Lessons Learned in 2013

I was going to do a “Review of 2013” type post where I list the things I did, or good memories that happened each month of the year.  As I sat down to prewrite it about a week ago I realized that I didn’t too much that was super notable.  Instead, I decided to share some lessons that 2013 taught me because if I’m 100% honest, this year wasn’t a very good one for me; just because it wasn’t a good year doesn’t mean that I didn’t learn some things, and most of those things I will remember in 2014. If not, well at least I have this post to come back to as a refresher.

Lessons Learned in 2013

In 2013 I learned that it’s worth paying extra money for good quality name brand shoes instead of the cheap ass ones you can grab at Walmart.  They not only fit better and don’t squeeze my toes in all the wrong places but have helped improve my walking and my back problems.  Red, if you’re reading this in the future, I don’t care if you need a new pair of shoes and would rather buy a pair of Walmart ones to get by until you have money to go to the mall: remember all those blisters from New Orleans in the summer of 2012? That’s what I thought.

In 2013 I learned that I don’t know how to control my spending.  Looking back, it seems that every paycheck from B’s was spent within the week and then I was kind of just hanging around waiting for the next pay day.  I was fortunate enough to not have to pay for rent or laundry or utilities or most of my food while living with my parents.  Why the hell did I spend so much? What the hell was I spending it on? Red, if you’re reading this in the future, I really hope you’ve got your shit together and are actually saving money for a new car.

I learned that “faking it until it’s real” was a morale booster on most days when it came to confidence.  Thank goodness for those long conversations with the girls after our workouts or I would have been a total wreck for most of the year.

Once again, I learned that procrastination is a bitch.

In 2013 I learned that I will probably never be artistic but it definitely helps to reduce stress.  Red, I hope you’ve never shown anyone your first art journal if you’re reading this in 2014. That’s meant to stay a secret.

In 2013 I learned to be aware of my mind and body.  This was something I had struggled with at the beginning of the year and thanks to one awesome manager at B’s, I got better at figuring out what my body was telling me and how I feeling emotionally.  If it hadn’t been for this manager, I would have overworked myself way too many days.  Or, I would have been distracted for a few days after receiving bad news about a family friend if I hadn’t learned to talk it out.  This is a lesson that I’m still constantly working on.

In 2013 I learned that the Anxiety Monster is nasty but can be mastered.  It’s a new battle every day, but the Anxiety Monster does have to hibernate for a while at some point.

I learned that negative thoughts can bring down a day and positive ones can brighten a day. 

I learned to learn from those around me.  It’s amazing the lessons I’ve taught myself just by being around certain people. I’ll never forget Deb who not only was there to talk to before, after and during work at B’s but also how much love and compassion she always had.

In 2013 I learned that I prefer to have “four quarters instead of 100 pennies” when it comes to friends.  The few close friends I have make up for all the ones that have floated in and out of my life or the ones that keep trying to make it seem like they’re always there but aren’t.

In 2013 I learned that there are people like me.  People who have Hashimoto’s disease and struggle with day to day things similar to me.  People who have had hip replacements and still live a full life even though other people tell that they shouldn’t do something or that they’ll never make it.  People who understand what it’s like to be a #spoonie.  Without the internet and finding these people, mostly through Twitter, I wouldn’t know these small tips and tricks to make things easier when I have bad day.  Nor will I have ever known some amazing people who offer such wonderful thoughts when I’m having the worst day.  Connecting with these people have helped me so much, mentally and emotionally.

I learned, again, that God has a plan that completely blows my “picture perfect plan” out of the way.  I don’t know what it is, or even if I will ever know what it is, but I’m working hard at remembering this and that I need to follow His footsteps to where He wants me to go.

I learned that I’m still hung up on some certain things in the past, things that I need to let go.  I realized this lesson not too long ago and it’s one of my goals for 2014.

In 2013 I learned to not let other people’s opinions or thoughts control me.  The hardest part of this lesson was breaking the mentality of always thinking “what if they…” and just doing what I wanted to do.

In 2013 I learned to be more open to those who matter the most.  It’s a scary thing for me, but I’m working on it.

I learned that the gym is a great place to ignore the outside world and focus on me.  I don’t know why all of these lame excuses are stopping me.  Red, if you’re reading this in 2014 or even later, you better be taking your ass to the gym at least once a week!

In 2013 I learned that God is always with me, even when I try to ignore Him.

I also learned that He forgives me for when I ignore Him.

In 2013 I learned that I can really be a bitch, but that’s not the only thing that defines me.  I’m tired of acting like I’m a bad ass bitch all the time.  In many ways, I’m the kitten that’s trying to act like a pit bull.

I learned in 2013 that I have a really fricking hard time committing to things.  I’m just thankful that I’m fully aware of this problem and focusing on fixing it.

In 2013 I learned that doing what I have to do isn’t always fun, but it’s needed.  Procrastination doesn’t help this one either.

In 2013 I learned that pink is okay.

I learned that some adults twice my age are way more dramatic and childish than I am. I’m just happy it’s not my problem to worry about.

In 2013 I learned it’s okay to say no.  It’s okay to say no if I’m not feeling well but I get invited to go out to dinner.  Or, if someone wants to hang out but my body is far too sluggish.  It’s okay to say no when I have too many things to work on that’s due soon. 

In 2013 I learned that in the grand scheme of things, my problems are small but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important.

