Monday, November 26, 2007

Oooooooh, I'm driving my life away

Well, the midnight headlight
Find you on a rainy night
Steep grade up ahead
Slow me down makin' no time
I gotta keep rollin'
Those windshield wipers
Slappin' out a tempo
Keepin' perfect rhythm
With the song on the radio
Gotta keep rollin'

Yesterday, I honestly felt like my entire life was driving. I could not be a professional driver. We managed to do no traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday. We missed all the driving traffic on Wednesday by staying home, and eluded Black Friday shoppers for the most part. But we literally drove right into holiday traffic Sunday evening. It wasn’t pretty.

We drove to PA to drop off our elderly dog for my parents to watch. We have a trip to TX coming up soon, and at her advanced age, she doesn’t do well at the boarder any longer. She’ll spend two weeks at “grandma’s” and then we’ll pick her up on another whirlwind day trip in early December. It’s about a 3-hour drive to drop her off, sit and visit for a couple hours and get back on the road again. I could feel our ecological footprint oozing out of control. The highlights were that we got to meet my parents’ new dog, Buddy. He’s a very sweet Chinese Crested they rescued. He napped on my lap the entire time I was there. We also got to visit with our niece and nephew who we don’t see very often at all. This is our first visit with Al where she was quite talkative. And last but not least – I got a Peanut butter Crunch blizzard which I can only manage to get in my hometown these days. Yum!

We drove ¾ of the way home without incidence – then we all stopped, all three lanes of us. It had just started to rain so it was darker than normal for that time of day. We crawled along at 15 mph for about an hour without passing an exit. That tall Zen tea I’d drank was slowly becoming yet another issue, especially with no rest stops in addition to no exits. We were also really glad at the last minute I’d grabbed the iPod!

Finally we reached an exit, only 2 before ours. We’d finally hit the 50mph mark so we decided it was best to keep on rollin’. As we exited the interstate and began the last leg into town and hence home, the Eddie Rabbit song I have a portion of above began to play. It was still raining, the windshield wipers were indeed slappin’ out a tempo that kept perfect rhythm with his song on the well, the iPod.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Gratitude

I really am a grateful person, and while I may not put that gratitude out into the universe often enough, I do think about it and feel it very often. However, I'm not big into Thanksgiving. For one, I'm vegetarian. And the holiday seems to revolve around the food more than giving thanks - at least from the circles I see. Being vegetarian and hence a little anti the holiday has allowed me to conveniently latch onto another issue. I'm part native American so Columbus Day and Thanksgiving really represent the beginning of the end of part of my genetic culture. I think I'm just including that as some kind of disclaimer maybe. What I should say is that while I am grateful and I'm not big into Thanksgiving, I'm still sharing a list of what I'm thankful for. And I guess the timing is based purely on societal pressure and/or my need to fit in (or something). So much for standing on principle with the holiday.

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As I sit here in my home, I feel like it's easy enough to start with what's physically closest to me. I am extremely grateful for our home. I'm grateful to have shelter let alone owning our home. It's taken a number of years, but I absolutely love this home now. We've made so many changes/repairs/upgrades recently and I'm grateful for those opportunities and the results.

I'm grateful for the little furry bodies resting around me. They are not the most behaved little animals but they are sweet and endearing and I love them. They enrich my life. Because of them I can't take anything too seriously - especially any hang-ups I may have over material items.

Though living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, I recognize the poverty that exists here and elsewhere. I'm not only incredibly grateful for our financial security.

Of course any financial security we have is in large part due to our jobs. I'm thankful for my job. I'm thankful for having had the courage to make the changes I did last year. Because of those this year has been new, exciting, and certainly full of learning. I'm also thankful for D's job - mainly because he loves it. He's made a number of changes and finally he's someplace he loves that doesn't treat him poorly.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to be a parent, and to be carrying what shows all signs of being a healthy baby. In the past two weeks I've had both an ultrasound and a heartbeat check and all seems well. I'm feeling good, and I'm excited for the baby to actually arrive.

I'm thankful for my husband, D. He's my very best friend and knows me better than anyone. We'll be celebrating our 10th anniversary in 2008! That's flown by too. I'm thankful to have found my partner so early in life, and that we communicate as well as we do.

