New Beginnings » family http://www.rustykeller.com/blog ...because everyone deserves a second chance... Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:35:38 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 My Earth Day 2009 Pledge http://www.rustykeller.com/blog/2009/04/22/my-earth-day-2009-pledge/ http://www.rustykeller.com/blog/2009/04/22/my-earth-day-2009-pledge/#comments Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:19:54 +0000 Rusty http://www.rustykeller.com/blog/?p=448 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Country yard My families’ Earth Day 2009 pledge is to start composting and get our organic veggie garden up and growing. I’d like to keep both projects simple and easy to maintain. I know that all worthwhile endeavors take time and effort, but I would like the kids (and me) to enjoy and look forward to working in our little veggie garden and creating rich soil from scraps and clippings. I’m going to take pictures and share our little journey here. Below are some of the resources I’ve found to get us started on our projects this weekend:

Composting:

Organic veggie garden:

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]]> http://www.rustykeller.com/blog/2009/04/22/my-earth-day-2009-pledge/feed/ 0 The secret to positive change and productivity http://www.rustykeller.com/blog/2009/03/26/the-secret-to-positive-change-and-productivity/ http://www.rustykeller.com/blog/2009/03/26/the-secret-to-positive-change-and-productivity/#comments Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:42:16 +0000 Rusty http://www.rustykeller.com/blog/?p=430 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Bird House So my biggest problem has always been laziness. And low self esteem. Laziness and low self esteem. Those two character traits combined can turn procrastination into an art form. At times, I have been paralyzed by it. At worst, it’s helped to create a myriad of disorder and financial chaos around me. To battle these conditions, I thought I should read more. I have read books, ebooks, audio books, blogs, and magazines on organization, productivity, creativity, simplicity, and motivation. I’ve tried egg timers, sink scrubbing, box labeling, sorting, you name it. I never got very far. I could spend all weekend on a project, just to watch it turn into a bigger mess over the week. I felt helpless and hopeless over the financial and physical mess I created around myself.

As I was approaching my 4th year sober, I took a good long look at my life and the progress I had made. Still sober? Check. Kids happy? Check. Marriage strong? Check. Doing step work? Check. Doing well at work? Check…sort of (I could definitely put some more effort in there). House comfortable and cozy? No way. Cleaning up financial wreckage of the past? Not even close. And the worse it got, the less I wanted to deal with it. But I finally came to the conclusion that I had to do something. I couldn’t be paralyzed by my own fear of failure or by all the ideas flying around in my head. What did I do, you ask… I started with one box of accumulated clutter. I started chipping away at the mess by facing it. I know that modeling is the oldest parenting cliche’ in the book, but I’m here to yell you that it works. I can yell at my son to celan up his room until my eyeballs explodes and he will bitch and complain for days (and still not clean his room). But make some headway in the familyroom and suddenly he’s all gungho about organizing his books and sorting through old toys for the Mom’s Program.

And then, something happened. My husband was let go from his job. Instead of the world falling apart, the world sort of came together. I have my partner back. We’re a team again (rich in love, poor in money?). And we are kicking ass, my friends. Slowly, biting of a little at a time and getting our family, our home and our finance back in order. Not all at once, but a slow, focused movement forward. The change on my family is phenomenal. It’s beautiful. I know the economy is shit (you should see our Cobra bill) and I have a lot of anxiety wrapped up in it. But. My family is thriving. My whole family. We are united. Even the family that doesn’t get to be up here with us…we’re stronger than ever. We’ll be so much better than ok. We’ll be grand. How weird is that?

So, what is the secret? Well, what do you think it is? It’s the same thing it’s always been. JUST GET UP AND DO IT! Stop thinking, planning, reading, justifying, and contemplating. Get up off your ass and do it. It’s your life. Live it the way you want to live it. Do. As most worthwhile endeavors in life, it’s not easy to do, but the rewards are immeasurable. It’s been very difficult for me to face my shortcomings and take real inventory of our financial and environmental situations, but I did I was able to move forward. It’s a good feeling.

Links:

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]]> http://www.rustykeller.com/blog/2009/03/26/the-secret-to-positive-change-and-productivity/feed/ 1 Raising smart kids…that’s the goal, right? (Or why my 10 year old likes Hillary) http://www.rustykeller.com/blog/2008/04/02/raising-smart-kidsthats-the-goal-right-or-why-my-10-year-old-likes-hillary/ http://www.rustykeller.com/blog/2008/04/02/raising-smart-kidsthats-the-goal-right-or-why-my-10-year-old-likes-hillary/#comments Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:24:22 +0000 Rusty http://www.rustykeller.com/blog/?p=340 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> I know I haven’t been posting much and I feel kind of bad about it. The problem is this: there are so many things I want to talk about and there is so little time to get them organized and into a blog post. So i don’t post.  Lame excuse, I know. It is what it is, friends.  Anyway, here’s the bitch of the day:

Recently, my 10 year old son had the chance to see both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton speak at local events. He wasn’t impressed with an obviously tired and often adversarial Obama. My son didn’t like the way the senator chose to spend his time slamming Clinton and not offering solutions. Max, on the other hand, was very impressed by Bill Clinton and all the plans and ideas he illustrated. To be fair, who wouldn’t be in awe of one the best orators of our time (I sure as hell was)? Max wanted to show his support for Hillary by wearing a campaign shirt. Apparently, he was teased and ridiculed by the not-so-tolerant children of Southern Oregon. Go figure. The kids had either jumped on the Obama-wagon (of course, they couldn’t actually tell him why) or were for McCain. In fact, one kid (whose mom is an uninsured, unemployed, untreated alcoholic…look, I’m just saying) told Max that Hillary was going to take away his guns (not get him health care, but take away his fucking guns).  People, if we’re going to brainwash our kids and make them parrot our own rhetoric, let’s at least give them some facts and real data so they don’t end up looking so damn stupid! Since my son has actually seen both Obama and President Clinton, I think he’s possibly more qualified than me to favor one over the other. I would be disappointed if he decided he liked Obama more than Clinton (and glad he’s not old enough to vote), but I would be proud that he made an informed and educated choice.

That being said, I would like to tell you that seeing Bill Clinton speaking not more than 20 feet in front of me was really something to check off my “things to do before I die” list. First, let me just say that he’s a good looking man. I kid you not. Second, let me say that in my heart I truly believe that the Clintons can bring us back to the America of before (before the bubble burst, before I lost my home, before my stocks tanked, before I had to cash in our 401Ks, before my children went to school 4 days a week, before, before, before). I believe that Hillary Clinton can fix some of the wrongs that have been to our country. I believe it.

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