I learned that though I love to read, I can’t always finish a book and that I need to stop forcing myself to finish one I can’t get into.  “Read the best books first or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” – Henry Thoreau

In 2013 I learned that music will always be there to lift my spirits.  Sometimes I just need to put in the headphones, turn the music up loud and cry until I feel better.

In 2013 I learned that my best friend is a phone call away and that I need to utilize it! I don’t know why I got into my head that I’m just a bother to my bestie when I really need to talk to her about things.  She’s always there.

I learned that sometimes a curse word gets the emphasis across but not always needed in every conversation.   Also that I don’t need to fill my Tweets with this nonsense.  Definitely working on this…

I learned to not worry about acting like a fool but to just have fun.  Club Rodeo was a good experience and definitely made me loosen up quite a bit.

In 2013 I learned that I need to focus on the important things and if my hobbies start stressing me out I need to rethink and step away for a while.  I don’t know how it took me so long to learn this lesson.  A good example of this for future Red reading is when you feel like rping with your Harry Potter friends its okay to not get super involved in it.  You’ll just get stressed out because you had to miss a few days because of IRL stuff and then you get anxious. Just take a step back, relax and rethink. 

In 2013 I learned that it will be okay.  Everything will work out one way or another. Just breathe and let God work.

2014 Already?

I don’t know about you but I seriously can’t believe we’re about to enter into 2014.

My friend Kate and I were discussing on Thursday that Christmas hadn’t seemed like it was Christmas.  For some reason we both felt that Christmas should have waited another week, that it was just too soon for it. It didn’t feel right.

Now, pushing on a week after all the festivities, it’s starting to feel somewhat normal again.  Then I’ve realized that 2014 is nearly here.  What? When did the New Year sneak up on me?  Was it the fact that I wasn’t in school most of this year that made time slip away from me? Or was it that I’ve been dreading a big report due in the New Year that has made time go by so fast?

Whatever it is, I’m still trying to figure out how we managed to get to Christmas so quickly and how we’re now focusing on what everyone is going to ring in the New Year.  I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve forgotten an important thing that happened in 2013. Like, oh I don’t know, the Doctor showed up outside my house in need of a new companion and in all the time traveling and helping to save the entire human race I didn’t realize that 2014 would arrive so quickly once I was transported back into my ‘normal’ life?

I’d like to think that was the reason for this entire post needing to be written.  And yes, I’m going to continue to pin Doctor Who related things on Pinterest as I pretend it did happen.

Are you ready for the New Year or are you still convinced there’s another month of the year left?

Halloween Reflections

This post is a part of a “series” called Sunday Memories that I once did on my other blog that I really enjoyed and wanted to make it apart of Procrastination Ramblings. Sunday Memories is just what it sounds like: sharing a memory once each week from family gatherings, road trips, odd experiences, those interesting methods used to pull an all nighter during finals week, and random every day type things I somehow have managed to remember.

 

This week I thought I’d share a memory that I find rather ridiculous and funny now that I look back and think about it some.  Let’s take a quick stroll back to October 31^st, 2010 or maybe it was 2009...

It’s Halloween night and I’ve got nowhere to be except sitting on the couch with my Ma waiting for the few kids to come knock on our door for candy.  My dad had gone to bed super early that night so we had the remote all to ourselves so we flipped the tv to the SyFy channel and started watching the Ghost Hunters marathon.  It was the first time that Ma and I had watched the show and we deemed it fittingly for that night’s festivities.

We live out in the country in a subdivision and with very few younger kids we hardly ever get anyone knocking on our door on Halloween night.  Naturally, we shut off our light early and started to pick out our favorite candy pieces from the bowl while we watched Ghost Hunters.  Eventually Ma decided it was time to go to bed so she took her bed time meds and off she went.

So here I am, in our living by myself eating far too much Halloween candy by myself while watching Ghost Hunters as the clock is getting closer to midnight.  Ma had turned on a couple lights early in the evening and they were still on so I wasn’t really freaked out much by watching the show.  Well I wasn’t until I got up to go the kitchen to get a glass of milk to wash all that chocolate down.

I flipped the kitchen light on and headed to get a glass of milk.  I stood in front of our sink to drink the milk so I could see the tv from where I standing if I looked over the kitchen bar into the living room.  When I turned around I saw something in the window above the sink.  I freaked out and dropped my glass, thankfully it was a plastic one and didn’t shatter when it hit the floor.  My heart was pounding and I just had to figure out what I saw.  It was then that I realized the light in the kitchen that I turned on cast a perfect shadow of my body into the window above the sink.  The thing I had seen in the window was just my reflection.  And then as I stood there at the kitchen sink I realized how the light hit the window from behind me and I realized how ridiculous I was being.

If I recall correctly my Ma found me the next morning asleep on the couch with the kitchen lights and the living room lights on and I was still watching the SyFy channel. Apparently I was kind of freaked out about my stupid reflection in the window in conjunction with continuing to watch Ghost Hunters that I wanted to be able to see everything from the couch just so nothing crept up on me.

What I Read in 2013 [A Link Up from Love Woke Me Up This Morning]

 

When Emily said that she would doing a book linkup to lead out the year and bring in the new, I couldn’t pass up participating.  I must say that I have slacked quite a bit on my book reading this year, especially when it comes down the reading goal I had set on Goodreads…

Regardless, I still have the urge to do the questionnaire and share my top three books of 2013.

