Thankful and Thriving-November 2024 WISH

[newski_mom]

What is your motivation to take the first step this week?

 

[PollyannaMom]

What is your motivation to take the first step this week?

My PJ pants felt a little tight this morning.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I can't change this coworker's behavior, but I need to try to change how she affects me. Any advice?

You are a better person than me. When she starts in with the fat-shaming, I would:

• give her the same look I give the kids when they're clearly breaking a classroom rule, and/or
• flat out ask her "What makes you think it OK to say that?"

But to answer your actual question:

• Start a gratitude club (like the thread on the Community Board here, where we have a topic every day) - maybe a bulletin board in the teacher's room?
• Start a marble jar and drop one in every time she says something negative. Buy yourself a new purse when it's full.
• Picture the scared 5-year-old inside her whenever she's being immature.

 

[PAsFab5]

@Summer2018 I am so sorry you are dealing with this! How terrible!!

I love everyone’s advice, it’s all great! If it were me I would probably say-Why do you say these things to me? Make her uncomfortable and have to come up with an answer for her actions. She needs to be held accountable because discussing someone else’s body is completely ridiculous!!

For Saturdays quiz I got:





Weekend went very fast it seemed!! About 50% of my weekend was spent battling a migraine which really cut into my enjoyment time but we still had a great weekend.

Friday I babysat and did some decorating.

Saturday was my sister in law and Is annual girls day where we treat ourselves to manicures and pedicures for our birthdays and then do other stuff together for the rest of the day. This year we went to a (small) craft show then had lunch at a little cafe, went to hobby lobby, the dollar tree and target. My MIL joined in for the shopping and it was a great day.

Yesterday we went to church, our granddaughter is so precious on Sundays I can’t handle it. She stares all around for the entire hour-she can’t figure out where the pastors voice is coming from but she sees 300 humans around her and just scans the entire time trying to determine who is talking-it’s so precious and innocent. She has not figured out yet that he’s up front! Afterwards I cleaned and did laundry.

Yesterday evening I started my candy trains. I do my oldest niece and her brothers first and on separate weeks from my other trains because they have food allergies in their household and I have to buy specific candy for their 25 days of treats and I don’t want cross contamination. 3 trains down and 4 to go! As long as I am done the night before thanksgiving I am good to go and everyone can start their 25 days of treats on December 1st!

Motivation this week is that my jeans were pretty tight on Saturday so I need to stay focused!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Yesterday evening I started my candy trains. I do my oldest niece and her brothers first and on separate weeks from my other trains because they have food allergies in their household and I have to buy specific candy for their 25 days of treats and I don’t want cross contamination. 3 trains down and 4 to go! As long as I am done the night before thanksgiving I am good to go and everyone can start their 25 days of treats on December 1st!

Do you have a photo of these? It sounds fun!

 

[Oneanne]

I am a fan lately of what I have dubbed passive-aggressive positivity. I know I can’t function with too much negativity and if those around me are overly negative without good reason it irks me to no end. When surrounded by negative folks I like to turn on the obnoxious happy path….look what a cute drawing this kid did, did you see that sunrise, only x number of days until y event. Make stuff up if you have to…pull out the motivational kitty posters and sugary sweet quotes. She’ll either lighten up or get annoyed and leave you alone.
Fat shaming? If it’s in writing bring it to hr…but have some fun with it too….make a point of showing a candy stash or talking about recipes you saw on Pinterest even if you never eat or make what you are discussing…same deal she will likely see it’s not effecting you and stop.
As I remind my sons when people are bullies hurt people HURT PEOPLE so there is probably some sort of ick buried deep in there…whatever happens don’t sink to her level. You do you boo-boo you’ve been through a bunch lately without stooping…keep your head held high knowing you handle your “stuff” with grace and strength and she clearly does not.

Had to sit with this a while and what bubbled up in my brain is that upsetting you is a form of connection for her, as in your pain is something she can feel so she knows she has reached you. Setting boundaries would be a thing to try so that she doesn't get a reaction from her behavior. In addition to responding as the others have suggested (like asking her why do you say things like that) you can create mindful energetic boundaries for yourself, like mentally setting a mirrored shell of protection around yourself so that her behavior is reflected back to her and you don't absorb it.

 

[piglet1979]

I got 10/15 on the quiz.

My motivation it to hopefully lose another pound by Thanksgiving. I lost about 1.5 in the last week.

@Summer2018 -- I am so sorry you are dealing with this. I don't have any advise though. I just usually get really quiet and say everything I would want to say to them in my head.

