Well, I think I am finally going to be caught up! Hah. It's not that I don't like blogging or that I don't have time for it..... Au contrair! I actually have plenty of time for it. I just feel like.... Well, honestly, there's like NO ONE who reads it, and I post so much on my Facebook, I just feel like no one would want to re-read a recap of my life. I already get plenty of flak for posting so much of my life on Facebook, anyways. Well, I know there are plenty of people in my life that don't have Facebook or that don't use Facebook very regularly, so I figure I'll just keep plugging along and if you want to read, fine. If not, no worries. :)
So October! It was a rather fun month. The first week of October found us moving into a new place. We moved in with a roommate... someone we found on Craigslist who was renting out a furnished room with a walk-in closet and a full, private bath. It was close to where Frank's hospital is, and it wasn't that much further from our church. The guy even told us about how much he wanted this place to be a blessing to someone who needed the help. It's a fully furnished apartment in a really nice gated complex. He worked night shift Monday through Friday, and then on his weekends he supposedly was out in Garland, TX to spend time with his girlfriend. It seemed too good to be true. It would cost us almost $1000 less per month than we were spending at that point, living in the hotel. We had a washer and dryer to use, free internet, and complete access to a fully furnished kitchen (which meant I could cook again!). He told us about the church he attended and asked if we were Christians, saying that was very important to him (that whomever move in be Christians as well). Well, we agreed it seemed to be a great match and we left him some personal and professional references and the check for first month's rent. Well, I will say, moving in with him has definitely given me plenty of analogies to pull from, if I ever get back to youth ministry (currently our church does their youth meetings on Sunday mornings, which is when I'm in children's.... so I had to make a choice, and children's seemed to be the place God has me now). For instance, you know how Satan tries to make sin look fun and enticing? Like, it's all shiny looking and new and like nothing could go wrong? That was what this apartment was like! We started moving in and slowly, piece by piece, we found more and more wrong with it. First, the refrigerator was full of spoiled foods, and something that had turned mushy and hairy in the crisper draws. I won't even begin to describe the smell.... Let's just leave it at "it was bad". Then getting into the pantry, again.... all the foods were past their expiration date. I think the most recent date I came across (in both the pantry and the fridge) was something from Jan of 2012. Like I said. BAD. "Ok", I thought, "No worries. I can clean this out." We continue unloading into our room. Thankfully, the bed in there was a queen size, which is all we've ever slept on, so our sheets would fit just fine. So I start changing sheets. There is this white powdery junk that is coating the mattress. I mean, like, it just "poofed" into the air when I pulled the mattress off, and it Would. Not. Go. Away. So I pull out my trusty Kenmore vacuum cleaner and start vacuuming the mattress. Guess what! Apparently there were all kinds of body fluids that had been expelled onto the mattress. I can only pray it was only urine. (I know his son lived with him for 5 years, but when he moved in he was already 9...... seriously!?) So I flipped the mattress and put our cover on it, praying God would just make it go away. We finish unloading and getting settled in the room, then finally brave the staircase again (Oh yeah, this is a 3rd floor apartment, with no elevator. SUCH FUN! *sarcasm*) to go grocery shopping. My wonderful husband has decided he wants to make his infamous chicken-bacon-pasta (oh yes, the reason we have no utilities at all is because we arranged with our roommate to leave him a plate of food every time we cook a meal, and that I would take care of the household chores in the common area), because he thinks it'll impress our roommate..... and because he wanted to eat it himself. So we gather all the ingredients and make our way back up the daunting staircase. Frank begins cooking while I'm in the bedroom continuing to try and make it "ours" now. I start smelling something.... not normal, and as I come our of our bedroom and make my way to the kitchen, I hear my handsome husband going "Um.... Umm... UMMMM..... I don't think this is right!" Sure enough, there was smoke billowing out from under the pot he had set to boil the pasta. So I told him to move it off the eye, thinking maybe there was something stuck on the bottom of the pot. Hah, nope. As soon as he lifted the pot, flames start leaping up from the eye. Frank starts freaking out and trying to figure out what to do with it. He thinks we should smother it, which sounds like a great plan..... but we don't have any metal pots except the one he was holding, and all our lids are glass (what happens when glass meets flame? Yeah, like we need glass to explode over top the flames... Sheesh). So I begin to open the cabinets, looking to see if our roommate maybe had a metal pot or lid we could use. No sooner do I put my hands on the knobs than I realize this will not work out well. Everything was coated in a film of grease. Yeah, lets add a grease covered item to the flames. THAT'S gonna work out well. So. I blow the stupid flames out. Yup. I almost hyperventilated, but I blew those suckers out. So then we start looking. Hah, guess what? Our roommate apparently has no idea what it means to clean..... at all! The reason the stupid thing caught fire in the first place? There was about an inch thick layer of grease on the drip pan under the electric coil. So we let it cool down, and Frank lifted it out to try and wash it so we could at least finish cooking. When he did..... I almost cried. That area underneath the stovetop but on top of the oven? There was at least two inches of grease and something else that looked just nasty swimming under there. So before we could cook anything else (minus that dinner.... we were too tired to try and do anything else but finish the dinner plans), I was going to have to scrub the kitchen down. So that's what I did. The next day I hit Target. I invested in at least 2 sets of rubber gloves that would go up to my elbow, about 9 sponges and scrubbing pads, a dust pan (to help scoop all that junk out of the oven... cause yeah, it was bad too) and multiple de-greasers and cleaners. Took me two days, but finally we had a livable house. So. I start in on the laundry. I cannot for the life of me figure out why nothing will dry in the dryer. So I get the bright idea to check the lint filter. I had to pry that puppy out of its hole with a butter knife, because of how thick its lint was layered. I clean it off and whaddya know? The dryer dries! So then I think to myself "Self, we had better check the a/c unit's filter... likely that hasn't been checked either." Sure enough, it was NASTY. So off I go to find a place to get one to fit this very specific hole in our apartment (later I discovered the maintenance people are supposed to do that.... because they left a note on our door apologizing for how late they were with coming around to change it. Apparently they were short staffed, and were about two months behind in that particular chore. Well, I waited around the whole day they were supposed to come change it so I could tell them I had already done it and to please leave that filter alone... and they still never showed up. So whatever.) and then bring it home, douse it generally in some essential oils and put it in. That night, we try to sleep and it would NOT cool down.... So I get up to check the unit... Hah, the wall piece's battery was dead. So yeah, we basically completely renovated this place. Frank joked that God sent us to this place because we needed to keep our roommate from setting fire to the entire complex.... only the sad part is, it's probably true!
Anyways, that was the first week. Thank goodness we had a trip planned. The second weekend of October is always the Rice Harvest Festival back home in Katy. I had not been able to attend one since October of 2000, and since I was *this* close, I determined to make my way back there for it. I just couldn't miss another one! So, I talked about how excited I was about it with Shaela while I was over at her place one day and got a brilliant idea! We could leave Friday after her class, and head home Sunday before she had to be at work... why didn't she come too!? So she got excited about it. We planned it all. We would be staying out in Cat Spring with my relatives (some of my favorite relatives, I may add!) and then drive into Katy on Saturday for the festival. Well guess what.... It rained. And not just a little drizzle that we could work through. I'm talking the streets turned into rivers. So, we had speed-walked through most of the festival booths in about 2 hours before the torrential rains began, so we caught the shuttle back over to Katy Mills Mall and decided to eat lunch there in the food court and then walk around the mall for a bit, and see if maybe the rain would go away and we could head back. I think Shaela was in like, shopper heaven. Or maybe that was more like shopper shock... not sure. She was just in awe at how big the mall really was. So after the mall, we decided to show Shay our favorite bookstore.... Katy Budget Books. I think she was a little skeptical of it when we told her it was literally just floor to ceiling, rows and rows of books. Hah, yeah no. We walked in the doors, I heard this small gasp, and then like a flash, she was gone. Took me about 45 minutes to find her again! We weren't joking. It's a book worms haven, for sure. So we hung out there and got a few books, and then were kicked out... They were ready to close, haha. So we enjoyed our jaunt over to Katy, and I had such fun driving around my old hometown and getting to show it off to Shaela .... "This is the road named after my family... this is the park where I had my 5th birthday party at.... that's the fire-station my father used to volunteer with, and they let me have my 4th birthday there and get rides on the trucks and ambulances... that's the house that my family built by hand, over many years and with many prayers.... That's the old church we used to attend..." and on and on and on. I'm pretty sure she was ready for me to shut up by the time we left Katy, but I was just in hog-heaven. So that Sunday we headed back to Dallas/Ft. Worth, and were all pumped and ready for the week to get going. See, that was the 13th... Shaela's birthday was the 17th... and her sister Ali and Ali's boyfriend Daniel were scheduled to fly in for an extended weekend trip. I don't know if I've mentioned Ali and Dan before... but Ali has been like a sister to me for ages now, just like Shaela, and it'd been about 3 months since I'd gotten to really spend any time with her, and it'd been even longer since we'd seen Daniel. Frank always wanted a little sister, and yes, in marrying me, he got three... but in reality, he got more like 5, because he also got Ali and Shaela. He's become so overprotective of those two, it's not even funny. I'm pretty sure he'd walk through fire for those girlies. Anyways, he's also become attached to Daniel. And now that Ali and Dan have been together for almost 18 months, you almost can't even mention one without the other. It's not "if" they'll get married, it's "when" now. I think we've all accepted it (well, except for maybe her daddy... lol). So anyways, Frank and Dan have this great "brother" relationship thing going. Frank just absolutely loves to spend time with those two. So we were just giddy with excitement to see them (even though they really were just coming to Shaela, not us lol). So Thursday we picked up Shaela and headed to DFW airport to wait on them to come in. After much hugging and jumping up and down, we collected the single suitcase they checked and then hit the road. Ali was insistent that we find a place to take pictures, so we narrowed down that she wanted some done outside. I googled for parks in the area, and we headed off. Apparently Google doesn't understand what "parks" is supposed to reference. We ended up in the middle of some office buildings. Well, we can always make do with what we got, and there was a lovely field with a single picnic table across the street from the buildings (I seriously hope that's not what they meant as "parks" with Google.. that's just wrong). So we piled out of our van and began the half-hour photo session. Then we narrowed down where we wanted to go for dinner and headed out to Mi Cocina, a really classy Tex-Mex place. It was REALLY good, and surprise! it happened to be in the center of this outdoor mall. So after stuffing ourselves, we walked around this mall and into shops and got coffee (where I apparently ruined their fun and got in trouble by correcting the barrista when he called out their "names"... cause the girls had decided to give him fake names.. unbeknownst to me!) and then headed waaaaaaay across the way to Charming Charlies. We had fun hanging out and making the guys pick one piece of jewelry they thought their ladies would like, and then seeing if their choice went over well or not. Then we traipsed across the now-dark parking lot back to our car and headed back to Shaela's apartment for a movie. The next day, Frank and I got to hang out with Ali and DanDan while Shay had class, and then we headed back to our place that evening when the three of them got ready for dinner and their water gardens trip. Frank had to say goodbye that night when we left, because he had to work Saturday and Sunday, so he wouldn't see them again before they left. On the way home, he was very quiet and I'm pretty sure there was at least one tear. He even said (very softly and sadly) "I'm gonna miss them again." But Saturday I headed over to Shaela's, made a big 'ol breakfast for everyone (fruit, bacon, French toast, and my "special coffee" for Ali) and then we headed out to the Dallas Arboretum for some fun and lots of walking. (Dan is a horticulture guy.... so anything with plants and flowers is right up his alley!) We had fun walking around and taking pictures and seeing all the pumpkins (something like 50,000 pumpkins were on display there for fall). We also were enjoying the weather. I think DFW knew we had outdoor plans that weekend and decided to put her best food forward for us with some beautiful low 60 temps and a nice breeze (in reality, God was just holding up His end of the bargain with Ali... she has Him on speeddial when it comes to weather requests lol!). Then for "lunch" (which was really more like dinner, by nearly 5) we headed over to the food trucks in Ft. Worth and everyone got something different, and we sat and talked. Then I had to say goodbye and head back to Dallas area so I could pick up Frank from work.
