I have decided that sitting in front of the computer in the apartment of my living room is very different from sitting in front of the computer at my parent's house... My last post just seemed to come naturally and I found the page being filled before I knew it. Today, I have been sitting in front of the computer for quite some time and have been struggling to know how/where to start. Obviously I'm back to my apartment and the travel gods blessed me with smooth travels again on the trip back. I had no issues with either of the two flights and made it back here with no issues (I even rode in a pretty fancy taxi from the airport to my apartment). Even though the travel back was uneventful, I am finding it more difficult to say "see you next time" to each of my family members. While I know there will be a next time, I think part of what makes it difficult is because I don't know when it'll be...
I had so much fun visiting with everyone and I didn't want to necessarily come back to my "other" life. Yes, there are times where when visiting family it takes me back to feeling like a kid in my parent's house but that's something that I'm going to have to learn how to get over (as my parent's both told me this trip). It's nice to know after talking to them that it's not only me that feels that way but they have also felt that way when they go back to visit their parents. Maybe part of that feeling comes from stepping into their house feels like "home" and even after all of the "personal touches" Mom helped me place around my apartment, it still doesn't feel like home to me. When I arrived back at my apartment after this trip, I was struck by how quiet things are here. Even my dogs were calm when I came back which was more than a little creepy for them... =)
I have been attempting to get myself settled back in after my trip but it has been a little difficult. Dogs woke me up pretty early yesterday and then we had a very lazy morning on the couch. About 12:30 or so I realized that I should probably think about getting in the shower, dressed and head to the grocery store to pick some things up since I emptied the fridge before I went on my trip. After I got back and put the groceries away, I had a chance to get a bite to eat before I had to get ready for a dance gig. Yes, the day after I got back (very late) from my trip, I had a dance gig. Luckily it was only a 10 minute gig however, even for the shortest of gigs, it takes me almost an hour to get my make up done and get ready. Even though I initially didn't want to attend the gig because of exhaustion, I enjoyed dancing as usual and we were very well received by the crowd. Surprisingly, as we left the gig, we were handed an envelope (we got paid for this gig; which we didn't know about = good surprise!!) and we each were given a bottle of wine. I never expect to get paid for a dance gig but it is always nice when it happens (especially, when on top of it, it's an amount that is more than I've personally received for any dance gig!).
Today I had to get up for a dance rehearsal for a performance tomorrow night. When I got home, the reality set in that in just a couple of days, I have to get back into my "usual routine." I know in my head that's the reality of the situation but my heart is telling me that I'm not quite ready to do so yet. My head is telling me that if I get back into that routine of the day to day business it would probably help with this feeling of loneliness I've been dealing with. I've been back for about two days now and I am missing the hustle and bustle of people coming and going from my parent's house (even though I'm sure on one hand they are reveling in the fact that their house is quieter again). I'm missing my parents. I'm missing my brothers, my sister, my sister-in-law and my brother-in-law. I'm missing my nephews. I'm even missing my Mom and Dad's silly, crazy dogs. Granted, it helps to look at the photos that were taken while I was there but I still miss being around my family.
Since it's been an emotional, exhausting couple of days, I think I'm going to sign off for tonight. I think I'm going to take a walk down memory lane and look at some photos, think about all of the fun I had on my trip, reflect on the past year and look towards the possibilities of the year ahead. I hope that you are able to do the same, dear readers and I hope we have a blessed year in 2013!
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Worst Apocalypse Ever!
Dearest Readers,
My apologies for being late on writing my weekly post. I, like others I know, was waiting to see if the predictions of the end of the world would come to pass and as we are still here... This will go down (at least in my limited history) as the WORST APOCALYPSE EVER! So now, there is a rush to get ready for the Holiday Season as well as spending time with family. Yes, I am currently visiting with family, thus am on vacation, so I don't have any clue what day of the week it is. I, along with my parents, even watched the movie 2012 to see how the end of the world was going to come to pass and I waited for the ground to crack open or the tsunami to wash us away but none of that happened.
