My So Called Pinterest Interest… (Addiction)

“Well, I have a couple of minutes to see what others are pinning.”

“Oh! I have a _________________________ coming up and I need ideas STAT!”

                       (class party/birthday party/family trip)

“Who has time to find a good blog with a Google search these days?”

“My Pinterest boards are the only thing I can keep organized!”

“It’s mindless like flipping through a magazine.”

I have said or thought all of the above many times.  I love the purpose of Pinterest, but I am becoming less enamored with my interest.  I have more of an addiction.  I have even tried to equate it to fanatic sports fans.  The fans that know every statistic for the past 10+ years.  But I can’t do that any longer.  They have a passion for a sport and the desire to know all they can to create a connection.  I will confess that I have a need to be nosy into other people’s pins and a compulsion to pin things that I don’t even click through the blog it is associated with.  OUCH.  I rarely check out the pin farther than the initial picture.  Who has time for that? 

       (photo credit: Lasso the Moon)

I do want to declare that I am not opposed to Pinterest at all or your use of it.  I am opposed to mine.  I think I am pinning when I could be learning from those I know in my life or future friends.  Sure, maybe I can search Pinterest for Disney trip tips, but wouldn’t it be better to ask my friend who just went.  I could learn from someone and make a real connection.  I bet they would be happy to help me.  A recent pinning rampage was an overseas trip I am interested in researching.  I immediately started looking at Pinterest and started pinning to a private folder.   I was pinning before it dawned on my that a new neighbor is from that country.  Of course, I should go to her as my expert.  Wouldn’t I rather have her as my guide and connect in real life?  YES!

I have tried to defend my pinning with my desire for research.  For the year I have been on Pinterest, I have been stuck in the R (research) stage of R&D.  Very little has made it to the D (development) stage.  I have probably only made a couple of recipes and tried a few home decor ideas.  So, then why do I have 114 BOARDS?  How did that happen?  And those boards have 2,878 PINS!  How did this happen?  Please tell me I am not alone in this mindless addiction?  Please!

Maybe you are like me and pinning away on your Pinterest app.  Mindlessly pinning away.  I rarely ever log into the Pinterest website, because I find it too overwhelming and cluttered for my taste.  (Hope you can see the irony in this confession!)  It has been 6 months since I have logged onto the Pinterest website.  That is when those statistics burned into my retina and made my heart race.  Shock and dismay rolled over me like soul-searching waves.  I was truly not aware of my dependence on this app.  Immediately I thought I need to start doing and stop pinning.  My research side kicked into gear.  I wanted to know more about where I spend my time and find out what it says about me.  I bet your boards say a lot about you as well.

Sure, a lot of mine are what I have mentioned: party plans, birthdays, and travel.  Many are for this specific phase of my life including parenting, cleaning, and cooking.  But those don’t have high numbers.  I had to find the board with the most.  It would show me my true interest and a reflection of what I want to change the most.  As I scrolled through 114 boards, it jumped out at me and made me loudly laugh in my quiet house.  There it was 1,124 pins in one board.  There they were 1,124 pins of sayings, quotes, and phrases that I resonate with me like a gong.  The board is called, Things for My Wall.  Can you imagine how BIG that wall would have to be to even if the sayings were on sticky notes?

I can’t say for certain, but I am pretty sure that only 3-5% might be duplicates.  I glanced through the entire board and I didn’t see any, which means that I probably have a secondary problem.  I also have Pinning OCD, if I can remember what I haven’t pinned before.  What a waste of my brain!  Einstein would have a hay day with my wasted brain usage.  He believed in not remembering small details you can look up.  “Only put in enough energy and effort so as to pull out of life what really matters, what you really want. Be organized enough that you can find everything you need or want, when you need or want it. But don’t fret over the small stuff. And have a way to be confident you can tell the small stuff from the big stuff,” was Einstein’s advice to be less cluttered.  I need to take this saying from my imaginary wall and keep it close as a mantra.

