If I had a month to live

What would I change?

I'm reading a book, One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life. As the title suggests, the goal is to re-focus your life to living passionately and fully.

Have you heard the song "Live Like You Were Dying," by Tim McGraw? In it he talks about traveling, facing fears, loving more deeply, etc. This book is designed to help the reader learn to make these changes...all without actually having to die 30 days later, lol.

So, the question begs...if I knew I only had 30 days to live, what changes would I make to my life?

The first thing that comes to mind is that I spend a lot of time in fear. I worry. A lot. I believe that we are not meant to live in fear, and I have made great strides in overcoming it, however, it'd be really a stupid waste of time to spend my last 30 days on Earth worrying about stuff like money or insurance issues.

Second, I'm going to go with the understanding that I'm NOT going to die at the end of this 30 days (lol), and I'd like to continue working on my fitness and general health. I want to live my life as a healthy and fit person!

Third, I want to be more patient with my loved ones. I am extremely patient at work, but at home I find myself sighing or getting snappy when things don't go exactly the way *I* think they should.

I'd like to spend more time outdoors, exploring. Taking hikes, going to parks, climbing mountains, etc. I suspect that someone would make a lot more memories this way...rather than sitting on a couch.

I'm noticing that my changes aren't BIG like "ride a bull" or "sky-dive"...but if I can make these changes in my life, it'd be big to me. My last one for now is to do less procrastinating. I spend a fair bit of time looking at things that I'd like to get done. Seems obvious, but if I'd just DO them...they'd be done! LOL

Just catching up

Good heavens. So much has been happening in the past few weeks, that it was just easier for me to not even think about blogging. But now...I have WAY too much to say! You know what that means? Bulleted list!

• High school is going really well for Shannon. She's making friends, and doing pretty well! There are lessons being learned about needing to be organized, etc. But I think that's par for the course! Patrick and I have been to both 9th grade parents' orientation, and then curriculum night, and we are SO impressed with her school.
• Since mid-July, my dad has been hospitalized 4 times, for a total of about 3 weeks time. He is doing well now, and all we can do at this point is just pray it continues! I *think* we're finally on the right track...so here's to healing and recovery!
• I went back to work on August 11th and have been super busy getting my classroom and curriculum ready. Both of my assistants (one for each class) also help in other age levels, which is completely fine...but what it means is that I did quite of bit of work on my own. I'm really proud of how much I accomplished! This week we had a curriculum night for each class, and then an open house for the kids to come meet us and play in the classroom, etc. Now? Now I have over a week off! Woot! Classes start the day after Labor Day.
• Patrick's got some exciting stuff going on, but I'm not really at liberty to talk about it *just yet.* But any good thoughts you could send his way would be appreciated!
• We're watching The Weather Channel nonstop this weekend, watching hurricane Irene abuse the east coast. We're sending lots of love and prayers to everyone in her path.
  

High school???

Could someone please tell how it's possible that my sweet, loveable, darling baby girl started HIGH SCHOOL this week?!? I mean, it was like...last week that I was just snuggling her like this, wasn't it?



Wait. It wasn't? Sigh.

My sweetie had a GREAT day at school. She said it was the best day ever! She's gone to an out of district high school to be able to participate in the International Baccalaureate program. What that means is, she knows NO ONE at her new school. I am so proud of how outgoing she is being, and how many new people she's meeting. She's awesome!

Five Question Friday...first timer!

I've seen so many bloggers participate in Mama M's "Five Question Friday," hosted at My Little Life, that today I decided I was going to play too! If you want to play along too, it's easy...just head over there, copy the questions, and get to it!

OK...time for the questions!

1. Do you have siblings and are you close with them?

Yes, I do...I have a brother and a sister, and while my relationship is fine with both of them, I wouldn't say that I'm CLOSE to my brother. We email and text occasionally, but that's about it. I know he'd be there for me if I needed him, and hopefully he knows the same about me...but he's 10 years older than I am, and lives in CA...so that's kinda what it is. My sister and I have probably the closest relationship we've ever had, and I love it. She really took to heart the role of "mean big sister" when we were kids, and as a result...we didn't really get along until we were adults. But now, it's all love...and she may even be moving out here to GA soonish! Excited!

2. Would you rather be slightly UNDER weight or slightly OVER weight?

Well, I've been "slightly" (hahaha) overweight for much of my adult life. So, to answer, I guess I'd rather be slightly underweight, just to see what it feels like. But my honest answer is that I'd just like to be a healthy, fit weight. That's my goal. (And I'm working on it! I've lost 4.2 lbs in the last 2 weeks.)

3. What's your favorite State Fair food to splurge on?

Mmmm...corn dogs or funnel cakes.

4. What are your thoughts on your kid(s) going to school in a few weeks?

This is a big year for us; Shannon is starting high school! Mostly, I'm excited. But there are worries of course...will she like it, will she be overwhelmed, how will she handle the pressure, will she be strong enough to resist peer pressure? Also, she is going "out of district" for school, to one that offers the IB (International Baccaulaureate) program. Only 2 other kids from her school are going there...so she's going to be making all new friends, too. Next Thursday (the 11th) is the day!

5. Pool or Ocean?

To look at? Ocean.

To play in? Pool.

I love being at the beach. I love playing in the sand. I even love playing in the (shallow) waves. That's about it, though.

I love that pools are crystal clear, that there isn't any (potentially dangerous) wildlife in there, there are no big waves to knock you down or drag you out to sea. It's just much more my speed.

I hope you enjoyed visiting my blog...please come back again! If you'd like to visit another participating blog...look below!

Bye bye summer hair!

Early in the summer, we dyed the underside of Shannon's hair BRIGHT pink. I loved it, and we referred to in as her flamingo tail.



As the summer went on, her hair grew, and the pink faded. Last week, she got her "back to school" haircut, and most of the pink got cut out. Her dark roots were back, and some "shreds" of pink still peeked out. We decided to bleach out those dark roots and see how it looked, lol!



She jokingly referred to that as her "science experiment hair." With the start of (high) school looming next week (eek!), she decided it was time to go back to conforming.

Here's before,



And after: