MIA

Work has gotten the best of me these last few weeks. If you've been following me at all this year you'll have noticed my less than stellar 2011. However, things have taken a wonderful turn and I'm now enjoying 2011. :) It almost doesn't seem to matter that my nose is full of... well, let's just say I'm not the healthiest at the moment. I apologize for my lapse in posts, but I will be up and going in a week or so. In the meantime, celebrate my new outlook with some chocolate :)

Family

I visited family I haven't seen in ten years (or more) last month. It was nice :) and strange. I can't help but think of my relatives as they were when we were young. And while we were closer back then, we really don't know each other now. Isn't it funny how much you still care for and love people you barely know? I'm hoping that over the next several years, even though we are far from each other, that we are able to get at least half of that closeness back from when we were so small.

Enjoy your family this fourth :)

S U M M E R

S is for sleeping in.

U is for the umbrella - for sun!

M is for Minecraft

M is also for movies, specifically Harry Potter.

E is for eating ice cream and popsicles.

R is for relaxing and reading.

Surviving

Work has not been so great lately, folks. It's really depressing when you feel like going to work is like the worst part of your week. Most people (at least it seems like it) don't feel super excited everytime they get up and go to work, but it isn't necessarily the downer part of their day. I'm hoping that the feeling doesn't last because hating to go to work makes the rest of the day gloomy too. But I'm surviving.

I'm trying to find things that make my day better and wishing on the first star every night that things will improve.

Sun

I'm waiting for sunshine. No more cold and ick.

A friend gave me lemons and I'm literally making lemonade.

I went roller skating for the first time in years...and didn't fall :)

We're healthy here.

All I need now is sun.

Shiny!

Shiny and new. These are my hopes are for 2011. Last year was a bust. A year ago today I was suffering from a sever case of strep throat. I ended up on a heavy duty antibiotic (because the normal meds wouldn't have been strong enough O.o). Two months later I was fighting a cold that turned into whooping cough. It is better known as the 100 day cough...and it was. The coughing didn't stop until the end of June. My doctor misdiagnosed me which s*cked! I ended up with pleurisy and on 800mg of Ibuprofen. That stuff numbs ya. I wrenched my shoulder and didn't know until I was off the meds. By the end of summer I was sleeping on one side of my body because my sinuses were plugging up me ears at night. In the fall I was the victim of the common cold twice. A relief, right? But the sinus thing was getting worse. I've just finished the last round of meds to help clear that up.

So, yeah. I want lots of shiny and new. Shiny new health included.

Calm

...before the storm.

I like November. It's my birthday. While I don't insist on receiving birthday gifts (getting too old to do the whole birthday party thing), B always gets me something I really want. :)

We get a first peek at the holidays. I get several days off work so the holiday months go quickly. That can be bad, but it makes the work year slide into the home stretch. Like before I know it, it's spring.

But, as far as the actual work goes, the load gets really heavy. It's like it knows those holidays will make me happy and does its best to knock me down a peg or three.

So let me share the happy while it's still calm. My birthday present :) :) :)

Full

My brain is full. Did you ever stop and think about how much you think?

Well, that was what I opened with. Then I typed out all the stuff on my mind and accidently deleted it. My brain has too much to think about already much less remembering what I put in here the first time!

To sum up birthdays, parties, work, A's work, B's procrastination, bills, Minecraft, and massive amounts of stuff on DVR.

Are you experiencing full brain?

Reflecting

I was going over my Me posts because I didn't have any really important information to impart for September. I decided to look at my resolutions...seeing as how the year will be 3/4 done at the end of the month.

I will clean the house. I was partially successful in that I can see my sofas and the kiddos have taken to playing in the room. I will clean out my closet did not happen, although some of my shirts went to the give away pile. I will use the Wii Fit and I will clean out and wash my car also did not happen. Okay, I'm sad about those.

I will beat my current score on Scramble which is on Facebook and I did that as well as get addicted to a new game. I will buy a new pair of jeans happened happily. Shopping :) I will buy a new laptop fell by the wayside, but I still have the holidays to rectify that. I will finish that story I'm writing stalled out this August, but I worked diligently on it. I'm thinking I'll be close by December.

I will hug the kiddos more often, I will tell the B that I love him, I will figure out how to cook at least one meal for the family all happened. I think the kids are going to go catatonic if I smother them anymore. The food was a sort of chicken and biscuits dish that I am thinking of improving. Go Me! I will write thank you cards is a work goal and now that I'm back to that we'll see.

Look for another update in December along with my annual quotes post. Where are you on your resolutions?

Sundays

I have this thing about Sundays. Because the next day is Monday. Sunday is the day before I have to go to work. My mind and body start their weekly panic attack. I'll have to get up early. I have to think about what to wear. I have to think about lunches for the kiddos... and my lunch. I worry about my gas tank, my agenda, and my time management. Sunday is a day that I hate to have places to go because it means I'm not relaxing right before bed. It's like my yoga not to be fully engaged in anything slightly mentally or physically taxing on a Sunday night.

What is this crazy going on about you ask? August is like a big giant on-mega-steroids Sunday night. And Monday is knocking.