Einstein or not:: What good is all this inspiration if it is stuck on a make-believe wall on a Pinterest board?

Some that follow my pins might see it when it is initially pinned.  What impact does that make?  They don’t know why I care about those words or why they could too.  Am I alone in wanting to change the world with my pins?  I know that my budget board with 4 pins isn’t where my passion is found or shared.  Something must come from my new awareness and my 1,124 pins of inspiration.

BUT WHAT?

Tell me what do you think I should do?

What Pinterest board do you have the most pins for?

Here is what I have done to change my behavior today with my iPhone! Baby steps!

BEFORE MY BLOG

AFTER THIS BLOG – Take that Pinterest!

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Ah… February…

February is my crossroads month

 

 

Usually around February my known world gets shook up. Here is the run down on my significant Februarys.

February 1998: I was selected as a new sales employee for Fred Pryor Seminars, a training company. I didn’t graduate until May, but they were willing to wait for me to finish and join the team. This plan allowed the usual senior job crisis to not effect me. I truly loved my capstone classes and time with my friends. The fact I was joining an organization that was based on life-long learning was an amazing step.

February 2003: I had been home for five of my twelve weeks of maternity leave with Ian. I crunched numbers and prayed. We decided that with my previous schedule and Amon’s new work travel each month, I needed to be home. I felt like I was betraying my wonderful boss and all my faithful clients in exchange for the unknown, spit up and no sleep. How we were going to pull off this big, unplanned for step was intimidating. (I guess we pulled it off… it has been 10 years as of 2/4/13)

February 2007: I gave in and we purchased a one-year old orange mini-van and added our then two car seats. (Ian was 5 and Kaylee was 2.5) I knew that day our van, our home and our hearts needed another Wooldridge. More praying and listening. Rhett was born June 2009 and helped fill our mini-van, home and hearts in unmeasurable ways.

February 2010: I did my best to support my dear friend during her loss and my mom as she faced chemotherapy for breast cancer. I became a basket case. I had major times of doubt and questioned my faith in the same moment, I prayed for God to be with those I loved dearly. Now my friend and mom are my biggest cheerleaders to this day.

February 2012: I felt like God was putting many different encouraging voices in my path that guided, nudged and urged me to apply for the CREATE Masters of Divinity program at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, KS. More praying, worrying and doubting flooded my days. I pushed through it and applied even though I was terrified. I know my steps were guided and I was accepted to the fully scholar-shipped program.

February 2013: In two more class I will have finished my first of three years for my masters. Balance, commitment, and family are the three guides for my life now. It is fulfilling, challenging and divine. And completely unexpected. It keeps working out.

I didn’t know how it would work out each February, but looking back it speaks volumes to believing God will provide a path for me. My heart always leaps a little for February and I hope it always does. I hope you can find your month of calling and for you to see you have already been guided divinely or will be soon.

Love and Blessings to you and your families.

Kristin

PS – I felt compelled to share this note with you.  I wrote it for the MOPS@2BC February 2013 newsletter.  I hope if you read it earlier, you can feel a clearer stirring of your own month.

Oh… Pandora

I was just sitting on my comfy living room couch working along on all my projects and loose ends that need tying up.  To keep myself focused I usually turn on Pandora to the Tina Turner channel.  My Momma didn’t raise no fool.  Song after song is either Tina Turner, someone like her or music from the 80’s and early 90’s.  It is one of my favorite channels because it just makes me happy.  I usually end up singing along.  As I write this Michael Jackson is belting out The Way You Make Me Feel.  Yes, I am signing in my head as I write.

Have you heard the line that music is just a memory?  I’d have to agree.  Earlier a song from 1991 came on and I instantly thought I had climbed into a time machine.  I was transported to my bedroom when I was 15 years old.  I could clearly remember singing into my microphone.  I mean hair brush.  Only one person seemed to understand me at that time, Ms. Whitney Houston.  We would duet together on How Do I know He Loves Me.  I remember begging for my Mom to drive me from our country existence to the mall 30 minutes away to get the single.  Oh, the simple times before iTunes, YouTube, and CDs.  I played that 99 cent cassette single continuously and I still have it.

Every time I hear that song it brings back a flood of memories about the first boy I would talk to on the phone.  Nothing too crazy or wild.  It was huge at the time. I would sneak off and call.  Of course, I thought my parents had no idea.  Except looking back it seemed that they always ended up needing to make a phone call when I was on the house line.  Hmm… that seems fishy now that I have a parental view.  I would die of humiliation when they got on the phone and started dialing a number.  I would get off the phone quickly and turn on that cassette single and sing.  Whitney seemed to be the only one who knew about love, boys and how I was feeling.

I will always know that song word for word.  Those days of teendom are 20+ years ago, but music can make me feel that age all over again.

Tell me one of your “time machine songs.”  I’d love to know!

Ok I have to write for class and possibly clean… hmm probably not the clean.  🙂

Make sure to check out yesterday’s blog post on Lucy and Ethel!!

Blessings,

Kristin

PS – now Whitney Houston’s So Emotional is playing…

Lucy or Ethel

Come on now… you know what I mean.  Are you the type of friend that creates crazy situations? Or are you the type of friend who is the accomplice to the crazy?  You might be either or both depending on who you are with.  You probably have a dominant I Love Lucy personality.

According to Sabienna Bowman, Ethel needed Lucy just as much as Lucy needed Ethel. Even without a show to call her own, the legacy of Ethel can be felt in every best friend combo from Mary and Rhoda straight on through to the raucous ladies of Don’t Trust the B—in Apt. 23.  

Let’s take a closer look at what comes to mind with Lucy and Ethel’s personalities.

         Lucy                                             Ethel

Crazy                                                      Steady

Loyal                                                      Loyal

Rule Breaker                                   Rule Follower

Truth Stretcher                                Truth Seeker

Supportive                                           Supportive

Hare-brained Ideas                    Voice of Reason

Maniac                                                 Balanced

I am without any doubt a Lucy.  I have gotten amazing girlfriends into crazy situations more than once.  Like the time I instigated a living /dining room flooring demo at my friend’s home. Yep, that was a big one.

Our husbands were out all Saturday and we both didn’t have children to exhaust us yet and stop us from what we did to her home.  It all started out simply.  We were hanging out at her new-to-them home and talking about the possibility of hardwoods under the carpeting.  I brought up how lucky we were when we pulled up two bedrooms and a hallway of carpet.  We found great hardwoods under twenty-year old carpeting.

I got that crazy look in my eye and said we should pull up a corner to see.  She agreed because together we are actually two Lucys.  We were giggling as we tugged on that corner and we were pleased with what we found.  So, we worked all day and removed all the carpet from the open living/dining room area.  As we pulled, sweated and laughed about what our husbands would say, we got to the middle of the room.  We were in trouble.  There was some major damage where walls had been removed to make the space an open floor plan.  I definitely felt like Steve Urkel from the show, Family Matters with the famous line, “Did I do that?”

I sure did.  Oh, we knew it wasn’t going to be a project that we completed, but a mess we created.  Then we did what we could, we cleaned!  We worked double-time to get all the carpet and padding out, swept the floors and then figured out how we would face our husbands.  We were dirty and little scared.  We definitely had some esplaining to do as Ricky would have demanded of Lucy.  To this day almost ten years later, our husbands still question what we are going to get into together.

I am thankful tonight for my girlfriends.  Those who are Lucys and those who are Ethels are both equally important to helping me have fun in life!  To my Ethel friends, thank you for coming alongside me in my craziest of times.  To my Lucy friends, I am sure another adventure is ahead of us.

Hope you have a lot more adventures ahead of you too!

Blessings!

