Well, I had planned to give a review of the book Renaissance Soul by Margaret Lobenstine today but my week has gotten the better of me. I will try to write the review today and post it tomorrow. If I don’t then I’ll move Book Review Wednesday to next Wednesday.
For now, please enjoy the above Sane & Satisfied Words To Live By courtesy of the late, Ayn Rand 
Enjoy more Words To Live By on my Pinterest board.
Book Review Wednesday – Renaissance Soul by Margaret Lobenstine. Teaches how to have a fulfilling life working on many different projects at once.
On Friday I talk about simplicity vs. smorgasbord.
How-To Saturday – I show you a technique I do called “Sunday Pages” that helps me stay on top of my weekly tasks.
And for Sunday Smorgasbord we will learn ways to gain confidence (hint: there won’t be any sitting in front of a mirror saying, “I’m smart, funny and gosh darn it people love me.”
*********
I also should mention that I’m getting closer and closer to my due date which means rushing around getting things done before baby arrives and having less and less energy to do it. So if I miss a post or neglect to reply to your comments please don’t hold it against me
In case you missed it…
This is what went on at the Sane & Satisfied Blog last week.
Stay tuned tomorrow to find out what’s coming up this week
What is Sunday Smorgasbord?In Sunday Smorgasbord we celebrate all the skills, talents, resources, hobbies and ideas that humans can use to grow and prosper. You have everything you need to get started right now. So get up and start creating! Because there’s no magic pill for life.
*************************
Even if you never plan to write a work of fiction learning how to do creative writing exercises can help you in many areas of your life. The most obvious areas deal with creativity of some sort. Most of the time when we have creative blocks it’s because we aren’t allowing our brain to relax. Creative solutions and projects require a bit of faith and breaking the “rules”. We are so used to hearing what we should do, what others would do if they were in our shoes, what the experts say we should do and how to do it that we stop listening to ourselves; stop trusting ourselves.
Creative writing can also be really fun. It’s a great way to pass time, either by yourself or with a friend or child. It can also be a great way to practice becoming less afraid with making mistakes.
The point of creative writing exercises is not to end up with a work fit for the Smithsonian. The point is to practice relaxing your mind and using your creative muscles.
So don’t be intimidated. No one will see your creative writing but you. Get a comfortable spot with your pen and paper (or iPad or laptop or iPhone), relax your mind and learn this great, multi-tasking skill.
Short, Quick Descriptions
This exercise is from the book A Writer’s Workbook. It’s made to be a warm-up type of exercise. Describe the following words in a short paragraph. Do it quickly. Try describing them in a minute or less.
You can also do short, quick descriptions about images in magazines. Try flipping to a random page in your favorite magazine and write a short paragraph about what you see.
Finish the sentence prompts
A popular creative writing prompt is to finish a sentence. “If I were a dog I would be…” “If I could travel anywhere in the solar system I would go…” There’s an endless supply of prompts on PROMPT GENERATOR.
Questions to get you thinking
A lot of creative writing exercises are simply questions that you are supposed to write about. The One Minute Writer Blog has a new writing prompt each day. Most of the prompts are questions. And, yes, the point is to take one minute to write. She’s even got a working timer on her blog to time your writing. You can either do the prompt on your own or submit to her comments section for others to read.
Setting up a scene
These are my favorite creative writing exercises. They give a little more information to work with and there’s usually a twist. Like this one from Writers Digest: You had planned to attend a friend’s birthday party and plugged her address into your GPS system, but the system guided you to somewhere else. Oddly enough, there was a man waiting…
Remember don’t worry about the end result. The point is to practice relaxing your mind and letting your creative muscles do the work. The more you practice the easier it will be. And who know? You might even find you enjoy writing and write that best-seller. Who knows…
Relaxing, pampering, and taking time for ourselves is a simple yet often over-looked step to being Sane & Satisfied. So the third Saturday of every month I will feature a DIY spa project. It doesn’t take much time or effort to enjoy luxurious treats at home without spending a fortune. Take a break and enjoy
***********
Today’s Home Spa Saturday is all about refreshments! Yummy, healthy food is just as nourishing for our skin and well-being as a nice mud bath. When I think of spa refreshments I think of light, easy, soothing food and drink like smoothies, cucumber water, deli wraps and yogurt. And with just a little planning you can have all these refreshing foods ready for your day at your Home Spa.
The simplest way to go when planning your spa refreshments is have finger foods. Arrange them on a pretty plate and store in the fridge until you are ready. Quench your thirst with a glass of your favorite ice-cold tea.
Shopping List
Salads are easy to make, versatile and oh-so-refreshing. They are great served with a smoothie
You can find more refreshing food for your home spa on my SpaDay: Homemade Refreshments Pinterest board.
I also have a Home Spa Resources board filled with treatment recipes and ideas.
The last you want is to not have all the ingredients when you are ready to make your refreshments. Prepare your shopping list and go to the store at least 2 days before you plan to have your spa day. Prepare all refreshments the night before and organize on pretty plates to store in fridge.
You can either leave your refreshments in the fridge and eat after you are finished with your treatments or take them with you to your spa area to snack on during and in between your treatments. It’s really up to you how your organize your spa day
All this talk about spa treatment remind me I have to schedule my own Home Spa Day soon! I’m going to need it too since I’m going to be giving birth in a few weeks. Ahhhh! It’s still crazy to think that I will have a little baby daughter soon. I can’t wait to have a spa day with her
I started to read the book, The Celestine Prophecy, and then gave up and watched the movie instead. That was the first time I ever said that a movie was better than the book. I did enjoy it and not for it’s new-age-we-can-transcend-into-better-humans-if-we-just-commune-with-nature-and-learn-to-be-less-angry-selfish-and-greedy sermon. I enjoyed it because it told a story of how humankind has veered off track.