Then, the following Thursday the 24th, I got invited by Shaela to come attend her school's chapel service, because the Duggar family (of 19 Kids and Counting) would be there speaking and signing autographs. I was so excited, I couldn't stop smiling! I love their family, and have for years. They're an amazing example of homeschooling, large families.... I just love everything they represent. Anyways, I enjoyed their singing and recitations. At one point, I was just in tears... And it wasn't the point when everyone else was. I started crying while they were reciting the "Armor of God" passage together. Why? Because I missed my family so much, and because their family made me realize how much I missed them and how lonely I felt. So, all 18 of their kids are lined up on the stage and reciting the Armor of God passage and the rest of the audience is clapping and smiling.... and there I sit, just sobbing. I'm pretty sure people thought I was pretty crazy. Oh well. Anyways, I bought one of their books and got them all to autograph it and got the chance to talk with them all. I had such a fun time!!
The rest of October passed without much fanfare. We lost power here in the apartment for almost an entire day.... Never did find out why. We discovered our roommate doesn't really spend all his weekends with his girlfriend.... And that he doesn't just have a girlfriend.... he really has 4 different girls that he filters through. He also smokes inside, which he swore he didn't do. And also, he got swapped to dayshift on his job... So it's been interesting getting adjusted to all of that. Anyways. That's it. All of our October adventures. Maybe sometime tomorrow (or heck, if I'm bored, maybe later today!) I'll get the first part of November up. If I start posting more often, the posts should be much shorter!
Well, have a great day!! :)
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Friday, November 1, 2013
An even LONGER time in coming: August/September, part 2
Wow, ok. I procrastinated this. Now here it is, November 1st, and I'm only finally going to finish the "story" of our August/September. I guess the best way is going to be to try and summarize everything. It'll give you the general idea and update you (for anyone who actually even reads this) on what's going on with us.
Ok, so to wrap up that weekend in August. We helped settle Shaela into her apartment that weekend, the 16th and 17th of August. We took her, her dad Jack and her mom Traci to dinner and introduced them to Chuey's (you're welcome guys, haha) and then had fun wandering around Target searching for the items on Shaela's list to get her apartment livable.. and I discovered then that I would be spending many more days with Shaela helping her to "learn" how to shop; meaning I pointed out things like "acetaminophen" IS Tylenol, and its got twice as much as the "Tylenol" brand for $1 less, or that Target brand laundry detergent smells the same as the other stuff and is a couple dollars cheaper. I got a kick out of her initial reactions.... and then I felt a surge of pride when I followed her down the cereal aisle and she grabbed a Market Pantry (Target) brand of cereal instead of the Post brand. Anyways, we did what we could over those couple of days to help her feel settled and help her folks feel better about leaving their baby in a strange new place, over 700 miles from home. So August wrapped up with Frank working the last of his night shifts. The last week of August, we quietly headed out from Dallas to go Pensacola. Unbeknownst to one of my best friends, Angela, I had been assisting another friend of ours with planning a surprise birthday party for her. This was to be the first birthday without her mom here to celebrate with her, and she was feeling very disheartened and sad about that. So to cheer her up, we started the idea about the party. It worked out, because it was the tail end of Frank's day shifts, so we could drive out there and spend the time on days doing things, and then drive back and just STAY on days (finally!). So we went and stayed at Hotel Royalpappa in Pensacola and had the chance to visit with everyone. That Saturday, August 31st, was the surprise party. We managed to make it all work! Bill (Angela's husband) took her out for what looked like an early anniversary day of thrift store shopping. We were hosting the party at their church's fellowship hall, and Heidi and her crew got there mid morning to get things set up. I picked up the sub sandwiches we were using from WalMart, then rushed over to Angela's house to get her crew of 7. See, we knew it was likely she'd see all the cars (not alot of places to hide them all!) and figure out that SOMETHING was going on.... but I wanted to keep my presence there a surprise until the very end (I know, I'm sneaky). So I had to make sure my van wouldn't be at the church, so she couldn't catch a glimpse of it. So I arranged with Bill to let their oldest daughter in on what was going on, and work out for him to leave the keys to their 15 passenger van, and I would go over, take all of them in their van and head to the church. So sure enough, we get there, get everything set up, people show up, cars are hidden, and suddenly some little one (honestly not sure who) shouted "They're coming!" so we all quieted down as they parked and came in. As I suspected, Angela saw someone's car as they were parking, so she was already a little aware and opened the door with a smile, braced for the big "SURPRISE!" we all shouted. I was standing off to the side and waiting.... I still wanted it to be a surprise! So comes into the doorway and it happens... she saw Frank (who was standing more in the middle of the crowd with my phone, which was acting as our camera), so she started looking for me. Angela and I have been through an AWFUL lot together. She's as close to me as any of my real sisters could be. Before we moved, I spent probably 2-3 days a week doing things with her. So since the end of May, I had seen her twice. As soon as she found me and we made eye contact, it was all over. She was crying, I was crying.... We just hugged and cried. And then I got a smack for not telling her I was coming to town. (See? Sisters.) So we enjoyed our visit and spent Sunday with my brother and his wife, and then with the Royappa's on Monday where Frank got to spend some time playing a few tabletop games... and managed to keep us in Pensacola til nearly 7 that evening. So we made about half the trip.. Drove about 5 hours out of the 10, stopping right on the border of Mississippi to get a hotel and sleep for a few hours. As we drove out of Pensacola, I cried for probably 3 hours. I was emotional for various reasons, but the biggest was that I had lost the feeling of "home" that Pensacola had once had. I suddenly had ZERO attachments. Oh yes, there were tons of friends and people that are "like-family" there. But my HOME was gone. Even when we'd lived in our own place, my parents place was our "home", even to Frank. It held all our "home" memories with each other. And that place now sat empty. My big-little brothers weren't there to ask us to get sushi or play disc golf. My sisters weren't around to talk with or play cards with. My parents weren't there... no one was cooking in mom's kitchen. I had NO HOME. The enormity of that hit me. Right now, I still don't have a "home". But I've dealt with it better than I was dealing that night. I mean, I was "ugly crying". I think Frank was scared for me, honestly. Well we finally made it back to Dallas, to the hotel. We unpacked and we just relaxed, for the next day we'd be back to regular life.
So September! Frank is on dayshift, and I spend about one day a week out in Ft. Worth with Shaela. Then the second weekend of September, I managed to come down with the flu! Loads of fun. A fever that (I will neither confirm nor deny) may have been over 103. Upset stomach. Violent shakes. Nightmares when I could finally sleep. I had the works. And I was stuck in a hotel while Frank had to work. I was blessed enough that one of the front desk guys took pity on me. He used his own money to buy me a couple 20 oz Sprites from the vending machine and brought them to me. I of course paid him back. But the fact that he helped me out when I felt like I had no one was so awesome. Then after I picked up Frank from work that night (one car... I still had to do my wifely work), he went to Walmart and grabbed some applesauce, some sprite, the makings for chicken and dumplings, and some brothy soup. I was set for the next few days. I had to cancel my nursery shift that Sunday, and I agonized over it. I hated cancelling like that, and was so worried they'd think me a flake and kick me out of nursery (they didn't). Well, I managed that Sunday evening to make the chicken and dumplings. It took about three times as long as it normally does, because I kept having to go sit down, but I made it! I ended up missing the very first day of the women's Bible study I had joined at our church, because Monday afternoon I was still running a fever. I couldn't risk getting any of our ladies sick! (Side note, if you ever have a chance to do a Lisa Harper study, do it. If you get a chance to do her Malachi study, JUMP FOR JOY.) Anyways, I finally got better and was back to normal. The rest of September passed uneventfully for the most part. Car broke down and got fixed again, and we obtained our Texas residency. Then we started working hard with our budget, and decided to try and cut down our biggest expense: RENT. So to craigslist we went! We were unable to afford a short-term lease place, those cost more than the $1600 the extended stay place was costing. Plus we needed something furnished, since we own NOTHING. So we were looking for, ideally, a person with a house that needed someone to help supplement bills. We were praying for an older person, maybe someone who could use help around the house and with cooking and such, since I'm home most days. Well, we found a place. It's an apartment, and its not an older person. It's a middle-aged divorced guy, who'd had his teen son living with him until recently, so he had a fully furnished bedroom with a private bath and walk-in closet. Downfall?? It's on the 3rd floor, and there's no elevator. *sigh* Well, that SEEMED like the only downfall at the time. We moved in on September 30th, and started to get settled (btw, its saving us nearly $1000/month). That evening we were making dinner. Frank set the stove on fire! Not on purpose, and not through any fault of his. The stove top was FILTHY.. the drip pan under the electric eye was caked with grease and dried food droppings, and it caught fire when he turned the eye on "high". So we took it out to clean it off. The underneath of the stove top (you know, the place where you can normally lift up and clean out when you spill stuff?) was full of about an inch and a half thick layer of....... I honestly don't know what. It was black. Smelled funny. Looked like a lard or jelly kind of consistency. My heart sank. This was what was under the "looks like a great place" exterior.... what else would we find?? Well, over the next two days, we discovered the A/C unit needed a new filter, the floors needed vacuuming, the entire stove and oven combo needed a thorough cleaning (took me 2 days, a half can of that EZ oven off stuff, two pairs of rubber gloves, 2 4-packs of scrubbing pads, and LOTS of soap, hot water and degreasing spray), the cabinets needed cleaning, fridge needed cleaning and emptying (food that was 3 years old still in use), pantry needed to be gone through for expired items (in other words, everything needed to go into a trash bag), and the lint filter of the dryer had to be pried out of its hole and the 3-inch layer of lint needed to be cleaned. I felt so overwhelmed and like we had made the biggest mistake possible. But after the first week was up, it seemed to be ok. We have since discovered a few things that are mildly disturbing, but I'll save that for later.
