Thirteen Things I Have Gained from Blogging

1. In honor of the retirement of the Thursday Thirteen, I figured this was an appropriate theme. And number one on my list is the confidence I have gained from the Thursday Thirteen! My blog wasn’t read by many before the T13, and when the first set of management changes happened, Leanne trusted me enough to be one of the new co-hostesses of the T13! This brought me new readers, thus boosting my confidence. My posts are VERY different now than they were pre-13, and so most of the things I have gained from blogging came out of the T13!!

2. Friendships! I have met so many amazing people through blogging, and that is soooo the stereotypical answer, but it is very true.

3. A new outlet for writing! I used to write creatively alllllll the time, but once I got into college I was writing so much for my classes that I didn’t want to write anymore. Blogging brought me a way to write and enjoy it again, and it’s even renewed my desire to write creatively!

4. My 101 in 1001 has given me a visible platform to write down goals that I’ve been wanting to achieve, and an audience to keep me accountable.

5. The Works-for-Me Wednesday meme has given me so many fantastic tips that I have used in my everyday life!

6. Through blogging I found FlyLady, which is a life altering event! ‘Nuff said!

7. Also through blogging I found Bookcrossing.com, which has revolutionized my thoughts on books and has jumpstarted my pleasure reading, which also stagnated with all my college reading!

8. As I have discussed before, I was very environmentally-conscious when I was younger. Blogging brought that back!

9. As someone who is committed to breast health awareness, blogging has been a great platform for sharing what I know and connecting with women on something that may save their lives!

10. An outlet, of course! When I get excited or worked up about something, online is on of the first places that I go!

11. Blogging has also led me into the world of personal finance management. It’s made me aware as I am leaving college on the importance of saving, budgeting, and investing, something that I will be thankful for for the rest of my life!

12. Blogging on my personal blog has led me to create another blog, Reading Red Letters, my faith blog. This has been a great way to connect with other Christians online, and has led me to many great online blogs and resources that have aided me in my walk.

13. And, in case there was any doubt . . . BLOGGING IS FUN!!!!!!!!!

Thanks so much for a great couple of years with the T13!!! I have so much enjoyed getting to know people, and I hope to stay in touch with you as we continue blogging!!!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Leave me a comment and I’ll give you a shout out!

Thirteen New Year’s Resolutions

Sorry for the late posting. I don’t really have many specific New Year’s resolutions because I am working on my 101 in 1001 - and I’m more than 40% through it! I’m right on track with the amount of time I have left, so that is very exciting! However, I do have a few clarifications about some of the goals in my 101 in 1001 . . .

1. #5 on my list is to officially join the Episcopal Church. So far I haven’t done this because I’m never home at the time that they’re offering the courses. I’m going to make a serious effort to see if I can somehow work that out this year.

2. #50 is to sponsor a child. This was actually one of the first things I completed. However, I would like to become more involved, so a resolution of mine is to try and maintain regular written correspondence with my child.

3. #47 is to stop biting my fingernails. This is one of the things that is the hardest on my list . . . I’ve been biting my fingernails for 22 years! I had stopped at one point my freshman year, but then I started to date a guy who bit HIS nails, and that got me started back again, and it’s only gotten worse since. However, Mama recently told me about something that she heard on the radio. One guy said that biting your fingernails is an addiction just as bad as smoking (which I think is probably true - no chemical dependency, but mentally . . . geez). The way that HE stopped was one finger at a time. He was allowed to bite the nails on 9 fingers, but not the tenth. Then 8 fingers. 7. All the way until he was down to only being allowed to bite one nail. And he said it took him a loooong time to get off that finger, but when he did it he had completely kicked the habit.

I’m starting with my right thumb. Here’s hoping.

4. Since I haven’t made much headway on reading the books for #76 and #87, I’m going to try and keep a list of the books I’m reading this year here on my blog. Hopefully that will make me a little more accountable!

5. To aid in my reading the Bible for #4 I have just purchased the The One Year Bible Companion: Questions and Answers to Help You Make the Most of Your Daily Bible Reading. It leads you through reading the Bible in a year - every day a little New Testament, a little Old Testament, and some Proverbs and Psalms. And this version of the book has questions and things. I like it ;-)!

