*MONDAY MEMOS*
(If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge)
Weekly recap of my rather crazy, insane, but fun and rewarding life!
dear utah homemakers, I hurried home from my harp lesson so I could make it to Homemakers. When I pulled up I was the only one there besides Beth. I was sure I had the wrong time or location, but I didn't. This month's meeting was the sharing one and it's usually the most packed. We only had eight total today. It was crazy! I'm glad I went though because it was actually a lot of fun with a smaller group. This year I took:
- See more at: http://lisaesile.com/the-pleasant-unpleasant-rule/#sthash.KVOieYjf.dpuf
dear treat mom, Taylor is heading on his cruise with a long drive to California first and Bryce is heading to Seattle with an even longer drive (and back) and so I made them both a bunch of treats for the road trip. Taylor leaves Saturday and Bryce leaves Monday.
dear deer and turks, amazing how well they get along. They just hang out together. Mr. Cat is usually in there with them somewhere too.
dear mr. cat... or whoever that is! Taylor did some magic to him and posted this on Snapchat. I think he looks great actually.
dear funeral, one of Dave's family's friend passed away this week and it was so unexpected and sudden and so sad. Life really is fragile and we need to cherish each moment because we just never know. She was only 54. Hit's really close to home. She was getting ready to go to her Dr. appt but died 15 minutes before. Dave's sister Linda spoke at it and did a great job but it is really a sad thing.
dear american mother's honor luncheon...
I had to leave the funeral early so I could get to the AMI luncheon at the Lodge. I was supposed to help decorate but it was mostly done by the time I got there. It looked so cute. The theme was Motherhood Splashes of Love. My niece Aubrey wrote a song just for this event and I was so excited! We ate and the speakers started and we kept waiting for them to announce her song, but she wasn't announced to go up when the program said. So I sent a note to Jenniece asking her what happened (they forgot!) and so she ended up singing at the end. It ended up being better anyway because people always remember more when you are at the beginning or at the end.
dear spring break, Taylor and his roomies made it to Vegas and they spent Saturday night at Julie's house. Julie sent me these pictures. Here is a great photo of them all with Jonathan and Michael.
dear mckay, I got these pictures from his Mission President's wife. They had a Zone Conference and she always sends us photos and a note. I posted that on his blog. He is looking good!
This one also popped up on the Facebook memory page. Mr. Cat sound asleep in the garbage can in the computer room. He hasn't done that for a very long time but he really used to sleep in there!
dear quotes:
Weekly recap of my rather crazy, insane, but fun and rewarding life!
dear extra day! I love LEAP year! It's like you get an extra free day! I wish I would have thought of something really cool to do, but it was just a regular day. I did my long run (only nine miles though) and practiced my harp for quite a while. But I should have done something exciting or something that I don't normally do. I'd say I'll do that next year, but I'll have to say next fourth year! I did get my blog caught up and that was nice. Bryce headed off to Idaho for his job and Dave and I finally went and saw Star Wars. FHE at it's best! We went and ate at El Toro first and it was really yummy. I liked the movie, but I was not happy Hans Solo died! What!???
dear first day of march! Welcome! March is here! It came in like a lamb. You know what that means? Well, maybe all the days in between will be lamb-like! Either way spring is on it's way!
I got McKay's mission emails finally printed out and put in a binder. Now I need to do it weekly like I did with Taylor's so I can keep up on it.
I went to our Relief Society birthday dinner. I was supposed to go help decorate but I had so many things come up so I couldn't. We were supposed to bring three of our favorite things and bring one of those to give away. I took McKay's mission emails because my favorite thing right now is getting emails from Russia! I also took a jar filled with black sand from Hawaii. The beach and the ocean is definitely one of my favorite things. When I'm at the ocean I feel at home. It speaks to my soul. I also took a heart rock because I collect them as well as pennies from heaven. And....for my give away, I took a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs. Mainly because chocolate is definitely my fave, but they are also in a purple bag! Jonell won them.