I'm thankful for my family and friends. I have somewhat of a small family and we're spread all over the country. On top of that we're not all that close. I'm still thankful to have them though, and I'm thankful for my friends because I think of them as family.

I can't honestly think of anything for which I'm not thankful. I feel like my list is short but it's either list the big ones and stop or keep going on and on and on. I'm happy with my life and of course like many/most other people I can get greedy and want more and more. Overall though, I am happy and feel like I have more than my fair share of blessings.





Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Feng Shui Fixes

Okay, if I have to tell you then you may not know me all that well . . . I'm a little "granola." I'm a vegetarian. I keep the environment in mind when making quite a few of my decisions. I see a naturopath and have made sure my primary physician is willing to work with her. I also have a feng-shui consultant for my home.
We had our f-s consultant out to the house about two weeks ago. This is her second time helping us. The first time we went over every bit of the house inside and out. We had three pages of recommendations sorted into priorities (now, sooner than later, and someday). We also learned enough general guidelines to to help us make decisions throughout out that list and beyond. This past visit was to help us with just a few specific items. She wasn't here nearly as long, and our to-do list was only a few lines long.

So what IS feng-shui? Well, I'm paraphrasing based on my view and understanding from various things I've read on the topic. Feng-shui is an ancient eastern (Chinese I believe) study. In it's eastern form it's very complicated but here in the west it's been simplified a bit to gain the same basic endpoint. That endpoint is balance and harmony in your environment which will translate into balance and harmony in your life. Obviously there's more to both . . . there's more to feng-shui than just that and there's of course more to having balance and harmony in your life than just feng-shui.
Many of our home improvements stemmed from our first meeting with our consultant. It wasn't so much the recommendations she made as much as what we learned. We weren't that happy in our house - it didn't feel like us. After living here for something like 7 years we still felt like strangers here. It wasn't a home.
In the end, between the tweaks we made based on her suggestions, and all the work we put into the house with remodeling - we love it now. It's our home and it reflects us. We feel comfortable in it and can see ourselves staying here indefinitely. Before we were constantly considering moving.
This past visit, the consultant went into other aspects of balance and harmony. We'd already de-cluttered, made repairs, and updated quite a few rooms to better suite us. This time some of the items included making a gratitude list, and considering keeping a gratitude journal. I've done the list, but I've never been good at journaling. I'll probably share much of that list closer to Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

My new pastime

I've been reading quite a bit lately. For years now I've always had a book or two I was in the process of reading. But I'm so slow. I wasn't always a slow reader. In middle school, and again during college summer breaks I was a voracious reader. Since then I've struggled. I was thrilled when I made it through Anna Karenina in about 4 months. Now I'm reading books nearly as long in about just a couple weeks though. The tides have turned!

I've found the author Phillippa Gregory. I love history (even if it's woven into fiction), and Tudor England is one of my favorite time periods. I'm savoring each of her books . . . The Other Boleyn Girl, The Boleyn Inheritance, The Queen's Fool. I love them. In fact, I've been squeezing in other books between hers to make her series last longer. I only have one left in the stack, The Virgin's Lover. I'm reading them in chronological order, which is why I'm not counting The Constant Princess as one I plan to read; I should have gotten to it first. Though I will probably circle back and read it too - I'm obsessed.

Another author I'm reading quite a bit from is Gregory Maguire. I started with Wicked because the Broadway show came to town this summer. I really liked it. In fact, it made me dislike the musical. I was so invested in the characters as they were developed in the book, that I found the musical's portrayal insulting. Funny, because in actuality it's The Wizard of Oz that's the "original." I've yet to find the sequel (Son of a Witch) at 1/2 Price Books so I've moved on to his other works (Tales of an Ugly Stepsister, and Mirror Mirror) until I find it.