No, I am not writing from the airport this year [so I can't use that as an excuse not to write =) ] because surprisingly all of my flights were 100% on time and I even had a really tight connection at one of the airports and I still made my flight! Yes, I am sure that by writing this I have called forth a challenge to the travel gods and they will make it their personal mission to make my life miserable in my attempt to fly back at the end of my visit but I still have a bit of time before I have to worry about that... I'll worry about that tomorrow. Probably not since tomorrow there will be a house full of family and as I've written before, with my family that means a whole lot of crazy fun will be going on as well. I, for one, can't wait!
As I am sitting at the computer listening to the fun Christmas music Dad has playing and smelling the wonderfully sinful things that Mom is baking my mind drifts to thoughts of Christmas past when we were growing up. The kids in my family would draw names as who we would buy gifts for and it seemed to become a competition (as most things did between my siblings and I) as to who could buy the silliest gift for who we picked. Mom and Dad would take us shopping and then became the torment to see who could keep what was purchased a secret until Christmas Eve. Mom and Dad realized that we would be unable to last until Christmas so after going to Christmas Eve church service, we were allowed to exchange gifts with one another. I don't think I'll forget the year that my one brother unwrapped each and every piece of wrapped coal from the other brother in the hopes he would find something that wasn't coal in the box.
On Christmas Day, my siblings and I would attempt to sneak downstairs because we knew Mom and Dad had told us they wouldn't get up unless there was fresh coffee made. We would fight over who got to do what job in order to prepare the precious liquid that would coax Mom and Dad out of bed way earlier than they would have liked. We always tried our best to not spill water all over the place and to not get coffee grounds everywhere (including in the coffee pot itself) but it always seemed to happen anyway. We would then argue over who Mom and Dad would get less mad at if they were the one to knock on their bedroom door to announce that their coffee was made. Obviously my sister and I always tried to convince one of the boys to do the unwanted job and it usually fell to the youngest boy as he was still "cute enough not to kill." So he would wonder how he got selected (we saw it as natural selection as it's finest) as he climbed the stairs to his doom to knock on the door at the end of the hall. Mom and Dad would begrudgingly wake up with the promise that coffee was indeed waiting for them (even though it was often just starting to come through the coffee machine and when they did drink it, it was strong enough to "put hair on their chest" as Dad would say) and they would come downstairs.
At that point, as coffee was poured into cups, the youngest (who survived his trip upstairs to what he thought was his doom -- maybe that had something to do with what would later become his catch phrase of "I'm gonna die!" came from... hmm....) had already been scouring under the tree to find all of the gifts with his name on them, placing them in a pile and determining the order in which he was going to open EVERYTHING! We usually got to go through our stockings as Mom and Dad drank their first cup of coffee in an effort to wake up and it kept the youngest from getting too crazy over having to wait forever to see what was hiding inside the colorfully wrapped gifts. When Mom and Dad finished their first cup, we took turns opening one gift at a time and creating a mountain of wrapping paper we would take turns jumping in later (that's what happens when you live someplace where you can rake a pile of leaves or create a mountain of snow -- you learn to jump/play in piles of anything).
Now that we're all older, two of the four of us have children of our own, it's fun for me to see that same light and joy of Christmas in the eyes of my nephews (granted two of them are too little to understand what in the world is going on but the other one gets the same excitement that I remember my youngest brother having). We'll see how early he tries to wake his parents up tomorrow... =) I'm sure I'll hear all about it when he comes over tomorrow afternoon and have even more gifts to open.
Well, since the world didn't end, I probably have some other things around here that I could be helping with since everyone will be over here at some point tomorrow. It is my hope to all of you that if you can't spend time with your loved ones that you are able to enjoy memories of Christmas days that you have enjoyed with them in the past. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas full of love, laughter and the true meaning of the Christmas story!
Love,
Gypsy =)
My apologies for being late on writing my weekly post. I, like others I know, was waiting to see if the predictions of the end of the world would come to pass and as we are still here... This will go down (at least in my limited history) as the WORST APOCALYPSE EVER! So now, there is a rush to get ready for the Holiday Season as well as spending time with family. Yes, I am currently visiting with family, thus am on vacation, so I don't have any clue what day of the week it is. I, along with my parents, even watched the movie 2012 to see how the end of the world was going to come to pass and I waited for the ground to crack open or the tsunami to wash us away but none of that happened.