dear hill repeats, I actually wasn't planning on running hills this week, but when I realized it was Wednesday and I wanted to do more than five miles, I decided I might as well. I only got in 9 repeats but over six miles, so I was happy.
dear five hour lunch! Yes, I said five hours! Sounds like it could go with the Five Hour Energy drink. Bonnie and I FINALLY got together to catch up. We had planned lunch and then pedicures but I had to omit the pedicure because my big toenail has been really bothering me and I didn't want anyone to be messing with it. It's pretty painful. So we went to Maddox and talked and caught up! It was great! I love that woman. She is such a dear friend. A true genuine friend. Those are hard to come by, but she is one of those rare people. She is just a very wonderful person. We talked and talked and we had no idea so much time had passed. It really flew by! When I looked at my watch it said 4:30! WHAT?! People were now coming to eat dinner instead of lunch! We were both extremely surprised since she had picked me up at noon! So by the time I got home it was 5:00 p.m.! We laughed and laughed because who knew!? No wonder we were getting hungry again! LOL It was a great five hours and we just said it made up for all the lunches we missed out on! I think that may be a record!
We both bought some frozen turkey steaks to take home and make for dinner and some of their yummy taffy and chocolate. It was a great day!
I got home and immediately made dinner and then Dave had meetings so I practiced the harp and worked on my blog a bit.
dear sky's birthday! Wow, my firstborn turned 31 today! How that is possible is beyond me. Not sure how my oldest son can be two years older than me, but whatever. ☺
He is truly a great person and I am very proud of him. I have been missing him so much since he left for California. I know he isn't feeling settled there yet and having major Hawaii withdrawals. I called him and he sounded pretty tired. He had been up late on a date with a new girl he is dating. I hope he will do something to celebrate today since he is alone. Well, he has Jason there, but he's not always around.
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| Happy LEAP Day! What kind of LEAP are you going to take on this one extra day this year???? I'm leaping into spring whether the weather agrees or not |
I could see the green underneath the stream on my run today. Spring REALLY is coming!
On my run I saw an apartment that had caught fire the night before. Mona's friend lives there but I haven't heard if she was affected by it or if she is in the ones that were not.
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| I also said hi to Tyson's memory tree in the park. The snow has all melted! |
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| I got this time on my plank today! YAY! I was very excited but it about killed me! |
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| I had a hair appointment today and as I was sitting in the chair this ↑ truck goes driving by. I actually laughed out loud. Catherine told me they empty out the septic tanks. I knew I had to get a photo and send it to Bonzo! We were just talking about this last week at lunch! "Stool" was one of those crazy words we used to use in high school and I knew Bonzo would need a laugh (she is still in the hospital) so after I was done, I drove up the hill to find it. I text her the photo and she loved it. |
I got McKay's mission emails finally printed out and put in a binder. Now I need to do it weekly like I did with Taylor's so I can keep up on it.
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| Taylor stopped by for a couple hours. These two had fun playing darts for a bit. |
I went to our Relief Society birthday dinner. I was supposed to go help decorate but I had so many things come up so I couldn't. We were supposed to bring three of our favorite things and bring one of those to give away. I took McKay's mission emails because my favorite thing right now is getting emails from Russia! I also took a jar filled with black sand from Hawaii. The beach and the ocean is definitely one of my favorite things. When I'm at the ocean I feel at home. It speaks to my soul. I also took a heart rock because I collect them as well as pennies from heaven. And....for my give away, I took a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs. Mainly because chocolate is definitely my fave, but they are also in a purple bag! Jonell won them.
It was a lot of fun hearing what everyone brought and why. I learned so much about everyone!
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| Here is Linda showing and telling us her favorite things. Hi Linda! (She reads my blog so I had to give her a shout out!). :) |
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| I asked Navy if she would sing My Favorite Things for the program. She did complete with a white dress and a blue satin sash! She was adorable! |
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| The meal was yummy as well. One of the Stake RS counselors asked to take our table's picture for something they were doing and I got the other counselor to take a few with my phone. This is the best we could do! FAIL! LOL |
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| This is what I won for my prize! Bonnie brought them. I love them! It was really a very fun night! |
dear hill repeats, I actually wasn't planning on running hills this week, but when I realized it was Wednesday and I wanted to do more than five miles, I decided I might as well. I only got in 9 repeats but over six miles, so I was happy.
