FALL CHORES: Learning Patience

With fall officially here, I start to think of all the projects I have to accomplish before the winter snows fly in Pennsylvania. I'm reminded of a phrase: “If you don’t have the time to do it right, when will you get the time to do it over?”

 

Everyone loves to finish his or her projects. Completing them gives you a feeling of self-confidence and personal joy. But sometimes I find myself rushing through chores, not enjoying the moment, but always thinking of the next thing that needs to be done after I’m finished with the work at hand.

I’ve learned my need to find closure with one chore, if done quickly, can sometimes lead to carelessness and can sometimes add more complications and time while I fix what I’ve done in haste. 

My mother called it “patience.” And boy, oh boy, did she have patience with every task she accomplished. She was a perfectionist, but she never grew tired of performing at only her best. 

This fall I’m going to try to be more patient even if I don’t accomplish my long list of “things to do.” 

What fall tasks are on your list for October?  Whatever they are, I’m wishing you lots of patience to get them done!

STRESS FREE LIFE: Learning to be Assertive

Do you often find yourself doing what others want you to do? Or do you put the needs of others first? Being assertive is sometimes the hardest thing for women to achieve. We are nurturers by nature; and we hate to disappoint people or make others unhappy. We don’t feel comfortable saying “no.” Many times we rush through life doing a host of activities we don’t even like to do.

I can truly admit that I really didn’t become assertive until I started to work and joined the 70 percent of women who worked outside the home. My children were little and my time was valuable. And there were only so many hours in the day. Learning to be assertive was not easy, especially when it meant doing or saying things that others may not have viewed favorably. 

Learning to stand up for your rights by learning to say “no” to activities you don’t want to do—whether it’s volunteering for a project, working overtime, or baking ten dozen cookies for a bake sale—is the only way to learn how to express your true feelings. When you think about it, being assertive is a way of protecting yourself and your health, and allowing yourself to be the master of your own life. 

Assertive people don’t let others take advantage of them and aren’t afraid to let go of the nagging feeling that “they have let someone down.” They have overcome the guilt and belief that people will think unkind thoughts if they don’t cave in to the pressures and demands asked of them

And once you’ve taken the first step—once you said the first no, it’s a liberating feeling that makes the second “no” even easier. Doesn’t everyone deserve a more stress free, healthy life?

Don't Confuse Living and Being Alive

How aware are you of the world around you?
Do you take time to hear the song of the birds in the morning or the serenade of insects at night? Do you pause to hear the far off lonely sound of a train whistle? Do you stop what you’re doing to gaze skyward and enjoy a colorful cloud formation floating across the sky? When you see a bed of vibrant flowers that catches your eye, do you stoop to touch their soft petals and smell their fragrance?

Too often in life, we are rushing through the world, heading from one activity to another, unaware of the universe around us. We become so caught up in our personal activities that we confuse being alive with living. True living means we’re connected with the universe around and cognizant of it. Being alive is merely breathing and being functional, and often we erroneously confuse rushing from one activity to the next as living. It's not.

We all need to take time to pay attention to what is around us and make a connection to the world and the people in it. To live means seeing, sensing, and connecting with everything and everyone around us—using our five senses of taste, sight, touch, hearing and smell.  It’s taking time to appreciate our marvelous planet and its people. It’s also a wonderful way to squeeze in a few moments of calmness, awareness, and sheer enjoyment in our chaotic lives...and maybe share those moments with others as well.  

EASY CINNAMON BREAD

Cinnamon bread is one of my favorite breads since I'm a lover of the smell and taste of cinnamon. I have made it both with or without buttermilk, but prefer the buttermilk variety better. I cut this recipe in half for only one loaf.

INGREDIENTS:

BATTER:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

    OR 2 cups milk plus 2 tablespoons vinegar 

                                           or lemon juice    

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

CINNAMON SUGAR MIXTURE:

2/3 cups sugar 
1/4 cup brown sugar

1 TBSP cinnamon

PREPARATION:

Cream together butter, 2 cups of sugar, and eggs. Add milk, flour, and baking soda. Put 1/2 of batter (or a little less) into greased loaf pans (1/4 in each pan). Mix in separate bowl the 2/3 c sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and cinnamon. Sprinkle 3/4 of cinnamon mixture on top of the 1/2 batter in each pan. Add remaining batter to pans; sprinkle with last of cinnamon topping. Swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 min. or until toothpick tester come clean.

Cool in pan for 20 minutes before removing from pan.