1.      How many books have you read this year? 36 of my goal of 50.

2.      What book surprised you the most? Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  I had to read this book for my history class at the beginning of the year (before I left school).  We read the book in a week and had quizzes each class period. I had missed the whole week of this class and hadn't done the reading...I ended up reading this book in one night and scored extra credit on my quizzes.  I just kind of fell in love with the story and really enjoyed the writing style of it.  I forgot that I had read it until I went to my Goodreads account, and now I want to read it again!

3.      What book were you most disappointed in? The Executed God by Mark Lewis Taylor.  I had found this on Goodreads quite some time ago and forgot about it. My good friend Levi had to read it for class last spring and I borrowed it this fall to read.  I don't know what I was expecting but I didn't find it at all appealing to read and I think I stopped about half way in mostly because it seemed super repetitive. 

4.      Did you start any new series? I was going to say no, but I forgot that I did actually.  I started the Violet Chronicles by Makayla Yokley. I also just started the Courtship of Nellie Fisher by Beverly Lewis.

5.      Did you finish any series? No I didn't, unless you count that I already read book #3 in the Courship of Nellie Fisher, I read that one first by mistake and I liked it so much I got the first one and intend to read the second as well.

6.      What is your favorite book cover this year? I haven't gotten to read it yet, but The Mortal Instruments City of Bones by Casandra Clare cover is pretty awesome.

7.      What was the best non-fiction book you read? The Executed God by Mark Lewis Taylor.  I was disappointed in it, yes, but I have to admit that it made me think about things in a very different way.  If anything, this book opened my eyes to thinking more worldly.

8.      What are you currently reading? Current I'm reading The Parting by Beverly Lewis (the first book in the series I mentioned in answers 4 and 5) and One Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury as well as rereading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling.

9.      Any reading goals for 2014? To read more books that I want to read.  I have a hard time focusing on books that I would enjoy. I tend to force myself into reading stuff that other people want me to read and I can't get into it, thus wasting time and frustrating myself.

10.  What books are you looking forward to in 2014? I'm a bad book nerd, I haven't been keeping up to date with new releases.

11.  What other books deserve a shout out? NYPD Red by James Patterson was just a fantastic read.  This book was laid on my desk after my Ma had read it.  It got shoved into the bookshelf and I forgot about for a few months.  I just loved reading it and getting to talk about the plot with my Ma afterwards. Also, The Ruby Curse by Makayla Yokley that I mentioned answer 4.  I had never read steampunk before so that was a first.  Oh, and she's a local author that lives near me who participates in NaNoWrioMo so I love supporting her and her series.  It's a great read!  It's Not Summer without You by Jenny Han is the second in the triology (not quite last this time!) and I bought it because it was cheap at Walmart.  I really enjoyed it just because it was a nice read and kept me engaged with the plot line that was just a smidgen predictable. 

12.  Top 3 books of 2013:  Longing by Karen Kingsbury, Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han.

Short and simple! Well, simple for everything except the top three, that one was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be!

I definitely encourage you to check out Emily’s blog, Love Woke Me Up ThisMorning, as well as check out her own responses to this questionnaire. And a big shout out to Emily herself for hosting such a lovely link up! I love hearing about everyone else's reads for the year!

25 Songs I Couldn't Stop Listening to in 2013

Who doesn’t love a numbered list to round out the year and bring in the new?  I’ve spent a lot of time listening to music this year, a lot more than previous years and I have to say that it’s done me well.  I’ve expanded my horizons and found that I do really enjoy listening to pop/r&b/rap if I take the time to really listen to the content and not rush to conclusions like I have been known to do previously.  This year I’ve also found that I’m pretty much in love with Luke Bryan and would love to be a part of his tour somehow, even if I was the one to fetch beer for the band and crew!  2013 has taught me that country music is a part of me and will always be the one I turn to when I need a pick me up in a rough time.

So, because I’ve spent so much time listening to music, I should have a fairly easy time picking my top 25…right? Not hardly! This was probably one of the hardest lists I’ve had to complete myself because I enjoyed so much music this year.  Several songs on this list weren’t released in 2013 but somehow found their way into the list one way or another because I discovered some songs I either forgot about or might have overlooked from years previous. 

Without further ado, here’s my list of 25 songs I couldn’t stop listening to in 2013!

25. Up All Night | One Direction I can't lie, it's catchy and makes me want to stay up all night and dance!

24. Pledge Allegiance to the Hag | Eric Church I have an obsession with Eric Church. Not nearly as much as my obsession with Luke Bryan but it's still there. I just love this song, pure Eric Church paying homage to one of my favorite outlaws in country music, Merle Haggard.

23. Downtown | Lady Antebellum Ever since I heard this play on the radio I've loved it; It's super fun to dance and sing along to in the car while stuck in traffic...downtown. See what I did there?

22. Bait a Hook | Justin Moore I've got an obsession with Justin Moore too. What can I say, I love country music and the fellas that sing it!  I like to sing this song by switching the lyrics up a bit, so it sounds like a woman is singing it about a man instead of vice versa.

21. Do My Thang | Miley Cyrus Don't roll your eyes! Let me explain.  Although I don't agree with the way that Miley has done some things in the past year, I really enjoyed her new album, and out of all the songs this one got the most attention from me.  No reason, I just like the beat and I find it fun to jam out to in the car.

20. 400 Lux | Lorde She's just amazing and I love all of her music. It was seriously difficult to pick just one of her songs!

