Puppies

For those of you looking for a puppy, my parent's American Bulldogs had a litter in December. They will be ready to go to homes in February. If you want to see how cute they are you can go to their blog.

Just CLICK HERE.
Or you can click on the link to the right that says American Bulldogs.

They have sent past puppies all over the country. So cute.

Week 5

*For explanation of  The Happiness Experiment" go HERE .*

Last week's secrets:

Turn off the TV.

Accept yourself-unconditionally.

Secret #9

Remember where you came from.

"Think about and celebrate your ethnicity. Often we feel lost in a vast and complex world. There is tremendous comfort in knowing your ethnic heritage. It gives you a history, a sense of place,  uniqueness that remains no matter what else is going on around you."

Family history. Where did I come from? Who are my ancestors? This is something I've been wanting to work on for a while now. I especially want to work on Evan's. His grandpa gave him a big packet full of names and information on the Zinser side of his family. I love reading the names and hearing the stories of the family that came before us. I am really excited for this goal. I am going to try and fill out pedigree charts for both Evan and me. Or maybe I'll start with Iris and Donevan so that they have it to look back on and know where they came from. Both of their names are family names; Iris was named after my Grannie, Iris Neilson Dahl, and Donevan came from combining Don (Evan's dad) with Evan, and Craig (his middle name) is a family name on both sides. So I love family names. I also love finding out where all these family members came from. England, Denmark, Germany. So interesting.

"In studies of students, greater ethnic identity is associated with 10 percent greater life satisfaction."

Secret #10

Limit yourself to thinking about one subject as you lie down to sleep.

"Those who have a lot of anxiety let their thoughts shoot around from one subject to another as they try to go to sleep until, in a matter of minutes, they have created a virtual catalogue of problems. With all these problems, you'll ask yourself, how can I possibly sleep?

Tonight as you are brushing your teeth, come up with something you'd like to think about when you slip under the covers. If other thoughts start to intrude, guide yourself back to that one subject."

I don't usually have too much of a problem going to sleep. Chasing after two kids does that. But I admit there are many nights where my thoughts really keep me up. I go through my list of things to do and I think about how many of them didn't get done that day. But if I focus on one subject, maybe all the cute things my kids did that day, then it will help me get to sleep. And who doesn't want more sleep and better sleep? Getting more sleep alone makes me a happier person. I'm really looking forward to trying this secret.

"In studies of college students, shifting between pre-sleep thoughts was found to be related to difficulty in sleeping and lower sleep quality, which, in turn, were related to unhappiness. Better sleepers are 6 percent more satisfied with their lives than average sleepers, and 25 percent more satisfied than poor sleepers."

Review:

Remember where you came from.

Limit yourself to thinking about one subject as you lie down to sleep.

I am curious to know how many of you are actually following these posts. If you take the time to read these each week, please leave me a comment and tell me what you think. And thank you for taking that time.

Good to Know...

Iris: "You're not a big girl."
Me: "Oh really? What am I"
Iris: "You're a big mom. And Dad's not a big girl."
Me: "What is he?"
Iris: "He's a big Dad."

Just in case any of you were wondering.

Week 4

*For explanation of  The Happiness Experiment" go HERE .*

This is the week for secrets 7 and 8 from "The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People."

Last weeks secrets:
Choose your comparisons wisely.
Cultivate friendships.

Secret #7
Turn off the TV.


"Television is a creamy filling that distracts us from the substance of our lives."


The book says, "Psychologists have found some people who watch so much TV that it actually inhibits their ability to carry on a conversation. In the words of one psychologist, "TV robs our time and never gives it back."


This is going to be a really good one for me this week. We are serious movie junkies in our house. We are always up for watching a good movie. And there are a lot of times we turn on the TV just because it's there. There isn't really anything that great on. The book says, "Ask yourself when you are watching TV, "Is this something I want to see? Would I ask that this program be made if it didn't already exist?"
Those are great questions to ask. Most of the time it isn't really anything I want to see. There are so many other things I could be doing with my time. I am actually excited for this.

"Watching too much TV can triple our hunger for more possessions, while reducing our personal contentment by about 5 percent for every hour a day we watch."


Secret #8
Accept yourself-unconditionally.


"You are not just the size of your bank account, the neighborhood you live in, or the type of work you do. You are, just like everyone else, an almost inconceivably complicated mix of abilities and limitations."


This one will be more of a challenge. I'm beginning to notice similarities in some of these secrets. To me, this one goes back to comparisons. If I wasn't always comparing myself, I would be able to accept myself more easily. Instead of focusing on all the things I need to change and correct about myself, I just need to accept that who I am is who I am. I realize that there are always things we need to change and we always have faults that need correcting, but learning to realize my own self-worth and accepting the fact that I have value will make me so much happier.

"In a study of adult self-esteem, researchers found that people who are happy with themselves take defeat and explain it away, treating it as an isolated incident that indicates nothing about their ability. People who are unhappy take defeat and enlarge it, making it stand for who they are and using it to predict the outcome of future life events."


Review:
Turn off the TV.
Accept yourself-unconditionally.

