Update by topic because I heart organization May 28, 2009

Update on the dental fail from a few weeks ago:  I went to see a dentist that goes to Pleasant Ridge (the church Lance grew up at) because I just needed someone who would tell me the truth.  If I did indeed have 8 cavities, well, I would get them taken care of.  But given the fact that, due to my perfectionistic tendencies (see previous post…), I truly brush and floss every single day (unless I am sick or we are having a lock-in, but I think those are excused flossing absences), so I was going to be exceedingly unhappy if I had that many cavities after my faithful dental habits.  Anyway, I went to see the dentist yesterday morning, and he kept huffing and puffing like he was irritated the entire time he was looking at my teeth.  I got more and more nervous – thinking, “holy cow… I bet I have more than 8.  Oh, this is bad.  How am I going to pay for double-digit cavities???”  He ordered a couple of X-rays of my back teeth, and then put them up on the light board thingy and asked me to come look at them.  It turns out that I am in need of one filling.  One.  We’re talking a total cost of $150.  Then the dentist told me that he was huffing and puffing because he is irritated at his entire profession right now.  He said that I am the 5^th person in 3 weeks to come in with a laundry list of things a dentist recommends when they don’t need that much work.  Given the previous diagnosis I’d been handed, I had never been so happy to hear I needed a filling in all my life.

Youth group update:  We had a lock-in Friday night, and I came home and slept for 5 hours in the middle of it and was STILL wiped out for days.  I’m old.

Holiday update:  So Monday was Memorial Day… and it was the first day I’ve had off this entire year (with the exception of New Years’ Day and the day I threw up a lot).  It felt pretty amazing to have a day of rest.  We took it easy for most of the day and then worked in the yard for the afternoon and evening… and then treated ourselves to Snuffer’s for our hard work. Then we sat in the backyard on our newly cleaned patio and watched Buddy bury his bone over and over.  Having Monday off has made this week seem so short… and I am finally about to be eligible for my days off, so I will be able to take a day off here and there.

Garage sale update:  It is now officially this coming Saturday!  Lance and I are ridiculously excited to get all of this stuff out of our garage… and it will be fabulous if we make some money off of it too!  To be honest, I’m not sure how much we’ll make (I think the total of the stuff we’re selling is probably between $100 and $150), but to have a clean house AND a little extra cash – hello, new favorite pastime!

Style update:  I mentioned 2 posts ago that I was going to Banana to use a coupon and a gift card… I had a marvelous little shopping trip, and I came home with 4 shirts that I am pretty crazy about for a grand total of $61.  I am so proud of myself!  I wanted to celebrate, but I usually shop to celebrate, and I’d already done that…

Money update:  When I started at the firm, I enrolled in the flex spending plan thing, and I totally just picked a number out of thin air to contribute to this plan.  Our FSA runs from June to June or something (instead of being a calendar year), so I REALLY had no idea how much to set aside.  Well, given this latest round of dental visits, I will have spent every penny… and Lance and I will only have to pay like $14 out of pocket for any medical expenses so far this entire year.  Hip hip Jorge!

Shower update:  I am hosting one on Saturday and one on Sunday… and that will successfully wrap up the shower-throwing marathon I have been a part of for the last several months.

Important dates to remember:  Today is my spiritual birthday.  This coming Wednesday (June 3^rd) will mark my 3^rd wedding anniversary.  Thursday, June 25^th is Lance’s birthday.  Saturday, June 27^th is my birthday.  (I will finally be old enough to rent a car without a fee!)

Other upcoming events:  June 5^th is my company picnic.  There is a small groups dinner thing on the 27^th.  What?  My birthday.  Yes.  Lame.  They should have scheduled the dinner around me.  We will have to celebrate another day.  My parents’ 29^th anniversary is June 7^th.  I’ll have July 3^rd off work.  Erin gets married June 20^th.  I have June 19^th off work (my first vacation day of the year!). 

Count yourself updated.

Stumped. May 22, 2009

How does one go about changing the fiber of one’s being?

I’ve decided I want to change.  I recognize my quirks/issues and want them gone.  However, I haven’t the slightest clue how to actually change me.

As I’ve mentioned before (and as anyone who really knows me knows well enough that I don’t have to say it at all), I am a perfectionist.  The big thing is, though, that I hold myself to this ridiculously high standard and then can’t forgive myself when I don’t achieve that standard.  I’m tired of it.  I want to change it.