19. It’z Just What We Do | Florida Georgia Line What's that? No obsession with these boys? Oh no, it's in the works, check back in a few more months. If I recall, this was one of the first FGL songs I heard that wasn't on the radio.  Let me be honest: when Cruise first hit the radio scene, I hated it.  This song however, showed me how much FGL has to show for their talent.

18. Roar | Katy Perry Katy made up the majority of my "CALM THE EFF DOWN" playlist that I would listen to on the way to work when my anxiety was in overload.  When Roar came out I might have played it on repeat for an entire day because it's just that good and it got me pumped to go to work at 5:30 in the morning.

17.  Truck Yeah | Tim McGraw I will always love Tim.  Always.  I just really loved this song and might have blown one of my speakers out in my car because I played this one a few too many times at max. volume.

16. Here’s to Never Growing Up | Avril Lavigne Catchy to dance to in the car and a must on my cleaning playlist!

15. Hell on Heels | Pistol Annies First off, can we talk about how fricking wonderful and clever the band name is? Because it's my favorite band name, ever.  Hell on Heels is just...buh, I don't know how to say it. It's just something I enjoy listening to and can relate to in a weird way that doesn't involve pink guitars, Lincoln town car, or a yacht. Oh, and because it reminds me of some of the older country ballads just by the instrumental focus on this song.

14.  Lutheran Swag | Agape When I first heard this I was in the Superdome in New Orleans in July of 2012 with 33,000 other Lutherans, most of which were youth.  I didn't really like it at first, to be honest.  I guess after I came home and listened to it again I actually really liked it because over a year later I'm still listening to it!

13.  Kings & Queens | Audio Adrenaline I fell in love with Audio Adrenaline with this song.  I found it on a local Christian radio station while I was driving one afternoon.  I didn't catch the name or the band when I first heard it due to the commercials.  If I'm ever in a low mood this song really picks me up. I loved it so much that I even bought the album!

12. Thrift Shop – feat. Wanz | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Spent entirely too many late summer nights driving around town blaring this in our cars and singing along to it with my friends.  I think I love it because of the ridiculous memories it brings me from summer.

11. Barefoot Blue Jean Night | Jake Owen I have a very, very, very minor obsession with Jake Owen. I think he's super underrated in the country music realm and would very much love to see him sky rocket in 2014 and really show all the potential I see in him and his music.  Also another song that I used to spend hours listening to while driving, especially during the summer.

10.  Made in America | Toby Keith My love for Toby Keith is completely irreplaceable let alone specifically repeatable to another person in country music.  I was over the moon ecstatic when Made in America came out.  I just love it!

9.  Kiss My Country Ass | Blake Shelton I fell in love with this song when I heard it on Pandora on my Barefoot Blue Jean Night radio.  But then I kind of forgot about it for a while.  Until I went to a club. Yep. A club. Club Rodeo was my first clubbing experience and I went with one of my closet friends, Kayla.  The reason I even remember that night (because my anxiety was so terrible I like to not think about it at all) was when I poorly two stepped with a guy to this song and we ended up just focusing on singing along the best we could in key with Blake.

8.  DONE. | The Band Perry This was one of my "I don't care where I go as long as I'm on the road" songs.  It made for a great karaoke sesh with Kayla too!

7.  You Never Let Go | Matt Redman I've listened to this song so many times since January and it's gotten me through a lot of the toughest moments I've had to go through in my life, just in this year.  I'm so blessed for my worship outreach friends that taught me this song.

6. Homeboy | Eric Church I told you I had an obsession! This is my favorite Eric Church song, and I particularly like the live version of it as well.

5. Lightening | Alex Goot This one has been on many playlists in 2013 including all of the ones I have mentioned in this list and several more.  I love dancing and singing along to it!

4.  Furious | Jeremy Riddle Another one that my worship outreach friends told me about and has helped lift me up on many of my blue days.

3.  Express – Burlesque Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | Christina Aguilera Because I love the beat and of course I dance to it in the car. No other reason, really. Well unless you want to count that if I could actually dance, I would dance up a storm to this song.

2.  The Only Way I Know (with Luke Bryan and Eric Church) | Jason Aldean Three men that I love on one track? Of course it's on this list! Definitely one of my top favorite country songs, ever. And believe me, that's something for me to say!

1. Drink a Beer | Luke Bryan This was the first song off of Luke Bryan's newest album that I connected to.  I don't know how many times I listened to it on repeat and cried. Hell, I'm ready to cry just thinking about the song lyrics and how much they convey.

A note: I only put one song by Luke Bryan on the list because I’ve listened to his music so much it would have taken the whole list with his new album this year and his older songs.  The one I did chose however means a lot to me and I think it’s a good song for nearly everyone to listen to.

Also, I just realized that I could probably turn this into a country music blog if I really wanted to.  I don't think it'll ever happen; just know that I have plenty of blogging ideas to fall back on if I need to!

What are some of your most played songs in 2013?

3 Christmas Stories

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope that if you’re reading this right now that you’re either trying to find some way to distract yourself from snacking on too many Christmas goodies while waiting for the Christmas meal to be served, or you’re trying to find something to keep you from taking too long of a nap after all your festivities are done with.  Whatever the case may be, I hope you’re having a fabulous holiday with friends and family!

As I said on Sunday there haven’t been very many Christmas holidays that I’ve traveled outside of my little world here in Small Town, Kansas.  I may not have much experience in the ‘traveling for the holidays” area but I am quite refined at the “staying home and enjoying not doing a single productive thing” area.  I decided today would make for the perfect day to share three Christmas stories since today is Christmas day and all.

