Enchantress No comment yet

Am I Ready?

The training is complete and the lady I'm replacing will be heading off to her new job next Tuesday. I'll be on my own after four, ten hour days with her. Not sure if I feel confident enough, but I think I'm ready. The boss is very nice, experienced and devoted to his crew. The crew (the ones I've met) are hard working, loyal and diligent. Most of them work two to three other jobs, if their not in school. I give firefighters the utmost respect but even more so after learning a bit more about them.

I scheduled a physical for the first part of March. Initially, I wanted to see my OBGYN, but he doesn't have any openings until April. Yeesh! The physical is needed because it's time, but also because I'm beginning to wonder if the early parts of menopause haven't set in with me. I have hot flashes at night (primarily), with the dieting and exercise I was doing, I hardly lost any weight, my mood shifts on a dime and I'm not feeling balanced. If it's not menopause sneaking in, perhaps it's my thyroid. Either way, I'm going to have a heart-to-heart with my family practitioner. I hope he'll have good information/advice for me when I do.

We had our first dinner party in our new apartment, last night. My girlfriend, her husband and their two kids came. Hubby made chili, I made hotdogs for the kids and pecan pie for desert. It was very nice, but also very cramped. It really made me miss having a house with space to move. We were all sort of cloistered in the kitchen, living room area. The younger kids were in Indy's room and my eldest was under foot (no longer a little kid, but not quite an adult). They were here for about three hours and I really had a good time. I look forward to doing more girl nights but will opt for some sort of babysitting when I do.

My new plan was supposed to start late next week but I'm holding off until I see the doctor. I would be utterly bummed if I got going and saw no results again. I need to have this extra twenty gone from me and soon. Normally, I get going and it comes off pretty steadily. This hormonal whatever I'm dealing with needs to be resolved first.
Enchantress No comment yet

Thoughts Become Things

Do you believe this? I certainly do. I've seen it play out time and time again, even with the simplest of things. Sometimes, it shows up in the music I hear on the radio or some advice that someone shares with me. I've decided that I need to start emitting more positive thoughts so that I receive more positive things. It can be tricky because emotions are strong and complicated. I may be feeling pretty crappy and those perceptions may be sending out some serious negativity. Absolutely not what I need in my life. Where's this all coming from, you may ask? I'm in the thick of it with my hubby right now and I'm very unhappy about it. I think I totally brought it on myself by thoughts I had earlier in the week.

It's been a while since we've had an argument and things are going so smoothly. Jinxing myself is exactly what I did, at least, I believe that's what happened. Now, he's off and about with his friend and I don't know when he'll be home. Yep. Totally brought this on myself.


Meanwhile, the negative energy swarmed around my house and my eldest ended up grounded. This was not a coincidence. So, what am I doing about it? My initial reaction was to write this all out so that I'll remember for next time. I'm also going to do some mediating, praying and positive thinking. Have you ever read/watched The Secret? I'm re-watching this as well for a bit of a boost. This is a life that can be full and abundant. Enough with my pity-party, onto good thoughts.



Enchantress No comment yet

One Fish, Two Fish....

Tonight is $1.00 night at the local swim facility in our city. My plans are to take the girls this evening as a treat/surprise. I haven't decided yet if we'll do this before or after dinner. I kind of think it would be better to pick up dinner afterwards, that way we can make the most of the time we have there. My hope is to do something similar each Wednesday, so that my youngest can get used to the water. She's had a few lessons but it's been a little while and she tends to be rather skittish. We plan to go to the ocean for our vacation this year and I want her to be as comfortable with the water as possible. I'd prefer to have two little fish instead of one.

As part of this, it's fantastic exercise and tones the body all over. I'm eager to use it as an additional means of exercise. It's great when you can get the best of both worlds.
Enchantress No comment yet

I'm Gonna Be a Working Girl!

Hooray! I've been offered a job! It will have been 8 months of unemployment for me, come this Friday. How weird to say and read that! Being a stay-at-home mom has been very rewarding and beneficial to both my girls and myself. It's had its stressful moments, but I can thank my calm, cool and collected hubby for getting me through the rough patches. The great news is that the new job is part-time, so I won't have to sacrifice loads of time for work and neglect my kids in the process.

I will begin working on Monday of next week and I couldn't be more pleased. Today, I started prepping myself for the earlier wake-up time, along with the kids. They will have to be dropped off and I'm truly grateful for my competent friends. Some years ago, I would have shelled out loads of money for daycare just because I couldn't rely on my so called "friends" to help me the way I needed them to. I've discovered that those who have similar parenting styles to my own are much more reliable. The neighbor who lets her kids do whatever they want is not the one I want shuttling my kids to school. Yeesh!

Something else I've been doing; working on me. I had so much stress with my last job that I really didn't take out enough time for myself. It's hard to do when your a mother. So much of your life is devoted to sacrificing. In fact, that is what I began to feel like my purpose in life was to do; sacrifice everything for everyone elses happiness. Not so. The trick will be incorporating the new things that I've learned, while still taking on a new job.

Nervousness doesn't even begin to describe what I'm feeling. It's been so long since I've worked. Can I go in and master things without having to reteach myself the tools of the trade? The people in the environment; are they going to be kind and welcoming or feel the need to test me? Will I be able to do everything without feeling overwhelmed? I will, at some point, need a uniform for my job. This is terrific since I haven't worked in a regular office setting in years. I told my hubby that I probably have four outfits that fit (I'm not even sure about that..) and I'll need to be in business/professional until the uniform comes. I've lived in the land of sweat and yoga pants for far too long.