Kristin

PS- I am blogging daily for Lent (M-F)

Blog Resources:

Women in the Box: Ethel Mertz, I Love Lucy

This entry was posted on January 9, 2013 by Sabienna Bowman, in Women in the Box

http://classicland.tumblr.com/post/33621071702/lucy

So much…

I often hear the following:

“I don’t know how you do it all.”

“You should learn to say no.”

“I see you coming and going all the time.  Aren’t you exhausted?”

“Just watching you buzz around makes me exhausted.”

I’ll be honest sometimes it stings.  I do have a lot of plates spinning.  And sometimes I am not sleeping much.  My “extra” things are keeping me up late.  It is the soft footsteps padding down the hall from my sweet three-year old at 3:00 a.m.  And yes, I could have a big production of the injustice of getting out of bed to tuck him back in, but I’ve noticed that his current level of “momma need” is fleeting.  My gig is to be his “person.”

Being his “person” reminds me of a great line from the show, Grey’s Anatomy from a couple years back.

It is a different kind of “person” than the friendship described on that show.  But it still stands true.  I am his “person” and I will always be.  I am actually 3 smaller people’s “person” and one adult’s.

I try to not lose myself in all the doing, going and being.  It is a lot of ever-changing, coaching, and communicating.  I could use a nap just thinking about it all.  We all know that there isn’t time for that. 🙂  I keep my plates spinning and my people happy. (most of the time)  I am enjoying this phase of motherhood, family, MOPS Leadership, and master’s classes more than any other time yet.  It is freeing to have all these parts to my life and I am thankful for all the plates to spin.  Some days it seems like everything is falling apart and plates are crashing by the crate full.  Those are the days that stick out when some one comments about the business of my busy-ness.  It cuts a little, but I know that this crazy season is what I am in for now and it is a good thing I love it.

4 (Count’em 4) Wooldridges are Back to School

Oh me! Oh MY!  The joy of learning and the excitement of the unknowns.

> Who is my teacher?

> Who is in my class?

> Can I make new friends?

> Will my teachers like me?

> Can I handle the work?

> Will I find my way??

These questions are what are facing me and my 3 kids.  Ian headed off to 4th grade to be an “upper” classmen at his elementary school.  Kaylee bounced off into 1st grade like it could be a cake walk and was ready to be with her friends.  Sweet Rhett even boarded the bus this morning for his first day of preschool, which left us both very shaken and teary eyed.  I am used to them going to school.  But it is my turn this fall too.

I have been out of college since 1998.  14 years.  In those 14 years I have worked and enjoyed a fast paced sales career.  I’ve stayed home for almost 10 years to support Amon’s career path, raise our sweet kiddos and find what makes me tick.  I’ve also lead an amazing ministry at my church for 6 years.  The known has been GOOD.  It has been quite a journey of ups and downs but it helped prepare for my next step.

It has opened me up for what I could be and that I can be more.  So here goes!  My backpack isn’t Hello Kitty, but my new school bag is filled with syllabi, notebooks and required readings.  I am reading and writing all the time and devouring what I am learning.

My new journey starts officially Wednesday when I travel to Conception Abbey for the CREATE cohort retreat for 4 days.  I applied and interviewed back in the spring.  I was notified in the middle of May that I was selected as one of ten in this newer Masters of Divinity program at Central Baptist Theological Seminary.  I will work closely and study with these 9 other students over the next 3 years.

How I will be shaped and how I will grow is unmeasurable.  I am so excited to lean into the work and grow.  I have no firm plans for after I complete the program.  It is open-ended and I can’t wait to see the pieces add up.  And as a planner this FREAKS me out!  But I know to my core that my openness to creativity, the learning and the journey will be my responsibility at God’s work in my future.

What is known is that when the program is completed I will still be sending off my children to school… to kindergarten, to 4th grade, and to 7th grade.  And I am excited to be on this journey with them.

Keep us in your prayers!

Whitney Houston was RIGHT

Ok not about every choice in her journey. But in 1986 she was right. I was 10 and I still know every bit of a song that she belted out.

