Hi all!
I'm back again! For now. I find that instead of writing an immensely long facebook status, I could just write in here! My forgotten blog! Maybe I should rename my blog (again): The Forgotten Blog. Haha.
I don't even remember the last time I wrote here so...here we go:
-->Michael and I play racqetball 2 or 3 times a week now. He taught me how to play. I was AWFUL at first but I can feel myself getting better. It really does eat up time. Love it.
-->Both of the puppies have been neutered. Kuma is 1 year old now! Maximus is 5 months old but just as big as Kuma. They are still destroying things, no matter how many toys are laying around.
-->I discovered Pinterest and I will readily admit I'm addicted. I love finding ideas and inspiration. Here's the link to my page if you'd like to check out things I'm into: pinterest.com/penguin8289
The downside about Pinterest is there is SO many more things I want to do! Incredible crafts. Super tips and tricks for just about anything. Beautiful inspiration for style and decor. I really enjoy it. Unfortunately, it just adds to the incredibly long list of things I want/need to do. Sometimes, that 'list' greatly frustrates me. I figure if I tried to get all of the things accomplished I wanted to, I might get 3 hours of sleep. Maybe. Here are some of the things on my 'to do' list that I can think of off of the top of my head:
Work full-time (8-5)
Laundry
Dishes
Groceries
Cooking dinner
Make lunch
House Cleaning
Walk/train/play with the dogs
Prayer/Bible Reading
Working out
Double-dates
Dates
Yard Work
'House-making'
Bible Study/Worship Team
Dinner with Family/In-Laws
Read (both fiction & non)
You probably look at that and think that I need to pick my priorities. You'd be right. I have been trying, especially since I realized my frustration and complaining about any of the above affects my husband. It truly does. He tells me often how miserable I am because I feel so helpless to do what I feel I need to do (working full time eats up SO much of my day!). Then, a broadcast I was working on caught my attention and I had never though about it and he hadn't either, but it made sense: he was becoming frustrated because he can't fix it for me. He can't just magically change our circumstances. When I realized this, I came to the conclusion that I could suck it up and make it work. So, I've decided on a few things I'm going to focus on to help me feel more productive. Goals below!
-Walk dogs in the morning. This one is quite literally a chore. I hate getting up early. And Maximus is NOT good on a leash yet.
-Make lunch the night before. We're trying to get out the door closer to our 7:30 goal.
-Each night, pick either dishes or laundry to do. (We can't run them both or it all backs up into the tub and toilet!)
-Play racquetball at least 2 times a week.
-Keep trying to read my Historical reading plan for the Bible. I keep falling behind, but I can't let that get to me or I won't continue at all.
Those are just a few of the things I'm trying to concentrate on. I want to be joyful and productive and sometimes that is hard. I pray that taking these baby steps will help me get there.
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Houston, we have a problem...
There is this thing called 'nesting' to which I have been recently introduced. Nesting is usually defined as something a pregnant lady does ("Baby is coming. Must clean!!!"), but it is not uncommon for newlywed wives to also have this urge to build a home.
Feminists would absolutely balk at this. That would mean that women are instinctually mothers. I wonder how they explain their sudden needs to clean and decorate. I believe that women are generally hardwired to lean toward certain tendencies that define what is feminine. Nesting is certainly one of those things.
Nesting is a LOT of fun if you can do it. You clean and de-clutter and rearrange and decorate. You make the space that is yours much more your own. You get this sudden urge to make it better. Make it perfect. Scrubbing, painting, moving, selling, giving away, buying. Revamping!
Just this past weekend, my hubby and I made the move from his grandmother's basement to his parents' house. We are switching places with them. I use the term 'switching' in the present participle because we are still in the process. To give you an indication, my man and I agreed at lunch that moving into an empty house is much easier. That's why I'm calling Houston about a problem. My nester is jammed!