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| I didn't find a penny or a heart rock but I did find this in the road. Love notes really are everywhere if you just look. |
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| I may not have found a heart rock, but Dave did. He left this one on the ironing board. Hah! I'm actually surprised I saw it! Now if he would have left it on my desk, or by the brownies, or harp, or by the fridge, there would be no missing it...but the ironing board? LOL But, it was very thoughtful of him! |
dear five hour lunch! Yes, I said five hours! Sounds like it could go with the Five Hour Energy drink. Bonnie and I FINALLY got together to catch up. We had planned lunch and then pedicures but I had to omit the pedicure because my big toenail has been really bothering me and I didn't want anyone to be messing with it. It's pretty painful. So we went to Maddox and talked and caught up! It was great! I love that woman. She is such a dear friend. A true genuine friend. Those are hard to come by, but she is one of those rare people. She is just a very wonderful person. We talked and talked and we had no idea so much time had passed. It really flew by! When I looked at my watch it said 4:30! WHAT?! People were now coming to eat dinner instead of lunch! We were both extremely surprised since she had picked me up at noon! So by the time I got home it was 5:00 p.m.! We laughed and laughed because who knew!? No wonder we were getting hungry again! LOL It was a great five hours and we just said it made up for all the lunches we missed out on! I think that may be a record!
I got home and immediately made dinner and then Dave had meetings so I practiced the harp and worked on my blog a bit.
dear sky's birthday! Wow, my firstborn turned 31 today! How that is possible is beyond me. Not sure how my oldest son can be two years older than me, but whatever. ☺
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| Found this photo of him and some of his buds in Hawaii. |
dear harp lesson, I headed to my lesson and I had felt pretty good about my practice this week but holy cow it just keeps getting harder each week. Good thing I don't have to learn it all at once! She was pleased with my form though. I was happy because I have been really practicing. Now I have to get the thumb down and the fingers to be faster on the placement of four fingers.
dear utah homemakers, I hurried home from my harp lesson so I could make it to Homemakers. When I pulled up I was the only one there besides Beth. I was sure I had the wrong time or location, but I didn't. This month's meeting was the sharing one and it's usually the most packed. We only had eight total today. It was crazy! I'm glad I went though because it was actually a lot of fun with a smaller group. This year I took:
- Everglades seasoning - Sky introduced this to us from Indiana. Can only get online. But it makes everything taste amazing!
- Rosemary Garlic seasoning - Costco. Oh this is so good! Makes plain chicken taste gourmet.
- Norwex Spironet - LOVE these things! I clean my ovens with them and it takes hardly anytime or effort. Just so amazing.
- Coconut Crunch - Can we say addicting!
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| And I took (wore) my new favorite shirt! Isn't it so cute!? |
Some of the things the others brought to share were:
- Cut pool noodles and put in boots to stand them up
- Wrap lettuce and celery in foil and it lasts forever
- Run bacon under cold water before cooking to reduce shrinking
- Phone Finder
- Egg-stractor (not impressed) lol
- Website: helpfulcounselor.com for parenting helps
- Oneclick app to download books from the library and listen on phone
- Homemade Alex and Ani bracelets
- Relative Finder app
- Mommy Points app
- Quilt kit at Village Dry Goods and a how to cut in shapes
- Buy magnets of places travel and put on garage door
- Shine 3D gel for nails by Sally Hansen
- They're Real mascara at Ulta
- Sammy Hairspray from dollar store
- Vid Angel - movie rentals that you stream in
- Roku- channels that plug in to your TV
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| Lynda demonstrating the Egg-stractor. It was hilarious! |
Bryce got home from Idaho taking down the lights.
dear long run, I did my long run on Friday this week because I have a funeral and an American Mother's luncheon on Saturday. It was a beautiful day! Sunny and warm! In fact, it was the first day I wore capri's to run in!