No, I am not writing from the airport this year [so I can't use that as an excuse not to write =) ] because surprisingly all of my flights were 100% on time and I even had a really tight connection at one of the airports and I still made my flight! Yes, I am sure that by writing this I have called forth a challenge to the travel gods and they will make it their personal mission to make my life miserable in my attempt to fly back at the end of my visit but I still have a bit of time before I have to worry about that... I'll worry about that tomorrow. Probably not since tomorrow there will be a house full of family and as I've written before, with my family that means a whole lot of crazy fun will be going on as well. I, for one, can't wait!
As I am sitting at the computer listening to the fun Christmas music Dad has playing and smelling the wonderfully sinful things that Mom is baking my mind drifts to thoughts of Christmas past when we were growing up. The kids in my family would draw names as who we would buy gifts for and it seemed to become a competition (as most things did between my siblings and I) as to who could buy the silliest gift for who we picked. Mom and Dad would take us shopping and then became the torment to see who could keep what was purchased a secret until Christmas Eve. Mom and Dad realized that we would be unable to last until Christmas so after going to Christmas Eve church service, we were allowed to exchange gifts with one another. I don't think I'll forget the year that my one brother unwrapped each and every piece of wrapped coal from the other brother in the hopes he would find something that wasn't coal in the box.
On Christmas Day, my siblings and I would attempt to sneak downstairs because we knew Mom and Dad had told us they wouldn't get up unless there was fresh coffee made. We would fight over who got to do what job in order to prepare the precious liquid that would coax Mom and Dad out of bed way earlier than they would have liked. We always tried our best to not spill water all over the place and to not get coffee grounds everywhere (including in the coffee pot itself) but it always seemed to happen anyway. We would then argue over who Mom and Dad would get less mad at if they were the one to knock on their bedroom door to announce that their coffee was made. Obviously my sister and I always tried to convince one of the boys to do the unwanted job and it usually fell to the youngest boy as he was still "cute enough not to kill." So he would wonder how he got selected (we saw it as natural selection as it's finest) as he climbed the stairs to his doom to knock on the door at the end of the hall. Mom and Dad would begrudgingly wake up with the promise that coffee was indeed waiting for them (even though it was often just starting to come through the coffee machine and when they did drink it, it was strong enough to "put hair on their chest" as Dad would say) and they would come downstairs.
At that point, as coffee was poured into cups, the youngest (who survived his trip upstairs to what he thought was his doom -- maybe that had something to do with what would later become his catch phrase of "I'm gonna die!" came from... hmm....) had already been scouring under the tree to find all of the gifts with his name on them, placing them in a pile and determining the order in which he was going to open EVERYTHING! We usually got to go through our stockings as Mom and Dad drank their first cup of coffee in an effort to wake up and it kept the youngest from getting too crazy over having to wait forever to see what was hiding inside the colorfully wrapped gifts. When Mom and Dad finished their first cup, we took turns opening one gift at a time and creating a mountain of wrapping paper we would take turns jumping in later (that's what happens when you live someplace where you can rake a pile of leaves or create a mountain of snow -- you learn to jump/play in piles of anything).
Now that we're all older, two of the four of us have children of our own, it's fun for me to see that same light and joy of Christmas in the eyes of my nephews (granted two of them are too little to understand what in the world is going on but the other one gets the same excitement that I remember my youngest brother having). We'll see how early he tries to wake his parents up tomorrow... =) I'm sure I'll hear all about it when he comes over tomorrow afternoon and have even more gifts to open.
Well, since the world didn't end, I probably have some other things around here that I could be helping with since everyone will be over here at some point tomorrow. It is my hope to all of you that if you can't spend time with your loved ones that you are able to enjoy memories of Christmas days that you have enjoyed with them in the past. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas full of love, laughter and the true meaning of the Christmas story!
Love,
Gypsy =)
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Stress
I am glad that we are entering a new week because there was too much drama in my life this past week... Thankfully I did not fall at work this week (my bruise from last week's "incident" is turning all sorts of pretty colors and is still a little swollen) but the person who's been extremely helpful left this week to move onto bigger and better things. While I am very happy for him, I am sad at the same time that he's no longer going to be at work to help me if/when I need him. I guess I'm just being presented with one more situation where I need to learn to stand on my own two feet and hope that I don't fall...
