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Dear Busy Mamas,
Welcome to the Three
Minute Mom
Newsletter, a
newsletter that we busy moms actually have
time to read! I'm Carey Keavy, author of Raising
Your Own Children, a book which teaches moms
to
quit their full-time jobs and make living on one
income work for them. Inside of each issue you will
find money-saving ideas, parenting tips, and
more...all guaranteed to be readable in only three
minutes!
Sincerely,
Carey Keavy
| Money Minute: A Hobby for Kids by JoAnn Friedman |
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Do your children spend too much time watching
television or playing
video games? If your children resemble mine, you
quickly responded
yes. And perhaps you have tried desperately to
encourage, bribe, and
cajole them into pursuing other actives or developing
a hobby.
Unfortunately, my children merely ignored my
suggestions.
I had about given up my attempts of luring my
children away from TV
and computer games, until one day when a co-
worker came into the
office filled with excitement. She had just entered
her toddler in a
website photo contest and begged us all to vote for
her daughter.
Hey! I thought. To win money, my sons might take
up a photography
hobby.
The Internet abounds with numerous photo contests
offering cash prizes
from $10 to $10,000. In addition, there are websites
where we could
easily purchase a digital camera for under $25.00
When the new
camera arrived, my sons rushed to the computer to
start searching for
photo contests.
It is easy to find website photo contests. You can
start by searching
Google and Yahoo for photo contests or for a
website that lists photo
contests. Two free contests listed on
www.photolinks.com are
www.funnyphotoscontest.com and www.picture.com. The first website
offers a new contest every other week, with $10,
$50 and $500 prizes.
The second website offers an annual prize of $10,000
as well as $1,000
prizes for each individual contest.
Although it took awhile for the boys to discover a
hobby, I'm thrilled
they did. Not only is there the pleasure of personal
enjoyment, but
there is also the sense of accomplishment that
promotes a child's
self-esteem. In addition, a hobby in childhood may
lead to a lifelong
interest or even a career in adulthood. Photography
is helping my
sons set goals, make decisions, solve problems, and
complete projects.
And best of all, we are having fun together
searching for photo
opportunities, then looking at the photos, and
choosing the best ones
to enter in a contest.
JoAnn is a retired
elementary school teacher and operates a website,
www.funnyphotoscontest.com.
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| Mama Minute: Perfectionism--Enemy of the Good Life by Carey Keavy |
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“And none of us is perfectly
qualified .
We get it wrong nearly everytime we open our
mouths. If you could find someone whose speech
was perfectly true—you would have a perfect
person, in perfect control of life.”
~James
3:2
Yes, I’ll admit this--I struggle with perfectionism. I
have read that first-born children will naturally lean
toward perfectionism. I am first-born. Perhaps you
are first-born. Perhaps you see it in your own first-
born child. Maybe you are married to a perfectionist
or know someone who has these tendencies.
Everything done must be to perfection. We
perfectionists don’t just do something--we DO
SOMETHING. We DO it to excess. If we organize our
books on the shelf, they don’t just look nice--they
are ordered in accordance with the Library of
Congress. If we are to take on a task, the goal then
becomes to perfect the task. But, isn’t it apparent?
When we set a perfect standard for ourselves the
standard will NEVER be reached. We can never
attain the goal of perfection. It will never happen.
Yet, we foolishly continue to set the standard.
Perfectionism can be both a curse and a blessing.
We can use it in our lives to assist us in
accomplishing goals we have set for ourselves.
Perfectionists are driven. That’s the blessing part.
The curse is the “obsessive” portion of perfectionism
in which tasks are often the center of attention until
complete. When a perfectionist works on a project,
it may consume their life until it’s flawless. This
pursuit of precision sometimes includes verbally
thrashing ourselves for not having done a little bit
better. We say things to ourselves like, “That
part looks pretty good, but I wish the other part
would have turned out better.” When complimented
on certain tasks done well, we may reply with a
comment about something we could have improved.
