whatilearned

What I Learned This Winter 2020

March 9, 2020 by mamakay Leave a Comment

I love linking up with Emily P Freeman each season to reflect on what I have learned. This winter went by much faster than the last several years. I think part of the reason for this is that we had a very mild winter. We had a couple of snow storms but each round only lasted for a week or two. We had lots of sunshine and mild temperatures between the freezing cold. January did seem to last forever but then February seemed like it was only a couple of days!

My list is short and sweet this year.

I can actually read at least 1 book a week most weeks! I actually ended up reading 7 books in January! Which is good because I only made it through 3 in February (due to the fact that I was sick for a week and couldn’t read much at all).
I really enjoy teaching a class of 10-15 people. I had the opportunity to do this and it was a wonderful experience.
Exercising in the morning gives me energy throughout the day! I’m sure you’ve heard this before but I didn’t believe it until I tried it. I signed up for the Daily Burn 365 subscription on Amazon and it has been great for a morning workout with my husband for less than $15/month.

I think it is so important to take some time to reflect on what I have learned at the end of each month, each season, and each year. It is amazing to recognize what each particular season has meant to me in terms of growth and changes.

Here is a link to my list from last year: http://mamakay.com/WordPress/2019/02/what-ive-learned-this-winter/

Did you take time to do this lately? I would love to hear what you have learned over the course of this winter!

Mama Kay

Reflect on What I Learned This Fall ~ 2019

December 3, 2019 by mamakay 1 Comment

I believe that taking time to reflect regularly on our lives is vital to good mental health. Emily P Freeman offers the opportunity to join her and others do just that every quarter. I am linking up with her once again to name what I learned this fall.

Quiet is good but I get antsy if it is too quiet. I also am more overwhelmed by the noise levels when everyone comes home.
I need more active steps in my life. Now that the weather has changed going for walks doesn’t work out so much for me and I have already become more sedentary. I made it a baby step goal to stop at the gym after dropping off my preschooler and do a mile on the treadmill at least 2 days a week. It takes less than 20 minutes so I still have time to do other things but at least I get some movement into my day.
Some friends introduced me to Marco Polo and I love using it to keep in touch with my sisters. We had been texting but I just love getting to see their faces and their lives since we live so far apart.
I need accountability! When I signed up for the Monetize Your Blog course I paid extra for a one month long accountability group. I made more progress in that month than in the 6+ months before that!
Monday mornings at home are necessary for me to get my act together after the weekend. I use that time to regroup, do laundry, do dishes, meal plan and check in with our budget on YNAB. I also get a lot done on my blog work. Mondays are my most productive day of the week.
I prefer going to the morning Ladies Bible study instead of the evening one. Driving in the dark has always been harder for me so the mornings work out much better. I can run a couple errands in town afterwards. Plus it is just much less stressful than adding one more thing into our busy Wednesday schedule.
I’m not there yet and that’s okay. I always want to rush through the hard parts to get to the finished product but I’m an enneagram 9 and slow is a fact of life for me. I am working to be content plodding along. As I reflect on this, I just need to stay consistent and keep moving forward especially when it is taking longer than it is fun.

Do you take time to reflect regularly in your life? What have you learned this fall?

MamaKay

Past Link ups for What I Have Learned: http://mamakay.com/WordPress/category/whatilearned/

What I Learned This Fall 2018

November 30, 2018 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Emily P. Freeman encouraged me to link up for her quarterly what we learned series. Instead of waiting for the end of the year she encourages us to reflect on the season as it is winding down and this provides a great opportunity to share! So here is my list for this fall:

I am a Writer! I need to consistently write for my own mental health and then I can share with others as well.
Public School may actually be the right thing for our family this season. This has been such a huge shift for our family and has taken me a lot of time to adjust too. But it has been a good thing for us so far.
Going one more time is such a gift! We went to Yellowstone National Park for a third time in September and it was such a lovely experience. No stress to see all the things, just a bonus to experience the area one more time.
Cancer Sucks! We lost my stepbrother and our family dog to cancer this fall and it is just so terrible!
Stories don’t have to be tied up with a happily ever after to be good stories that we can learn so much from. There is a trend in books right now that is showing vulnerability as a worthwhile endeavor and I am here for it!
Oh how I love paint! It had been so long but it is amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for your spirit and your feelings about your house. So wonderful!
Plan to Eat has an app for your phone now! I have used the computer version for many years but found out there was an app now and that made it so much more usable for me! (If you hurry their once a year sale for 50% off is still on through December 2.)
Now that my youngest is almost 4, I can actually get up an hour (sometimes more) before the kids get up! Sometimes I sneak a trip into the gym while they are still sleeping or spend some extra time enjoying a warm drink and doing some Bible study.
I am not sure it really qualifies as having learned or not but I have been a mom now for 20 years! It still catches me off guard and I’m not sure how I feel about it but I’ve been doing this a long time and I still have another 14+ years of having children at home. I am in this for the long haul. I’m learning how to do this differently. It is a marathon for sure.
This has been a season of surrender for me. Surrender of my expectations, plans, hopes and even some dreams. It has been refining and it has brought some clarity for me although I am definitely still a work in progress.

