Back to Allen - Lisa Allen | Mom, Blogger, Author, Freelance Writer, Cupcake Baker

Welcome to the May 2012 edition of the One Little Word Blog Hop. If you're new to the hop, please scroll to the bottom of this post for more info and a complete list of participants. If you're going in order, you've clicked through from Jenn's blog, and your next stop is Kimberlee. We go live June 1, 2012, at 8:00 a.m. PST. If you're early, please come back then.

It's June….and I'm in denial. In a big way. How is it that we're at month 6 already? 

I realize that's a rhetorical question, and I realize that I ask the same one month after month. Can't help it; time seems to be flying by far too quickly, and with it the opportunities I have to accomplish everything on my great big list of life.

This month's prompt was to create a to-do list of sorts that relates to our word. I'd been pondering all month about the word I chose: invest. It's one that makes me uncomfortable because the immediate thought goes to money. Money and I have issues. Money and I struggle. Money quite often makes me feel less then, even though I keep reminding myself that I should be the one telling money what to do.

So, for the entire month, I thought about numbers. I thought about student loan payments and room and board payments and grocery bills and doctors bills and countless other things that fill the columns of my own personal money history. I thought about another big struggle–weight–and how those thoughts also revolve around numbers. I figured that I could create the same list that I always do; budget, save, lose, prioritize. But don't I always do that? Don't I typically set out, at regular intervals, to do those things that I know to do? Yet it's a process, a challenge, a struggle. So instead I thought that perhaps my to-do list should focus more on the thoughts that drive the numbers rather than the numbers themselves. 

I also thought about the secondary prompt, our 'hello May' page. I couldn't just say 'hello' because our May was filled with goodbyes, too. Adam said goodbye to Olathe Northwest in anticipation of moving to FHSU. Nicholas said goodbye to elementary school and will be starting junior high. Erin said goodbye to her long hair and demanded a short, sassy do that she says is 'so me, Mom'. I'm still resisting the goodbyes, though I know that, unlike money, I can't exert control over them at all.

So, here's to ushering in the second half of 2012. Bring it on.

Thanks for stopping by this month! Be sure to visit Jenn next, and to hop on through the entire list. Talented folks, these hoppers. A big thanks, as always, to Margie for taking the time to put this all together. You keep me accountable to my word, and I'm grateful for that.

One Little Word is an online class at Big Picture Scrapbooking, lead by Ali Edwards. Through a series of monthly prompts, Ali encourages us to let one single word guide our year. My 2012 word is invest, and you can read about my 2011 and 2012 One Little Word thoughts here.