Tag: being silly

Social energy

After my cousin and his friend left late this morning, his parents, my aunt and uncle, showed up to pick up my uncle’s boat that we had been storing for him. So, I spent the morning interacting with the cousin and friend, then the midday and early afternoon with my aunt and uncle. By the time our dads and their wives arrived for dinner (almost an hour late) close to five, I was kind of done with my social interactions for the day. 😛

Quite convenient, I know. So, I stuck it out and participated a reasonable amount, I believe. But the seating arrangement allowed for me to take it easy and talk to the grandmother in the living room while the dads and wives all chatted together at the dining table – their spending time to get to know each other was kind of the main point of the dinner, after all. And I got to do a lot of cleaning etc. in the kitchen, which helped me balance it all, too.

Nonetheless, I think the evening was a rather good time as a whole for everyone. I’m very grateful to be going to bed now, though it is after ten PM.

Thank you, God, for today’s blessings. He’s me and help me always to do your will. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Musical Evenings

We celebrated my grandma’s 93rd birthday this evening at her building’s happy hour. After a bit, my cousin jumped on the (baby?) grand piano – lid up, of course – and started playing some old favorites for her (and the other folks there), as well as a few for us. I rather especially enjoyed singing “All for the Best” from Godspell with my mom and aunt and cousins… almost like we were mad, but we were truly just having such a great time with the song, we were actually jumping up and down and all as we did it.

It all was just really great. Even the regular Alzheimer’s granny was singing along with enthusiasm and energy I had never seen in her before tonight. That made it all even sweeter.

And then, by happenstance and poor planning, the piano cousin and his friend ended up staying at the house with us tonight. They arrived while I was showering, and it was no surprise to me to hear both the piano and a guitar already being used within minutes of their arrival. Naturally, we had a next few hours filled with music and merriment.

The nerdy bit was when I mentioned the NPR Piano Puzzler, a really cool bit where this pianist composes and performs a popular song in the style of a famous composer (who did not write the song). A listener has to guess the song and the composer, but it is just as fun to play at home or in the car just listening. My cousin hasn’t heard of it. Fortunately, they are all available to hear online, so we pulled up a few and had a grand old time listening to them and guessing together. If you like music and haven’t tried them already, check them out!

Anyway, thank you, God, for such a blessing tonight. Grant us all renewing sleep each night and energy and will to pursue and fulfill your will each day. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Talk about toothbrushes

Toothbrushes… they seem to be one of those things you can find anywhere and in all different types and styles, and it seems that it really doesn’t matter which one you pick, because they’ll all get the job done about the same. The electric ones seem to be the only real difference in quality of result… supposedly, anyway. I’ve never read a study on them, and advertisements don’t really use quality ones to express their preferred outcomes, so we may never know the actual facts of the matter. It certainly makes sense that they’d be more efficient, but it isn’t a guarantee.

Anyway, I have a comment on this: The greatest toothbrush I have crossed to this day is the Preserve recycled yogurt cups toothbrush.

First off, it’s being kind to the planet in a way. That’s great. They even ask to have the toothbrushes returned afterward for further recycling of the plastic. Even cooler.

Secondly, they have various levels of bristles softness. I use the ultra soft, of course, because I don’t need to be pushing hard on my teeth. We all have our own opinions for our own teeth, of course.

Thirdly, and this is the best part, they have a curved handle. Instead of being a straight stick that requires us to open our mouths wide to get to the back, this curved one makes it loads easier to brush anywhere in the mouth without opening up the mouth a whole bunch (and likely spilling) and without having to get creative with wrist angles. In a way, it is a lazy man’s non-electronic toothbrush. It’s awesome.

And, just for fun, fourthly, they come in all different colors. Beautiful.

Anyway, try them out. They’re aesthetically pleasing and ergonomically efficient, as well as kinder to the environment than other brushes and just plain neat. They’re only a few dollars. So far as so can tell, while you can get them at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s always carries them for much less. Likely, any local health-type foods store will carry them, too… that whole genre of shops, you know. Preserve toothbrushes. They’re stellar and totally worth the quality price.