I had a great weekend. I got to hang out with a couple different friends this weekend. It ended on a rough note though. DD is getting worse symptoms are getting worse even though she is on an antibiotic for a double ear infection. Her ear is hurting worse, she is dizzy, has a headache, sleeping more and not eating much. I took her to the Urgicare last night and they spent less then 5 minutes with her, was very dismissive, could care less what we were telling her. She only took about 2 seconds to look at her ears and said they only have fluid. I even questioned her about DD's one ear hurting when she looked at it. Didn't even take a second closer look. She also felt the need to tell me that DD shouldn't be on all this antibiotics. This was so not helpful. Maybe if she listened when we told her that she has low antibodies she would know why. It was the worst experience we have had. It is up there with the 2 nursed at the ER back in May arguing outside our room (loud enough for us to her) on who was going to take us. I am so tired of doctors being dismissive and not listening. We have had some good doctors and some really bad ones. This is why DD wants to be a doctor. She doesn't want kids and parents to go through what we have had too. We are seeing the pediatrician this afternoon so hopefully we can get DD some relief. It is just horrible watching her go through all of this.

 

[Oneanne]

Motivation this week... over the weekend it occurred to me that the household sorting/purging I'm doing to get ready to move also makes the house lovely for the holidays, so I'm upping the game and going after two areas per day this week.

The tree is about half decorated, with most of the round ornaments on it. Another set of hand painted pink balls should arrive from Etsy today or tomorrow, and after they are hung I'll add the mushrooms, acorn and pinecones. She is so cute; I just love her. I've collected some fun crafting supplies and will start putting together a rag wreath and doing some embroidered ornaments.

We're in for some pretty awful weather this week, but I will try to get outside as much as possible.

 

[PAsFab5]

Do you have a photo of these? It sounds fun!

Yes!!!



I roll out the amount of seran wrap I think I will need, but keep it attached to the roll incase you need more. I lay out 25 days of candy spaced just far enough apart that I can tie each off, fold the sides down to seal it then tie off the 25 days. Once you do the first one you know how long you need the plastic wrap to be and it’s a little easier!

The kids cut a day off everyday and make the 25th day extra sugar filled lol!

 

[piglet1979]

Yes!!!

View attachment 914038View attachment 914039

I roll out the amount of seran wrap I think I will need, but keep it attached to the roll incase you need more. I lay out 25 days of candy spaced just far enough apart that I can tie each off, fold the sides down to seal it then tie off the 25 days. Once you do the first one you know how long you need the plastic wrap to be and it’s a little easier!

The kids cut a day off everyday and make the 25th day extra sugar filled lol!

This is such a good idea!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Thanks, @PAsFab5!!

 

[newski_mom]

My motivation for the week is that DH and I have no "special" things planned for quite some time, so I won't have any excuses - and I plan to take full advantage! I'm sticking to my plans!

 

[newski_mom]

Topic Tuesday:

We've kind of been chatting about it anyway, but how far along (if at all) are you on your Christmas decorating?

Is it different for you this year since Thanksgiving is late in the month?

Do you have any hard and fast rules about when you will decorate for Christmas?

Do you go all out, or do you like to keep it simple?

 

[Summer2018]

Thank you to everyone for your feedback. It was really helpful.

Christmas decorations will go up on Thanksgiving because it’s the only day that I know DD will be home. We used to do it the days after Thanksgiving and spread it out over the long weekend, but this is how it must be. I can hear my mother in my ears telling me to keep the two holidays separate. Her family came over on the Mayflower and so Thanksgiving was a big deal in my house.

We have always gone all out, but now that I host Christmas day, I have upped my game. I have two trees, the family tree in the living room with enough Disney ornaments for it’s own tree, plus antique ornaments from my mother’s tree, and many others throughout my marriage. We have a beautiful tree in the dining room with blue, silver, and white ornaments. I collect Spode Christmas Tree dishes and accessories which I use during the month of December. My husband goes nuts with lights outside.

I decorate my classroom top to bottom. I have an Elf, Jingle with different outfits. I have already begun doing Christmas art projects which will go up hopefully before Thanksgiving so the kids can take home their glittery pumpkins, handprint turkeys, and other fall projects and writing pieces.

 

[PollyannaMom]

...how far along (if at all) are you on your Christmas decorating?

I'm still decorated for Thanksgiving. DS is the stickler for holiday overlap here, but I have snuck in a few things - pulled the candy cane pens out of the back of the drawer, bought DH a new Christmas mug the other day (he likes the tall ones, and I found a Snoopy one!)...

Is it different for you this year since Thanksgiving is late in the month?

I do feel it's a little tight, but I'll probably just leave them up a bit longer after the holiday.

Do you have any hard and fast rules about when you will decorate for Christmas?

Generally not until after Thanksgiving, but I would be OK with breaking it if we were traveling or something.

Do you go all out, or do you like to keep it simple?

We definitely go all out - lights, musical decorations, even a whole set of dishes. It finally reached the point where I was overwhelmed and split stuff into different bins when I put it away last year - a few things that will come out every year, and the rest into "odd year" and "even year" bins.

