Today was a better day as far as the amount of sleep is concerned. When I first layed down to go to sleep, I thought "wait, I forgot to pray." What's funny is this. Usually when I pray before going to sleep, I kneel beside the bed. Well when I thought about it, I was laying in bed, covers pulled up high. My eye lids were already heavy, and I knew I would be gone soon. So to make up for not kneeling, I rolled over partially on my side, but with my head bowed. As soon as I layed back down again, I was gone in probably a minute. Erin had work today, so she was taking Zoe to the sitter. From the moment I went to sleep, the next thing I remember is just before 2PM, my phone going off. I have it set on silent usually when I go to sleep *because too many things come through on my phone; emails, texts, calls, etc*. But what I did was in the settings I set Erin's profile up so that if she calls no matter what I have the current volume set to, her's will come through loud and clear. Not on texts, just on phone calls.
When I initially woke up, I had to run downstairs for a minute to help Erin with Zoe. I carried Zoe upstairs, and layed her in her bed *which she did not complain one bit. In fact, she was rubbing her eyes sleepily*. Then I went and climbed back into bed myself. I didn't know if I was going to be able to go back to sleep or not. I just wanted to savor and enjoy the feeling of being in a nice and comfortable bed. Erin came up, and after a little while we both went downstairs. She put on "Super Size Me" on netflix. I saw that with my mom a while ago, so I got onto WoW. I wasn't really having a good time with the warlock I created. I was dying too easily. With my priest, I could take on characters that are 2 or 3 levels higher than me, without getting killed every time. With my warlock, I'm level 3 trying to hit level 4, and I kept getting attacked by level 6's. I would take their health down almost to 1/4 level, but then I would usually have to try to run away or die. They took my health down just a little bit faster than I could theirs.
So, I went back into the new character section, and created a Mage. I think a Mage is kind of like a witch. Lots and lots of magic abilities that they can learn as they level up. I accepted a few quests right off the bat, and right away I was easily taking out characters that were 2 levels ahead of me. By the time I killed them, they probably only hit me twice. I looked over at Erin and said "I think I will get rid of my warlock. I'm just not enjoying that character. The mage on the other hand is great!" For me, I don't "disslike" video games. The things that turn me off to them are if it is played to extreme. Like, my former brother in law in Texas was on his PS2 playing Dynasty Warriors almost 24 hours a day. He would stop to do the basic functions like eat, sleep, shower, use the rest room, then back to dynasty warriors. He always asked me if I would team up with him, and I never would. The reason was, I was sick of the game. I saw it so much, that even without playing it, I didn't like it. It got to be that way for WoW too after I was divorced because the ex got so into it with her friends on WoW that thats all she wanted. FUN TIMES!
So anyway, I leveled the Mage up almost to level 4 in about 30 minutes. I was like "DamN! Piece of cake!" So I think I may have found my 2 characters. A mage and a priest. One that will end up with a hell of a lot of magic, and one that has some magic, but also the ability to heal and ressurect.
Moving on! Last night at work, I spent a lot of extra time out in the parking lot. We have had a young kid prowling. I think I already talked about them. Well, after he/she showed up two nights in a row, the parking lot was much more heavily guarded last night. Only this time though, no sign of him at all. I told the house supervisor "I hope you really gave him a scare, because I haven't seen any signs of him so far tonight." Even as it got to 5AM and I only had an hour left, the parking lot had been nice and quiet all night. There was not a single random person walking through. We had a Charter Bus, which I thought was interesting. I stopped to talk to the driver, and asked what they were at the ER for. Apparently they were transporting a junior high girls soccer team. One of the girls took a soccer ball to the face and her eye was swollen.
So just after 5 this evening, we got a call from Erin's mom. She had been on the road for a while, and was still about an hour away. We went up into the guest room that we loaded some of the furniture in that threw my back out, and put up a curtain rod and some small curtains. We brought sheets up for the bed. At just after 6, her mom arrived. We all loaded up in Erin's car and went to a local mexican restaurant for dinner. While we were there, Ally asked Erin if she could try cherry coke. Erin thought "Sure why not. It's your birthday." Well, when she was half way done with this huge cherry coke glass, she was so hyper. We really don't let her have caffeinated beverages. Soda's for her are anything that is caffeine free, such a sprite and such. It was funny. Both Betsy (her mom) and I looked at her and were like "You let her get coke?" LOL. Yeah, well I understand what Erin thought. It's Ally's special time and the most harm it'd do to her is make her extremely hyper. Thats where having her run laps around the house and doing some of her gymnastics bridges comes in handy. Easy way to tire her back out! ;)
This morning, I thought to myself "Should I do the friday morning deep water-aroebics? Or should I figure go with the Tuesday Thursday one that I had them write my name down for?" By the time I was home, it was already 20 after 6. I got Lex's breakfast on the table, grabbed a small bowl of cereal myself, and decided that I was really tired. With how much sleep I got yesterday, I decided I would watch another episode of Season 1 of Hercules. That's when I had gotten on WoW first today, only that time I tried to see if it'd get easier on my warlock. Nope, I died so many times in the 30 minutes that I was online. At 7:28, I shut the tv off and was like "Ok Lex! Time to go!"
In closing, when Betsy arrived, and we all loaded into Erin's car to go to dinner, the first thing she said was "You're truck is huge Chris!" Telling someone you have a Ford F250 XLT, and explaining how long it is, that apparently doesn't do it. When they SEE it, they are like "DAMN!" I think I will call that it for tonight. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here!
CB
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Day 25
Wow. It amazes me that in just under a week I will have gone an entire month of writing in this blog. When I was at work on my first day of the week, Tuesday to be exact, I was outside briefly talking to the maintenance man and the house supervisor. They were outside taking a smoke break. I wasn't though. I have never been, nor do I ever see myself being a smoker. No way! So anyway, we were standing there, and this dark figure walked slowly past. The individual looked to me like a teen. Not quite 5' 9", pretty thin, black sweat pants, black sweat shirt with the hood over their head so you couldn't see them clearly. When they walked past us Tuesday night, all 3 of us went "hmmm, that's suspicious." I followed them from a distance to see where they went, and when they went north on 4th street and away from the hospital I let it go, but kept a close eye out any time I was outside.
Last night while I was out on the other side of the parking lot, the house supervisor called me. She was like "You know that kid we saw last night?" I was like "Yes?" to which she replied "He just tried to break into my car." I asked her what exactly happened, and she said that he came up from the direction I had followed him the night before, that she had come out for a break, and that he just walked right up to her car and tried to see if the door was unlocked. The lights came on in her car, and she basically yelled "HEY! WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU DOING!" The kid apparently whirled around, seeming surprised, hands up in the air, and then took off running. When I got over there, I couldn't find him. He was apparently long gone. She told the rest of the staff about the prowler, so that everyone could keep a close eye out. Tonight I let the 2nd shift house supervisor know about it, so that if the kid changes up his approach and tries earlier, people will be more prepared.