Post-a-day 2023

Oops

Well, we’re going to RenFest tomorrow, first thing. We wear awesome outfits that I made. They could use some minor yet valuable adjustments. Yet, somehow, every year, I forget to make the adjustments until the last minute… this year’s being no different, I didn’t even pull them out until tonight…

So, I’ll be fiddling with my man’s cloak in the car on the way up in the morning, and hoping I’m doing the best thing for it. However, so far as our new drinking horns are concerned, I came across them by accident the other day, about a week ago, I guess… I remembered that we needed to seal them for safe drinking. So, I hauled them out, washed them, looked up what I was supposed to be using and doing to make them ‘safe’ for use, and then went this past Sunday to get the stuff. I did the sealant and let them cure for more than double the recommended time (kind of forgot about them), and now they’re ready! Of course, because I kind of forgot about them, 1)they each have a couple droplets that are, basically, permanently on an outside edge of the horn, and 2)I genuinely almost forgot even to go get them as I packed up our stuff tonight. It was only because I went through the whole bag and came across the carriers that I even remembered we had them… as though I hadn’t just prepared them for use a handful of days ago…

Like I said, I kind of forgot about them… 😛

Anyway, I hope tomorrow goes well!

Dear God, keep us safe and well, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Well, then…

I did not exercise today. I got a decent amount of work done instead, because I had forgotten that I was subbing during my off time today (which was when I had planned to exercise, you see). I also got to be extremely productive at the end of the school day, because the bookshelf I have been awaiting (technically since the first week of school, but I found this shelf myself two days ago) was moved across campus and delivered into my office today while I was in class). So, rearranging was necessary.

I got the study desk (think of a desk with sides that go upward like blinders for taking tests, because that’s what it was made to do) out of my office and into the common space, which might actually prove useful for all the teachers in my office suite, now, as we have kids constantly having to take tests and quizzes just in the open area with folks walking past them and around them the whole time. I then moved almost everything else around until I found an organization that I seemed to like. I had a small blip with the phone and desktop, as an internet outlet that should work doesn’t. But I found a way to swap out cables, and it resolved a dangling cable that used to drive me nuts as well as the phone’s having to be right next to my desk. (We’re more of an e-mail school than phone call one, you see, so I rarely use the phone in my office. Phones in the classrooms are more used than the office ones, as that’s how kids get pulled out of class for this or that.)

Anyway, I had some blips and re-shifting and such, but I was happy with the final result. To top it off, just as I was doing final touches, a co-worker walked by and almost immediately commented on how “awesome” and “bad-ass” my office was. Not a bad improvement from being merely a “large closet cave”. It still has no windows to the outside and no great overhead lighting, but the furniture arrangement and lamp make all the difference. Oh, and not having piles of stuff all over the floor anymore, now that I have hanging filing folders (arrived end of last week) and a bookshelf.

Thank you, God, for the blessings in my life, and thank you, especially, for the relief this office arrangement has provided. Thank you. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Something’s Different…

“What’s happening?” he mouths to me across the room, edges of a smile on his surprised face.

I smile back, slightly incredulous myself. “I don’t know…”

It’s half an hour past the end time of the event, and yet we are all still standing around chatting happily. Our hosts are animated and involved in their conversations with us all. No one has come to kick us all out, either gently or forcefully.

This has never happened before.

Usually, ten to fifteen minutes before the end time, a group of staff are going around kindly saying goodnight and reminding us to turn in our name tags as we leave. Then, by one ‘til, they have come back around to walk us kindly and smiling to the door, gently kicking us out by two minutes past the end time.

Tonight, however, none of that happened. We all are still wearing our name tags, even. I went to the bathroom at a quarter ‘til, so that I wouldn’t stand out as a problem at the end or have to wait on anyone else needing to go before driving the long way home. After I came out, I was looking briefly at some brochures before they got picked up – which definitely would be within the next five minutes or so – and our main host is suddenly opening up some double doors that had been, different from usual, closed tonight. I watch, smiling as he figured out the western door’s latch system. Once he gets it open, he turns right to me and invites me to come into the now-open room… to see his wife’s flower arrangements. 😛 He says he doesn’t know why it was closed the whole time, but he wants us to see the flowers, now that it is opened.

I begin to look around with him and am very much impressed by her arrangements – think beautiful Japanese ikebana, not western flower stems in an upright vase – saying so to him. He then suggests that we need to get the others, and so proceeds to go gather the majority of the remaining guests and bring them into the room.

More than half an hour later, we’re all still there. My small group has had multiple comments from me already about the not-being-kicked-out-yet situation. This is when a friend turns around across the room and mouths his question to me. He and I both know how it usually is. Most of the others are here for the first time, and so really just don’t get it. When he joins me, we both laugh in our amazement.

He thinks at first is it because our hosts have no children, but the previous hosts did. But no, we were still kicked out promptly for other events with these particular hosts.

However, I add, these hosts have always been very sociable and excited at having us all here. They never seem to be wanting to stop the party, and actively engage guests right up to the time those guests are kicked out by the wranglers. Perhaps, because they have no specific schedule or plans for this weekend – one of them told me so at the start of the event – they told the wranglers to hold off this time. Or something of the sort… because no one tried kicking us out. I joke that, perhaps, they are still on daylight saving time, and just don’t realize it is so late as it is – they still have another 25 minutes on a DST schedule!

