Month: November 2022

Bath time

I was drying clothes at my friend’s house the next neighborhood over tonight. I lived with her and her husband and baby at the start of this year for a few months, and I always love visiting. I have, tonight, been officially dubbed, “Naahh,” or “Nannah” by the baby. She knows who “Hannah” is, and has known for months, but can’t quite say it herself yet.

Nonetheless, I went to hang with her after she finished being bathed by her dad and he just left her to play in the bath a while (seems to be the normal now, as she’s old enough to be left semi-alone for a few minutes in the low bath). She eventually handed me the water gun that had recently been added to her bath toys, and wanted me to shoot it… at her. It was ridiculously adorable. She squealed with delight and giggled and wiped her face off after I stopped. She then proceeded to tell me, “Duck!… Wall!… Beah!” and I obligingly shot each named item in turn. (That last one was a bear pacifier, for those who don’t quite know the two-year-old words. 😛 ) I also added in her feet from time to time, whenever her toes popped up fully from the water.

It was a great bath time.

Post-a-day 2022

Gas

Well, looks like the gas’s being out will be another few days at the least, and will cost use a minimum of a thousand dollars. Ugh. God, please, give us the strength to handle all of this with grace and ease. Thank you for my successful adapted shower tonight. Help us to eat healthily, even without our normal means of cooking. Help me to find fulfilling and paying work. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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Advent-agious

And thus begins Advent, a season of preparation for the coming of Christ Jesus (also known worldwide in English-speaking communities as “baby Jesus”). May we all find beauty in the struggles of our preparations for welcoming God into our lives wholly and newly this Christmas season. May God’s will be done among us all, and May we be our best selves. May our Advent be very advent-agious both to ourselves and to the world at large. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Laboring away

Today, I woke up around ten, giving me almost 11 hours of good sleep – a first in a long time. I took care of myself with relaxation for about an hour and a half after that, then I hopped to it.

I went to Costco for gasoline and Michael’s for eyelets for our outfits. Then, I came home and got to work on our outfits for RenFest. I updated my cloak and finished creating his. Then we had dinner with his dad and stepmom. Then I showered at their house, because they have warm water and we don’t.

When I got home, I finished the phone satchel for him and edits on my own. I updated my outfit with the eyelets, instead of just having leather chord pulled through knife cuts in the leather skirt and top. Once he was home, I measured and put holes and eyelets in his loincloth piece, and I adjusted the lengths of the chords and toggles for his cloak. I gathered together everything for tomorrow while he took a shallow bath of water he’d heated with the electric kettle over about half an hour’s time. I asked him about shoes, only to discover that he only had tennis shoes to wear with our brown leather and fur cave-people outfits… That’s a facepalm if ever…

Oh, well… you can’t win them all. And they are, at least, low-profile and dark-colored, so they won’t stand out terribly… aside from the fact that they don’t match the outfit one iota… Meh… too tired to worry anymore. It is what it is, and that’s perfect for this year.

Thank you, God, for the blessings of this day, including that he passed his test – Woohoo!!! In your name, I pray. Amen.

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Thanksgiving Day, right?

1. The Turkey Trot was awesome. It was cool and misting the whole time to varying degrees, I ran my second-fastest 5k despite the crazy elevation changes throughout the trail run, I got fifth in my age group (25-50!) and tenth in women and 38th overall, my man got fourth in his age group and 20th in men and 24th overall, and my mom got eighth in her age group (50+) and 72nd in women and 157th overall (she did a walk-run for the whole thing, whereas we ran for times).

