Five Things I Do (Almost) Every Day

One of the best things that happened last week was meeting my new bloggy friend Lisa, a.k.a., the Syncopated Mama. I love that blogging gives me a chance to meet fellow bloggers whose posts make me say, "Me, too!" alot. Lisa is one of those writers. To say nothing of the fact that a blog called "Syncopated Mama," whose tag line is "Living a Life That's Just a Little Offbeat,'" holds enormous appeal for someone who's, er, syncopated herself (although no one in their right mind would call me only a little offbeat).

As it turns out, Lisa is the gracious hostess of a weekly link party called Five After Five, which is based on one of my favorite things: lists. (I hear you, dear mama..."yes, we KNOW you love lists.") I learned a lesson with my 31 Things I Love (That You Might Love, Too) list...by the end, I was sitting at my computer yelling, "I DON'T LOVE ANYTHING ANYMORE!" Which is why a nice manageable handful of things sounds like such a better idea.

I'm jumping on board with Lisa's list for this week: 5 Things You Do Every Day. If you're a blogger, put together your own list and join the party. If you're not, hop over to Lisa's blog and add your list in the comments. Or add them here...I'd love to see what you've got.

1. Pray. I start my "official" daily prayer first thing while I'm making the bed and finish it during my walk. To keep my mind from wandering to my grocery list or the subject of yet another blog post, I follow a prayer P.A.T.H.--praise God; admit what I've done wrong; give thanks; and ask for help for others and for myself. 

2. Walk. I do 8 loops of a power combo in front of my house for a total of about  40 minutes most mornings. The loop started when I did this with babies in the house while my husband got ready for work. I stayed close to home, and if someone needed me, he only had to flick on the front porch light, and I'd go in. This freed me from worrying something was wrong: if the light wasn't on, there wasn't. The "power" part of the deal comes from the combination I do: fast walking alternated with jogging spurts (during which I, a non-runner, pray for the spurt to be over), covered by the rest of the prayer I started earlier (see #1) and Scripture memory (if you're interested, the memory method I use is here).

3. Listen to music. Music, both vocal and instrumental, has been a core part of my life since I was about 3 years old, sitting and singing on the front porch in a little rocking chair that used to belong to my paternal grandmother. I started in choir when I was four and was a full-on choir geek all through high school. These days, I still sing every day (mostly in the car, learning songs to do in church) and am also now, happily, a full-on band mom to my clarinetist teen and percussionist tween. And I have that tween to thank for telling me, "Mom. You've GOT to hear this song." Yes--and so do you.

4. Write. I nearly gave up writing, which I've also been doing most of my life, about 6 months ago. But a conversation with my sister and a little list that came out of that conversation and an article based on that list and a wonderful and gracious editor who was wiling to put up the article based on that list based on that conversation brought me back. I'll always be indebted to Jenny at For Every Mom for saying yes to these three things I wanted to say. 

5. Eat chocolate. Because, hello, Guilty Chocoholic Mama. My whole family, whom I've dragged into my chocolate addiction quite nicely, is crazy about these Brownie Batter Cupcakes. Just beat up your favorite brownie mix with melted butter equivalent to the oil called for, along with however much water the box specifies. Form this into 1-inch balls and freeze until firm. Then make your favorite chocolate cake batter and fill lined cupcake tins about 1/3 full. Drop in a brownie ball, cover with more batter, and bake until the edge tests done. Cool and lavish with chocolate frosting. 

Now, speaking of chocolate frosting, it's almost 4 p.m the day I'm writing this, and I have not done #5 on this list. This is a problem that needs solving ASAP, so I'll leave you to work up your own "5 After 5" list. Don't forget to share it in a comment here or as a link at Lisa's party! I'll be licking the frosting bowl and waiting to see what you come up with.