Friday, November 23, 2007

Smart or Stupid?

OK, so Wednesday morning I went into Fitness Together to work out with Jessica at 6:00. When I was leaving we agreed we would do it again Friday at the same time. At that moment I thought maybe I would shower after my workout Friday morning and join the other crazy people who got up early to shop. Sounded like a smart idea to me.
This morning when my alarm went off, I thought it was stupid a good thing Jessica was there to hold me accountable, otherwise I would roll over and go back to sleep.
When I got home and was showered, I got started on laundry. Since I had no particular plans for the day I decided to strip all the beds so I could wash all the sheets with the clothes, and figured I ought to throw in all the towels, too. I thought it would be smart to get it all done today. When I finished collecting and sorting all the laundry, I thought my ambitions were stupid a bit high for the day.
As I was putting clean sheets on my bed, Joshua came into my room and suggested it would be a great idea for me to take the kids to Caesarland. He said they could run around and get out all of their energy (The kid knows what motivates me!) and that I wouldn't need to give them any money for tokens because last time they went they found a whole bunch of them on the floor under machines. (He also knows how cheap I am.)
While my natural tendency to such requests is to say, No, today I thought it would be a smart move to say, Yes. So I did.
And smart it was.
*I had instant motivation to get Matthew to do his daily reading. We can't go to Caesarland until you've done your reading.
*Joshua's chores were a snap. You need to unload the dishwasher and strip your bed before we go to Caesarland.
*Even running an errand became easier. After we stop at the store, we'll go to Caesarland.

We arrived at Caesarland ten minutes before they opened and the kids waited anxiously for the doors to open. Once inside they began their search for tokens. (And I was fully intending to buy some for them!) I couldn't believe it. While Matthew only found one token, Elizabeth and Joshua found about 10 each. I think half their fun was accomplished in finding free tokens. They kept running over to me showing me what they'd found, and once Joshua led me around the game area to demonstrate for me his token-seeking skills.
When the kids got hungry I discovered an awesome deal of pizza and crazy bread, four drinks, and fifteen tokens. The kids were having a blast and I was so glad I had agreed to take them. This was definitely a smart move.

I had brought a book along to read while the kids were playing. A friend of mine recently gave me a copy of Karen Kingsbury's book One Tuesday Morning and last night I picked it up after not having read it for a while. I had gotten to a really good part but had to go to bed (because I was getting up at 5:35 to go work out - you know, smart idea...) so I thought it would be smart to bring it with me to Caesarland. So I sat in the middle of the restaurant pouring over the book, crying like a baby as I read about Jamie helping Eric find his way back home, trying to wipe my tears away quickly enough so anyone passing by wouldn't stop and stare. I thought, Well, this was stupid a great opportunity for me to finish reading this book.

OK, so I was crying in the middle of Caesarland. But the kids had a great time. In fact, Matthew just ran up to me a couple sentences ago and said, "Mom, thanks again for taking us today!" I'd say, overall, the smart decisions out-weighed the stupid ones today!

post signature

5 comments:

A Captured Reflection said...

You are amazing, I don't think I could get up at 5.30am at the moment. It was a great day and everything flowed. Days like that are wonderful and glorious. I enjoyed reading all about it.

It's OK to be WEIRD! said...

Karen - completely off topic... I'm putting a few small things in practice (trying to anyway) from your Survival Kit and I wrote a little about it today.

Back on topic a little... I've been getting up at 6:00am and I'm not a morning person - I need that time of quiet with the Lord before the day starts it seems. I do so much better when I have it - no surprise there, eh?

Rochelle said...

I am so not a morning person. However, I try to wake up early when I exercise. You had quite a day though... good thing you woke up early! You can now go to bed knowing that you had a very productive day!

Anonymous said...

Wow good for you. I always say that the best method of child rearing around is the 'bribery and corruption' method.
Cheers

Wendy said...

Just wanted to say that I always enjoy your honesty and sincerity in your posts.

And I'm glad I'm not the only one that cried reading that book, too. :)