Learning new things 1: Being a Dutiful Daughter

An aid getting meds
(c) 2017 P. Lynne Designs

In December 2016, I announced that I was slightly changing the scope of this blog while creating a new one to replace my now closed Simply Organized Crafts Blog.  At first, I thought about combining it with this one, but I love the topics I cover on this blog and I would not have it any other way.  So, a new blog is underway.  It is called Home’s Little Lessons and I cannot wait to get started.  I have one other blog that needs attending to, but I think I am just going to get rid of it, and put it in with Home’s Little Lessons.   The reason is I will be an every once in a while Independent Longaberger Home Consultant after June 1^st.  I will stay on to get the discount and post a sale or two every once in a while.  Now that Housekeeping is done (a word quoted by Pete Werner of Disney UnPlugged), on with today’s post.

The other thing that I announced in December was that in 2017, I wanted to learn new things about myself, my city, my state, and my country, to name a few.  I never knew it would come so quickly.  One of the reasons why there was not a post last week was the art of becoming what I like to call being a “Dutiful Daughter” and the art of, “Be careful what you wish for”.  It may come true.

What is a Dutiful Daughter?

A dutiful daughter is a woman who puts aside all the things that she wants to do for the sake of her parents.   It is sort of the same as when a woman has all the dreams and aspirations of living her dream but put it aside to become a stay at home mom only you are helping your elderly parents.  So, when a parent says “Jump”, you do not question them, except to say, “How high?” This may cause sleepiness nights, eating at odd times, and taking breaks at odd times.  You make yourself an afterthought. 

For instance, I am writing this post at 4 am, when I should be sleeping.  Why?  Let me give you the back story:

This virus/flu/whatever you may call it has taken a toll on everyone in the United States.  Experts say it is the worst strain yet.  I have not been hit by it yet, but both my parents have been hit by it, as well as my oldest nephew.  The worst that hit me is my allergies, and that is it.  The person hit the hardest was my mom.  It starts out as a simply little cold.  She went to the doctors for that.  Then a few days later, she went back, and they said it was Bronchitis.  On January 7^th, she was admitted to the hospital with Pneumonia.  She was so week, until she was unable to walk.  When she recovered from that, they transferred her to rehab, so she could gain strength back in her arms and legs.  The way she is recovering, we all keep telling her that they will evict her on Friday to finally come home, and she is ready to go home.

Between going back and forth to the house to make sure both mom and dad are ok, then back and forth to the hospital, and finally back and forth to the rehab place can take a toll on a person, especially if you are the only “child” that can do it.  My brother lives out of town, and my sister does not have a car, plus I am the eldest, and usually in an African American home, after the other parent, taking care of things falls on the eldest child.

Do I complain about it?  No, and besides that, I love both my parents.  My dad has been sleeping at the hospital, and then at the rehab place with mommy, so I have to take care of things when he cannot do them.  It is the least I can do, after all the things that they have done for me since I became an adult.  They are still doing it, such as my finances while I am trying to put together my business.  They do not have to do that for me.

So, that is what I mean by being a “dutiful daughter”.  My brother is coming this weekend to come visit mommy, and to help with things around the house, such as finally taking down the Christmas tree, and other things.  Nothing matches with son, and I am most certain that if he lived here, he would also give dad a break every once in a while.

So, this is my first lesson in learning new things.   It is not like I have helped out before.  There was the time mommy had surgery, so I had to learn how to wash on a fly.  I was in my early teens, when this happened.  Of course, I have always made sure that my parents were OK.  Dad is an old-fashioned man, meaning “men take can of man’s work, and women take care of women’s work” that sort of thing.  Dad learned how to use the washer this week.  Mommy always did it.  When she gets home, I will slow cook a pork roast to stretch out the week, and I will cook other things for them.  Dad’s idea of cooking is “what do you want me to buy?”  That will only happen a few times.  They do have someone come in to clean the house, plus my eldest nephew still lives there, and he also has been helping out.

Take away lesson for you:  The lesson I want you to see out of this is tri-folded.   (1) Make sure you learn all the basic of taking care of yourself before you graduate from high school.  You never know when you may need it.  The one thing I need to learn all over again is how to wash.  The current washer I have is a two-cycle washer.  I do not have all the bells and whistles that today’s washer have.   (2) Be kind to your parents, you never know when you may need them beyond the 0-18-year-old contract, or they may need you someday.  I am blessed that my parents have been married over 50 years, never once discussed the possibility of getting a separation or a divorce (although one time when I was 10 and heard them arguing, I was sure it was grounds for one (Overactive mind of a 10-year-old at work)), and my father never laid one hand on my mother in an abusive situation.  Love pats, yes, abusive, never. (3) Take care of yourself during a time of crisis.  My mother is constantly asking me if I am eating, and when I tell her the truth of the things I am not doing to help me be the best me, she gets mad at me, and tells me that I must do it.  This includes taking care of the things for my business.  Make sure you eat, sleep, and so forth.  You are not doing yourself and that person (rather it is a parent, spouse, or child) a favor if you are sick.

