Lists and books.

Since when has this craft blog of mine become a random thought journal?  I'm sorry if that is not what you are expecting when you come here!  But I think life rolls in waves.  Waves of great crafting months, and then times when the paint and paper is laid aside so we can focus on other things.  Right now I need to focus on things, and writing it all out, and the thought that maybe it can uplift someone else is such a big help right now.  So is writing lists.  Lists help me through the day.  Without any direction I am a total saddy, standing in the middle of the room, looking around all confused.  But if I can get up in the morning and think of all the uplifting things I want to do in the day, then go through each one and check them all off, I'm much happier!  It's sort of like dwelling on the good.  

That's how I battle depressing thoughts: don't think about them.  Or if it is not possible to ignore things that are hard, then think of ways to make it better.

Remember the Never Give Up list?  I'm adding a new one!  To become organized!

I've long had the dream that I will one day wake up to be an almost OCD organized person.  I know that sounds strange, but I'm just about the complete opposite.  I have a phobia called 'If-there-are-a-whole-bunch-of-little-things-that-go-in-random-places-and-I-don't-know-where-those-places-are,-then-I-sadly-avoid-looking-at-them'.  It's not a constructive trait.  So I'll be working on that and I'll try to give you an update in a week.

I've also added the first two books to my read-12-uplifting-books-this-year goal.  The first are ones that I've had sitting on the shelf for a while and I've never set aside time to read them.  I've discovered that I escape into books.  I read them so that I can not think of anything else for a while.  I don't like that I can waste hours of my life away reading something of no value, can't learn from, or will forget.  Reading a fun book for pleasure is healthy every once in a while, but doing it too much is not.  So with that said, here are the first two:

1.  Teach Ye Diligently by Elder Boyd K. Packer.  I believe we got a used one off of Amazon a few years ago and it was pretty cheap (but still looks brand new!)

2.  Daughters in My Kingdom, distributed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We received them in our Relief Society meetings.  It is basically a history of the Relief Society.  I believe there are a lot of good teachings for women to read in there, but I've hardly opened it!  Luckily you can read it online here!

So those are my two goals this week!  Set aside one hour each day to tackle a part of the house that needs to be organized, and open one of these books. 

And play with my kids, because that is definitely something I have to remind myself to do.

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope your Christmas was special.  What are your goals this week?