So this morning, I got off right at 6. I didn't have to sit one on one with any patients so I was able to get off when I was supposed to. Went home, got Lex's cereal on the table for her, went upstairs and turned her light on. Today is officially Alexandria's 9th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLY! (Not that you will read this, but hey ;) ) After a few minutes, I went in there and she had pulled the covers over her head. I pulled them off, then said "Drum roll please!" I started drumming my finger tips on the railing as though it were a drum. "Happy birthday to you!" Pause, then I'd tickle her side "tickytickyticky", followed by her saying "doooooooooonnnnnnnnnnt." Then I'd go on. "Happy birthday TOOOO you! tickytickyticky!" "DOOOONNNT!" she would say again. "Happy BIRTHDAY to Lexi! Happy birthday too (I'd mimic the word "too" the way the bird delivering the baby elephant in dumbo sings), YOU! tickytickyticky!" O:-)
Better than 9 birthday spankings I guess. :) When it was close to 7, ally had eaten and was laying on the couch across from me. This morning I finally decided that I should officially get into the water aerobics. So at 6:50, I said to Ally "Lex, I will be back. I have an exercise class I'm going to. Just hang out down here and watch tv, and I should be back just after 7:30 some time. Maybe 7:45 or whatever. Then I will take you to school myself in the truck." She was like "OK!"
The pool exercise is fun. I handed the lady at the desk my YWCA membership card, and went into the pool area. As soon as I came through the doors, I could see that there were probably about 15 to 20 people in the pool. Everyone appeared to be up there in age. When I told Erin about it, I said "senior's." Well I took off my shirt and shoes, set my bag of stuff up on a chair, then turned and jumped into the pool. Today was the first time I have been in the pool at the Y. When you are sitting along side the pool, it is very easy to over heat. That room, for whatever reason, is kept much warmer than the other parts of the building. Well the water was nice and comfortable. It wasn quite warm. Usually when you jump into a pool, you prepare yourself for a bit of shock before you get used to the cool water. Not this morning. I jumped in and the first words out of my mouth were "the water feels great!"
Well for the most part, I was able to do all the exercises the instructor had us to. The ones I struggled with were not because I couldn't, but more so because I wasn't sure what the exercise was. Sometimes she would say "OK! NOW THIS!" and she would describe the movement. I'm a visual guy so for me I have to see stuff that I don't get at first, in order to fully understand it. Thankfully a few times she got out of the pool so she could imitate how the exercise was done. Did things like Cross Country Skiing in the water, running in place, side lunges, stretches, etc. At one point, I didn't feel winded or tired, and my leg cramped momentarily. I immediately straightened it all the way out and waited about thirty seconds for the cramp to go away. Leg cramps suck!
So after the water exercise, I went to get my card back, and asked the lady at the counter how I get officially in the class. I guess it really doesn't matter. I could technically come and take part in the work out without officially being on their list of people. But, I figure for my sake, it will be easier to not allow myself to let it slide, if I know that I am registered with them. Today was the shallow end of the pool, but I believe monday, wednesday, and friday is in the deep end. I'm thinking I will go tomorrow too, so that I can see what that one is like. Maybe I will want to stick with the deep end part of the class. Maybe I will stick with the one I registered in, Tuesday, and Thursday, and then just be a guest on Friday for the Deep End. If I could get up every day (Even on my days off), I think I would be willing to do monday through friday. It's a great work out. I realized it when I was going to bed, and I could feel it in my legs and arms. A small, but not uncomfortable burn.
After dropping Lex off at school, I came home and went to sleep. By this point it was already 8:30. By 11, Zoe had gotten up, and Erin had gone to get her and bring her in. Zoe came over, grabbed my side, and climbed up. After a few minutes, Erin did take Zoe out of the room and close the door so I could sleep. Probably an hour or so later, she was back in the room. She was working on tidying up the house, and was needing to do something in the room. Of course, she needed light for it. Then a little later she left again, turning the light off. Then again not too long from that, she came in, waking me up again and told me that Tinche, our cat, got out the door when she had gone out on the front porch to grab something, momentarily leaving the door open. Our cat goes into heat like every 2 weeks it seems, and we don't have the money yet to get her spayed. I found out this morning when I got home, that there is a male cat lurking around the house every so often. He apparently has heard Tinche and her constant meowing. I was in the kitchen at 6:20 and heard meowing much like Tinche's, but tinche was on the floor by my feet. I looked outside and saw this orange cat that I'm sure is a boy.
This afternoon when I found tinche and got her back inside, later on the male cat was lounging at the foot of the stairs connected to our front porch. I said "Erin! Look! That's the cat I told you about!" If she wasn't going to get pregnant, and have kittens, maybe we could try to explore the option of letting her out and seeing that she comes back. 1) I'm afraid she will not come back (get lost or whatever), and 2) if she gets out, and mates with another cat, I don't think we can keep her. In the rental agreement with my parents, I don't want to push it by saying "our cat is having kittens!" No, that won't go over well. We were lucky to be allowed to get Teagan! They almost didn't let us. We adopted him, then were forced to take him back to the original owners for fear of being kicked out, then they rethought it and said he better not mess up the house.
So, today I am pretty damn tired. I napped off and on on the couch, but that kind of napping almost does not mean anything. Sleeping for a few minutes, waking up, then sleeping for a half hour, waking up to something, etc, that is not sound recouperative sleeping. Just like, when I go to bed in the morning, if I only sleep 1-3 hours, get woken up, go back to sleep, awakened shortly after, I eventually get up feeling groggy, EXTREMELY cranky, tired, sometimes depressed, and irritable. If I can get 5-7 hours straight without interruption, then I can usually wake up feeling ok. 7-9 hours and I wake up feeling like "ok! I can take care of this, and this, and this, and this!" But when I'm lacking sleep, I can't motivate myself to get too many things done. Single tasks take too much energy out of me when I'm lacking sleep.
So in closing, when I got up, I grabbed my phone and had 24 emails. They were all comments on the blog from the same person. I texted her and was like "HOLY SHIT!" She was like "?" And I was like "You didn't have to comment! I understand!" I'm glad she did, and now I will make sure to return the favor to her as well, but I was just blown away. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here!
CB
Last night while I was out on the other side of the parking lot, the house supervisor called me. She was like "You know that kid we saw last night?" I was like "Yes?" to which she replied "He just tried to break into my car." I asked her what exactly happened, and she said that he came up from the direction I had followed him the night before, that she had come out for a break, and that he just walked right up to her car and tried to see if the door was unlocked. The lights came on in her car, and she basically yelled "HEY! WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU DOING!" The kid apparently whirled around, seeming surprised, hands up in the air, and then took off running. When I got over there, I couldn't find him. He was apparently long gone. She told the rest of the staff about the prowler, so that everyone could keep a close eye out. Tonight I let the 2nd shift house supervisor know about it, so that if the kid changes up his approach and tries earlier, people will be more prepared.
So this morning, I got off right at 6. I didn't have to sit one on one with any patients so I was able to get off when I was supposed to. Went home, got Lex's cereal on the table for her, went upstairs and turned her light on. Today is officially Alexandria's 9th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLY! (Not that you will read this, but hey ;) ) After a few minutes, I went in there and she had pulled the covers over her head. I pulled them off, then said "Drum roll please!" I started drumming my finger tips on the railing as though it were a drum. "Happy birthday to you!" Pause, then I'd tickle her side "tickytickyticky", followed by her saying "doooooooooonnnnnnnnnnt." Then I'd go on. "Happy birthday TOOOO you! tickytickyticky!" "DOOOONNNT!" she would say again. "Happy BIRTHDAY to Lexi! Happy birthday too (I'd mimic the word "too" the way the bird delivering the baby elephant in dumbo sings), YOU! tickytickyticky!" O:-)
Better than 9 birthday spankings I guess. :) When it was close to 7, ally had eaten and was laying on the couch across from me. This morning I finally decided that I should officially get into the water aerobics. So at 6:50, I said to Ally "Lex, I will be back. I have an exercise class I'm going to. Just hang out down here and watch tv, and I should be back just after 7:30 some time. Maybe 7:45 or whatever. Then I will take you to school myself in the truck." She was like "OK!"