I finally went to check in with one of the staff folks, who was chatting happily himself in the next room over, and even he had no idea why we all still were there and hadn’t been kicked out. He and I agreed to go ahead and give a gentle nudge to everyone by my making a big-ish deal of saying goodbye to our hosts. I began to do so, but, given how much the hosts love to chat, I then just straight up went and told the Americans that we were supposed to leave now. We have little issue with such a direct and clear communication between ourselves, so long as we aren’t mean about it, of course. Then everyone rallied together to say goodbye to our hosts, and the party actually ended… about seven minutes later.

At four ‘til nine, we all wandered out through the drizzling rain to our vehicles, and headed home after a bizarre and wonderful night… a whole extra hour later than we were supposed to be. 😛

Never done that one before at the Consul-General’s Residence!

Thank you, God, for this lovely evening of camaraderie and surprise. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Safe travels

We are off on our bicycles in the morning, heading to the port! (Woohoo!) And then heading back.

And then we’re heading up north to an airport! Hadn’t thought about that(!). Haha

Anyway, it’s the annual Park-to-Port bicycle ride for Hermann Park Conservancy and the Port of Houston tomorrow, and we always do it as a family affair. I very much enjoy it. And everyone enjoys the free St. Arnold beer at the end. (Though, I, personally, really like the random dry cider St. Arnold handed out for the first time last year, and that I haven’t been able to find anywhere since. [This is ironic, for those who don’t know, because I basically can’t stand a single cider I have ever tasted, as they all always remind me of the formaldehyde and how cider tastes the way formaldehyde smells.])

So, here’s to hoping for safe riding for all involved and for a successful fundraiser and awareness campaign for the two hosts! Cheers!

God, keep us all safe, please, and bless the event tomorrow with your love and generosity, please. Make our visit to the school afterward be also a success for us, please, and help us to have clarity on our feelings and the direction we need to go with everything. Thank you for this life and these blessings and opportunities. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Halloween

Tonight, we got to join my friend and her husband and two little girls to go trick-or-treating. It was the first time for real for the three-year-old.

When we pulled up, they were all out front, and another friend of my friend was with them. As we set out, we realized that we were three different families present for the two children of only one of those families. It cracked us up, at least. The one family was dressed to theme together as characters from the movie “Encanto”. The mom was Luisa and the baby was a donkey, dad was Bruno, and the three-year-old, of course, was Mirabel. And yes, she wore the glasses. We actually had to stop at one point, because her glasses were falling down, and she had to fix them. (Of course, my man actually fixed them for her, because they’d popped out of socket on one side, but she was the one who was adamant that they had to be fixed before we could continue walking.)

Nonetheless, she would hold one of our hands while we walked, then would climb onto the front walkway of a house, run up to the door or table with her (meaning our) pumpkin, usually say, and adorably, “Trick or treat!”, receive or grab candy, often say even more adorably, “Thank you!”, run back down to us waiting adults (with the baby), grab ahold of a hand again, and then jump off the curb. For the first several times, she also then would add, “I got candy! I got candy!” Then, as we continued onward, she would declare, “I wanna go to Mimi and Pawpaw’s house! I wanna go to Mimi and Pawpaw’s house!” (Keep in mind, she is excited and adorable, not whiney and annoying. Just to be clear here, because that matters.)

Once we finally got to Mimi and Pawpaw’s house, they came along with us for a bit before going back home. At that point, the declaration from the street, after getting candy, had become, “I wanna do another one… I wanna go to someBODY’s house! I wanna go to someBODY’s house!” Why was she emphasizing the “body” part of the word? I genuinely have no idea. But it was stupidly cute, and she was just so excited to be trick-or-treating, which she also occasionally declared that she was doing, none of us minded about correcting her emphasis.

When we got back to the house, she immediately took off her shoes and then told us she wanted to eat a piece of chocolate. So, I had her pick one, and then I opened it for her. When she was ready for another piece, I showed her how to bring the bucket to the floor, and to sit down and dump it out with us, making that glorious candy waterfall and then pile. She clearly enjoyed both the dumping and the shoving her hands through it all to see what all was there. Right move!

And she actually had a surprising spread. I made her parents both feel how heavy her bucket was before we dumped it out, because no one understood how strong this kid had been. She was adamant about carrying it herself the whole time. But that thing was genuinely heavy, and she’s only three years old. Her commitment and success were impressive, to be sure. We were all both surprised and proud of her.

