Friday, June 27, 2014

Okay, I get it.

So, you know when a life lesson is staring you in the face and you really don't want to see it? So life gets a little bit louder and little bit fiercer? And then you try to talk your way out of the lesson? You try to reason with the lesson? You try to negotiate with the lesson? You try and rationalize the lesson? Ignore it? Get pissed? ARGUE with it?

Well, I do. I've been doing all of that. For longer than I'm willing to document. I've been doing it and I finally am calling Uncle. OK, I get it. Okay, OKay, OKAy, O  K  A  Y! I'm paying attention. I'm no longer sticking my head in the sand. I am looking right at you life lesson and I am accepting.

For anyone who might be reading this little post, please send a kind thought, a prayer, a hope winging for me. I need it. While I am looking at the lesson, know what it means, accept I've got to learn it, I still have some trepidation. I welcome all positive thoughts. I accept all the help available to me.




These sweet little Johnny Jump Ups are symbols of the abundant nature of life. I haven't planted these in years. Like 8 years, maybe more, and yet they appear year after year after year. Volunteers. I love them. Pansies are beautiful flowers and that is reason enough to love them. I also love them for their resilience and tenacity. These sweet blooms are a reminder to just be me and universe will also provide what I need to flourish. 


Monday, June 23, 2014

3 weeks and it is good...

It's official. I like yoga. I know, big surprise. Week 3 was great. I could do things on Sunday that I could not do the first day. That is big. I felt less awkward and more confident. Of course, I'm still quite thankful that I cannot see myself in a mirror! But I still felt more confident in doing the moves.

Near the end, we did something called "Happy Baby". I'd never heard of it before and as the instructor introduced it and explained how to accomplish it, a giggle burst out of me, only to be joined by my husband's giggle. Such a fun moment. Want to know what Happy Baby is?  Yep, just like the picture, on your back, feet in the air, hands holding them. So funny!

It's official. I'm hooked. I downloaded an app to my tablet. Namaste!

Thursday, June 19, 2014

The past week and menopause

Okay, Yoga week two. More challenging. Not awful, not super hard, just more challenging. We learned new poses, we spent more time in them, in significantly warmer temperatures and my period started.

Sorry if this bothers anyone, but as this blog is for me and this is something I may need to refer back to, I'm about to document menopause and menstrual cycles. I started perimenopausal symptoms several years ago. You know, hot flashes, disrupted sleep, strange menstrual cycles amongst other really fun symptoms. A friend and I were discussing it, because of course I thought I was too young. No, she says, you aren't. I did more research only to learn perimenopause can last 2-10 years. Oh Joy!

Although my periods have been varied, sometimes long, sometimes short, sometimes, really close together, sometimes very heavy, I never skipped a month, until this year. I had a period in January and February and then nothing. So, I thought Woo! Done with that. Until Saturday. And once it started I've felt drained, exhausted, even. And it's not like it's even worth the effort, so light a period it is.

By the way, when you try to discuss your situation with a doctor, the mood swings, the sweating, oh my lord, the mood swings, the weight gain, the random hairs growing everywhere, the sweating, and any and everything else... Know what you will hear? "It's in the realm of normal". serious eye rolling here! I actually don't think it matters what you tell them. "I'm seeing purple polka dots", "I have hair growing between my toes", "I have a sudden craving for olive ice cream"... you'll get the same response. I haven't tried it, lol, but that would make the appointment way more fun! 

This topic is not discussed enough. I've polled all my friends. No one talks about it. Probably because it's embarrassing. Probably because by the time it happens to your mother you're grown, away at college or living on your own and so you don't see it. IDK. For my mother, her body was forced into early menopause by chemo. It wasn't the same. She had all the signs and symptoms condensed down into a 3 month period. She went from normal to menopausal in the blink of an eye, and really couldn't separate the chemo side effects from the menopausal symptoms, so I really have no reference points, which is why I've quizzed all my friends.

Onto a new topic. I'm so over perimenopausal/menopausal! If you have any insight - - I'd appreciate you sharing. 