Maybe part of the problem is I feel like I'm once again putting too much pressure on myself not to screw up and that's causing issues. I'm striving too hard to achieve that impossible goal of perfection that things that I wouldn't usually miss or mess up, that's what I'm doing - I'm missing steps or things that I need to do or I'm messing up... I think I once again need to just step back, look at and acknowledge the things that I am doing "right" and give myself credit for those things rather than focusing on the other stuff.
Another part that makes me think that I might be stressing myself out is how I woke up this morning. When it was time to wake up, I looked to see what time it was and I couldn't find my alarm clock. The reason I was unable to find my alarm clock is my head was almost at the foot of the bed and my feet were almost to the head of the bed... It's been quite some time since I've done that... Granted, I've woken up sideways across the bed but it's been a long time since I've done the 180 rotation. I woke up feeling rested but that feeling quickly dissipated as the day went on. Even though it's Sunday, I tried very hard not to take a Sunday Afternoon Nap (even though those are the best kind of naps to take). I just had too much to accomplish today in order to take the time and have one of those fabulous nap opportunities.
I think one of the things that I need to try and get back into is working on myself. Over the past week or so since my leg has been bruised and my knee sore, I cut way back on the workouts I had been doing and only really worked out once (other than going to dance class). Up until this last week, I had been working out every other day if not a couple of days in a row. I had got beyond being too sore to move after the workout and I'm afraid I'm going to be back to that point when I start up again. I worked out yesterday and plan on working out tomorrow so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get back into motivating myself back to working out every other day at least.
I know that this is definitely another situation that I need to acknowledge how far I've come and what a difference I've made size/weight wise but I still tend to focus on how far I still feel as if I need to go. It probably doesn't help that one of the children at work began to talk to others about how fat she thinks I am. When she was confronted about the information and I asked her about how saying things like that make other people feel, the girl looked right at me and said, "well you are!" Talk about rubbing salt into an open wound... I know that I'm not where I want to be yet but I also have to realize how far I've come (and some days that it way easier said than done).
Alright, I think if I'm going to get up in the morning and squeeze my workout in before all of the other things I need to do tomorrow, I had better sign off for another week. Have a good week, dear readers! =)
Maybe part of the problem is I feel like I'm once again putting too much pressure on myself not to screw up and that's causing issues. I'm striving too hard to achieve that impossible goal of perfection that things that I wouldn't usually miss or mess up, that's what I'm doing - I'm missing steps or things that I need to do or I'm messing up... I think I once again need to just step back, look at and acknowledge the things that I am doing "right" and give myself credit for those things rather than focusing on the other stuff.
Another part that makes me think that I might be stressing myself out is how I woke up this morning. When it was time to wake up, I looked to see what time it was and I couldn't find my alarm clock. The reason I was unable to find my alarm clock is my head was almost at the foot of the bed and my feet were almost to the head of the bed... It's been quite some time since I've done that... Granted, I've woken up sideways across the bed but it's been a long time since I've done the 180 rotation. I woke up feeling rested but that feeling quickly dissipated as the day went on. Even though it's Sunday, I tried very hard not to take a Sunday Afternoon Nap (even though those are the best kind of naps to take). I just had too much to accomplish today in order to take the time and have one of those fabulous nap opportunities.
I think one of the things that I need to try and get back into is working on myself. Over the past week or so since my leg has been bruised and my knee sore, I cut way back on the workouts I had been doing and only really worked out once (other than going to dance class). Up until this last week, I had been working out every other day if not a couple of days in a row. I had got beyond being too sore to move after the workout and I'm afraid I'm going to be back to that point when I start up again. I worked out yesterday and plan on working out tomorrow so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get back into motivating myself back to working out every other day at least.
I know that this is definitely another situation that I need to acknowledge how far I've come and what a difference I've made size/weight wise but I still tend to focus on how far I still feel as if I need to go. It probably doesn't help that one of the children at work began to talk to others about how fat she thinks I am. When she was confronted about the information and I asked her about how saying things like that make other people feel, the girl looked right at me and said, "well you are!" Talk about rubbing salt into an open wound... I know that I'm not where I want to be yet but I also have to realize how far I've come (and some days that it way easier said than done).