 

[piglet1979]

We've kind of been chatting about it anyway, but how far along (if at all) are you on your Christmas decorating?
I have not even touched any Christmas stuff yet. I did buy one gift though. Well two. I finished shopping for the twins. The easy ones. I got them the Belle dress up outfit and the the Cinderella one. Complete with the shoes, tierra, jewelry and wand. They were 40% off at the Disney store in October so I bought them.

Is it different for you this year since Thanksgiving is late in the month?
No, nothing has changed. We are pretty set on when we decorate.

Do you have any hard and fast rules about when you will decorate for Christmas?
We always decorate the day after Thanksgiving. DH is very adamant about that.

Do you go all out, or do you like to keep it simple?
It is very simple here. The tree and maybe a few other things I have been gifted. If I had a bigger house (our tree really doesn't fit anywhere) I think I would do more but I have never been the decorating type. I lived in this house 5-7 years with white walls before my mom made do some decorating. It became my birthday gift that year.

 

[piglet1979]

DD's appointment did not go as planned last night. They don't know why she is still so sick. The did do bloodwork for mono since they can't test it in the office because of the low antibodies. They also did a CBC and a few others. All have come back normal except for her Lymphocytes but those are just slightly low and can just point back to her low IgG that produces these, or in DD's case the lack of. I do have a message into her immunologist to see there is anything that we should be looking at that the pediatrician is not think of (she told me to send the message to immunology). Hopefully we will get her CT results today. The pediatrician said her being sick could have something to do with her lungs and this cough that will not go away. I did learn something new yesterday. THe reason why DD seems to never get a fever is because of the low IgG as it is giving the immune response as it should.

 

[PAsFab5]

We've kind of been chatting about it anyway, but how far along (if at all) are you on your Christmas decorating?

Very far-almost done!! We have gotten a live tree every year of my life both as a child and an adult, so that’s all that is left! We get a tree the weekend of Thanksgiving every year, big family event usually 10-15 of us going out and cutting trees down. However our tree farm closed. My sister in law and I found another one to go to but trees are up to $85 so after talking to DH last night we may be moving to an artificial tree. Tree farms have simply priced us out on what we are willing to pay.

Is it different for you this year since Thanksgiving is late in the month?
No, I always decorate the weekend of Veterans Day since it’s a long weekend for me.

Do you have any hard and fast rules about when you will decorate for Christmas?
Yes, I always wait until Veterans Day…I know that’s early for some and late for others. I hear a lot of people say they decorate November 1st which seems early to me.
Do you go all out, or do you like to keep it simple?
It used to be simple but after 20+ years of accumulating decorations I go all out at this point!! It makes my family and me happy so that’s my encouragement

 

[piglet1979]

trees are up to $85

I heard on the news that the prices around here have gone up because of the drought that we had. Growing up, my mom only got 1 live tree (it was a bit of a disaster. It was way too big for our house) but my dad always had live ones. I am not a fan at all of them. I refuse to decorate a live tree. I end up pricking my finger several times and getting annoyed with it. DH and I have always had an artificial tree. We get one that is pre-lit and only has 3 pieces to put together. In 21 years of living together, I think we have only had 3 trees. One was a hand me down from my mom when we first moved in because I said I wasn't going to put one up in the apartment and didn't have the money to buy one. She wasn't having it so she bought a new one and gave me hers.

One thing I do every year is I buy a family ornament and 1 for each kid. I put the year on them and they have something to do with that year. This year I will get a graduation one for DS. The plan is to give the kids there's when they move out to decorate their own tree. One of DH's grandmothers did this every year until she passed away when DD was 5. This is where I got the idea.

 

[Oneanne]

We've kind of been chatting about it anyway, but how far along (if at all) are you on your Christmas decorating?
The tree is mostly decorated, here's a progress photo. The fancy ornaments will go up this evening and the brown boxes on either side of the basket will get wrapped. They aren't presents, they are part of the cat-proofing... there's no room for her to jump up on the dresser and as long as I don't put ornaments on the lower branches, she can't reach anything from the floor.


Is it different for you this year since Thanksgiving is late in the month?
No, last year was the first time I up the tree up before Thanksgiving and I really enjoyed having it up during the getting-ready-for-the-holiday period. It'll come down between Christmas and New Years, and I'll be ready to let it go.

Do you have any hard and fast rules about when you will decorate for Christmas?
Nope

Do you go all out, or do you like to keep it simple?
I'd say I go medium in, but I think about it for months and make a lot of things, so that satisfies my need to go overboard. Outdoors there will be lights on the big bush and maybe some along the fence, plus the gates will get wreaths. Inside it is the tree, plus I'm making a rag wreath with pinks and greens to hang on the wall. I'm also going to make garland out of paper shapes, probably rounds, to hang over doorways, and some embroidered ornaments for the tree. I've got enough ornaments for two trees and have been tossing around the idea of putting the 6-foot tree up in the office, maybe with less cat-proofing to see what she would do.