Paradise

Everyone has their own personal "paradise."  For some, it might be a secluded beach, others it might be a cabin near a lake, or a cabin in the woods, for some it might be walking under the stars...  For the last several days, (and it gets to continue for a bit longer still) my personal paradise has been found in my parent's backyard.  They have recently built a pool for themselves (after years and years of my siblings and me asking for one to be in the backyard as we grew up) and I have spent quite a bit of my time floating in the pool.  It's been paradise.  Even when there have been lots of us in the water, laughing, splashing, fighting over who got to use the "good" goggles as my nephew pointed under water telling who to retrieve what from the bottom of the pool; it's still been paradise.

Granted, I did learn a very valuable lesson in paradise the other day -- don't lay on a silver blow-up boat under a sun that's beating down on you without powerful sunscreen on if you have very white legs.  You will sunburn the tops of your legs - the tops of my thighs to the middle of my shins was one solid, swollen, red mess.  To make matters worse, that evening, I was a drop-in student in my Mom's belly dance class.  Needless to say, by the time we got back to the house, my legs were throbbing from the middle of my shins to the top of my thighs.  =(  Lots of aspirin, aloe and a cooling pad has made them feel better but the location where they don't seem to hurt at all has been in the pool (I have been sure to keep my legs under water though).

In the last several day, I have also had the opportunity to meet the two newest members of the family.  It's funny how these two babies have such different, distinct personalities and they are only one month old each (reminder, these are the two that were born to different siblings of mine two days apart).  I was able to hold each of them and I also got to present the blanket I have put so many hours into.  When I do head back to my little apartment, I have a blanket to start for the other newborn since I ran out of time in order to get both accomplished before they were born.  For those of you who haven't seen my cross stitch work, this is the blanket I made for the little one...

This has been the project that has had me writing shorter posts in order to accomplish all of the work associated with it so I could deliver it in person to my brother and sister-in-law.  I have lots of faith in the U.S. Postal service but I just didn't want to leave this particular package up to them to deliver -- I wanted to hand it to the new family myself.  The look on both of their faces to see the finished project was worth all of the long hours spent, the number of times I stabbed myself with a needle or other things I wanted to do but couldn't in order to get the work on it finished.  While I still need to start the next blanket, I don't necessarily have a deadline for when I want it to be finished, however, I guess I would like it done by his first birthday I guess.  So, I guess I do have a deadline for it...

Something very unexpected happened in my slice of paradise today.  I was at the store with my parents and ran into a very good friend from High School (who it's been probably 10 years since I've seen her).  My Dad and Grandpa had been in one part of the store and Mom and I had been in another.  We were meeting up near the registers and Dad said that he had saw my friend back in the direction they had just come from.  I started to walk that direction and when her eyes met mine I just had to laugh at the look of shock that came across her face.  After giving one another the biggest hug ever, we spent the next several minutes catching up with one another.  I apologized for not telling her that I was in town and we both apologized for not keeping in better touch with one another over the years.  She still looks the same as she did back in High School (even though she doesn't believe that) and it was just SO good to see her and spend even just those too few moments catching up with one another.  Our meeting just reminded me how much I've missed some of those people from High School and how I wish I would have kept in touch with them.  Since I live so far away (and was pretty wrapped up in the who divorce debacle) I was unable to go to my ten-year High School Reunion to see everyone (or maybe it was just my way to avoid everyone I didn't want to see or to explain to them why I was no longer married).  Oh, well.  I can't go back in time to attend that Reunion however I can make it a point to stay better in touch with those individuals and let them know if/when I'm back in town and attempt to get together with them while I visit.

Another fun thing I have done during this visit is spent time with my oldest of nephews.  His personality has continued to develop since the Holidays (the last time I spent time with him was Christmas) and I've had some fun playing with him.  Today I made a tie-blanket for him out of fabric with robots printed on it.  Granted, I'm hoping that he likes the blanket because when I showed him the fabric after I bought it he said that he didn't think he would like a blanket made out of it because "it'll turn me into a robot and I'm just a kid."  After I stopped laughing from that comment I asked him if he could move like a robot and he was able to move like one.  I told him that he was a robot and he replied by telling me that no, he was indeed in fact his first, middle and last name.  Sigh...  Sometimes there is no arguing with a four and a half year old but as his auntie, I'm going to try!  =)

Well, I think at this point since no one has been in the pool today, I think it just might be calling my name.  I hope you have the opportunity to find/enjoy your own personal slice of paradise this upcoming week and I'm going to definitely enjoy mine.