The pool exercise is fun. I handed the lady at the desk my YWCA membership card, and went into the pool area. As soon as I came through the doors, I could see that there were probably about 15 to 20 people in the pool. Everyone appeared to be up there in age. When I told Erin about it, I said "senior's." Well I took off my shirt and shoes, set my bag of stuff up on a chair, then turned and jumped into the pool. Today was the first time I have been in the pool at the Y. When you are sitting along side the pool, it is very easy to over heat. That room, for whatever reason, is kept much warmer than the other parts of the building. Well the water was nice and comfortable. It wasn quite warm. Usually when you jump into a pool, you prepare yourself for a bit of shock before you get used to the cool water. Not this morning. I jumped in and the first words out of my mouth were "the water feels great!"
Well for the most part, I was able to do all the exercises the instructor had us to. The ones I struggled with were not because I couldn't, but more so because I wasn't sure what the exercise was. Sometimes she would say "OK! NOW THIS!" and she would describe the movement. I'm a visual guy so for me I have to see stuff that I don't get at first, in order to fully understand it. Thankfully a few times she got out of the pool so she could imitate how the exercise was done. Did things like Cross Country Skiing in the water, running in place, side lunges, stretches, etc. At one point, I didn't feel winded or tired, and my leg cramped momentarily. I immediately straightened it all the way out and waited about thirty seconds for the cramp to go away. Leg cramps suck!
So after the water exercise, I went to get my card back, and asked the lady at the counter how I get officially in the class. I guess it really doesn't matter. I could technically come and take part in the work out without officially being on their list of people. But, I figure for my sake, it will be easier to not allow myself to let it slide, if I know that I am registered with them. Today was the shallow end of the pool, but I believe monday, wednesday, and friday is in the deep end. I'm thinking I will go tomorrow too, so that I can see what that one is like. Maybe I will want to stick with the deep end part of the class. Maybe I will stick with the one I registered in, Tuesday, and Thursday, and then just be a guest on Friday for the Deep End. If I could get up every day (Even on my days off), I think I would be willing to do monday through friday. It's a great work out. I realized it when I was going to bed, and I could feel it in my legs and arms. A small, but not uncomfortable burn.
After dropping Lex off at school, I came home and went to sleep. By this point it was already 8:30. By 11, Zoe had gotten up, and Erin had gone to get her and bring her in. Zoe came over, grabbed my side, and climbed up. After a few minutes, Erin did take Zoe out of the room and close the door so I could sleep. Probably an hour or so later, she was back in the room. She was working on tidying up the house, and was needing to do something in the room. Of course, she needed light for it. Then a little later she left again, turning the light off. Then again not too long from that, she came in, waking me up again and told me that Tinche, our cat, got out the door when she had gone out on the front porch to grab something, momentarily leaving the door open. Our cat goes into heat like every 2 weeks it seems, and we don't have the money yet to get her spayed. I found out this morning when I got home, that there is a male cat lurking around the house every so often. He apparently has heard Tinche and her constant meowing. I was in the kitchen at 6:20 and heard meowing much like Tinche's, but tinche was on the floor by my feet. I looked outside and saw this orange cat that I'm sure is a boy.
This afternoon when I found tinche and got her back inside, later on the male cat was lounging at the foot of the stairs connected to our front porch. I said "Erin! Look! That's the cat I told you about!" If she wasn't going to get pregnant, and have kittens, maybe we could try to explore the option of letting her out and seeing that she comes back. 1) I'm afraid she will not come back (get lost or whatever), and 2) if she gets out, and mates with another cat, I don't think we can keep her. In the rental agreement with my parents, I don't want to push it by saying "our cat is having kittens!" No, that won't go over well. We were lucky to be allowed to get Teagan! They almost didn't let us. We adopted him, then were forced to take him back to the original owners for fear of being kicked out, then they rethought it and said he better not mess up the house.
So, today I am pretty damn tired. I napped off and on on the couch, but that kind of napping almost does not mean anything. Sleeping for a few minutes, waking up, then sleeping for a half hour, waking up to something, etc, that is not sound recouperative sleeping. Just like, when I go to bed in the morning, if I only sleep 1-3 hours, get woken up, go back to sleep, awakened shortly after, I eventually get up feeling groggy, EXTREMELY cranky, tired, sometimes depressed, and irritable. If I can get 5-7 hours straight without interruption, then I can usually wake up feeling ok. 7-9 hours and I wake up feeling like "ok! I can take care of this, and this, and this, and this!" But when I'm lacking sleep, I can't motivate myself to get too many things done. Single tasks take too much energy out of me when I'm lacking sleep.
So in closing, when I got up, I grabbed my phone and had 24 emails. They were all comments on the blog from the same person. I texted her and was like "HOLY SHIT!" She was like "?" And I was like "You didn't have to comment! I understand!" I'm glad she did, and now I will make sure to return the favor to her as well, but I was just blown away. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here!
CB
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Day 24
Good afternoon everyone. Today I ran a bit late coming home from work. At about midnight last night, I received a call from a charge nurse from the 4th floor of the hospital. She had talked to the house supervisor and really needed me to sit with a patient one on one from 4AM till 6AM. I cleared it with the house supervisor and had everything unlocked by 4, before reporting to 4th floor for the one on one. It went really well. The biggest issue was he still seemed medicated and he kept getting up and walking. They were afraid he would fall down, so whenever he got up and walked I was right there beside him. He kept saying "I'm sorry for making you nervous." I was like "No worries! I just don't want you to fall!" So at 6 oclock, I tracked down the charge nurse, whom I'm sure is the same nurse I had overnight when I was admitted because of my gall bladder being removed. Fun times! She seems really nice. I just remember being in so much pain, and the morphine not doing anything for it. I kept calling her in, and asking her if there was anything else I could get for the pain. Oh well!
At 6 AM, I tracked the charge nurse down,and asked her if she had someone to fill in for me. She was like "Do you 'have' to leave?" I was like "pretty much, yeah I do. If I were to stay, I have to call up the chain and get approval, and all that fun stuff." The guy I was watching was fairly pleasant to be with, so I wouldn't have really been doing a whole lot. However, I also had to get home to get Lex up for school. I had thought about going to the YWCA this morning at 7 and doing water aerobics. Here's what I was doing. At 6:30, I was standing in front of the stove, staring at the clock. In my head were two questions that were bouncing back and forth, argueing with each other in a way. 1) Should I go and do the work out at the Y at 7? or 2) should I wait till my back has gotten better, stay home, get lex up, and watch another episode of Hercules Season 1? Well, I think my back was the big deciding factor. I wanted to exercise, but I don't want to hurt myself worse. So, while Lex was getting ready, I was watching one of the hercules legendary journey series. Then when it was over, it was about 5 minutes before the bus was going to come. Walked her outside, kissed her goodbye, and watched her head to the bus stop.
Then I came in and went to bed. Woke up off and on, but didn't actually get up until it was 30 minutes after 2. I had my appointment with our friend the massage therapist at 3. The massage really helped my back. While I was laying there, my face burrowed in the odd round pillow with a hole that comes with massages, we were chatting for the first few minutes. Then, I couldn't talk anymore as she started running across the knots. From that point on, I did not say a word. There were several points where as she went on, she would hit another area, and I could tell that she noticed them because she would stop and be at that point for a minute or two extra. One or two of the knots made me jump a little.
Afterwards, when I came out, sat down and drank some water, I was like "Dang Sherri, your hands work magic on those knots." She was like "I could tell I found the trouble spots as soon as you stopped talking." Before I left, I asked her if she had any time slots open for next thursday, which is pay day for me. She did, so I scheduled Erin for a massage too.