Alright. Now we're at least caught up and all I have is October to talk about! So. I will hopefully get that up before the next month is up, and then we'll be all caught up! :) If you took the time to read all of this, I hope you enjoy keeping up with my life! And maybe reading about my life will help you remember to keep me in your prayers too. I promise I need them!!
Blessings to you and yours!
Ok, so to wrap up that weekend in August. We helped settle Shaela into her apartment that weekend, the 16th and 17th of August. We took her, her dad Jack and her mom Traci to dinner and introduced them to Chuey's (you're welcome guys, haha) and then had fun wandering around Target searching for the items on Shaela's list to get her apartment livable.. and I discovered then that I would be spending many more days with Shaela helping her to "learn" how to shop; meaning I pointed out things like "acetaminophen" IS Tylenol, and its got twice as much as the "Tylenol" brand for $1 less, or that Target brand laundry detergent smells the same as the other stuff and is a couple dollars cheaper. I got a kick out of her initial reactions.... and then I felt a surge of pride when I followed her down the cereal aisle and she grabbed a Market Pantry (Target) brand of cereal instead of the Post brand. Anyways, we did what we could over those couple of days to help her feel settled and help her folks feel better about leaving their baby in a strange new place, over 700 miles from home. So August wrapped up with Frank working the last of his night shifts. The last week of August, we quietly headed out from Dallas to go Pensacola. Unbeknownst to one of my best friends, Angela, I had been assisting another friend of ours with planning a surprise birthday party for her. This was to be the first birthday without her mom here to celebrate with her, and she was feeling very disheartened and sad about that. So to cheer her up, we started the idea about the party. It worked out, because it was the tail end of Frank's day shifts, so we could drive out there and spend the time on days doing things, and then drive back and just STAY on days (finally!). So we went and stayed at Hotel Royalpappa in Pensacola and had the chance to visit with everyone. That Saturday, August 31st, was the surprise party. We managed to make it all work! Bill (Angela's husband) took her out for what looked like an early anniversary day of thrift store shopping. We were hosting the party at their church's fellowship hall, and Heidi and her crew got there mid morning to get things set up. I picked up the sub sandwiches we were using from WalMart, then rushed over to Angela's house to get her crew of 7. See, we knew it was likely she'd see all the cars (not alot of places to hide them all!) and figure out that SOMETHING was going on.... but I wanted to keep my presence there a surprise until the very end (I know, I'm sneaky). So I had to make sure my van wouldn't be at the church, so she couldn't catch a glimpse of it. So I arranged with Bill to let their oldest daughter in on what was going on, and work out for him to leave the keys to their 15 passenger van, and I would go over, take all of them in their van and head to the church. So sure enough, we get there, get everything set up, people show up, cars are hidden, and suddenly some little one (honestly not sure who) shouted "They're coming!" so we all quieted down as they parked and came in. As I suspected, Angela saw someone's car as they were parking, so she was already a little aware and opened the door with a smile, braced for the big "SURPRISE!" we all shouted. I was standing off to the side and waiting.... I still wanted it to be a surprise! So comes into the doorway and it happens... she saw Frank (who was standing more in the middle of the crowd with my phone, which was acting as our camera), so she started looking for me. Angela and I have been through an AWFUL lot together. She's as close to me as any of my real sisters could be. Before we moved, I spent probably 2-3 days a week doing things with her. So since the end of May, I had seen her twice. As soon as she found me and we made eye contact, it was all over. She was crying, I was crying.... We just hugged and cried. And then I got a smack for not telling her I was coming to town. (See? Sisters.) So we enjoyed our visit and spent Sunday with my brother and his wife, and then with the Royappa's on Monday where Frank got to spend some time playing a few tabletop games... and managed to keep us in Pensacola til nearly 7 that evening. So we made about half the trip.. Drove about 5 hours out of the 10, stopping right on the border of Mississippi to get a hotel and sleep for a few hours. As we drove out of Pensacola, I cried for probably 3 hours. I was emotional for various reasons, but the biggest was that I had lost the feeling of "home" that Pensacola had once had. I suddenly had ZERO attachments. Oh yes, there were tons of friends and people that are "like-family" there. But my HOME was gone. Even when we'd lived in our own place, my parents place was our "home", even to Frank. It held all our "home" memories with each other. And that place now sat empty. My big-little brothers weren't there to ask us to get sushi or play disc golf. My sisters weren't around to talk with or play cards with. My parents weren't there... no one was cooking in mom's kitchen. I had NO HOME. The enormity of that hit me. Right now, I still don't have a "home". But I've dealt with it better than I was dealing that night. I mean, I was "ugly crying". I think Frank was scared for me, honestly. Well we finally made it back to Dallas, to the hotel. We unpacked and we just relaxed, for the next day we'd be back to regular life.
So September! Frank is on dayshift, and I spend about one day a week out in Ft. Worth with Shaela. Then the second weekend of September, I managed to come down with the flu! Loads of fun. A fever that (I will neither confirm nor deny) may have been over 103. Upset stomach. Violent shakes. Nightmares when I could finally sleep. I had the works. And I was stuck in a hotel while Frank had to work. I was blessed enough that one of the front desk guys took pity on me. He used his own money to buy me a couple 20 oz Sprites from the vending machine and brought them to me. I of course paid him back. But the fact that he helped me out when I felt like I had no one was so awesome. Then after I picked up Frank from work that night (one car... I still had to do my wifely work), he went to Walmart and grabbed some applesauce, some sprite, the makings for chicken and dumplings, and some brothy soup. I was set for the next few days. I had to cancel my nursery shift that Sunday, and I agonized over it. I hated cancelling like that, and was so worried they'd think me a flake and kick me out of nursery (they didn't). Well, I managed that Sunday evening to make the chicken and dumplings. It took about three times as long as it normally does, because I kept having to go sit down, but I made it! I ended up missing the very first day of the women's Bible study I had joined at our church, because Monday afternoon I was still running a fever. I couldn't risk getting any of our ladies sick! (Side note, if you ever have a chance to do a Lisa Harper study, do it. If you get a chance to do her Malachi study, JUMP FOR JOY.) Anyways, I finally got better and was back to normal. The rest of September passed uneventfully for the most part. Car broke down and got fixed again, and we obtained our Texas residency. Then we started working hard with our budget, and decided to try and cut down our biggest expense: RENT. So to craigslist we went! We were unable to afford a short-term lease place, those cost more than the $1600 the extended stay place was costing. Plus we needed something furnished, since we own NOTHING. So we were looking for, ideally, a person with a house that needed someone to help supplement bills. We were praying for an older person, maybe someone who could use help around the house and with cooking and such, since I'm home most days. Well, we found a place. It's an apartment, and its not an older person. It's a middle-aged divorced guy, who'd had his teen son living with him until recently, so he had a fully furnished bedroom with a private bath and walk-in closet. Downfall?? It's on the 3rd floor, and there's no elevator. *sigh* Well, that SEEMED like the only downfall at the time. We moved in on September 30th, and started to get settled (btw, its saving us nearly $1000/month). That evening we were making dinner. Frank set the stove on fire! Not on purpose, and not through any fault of his. The stove top was FILTHY.. the drip pan under the electric eye was caked with grease and dried food droppings, and it caught fire when he turned the eye on "high". So we took it out to clean it off. The underneath of the stove top (you know, the place where you can normally lift up and clean out when you spill stuff?) was full of about an inch and a half thick layer of....... I honestly don't know what. It was black. Smelled funny. Looked like a lard or jelly kind of consistency. My heart sank. This was what was under the "looks like a great place" exterior.... what else would we find?? Well, over the next two days, we discovered the A/C unit needed a new filter, the floors needed vacuuming, the entire stove and oven combo needed a thorough cleaning (took me 2 days, a half can of that EZ oven off stuff, two pairs of rubber gloves, 2 4-packs of scrubbing pads, and LOTS of soap, hot water and degreasing spray), the cabinets needed cleaning, fridge needed cleaning and emptying (food that was 3 years old still in use), pantry needed to be gone through for expired items (in other words, everything needed to go into a trash bag), and the lint filter of the dryer had to be pried out of its hole and the 3-inch layer of lint needed to be cleaned. I felt so overwhelmed and like we had made the biggest mistake possible. But after the first week was up, it seemed to be ok. We have since discovered a few things that are mildly disturbing, but I'll save that for later.
Alright. Now we're at least caught up and all I have is October to talk about! So. I will hopefully get that up before the next month is up, and then we'll be all caught up! :) If you took the time to read all of this, I hope you enjoy keeping up with my life! And maybe reading about my life will help you remember to keep me in your prayers too. I promise I need them!!
Blessings to you and yours!
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Long time coming.... August, part 1
So for the last nearly year, we've had radio silence about some of the plans my parents were making. It was imperative for their business that we kept things completely quiet, and tight-lipped. They were trying to sell my father's business, and the chance of someone finding out that they were planning to do what they were planning could seriously injure their chances of selling, or getting a fair price. So. My parents had decided to move out of the country. For anyone who knows us or them, you already know they've moved. So. My entire family (minus my married brother) moved to Guatemala on August 14th.