I knitted some adorable baby hats this week for our newest grandson. He's a sweet little bundle! I've never knitted a baby hat before. It was a challenge. I followed three different patterns and only 1 turned out a reasonable facsimile of the correct size. And yes, before you ask, I did a swatch test and knew I, as I always do, was knitting larger. Even dropping down a needle size or two, didn't help the end product. ARGH! So, I went with the one pattern that nearly worked, added three extra stitches and ended up with some very adorable hats! Picture to come!

My office at work is at the farthest point from the air conditioner and so I've been told by people who are supposed to know, that it's just 'the way it is' that it's sweltering in there. BOO! Have I mentioned I'm perimenopausal (or possibly menopausal, who knows) and I'm warm all the dang time? Well yesterday was the hottest day of the year, so far, and very sunny. It was a sweat box and I felt myself getting more and more pissed as the day progressed. So yet another call and am now awaiting Frick and Frack (my names for the maintenance team) to come and take another look.

So, the blog views have passed the 5000 mark. What do you think about that? Yea, I don't know what to think, either. It's cool, though. I hope you are enjoying it. I also hope you take the ranting with a grain of salt. Negative-ness is better out than in and this blog is my getting it out place.

We've begun painting the living room. I know. It's a lot of painting. Eh, what can you do? I do like to switch stuff up and my husband is a trooper. I really like saturated color, but have decided to go lighter and brighter in there. The color is called cream in my coffee or something like that and hubby picked it out. It's tough to tell just yet, but I'm leaning toward liking it. :-)

My niece was over this afternoon and ended up playing cards with my son. I was in an adjacent room, working on my jewelry, listening to the two of them. They were completely adorable. Insulting and laughing and sharing secrets. I just love kids. She and her family moved two country doors down two years ago and it's been such a good thing. For all of us. 

And that is the news of the week, I think. Thanks for hanging in there.  I'm planning to take some pictures tomorrow to make the posts prettier. We have some stunning flowers in bloom around the house.

BTW-if that Yoga cat picture from a couple of posts ago, doesn't make you smile... Well I don't know what. Look again. It's funny!

Happy Thursday!


Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Yoga! Yoga! Yoga!


Well, I wasn't sore the next day or the next. I was aware of some muscles that I hadn't been aware of before yoga, but not sore. AND... my bum knee, that I hurt in the 6th grade when we were sitting on our desks tossing around a nerf ball that went just a little wide and when I went to step down on the floor to reach it, my foot was caught in my bell-bottom corduroys and I fell onto the concrete floor, right on my knee, which swelled up like nobody's business and I had to use crutches for a week to let it heal and the swelling to go down.  (are you impressed by the run-on-ness of that sentence?) Well you should be!

Anyway, I fell on my right knee in the 6th grade and as I age, my knee grumbles. But, the yoga totally eliminated any sort of pain in my knee for two days. Seriously! And you'd think that all the child's pose and cow and cat poses, it would stress out my knee, but no. I did each thing as long as I could do it, and my knee thanked me for it for the next two days. So I'm really looking forward to going back. I'm trying to figure out how I can get to classes more often, once I finish the beginner course. I like feeling good, so I want to find time for it.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Yoga

My husband, sister in law and I started a beginner yoga series tonight. It was weird, wonderful, awkward and humbling. In case tomorrow I'm sore and in pain, I want to say that right now I feel good, accomplished and peaceful. Just in case tomorrow I'm sore.

Namaste. which means bowing to you. at the same time it is an act of seeing the divine spark in others. isn't that beautiful?

Namaste.

Bedroom Update

New Mattress Set
Okay, confession: I started this and was really quite tired of the bedroom project and couldn't drum up any enthusiasm to take pictures. So it's been sitting for a little while. But it'll be good to document this stuff, so I'm finally finishing this post.

It's been two weeks since the bed arrived and three since we started the refresh in earnest. We ended up taking the better part of a week off, as we were both burned out.

It has been really challenging to buy bedding for this refreshing. Seriously. I am surprised about that. I figured it would be a piece of cake.
up close sides

The duvet insert, was fairly easy. I read several articles on what the different measurements are for down and once I knew what all the numbers meant, it was easy to pick out an insert. While I was nervous about not being able to feel it before purchasing, I'm really glad I went with my instincts. Our new insert is lighter, yet warmer than our previous one and was very reasonably priced.

