Tuesday in Texas - Morning and Night

Are you a morning person, or a night owl?  

Yes!

It is somewhat amazing and a little bit scary the things that you learn about yourself when you take the time to ponder such a seemingly simple and straightforward question.  My instinctive answer is that I am both.  In trying to reconcile that somewhat oxymoronic state of being, I learned some things about my own discipline and routines as well as my attitudes toward them.

On the surface, I have to be both a morning person and a night owl to get done first those things that I have to do and then those that I want to do.  In an ideal world, I would not need sleep and would have a full twenty four hours in every day to accomplish all of the tasks before me.  Sadly, this is not my world; I need sleep, perhaps even more sleep than most people.  Do I get enough sleep?  No.  Am I doing anything consciously to remedy that situation?  No.  But, I have had a wicked cold or something for the past week that has forced me to get more rest than I normally do.  I'm sure there is a lesson in that somewhere.  LOL.

So, back to morning person or night owl...

My husband is going to call me a liar when he reads this, but I am going to say that I am a morning person; but admittedly, that statement comes with a serious caveat.  I am a morning person IF there is no external structure imposed on my morning process.  If I don't HAVE to be up at a certain time, prepare meals, get dressed and out of the house, then I am happy to get up and be a part of the day's unfolding rhythm.  I want to awaken as gently as the sun does, slowly opening my eyes and my spirit to newness and possibilities that each new day brings.

My most creative self flourishes in the quiet calm of the morning.  This is the part of me that is free to think and wonder and imagine and dream.  It is the part of me that has eluded my  inner critic, who is apparently not a morning person.  So, if i get up early, I can accomplish many things before she meets the day and me and talks me down from my dreams.  

One of my favorite things to do in the morning is to write.  I always start my days with morning pages.  This writing, for me, is the gateway to the more creative endeavors - blog posts, poetry, essays, even a few stories here and there...as long as I am not bothered by anyone or anything.  The key here is for me to not get derailed by structure.  This is the time of day where I go off in my own little world, a world that really does revolve around me.   You may be wondering how often a total escape to this place happens...unfortunately, not often enough.  Work, especially two days of a 7:30am class, and church choir on Sunday mornings make for a life totally driven by external structure.  See, it is not my fault that I am perceived as not being a morning person; it is the world conspiring against the needs of my innermost being.  LOL!

Which brings me to the night owl part...

Honestly, I am a night owl by necessity.  Late at night is when I DO things.  I clean.  I cook.  I do laundry.  I grade papers.  I practice the piano.  I process photos.  By nighttime, my brain is tired.  Most of the things that I do at night are routine.  They don't require creative energy.  As long as I have a concrete task to accomplish, I can and will see it through, even if that means staying up into the wee hours of the night.  I am just not generative during the  nighttime hours, probably because my inner critic is now wide awake and, by late in the day,  has gathered a whole bunch of fodder on which to feed!

Someday I will retire and will have the luxury of finding and living the daily rhythm that truly works best for my body and spirit.  Maybe I'll become a real morning person, or perhaps a hardcore night owl.  Who knows?  Until then, I'll rise early, do what I can before the grip of the world's demands take hold, and on my way out the door check the oil pot to make sure that it is filled so that I can burn the midnight oil when I get home.

Monday in Michigan - Write It Down!

by Tracey G.

I have a thing for lists. Writing them I should say. Not typing them, but actually pen and paper writing them. I've been known to make lists of my lists, re-write a list numerous times until it's just right looking and organized properly (if it's grocery it has to be by aisle, lol). I have notepads all over the place. I prefer to write the lists down instead of just start an electronic one on my phone - even though, yes, I do have an app for making lists, lol.

I guess it's not just lists, I just flat-out love to write in general. I will look for any excuse to do so. One of my favorite things to do is go through my recipe magazines and list out recipes I want to try by page number, recipe name and general ingredients needed (usually ones I don't normally keep on hand). It gives me my writing fix, lol. That's also the reason I have my Recipe Book - it's a special book that makes your own cookbook of your handwritten recipes. It's always an exciting time when I get to add a new recipe or two! Not only does that mean they were good and are keepers, lol, but I get to write them down! Yay! LOL

 I also love a good pen, well, doesn't have to be "good" but has to be good for me - can be the cheapest pen ever, but if I like the way the ink flows and it how it feels on the paper, it's a good pen. And don't think of touching my good/favorite pen - let alone actually using it, no way! Get your own pen! My dad used to call me "sticky fingers", not because I was eating candy or something like that all the time, but because I'd steal his pens all the time, lol. Yep, even as a kid, I loved writing instruments. Then that leads to paper - it has to be a decent paper that's smooth and that the pen and ink flow effortlessly on - but not too effortlessly that it appears sloppy, lol. Once again, there's a certain feel I look for when writing on paper, just as there has to be a certain feel to the pen and the way it operates. ;-) There's nothing worse to me than paper that bleeds when I'm using a gel ink, I hate that!

I recently ordered myself a new planner to keep track of all my things, I decided it's become necessary because I wasn't doing so well with my current method - I'd been just using my computer's calendar or my phone's, but, I started to realized that I don't always check those things for stuff like that. I needed something that I could write them down in as I do for our blog stuff. It's nothing huge, but will work well enough for me to actually hand write my things down! To me, I guess, things aren't real unless I've actually used a pen and written it down. I think it's got to be a memory tool of some sort, using your hand to record it has got to have some kind of imprint on what you remember better. Even if you don't remember exactly what it is, you know you wrote something down - at least for me, lol. Typing it on the computer or on my phone is just not the same thing. I also ordered some highlighters (I love office supplies!) to keep my notations straight in the planner, that way at a glance I'd know what each note was for.

While waiting for my planner and highlighters to arrive, I was like a kid waiting for Christmas to arrive, lol. I was tracking and watching for UPS like a crazy woman, lol. I did have the forethought to order a multi-pack of highlighters, which came with 2 of each color because Harry too has a thing for pens and markers (gee, wonder where he gets that from), lol, and I knew if I didn't, I'd have all of mine lost for me, lol. So, this way, as soon as I opened the package, half went to Harry and the other half was mine. ;-)

And now, after all this typing about writing, I need to go find something to write in or on or something! LOL 


And don't forget our 4th of July gift card giveaway -

In honor of the 4th of July we are giving away a Google Play or Apple iTunes $20 gift card so you can try out some fun photography apps - or whatever you'd like, lol. To enter all you have to do is leave us a comment on any or all of the posts here between today and next Friday. Be sure to let us know which type of gift card you would like should you be the winner! And if you forward this information to a friend, and they mention you in the comments, you both will get an extra entry in the drawing! It's a great way to try some new photography apps that you've had your eye on or discover some new ones you had no idea were out there! :-D

Enjoy your week!!
xoxo
Tracey G