Tag: surprise

My man

I miss my man. I am genuinely totally okay on my own here – it’s not like I can’t function or enjoy myself and whatnot whenever he’s out of town. I just would have loved to have had him with me today and tonight and now… I’m always fully functional and able to enjoy life when he isn’t right beside me. But I just enjoy it all all the more whenever he is…

And it’s funny to me, you see. I wrote years ago about how – and I mean, like, possibly in middle school in some version of the wording, and then about seven years ago with this wording – I wanted to find a life partner and husband who absolutely could live without me, but who just didn’t want to live without me; someone who wanted and chose daily to live with me. I think he feels that way about me, but I know for sure that I feel that way about him. We don’t need each other to survive. Yes, it helps make life all the better, being together. But it isn’t a necessity for life – it is a choice we get to make. We don’t have to be together – we want to be together. And so, I hope we get to continue choose each other every single day for decades to come.

Thank you, God, for this wonderful man. Please, keep him safe and get him home to me tomorrow, healthy and well and holy and happy and safe, please. The dog, too, and all that jazz. Grant them safe travels, please. And grant us all great sleep tonight, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

P.S. Our gym had a white elephant gift exchange tonight. I ended up getting an electric kettle with a set of the LMNT electrolyte packets – I believe it was like a hot chocolate kind of gift box idea. Makes sense, right? The price limit was $30. We brought $30 gifts that were purchased using major online discounts – most people had done a version of this, taking advantage of cyber Monday and all that jazz, right? Exactly $30, but it’s really a $50 product. A lot of people also did the, ‘It only costs me $30, but it costs a non-member (or whoever else) $40-60. Cool. The best ‘deal’ seemed to be a Landry’s gift card set for $75 of gift cards. I was absolutely about to steal that, as it came up right before my turn. However, a couple stole it from each other in order to max out its steals right away, and I never got the chance. Well, onward… I had wanted to try these electrolyte things, and they had one more steal available at my turn, so I took them and knew I was set. What I did not know was that this was basically the best deal of them all, product cost wise. When I opened it and really looked at the two things at home, I could not believe this electric kettle was anywhere near $30, even with a discount. And I imagined the powders weren’t cheap either. Sure enough, the powders are $45 for a single purchase or $39 with a subscription. And the kettle? It is a $195 kettle! So, my “$30” gift was actually $260 with tax. However, they didn’t break the actual limit buying it. Why? Because the company had sent the kettle free with the regular order of the powders that the gym does. So, it was basically a free kettle and $30 of powders for them… Well, I’ll take it. And I did! Thank you, God, for this unexpected and awesome blessing! Amen!

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

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

A kick

Perhaps the fear was the kick I have been both wanting and needing. I have been busy and tired and not sleeping well and needing to do loads of work (though not necessarily being productive during the school day, anyway). I have not been exercising almost at all. Perhaps it has been once or twice a week for the past month. Three times one week, and only one or two since then. None last week at all. So, here I am, experiencing a terribly stressful level of fat on my body. It’s one thing not to exercise and to eat well. But not to exercise and then to continue eating the same easy way… bad recipe, as I have now proven.

Anyway, so here I am. And I exercised today, especially doing the interval cardio section that I really haven’t felt like doing lately. It was a good feeling afterward.

And I still feel and see the fat on me, so, hopefully, it will encourage me to keep going with the exercise. I was for so long at a point of not being as fit as I wanted but not being able to see excess fat… it led me to doing less and less, because it was neither inspiring/encouraging nor terrifying. Now, the scales have tipped, at last, and I am terrified. Though it inevitably will improve, until it is at the original ideal fitness I have for myself, the scale somehow always stays tipped to the negative.

Thus, to work!

Thank you, God, for this clarity and this opportunity. Help me to heal, please. 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

Limits

“Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone,” so often declared my German professor in college. She was quoting roughly Neale Donald Walsch (It seems he said it first, anyway), of course, and she was saying it as a means of encouraging us to be uncomfortable and to speak German anyway. But it stuck with me beyond just that class. Here I am, 12 years later, and I still reference the quite and idea regularly.

Tonight, I stepped beyond my comfort zone by joining a service event that involved working in a sort of soup kitchen help staff role… not a comfortable thing for me in the first place. And it required a lot of me that is nigh on painful for me emotionally. I did adjust and shift a bit within the flexibility of the volunteering, so as to be of service without freaking out. However, I was still very much outside of my comfort zone in terms of my OCD. Many of my limits were hit.

Even the dinner we had together after the service required me to step beyond my comfort zone on multiple levels with the OCD.

And I had a very enjoyable time as a whole.

And I was uncomfortable for a lot of it.

But I adjusted, and it got less uncomfortable. By the end of the evening, I was genuinely comfortable. Looking back on it all – and act that alone gives me discomfort due to the circumstances of the service and dinner – I am impressed at how comfortable I ended up being in both locations and in driving between them. I won’t get into details, because that just helps to bring on the panic. However, I’ll add just that I impressed myself. I found a place of ease within myself as I did these things this evening, these things that, even considering doing, give me anxiety and stress. I almost didn’t go at all tonight, for that reason. But it felt right.

And that feeling was right. It was life, asking to be lived. And I did. And it scared me. And I’m so glad I went.

(And now, due to the OCD, I must set aside any clear memories I have of details, in order to be able to function the rest of the week!)

Thank you, God, for this evening’s events and developments. Thank you for helping me find a way to be of service. Thank you for helping me find a space of belonging and of being truly welcome tonight. And thank you for the innumerable blessings you have graciously planted in my life. And thank you for the story shared by Matthew Perry – May it help people as I believe it truly can. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023