The Joy diet: week 11

Chapter # 10 Feasting is here! Isn´t feasting a bit like Treats on steroids? *giggle*

We had a good experience with Christmas smells this week.

I also took a step back from the crazy rythm to list and celebrate my achievements these past months.

Today we have another reason to celebrate.

First, a quick summary on the education system here.

Classes go from beginning March to mid December for primary school and beginning of December for secondary school.

They are divided in three terms. Kids need to have an average grade of 7 or above PLUS a 7 or above on the last term (that is to avoid kids getting a 10 in the first two and then float around in the third as they only need a 1)

If a child fails one term, they need to go to school for two more weeks to study whatever they need to reinforce, if they fail that or have failed more than one term they have to sit for an exam in February that covers the whole academic year.

Mati (13 years oild which explain a lot ) had been on the verge of having to go two more weeks for Maths and Physics. I must admit that the subjects are hard plus they are in German (they go to a bilingual school) but nothing a good few hours of sitting and studying wouldn´t fix.

All this to say ... Mati passed everything!!! Yay! Proud mom alert: not many can do that "free till March" dance.

Jamie asked about our Joy levels, has there been a change? I had a bit of a look around the 10 weeks of posts. I´m so glad I have this record of our family life! It reminds me I have reasons to smile. And re-reading the comments made me smile even wider. Thanks for your connection, your support, your advice and well wishes.

Some weeks the chapter got me all stressed up and then the solution hit me. After that I could incorporate it to my diet. I´m not saying it was plain sailing or that I used every ingredient every week but it took me forward on certain ocassions like: I can´t believe now how afraid I was to make Tati´s flower crown. A risk that was totally worth it.

Sometimes I couldn´t handle what I had to do, others I jumped in with both feet.

In between The Joy Diet, Wednesday Wishcasting and Art Every Day I have learnt one very important lesson. SHOWING UP IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

I showed up EVERY week, even when I was stuck or throwing my toys out of the crib. :D

The Joy diet: week 10

Yay!, I thought. Chapter #9 is Connection. I got it down.

Easy, right?

Well, ...no.

First because it is not only connecting which I do naturally, but connecting with requirements.

*Connecting from a place of stillnes in this life at Internet speed is not an easy task. I´m on go, go, go most of the time. Specially this week with different projects going on at the same time. And I´m not talking only about Internet connection, my 3D life is fast paced too.

*Truth must be honoured. Today I watched a video at bubbly girl´s blog. It is totally worth the 16 minutes, go watch it. :) It is about validation. I tend to do that without thinking but sometimes ... I need to think. I need to give it some thought to find something nice to say, specially when the first instinct is to just run away in the oppposite direction. Who was talking about "gut feelings" today? LaWendula was.

(Side note, you may have noticed it is the first time I´m writing the post on Friday morning, so I write as it comes. It reads as if I´m talking to myself, going around looking for things, which is actually what I´m doing. Lol!)

*Haven´t got a clue what our Desires´s got to do with the process of connecting.

*I see Creativity as a way to get our connections "staged"

Second because I´m an "all or nothing" type and of course I went into connection overdrive. Being as empathic as I am, connecting that much and that deeply might be energy zapping. That means something has got to give, then I tend to go to "let everything go" extreme.

I´m working on regaining balance before that happens as I also got some cool connections going. For example, people I met at UKScrappers cybercrop. I´m specially talking about Rachel´s class. I loved it so much I used her sketch twice and was so full of bubbly "I looooove this" that I wrote to her. Thankfully she didn´t treat me as a stalker (which I sounde like in my enthusiasm) and she gracefully answered my messages.

Also some cool people I met at Art Every Day. I slipped a bit there, not visiting as much because I was connecting to my Neo friends and the book tribe, and the wish casters , and the moms from school, and ... you get the idea. ;)

AEDM 2009: DAY 13 + The joy diet week 9

My art for the day is part of UKScrappers cyber crop. As the theme is The Wizard of Oz I will post my layouts with the Ruby slippers. :D Class 1 by Rachel (Aka taniwha).

I liked the ruffled fabric technique and I continued it with paper for my Art Journal.

The Joy diet, chapter # 8: LAUGHTER

Friday: I was not happy to see the ingredient. Just as I can´t cry on command (I could never be an actress or a stroppy looking model), I can´t laugh on command.

Saturday & Sunday: family days. A lot of smiles, a giggle here and there.

Monday: errrmmmm, nothing much.

Tuesday: we had the funniest conversation at our dinner table. We had been trying to define fruits and vegetables. As in why is this a vegetable if it isn´t green? (translator note: vegetables in Spanish is "verdura", which ties in with the word for green colour which is "verde")

Ds said that vegetables grew in/on the ground and fruit on trees. Then a watermelon would be a vegetable, not a fruit! Mad laughter. My hubbie tried to be helpful and added that fruit had seeds that would be the origin of the next fruit. By now tears of laughter were running down my cheeks, "a pumpkin is a fruit, we can have it for dessert!" (p.s: I remembered there is a dessert with pumpkin which added to the laugh factor)

I admit it sounded better than it reads. :D

Wednesday: I have already told you I was awefully tired, not in the mood for laughing.