Part of my problem is that I've had a long time to imagine (fantasize?) about what I could do with the space once we decided we had made the trade. I think I have arrived at many unrealistic visions for not only our current monetary situation but also the shape of the space. Not to mention, my vision is not like my husbands. We had a funny moment the other day about his posters. Michael has quite a collection of posters. We moved the TV into place and looked at the blank wall space above it. Michael wanted something there, and he said he had something in mind but I wouldn't like it. He was right! It was a Simpsons poster that looked like the Soprano's logo. I'm ok with that in the computer room, I said, but not the living room.
Yet, my husband is the best thing for me during this. My jammed nester is both frustrating and overwhelming to me. There is so much left to do! Michael calmly tells me to take it one room at a time, assures me we will get it done, and instructs me not to take on the whole house at once or I will breakdown (like I did today at lunch!). His logic is good for my emotions. :)
Tonight, we go home to unpack some more and make room for our wedding gifts which have been sitting unopened in my parents' basement since the wedding. At some point, we'll un-bury our boxes of kitchen stuff and we'll buy groceries so I can start cooking and baking. SO EXCITED for that.
Until next time, I'll be nesting and packing and unpacking and trying my best to keep my nester unjammed.
Feminists would absolutely balk at this. That would mean that women are instinctually mothers. I wonder how they explain their sudden needs to clean and decorate. I believe that women are generally hardwired to lean toward certain tendencies that define what is feminine. Nesting is certainly one of those things.
Nesting is a LOT of fun if you can do it. You clean and de-clutter and rearrange and decorate. You make the space that is yours much more your own. You get this sudden urge to make it better. Make it perfect. Scrubbing, painting, moving, selling, giving away, buying. Revamping!
Just this past weekend, my hubby and I made the move from his grandmother's basement to his parents' house. We are switching places with them. I use the term 'switching' in the present participle because we are still in the process. To give you an indication, my man and I agreed at lunch that moving into an empty house is much easier. That's why I'm calling Houston about a problem. My nester is jammed!
Part of my problem is that I've had a long time to imagine (fantasize?) about what I could do with the space once we decided we had made the trade. I think I have arrived at many unrealistic visions for not only our current monetary situation but also the shape of the space. Not to mention, my vision is not like my husbands. We had a funny moment the other day about his posters. Michael has quite a collection of posters. We moved the TV into place and looked at the blank wall space above it. Michael wanted something there, and he said he had something in mind but I wouldn't like it. He was right! It was a Simpsons poster that looked like the Soprano's logo. I'm ok with that in the computer room, I said, but not the living room.
Yet, my husband is the best thing for me during this. My jammed nester is both frustrating and overwhelming to me. There is so much left to do! Michael calmly tells me to take it one room at a time, assures me we will get it done, and instructs me not to take on the whole house at once or I will breakdown (like I did today at lunch!). His logic is good for my emotions. :)
Tonight, we go home to unpack some more and make room for our wedding gifts which have been sitting unopened in my parents' basement since the wedding. At some point, we'll un-bury our boxes of kitchen stuff and we'll buy groceries so I can start cooking and baking. SO EXCITED for that.
Until next time, I'll be nesting and packing and unpacking and trying my best to keep my nester unjammed.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Transition
So the wedding is over.
The honeymoon is over.
Real life is back.
And it's not 'normal.'
When I was little, I was the Queen of Homesick at slumber parties. We'd get ready for bed, lay down, and I'd listen to all of the unfamiliar sounds and just panic. Not much later, I would be on the phone with my mom or dad begging them to come pick me up. It was the unfamiliar that set me on edge. The sounds. The smells. The routine. It wasn't like 'at home.'
I finally grew mostly out of my homesickness by middle school. I was able to cope a little bit better with the unfamiliar. Then, I moved to college. I went through a whole new kind of homesickness: the kind where there is no calling home and getting picked up and escaping the unfamiliar. I had a few breakdowns within the first month, but then school became the new normal. The new familiar. It was still hard for the next 3 years whenever I left my family and home, but it got better because school was my second home. Then later, the house I rented at school was a second home.
