Creating an Echo Map : balancing your life on paper

As I have mentioned, we are in the process of becoming foster parents (thus the decrease in blog posts). In our most recent class we did an activity which would be helpful for anyone. It was called an Echo map. An echo map is a graphic representation of how you spend your time and the rewards or costs of that time. It basically looks like this:



In the center write your own name. Then on each of the outside bubbles write people, places, or things that take up your time / you are responsible for. After that connect each smaller bubble to the mane bubble using a line.

• A solid line represents that this activity / person replenishes you and is a positive part of your life.
• A dotted line represents that this activity / person is neutral and neither taxes nor benefits you but has to be dealt with.
• A fuzzy line represents that this activity / person is stressful and depletes your energy.
  

Yes, you may have activities or people that are connected with more than one type of line. When you are done, look at your map. You may be surprised by what you see. Seeing your life graphically represented may cause you to make some changes. Are there more solid lines or more fuzzy lines? Are there any solid lines? If you compared these connections with the time spent on them is your time dedicated to the most productive, rewarding things?

If you try this activity, let us know about your epiphanies. Did you decide to make any changes?

P.S. It is tough when you do this activity next to your spouse and he puts a solid line to your name but you put all three lines to his circle - - -ooops! It may be better to do this in private.

We are official volunteers

It was a big day in our household. DD and I posed for our official Old Sturbridge Village volunteer badges.

This is a bigger deal than you might think. As a homeschooler, DD has never had a photo ID and has been frustrated a few times when this came up. Most of her friends have school ID's, but we have no need for them. Once, she even made up our homeschool ID's, but this volunteer badge will be a real photo ID. I think possibly for one moment all the dressing up was worth it for her. I think that she will cherish this ID for a long time. It won't be long until she has a driver's licence to replace it, but for now today was a big day in the life of a teenager.

Sadie Hawkins Day

Sadie Hawkins Day is today, the first Saturday in November. The day was coined by Al Capp, the cartoonist of Li’l Abner. Sadie was actually a character who debuted in his strip on November 15th, 1937. Due to her popularity, she actually began reappearing annually and the idea of an unmarried woman perusing men spread across the country.
I remember asking a boy to my first Sadie Hawkins dance. I took one deep breath and blurted it all out. I’m surprised he understood a word I said. Fortunately, he agreed to go or I think I would have died of embarrassment.

One thing that Sadie Hawkins day taught me is how hard it is to be a man / boy in this society. I can’t imagine having to ask other people out let alone asking them to marry you. What if they said no? This is an official thank you to all the men who have taken initiative over the years. I think to commemorate this day, we should all take the time to tell our men how much we appreciate them.

Book Review - Cold Sassy Tree

Do I have a book for you - Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns is one of my all time top reads. Recommended by our library director, our book club chose Cold Sassy Tree for this month's read. It was fantastic. However, I will recommend that you do not read it in public. I completely embarrassed my children when I both laugh and cried in public with them in the vicinity. I mean who cannot find it funny when Grandpa chooses a new wife and everyone is horrified because his last wife is has only been in the ground for three weeks, but Grandpa relents, "She ain't gonna' get any deader." I literally went around reading this section to people because I thought it was so funny. Beware though, that there are tears too. The story of Cold Sassy and its residents is an emotional roller coaster that will bring you to love the town and the whole Blasklee Clan, even the spoiled Aunt Loma. I highly recommend this book to all of you.

Our next read is going to be AJ Jacobs Guinea Pig Diaries and then for our January meeting, we are going to do the book club in Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society fashion and each report on a book of our choice. We've opted not to make Potato Peel Pie as the recipe sounds atrocious. If you have other suggestions for our group, please let me know.

I am also personally fitting in The Book Thief, Jesus Interrupted, Sold, and the Knockout Entrepreneur; so you can look forward to many more book suggestions in the future. If only there were a few more hours a day to read. Of course as my DD keeps saying, "If you would read faster, you could read more, Mom."

2012 will it be the End of Days

One of the great lines in Girl Scout Law is "Use resources wisely." This phrase repeats in my mind in so many different ways. In this case, DD and I used our resources to find some free educational resources. DD checked the computer and found a free seminar at a nearby college. I think this is a great way to get DD acclimated to the college world. She will get to see campuses and sit through real lectures. I realize that she doesn't have "homework" and such, but it is a good first step.

Today's lecture was on the Mayan Calendar and how it supports or does not support the current mania of human annihilation in 2012. The speaker Dr. Edwin Barnhart has worked extensively on the Mayan Civilization. His work is primarily in archaeology and research, but even he understands the interest in 2012. The lecture was fascinating. Proof of that came when he said that he had to wrap it up as he was out of time and DD turned to me and said it couldn't be over yet. It was more that an hour past lunch and she hadn't even thought about it until the class was over. She took over 5 pages of notes.

We have also taken free lectures on King Tut and the history of the wolf. With many, many more colleges just a short ride from our home now, I think that we will be attending many more.

I did have to admit to my husband that it did cost something, because DD and I had a delicious lunch together. Mother / daughter time is very important me and something I intend to continue even after we add a new child to our life.

Feeding the animals through winter

It was not my intent to feed the birds, but apparently they are enjoying my front door decorations. At first when we drove up the drive the other day, I thought the bottom had been eaten away, but upon closer inspection it was clear that someone, or many someones, have been nibbling away on our decorations.

So apparently, my reduce, reuse, recycle kick has extended to house decorating - - -holiday decoration or animal feeder? I guess it all depends on your perspective.

Halloween - Fall Rituals

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween yesterday. We had a whopping one trick-or-treater. I'm glad I did not go too crazy buying candy. We'll have a lot of leftovers, but as our kids didn't go trick-or-treating I guess it all evens out. If you could have peered through our windows, this is what our house looked like at Halloween:

Carving central. As we waited so long to buy our pumpkins, we got a really good deal and only spent 5 cents per pumpkin. I will certainly note this for next years plan and budget. This year we used white pumpkins as opposed to the traditional orange pumpkins. Beggars can't be choosey at 5 cents per pumpkin. DH said that while they were smaller, they were much easier to carve.

Anyone for Pumkin Pie ; ) I told you homeschoolers were geeks some times.

We had one more carved after I took the pictures, so I'll try to get shot tomorrow.