Have a great week.

Day 3: Trying something new and exciting for 2016

(c) 2016 P. Lynne Designs

On day 3 of the series I want to tackle my plans for trying something new for 2016.  We all want something out of the new year.  In fact, and my opinion, very few people want to stay where they are.  The average person is NOT resistant to change, if they are the ones who are making a change.  No one should be forced to make a change in their life, UNLESS the very thing they are doing is harming them in some way. 

A year ago, I had mentioned that I have stopped calling resolutions just that, and started calling them “goal setters”.  These are my goals for the new year.  My pastor had mentioned on New year’s eve that if you say “resolution”, you are bound to break them within the first few weeks of the new year.  Another thing is how are you going to “resolve” your situation?  For example, if you say in your resolution that you are going to be a better person than in 2015, I want to know how.  Just do it, and do not be quick to say, “I just broke my resolution already”, you just set yourself up to fail. 

So one of my “goals” for 2016 is to try something new that I did not try in 2015.  I have given this a lot a thought, and some of it is not cheap, maybe.  It all depends, but if I cannot do it this year, there is always 2017, 2018, heck 2020 if I let it go that long.  Hey, if I have to wait until 2035, I will, LOL.  No, I will not let it go on that long.  Besides that, that thing that I want to do this year may be obsolete by 2035, at least the 2016 version may be, plus I will be 71, yikes!  I hope I will be a rockin’ senior citizen.

Sorry, went off-topic, where was I?  Oh, yes the new things I want to try for 2016.  This is a round up so here we go: (Warning:  Affiliate Links ahead)

1.       Education.  I stopped going to school after I earning my bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2003.   I have always love learning since the age of 3, and I have not stopped really going to school since that time.  I learn in other ways now, through webinars, and online classes.  I want to go back to get my master’s in the same subject, but I want to gear it towards what I am doing now.  I never got that marketing job working for a marketing or ad agency, mainly because I had failed attempts in getting an internship at these agencies.  Their reasons were simple:  either they ran out of funds to pay me (they could had offered me a non-paying internship), or some other excuse.  After working in retail, my focus has changed, I am now an entrepreneur with a stationery company.  I also want to continue to take classes in what I am doing now.  For instance, I was looking at the Craftsy website, and I saw so many classes, but the one I saved to my wish list is one called, “Cards with Dimension: Lovely Layers, Textures, & Embellishments”.  I started layering my cards last year, and love them.  This class will really help with my cards, but I want more out of them.  So this is the class I chosen to start with.

2.       Being positive.  No, this is not something I am great at lately.  I am blessed, I am grateful, but I had a lot of stuff I have gone through in the past 12-24 months, and it is high time I let it go and move on. (See, Elsa is not the only one who can sing this song).   I am always the one who tries to look at a glass half full, but these months, I have looked at them half empty, because of the things I have gone through and witnessed.  I am not going to list them here, but you can look through my blog, and find the posts. Along those same lines, I am going to watch what I say in comments, especially if another negative person started the argument.  I was looking back at some of my comments I made on Disqus (I have an account), and I did not like what I said in some of the 54 comments I made in the past 4 years.  Granted some were warranted, but I should have worded the comments differently to show a more positive spin on the thoughts I was thinking of.  I did not curse, that is not my way, but they were degrading towards the negative person, and that is what they want.  That is why they did not answer me back with an even more degrading reply.  I even called someone a moron.  It is amazing what comes out of my mouth at 2 am. No more late night commentaries for me.

3.        Do what I say.  OK, this one is a little harder.  I have said in the past 12-24 months that this is the year I am going to get (Blank).  I have let my finances rule over what I am going after, and this is part of the negativity I have been fueling lately.  I want a new house, I want a newer car, and I want a newer musical keyboard.  The current home, even though I am blessed to be in it, I have been here for over 10 years, and this condo is not really private.  I will not go into details about my complaints since my newer neighbors moved in over a year ago.   The current car, love it, but the hatch is heavy.  Minor problem that I am living with.  Current musical keyboard is on its last leg, and I had it since 1999.  That is a long time for a keyboard. (yes, you can keep pianos until infinity if you need to, not so much for keyboards).  If you have goals for this stuff, go for it, but do not live beyond your means.  Me too.