So, my back still hurts when I sit, move around, etc, but it feels a lot better. I didn't realize I had other knots too, but apparently that was the case. Logged onto WoW for a few minutes but decided I really didn't feel like it. So, sat down out on the porch and started to do my blog entry. Figured, might as well get it out of the way. I am going to call that it for right now. I need to start getting ready for work. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
At 6 AM, I tracked the charge nurse down,and asked her if she had someone to fill in for me. She was like "Do you 'have' to leave?" I was like "pretty much, yeah I do. If I were to stay, I have to call up the chain and get approval, and all that fun stuff." The guy I was watching was fairly pleasant to be with, so I wouldn't have really been doing a whole lot. However, I also had to get home to get Lex up for school. I had thought about going to the YWCA this morning at 7 and doing water aerobics. Here's what I was doing. At 6:30, I was standing in front of the stove, staring at the clock. In my head were two questions that were bouncing back and forth, argueing with each other in a way. 1) Should I go and do the work out at the Y at 7? or 2) should I wait till my back has gotten better, stay home, get lex up, and watch another episode of Hercules Season 1? Well, I think my back was the big deciding factor. I wanted to exercise, but I don't want to hurt myself worse. So, while Lex was getting ready, I was watching one of the hercules legendary journey series. Then when it was over, it was about 5 minutes before the bus was going to come. Walked her outside, kissed her goodbye, and watched her head to the bus stop.
Then I came in and went to bed. Woke up off and on, but didn't actually get up until it was 30 minutes after 2. I had my appointment with our friend the massage therapist at 3. The massage really helped my back. While I was laying there, my face burrowed in the odd round pillow with a hole that comes with massages, we were chatting for the first few minutes. Then, I couldn't talk anymore as she started running across the knots. From that point on, I did not say a word. There were several points where as she went on, she would hit another area, and I could tell that she noticed them because she would stop and be at that point for a minute or two extra. One or two of the knots made me jump a little.
Afterwards, when I came out, sat down and drank some water, I was like "Dang Sherri, your hands work magic on those knots." She was like "I could tell I found the trouble spots as soon as you stopped talking." Before I left, I asked her if she had any time slots open for next thursday, which is pay day for me. She did, so I scheduled Erin for a massage too.
So, my back still hurts when I sit, move around, etc, but it feels a lot better. I didn't realize I had other knots too, but apparently that was the case. Logged onto WoW for a few minutes but decided I really didn't feel like it. So, sat down out on the porch and started to do my blog entry. Figured, might as well get it out of the way. I am going to call that it for right now. I need to start getting ready for work. I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Day 22
Hello everybody. Have you ever had a semi-arguement with someone? By semi-arguement, I mean that it can be looked at both ways; either as an arguement, or not as one. Well, I had one of those tonight. It was a silly topic, really. It was about the blog. The issue is pretty common with people who blog, myself included. When I blogged on xanga, I was 98% sure that nobody was ever reading my blog anyway. So the thought process for me was "Why should I write here when nobody even cares? I should just write by hand in my actual notebook journal." After a while, I decided to abandon my xanga blog. That was in my old life. Now that I'm in a completely new life, and trying to build it and make it a very blessed and successful life, I have to approach things differently. I will acknowledge some things though, as far as blogging here. I realize, yes, that there may be practically nobody even reading this. I realize, also, that even if there are people reading this, there could possibly not be any comments from any of them. I have thought about this, and you know what? That's fine! I did not start this blog with the idea in mind that I wanted to become popular, get friends, etc. Nope. I started this blog, with the plan that "I will write every single day. No exceptions!"
So here I am! We are on the 22nd post out of 365, and things are going well I believe. Let's move on! Today I slacked off more than usual. When I finally was able to get to sleep at 4:45 in the morning, I dreaded the idea of getting up at 6:30 to wake Lex up for school. Her bus comes at 7:30, but her school starts at 8:30. So I changed my approach. I changed my alarm from 6:30 to 7:30. When she woke up, she looked around confused because of how it was already daylight out. I was like "I didn't get to sleep till late. Get dressed. I will get your breakfast on the table and I will be dropping you off myself :)" She was like "Oh! Ok!"
While I was waiting for her to come down, I poured two bowls of cereal, and sat down to eat mine. After about five more minutes, she was at the table with me. When she was done I mentioned that she should brush her hair, and to meet me at the truck when she was ready. Came home, took a vicadin hoping it would help my back, which I don't think it did. Or at least I didn't notice any decrease in the stabbing. I went back to bed, and set my alarm for 10:00, which gave me about an hour and 40 minutes of sleep. Got up, got dressed and headed out to go to my appointment with the Army National Guard recruiter. I bombarded him with questions. Walking in there I told myself "I'm not going to sign anything. I just want information. Thats all. No big decisions right now."
I filled out some paperwork to give him my info. He made copies of my discharge papers. We sat down and talked about different job possibilities. He gave me a 2 page list with lots of possible jobs. The ones I wrote down that I would possibly be interested in were jobs that would help me get into a good paying field as a civilian. Such as Radiology Tech, Healthcare Specialist, Biomedical Equiptment repair, and Medical Labratory specialist. 2 of them would have me sent away for only about 16 weeks for the initial training after the 5 weeks of Warrior Training (kind of like a small boot camp for prior enlisted people). The other two, like biomedical equipment repair and mecial lab specialist, after the 5 warrior training would have a 44 week training in the field I would be in. That would mean that, for the most part I would be pretty much active duty for a year, getting payed BAH (for housing) because we live off base, getting full duty pay, etc, until I were to get fully trained.
Those are a few of the things that make me nervous. 1) going through a basic training again, which even though its a small version, is still basic training in a way. 2) what if I decide to do it, and go with a job that takes 44 weeks of training? Thats 44 weeks away from the family, which would suck big time! Plus, one of the questions I asked him was "are there any jobs that have a sign on bonus. The answer to that was No. There are no sign on bonuses for prior enlisted unfortunately, but newbies are offered $15,000. What's the deal with that? Oh well.
There are my worries and concerns about going forward with joining the guard. I still have a little bit of weight to lose before I could go in anyway, but I have been working on that the last few weeks anyway. I get the feeling that Erin thinks it would be a good thing to be apart of the guard. When I mentioned about me needing to drop some weight so that I could go in if I decided to, she said we should work out together. So, there may be some mornings of going to the YWCA to do water exercise afterall. *I'm not sure how to spell arobics.:P *
She said we could go tomorrow. I'd love to, and I probably will, but I'm concerned with my back. It is still kiling me! I'm hoping I didn't do the same injury I did in the air force. It was bad enough that I went to a physical therapist. They layed me out on a table, and had me twist in all sorts of different angles. After one of them, my back popped and the pain went away. Erin and I don't have health care, so going to a physical therapist is sort of out of the question. ER? Still same deal with payment, I cant! Oh well, I'm sure if I just take it easy, it will slowly get better. I HOPE!
Soccer practice was good today. The coach started the girls with kicking back and forth again. Then she surprised me. She turned to me and said "So are there any drills you would like them to do?" I hadn't expected this, otherwise I would have been ready for her. I started giving her suggestions. One of them was working on teaching the girls how to do propper throw-in's. They did pretty good. Then I was like "Why don't we line them all up, with the front player having the ball. The back player sprints to the front of the line, and as they get there, the person with the ball passes it just ahead of them. As soon as they have the ball, they yell "GO!" and the next person at the back of the line sprints up."
