My but Oregon has had the craziest and coldest weather ever the past few weeks!  I always expect March to roar in like a lion, but this year that roar was exceptionally loud!  The temps have been extremely low for this area and I read the other day in the paper that February of this year was the coldest on record for Salem for ages.  I even had the pleasure of skating to work on ice one morning.  While I was used to that when I lived in Walla Walla, driving on ice in a city is a whole ‘nother story….  But we are getting to the end of it and spring is just around the corner!

The other day I was looking at my IG and up popped the ad for Imperfect Produce again. I have been waiting forever for this to make its way to my neighborhood and it is now here!  I couldn’t wait for my first order!  I signed for for a small box of organic weekly.  This was my first box and I was thrilled!

I have since gotten a second box and there are no disappointments!  I can go in and make changes and selections to the box weekly.  There is a delivery window and you receive a text when your box is almost to your door.  I am going to go to the medium box as we ate that box up in a few days!!

With putting my energy into revamping my work environment, I decided to take a few ugly pieces and redo them in the community color scheme.  Figured it was worth giving it a try instead of just dumping them.  The three pots turned out amazing and hold flowers in the fireplace room.  The two other pieces…not so great…but one of the residents loved them and was happy to give them a home.  So in all it was a win win!  And I got the fun of playing in the paints!  I will post more pics of the finished product next blog…

And look what arrived!!  My passport is finally here!  Now I can get those tickets to Ireland!!  While I have had 2 passports before, getting this passport was such a fiasco.  I couldn’t find my birth certificate and ordering one online was beyond…first they kept throwing it back saying they needed more ID, then my debit card was canceled by the bank as they did not like the link I was paying at…I finally gave up and just sent it in the old snail mail way and had it within a few weeks.  But of course then when the hubby was getting his out of the files…there was mine…it was there all along….good grief!  Then when we went to apply for the passport…first to the wrong address as the county moved building but did not bother to update their website.  Made it there to find out we needed check or money order…well who has checks anymore….so off to get a money order.  Then finally finally all was completed and filed.  The county office where we filed for the passport were just the nicest and most helpful and there were no lines!!  What was amazing was that after filing for the passport it was delivered within a few weeks!  That was fast!!

One of the things I thoroughly enjoy is making up care packages for the girls.  I had a few things I needed to send off to Christina so I thought I would also knit up some quick dish towels to send along.  I enjoy knitting them as they are so fast and easy.  I did ask the grands what they wanted and they requested Takis, Skittles, and more semi sweet chocolate chips.  So of course I had to add those as well.  I also filled the box to the brim with sewing notions as Christina now has a sewing machine!  It still does not seem like they are so far away.  We talk a lot on the phone…a lot of FaceTime.  Work occupies so much of my time that I can easily just think they are still just hours away…which with modern transportation is almost true….

I am still knitting away on my Amulet shawl and have, I think, about 9 more rows of lace before binding off.  But they are veerrrryyy long rows and I do a bit here and a bit there. One tip that I want to share, from Helen Stewart the designer, is when working with lace use stitch markers at the beginning of each lace repeat.  It has revolutionized my  knitting ability!  Now I can knit a lace pattern as I can easily keep count of each repeat.  Before I would always manage to get off count and then rip out and just toss the project in totally frustration.

I am once again taking in the occasional estate sale.  Yesterday while at work I grabbed a few of my mgmt staff and said let’s go have some fun.  It was not one of the best sales by far, but I did manage to find this cute turkey that will be wonderful with my other Thanksgiving decor.  I also found some hand blown glass balls.  I originally had four but when I got back to work my RN loved them so I just had to let her have her pick.  She chose the brightest one and I was so happy to gift it to her.  It was a fun time and I warned the staff that I was always up for an estate/yard/garage sale get away!

As I finish up another course in my PhD studies, I always find my head so full of new knowledge.  This was the toughest course I have taken to date…not due to the material…but the work load and unclear expectations.  While I learned a great deal, it was a struggle to try to navigate the expectations.  In the end I just gave up and focused on learning.  This course was on implementing mindful practices into an organizational setting, most specifically health care settings.  While I could go into a great amount of depth on this subject (my MA is in leadership studies), what I want to share here is just simple.  As research into leadership models continues to grow; what that research is showing is that true leaders are people who have a high amount of self-actualization skills and as a result good moral character.  Authentic, Transformational, and Servant leadership are always at the front of successful models.  But in applying critical thinking to the question of what makes a great leader….this is just common sense.  I am often told by my staff that they appreciate the fact that I am so real and authentic and they feel safe enough to be real in return.  No games here folks…ain’t got time for that shit….that is pretty much my motto in life.  All these buzz words we now apply to leadership; mindfulness, authenticity, true north…they are simply what many of us were taught as children as necessary virtues that make up good moral character.  My point being….just be true and real, take time to smell the roses and be mindful living in the minute, be kind, and always always look inside first and foremost and carry your own share of the shit you created. It really is that simple and I find it amusing that it is now all the rage in the leadership circles and being taught as the way to lead successfully. Yet you cannot teach character, you cannot teach deep self-reflection, you cannot teach humility and accountability.  What you can do is be all of those things and in doing so create spaces of psychological safety for all who interact with you and in doing so allow them to not fear being authentic themselves.   Take it from me, it does work.

And that is my two cents :).

Gearing up for tonights Spring Forward…

Patricia