Category: personal

Currently In December

Current Book(s): I’m reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer. It’s highly mediocre: just good enough so that I want to finish and know how it ends. I’ve also been listening to an audiobook called Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky. I never would have picked it out myself, but my husband brought it home for me from the library one day simply because I lived in Kansas for 4 years. It’s actually not bad.

Current Playlist: I’ve whipped up my Christmas playlist and am loving every minute of it. I hate the Christmas music on the radio, but I can’t get enough of the music I’ve acquired over the years. Here are the albums in rotation: Andrew Peterson – Behold the Lamb of God, Eleven Eleven Band – Christmastime, Sarah McLachlan – Wintersong, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Over the Rhine – Snow Angels, Your King Has Come. Of course I’m always open to new music, so let me know if I’m missing anything essential!

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: Taking a complete and total break from exercising. It’s amazing how much less guilt I feel when I don’t even plan on it. I spent a couple of weeks intending to exercise every day, and when it didn’t get done I felt terrible. Now I’m just like, “Nope, not doing it right now.” (Although my plan is to start triathlon training again after the new year, so I’m enjoying this while it lasts.)

Current Color: For Christmas I like pastel greens and jewel tone reds.

Current Drink: Haven’t had any yet, but I absolutely love wassail during the holidays. Can’t wait to try making some myself!

Current Food: Christmas cookies! Time to start baking up a storm.

Current Favorite Show: I’m not watching any current shows, but David and I are still going through The Office on Netflix.

Current Wishlist: All the items on my Christmas list, but what I’d especially like right now that doesn’t fit into our budget is more good Christmas albums, some house slippers, knitted boots, and more cold-weather clothes.

Current Needs: To regain my confidence at work. An accumulation of small mistakes and unwelcome, trivial criticism has me feeling like I’m a new nurse all over again.

Current Triumphs: Completing NaBloPoMo with very few cop-out posts. My goal was to have good content every day and refrain from whining about the task. For the most part, I think I accomplished that!

Current Bane(s) of my Existence: Cold weather. I’m not adequately prepared for it, and it came so suddenly! This morning my husband turned on the heat, and I only protested a little bit.

Current Celebrity Crush: I guess if I have to think about this one for too long, it’s probably not really a crush, right? Guess I don’t have one.

Current Indulgence: The aforementioned not exercising, Christmas cookies, and turning the heat on.

Current Blessing(s): A husband who knows exactly what to say to make me feel better about myself, doctors who don’t get upset when I bother them because of a silly mistake, warm socks and a warm home.

Current Outfit: My #3 soccer sweatpants from college, a blue Old Navy fleece, and fuzzy socks. In a few hours I’ll find the energy to change and venture out into the world, but not yet.

Current Excitement: I’m looking forward to seeing The Pioneer Woman this Saturday with Chelsea and Lauren. (My secret is that I’m more excited about seeing Chelsea and Lauren than The Pioneer Woman. Also, I need to buy her book, and quick.)

Current Mood: I am well-rested and intent on accomplishing much today. Happy, for the most part, although thinking about work puts my stomach in little knots.

Current Link: I love the blog Style Lush. It’s written by a group of women around my age, and features anything and everything that they enjoy or think is pretty. Recently they put out a pretty great holiday gift guide.

Happy December!

December 2, 2009
#87: Complete NaBloPoMo

Today is the last day of November, and the last of my daily posts. I’ll be honest; there were times that it was a strain. I went through a lull in motivation about halfway through, but then I learned to plan ahead a little bit and came in strong for the finish. I challenged myself to be creative, to just write something even if it wasn’t great, and I did it. As cliche as it sounds, I do have a sense of satisfaction in completing this task.

Posting every day isn’t something that is a priority for me to continue, but I have gotten into the habit and I think I’ll be a lot more frequent than I used to be. I really appreciate everyone who has encouraged me this month, who have told me how much they enjoy my daily posts. I love the creative outlet that my blog is to me, but the main reason I keep it up is because of the community and the people. Thanks, y’all.

November 30, 2009
Relinquishing Goal 26

Number 26 on my 101 goals list is to learn CSS/HTML/PHP well enough to design and run my website independently. After much thought, equivocating, and some internal growth on my part I have decided to intentionally NOT complete this goal.