I'm also reading bookclub selections between historical fiction pieces. This is the third go 'round for our workplace bookclub. I've been somewhat involved in facilitating each time and I have to say this is the last. It's either going to be "third time's a charm" or "three strikes and you're out." Last month (the first for this series) was an odd fantasy book, The Eyre Affair. It was difficult to get into but in the end reasonably enjoyable. Bookclub highlighted quite a few shared annoyances and flaws but really as I read it I did enjoy it - I wasn't taking it that seriously (not that I think any of the other readers were either). I just finished this month's selection - Eat, Pray, Love. I'd heard about it from friends, seen it on Oprah but still continued to be hesitant towards it. I didn't honestly know what it was about, but maybe subconsciously I did. I tend to avoid books on spirituality. And I mean spirituality, not religion (though I don't read those either). So maybe I subconsciously knew how much this book was going to focus on spirituality and how I didn't want that challenge entering my full consciousness. But I read it and I really enjoyed it. As usual, when I find myself reading and enjoying a spiritual book it's not as bad or threatening as I may have worried it would be. This book is quite a bit travel memoir but it's very obviously more than that. I really enjoyed it and could see myself reading it again - focusing on some of the more subtle messages that had begun to resonate with me (but then I turned the page). It's written in three parts and while I like parts of each I mostly enjoyed part II (India) and the beginning of part III (Indonesia).

Now I need to start thinking about the next bookclub selection. Last go around we drew books from a hat, but this time I just look around and talk to people and choose what feels right or sounds fitting - something I want to read (just in case I'm the only one who participates). The next selection will run over the holidays so I think it's important that it's light and enjoyable - nothing to heavy. I won't pull What is the What back in from the last series; it was the beginning of the end for bookclub last time. It was a bit daunting but I really enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone.

So that's my new favorite pastime. My DVR is getting a workout since I watch nothing from primetime in primetime now. I read and catch up on only those shows that made the final DVR cut earlier in the evening or on weekends. It's working out very well.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Busy Bees

We're settling down with the remodeling now that fall is setting in. We've been really busy over the past 18 months or so. Now it's time to just enjoy what we've done. We started simple with wanting/needing to have our trim repainted. We choose a chocolatey purply color called Carib Chip. I love it. But from painting things snowballed. We ended up replacing all our windows because they were in such bad shape it made no sense to paint their trim as-is. We qualified for a commercial rate - nice (23 windows -and that's just the ones we replaced).
Next came all new floors (bamboo). That was just for us though, but I think it will add to resale value too. I love them and they've made me love the house. The old floors were horribly cracked and grooved; they'd collect fur and cat litter bits from kitty paws - obviously making the house look and feel dirty all the time. After that we thought we were done with big stuff. Concentrating on small, more weekend warrior type jobs, we replaced the front porch flooring, painted a couple rooms, installed new lighting in 90% of our rooms, upgraded our electric box and had a stair runner installed.
Then this summer we decided to dive in to the bathroom remodel - another big job. Part way through planning & getting quotes, we added on the laundry room remodel (and shoe-horning in a 1/2 bath) so we'd have some plumbing to use while the upstairs was out of commission. I'm really glad we went that route. Those tasks are done too - finally.
Now we have a new washer & dryer in the new laundry room/half-bath. Our upstairs bath is also completly redone - gone is the 4ft clawfoot tub and separate stall shower. Instead we have a fullsize tub with a tile surround. We considered one of those shower inserts that is pretty standard but in the end went with custom tile. We have two long but thin windows in our shower, and I would have hated to lose them. Now they are tiled and double as shelves for all my shampoos. Don't worry, they're just below the ceiling of our 2nd story so it's nothing exhibitionist or anything. Only the squirrels in our black walnut tree can catch a glimpse of anything.

It's a relief to have it all done. Not that I did much, what we didn't hire out D did. At best my role was project management. All we have left for the fall is to install gutters on our sunroom. Then this winter's list is de-cluttering and setting up the nursery. Come spring I think we'll be even more glad we tackled all of this when we did. We'll be a bit overwhelmed & preoccupied with a whole new person.

Laziness

I'm still here. I haven't written in who knows how long - I could easily look but I'd just assume remain ignorant. The only reason I can settle on for why I have not written is pure laziness. I sit next to the laptop each evening but I can't bring myself to even turn it on let alone create complete sentences. I've even had enough things going on (all, okay most, non-baby too) to actually blog about but no.
I'm back though - if I have any readers left (not sure how many I had to start with though). You can look forward to blogs updating everyone on our home remodels, our bookcase drama, feng shui fixes, and of course baby stuff.