House Update

This is our house as of today! Hopefully the siding and trim colors are not the permanent ones, or else we selected them under the influence of psychedelic drugs that made one believe that yellow and mud brown would look good on a house. But check out the bay window!

Here you can see the front, with the windows all in place.

There's our brick! It is quite lovely. There wasn't a single house in the very large development with this brick, so we drove up North quite a ways to see it on some walls. We both loved it. I hope it looks good with yellow siding.

We also have shingles on our roof now, not to mention a chimney. This picture, and those taken previously from this same angle, were taken from the back corner of our yard. This with the next picture should show you how big our back yard is.

There will be a patio outside the back door, but it looks like it will be a step down to the actual yard. The builders will put in the sprinkler system and sod. A couple trees, too, but maybe just in front.

This completes our 360* view of the house. This is the side where I plan to put the garden. Of course, I know nothing about gardening, so that may change.

Our garage. There is a lot of storage room in it.

For those of you not keeping up, this is the front door.

Just inside the door, this is the entryway looking up to the second floor. There's a shot coming later looking down from above.

This is me in the dining room. We won't be using it as a formal dining room for some time. Right now, we have just us and our table is small enough to fit in the breakfast nook. Plus, the nook will be tiled, whereas the dining room will be carpeted. No reason to have little food-throwers in there. My current plan is to close off the two doors with baby gates and use it as a play room, when that becomes necessary.

This is the view from the dining room back toward the back of the house. First is the cabinet-less kitchen, then the nook, and then the living room. You can even see the fireplace! Isn't it lovely?

Here is the living room again. I'm definitely glad that I went with the fireplace option. It doesn't take up too much space and I think it adds some romance to the room. We are currently planning to line that far wall with book shelves.

This is the view from the living room. The fireplace is directly behind. The master bedroom is the room to the left. The utility room is on the other side of the stairs, and the door off the hall leading back toward the front door is the door to the powder bath.

Up the stairs to the two-story entryway.

Here is a view of under the stairs from the utility room. I plan to knock out the drywall here, cover with a cupboard door and have some extra storage space. I understand that when my kids go missing I will have to look there for them.

Looking down from above the entryway.

Our view from the bay window. We are on the edge of a developed neighborhood. So while we are the first on our block, we will still have many neighbors into whose backyards we can look at will.

Birthday Pancakes

The Night of the Ballet

Today

Two Weeks Ago

In-Law Friendly

There are very few of you who are invited to read my blog. Basically college friends and siblings. Mom keeps wanting to read it, and I'm fairly certain Jon does. The second one is fine with me. The first is not. Nor would I ever want my in-laws or random facebook friends to scroll through my archives. Since I plan on quitting facebook tomorrow (or once I get around to it) I want to have a blog up and running for the general masses. I have it built but not populated.

audreymichalchristensen.blogspot.com

I am going to post some entries from my archives. Any suggestions?

FYI, I will continue to post anything emotional on this site. Therefore, if you are invited to read that, continue reading here. If you are not, please move on to the other blog.

Hair of the Dog

I know caffeine affects me. I know that it makes my nightmares ten times worse. And I know that Dr. Pepper tastes freakin' fantastic. So when my friends were over, popping open cans, I reflected on what I knew, and then I took a can.

I was wired until midnight, and then my dreams were vivid and brutal reenactments of Game of Thrones, et al., which I haven't read since 2003. When I woke, my eyes were bright red and my entire body cried out for more sleep.

"The caffeine was a bad idea," I mumbled to Kevin, several times.

"To be fair, you knew that going into it," he said.

And if I hadn't, he had reminded me. So that was his way of saying, I told you so.

I just groaned. I knew it was my own fault, but I also knew that I had to get through the day ahead. So I grabbed another Dr. Pepper on my way out the door. No cure like the hair of the dog that bit you.

Who Is John Galt?

what he said

Spam

I got a spam comment today:

"Finally, an issue I'm passionate about. I have been searching the internet for hours looking for information of this caliber..."

They posted this on Post-Extraction Beauty.

I'm so glad my puffy face inspired passion in someone!

Before

Construction begins on our home on Monday. So today we drove out to the site to take Before pictures of our lot.

Post-Extraction Beauty

Saving Time in a Bottle

Until our vacation in July, I cannot take any time off work. As long as I hit 39 hours each week, I will accrue enough paid time off to take a week for California. And after that, another six months of saving time so I can take a week to Illinois for Christmas. With that end in sight, I have worked my time despite dentist appointments, an oil change, surgery, and now a cough. I am a miser, counting and recounting my hours in lieu of gold coins.

When Heather gets married in May, I will take a day off, but only after working 39 hours over a four-day period. By the time July 2 comes, I will have 45 hours of vacation at my disposal...unless something goes wrong and I am forced to use any of that extra 13 hours over the next 3 months. It is against those unforeseen emergencies that I am saving now. I am coughing at my desk against the day that I can't get to work for being too sick.

Besides, I will only have 4 hours with which to play this fall. If I lose 4 hours, I lose my Christmas vacation. Again. So that blessed 13-hour safety net will be a source of comfort during football season too. It's a stressful way to operate, but I do at least get a few paid holidays along the way. And let's not forget that I get every Saturday off this fall. Every single one. That's almost as good as a vacation.

Christianity Fail

The lesson this Sunday was on the Good Samaritan. Then I drove home past a very old man shuffling along with a large load of groceries. And I didn't stop. I will be ashamed of this for the rest of my life. And in the next, I will beg his pardon.

One Year

I have struggled to sum up a year of marriage, to write any ode to my first year with my husband. Dickens beat me to the words, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," so I am left empty handed.

Trials:
dealing with depression
being accountable to someone else for my use of time and money
moving twice
realizing after the wedding that I no longer had a plan or a specific goal
Kevin's month-long absence
feelings of inadequacy

Blessings:
our cruise
shared love for budgeting, macaroni and cheese, and Castle
attending the temple almost every month
establishing habits of daily scripture reading and prayer together
spending evenings with my best friend

The most difficult and rewarding part of the past year has been the ongoing undertaking of learning to communicate more sincerely and openly. Turns out, it's hard to do.

March

In March, I changed my Focus and Project goals from what I had originally planned in January. I had planned to focus on my sabbath observance, and my project was to schedule appointments I had been putting off, such as my oil change and dental exam. The appointments took care of themselves and, since I had begun working on sabbath observance in February, I decided to add a new focus and project: prayer and housekeeping, respectively.

A week from the end of the month, my grade came to 43%. I was failing in my time management despite having worked productively and conscientiously all month. So what had I done with my time? Well, I had been focusing on keeping the sabbath holy, and during my project time I had been learning to sew. So what did I do? I changed my goals retroactively. Kevin calls it cheating. I say I was merely reverting to my original January plan. At any rate, my grade jumped from a 43% to a 63%.

I was so motivated by my instant success that I went through my spread sheet and randomly changed numbers to see what of all I could do in the next week would raise my grade the most. I focused my time accordingly. For the first time in too long I completed my visiting teaching in entirety. I was looking at a good solid 79%, and I was pleased. Then, by some crazy twist of fate, I spent seven and a half hours writing, six of which came in one day. Those hours and other last minute meeting of goals brought me up five percentage points to a nice solid B.

One thing I learned was that Housekeeping is too vague of a goal for a project. I put my photos in an album in January. February and April, I scheduled for canning food storage. These are measurable, completable goals from which I could step back and say, I finished. I need to remember to be thus specific with future goals.

Freakout

A phone call with Joyce two weeks ago sent me spiraling into total freak out mode. Sharing a labor horror story, Joyce describe the sound of an episiotomy. I decided I would not, could not go through that.

I can't do it! I wept to Kevin. I can't go through that!

Well, we can adopt.

That just opened up a flood gate of insecurities. It wasn't pregnancy and labor alone that I couldn't handle. It was kids.