The reason it ended up on the list in the first place is because I am committed to my blog and I like it so much better when it looks nice. I admit it, when I visit a new blog I totally judge its appearance. I won’t not read a blog if it’s badly designed, but if I like the way it looks then it has a higher chance of succeeding with me. I’m sure other people are the same way. (Come on, ‘fess up!)

Right now I have an extremely complicated theme running which doesn’t allow for easy editing. I came to be in this conundrum because my brother is a graphic and web designer, and in the past he has done the bulk of the work for me. After awhile I became weary of my old design, and felt exasperated waiting on my brother to change it. I don’t blame him at all, because he has a full-time job and no computer at home (crazy, right?). So I hastily switched to my current theme without knowing how difficult it would be to work with. There are many things I want to change about it, but can’t on my own. So I wrote goal #26, because I want to be able to do what I want with my blog, when I want.

The problem is that as much as I try to get into learning this website stuff, I don’t enjoy it like I wish I did. It’s not something I can sit down and master in a few hours, and I don’t want to immerse myself in anything I don’t love. I would much rather spend my time on other goals, or with people who matter to me. Giving up on this goal is like breathing a sigh of relief. I’m okay with my blog being “good enough” and not perfect. I plan to search high and low for a user-friendly theme that I love that will work for me, switch over, then do minimal editing from there until it looks pretty. And if that doesn’t work, I can always resort to flattery, bribes, or threats to get the help I need. :)

November 28, 2009
The Day After

I woke up at 9:30 a.m. today, and that is approximately eleven hours of glorious sleep. The only reason I even left the bed was because my husband got up, and I couldn’t bear the cold room without his warm body next to me. I have mentioned that I have refused to turn the heat on in the house, right? But did I also say that my husband still insists on turning the fan on full blast at night? Waking up is a beast.

So after a hot shower I promptly planted myself in our recliner by the fire, underneath a blanket, and commenced reading. Four days ago I realized that the library book I checked out for book club, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, was due in two days and I had barely even begun. It’s not up for renewal since there is a waiting list, and I want to minimize my fines. I spent the next few hours finishing the book, which was quite good, but by the end my nose and fingers were too cold for comfort.

I steeled myself and marched out to the garage, where David was busily cleaning his truck. I announced my presence and stated, “I came to tell you that I think it’s time we turn the heat on inside.” I expected cheers, hugs, and falling at my feet. He had, after all, been asking to turn the heat on for the past two weeks. Instead, I got an adamant “NO!” Not quite what I had in mind.

I argued that today was the first time I’d been home all day and just could not get warm. I promised that we’d still sleep close at night. I rationalized that we’d have to turn it on eventually. But apparently my principles have rubbed off on him these past weeks, and he told me to suck it up, put on more clothes, and move around to get warm.

Back inside, grumpy yet strangely proud, I put on another sweater and decided to take on a cooking project to raise my body temperature. Since we already had dinner plans, I figured I’d prepare a slow cooker meal that I could turn on the next morning before work and that way we’d have a hot meal when I get home tomorrow night. So I started working on this beef stew, which I had been planning to try soon anyway. Only problem was I didn’t realize how long it would take, and in the middle of it I discovered I didn’t have time to finish before we had to leave. Into the refrigerator it all went, and the meal will just have to be postponed another day.

We went to our dinner exchange meal at Scott and Vanessa’s, and this time David’s best friend, his wife, and their two children came too. I’m afraid I wasn’t much company in that I started getting sleepy around 6:30 p.m. and barely rubbed two words together the entire evening. But I did quite enjoy watching my husband interact with 7-year-old Gwen and 4-year-old Jacob. They made up a game called “Nice To Meet You” in which they shook hands and took turns saying, “Nice to meet you ________.” Any word could go in the blank, any word at all. The only rule was you couldn’t duplicate. You can imagine how long this could last, and it did. At least 30 minutes straight. I’m not sure who had more fun, the kids or David. One thing is for sure, I can’t wait to make him a dad.

Sadly, I have to work again this weekend. I would much rather be braving the chilly air at home with my husband, even if it meant frozen fingers and noses.

November 27, 2009
Thanksgiving

I shouldn’t have left the LOLcats off my list yesterday. I am extremely thankful for them. :)

Right now I’m long since out of my jeans and into my comfy PJ’s. I’m dozing off in a lounge chair by the fire. What a holiday is Thanksgiving! Entirely devoted to gratitude, family, and FOOD. Just wonderful. Happy day from my family and me!

November 26, 2009