Sunday, June 30, 2013

League of Legends Analysis

Here is my blog about an awesome League of Legends game I missed.
There was some jungling, ganking, Olaf, Janna...some minions spawned...Miss Fortune probably tried to seduce my husband. Champions bought things and then used them in battles. Champions went into the brush and got lost...like, I couldn't see them anymore; they were invisible.

And yeah. That's all I know.

You're welcome.

Tune in next time when I compare and contrast two of the best champions, Ashe and Nunu.



OK, so I'm obviously no expert when it comes to the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre. Everything I wrote in italics is me taking phrases and names my husband has yelled while playing this game, League of Legends, and putting them together into one pile of nonsense.

One time I pretended I was interested in learning about LoL.
I sat at the computer, palms sweaty and fingers ready to click.
Yeah, I could barely even make my "champion" (character) walk the right direction.

But sometimes, because I love Randy, I'll ask him about LoL. Because it's cool that we have our own interests and hobbies. We share a lot of interests, yes. But it's also healthy to pursue what WE want to do and to support each other in those endeavors.

So, when we have to eat dinner a little earlier so he can catch some epic LoL match (hey, I know his favorite team is CLG)...it's no big deal. He supports my addiction to House Hunters and reality TV; I support his intersts in LoL and talking about (legal) drugs.

It's one of the beautiful, amazing realities of marriage: the freedom to be who you are but the security of having the support of someone you love.

...I can't type anymore because Randy's sitting next to me watching a stream of some dude playing LoL...back to watching HGTV it is!

Do you and your spouse/significant other have any different interests? Or are you total twinsies?

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

At Least...

Moment of complete transparency here: I'm a huge complainer.
No, seriously. Nothing is ever good enough for me, and I naturally tend to be a pessimist. I'm kind of ashamed of this, but it's been true my whole life.

Got a 3.9 GPA? Should've had a 4.0.
Did four rounds of exercises during my timed workout today? Nope, should've done five.
Basically, I expect perfection from myself and others, and I'm always pushing and searching for more, more, more.

So, my new favorite phrase for focusing on being thankful for what I do have is "well, at least."

Let me explain with an example:
My poor, good ole faithful car, Gertrude, hasn't had AC since last August (yeah...). I didn't fix it...and didn't fix it...and said I'd fix it, but it's just too expensive and inconvenient...and now I am regretting it. As I got in my sweltering car after Vacation Bible School today, sweat immediately started beading on my arms, like dew on the morning grass, and I could literally feel my makeup sliding down my face.

I slammed the steering wheel and exclaimed, "GRRR! Why can't I be rich enough to afford AC?!"

Immediately, I felt guilty. So, I took a deep breath and decided to look for the positives. "Well, at least I have a car.
At least my car can fit four other people in it and is safe.
At least my car gets great gas mileage.
At least my car has a CD player.
At least the heat works in the winter.
At least I'm not walking or taking the bus everywhere around the city!"

And I found myself smiling as I thought of silly things:
At least my car is Japanese, because I am too.
At least my car has a sweet name.
At least my car isn't a stick shift!

And I actually laughed...my anger dissipated when I shifted my attitude from one of frustration to thankfulness.

When you put it that way, we have so much to be thankful for. All of our "at least" lists will be different, of course. And this is just one small tool to use when cultivating an attitude of gratitude. At least I'm able to share it with you :)

What other tools do you use to focus on the positives in your life?


Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Not For a Moment

This song has been stuck in my head since we sang it at church on Sunday, especially this refrain:
Not for a moment
Did You forsake me.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoh26pC2RT8

Timely reminder of His grace and love. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Not our own decisions, our failures, our missing the mark. Nothing. He will always love us.

That's just amazing and so, so humbling.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

I WILL Become Organized

Remember how I was talking about simplifying my life this summer?
Well, I have decided my number one project for this summer: create a home management binder.

Yes, there are apps to assist with organization.
Yes, it's kinda old fashioned.

But by golly, if I'm going to survive coaching, grad school, and teaching this fall (please, Lord Jesus, give my sweet husband patience to deal with me), I need to stop flying by the seat of my pants.

I'm going to be painfully honest here: I am not organized.
I try super hard, so some people think I am. I can organize one event, like a party or grad school application. I can "color-code-Excel-spreadsheet-post-it-note" those bad boys.

But I cannot seem to oragnize my life.

Like, I'll put some things in my phone calendar and others in my written planner and then forget where I wrote down "volleyball tournament" and where I wrote down "so-and-so's birthday." And then when the two coincide and I have to skip one, I feel awful.

Or, I'll cook dinner one or two nights a week, but have to get really creative to just use whatever's in the house, instead of planning things out ahead of time.

While looking for home management binder worksheets (so many cute ones on Pinterest, y'all), I stumbled across this verse (or, God threw it straight into my path so I'd trip over it):

"Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind."
-Proverbs 21:5


Planning takes more time up front.
But it would save me a heck of a lot of time in the future.


So, step one: buy a binder, plastic sheet covers, and tabs.
Step two: find amazing printables for grocery shopping, bill paying/budgeting, and cleaning.  
Step three: print printables and put into binder.

Goal: have step three complete by June 17th!

Do you have a home management binder? If so, how is it organized (especially if your Myers-Briggs type is INFP or ENFP)?