There is also the shame associated with
perfectionism that can often lead to feelings of
hopelessness and despair. When one is constantly
setting unattainable goals and failing to reach their
expectations, depression will eventually ensue. This
is the curse.
Perfectionism not only arises in the face of projects,
but also in the midst of relationships. We may have
a desire to be the perfect mother, housewife, wife
and friend. We may try to excel in these areas and
feel like a failure when we fall short. We may feel
shame when we miss our friend’s birthday, or when
we slip and yell at the kids. We may feel despair in
the moment our mother-in-law unexpectedly arrives
and our perfect house is not in perfect shape. There
is no grey area for the perfectionist. They don’t
claim they’ve made a simple mistake—they
internally proclaim themselves as the “worst mother”
or the “most horrible friend in the world.”
This monster of perfectionism can steal the joy from
almost any event. Entertaining others in our homes
can become a self-induced stress escapade. We fail
to enjoy our company as we bounce around the
house creating the faultless dinner party. Only there
is one fault we overlook—the fact that we are
emotionally unavailable and cold to our guests in our
preoccupation with supremacy.
There is a distinct difference between excellence and
perfectionism. Excellence is the decision to do
everything to the best of your ability while accepting
the fact that it will never reach perfection.
Excellence will never include shame or negative self-
talk. When I think of healthy excellence, I think of
the Amish woodworkers who create exquisite
furniture pieces. They toil with their hands to do
their best to make the project flawless. After they
finish, they add either a scuff, dent or a scratch to
the piece to remind them that only God can reach
perfection. This is an act of humility. They’ve
accepted the fact that they are finite humans and
don’t waste their time pursuing a position that’s
already been filled—God’s position.
Why do we fall into the trap of perfectionism? We
can attempt to pinpoint the many reasons, but in the
end our lists will all lead to the same root cause—
fear. Why are we so afraid? We’re afraid people will
not accept us if we fail. We are afraid that others
will not respect or revere us if we don’t measure up.
We are afraid that if others find the imperfection
behind the mask—they will no longer want to be with
us or around us. These are the real reasons behind
perfectionism, disillusioned as they may seem. Funny
isn’t it? We would certainly never expect that those
around us attain perfection before they are worthy
or our companionship, would we?! Yet, we believe
that others are expecting perfection of us. Silly
stinkin’ thinkin’, ain’t it?
Isn’t it time that we stop trying to be what we’re
not? God is the only perfect being. Why are we
trying to steal His job from Him? We have the
opportunity to accept our humanity which comes to
us in a package wrapped in ribbons of mistakes and
bows of shortcomings. Wouldn’t it be freeing to
admit that we are flawed creatures? This is the first
step in overcoming the disease of perfectionism. We
may never measure up to our own standards or those
we feel others hold for us—but we will always
measure up to God. He loves us for the imperfect
little creations He made us to be. He will never
expect faultlessness from us. We are perfected only
through Christ. So let’s cut ourselves
some slack, shall we?
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| Menu Minute: Monthly Menu System |
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Alright! I'll confess. I've become lazy regarding
menu-making! Yes. You've caught me. I found
myself going from cringing each time I created a
weekly menu to avoiding the menu-making
altogether. Winging it in the kitchen just doesn't fly
with my family. They get tired of thrown-together
hotdish that resembles dog food! So, in my quest for
ultimate cooking laziness, I have created an easy
alternative to hard work. The monthly menu/list
system (you know how I love systems!). It's really
nothing fancy, just a recurring menu in which each
meal only happens ONCE per month. No more menu-
making or sifting through the recipes to figure out
what's for dinner! There are correlating shopping
lists that go along with each week of shopping, so
you won't have to make a new list each week.
I am providing you with my personal menu, but I
encourage you to replace my recipes with your own
and update the weekly list according to your own
recipes. To find all you need to begin, click here.
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Carey's Music Podcast |
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I recently performed at a local
coffee
shop and wanted to share that with all of you! Enjoy
some mostly original and a few cover songs...just
click below!
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