Hi guys...I am home...got home in the wee hours Saturday after midnight and went to work my 2 12's this weekend. I guess I have just need some quiet time...I have been so sleepy...I didn't sleep well on vacation. I have missed you all and will talk to you later .... Beth P.S....Joni, you have mail

I'm there and everything is still the same. Love ya!! Lindy

Kim, I was reading your other post about thinking that you thrived on stress and it made me think: You know, I thought the same thing for years! I always felt that I was extremely conscientious about things...but what it really was is that I am a perfectionist with a need to excel. That combination of traits causes me to put an unusually high amount of stress on myself to not only do things perfectly, but to always do them perfectly and for what I do to be better than everybody else. I am now starting to learn to see it for what it is and to allow myself a little slack. I'm still conscientious, and I always will be, but I'm trying to learn that I don't have to run full throttle all the time and that everything does NOT have to be perfect. I'm also learning that I don't HAVE to impress people...but its a hard habit to break. I know logically that people who love me will love me whether I blow everything out of the water or not...but I set an incredibly high standard for myself, and I am my own hardest critic. This spring I celebrated a personal victory. My students presented a musical on the American Revolution. I considered composing the thing myself for quite a while and then decided not to...I thought, I can find one online and not put myself through that. Then, I had the parents come up with the costumes for their children, rather than us trying to make them at school. Some kids' costumes were perfect, others were just okay And about a week before the performance, when part of the kids didn't have costumes and our art teacher quit without working on our sets, I finally said to myself...and to other friends..."I don't give a ****" ...whether the sets got done or not, whether the costumes were there or not....we were going to have a good time and the parents would love it regardless! And everybody LOVED IT!!! I had rave reviews for weeks. Anyway...GIRLFRIEND...Let's learn to give ourselves a break...WE DESERVE IT!!! Becky

I will definately check it out! You know, I always thought that I thrived on stress and the busier I was the better I function.......well, obviously I was wrong but I am feeling much better. Now if I could just get some Kim