Thing #3-Starting

I started brushing Mosey's teeth last night.  Two weeks from now I will cross this one off the list!  Yay!

Thing #3-Completed!

I finished writing my thank you cards.  I still need two addresses but the rest are sitting in the mailbox waiting for the mailman to take them tomorrow.  Yay!  Here are the finished cards!

My new thing 3 is..... Brush Mosey's teeth everyday for 2 weeks.  You may think this is weird.  But that is your problem.  :]  I have brushed his teeth an average of once a week so far but he hates it so much that I hate it too.  I have to suck it up and be strong.  After two weeks, if he isn't used to it by then, I may just leave it up to rawhide.....

What and Why

What is this blog? And why did I start writing it? Well, I guess the easiest way to explain is to show you what exactly inspired me to start this blog. I received this in an email from my mother-in-law.

The Daffodil Principle
By: Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, 'Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.' I wanted to go, but it was a two hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. 'I will go next Tuesday', I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house, I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

'Forget the daffodils Carolyn! The roads are invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!'

My daughter smiled calmly and said, 'We drive in this all the time mother.'

'Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I am heading for home!' I assured her.

'But first we are going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks,' Carolyn said. 'I'll drive. I'm used to this.'

'Carolyn,' I said sternly, "Please turn around.'

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, 'Daffodil Garden'.

We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned the corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron and butter yellow. Each different colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

'Who did this?' I asked Carolyn.

'Just one woman,' Carolyn answered. 'She lives on the property. That's her home.' Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster.

'Answers to Questions I Know You are Asking

50,000 bulbs.

One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, one brain.

Began in 1958'

For me, that was a life changing experience. I thought of this woman I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived.

One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one baby step at a time and learning to love the doing, learning to love the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find that we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world....

'It makes me sad in a way,' I admitted to Carolyn. 'What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think of what I might have able to achieve!'

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct manner. 'Start tomorrow,' she said.

She was right. It's pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The only way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, 'How can I put this to use today?'

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting......

Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs
Until you gain 10 lbs
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die....

So that is what prompted me to write this blog.  I want a place where I can record my efforts to take baby steps toward my goals and dreams.  To be completely honest, I was prompted to start writing this blog by this email forward but I got the idea to start a blog from Adam's (a college friend) "next five blog".  He has a network of people who are working on their next five things that will make their lives into journeys instead of goals.  You can find links to his network on his page.  

If you would like to start a blog like mine or his, I would love company!  I think that knowing someone was checking up on me would motivate me to keep going.  

If you notice, the is a list of the next 5 things I want to accomplish on the left hand side of this page.  There is also a longer term list.  I will talk about those now.  

Thing #1- Join a meetup.com group

I was told about meetup.com by my good friend Danelle.  Basically it is a website where you can find different clubs and groups that meet in your area.  For example, just in my area there are such groups as an Italian conversation group, a paranormal hunter group (with 77 members!  Yikes!), a scrapbooking addicts club, an organic produce co-op, a vintage and thrift shopper group and hundreds more!  I really should get involved in my hobbies and meet new people and I think this would be a fun way to do it.  

Thing #2- Edit and upload 50 more photos to iStockphoto.com

A couple years back, Jason and I joined an online stock photo community.  They sell our stock pictures and we get some profit for each time they download one of our pictures.  I haven't kept up with it and have only make $160 over the years.  Jason however has uploaded a whole bunch of new photos and now pulls in about $5/day.  Not bad for doing nothin' much.  So I want to edit and add about 50 more pictures to my site so I can earn more moolah.  

Thing #3- Write thank you cards for my birthday presents

I want to be a more gracious and thoughtful person.  One of the best ways is to just start making a habit of it.  So.  I want to write thank you cards for my presents instead of just shooting off a myspace thank you comment.  Lame!  My birthday was on the 18th so I had better hurry!

Thing #4- Make and distribute Italy DVD

I shot a lot of video footage during my year in Italy.  I want to convert it to a digital format, edit it, and make a DVD.  I also want to send it to everyone who was in it or might appreciate a copy.  *Which don't include my mom or husband.  They get so motion sick watching my movies they have to lie down after 5 minutes of watching them.  Boo....*

Thing #5- Paint my eldest niece's picture for her birthday 

My husband's brother and his wife are great photographers.  Every time I see certain pictures of their kids, I think that it would make a great oil painting.  So, I decided to pick an occasion to paint it so I would have a deadline.  Her birthday is June 5.  I had better get cracking!  I haven't painted since my freshman year of college.  

Long term Thing

I heard an idea once about keeping a photo journal for a year.  I am not sure exactly how.  But I am basically just taking a picture everyday of something and posting it on my old blog.  I started taking pictures on my birthday, April 18, 2008 and I will take the last picture on my 26th birthday, April 18, 2009.  There is a link to the blog on the side bar.  

Once I complete one thing, I will replace it with another.  I will keep you updated with pictures along the way.  Thanks for reading!