Before I jump into things, here's a photo of our Christmas tree this year, taken yesterday to get the full affect with all that snow outside the house. Sorry if you're a bit blinded by it all!

 

 

 

The Barbie Doll House

I can’t remember what year or how old I was but I definitely remember the year that I got my Barbie doll house.  It was the very last gift that I got to open, partially because it was the grand finale and partially because it was so large it got tucked in the corner behind the tree with a bunch of other stuff shoved in front of it.

My Ma helped me tear all of the paper off and there stood a blue plastic doll house.  It opened at the front and folded out with pink furniture accents.  The center part spun around, one side had a bedroom with a bunk bed that folded out and a little computer desk that was stuck in the wall.  On the flip side was the kitchen with a refrigerator, and oven and a little pantry that I used to get little dish ware stuck in.  To the left side there was a table that folded down and on the right side there was a bed that folded down.  If you flipped the top of the bed up it revealed…the shower and bathtub!

It was one cool doll house and I loved that thing.  I mean, sure the stickers were put on lopsided but I know now years later that my brother tried his hardest to put them all on straight.  I definitely played with that thing so much I’m surprised the hinges that held it together hadn’t been rusted or worn out.

Sleeping Under the Tree

The  last year we put up our large Christmas tree that stretched so tall that it nearly touched the ceiling at the tallest part of our house was the winter before our basement flooded in the spring and we lost all of the holiday stuff that my parents had collected over 20 years.  This tree had a mix of ornaments from the pretty and plain maroon and pink collection my Ma had bought the first Christmas in our house to match the burgundy carpet to the sparkly ornaments and glue adorned ornaments I had made all throughout my school years.

This Christmas I had spent most of the night previous baking cookies and hanging out with my dad watching tv.  I distinctly remember telling him when I grabbed a pillow and blanket that I was only going to lay on the floor to watch tv for another hour and then I was going to go crawl into bed.  That didn’t happen though.  I woke up on Christmas day under the tree.

Apparently from what my parents told me, I tossed and turned so much during the night that I just kind of rolled my way under the tree where I must have found it comfortable because I managed to not tear the tree down. 

Box Inside of a Box

The summer of 2012 I went shopping with one of my closet friends.  I ended up buying some things from Bath and Body Works at the mall one of which was one of those visor clips that you can put these smelly things in them and it makes your call smell wonderful.  Anyway, I had to take my Ma to go do something one day and she commented about how much she loved it

When my Dad and I went out to do Christmas shopping last year we went to Bath and Body Works to get stuff for my Ma because that is her absolutely favorite store.  It even trumps the book store, that’s how much she loves it.  I told my Dad that I wanted to get her one of those visor clips for her truck and we got the vanilla inserts for it since she loves all things that smells like vanilla.

I got creative with my wrapping last year and decided to pull a little prank on Ma.  I had saved the box to my friend’s mini fridge when I was at school.  I had also started gathering a lot of different boxes as the semester had gone on.  When it was time to wrap gifts I took my Ma’s visor clip that couldn’t have been more than two and a half inches in diameter and put it in a box and wrapped.  And then I continued to do it until I had about seven or eight boxes inside of each other inside the big box.  Ma didn’t exactly enjoy the mess when she opened them all up on Christmas day!

5 Things I Learned from Volunteering

For the last 10 years my mom has worked at a nursing home I’ve spent many hours volunteering there.  So often and regularly that different department leaders almost fight over me.  Most recently with the holiday stuff going on I felt like I needed to schedule time in each department to make them all happy!

I could try to tell you how many hours I’ve devoted to volunteering there, but I just don’t know how many exactly.  I’m supposed to keep track of these types of things for one of the organizations I’m involved in, but let’s be honest.  The procrastinator that I am just doesn’t bother to write it down.  Instead I’m trying to remember what days I went in, what I did and how long I was there mere minutes before I have to turn my report in before the meeting.  That’s beside the point: just know that it’s a lot of hours.

Here’s five things I learned from my volunteering experiences.  Though I volunteer in a nursing home, I think that these five things can definitely apply to other places/opportunities that I’ve had the chance to do over the years.

1.  To be completely honest.  I’m an honest person, but when it comes to admitting that I don’t know how to do something, or that I’ve forgotten something I tend to try to cover up like I do know it.  Being honest and saying “Hey, I don’t know but let me find someone who does.” Or, “I can’t remember what rooms I’m supposed to visit today.” It’s okay, I’m not expected to remember or know everything from the first day.

2.  It’s a job, sort of.  The way that I look at it, if you’re going to consistently volunteer somewhere, treat it like a job.  Show up when you say you’re going to, do every task you’re asked to do to the best of your ability and ask questions when needed.  Believe it or not, I have seen some volunteers get ‘fired’ before and I definitely don’t want that to happen to me.

3.  How to efficiently get office tasks completed.  My Ma works in the business office and I’ve done my fair share of clerical duties.  Some I’ve done so much and so often that I swear she saves them for me because I get them done so timely.  One of the number one things with efficiency I’ve learned is to find a set pattern and stick to it.

4.  Close toed shoes (and ones with good supports, now that I think about it) are a must.  It only takes a few beds being pushed over those toes in a tornado evacuation or a wheelchair to find your toes in a traffic jam in the hallway to make you cry.  Besides, you get into the kitchen with close toed shoes and in turn can sneak out with some snacks. Also, you never know what things you’ll be doing like pulling things out of storage.