My health and weight are not where I want them to be, but I'm working on it. I've been working out the entire time I've been at home; however, there hasn't been much weight lost. I feel stronger and I've got more stamina but the holidays were deadly. I'll be working on my eating a bit more in the coming weeks. Part of that is getting to the root of the issues in a completely different way. I've identified my weaknesses (I did that when I was on the HCG in 2009), but I didn't deal with them completely. The major stress that came about just pushed me into a spiral of weight gain.  I'm coming from a different place now and I'm very optimistic about how I'll handle each of those stressful times when they arise. It's a battle I plan to win.

Finally, I'm planning my 20 year vacation celebration with my best friend. It's so exciting! When she came out to visit last September, we narrowed down the location and dates. I called her today and we talked about some of the places where we'd like to stay. The trip isn't until September and we commented on how hard it's going to be to wait until nearly the end of the year to go. By the time we do, I know I'll be in need of some sandy beaches. I'm also hopeful that I'll be fit enough to brave my monokini again...and with even more pride than the last time.

Philosphy: Sweet Nectar & Sandalwood body Lotion
The winter months are murder on my hands! I found a lotion that I simply adore and it keeps the ash at bay. Sadly, it is no longer available (unless you get lucky enough to find it on discount somewhere or on eBay). We bought our bottles for $6.99 at Ulta, marked down from twenty-four. 



Enchantress 2 comments

Froggy, Froggy, Froggy

My eldest is dissecting frogs in her seventh grade class. She started with the external parts today. I was there to assist and boy and boy is her class a rowdy bunch. I don't mean to say that they are unruly, just incredibly vocal. The girls are also a lot more delicate than I remember my friends being in Junior High. Some were insistent that they not touch the frogs at all.

From my days of dissection, the lab smelled of incredibly strong formaldehyde. The frogs were also fairly small. Today, I could barely smell anything and the frogs were huge! I'm guessing they're bred to be a bit larger for ease in detecting their parts. It was quite a sight.

Aside from frogs, I also helped out my youngest daughter's first grade class. I do so every Wednesday. Each child has the opportunity to take a book home everyday. All she/he has to do is read it three times, then have a guardian sign a sheet and return the book to school. With each book, the vocabulary words are a bit more challenging. My job is to cycle out the books for those students who returned theirs. Today, nearly twenty students returned their books.

The teacher has a reward system, of course, and let me know that this is the first year that students have been really good about turning the books around. My own child expects that we'll read hers at night before bedtime. I'm so happy that she's turned out to be a super reader like her big sister.

This is what's on the menu for tonight: http://savour-fare.com/2010/04/28/chicken-curry/
I've made it a few times, pairing it up with Basmati Rice and Naan. It's been a wonderful dish to add to my rotation and I'm eager to learn how to prepare more Indian dishes.

And my thought for the day...

Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on your front door forever.
Enchantress 2 comments

Over the Weather

We've endured temps in the teens, single-digits and now the negatives this winter. I'm really, really looking forward to spring. The buds on some plants are already visible, but I worry that these cold temps are doing damage. God always has a plan though, right?

I've been working out at a gym. A gym! It's literally been years since I have. When I did, I would go at lunch time to the gym just downstairs from my work. I was in great shape and won a contest they had for most time spent working out; round trip tickets anywhere JetBlue flies. It was awesome! There's no contest at stake this time, accept for maybe the one I have for myself.

There's a picture I found of me and my hubby together. We weren't married at the time, but he had just picked me up for our Valentine's day weekend together. This was sixteen years ago and I still have the dress. I would love to be able to wear it (comfortably) and take a picture by that time. My hopes and possibly my expectations are a bit high. It's good to shoot for a goal.

I calculated that I've been unemployed for seven months. It makes my head spin to think about it. I've had some job or another since I was thirteen and now I'm doing exactly what I'd hope to do (but that was when my babies were really small). Better late than never, I suppose. I've been diligently job hunting for part-time work but you wouldn't believe the hours! My guess is that they're looking for single individuals or those who exist only to work. What kind of shift is 5:00pm to 12:00am anyway? If you really have to have work it's probable that you could make that shift work. For me, it's just not an option. If I could find something that allowed me to still see about my children, while simultaneously paying me what I'm worth (oh, and allowing for a job that's not only creatively viable but also worthwhile), I would be very happy. Is it out there? Yes. It just hasn't reared its head yet. I'm waiting for you!

A source of income soon would be great. This is the year I'm planning for my great adventure with my best friend. We've already chosen the where, I just have to come up with the next two to three thousand dollars for the trip. I was stashing away money very nicely while I was working but I hadn't reached my goal before I quit my job. No complaints. I recently heard that I got out in the nick of time. So many of my former colleagues are disenchanted with all the new policies and completely stressed out by management's expectations.

So, it's off to take my youngest to school. A thought to ponder:


When you get to your wit's end, you'll find God lives there.
Enchantress No comment yet

Fabulous Wine for January

When hubby surprised me with a surprise trip to Las Vegas, we made sure to stock up on libations. This one is a winner (especially if you like sweet wines):

Refreshing and light, it will taste lovely with almost anything. Hubby is hard to please with wine and we both enjoyed it.  I'm hopeful that the Utah liquor stores will care this flavor here. Fingers crossed!

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)