Nobody broke into my house while we were gone. Sadly, nobody broke in and did dishes either. Harumph. And I thought you all loved me. Oh well, you've all got a few weeks to redeem yourselves before the next round of eye candy watching the house.
Our trip was a good one. Grandpa decided to do Christmas before we left (save himself shipping, smart man) and the big kid gifts were MP3 players. Wahoo! These saved my life on the return trip. I swore that if I had to listen to KidzBop one more time I was going to jump from the moving vehicle. Fortunately we had the laptop with us and I was able to load the KidzBop cd onto the MP3's in about 3 minutes, thereby causing me to whoop with delight at the thought of making them ruin their OWN hearing listening to it.
Our big gift was MarioKart for the Wii and I got a new coffee mug. My mug is THE COOLEST ever. My dad bought it at my cousin's art store. It's sort of like a local art cooperative and framing place featuring art from local artisans. There is everything from felted wool "pictures" to ceramics to paintings. It's all wonderful, I could have spent a fortune. Anyway, I wanted to replace my mug-swap mug that got broken a few months ago. I loved that mug, hand thrown and nice colors. Well, I was browsing the mugs and could have bought and loved them all, but the one I ended up with has 3 women dancing, holding hands, under a full moon. Um, yeah, had my name on it. Not only was I thrilled to find this, but I was also a little bit energized that someone in this little town in Ohio had GODDESSES displayed on their pottery. So not only is there someone there who I could maybe relate to, but her stuff SELLS, as Stacy told me, so there is MORE THAN ONE person who I could maybe relate to in a spiritual sense. And furthermore, this person is known by my cousin, and introductions would be easy to come by. Hmmmm, the appeal of moving away from the city and living my country girl (minus the country music) dreams suddenly made itself more appealing.
We're not seriously considering moving, but I did really like Terra Haute Indiana when we drove through, and it's an easy drive to my family in Ohio, and easy drive to our family in St. Louis, and though it's a long drive to Denver, it's not a lot worse than it is now, so it's not that huge of a deal. And, Terra Haute might actually have work for Neall, unlike Bucyrus, Galion, Mansfield and Marion, none of which have much beyond retail, farming, and manufacturing of big things like appliances and industrial tools. In other words, not much there for Neall.
Now, this would be a long-term goal. I'd like to get my kids through another couple of years of quality education at SS (yeah, this week I love it, lol). I'd also like to complete my own degree. I'm gearing up to ramp that action up and go full time in the Fall. That will hinge upon the school situation for the kids, but I think it can be done. Neall is actually contemplating going back to school. We'll have to see how that pans out. He's talking Veterinary Medicine. Oiy. Or becoming an ME or Coroner. Double Oiy. He changes his mind every couple of days though, so we'll see where he settles. The driving force behind this change is that being on his feet so much (as a Chemist is required to be) is really taking a toll on his body, mainly his foot. Surgery, while an option, is probably not the BEST option, and unless big changes were made to his lifestyle he'd probably not actually get a lot better. Simply stated, he's just going to keep reinjuring the foot as long as he's on his feet 10 hours/day. While he CAN manage this job, it's to the detriment of anything beyond work (no playing, riding a bike, going to the zoo, hiking) and eventually even work will no longer be an option. Might as well think ahead now, get started on this new path.
Did I mention I love my mug? Hee-hee. I've been struggling a bit spiritually. Not that I'm struggling within my chosen spiritual path, but that I feel like I need to devote more to it, and I just don't. Why? I don't know. I feel a bit alone. That's part of it. I also feel a bit defensive, which I need to get over. Defensiveness doesn't lead to calm inner reflection, kwim? Since my spirituality resides largely within myself I can't have other stuff like defensiveness and worry taking up space. I need to declutter my house, but I also need to declutter my heart. I'm sure if I could accomplish those 2 tasks I would find that my life, in general, is simpler.
Something that's been bugging me too, (input greatly appreciated) is that I really really really want my wedding ring back. I cut it off when I was pregnant with Zella (I think) because my hands were swelling. If I had known that rose gold was difficult to repair, perhaps even impossible to repair, then I would have tried harder to get it off. I figured it would need to be resized anyway so cutting it was the easiest path to the ultimate goal. Well, it's going to cost a fortune, more than I paid for it, to get it fixed properly. So, in short, I don't have $600 to get it fixed. I'm exploring my options, but I don't like any of them. I'm still in poutybutIwantmyownweddingringinonepiece mode at the moment. I don't want a diferent ring, I want THAT ONE. I don't want a totally different kind, I want the one I was given by my husband, that matches his, on my wedding day. Is that so odd? Or am I being overly sentimental, because after all, it's just metal and diamonds.
1 comment:
re: spirituality - it's that time of year. I always tend to get more "inner" as the days grow darker, and feel the need to reconnect. One thing I'm wanting to do is start up a journal of my more private thoughts and meditations, usually blogging, etc fills that needs but I've been wanting to write more stuff just for me. poetry. I like your mug, too.
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