I'm not fun. Heather thought to do moose hands, but I would never have thought to do moose hands. And I'll go crazy when they repeat the same thing over and over. I'll have no time to myself. I'll never write again. What if our kids get bullied. Or do drugs? I can't be responsible for a person.

Kevin sat there comforting me, until I finally reached breaking point and went to bed.

I told Joyce the next day that she had broken me. She comforted me by saying that if she had it to do all over, she would. Then she addressed specific concerns of mine, alleviating them one by one.

But, she said, I can't help you with the body image one. You will feel fat and ugly the whole time you are pregnant. Sorry.

But since that is pretty much old hat for me, I figure it might not be so bad after all.

What I Can't Stand

I am bugged by people telling me I am not a Christian. Or that because I follow a living prophet, that I am not following the bible. And especially by those who claim to be Christians persecuting me because of my different beliefs. I often feel like Gandhi: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Not that I am a good Christian, myself, which fact bugs me just as much.

I am annoyed at claims that using "Me" as a subject has become acceptable in speech. "Me" is an object. It is always an object. I have proven that I will argue even with one of my best friends about this to the point of rudeness. Yes, I always use "I" as the subject of my sentences. No, I am not some expert at a trivial point of academia; I simply speak correctly. And I expect everyone to meet my standards. You don't have to use subjunctive or speculative conditional forms of verbs correctly (were I to require this, it would require that I go without friends) but for the love of Noam Chomsky, use pronouns correctly!

And my latest peeve. Unless you are a theologian discussing cosmic forces, never use this sentence: "Everything will work out the way it's supposed to." In the exception I mentioned, I find this sentence acceptable, because I believe that Good will triumph over Evil on the grand scheme. However, for anyone who believes in free will to assert this on anything but a cosmic level is asinine. There is either free will or a perfectly controlled fate with scripted endings. Not both. I am perfectly able to screw up royally, thank you. To say that everything works out the way it is meant to, means that all the pain and evil inflicted on others was supposed to happen. And it wasn't. It is part of God's plan only insofar that man's agency is part of his plan, but the actual painful consequences of man's evil use of agency is not predetermined by God. That sentence is an adage meant to comfort those who don't want to worry about potential consequences.

February in Review

I know. I am posting my February review at the end of March. That is a reflection on March, not February.

To start, I did immensely better in February than January when it came to watching T.V. I did this by instigating one little change. I blocked Netflix. I could still watch Hulu, I could watch DVDs and I could watch Netflix with Kevin on his computer. But, I could not watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer after work. I watched an average of 2 hours of T.V. a week. Including movies.

I managed to keep my scripture reading habit, missing only 4 days in the month of February. I did not remember to write in my journal even once, but I blogged the same amount as in January. I also fully dedicated two Wednesday evenings to writing, free of distractions. I even did half of my visiting teaching. I am terrible at visiting teaching.

Fitness was my focus for the month, and I met half of my monthly workout goals. I worked out three times with Audrei and 4 times after work by myself. I can now touch my toes (after lots of stretching) and I made it through half of one workout from the 30-Day Shred before I gave up and decided to read something instead.

What saved my grade, given my less than ideal dedication to fitness, was my project for the month. I bought 44 #10 cans and canned half of my food storage. It was a time-intensive project and resulted in much spilled powdered milk. But I got it done.

In the end, I broke even with last month, barely squeaking by with a B-.

House Update

Here's the update on the house. We have entered into contract with the builder, but we won't close until 30 days before completion. Construction starts on May 9th, and they anticipate being done by July. So we anticipate August.

Then, I will swoop in with my new skills learned from watching Home Depot do-it-yourself videos, and I will finish things off. Besides just custom painting our home, we will also replace the doors, put in crown moulding, replace some light fixtures and faucets, put in fans and a garage door opener, install faux wood blinds and arrange storage solutions.

The only downside is that I have to wait until August.

Diet

My diet, along with most of my resolutions of late, went crashing right out the window after a brief but brilliant flare.

The diet did not go quietly. It went out with a wail of emotional anguish. In fact, that's what killed it. See, I have been controlling my mood with carefully balanced meals. And then I thought I would take a few weeks off and crash diet to lose weight. Bad idea. I went through two weeks of weak sobbing, and then I reinstituted my whole egg each morning. I was either suffering from inadequate B-12 or from low-self esteem as a result of telling myself every meal "Don't eat that, you fatty."

At any rate, I am better now. I lost only five pounds, instead of fifteen, but it'll do.

Glee

My favorite thing about Glee of late has been the absolute disregard by the writers of previous episodes. Plot has never been the strong point for the show. It is merely a second-class element, the catalyst for the next musical number. I watch it for the stellar singing and dancing. But now, the overly dramatic plot has become somewhat ridiculous. The writers don't even try for any cohesion to previous episodes. Each new hour is a chance to recreate their universe. And they imbue their characters with the same memory bias.

Finn cheating on Quinn with Rachel is completely forgotten, as is the fact that he loved Rachel right up until Quinn kissed him again a year later, when he thinks, "Maybe that's why I never got things going with Rachel-I was still hung up on Quinn." What does he mean, he never got things going with her?

Rachel infiltrated the celibacy club to get close to Finn and then stormed out again after a rant about abstinence not working for teens. Now, she is in celibacy club, the lone voice of abstinence. At least she has been consistent in wanting Finn, even if she'll date others along the way.

Quinn's back and forth between Puck and Finn becomes a back and forth between Sam and Finn. But not before she swears off men altogether after getting pregnant. When did that cease to affect her? Quinn doesn't think she is brave enough to leave the Cheerios, despite having done so the year before.

Puck starts out as the bad boy who sleeps around. But with Quinn, it was different. "This isn't just another score." He admits to loving her after she gives birth. But none of that has been acknowledged this season. He's back to the man whore who's looking to grow.

Mr. Schue is in love with Emma, so much so that he makes out with another woman. Sue constantly finds pity for Glee, and then determines again to destroy them.

Somehow each new plot device comes at the expense of those previous. It's becoming a joke, no matter how well they sing about it.

Dislike

I want to quit Facebook. I have wanted this for quite a while. Yet, I always get talked out of it by friends or myself. How else will I stay connected? That is the biggest argument, and a rather valid one, but I feel that I am staying connected at the cost of my freedom. Freedom to choose. Freedom from addiction and wasted time. Freedom of privacy. Freedom not to “friend” (friend is NOT A VERB!) every passing acquaintance who wants to read what I am expressing to my real Friends.

Facebook is a waste of my time. I open it constantly to see if I have updates. It is the only on-line connection Kevin and I have during the day, as he cannot access hotmail or gmail. This is no excuse for us. We both have phones. And work emails. And what happens when I stay home: am I going to be tied to my computer all day long in case he emails? No. This cannot be a reason to stay on Facebook.

I already know that my children will not be allowed to be on Facebook, or whatever equivalent is around then. I don’t care what they say, not everyone is using it. They are not using it. Maybe Kevin doesn’t share my antipathy toward digital, but if he thinks annual Zoo Days away from school will hurt our kids’ educations, then he will side with me against the evils of Facebook distractions. I cannot monitor whom my kids will “friend” or who else will be watching them. The Internet is a tool. It can be used for good and for bad, and my kids will not get that, because kids don’t. They also will think they are missing out, the same as they will when I don’t let them watch whatever the cool shows are. When they are older, they will realize they don’t care about missing that year’s equivalent of Grey’s Anatomy, and they will perhaps be grateful that I spared them high school girls high on Internet disinhibition.

Not only do evils result as externalities to Facebook use, but the network itself does some pretty shady things, more and more openly so, just showing their contempt for the threat to unplug from their users. I feel like my privacy is threatened in a distinctly dystopian-like manner. For the love of Mark Zuckerber, other websites I go to know who I am because of my account. If I “like” (okay, real verb this time) anything on that site, Facebook posts it to my wall for my contacts to see and discuss. Facebook sells personal information. They make it intentionally hard to quit. That last one alone drives my desire to leave. It’s a freaking cult telling me I can leave any time that I want to, while their thugs block the door and refuse to let me call my parents. It’s dodgy. They’re pushers.