Freedom

I must be getting lazy. Lazier, rather. In my old age. And I add that because it sounds much better to say I'm 100 years old and lazy than 10 and lazy. I've been forgetting my "Me" posts with regularity. Granted, they are only up once a month, but when I can't even be bothered to do that much when I'm on vacation then I know there are problems with my motivation.

So July, eh? I did manage to do some cleaning. No where near the intended cleaning. But after 10 hours of scrubbing, washing, packing, moving, and yelling (the kids), I couldn't find the energy to do it again any time soon. Besides I'm working on my book reading goal. I cannot vacuum Fruit Loops out of the sofa and read at the same time.

July also brings with it the knowledge that my vacation is at its peak. I get to spend the next ten days here enjoying the height of summer then I'll be thundering down the backside of the mountain to my return to work. Joy.

Until then, strawberry lemonade (Simply Lemonade blended with frozen strawberries) and chocolate chip cookies to you. Don't say it! The pounds will come off when I have to start hauling this body back and forth to work. :)

Hmmm

Summer's coming! I'm so excited to get summer this year. I really need to clean house, and I actually think I might get it done. We were planning to travel, but I got sick and won't be well until the end of June - so I figure no trips this year. Plus I had to fork out $200 on medicines for the sick :(

Wish me luck getting things organized and finished over the next two weeks so I can enjoy my summer!

Attachment

I've just spent the last four days without one of my children. A was sixty miles away from the rest of the family. I was scared to death. I seriously don't know how I'm going to handle it when she gets older.

Sick

I'm sick.

Coughing.

Hacking.

Snotting.

Sick.

And it's spring break. Who hexed me?

Resolutions

Did you make one?

I didn't, but I should have.

I will clean the house.
I will clean out my closet.
I will use the Wii Fit.
I will clean out and wash my car.

Those sound really good. But how about...
I will beat my current score on Scramble.
I will buy a new pair of jeans.
I will buy a new laptop.
I will finish that story I'm writing.

Too selfish, huh?
I will hug the kiddos more often.
I will tell the B that I love him.
I will figure out how to cook at least one meal for the family.
I will write thank you cards.

Eh, this is all stuff I should be doing anyway. What resolution? It's life!

Frightful

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful..."
And this month is far from delightful.

Yeah, so not the holiday spirit. But I'm trying not to feel like scrooge so hard it's causing more stress. The kiddies are full of the sickies. If it's not one it's the other, like their having a race to see who can vomit first and best. Okay, a little exaggeration, but the tummy hurts, the head hurts, there's a fever here, and a lot of snot there...

I bought Christmas cards early, but they aren't addressing and signing themselves. Imagine that! I think another year is going to go by without a tree...or decorations. 'Cuz the house won't clean itself either, and there isn't anywhere to put the tree.

Last but surely not least, this month always starts with the dreaded work project. Every year it's the worst time of the year. The stress is palpable.

Here's to hoping that a few days before Christmas, there's honest to goodness joy around here.

Time

When did getting old happen?

Abraham Lincoln: And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

Yes, that is true. Life your life to the fullest and get the most out of everyday. But what if what I really want is to not do much? Will I still feel like I've lived my life to the fullest? I want to believe that I should be just as pleased with my years if I do what I want than if I go skydiving or travel.

"Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative."
"Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many."

That's also been a problem in my thoughts lately. If I think I'm getting older then so are my parents, my in-laws. Being old isn't so bad when you think of it that way.

Satchel Paige: How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?

I think this is the way I should think about my age. Forget my BMI and the wii Fit giving me grief about my balance or muscle tone. If I didn't say my age, how old would I be?

Eggs

Lots of eggy things happening. I finished the latest round of Hatchlings in first place for my area. YEA! I can't handle that kind of stress right now though. So no going this round. I don't think I'll be up for devoting that kind of time until next spring or summer.

I have another friend with a baby girl on the way. That's a happy egg ;) I'll be using my former egg hunting time to crochet. I can't give it away more than that because she might be reading.

B bought some sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit things at the store the other day. They are supposed to be healthy because they are made with low fat sausage and egg white. What kills me (somewhat literally) is the sodium content - yikes! Now that's if I can get past eating eggs at all. Yes, I tried one. No, I didn't puke. Can we get another yea? I still can only eat one a week.

Chaos

The movements were frenetic. The volume was deafening. The atmosphere was filled with nervous energy. As a defense mechanism I pulled away from the noise and the swirling action. I hovered like an out of body experience over the din, thankful for the reprieve from the chaos. But the doom was quick to settle over me, a cloud on a clear horizon. It was reality, the knowledge that I couldn't live on the periphery forever. I felt it tug on my tether, and I dreaded my return.

And thus begins September.

Sigh. I know. I'll live.

Traveling

This has been an interesting summer. I've been able to devote many hours to Hatchlings, of which I'm completely addicted. I've been able to read, even checking out a new branch of the library and thus expanding my pool of reading material. But the highlights include traveling - yup, from the person who hates to travel.

Don't get me wrong, I still hate to travel. Here's a news article that just exacerbates my fears. (What gets me is that they didn't do a thing until someone important got something stolen.) However, I did some amazing things with family and friends, like get more of my family tree filled in, visit a city and its sites that I'd never seen, see an old friend, and pick up a new hobby! (I know, like I need one - couldn't resist.)

So anyway interesting summer!