Curled Up with Warren, Glenn, and a Sore Thumb

Pointe shoes are an art and science. After attending a class on their construction and fit, I spent 3 hours this weekend sewing 4 ribbons and 4 elastics on these. My thumb was raw and in major pain (I'm sure foreshadowing how Sarah's toes will feel!) until Sarah sympathetically got me a thimble. And I thought sewing scout patches was rough?! Today the instructor said I placed them wrong, so I need to start all over again.

As I feel these pointe shoes, I am shocked at how archaic they are. They are wooden boxes hard as a rock. No contour or padding. Unlike modern advances in tennis shoes, their basic style has not changed for several decades. They remind me of the wooden shoes Chinese women wear to stunt the growth of their feet. Absolute torture. And now I am subjecting my Sarah to these things? This does not make sense except for the fact that it is her dream. She is ECSTATIC.

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I also have been curled up with a few good books lately and am posting a few of my favorite quotes...

The following quote from "The Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck is better understood knowing that Glenn currently lives among CEO's and billionaires in his current ward/neighborhood. Here he is describing his grandparents who were simple farmers:

"My grandparents and everyone else who lived there still stand out as the most successful people I've ever met. They had everything they needed, but, more important, they wanted everything they had."

Soak that in for a moment. Do we have everything we need and want everything we have (no matter what our circumstances)? When the stock market crashed and they were warning of a great depression, I looked at my kids laughing and playing in the living room. I felt at that moment that I had all I need.

And I loved the next quote because I have always felt that when I am just a bit afraid to do something...that is a GOOD thing. I am growing only when I am uncomfortable or scared. With comfort comes no growth. He said:

"I fear that far too many of us waste our lives ...because we can't put our past behind us and take that first step into the unknown. We either don't know, or don't believe, that there is beauty and happiness for us just on the other side of fear."

Amen to that, brotha!

And finally, from "The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life", I learned about having an inner scorecard or an outer scorecard:

"The big question about how people behave is whether they've got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard. In teaching your kids, I think the lesson they're learning at a very, very early age is what their parents put the emphasis on. If all the emphasis is on what the world's going to think about you, you'll wind up with an outer scorecard. Now my dad: He was a hundred percent Inner Scorecard guy. He was really a maverick. But he wasn't a maverick for the sake of being a maverick. He just didn't care what other people thought. My dad taught me how life should be lived."

I want to live my life with an inner scorecard! I LOVE this counsel. I do my best to adhere to it, and let my kids pick and wear their own outfits and do their own hair (and most often they look just a bit unmatched and have interesting hair). I want them to think and believe they are just so capable and have self confidence. But I have to admit I probably failed on Sunday when the house was a mess and the kids wanted to invite some neighbors over for dinner in an hour. I told them I needed more notice (outer scorecard). I should have just let the neighbors enjoy the mess with us!

I told Russ he will never understand a woman's uneasiness having people over with a messy house and that it is like weighing 300 pounds and modeling a bikini on a catwalk...just feeling totally overexposed. He was like, "See, that's where guys just don't get it. If I was in that situation I'd be like, 'Yeah baby!' (swinging his hips with his arms in the air)."