Alright, I think if I'm going to get up in the morning and squeeze my workout in before all of the other things I need to do tomorrow, I had better sign off for another week. Have a good week, dear readers! =)
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Magical Protection
This week at work, I was playing outside with a group of preschoolers. They were chasing me around and one said he was going to "save me" by offering me "magical protection" (a hula hoop). When I made a big deal over my "magical protection," the children scoured the outdoor play area collecting all of the "magical protection" they could find and placed them around me. Another child then said that the other teacher needed some too so we gave her half. The boy who originally offered me the "magical protection" then found a shell in his pocket and asked for some chalk so he could draw the creature who used to live in the shell. Since we were playing a new game, I decided to drop the rest of my "magical protection" onto the ground. There was no chalk out (since it had been raining) so we went to get some out of the closet. As I was carrying the box and talking to a few of the children, I didn't see that another child had stopped riding their bike right at my feet. I fell over the child and the tricycle. In an effort to help the child, I landed hard on my left knee, caught myself on my left wrist and took a handlebar to the inside of my right thigh.
Luckily the child that I fell over was 100% fine (he was just really shaken up/scared) and I'm hoping that he learned something since we have been talking to all of the kids about how unsafe it is to stop a bike right where someone is walking. In the process of "saving" him, I injured myself though. My knee is swollen and sore, my wrist started to hurt the day after I fell and I have a huge bruise on my thigh from where the handlebar hit. I guess I should have kept the "magical protection"...
The other teacher outside with me shouted in the door to the supervisor to let him know that I was injured and he and another co-worker came running with ice. They both looked crestfallen when I reminded them that I can't use ice, even for an injury due to a weird skin allergy. Since I had my dance bag in the car, I gave one of them my keys and asked for them to bring it in for me because I still have my knee brace in it just in case I need it. Even though it's been a few days, it is still sore but it is starting to feel some better.
Granted, I started the day by telling people that I wanted/needed to stay distracted but getting injured like this was not the way I wanted to go about it. The reason I needed/wanted to stay distracted that day in particular is it marked what would have been my wedding anniversary. I don't know if I was trying to prove something to myself or others by being "tough" on that day and not have things bother me but getting hurt made me think about it... I didn't think about him per sae but it made me think about missing having someone by my side. While I was at work, I could ask my co-workers for assistance (which I think shocked them since I don't hardly ask for help) but at home, I didn't have anyone to ask.
I also sent my Dad a message in the day to tell him that I had been thinking about that particular day nine years ago. Dad had offered to "run interference" as I ran out the double doors of the church as he walked me down the aisle. I told Dad that I have thought about that statement some on and off over the last few years. While Dad and I were sending messages back and forth, he reminded me that if I would have run off, who knows where I may/may not have ended up in many different aspects of my life.
I know that I do have to think about the "butterfly effect" and realize that every time you make a decision/choice it can have an effect on another one. I guess I just have to realize that I am in a better place because of what I've been through and just continue to focus on what I do have and am learning rather than focus on what I had in the past. We'll see what else I have to face this week.
Oh, on a good note! My dance instructor has opted to no longer close the studio but just take a month or so off just after the first of the year and then we'll join together again. YAY!! =)
Luckily the child that I fell over was 100% fine (he was just really shaken up/scared) and I'm hoping that he learned something since we have been talking to all of the kids about how unsafe it is to stop a bike right where someone is walking. In the process of "saving" him, I injured myself though. My knee is swollen and sore, my wrist started to hurt the day after I fell and I have a huge bruise on my thigh from where the handlebar hit. I guess I should have kept the "magical protection"...
The other teacher outside with me shouted in the door to the supervisor to let him know that I was injured and he and another co-worker came running with ice. They both looked crestfallen when I reminded them that I can't use ice, even for an injury due to a weird skin allergy. Since I had my dance bag in the car, I gave one of them my keys and asked for them to bring it in for me because I still have my knee brace in it just in case I need it. Even though it's been a few days, it is still sore but it is starting to feel some better.
Granted, I started the day by telling people that I wanted/needed to stay distracted but getting injured like this was not the way I wanted to go about it. The reason I needed/wanted to stay distracted that day in particular is it marked what would have been my wedding anniversary. I don't know if I was trying to prove something to myself or others by being "tough" on that day and not have things bother me but getting hurt made me think about it... I didn't think about him per sae but it made me think about missing having someone by my side. While I was at work, I could ask my co-workers for assistance (which I think shocked them since I don't hardly ask for help) but at home, I didn't have anyone to ask.
