Balance, Inspiration and Motivation

Balance, Inspiration and Motivation
Ever have trouble with one of these concepts? Maybe all of them?

For years, decades maybe, I thought time was the factor that caused me to struggle with balance. Specifically, not enough time to do be all the things I wanted to be, do all the jobs I wanted to do well. I am retired now, and in theory, the calendar is an open book and still don't have time to get to everything I want to do and should do.

How many of you look at a blank monitor wondering what you are going to write as a blog entry? Do you have a passing thought and dismiss it as too personal  or somehow too local for others to understand and appreciate? Do you feel guilty for not having written in "X" number of days but just don't know what to say or how to start? If it isn't blogging, is it cooking? What the heck are you going to fix for dinner tonight and the rest of the week? Are you a painter, quilter, woodcrafter or musician wanting to create or perform SOMETHING but you don't know what? What inspires you?

Oh, and motivation. Ugh! I could list many things that I do daily or weekly that need no prodding but there are others....oy! I am exercising at a gym three days per week. This is good. But it isn't enough. I need to watch what I eat but you know what? My motivation is at an all time low. I can think of many reasons to feel differently, but I don't feel  like putting any of those ideas into practice.

I know how to count calories, count carbs and count Weight Watcher points. It isn't about how, my problem is to get me to the starting gate. I am down on myself, not having a pity party or anything else that is negative and detrimental in outlook. I am just looking for a spark and have no idea where to find it or how to cultivate it.

Maybe I am overthinking things. Maybe it is as simple as this:

But for those of us who struggle with weight, we know it isn't that simple. If  you know of a key that helps unlocks the problems of balance, inspiration and motivation, would you please share it with me?

Talents that skip generations

Ever wonder where a "natural talent" or proclivity for something comes from if the parent didn't instruct the child?  For me, it becomes fascinating when I hear of child with a particular talent that a grandparent or great uncle, etc, had but that person was never around the child as a mentor. Perhaps the relative who shared the talent was dead before the child was born. While googling for some information on this question, I came across the terms "epigenetics" and  "epigenetic inheritance".

From what I read here from the University of Utah, it means that more than DNA transfers from parent to child. It means that a parent's experiences, in the form of epigenetic tags, can be passed down to future generations. This graphic and the explanation below it come from the provided link. 

Three generations at once are exposed to the same environmental conditions (diet, toxins, hormones, etc.). In order to provide a convincing case for epigenetic inheritance, an epigenetic change must be observed in the 4th generation.

I can see where chemicals that we are exposed to can affect not only our bodies, but our fetuses and the reproductive cells of future grandchildren, but that doesn't answer my question.

I love almost all crafts, especially those involving fibers. I never witnessed my paternal grandmother embroidering, but my dad used to tell me when I was embroidering or doing any hand sewing that I reminded him of his mother. My maternal grandmother could sew, but it was her sister, a great-aunt that I never met, who was a seamstress. My mom sewed out of necessity in the early years of my parent's marriage. By the time I came along, the only thing I remember my mother ever sewing was kitchen curtains. They were simple panels with a hem and a casing for the curtain rod. Sewing was never pleasurable for her.

I learned the basics of sewing in half a semester of home economics in 8th grade. The projects were ridiculous, but taught us the barest of basics. I was intrigued though and walked to Woolworth's (mom didn't drive and wasn't there to guide my purchases) and bought a pattern and fabric to make a dress with a zipper in the back and a matching lined jacket. When I came home with this, my mother nearly fainted. It looked like I was in over my head, but I was determined. I think the only advice mom gave me was about the quirks of her sewing machine which was much older than the one I had used in school. If I still had the outfit today, I am sure I could find many faults with it, but my end result made me happy and my mom proud. She treated me to new shoes to match the dress.

(Not the dress, but this is from the same era)

Those few weeks of class in 8th grade really did not prepare me for that pattern. Who or what guided me? Were my grandmothers' and great-aunt's eyes and fingers guiding me? Neither of my grandmothers lived near me and I saw them so rarely before they died, I really don't feel that they had any influence on me.

There doesn't appear to be any scientific evidence to support proclivities to be passed down. Everything not DNA is supposedly learned behavior. I still question this.

My paternal grandparents were far from young when I was born. I never remember them traveling to where we lived. They had two children, four grandchildren and three great-grandkids in my hometown. They just could not or would not travel. My maternal grandmother was long widowed and in hindsight, probably not a very stable person. She moved from town to town, seemingly on a whim in the 1950s and '60s. One phone call from her would be in Georgia, the next would be from Alaska. The phone calls usually meant she was out of money and needed some wired to her to get to her next destination and job. Maybe my mother's fear of travel was painfully related to her mother's gypsy-like ways. I have traits of both grandmothers in me. I love to travel but I love my home too.

Do have talents or interests that connect you to an ancestor? I haven't watched the TV show Who Do You Think You Are? but I understand this happens to many people. Whatever the answer to my question is, I think we are all more connected to each other and the past, both known and unknown, than we realize.