Look at those lily whites! Blinding!
It's been too cold for capri's until today! LOVED IT!
That is until I saw this!
That is until I saw this!
EWWWWWWWW! They were wiggling sooooo much but they never separated. It was creepy! Oh man, I was screaming while I took the photo! I am sure my scream was heard in Idaho!
EEEEEEEK!!!!
I HATE SNAKES! The bad thing is I had to run past the same spot on my way home and they were gone! That was kind of creepier because I knew they were around somewhere and kept expecting to see one crawl out out of the weeds!
How appropriate!
But I did find something good among the bad!
I bet you do this.
You win an award and you think, this is good.
Or you get the biggest slice of cake and you sit back and think, this is so good.
- See more at: http://lisaesile.com/the-pleasant-unpleasant-rule/#sthash.KVOieYjf.dpuf
You win an award and you think, this is good.
Or you get the biggest slice of cake and you sit back and think, this is so good.
- See more at: http://lisaesile.com/the-pleasant-unpleasant-rule/#sthash.KVOieYjf.dpuf
This reminds me of a blog post I read about The Pleasant and Unpleasant Rule. Basically it says that we label things that happen to us as either good or bad. But instead of doing this we should replace the words good and bad with pleasant or unpleasant. The word unpleasant has no judgment. It is neutral. It's simply stating a fact that something doesn't feel good. We will still feel pain, but without the judgment it's easier to handle. This way is more accurate because how can we always know if something is good or bad? Sometimes we have to wait until later to see if it was truly bad or good. There are a lot of things that in the moment seem bad but in hindsight we find they were really good and we just needed more time to figure that out. But either way, snakes are ALWAYS bad! hah You can find the post HERE.
The Pleasant/Unpleasant Rule: Use This to Cultivate A Sense of Ease When Things Seem Bad
March 2, 2016 18 Comments
I bet you do this.
You win an award and you think, this is good.
Or you get the biggest slice of cake and you sit back and think, this is so good.
And when something untoward happens, like you get sick or your boyfriend dumps you or there’s no cake left, you label it bad.
Disastrous.
We all do it.
The mind’s tendency to judge things “good” or “bad” is one of its favorite and most annoying tricks.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been immersed in teaching the Doing Nothing Meditation course. One of the exercises we did is to replace the words “good” and “bad,” with “pleasant” and “unpleasant.”
Let’s call it, the
And boy does it make a difference.
The word “unpleasant” has no judgement. It’s neutral.
It’s simply stating a fact that something doesn’t feel good.
We still feel pain, but without all the judgmental mind chatter there’s an easiness.
It’s also far more accurate because how can you really tell if something is good or bad. There are countless examples of things that seem “bad” in the moment, but with hindsight we see are perfect.
Maybe there was no cake left for you. But then you decide to go to the store and get your own darn cake and on the way you run into a guy who just fell down and broke his leg so you take him to the hospital. Which now that you think about it is a whole lot more fulfilling than eating cake.
If you really want to judge what’s happening in your life, consider that you don’t have enough information.
Give yourself five or ten years and then do it
You win an award and you think, this is good.
Or you get the biggest slice of cake and you sit back and think, this is so good.
And when something untoward happens, like you get sick or your boyfriend dumps you or there’s no cake left, you label it bad.
Disastrous.
We all do it.
The mind’s tendency to judge things “good” or “bad” is one of its favorite and most annoying tricks.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been immersed in teaching the Doing Nothing Meditation course. One of the exercises we did is to replace the words “good” and “bad,” with “pleasant” and “unpleasant.”
Let’s call it, the
And boy does it make a difference.
The word “unpleasant” has no judgement. It’s neutral.
It’s simply stating a fact that something doesn’t feel good.
We still feel pain, but without all the judgmental mind chatter there’s an easiness.
It’s also far more accurate because how can you really tell if something is good or bad. There are countless examples of things that seem “bad” in the moment, but with hindsight we see are perfect.
