Muffins with Mom - A round-table discussion with a teen

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…(A Tale of Two Cities). An unplanned round-table discussion developed while sitting at the dinner table with my teen son. I had been begging him all day (a few days) to work on his FAFSA (financial aid for school) application. Pulling teeth would have been easier.

Finally, at the end of the evening, my son sat at rectangle faux marble table across from me. I tapped away at my laptop keyboard and he pecked at his. Before he dove into his task, my son reminisced on a time that I was experiencing high stress and he was the cause of it.

It was photo day. We had to drive to the studio for my son to take a yearbook photo. It was not the best of times; perhaps closer to the worst of times. It was definitely a time where my patience was not a virtue. Here’s the story as recalled by my Baby Bear.

“Ma, remember when you were stressing over picture day and I didn’t really want to go?”

“Yeah, I remember you were moving like a sloth and you were supposed to be looking for your tie.”

Read the following in your best whiny voice. This is what my son said I told him.

“J, look for your tie. Hurry up, we’re going to be late. We’re not going if you’re not ready in 10 minutes. We scheduled this two months ago. You’re wasting time and money. Do you want to be in the yearbook? It takes 30 minutes to get there, we need to leave now. I have to find the place. I’m calling Granny. LET’S GO.”

It was the worst of times. I remember rushing home from work and my son wasn’t ready. He had not gotten everything together the night before as I instructed. We arrived at the photography studio, I was distraught and he didn’t really want to take pictures. I heard the photographer tell him a couple of times to smile. I said, “Good luck with that.”

We both survived the photo session and the end result was satisfactory. The pictures captured…his personality.

Satisfied that he made me chuckle with the retelling of photo day, my son continued working on his application. BUT, he began another story….”Do you remember how daddy used to make me and D sit at the table until we ate all our food…?”

And that’s a round-table discussion for a different day.

Do you have a story of how your child tested your patience and his/her version of the story?

Wordless Wednesday - Cuddle Up Day

photo credit: NOFO Girl

The coldest days of winter are near. Take this opportunity to celebrate National Cuddle Up Day. The actual day is recognized on January 6th each year. Start practicing now...

Cuddle up with a good book
Cuddle up with a pet
Cuddle up with your someone special

Spread a little joy, hug someone today.

Muffins with Mom – 3 tips for crushing distractions to achieve your goals in 2018

photo credit: happynewyear2018x.com

Haaaappy New Year! Time to crush any distractions that may potentially block you from achieving your goals. Have you ever started a project only to find that as soon as you got into it, something came up that you needed to address? Distractions.

Sometimes we become distracted because a particular task is overwhelming and we don’t know where to begin. I can tell you from experience I’ve done a few mindless things in my lifetime, in a single day.

Just the other day, during a workout session were doing high knees in place. In place is the operative phrase. After 30 seconds we stopped, I looked around, and I was part of the way across the room. Oops.

In another instance I had a nagging hangnail on my finger. I put a band-aide on my finger, after about an hour I noticed the finger was still bothering me. I looked down at my finger and realized that I had put the band-aide on the wrong finger. Huh.

Hurrying to pack my bag for work one day, I unknowingly grabbed the TV remote and tossed it into the bag. I guess I was so excited to be going into work on my day off. No worries, I also wore my warm fuzzy socks that are reserved for the comfort of my home.

Now that I’ve rambled on about oddball silly distractions, here are three ways to crush real distractions.

1.      Persistence and dedication – persevere – if you’re feeling overwhelmed, break task into smaller manageable tasks. I like the saying, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” You don’t have to attempt to accomplish everything at once.

2.      Did in and do it – if it’s people that are distracting you, close your door for a set amount of time. Don’t answer emails, stay off social media, set a timer and work for short periods of time if this will help you focus.

3.      Change your environment – If you typically work from home, go to a coffee shop, the library or take a walk to get your creative juices flowing.

BONUS

4.      Learn to say no – You will not be able to attend every office party and other celebrations if you want to achieve your goals. It’s okay to say no to some events. This is not to say that you must eliminate all fun from your life, moderation is key. Be selective in the events you attend. Plan dedicated time for what you want to achieve and special outings can be your reward for staying on task.

What are your tips for crushing distractions?