Friends & Good Visits

I spent some time last night with some good friends of mine from Bible study and it was wonderful! It's just wonderful when you have people in your life that encourage you and just plain 'ol make you feel good. Being with these folks last night was refreshing and the experience just made me feel like I'm not a hermit and I'm not as anti-social as I think I can be and I'm not really wanting to just "hideout" from life. You see, sometimes after quite a bit of time without social contact, it's easy for me to get to feeling that way and to almost convince myself that it's what I want! Honestly, I think that for me, there definitely needs to be a balance. I do need some quiet time and time by myself, but I also need to be around people once in awhile, too, enjoying some fellowship. Someone recently made the comment to a group of us that, "We need people." Their point was that the majority of us can't be reclusive and "hermit-like" but that we do eventually need contact with people because it's a natural part of our existence as humans. So, maybe this extra "tiredness" that I've been experiencing is really just a product of too little of social contact. Maybe I need to work more on finding that balance for myself between social time with friends and quiet time at home and maybe I would find that I'm not so tired anymore and that I'm not experiencing harder days than most anymore, either. It's all interesting to think about, isn't it? So...here's to good visits with friends and family!! :o)

I'm tired

I think that I'm in a phase of my life where I just need to sleep and sleep and sleep. It's horrid!! Now, don't get me wrong because I love to sleep, but what's horrid is that since about 9 AM this morning, all I've wanted to do was go and take a nice fat nap, but I can't!! Why? Because I'm at work, silly!! So, endure, I must.

I'm often tired because I do have a little bit of iron deficiency/anemia going on and I expect some tiredness, but of late, it's been worse (and the whole anemic/iron deficient issue is getting better). I've noticed the change since the end of June, though. Since convention time, really. Hmmm...maybe my body is protesting my time at convention because those are days of REST, both mentally, physically and spiritually! Not only was I able to get a lot of "spiritual food," but I was able to get quite a bit of sleep and rest. Now that I'm back at work, though, I don't get those daily two or three naps and that's kind of rough.

The only other thing that I can contribute this abnormal tiredness to would be food. I've been assessing what I'm eating and I think that I may be untintentionally having more sugar than normal. You see, I've been really tired, so I've been swinging through Starbucks a little more than I normally do, so I wonder if instead of getting the caffeine fix that I'm aiming for, I'm really experiencing more of a regular sugar crash. THAT could very well be.

One other thing that I think is contributing is lack of sleep. I honestly don't know how you mothers out there can do what you do...to regularly be short on sleep because of your children. I really don't know if I could physically hack the role of motherhood because I think that I would be one of those mothers who would be SO incredibly exhausted that they'd do something like set the baby carrier on the top of the car and then drive away without having PUT it in the car!! I have always required a lot of sleep and ever since my cancer surgery in 2003, it seems like it's been worse. If I get anything LESS than 8 hours of sleep, I'm just plumb worn out!! The best situation for me is a good, solid 9-10 hours of sleep on a daily basis. Wow, I know!!!

So here I am on Wednesday and I've spent the majority of the morning wondering how long of a nap that I'm going to take when I go home for lunch. It's kind of a sad state of existence when you stop and really think about it. For those of you who CAN function on small amounts of sleep, appreciate it. Not everyone can do that and people like me who can't, admire YOU for all you're able to still do with such small amounts of sleep.

That being said, I'm now going to head home for a short nap over lunch. I might just fall asleep at my desk this afternoon if I don't!!

Importance

What's important to you? I just got back from a weekend at another convention and this has been on my mind. What's important to me? I've enjoyed thinking about those things. Here's my list thus far...

• my spiritual beliefs


• family


• friends


• rest


• quietness


• laughter


• simplicity


• honesty

Safely Home

I made it back from convention in decent time last night and, as expected, I had a wonderful four days! The days always fly by so quickly, but I'm always so thankful to have been able to go.

Now, though, I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed by everything that I have to do. I'm thinking that the majority of that feeling is due to the fact that I'm feeling rather tired today, so I'm trying to reason with myself to convince myself that it's not as bad as it seems. I think it's working. Kind of. :) I'll do what I can and we'll just see what happens! :)

In the meantime, I thought I'd post some pictures that I have had since last October. My friend, Teresa, came out to visit me and we just had a jolly good time! :) While she was here, though, she and I along with another friend, Monique, went to a "Big City" Aquarium. It was neat! Here are some pictures of the animals we saw:

Furry tiger who was kind of sleepy
Slickery otter that loved to show off for the crowd (hence, the first blurry picture)

A mean 'ol shark! He looked a lot meaner than he was. Okay, I don't really know that. I just thought it might help soften the blow of having to look at his grumpy face. :)

This turtle was gigantic. I bet he was a thousand years old. Okay, maybe not, but he was a big turtle.