Maybe there was no cake left for you. But then you decide to go to the store and get your own darn cake and on the way you run into a guy who just fell down and broke his leg so you take him to the hospital. Which now that you think about it is a whole lot more fulfilling than eating cake.
If you really want to judge what’s happening in your life, consider that you don’t have enough information.
Give yourself five or ten years and then do it
Look at that temperature! LOVED IT! SPRING IS COMING!
I bet you do this.
You win an award and you think, this is good.
Or you get the biggest slice of cake and you sit back and think, this is so good.
- See more at: http://lisaesile.com/the-pleasant-unpleasant-rule/#sthash.KVOieYjf.dpuf
You win an award and you think, this is good.
Or you get the biggest slice of cake and you sit back and think, this is so good.
- See more at: http://lisaesile.com/the-pleasant-unpleasant-rule/#sthash.KVOieYjf.dpuf
My plank time is going up (by mere seconds) but it is STILL KILLING ME!
dear treat mom, Taylor is heading on his cruise with a long drive to California first and Bryce is heading to Seattle with an even longer drive (and back) and so I made them both a bunch of treats for the road trip. Taylor leaves Saturday and Bryce leaves Monday.
Bryce's brownies didn't make it until Monday and I had to make more.
dear mr. cat... or whoever that is! Taylor did some magic to him and posted this on Snapchat. I think he looks great actually.
He is even snoozing when the sun is shining outside!
dear quick run on saturday, I got out early and got in my miles before my busy day. My plank time keeps going up ever so slightly and only because I try to hold it just a little bit longer to break the previous day's record. Oh man.... it's still killing me though! My goal is to get up to 5 minutes.
dear funeral, one of Dave's family's friend passed away this week and it was so unexpected and sudden and so sad. Life really is fragile and we need to cherish each moment because we just never know. She was only 54. Hit's really close to home. She was getting ready to go to her Dr. appt but died 15 minutes before. Dave's sister Linda spoke at it and did a great job but it is really a sad thing.
dear american mother's honor luncheon...
I had to leave the funeral early so I could get to the AMI luncheon at the Lodge. I was supposed to help decorate but it was mostly done by the time I got there. It looked so cute. The theme was Motherhood Splashes of Love. My niece Aubrey wrote a song just for this event and I was so excited! We ate and the speakers started and we kept waiting for them to announce her song, but she wasn't announced to go up when the program said. So I sent a note to Jenniece asking her what happened (they forgot!) and so she ended up singing at the end. It ended up being better anyway because people always remember more when you are at the beginning or at the end.
With my gorgeous nieces and sister in law Karen.
Aubrey introducing her song...
It was called Showered In Love and was beautiful! She is so talented! She had some ask her for her contact info. It had many moms in tears.
I was so happy my cute friend Shannon could make it!
Love all these amazing women/girls!
Karen and her girls came over to my house after and we had fun chatting. Bryce joined us for a while too. I got caught up on Aubrey's love life. It was a lot of fun. I made her oatmeal and Mickey some Mac and Chz since that is what they wanted. lol Mickey helped with some harp technique too. It was a fun day!
dear spring break, Taylor and his roomies made it to Vegas and they spent Saturday night at Julie's house. Julie sent me these pictures. Here is a great photo of them all with Jonathan and Michael.
Julie fed them well! Looks like they had a lot of fun!
I got this off Taylor's snapchat last week. I love the faces of both him and CJ. Tough guys! lol
I found this written on my Sunday School roll this week. Made me laugh.
dear mckay, I got these pictures from his Mission President's wife. They had a Zone Conference and she always sends us photos and a note. I posted that on his blog. He is looking good!
The Zone
He sent this one. He is at the Zoo he said but I don't see any animals. Crazy kid!
dear throwback, I was scrolling through the Facebook memory page and this one popped up. I loved it....
This one also popped up and it took me a little back.
