Day One of Education Week

Wow - It has really been a long time since I have posted. I have been busy this summer though. I signed up to be a hostess for BYU Education Week this week. I used to go before I was teaching, and it is always the first week teachers have to be back in the classroom so it has been 18 years since I last went. The only bad thing, I think, is they expect you to dress, in their words, in business dress, then they say wear skirts or dresses. Puleeese! That hasn't been business dress since the seventies. But as a hostess I can go to any class free any day. So I am trying it - as trying as it is to wear skirts and dresses for 6 days in a row, counting church!

First day I was hostess all afternoon so I only went to the three classes I was hosting and they were fun. They were on organization, which I am pretty good on and already knew some of her ideas. However, when she said to get rid of half your stuff I knew she wasn't talking to me. At least not yet. The only reason I am going to get rid of most of my stuff is that it is cheaper that shipping it and replacing it when I move.

Some of her tidbits that I liked:

1.) The brain is for thinking; writing is for remembering. (I thought that was just my excuse to be lazy.)

2.) Disciplined patterns can help life run smoother. (I do this with only some things: I pay bills only on 1st and 25th of the month. When I had 4 little ones I spent 15 minutes cleaning per room each day- with a timer, no less! then moved on to better things.) She suggested starting a pattern even if it is only for a short session then lengthen the session once the patterns are set. Example: get up, pray, exercise, brush teeth, scripture reading, journal, clean up and dress.

3.) When people die and you have lots of their left overs, only keep what you will use - 10% max. Give the rest away. Take pictures before you give them away if they have a memory attached and journal or scrapbook about the meaning of the article. It takes less space and our thoughts are then included for others to know why we valued the item.

4.) We are only stewards over the things we have - we don't own them so we shouldn't clutter up our lives with excess things we don't use but only store. There are many other people who could use them and we shouldn't hoard.

Of course, she had scripture references to back her up (this is BYU Education Week) but I hadn't brought any thing to write on but her handout which SHE filled.

Last thought to add from this class that I forgot when I originally posted this:

There is a time in all our lives when we go from "Simultaneous" to "Sequential"

I found it so helpful to know that I am not the only one who can no longer do 5 or 6 things at the same time, and do them all well. Maybe I can do 2 but most often one at a time is the max if I want to do a good job.