DONE!!!!!

I am sitting here doing a little happy dance.  The baby blanket I have been tirelessly working on is FINALLY FINISHED!  


I know this baby blanket has been mentioned quite a bit in my blog post recently and it's going to be mentioned in this one as well.  Because I spent time finishing it today, I didn't finish my weekend "to-do" list.  So, I'm going to leave this as a short and sweet little post because I really do need to get these items done before work tomorrow.  I PROMISE to write more next week!!

Hectic

Things have been a little hectic this last week.  On Tuesday I ended up taking more than half a day off of work because I didn't feel well.  When I got home, I had to calm down the dogs (they didn't seem overly happy to see me -- must have made them have to cancel a doggie party or something) and then we took a long nap on the couch.  It was nice to be able to catch up on sleep and after I slept, I really did feel better.  I'm glad that the sleep helped to calm my stomach down because the following day, I was invited with two other people from work to an authentic Turkish lunch.  We ended the delicious meal with Turkish coffee which was an interesting experience for me -- I love the smell of coffee but have never been one to drink coffee; I didn't want to insult the family by turning down the experience and I'm glad that I can now say I have had Turkish coffee.  I'm not sure if it's an experience I would willingly seek out again but it is nice to be able to say that I have had some now.


This week at work I filled in for a teacher who is on vacation in an age group that I don't typically work with -- I was in a classroom with ten 1- and 2- year olds.  What an experience that was!  I give a lot of credit now to individuals who work with that age on a regular basis.  While they can't talk back like older children can, they also can't tell you why they're upset or hurt.  There were a couple of the children in there who were little cuddle bugs and that's always a fun thing.  =)


One of the not so fun things that happened this past week is that my weight loss had experienced a slow down.  I know that it was only a matter of time before that happened but I was really hoping that it would be later, not sooner.  I guess that I should just be grateful for the weight that I have been able to lose and just change things up work out or food wise in able to start things up again.  I know from past adventures in losing weight that there are possibilities of fluctuations in weight loss I was just hoping that it wouldn't happen this time.  Oh, well.  I guess I will just have to keep plugging along and doing what I can do to meet my own personal weight loss goals.


While I had a long To-Do list for myself this weekend, I didn't get as many things accomplished because of something I decided to do for me today.  I had been toying with the idea for a while to make myself one of those fleece blankets with tied edges.  I had to pick some things up at the fabric store today and ended up wandering over to the fabric section to look at the fleece.  I found two pieces that I fell in love with, bought them, and assembled the entire blanket in just a couple of hours.  Granted I was multi-tasking while I was working on the blanket (talking to my Mom on the phone) and I was a good distraction for myself.  I also am very happy with my blanket so that is an additional plus.  =)


I started my laundry and was able to get the dishes washed but the thing that I didn't get more done on is the baby blanket that I have been working on.  I did make some progress on the blanket the day that I came home from work sick but I was hoping to work more on it this weekend.  I guess the only thing to do is continue to work on it when I can this upcoming week after work and see how far I get on it.


Well, I have some laundry to finish, should probably do some sewing and prepare for an uncomfortable conversation tomorrow all before heading to bed this evening.  I will try really hard to get things accomplished this week in order to write more next week.  That'll be my goal anyway!  =)

Introvert

I had an interesting conversation with someone this past week.  We were at a pretty good-sized barbecue and they asked me why I was sitting off to the side and not joining into the conversations.  My response to them is that I was just listening to the conversations going on around me because I am really more of an introvert than an extrovert.  They laughed at me.  When I asked why they thought that was funny, they replied, "How can you be an introvert when you dance with a huge sword on your head?"  I'm not sure that I know the answer to that myself.


What I do know about myself is I do tend to get quiet in social situations (unless my Mom or Grandmother are involved and then none of us can stop talking once we engage in conversation with one another) but there is the other side of me that truly feels alive when I'm soloing with my scimitar.  In my opinion, it's pretty cool that a lot of belly dancers that I know have such different personalities between their dance self and their "everyday" self.