Thursday: as The Joy diet´s tribe post time approaches I pay more attention. "Nothing" has gone out of the window, truth stays firm, I have lost sight of my longer term goals/desires as I rush the every day stuff, the creativity is up to speed with AEDM and grocery shopping, no risks except showing up every day (which is a great deal in itself), almost no play and the laughter needs to be brought up.

Friday: I was having a look around my blog to see what I was creating last November for AEDM (e.g: an year ago I was making my birthday book and it was lovely to see comments by ladies I consider dear friends now) and read some of the posts. I could see myself as others might see me and hey! I´m quite funny. *grin* :D

This is the only chapter I have not read twice. That says something about it.

The Joy diet: week 8

How did that happen? Friday? No way! Can´t be!

The process this week (pics later as I´m at the "wrong" computer):

Saturday. Can we still treat (last week´s chapter was Treats) ourselves? Yes? Good! Because I bought myself something: a dozen beaded bracelets and a necklace. All for the nifty amount of 22 pesos (that is a bit over 3 pounds or 5 dollars) Colourful and bright. I shared some with Tati. :D

Sunday, friends for lunch. You could consider that playful. I know, I´m grasping at straws to make the theme fit. ;)

Monday, another treat in the form of puffy stickers (yes, I shared them with Tati too). Truth was slightly bruised by omission (nothing serious, just an ordinary day thing). Desire is still buried. Creativity is on the mend thanks to Art Every Day Month I liked what I did for Day of the dead . It is my favourite so far and quite playful in the sense that I took a topic like death and used light hearted embellies.

Tuesday, no time for nothing. Even creativity was hustled and not effective. It didn´t feel like playing. Risk? None.

Wednesday, got my Truth out there, loud and clear by taking the risk of expressing a wish (desire) of mine. I notice that the ingredients from the diet might be blending but I still need lots of working on my own recipe. :)

Thursday, business as usual. Nothing has been neglected (I love how you can read this affirmation both ways, lol!), no wandering away from truth (no need ;) ), creativity is up on the artsy sense, Oh! I missed desire (Freudian slip there), what was next? Risk, only doing new things like using the electronic till for depositing a check or so. Play. This offered more resistance than risk! Lots of "shoulds" attached to this one. It was easier to play when the kids were young and I played with them a lot. Nowadays I´m present but not doing the same thing. As in, I´m watching the war strategy computer game ds is playing or watch dd with her skateboard.

Friday. Working on the blend. :)

The Joy diet: week 7

The process this week:

1) TGIF!!! I was so eager to leave the risk week behind that I started the "Chapter # 6: Treats" a day early. I started reading it on the train on the way to my mom´s. I got through half a chapter but got the gist of the treats idea right away. ;) By the time we arrived at the destination and with 30ºC I treated the kids and MYSELF to the first icecream of the season. (Background note: I treat the kids to icecream from time to time in the hot months but me? Almost never!) Oh, this is going to be good! *grin*

Fast forward five hours. The temperature has dropped from 30ºC to 10ºC and it is pouring.

Hubbie suggested my buying myself something with long sleeves to wear on top of my T shirt. While breathing in to say "No, thanks, I´ll endure the cold" I changed my mind and said "Yes, please". Oh, my! This is big. Two treats in a day.

Now, the jury is still out on the third treat. Is it a treat or a trick? A treat or a torture? Why? Because I found an exercises dvd. (Background note 2: it seems we are a gym going folks so this type of dvds is almost impossible to find). It is one of my "should"s as in I should exercise but I don´t like it.

2) Finished the chapter on Saturday and realized I had got it slightly wrong: I was supposed to do something scary BEFORE the treat. *shrug* Oh, well, that candy I had while reading was a real treat. ;)

3) Scan the vecinity for treats on Sunday, find none available.

4) Another big step on Monday. For the first time in a very long time (so long I can´t really remember doing this before) ... I cooked for myself. (Background note 3: I cook for my family three times a day every day but grab whatever is at hand when I´m alone)

5) Tuesday I go on my merry way. :) I take the risk of going to that unknown place I mentioned

to buy that strange oven accesory. A personal success story. ;) I go window shopping as a treat but I feel the anxiety beginning to build up. "Hurry!", I think, "you still need to do this, that and the other".

6) Wednesday is melt down day

Fast forward to the evening. Feel thanksful for all the caring messages. Thanks to Toni´s heads up message I discovered that the new UKScrappers cyber crop is about The

Wizard of Oz so I enroled. Before doing so I asked for the best possibility for me to be my team. I got the Tin Man.

No HEART? I could understand no courage, but no ... HEART?

I grumble and pout for a while.

7) On Thursday I see thing differently. May be the lack of heart means that lack of desires I have been struggling with since item # 3. If that is correct it means that by the end of the crop I WILL HAVE a heart!

Week 7 check in: not much of Nothing, keeping an eye on Truth, still without a clear vision on desires, irritated by the creativity exercises, taking a calculated risk here and there, aware of the treats or lack of them.

The Joy diet: week 6

A new meeting for "The Joy diet"´s tribe at Jamie´s.

