Oh, just charge it. Then, recharge it.

On By mrsjmejonesIn about us, Blogging, home, sleep, work, worry1 Comment

When I feel drained of *energy*, there are a few ways I can recharge.  I thought I’d make a list…

  1. nap (assuming all the kid folk and husband folk are in agreement.  LEAST LIKELY ONE, FYI)
  2. massage (La Therapie in Cary is my FAVE)
  3. be still (and know)
  4. talk it out (talk about what drained me, prolly to my mama)
  5. make a list (ha, but no really)

I find that sometimes the most effective way to recharge is something mindless.  Like, scouring FB or Twitter for updates.  To just get lost in something that is not taxing or stressful does me much good.  Maybe that’s why I know so much about Sanford’s goings-ons, Cory Booker,  Food Network and YOU!  🙂

 

Working on Empty

On By mrsjmejonesIn about us, Blogging, NaBloPoMo, occupation, travel, workLeave a comment

Interesting that my blog prompt today was, “Which daily tasks take up the most of your energy?”  Interesting since today was my first day back to work in a few weeks.  Interesting in a really not funny way.  So, obviously, most days I spend MOST of my day/time/energy working.  I get to work from 7:30 to 7:45 and enjoy a few quiet moments before everyone arrives.  I usually start coffee for everyone while my laptop starts up and then I get started!  I am a Marketing Manager for a company that manufactures pool equipment.  What I actually DO has nothing and everything to do with that. I manage our incentive programs and that means a lot of approving, a lot of spreadsheets, tons of numbers and an annual event that takes the best part of a year to plan.  I have a team that is awesome and I work for an executive that is amazingly present even when traveling the greater majority of the year.  I have conference calls and meetings and process improvements and employee reviews and emails and voicemails and travel and budget review.  It take a lot of energy to keep up with the pace that our department runs.  We have no down time to speak of…we have a seasonal industry but we are global so we are constantly shifting from one market to another.  It’s the best of things and the worst of things.  No time to be bored but so fast that you can’t even decide which is your favorite part!  I love it though.  I don’t know how I would function in a place that wasn’t moving so quickly.  It’s certainly the way I operate and the way my colleagues seem to as well.  I think we have all adapted and am pretty glad that it’s the case.  I recharge each night with my family.  They keep me going, as I wrote about yesterday.  Each day is a new challenge, full of opportunities.  I only hope I take advantage of the right ones on a consistent basis!

 

Vitamin F

On By mrsjmejonesIn Blogging, family, kids, love, NaBloPoMo, praise2 Comments

I’m starting the Blog Challenge for January of 2013…this month’s theme is ENERGY..

So, if I think of where my energy comes from…it’s certainly not from MY mind or MY body or MY inner self…it is from Christ.  Just read “I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me” – Philippians 4:13.  I pray if I’m having troubles.  I pray if I’m not.  I pray without ceasing.  I pray because that’s what I’ve been instructed to do by His word.  I also believe that the Lord puts people around you to motivate you.   If I am having a hard time pushing through something, almost always the people I think of are my loved ones. If it’s a work project I’m dealing with resistance on, I think of how proud my husband seems of me when it comes to my job.  When I’m having a hard time even THINKING of cooking dinner, I think of how much he enjoys his favorite foods.  When I am exhausted and one of my kids asks me to play…I am absolutely stoked that they picked ME to spend a moment with!  Our kids are so busy and getting older…if one of them actually thinks of me, I am IN!  At the end of the day, it’s easy to be tired and lazy, but with the motivation from my family members, I feel like I can do anything.

Happy New Year!

Onward…

On By mrsjmejonesIn about us, family, lists, my heart, positive thinking2 Comments

I don’t like resolutions.  I shy away from predictions.  I am more of a “goals and objectives” kinda gal.  In – SHOCKER – a list form!  Here are some of my goals for the coming year:

  1. Read the Bible AT LEAST daily.
  2. Become more active in my church. Also, if I’m uncomfortable with that, find a church that I am comfortable with doing that in.
  3. Keep blogging.  I love to journal and I love the feedback that I get.  It’s not usually in comments, but rather in emails or direct messages that are from close friends.  I appreciate that so much.
  4. Do more random acts of kindness.  How about making them NORMAL and not RANDOM?
  5. Disney. Again.
  6. Make sure my teenagers know how very special they are…and then keep telling them.  Every day.  I see so much hurt in teens all over the place and I need to be SURE I don’t have that under my roof.  Ever.
  7. Be more expressive of my feelings in person.  I have a pretty hefty problem of expressing myself if you’re in the same room with me.  Over blogs, texts, emails – I can rock out words a plenty.  I need to get over it.