She belted out quite a few so I will give you the answer. The song is The Greatest Love of All. It is about finding strength from within to take on your own life and not to give up. The line of it that she was right about was that I believe the children are our FUTURE, teach them well and let them lead the way.

I am here to say that I agree whole-heartedly with Whitney. Recently an important vote was counted in my town on education. It failed by 280 votes and only 9,288 voted. And that is really sad. Really a concentrated effort to vote by all the parents in our 11,000 student school district population could have turned the vote. It would have been amazing. 280 votes short makes me sick. Sure not all have to agree, but those who could have voted yes we need you to be ready next time.

I am a daughter who is proud of her mother and her teaching career. Her time shaped lives, dreams and hopes and that was not lost on me. She then helped, supported and taught families for 25 years with Parents As Teachers. I have a deep belief that every child deserves the best education that we can provide for them. That can’t happen if we don’t vote. When they say, every vote matters it really does. (don’t even get me started on why women should honor their right to vote… that is a different soapbox!) I know life can be crazy and forgetting can be easy. But sign up for absentee voting like my friend, who’s work hours don’t work with poll hours. Find a way to cast your vote.

We need to be active, not numb. I was just made less numb by spending an hour in my daughter’s class. I helped, listened and tried to do whatever was needed with a happy heart. What was needed was some one-one-on time with a little guy. I went out with him to work for 20 minutes on cutting, glueing and sounding out syllables. But I went out with the intent to be his very own cheerleader and build him up. Smiling big, clapping out syllables and cheering him on was my focus. I could physically see him filling with confidence and pride as we worked together. And I know that touched his heart and excited his mind when he started naming extra things we could clap together. We did about 30 more words and he got creative. He was impressed that he figured out cafeteria had so many syllables. Now I can’t wait to go again. I even asked him if I could come back and spend time with him. He replied, “how about tomorrow?”

I don’t know what your involvement is in your school district, but if you can volunteer. Please carve out the time and find the child who needs a cheerleader. It was only an hour and it added to my life so much that I had to share with you.

Don’t be shy with your gifts no matter your age… VOLUNTEER, GIVE, VOTE and PRAY!

Whatever you do, remember… Whitney Houston reminding us all that… I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.

PS if you have a teacher in your life, send them a note of thanks! (and a gift card to an office supply store or super store like Wal-mart and Target) They are the cornerstone in the development of our society! 🙂

Best Designed Plans

Do you ever have those days were you have “a plan”?  A real plan.  One that looks great on paper.  You know the kind that seems like a no-brainer to a big win.  Those feel good even before you get going.

Do you ever make this plan and it is not “fact-checked” against reality?  I do that sometimes.  Plans created in a vacuum.  Guess that things made in a vacuum do… they SUCK! (Get it?  Ha!)

When I go about planning and doing without looking at the whole picture things fall short and I get disappointed in myself in the outcomes.  Take today for example.  I need to get across town (not Liberty… I need to go to the far off state of Kansas) and I thought bing, bam, boom – – in and out and all will be great.

So, I load my toddler up and head to the Wild Wild West of Kansas at 11am.  Ten minutes into our journey he isn’t babbling and singing along with me anymore.  I glance back and he is OUT!  That good kind of slumped over sleep with his head bobbing back and forth.

So I caught the next exit back to Liberty and in 7 minutes I was able to get him in his bed for a real nap.

Plans averted for a real rest and a chance for me to get things done at home. (and to blog!)

Here is what I had overlooked and should have added to our reality equation:

• He had major playtime last night during our small group for church = tired
• He got me up at 5:15 am and was wide awake = tired
• He had already been up 6 hours = tired
• He had just eaten the biggest banana ever personally purchased = full

And if I had been aware instead of focused on the desired outcome I would have never even attempted to go.

Ah to be human and get so much practise in readjusting after erring.  I do appreciate the “oops” moments because next time I will refine my thinking and I hope I will be able to miss this rookie mistake.