The characters in The Celestine Prophecy (which is a work of fiction, although the author and many of the book’s followers will have you believe that it’s real) explain that when we as a people began to question the infallibility of God we began to look around our world and define it for ourselves. So we sent out scientists and artists and biologists and such to document this world and come back to share their findings. Unfortunately while we waited for them to come back we got distracted with every day life and forgot why we had sent them on the quest in the first place.
This part of the story really struck something in me. I find myself thinking about this concept regularly. The more I examine my life I realize that distractions are a big barrier to becoming Sane & Satisfied. Distractions are not only frustrating, they are draining and lead us so far off track that we sometimes can’t find our way back.
I believe that most of America is distracted right now. I won’t go into specifics in this post (there’s more time for that later) but we have gotten to the point now where it seems that smoke and mirrors, misdirection and agendas are reality. That’s how distracted we are; we can’t tell distractions from reality. Reminds me of the movie, Inception.
As I came up to bed tonight I thought of all the things I wanted to do today that never got done. And I asked myself, Why is it so hard to be the person I want to be and who I feel I’m meant to be? The answer that came to me immediately was that I’m dealing with so many distractions right now. It’s a wonder I get one thing accomplished in a day.
Distractions wear us out and ruin our flow and hide the truth. When you are busy looking that way something is happening over here. It’s a matter of physics: when your energy is focused on something it cannot be focused on something else. But distractions make it even worse by covering the truth.
I always know how to begin posts but for some reason it’s a lot harder for me to finish them. How do I finish a post about distractions when I’m yawning to go to bed? I think that distractions are a given in life and when we don’t know ourselves or trust ourselves or have a clear picture of what we want our life to be distractions have a greater effect.
What distractions do you have in your life right now? How can you decrease those distractions? And more importantly who are you right now? I know I mentioned earlier that I had asked myself why it is so hard to be who you want to be. But after writing this post I don’t think that’s the right question. I am who I am right now. I need to realize what’s going on in my life right now in order to get rid of some of those distractions and uncover me.
Dads are very special. But sometimes we just run out of time or can’t find the perfect gift. That’s ok. Gifts don’t have to be perfect, they don’t have to cost a fortune and they don’t have to take months to make. Here are some last-minute gift ideas you can have ready to wrap in no time.
No Prep Time
Little Prep Time
A Little More Prep Time
Now go show dad he’s special…
A short note about gift-giving:
Giving gifts is supposed to be a fun experience but I find it makes most people anxious and stressed. I think this is because we tend to try to give what we think we should give instead of giving what fits in our budget, our time and our talents. My husband is always criticizing a gift I plan to give for one reason or another. And there’s magazines that teach us gift-giving etiquette and other wasteful lessons about what should be a pretty simple procedure.
There is no rule book for gift-giving. There is no Gift-Giving Goddess who will strike you down if you give the wrong gift or don’t spend as much as you should. Yeah, your gift might not be traditional. It might not be grand. But if you’ve chosen your friends well and if your family loves you it won’t really matter.
Thursday: Last Minute Father’s Day Gifts – You know it happens every year. You love your dad, you really do, but you wait until the last minute to get a gift. And men are so hard to buy for anyway. Well, calm down and stop by on Thursday to get some tutorials and simple ideas to show your dad how much you care.
Friday: I vent about Prophesies & Distractions.
Saturday: It’s Home Spa Saturday and I will show you how to make yummy refreshments for your home spa.
Sunday Smorgasbord: Put your creative hat on and join me for some Creative Writing Resources and Exercises.
An exciting week planned! See you later.
It’s Monday again! Remember: if you treat your Monday bad, it will return the favor.
Yes, that’s right! If you have a bad outlook on Monday just because, you know, it’s Monday and, well, everyone hates Mondays, right? Then you are destined to have a bad Monday. Why not try extra hard on Sunday to prepare yourself for Monday?
For example, I don’t plan anything stressful, hectic, busy or unpleasant after 5 on Sundays. This gives me more than enough time to rest and do things I enjoy. That way I have at least a little break before the week starts up again.
In case you missed it…
On Tuesday I talked about 4 Tips On How To Combat Stress, Stress and More Stress.
We had a Wordless Wednesday.
We became inspired with a Sane & Satisfied Words To Live By.
For the Freebie Friday of the month you can download The Sane & Satisfied Compass to help you stay calm while balancing multiple hats.
I reviewed 10 Sane & Satisfied Approved Apps to help you be more productive and organized.
And for Sunday Smorgasbord we looked at Ways To Plan Your Backyard Garden.
I hope you had a wonderful weekend. And remember to treat your Monday nicely
What is Sunday Smorgasbord?In Sunday Smorgasbord we celebrate all the skills, talents, resources, hobbies and ideas that humans can use to grow and prosper. You have everything you need to get started right now. So get up and start creating! Because there’s no magic pill for life.
*************************
Gardening is such rewarding experience. A garden can add beauty to your backyard and more money in your pocket. My husband and I started our garden last year and I just loved popping out back to cut some kale for dinner or lettuce for lunch. My favorite meal last summer was elbow noodles with Parmesan cheese, salt and fresh oregano and basil. I can’t wait till our garden is in full swing this year! It really makes me feel luxurious to have fresh food at my fingertips
