Weekly roundup

Last week, I…

*Got a Kindle Fire!

And it’s awesome.

*Went to the doctor and learned I need to have hand surgery soon to remove a cyst on my wrist. Luckily it shouldn’t interfere with my life too much. But still annoying. I find out more next week.

*Waged war on the mice.

Cotton balls with peppermint oil on them in tea defusers. And dryer sheets. Our house smelled like peppermint linen for a while. Then the smell dissipated, and we saw signs of the mice again. So more peppermint oil, more dryer sheets, and refresh both more often.

*Had dinner with MH and heard about her amazing trip to Belize.

*Saw “Searching for Sugar Man” with SP. It is a great movie – well deserving of the Oscar it received. Go see it. And then go listen to the music.

*Made these…

More on those soon!

*Finished “The Great Gatsby” for book club.

Weekly roundup

Last week, I…

*Tried a kale smoothie.

And LOVED it.

*Went to the Thanksgiving potluck at the dance studio. So much good food! Oof. It’s like having a whole second Thanksgiving dinner.

*Put on my cranky pants and felt like I was failing at everything. Which meant emotional eating.

*Ran the Turkey Day 5K. And ran it in 36 minutes! My goal was to do it in under 40 and to not walk any part of it. Met both goals!

*Had a fantastically relaxing long weekend. Got lots of stuff done around the house (including putting plastic wrap on the windows) and made huge progress on my knitting projects. And read a lot.

*Ate Thanksgiving dinner with the family. And made the traditional tea-ring.

*Finally remembered to tell you about my jewelry holders.

*Watched “Paranormal Activity 3″. If you haven’t seen these movies, go watch them. They’re totally psychological – no blood and gore – but really good. Can’t wait to see 4 and see how the story continues.

*Thought about what happy people do differently. Well, the universe put that thought in front of me. Still, I paid attention.

Weekly roundup

Last week, I…

*Got back to writing and blogging. Yay! Man, I missed it.

*Worked out twice and helped my roommates move some stuff. So I count that as three workouts.

*Had an awesome dance coaching. (Not couch, COACH. Someday I’ll learn.)

*Had dinner with my sister. It was nice to chat with her.

*Hung out at home and got lots of stuff done around the house – the little piddly crap after moving. Including installing this cool storage thing for my hair dryer, curling iron and flat iron. Based on a post I saw on Pinterest. But still…pretty neat, huh?

Yeah, it made me feel very do-it-yourself-like.

*Shared my love of “Psych“. And Shawn Spencer. And the writing of “Psych”. And Shawn Spencer. Did I mention Shawn Spencer?

*Discovered that our oven is waaaaayyyy messed up. Heat to 375, then it cooled on its own to 250. Heat again to 375, then it heated on its own to 500. Needless to say, the cookies did not survive. I’m really hoping the landlords can get it fixed soon. I haven’t baked in a month!

*Bought my very first bottle of organic milk. I’ve wanted to switch for a long time but just never did it. But my awesome roommates drink it (except they drink 2% so we can’t share milk – bummer), so when SR and I went to co-op for stuff, I bought some. So glad I did.

(Wow, this might be the most boring week I’ve had in years. But that’s OK. I needed to disconnect a bit.)

Psych!

Did you think I was fooling ya? Or stuck in the ’80s? Nope, just need to tell you about my latest discovery…

My roommates and I decided not to get cable TV in our new place and just get cable internet. But, Comcast is so into their whole “bundling” crap that it was actually cheaper to get very basic cable plus internet than just internet. So this has been an adjustment for me; I’ve had cable since I was a kid. And I’m kinda addicted to TV. So this is good for me – to not have 150 channels to flip through. And you know what? I don’t really miss it.

The other day, SR and I were looking for something to watch. Neither of us had Netflix DVDs here, so we started flipping through Netflix streaming to find something. She flipped through “Psych” and asked if I had seen it. I hadn’t, she thought I’d like it, so we watched the pilot episode.

How has this show not been part of my TV-viewing life? It’s a mystery, which I love. And it’s funny, with quick wit that is very reminiscent of 1950s Hollywood movies. And watching James Roday and Dule Hill interact and act together is awesome.

Plus, Shawn Spencer is very much my type of guy. Dark-haired, smart, witty, funny, goofy, but able to be serious when needed, kinda rugged and scruffy…that’s for me.

A friend of mine writes a blog about dating and how she’s looking for her Ted Mosby. It’s a great blog; you should check it out.

For me, though…it’d be all about how I met my Shawn Spencer. We’ve talked about how I’m ready to date again; at least I think I am. So if you know any guys that fit the description, feel free to send them my way.

Weekly roundup

Last week, I…

*Worked a four-day week. Praise for vacation time!

*Claimed furniture with my siblings that my parents weren’t moving with them. It actually went pretty well.

*Had my weekend plans thrown out of whack. The good side is that I had to have everything done by Saturday night, so Sunday was relaxing.

*Relaxed ALL DAY on Sunday, including a nap!

*Made a batch of salty chocolate chip cookies.

*Hung out with NA and watched movies while eating pizza and drinking wine. Ah relaxation!

*Discovered my cross ring was broken. Not sure how it cracked or when, but the ring I’ve worn since I was 16 cracked.