But.

My husband is on Facebook. This next part is going to sound paranoid and desperate, but I assure you that I am coming at this with no feelings of fear. One in five couples divorced in America in the last year cited Facebook in some way as the cause of the divorce. The combination of anonymity and rosy retrospection, not to mention photoshop, leads to indiscreet reconnections with exes, while disinhibition allows flirting that would never go on in person. I do not think that if I am not on Facebook Kevin will hook up with his exes or flirt with women who "like" his comments. I'm just saying, in real non-digital life, there are things that you don't do, not because they are wrong, but because they are stupid: they remove internal and external barriers, lower defenses and invite mistakes. Like drinking alone with a buddy of the opposite sex.

Other friends of mine are on Facebook, as well as my siblings. And like my husband, they are funny and interesting, and I don't want to miss out on what they are saying. I want to hear the updates and see the pictures they are posting. I want to know what happened to my high school friends and the teachers who inspired me. And Facebook is the tool to doing all of that.

But the problem is that Facebook doesn't feel like a tool. It feels like a trap.

Bribes

It all began with Andrea plopping down in her chair behind me and asking, "How would you
feel about not working a game day this fall."

"Sure! Which one?"

"No, I mean, how would you feel about not working any game days this fall?"

How would I feel? Is now a bad time to mention that I have plotted waiting until two weeks before football season begins to give my notice, willing to reconsider only on this very stipulation? Granted, it would have been a gamble. I am not looking to quit for real just yet, but I have honestly doubted my abilities to make it through another football season, despite my life plan and budget.

"What's the catch?"

"That you commit to work through football season."

...

"We are bribing you not to quit."

...

"We can't do without you."

And there it was. More than an acknowledgement of good work, more than gratitude. Begging. Negotiations. Bribes.

Kevin and I made a plan that included me working through this coming December. As I get paid better and have better benefits where I am than anywhere else I could find, I will be staying with my current company. I have it in the budget. The fuzzier end of that plan is when I will be quitting. Sometime around a year from now, I think. Unless I can't get Christmas off again, because then I will be giving my notice two weeks before Christmas. I am going to Illinois this year. I have given my word.

Anywho, I have made many plans in my head for negotiating a better situation, all of which negotiations involve my threatening to quit. I know they need me, and I had day dreamed about telling them so.

Turns out, they already knew it. Kris has heard that Kevin and I are looking at houses further North. She has heard the interns ask me when I plan to have a baby. And then she was denied her request to hire a new buyer. That leaves her doing two people's work for over an entire year. The one concession she was given was that she could hire "another Audrey," to supply the defunct department with some stable employee, as opposed to the intern it had last fall. Kris responded that an assistant doesn't do her any good if he/she is not as well-trained as Audrey. That's where the bribes come in. They need me. Desperately. If I quit, there are two people to run the entire show, with no time to train anyone. Kris can't help our department if she is running another. So, they need me to stay. They want a commitment. They want me to stay through football season to train and oversee the "other Audrey." Even better, if I would give them enough notice of when I choose to leave so that I can also train my replacement.

There’s a raise in it for me, as well as the game days off. I even made the offer of staying an entire year if I can be guaranteed the week off between Christmas and New Years. I think I should have made higher demands, because Andrea actually rubbed her hands together gleefully in imitation of Kris’s reception to the news.

Oh well. I’m content with my lot: weekends and holidays off, a hefty raise, and eternal gratitude from Kris. I’m okay with that.

Limit

I have officially hit my weight limit. No more vague promises of eating "better" and working out "more". Full diet and exercise regime goes into place right now. I will lose 15 pounds in 30 days. I have planned my new menu--which includes changing my whole egg each morning to egg white only, and eliminates all sugary foods--and my return to The 30-day Shred.

I will not be uncomfortable in my own body.

Sickbed Manners

My doctor wants me to be sick and depressed.

This morning during our 3-month follow-up (to the six-week follow up to the appointment where I wanted to switch birth control and she wanted to put me on antidepressants) she seemed to think I was lying when I gave her answers more positive than I did last time, which were more positive than the time before. Her probing follow-up questions had tones of skepticism. By the time I left, my legs were crossed away from her and my arms were folded across my chest as tightly as they would go. I was done.

All she did was make me feel bad about myself, the way I'd expect a dentist to if I didn't have perfect teeth. During the first meeting, she criticized me for not exercising regularly. So, the next time I reported, and truthfully, that I was walking once a week with a friend. This time, I said I was up to 20 minutes of cardio twice a week, stretching every day and weights once a week. She actually gave me a "hmmm" and frowned, suggesting that I work on bettering my routine and making exercise more of a habit, so I don't slip again.

Is nothing good enough?! I'm improving, damn it, and I am doing better than most Americans. I made diet changes, I set aside time to relax, I cut major stressors, I am in control of myself and my environment.

"Too much control?" she asked. "Do you have any little habits that you fall back on when you don't have control, things that seem a little obsessive compulsive?" I said no. So she enumerated for my benefit things I might be doing: cleaning compulsively, growing angry when others don't clean to my specifications, biting nails, etc. I again said no. I've never been that way. When I get most anxious, I pick up a book and sit down. And despite my budgeting of time, I do not freak out when something throws off my plan. My nails are too long (but they grow like weeds, so don't assume I am ignoring hygiene). And if you saw my kitchen most days, you know the cleaning thing doesn't apply to me. I am fine.

"What percentage of time are you in control of your thoughts? What do you do when you have negative thoughts?" Well, I try to think about or do something else. Or I reason against those thoughts, pointing out to myself why they are irrational or damaging. "So...you...distract yourself or argue?" She smirked.

Hells Bells, woman! Of course I do. What else is there, besides dwelling on them and crawling under the covers hoping the sleeping pills you gave me will kick in soon? I have not taken those pills, by the way, in over three months. I am not withdrawing from friends and family. I no longer display any of the symptoms of depression, except perhaps headaches. But those, I attribute to my 3-year-old glasses prescription.

Yes, sometimes I still feel afraid. Sometimes I still feel sad. I am convinced that any emotionally-tolling event will leave scars characterised by recurring intrusive recollections, emotional numbing, and a decreased sense of security. This is typically called "baggage." And, sure, I've got some.

But, really, I am doing just fine.

Shopping is

shopping is shopping is shopping.

It does not matter whether it is for jeans, swimming suits, wedding dress fabric, cars, houses, or granite counter tops. It is the always the same: physically and emotionally draining.

So, the design center was totally over rated. Most builders have a design studio with samples of everything for you to choose from. Lennar, our builder, had one room in their model home. One. It had carpet, tile, granite, and cabinet door samples. We had to go look at houses being built to see doors, plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, crown moulding, brick, etc. Vinyl flooring comes standard in all wet areas, but they didn't even have pictures of it. Other things they had to email to us. So instead of walking in and piecing together a home and making an offer on it, we ran around for hours and then returned home to look at emails of other options. Seriously, how hard would it be to print out colored pictures of all this stuff and put it in a three-ring binder for prospective buyers to flip through? I am half-tempted to make one myself!

Plus, the seller tried to use scare tactics on us, talking about upcoming price increases. Kevin and I were both ready to wash our hands of the entire thing. We have since calmed down, but we will wait until next weekend to revisit the options.

Snow Day

Friday felt like a day out of the past. Not my childhood, however. College.

The snow and ice guaranteed me a day off work, but Kevin was working from home, so my exuberance caused too many distractions. By nine in the morning, I couldn't be contained anymore, so I put on my puffy down coat, a bright red scarf, and ran across the lawn to Audrei's apartment. I tippy-tapped at the door, in case she had slept in, so she wouldn't hear me from her room. However, she and Christa had spent the night in the living room, and I woke them up. Bleary-eyed, they let me come in, and we spent a pleasant ten minutes before another knock came at the door. Tamara, who moved into the apartment complex in January, had come, too, freed from work and looking to play.