I am excited to announce that part of this season has brought clarity about my message and so I have started a new website where I hope to share more with you. I will still blog here occasionally but most of my effort will now be going to:

SeasonalLivingFamily.com

How about you? What have you learned this fall? I would love to hear!

MamaKay

What I Learned This Summer 2018

August 31, 2018 by mamakay 2 Comments

I am linking up with Emily P. Freeman for her quarterly what I learned series. I always love taking some time to reflect on the season as it is winding down and this provides a great opportunity!

Hawaiian Roll Deli Sandwiches are awesome for large family road trips! I used this post to get me started.
Exploring Montana is AWESOME! I feel so blessed to be able to enjoy so much of God’s beautiful creation right from my own state.
Adventures don’t have to be a big a deal. We just had to decide to do it! Most of our adventures only took an afternoon.
Aimee Kollmansberger encouraged me to surrender my thoughts on how my home should be and grateful for how it is right now!
Painting and rearranging a room can make a huge difference in how I feel about a space. What was once supposed to be a playroom but became a junk heap is now a beautiful home office for me and school area for my littles.
Small changes can make such a big difference with just a little creativity. My favorite additions were a new cabinet in the kitchen, a sling bookcase in the school room and a coat tree rack made into a towel tree in the bathroom.
My littles need more of my attention. I am so happy that in this season of such changes I get to go back in some ways and just mother my 2 younger ones for a good part of the day.

How about you? What did you learn this summer?

MamaKay

What I learned this Spring

June 4, 2018 by mamakay Leave a Comment

I am sure by now you know I follow Emily P Freeman. She is such an inspirational writer and voice in my life. I am linking up with her on her seasonal “what I learned” list. I have found making this list to be such a great exercise.

I need a brighter, happier playlist for Spring! I realized that a lot of the songs on my playlist were reflective and melancholic and it was time to bring more energy into my life through music. You can check out my new list on Spotify.
Getting books through the library can be good but watch out! I put several books on hold awhile back (and actually kind of forgot about them) and then all of a sudden they all came in! So I had to push hard to read them before they were due and had to just give up on one. But yeah! me for not buying more books!
I absolutely loved Rebekah Lyons book You Are Free ,so I lead a group study at church based on it. One of the big takeaways I got from it was the idea vines wrap around anything they touch. When Jesus tells us in John that he is the vine and we are the branches he is telling us that he will wrap around us and protect us in a way that we could never do for ourselves.
As a family we need less screens and more time outside! The screens have such a pull for all of us and we need to be able to step away from that. We are still working out how that plays out in our lives and I am trying to find ways to draw us outside instead of making it feel like a punishment.
I am not sure who I heard it from but I think it was on the Hello Mornings podcast. Am I trying to fill a bucket from the River (Jesus) and heave it back to give my people or am I hooking up my hose to the never ending supply of life giving water and letting it flow through me?
Letting Go is hard but a necessary process in life. I will write about it more soon but I am letting go of homeschooling my children for the next year in hopes of renewing my spirit so that I can continue on this journey.
Quote from One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler: You can’t put your life on hold over the long term, eventually, you’ll reach a breaking point where you simply have to take care of yourself. And if you perceive that tending to your own needs can never go hand-in-hand with serving, you’ll stop serving. This is so true for me and I am working on changing that.
The Great British Baking Show is wonderful!! I don’t know why I waited so long to watch it! I love how the judges push the contestants to do their absolute best and yet they encourage them and help them along the way! I have been inspired to up my baking game!
Meal Planning is very helpful! It is amazing the difference in my stress level just having a meal plan makes even when I don’t follow it.
I absolutely love taking walks. Sometimes I listen to music, sometimes I listen to podcasts and other times just my own thoughts. I am trying to learn to be flexible and look for opportunities to go for a walk instead of it having to be at a particular time or not at all.

What have you learned this Spring? I would love to hear from you!