She thought that sounded good, so she lined them up in one big line. After a minute or two, she thought maybe there were too many people in the single line, so she divided up the line in two and I took half. I jogged right beside my line, coaching them as they went. The biggest problem they had *lex was with may group too*, was stopping and walking. They would fall behind, and have to run harder to get to the front. Finally I was like "Stopping and walking only makes it harder! Run!" They complained, but did it. I mentioned "Ok, let's do one more lap!" And one of the girls was like "Dude! We've ran like 12 laps!" I was like "Very good! One more couldn't hurt!" Then I was like "Go ahead and stop! Take a breather." From what Erin told me, the coach with her line was getting frustrated and commenting like "this isn't working." and stuff like that.
When we got home, Erin said "You are good with the kids." I said "What do you mean?" And she commented about how I jogged beside my line, and how my group seemed to at least get the concept. She said the coach's group wasn't getting it, and the coach was getting frustrated and not really coaching and making them better. I'm just glad I can help. The coach today told me that her daughter and her are not going to be there next year because of moving. She was like "So if you want to volunteer I'm sure you would be able to take over!" I was like "Well, when you initially talked to Erin about me possibly assisting you, I didn't think I wanted to be a coach. But after getting out here and doing it, I enjoy teaching them how to play. I'm thinking I will go for it next season."
Before we left for practice, at about 1:30 or so, I had put Zoe down for a nap. I wanted to take a nap some time myself also, and figured I would get some time in before practice. So I went up to bed, changed into comfy sleep clothes, set my alarm for 4pm, and went to sleep. At a few minutes to 4, Lex was waking me up saying "Dad! Soccer practice!" When I got up and got dressed, I came and noticed Ally was not even dressed for it yet. I was like "What? Waking me up for soccer practice when you're not even ready?" She was like "I've got my soccer socks and shin guards on!" I was like "Where are the shorts and stuff? You're still wearing your school clothes!" :-D It didn't take her long to change though, I will give her that. Plus, the more she goes to practices, I think she enjoys the sport more and more. That makes me happy. Her first experience with soccer was at British soccer camp during the month of July, so her only impression of the sport other than learning was "It's too hot. I don't think I want to play soccer." We were like "Well honey, that was just because of when the camp was. We want you to try it on a regular league once during the normal seasons and see if you like it." I'm glad we did that, because she loves it! Not only loves it, but I can tell that she wants to get better.
I think it is time to close. If my back did not feel like I had a small knife stuck in it, I think today would have been a really good day. At 4PM I missed a call from a guy I meet with from our church every week. I meant to call him this morning and reschedule. I didn't feel like I would be able to walk with him with my back the way that it is. I called him back, and explained what had happened, that I am sorry I didn't call him. He was like "No problem! Let's plan for next week same time, and I hope you're back feels better!"
Lesson for today is something we all have heard. Lift with your legs. ;) I would have, and I tried my best, but the dolly with the armoir was half way down it, so I had to slouch to even get a grip. Lucky me eh! Know what I'm doing wrong but not be able to help it? Oh well! At least I know not to do it that way again! I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here, and God Bless!
CB
So here I am! We are on the 22nd post out of 365, and things are going well I believe. Let's move on! Today I slacked off more than usual. When I finally was able to get to sleep at 4:45 in the morning, I dreaded the idea of getting up at 6:30 to wake Lex up for school. Her bus comes at 7:30, but her school starts at 8:30. So I changed my approach. I changed my alarm from 6:30 to 7:30. When she woke up, she looked around confused because of how it was already daylight out. I was like "I didn't get to sleep till late. Get dressed. I will get your breakfast on the table and I will be dropping you off myself :)" She was like "Oh! Ok!"
While I was waiting for her to come down, I poured two bowls of cereal, and sat down to eat mine. After about five more minutes, she was at the table with me. When she was done I mentioned that she should brush her hair, and to meet me at the truck when she was ready. Came home, took a vicadin hoping it would help my back, which I don't think it did. Or at least I didn't notice any decrease in the stabbing. I went back to bed, and set my alarm for 10:00, which gave me about an hour and 40 minutes of sleep. Got up, got dressed and headed out to go to my appointment with the Army National Guard recruiter. I bombarded him with questions. Walking in there I told myself "I'm not going to sign anything. I just want information. Thats all. No big decisions right now."
I filled out some paperwork to give him my info. He made copies of my discharge papers. We sat down and talked about different job possibilities. He gave me a 2 page list with lots of possible jobs. The ones I wrote down that I would possibly be interested in were jobs that would help me get into a good paying field as a civilian. Such as Radiology Tech, Healthcare Specialist, Biomedical Equiptment repair, and Medical Labratory specialist. 2 of them would have me sent away for only about 16 weeks for the initial training after the 5 weeks of Warrior Training (kind of like a small boot camp for prior enlisted people). The other two, like biomedical equipment repair and mecial lab specialist, after the 5 warrior training would have a 44 week training in the field I would be in. That would mean that, for the most part I would be pretty much active duty for a year, getting payed BAH (for housing) because we live off base, getting full duty pay, etc, until I were to get fully trained.
Those are a few of the things that make me nervous. 1) going through a basic training again, which even though its a small version, is still basic training in a way. 2) what if I decide to do it, and go with a job that takes 44 weeks of training? Thats 44 weeks away from the family, which would suck big time! Plus, one of the questions I asked him was "are there any jobs that have a sign on bonus. The answer to that was No. There are no sign on bonuses for prior enlisted unfortunately, but newbies are offered $15,000. What's the deal with that? Oh well.
There are my worries and concerns about going forward with joining the guard. I still have a little bit of weight to lose before I could go in anyway, but I have been working on that the last few weeks anyway. I get the feeling that Erin thinks it would be a good thing to be apart of the guard. When I mentioned about me needing to drop some weight so that I could go in if I decided to, she said we should work out together. So, there may be some mornings of going to the YWCA to do water exercise afterall. *I'm not sure how to spell arobics.:P *
She said we could go tomorrow. I'd love to, and I probably will, but I'm concerned with my back. It is still kiling me! I'm hoping I didn't do the same injury I did in the air force. It was bad enough that I went to a physical therapist. They layed me out on a table, and had me twist in all sorts of different angles. After one of them, my back popped and the pain went away. Erin and I don't have health care, so going to a physical therapist is sort of out of the question. ER? Still same deal with payment, I cant! Oh well, I'm sure if I just take it easy, it will slowly get better. I HOPE!
Soccer practice was good today. The coach started the girls with kicking back and forth again. Then she surprised me. She turned to me and said "So are there any drills you would like them to do?" I hadn't expected this, otherwise I would have been ready for her. I started giving her suggestions. One of them was working on teaching the girls how to do propper throw-in's. They did pretty good. Then I was like "Why don't we line them all up, with the front player having the ball. The back player sprints to the front of the line, and as they get there, the person with the ball passes it just ahead of them. As soon as they have the ball, they yell "GO!" and the next person at the back of the line sprints up."
She thought that sounded good, so she lined them up in one big line. After a minute or two, she thought maybe there were too many people in the single line, so she divided up the line in two and I took half. I jogged right beside my line, coaching them as they went. The biggest problem they had *lex was with may group too*, was stopping and walking. They would fall behind, and have to run harder to get to the front. Finally I was like "Stopping and walking only makes it harder! Run!" They complained, but did it. I mentioned "Ok, let's do one more lap!" And one of the girls was like "Dude! We've ran like 12 laps!" I was like "Very good! One more couldn't hurt!" Then I was like "Go ahead and stop! Take a breather." From what Erin told me, the coach with her line was getting frustrated and commenting like "this isn't working." and stuff like that.