So that is it for trying something new.  I will list other goals in future posts, so, be safe, be warm. It is briskly cold in Ohio.  (I want to go to Florida or the Bahamas, maybe California or Hawaii, but help!!!!)

It could not happen soon enough, but it is needed, badly

Hello-

I am so glad when things happen for a reason.  I do not know why, but sometimes it does.   I have not been getting the same warm reception I received with this blog that I received with my other two blogs, Tricia's Baskets and MDN Creates.   I realize that saving money is an acquired taste; you either do it, or go home.   It is up to the individual to decide if and when they want to do this task. Some do it gradually, like me, while others start at a maximum speed, and get it done while family and friends watch the change overnight in amazement.   For me, it comes with a price:

I have sprinkled too many topics in this blog.

I know what I have to say but I have to do this: I need to split up the family.   What do I mean?   I saying (and I am not doing a very good job in saying it) the topic that were meant for this blog, stays on this blog.   The other topics?  They are going to a new blog.   Two new blogs in three months wow.   Dare I say three new blogs?   OK, three it is.   Here is the breakdown of my blogs:

MDN Creates:  that is a given.  It has been in my life since January 2009, and I am loving every moment of it.   I can use a little bit more fans (Ok, a thousand or so, lol).  I am currently sitting at 172 followers from the last blog hop I have done.

Tricia's Baskets:  This too is a given.   I have been selling Longaberger for 10 years, dealing with everything from what the company has allowed me to say on this blog, to my own way of thinking of how to introduce to this company to some, and give my best to those who know the company.   I do need a fan base with this one (8 followers at last count).

My blessed life:  If course you know the struggles of getting this off the ground.   I have asked last week on Facebook for people to go to this blog, and give their honest option.   At first, I did not think anyone was paying attention, and then I got three responses.   The first person said that people do not pay blogs any attention no more, and I was wasting my time.   The second person said that they do agree with the response.  Yes, they are still my Facebook friends.   I value all opinions, rather I agree with it or not.  I may add to that response, “the blog market is oversaturated, but according to some experts I have been reading lately, they are like static sites, you just to find your niche, and give a reason why people should return to the blog each week.”  With that, I give you what a friend of mine said to me yesterday.  She basically told me that I had too many topics on this blog, and I happen to agree.   In one month (well two), I have hit you with a review on a show I watch, coupon deals, signups, referrals,  death of three iconic people (even though one of the write-ups was a snippet), how to shop, and how to plan a vacation.  The list goes on and on (trust me, I have the sheet to prove it), and now I am posting about changing the blog.  

Introductions are in order

The first blog will be called I’m Kicking and Screaming all the way to the Bank, with a subtitle, “…Laughing to keeping my dignity with family and friends.   Let’s face it folks, no one, and I mean no one likes to be told that they spend too much money on things that they need.   I am one of those people who cringe every time I hear someone like Suze Ormen (I think I have the spelling right) say, “If you have bills, you cannot afford to get xyz.”  Sometimes I feel like the woman wants us to sit around and do nothing but pay our debts.   There is a way to do both.  I do not know what it is yet, but I am learning.   I am learning from my own mistakes in life.   I feel like this; what is wrong with having fun, and still pay bills.  If you count utilities, you will always owe for a bill, but you can have a savings, even it is one or two cents a day.  Yes, I know it is hard, because I feel it.  After all, I still want an Ipad, and I still want to go on vacation.   I am trying to save for both, and I am trying different avenues to do it in.   Well that is all I have to say about KASATWTTB.  You will have to turn in and see.

My second blog is called, “Tripping on Disney Fun.”   It is based on my own personal journal of planning my family’s vacation.   I am the resident Disney fan in my family.  Yes, they like it, and they think it is way too expensive.   We are still going.  With the blog version, I am on a quest:  To show you how to make, not only Disney, but any trip fun and exciting, even one dayers.   I will have fun facts about Disney, The United States, and beyond. (Who knows I might still be living when they allow civilians to take the first moon flight, LOL).  We will see.

So what is going to be in this blog now that I have separated the family:   Inspiration and writing?  Inspirational writing.  Who knows?   I think God was trying to tell me something with my poll numbers.   I think He was saying, “Patricia you are not getting it.”  He’s right, I was not getting it.  So after I get back from my stamp club meeting (not that kind of stamp club, rubber stamping club), I am moving the articles to their prospective places, and I will see if that helps.   I will also have links to the side.  Until then I will see you.