This is a small example but I bet each of us could pick a bigger example in our lives were we need to step back and see all the pieces to the puzzle.

Think it out without being in a vacuum.

(SIDE NOTE: We are outta here… he napped almost 2 hours and has woke up happy… Kansas here we come!!)

Cleanliness = Godliness

Before I became a mom, I was a very clean person.  I mean I enjoyed all the frills of being a girl.  Nails – check, hair – check, outfit perfect – check, even changing purses out weekly.  Then entered a new era.  One that when I did spend the time to get gussied up I was told amazing compliments.  “WOW where are you going today?  Are you heading back to work or an interview?  What got into you today?” (just a sampling)

Not to say that I don’t try to look more pulled together these days but sometimes I am truly the last one in the bathroom in the morning trying to put a few well placed curls in my longer hair.  Or some mornings I just go.  If you are around my town you have seen me “a la natural”.  It is fast.  I promise my hair is brushed and my clothes are clean.  But I am not in make up and I haven’t taken the time to really get gussied up to run to preschool, the grocer, or other little tasks.

Now that my kids are getting older I am enjoying shopping since they don’t come with me anymore.  If you have kids you know how much fun 15 minutes in your section of clothing in Kohl’s is with 1+ children in tow.  I used to get one shirt in 3 colors so I could have “variety”.  HA!  But times are changing and they are more independent which should allow me to get up and curl my locks and apply some make up.  It might happen but I have learned that I am ok either way.

I do think that motherhood also rolled in a new way of thinking about germs, stickiness and cleanliness.  I became aware that no matter how much you Purell, protect or prevent, my child was going to catch the “bubonic plague”.  I relaxed and now I even tease that they should just go ahead and lick each other to get the germs through the house faster.  (we don’t actually do this… yet)  All the dirtiness that comes along with children and young families got me thinking about the old adage, Cleanliness is next to Godliness.  This makes me laugh!  I know that I never felt closer to God then when I became a mother and was living in awe and wonderment of His plan, His creation and the instrumental part He has ordained me to be part of.

Our life as a family of 5 are what I like to call “lived in”.  We are orderly to a point, we are clean to a point, and we don’t live like hoarders. (unless you look at our storage room where I have been just throwing things in over summer… yikes) I want to spend time with my kids now, laughing, chasing in the backyard, being creative and goofy, consoling them with their hurts, fears and actual boo boos, time reading, and listening to them.  Cleanliness will come someday.  But for now we will live loved and express that to our family, our extended family and our friends.

Where did this post come from you might wonder… Well, here is the conversation that went down last night:

“Mom, how cool you have a new freckle on your arm!” exclaimed Kaylee.

“Do I?  Where?” said I.

“Right there.” she says pointing.

I looked closely and started to laugh.  She was puzzled!

“Well Mom, is that a new freckle?  Can I kiss it for you?” (we kiss all new freckles on the kids, like my Mom did to me growing up)

I kept laughing and replied.  “Nope that is just chocolate pudding!”  (Guess Rhett got me!)

Background for the curious on the history behind Cleanliness is next to Godliness:

CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS – “This ancient proverb is said by some to have come from ancient Hebrew writings. However, its first appearance in English – though in slightly altered form – seems to be in the writings of Francis Bacon. In his ‘Advancement of Learning’ (1605) he wrote: ‘Cleanness of body was ever deemed to proceed from a due reverence to God.’ Near two centuries later John Wesley in one of his sermons (1791) indicated that the proverb was already well-known in the form we use today. Wrote Wesley: ‘Slovenliness is no part of religion.’Cleanliness is indeed next to Godliness.'” From “Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins” by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988). There are a couple more details in “Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings” (1996) by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996): “.According to the fourteenth edition of ‘Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,’ it is an old Hebrew proverb used in the late 2nd century by Rabbi Phinehas ben-Yair. First attested in the United States in the ‘Monthly Anthology and Boston Review’ (1806). The proverb is found in varying forms.”

Sources: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/14/messages/568.html