When we got home, Erin said "You are good with the kids." I said "What do you mean?" And she commented about how I jogged beside my line, and how my group seemed to at least get the concept. She said the coach's group wasn't getting it, and the coach was getting frustrated and not really coaching and making them better. I'm just glad I can help. The coach today told me that her daughter and her are not going to be there next year because of moving. She was like "So if you want to volunteer I'm sure you would be able to take over!" I was like "Well, when you initially talked to Erin about me possibly assisting you, I didn't think I wanted to be a coach. But after getting out here and doing it, I enjoy teaching them how to play. I'm thinking I will go for it next season."
Before we left for practice, at about 1:30 or so, I had put Zoe down for a nap. I wanted to take a nap some time myself also, and figured I would get some time in before practice. So I went up to bed, changed into comfy sleep clothes, set my alarm for 4pm, and went to sleep. At a few minutes to 4, Lex was waking me up saying "Dad! Soccer practice!" When I got up and got dressed, I came and noticed Ally was not even dressed for it yet. I was like "What? Waking me up for soccer practice when you're not even ready?" She was like "I've got my soccer socks and shin guards on!" I was like "Where are the shorts and stuff? You're still wearing your school clothes!" :-D It didn't take her long to change though, I will give her that. Plus, the more she goes to practices, I think she enjoys the sport more and more. That makes me happy. Her first experience with soccer was at British soccer camp during the month of July, so her only impression of the sport other than learning was "It's too hot. I don't think I want to play soccer." We were like "Well honey, that was just because of when the camp was. We want you to try it on a regular league once during the normal seasons and see if you like it." I'm glad we did that, because she loves it! Not only loves it, but I can tell that she wants to get better.
I think it is time to close. If my back did not feel like I had a small knife stuck in it, I think today would have been a really good day. At 4PM I missed a call from a guy I meet with from our church every week. I meant to call him this morning and reschedule. I didn't feel like I would be able to walk with him with my back the way that it is. I called him back, and explained what had happened, that I am sorry I didn't call him. He was like "No problem! Let's plan for next week same time, and I hope you're back feels better!"
Lesson for today is something we all have heard. Lift with your legs. ;) I would have, and I tried my best, but the dolly with the armoir was half way down it, so I had to slouch to even get a grip. Lucky me eh! Know what I'm doing wrong but not be able to help it? Oh well! At least I know not to do it that way again! I will write more for you all tomorrow.
Thanks for being here, and God Bless!
CB
Monday, April 26, 2010
Day 21
Good day everybody. Today was an interesting day. When Erin went to work, and dropped Zoe off at day care, I went back to sleep. I intended to make it to class on time, but of course, I over slept. Erin came in and mentioned that it was just after two. "Shit!" I said, jumping up and getting dressed. It really didn't surprise me about over sleeping. Lately with either working, or having stuff I need to do, oversleeping seems to be pretty common. oh well. Well, I jumped up, got dressed, and headed out. The biggest reason for going to class today was getting some help from the teacher about the online library. Otherwise, we were just working on the paper in class on our own. So, I got to class even though I was a half hour late.
At class I found out what I needed to know. Plus I found another article to include information about. All in all, it went pretty well for only making half the class. As I left, I texted Erin telling her I was on my way home. As soon as I pulled into the driveway and got out of the truck, I looked at the time. It was 3:15. Today was Lex's swim class day, and we had to pick her up at 3:30. So, I got back in the truck, and texted Erin saying "Actaully nvm, I'm going to pick Lex up." She texted back "Thank you!" While I was waiting for Lex to get out of school, I called the National Guard Recruiter back. He had called when I was asleep before class and left a message. I'm officially scheduled to take my certificate of discharge from the military and meet with him tomorrow morning. I wonder what will happen. I guess we will see.
After leaving the school, we stopped home temporarily so Lex could get changed into her swim suit. Zoe was down for a nap, and Erin was asleep in the recliner, so I figured I would take Lex. Beforehand though, we both grabbed a small snack and a drink. On the way there, I mentioned that there might be a possibility of going to DQ. She perked up, getting a huge smile on her face. She was like "really! Woohoo!" I said, "But it depends on you. It depends on if you remember what you, me, and your mother talked about last week. Do you remember what that was?" She was like, "Yup, not to fool around too much, and to pay attention." I was like "Correct. If you remember that, then we may get ice cream afterwards. ;)" Sure enough! She was pretty much the most well behaved student in her swim class. A few of the other girls tried to splash her and she turned and said "Please stop." I was so proud of her. After doing one of the drills, she would turn to glance in my direction. I'd give her a thumbs up and a big smile, and she would beam.
It's nice to see her in things that she enjoys, and that she can do really well. So when we walked out of her swim practice, she was like "So? Can we go get ice cream?" I gotta say, DQ really overdoes it with their serving size. Don't get me wrong, I mean it is really freaking good! It's just, wow. Even the guy that handed me Erin's and my waffle cones said "Wow, thats a lot of ice cream!" When the guy giving you your treat says that, you know it must be true. He works there after all! So we came home, and everyone sat down to enjoy their delicious treat. Zoe always enjoys anything sweet and tasty. She says "thank you" more now. She was taking a bite, and part of it fell in her lap while she was sitting up in her high chair. I folded up two paper towels and layed them in her lap, and she was like "tankyu dadda." I was like "you're welcome sweetheart!" So adoreable at times. Then I told Erin I was going to go out and get started on mowing the lawn. Right as I was about to finish that I made a decision. After I finished it, I put the mower away and figured "I might as well go ahead and kill myself moving the furniture from the garage into the spare room." I figured it has been out there for a few weeks, I have been meaning to do it, and if I didn't do it while I was motivated to do so, it would be hard to get the motivation to get it done later this week.
I loaded the huge Armoir (I probably massacred that word, but I did my best.) onto the dolly, and worked it around till I was at the stairs just outside the front door. I hollered out for Erin to give me a hand, and she started clapping. LOL! She was like "Get it? I'm giving you a hand!" Ha ha. Such a comedian. ;) So ANYWAY ;) She came out, and getting that armoir up the steps with the dolly was so much a pain in the ass that we had ally get a blanket that we could just lay the armoir down on and drag it in. That worked pretty well. We made it almost up to the landing on the stairs and we were at a stand still. We called one of our good friends and asked if he wouldn't mind giving us a hand for about 5 minutes. He of course was more than willing to come. With his help, we got it in the room. Then he even helped me bring up a few other bulky pieces. To thank him, we gave him a container filled with a decent amount of brisket. What better way to thank someone with something nice, for doing something nice, other than something nice and totally delicious? ;)
Well, after he left, Lex kept grabbing small wooden pieces for the bed we were bringing up, and Erin and I brought up the mattress and box spring. When we were bringing up the box spring, all I can say is this. Oh, My, Freaking, Gosh. That thing was more of a pain than the armoir. It got caught half way up and it took forever for us to budge it. Finally we did, and we got it the rest of the way upstairs. Then we got the mattress in. By this point, my back was killing me. Sometime through out all of this, my lower back (which I injured while in the Air Force) flared up REALLY bad again. I'm talking, depending on the pain level, I can't stand up straight. When it happenned, Erin called our friend Sherri, who is a massage therapist (pretty reasonable too, and very good at her job) and told her what had just happenned. I'm now scheduled for 3PM on Wednesday.
