Gayle Tales

For the first 50 years of my life, my perfectionist self mistakenly believed it was all about knowing more, getting it right, planning, attempting to prevent bad things from happening, and keeping all of my chicks in a row. It took me this long to discover that the JOURNEY is all that matters. This quote from Gilda Radner sums it all up:

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. "

Friday, January 15, 2016

My Bullet Journal

"Good order is the foundation of all things."

~Edmund Burke

The one single thing that

makes my life easier,

saves time,

and unburdens me

is being organized.

When my son called yesterday and asked if I could send him a photo

of him dressed as a confederate soldier during the civil war encampment reenactment in 5th grade, it took less than 5 minutes to complete.

When I need to find a receipt for something we bought 5 years ago,

it's at my fingertips - literally - in 30 seconds.

Nothing wastes time more than searching.

Another side of organization is keeping track of so many thoughts and ideas that I feel are important to remember. I do this on random pieces of paper that are handy whenever the important idea

pops into my head. I also have lots of "lists" on my iPhone.

But these lists often get lost or tossed because they are on the backside of envelopes that came in the mail or sticky notes that "stuck"

in unintentional places.

In 2016, I'm trying something new to organize these.

A Bullet Journal.

It's not a journal where you write your thoughts in paragraph form.

It's pages are filled with "bullets" instead. Lists.

I have to give credit to my daughter, Annie, who recently

showed me her own Bullet Journal over Christmas break.

It was very intriguing and I did some investigating on

Pinterest and Instagram.

(search #bulletjournal and you can

find thousands of page ideas)

I began by finding a journal that I love.

I chose the yellow one.

The pages are dotted instead of lined to allow for

artwork, but still provide a guide to keep writing straight.

I'm in the process of setting up my pages,

which are a canvas for creativity too.

Here are my pages so far.

This page is to record my weight on a weekly basis.

Hopefully it will serve as a reality check so the

20 pounds that I lost will not creep back on.

This page is to keep track of books I've read and maybe jot down

a few thoughts about each of them.

I believe greatly in remembering all you are

thankful for. These pages will be filled by year-end.

Here I will list everything that I need to let go of,

both emotional and physical.

I would like to blog more often this year. This will be a place

to store ideas.

I am a lover of learning. There are always things

I would like to explore in more depth, but they slip

my mind if I don't write them down.

When I'm on Facebook, I often see beautiful pictures of places

that I would like to visit someday. If I keep track of them,

maybe someday I will.

Another change I want to make this year is to take at least one

photo every day. There are so many times I am somewhere and wish I had my camera. Or I see a photograph that I would like to try to take myself. This list will hopefully force me to expand my abilities

as a photographer.

Do you have projects that are so big, so time-consuming

that you put them off and they never get done? Seeing

them here will hopefully remind me to keep chipping away

at them.

I am a lover of quotes. When someone gets an idea across in a way that makes you stop and reflect on its truth in your own life, it is worth

remembering.

I have a problem with allergies. I am allergic to sulfites and red dye.

But there are many times lately (like last night) when my nose just turns on like a faucet and I go through an entire box of kleenex.

Only Benadryl turns it off. Here I will keep track of triggers

that are possible, probable or definite.

What gets tracked is more likely to get done. It's a fact.

I set up a page to keep track of things I would like to do

more often or on a regular basis. Each month I will

set my goals and track their frequency.

This is a cool idea I found on Pinterest. It uses small sticky

notes to set weekly goals!

That's it so far! Some people use the Bullet Journal technique

to track daily to-do lists or shopping lists, but I decided to

give mine a much broader focus. As I design my pages,

I find it also forces me to use a part of the brain that I don't

get a chance to use very often anymore. I really enjoy the

hands-on artistic challenge of creating interesting lettering and

page decorations - things that used to come easily to me

in my younger days that are a bit rusty now.

More pages are yet to come, but I wanted to show you

what I'm doing because I am very excited about it!

I believe it will make a big

difference in my life in 2016!

Monday, January 11, 2016

A Very Special Visitor

We had a very special first-time visitor to our home last week.

I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure how he would be

received by the rest of the family. He's lived an isolated life,

with very few friends, and has never traveled away from home.

To be totally honest, I didn't know if he would even venture out

of his bedroom!

His flight went well, even though he was a little nervous

going through security at the airport. He flew into

Laguardia airport with Kerry. Vance picked them up

and brought them home.

Just as I expected, he spent the first day in his room,

and he was very nervous. We respected that

and visited him there, trying not to overwhelm him.

One more thing. While he was here,

I was often referred to as

"Grandma Gayle".

It's Fletcher! Kerry's cat!

The reason I was so uncertain of his visit was

because he had never been around dogs before.

And I didn't think my cats would welcome another feline

into the house. At least not without a fight.

We let him out of Kerry's room when the other animals were outside.

But they spotted him.

And he spotted them.

We introduced him to each of the dogs by bringing them

into the bedroom where he was comfortable.

He was curious and appropriately afraid, but he

got close enough to sniff them. The dogs were

very well behaved.

But in the end, that's as close as they got. We decided to keep

the animals separated for the entire week he was here.

We took him for a walk outside on his leash (he's an indoor cat).

He looked very handsome!

It was a very cold, windy day. He was shivering but that didn't

stop him from exploring. He loved chasing the leaves

being tossed around by the gusty wind.

Mel drove over to see him (and us).

I very much enjoyed taking his picture while he was here.

He didn't mind at all.

Momo was clueless that Fletcher was even in the house.

(Way to go, Momo!)

We brought them back to the airport on Sunday morning.

He is a very good traveler!

He needed to stay in his carrier on the plane,

but he just slept the whole way home to Nashville.

We love Fletcher, and we look forward to spending much more time

with him soon. Possibly, in the near future, his mom may

relocate back home to CT.

Oh yes, and we look forward to seeing much more of Kerry too!

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Christmas Break

Christmas week began with an unexpected overnight trip to Burlington with Annie. I heard that one of my uncles wasn't doing very well, so I decided to pay him a visit. We were only there for less than 24 hours, but we packed in all we could while we were there: visits with family, shopping on Church Street, dinner at Asiana Noodle Shop, Ben and Jerry's, a night at the Hotel Vermont, and a visit to the King Arthur store on the way home!