where I came. Get it? Or where I'm at in relation to something else.

1. What first attracted you to your spouse? His hotness. And then once we met in person, his nose. :)

12. What is something you love to smell? lavender vanilla linen spray from Bath and Body Works. Mmmmm

13. Tell something about you that you know irritates people. My attention to detail. Ahem. :)

14. When you have extra money, what's the first thing you think to do with it? Shoes!

15. Are you a silent laugher or a loud laugher? Oh please- are there any silent laughers in my family? Loud laugher, at your service! What's the point of a quiet laugh? Nobody knows you're having fun that way.

16. Where is your favorite place to shop? Nine West for shoes. Grocery store for general shopping.

17. What's one thing you'd do more often if you had more time? visit people

18. Are you a big spender or frugal? Frugal

19. Who is your favorite character of all time? Santa Clause.

20. Would you want to be famous? I htink I'd enjoy it, actually.

Summer

We have had a most fantastic summer so far this year. It didn't start off so great weatherwise- it rained, rained, rained all of late spring right through mid July. Finally- ooooooh so slowly- the rain started to subside, and we actually had a few sunny days. Then, about the beginning of August, summer decided to grace us with her presence- and she arrived in full force. The three H's could be found everywhere- hazy, hot, and humid. But after months of everyone complaining about the rain, no one had any patience for anyone complaining about the summer weather we'd been longing for.
The Firefighter and I have had quite a fun summer. Last summer, we kind of pushed ourselves too much, staying busy not only on weekends, but also week nights. Now that may be fine if it's just one or two people who rent a tiny apartment and have nothing to do to keep a house up- or their energy- but we decided not to do it again.
This summer, we've done probably more than we've done before since we've been married, but it's been way more relaxed and so much more enjoyable. Somehow- somehow- I've managed to stay on top of most household chores. IE laundry's been done regularly, new bathroom is kept clean, dust kitties haven't turned into dust lions- it's been a good feeling to keep the house- mostly- and still do so much.
We kicked off the summer with the annual Rogers Family Gathering over the 4th of July. It was a rainy, dreary weekend, but we managed to find enjoyment in each other, if not in the weather. We then rested for a weekend, then took the Firefighter's mom camping at a local campground. That campground has become our favorite go-to place for a fun, easy, restful but full of activity weekend. We kayaked and fished, and ate, and kayaked some more, and rested. It was great.
The next weekend we headed out on the Great Wilderness Adventure. Silly ole me decided it would be fun to try this "wilderness camping" that the Firefighter raves about. "It's so great", he says; "we'll load up our borrowed kayaks or canoe with alllll the stuff we'll need for the weekend, which by the way can't include any more than one pair of pants a piece and 3 pieces of stale bread to live off of, a tarp to wrap up in while we sleep, and an ax to find firewood and fight off wilderness creatures". Oh yeah right- way to sell me. (OK maybe he didn't say it EXACTLY like that, but it's what I pictured).
Well, turns out- he was right! And, we didn't stick to 1 outfit and 3 pieces of bread a piece. We actually went with friends of ours, who- bless their whole bodies, not just their souls, as people usually say- had an 18 foot boat at their disposal. Ah, things began looking up! So, we piled tent, food, chairs, fishing gear, stoves, lanterns, tarps, 4 adults, 2 kids, 1 dog, and a partridge in a pear tree in that boat, and off we went on Lobster Lake to find our wilderness campsite.
Might I just say that I expected a little field that we had to cut the grass down to set up our tent, finding rocks to make a fire pit, and using the nearest big bush for our bathroom. Ohhh no- we had a big fancy double-picnic table setup, very nice stone fireplace, fanciest outhouse I've ever seen, and a beautiful view. It wasn't really roughing it at all! The weather did kind of stink- that rain again- and the mosquitos were always ready to attack, but we had a fantastic time. And, I caught my very first fish. Can't beat it.
Then we took a few days off to rest up...and headed to South Carolina! The Firefighter's nephew is in the Navy, and is stationed there for his training. So, we took a short vacation and mixed in a visit with him. Perfect trip- Firefighter fell in love with the place, saw lots and enjoyed the HEAT, visited with his nephew, and just had a ball. He's already posted his resume and who knows what the future holds. I can get used to saying "y'all" , I guess.
Then we took a few more days off... a few weeks, actually, and really enjoyed being home. In that time, we were in the local parade- I rode in the fire engine with the FF-- wayyy cool; went to Old Orchard Beach a few times, started canning what little produce we got from our sorely-rain-damaged garden, went to an outdoor concert in OOB again with my folks and enjoyed the pure summerness of it, and cleaned out the house. A good purging of CRAP- I mean, junk- periodically is so necessary no matter where anyone lives.
So, we've had a rest, and are now headed out for the rest of our summer. This weekend is camping with my family at Littlefield Beaches, the campground we've been going to for years because- well, it's just too awesome to not make it a habit; then we're headed to Black Brook Cove for some more camping in the boonies, but this time at an actual campground with people around. People we know, no less.
It's going to be great- I can't wait! Pictures will come soon of the great adventures.

I Failed

I was coming out of the Walmart drive today at lunchtime, where there are 4 lanes of traffic, and there, standing on the little tiny island between the 4 lanes, was a man holding a sign that said "homeless hungry". And as I watched him, he looked so sad. He was so thin with dirty clothes on, and his eyes looked so hopeless. I was immediately struck with the depravity of his situation and started crying. I was in the farthest lane away from him, and traffic was really heavy so I couldn't get over to him- I was trying to think what I'd bought for groceries that I could give him, and the only thing he could really eat quickly and without need preparation or a stove were the 24 hot dog buns I bought, and yes it would fill an aching hole, but how nutritious would it be? So I drove away, and was debating if I should go buy him lunch and take it back to him.

I was having a real internal battle about it; my excuses were "I'm alone, I don't know if he'll try to hurt me if I go back, how do I really know he's homeless", and all I could think was "feed the hungry. What would my Jesus do?" Now I never use that phrase- it is just so cliche so normallyu meaningless to a Jesusless world, but that's what was going through my head. So the battle waged all the way back to my office-3 miles- and I pulled in the parking lot and called my Firefighter, who of course was away from his phones. So I sat there and cried and just couldn't get the homeless man out of my mind. Finally I realized that my lunchbreak was over and I had to go back to my office; Iwas feeling so horrible that I hadn't helped that man. Then my Firefighter called back.

I broke down again on the phone with him and told him what happened, and he said he would go up and take a lunch to him. The Firefighter was at work and had already taken his day's lunch break, but he said that he would go. He went to McDonalds and bought a quarter pounder meal to take up to the man.

I am so thankful for him doing that... and yet I feel like I missed a major opportunity by being too chicken to do it myself. In the past I have ALWAYS thought "get a job, ya bum" when I see people holding those signs- but this time it was completely different. My heart was, still is, broken for that man. He looked so lost. I think it's going to take me a long time to get over this- and I kind of hope I don't. My mind is wondering "where will this take me?", this initial broken heartedness for those so less fortunate than I. I had just bought $60 worth of groceries- and he had nothing.
So that's my story today. It's like his face has been burned onto my mind. I want to go running back to him and say "come with me! I'll clean you up and get you warm and full, then tell you about Jesus's constantly fulfilling love". I want to show him what true love is, and how he can never say he's truly hungry again. I want to be Jesus's hands to this man.

I missed out.