Well, I get a second thwak at being June Cleaver. Michael starts his new job on the 31st. (Monday) and we are very excited. Today, Buffalo came by and we had our Sunday pancake brunch... then she stayed and chatted until dinner (homemade pizza on my most fabulous scarborough crust) and then she stayed for desert, Strawberry cupcakes with lemon walnut frosting topped with slices of fresh strawberry.
Oh yes, I'm getting my kitchen groove back on.
We took the girls to NYC for their spring break. It was marvelous. We walked so much that I have taken the last two days to recover. Conveniently missing my sister's baby shower. Sorry for the snarkism that is about to follow, but this is her third child, she decided to get preggers as a way to keep her man who she was having difficulties with, and I just couldn't do it. I can't go to this baby shower ( I generally hate baby showers) and I think that she should have kept the stuff that she had before. It's worse than what I've said above, but I'm holding back some. I can't do it.
Anyhow, the girls had a marvelous time and I got to meet up with Pat for a while and she was gracious enough to drive us around for a bit on our last day. We bought a city pass for the four of us and went on everything but MOMA and The Natural History Museum. Bummer. But we did get to go on a touring cruise, The Guggenheim (terrible exhibit there, and the museum was under restoration so we missed the exterior. That sucked all the way around.) The Met was awesome, the observatory at the top of the Empire State Building was awesome too. We took the girls to Times Square and they were blown away. We had a great time, and I was happy to sneak off without the gang on Thursday for an early meet up with Pat. I was so proud, I made it to the museum all by myself and didn't skip a beat, didn't get lost. My two visits previously under Pat's direction paid off.
I was ready to by Nun's attire for the girls. I swear, grown men were looking at my little girls like they were pork chops. It sucked. I thought I was going to actually have to say something when I kept watching one of him trying to start a conversation (the girls were oblivious thank God) and he kept licking his lips. And I wanted to pop him. No shit.
It is just after the spring equinox and I am about to start spring cleaning tomorrow like nobody's business. Spring cleaning for me lasts until May 1, and by then everything has been cleaned, dusted, organized, carpets cleaned, beaten and properly aired out, and then.... the house gets aired out and I go over everything with a lavender and sage bundle. Then... it's time to garden.
In the mean time, I am hoping at my ability to make a comeback. My various injuries have been hard on me this last year. But I am encouraged by my recent resilience. I do not have near the stamina or fitness that I used to, but I am hoping that I can recover it. I know it will be hard, but I feel more informed than I was. Anyone dealing with pinched nerves... I know it seems like a crock, but I swear by a good chiropractor. I don't think I would be walking without my chiro visits.
When looking for a chiropractor, don't just pick any... don't even necessarily go to a friend's chiro... Look for one that does it because they love it. Look for one that follows their therapy up with the roller tables or trigger point massage.
Right now, I wish I had Amber's momma here because I would get a buck ass nekkid head toe acupuncture. Acupuncture and regular chiropractic appointments ( accompanied with ice packs ) have been the only thing to relieve the pain. I still have pain on some days. I have stiffness everyday when I wake up in the morning or if I sit too long. But I stretch it out, slow and sure.
No medication I ever took ever took the pain away.
We are too young to be old.
Here's to health.
I hate filing taxes. It is one of the things that can kick my
anxiety into overdrive. Moving is another thing that does
it.
I talked to my doc today and he's talking about what I
should and should not be doing work out wise. ugh.
I am so sick of all the different ways that is the 'right way'.
Really. So, I have to just keep sticking to what I think is
right. Though it's not really helping right now.
oh well. At least the taxes are over and we are going to
get a small refund which will all go to the business loan.
I can't wait to be free of it. ugh.
Relief is coming though. There is a sense that we are
over the hump.
Not the open window which i want to fling myself, but the one where the door on Michael's college was shut... temporarily... the window of a genuine employer opened.
The relief is huge. Thank God. He begins the 31st and benefits begin 60 days after.
He is actually getting a job that is as respectable as the one that he had. One that is worthy of his degree and talent.
Meanwhile, we learned our lesson. As soon as the girls go back to their respective countries we are moving to an apartment and downsizing in a major way. An apartment will not be as harsh on our utilites. We are going to one vehicle and the apartment community that we are picking has a gym membership attached, so, that will be free, and not extra money every month.
A whole bunch of little things just like that. I'd so much rather do this voluntarily than to learn it the way that it just happened.
Anyhow. There is a huge amount of relief. If I can just get through filing taxes everything will be fine.
btw, if you ever have a personal business, keep excellent records, its not worth going back. Towards the end of the paper mess, but about to pull my hair out with it.
Michael didn't get accepted to the college. We are really devastated.
It's becoming increasingly harder to keep our heads up.
I'm submitting some poetry to some publishers tomorrow.
Every crazy fool writes poetry. But I need to do this.
Lots of fun stuff on the horizon.
I have some sewing tutorials going on and I should be
making my dresses and skirts this summer.
Michael is putting a website together for me and I
am set to scan a ton of pictures.
Can't believe I'm not working. I am treating it like I am
working from home.
Crazy.
We took the girls to the gallery hop last night. I had my protective feathers up. There are a lot of hustlers on the street between the various galleries. While not wanting to be overly protective, I still made them walk in front of us so that I could watch. Then somebody with something sparkly tried to give them something... they were both standing too next to him for my tastes. So, I swooped up between and grabbed both girls gently by the elbows and started walking forward.
It appears that there was no reason for me to be concerned. Someone was just passing out for free little sparkly lights. Oh well. Michael went back and got the girls a sparkly.
They enjoyed gallery hop. They took pictures, they received political buttons from both Hillary and Obama.
(Consequently so tired of politics. I am so cynical right now as far as politics go. I know it's probably very unamerican, but I can not wait to bail on this country for somewhere else. Michael and I both feel the same. Perhaps... New Zealand, India, Japan, Ireland or Scotland. Or, if we feel so inclined we may settle for some super small town in America where we can live completely off the grid. Yeah, the hippie in me is taking over.)
We are also in the process of going though everything we own and completely refining it. I am so sick of being sick of moving all the time, with moving in the near future yet again.... we are embracing it.
So, we are in a consistent process of giving what we don't want to goodwill, and then sorting things and putting them into boxes in our small storage room in the basement. When the weather breaks this spring we will have a yard sale. Whatever doesn't sell will go to goodwill. We will be paring down our three bedroom, attic, basement, etc to only enough to minimally furnish and decorate a meager apartment. Michael's course of study for his MFA may require us to spend six months abroad at internships.
Not to mention that the cost of utilities and gas are going up so sharply year after year without any sort of raise in wages to compensate for it makes us less likely to want to put our extra money into the oil industry and utilities. We are also going to go down to one vehicle when the girls are gone and we have moved to the town that Michael is going to school. Not because we have to. We just have no faith in our economy and would rather invest than spend big. Spending big includes this house.
Really, no matter what is going on in the world, it really boils down to "What are you using." We aren't really using all of this. It feels like clutter. I have found clutter to be spiritually annoying as of late.
Yoga and gym tonight. Woo!