Erin had set something out to thaw as far as dinner was concerned, but by the time we were done, it was around 9 oclock and we were both like "ORDERING OUT!" We put buffy on the tv, and then both got onto our characters on World of Warcraft and just relaxed. It was hard relaxing, mainly because my back hurts pretty bad. I think when this happened in the Air Force, I went to a physical therapist and they did some little thing, something in my back popped, suddenly the pain was gone. I'm hoping that this will go away quickly. Finally, Finally, FINALLY I made it out of Stormwind. After just a little running, I found creatures that were even higher level than me, and I was leveling up faster than I had been recently where I started from. So, after I leveled up easily to level 13, and a quarter of the way to level 14, I met up with Erin. We both learned the flight path for where we were at, and I traded her some silver so she could fly to storm wind. I took that opportunity to log off that character and log onto my brand new character. I decided I would create a warlock. I vaguely remember having a warlock back in the day, and decided why not. Why should I only have just one character. I don't think I would want to have 5 or whatever, but 2? Sure!
The funny thing was, I only played the character for probably 30 minutes and then i was already on level 3. Erin mentioned that she was going to sign off and go upstairs to take a shower, and I decided I would log off and get my entry done for the night. So, time to close.
In closing, everything isn't done on the list we wrote out yet. However, things, BIG things have been taken care of, and I am happy about that. For instance, moving the furniture in, getting bedrooms more permanently set up than they were, etc. To me, that was something big that I had been dreading doing, and now it is done! DONE DONE DONE! WOOHOO! Another funny thing is, I joked around with Erin saying "Ok, now I won't be doing any more physical jobs for at least a few weeks again." It seems to be a trend. I do one, two, or three physical jobs, be it staining floors, moving stuff, getting rid of stuff, cleaning up the basement after the sewer backed up, etc. Then I take a little while till I can get myself to do the next round of jobs. Laziness? Maybe at least partly. But, whenever I set out to do those little odd jobs, and actually get them done, it helps. I feel so much better (with the exceptino of my aching back), but otherwise, I'm good. Better than good right now. I know Erin is much happier. She has been wanting me to get those things moved in the house for a few weeks. So for tonight the lesson is this. Never be afraid of manual labor. Sometimes the harder the job is, the better you feel when you have successfully completed it. I don't like moving, or hard jobs, but at the same time they need to get done. Not to mention the added perk of being emotionally lifted. So there you have it. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here!
CB
At class I found out what I needed to know. Plus I found another article to include information about. All in all, it went pretty well for only making half the class. As I left, I texted Erin telling her I was on my way home. As soon as I pulled into the driveway and got out of the truck, I looked at the time. It was 3:15. Today was Lex's swim class day, and we had to pick her up at 3:30. So, I got back in the truck, and texted Erin saying "Actaully nvm, I'm going to pick Lex up." She texted back "Thank you!" While I was waiting for Lex to get out of school, I called the National Guard Recruiter back. He had called when I was asleep before class and left a message. I'm officially scheduled to take my certificate of discharge from the military and meet with him tomorrow morning. I wonder what will happen. I guess we will see.
After leaving the school, we stopped home temporarily so Lex could get changed into her swim suit. Zoe was down for a nap, and Erin was asleep in the recliner, so I figured I would take Lex. Beforehand though, we both grabbed a small snack and a drink. On the way there, I mentioned that there might be a possibility of going to DQ. She perked up, getting a huge smile on her face. She was like "really! Woohoo!" I said, "But it depends on you. It depends on if you remember what you, me, and your mother talked about last week. Do you remember what that was?" She was like, "Yup, not to fool around too much, and to pay attention." I was like "Correct. If you remember that, then we may get ice cream afterwards. ;)" Sure enough! She was pretty much the most well behaved student in her swim class. A few of the other girls tried to splash her and she turned and said "Please stop." I was so proud of her. After doing one of the drills, she would turn to glance in my direction. I'd give her a thumbs up and a big smile, and she would beam.
It's nice to see her in things that she enjoys, and that she can do really well. So when we walked out of her swim practice, she was like "So? Can we go get ice cream?" I gotta say, DQ really overdoes it with their serving size. Don't get me wrong, I mean it is really freaking good! It's just, wow. Even the guy that handed me Erin's and my waffle cones said "Wow, thats a lot of ice cream!" When the guy giving you your treat says that, you know it must be true. He works there after all! So we came home, and everyone sat down to enjoy their delicious treat. Zoe always enjoys anything sweet and tasty. She says "thank you" more now. She was taking a bite, and part of it fell in her lap while she was sitting up in her high chair. I folded up two paper towels and layed them in her lap, and she was like "tankyu dadda." I was like "you're welcome sweetheart!" So adoreable at times. Then I told Erin I was going to go out and get started on mowing the lawn. Right as I was about to finish that I made a decision. After I finished it, I put the mower away and figured "I might as well go ahead and kill myself moving the furniture from the garage into the spare room." I figured it has been out there for a few weeks, I have been meaning to do it, and if I didn't do it while I was motivated to do so, it would be hard to get the motivation to get it done later this week.
I loaded the huge Armoir (I probably massacred that word, but I did my best.) onto the dolly, and worked it around till I was at the stairs just outside the front door. I hollered out for Erin to give me a hand, and she started clapping. LOL! She was like "Get it? I'm giving you a hand!" Ha ha. Such a comedian. ;) So ANYWAY ;) She came out, and getting that armoir up the steps with the dolly was so much a pain in the ass that we had ally get a blanket that we could just lay the armoir down on and drag it in. That worked pretty well. We made it almost up to the landing on the stairs and we were at a stand still. We called one of our good friends and asked if he wouldn't mind giving us a hand for about 5 minutes. He of course was more than willing to come. With his help, we got it in the room. Then he even helped me bring up a few other bulky pieces. To thank him, we gave him a container filled with a decent amount of brisket. What better way to thank someone with something nice, for doing something nice, other than something nice and totally delicious? ;)
Well, after he left, Lex kept grabbing small wooden pieces for the bed we were bringing up, and Erin and I brought up the mattress and box spring. When we were bringing up the box spring, all I can say is this. Oh, My, Freaking, Gosh. That thing was more of a pain than the armoir. It got caught half way up and it took forever for us to budge it. Finally we did, and we got it the rest of the way upstairs. Then we got the mattress in. By this point, my back was killing me. Sometime through out all of this, my lower back (which I injured while in the Air Force) flared up REALLY bad again. I'm talking, depending on the pain level, I can't stand up straight. When it happenned, Erin called our friend Sherri, who is a massage therapist (pretty reasonable too, and very good at her job) and told her what had just happenned. I'm now scheduled for 3PM on Wednesday.
Erin had set something out to thaw as far as dinner was concerned, but by the time we were done, it was around 9 oclock and we were both like "ORDERING OUT!" We put buffy on the tv, and then both got onto our characters on World of Warcraft and just relaxed. It was hard relaxing, mainly because my back hurts pretty bad. I think when this happened in the Air Force, I went to a physical therapist and they did some little thing, something in my back popped, suddenly the pain was gone. I'm hoping that this will go away quickly. Finally, Finally, FINALLY I made it out of Stormwind. After just a little running, I found creatures that were even higher level than me, and I was leveling up faster than I had been recently where I started from. So, after I leveled up easily to level 13, and a quarter of the way to level 14, I met up with Erin. We both learned the flight path for where we were at, and I traded her some silver so she could fly to storm wind. I took that opportunity to log off that character and log onto my brand new character. I decided I would create a warlock. I vaguely remember having a warlock back in the day, and decided why not. Why should I only have just one character. I don't think I would want to have 5 or whatever, but 2? Sure!
The funny thing was, I only played the character for probably 30 minutes and then i was already on level 3. Erin mentioned that she was going to sign off and go upstairs to take a shower, and I decided I would log off and get my entry done for the night. So, time to close.
