When's the Last Time You REALLY Took a Day OFF?

I evidently struck a chord or a nerve with my Facebook post about a while back.  It's not an eloquent post nor grammatically correct but my fb friends caught my drift and even commented that I was on the right track or they too struggle with this.

I'll share it with you in a second, but I just wanted to ask you, "When is the last time you really took a day OFF?".  Off, meaning, not driving to the office, working on your side hustle, running errands you don't necessarily have the time and energy for on the weekdays, or scraping the endurance to meet obligations.  When is the last time you said, "no."

Or is this just my life?

We now have an empty nest.  But we paid our dues of juggling the job, kid's activities, volunteering, church committees, squeezing in quality time with the family and God, socializing, etc.  I've found that although my actual commitments have decreased, the demands on my time have not.  Whose fault is that?  Well... it's my fault!  

I actually have more time available to pursue, well, stuff that I want to.  But somehow I don't have the energy to do it!  I've also put my dreams and "stuff" on hold for so long, I don't even remember what I wanted to do.

Well time is precious my friends and my time is precious as well.  Not only that, my time is MY TIME, not anyone else's.  The same goes for you friends!  Your time is just that... YOURS!

So what does this mean moving forward?  You guessed it, BOUNDARIES!  Healthy ones at that.  Along with boundaries, I need to set my priorities.  God, Family, Me, Career, pursuit of my dreams, fun, then friends or anything else.  I also need to realize that priorities will change, as I change and grow.  Some things in my life might not come along for that journey and that's okay.  God is the only thing unchanging.  I Can say, "no" and I don't have to offer the reason.  Neither do you!

I don't skip a beat and I try not to complain but I finally crashed and I am now in the have been in a  period of digging my way out of burnout.  This day OFF was just what I needed and after a small taste, I'm craving more!

So here is my post: 

I'd love to hear some comments on this.  Have you found yourself in burnout because you can't say "no" and needing a real day OFF?    

Irma is NO Friend of Mine

On the heals of the devastating Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma has proven to be no slouch with the follow up.

A category 5 and as long as the entire state of Florida, Irma has caused many to have fled, many to have remained in fear and trembling, or have had loved ones that are understandably worried and stressed.

We fear the most, what we can't control.  It's a helpless feeling.

Personally, I have felt the fear of my friends that have loved ones in the Caribbean and Florida.  I too have felt that fear as my daughter was in Miami.  Only 1 week into her 2nd contract with Royal Caribbean, evacuation was handled very well and I no longer feel the fear as of Friday around lunch time.  Safely on her previous contract's vessel, she is sailing to safe waters to return when the port of Miami re-opens.

But what of those that chose to stay, who didn't have the means to leave, were forced by employers to stay or lose their jobs, emergency or essential personnel that need to stay to help, people in the hospital or assisted living that cannot leave and their caregivers, etc.?  Many are our family members or friends.

We feel so helpless regarding their safety.

Although Irma has weakened, she's still a devastating storm.  Many evacuated from Florida to seek refuge in much of our state of Georgia.  Up here in the north Georgia mountains, we shouldn't be experiencing a Category 1 Hurricane or a Tropical Storm!  Thankfully, Irma has weakened to where she will be a tropical storm when she brushes over us, yet this can still be very damaging.

What does that mean to us and to evacuees?  It means that even small towns like ours have made provisions to provide shelter for those currently camping close by or those that live in trailers or RV's that are not secured.

For us, we did all that we could.  We love our home in the Chattahoochee Forest but our home is surrounded by extremely large trees.  Trees that have been on this small mountainside forever and I pray they remain standing and stronger after this event.  We secured our heavy patio items to the railings, brought in the remaining items or stored them under the front deck.  The only other things we can do are to prepare for a few days without power which also translates to no water since we are on a well and septic tank.  So we shopped earlier in the week to buy non perishable food items, fresh drinking water, and small amounts of gas for the generator if needed.  We didn't buy all that we could have as gas is in short supply in our small town.  We bottled a lot of filtered water for drinking and made ice bags to stuff the freezer tight.  We've set up the table with our lanterns, all of our electronics are charged, as well as batteries.  Flashlights are on standby as well as a few radios.  I baked cookies for honey and he bought me wine.

our lanterns

self explanatory

did you know stored wine bottles, for a future glass cutting projects, make great drinking water containers?

something pretty to look at to ease the stress (I'm a wreck!)

My prayers are with us all.  As those in the Caribbean clean up, evacuees face the unknown, those in Florida that are currently experiencing Irma's fury, and to those of us on the dirty side of her powerful remnants.

From the great "philosopher" Bret Michaels, "every night has its dawn".  The sun will shine again and the opportunities to love and serve each other will glorify His holy name.

Being Intentional

I've read a few articles here and there about intentional living.  This meaning knowing why you do certain things or why you don't do certain things.  I think it's a better understanding of who you are and what your life goals are and incorporating your whole person and life.

To me, being intentional is different.