August in general was a really terrible month for us. My parents were supposed to have left Pensacola on the 1st and come out to Texas to be able to spend time with family and friends before they moved. But on the 30th of July my mother received a phone call that her father was back in the hospital (he almost died at the start of July) and it didn't seem like it'd be that much longer. So they postponed the trip. Because Frank had made the sacrifice to take a week off between contracts (his first contract ended on the 10th of August and he chose to not start the new contract until the 18th... no work in between those dates), we were already taking a week with no pay. The downside of his job is that he gets no paid time off or sick days. The company would give him the time off, but he wouldn't have gotten any kind of pay for that time. Sadly, we were unable to afford taking two weeks without pay. So on August 2nd, my mothers family finally decided it was time to let my grandfather pass and stop prolonging his life. He was put on a palliative care floor and everything except pain medicine was discontinued. From that Friday evening, none of my mother's family left the hospital until my grandfather passed. As anyone with medical or end of life training knows, someone at the end of their life can hold on far longer than any doctors or professionals may predict. My grandfather held on until August 6th. He passed on the day between my mother and my grandmother's birthday (which I know is horrible, but I was praying for that... not that day particularly, but that he wouldn't pass on either birthday; I didn't want my mother to always remember her birthday as the day her daddy died, and I didn't want my mom or aunts to remember their mothers birthday as the day their daddy died. God heard my prayers on that.). So my family left on Thursday the 8th to head to Birmingham for the viewing and stayed overnight for the funeral and family time the next day, Friday the 9th. Now, we had discussed driving up to Birmingham and coming in early Friday morning to make the funeral.. We could've made it work. Until we took our van into the shop to get work done so we could pass state inspections. Turned out to need alot more work than we initially expected. Not only was it barely done by close of business on Friday, it also cost over $2000 more than we expected it to cost.... not because the shop charged us too much, in fact, if anyone ever needs work done, I highly recommend you look up and see if there is a Christian Brother's Automotive near you. They did amazing work, are Christian owned (scripture on the walls, Christian music playing in the lobby), and they charged me a price comparable to the price for the work my parents had to have done in Pensacola on their own van (same exact work). It was just more than we expected to pay because we weren't aware that the van needed that much work. So we were not able to make the funeral. So continuing on with the time-frame.... My parents left for Pensacola Friday afternoon, spent all afternoon and evening packing, and got up Saturday and drove from Pensacola (leaving "home" permanently) to Waller, TX (to drop off the trailer loaded with all their belongings they were taking to Guatemala), and then over to Cat Spring, TX. My parents planned to spend Saturday (still just the 10th of August) with my first cousins once-removed (my grandfathers cousins) and then go see my great-great aunt (cousins' mother) for what would most likely be the last time, since they are now living in Guatemala and my Aunt Jennie just turned 99 on September 3rd. Then on Sunday the 11th, they were going to be driving into Houston to meet Frank and I at Pancho's Mexican Buffet (mine and my siblings favorite restaurant from our childhood) for lunch. Well, what they didn't know was that we arranged to drive in to Cat Spring and stay with my cousins (who we call Aunt and Uncle) on Saturday so that we would be there and surprise them when they came in. So that Saturday they arrived around 11 at night. Frank and I hid in one of the back bedrooms, and after they had all come out and were milling around the kitchen, we came walking out. The first one to see me was Evelyn, and she shrieked and started running... so the other girls looked. I almost got knocked over by three screaming teenage girls (a minor Justin Bieber moment for me, lol) before the rest of my family even realized I was there. So we got to add a few extra hours onto the visit with my family. July took forever to pass, the first 10 days of the month of August passed with excruciating snail-speed, and then those 4 days with family passed with lightening speed. It just wasn't fair. We didn't get a lot of sleep, but we maximized our visiting hours. And Wednesday morning when they left, a lot of tears were shed. I think I lost an hour of my life that Wednesday afternoon. We were staying with some lifetime friends of ours (known me since I was 18 months old), and they were gracious enough to allow me to just fall apart. I remember climbing into the shower and turning the water on hot (and I NEVER take hot showers) and then just standing under the water and crying. When I finally got out, I looked at the clock and 90 minutes had passed since I last looked at the clock. We spent a couple hours visiting with my adopted family and eating lunch, then ran some errands to take care of stuff for my parents. That late afternoon we went over to my cousins house and there we stayed for the last couple days of our Katy trip. Tim, Tracie and their boys made us feel at home and loved... It was a great visit. Friday the 16th when we came back to the Dallas area, we headed over to Ft. Worth and spent the evening helping get my "adopted little sister" settled into her new apartment at her new college. It was nice to be "needed" that weekend, and definitely helped me not feel so lost. The more I keep busy and the more I do, the less I miss my family. Then we were back into the daily grind of real life, with Frank back at work and me keeping "house" here in the hotel.
Well, this seems long enough for now. I'll post another update and finish filling you in on the last half of August and the start of September sometime in the next couple of days. :) Thanks for reading!
August in general was a really terrible month for us. My parents were supposed to have left Pensacola on the 1st and come out to Texas to be able to spend time with family and friends before they moved. But on the 30th of July my mother received a phone call that her father was back in the hospital (he almost died at the start of July) and it didn't seem like it'd be that much longer. So they postponed the trip. Because Frank had made the sacrifice to take a week off between contracts (his first contract ended on the 10th of August and he chose to not start the new contract until the 18th... no work in between those dates), we were already taking a week with no pay. The downside of his job is that he gets no paid time off or sick days. The company would give him the time off, but he wouldn't have gotten any kind of pay for that time. Sadly, we were unable to afford taking two weeks without pay. So on August 2nd, my mothers family finally decided it was time to let my grandfather pass and stop prolonging his life. He was put on a palliative care floor and everything except pain medicine was discontinued. From that Friday evening, none of my mother's family left the hospital until my grandfather passed. As anyone with medical or end of life training knows, someone at the end of their life can hold on far longer than any doctors or professionals may predict. My grandfather held on until August 6th. He passed on the day between my mother and my grandmother's birthday (which I know is horrible, but I was praying for that... not that day particularly, but that he wouldn't pass on either birthday; I didn't want my mother to always remember her birthday as the day her daddy died, and I didn't want my mom or aunts to remember their mothers birthday as the day their daddy died. God heard my prayers on that.). So my family left on Thursday the 8th to head to Birmingham for the viewing and stayed overnight for the funeral and family time the next day, Friday the 9th. Now, we had discussed driving up to Birmingham and coming in early Friday morning to make the funeral.. We could've made it work. Until we took our van into the shop to get work done so we could pass state inspections. Turned out to need alot more work than we initially expected. Not only was it barely done by close of business on Friday, it also cost over $2000 more than we expected it to cost.... not because the shop charged us too much, in fact, if anyone ever needs work done, I highly recommend you look up and see if there is a Christian Brother's Automotive near you. They did amazing work, are Christian owned (scripture on the walls, Christian music playing in the lobby), and they charged me a price comparable to the price for the work my parents had to have done in Pensacola on their own van (same exact work). It was just more than we expected to pay because we weren't aware that the van needed that much work. So we were not able to make the funeral. So continuing on with the time-frame.... My parents left for Pensacola Friday afternoon, spent all afternoon and evening packing, and got up Saturday and drove from Pensacola (leaving "home" permanently) to Waller, TX (to drop off the trailer loaded with all their belongings they were taking to Guatemala), and then over to Cat Spring, TX. My parents planned to spend Saturday (still just the 10th of August) with my first cousins once-removed (my grandfathers cousins) and then go see my great-great aunt (cousins' mother) for what would most likely be the last time, since they are now living in Guatemala and my Aunt Jennie just turned 99 on September 3rd. Then on Sunday the 11th, they were going to be driving into Houston to meet Frank and I at Pancho's Mexican Buffet (mine and my siblings favorite restaurant from our childhood) for lunch. Well, what they didn't know was that we arranged to drive in to Cat Spring and stay with my cousins (who we call Aunt and Uncle) on Saturday so that we would be there and surprise them when they came in. So that Saturday they arrived around 11 at night. Frank and I hid in one of the back bedrooms, and after they had all come out and were milling around the kitchen, we came walking out. The first one to see me was Evelyn, and she shrieked and started running... so the other girls looked. I almost got knocked over by three screaming teenage girls (a minor Justin Bieber moment for me, lol) before the rest of my family even realized I was there. So we got to add a few extra hours onto the visit with my family. July took forever to pass, the first 10 days of the month of August passed with excruciating snail-speed, and then those 4 days with family passed with lightening speed. It just wasn't fair. We didn't get a lot of sleep, but we maximized our visiting hours. And Wednesday morning when they left, a lot of tears were shed. I think I lost an hour of my life that Wednesday afternoon. We were staying with some lifetime friends of ours (known me since I was 18 months old), and they were gracious enough to allow me to just fall apart. I remember climbing into the shower and turning the water on hot (and I NEVER take hot showers) and then just standing under the water and crying. When I finally got out, I looked at the clock and 90 minutes had passed since I last looked at the clock. We spent a couple hours visiting with my adopted family and eating lunch, then ran some errands to take care of stuff for my parents. That late afternoon we went over to my cousins house and there we stayed for the last couple days of our Katy trip. Tim, Tracie and their boys made us feel at home and loved... It was a great visit. Friday the 16th when we came back to the Dallas area, we headed over to Ft. Worth and spent the evening helping get my "adopted little sister" settled into her new apartment at her new college. It was nice to be "needed" that weekend, and definitely helped me not feel so lost. The more I keep busy and the more I do, the less I miss my family. Then we were back into the daily grind of real life, with Frank back at work and me keeping "house" here in the hotel.
Well, this seems long enough for now. I'll post another update and finish filling you in on the last half of August and the start of September sometime in the next couple of days. :) Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
An update!
Ok. There's been a lot rolling around in my head. Lots of different ideas for blogs, I mean. But as a result of thinking through some, I haven't actually put pen to paper.... fingers to keys, I should say.
Time is passing relatively quickly here. Its almost August! Unbelievable. We've been in Dallas now for nearly 2 months. Also unbelievable. We have found a church.... that was our biggest concern coming into the area. But God works in mysterious ways.. through a chance meeting at my cousin's church in Katy, we found out about Bent Tree Bible Fellowship here in Dallas. Its an amazing church. We've been going for 3 weeks now, and we absolutely love it! This past Sunday, as we left the service, Frank and I looked at each other and almost simultaneously comments how much it felt like we were back at Momentum. We met with the children's director right after the service and are going to start volunteering in the children's area. We're looking into Life Groups to join, and hopefully when they start up at the end of August we'll be able to get in one.
Frank is at the tail end of this first contract. They have given him his first extension (yay!), and its actually longer than the initial contract was... we're guaranteed to be here at least 13 more weeks. And chances are really good that this hospital will re-up his contract again, so we'll likely be here until the end of the year, at least. Good news is we won't be on night-shift the whole time we're here. He's been given a day shift slot for the majority of the new contract. He has to work the first two weeks of the new contract on nights, but then after that he'll be on day shift (praise Jesus!).
We moved hotel rooms last week. Knowing that we were going to be here for at least a while longer, we had begun looking into furnished short-term apartments/living facilities, but the problem is that the ones that are in our budget are full, and the ones that are empty are waaaay more than we want to spend. Could we afford it? Yeah. Could we afford it and still save money? Heck no. So we chose to upgrade our room. We moved onto the second floor, which has health benefits. We're nowhere near the one hotel elevator, so we walk the stairs every day. Not that many, I'll grant you. But more than we WERE walking. And this new room has so many advantages. An a/c unit that can REALLY cool the room (provided I don't flub up and shut it off for too long), a "living room" area with a couch (with a bed in it, should anyone wanna come visit!), TV and coffee table, a "dining room" area with a table big enough that it comes with TWO chairs, a separate bedroom that has a door we can shut, a fridge that doesn't leak, a shower head with great water pressure, and a dishwasher that actually WORKS! I feel like we've hit the jackpot here, haha.
Basically that's all for now. We're headed over to Katy to visit with some family and friends in a couple weeks.. Looking forward to that. I'll update again later!
Time is passing relatively quickly here. Its almost August! Unbelievable. We've been in Dallas now for nearly 2 months. Also unbelievable. We have found a church.... that was our biggest concern coming into the area. But God works in mysterious ways.. through a chance meeting at my cousin's church in Katy, we found out about Bent Tree Bible Fellowship here in Dallas. Its an amazing church. We've been going for 3 weeks now, and we absolutely love it! This past Sunday, as we left the service, Frank and I looked at each other and almost simultaneously comments how much it felt like we were back at Momentum. We met with the children's director right after the service and are going to start volunteering in the children's area. We're looking into Life Groups to join, and hopefully when they start up at the end of August we'll be able to get in one.