Luckily it’s fixable. But it’s the first time it’s been off my hand other than for dance performances or surgical procedures. It’s odd.

*Read the first two books in the Hunger Games trilogy and started the third.

*Had two good dance lessons.

*Discovered my cholesterol dropped over 30 points.

*Worked out 3 times!

Beginning to simplify my life

I was really confused on what simplifying life meant.

I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. I asked my friend Brittany at the Gentle Home to write a guest post on it, because she’s been doing this for a long time. Her posts (she actually did two for me, part I and part II) really helped me define it, at least for my life.

To start, I need to focus on my space. Decluttering it. Going through stuff, especially clothes, and purging what I don’t use and don’t need. I started this today by sorting through all the clutter in my room, throwing some stuff and finding a place for the rest. Because most of my stuff is in storage, I don’t have a lot of stuff to go through. But the stuff that I do have here needs some attention. My books are in random piles in the basement. My craft stuff is in bags and different bins in the basement. Because I’ve lost some weight recently, I need to either alter some clothes or donate them.

I need to focus on me again in terms of my physical health. I need to get my cholesterol checked. (I’ve been meaning to do that since August.) I need to – SIGH – get my first mammogram now that I’ve turned 40. I need to work out. And I need to refocus on my eating again.

I mentioned before about my money struggles and how I want to learn to stay totally within budget every month. Doing that will also simplify my life.

I’d like to focus on my spiritual life too. While I haven’t found a church to join yet, I can still pray and read the Bible and try to connect with God that way.

I also realized that part of simplifying life should be really using every moment wisely. To that end, I need to not use the TV for background noise. I do it less than I used to – a lot less – but I would like to not use it unless I had something I really wanted to watch like “Masterpiece” or “The Big Bang Theory”. (Have you been watching “Downton Abbey”? You should. This season is another great one.)

I think I’m coming to the conclusion that a simple life for me means one free of clutter – physical, mental, financial, spiritual. So I will try to work towards that. Do you think I’m on the right track?

Week of relaxation…and selfishness?

I have the week off work. I get a boatload of vacation time at my job, so I take a lot of time off. My job is burning me out, but that’s a topic for another day. In the meantime, I enjoy my vacation time. People often ask if I’m going anywhere when I take time off. Apparently it’s weird to take time off and stay at home. Well, maybe not as weird in our current economy. But the joy of time off for me is the fact that I don’t have to go to work. Period. Anything else is just gravy.

My goal this week is to relax and to take care of myself. It is very easy, in my world, for that to turn into sit-my-ass-on-the-couch-and-watch-TV-all-freakin-day. My parents are not outdoor people. In their house, you get your chores done, and then you watch TV. My dad often turns on the TV as background noise, even if he’s reading. Seems like they haven’t heard of a new invention called a radio that plays music so you can have noise in the background. So I grew up in that environment, and it tends to become my day as well.

But I’m making a conscious effort lately to NOT WATCH TV. Friend AM has a TV but does not have cable. She only uses the TV to watch DVDs. I think that is so cool, but it also scares the crap out of me. How the heck does she do that? What if you want to just veg out? Apparently that’s when she watches a DVD. I would love to try that sometime, but it scares me. Small steps…let’s start with not automatically having it on and not just sitting watching TV.

The other reason I’m anti-TV right now is because I need to work out more. I’ve been doing a pretty good job of it the last few weeks. I know that I will never be one of those people who gets addicted to working out and feels like crap if they miss a day at the gym. I always feel great after I work out, but it takes a concerted effort to get my ass to the gym in the first place. I’ve been trying to eat better and work out more to lose some weight, and it’s working, so I’m going to keep going to the gym. As I’m off this week, I really don’t have any reason not to go to the gym every day.

Taking care of myself and paying attention to my needs are not things I do well. At all. Never have. I’ve been working on it, but for some reason, I just hesitate to do what’s right to take care of myself. I take the easy road, especially when it comes to food and exercise. I’ve been doing OK lately, actually pretty well, but it is so difficult for me. I can talk to myself about why I should do this (like go to the gym) and I tend to not do it. Even though I feel bad I’m not doing it. It’s still easier than going. I just feel bad about myself afterwards for not going. I think at some level, I think it’s selfish to take care of myself. Mixed up, I know.

So today after breakfast and after cleaning the bathroom aka living the high life, I read some of my book. (I love reading. I just don’t do enough of it, because if I have spare time, I’m watching TV. See above for why this is a problem. Right now I’m reading “Team of Rivals” about Abraham Lincoln. It’s very interesting, but it does require concentration.) Then I worked out (yay me!) and then I practiced at the dance studio for a bit. (Damn you, cuban motion! I will triumph over you!) Then I made some food for the week and read some more.

I turned the TV on around 5pm. Very very good for me. I watched for about an hour and then I turned it off. I’ll probably turn it on again after I’m done writing this. Overall, that’s still a big improvement for me. I think I need to try to adopt AM’s philosophy of watching only DVDs or movies.

So day one went well, and I hope I can maintain this for the week. I certainly am going to try. The only problem is figuring out how to occupy my time the rest of week that is beneficial, enjoyable, relaxing. And maybe a little selfish? Without the side of Catholic guilt???

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”