Day 5 of Trying

Day 5 of trying has been FUN, FUN, FUN. I decided I was going to dye clothing I had hanging in my closet for a while. I bought the clothes over time at Goodwill. They were all white. I love the cut and fabric of all but being a total stain maker, white is a BAD idea for me.

I was aware Kool-Aid dyeing so I first bought that. I came home jazzed and ready to jump in to my experiment. At that point, I decided to look on-line for directions. Not the best order of doing things. I discovered cotton and linen do not take Kool-Aid dye. OOOPPS. Back to the store.

I picked up Rit dye and read the directions. To be honest, I was intimidated. For some reason, I had anticipated throwing my clothes in the washer with the dye and running a load and all the work being done. NOPE.

Using Rit dye involves accurate timing of an extended wash cycle, multiple rinses,and a normal wash cycle. Next comes the drying cycle which thankfully does involve just throwing the dyed clothing in and pushing a button. OOHH one more step, the bottle of dye advises you to immediately wash your washing machine with hot water and bleach. Now that scared me. Will all my family's clothing get a purple tint if the bleach cycle fails?

I have to say I am thrilled with the results. This Day of trying was labor intensive for me with a 4 month old but I am happy with my 4 "new" pieces of clothing. I am really looking forward to wearing my new purple skirt. I think I will tomorrow, but now I am going to take a nap.

Decluttering today Day 4

Hello, I'm back. We have been battling the heat and teething in the household so I have been in hang on mode the last little bit. Imagine that.

I have decided that my new thing for today is a major declutter. I love the way that getting rid of stuff feels AFTER I have done it not before. I love the way my house feels when it is clear, minimal, and simple BUT I just seem to dream about accomplishing that.

Not today! I am going to conquer my STUFF today. YEAH!!

Day 3

It is Day 3 of my experiment and I was able to do something in word and deed today. It was certainly stepping out of my comfort zone which it exactly what I wanted this to force me to do.

I worked very hard on my communication skills. URGGH!! Not my favorite thing. I have always felt kind of awkward expressing my feelings. This has been a pattern for me for years. It has caused me to alienate myself from many awesome opportunities as well as friendships. It is time that changed for me.

I have been slowly stepping out of my comfort zone for the last couple months by speaking to as many people as I can. I will slowly check out at the grocery store and speak with the cashier, I have gone to the same stores and try to go through the line that the cashier is familiar to me, when walking anywhere in public I hold my head up and look into people's faces, I have been speaking to anyone that calls for a moment before we address the issue for the phone call. Little changes but have been a stretch for me. Guess what, I now enjoy doing those things.Change is good.

Day 3 allowed me to Stretch myself more. I was feeling a little frazzled with caring for my precious 4 month old teething son. In normal situations, I would kept it to myself and not shared with anyone. I would have sucked it up and carried on. Today I decided not to do that. I shared with my incredible sensitive in tune with me man. I told him that I was feeling like I was not getting to the "tasks" that I think I should accomplish every day and always felt like I had too many plates spinning in the air at one time. Dayne listened and then we brainstormed on things that we could do as a family to relieve some of those feelings for me. Wow, what a great conversation where I felt heard and after our talk I knew I was supported. All it took was me TRYING a new thing and expressing myself.

I am liking this Trying for 30 days thing.

Day 2

Today is Day 2 of my 30 days of trying.

I could say that I truly am in my 2nd day of trying. Trying to keep the house running, trying to soothe someone who does not speak words, trying to help someone NOT take 30 minute cat naps, trying to help someone not to gnaw on everything in sight. You see I have a 4 month old son who is teething. Boy do I mean teething. Now that is trying.

But that is not what I meant when I said I was going to have 30 days of trying. I meant I was going to try something new every day for 30 days and document it here. Today in the middle of all the teething, I was able to accomplish something new for me.

Today I turned up the music loud and danced with my sweet soulful son. We started off with a sweet slow song to get us calmed down then switched it to some groovy Beck. It was fun after I got rid of the fear that someone would see me. Mind you, we live in the woods on 26 acres.

Dancing freely and making my son giggle was amazing. It was just what my soul needed after seeing Jake just not be able to get comfortable. I also realize that some moments of dance should become part of our daily rhythm because man was I winded after our jam session.

I felt subconscious at first like I was the only one on the dance floor during a middle school dance but with each wet, drooly smile and from the gut giggle Baby Jake let out I began to loosen up and get into it.

It was a good good day.

30 days of trying

I have decided that for the next 30 days I am going to try something new each and every day. This can include things in word and deed.

I am having a huge desire to document things that I experience daily. This started as a slow, low hum immediately after Jake was born but it has gotten to a loud strong roar now. I must comply or else I may go deaf to the prompting.

My past experiences have been to dream and plan and gather and think some more and rethink another way and gather more and in all reality never DO anything. It is quite comical at times but at others it is like "Do it already."

Well, my 30 day experiment is not going to turn out that way. I am going to throw caution to the wind and just get started. No brainstorming for the perfect project, no gathering the perfect supplies, no need to know what I am going to do on day 18 until day 18. Wow, what a change in things for me and I am so excited.

I am anticipating this experiment will open my eyes further, help me get to know my self even more, and help me fulfill some of my passions.

I have tons of ideas running around in my head. That excites me to no end.

For Day 1 I posted this picture. This is a beautiful tree that was right outside my old home. I would sit on my porch and gaze it daily. Well, today I decided to mess around with the photo and try to help me see it in a different way. I accomplished that for sure.

Let the fun begin.

I am excited to be posting my first blog entry. I have been thinking of starting a blog because I have been so inspired by other wonderful blogs.

I am Elizabeth from NC. I have two wonderful sons. They are 16 years old and an almost 4 month old. I am engaged to the man of my dreams who totally swept me off my feet and continues to do so everyday. My family is the absolute most important, fulfilling part of my life.

I have become a SAHM since the birth of my youngest son and am loving it even more than I thought I would. I wanted to be a SAHM with my first son so bad but was unable to so staying home this time is a dream come true.

I will admit that being a SAHM continues to stretch me every day and is the most intense thing ever but I do not want to change one thing about it and savor ever minute of it, even the rough times.

Well, enough for now and welcome to my blog.