I’ll never ask my mom for oatmeal cookies again…

On By mrsjmejonesIn Christmas, kids, lists, memory1 Comment

It’s so hard to believe that it’s come and gone.  That the long-awaited day of celebrations of our Savior’s birth…with presents and food and family has happened and is now a memory.  As I upload the photos to my computer and try to process the frenzy of the last few days….I thought I’d list out some things that I hope I remember a year from now…or even 5…but hopefully 30.  You know I can turn anything into bullet form.  🙂

  • Oatmeal cookies are good.  But making them is NOT an easy task.
  • My boys DO count presents.
  • Mama will let you help.  If she has a debilitating illness.
  • Family really is the best part of it.  Hands down.
  • If your husband buys you that Kitchen-Aid mixer, he WILL expect you to USE it.
  • When people say “if you need me, just call” – they might really mean it.
  • Santa can find his way in even if you don’t have a chimney, a special key for him or sleigh parking.
  • The more you say “I’m not going to overdo it this year.” is proportional to the amount in which you WILL.
  • Kids are really fun to watch open presents. The wonder, the surprise, the smiles…it just makes the hustle and bustle and money and time SO WORTH IT.
  • It really is better to give than receive.  Honestly.
  • There is no better party than a pajama party.
  • McDonald’s really is the only place open.  Really.
  • Being able to help your parents out more than ever is still rewarding even if your Mom is sick and that’s the only reason she let you do most of the grocery shopping.
  • Having a sick mommy on Christmas is pretty much the same as having a sick kiddo at Christmas.  Feels just as yucky and you want to take it away for them!
  • Real friends wear pajamas to your house.  And don’t care that you’re still in them.
  • Reading the Bible on Christmas Eve with your kids is actually that awesome.  Having a husband that explains things and is so patient with them is even more awesome.
  • When it’s all said and done and your four year old lists out a few toys as her fave parts of the day….but ends with, “but spending time with my family was the best thing ever” – it’s okay to cry.  It’s probably preferred to exploding internally.

Merry Christmas to everyone reading.  It’s been a great one for us and I hope it has been for you as well!

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Just Reflection

On By mrsjmejonesIn family, grateful, kids, my heart, praise, prayers, trust, trust in Jesus, world, worry3 Comments

My heart is really heavy tonight.  I’ve prayed, I’ve cried, I’ve read, I’ve watched…I’ve tried to comprehend the details and then shut my computer in dismay.  I have hugged my children, absorbed in their scents, and thanked the Lord for my blessings.  I feel so incredibly sad for the families of the little angels that lost their lives today.  I feel so raw with emotion that I can’t even put into words exactly how it makes me feel.  I am looking to my Lord.  I am not asking for answers or understanding or even peace.  What I ask is for more people to trust Him.  More people to have the kind of faith that moves mountains.  That heals hearts.  That forgives.  Those children were so innocent, so unfinished.  Surely so loved by a parent or two….grandparents…great-grandparents..aunts..uncles…brothers…sisters.  Those small little hands and fingers and toes….so small and yet so missed this evening.  I cannot even imagine the hurt and loss that their families must be feeling.  But, even so, I pray that they have faith.  I pray that they look to Him.  I pray that they would draw closer and nearer to the only one who can deliver them.  I pray that they would know Him, love Him, trust Him.  Only through Him will they once again see those small eyes and be reunited among streets of gold!!!  I pray for comfort for these people, this town, our country.  We surely need many things…but most of all, Him.

On By mrsjmejonesIn BloggingLeave a comment

I totally agree on this! This was put VERY well!

Prego and the Loon's avatarPrego and the Loon

To “Like” is to respect and validate.