I also sent my Dad a message in the day to tell him that I had been thinking about that particular day nine years ago. Dad had offered to "run interference" as I ran out the double doors of the church as he walked me down the aisle. I told Dad that I have thought about that statement some on and off over the last few years. While Dad and I were sending messages back and forth, he reminded me that if I would have run off, who knows where I may/may not have ended up in many different aspects of my life.
I know that I do have to think about the "butterfly effect" and realize that every time you make a decision/choice it can have an effect on another one. I guess I just have to realize that I am in a better place because of what I've been through and just continue to focus on what I do have and am learning rather than focus on what I had in the past. We'll see what else I have to face this week.
Oh, on a good note! My dance instructor has opted to no longer close the studio but just take a month or so off just after the first of the year and then we'll join together again. YAY!! =)
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Unexpected
Today started out with an unexpected plethora of flowers delivered with great fanfare while I was in the shower. Now that I have your attention, let me explain. =)
This morning it was raining (yet again -- it's been raining pretty much all week/weekend) so I decided to take a nice hot shower in order to start my day since I'm not a fan of the rain. While I was in the shower this morning my dogs started going nuts barking and whining. I couldn't figure what had set them off so I stayed in the shower. When I got out, they were still going nuts so I wrapped up in a towel to come and yell at them. As I went back into the bathroom/bedroom to get dressed, I saw my cell phone indicating I had just missed a phone call. The call was from the lady upstairs and I tried calling her back and there was no answer. I then saw that I had a voicemail from her and as I was trying to listen to it, the dogs started going nuts again! I tried to listen to the voicemail and shush the dogs at the same time. When I was finally able to listen to the voicemail, I learned that the reason that my dogs were going nuts is the bougainvillea that has been leaning against the house upstairs got caught by a gust of wind and it fell over. Not only did the bougainvillea fall over, it fell right on top of my car. The dogs had heard it fall is my guess while I was in the shower since I didn't hear it fall. They continued to go nuts because the gentleman from upstairs was attempting to attack the bougainvillea with a giant pair of pruning shears to get it off of my car.
After my initial shock wore off when I went outside at saw the bougainvillea surrounding the passenger side of my car (he had already removed the branches from the top of the car) I checked the roof for damage. My car is a convertible so of course I was concerned about damage to the canvas and it still pouring outside. Thankfully there was no damage to the canvas or to any other part of the car surprisingly. He did a fabulous job clearing the branches from around my car and I felt really bad because even though he was wearing a poncho, the hood had fallen off with the assistance of the wind and he was completely soaked. He joked that he had eaten too much good food for dinner last night and he needed to work it off anyway but I still felt bad that he was working so hard in the rain. I told him that luckily it didn't happen on a morning that I had to get up and moving for work and his response was he would have handed me the pruning shears at that point so I could remove the branches in the dark. =) Needless to say, it was an interesting start to my day...
On the plus side, this week I was able to pack up and ship all of my Christmas gifts and was able to take the box to the post office at a time when it wasn't raining. It was a much bigger box than I had originally wanted to send however everything fit in the box so that's what was most important to me. The guy at the post office was trying to give me all of the different options to send the box and he seemed surprised that I picked the slowest option. I told him that it was still a few weeks until Christmas so I had time for the box to get to it's destination -- plus the other two options were more than double what I was already going to spend to send it the slow way (part of the small fortune I had to spend was the size of the box but the weight of the box was also almost 26 pounds so I'm sure that was a factor as well). But it's on its way to the final destination and should be here this coming week even though I sent it the slow way so I'm okay with that. Of course, now that I've packed/sent the box I have thought of other things that I could have done for people but I guess it's too late now!
I went out to lunch with someone from church today and we decided to support one another in trying to do better at putting ourselves first. We are in different places in our lives (she's older than I am and has two teenage daughters) but through talking we found that we both tend to put the needs of others before our own needs. Because we both tend to put ourselves last, we are going to try and support one another in our effort to make our needs important as well. I'm just hoping in our efforts to help one another we don't put ourselves last again... Oh, well. We're both making an effort and I do want to acknowledge that fact.