And we were proud of her for all of it, really. She had gone up to most houses all on her own. She’d remembered her lines almost every time. When she forgot the “Trick or treat” part, and my man asked her, “What do you say?”, she quickly then said to the ladies, “Thank you!” Not the direction he was aiming, but also not a bad line to pick(!). She did a really good job and clearly had a blast, and we were proud of her.

And we had a good time, too. It was fun being all together just hanging out, while also providing for this both adorable for us and fun for her time for the three-year-old. It was great.

Oh, and she also occasionally would declare, “I’m Mirabeeel!” Everyone enjoyed that one, too.

It was just a lovely night, and I am grateful for it. I’m sorry my man and I both felt kind of unwell afterward, and that we didn’t hand out any of the candy we’d purchased specifically to hand out this year, but I think we both are glad we went with my friend and them all, nonetheless. It was a surprisingly lovely time.

Thank you, God, for these friends, big and small. Thank you for tonight. Please, help us to sleep well tonight and to pursue and fulfill your will in all we do. Help my friend A-J to experience the love we have for her and the gratitude so many have toward her. Help her to feel your love and the love and gratitude she so well creates and inspires. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Sharing is caring

I shared last night my recent stresses about getting out with my man. It has grown increasingly difficult to get myself to go anywhere that isn’t absolutely necessary. I already had the touch of depression, then my hormones and such got a little more off than usual. Add to those the stress about money, and we have an effective recipe for my sort of agoraphobia to pop back up.

Granted, it has come in tiny waves the past few years, popping up in little bitty sports here and there. But it always settles back down and disappears into the sand after a couple weeks at most, and it never gets very bad in the first place.

But this has been different. It has been increasing steadily the past several weeks or so. I almost didn’t notice at first that it was stronger than usual, because I normally adjust my ways and it goes away. So, I don’t have to out much thought into it. By the time I paid it closer attention, it had progressed significantly.

And it isn’t that I’m afraid to go out and be around people. It’s that the idea of leaving the house and going somewhere that isn’t necessary seems a nearly-insurmountable task. And, when I consider surmounting it, I come close to breaking down and crying, feeling utterly inadequate, and just wanting to cuddle up into a blanket and someone’s arms (preferably my man’s) on the sofa and slowly fall asleep.

So, I told all this to my man last night. I was embarrassed to tell him, and even more so because I had waited so long to say anything to him. Clearly, I have been having an increasing issue, but I haven’t wanted to share about it, because I had felt like he would be mad at me, or maybe just even more frustrated at my stupid OCD-related crap… because my whole thing is that I’m not worth it, and this would be one more reason to hand him that would show how very much I am not worth it… Likely that is the real reason I didn’t say a word about it, though I never put much thought or conscious intention into not telling him.

Nonetheless, I told him. And I was sad and ashamed. And he said that he was okay. And I cried very hard.

And then I felt better. By the time I woke up today, definitely not rested enough, due to the crappy sleep thing right now and waking up constantly for the second half of each night, I felt loads better. I dealt with a lot of crap at school today, and then had no struggle heading to volunteering. I hung out there afterward a bit, then headed to Costco for gas and groceries for my man, forgot about Costco, because I was on the phone with my man, and went home to see my man before he went to the gym. When I was down the street, he asked what I was doing, because I was supposed to be at Costco. Oops. I would give him a kiss, then, and then go. And the next part was awesome, in its way.

He said he was worried I wouldn’t be able to go back out, if I came home first. I thought about it, and I realized that I was totally okay and that I would have no issue getting back out. I was grateful for that feeling. But I also was grateful that we had been able to discuss it clearly and honestly. I think that alone could have helped me tonight, had I needed the help to get back out. Though I didn’t need it tonight, this opportunity to discuss my struggles openly together could prove to be immensely helpful in the future.

And I am incredibly grateful.

Thank you, God, for guiding me to share last night. And thank you for this man. He is such a beautiful piece of your Creation, and an absolute blessing to me (not to mention the perfect kind of thorn in my side [or is it a rib, in fact, and we just never realized it?]). Thank you. Help us sleep well at night, please. Heal us all, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Great Films

Tonight, we finished watching Top Gun: Maverick… again.

We started it the other night, and stopped about halfway through to use the bathroom, and decided it was smartest to go to sleep immediately. So, we did the second half tonight.

And I was almost ready to hit start all over again once it ended.

This movie is just that great. And knowing how much of it was true flying, actually filmed in jets and all that jazz makes it all the better. Just such a good film. I really love it.

Thank you, God, for the blessing of wonderful art, especially wonderful films. In your name, I pray in gratitude. Amen! ❤

Post-a-day 2023