Frank is at the tail end of this first contract. They have given him his first extension (yay!), and its actually longer than the initial contract was... we're guaranteed to be here at least 13 more weeks. And chances are really good that this hospital will re-up his contract again, so we'll likely be here until the end of the year, at least. Good news is we won't be on night-shift the whole time we're here. He's been given a day shift slot for the majority of the new contract. He has to work the first two weeks of the new contract on nights, but then after that he'll be on day shift (praise Jesus!).
We moved hotel rooms last week. Knowing that we were going to be here for at least a while longer, we had begun looking into furnished short-term apartments/living facilities, but the problem is that the ones that are in our budget are full, and the ones that are empty are waaaay more than we want to spend. Could we afford it? Yeah. Could we afford it and still save money? Heck no. So we chose to upgrade our room. We moved onto the second floor, which has health benefits. We're nowhere near the one hotel elevator, so we walk the stairs every day. Not that many, I'll grant you. But more than we WERE walking. And this new room has so many advantages. An a/c unit that can REALLY cool the room (provided I don't flub up and shut it off for too long), a "living room" area with a couch (with a bed in it, should anyone wanna come visit!), TV and coffee table, a "dining room" area with a table big enough that it comes with TWO chairs, a separate bedroom that has a door we can shut, a fridge that doesn't leak, a shower head with great water pressure, and a dishwasher that actually WORKS! I feel like we've hit the jackpot here, haha.
Basically that's all for now. We're headed over to Katy to visit with some family and friends in a couple weeks.. Looking forward to that. I'll update again later!
Monday, July 15, 2013
The "the elephant in the room" post
Well, as you can imagine based on the title of this, I'm going to talk about something that isn't really discussed... the virtual "elephant in the room". My topic? Weight. Specifically, women's weight. I know, its a touchy, volatile subject. Its been something that has spawned some serious emotional issues in my own life, as well as in the lives of people I have known, and those I've never met in real life but have met through the wonderful world of Facebook. This isn't going to be a "accept me as who I am" or "big is beautiful" or "real women look like" style of post. I find those to be degrading to people who are thin, and isn't that what people who are heavy hate having done to them in the first place? Anyways. There really isn't a good way to explain what this will be, except to simply create it. So here goes.
I'm a big girl. Terms that apply to that include (but are not limited to) fat, plus-size, big, overweight, hefty, chunky..... I've heard them all (and more) at least once in my lifetime. My parents tell me that I was a skinny child, but I honestly don't remember it. For all of my memorable lifetime, I have struggled with my weight. I have yo-yo'd back and forth. My closet has always included about 3 different sizes in clothing, because in a 3 week span I could either go up or down in any and all of those sizes. That's been my reality since I was a teen. People aren't always very nice to you when you're big either. The worst part is when its people close to you, be it family or friend. I'm going to give you a list of things that have been said to my face in my lifetime, and all of these have been said to me by either an immediate family member (meaning not some distant cousin) or a close friend. Here we go:
"You have such a pretty face." (Meaning the rest of me isn't worth commenting on.)
"If you would just lose weight you could be such a beautiful person."
"You have a great personality, if you could just lose weight to match it you would be the most desired girl around." (Said when I was still single.)
"You have such a round head, and its not helped by the fact that you're overweight."
"You're so fat, when you get married you're going to need to change in the dark or your husband will be revolted at the sight of you." (Dead serious, that was said to me when I was dating someone... talk about emotional scars, huh?)
There were many, many more than this throughout my life... but this gives you the general idea. The sad thing is that most of these aren't even considered "ridicule". These were almost all said in what was supposed to be a concerned and caring tone. But seriously, come on. Its like a backhanded compliment. It's said to sound nice, but you know that in reality its nothing even close. How would you like it if someone told you "You would look so much better if you just *fill in the blank*." It would make you pretty self-conscious about whatever that blank was.
So here I am. I'm overweight. I have learned how to dress for my figure. I don't wear skin-tight clothing.. I tend to avoid jersey material clothing because it clings. I sometimes buy a size larger than what I really need because clothes *may* shrink in the wash a little, or I may gain a pound or two after I buy them. I've learned. When most people find out how much I weigh, they're shocked. (No, I'm not gonna put it out here in the interwebs.. just... no.) So I guess I do a good job of hiding my weight. Plus I carry it relatively well. Over the last three years I've gained a pooch I didn't use to have, but I think it comes with the reason why I gained weight over the last three years to begin with (fertility hormones... different post for a different time). But other than that pooch, my weight has always been distributed very evenly.
Anyways, the reason I wrote this blog. It's actually been about 2 years in the making. See, after we got married, I started making strides to change my lifestyle. Slow changes, nothing incredibly erratic. Altering the kind of foods we buy.. making smarter choices in where we eat out... changing the way I cook and what I cook with.. Just small changes that have been adding up over time. For a short-lived period, we had a gym membership and worked out regularly (until I overdid it and gave myself an injury that just threw me off track.. and I never really got back into "gym" workouts after that). Anyways, a gentleman I've known for nearly ten years said something to me about 2 years ago while I was at church. It sparked this train of thought, and I wondered just how many people think like he did... I say "did", because I think I changed his mind after we talked a little bit. Here's what he said:
"I'm so glad to see you losing weight! I've been worried about you all this time. I know you always have a smile on your face, but I just felt like underneath you really couldn't be happy, not being as big as you were. I don't think big people can really be happy, not with the problems they have to face in life because of their size."
I was a bit taken aback with that. I mean, really??? Because I'm bigger I can't be happy?? Because I'm big, I've gotta be sad inside? If this is how you feel then..... Ok. Let's debunk this right here, right now. I'm a Christian. My joy, my happiness.. its not found in how I look. It's not found in what I wear, or the size of what I wear... its not found in anything material. My joy is in the Lord, and Him alone. Does He want me to be miserable and focus only on the parts of me that get me down? No! I am confident that so long as I am healthy (can be physically active for decently long periods without getting short of breath, can run for at least a half mile [ya know, in case I'm ever running from a boogey man], don't have any health problems and can pass a physical, minus the BMI chart thing), He doesn't care what my physical body looks like.
Don't get me wrong. Because yes, I have struggled with being content with myself. Not because God placed those feelings in me, but rather Satan used the words of those closest to me in my formative years to play on my emotions and self esteem. It's taken nearly 4 years of marriage for me to believe that a man finds me attractive. And I'm not gonna lie, I don't always see why my husband is as attracted to me as he is. But I don't put on a fake smile because of it! I know that my husband loves me, I know that he is attracted to me, and I'm quite confident that he is sexually satisfied (sorry Mom for the TMI!). I also know that I'm a great friend. I have friends of all shapes, sizes, colors and backgrounds... and I know that they all know they can come to me with anything, at any time. I know that I'm going to be a great mom. I have worked with kids most of my adult life in some shape and fashion. I still work as often as I can in our church nursery, and I can get down on the ground, chase kids around, squat to meet eye level with no problem at all. I'm a happy, satisfied, loved woman. I just happen to wear a larger clothing size than you do. That's all there is to it.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not roaring about how I'm big and I'm gonna stay big and you just need to deal... Not in the slightest. I'm actually using Plexus slim and its been helping me get healthier over time. My life, my HEALTH, is a marathon, not a sprint. If it changes fast, its more likely to change back just as fast. If weight changes slowly over time, its more likely to stay off. So I'm going for the long run. If that means I only lose 15 pounds a year, then so be it.
So. In closing! (Yes, this rather bouncy blog is finally coming to an end!) If you know someone who is big... be it a coworker, a church member, a family member, or a friend.. Love them. Encourage them. Point out their positives and tell them they're loved and they're appreciated for exactly who they are. Make sure that you don't add to whatever emotional baggage they already have. Let them know they're loved and accepted just the way they are, warts and all. It very well could be a life changing moment for them... and for you as well.
I'm a big girl. Terms that apply to that include (but are not limited to) fat, plus-size, big, overweight, hefty, chunky..... I've heard them all (and more) at least once in my lifetime. My parents tell me that I was a skinny child, but I honestly don't remember it. For all of my memorable lifetime, I have struggled with my weight. I have yo-yo'd back and forth. My closet has always included about 3 different sizes in clothing, because in a 3 week span I could either go up or down in any and all of those sizes. That's been my reality since I was a teen. People aren't always very nice to you when you're big either. The worst part is when its people close to you, be it family or friend. I'm going to give you a list of things that have been said to my face in my lifetime, and all of these have been said to me by either an immediate family member (meaning not some distant cousin) or a close friend. Here we go:
"You have such a pretty face." (Meaning the rest of me isn't worth commenting on.)
"If you would just lose weight you could be such a beautiful person."
"You have a great personality, if you could just lose weight to match it you would be the most desired girl around." (Said when I was still single.)
"You have such a round head, and its not helped by the fact that you're overweight."
"You're so fat, when you get married you're going to need to change in the dark or your husband will be revolted at the sight of you." (Dead serious, that was said to me when I was dating someone... talk about emotional scars, huh?)
There were many, many more than this throughout my life... but this gives you the general idea. The sad thing is that most of these aren't even considered "ridicule". These were almost all said in what was supposed to be a concerned and caring tone. But seriously, come on. Its like a backhanded compliment. It's said to sound nice, but you know that in reality its nothing even close. How would you like it if someone told you "You would look so much better if you just *fill in the blank*." It would make you pretty self-conscious about whatever that blank was.
So here I am. I'm overweight. I have learned how to dress for my figure. I don't wear skin-tight clothing.. I tend to avoid jersey material clothing because it clings. I sometimes buy a size larger than what I really need because clothes *may* shrink in the wash a little, or I may gain a pound or two after I buy them. I've learned. When most people find out how much I weigh, they're shocked. (No, I'm not gonna put it out here in the interwebs.. just... no.) So I guess I do a good job of hiding my weight. Plus I carry it relatively well. Over the last three years I've gained a pooch I didn't use to have, but I think it comes with the reason why I gained weight over the last three years to begin with (fertility hormones... different post for a different time). But other than that pooch, my weight has always been distributed very evenly.
Anyways, the reason I wrote this blog. It's actually been about 2 years in the making. See, after we got married, I started making strides to change my lifestyle. Slow changes, nothing incredibly erratic. Altering the kind of foods we buy.. making smarter choices in where we eat out... changing the way I cook and what I cook with.. Just small changes that have been adding up over time. For a short-lived period, we had a gym membership and worked out regularly (until I overdid it and gave myself an injury that just threw me off track.. and I never really got back into "gym" workouts after that). Anyways, a gentleman I've known for nearly ten years said something to me about 2 years ago while I was at church. It sparked this train of thought, and I wondered just how many people think like he did... I say "did", because I think I changed his mind after we talked a little bit. Here's what he said:
"I'm so glad to see you losing weight! I've been worried about you all this time. I know you always have a smile on your face, but I just felt like underneath you really couldn't be happy, not being as big as you were. I don't think big people can really be happy, not with the problems they have to face in life because of their size."