Together, the four of us trooped out into the snow, stomping all the while in order to savor the delicious crunch beneath our boots. I had the idea to fetch Tiffany, and Tamara ran to another apartment for Jodi. By the time we stood at the door of Brittney's apartment, I began to realize something. I have neighbors whom I know. Lots of them, in fact. And I can run across the lawn at any time to drop in and say hi. The homeyness of it made me as nostalgic as did the snow.

I have friends again.

Playing with Options

On Saturday, Kevin and I are going to the design studio for our builder to play with options on our potential future house. I am giddy with excitement. Just looking at the floor plan, I have been decorating in my head. Now I can play hands-on!

Things I already know: I will paint the master bedroom blue damask; Kevin and I will put in our own crown moulding (or make Joyce do it, since I can't do anything in a straight line), ceiling fans, water softener and garage door opener; and we want the gas range.

We will be looking at cabinet colors, granite counter tops, tile flooring, carpet samples, hardware, blinds and doors. I am going to try to toe the line between economy and extravagance. I simply must remember that I will live in this house for the next 30 years, God willing. Some upgrades will be worth it, while others will not be.

Carpet, for example. Kids will ruin carpet, no matter what kind. So, we do not need to upgrade it. The standard stain-resistant stuff is good enough to be replaced in ten to fifteen years. Carpet in the dining room is another issue entirely. Food falls (or gets thrown) and I have had it recommended to me to tile the dining room for this reason. However, I don't really like the look of that in my head. Maybe one of those big plastic mats for the carpet during the food-throwing years?

Another dilemma I have revolves around a fireplace. To build or not to build? Practical me thinks of the cost, initial and over the years. Heat escapes through a flue, pests enter through the chimney, etc. Then the other side of me argues that fireplaces are pretty and romantic. What about Christmas? Won't somebody think of the children?!

After Saturday I will have a much better idea of what this house will look like and what I can do with it. If options really are running half-price this month, then I might have some real fun with this.

Can-do

I have taken an inventory of all our food storage, and my project for February is to get it canned. Alas, monthly budget only allows for 22 #10 cans, so in February, I can can half of it (using January's and February's allotment). I'll finish it in April. And I have learned my lesson: for the rest of the year, while I complete our supply, I will can on site before bringing it home. Or better yet, buy the pre-canned stuff.

Progress Report

Here is my progress report for my New Year's Resolution of better time management.

I told you my Focus for the month of January was scripture study, and my project was finishing my photo albums.

Here's how I did.
This is my ideal weekly schedule. Orange is working out. Green is scripture reading, with Kevin and by myself. Red is writing. Light blue is cooking. Purple is errands and chores. The slashes are times to use productively on things like Book Club, Visiting Teaching, going to the temple, and working on my monthly projects. White is for my use, to relax, read, etc. The light gray chunks are work and church, and the dark gray perimeter is sleeping. If I were perfect with my time management, this is what my schedule would look like.


This is what my time does look like. There is definitely more sleep happening. And much more time wasted. The bright yellow represents time spent watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix. An episode a day makes my nightmares much more interesting, and with wittier dialogue. Okay, so I made that last part up.

I wasn't super great at keeping my time organized, and I hardly ever exercised, but I definitely did better this month than in December. I did set aside three Wednesdays for writing, even if it wasn't terribly productive. I did schedule with Audrei our weekly exercise. I did not Visit Teach. I did write in my journal. I did email friends and call family. I did blog slightly more. I did not get chores done by noon on Saturday. I did not go to Book Club.

As far as scripture study is concerned, I very rarely studied for 30 minutes at a time, which is my ultimate goal. This month, I felt content reading a chapter a day, and I did read 25 days out of 31, which is 240% better than last month. I only got one photo album out of two pieced together, but I did spend my time on projects, mostly regarding the future house (see turquoise slashes). I twice spent an entire Saturday on that project. I also began some on my food storage, technically February's project. In the scripture reading category, I give myself a B- for the month, and in projects an A, knowing that I am going easy on myself in light of how new I am to this whole self-discipline thing.

I created a complicated grading sheet for my overall grade, which compares my actual time use to my end-of-year goal. In twelve categories, I scored myself out of 100% and averaged them for a grade of 54%. This is half of my score. My Focus is another 25% of my grade, and my projects round it out. I then gave myself an 11 point bonus (which will decrease by a point per month, thus making an identical performance worth less as time passes).

Yes, I am a freak.
But the point is that my final score for the month of January is a B- .

So Sew

I bought a sewing machine last week! It is pink (partially) and I can't wait until I know what the instruction manual is talking about, so I can get to learnin' to sew.


My ambition is to learn to alter clothing. While making dresses and skirts for myself would be extra nice, given how hard it is to find things long enough for me, that goal is secondary. First, I want to learn altering, so that Kevin and I can "settle" for clothing that we like in theory but doesn't fit perfectly. Let's face it, store bought clothing is going to be more fashionable overall, better made, and cheaper when mass produced. So, I won't outfit my future family is homemade wardrobes, but I can make sure that the cheap stuff we buy with our budget fits like the higher end goods we are foregoing.

House Smitten

Kevin and I have found a house with which we are (in theory) in love! On paper, everything is what we need, though not without some sacrifice, and I am already painting and decorating it in my imagination. We go to see the builder on Saturday. I hope it is everything I have dreamed. Building takes 4-6 months, and we only have 4, so it had better be what we want!

Gifted

For Christmas this year, Kevin set up my iPod for me. I have had it for two years and have never changed the songs from the ones programmed onto it by my mother, its first user. Kevin saved those songs to my computer, downloaded iTunes, ripped all of my CDs to my computer and uploaded a play list of Christmas songs to my iPod. He then taught me how to do it all, too.

It was the perfect gift! It was something I had wanted for a long time, but hadn't done. It was an act of service that required time and thought, not money, and we even spent time together while he instructed me in the ways of iTunes. It was exactly the way Christmas should be.

Kevin has been routinely good at giving presents, consistently topping me in the gift arena. I just panic until it's too late to do anything. I skipped his 30th birthday entirely. What a wife! I am determined now to be better, to be more like he is, showing thought and care with gifts. And I face my next challenge in March for our anniversary. Unless I am expected to do something for Valentine's Day. Yikes!

Depression Threshold

I have a theory that everyone has a "depression threshold" similar to an allergen threshold. We can take so many factors that cause depression before symptoms show or begin to take hold. If we can reduce those factors below our threshold, then we can control our moods. Chemical imbalances are one of those things that will overcome our threshold almost guaranteed, and medication is the way to decrease that factor.

For me, I could not change the source of what ailed me, but I could decrease all the little things that hurt my mood and increase those that helped, to better get my net depressive intake below threshold.

And it's working. I think sometimes I am right at that threshold, and one sad movie will push me over the edge (e.g. Kevin made me stop watching Everybody's Fine, when I began sobbing on his lap). But as long as I am below my threshold, in control of my mood, then I can be in control of my thoughts and actions.

I take special care to get enough sleep. I should take care to get enough water, but I am usually tipped off by grouchiness when I have not done this diligently. I try to stay productive and mentally engaged. I listen to music every day, thanks in large part to Kevin's wonderful Christmas present!

I felt, at first, like I was simply waving something shiny in front of my eyes, constantly distracting myself from dark thoughts of worthlessness and those fearsome monsters that lurked under my bed. I put on blinders and kept focusing with all my might on the shiny thing. If I got tired and dropped my guard, then I felt bombarded by the waiting fears. I wondered if I was practicing avoidance and not actually accomplishing anything productive. But that was at first.

