Find your space and enjoy it

It took me way too long to figure this out, but we all have to have our space. That place to think, recharge, refresh so we can go be awesome as mamas, friends, coworkers, significant others or whatever.

For me, it is having my morning time. It is worth getting up early for this, although today I slept until 8 and didn't head outside with breakfast until 9. That's the fringe benefit of teenagers. You can sleep later, finally.

I like to sit outside with my breakfast and read and have my own little slice of peace and quiet before the day really gets going. On weekdays it is coffee or coffee with toast, but on Saturdays, I celebrate the weekend with some bacon and eggs, shown here.

For the longest time, I didn't get out and enjoy my back yard. I'd look at it and think that the wood needed cleaning and refinishing (it does) and that I needed to replace my plastic Adirondack chairs (I do). I wouldn't feel like I could really enjoy things until I had them just right.

Guess what. If I had decided to wait until conditions were perfect, I'd have a long wait. It's the same with enjoying time with your family (waiting until you can afford Disney instead of just spending time together in the here and now), with your dreams and desires (I am finishing my first book on a computer that's on its last legs. Still works, though!), with your personal self (shop now instead of five pounds from now).

Take time to enjoy the here and now, whether it is with yourself or those you love. And don't say you are too busy, because busy people especially need this. Realize that you are a human being, not a human doing. Take some time to just be.

And if you can just be and eat bacon and eggs, even better.

Get up, be awesome, go to sleep, repeat

So let me go do some 'splaining about Domestic Diva and what happened during a great big ol' gap of years when I didn't post.

Life happened. The end.

Actually, I have some excellent excuses for why I went years without posting. I took on more duties at work.

I finished a master's degree in project management (don't you love irony? I can manage projects yet can't blog for years), and then there were the ebbs and flows of emotion that happen when you become a widow and raise four kids on your own.

Although I like to think that the kiddos are active participants in the raising of each other in our family. They raise me as much as I raise them. They're my heart, and each is awesome in his or her own way.

The truth is, though, that I could have been blogging and instead let things get in my way. Not major things like family, but little things like scheduling and laundry (not sure laundry is ever little but you get what I am saying).

Same with writing a book. I had wanted to for years yet never got past the first few pages because I did not make that dream a priority.

I'm happy to say that (a) I believe you are never behind so you should just jump in where you are, and (b) the book's almost finished. This weekend is going to be a writing fest. I have coffee in the cabinet, so I am ready to go. I plan to get things finished Monday before a meet-and-greet at The Clarion-Ledger tent at the Mississippi State Fair at 5 p.m.

You notice, I just made that a public statement, and I'll tweet about it, too. You put things out there like that, and they tend to happen. I didn't tell people about my previous literary attempts, and guess what? They didn't happen.

I think sometimes we like to let things get in the way of our own awesomeness potential. Subconsciously, I think our own awesomeness potential is a little scary, so we stick to what we know, which is the ordinary and the same ol' same ol'. I know I do this ... sometimes, when I block out time for my own personal awesomeness, which is writing my book, I will think about running the dishwasher or mopping the floor. Weird but true.

So today, and each day, take some time just to work on what would be something awesome in your life. Just 15 minutes, or block out an afternoon for it. Don't be afraid of being awesome ... your best is just ahead. It is far better to be awesome with dirty dishes.

Here we go!

OK, to the left is me, Annie Oeth, and days are pretty full. Apparently not too full to launch another blog, though. Thank Jesus, coffee and Diet Coke for the get-up-and-go.

I'm putting the finishing touches on my first book and writing a post in my first independent blog, my author site at annieoeth.blogspot.com. These are fun times, although a little scary. Scary in a good way.

"Because I Said So: Life in The Mom Zone" will be released April 2014 by Sartoris Literary Group

Here's a link to a preview of it at sartorisliterary.com:

"Because I Said So: Life in The Mom Zone"

I'll post some samples as "Because I Said So" gets closer to hitting some store shelves, and it will also be available as an ebook.

And here's my other blog, The Mom Zone, at clarionledger.com. Go check it out!

The Mom Zone

For those unfamiliar with Free Stuff Friday, those who like my page on Facebook (search for Annie Oeth) are in the running for free stuff on Fridays, and sometimes on other days. I figure, it's my Facebook page, so I can make up the rules on when prizes are drawn for as I go along. It's something I do as part of my job as features editor at The Clarion-Ledger. It's a fun gig ... where else are you encouraged to play on Facebook as part of your workday?

Here's a link to that Facebook page:

Annie's Clarion-Ledger Facebook Page

And I'll develop this blog more ... I hope it will be a fun spot for you to visit on the interwebs!