FLYing

So, with this being a new year, and us moving sometime hopefully in the next 6-8 months, I have decieded to turn over a new leaf when it comes to housework, and keeping the house clean. I remember when it was time to move from NC and what a nightmare it was to get packed and cleaned at the same time. DO NOT want to do that again! I have heard about and actually looked at previously a site called Fly Lady. The short version is that it is simple for anyone to have a home that is ready for people to come over with as short of a time as 15 minutes a day. Basically, instead of tackling the housework in one marathon session, everything is broken down into Zones, and done in 15 minute blocks of time. After all, who doesn't have 15 minutes?

When you start as a Fly Baby, there are 31 baby steps that you are to start with. This is a way to help get used to the program, as well as establish a routine. The first one is Shine your Sink. The concept of this is that if you shine your sink, when you wake up the next morning, you will be greeted by a clean shiny sink, and will motivate you to accomplish the rest. Lets give this a try. I just followed the directions that are provided on the site, and now have a nice shiny sink in my kitchen! It did help, that I decided to pretty much clean my whole kitchen this weekend, but that is not the point. So, along with the baby steps, there are zones of the house for each week to work on as well as missions each day to accomplish in that zone.
This weeks zone is the kitchen. If you are just starting out, she suggests that you start off small in each zone by de-cluttering first. Once that is done, then you can move onto more detailed cleaning. So that's what I did, got rid of some of the clutter on my counter as well as my microwave. Also accomplished the mission for today which was to clean the cabinet doors.
So far so good. Lets see how this works out. If anyone else out there is FLYing, I would love to hear how it has gone for you. I will continue to post about this as time goes on to let everyone know how it is going.

School Jobs

So as part of Alex's Sure Start Class, everyone gets to take turns to have jobs in the classroom. The week before Thanksgiving and the week of he was "The Inspector" which meant he got to take two friends around the classroom and make sure everything was picked up and mot messy before it was time to go outside. Well I just happened to ask him today what his new job is and he said he was the "Flag Helper." He told me that he gets to hold the flag. I kinda had an idea where this was leading, but we have been trying to get him to tell us about school and what he learned, not that he just had fun. So I ask him, what happens when he holds the flag, and he proceeds to demonstrate holding the flag. So I then say, well what do your friends do while you are holding the flag? "Say the Pledge of Allegiance" Of course it took some coxing, (and maybe some bribery) but I managed to get him to say it on camera. Be advised, he is 5 and a little silly most of the time, I don't know what he was doing while he was saying it. I do know that his hand is up because he wanted me to "pick him" when he was done.

Well, just finished my last final for the semester, and just have to wait for grades to post. Sadly, I'm just hoping for Cs across the board. In all actuality, I would like them to be higher, but the semester didn't go as good as I would have liked it. Too much stress and other things going on. This means that I will probably have to file a Financial Aid Appeal again for Fall Semester, but at least I will have a higher GPA than last semester. Just looking forward to knowing that finally my work is paying off, and I might actually have some credits to show for it this time around.
Since I have been so stressed and busy, I have decided to take Summer semester off, and will start again in the Fall. This also gives me time to just relax, and get things done that I need to do, like my ALC Phase 1 that starts in July. Maybe I will even be able to enjoy my down time instead of spending it worried that I will not be worried that I am forgetting to do an assignment.
One more weight off my back for now.

Stupid School

So I have been working on homework for the past couple of hours. I saved my lab for last due to having to do it in the bathroom. It is 1130 at night, and I have been sitting here for about 45 minutes waiting for it to upload! GRRRR!! All I want to do is go to sleep, but this stupid thing wont upload!
Oh well, that's what happens when I wait till the last minute as usual. On a better note, SHORT WEEK at work this week! YAY! Still got some shopping to do for Easter (Yes we celebrate with the egg hunt and dinner). Gonna be a busy weekend, got a birthday party to go to, cupcakes to make on Saturday, and eggs to decorate, stuff and fill. Should be fun this time around, since Alex is a little bit older, and should have more fun looking for eggs. Not quite Monday, and I'm already looking forward to the weekend.