6. To go with SEVERAL of my health 101’s I am going to continue further implementation of FlyLady’s principles. While her main thing is cleaning, decluttering, and organizing, everything is built on routines, something that I have found is leading me to healthier eating and (gasp!) daily exercise!! Through the FlyLady way and through her book Body Clutter: Love Your Body, Love Yourself I am going to work to have a healthier lifestyle. And if that gets in place, the weight will come off :-D!

7. #27 is to get a job. Now that I am no longer in grad school, this is priority numero uno for the new year!

8. As listed in #42, I want to begin creatively writing again. In the past month or so, I’ve actually felt like I think I can do this soon. I’m slowly working on ideas for a new book, and I’m excited that my little creative spark might be ready to go after a looong hiatus!

9. My books are out of control. I’ve got my closet cleaned, so it’s time for the next step! Not only will this help me declutter and make my room more pleasant, but it will help me through reading my books AND it will get me to the point where I can add them to a database (#56). Lots of goodies rolled into one.

10. I am revamping #61 a bit. Up until now it has said “Get Mama’s bead business online.” While I would still LOVE to do that, it appears as though my big resolution from last year is not going to be completed by the end of the year. However, I don’t consider this to be a complete failure. Mama isn’t ready to go online. However, I have helped her to figure out a system for keeping track of her records, which is just as valuable as getting the business online. I’m not sure when we’ll be able to get her online, but I can help her get completely organized . . . taking inventory of probably somewhere near a million beads. This is just as big a task as getting her online, and it’s something that I have more control over. I don’t want to push her into going online if she’s not ready just so I can complete my list. So, the new #61 is “Get Mama’s beads inventoried and make the inventory something she can easily work with daily.”

11. If I plan on writing 1001 blog posts on this blog and Reading Red Letters in time, I need to get busy or #75 won’t happen!

12. Now that I am getting a little control over my life and I am establishing routines, I am cooking a lot more, so I am really hoping to get my “In the Kitchen” goals completed this year.

13. And one resolution that isn’t addressed in my 101 in 1001. When I was younger I had a little bit of an environmentalist in me, and I pushed that aside when I turned 13 because it made me “uncool” - yeah, such is middle school. Then when I was in high school and college I was so super busy that I didn’t even consider making time for caring about the earth. But as I’ve been out of school and have slowly started to become “a grownup” (like that will ever happen), I’m realizing that this is something that is a part of me. I am going to work on green living this year, and try to conserve and reuse whenever possible. I’m researching cleaning products and clothing lines, as well as how we can make up for energy expenditures. I’ll be posting more about these things throughout the year, and hopefully I will have started some great new habits by the time we get to next year’s resolutions!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Leave me a comment and I’ll give you a shout out!

Thirteen Things about LINDSEY

1. It’s been a few weeks since I participated - I am a bad hostess, LOL! Things have been really busy with the holidays and all the changes in my life. My brain hasn’t been up to much real posting, but I think that things are finally starting to get a little more calm.

2. Today is FlyLady’s 7th anniversary! Congratulations to her - she’s made so many changes to so many people’s lives! From the email sent to her list today:

It is hard to believe that this little list that FlyLady started in 1999 has become such a blessing to so many. I am so proud to be a part of something that helps so many of you and I know FlyLady and all of the Fly Crew feels the same way. You have opened up your hearts, minds and homes to us and we love you all.

One of the questions that was asked of me was “Who is the Fly Lady?”

FlyLady is a system developed to help people gain control over their homes, their clutter, and their lives. It is absolutely amazing! I heard about it for a while before I actually decided to give it a try, and once I did decide to try it I was sure that it wouldn’t work for me - it all seemed a little contrived and silly. Imagine my surprise when it began to slowly change my life. It’s caused me to finally learn how to clean my apartment (I’ve just graduated from college, so I’m just now starting to live away from my parents’ home and a dorm), it’s caused me to start exercising (a feat, I assure you - I’ve been trying to get that one going for years), I’m beginning to cook and quit buying convenience food, and I feel generally happier, more at peace.

It’s kind of hard to explain how it works without really getting into depth, so I’ll just direct you to FlyLady’s site - there are great explanations there! And don’t worry too much about being overwhelmed. The entire system is based on the principle of babysteps, so you are slowly eased into the process!

Thanks for the great question SussieQ - I’m more than happy to go on about my experiences with FlyLady if anyone wants to know more!