I know that I need to find some sort of a way to combine the introvert in me as well as the dancer with the scimitar side of me.  Yes, I know that is some sort of a contradiction (yes, I'm like a Starburst commercial) but it's me.  =)


I'm not sure why in social situations I find myself as someone who listens to conversations and doesn't often join in.  I think part of it is not wanting to say the wrong thing.  Another part of it is from wanting to be invisible for so long.  I'm finding though that as I lose weight I don't want to necessarily be invisible anymore.  I know that I might have a long road ahead of me since I am such an introvert but it's something that I'm willing to work on.


Another thing that I need to work on is not taking what people say so personally.  People have been making comments that I have been taking personally that I should just let go of and that's something that I have struggled with most of my life.  My personality is such that I take comments to heart and over think/analyze them way too much.  I need to work on taking those types of comments and only take to heart those that will be helpful and disregard the hurtful ones.  I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do that but I know that it's a goal that I would like to meet some day.


I had to stop and laugh at myself today.  My dogs were running around and being nuts and I found myself giving them my best "teacher look."  Needless to say, it didn't work too well on them.  =)  When I realized what I was attempting to do of course I started to laugh and that made them stop what they were doing.  At that point, they both jumped on me and started giving me kisses.  That, of course, made me laugh harder and more doggie kisses ensued.  It was kind of fun to just take that opportunity to be silly with them even if it was just for a little bit.  I miss just goofing off with the dogs since I'm often too busy.  I think I'm going to make more of an effort to just play with them.


Well, I know that I have ended several of my last posts this way, but it's time to bring this to a close so I can sew a little on my baby blanket project for one of my newest nephews before I go to bed.  Sweet sleep, dear readers!  =)

Revelation

Let me begin today by writing "WOOHOO!!!!!"  There are two new additions to the family!  Congrats to my brother and sister-in-law who's little one was born on Wednesday and congrats to my sister and brother-in-law who's little one was born on Friday (and congrats to the little one they already had who gets to be a big sibling!).  This is one Gypsy auntie who feels very blessed and I can't wait for the opportunity to see them in person and to hold them in my arms.  =)




Onto other news from this past week...  I think I have had a revelation.  I have often HATED (and that's hated with a passion) going clothes shopping.  This past week I think I might have figured out the why to why that is.  For quite a long time I have had to buy clothes either in the plus size section of stores or in plus size specialty shops.  Something I have noticed about these places is the clothes can be classified into two categories -- either too old for me or too young for me.  I'm not into clothes with the big, oversized floral prints that would make me look like (in my opinion) a sofa and I'm not in a position anymore to wear clothes with cute little cartoons on them or that are distressed in some way.  Yes, I am in my early 30's but why should I dress like I'm trying to relive my teenage years or as if I'm preparing myself to go into retirement?  I need to be able to buy clothes that fit but that also fit my personality.  Maybe that's part of the problem....  My personality is too unique.....


Maybe I just need to go clothes shopping with someone who isn't as critical of myself as I am and will tell me honestly what does/doesn't look good on me.  There have been times that I have gone into a store, just arbitrarily picked something out, bought it and brought it home only to have it sit in my closet.  Why would I do this, you ask?  So I can tell people, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I have bought new clothes recently."  I don't know...  Maybe part of it is I need to focus on quality of clothes and not the quantity of clothes hanging up in my closet.  If I do that, the thought is I won't have to buy clothes nearly as often.


I know another reason I'm not a fan of going clothes shopping is, even though I know I shouldn't, I have a tendency to focus on the size of the clothes I'm trying on/buying.  Granted, the last couple of pieces of clothing I have bought have been a lower size (including just having to replace some bras and entire size smaller than some I had been wearing -- wearing one that fits makes a difference!) but the sizes aren't going as small as I would like them too as of yet.  I know, I know.  I should focus on the progress that I have made rather than looking at what I still want to go....  A task for me to work on in the weeks ahead.


Speaking of tasks...  Once again I apologize for the size of this post but I need to sign off and complete some more sewing on my baby blanket.  Now that the little one is here I really need to get it finished... =)