Accentuate the positive

Remember the blog project I did last year with three other women? Well, Froggie decided to resurrect it with me and we each got to invite another friend to join us. She invited a mutual friend (someone I met through her) and I invited a friend whose blog I really enjoy reading. So now it's Froggie, Mom of Many, Moma Rock and Merrylandgirl. Hope you enjoy the topics that we'll be exploring!

This week, Froggie picked the topic: Keep track for five days things that went well. Then talk about your experience doing this little exercise. Was it hard for you to come up with what went well? Did it change how you looked at things? Is this something you think you'll keep doing?

Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock


I started this project on Saturday night, when I got the e-mail with the topic from Froggie. It was pretty much a low key day and not very social aside from going to shul. The weather was lousy and my older son was in rare form for most of the day. My younger son even had a few tantrums. The best part came at the end of the day when my "How I Met Your Mother" addiction was once again satisfied with a five episode marathon, including the episode with "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit." That and hot cocoa just totally made my night and took the edge off a totally stressful week. (And since I've compared HIMYM to hot cocoa...with marshmallows...it's fitting!)


Sunday was pretty hectic and somewhat annoying at times. I think all the clutter in our house from this remodeling project is getting to me. However, my friends were very nice to let me have access to their dryer all day (as ours won't be hooked up till tomorrow thanks to our 1960's electrical sockets) and I got a lot of laundry done, as well as folded. I don't like folding laundry but I have no room for it to just sit around. My laundry "staging area" has been taken over by toys! Aside from that, it was pleasant outside today and we went to a nearby park with the kids. I met two other moms with babies close in age to my daughter. I also put my daughter in the baby swing and she loved it. She was dazed at first and then she smiled a lot!


I was back at work on Monday and the whole day was hectic. Having a meeting in the middle of the day that took longer than usual didn't help matters. I had a huge headache coming out of it. Things were pretty busy at home too, trying to coordinate dinner and bedtime, along with cleaning up the giant poop volcano from a certain baby we all know and love. However, our dryer was hooked up today and I was able to get two loads of laundry done. No more schlepping heavy bags of wet laundry to my neighbors, although I appreciate their generosity! I also was productive for my book blog tonight. I got positive feedback at work today for my help with the annoying project that I had to work on AGAIN because of a very minor error found after the first time we almost had it out the door. There's also a new manager at work who seems nice and I look forward to working with her. Oh, and my younger son gave me a picture he drew at school and said it was just for me. I'm also proud of a decision that my older son made on his own regarding Halloween, strangely enough.


Tuesday was hectic, as well. It started with my older son's bus being really late. Somehow I still made it to work at the time I usually do. I was able to get a lot done at work, even with it being a busy day. I also was able to get the kids fed and in bed before "Glee" started, allowing me to watch it at its regular time. And it was such a treat to see Damian (from "The Glee Project") again. He's adorable and has a great singing voice. It was a good episode overall and it was nice to see more of Idina Menzel too. I hope she'll sing again soon!


Wednesday was fairly productive and the morning felt a little easier, even with the bus showing up late and then being blocked by a super long freight train on the way to work. (A lot of the cars said "Do Not Hump." When do people hump trains?!?) One of the managers I support took me out for lunch in appreciation for doing a lot of work for him recently. It's nice to feel appreciated and we had a good conversation. The evening was decent too. Just trying to mentally prepare myself for the long drive to the hospital for my daughter's CT scan in the morning. I got to watch "90210" tonight, as well. It's still such a guilty pleasure for me and I love it that much more as a result.


So...I've found the good things from the past five days. I enjoyed doing this project, as it forced me out of my stress zone and got me looking for positive things about my days. I got to the last day and couldn't even find anything really bad to say. Maybe going into the day looking for positive things to happen just sets the tone for that day. Instead of being mega-stressed out on Wednesday, even with a zillion things to do at work and home, I felt more relaxed than usual. Things didn't seem to irritate me as much. It was a nice feeling! I hope I can keep doing this going forward, even if I don't always write it down. Maybe it will just be something to go to bed with....some good thoughts at the end of the day.