In today’s society people’s personal stories, viewpoints, and actual facts are just a click away. I like to think that if someone is going to use their free time to create a post then it is obviously important at least to that individual. Everyday people pour their heart and souls out to random individuals online hoping to turn a few heads, and arouse a bit of attention. Maybe their post is positive, maybe it is negative, maybe it is factual, maybe it is fictional, and maybe it’s pure advertisement sometimes referred to as spam. Either way there is a person behind the blog driving it forward in hopes to spread some form of awareness.

Now I bring this to your attention because myself, and others often wonder should I click the “like” button. Sometimes a mental battle may go through one’s head sounding…

View original post 259 more words

Love and Marriage…and…Progress Reports??

On By mrsjmejonesIn about us, family, hubby, marriage, my heart, occupation, survey, trust, work1 Comment

Of course when I was in school…progress reports were not my favorite thing.  Once I discovered boys started high school I sure didn’t like those two words together.  I never thought I’d yearn for a checkup of how I’m doing!  However, as an adult who works full time in a fast paced role, I look forward to performance reviews to be able to have that check-in with my boss (a busy, Global Vice President). I need to hear the good, bad and ugly of how I’m doing so I can act on it. As a Manager, I welcome the opportunity to do the same.  I take it seriously.  I’m probably one of the few people who really enjoys it!!

Well..as a married woman who love love loves her hubby so much…like SO much..I often wish I had a template of a marriage progress report to measure my performance.  To feel like I know what I’m doing right and wrong and in between.  I’m going to create one.  I want to.  I might.  I should add that to my bucket list.  Mike and I have our own detailed conversations about this and daily I truly do attempt to do something that translates the WORDS I love you into an action…but life is busy and chaotic and sometimes you just want to be sure that’s the message you’re conveying!   Somewhere between the “Honey, can you pick up supper?” and the “I have no idea where your socks are.  I don’t wear them!”, you just want to know that the love is shining through!

Hmm. More on this later. Need to wash some socks.

Countless Captions – My Daddy

On By mrsjmejonesIn Blogging, captions, family, grateful, hubby, lists, love, memory, my heart, photography, serious2 Comments

So, I did this earlier with my great-grandmother’s picture…and I thought it was time again.  Chose THIS GUY…since it was just his birthday and I had this awesome picture of him!

That man right there is my Daddy.  He’s a great husband to my Mom, a wonderful Daddy to us girls, and a fabulous Papa to all the grandkids.  This pic was taken at his birthday party just a couple of weeks ago.  It makes me think of a few things:

  • to get my Daddy to smile straight on in a pic – IMPOSSIBLE
  • his laugh, which is contagious
  • his love of San Felipe where he orders “pollo VANDITO” every time, no matter how many times I correct him (fundido)
  • our Sonic dates when I was a teenager…every Friday night
  • his height…six feet six inches..he has always been the “jolly green giant” to me
  • him taking me to my first race in 1989…getting vomited on and leaving early!  LOL
  • Darrell Waltrip
  • that stache. (Victor Newman?  LOL  Weekend at Bernie’s??)
  • I remember hanging out with him when my mom worked in retail and we would order pizza, those were some of my favorite nights!
  • That time we sat on the floor together to watch Miami Vice and he ended up with knee surgery (womp womp wompppp)
  • I also remember the gut-wrenching feeling of disappointing him (too many times)…and the hurt look in his eyes…thinking there was NO way he could feel as bad as I did (as a parent know, I know that’s not the case)
  • If you know my Dad, you know he watches commercials.  All of them.  And he likes to talk about them.  And I secretly sometimes watch the funny ones so we can talk about them. 🙂
  • Seeing him and Christian build things when Christian was about 3 or so….melting my heart.

I am so blessed with a Daddy.  Not a “father’ or a “dad”, but a DADDY.  He’s always been there for me and still is.  As a teen, when I thought I’d done that THING that would make him not love me anymore..it was when he surprised me and was more present than ever.  In my adult life now, I am so very thankful for my childhood relationship with him and even more for the grown up relationship too.  I truly believe I married someone that’s somewhat like him – and that makes me so very proud.