Oddly, at the finish, they had bananas and granola bars and waters… and homemade spring rolls. 😛

2. My mom made us a tasty ad warm brunch afterward.

3. We had a good time saying bye to my Grandma. She was very good at charming the dog this week, as you can see…

4. We finally get home tonight, and I’ve been waiting for a nice and hot shower before bed in my comfy and cozy bed with my awesome new pillow… and the gas line has a leak in the backyard… meaning we have no heat in the house, no hot water, and no stove to make hot water. Fortunately, I had an electric kettle, so I pulled it out and heated two pitchers, poured them into a big pot, and took the pot and a coffee mug to the shower with me. I cried most of the shower, but scooping out some hot water with the mug, then adding cold water from the shower to it and pouring it over parts of my body helped me wash myself better. And I filled the whole pot with extra cold water at the end, and I dumped the whole thing over my head (and, therefore, body) after turning off the freezing shower head. So, it was rough, in a ridiculous way, but it ended decently. My feet have almost stopped hurting from all the cold.

Anyway, bedtime has long since passed. Goodnight!

Post-a-day 2022

Giving Thanks

My body has finally relaxed enough for me not to be somewhat miserable anymore this evening. Thank you, God. And thank you for the family with whom I have been blessed to spend time this week, both during my physical pains and afterward. Please, keep us safe at our Turkey Trot 5k run tomorrow morning, as well as on our drives home. Help us always to pursue your will and to be your love. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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Improvement

Well, my nose still has some gunk hidden up in the back, but it has improved a good deal from this morning’s state. Thank you, God. I rested immensely today, while still moving about the house and eating food throughout the day. It was a nice, if physically uncomfortable both for the cold and the day-two menstruation, just spending the day hanging out with my brother and my man (and the dog, though she mostly just slept in the chair we let her use).

God, please, heal me fully by tomorrow morning. Let this sleep now release the rest of this ickiness, and heal my body fully. Help me to be fully read to make a positive difference for all tomorrow. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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Challenges

Perhaps the Universe is just always ready with the next challenge, demanding and standing for our own improvement, our own development into the people we not only can be but were made to be.

…….

Well, we made it. And it was rough when we first arrived… That’s for sure. It took a lot for my man and me to stay present to what was needed versus what was freaking us out and stressing us and all the negative and not-helpful stuff of the situation. We’re staying in an AirBnB, and, put simply, it was not clean when we arrived. And it kept getting worse, the more we ventured into more of the house. As a reminder, I have OCD, making dirty particularly difficult for me. Separately, I care about justice and integrity – charging $405 a night (which also happens to be $100 more than most dates for this place) for a man older place with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a loft seems to me to be a price that would include cleanliness of the space. Period. So, we had a lot with which we had to deal for all of that. My man had to miss the lunch for my grandma’s birthday, but he still came and said hi to her at the start, before going back to the place to meet the cleaner. (Suffice it to say that the place has now been cleaned, and there was just a massive failure on the owner/manager’s part of not verifying that it was ever cleaned, despite having hired someone to do so.)

All that to say that life really does demand we become better versions of ourselves, whether we like it or not. Today has been one of those days for me. And, unfortunately, I’m also feeling sick in the throat… :/

Dear God, please, heal me with this rest I am allowing for myself tonight (in bed before nine!). Grant me beautiful health and well-being this week, that I might spend the week lovingly with my beloved family, your blessings to me. In your name and with gratitude, I pray. Amen.

P.S. Oh, and, to top it all off, I started menstruating almost a week earlier than expected today. Talk about having to gtf over it and make it work. This has been a day, for sure!

Post-a-day 2022

Travel

Apparently we both bring out one another’s procrastination qualities quite effectively when we’re together, my man and I. We’re leaving at five in the morning tomorrow (today, technically). I’m about to go to bed, finally, as I’ve finished all the packing except the food in the fridge and freezer – this is for Thanksgiving with my family at an AirBnB, after all – and am finishing my bedtime routine things now. He’s loading the car and doing only Goodness knows what fifty million other things before he goes to sleep. Likely, he’ll only sleep an hour or two. Actually, that’s false. I’ll sleep just under two and a half hours. He’ll sleep even less tonight. But he wants to be there before the workday starts, and we have a roughly- three-hour drive, so 5am departure it is.

But, golly, could we, please, do better about packing sooner in the future for trips? Tonight was just too much. Just ridiculous, even for us.

Deer God, please, grant us safety in all of our travels and adventures. Thank you for our beautiful, love-filled lives. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022