I have to say: For some reason, I was utterly disinterested in reading The Chronicles of Narnia when I was a kid. We read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in fourth grade, and I enjoyed it. But I never felt a desire to read the other books. I loved other series, but had no interest in that one.
However, now that I’m three quarters through the first book, I’m starting to reconsider. I’ve actually liked this book, and so find it interesting how these stories all tie together, though with different main characters for each book – perhaps that was what had disinterested me back then, a lack of a stable main character. In this case, Narnia is the stable main character, in a way, though it is always kind of the blanket holding everything happening, as opposed to the everything that is happening itself.
We’ve been working on going to bed early this week, my man and I, since I was up until 4:30 Sunday night and he didn’t sleep at all, as we prepped him for his trip and sent him out the door before I went to bed.
Anyway, so far, we’ve made it to bed after two, after one, and after one… so much for going to bed early, eh?
I was struggling to get out of the house and get my errands done earlier today. Just as I was getting near the point of I must leave Now, my cousin reached out to me and my mom. She let us know that she was in town for the week and would like to see us, if possible. After a few further messages and a quick phone call, I hopped in the car and went and picked up my cousin.
She only had until about five o’clock, and it was already almost 3pm. But I picked her up – and she left her baby with her husband and in-laws! – and she went and ran my errands with me.
It sounds silly, perhaps, but I think we both had a really great time just being together again, and with no other real distractions, no one else for us to have to think about or check in upon. One of my errands happened to be to my mom’s office to pick up some pie, so my cousin got to see my mom for a little bit, even.
I dropped her off at their dinner reservation near 5:30pm, after a lovely time together, and with an intention of going to pick her up in the morning to come hang out with me at the house while I get things done here, both for the slumber party and for my trip. If the timing works well, she and I also will go to this wonderful shop that makes fabulous natural body products – oils, scrubs, lotions, soaps, etc. Then we can have some lovely tea/tisanes at the house together and just be all hyggelig together.
I had my man open tonight all his presents that I’d put under the tree. I don’t give Christmas presents, but I determined to have some fun for him this year, to let him be like a little kid and to shower him with gifts. Almost everything was either gained second-hand or from free gift cards, so the total cost was around $50, yet there were loads of presents for him to unwrap. He had said he liked opening packages, so I made sure he got to do just that tonight.
I also surprised him with my ticket to come visit with him in Mexico. (Granted, that one was several hundred dollars, but I’m also visiting my step-sister in Monterrey with the tickets, so it will be two trips for the usual price of the one, plus $40… not at all a bad deal, especially since I get to spend New Year’s with him, visit the town he loves, and see my step-sister and her family.)
He got me nervous by asking if I’d ‘approved this with anybody’. But, afterward, he said it was totally fine. His mom would be surprised, as he’d just told her two days ago that I wasn’t coming. But that everything would be okay. I’m still in a little bit of that space of unease, probably because it gave me the feeling of being in trouble, but I’m just going to let it be and see what happens. Hopefully, the concern will clear up on its own just by my allowing it to express itself.
I really hope he enjoyed everything I did for him tonight. And I’m really excited to set up the Play Station 3 that my mom gave us from her house (used to be my brother’s, but he didn’t need or really want it). We likely won’t get to play together until mid-January, after he’s back, but that’s okay. I’m excited about it, nonetheless.
Dear God, please, help us to rest well tonight. Keep us both safe in our travels. Help us to pursue and to fulfill your will by being our best selves. Thank you for everything. And please, heal my uncle – help him to join you fully. In your name, I pray. Amen.
I can hardly believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Time has been flying in an odd way this season. Well, we shall do a bit more prep for his trip on Monday tomorrow. Otherwise, we get to hang out together and then go to midnight Mass. We might go to my brother’s for homemade takoyaki, but we’ll have to see. I really want us to be able just to hang it together tomorrow and the next day.
Thank you, God, for the blessings of today. And thank you, especially for the heat we now have in our home. In your name, I pray. Amen.
So, now we can have hot water and cook and bake and have heat in the house and run the dishwasher and wash anddry clothes and just hand wash greasy dishes period(!). Oh, goodness… the difference it makes. We are incredibly grateful this is finally handled.
Turns out that we likely didn’t need to dig the ditch ourselves at all, but I think it was still good in that it gave my man a somewhat cathartic thing to do, as well as a thing to do while we waited for all the rest of the pieces of big company nonsense to sort themselves out.
See? The contracted company brought their own machinery to handle the rest of it all. AND they put all of the dirt neatly back on top of the ditch after they replaced all the piping. No extra work for my man or us. Woohoo!
The big energy company, when we did what we were supposed to do, then told us that we would have to wait until Tuesday for them to come and do the simple re-installation of the gas meter and to turn on the gas… a very different message from what they had told us two days beforehand, when they’d said same-day installation would be no problem whatsoever. They now wanted us to spend over five days in our home in freezing temperatures, and then they would come do a twenty-minute stop-in.
No way, Jose.
