10 things to do if you have 10 minutes to spare

 

 

1) Clean out a closet or drawer – In 10 minutes you may not be able to have your entire closet cleaned out and reorganized but it’s plenty of time to have a quick look and chances are, unless you’ve cleaned it out recently, you will find things you haven’t used or worn in a while that you can donate, throw out or sell and lighten your load a bit(and maybe make a few bucks in the process.

2) Write a review on a book you recently read. – People love to read but sometimes half the battle is deciding what to pick up. Personally I love going on to a website like Goodreads and get recommendations from people who have similar taste in books. Get online and write a quick review of the last book you read and while you’re at it, get recommendations from others.

3) Do some calisthenics. These are bodyweight exercises that can easily be done in just a few minutes and often without any equipment. Do some push-ups, lunges, squats, etc.. whenever you have a few minutes to spare. Even 10 minutes per day of mild cardiovascular exercise is enough to have health benefits. Doing this a few times a day is even better.

4) Self-Improvement – Read a chapter from a self-improvement book or an article from a self-improvement website. There are SI books on just about any topic and chances are, there is something that you can work on. And if you don’t have any part of your life that needs work then find a book on lying to yourself, because that’s what you’re doing.

5) Write a letter – Most people don’t send handwritten letters anymore but everyone loves receiving them. Writing a letter to an old friend(or a new one), a relative, your child or partner, or  a thank you letter to a business or helpful neighbor is sure to bright someone’s day and writing it will probably cheer you up as well.

6) Go outside – Get some fresh air. Take a walk, sit in the grass, pick some wildflowers. According to the article found here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/436651-the-effects-of-sunlight-fresh-air-on-the-body/ Inhaling fresh air is good for your lungs and exposure to sunlight increases vitamin D levels which reduces your risk of developing osteoporosis and some other diseases.

7) Make some extra cash. – Websites like http://www.mturk.com and http://www.microworkers.com have small tasks you can complete for cash, many of them only take 5-10 minutes(sometimes less). You certainly won’t get rich or even replace your income but a little extra spending money doesn’t hurt.

8) Laugh – watch funny videos, listen to a stand up routine, talk to a friend with a sense of humor. Researchers have discovered that laughing lowers stress hormones which, in turn, decreases anxiety, increases immunity. It also releases endorphins which can help relieve pain. Learn more here: https://www.ge-healthahead.com/article/small-changes-laugh-extra-10-15-minutes-day?language=en&country=US

9) Learn something new – Peruse the nonfiction section of the library or look online(reliable sources of course.) This day and age we have the world at our fingertips and, while watching cat videos and playing candy crush saga has it’s place, there is a lot of useful information out there just waiting to be discovered.

10) Clean out your voicemail or email inbox – These are 2 relatively simple tasks that many of us just don’t get around to doing until they get out of hand. It may not be fun, but trust me, you’ll feel better when it’s done. 

What would you do with 10 minutes to spare? Let me know in the comments below.

To Plan or Not to Plan

Five years + 2 weeks ago, I had it all figured out. I was 28 weeks pregnant with my daughter. I had the perfect pregnancy.  My blood pressure was perfect, my weight change was perfect, my baby’s kicks were perfect. I was eating right, staying active, staying away from caffeine, and had just scheduled childbirth classes. I was working on a “birthing plan”(HA!) I didn’t have it all written out yet but I knew it involved a natural, drug-free, minimal intervention experience. It certainly did not involve an emergency C-section at midnight, 12 weeks too soon, followed by nearly 3 months in NICU. But I would imagine most anyone who has given birth(or planned a wedding, or even just wakes up in the morning for that matter) has likely figured out that our plans often don’t mean squat.

I’m not saying that planning is completely worthless. It’s still important to have a plan. You just need to leave some room for the universe, other people, health issues, or whatever else to intervene if they see fit. Because it will happen often, whether you want it to or not. It’s important to have some awareness that sometimes, no matter how well we plan, things won’t always go exactly how we intend. But sometimes, they end up working out anyway. Spending the time that I did in the NICU with my daughter, I witnessed some families go through the worst kind of heartbreak imaginable and that makes me feel incredible thankful for the way my “plans” turned out. I may not have had my perfect birth, but my traumatic, unplanned experience still resulted in a beautiful, healthy 5-year-old who is the love of my life and I had the opportunity to make some lifelong friends and connections while we were there. Hug your babies tight, and when you help them plan for their future, remind them that their plans may not go off completely without a hitch, and sometimes that’s ok.

“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”  – Allen Saunders

Welcome

I’ve never been good at intros so I’ll just be honest. I think the name says it all. I’m a homemaker and I’m lazy. Really, I am absolutely lazy. My kid and my pets are taken care of. We somehow all end up fed daily and bathed regularly but I’ll admit, I tend to look for shortcuts in most things. I also TRY to be frugal, TRY to avoid chemicals, TRY to eat healthy, but I am far from a purist and I definitely fail…A LOT. But my plan is to share my attempts, both the successes and the failures.

Ok so now how about some details about my family and myself. I am the mother of a 5 yr old girl.  She was born premature at 28 weeks but is healthy as a horse and full of energy.  In the past I worked in the clerical side of the healthcare industry but since having my daughter I run a small in-home daycare. I have studied herbalism and I am working on my certification. That doesn’t mean that I have completely given up on allopathic medicine, we still see our family Drs. and occasionally use pharmaceuticals, etc…I just try to take a natural approach for the not-so-serious problems. Jarrod and I are divorced but reconciled. Long story short…we married in 2001, got a quickie divorce in 2007(or 08. I honestly can’t remember for sure. HAHA.) We moved back in together just a couple of months after the divorce. And we have been going strong(but FAR from perfect) ever since. I like to joke that getting a divorce was the best thing we could’ve done for our relationship. I think maybe getting thrown back into the dating scene made us realize how much we wanted to be together.

Enough with the mushy stuff. At the moment we live in a smallish town in Ohio but we are looking for our perfect piece of land to begin our journey as homesteaders. The goal is to use sustainable, permaculture practices in order to get the most use out of our land, as well as make a positive impact on the environment rather than a negative one. I may explain in more detail what that means in a future post. We currently are focusing on the Southwest part of the country as well as Northern California and Oregon, but we have also looked at upstate New York and are open to other areas as well.  We aren’t necessarily opposed to staying in Ohio, but cost of land plays a big role.

The last detail that might be worth mentioning is that we are not at all religious. We are pretty darn secular, in fact. We aren’t “militant” atheists by any means. As a matter of fact, I’m sure there are plenty of friends and family who didn’t even know that about us. We just find it difficult to believe in an omnipotent being or any kind of afterlife. We aren’t “offended” by religion and 99.9% of our loved ones are believers and I don’t feel that religious differences have affected those relationships. I considered not even mentioning our atheism because that simple little fact will automatically turn some people away at the door, but although we aren’t defined by our lack of belief, it’s still a part of who we are so I felt it was important to share.

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t”   – Eleanor Roosevelt