With having the issue with the fallen bougainvillea this weekend, I am hoping that this week doesn't have any major issues associated with it. We are going back to the dance studio this week after a week and a half off so I'm hoping that everything goes well since we really need to rehearse for a big upcoming show on New Year's Eve (and it's the last show we will be rehearsing for in our own studio). Along with those dance rehearsals, I am hoping to find the time/energy to use my workout DVD in the living room this week as well. We'll just have to wait and see if all of that happens or not! =)
This morning it was raining (yet again -- it's been raining pretty much all week/weekend) so I decided to take a nice hot shower in order to start my day since I'm not a fan of the rain. While I was in the shower this morning my dogs started going nuts barking and whining. I couldn't figure what had set them off so I stayed in the shower. When I got out, they were still going nuts so I wrapped up in a towel to come and yell at them. As I went back into the bathroom/bedroom to get dressed, I saw my cell phone indicating I had just missed a phone call. The call was from the lady upstairs and I tried calling her back and there was no answer. I then saw that I had a voicemail from her and as I was trying to listen to it, the dogs started going nuts again! I tried to listen to the voicemail and shush the dogs at the same time. When I was finally able to listen to the voicemail, I learned that the reason that my dogs were going nuts is the bougainvillea that has been leaning against the house upstairs got caught by a gust of wind and it fell over. Not only did the bougainvillea fall over, it fell right on top of my car. The dogs had heard it fall is my guess while I was in the shower since I didn't hear it fall. They continued to go nuts because the gentleman from upstairs was attempting to attack the bougainvillea with a giant pair of pruning shears to get it off of my car.
After my initial shock wore off when I went outside at saw the bougainvillea surrounding the passenger side of my car (he had already removed the branches from the top of the car) I checked the roof for damage. My car is a convertible so of course I was concerned about damage to the canvas and it still pouring outside. Thankfully there was no damage to the canvas or to any other part of the car surprisingly. He did a fabulous job clearing the branches from around my car and I felt really bad because even though he was wearing a poncho, the hood had fallen off with the assistance of the wind and he was completely soaked. He joked that he had eaten too much good food for dinner last night and he needed to work it off anyway but I still felt bad that he was working so hard in the rain. I told him that luckily it didn't happen on a morning that I had to get up and moving for work and his response was he would have handed me the pruning shears at that point so I could remove the branches in the dark. =) Needless to say, it was an interesting start to my day...
On the plus side, this week I was able to pack up and ship all of my Christmas gifts and was able to take the box to the post office at a time when it wasn't raining. It was a much bigger box than I had originally wanted to send however everything fit in the box so that's what was most important to me. The guy at the post office was trying to give me all of the different options to send the box and he seemed surprised that I picked the slowest option. I told him that it was still a few weeks until Christmas so I had time for the box to get to it's destination -- plus the other two options were more than double what I was already going to spend to send it the slow way (part of the small fortune I had to spend was the size of the box but the weight of the box was also almost 26 pounds so I'm sure that was a factor as well). But it's on its way to the final destination and should be here this coming week even though I sent it the slow way so I'm okay with that. Of course, now that I've packed/sent the box I have thought of other things that I could have done for people but I guess it's too late now!
I went out to lunch with someone from church today and we decided to support one another in trying to do better at putting ourselves first. We are in different places in our lives (she's older than I am and has two teenage daughters) but through talking we found that we both tend to put the needs of others before our own needs. Because we both tend to put ourselves last, we are going to try and support one another in our effort to make our needs important as well. I'm just hoping in our efforts to help one another we don't put ourselves last again... Oh, well. We're both making an effort and I do want to acknowledge that fact.
With having the issue with the fallen bougainvillea this weekend, I am hoping that this week doesn't have any major issues associated with it. We are going back to the dance studio this week after a week and a half off so I'm hoping that everything goes well since we really need to rehearse for a big upcoming show on New Year's Eve (and it's the last show we will be rehearsing for in our own studio). Along with those dance rehearsals, I am hoping to find the time/energy to use my workout DVD in the living room this week as well. We'll just have to wait and see if all of that happens or not! =)
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