And my mostest favorite part...the salt water fishies!!!! They were SO beautiful and I just loved watching them. This was my favorite tank full of them. I enjoyed the jellyfish tank, as well, but my camera was having issues during that display, so my two good friends took pictures of the jellyfish and they're going to share them with me. Someday...I hope. As of yet, I have not seen a single sign of them. I hope they remember. (*hint, hint, girls*.) Anyway, here are pictures of the fishies! Aren't they beautiful!?!? :) (If you click on the photo, it will make it bigger and easier to see.)

Wait a minute...how did Mo end up in the fishy's tank? ha! I had a short visit with one of Monique's Aunties this past weekend and she said that she checks my blogs to catch any updates or pictures of her niece, so I decided to add this picture for her. :) Enjoy, Vicki! :)

And now I need to get back to work and stop avoiding all of my piles of "stuff". Enjoy your week!

I'm off!

Well, I'm off for four wonderful days of church convention!!! Yay! :) Also, my hives are doing much better, so I'm thinking that I won't have to worry about them at all and I can just enjoy convention. Yay! :) So, I will catch up with all of you when I return!

Why I've been MIA

I'm sure you're wondering what in the world has happened to me! Well, here's the story...last Tuesday, I decided, "Enough is enough! I'm going to get my things unpacked!!" You see, I still hadn't really unpacked everything from moving to my new apartment and I'd been there for almost three weeks. It was time to get down to business.

So, I worked and worked and was really getting a lot done! It was time to get ready to be done for the day, though, so I wrapped up what I was doing and went to go take a shower and get ready for bed. As I was getting ready for my shower, I glanced in the mirror and thought, "What in the world!?!" I decided not to worry too much, though, and I finished up and went to bed. The next morning...yikes!!! What I saw the night before in the mirror had compounded itself!! I was pretty sure that I was facing the end of my days because it was pretty bad. So I did what any sane person would do and I called my mother. :)

It turns out that I came down with a case of the hives and it definitely made it's presence known!! I have no idea why and no idea what prompted a reaction. I did not try any new food, drink or medication, nor am I under any amount of stress. In addition to that, if I'm allergic to something in the new apartment, why did it take three weeks for a reaction to take place (hence...I'm not sure that's the problem). So...who knows what the cause really is. I just happened to have a doctor appointment last Thursday (for my thyroid), so I had my doc look at it and she said, "That is definitely a case of the hives." I took benadryl for two days and then switched to Claritin and I've been taking that for four days. Things are better, but I'm still definitely dealing with it. And the bummer of it all? I'm supposed to be leaving on Wednesday for a church convention. Errg. I've decided that I'm going to go, regardless of how I feel, but it's still a rip to be dealing with that, especially when I just wanted to get away for a few days and relax a little!

So, that's why I disappeared for so long. And that's why you won't hear anything from me for at least another week. That's just the way that things go in the summer time, isn't it?! :) I'll update as soon as I can, but I have a second summer class starting this week, too (on top of everything else! ha!), so I may be rather busy for awhile. I'll try not to be gone for too long, though! :) Take care!

Quick Visit

I went home for a very short visit a few weeks back because of several things going on. Here are a few snapshots of my time there.

Luke graduated with a certificate from the welding program at the local community college. Congrats, Luke! You should be so proud!! I know that I'm proud of you!!! :)
Mom retired after MANY years of teaching! I believe that she said it had been 29 years total, but I could be wrong about that. Here she is giving her speech after receiving her retirement plaque and certificate. What was extra special about mom's retirement party is that she had NO idea that I was coming up for it!! My dad & I hatched this plan way back in February to surprise her for her party in May. We pulled it off with great success and Mom had no idea! I came in a few days before her actual party, so we got to spend time together before and after her big day. She was surprised, that's for sure, and at one point she said, "This is the best surprise!" I said, "Yeah. I know." :o)

And, Buddy...we can't forget about her!! :) She recently graduated from a Hospice Volunteer Care Program, so she and dad are now licensed to go on hospice visits around the area. Won't that be special?!? After all, look at how adorable she is!! It should make just about anyone happy to have Buddy come and visit!!! :)

Of course, with everything that was going on, we decided to snap a quick family picture, so here we are! This was taken using the timer on the camera. I'd set everything up and then rush across the room in time to get in the picture and to get everyone all organized. I think that the picture turned out really well! I love my family so much! :)

This was the set-up for mom's big retirement party. It wasn't a party just for her, but it was the school's party for all of the retirees. I believe that there were six or seven of them who were honored that evening. It was a super nice night!

This was our table at mom's retirement party. I had to take a picture because I loved all the beautiful napkins that were in the glasses. I just thought that they were so cheery and I loved all of the beautiful colors of them. It just made things look pretty. :)

And that's that! I told you that there weren't many pictures, but I wanted to share them because they are all extra special to me! :) I hope you enjoyed them, too!