The process this week:

1) Read Chapter #5: RISK on Saturday. Not pay much attention to it. If I haven´t even figured out my desires yet, how can I plan risky actions to get there?

2) Totally ignore the book on Sunday.

3) Decide to do something scary on Monday. Not dream/desire related as I haven´t got a clue what that is but scary anyway.

Now, on Wednesday you asked yourself "How can asking for a sandwich be difficult?". Today you will ask "How was THAT scary?" after reading the next paragraph.

The scary thing was to go to the tyre shop and have my tyres (yes, I use the British spelling :D ) rotated and balanced.

Go on, you can say it now: How could THAT be scary?!?!?!?!

An unknown place. An unknown task. I was out of my depth. For someone whose reputation is based on knowledge, doing something I didn´t know about in a place I didn´t know was shaking hands scary. (Side note: I realized this on Thursday, the knowing part)

On Monday morning I faced my list of "What if"s. What if there was a queue? What if they were too slow? What if they broke something and the car couldn´t move? Fear won, I postponed the task till after school, so I was sure I could pick the kids up.

On Monday afternoon I took my car in. The mechanic boy (mechanics, just like policemen are getting younger every day ;) ) asked something about the wheels. I laughed it off, saying that even if I sounded like I knew what I was talking about when I asked my tyres to be rotated and balanced, I was only repeting what my hubbie said and I had no further idea.

There. I´ve said it. I have no idea what this is about. I fitted the stereotype. The helpless, ignorant, damisel in distress. Darn!

Hubbie had also told me it was a 5 pesos job for each wheel. The quote was $120. (Side note 2: my car is a small two doors Volkswagen Gol, not a monster truck or an 18 wheel trailer) I asked for (EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK! I HAD TO ASK FOR!!!!!!) a detailed bill.

Car was ready in an hour and a half, I went home and waited for hubbie.

He was happy about the whole event. Over the moon I had remembered to ask the wheels to be balanced and aligned. Happy as, in the price was right happy.

Uh?

4) I wasted Tuesday being sick. WARNING: Marja you can stop reading now. Anybody else who is upset by barfing stories too because when I say feeling sick I mean sick as "in all fours, head in a bucket" sick. As in keep walking like a zombie around the house not to pass out sick. As in doing said walking with the bucket in my hand because I was not quick enough to reach the wc sick. As in I totally blanked out Tuesday sick. As in forget the drink plenty of fluids advise ´cause I can´t even hold water sick. Darn! Again.

5) Use Wednesday to get back to normal. Decide not to do anything scary in the near future.

6) On Thursday morning decide to go to another unknown place to buy an unknown piece of oven accesory. This time I´m taking the thingie and placing it on the shop´s desk ask for (eeekkk) an identical one.

With the excuse of "no parking space" I didn´t stop at said unknown shop.

7) Friday ... time will tell. ;)

The Joy diet: week 5

New week of "The joy diet" tribe, coordinated by Jamie.

The process this week:

1) Read "Menu item # 4 Creativity"

2) Phone my mom and whine about being stuck with the book.

3) Listen to my mom telling me that "The joy diet" is supposed to lead me to a happier life (she has been reading it too) and not to become obssesed with following it to the letter as it had been leading me to be UNhappy. In other words "to loosen up". By the way: I just noticed it would have been a perfect topic for Jamie´s question "What do you wish to let go?" Letting go of the "perfect or nothing"of the "everybody else it doing it well and I can´t" even of the "WHEN is my epiphany coming?!?!?!".

4) Read chapter again.

5) Feel stuck with it again.

6) Reading this post by Serena. The sentence "The key to recovery is to take action" sent the alarm bells ringing. By the time I read "Even the simplest of actions is taking a step in the right direction" I was ready to create.

7) Go upstairs to my craft room and create these four scrapbbok layouts:

The Joy diet: week 4

First I want to officially thank my brother in law who brought me the book from the USA. Thank you M! It makes me feel "legitimate" to be able to read the actual book and not work from research and reviews.

On to this week´s post: Jamie posted a lovely video about Desire. I´ve already told her that I LOVE her voice and her body language. She is a wonderful guide. :)

As many have experienced this week, I had a certain resistance to Desire. No problems with the "Nothing" week, as I´ve been exploring that for some time. Great work with "Truth" week, I incorporated that to my daily life in very powerful ways. And then came Desire.

*Blink*

Aha. Empty. *blink again* Of course my wish came to light first. {BTW, my hubbie who didn´t know about that post asked for a quote on that trip the next day.} I put it down, poor dream. Then other thoughts came up. Down they went in an instant. I even tried to explore them with my late full moon board. And still I haven´t got a clue!

Off to read all the links to this week´s work.

And try again.

Truth

Today is Tatiana´s first communion.

To be able to share the ceremony with her I went to confession

(or reconciliation as it is called nowadays) for the first time in ... 16 years. *shock*

It took a bit of courage and a lot of rehearsal of my "speech" to face the truth of what I had done wrong (on purpose or accidentaly) for 16 years.

It took some time remembering, re-considering, jotting down events.

Talk about working with Truth this week! :D