This has been such a great experiment for me so far. I am really learning a lot about myself and it is forcing me to look at my life and myself in different ways. I hope that it is also helping some of you to be happier, but even if it's only me that benefits, at least the world will be one person happier.

Cute Pics and the Playful Potter

Just look at these cool kids. Oh so adorable. I especially love the really cheesy grin Iris is rockin'.

They are so cute together. They are really starting to play well together. Apparently they like to drink a little milk together too.

And take a little snooze together.

For our Family Day a couple weeks ago we went to The Playful Potter . (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Zinser for the Gift Certificate.) It was so much fun. We picked out plates for the kids and then they got to pick out colors. I actually picked Donevan's colors but Iris picked her colors. And then they got to paint their own designs on the plates. They were loving it.

Such concentration!

The messier the better for Donevan.

Iris thought it was so cool that she got to do it all herself

 Donevan kept wanting to kiss the plate for some reason.

Here is the final product. They fire them at the store and you pick them up a couple days later. It was so much fun and I love having these great mementos. Iris likes to eat off hers. Makes her feel so special to have her very own plate that she made herself.

Week 3

*For explanation of  The Happiness Experiment" go HERE .*


This week I am going to be working on secrets #'s 5 & 6 from "The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People ".

Last week's secret's:
You don't have to win every time.
Your goals should be aligned with one another.

Secret #5
Choose your comparisons wisely.


"Many of our feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction have their roots in how we compare ourselves to others. When we compare ourselves to those who have more, we feel bad. When we compare ourselves to those who have less, we feel grateful. Even though the truth is we have exactly the same life either way, our feelings about our life can vary tremendously based on who we compare ourselves with. Compare yourself with those examples that are meaningful but that make you feel comfortable with who you are and what you have."


This secret goes very well with secret #3. At least how I talked about it last week. The example in the book talks about a man who grew up with 5 brothers. There was a nearly twenty-year difference in age between the oldest and the youngest. When the oldest compared himself to the youngest brothers he felt disappointment and jealousy at not having the same opportunities, but when he compared himself to other friends and people his age- people with similar opportunities-he sees that he actually has more in terms of satisfaction.

In all reality, comparing yourself doesn't do anything. It can either make you feel really good about yourself and your situation, or it can constantly bring you down. I think the best person to compare yourself to is you. If you use your past situations and opportunities as comparisons, it helps to make you better. At the same time though, always looking to the past can be bad too. The thought currently on my fridge says "Those who stare at the past, have their backs to the future." So to sum it up: learn from the past, then move on. And don't get caught up in comparisons.

"A large group of students was given a word puzzle to solve. Researchers compared the satisfaction of students who finished the puzzle quickly or more slowly. Students who finished the puzzle quickly and compared themselves with the very fastest students came away feeling dissatisfied with themselves. Students who finished the puzzle more slowly but compared themselves with the slowest students came away feeling quite satisfied with themselves and tended to ignore the presence of the quick-finishing students."


Secret #6
Cultivate friendships.


"Rekindle past relationships, and take advantage of opportunities at work or among your neighbors to expand your friendship base. People need to feel that they are a part of something bigger, that they care about others and are cared about by others in return."


Relationships are so important. Everyone needs friends. I am guilty of being a home-body. I am not incredibly social. I am trying to be better about scheduling lunches and "dates" with friends so that I have more relationships than with just my husband and kids. It is hard for me to be the one to initiate, but that is something that I have made a goal in my Social area of goals this year. I am going to be better about calling friends and family. With email and texting it is getting easier and easier to avoid conversation. I also want to write more letters. Actually hand-writing a letter and putting it in the mail actually takes thought and effort. I want to take that thought and effort and let my friends and family know that they are worth it. I am thankful for Facebook though. Because without it, I would have lost contact with so many people. But I can use it to get their address and send them a real letter.

I also need to extend beyond just the people I already know. Out of all my neighbors, I know three of the couples by name. I am not proud of that. Maybe this week I can make an effort to go over and introduce myself. Get to know them. We may have a lot more in common than I know.

"Close relationships, more than personal satisfaction or one's view of the world as a whole, are the most  meaningful factors in happiness. If you feel close to other people, your are four times as likely to feel good about yourself than if you do not feel close to anyone."


Review:
Choose your comparisons wisely.
Cultivate friendships.

Good ones for me to work on this week. Let me know how the experiment is going for you.

Family

I love family pictures. I love looking back and remembering what was going on in my life when we took the photo. These pictures are from Thanksgiving. My family was all together for the first time in 2 years. It's always fun to get together with siblings and tell the "re-ride" stories. It usually involves a lot of laughing and there is always good food in the mix.

These are all the beautiful women in my family. My grandma, my mom, and my sisters and me.

Generation photos are the best.

I love my siblings. It makes me sad that I don't get to see them that often. Sometimes growing up is a real bummer.

 

I loved this picture of my brother Chanse with Iris. She loves her Uncle. He was pushing her in the swing and stopped to go play soccer with the other kids for a minute, so I went to keep pushing her and she wouldn't let me. She only wanted Uncle Chanse.

And this is the whole crew. We are growing so quickly. Allison is due in February with a little girl. She will be the 11th grandchild. Only the 4th girl though. Yeah for girls!