Yesterday is a perfect example.  The day started off fine.  In fact, I was early to work, so I even went to Starbucks before work.  I didn’t look my absolute best, but I seldom do on Thursdays.  Wednesdays are too long for me to look very good on Thursdays.  Maybe lame… but true.  Anyway, I made several small mistakes throughout the day – nothing huge, but just kind of careless things.  I got mad at myself for that.  I was also fretting about an instance that happened back in January.  When these things build up, I start feeling like I just suck at life.  So then I started getting upset that I can’t keep it together – my house is a mess, Lance and I have barely seen each other this week, I messed up at work, I didn’t blowdry my hair this morning, and I think I have cavities.  Epic fail.  I was so upset that I could barely eat dinner.  We had quesadillas made of a tortilla folded in half plus cheese (obvi) and meat and veggies left over from kabobs from the other night.  I’m sure they were delicious.  I managed to choke down about 2/3 of one.  I spent the whole night longing to hang out with Lance because I was just so frustrated and upset and he always calms me down… and then he left for a three-hour elders meeting… and by the time he got home, I was upset that he had been gone so long and that the house still wasn’t clean and that I couldn’t figure out how to make a blog header.  And I was grouchy.  And not very nice.  And then I was mad at myself for being rude to the one person I wanted to hang out with.  And then I cried.

Really?

Why can’t I shake things off?

I know all the things about living in grace and all of that… but I find it hard to grasp that “living in grace” may also apply when I’m not even doing anything wrong.  I am trying to figure out how to forgive myself for being less than perfect… and not in the sin/no-sin kind of way.  Just in the “it-turns-out-I-am-human” way.

For some people, letting things slide and working through them seems to come so naturally.  For me, I can’t seem to figure out how to do it all.

Sigh.

Bad news/Good news May 18, 2009

Life lately….

Bad news:

• Our garage sale was postponed due to rain Saturday morning.  That’s not that big of a deal, but it is quite an inconvenience right now.  Half of our garage is stacked with stuff.  I have very high hopes that we can make some money off of this garage sale, but I will be pretty thrilled just to have all of this stuff gone.
• My allergies have been bothering me a lot lately.  It’s just normal stuff (runny nose, itchy throat, etc.), but it’s not that fun.  I have some allergy medicine that works (just walmart brand stuff), but it’s like it dehydrates all of me.  I am SO thirsty all day long, and it makes my eyes really dry too.  Weird… but then medicine WAY affects me.
• Lance has stuff every night this week (except Tuesday and Saturday… but he’ll probably be recovering from Friday’s lockin and planning for Sunday morning’s service in which he is leading singing), so that’s not that fun.

Good news:

• We have been working on the story of Jonah in my 2s class (as I’ve mentioned before).  Yesterday, I asked, “Does anyone remember where Jonah was going?”  And one of my 2s goes, “Ninevah!”  How exciting!  That is a big word and a pretty detailed part of the story.  I was so amazed that he knew it.  Just when you think that you’re not doing much, the Lord shows you that He is working through your teaching!
• My friend Ashley had her baby, and we got to go to the hospital and see them and hold the baby.  The whole time we were there, the husband/daddy just grinned from ear to ear.  I’m not there yet, but I look forward to that.
• I went on a date with my love Saturday night.  I enjoy him very much.  We had a great time.
• I was able to try on my bridesmaid’s dress successfully without the issues getting out of it that I had last time.
• My friend Justin came to church with me for the second time and even went out to lunch with the singles group!  Maybe he will come to Legacy??  That is exciting to me.
• I went to Central Market to get fruit yesterday.  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Central Market’s produce section?  Well, I do.  I bought three oranges, and they weighed over three pounds.  When I held them up to show Lance, he goes, “Honey, I think that’s a grapefruit.”  False.  Orange .  Giant orange, but orange nonetheless.
• Our summer interns arrived this weekend, and one of them is one of Terra’s friends.  She tells me that Sister and I have the same mannerisms.  This makes me simultaneously happy/laughing/proud.  Don’t get me wrong – I like my sister, but it is crazy to me that we have the same mannerisms.  We were as different as night and day when we lived under the same roof, but somehow in different cities and with totally different groups of friends, we turned into the same person.  Miracle?  Possibly.
• I am going to Banana tonight to use a coupon and a gift card.  Yesss!
• Speaking of said Banana gift card, I finally accrued enough Discover card points to get a reward… after having that card for like 6 years.  Oh well – hooray anyway!
• One of the attorneys I work for is going to do some work for my parents’ church.  Awesome because it’s more business for this attorney plus my parents get helped out plus I’ll get to talk to my dad at work.  Ha.
• We are being tremendously blessed by our small group.  It is so wonderful to be surrounded by other people who love the Lord and wrestle with the same things we do and enjoy the same things we do.  I tend to eat a lot of dessert at small group, which is probably not good, but I think that fellowship and cookies fall under the umbrella of “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
• I made an appointment with a dentist that Lance grew up with at church to get a second opinion on all of that dental work, so at least I will have answers soon instead of just fretting that I will have to wear dentures before I turn 30.
• Still a fan of my FitFlops – no more knee pain from walking to and from work in shoes that were not designed for that at all.  I’m not sure that my legs are becoming as fabulous as the advertisement touted they would, but I can appreciate a lack of hurting!
• Lance and I implemented some new housecleaning rules… Basically, we keep our living room/kitchen/dining area decently clean, and our bedroom is okay too… but somehow it seems like we never make it to cleaning our bathroom.  (This is probably due to the fact that we are the only ones that see it…)  There is always laundry, dishes, picking up, and vacuuming, so it is quite normal to clean the house for an entire evening and never make it to the master bath.  Anyway, we now switch off every two weeks with chores to be done in our bathroom so that it stays clean and I don’t complain!  I’m really happy with the system – we really are splitting the work, our bathroom gets cleaned, and we don’t have to pay the money I wanted to pay to a housekeeper.  Along with that, I should say that it’s a blessing to me that Lance and I communicate so well.  I can be really frustrated that our bathroom is dirty, and he can not care that our bathroom is dirty, and we can talk about it without getting mad at each other.