PBP - G for Growth

The whole reason I started this blog was to grow in my spirituality. Which it has, but how far? I feel that as Pagans we are always growing and learning. I don't think anyone ever gets to the point where they know all there is to know about about their chosen path. When we start out we have these fantastical ideas of what we want to get, what we want to do, and how we are going to do, and even what we NEED to call our selves. As we progress through our practice ideas change, we change our thoughts as we find ones that are better suited to our beliefs. For instance, when I first started down my path, I was Wiccan, however, as I have progressed I still consider myself Wiccan, but am closer to being a Pagan, in the broader sense of the word. But why call my self Wiccan? Before everyone gets upset, because it feels right to me*. No where is it written that we have to pick one set word to describe who we are (not going into race, gender, etc... I have a Multicultural Education Class for that). We should not feel tied to whatever label we chose to place on ourselves, or that others may place on us. Personally, my thoughts have changed. I have read different books, and said, I like that, but what about this... I like this wording, but want to add this to it.
As Pagans, we should feel blessed that we have the ability to chose what we want to practice. After all, the created us to be able to make these choices, so why not use them. Keep growing in your practice. find what works for you, and change it. Keep growing, and be sure to pass on what you learned to someone. Who knows, the growth that you have made may help someone else with theirs.

*Plus changing paperwork for the military every time I change my mind, practices and ideals takes allot of work

Success

It is now ten minutes till 1000 and Alex is sound asleep and has been for about 30 minutes now YAY! That means that I was able to get my school assignments done, and still have time to do dishes. What am I going to do with myself? I'm not used to not having to fight with him to get him to go to sleep. It is so nice to only hear the TV, and not worry about him getting up every 2 minutes. Well since I have the time, no sense in wasting it on the computer. Gotta get to work.

Sex/ Gender discrimination

So I have noticed a lot of blog posts and Internet chatter in general about the issue with gender that came up at PantheaCon. Since my reading assignment for my Multicultural Education class this week was gender and sexual orientation, I thought I would at least state my two cents. So apparently the issue was that Transwoman were not allowed to attend an all woman blessing ritual. If you know the entire story, I apologize for not going into more detail, and if you don't please feel free to look into it. The issue was that it was stated that the ritual was for "Genetic Women Only."

OK so here are my thoughts on the issue. Yes I agree that there are certain "mysteries" that are SEX specific. Yes I said sex, not gender. The difference is that sex is biological while gender is an identification and characteristics established by society. What determines our sex is hormones and biology, but what determines our gender is our connection and what society expects. So with that being said, why cant a person who self identifies as a woman, physically appears to be a woman (mostly some things just take longer to get "fixed"), lives as a woman, worships as a woman, and has female hormones, but is genetically a man receive the same blessings on HER body and spirit as someone who was born with two X chromosomes.
I understand that the ritual was performed sky clad, and that a penis would obviously *cough* stand out (no pun intended), but that is usually the only part, if any, that is "male" and many times, they ensure that it is "hidden."

Maybe I'm just TOO open-minded, but I thought that as Pagan's we were supposed to be understanding and accepting of everyone no matter what their choices were. Everyone talks about remembering the Burning Times and the persecution we experienced at the hands of Christians. How is this any different? We were persecuted because our beliefs were different from theirs. Now we are starting to do the same to our own people. Yes I understand that this particular path is Women Only, but if it had not been for it being a sky clad ritual, how would anyone have known?

Again, I do not claim to be an expert, these are just my own thoughts on this issue. Please keep this in mind should you decide to comment.
Blessed Be

Need a time machine

So today I was thinking about how there never seems to be enough time to get anything done. For some reason I was thinking that it was Wednesday, when clearly it is Thursday. Where has the week gone? I know, no work on Monday, so it threw my sense of time off. I realized that I still have not read any of my assignments yet, and still had not done my Physics quiz (done now by the way). So for some strange reason, as I was getting ready to start this post, I was thinking of how it would be AMAZING if someone actually invented a Time-Turner like in Harry Potter. Granted, I am not one of those hard core Potter fans, but wouldn't it be great if we could just pull it out, and instantly have enough time to do whatever we needed to. What would you do with it? Personally, I would use it to get more sleep, and of course get school work done, which there is NEVER enough time for. But on the plus side, I did take my AFCT on Tuesday, and knocked it out of the park. My GT score went from 102 to 127, and all of my line scores went up substantially with the lowest being 125. What does this mean, in the grand scheme of things, not much. It does pretty much guarantee me an excellent bullet on my NCOER (annual evaluation report), but long term, if I should have to re-class again, it means that there really is no MOS that I could not do. So that being said, I am toying around with the idea of going to be a N4. Pretty much it is just an additional identifier to go along with my MOS. It adds a Health Physics duty to my job. What does it mean, more options of duty stations, as well as more options when I get out. With all the changes and cut backs that the Army is making, gotta start looking at the possibility of not being able to retire at 20 years. Plus, with the tough competition for senior promotions, this is something that they will be looking at to set others apart.
Well seeing as how it is just after 1030, and Alex is asleep, I will close out this post, and see everyone tomorrow for my Pagan Blog Project Post.
Blessed Be!