A wee bit o' Irish

I can't claim even a wee bit of Irish in me. I don't even ingest what most think of when we speak of Irish fare. Guiness is too strong for me, and I prefer Scotch to any whiskey, Irish or not. Hubby and I do love grilled corned beef sandwiches with coleslaw, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on rye or marbled breads, but don't care much for corned beef and cabbage fixed the traditional way.

That is no reason not to decorate though.

My table has a Belleek cache pot with a shamrock setting inside it.

The March SnoWonder figure is the only snow I want to see this month (or just about any month!)

St Patrick's Day and Easter often overlap when it comes to seasonal decorating. This vase is out year round, but now always in this location. The bunny was an Avon purchase many years ago. I'll have more bunnies to show in few days.

Would you like a cup of coffee in a shamrock mug?

Or would you prefer tea in a teacup? Years ago I became fascinated with Belleek and their process of making parian china. I HAD to have a teacup but wasn't finding single teacups for sale around home. Fourteen years ago we went on a Caribbean cruise with friends. We had a few hours to spend in Barbados and the first thing I spotted while shopping was this teacup! Nothing like going to Barbados from Michigan to buy an Irish teacup and saucer!

When the boys were little, we always had shamrocks cut from green paper, paper chains draped around things and often had cakes decorated with rainbows made of colored sugars and gold foil wrapped coins in the edge of the plate. Since Colton is only a week old, I think I will skip that kind of cake this year. Maybe his parents, his uncle, his grandpa and I will just have a little Bailey's in our coffee and call that our dessert.

Soon this Beanie Baby will go back in the bin with the other Beanies. His cousin, a Beanie covered in an Easter egg print sits on another perch and will make an appearance with the bunnies, chicks and all things Spring in a few days.

I'll leave you with a simple Irish blessing:

May the best day of your past
Be the worst day of your future.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Commercials you'd prefer not to see on TV

I have a Useless Trivia widget on my Google home page that provides information that is sometimes funny and sometimes bizarre, causing me to wonder who looked up the odd information. It is a source of amusement for me when I repeat some of these items to Bill and watch his expression.

Today's item states that Playtex made U.S. history in May 1987 when TV networks began airing its commercials showing women wearing bras. Prior to this, either torso mannequins were used, or female models donned brassieres on top of their outer clothing.

I know that graphic is a Maidenform print ad, not a Playtex ad that ran on TV, but my Google search didn't find an image I liked. The unusual hat (is it a bird attacking her head???) made this a more interesting choice.

I remember some people being embarrassed by these ads as well as the ads for feminine hygiene products. Men who laughed at the silliness of women being embarrassed  found the shoe on the other foot when Viagra and Cialis commercials began airing.

And let's not forget Bob, the guy in the Enzyte commercials! 

There aren't any current commercials that I find embarrassing but some are annoying, some are confusing (what were they selling?) and there are some categories of products I'd like to see go away, namely prescription drug ads.

I trust my doctor to decide if it is time for me to begin using a drug and which one might be best for me. Do any of us need to tell our doctors (for example) we want what Sally Fields is taking? Do we really believe she takes Boniva or is she a well paid actress doing her job?

And speaking of her pay, how much of Boniva's cost covers her salary? Even without a recognizable face endorsing a product, TV commercials are very expensive. I know the high cost of drugs isn't solely the result of commercials, but it is a pet peeve of mine. I wrote the checks to cover medical insurance for my husband's company for almost two decades and prescription drug coverage went up drastically each of the last five years I made those payments.

Rather than further rants about medical costs and insurance coverage, I am going to stop and ask which commercials bother you, either specific ones or types of products.

To end with a bit of humor, as our population ages, perhaps every other ad should be for a memory enhancing drug, preferably sold at all check-outs so that we are likely to buy it and use it. Just look at this spoof of the above Cialis ad:

Reason for a new cell phone

I have an old cell phone. It is a flip phone without any special features. It doesn't text or take photos.  It is not my main phone and few people have that number. Its ring tone is boring, but the phone works just fine.

So why would I suddenly think I need a new phone that can take pictures?  Because of this photo:

   

Happiness Machine

 This should bring a smile to your face. 

A Coca-Cola vending machine is transformed into a happiness machine delivering "doses" of happiness.

I'm a Grandma!!!

Colton William is here!

He arrived at 9:00 PM on March 6th, weighing in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce and 21.5 inches long. Mommy and baby are doing well. Daddy is...well Daddy is over the moon! Colton was born on the eve of Daddy's 32nd birthday. I don't think any birthday present will ever top this one!

 

Doesn't Daddy's expression say it all?

 

Mommy is tired, but remains pretty.

 

Grandma and Grandpa can't stop smiling.

Uncle Billy doesn't think anyone has ever been an uncle before.

We are all blissfully goofy.  The new family should be coming home Monday morning. I have no prediction on when anyone will stop grinning, but I think we will all have sore face muscles before that happens!