As you can see, there is far more good news in my life than bad.  I am tremendously blessed.  Thanks, Lord.

My life by the numbers May 11, 2009

• 2.  Psalms memorized completely.
• 148.  Psalms to go.
• 2.  Books I have completed without writing about them (Audacity of Hope and Mere Christianity).
• 750.  Pages in my C.S. Lewis collection.
• 260.  Page I am on.
• 3.  Weddings I will attend in the next 3 months.
• 4.  Showers I have/will have hostessed in the spring of this year alone.
• 3.  Pieces of fruit I have eaten today.
• 4.  Comments I’ve gotten about my outfit today.
• 3.  Sundays left of teaching my 2s.
• 10.  Purses I cleaned out of my closet yesterday.
• 35.  Months Lance and I have been married.
• 5.  Months I have worked at the firm.
• 6.  Laps I usually take around the church when I exercise there.
• 1.  Glass I broke while loading the dishwasher last week.
• 12.  Glasses I purchased to replace the one that I broke.
• 800.  Miles I am past needing an oil change.
• 15.  Pounds I’ve managed to keep off for 1 ½ years now.
• 1500.  The dollar amount of the dental work the dentist I visited on Saturday said I needed to have done.
• 1.  Second opinion I will be getting before I spend anything at all.
• 1.  Times Lance and I have gone to bed angry.
• 0.  Times we will do that again.
• 10.  Teeth I have had pulled in my lifetime.  (4 wisdom, 4 permanent, 2 baby.)
• 2.  Two-year-olds I have taken to potty each week I have taught them.
• 4.  Butter-/calorie-laden rolls I had at lunch on Saturday.
• 47.  Days until my birthday.  (Do I have a running wishlist this year?  You bet your boots.)
• 2.  Times I burned myself on the curling iron in the last 48 hours.
• 4.  Minutes after 8:00 that I MUST be in the car if I want to be to work on time.
• 6.  Cell phones I’ve had in my lifetime.
• 7.  Times I have washed my hands or used sanitizer so far today.
• 13.  Shows I follow faithfully or at least semi-faithfully.  (Two of those are only on during the summer though… Does that make it better?)
• 4.  Months it’s been since I got a haircut.
• 3.  Times I got stuck by a straight pin when trying on my bridesmaid’s dress on Saturday.
• 14.  Days until my first free day off work this year.
• 5.  Pairs of flipflops in my living room right now.
• 45.  Minutes it took me to come up with this list.

Zoo pictures… as promised! May 6, 2009

Friends at the zoo!

Penguins!  (Hold my flipper and don’t be scared…)

Giraffe!

Lion…. and this dude’s roar was pretty spectacular.  I wish I could make that much noise with that little effort!

Me and my love.

The whole group!  What a fabulous day it was!