I was a bit taken aback with that. I mean, really??? Because I'm bigger I can't be happy?? Because I'm big, I've gotta be sad inside? If this is how you feel then..... Ok. Let's debunk this right here, right now. I'm a Christian. My joy, my happiness.. its not found in how I look. It's not found in what I wear, or the size of what I wear... its not found in anything material. My joy is in the Lord, and Him alone. Does He want me to be miserable and focus only on the parts of me that get me down? No! I am confident that so long as I am healthy (can be physically active for decently long periods without getting short of breath, can run for at least a half mile [ya know, in case I'm ever running from a boogey man], don't have any health problems and can pass a physical, minus the BMI chart thing), He doesn't care what my physical body looks like.
Don't get me wrong. Because yes, I have struggled with being content with myself. Not because God placed those feelings in me, but rather Satan used the words of those closest to me in my formative years to play on my emotions and self esteem. It's taken nearly 4 years of marriage for me to believe that a man finds me attractive. And I'm not gonna lie, I don't always see why my husband is as attracted to me as he is. But I don't put on a fake smile because of it! I know that my husband loves me, I know that he is attracted to me, and I'm quite confident that he is sexually satisfied (sorry Mom for the TMI!). I also know that I'm a great friend. I have friends of all shapes, sizes, colors and backgrounds... and I know that they all know they can come to me with anything, at any time. I know that I'm going to be a great mom. I have worked with kids most of my adult life in some shape and fashion. I still work as often as I can in our church nursery, and I can get down on the ground, chase kids around, squat to meet eye level with no problem at all. I'm a happy, satisfied, loved woman. I just happen to wear a larger clothing size than you do. That's all there is to it.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not roaring about how I'm big and I'm gonna stay big and you just need to deal... Not in the slightest. I'm actually using Plexus slim and its been helping me get healthier over time. My life, my HEALTH, is a marathon, not a sprint. If it changes fast, its more likely to change back just as fast. If weight changes slowly over time, its more likely to stay off. So I'm going for the long run. If that means I only lose 15 pounds a year, then so be it.
So. In closing! (Yes, this rather bouncy blog is finally coming to an end!) If you know someone who is big... be it a coworker, a church member, a family member, or a friend.. Love them. Encourage them. Point out their positives and tell them they're loved and they're appreciated for exactly who they are. Make sure that you don't add to whatever emotional baggage they already have. Let them know they're loved and accepted just the way they are, warts and all. It very well could be a life changing moment for them... and for you as well.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Jen's Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very bad Spa day
Ok. Almost a week later, I think I can write about this. It is honestly the single weirdest experience of my entire life.. and for those of you who know me, that's saying something, huh?? I have to say, when this was over I was so incredibly emotionally stressed and traumatized... I think I spent 2 hours in the Super Target afterwards, wandering up and down aisles looking for the groceries and items I needed. I know I walked up at least three aisles about four separate times to keep getting items I knew I needed and had forgotten. I ended the night with almost an entire bottle of wine, a great Italian dinner and a slice of lemoncello cream cake and an hour of soaking in the hot tub before I wound down enough to fall asleep. And even as I was falling asleep, my *sarcastic tone* wonderful husband was chuckling at me. I just chose to ignore him.
So anyways, here goes. The events of Saturday, June 15th.
I woke up at 0515 that morning, made Frank some breakfast, grabbed a cup of coffee, packed Frank's lunch and then took him up to the hospital for his orientation shift. I drove back to the hotel, made my own breakfast and then turn on some shows on my laptop while I cleaned up the room. We'd been in the hotel for a full week at that point and we still hadn't completely unpacked. I knew we had at least 8 weeks left to be in the room, and I was tired of feeling like we were in a hotel, and wanted a "home". So I set about to do what I could. I spent about 3 hours that morning vacuuming, scrubbing the tub, unloading boxes, organizing cabinets... I arranged with the hotel staff to take the items they provide that we didn't need (coffee maker, toaster, pots and pans, blankets and pillows) up to the front desk so we would have more space for our own items. I took a couple of the hotel provided pictures off the wall and slid them under the bed. I used the nails they'd put in the walls to hang my own pictures. I put magnets on the fridge. I mean, I worked hard to get this place organized and nice. But I realized just how much my back and neck were aching. See, I've been seeing a chiro and a MT (massage therapist) every other week, sometimes more, for over two years. By this point it'd been three weeks since I'd seen either one. I was sooooooo sore and stiff. So I texted Frank that I was really missing Sandy (my MT) and that I was tempted to find somewhere in town to go get a massage. I also mentioned that I wanted to get my nails fixed (my nails split and peel, and no amount of vitamins or special polishes have managed to stop that... so I get gel polish put on them every two weeks, which keeps them from splitting) and was considering a pedicure. My sweet, loving husband sent me back a text that said to "pamper" myself as much as I wanted. So I excitedly started doing some research. I searched Yelp, Google reviews, and Angie's list. I found the one day spa in my area that had more than 15 reviews and still maintained a 4 star rating. Just so happened to be close to my hotel.. less than a block away. So I thought that was serendipitous! I looked at their price list online, as well as the pictures they had of the spa. I got excited! The price list was really awesome... Only $35 for the gel nails and mani, $27 for the spa pedi, and $60 for an hour massage. The pictures looked amazing. I was SO excited. So I called and made an appointment. The appointment was at 1, so I left my hotel at 1215.... I wanted to grab some lunch at the Chick Fil A that is less than a quarter mile from the spa. I thought that 45 minutes would be enough time to eat and hop up. Heck, I could've walked back and forth from the spa to the CFA twice over in 45 minutes, so I thought for sure I had enough time driving. I pulled up and saw they were busy inside, so I chose the drive through. There I sat. For over 20 minutes. At 1248 I realized there wasn't going to be time to get my food, head to the spa AND eat my food. So I pulled out of line and went up to the spa. I went inside about 5 minutes early. The guy took my information, directed me to the wall of polish to choose my toes color, and then sat me in a chair and turned the water on. The hot water felt great. He asked what I wanted for my nails, and I specifically said I wanted to see their selection of OPI gel polish. He brought me over about 4 color wheels, and said they were all OPI. So I picked the color I liked! He asked me if I wanted water, soda or wine. I got a bottle of water and sat and listened to the waterfall (they have a wall in the center of the nail room that is a freeking waterfall!) while I read my book. The lady came, did my toes and massaged my feet and calves. Then someone came and tag-teamed me, doing my nails while I sat in the chair. Only complaint so far is the girl doing my name kept adjusting my chair and leaning me further back. Now, as a bigger girl, I have spent years perfecting the perfect way to sit to make myself look nicer.. you sit up straight and suck in your tummy and square your shoulders.. accentuates the positive, eliminates the negative (who recognizes that!?). Well, when they keep reclining you, a) you can't suck in, b) with my "blessed in the chest" region, you start to feel suffocated, and c) my slinky Goucho style pants were making slide out the chair. Not a bad complaint, right?? Right. The nail salon wasn't bad at all. Well, except for the fact that the guy lied to me and instead of OPI polish they used Gelish polish.... which I HATE, because it always peels off way too soon. No big. I can deal with that. So while my nails are drying the girl gives me a shoulder massage. Not bad at all, if its a showing of whats to come, I can't wait! Then she directs me to the bathroom (after two bottles of water, I needed to pee!) and tells me that "Betty" will meet me in the hallway when I'm done to set me up for the massage. So I come out, and "Betty is a little Asian lady who stands barely 4 foot tall and weighs 80 lbs fully clothed, dripping wet. I'm starting to get a little skeptical, but then again, my MT Sandy is a size 0 model.... who am I to judge? So she walks me into the "massage room". Its an esthetician room... the room they take you to for waxing. There's no massage table... its a waxing table! Ok... No big deal.. she adjusts it and pushes it closer to the wall and gives me an oversized hotel-style towel to cover with when I lay down.She walks out, I undress and lay face down and manage to cover myself with that tiny thing... She comes in, turns on the music and then starts trying to drag that table with me on it... she's grunting and pushing and it isn't moving at all. So she sighs and goes "You stan' up. Table needs move." I looked at her like she was high.... "Um, I'm not dressed..." "Is ok, use blanket." I look around like I'm trying to find the blanket she mentioned.... and she taps the towel and indicates that that's what I'm to use. Oh, yeah.. sure... So I hold onto it and try to gracefully get up off the table... about halfway up I realize there's no way this thing is going to cover me even remotely. Not everything at least. So I've got to make a choice.... boobs or lady parts. Well, boobs can take the hit. So I attempt to cover the lower area and stand up... then she informs me I'm on the wrong side of the table, she needs to move it where I'm standing... so I have to straddle this table and climb over it. Yeah. No modesty now. I'm completely undressed, uncovered and in full light, she hasn't even dimmed the lights yet! I'm sure I was about as red as a cherry. She scoots the table against the wall and then I lay back down. Thank God, I only have to look at the floor. She finally dims the lights and starts working. Praise Jesus, she has good pressure. She's using hot stones, elbows, and fists and its starting to work... really feeling it. She works on my back for about 15-20 minutes. Then she does something off to the side (I'm face down, remember?) and then comes back to the table. She starts to hop up on the table. Still not concerned... Sandy has gotten on the table with me before to get the leverage she needs if I have a really bad knot. Then it suddenly goes down hill, rolling very fast towards a fiery crash and begins to gain momentum. She STRADDLES me. I'm talking, sits her butt on top of my butt, which by the way, is naked and uncovered!! Ok... she starts work with her elbows, and I begin to relax. Then it hits me. I'm feeling stubble on her legs, and she is waaaaay too warm to be wearing clothes. It hits me. She was wearing pants... how am I feeling stubble if she's wearing pants??
THIS CHICK HAS STRIPPED NAKED AND IS ON TOP OF ME!!!!!!
Begin freak out!! Then she starts using her knees.... rubbing lotion on my back and sliding up and down me on her knees. Remember the stubble??? It's like getting massaged with a dry loofah. I start telling myself to calm down... she probably had on mini shorts for this. Then she sits back on my butt and I realize.... I'm feeling her lady bits against my naked butt!!! As this realization hits me, she hops up. I'm thinking "Oh thank God!" and then she stands on top of me. She begins using her heels and slides up and down my back on her feet. Then she starts on my thighs and my butt cheeks. Then my calves. Then my feet. She's using her heels to massage my feet, seriously. So weird. Then she works back up to my butt. She starts sliding up and down each cheek individually.. then at one point she's sliding down my cheeks and her toes enter my crack. Again, begin freaking out!! Holy mother trucker... Finally she climbs down and puts her pants back on and then flips me over face up. She begins working on my shoulders and neck. Remember that she's barely 4 feet tall? Yeah. My face is in the perfect position to be smothered by her barely B cup boobs. If I had breathed wrong, I'd have motorboated her!! I'm beginning to wonder if I found the only massage room in the world that time actually slows down in... Then she says time is just about up and starts doing a "scalp massage"... only it ends up with her stroking my hair going "Oh! Yor har is jus so sof and purty!"... Then her timer goes off and I think God that its over. I think the worst is over, right? She leaves, and I start to get dressed. I sit there for a minute, wondering what in the heck just happened to me. So I lean over and put my sandals on. Guess what. My toes apparently weren't completely dry, and when she was using her heels to smuch and slide down my feet, she messed up my toes!!! All smudged. I stood there for a minute.. debated crying over the toes that were so messed up. I debated asking them to fix it up. Then I realized I was absolutely crazy to consider asking them to do anything more. I collected my stuff, walked to the front and paid my total and not a penny more.. which is so incredibly unusual for me. I ALWAYS tip well.
