A New Perspective!

Today I'm again sitting in the hotel room, but this time with a new perspective. I spent a little time reflecting on my previous post, (the Not in Arizona Anymore post), and suddenly came to the realization that sometimes I need a mentality adjustment.
Here I am with this beautiful baby boy who is all mine and makes the cutest noises and funniest facial expressions, AND I don't have to miss a single one! I'm here for them all! I have no need to try to leave or have take him anywhere or drop him off while I go to work. I can just sit back and relax and enjoy his company while ordering food that's delivered to my door and I don't have to wash dishes or clean house!
What was I thinking!? Life's great!

Now, I'm not saying this at all to gloat, but to share how there's two ways to look at life. There's focusing on the negative or focusing on the positive, its optimism verses pessimism. Its so easy to spiral downwards and throw yourself a "pity party" (as my husband calls it), but its just as easy to turn around and look at all the blessings in your life. Its entirely up to you.
I read a short article in this month's American Baby Magazine entitled, "Lighten Up, Mama!" the point of the article was to avoid anxiety-eating for new mom's, but it got me thinking about more than just my eating habits. The author writes: "Focus on the good. To break a nerve-addled thought pattern, jot down what's going well in your life, or a highlight in your day. Realize you can choose what to think about- you'll herald happy thoughts."
It was the eye opener I needed. Life is all about choices, we make decisions that dictate our lives everyday. We make decisions that influence the lives of others everyday. Whether we're working inside the home, caring for children and a husband, or we're leaving our homes each morning and surrounding ourselves with others, either way we touch other's lives and can either help raise them up or drag them down.

This is an important lesson, I want my home to be a home of peace, a home of happiness, and a home of love. The mother is the heart of the home, she needs to be the one to harness these characteristics everyday. This is on of my core focuses on my path to becoming a Molly Mormon... And I'll need to tackle it one day at a time :)

Living Wisely

I'd like to address a new issue today, a topic that has been weighing heavily on my mind, Provident Living.

One aspect of provident living that has been a huge topic in recent political discussions, and is something we should all be concerned about within our own homes is finances. Our individual financial situations are of great significance, it is of utmost importance for us to avoid debt and learn the principles of frugality and savings.

With today's economy and with the newest struggles that this country now faces, it is even more important for our citizens to understand the fundamentals that this country was based upon and even more important is understanding what responsibilities we hold as citizens and as humans on this earth. I feel that too many people have misconstrued the basic principles of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness into a feeling of entitlement.
Entitlement- a belief that because a person lives and breathes they are somehow entitled to all the luxuries of the world. This is not the case. The central government was created to protect these unalienable rights, not to provide handouts. Unfortunately the time has come where so many people are living well outside their means and are in a position where debt is inevitable and a missed paycheck is cause for panic. This is not what provident living is.

What is provident living exactly? 
Let's examine the word "provident," some synonyms include "farseeing" and "wise." So through insertion, it would be safe to call "provident living" "wise living" and also to think of "wise" as "farseeing," so living wisely would be to live with the future in mind. SO living from paycheck to paycheck would not be "farseeing" or "wise," right? Are you following me here? Now, some think that they HAVE to live paycheck to paycheck- for the vast majority of the people in this country, this is not the case! Sorry, no excuses there. People live paycheck to paycheck because they CHOOSE to.
"WHAT!?," you say- Humor me with your attention for a moment...  You have all these bills and a mortgage AND you have to eat and get to work, right? Okay, sure, that's true, however, who decided to buy a house with a mortgage that much? and who chose to buy a car that has that gas mileage and who decided to eat out instead of making their lunch? Obviously we each have basic needs, like food and shelter, but the cost/type of shelter and food is something YOU decide. When you make those decisions you decide whether or not you are living within your means. Its not a matter of how much money you make, its a matter of your own self control.

The LDS church has created a website dedicated to this very cause called www.providentliving.org, the website aims to educate people on self-reliance and has plenty of resources for debt management and a family budget worksheet. There's also a wonderful article that I would encourage everyone to read that better conveys the point I'm trying to make here. Its called, "Wealth is what you save, not what you spend" and you can find it on www.marketwatch.com. Its important to look at purchases as an investment and to evaluate whether or not you'll get an appropriate return on your investment before making the purchase- that's part of what the article teaches, but you should read it yourself. Another good source of better understanding money is an amazing book my husband gave me to read called, The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason.
Now, I'm not professing to know everything on this topic, or that I am the best at anything I've mentioned here, but that I know it's of great importance and it's worth addressing.

I realize that this topic might seem a little outside the realm of my blog, but it actually fits perfectly into the ideals of a Molly Mormon. A woman who oversees a home and plans for the future knows there will always be unexpected expenses; the toilet will break, the roof will leak, your child will fall, and your children will grow up and will go to college and will get married. Therefore these women know that they need to make the best choices for their family, plan for the future, be wise in their spending and trust in the Lord. AND at the end of the day they can know that they've done all that they can.
My husband and I strive to make the right choices everyday so that when we look at our son we don't have to worry whether or not we can provide for him.  We know we're doing everything we can to ensure that his future will be bright. I urge everyone to do this for yourselves and especially for those who depend on you. If you need help, reach out the resources available to you.

We're Not in Arizona Anymore...

Okay, SO I am no longer in Arizona. My belongings have been packed by a moving company and are currently in transport to their destination... any guesses as to the location? (hint- the title of the post isn't just cheesy, its a clue)

Yes! You guessed it, good ol' Kansas... I actually had never even set foot in this state before three days ago, which was after all of my stuff had been packed and I was already destined to live there. My husband and I took a look at our soon to be apartment the other day. I had hoped to move into a house with a yard since I will now be living somewhere where the terrain is capable of inhabiting more than just plain dirt, weeds and prickly cactus. However, we decided we weren't sold on purchasing and maintaining a property here just yet. So I have settled on the idea of a luxury apartment with a balcony garden. So let the plans begin! I am quite excited about growing a small container garden on my new balcony and moving into my much larger 2 bedroom apartment. I'm upgrading from a measly 600 sq ft, 2nd floor, 1bdrm apartment to a 1000 sq ft 3rd floor (top floor) 2 bdrm apartment. Now, since I will be home all day with my little one, it will be much nicer to have some space to move around and not feel like I'm caged in. Plus I get to look forward to setting up my sewing machine and crafting desk as well as starting my small garden.

Currently, however, I am living in a hotel waiting for the movers to get my stuff up here. Living in a hotel would be rather nice, you would think, you get to enjoy lying by the pool, working out in the fitness center, exploring the town and ordering room service! Well, it would be rather nice, IF my infant wasn't so colicky! I can't lay by the pool without him in my arms, he's unwilling to sleep at all during the day without me holding him. He is intolerant of the front carrier so I can't even use the treadmill. And I await the time of day he might actually sit alone long enough for me to shower- but forget the make-up and hair dryer!  Room service is nice, but the menu is limited and when you are confined to your room with a screaming child all day it's not all it's cracked up to be. So I guess you could say hotel life isn't exactly what I had in mind.
Oh, the wonders of motherhood...
I love the little moop, but I do wish he was a little easier of an infant. My sister-in-law has a baby who sleeps 9 hours a night and hardly makes a peep all day- whether or not she's being held. Oh, how I envy her! It's just a phase though right? It gets better? I get some freedom someday? Some reassurance please!?