Chore descriptions

I have thrice searched the interweb, in vain, for chore descriptions. I have purchased the lanyards to hang around my childrens' necks from which to suspend the chore descriptions... butt there are no chore descriptions to be found. Lots of chore charts, if you're wondering. So I spent the day making some up. I did up 18 chores and can send you a pdf if you're interested in having some quirky chore descriptions for your children. Here are 3 samplings:

[I make me laugh. Downtown instead of Downstairs. Baaahahaha.]

 

 [Haha. Ore. A reference to the board game Settlers of Catan, if you haven't had the good fortune to play it.]

[Seriously, there's not enough room on this card to give my 13-year old the amount of instruction necessary for him to successfully complete this chore, so I resorted to ridiculing him. I find it to be quite motivational.]

So I avoided work today while researching work! I enjoyed searching for brief quotes to add to the cards. Perhaps someday they will mean something to them. Now I'm planning to put 6 cards on each lanyard and the children can take them off and hang them up as they finish them. They will have 1 week to complete them and can figure out when to get them done.

So for my blue collar work, I gave 3 haircuts last week (as requested from people NOT related to me), and 4 haircuts this week (to people who I threatened to charge if they didn't stop complaining and start singing my praise. Yes: related to me). I volunteered thrice at my childrens' school, visited the housebound (a little shot of healing energy out to poor Julie!) and elderly. I also worked hard on my DH's 40th birthday. I hosted 2 parties, took him out and did up Valentine's gifts for all. For his 40th birthday on Valentine's Day I printed 40 of my favorite pictures that made me think of him. I thought that he could put a couple up on his bulletin board at work each week. He actually expressed appreciation for them! Here's a few of those, too.

He treated himself to Lasik eye surgery for his 40th, so that was his monetary gift. I believe he likes that gift a little bit more. Haha. Stay tuned for a guest blogger: my sister is a "professional plumber" and is finishing up her bathroom overhaul. Now THAT takes some real work!

Blue Collar Worker

That's my profession for February: manual labour. I've still been mulling over the concept of discipline from my 'monk' attempts, and thinking about this 'now' idea, and then I read a lesson ["Chapter 27: Work and Personal Responsibility," Gospel Principles, (2009)] about the importance of developing a love for work. Ya, I don't have that either. Here are the ideas that stood out for me:

• "There is an old saying: 'Doing nothing is the hardest work of all, because one can never stop to rest.' Without work, rest and relaxation have no meaning."

There is definitely truth to that!

• "One way to enjoy life’s fullest benefits is to learn to love work... President David O. McKay said, 'Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that the power to work is a blessing, that the love of work is success'.” 

I'm still pretty sure that work is drudgery, but I'd be happy to learn to love to work. 

• "Children should do their part in the work of the family. It is necessary for children to have work assignments to fit their abilities. They need to be praised for their successes. Good work attitudes, habits, and skills are learned through successful experiences in the home."

Haha. Of course that one stood out because it means that I can train my children to do MY work. Butt really we mustn't overlook how much work it usually takes to TEACH children to work. So with my lazy example and this culture of self-indulgence that my children are growing up in, I can't fail them and their future families AND society by being too lazy to teach them the value of work.

So today I did all of the dishes and tidied the kitchen (Umm, nope. That's an unusual occurrence. My dishwasher is out of town and I didn't want him to come home to... well. Dishes.) On Friday my daughter and I finished chipping the ice off of the sidewalk (that I like to do). I plan to be dedicated to house work this month, and to get my children back to doing their daily chores.

Socialite

The "now" project is being worked on. This is a good concept; good word.

So I thought I'd write about my profession for January. I didn't choose one, but looking back over my month, I would say that I was a socialite. If you don't think that is a profession, you'll have to take that up with Paris Hilton!

I did some serious socializing in January. Let me think. January started with the holidays so that's generally pretty social although I did spent New Years Day finishing up my bedroom. I painted over the purple paint and just finished it all up after letting those little last items drag along for too long. I'm now going to list the social activities that I did in January: visited Second Cup with a couple girlfriends from church; went to the art gallery and for supper with friends from my first job after university; spent a Saturday scrap booking with a neighbour (and dear friend) and a couple friends from high school; spent another Saturday shopping for wedding dresses with my niece and her gorgeous, young friends; took my family to Japanese Village (I had missed that Japanese butter!); organized a climbing party for my 11-year old; planned a farewell dinner for a neighbour with the Tree Island Mom's group; went swimming with my sister and our preschoolers Wed. afternoons; took my 5-year old out for lunch to BP's on a weekday; went cross-country skiing with my DH on a weeknight (why wait for a weekend when you have a 12-year old!); went out for lunch and to look at art with my sisters and mom for my birthday; had a 'favorites' themed night to celebrate my mom's birthday with those same ladies; took in a concert with my sister and our husbands (Spirit of the West's singer sang AND my bro-in-law won the door prize of tickets for the next show!); started aerobics with good friends and almost went to bookclub (it got moved to February due to the weather). Phew. That's a LOT for little ole me. I felt a bit selfish taking TWO Saturdays to myself but my DH said that he didn't mind taking the kids to their classes.

But the coolest thing is that I do have a connection to Paris Hilton. Yes, I do! We have the SAME DRESS! I mean, we didn't wear it to the same socialite event or anything, so it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Tee hee.

But cool, right?

Word of 2010

N. O. W.

Everybody is doing it! Picking a word of the year, that is. Hopefully the irony that I chose the word "now" as my word for the year. . . on Feb.2 . . . doesn't elude you. I was going to choose "discipline" because you know that I need it but when a fellow blogger listed "now" as her almost choice, I recognized that it had to be my word. Ali Edwards started this idea [click for link to a course you can take on the idea] and called it "one little word". Her idea is to chose " . . . a word that I can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life." - Ali Edwards.

So "NOW" it is. The thing is, that I chose a word LONG ago that I have focused on for most of my life: "LATER". I hardly even understand or comprehend "NOW" because I am so accustomed to "LATER".

NOW.

I'm excited.