Sheets. That's a different story altogether. I have yet to find a gray patterned sheet that I like or that isn't too clashy for our pillows. Even online. The other challenge with online is the color. I ordered some flannel sheets that looked to be gray and white, but in reality are gray and tan. Very disappointing.

Top. Beautiful.
I did successfully order a duvet cover in a subtle gray on gray stripe. It's nice and very soft and well priced. I would prefer it to not be a solid color but for now its good.

Our sheets are cream colored. Not my first color choice, but they are great quality and that is way more important.


We decided to take out everything and only bring back in what we really want. The room is huge! And we haven't put anything on the walls. I must say am enjoying it, a little surprised by how much.

Duvet Cover
So, it's coming together! A little more to do that will hopefully be finished this week. (BTW - that didn't happen. It's still not quite finished.)

Okay, that was the unfinished post... Here come the new updates: 

Confession: One I've probably already told you... I don't really enjoy shopping. I don't do it for fun. I especially don't like to do it for a specific thing. I find it terribly frustrating to look for a specific thing, in every store in the greater metropolitan area. Terribly frustrating.

Basket!
I did more shopping in the month of May than I would enjoy doing in a year. And still couldn't find exactly what I wanted. But things I did find are fun additions to the room. Notice the dandelion basket. I found two and they are currently holding all of my secret (well, not so secret) clutter that I absolutely cannot live without. The gray of the dandelion looks good with the walls!

Towels. We found really fun and interesting towels. They were the easiest and most fun purchases since the pillows.

Rug. See my toes, oops.
We found a new rug, too. Oh, we rearranged the furniture in the room, thanks to our youngest son, who is really gifted with spatial planning. Hmmm... maybe he should think about architecture instead of political science. Anyway, we were also looking at rugs, everywhere we went. Hubby liked the one in the picture and though we looked and looked, this was still his favorite. He calls me one day and says, I still like that rug we saw called... I say: To be honest, I can't remember what it looked like. We'd seen so many blessed rugs, towels, paint chips, sheets, etc., you understand. So he offers to stop by the store and take a picture of it. I say Okay! Some time later, he arrives home with the rug. I am thrilled. I could have wept. Not because it looks perfect in the space or that in the array of colors on the rug has both the wall color and the duvet color. No. I nearly wept with relief that I neither had to shop for nor make the decision about what rug to buy.

That was when I knew that we needed some time away. More than a week. We needed some breathing room and decided to shelve the refresh.

washcloths
But, we are nearly finished. The big thing is the headboard. Because we live in an old quirky house, there isn't a wall without a window or door on it. It makes bed placement tricky. In it's old configuration, the bed was in front of two windows - see picture above. But in the old configuration we had a queen. Now we have a king. It was too squishy in it's old place. In the new, it's only in front of one window. (there will be finished photos soon!) This makes the headboard tricky. Plus my husband, whom I totally love, makes stuff difficult. (I say with love). He does. He overthinks, plans, replans, strategizes, rethinks and then starts over. I say, mount it to the wall. He says, when the bed moves, the headboard won't. I say, So? Mount it to the wall. He says they are plaster walls. I say, So? Mount it to the wall. He says it partially covers the window, can't mount it to the window. I say, build it so it rests on the sill. He says then there's no possibility of airflow. He shows me drawings, looking down. Seriously my head is spinning at this point. I'm trying. Really trying, but these drawings make no sense to me whatsoever. He's so earnest in trying to explain it to me, but I have no idea why it has to be this complicated. So I finally describe what I want and tell him to do what he needs to do. I heard him say to son#1 yesterday that he had to rethink the headboard. Inside my head, I said, mount it to the plaster wall, resting it on the window sill, blocking the airflow and be done with it. Oh yes, there is a little frustration there. Ouch.
hand towels

I want to put some words on the wall. I haven't felt inspired yet. What is your favorite quote? I love words. The perfect thing to put on our wall is coming to me, I just know it.

Well, that's the update as of today. I think.






Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Enough said...





New purchase from the Galena Vault. Artwork by 3 Wishes Creations.



Truth. Enough said.