Anyways. That's it. I completely forgot that I hadn't eaten since 7 that morning. I totally lost my appetite. Then I proceeded to wander Target for nearly two hours. I told a couple select people what happened.... and they all laughed at me! They thought it was hilarious. And now, looking back, it really is. But it so wasn't that day. It was NOT funny, it was traumatic. I will NEVER go back to that spa. I have a difficult time driving past it every day without cringing!
I'm going to try a different one next time. Praise Jesus our insurance will kick in on Monday, so I can hopefully find a decent chiropractic place to work on me.
So go ahead. Laugh at me... Laugh WITH me. Leave your comments.. I'd love to hear if you have anything as embarrassing.
So anyways, here goes. The events of Saturday, June 15th.
I woke up at 0515 that morning, made Frank some breakfast, grabbed a cup of coffee, packed Frank's lunch and then took him up to the hospital for his orientation shift. I drove back to the hotel, made my own breakfast and then turn on some shows on my laptop while I cleaned up the room. We'd been in the hotel for a full week at that point and we still hadn't completely unpacked. I knew we had at least 8 weeks left to be in the room, and I was tired of feeling like we were in a hotel, and wanted a "home". So I set about to do what I could. I spent about 3 hours that morning vacuuming, scrubbing the tub, unloading boxes, organizing cabinets... I arranged with the hotel staff to take the items they provide that we didn't need (coffee maker, toaster, pots and pans, blankets and pillows) up to the front desk so we would have more space for our own items. I took a couple of the hotel provided pictures off the wall and slid them under the bed. I used the nails they'd put in the walls to hang my own pictures. I put magnets on the fridge. I mean, I worked hard to get this place organized and nice. But I realized just how much my back and neck were aching. See, I've been seeing a chiro and a MT (massage therapist) every other week, sometimes more, for over two years. By this point it'd been three weeks since I'd seen either one. I was sooooooo sore and stiff. So I texted Frank that I was really missing Sandy (my MT) and that I was tempted to find somewhere in town to go get a massage. I also mentioned that I wanted to get my nails fixed (my nails split and peel, and no amount of vitamins or special polishes have managed to stop that... so I get gel polish put on them every two weeks, which keeps them from splitting) and was considering a pedicure. My sweet, loving husband sent me back a text that said to "pamper" myself as much as I wanted. So I excitedly started doing some research. I searched Yelp, Google reviews, and Angie's list. I found the one day spa in my area that had more than 15 reviews and still maintained a 4 star rating. Just so happened to be close to my hotel.. less than a block away. So I thought that was serendipitous! I looked at their price list online, as well as the pictures they had of the spa. I got excited! The price list was really awesome... Only $35 for the gel nails and mani, $27 for the spa pedi, and $60 for an hour massage. The pictures looked amazing. I was SO excited. So I called and made an appointment. The appointment was at 1, so I left my hotel at 1215.... I wanted to grab some lunch at the Chick Fil A that is less than a quarter mile from the spa. I thought that 45 minutes would be enough time to eat and hop up. Heck, I could've walked back and forth from the spa to the CFA twice over in 45 minutes, so I thought for sure I had enough time driving. I pulled up and saw they were busy inside, so I chose the drive through. There I sat. For over 20 minutes. At 1248 I realized there wasn't going to be time to get my food, head to the spa AND eat my food. So I pulled out of line and went up to the spa. I went inside about 5 minutes early. The guy took my information, directed me to the wall of polish to choose my toes color, and then sat me in a chair and turned the water on. The hot water felt great. He asked what I wanted for my nails, and I specifically said I wanted to see their selection of OPI gel polish. He brought me over about 4 color wheels, and said they were all OPI. So I picked the color I liked! He asked me if I wanted water, soda or wine. I got a bottle of water and sat and listened to the waterfall (they have a wall in the center of the nail room that is a freeking waterfall!) while I read my book. The lady came, did my toes and massaged my feet and calves. Then someone came and tag-teamed me, doing my nails while I sat in the chair. Only complaint so far is the girl doing my name kept adjusting my chair and leaning me further back. Now, as a bigger girl, I have spent years perfecting the perfect way to sit to make myself look nicer.. you sit up straight and suck in your tummy and square your shoulders.. accentuates the positive, eliminates the negative (who recognizes that!?). Well, when they keep reclining you, a) you can't suck in, b) with my "blessed in the chest" region, you start to feel suffocated, and c) my slinky Goucho style pants were making slide out the chair. Not a bad complaint, right?? Right. The nail salon wasn't bad at all. Well, except for the fact that the guy lied to me and instead of OPI polish they used Gelish polish.... which I HATE, because it always peels off way too soon. No big. I can deal with that. So while my nails are drying the girl gives me a shoulder massage. Not bad at all, if its a showing of whats to come, I can't wait! Then she directs me to the bathroom (after two bottles of water, I needed to pee!) and tells me that "Betty" will meet me in the hallway when I'm done to set me up for the massage. So I come out, and "Betty is a little Asian lady who stands barely 4 foot tall and weighs 80 lbs fully clothed, dripping wet. I'm starting to get a little skeptical, but then again, my MT Sandy is a size 0 model.... who am I to judge? So she walks me into the "massage room". Its an esthetician room... the room they take you to for waxing. There's no massage table... its a waxing table! Ok... No big deal.. she adjusts it and pushes it closer to the wall and gives me an oversized hotel-style towel to cover with when I lay down.She walks out, I undress and lay face down and manage to cover myself with that tiny thing... She comes in, turns on the music and then starts trying to drag that table with me on it... she's grunting and pushing and it isn't moving at all. So she sighs and goes "You stan' up. Table needs move." I looked at her like she was high.... "Um, I'm not dressed..." "Is ok, use blanket." I look around like I'm trying to find the blanket she mentioned.... and she taps the towel and indicates that that's what I'm to use. Oh, yeah.. sure... So I hold onto it and try to gracefully get up off the table... about halfway up I realize there's no way this thing is going to cover me even remotely. Not everything at least. So I've got to make a choice.... boobs or lady parts. Well, boobs can take the hit. So I attempt to cover the lower area and stand up... then she informs me I'm on the wrong side of the table, she needs to move it where I'm standing... so I have to straddle this table and climb over it. Yeah. No modesty now. I'm completely undressed, uncovered and in full light, she hasn't even dimmed the lights yet! I'm sure I was about as red as a cherry. She scoots the table against the wall and then I lay back down. Thank God, I only have to look at the floor. She finally dims the lights and starts working. Praise Jesus, she has good pressure. She's using hot stones, elbows, and fists and its starting to work... really feeling it. She works on my back for about 15-20 minutes. Then she does something off to the side (I'm face down, remember?) and then comes back to the table. She starts to hop up on the table. Still not concerned... Sandy has gotten on the table with me before to get the leverage she needs if I have a really bad knot. Then it suddenly goes down hill, rolling very fast towards a fiery crash and begins to gain momentum. She STRADDLES me. I'm talking, sits her butt on top of my butt, which by the way, is naked and uncovered!! Ok... she starts work with her elbows, and I begin to relax. Then it hits me. I'm feeling stubble on her legs, and she is waaaaay too warm to be wearing clothes. It hits me. She was wearing pants... how am I feeling stubble if she's wearing pants??
THIS CHICK HAS STRIPPED NAKED AND IS ON TOP OF ME!!!!!!
Begin freak out!! Then she starts using her knees.... rubbing lotion on my back and sliding up and down me on her knees. Remember the stubble??? It's like getting massaged with a dry loofah. I start telling myself to calm down... she probably had on mini shorts for this. Then she sits back on my butt and I realize.... I'm feeling her lady bits against my naked butt!!! As this realization hits me, she hops up. I'm thinking "Oh thank God!" and then she stands on top of me. She begins using her heels and slides up and down my back on her feet. Then she starts on my thighs and my butt cheeks. Then my calves. Then my feet. She's using her heels to massage my feet, seriously. So weird. Then she works back up to my butt. She starts sliding up and down each cheek individually.. then at one point she's sliding down my cheeks and her toes enter my crack. Again, begin freaking out!! Holy mother trucker... Finally she climbs down and puts her pants back on and then flips me over face up. She begins working on my shoulders and neck. Remember that she's barely 4 feet tall? Yeah. My face is in the perfect position to be smothered by her barely B cup boobs. If I had breathed wrong, I'd have motorboated her!! I'm beginning to wonder if I found the only massage room in the world that time actually slows down in... Then she says time is just about up and starts doing a "scalp massage"... only it ends up with her stroking my hair going "Oh! Yor har is jus so sof and purty!"... Then her timer goes off and I think God that its over. I think the worst is over, right? She leaves, and I start to get dressed. I sit there for a minute, wondering what in the heck just happened to me. So I lean over and put my sandals on. Guess what. My toes apparently weren't completely dry, and when she was using her heels to smuch and slide down my feet, she messed up my toes!!! All smudged. I stood there for a minute.. debated crying over the toes that were so messed up. I debated asking them to fix it up. Then I realized I was absolutely crazy to consider asking them to do anything more. I collected my stuff, walked to the front and paid my total and not a penny more.. which is so incredibly unusual for me. I ALWAYS tip well.
Anyways. That's it. I completely forgot that I hadn't eaten since 7 that morning. I totally lost my appetite. Then I proceeded to wander Target for nearly two hours. I told a couple select people what happened.... and they all laughed at me! They thought it was hilarious. And now, looking back, it really is. But it so wasn't that day. It was NOT funny, it was traumatic. I will NEVER go back to that spa. I have a difficult time driving past it every day without cringing!
I'm going to try a different one next time. Praise Jesus our insurance will kick in on Monday, so I can hopefully find a decent chiropractic place to work on me.
