Beeping in the Shower

Hello folks,

I didn't quite make my goal of posting last weekend, but I have some extra time today so I thought I would try to make up for it. My original plan for this morning was to go birdwatching at the Ravine State Gardens with the Audubon society, but I'm sick with a cold so I thought it would not be a good idea to make myself get up at the crack of dawn. Instead I slept in until around 10am. I still remember the days I used to sleep in until noon on Saturdays. I guess it's a sign that I'm getting older. :)

But during the week, since I go to mass daily before work, I get up at 6am in order to get a shower, get ready, and leave my condo by 6:45am. More often than not, however, I use that ever-so-popular snooze button, and a lot of times I snooze until 6:15am, which causes me to have to rush in getting ready and sometimes not have enough time to take a shower. A long time ago, I learned that I cannot have my alarm clock next to my bed because I would never get up. So I've always had my alarm clock on a shelf or dresser far enough away that I have to get up out of the bed to turn it off, which theoretically helps me to wake up. However, I have this bad habit of still hitting the snooze button and crawling back into the bed for that precious "10 more minutes of sleep" instead of just biting the bullet and getting up a little early so I don't have to rush to get ready. I've always been a procrastinator, and apparently this shows even in my unwillingness to get up in the morning on time.

Well, I explained all of this to my spiritual director a couple of months ago, and she had a brilliant solution: put the alarm clock in the shower! (I have a master suite so the bathroom is connected to my bedroom) I was like, "ok", skeptically. So for about 3 weeks now, at night before I go to sleep, I put the alarm clock in its little home in the shower and set it for 5:40am the next morning. I haven't quite gotten brave enough to set it for 6am, because that would mean that I couldn't snooze it at all and would have to be up and adam on the first beep. So each morning, I hear the first beep...beep...beep from the bathroom, which is quite loud reverberating in the shower, and hurry up and get out of the bed, walk to the bathroom, slide open the shower door, reach down, hit the snooze button.....and then walk back to my bed, crawl in, and half-sleep until the next set of beeps 10 minutes later. This exercise is repeated until I hit the magic 6:15am and then I know I have to get up. Now another trick I have, which works most of the time, surprisingly, is that I set all of the clocks in my room, and the one in my car, 10 minutes ahead. My ultimate goal, per my spiritual director, is to get up at the first set of beeps, turn off the alarm (no snoozing allowed!), and start getting ready. I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet, but I'm working on it. Another suggestion from my SD (Spiritual Director) was to make a sign and set it on my alarm clock to remind me why I'm getting up so early in the morning. My current sign says "For His infinite Love".

Well, gotta go for now. Incidentally, I have to rush now to get ready for a dinner out with my Mom and our friend Mrs. D. Until next time.....

In God's Infinite Love,

Yvette

Quick Hello

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to make a quick post to let ya'll know that I'm still alive and that I'm going to get back into blogger world this week. With my schedule of mass in the morning before work, and adoration and the gym after work, by the time I get home I don't even want to turn my computer on. I think what will help me is if I set aside a particular day each week to blog. Not sure which day that will be yet, but I'm thinking either Wednesday or Sunday. It would be a great addition to my attempts to create more order in my daily life. Well, gotta go for now. Lunch is over and more work awaits.

Oh, BTW, please pray for Khelan, a friend of mine's 11-year-old nephew. He lives in Trinidad and has been battling bone cancer for 2 years now. The doctors have found more tumors, and the outlook isn't promising. He is in God's hands now. Our Lady of Hope, pray for this little boy.

In God's Infinite Love,
Yvette

Retreat Time!

This will be a quick one. Today I took off from work to prepare for a young adult retreat I'm attending tonight through Sunday afternoon. I'm soooo excited! This is my 8th year attending, but only my 2nd year going as only a participant. My first retreat was in 2001, when I had no clue what a retreat was. Wow, what an experience. It must have made a big impression on me because I've been going every year since. For years 2002 - 2007, I have been involved in helping out with various aspects of the retreat, mostly music team, but I also served on the core team for 2 retreats and on the retreat team for 1 year. But this year I'm taking a break. I'm not allowed to lift a finger, per the core team's orders! My friend Jen, who has also worked many retreats, is in the same boat this year. We retreat workaholics have to stick together for support....is there a Retreat Workaholics Anonymous group anywhere that we can join? LOL



Jen and I are cheating a little this afternoon, though. Per their request, we are driving the CFR sisters down to the camp this afternoon. But we are going to have lots of fun. No work going on here! One of the best parts of the retreat is seeing the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Renewal from NY. A group of them come down every year to do the talks, say mass, and hear confessions for the retreatants. They are so full of God's love that they just radiate it to all they come in contact with. Below is picture of the CFR group who came to the 2005 retreat. They're such goofballs!



Well, as I said earlier, this is a short post because I gotta finish getting ready for the retreat...packing, taking a shower, eating lunch. I'll write more on Monday when I'm back from the retreat. Have a blessed weekend!



In God's Infinite Love,

Yvette