5.  It’s okay to say no.  Like I mentioned at the beginning, I had people fighting over me for my help.  I struggle with saying no because I somehow guilt trip myself into doing it.  My body can only handle so much standing or so much walking a day.  Not to mention that I do have other obligations to do than volunteering.  It means well, but sometimes I just have to say no.

It's not much of a list, I know but these five things are definitely some of the key things I've taken away from the last ten years.  It's crazy to think that over these ten years I've learned how to become a better person in a workplace and I didn't even know it was happening!  But really folks, get a good pair of shoes to volunteer in wherever you are.  It will definitely help with the achy feet later!

Favorite Pins!

Happy Monday! I hope your Monday is a bit better than mine currently is.  I'm battling a sore throat and some achy ears. I'll probably just take it easy today and spend a lot of quality time with good ole Pinterest.  We've been having so much fun the last few days.  And no, I'm not ashamed of the amount of pins I've pinned since last Monday. In some ways, that's almost an accomplishment with our internet being out during our snow "storm", I had to make up for lost time.

This week, I'm working on some coding so I'm going to only share a small handful of pins from this week.

Disclaimer: If you click the photo it will take you to a new window where I have pinned it on Pinterest.  From there, you can click the photo and it will take you to the website that it originated.  None of these photos are mine unless otherwise stated and if any of them are yours and you would like them removed, please contact me and I'll take care of it.

 

I would click through the photo to see it better on Pinterest, especially if you like memes and pranks.  This has made me contemplate which of my friends I feel the need to do this to.  I'll keep you updated if I do pull it. *eyes everyone with a birthday coming up soon*

 

 

Definitely a good thing I won't end up as a teacher, because I would do this and stay true to every bullet listed.

 

I laughed entirely too hard when I found this, but mostly because it is true.  I feel like I'm always fixing Missy's ears, especially when she's just crawled out of her blanket forts that she makes under my Ma's chair.

 

 

This one doesn't need an explanation; it says it all.

 

 

I'm glad that there's someone out there like me!

 

No, but really. Come on, who hasn't fantasized about this at least once in their lifetime since they started watching Doctor Who?

 

 

I'll probably be pinning lots more Doctor Who stuff this week...due to reasons that if you don't know then you need to check Twitter and do your own investigation because I can't bring myself to say it right now.

 

#nerdgirlprobs

 



Flying Before 9/11

This post is a part of a “series” called Sunday Memories that I once did on my other blog that I really enjoyed and wanted to make it apart of Procrastination Ramblings. Sunday Memories is just what it sounds like: sharing a memory once each week from family gatherings, road trips, odd experiences, those interesting methods used to pull an all nighter during finals week, and random every day type things I somehow have managed to remember.

Since today is the Sunday before Christmas, I decided that I would share a memory that was around Christmas time.  I immediately thought of this particular one because it was one of the few times I remember ever traveling outside of a fifteen mile radius of my hometown to spend the Christmas holiday.

I’m terrible at remembering the years, but I’m sure it was around the time that I was six because I was on crutches that year due to some health problems.  So, I’m guessing the year is 2000 which now that I think about it is just right considering it was the year after that we didn’t go to California for Christmas since my brother was deployed after September 11^th. I’m still fuzzy about these years and ages, so if I find out from Ma that I’m wrong, we’ll I’ll try to remember to fix this…

Anyway, it’s December of 2000 and here’s a young Jess on crutches, my mini traveling suitcase that my Ma had packed for me, and a little back pack stuffed with crayons, coloring books, a notebook and some playing cards and we’re off to the airport.  I remember that our flight took off super early, so naturally I was cranky. I mean, wouldn’t you too if you had to get up early on a day you didn’t have to go to school and deal with other people traveling while trying to make sure you don’t lose your parents in the crowd while you’re on crutches, at six years old? That’s what I thought.

I honestly don’t remember much about the actual flights or anything. I do however remember once we had gotten to our airport that we got into the security line and my parents made me go first.  I didn’t want to go first so my Ma went ahead of me and showed me how to put my shoes in the little tubs along with my jacket and my backpack.  I can’t say for positive if this was the first time I ever flew, but it’s the first time that I remember and I’m pretty sure I was kind of freaked out about the whole thing.

I came through the metal detectors just fine and my Ma was helping me put on my shoes in a little seating area just beyond the metal detectors when I heard them start going off.  I remember hearing my dad’s voice telling the security officers that he had an artificial knee and that he had all of his cards to prove it.  I saw them take my dad into a separated area behind closed doors to check it all out and to see his actual scars.

At six I didn’t really understand why they were so worried about my Dad’s fake knee setting off the alarms or why I had to put my crutches through the scanning machine, or why exactly they wanted my backpack with my crayons in it to go through the machine too.  Like I said, I was six.

Anyway, we spent Christmas that year with my brother in California.  On the way back home we had to repeat it all over again, but of course, six year old Jess thought she was a pro after just her first time but still wouldn’t go first in the security line if I recall correctly.

Aveeno: My Face Likes It

I'd like to begin this post with something from Pinterest not really a surprise if you've been reading all week:

I'm so happy that's Friday! I'm looking forward to spending my weekend with mom as we sit on Facebook all weekend and play games together, because that's what we like to do when we don't have any place to be and phone calls to deal with.

______________________________________________________

 

I just have to make a post for this product because I just LOVE it.  I've never be so happy with a facial product before and there's a reason why!