There is Robin (who just nearly died from a massive heart attack, then Davaleen (who did die less than a year ago from a massive heart attack), and then Gina (who died almost three years ago from breast cancer), then Kathy (who is alive and well) and me (who I can say the same). Kinda made me a bit unsettled because two of the five of us are gone in this photo and it was almost three of the five. Hope it stops there! CHERISH THE MOMENTS!
This one also popped up on the Facebook memory page. Mr. Cat sound asleep in the garbage can in the computer room. He hasn't done that for a very long time but he really used to sleep in there!
Dave sent me these photos from their cabin trip a couple weeks ago. Oh well, better late than never I guess!
dear quotes:
Oh the memories!
Love this! We just need to really believe it!
Purple rocks everyone's world!
Love this!
Never give up!
Or give in!
Our 6th sense...
The Pleasant/Unpleasant Rule: Use This to Cultivate A Sense of Ease When Things Seem Bad
March 2, 2016 18 Comments
I bet you do this.
You win an award and you think, this is good.
Or you get the biggest slice of cake and you sit back and think, this is so good.
And when something untoward happens, like you get sick or your boyfriend dumps you or there’s no cake left, you label it bad.
Disastrous.
We all do it.
The mind’s tendency to judge things “good” or “bad” is one of its favorite and most annoying tricks.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been immersed in teaching the Doing Nothing Meditation course. One of the exercises we did is to replace the words “good” and “bad,” with “pleasant” and “unpleasant.”
Let’s call it, the
And boy does it make a difference.
The word “unpleasant” has no judgement. It’s neutral.
It’s simply stating a fact that something doesn’t feel good.
We still feel pain, but without all the judgmental mind chatter there’s an easiness.
It’s also far more accurate because how can you really tell if something is good or bad. There are countless examples of things that seem “bad” in the moment, but with hindsight we see are perfect.
Maybe there was no cake left for you. But then you decide to go to the store and get your own darn cake and on the way you run into a guy who just fell down and broke his leg so you take him to the hospital. Which now that you think about it is a whole lot more fulfilling than eating cake.
If you really want to judge what’s happening in your life, consider that you don’t have enough information.
Give yourself five or ten years and then do it
You win an award and you think, this is good.
Or you get the biggest slice of cake and you sit back and think, this is so good.
And when something untoward happens, like you get sick or your boyfriend dumps you or there’s no cake left, you label it bad.
Disastrous.
We all do it.
The mind’s tendency to judge things “good” or “bad” is one of its favorite and most annoying tricks.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been immersed in teaching the Doing Nothing Meditation course. One of the exercises we did is to replace the words “good” and “bad,” with “pleasant” and “unpleasant.”
Let’s call it, the
And boy does it make a difference.
The word “unpleasant” has no judgement. It’s neutral.
It’s simply stating a fact that something doesn’t feel good.
We still feel pain, but without all the judgmental mind chatter there’s an easiness.
It’s also far more accurate because how can you really tell if something is good or bad. There are countless examples of things that seem “bad” in the moment, but with hindsight we see are perfect.
Maybe there was no cake left for you. But then you decide to go to the store and get your own darn cake and on the way you run into a guy who just fell down and broke his leg so you take him to the hospital. Which now that you think about it is a whole lot more fulfilling than eating cake.
If you really want to judge what’s happening in your life, consider that you don’t have enough information.
Give yourself five or ten years and then do it
2 comments:
I love that picture of us too...I think I saved it again when it came up on my memories. I am so grateful for all the pictures with Davaleen and Gina in them...oh how I cherish our memories with them. I miss them!
Thanks for writing down the things from you RS party...might have to try a few. I love the pics of your kids. I was thinking today before I read your post that I need to make sure to take more pics of my kids even though I am around them all the time. I love pictures.
I always love reading your blog. I very much disliked the snake picture. I agree that when they were not there on the way back is just TOO creepy to think about.
Love the idea of pleasant and unpleasant.
I'm going to get the quote to remind myself each morning printed and put on the bathroom mirror.
Also love the quotes by Elder Holland and Elder Scott. I better get them printed on my forehead.
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