In each of these stages in my life, though, I knew that eventually I would be going home. Home to the house I grew up in. Home to the people I grew up with. Now I am in a new stage of life. A new state of life transition. In this stage, I am making a new permanent home. My new permanent home is with my Husband. This stage is so much harder than I ever imagined. It's hard to grasp the gravity of the event when while you're dating and engaged, the only thought you have is that you're tired of saying goodbye and you simply want to spend all of your time with your loved one. After that thought though, you return to the familiar and you're robbed of the impact.
Well, that impact has hit full force now. It is compounded by the fact that we currently do not have our new permanent home. My nesting impulse is completely confounded. I want to clean and decorate and rearrange and make a space ours. But today, we're still in limbo, waiting for some sense of stability. We are in a holding pattern for the next 2 weeks (we decided together). I feel lost as to how to make this work. It is so unlike anything else I've experienced. I find it hard not to withdraw. So, I need to reach out.
I reached out to my mother for help, and this was her advice to me: It's all about attitude. Pray for help with your attitude. When I was 14, I went on a mission trip to Ukraine as a spoiled American brat. I came back different. I went again 2 more times, the last during college. Right before I went on that trip, my attitude about life was awful. I was fighting with everyone and downright depressed and miserable. After going on the trip, my perspective was changed again. My mom's advice continued:
And make new peace with the new 'normal.'
The honeymoon is over.
Real life is back.
And it's not 'normal.'
When I was little, I was the Queen of Homesick at slumber parties. We'd get ready for bed, lay down, and I'd listen to all of the unfamiliar sounds and just panic. Not much later, I would be on the phone with my mom or dad begging them to come pick me up. It was the unfamiliar that set me on edge. The sounds. The smells. The routine. It wasn't like 'at home.'
I finally grew mostly out of my homesickness by middle school. I was able to cope a little bit better with the unfamiliar. Then, I moved to college. I went through a whole new kind of homesickness: the kind where there is no calling home and getting picked up and escaping the unfamiliar. I had a few breakdowns within the first month, but then school became the new normal. The new familiar. It was still hard for the next 3 years whenever I left my family and home, but it got better because school was my second home. Then later, the house I rented at school was a second home.
In each of these stages in my life, though, I knew that eventually I would be going home. Home to the house I grew up in. Home to the people I grew up with. Now I am in a new stage of life. A new state of life transition. In this stage, I am making a new permanent home. My new permanent home is with my Husband. This stage is so much harder than I ever imagined. It's hard to grasp the gravity of the event when while you're dating and engaged, the only thought you have is that you're tired of saying goodbye and you simply want to spend all of your time with your loved one. After that thought though, you return to the familiar and you're robbed of the impact.
Well, that impact has hit full force now. It is compounded by the fact that we currently do not have our new permanent home. My nesting impulse is completely confounded. I want to clean and decorate and rearrange and make a space ours. But today, we're still in limbo, waiting for some sense of stability. We are in a holding pattern for the next 2 weeks (we decided together). I feel lost as to how to make this work. It is so unlike anything else I've experienced. I find it hard not to withdraw. So, I need to reach out.
I reached out to my mother for help, and this was her advice to me: It's all about attitude. Pray for help with your attitude. When I was 14, I went on a mission trip to Ukraine as a spoiled American brat. I came back different. I went again 2 more times, the last during college. Right before I went on that trip, my attitude about life was awful. I was fighting with everyone and downright depressed and miserable. After going on the trip, my perspective was changed again. My mom's advice continued:
At this point, tell yourself I can withstand anything for 2 weeks. Then think of all you saw in the Ukraine . . . it might help put things in perspective. It is not what you envisioned for yourself, but maybe it is right where you should be . . .Thank you, Mom. I guess I need to just breathe, rearrange and clean what space I have left, and pray desperately for God's help to help me see past the discomfort, the unfamiliar and the unstable. All the while, I need to enjoy every second I have with my husband. Find the joy in the moment.
And make new peace with the new 'normal.'
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