 

 

I first bought this face wash a few months ago when I was still working. I was browsing around our new Neighborhood Walmart Market on one of my days off and found it sitting in the markdown shelf next to some other things that I didn't really bother looking.  I was currently looking for a new face wash to switch to because the St. Ives that I was using was too rough for my face and was drying it out too much and the moisturizers I was trying were making me breakout because of the oiliness it added to my skin.

(source)

 

Anyway, mark down shelf! There were three of these tubs and I only grabbed one, something I regret doing! I had my concerns though.  With sensitive skin that I have and as oily as it can get I've tried a bunch of different products over the years and I've found that I must try them for a set amount of time before I buy a lot of them.  Had I known how much my face enjoyed it, I would have cleared them out!  I only grabbed one even though the three put together were still a lot cheaper than some of the washes I had been looking into.

 

I loved using this stuff when I was working at B's because it got my makeup off and cleaned out the nasty stuff I might have gotten on my face. Not to mention the oil from sweating, especially on my forehead where my hat sat.  I must have forgotten about the stuff when I traveled because I only just found it a few days ago tucked away with a bunch of my other traveling things.

 

I'm down to just one cleansing pad and I'm definitely going tomorrow to get some more!

 

I've found that it leaves my skin very soft and smooth just after the first time using it.  I have also seen a major difference in brightness after using it for a full week.  Sometimes if I've used it for too many days in a row my skin starts to get dry so I use one of my other washes instead for a bit of a break before going back.  With that being said, I generally only use this in the evenings and use a morning wash in the mornings.

 

I will definitely buy this product again, and because of how well my face has responded to it, I'm going to give other products from Aveeno a shot!

Hope ya'll have a wonderful Friday!



A Good Morning for a Reality Check

If you ever live with me the first thing you should know, and you'll find that it's very true after just a week, is that I am not a morning person.  I can sometime pass myself off as being one, like when I worked at B's and had to open in the mornings at 5:30 and would get up at 3:45 and would be completely awake by the time I took orders on the back drive window at 6:00 sharp, but I'm just not.

In general my morning routine is this:

• wake up, go to the bathroom
• find my way back to my bedroom (which is like five steps from the bathroom, but if the hall is dark and I'm still asleep, those five steps are hell) where I will attempt to locate my glasses
• glasses on? glasses off? whatever, I go to the kitchen to get a glass (a bowl and spoon if I'm eating cereal) and get the milk jug out of the fridge
• I'll sit at the kitchen table, pour myself a full glass of milk to take with my morning meds and then eat whatever food I've taken to the table for breakfast

After breakfast, I'm generally in an alright mood as long as it isn't too early and there isn't too much noise.  The best advice I can give anyone who lives with me on how to deal with me in the mornings: don't talk to me unless absolutely necessary, or at least wait until I leave the kitchen table.  Which, in all honestly could be a while because that's where I wakeup.  And just because you see me going through my Twitter feed while eating my cereal, that does not mean I'm ready to talk. Just a FYI.

Why am I telling you this? Well, since my brother has been home for a while now, he hasn't really gotten the point yet. Or if he has, he ignores it just to annoy the shit out of me, and don't tell him this (he probably already knows) but it's been working.  He'll bang on the bathroom door when I get up, or he'll be talking so loud while I eat my breakfast that it just makes me outrageously cranky. Or, he just make snide comments as soon as my bedroom door opens.  Today however, none of this happened.  I had a good morning!

I promise there's a reason to this post...though I must admit since I'm in a good mood I'm being kind of long winded today.

As I mentioned yesterday, since the weather has been oh so lovely this week my brother and I have done some work outside.  Well, this work has lead to a massive mountain at the curb by our trashcan and the mountain has been growing.  It is definitely an eye sore, but the way we look at it, at least it's not just sitting around the property anymore!

Today is our trash day and let me tell you, we're pretty good about making sure the trash cart is out at the road for our trash man to pick up in the mornings.  Even when we do forget, our trash man will come up to the house and get it from the porch and take care of it, something that the other company we had before never did and definitely something this guy doesn't have to do as a part of his job.  But he does.

Anyway.  We didn't expect much from the growing mountain to be taken today when the trash man came around.  We definitely hadn't expected for the trash man to come knock on our door and have a little chat with us.  He told my brother that he didn't have enough room to take everything today but that he would take as much as he could and then he'd come back for the rest of it.

Our trash man speaks very poor English and though we can get frustrated with that sometimes, we couldn't when he was all smiles and so friendly.  When he and my brother got done talking, he reached out to shake my brother's hand and before he turned to go back to the truck, he wished us a Merry Christmas.  We watched as he dumped the four carts we had out there and threw some of the stuff from outside into the back of the truck.  He even ran after two plastic bags that got picked up from the wind so they weren't just laying in our yard.  Before he took off to go to the next house he waved at my brother and I.

My dad who had been in his bedroom came out and asked what was going on when he saw us standing by the window.  We told him about the trash man and my dad smiled.  He told us that our trash man was the friendliest person and explained how every time he sees him he's got a big smile on his face and always waves.

It was then that I realized something.  Our trash man is probably one of those people that may not have a smooth life.  His family might be struggling from paycheck to paycheck.  For all I know, he could be having the most terrible year of his life but he seems to love his job. A job that a lot of people wouldn't think twice about.  Our trash man doesn't have to wave at us when he drives by, nor does he have to smile and say hello, he sure as hell doesn't have to do us favors like coming to the house to get our cart or taking more of our junk than he's supposed to.

