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Final Blog

Wow, what a journey this semester has been! I am glad for the learning but sure am looking forward to a little mental break for the summer and to recapture some of my time back. This last week was pretty well the icing on the cake for what this semester has felt like. I am just glad that I survived all the events and grateful for a laptop computer that enabled me to lay flat and do homework from the couch. After a priesthood blessing and lots of rest and ibuprofen, I am finally feeling like I can move around again.  So to say the least, hurting my back again is just the icing on how this semester has been. The learning part has been great. I loved it, enjoyed stuffing my head with knowledge. I struggled with the time part of it. Being mom, remodeling a home, adjusting to a new house and ward all while trying to be a nice wife and mother while doing school has been a big challenge. I look forward to ‘normal life’ in the fall and maybe a little ‘easier’ semester. I really enjoyed lea...
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A Journey of Gratitude

Can I just start by saying that I am really grateful that I am nearing the end of the semester? I am grateful for all I have learned and accomplished. I am really grateful that I have been fairly successful in my school efforts. I am truly grateful for the experience of handling all I faced. I could have done better in the home life but I will admit it has been a very stressful semester. Remodeling and schooling aren't a good mix after just having moved, especially when I struggle with change and chaos.   As I studied the Randy Haykin case study, I was reminded about how important life balance is to others as well as myself. Even though that balance might not look like a perfect balance in each area of our life, it is striving to find balance that makes the most difference. Like Randy, when I seek for balance in all areas of my life, my work goes much more smoothly. As I seek Heavenly Father first in my day, I feel successful even if it wasn’t a perfect day according to accomplishi...
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What is a business for?

If you have ever played games with my siblings, you will quickly learn you won’t win unless you cheat. I don’t win much.  Will a business ever prosper without cheating? I found this week my Economics reading was interesting as we learned about collusion. I was left wondering how that is an honest business practice, but maybe only because the heading included cartels. And well, maybe this is a concept I will need to unlearn as Charles Handy teaches in “What is business For?” in 2002 Harvard Business school publishing. There is an element of trust that can erode quickly as a shareholder only wants more in his pocketbook and the owner wants to make a difference, or at least did, until profit margin was the most important aspect of business. Businesses are pushing their losses into the future so they can realize gains now. Stockholders want profit, not loss. So with that pushing off the inevitable loss, they are creating a false bubble that will eventually pop the economy. Without real...
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Money

 Money: a dreaded topic to some, and an exciting topic to others.  A topic that cannot be avoided as it affects every part of our lives. One cannot live without it and it will manage you if you don’t manage it. The best advice I received, when just newly married, is to live today like no one else will, so you can live tomorrow like no one else can. Dave Ramsey would call that rice and beans, beans and rice. Live on less than you make and you will always have enough.  We have tried hard to live within, and even below, our means all our lives and as we are more successful, it is harder to be as tight. But I guess this also follows that when you leave this life, you can’t take it with you. It is interesting how that money will truly manage you, if you don’t manage it. I remember a time early in our marriage stressing about where the money was coming from for a bill.  I am not a frivolous person, at all. So believe me when I say we were living on pennies. We had decided ...
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Dream Big

When I was a little girl, I had typical dreams of marrying a handsome prince who was tall, dark and handsome. He would, of course, carry my off to his amazing castle where we would live happily ever after.  This is a fun childhood dream that carried me into the reality of adulthood where I found my handsome prince and we work daily to keep our marriage happily ever after. We live in a great house that we are working hard to make an amazing castle, as we have all the previous houses. Reality is that work, hard work is what this life is all about.  So when I think dream big. What are my dreams? How will I accomplish them? Well, one thing that is certain is I will have to work my tail off to get those dreams. Achieving your goals is not just handed to you. A person that works for their gain is a confident person. Elder Dallin H Oaks said, “We do not obtain our heavenly reward by punching a time clock. What is essential is that our labors in the workplace of the Lord have caused u...
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Leadership

When a person considers leadership, one imagines an ideal leadership initially. Maybe that picture looks like how they can be an amazing, inspiring leader that people all want to follow. Or maybe they imagine people flocking to work with them. Or maybe that picture is missing a few real moments of when things get messy. But hopefully they have a good outlook on what their leadership will really look like.  In order to be a good leader, or even maybe just a good person, a few questions need to be asked. What do you want out of life? Do I have what it takes to succeed? Can I do it without losing my soul? Do I have a good role model to follow? Do I have good friends, especially when things get rough, who will tell me like it is?  One question I really liked this week is “have I contributed something meaningful?” Reflecting on this question reminds me that I will leave a legacy no matter whether I am intentional about that legacy or not. So it hit me hard realizing that I need to ...
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Challenges

Life feels like a series of challenges.  Money, family, moving, jobs, schooling, and then add a pandemic into the mix where nothing is normal. I love the counsel that Elder Holland gives, “Don’t you quit… you keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead… and still counting. You just keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.” David Carrington taught us to, “clearly know who we are and what our brand is and consistently execute the brand.” If we are unclear about our path or what our purpose in this life, you can easily get swayed and deterred from your goals and purpose.   What is my purpose? As I consider my future, I have a hard time seeing past the end of my nose. When I think about my long-term goals, I can see a little past my nose. ;) But only when I put a few goals in between that some of that distance feels a little clearer. I feel like I can move and adjust as I walk down my life path. I feel like with goal...
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