I have to remind myself: little by little.

Self, "little by little."

Nope.  It's not working!

The "to do" list around the house just keeps growing.

As does the creeping charlie.

However, it appears that the rodent population is not.

A new "rule:"

Technically the glass is always full, even if it's half-full with air.

Relapse

I may have had a relapse. 

Or, better known to my husband as a "total freak out"

Without going into details that may make you think twice about visiting our house, we had a small rodent issue.  Two in fact.  One inside, one outside.  We ended up spending another "date night" ripping things out in the basement.  I handled that pretty well, but then there was an dental insurance issue in which we are paying for family coverage, but I wasn't added as a benefitee to our policy.  Even though on our enrollment papers it says we elected coverage for employee, spouse (that's me!) and child(ren) AND we have been paying for it for almost a year.  I had thought that my coverage would (finally) be active as of Monday, so I made an appointment and then cancelled when I found out that there is a waiting period, but then re-scheduled the appointment for later that day because I was sure I had 6 cavities.

So I payed out of pocket...and guess what?!?  No cavities.  Really?  I could have waited a few weeks.  But I suppose even though we are out one-hundred odd dollars, Austin doesn't have to deal with my worrying that all my teeth are disintegrating.

Yes.  I can be ridiculous.

So our basement is ripped up, there are ground squirrels burrowing all over our yard, we just replaced our garage door motor because mice ate the cables (<--If that doesn't give our troubles away, I don't know what will...) AND I paid out of pocket for a dental exam that could have waited weeks or months.

As I ripped up creeping charlie in the backyard I got back into the "things will be better when..." mindset.  But, this is just life. Things are going to break down. Wildlife is going to try to take over.  Babies are going to cry.  Life is messy, but it's beautiful.

If I can't be happy where I am today, I can't be happy today.

I apologize if that's a really stupid thought.  But it got me to thinking about a Dave Matthews song that I've listened to many times, but didn't really know the lyrics to until a few weeks ago.  I really don't know what the song "Cry Freedom" is about (maybe the apartheid?), but this phrase stuck out to Austin and I:

"The future is no place to place your better days"

It's easy to think that "things will be better when," but even if that's really true, if you have that mindset, isn't difficult to find any enjoyment in the present?  If you are so focused on the future and what good things it may bring, are you blinding yourself to the blessings in the present?

These are the questions I am pondering now.

Life is good.  The better days are here.  The Lord has blessed them all.  Even when mice chew up your garage door opener and you don't have dental insurance and the ground squirrels are winning the war of the yard.  

Little by little one travels far

I'm not real good at posting regularly, am I?  I really would like to, but I find that I think of really good things to blog about, but by the time I actually get to "blogging," the jokes have lost their humor.  I think I would have really entertaining posts if I could just wear a microphone and record myself talking to myself while cleaning the house or pulling up all the creeping charlie in our yard. 


Yes.  Our yard.  


The same one we've been trying to sell since November.  And just in case you are interested, we have taken it off the market.  We gave it our all.  We did open houses just about every weekend.  We listed with a realtor, we did the FSBO thing.  We dropped the price, added a warranty.  And here we are. 
Save "little by little"



It's hard because we really felt that putting the house on the market so that I could stay at home was what God wanted for our family.  We were filled with such excitement at the beginning of the home-selling journey, but as the months dragged on we became consumed by the process.  Selling our home was just about all we ever talked about.  I found myself becoming unhappy, discontented and worried about the future.


To make a long story short, we took our house off the market on June 1st, just as we had decided that we would do at the beginning of this journey.  I am going PRN at work tomorrow.  We are going to be diligent.  We are going to trust God and do things "little by little:"


Tackle our home improvements "little by little"
and eradicate our yard of creeping charlie "little by little"


I think "little by little" will make it on "my rules to live by:"

My (REVISED) rules to live by:

Be Cailey.  God created me unique and I want to embrace my God-given uniqueness and live life fully alive. 

Let it go. Things aren’t always going to be perfect.  I can either decide to be happy in my circumstances today or I can decide that I can’t find happiness today.  Either way, it’s my choice.

Enjoy the adventure.  God has a plan for me and my family and, as much as I wish that I can, I can’t see his plan for my life.  Sometimes things don’t seem to make sense to me, but I have to choose to trust that the Lord is in control and that his plan is perfect for me.

Be all there.  It’s easy to find myself pulled in so many directions that I have a hard time focusing on the present.  The present is a present and I need to embrace it.  I need to give my full attention to the day and the situation I am currently in.

Give it your all.  It’s easy to “get things done,” but it takes effort to “get things done right” and give it your all.  And there is a noticeable difference.  Work hard as working for the Lord!

And then give yourself a break.  No one is perfect.  Be the best you can be, give it your all, but don’t drive yourself crazy striving for some unattainable ideal.  

Because you can accomplish the task when you do it "little by little." Don't try and do everything all at once-you will burn yourself out and miss the chance to enjoy where God has you.  

Listen more, talk less.  Instead of thinking about what I should say in response to someone, I should focus more attention on really understanding what others are saying.  Many times I have been too quick to speak and miss what others are really saying.  Seek not just to listen, but to understand.

Lighten up.  Laugh more.  Make a mess and don’t worry about having to clean it up.  Sometimes you just need to take fun seriously.