The mystery behind our trash man is interesting to me this morning because I've realized, once again, how much I take for granted.  Like all this junk we have around our place.  Sure we don't use it, but at one point we did and there's a lot of memories behind that stuff.  Like all those garden hoses that are so worn we had to pitch.  We used to have massive gardens every summer and I can remember hours were spent with my family and some close friends tending the garden and then processing the produce throughout the summer.  Those are memories that I sometimes forget about but I find are really wonderful ones.

I feel like in the midst of my rambling I might have forgotten the main point to this post but I do know that I'm thinking more of all the positive things and the blessings I've had this year.  Who knew that our trash man would give me such a reality check?  I think I might even try to get up early next Thursday to greet him outside and tell him thank you.

Frustration Overload

For me, it's just a fact of life that I have to deal with.  A fact I should say that I'm still learning how to deal with.  The fact is this: I will probably always have joint pain.

Normally I have very little pain.  Sometimes my knee or hips will ache if I've sat too long and haven't gotten up to walk in a while.  Other times, like when I feel a cold front start moving in my elbow and knees start aching.

Most of the time, I don't even bother taking any meds for the aches and pains because I can mentally stick it through until I'm able to go on and continue what I'm doing.

It's so frustrating though, on nights like tonight when I've had a great day and my evening is ruined with an intense pain flare.  Does it matter that I volunteered three hours bright and early this morning helping to decorate Christmas cookies for a Christmas party tomorrow? Does it matter that I spent my gift card from my great aunt Dottie buying grown up things to organize my room? Does it matter that I actually spent some time organizing when I did finally get home?

No. None of it matters because this intense pain takes over everything.

This pain is so strong that I can't just watch tv or have a conversation with my brother without being distracted for 95% of the time.

What I find the most frustrating of this pain is that it's not even in the area that I had my hip replacement.  Hell, it's not even in the same leg.  I've experienced this pain, in the same area for years before and after my surgery and I've been told it's just rerouted pain basically.  But why?

The fact that I'm probably always going to have this joint pain is a major downer.  Especially if I stop and look back at my day, I'm pretty sure that the three hours it took to frost those cookies started this evening's pain from standing so long.  Sure it was three hours and anyone would be dead tired at the end of the day, but on other days that I have this pain, I didn't spend three hours standing instead I was just doing normal stuff.

Frustration.  That's where I'm at tonight with this whole figuring out how to deal with this 'fact'.  I'm frustrated that I can't just push my way through it without having to take a pain pill because at this point a couple of ibuprofen just isn't going to cut it.  I'm frustrated that I practically have to beg my friends to keep me in a conversation on Twitter or via text to attempt to keep my mind off of the pain.

Frustration at the notion that I once thought that I was okay with probably always having this pain, when clearly tonight I know that I'm not okay with it.

It's a fight. A fight that I feel that I am ill prepared for and one that I currently feel very alone fighting.

Nice Weather is a Good Thing

Sunday through today have been fantastic in the weather sense.  In South Central Kansas we've been having some crazy weather this December.  It's been going from super windy and nearly freezing cold, to warmer and raining, to sleet/hail/snow/lightening storms and then, this wonderful warm weather (with an unwanted, but we'll take it anyway, breeze).  I'm not saying that it's hot or anything, I mean I don't think we've hit 70 recently, or if we have the wind-chill has made it lower.  It's not paradise type weather but I'll take this over sleet/hail/snow/lightening storm!

Due to this wonderful Decemeber weather (and that my brother is home), we've done some major work in the last few days.  It simply started Sunday with my brother deciding to grill some ribs we had in the freezer that were taking up far too much room, was almost ready to be tossed out and were in general waiting for the right moment to fire up the grill!  I drove us up to Gander Mountain where we got my brother's favorite wood to grill with and came back to get the fire started up so it would be hot enough to grill at a decent time.

While we were waiting for the grill to heat up, my brother and I started to clean our front porch off as well as the concrete slab that sits directly off the stairs where we currently keep our (large) grill at since my brother gave it to us.  It was so wonderful out that we finished the cleaning and drug mom outside where we sat her in the two seat glider and propped her legs up on her many pillows on the small deck table we had.  The three of us were out there just bull shitting for the longest time, and the three dogs were happy as could be because they got unlimited playing/running around/snoofing time!

Since my brother motivated me on Sunday to clean outside to help get rid of stuff around the place that my parents have been meaning to do but haven't (for quite some time) I agreed to help any of the warm days until we got our little (well, it started out as little, now it's a bit...extravagant) to do list.  So the last two days we've been working outside near the garage, and it's still not done yet but it's a massive improvement from what it was before!

This nice weather has been great for getting me back into my cleaning/organizing mode that I was in a couple of weeks ago.  I kind of lost steam when it got really cold and my body was just like "nope, not gonna anything but lay in bed and read/sleep/watch Netflix/surf the internet when the internet actually works".  I'm hoping that I can stay in this new motivational cleaning zone until I go back to school so hopefully I can make some new habits so I don't end up with a bunch of cleaning to do at once.

The Blogmopolitan Quiz

I spent quite a bit of time yesterday afternoon between doing some yard work, helping grill dinner and some cleaning on the internet reading blogs.  One thing I found was the Blogmopolitan Quiz that I first found through Nadine.  So naturally, I decided to partake in this quiz and fill it out!

Isn't much of an improvement from yesterday's roller coaster of a Monday, but it's something! Happy Tuesday!