Now, I am not constantly on guard, and I don't have to wave something shiny to keep myself distracted. I have filled my home and life with shiny things, small but pleasant, that genuinely make me happy. And if I come across some trigger that brings on depressive thoughts, I am not drowned in sorrow. I ache still, but I am strong enough to challenge the thoughts that I had to avoid at first.

I am strengthening my emotional muscles using very little weight but constant repetition. I keep it at a level where I can stay in control. And then, when I have those heavier burdens to carry, I believe I will be able to do so a little better for a little longer. And with a little better attitude.

The Incredible Edible Egg

Since my refusal to take medication for depression, I have been eating eggs for breakfast every morning, instead of the decades-long habit of cereal. The reason for the change? Several articles citing food allergies, more specifically dairy, as causes of depression. Then there were articles on foods that aid moods. Folic acid is more effective in treating mild depression than anti-depressants and placebos. Granted, this only holds true for mild depression, not moderate or severe. Magnesium is good, sugar is bad, and omega-3 fatty acids are great. Thus the great breakfast swap of 2010.

For the first month, I had two eggs and two pieces of toast for breakfast with a glass of orange juice. When my weight started slipping upward, I reconsidered. I had, after all, exchanged 110 calories of Special K and almost no fat for roughly 350 calories and over 16 grams of fat. I may have thoroughly enjoyed toast with butter and jam, but I was eating too much. When I had eaten eggs only rarely, I didn't much notice how much larger my breakfast was.

So I cut back. I eat one egg, runny, with a pieces of whole-wheat bread, plain, and a glass of orange juice. My intake is about 210 calories and 8 grams of fat.

I did not notice the effects of the eggs, at least not as such. I did notice that I am in general in better control of my moods. Granted, I instituted a great many changes, all of which have helped. I also noticed that my monthly was getting lighter and lighter. But I did not attribute any of this to the magic of eggs. Until I ran out.

I ate cereal two days in a row. My stomach rebelled. My energy lagged. My mood soured. My body had been healing from repeated exposure to an allergen, and then I reintroduced it. I now know that I am not equipped to consume dairy the way I had been. I am now sensitive to a glass of milk. Occasionally, I will still eat a bowl of Quaker Oatmeal Squares for dessert, but I notice the negative results now.

I also recently read this article on CNN that explained my lessening symptoms.

And so, I have become converted. An egg a day keeps the blues away. And I just can't get enough of runny yolk.

Vin

I have a new car! Her name is Vin, named after the heroine of the Mistborn trilogy, not to mention a clever car pun. Get it?

I was asked at work what my favorite feature is, and I felt momentarily stumped. When I think of features on a car, I think of things that my reliable little Corolla does not possess. Sun roof, six CD changer, blue tooth, GPS, etc. After my brief pause, I answered, "My favorite thing about my car is that I don't have to spend 15 minutes waiting on the corner before I can go anywhere."

I guess that would be the ignition. My ignition is my favorite feature of my car. Followed by the steering wheel. I love that I don't have to follow a predetermined path to and from work. I can go wherever I want in my Vin. I am also quite fond of the accelerator. I don't have to stop every block, and I can go upwards of seventy-five miles per hour to get home at the end of the day. And I love my CD player and pre-programmed radio.

But mostly, I love it because it is mine.

New Year's Resolution

My New Year's Resolution is to be better at time management. I have so many things that I want to do and cannot find the time for, whereas I do very little that I actually enjoy with the time I have. I determined, in getting a car, and thus more free time, that I should make the most of it. That I should use most of it. No more time wasting for me. That's my resolve.

This entails dozens of smaller goals.

I compare it to money management. If I had resolved to manage my money better, I would have started by making a budget, reviewing necessary expenses, typical uses of money and where I can save and what the savings should be used for. A budget leads to dozens of little goals: spend less on eating out (which leads to making food at home), save this much per month toward a new car, set up weekly transfers to my savings from my checking, etc.

The same it true for my time management goal. I started with a budget. Where does my time go? Is it necessary? Is there something of higher priority that ought to use that time instead? My little goals became daily scripture study, daily exercise, saving Wednesday evenings for writing only and reallocating the typical use of it to another evening, etc. I have a color-coded schedule of my ideal week, how I would use my time to perfectly reflect my goals were I to possess the self-discipline and no distractions--though, I did include room for unforeseen events.

The task looks impossible. I do not spend my time like that now. But I hope to be much closer by December of this year. That's the point: it's a goal not an immediate transformation. And like with a budget, I will not throw the whole thing out the window if I slip up and clean the kitchen tonight instead of writing. I will do better tomorrow.

As part of good goal setting, I have constructed a plan to meet this goal. I have selected a focus for each month, a sub-goal that I will dedicate my attention to fitting into place, even if the others slip a little. Hopefully, each month will build a habit that will continue to the next; but if not, I have selected only six focuses, so I will come back and repeat the experience within the year. This month I will focus on making sure I read scriptures daily. It is a priority goal for me that I never seem to have time for. This month, it will happen. Daily.

I also have a project this month: to edit and print the pictures we've taken since the cruise and put them into an album. This way, when I come to some free time and consider wasting it because I haven't made a plan for how to best use it, I can fall back to editing pictures.

Next month my focus will be on exercising, and my project will be working on food storage.

Costco

Yesterday, I had to stop by the store on the way home. I had to, if I wanted breakfast the next morning. I also had a hefty stack of coupons in my pocket for Costco, so I decided that I would go there, even if it was more out of the way, and stock up on paper towels and other bulk non-perishable items. Truth be told, I was a little distracted by my phone call with Emilie, with whom I talked as I roamed the aisles. When I got to the check-out stand and placed by coupons on the conveyor belt, I got a look of deepest contempt.

"The coupons start Thursday," she said...and rolled her eyes.

Sure enough the date was right across the top of each in bold green letters. I sheepishly told her to remove several items from the cart, pocketed the coupons, paid my bill, and planned to return Thursday. To a different check-out lane.

friends

I went through my Facebook account and removed friends that I do not know/like. Today, Beulah apparently noticed and requested my friendship. I hated to be passive aggressive and ignore her, but how to tell someone, I just don't want to be your friend!

changes

I need to make changes. Again.

I managed to create for myself a working structured environment while Kevin was gone, but his return has shattered it completely. Don't get me wrong: I would rather have Kevin home. Nevertheless, I have several more distractions, and several fewer freedoms than when he was overseas.

Basically, everything I had hope for in "on the plus side" played out as I foresaw, or better. I slept 9 hours every night. I watched less than 2 hours of TV/movies a week: 40 minutes of Castle, 40 minutes of Glee, and 20 minutes of Psych. Once there was 20 minutes of Community, but that was it. I studied scriptures regularly. Driving made the most difference, doubling my lunch break (during which time I caught up on phone calls or naps), providing an environment in which to listen to music, and getting me home and hour and a half early.

My challenge is how to continue on with all the good changes I made now that Kevin is home and I am using my more limited free time to pursue activities that I didn't while he was gone: such as talking with him, cleaning the kitchen, and showering. I have taken to skipping lunch entirely just so I can take an earlier bus and get home before six. I found it too demoralizing on my first day back on the bus to get home only two hours before bed. I am feeling too stretched, and my continued work on a Relief Society planning committee is overwhelming me.

I need a car, for its magical time-granting powers, and I need to make the time I have more productive. That is my project: to find ways to maximize my time.

Wish me luck.

what kevin doesn't know won't kill me

Kevin didn't know that I was already having a bad day on Tuesday, that I was tired and that the book I was reading made me sad. He didn't know that I cried in the car that night on the drive back. He doesn't know why I wept on his chest when we got home. I was too tired to tell him, and feminine throat cutting is too subtle for men to appreciate. Likely he didn't notice Beulah being mean, and he definitely couldn't have anticipated the plummet of my thoughts from there to the little mush of sadness I felt myself afterward.