So go ahead. Laugh at me... Laugh WITH me. Leave your comments.. I'd love to hear if you have anything as embarrassing.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Howdy, ya'll
Well, I wasn't so great with keeping up with this last month, was I? To be honest though, last month was IN-SANE for us. Frank was working his last few shifts, we were trying to pack and empty our house (which, since we're travelling for the foreseeable future, we got rid of all but a few rubbermade boxes of stuff, so the emptying was ridiculously time consuming!), my brother got married, I had a dental "emergency", we moved out of our place and in with my mom, and finally, we're here in Dallas, Texas. It's been NUTS. So naturally, blogging wasn't really up there in my priority list! But I'll recap it all for you now, so don't worry, it'll be like I blogged during the whole time! ;)
Well, the first weekend in May we had a garage sale at my brothers house, trying to make some money off what we were getting rid of instead of just donating it all to the mission. Yeah, that was a flop. The $115 we made from 7am-3pm were not worth the insane sunburn I received from it! This is 3 days later... notice how red I still am??? It was NOT fun. Decided against future garage sales. So my wonderful friend Angela got the majority of stuff that was in my house, a few people bought some of the bigger items like beds, washer/dryer, dressers, entertainment stand (with electronics) and bookshelves.... plus I sold some stuff through an online "garage sale" on Facebook, so we did make some money, but still... a ton of stuff was donated. :)
Two weekends later was my brothers wedding. We did the rehearsal dinner on Thursday evening because of some conflicts on Friday evening, so Thursday was nuts... I did all the decorating of the church for the dinner, then had to run some errands that we needed done (since we were on a limited time frame before we moved out), plus I needed to get my eyebrows waxed for the wedding.... which turned into the little lady going "Oh honey... You need whole face done! Coarse.. ver ver coarse hars.. Lemme do this.." and me going "Um, ok?"... which was followed by a massive breakout from a reaction to the wax.. Oh well, live and learn right? So anyways, here's some pictures of my decorating:
Well, the first weekend in May we had a garage sale at my brothers house, trying to make some money off what we were getting rid of instead of just donating it all to the mission. Yeah, that was a flop. The $115 we made from 7am-3pm were not worth the insane sunburn I received from it! This is 3 days later... notice how red I still am??? It was NOT fun. Decided against future garage sales. So my wonderful friend Angela got the majority of stuff that was in my house, a few people bought some of the bigger items like beds, washer/dryer, dressers, entertainment stand (with electronics) and bookshelves.... plus I sold some stuff through an online "garage sale" on Facebook, so we did make some money, but still... a ton of stuff was donated. :)
Two weekends later was my brothers wedding. We did the rehearsal dinner on Thursday evening because of some conflicts on Friday evening, so Thursday was nuts... I did all the decorating of the church for the dinner, then had to run some errands that we needed done (since we were on a limited time frame before we moved out), plus I needed to get my eyebrows waxed for the wedding.... which turned into the little lady going "Oh honey... You need whole face done! Coarse.. ver ver coarse hars.. Lemme do this.." and me going "Um, ok?"... which was followed by a massive breakout from a reaction to the wax.. Oh well, live and learn right? So anyways, here's some pictures of my decorating:
(I'm having issues with adding pictures... bear with me! It's my first time trying this..)
Then Saturday, May 18th my brother Michael married his sweetheart, Amanda. It was a very pretty wedding. :) I'll try and add a photo here, but I don't know how well its going to streamline..
Then Saturday, May 18th my brother Michael married his sweetheart, Amanda. It was a very pretty wedding. :) I'll try and add a photo here, but I don't know how well its going to streamline..
Well somehow that worked nicely... Hm. Oh well. Anyways, they made a handsome couple. :)
So then, after the wedding, it was "hurry hurry hurry!" to get everything packed and sold and given away so we could move in with my folks and then scrub the house from top to bottom. This is where having a large family comes in very handy. See, enter my dental emergency.. I'd been having a toothache, and I managed to get in to see the dentist before our insurance was cancelled (since Frank had already quit work), and come to find out what was just a small cavity before was now a completely eroded tooth... Not sure how that works, but you get the idea. Anyways, I had to get over to the oral surgeon to have it pulled (which is so much worse than getting it extracted, as the standing joke in my family goes!). So the day we were cleaning the house, I had a tooth pulled. And sure enough, my fears were well-founded. "Caine" drugs don't seem to work on the people in my family. Jonathan had an entire vial of lidocaine used on his hand after his chain saw incident, and he still felt every stitch that they did... Plus he and Michael both had had really bad experiences with dentists and novacaine.. So I was completely terrified that novacaine wouldn't work on me. Well, it worked mostly.... but they gave me over twice the normal amount that they give to people. Still felt the pain and my cheek never went numb. Oh, and the dentist goes "Don't worry, with as much as we gave you, you should stay numb for 3 hours or so." Hah! Less than an hour and it had all worn off. Hurt like a mother-trucker too. So here I am, gauze in place and in terrible pain, trying to clean my house. In comes the troops! Mom, Jonathan, Thomas, Evelyn, Elisabeth, and Julia all swarmed the house (Daniel stayed home to watch a baseball game.. See where I stand? lol), and then Michael called asked if Frank could play a computer game that night with him.. to which I said that he could, so long as the house was completely finished. About twenty minutes later, Michael and Amanda showed up to make sure it was finished. Hehe. :) Anyways, it all got taken care of, we finished cleaning, and I went home and collapsed into bed with pain medication. (Come to find out, I have a wisdom tooth that "could" come in over the next couple of months, as the dentist said... Only then it started coming in that weekend. More pain!)
So then, here we are. Having said our goodbyes, we made the loooong trip to Dallas... but praise the Lord, we didn't have to go the long way through Lousy-anna, and we managed to avoid all the policemen. No incidents to speak of! (We have HORRIBLE luck driving through that state.. hate it with a passion!) So we arrived at 2220 at the hotel that is going to be "home" for the next 13 weeks. A very helpful concierge loaned us a laundry cart to unload our van with because the loading carts they have seemed to have been misplaced that night.. which worked out well for us, because the laundry cart was bigger and had sides to it, so it took less time unloading. Then we spent Sunday resting and venturing out to get a feel for the area. Yesterday (Monday), Frank had computer training to do for this new job; so he spent 14 hours on the computer, not getting into bed until nearly 3 am. And then he had to wake up at 0730 to get back on the computer for a "live" audio training session with a lady (who's voice I'm hearing through his headsets). So we're both relatively exhausted. I spent yesterday doing some arranging in the room.... The kitchen area looks more like a real kitchen with my coffee pot, toaster oven, knife block, and utensil holder on the counter, plus the teapot on the stovetop. I also put up pictures... Gram Amnott is over the fridge (can't put holes in the wall) with a picture of us from Frank's pinning, a picture from our photo shoot with Jessi Field and the "hang in there" cat Gram made are on Frank's bedside table, a collage of photos from the Jessi Field shoot are on my bedside table, and our wedding picture is on the counter by the sink. We bought a mattress cover to put on the bed since it was so horribly uncomfortable, we put our own sheets on the bed and are using our own pillows, we put our own towels in the bathroom, and I put out my tart burners with some of my favorite tarts from Sea Breeze Scents and Things (check her out on Facebook!! Amazing all natural tarts) to make the room smell more like "home". Plus we went grocery shopping and have some cereal, milk, bread, juices, fruit, sodas, and some Bluebell ice cream. So its coming together. Right now I'm waiting on the clothes to finish drying in the laundry room... I hate coin laundry machines. Ugh.
So that's about it. If you made it all the way through, I'm impressed! You must be family. ;) I'll write more later this week... it'll be easier to keep up with now that I don't have anything else to do or anywhere else to be! TTFN!
So then, after the wedding, it was "hurry hurry hurry!" to get everything packed and sold and given away so we could move in with my folks and then scrub the house from top to bottom. This is where having a large family comes in very handy. See, enter my dental emergency.. I'd been having a toothache, and I managed to get in to see the dentist before our insurance was cancelled (since Frank had already quit work), and come to find out what was just a small cavity before was now a completely eroded tooth... Not sure how that works, but you get the idea. Anyways, I had to get over to the oral surgeon to have it pulled (which is so much worse than getting it extracted, as the standing joke in my family goes!). So the day we were cleaning the house, I had a tooth pulled. And sure enough, my fears were well-founded. "Caine" drugs don't seem to work on the people in my family. Jonathan had an entire vial of lidocaine used on his hand after his chain saw incident, and he still felt every stitch that they did... Plus he and Michael both had had really bad experiences with dentists and novacaine.. So I was completely terrified that novacaine wouldn't work on me. Well, it worked mostly.... but they gave me over twice the normal amount that they give to people. Still felt the pain and my cheek never went numb. Oh, and the dentist goes "Don't worry, with as much as we gave you, you should stay numb for 3 hours or so." Hah! Less than an hour and it had all worn off. Hurt like a mother-trucker too. So here I am, gauze in place and in terrible pain, trying to clean my house. In comes the troops! Mom, Jonathan, Thomas, Evelyn, Elisabeth, and Julia all swarmed the house (Daniel stayed home to watch a baseball game.. See where I stand? lol), and then Michael called asked if Frank could play a computer game that night with him.. to which I said that he could, so long as the house was completely finished. About twenty minutes later, Michael and Amanda showed up to make sure it was finished. Hehe. :) Anyways, it all got taken care of, we finished cleaning, and I went home and collapsed into bed with pain medication. (Come to find out, I have a wisdom tooth that "could" come in over the next couple of months, as the dentist said... Only then it started coming in that weekend. More pain!)
So then, here we are. Having said our goodbyes, we made the loooong trip to Dallas... but praise the Lord, we didn't have to go the long way through Lousy-anna, and we managed to avoid all the policemen. No incidents to speak of! (We have HORRIBLE luck driving through that state.. hate it with a passion!) So we arrived at 2220 at the hotel that is going to be "home" for the next 13 weeks. A very helpful concierge loaned us a laundry cart to unload our van with because the loading carts they have seemed to have been misplaced that night.. which worked out well for us, because the laundry cart was bigger and had sides to it, so it took less time unloading. Then we spent Sunday resting and venturing out to get a feel for the area. Yesterday (Monday), Frank had computer training to do for this new job; so he spent 14 hours on the computer, not getting into bed until nearly 3 am. And then he had to wake up at 0730 to get back on the computer for a "live" audio training session with a lady (who's voice I'm hearing through his headsets). So we're both relatively exhausted. I spent yesterday doing some arranging in the room.... The kitchen area looks more like a real kitchen with my coffee pot, toaster oven, knife block, and utensil holder on the counter, plus the teapot on the stovetop. I also put up pictures... Gram Amnott is over the fridge (can't put holes in the wall) with a picture of us from Frank's pinning, a picture from our photo shoot with Jessi Field and the "hang in there" cat Gram made are on Frank's bedside table, a collage of photos from the Jessi Field shoot are on my bedside table, and our wedding picture is on the counter by the sink. We bought a mattress cover to put on the bed since it was so horribly uncomfortable, we put our own sheets on the bed and are using our own pillows, we put our own towels in the bathroom, and I put out my tart burners with some of my favorite tarts from Sea Breeze Scents and Things (check her out on Facebook!! Amazing all natural tarts) to make the room smell more like "home". Plus we went grocery shopping and have some cereal, milk, bread, juices, fruit, sodas, and some Bluebell ice cream. So its coming together. Right now I'm waiting on the clothes to finish drying in the laundry room... I hate coin laundry machines. Ugh.
So that's about it. If you made it all the way through, I'm impressed! You must be family. ;) I'll write more later this week... it'll be easier to keep up with now that I don't have anything else to do or anywhere else to be! TTFN!
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