Through a casual conversation at work, a co-worker mentioned about being more intentional with reaching out to her family.  I told her that was a great idea.  I'm usually the intentional one with my family and most of my friends, so I told her how great it made me feel when folks reached out to me to check on me or wish me a nice day.... It feels amazing!

This got me thinking about really focusing better on my intentions.  A lot of times, my friends and family will cross my mind and I don't or can't always reach out to them at that moment (because I'm at work or driving) but if I don't reach out to them, I might forget after I get home or get to break time.

How am I focusing better?  If I'm at work and I am unable to reach out to that person that crosses my mind, I either make a note on a sticky or in my note pad.  If I'm driving or I'm not near something I can write with... I pray for them.  Yes, right then and there.

How am I intentional?  I send emails, text messages, or fb messages.  I let them know they are fabulous or that I'm thinking of them or I love them.  But it helps me to keep on top of what's important to them.  As they are my friends and family, what is important to them should be important to me, right?

What if they don't respond?  Well, sometimes they don't and you know what... That's OKAY!  Not everyone can handle being told how wonderful they are or how they are loved and sometimes folks are just as busy or busier than I am.

When I think of being intentional, it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with YOU!  So look out world because I'm about to tell you how fabulous you are!

A Word in Due Season - Encouragement for Every Day

Wow... I totally was blown away by God's goodness yesterday.  I made an honest mistake, of seeking out someone's opinion on something unrelated and the response, I felt, was totally the enemy's attempt to derail me.

Let me explain.  I sought out the opinion of a dear friend and successful independent business woman.  I completely valued her response which was honest and extremely insightful.  Yet just over a year ago, the response would have totally derailed me.  I'm so pleased to say, that because of the years this woman mentored me, the support of a loving husband, and the continued closeness to Jesus that I seek, I was able to totally overlook it and not really notice it.  Because it was not the intention of this beautiful woman to derail me, it was the enemy's conniving way of letting our minds twist words around to our disadvantage.  Not to mention that is is so easy to misinterpret text vs. the spoken word.

Along comes another dear friend.  A friend much my junior, yet we were "besties" for a few years and it was a fun time.  I miss those days.  Anyway; I was sitting outside on my deck last evening, reading "Money Making Mom", and I stopped to pray.  "Lord, if this really is a time waster for me and others, please show me that I need to stop.  I really want to please you and if this not pleasing to you or encouraging others, then please confirm that I need to stop."  So in my ADD world, I stopped to check social media before I went back to reading and there it was... on Instagram... the words of love and encouragement that I needed.  "I love your blog.".  It meant the absolute world to me and coming from the person that sent it, meant even more.  God is so good!

Think on this and try to keep this on your radar... our words are so powerful.  They can make or break someone.  We can also misinterpret words and mistakenly get hurt or worse, hold grudges when the intention was not to hurt or make angry.  A good rule of thumb... if what someone says kinda hits you the wrong way, gently ask them to clarify what they said.  I'm sure you will find that the answer they give is gentle and clarifies that it was not intended to hurt you or make you angry.  And if it was, turn the other cheek and focus on those that truly respect and love you.

May the Lord grant you an exceptional week of encouragement and of encouraging others!

Handmade Gifts

Have you ever received a handmade gift and been caught off guard a bit?

Not many of us may be sure how to receive such a gift.  It was well meant, but maybe not to one's taste or home decor.

My husband and I have taken time to create gifts for folks, really keep them in mind as we create them, give them, only to find, that it was well meant, but apparently not to their taste or decor.  We try to take it in stride But... just some thoughts on handmade items.

I made this blanket for friends of ours (who appreciated it by the way).

Blanket and photo by Tracy Hilbun

I knew I could get something off their baby registry within my budget, but these are good friends and people.  I wanted to take that budget and give more love.  So, I took the money that I would have spent on the registry and bought yarn, crochet hook, and my love and time.  Also, I prayed over that baby that I was preparing the blanket for.  So as I crocheted, I prayed.

If you have purchased soft yarn for baby items, you have noticed that yarn is not inexpensive.  Also, how do you put a price on someone's time?  Right now, my husband and I both commute about 70 miles, one way, to work.  So we spend roughly 3 hours of our day in the car, on top of our work day.  Because we get up at 4:30 am, we need to hit the sack pretty early.  We shoot for 8:30 pm.  Since we get home, on a day he isn't away working his 2nd and 3rd jobs, around 4:30 pm, that leaves a 4 hour window to walk and feed the dog, recover from sitting in the car and stressing over bad drivers, catch up on the day, cook and eat supper, and maybe some down time or house cleaning (yeah right).  Long story short, too late, we don't have much spare time where we're not kind of exhausted.  =)

How can you put a price on the time and the love going into hand made work? You can't.

You may have some friends that create handmade items as a business so they can be stay at home moms, save for retirement, make some extra money on the side because their kids are in day care or college, or they are artists and just need to create.  Not only is their work quality in skill and supplies, it's quality in heart.  It's also art!  They may have shared some of their art as gifts to you!

Now I hope you are looking forward to receiving some handmade gifts.

What handmade items do you make?  I'd love to see them!  Do you like giving them as gifts, like we do?