He did know that I had a bad day yesterday, one that--now rested--I want to write off as being the result of two bad nights. He doesn't know, however, that I sobbed myself to sleep when I got home. He bought me flowers and encouraged me to talk, but I was cried out and mostly asleep even while he spoke. And then, this morning, I was not sad: I had done my crying and had a full night's rest. My inadequacies, my fears, my insecurities, my sorrows, were held at bay again by a good mood. And that makes it all the more likely that Kevin will never know what set me off on Tuesday and why it brought me down.

I have a habit of viewing everything through the lens of my current mood, which rather invalidates past emotions. Today I am not sad and Beulah's pettiness is reason for pity not anger: perhaps she is trying not to be antagonistic, but to be important; perhaps she is lonely and overlooked. So, today, I find ridiculous and weak my sorrows of last night. I feel I have gotten over it, and the reasons why I felt that way to begin with are of no more value. I am embarrassed that I fell apart, so I don't want to dredge it up and tell him why I hurt; I am ashamed.

kid gloves and retractible claws

The intent of this post is not to gossip, therefore I will give the subject a fake name. Let's call her Beulah, my father's favorite made up name for women of a certain calibre. Because I'm feeling mean.

Beulah and Kevin became friends during 2008, the year in which I returned to Utah to finish my degree. When I moved back, Beulah treated me like the latest fling of her life-long best friend. I was a temporary distraction who could never know him like she did. Of course I took issue with this. Not only had I been around for over four years before her, but also I did not move there without certain promises of a future. I wasn't new, I wasn't leaving, and I was not playing second fiddle.

From the start of our acquaintance, she talked about how much Kevin confided in her and how she'd love --if she could ever get his permission-- to share with me what he said. There it was, her line the sand: Kevin and Beulah on one side, me on the other. She likes to say that she was on my side, angry at Kevin for not proposing and ready to spill all his secrets to me, but that wasn't the case. Never was she rooting for me, and what she failed to grasp is that Kevin and I were on the same side of any drawn line. One was either with or against us, but never in between.

There were enough people opposed to Kevin and me getting back together that I have learned not to hold a grudge for that. But I do still resent Beulah. I have tried not to. I am grateful to her for rides from the airport, taking our engagement photos for free, and for being a familiar face on days when that is what is needed most. But my gratitude is insufficient to make up for her continued possessiveness of my boyfriend, then fiance, and now husband.

Last night, Kevin's friend from BYU, Michelle, came into town and Kevin, Beulah and I drove an hour to go have dinner with her. I had never met her and found her delightful. Energetic for so late (8:30 p.m.) but pleasant.

(Side note: she lives in San Diego. I should set her up with Nora.)

Beulah was not delightful, though she started out innocuous enough. She told several entertaining dating stories, including one with the moral that you shouldn't judge a boy for not calling, because he just may have cancer. Kevin then gazed mournfully off into space and lamented that he didn't have any dating stories this year. I laughed.

Then Beulah said Kevin used to have some pretty interesting dating stories but she isn't allowed to tell.

I did not laugh at that. I couldn't: my head had just exploded. Her little comments infuriated me: about not hanging out with Kevin as much anymore, about how watching "How I Met Your Mother" after FHE was their thing, how she heard his side of the story, how long it took him to propose, etc.. They built up in my head until I was ready to scream.

Get your claws the hell out of my husband! Stop flirting, stop staking claim, and stop pretending you were on "my" side when I know very well that you told him to move on. You wanna-be home wrecker, wake up to the fact that he chose me, will always choose me. I was there first; I know him more intimately than you do; and our thing on Monday night is not watching TV.

But I said...

"Beulah, do you really think that he hasn't told me everything he ever told you?"

I said it politely, with kid gloves on, so no stunned or awkward silences followed; but I said in it all the things I was thinking. It said, I will not pretend that I didn't win.

all I want for christmas

I have lost my ongoing battle against consumerism. I fell into the trap of Black Friday specials, and the argument, "but it's on sale." Christmas suddenly became for me just another shopping trip. Kevin bought his own presents, so I don't even have the anticipation of giving to others. I feel thoroughly disenchanted by presents, except the one to Nora from the family. What disappointed me was my uncustomary greediness and simultaneous lack of self. I looked at good deals and decided what I could want, instead of taking the time to really want something that I would value. I will enjoy the assortment of movies I'll open Christmas morning, especially The Philadelphia Story that I have wanted, but I don't anticipate any of it.

What helped a lot is that Kevin bought us a Christmas tree, and he and I listened to Christmas music while assembling it. The Nativity is out, and a party is planned. These are the things I want for Christmas: friends, music, food, etc. In short, I need to foster all the warmth of celebration and forget the cold draw of materialism.

PS- This entry looks terribly ungrateful. I did not mean to complain that I am getting gifts. I like what I am getting. I was just feeling badly for being focused on presents instead of people.

dracula's women

Book Club was awesome Tuesday night. I was my typical awkward self, not talking to anyone when I got there. But then we began on the book, and I had trouble shutting up. Only half of us had finished the book, so there was a fill-everyone-in period. Then we began discussions such as why vampires are such popular figures in fiction, the juxtaposition of Mina and Lucy, the role of Renfield the lunatic, the efficacy of the epistolary narrative, the "rules" of vampires. Yes, Buffy was brought into the conversation, as was Twilight. I loved all the characters, but the comparison of the two female protagonists caught my interest most, perhaps.

Lucy and Mina.

Lucy is "the perfect woman." She receives three proposals in one day. She is perfectly beautiful, perfectly sweet, perfectly perfect. Perfectly BORING. She is the typical Victorian woman, with fainting spells and no gumption. When she starts wasting away of some unknown disease, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (please say it with a very strong Dutch accent, or it just doesn't count) is called in to be of assistance. He figures out that Dracula is draining her. Over a short period of time, she is given four transfusions--one from each of her admirers, and then from the good Doctor himself--but dies anyway. She turns into a vampire, the four men hunt her, and her fiance has the quite gruesome work of killing her. Quite. Gruesome.

Then they meet Mina, childhood friend of Lucy and wife to recently-escaped intended victim of the Count. Mina is described as having "the mind of a man, and the heart of a woman." She is self-educated and quick-witted, along with being young, pretty and compassionate. She says of herself that she has never been a fainter, or one taken to weeping. Mina uses her husband's diary to aid the vampire hunters, transcribing it from shorthand. She compiles all the varying accounts in chronological order so that she can discern cause and effect. She stands her ground against lunatic Renfield. She and Dr. Van Helsing are the brains of the operation, while the other four men tend to be the muscles. Dracula bites her and forces her to drink his blood, thus gaining mental control over her. However, Mina continues to be vital to the group and figures out that if Van Helsing hypnotizes her, she can read the Count's mind for them. Because of this usefulness, when the men hunt him back to his castle, she goes too. In the final battle, Mina draws a revolver. Yeah, she was toting.

Basically, I love Mina.

Dracula is considered a commentary on Victorian views of sexuality, with the exchanging of blood being a sensual act, etc. In this light, I find these two women to be the height of interest, how Bram Stoker chose to depict my gender. I get the brides of Dracula being voluptuous, sensual and catty; and I get that he would depict the virtuous Lucy opposite them, thus making the post-mortem transformation that much more horrible.

However, I wonder at Mina. Mina, who is revered by the men who know her as having every positive attribute. She is honorable and compassionate, wise and kind. She is called beautiful. But she, too, is bitten by the Count in a scene that can be likened to one of rape. She becomes Unclean and is burned by the Eucharist. Only the Count's death can remove this stigma from her. Yet, she continues to be a power for good, and is Bram Stoker's only female character to show true grit. While the oft-repeated remark that she has the mind of a man may be seen as insulting, it was meant complimentary, followed the first time by the addendum, "or as a man ought to have."

I think, given Mina, that Bram was a feminist. For Mina and Lucy had purity in common, but the one who lived also had a brain.

