Ho-ho-holistic holidays!

So here I go again! Yup, Thanksgiving is in just 3 days, and I am so stoked to be finally spending a relaxing holiday with family, hopefully drama-free. (I have no taste for drama, but that is another blog entirely.) With a happy turkey day comes the holiday season. I really love Christmastime, but lately the commercialism has really been bugging me. I saw a commercial about two women fighting over a video game for their son... it just really grosses me out. So, my solution to this is to bring it around old school. I mean REALLY old school. We're going to make our gifts for the most part, and I'm not making that a priority for the holiday. I'm also really excited about the homeschool possibilities for this season: making ornaments, learning about other cultures and the way they celebrate, baking (which is a super great way to study science and math), etc. My goal is to relax and enjoy myself. You can have your Black Friday, your shiny paper, and your toys that will be forgotten in two weeks. I want smiles, laughter, joy, and happiness for Christmas... and I think I just might get it this year!

The Predicament of Persistence

Today has been about accomplishing things. I feel as though some days I'm not as productive as I need to be, and so from those days' guilt come days like today. I gave the boys their lessons, cleaned my kitchen, arranged bill payments, organized, etc... but I still feel disjointed. I think it's the knowledge that tomorrow I have to go back to work. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind hard work. The problem lies in the fact that when I am doing something I don't enjoy, believe in, or even sometimes disagree with, I feel trapped. Blogging helps a little, but I'm hoping to charm an editor into someday falling in love with my work so that I can supplement my income with freelance writing. I love to write, and I feel as though I'm pretty good at it. All these years of personifying nerd-dom have to be worth something at least! And so, here I go, tapping away at the keyboard, hoping someone will be somewhat interested in what I have to say. I must be persistent. The problem with being persistent, however, is that it is difficult to keep going back to something you aren't certain you can make a success. It is so amazingly daunting to try to convince myself that someone out there will like my writing enough to pay me to do so. I know I have to have confidence, but I am terrified of being overconfident. Really, I'm terrified of failing. Over, and over again. That is what persistence is: hanging in there when you keep failing; over, and over, and over. HOWEVER, I am now putting my big girl panties on and looking fear in the face! Bring it on fear! Bring it on failure! I will be Thomas Edison! I will find a whole bunch of ways not to make a lightbulb! I'm ready for all of you, keyboard in hand, ready to roll- just watch me!