3. Matt asks where babies come from.

Matt also asks if I am left brained or right brained. I have taken several assessments, and it always surprises me how in the middle I always am. The one that I have found to show the most bias is this one:

However, I feel like there are many characteristic traits for right brained people that I identify with, so I have no idea which I am, haha. Probably left brained with right brain tendencies.

4. Mouse asks, “What is your opinion on divorce? Do you feel that too many people are using divorce as a escape route (lazy way out) instead of sticking by their vows and remaining with their man/woman and trying to work out their troubles?”

Yes, I agree with that completely. I think that as divorce has become more accepted in our society people began to see it as an escape clause to their marriages. There wasn’t as much though put into picking a mate because you could always get divorced if things didn’t work out. As a result, people are not marrying the right people because they aren’t taking the marriage vows seriously (they’re marrying the “right now” people), and when things do get tough, everyone is tossing in the towel instead of actually taking some time to work out issues. Passionate love, while necessary for a relationship, is not the only part of a relationship. The best friend aspect of marriage becomes vital when the passion begins to fade, and it is the mutual respect that holds together marriage. I think that people need to be very careful when they consider their future spouse, and there needs to be a verbal agreement between both people before they are married that they will take the “to death do us part” seriously. I am more than happy to continue this discussion should anyone else be curious! Thanks for the great question!

5. Pete wants to know “Why are girls stupid?”

Pete, to that I ask you - why are boys stupid?

You know I love you.

6. Brittany asks, “Evolution/creationism/intelligent design debates – where do you stand with this stuff?”

I was actually discussing this with my mother yesterday :-). I believe that God created the earth and humans. I believe that He created it in 7 days. However, I am not set on the literal understanding of these things. I am not opposed to the idea of evolution. However, through that evolution, I believe that when it came time for the actual man to be developed, God created him. The exact details of this aren’t really that important to me - my faith in God allows me to be OK with not understanding it 100%. Humans have finite minds and a finite understanding of this world, and since God and time are infinite, how could I ever expect to understand it? As for the 7 days, I do believe the world was created in 7 days. However, I think that each day was not a calendar day as we know it - more than likely day 1 was billions of years, day 2 was millions of years, day 3 was hundreds of thousands of years, etc. There is evidence that days are getting shorter, so who is to say that each of those days was not a God day instead of a 2006 human day?

That’s just my understanding. For some people, exact scientific proof is going to be the only thing that allows them to believe something. I guess that’s where faith comes in :-D!! Great question!

7. If you’ve got a question for me, I’d LOVE to answer it! Please, ask me ANYTHING!!! Thanks for the great questions guys!

8. There’s a really awesome new forum over at the Thursday Thirteen hub! Make sure you check it out!!!

9. A little 101 in 1001 update: on Tuesday I took all my change to the church for a fundraiser the youth are doing - they actually WANT everyone’s pocket change! I’m sure they were surprised with the $165.52 I brought in! Mark off #59 on my list :-).

10. Another big thing happened this week on my list - I marked off #64 . . . but it’s going to get its own post ;-)!

11. You may have noticed my site was down for a while at the beginning of the week . . . that’s because I’ve changed hosts! Be sure to check out Blogs-About Hosting!

12. Has anyone seen The Nativity Story? My mom and I are intending to see it, and I was curious to know what others thought about it . . .

13. Interested in getting rid of all that junk mail AND helping the environment? How about with just a few clicks of the mouse? Enter greendimes!!! This seems positively fantastic! Thoughts? Any other good green tips?

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Leave me a comment and I’ll give you a shout out!

It’s the Christmas edition of Works for Me Wednesday, and I am SUPER excited because I’ve already started all my Christmas planning, and I can’t wait to see what everyone else is doing!

Planning is key in my mind. Making your Christmas card list, keeping track of gifts you’re giving, having recipes on hand . . . the list goes on and on. And what better way to do that than having an AWESOME Christmas planner. Where, might you ask, can one find such an amazing tool? FlyLady, of course!

Now, before you grumble, I know that many of you have issues with FlyLady, so hear me out. You don’t actually have to join FlyLady to use her planner (though I personally think EVERYONE could benefit from a little FLYwashing), and the planner is completely free. Just CLICK HERE to go to the planner, download it and print it off, and enjoy the benefits of having all that great holiday info in one location - one PORTABLE location. Stick it in the car and take it to the mall or the grocery store, it’s simply great.

Fantastic organization that makes Christmas easier so that I can enjoy the time with friends and family? That soooooooo works for me!