That, and a gun.

Additional note of interest: Dracula doesn't glitter in the sunlight, but he can go out in it. And when he dies, he turns to dust. One point, Buffy; half point Twilight.

compliments

Audrei and her roommate Christa came over to bring me pie yesterday. Just because they are nice. While visiting, Audrei mentioned that she had driven Liza and Pinky (self-assigned nickname because of her pink hair) to church. When Audrei told Liza that they would be sitting with me, Liza turned to Pinky and said, "I can't wait for you to meet her! She's one of the most beautiful girls I know!"

Nice of course, but it was immediately followed by Christa adding, "It's true. I was really intimidated by you when we met, because of how pretty you are."

I'm totally flattered. I intimidated someone!

marginal

I am writing a scene for my book wherein a character attends and does well in an economics class, thus learning a passion for the subject. I am struggling, however, to show the conversation that leads to her awakening, as the subject matter is a little dense to insert into casual conversation.

I just need to use the phrase "sunk costs are irrelevant."

mum's the word

A couple of weeks ago, I invited some friends of mine to form a writing circle with me, and one of them has shown true enthusiasm for the idea. She went so far as to reach out to find others to join us. I got an email yesterday saying that she had recruited one K. F.

Oh boy.

Though I have never mentioned her by name on this blog, she certainly has been written about. You might remember her as the blond Kevin dated once. Since that time, I have become better acquainted with her. She was my Relief Society president for over a year. I know more about her than I did then, and I am struggling to find a tactful way to say, "I've changed my mind about the writing circle, because I kind of hate that condescending blond." I will not share my writing with her.

My writing is personal.

book clubs

As of this afternoon, I am participating in two book clubs. The first is being set up by a woman my age for the "newly marrieds" she knows. Since everyone is so busy, we will meet every other month and the hostess picks the book. Fine. But...it is my experience that new book clubs fall apart quickly, because the interest is social and fleeting. The purpose of this is for the newly marrieds to bond. It is not focused on the books. The people coming are not the most intellectual or experienced people I know. And the founder of our book club grates on me like sandpaper on a sunburn. She is a mean gossip, bless her heart, who likes dominating social situations. But I felt desperate to find a place to make friends. So I joined.

Today I got a call from my visiting teacher. She invited me to go to a book club with her this month. It has been going on for years and has some ten regulars, plus others who come occasionally. They meet the third Tuesday of every month. And they talk about the books. "These are really intelligent women, Audrey. We're not getting together to socialize. Sure, that happens too, but we get together because we want to talk about a book." I think I heard angels sing when she said that. I am a terrible socialite, but get me talking about a book and all my inhibitions go away. That is my passion. And she was right: these women are smart. These are the classy, intelligent women that I admire at church, plus their friends and neighbors. They are in all walks of life, and I am sure to be the youngest one there, which suits me just fine. And the woman who invited me is delightful and genuinely kind, (it's nice to know that despite that, we actually have something in common) so I know this will be an inviting place to be, a real circle. I am excited to participate.

shoeless

I find myself without closed-toe brown shoes for work. By work I mean that they cannot be flimsy or high heeled. I'm thinking oxfords, or better yet, mary janes. Because my way cute turtleneck and khaki outfit today is rather spoiled by my sneakers. I'm thinking Target.

stupid, obnoxious waste of time

Last night I watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Next year, I think I will cut my eyes out with a spoon, instead.

my weekend

Yesterday was a home game.
Today was a primary program.
'Nuff said.

two sides to emotions

Today was a harder day than others this week. It was not a bad day: there was no extended crying behind the clothes racks. It was just hard. I felt like I had to work, really work, to maintain my usually-natural calm. Fighting off negative thoughts felt like a real battle. I won it, but it required true exertion. I am usually stronger.

I blame my weakness on the fact that I began writing again yesterday for the first time in months. I have avoided it since I began to notice my depression. It is easier to ignore my emotions when I am not using them for creative purposes. But yesterday I exposed myself to my fictional characters, and, though it may have made the work day more difficult, it made my writing more richly rewarding. It is easier to have a meaningful relationship with someone when you don't hold yourself back.

I just hope I can keep up both the creative emotional side and the stoic productive side without letting things come unraveled.

what I learned today

I learned that...

my triglycerides are high.
my cholesterol is low...including the good kind.
if I leave the house by 7:10, I get to work before 7:40.
I don't like the Guess Who as much as I had heretofore assumed.
many people at work are idiots, others are not.
sleeping alone scares me sometimes, so I have taken to leaving my lamp on and snuggling with Raphael.
going grocery shopping at 5:00 is an in-and-out experience.
getting out of the parking lot, however, is more difficult.

Next up, I will learn which of several recipes for salad dressing I like best.

family

I absolutely adore my nieces and nephew. What I love best is how very distinct their individual personalities are.

Owen is full of vim and vigor. He is dramatic and adventurous, yet strangely shy. It takes a really good game of spinning to win him over. He loves his Bompa.

Penny is hilarious. She is content to explore on her own, but she is also extremely playful, mimicking faces and singing along with music. She thinks tongues are hilarious.

Abby is sweet and demure. Perhaps it is her age, but she is quiet and calm. Unlike her older cousin and brother, Abby is very cuddly when held. She nuzzles.

I loved seeing them all, and I loved, LOVED visiting with my siblings. Jason, Jamie and Joyce occupy a nice spot in my heart that is reserved for family. I felt at home when I was there, seeing them, hugging them, talking to them and laughing with them. I look forward to seeing them again for a real full-length vacation.

surprise

I had a nice surprise tonight as I left Audrei's house. Kevin called from Europe in the middle of the night. He makes me incredibly happy.

baking bread

I called in sick to work today. And, yes, I was legitimately ill. I picked up some stomach virus, the effects of which began while traveling home yesterday. That was fun.

I knew I had to go grocery shopping today, but the task held little appeal. For one, I didn't know how I would handle being so far from a bathroom, and secondly, I didn't like to put that distance between myself and my couch. Ah, blessed couch. Hulu and Waitress have kept me company today.

I looked around the kitchen to decide what I absolutely had to buy. It came down to bread. Just bread. Everything else could wait. And I really didn't want to leave the house.

So, I baked. The bread is rising right now.

Sure, it might seem like the harder way to go about things, but I found it preferable to grocery stores and check out lines. I'd go so far as to call it therapeutic.

And that's how I spent my summer vacation.

a break

I know, I just got back, but I am taking a short vacation to Utah to see the family, so I will have to take a leave of absence from Nora's blog challenge until Monday. Tonight: packing/helping Kevin pack for four weeks on the road.

on the plus side

I am sick of my own whining.
I am an optimist. I always have been. And I am not willing to give that up, to surrender it to fear.
So here is what I am looking forward to when Kevin is gone.

Sleep:
I will have a queen sized bed to myself. I will not stay up later than 9:30 to spend time with Kevin, the night owl. I won't wake up to him sneaking into bed.

Writing:
I cannot write from the seat in the living room. I need a desk. And I never use it, because it is in the next room. The coffee table may work, as well; I will have to experiment. Also, to write, I need to spend hours at one go, uninterrupted. I need to re-read my recent pages to refocus myself, and I tend to do much revising before I am captured with the moment and begin to write unhindered. It takes work, and I can dedicate time to that in a quiet apartment.

Scripture Study:
I have only occasionally studied well since we've been married. Mostly, because I have not managed to wake up before six or, usually, six thirty. But I used to get up at five thirty and spread my several books and pencils over the entire kitchen table and study for half an hour. Now, I stumble out of bed too late to do so. And table space is at a premium. But I will leave my mess out for 29 straight days, go to bed earlier and study in the mornings.

Driving:
I will have total access to the car for the entire month. I will leave for work at the same time, get there earlier and leave there earlier and be home by five fifteen. Not only does that give me an entire hour and fifteen minutes extra time every evening, but I will also be able to take an entire hour at lunch time, instead of the measly half. With all that time, I think I will write. Or sleep.