Fortunately, after much intending on my part and multiple phone calls on the part of my man, Centerpoint showed up, and a very nice man named Lee hooked up everything easily and quickly, and turned on the gas and cleared up our gas lines in the house (because air is in the line at first, after installation). And now we have heat!
We actually both reveled in taking hot showers before going to the Christmas gathering we had this evening at my brothers’ dad’s house. That shower, though not the actual best I’ve had, was, within the context, the best shower ever. Uh…
I just thank you, God. Thank you. Keep us safe, please, that we pursue and fulfill your will, being our best selves. In your name, I pray. Amen.
At lunch for my brother’s birthday today, they were all taking about how they’re sore and how they have bruises all over their bodies, both in unexpected places. That’s about how it goes with aerials!
I’m definitely sore tonight, but I also did almost no physical activity of any kind today. I walked to and from the car a few times, including at the restaurant for lunch. I sat a bunch at lunch and for work (studying) later. I lay down on the sofa to nap, then later this evening to watch a movie. And I walked around the house a bit, as well as out front a few times to see the Christmas lights my man was putting up (at last – there’s no time like the present!). So, it makes sense that I’m quite tight tonight.
I just asked for restful, relaxing sleep for us all tonight, please, that we be rejuvenated tomorrow and pursue and fulfill your will. Also, as usual, please, get my man home and into his bed safely tonight, and help me let go of some of my fears of his working out so late at night. Please, grant us peace. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Work went well today, for the most part, and then we took my brother to the aerial gym for his birthday surprise. I think he had a really good time, though it might have been a bit of a surprise for him that he may have been doing a bit less exercise than he’d thought. I think the difficulty surprised him, for sure, as well as some of his limits. His lack of grace, however, was no surprise to any of us. 😂
Thank you, God for this day and all of its immense blessings. Especially the gas construction company coming by and potentially scheduling doing their work this week(!!!!!!). Please, help us to resolve all that needs resolution. Also, thank you for my friend Chelsea. Please, continue to bless her. In your name, we pray. Amen.
Despite the immense frustrations my man was feeling this afternoon, and my resulting increased stress for him, everything went really well tonight for our family dinner. Sure, we still have no gas, so no hot water or easy heat or effective dish washer, etc. My mom had to do some in-the-moment utensil-washing when we ran it of forks and spoons at one point, and she helped wash most of the plates after dinner. I was just grateful that I didn’t have to do it for once.
I was a touch annoyed at how my brother clearly hasn’t gotten a handle on his dog’s full training, evidenced by the craziness of the dog’s first seeing all of us and our little-in-comparison to his 150 pounds dog. Also, I just had to trust that my man will mop the floors tomorrow, and wipe down the sofa and the rug and the coffee table to clean up all the slobber that the big dog got everywhere. I love dogs, yet it was a lot. Kind of gross, actually, which was a bummer, as I’d really been looking forward to rubbing all over the puppy (yes, he’s technically still a puppy). Once he chilled out and started getting sleepy, though, it was much easier to pet him without getting totally slobbered all over. I also thought our dog might have an actual heart attack based on her initial reactions to the dog that weighs six times her weight, and is yet a puppy – annoying for her old, 14-year-old self – shoving into her personal space with such excitement. However, as he chilled out, our dog calmed down. And a bunch of treats helped them both be easier company. Our dog even got brave enough to walk through the living room past the other dog multiple times before the end there. It was cute, and I’m glad she eased down from her clearly stressful place.
Anyway, I have to sleep immediately. I have to leave for work in five hours and ten minutes. 😦
Thank you, God, for everything. It was a really good night. Please, help my man realize that it really was great for us all. Amen.
And so, the fence has two gates that open up to allow a six-foot mower to drive through, now, as well as a full-enclosing side bit. So, no dog escapes anymore, pup!
I cooked us three soup on the side of the grill, making a big pot of beef stew that, apparently, smelled amazing as soon as I started cooking the garlic and onions. 😛 It turned out surprisingly good for how last-minute and thrown-together it was as a recipe. My soups tend to be super bland, and I worked hard to have this one not be. Turns out to be good as it was, though better with a touch of extra black pepper – then it was great! I’m delighted by the outcome. As I mentioned, my soups don’t tend to be very good period, let alone quite tasty. So, yay! And it fed the chilled, hard-working boys (read, “men”) who were building the fence for their second day of work today. Very grateful to my brother for coming out again to help my man make it happen. Yes, my man could do it all alone, but setting a time and having help for that set time sure does make it happen a whole lot faster than the several months of its not happening so far. 😛
Also(!), while they were finishing up the fence, I brought inside and set up the very nice stationary bicycle gifted to us by the chiropractor in whose office my mom works (but for someone else). He was getting rid of it, and let us have it for free. Hopefully, it can help my man get in some cardio while he has to sit with his laptop all day for work! So, yay, again!
Thank you, God, for all the blessings of today. Help us to pursue and fulfill your will tomorrow. In your name, I pray. Amen.
hannah ananas 