Music:
I can play my music in the car, in the apartment, never ending music and singing. I will have the apartment to myself, so nobody will be bothered. I will not be tethered by headphones to the couch. And I can sing without embarrassment.

Emailing:
I express myself best in writing. Turns out, it uses a different part of the brain than speaking. Kevin and I have often communicated by email over the course of our relationship, and I treasure those letters. I have been sad that living together has decreased the necessity to write to one another. I am glad to have that chance again, to express in words things that I assume are implied and understood when we see each other daily.

For four solid weeks, I will get to focus myself entirely on me. Maybe I will find that some things work better that way, and others will be lacking for Kevin's absence. But it is not the end of the world, and Kevin will come back to me at the end of it.

because I said I would

Nora has issued a challenge, and we're going to help each other write short daily blog posts. Because today is a good day (in the sense that it is not a bad day), I am going to take her up on the challenge.

The news for today is that Kevin is going to Europe for the month of November. At least, that was the original plan. Yesterday we were told that he is actually leaving Sunday. This Sunday. Five days from now. While we're on vacation in Utah.

I did not handle the news well. Of course, I handle very little with equanimity these days. Unless "equanimity" has come to mean sobbing into one's sweater in the back corner of the warehouse, periodically throughout the work day. I do not know what I will do with him gone. I mean that literally (my schedule and habitual activities will be affected) but more truthfully in the quite dramatic, LeAnne Rimes, "How Do I Live?", there'd-be-no-sun-in-my-sky way.

I feel lost thinking about it.

If Kevin were in favor of the idea, I would leave my job and spend the next 4-5 weeks touring Europe while he audits Dell factories. But I am not rational, and Kevin is. He'd never let me quit my job and spend ridiculous amounts of money, just like that, on a whim. And I suppose he is right.

But I am going to miss him very, very badly.

stress

I am not an anxious person, usually. You know, unless I am asleep. I just don't sweat the small stuff. I left that to Mom. To quote Steel Magnolias, "I never worry, because I know you are worried enough for the both of us." There are things that make me anxious, however. The top on that list, first by a long stretch, is money. Kevin and I have more than enough, but I have learned through years of crisis that there is no such thing as enough. And everything costs too much. So maybe the fact that I spent so much money recently is the cause of my anxiety, the reason I had to visit the doctor.

I went to the doctor on the advice of a medical website. My doctor is a lovely woman with great hair, a low voice and attentive manner. She explained things and asked questions, listening afterward for the answer. To be on the safe side, she gave me a pregnancy test and did blood work to look at my thyroid activity. She asked about family and personal medical history and for details about my nightmares. It honestly felt like a counseling session. We discussed work, exercise, downtime and marriage.

(I know I will need to state these things directly: I am NOT pregnant. And our conversation regarding marriage was entirely positive.)

Her diagnosis: stress. She is concerned, given family medical history, about risks of anxiety and depression. "You need to lower your stress levels," she told me. "But I'm not sure what behavioral changes to suggest." I don't smoke, drink, consume caffeine, stay up late, sleep in, do work in bed, have the TV on as I sleep or work overtime, she had little to prohibit me. She did say that I need to exercise more and meditate before bed.

But there's one problem with that: those things are chores. They take time and discipline to carry out, precisely the two things I'm running low on. The reason I feel anxious before bed and when I wake is because I don't have enough time, while my to-do list grows. Now I'm told to take a half hour each night to meditate, and another to exercise (but not in that order). That very suggestion stresses me out, as I mentally rearrange my routine and think about the things I am already not doing. Like writing. I haven't touched OneNote since I had to start packing for the move.

This is not to say that I have an all-work-no-play life. The "chores" that I've been doing are fun: shopping from my registry, rearranging furniture, printing and hanging pictures, etc. I have a fabulous plan for a new shelf. But I don't have time for everything I want to do.

I tried to manage my time better, to schedule myself so that I could get around to more, but the micro-schedule made my stomach knot up. I can't tolerate my life being broken down into ten-minute increments. Especially since I know I will break it. My time is not entirely my own anymore, and I have to be flexible if I want to see my husband (who at this very moment is getting what he calls "a taste of his own medicine", waiting at home while I work late). So most of what I assign myself to do in the evenings gets scrapped.

I make accommodations, like cooking on Sunday to have weekday left overs. (You should ask me about my stuffing casserole.) I do all my reading on the bus and avoid cracking a book at home. I also do a lot of planning and list-making at work. If I need to make calls, that happens on my lunch break.

And I try to wake up early. That is really the only solution that will work. Then I can make lunch, so I don't panic when swiping my credit card for over-priced fatty food that makes me fear for my budget and my waist. Then I can work out, so I don't do it too close to bed and raise my adrenaline levels before sleeping. Then I can read scriptures, because the day doesn't suck so much when I do. If I get up early enough I can even dress a little bit less like a hobo, maybe even wear my contacts, and feel more energized at work.

But it is hard to wake up early. To do so means going to bed earlier and thus seeing my husband less, or being sleep deprived, nodding off on the bus and not getting in any leisure reading time.

I try to find a solution, but I go around in circles 'til I'm very very dizzy. And I realize that I am getting too anxious about decreasing my stress. Somehow I don't think this is what the doctor had in mind.

and the dog ate my homework

I have not posted in a long time. I have been busy. It is precisely when the most blog-worthy material is occurring that one has the least time to write.

Since last we met, I have moved. Thrice. Kevin promises that it will be the last time for a good long while. We've even planned out how many triple bunk beds we can fit in our second bedroom and thus how many kids we can have before a larger place is necessitated. By my reckoning the number is 12, but come unlucky child 13 and we'll have to upgrade to a three-bedroom. Luckily that won't be for five or six years, and I'll have plenty of cheap labor to help me pack.

I have also, in the past nine months, planned and executed a wedding. Quite successfully, I might add. I did less well with the honeymoon. (Please don't be juvenile.) Kevin and I discovered that not only did we spend the week in varying degrees of viral-induced agony, but we also don't have a single picture of us together from our honeymoon. I think this calls for a second one, if only to fill the frame I have set aside on an otherwise blank wall for just such a Kodak moment.

I have had two nieces. Yes, the labor was hard, but I came through it okay, and the girls are doing beautifully.

I turned twenty-five. For said birthday, I received OneNote, which has made organizing all my billions of fictive thoughts much easier. I feel ambitious to write again. Though, I promise you, I have not been spending time with my novels instead of my blog. I have been far too busy for either. That will change, however. Though I will never receive a penny for my work, I vow to waste years of my life scribbling away (or tip-tapping away on Eddie, my beloved laptop) on various pieces of aspiring literature.

I survived work at the Co-op during a championship football season. I changed my name. Twice. I have said positive things about Relief Society. I have had approximately 250 nightmares. I have been introduced to Sports Night. I got to spend time with Kevin, which we all know never happened during the courtship. I have built a registry and then purchased nearly everything on it. I have ordered pictures printed and hung a ridiculous number of frames. I am decorating an apartment against the event that we ever have people over to see it. I read regularly. I clean, do laundry, grocery shop, and I even try to make my husband dinner occasionally (it's not working: he's lost weight. I've gained it.)

Anyway, that's why I haven't written.

If you want, you can blame Facebook, which makes emotional outlets so much more accessible. But I'm done with Facebook and its cheap allurements. I have a rant about that, if you care to hear it. In fact, I have several things I can write about (and may eventually.) If anyone is still reading, I am open to suggestions, requests, ransom demands, etc. Popular topics on my mind include why I hate my job and why I can't leave it; what I'm not doing with my talents; my Marxist views on public transit (which is really part of a larger expose' on the general goings-on of the public transit universe); and married life: so, how is it?

And I promise to be better from now on.

night of wicked