In closing, everything isn't done on the list we wrote out yet. However, things, BIG things have been taken care of, and I am happy about that. For instance, moving the furniture in, getting bedrooms more permanently set up than they were, etc. To me, that was something big that I had been dreading doing, and now it is done! DONE DONE DONE! WOOHOO! Another funny thing is, I joked around with Erin saying "Ok, now I won't be doing any more physical jobs for at least a few weeks again." It seems to be a trend. I do one, two, or three physical jobs, be it staining floors, moving stuff, getting rid of stuff, cleaning up the basement after the sewer backed up, etc. Then I take a little while till I can get myself to do the next round of jobs. Laziness? Maybe at least partly. But, whenever I set out to do those little odd jobs, and actually get them done, it helps. I feel so much better (with the exceptino of my aching back), but otherwise, I'm good. Better than good right now. I know Erin is much happier. She has been wanting me to get those things moved in the house for a few weeks. So for tonight the lesson is this. Never be afraid of manual labor. Sometimes the harder the job is, the better you feel when you have successfully completed it. I don't like moving, or hard jobs, but at the same time they need to get done. Not to mention the added perk of being emotionally lifted. So there you have it. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here!
CB
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Day 19
Good evening everyone. Today I tried to work on my english paper. The problem is with college online libraries. With the school I'm getting back into beginning in June, AND with the community college I'm currently in, both of their online library databases were extremely complicated. Are all online libraries for looking up articles and such, extremely hard to understand? From what I hear, they are. I made a comment about how difficult it was for me to navigate through their online library, and Erin nodded. I'm thinking her school online library is just as complicated.
So, after a while of trying to figure it out, I decided it would be alright to take what I have done so far in to class tomorrow and ask the instructor for help. How can we research if the site we are supposed to use is so hard to navigate? Maybe I'm just making it too hard. Who knows. So tonight, on World of Warcraft, I decided at the level I was at that I needed to change continents so that I could start leveling up against characters that are equal to me. Where I was at, the highest level creature I could find was still about 3 levels lower than me. Well when I flew over to this Alliance territory called Stormwind. I was in the city, and oh my Gosh it is huge. I spent a few hours there and am still trying to figure out where the main gate is. I want to be able to go out into Elwynn Forest so that I can resume leveling my character up. However, I keep feeling like I am running in circles.
So anyway, from the way it looked outside, it seemed to me like the grass might still be too damp. I have the next day and a half off before returning for the next work week. So I figure I will do the weekly lawn mow probably tomorrow afternoon. Something interesting has come up recently though.
I think I may have mentioned that Erin heard from a recruiter for the Iowa National Guard stationed here in Clinton while she was at work. Well, I finally emailed him yesterday afternoon after I woke up. When he emailed me back, he asked if it would be ok with me for him to call after 6. He said that he had some warrior training he needed to take care of, and that he really wanted to sit down and see what can be done. I told him that I would be home all day and just mainly trying to relax. By 10PM last night, I hadn't heard anything from him. I thought about emailing again but figured I would just wait it out. I figured that he probably got busy and would eventually call. This morning I had an email from the guard recruiter again appologizing for not calling last night and asking when I was free for him to call on Monday. I told him that I am off all day, minus the hour that I will be in class.
I didn't get a response from him, but figured we will see what happens tomorrow. I'm not sure right now if I will be joining the guard or not. The thing that would definitely make it seem to be a very nice option would be if he said that they do want me to join, and offer me a nice chunk of a sign on bonus. Extra money is always a plus, and receiving however many thousands of dollars in a bonus would help with paying stuff off. At this point though, I'm not counting on anything. I figure, if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, then it doesn't. I had long since decided that I didn't need to try to join the guard as of a few months ago. Speaking of extra money, this afternoon my employer called and asked if I was free to work an extra shift tonight at the hospital. They were going to be having extra guards on duty, each one sitting with a patient that needed extra observation.
Well, I was working on my English paper, and this is my long week coming up, so I really did not feel up to taking on another shift. When I mentioned it to Erin, what she said was "Hey, it's more money hon." I was like "Yeah, I just don't feel like it." When I first started with my employer, in the first month I worked so many hours because they called me every week about multiple extra shifts. I pretty much took every single one of them. Although my pay checks that first month were really good, I was really tired too. Then I was able to at least change my work schedule from 30 hour work weeks, to rotating. I work 30 hours one week, and 40 the next. I'm happy with that. Especially with also going to school. I figure as long as I never miss work, I am happy about my schedule. Would the extra shifts help? Of course! I can't explain really well the reason why I have not felt up to offering to take extra shifts too often lately. Mostly probably because of everything eles going on in life. What can I say? Busy Busy Busy.
So in closing I will say this. Yes I love making extra money whenever possible, but some times it doesn't seem worth giving up a night with the family, or letting my school slip any more than I already have. Sometimes, if I have been home not needing to do anything at all during the day, then yes I am willing to take extra shifts. But there were quire a few times when they called me, and I was either out doing something with the family, or we were getting ready to head out somewhere, and I had to stay home so that I could go into work. Those nights suck! I love my job, but when you are there working because the other guard called in or whatever, especially on fairly short notice, its definitely a sacrifice in order to be willing to work extra for the boss. So, I'm willing to do it. I just wish they would let me know ahead of time. In a few weeks there are extra days that both myself and the other guard will be working. The boss called me two weeks ago and told me the dates and asked that I include them in the schedule when I write it up. That is perfectly ok. I know in advance when we will be working extra and when it happens it will feel perfectly normal.
So, I guess the lesson for today is go with your gut. When I say that, I mean as far as being employed. If you have absolutely nothing going on and would like to, take the shift, help them out. If you have big plans, spending time with your family, or anything else that you feel would just suck to not be there because you worked extra, then go with your gut. If you really need and want the extra money, then do it. If you are happy with your regular hours, and it isn't the most important thing, then go with your gut and spend time with your loved ones. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
So, after a while of trying to figure it out, I decided it would be alright to take what I have done so far in to class tomorrow and ask the instructor for help. How can we research if the site we are supposed to use is so hard to navigate? Maybe I'm just making it too hard. Who knows. So tonight, on World of Warcraft, I decided at the level I was at that I needed to change continents so that I could start leveling up against characters that are equal to me. Where I was at, the highest level creature I could find was still about 3 levels lower than me. Well when I flew over to this Alliance territory called Stormwind. I was in the city, and oh my Gosh it is huge. I spent a few hours there and am still trying to figure out where the main gate is. I want to be able to go out into Elwynn Forest so that I can resume leveling my character up. However, I keep feeling like I am running in circles.
So anyway, from the way it looked outside, it seemed to me like the grass might still be too damp. I have the next day and a half off before returning for the next work week. So I figure I will do the weekly lawn mow probably tomorrow afternoon. Something interesting has come up recently though.
I think I may have mentioned that Erin heard from a recruiter for the Iowa National Guard stationed here in Clinton while she was at work. Well, I finally emailed him yesterday afternoon after I woke up. When he emailed me back, he asked if it would be ok with me for him to call after 6. He said that he had some warrior training he needed to take care of, and that he really wanted to sit down and see what can be done. I told him that I would be home all day and just mainly trying to relax. By 10PM last night, I hadn't heard anything from him. I thought about emailing again but figured I would just wait it out. I figured that he probably got busy and would eventually call. This morning I had an email from the guard recruiter again appologizing for not calling last night and asking when I was free for him to call on Monday. I told him that I am off all day, minus the hour that I will be in class.
I didn't get a response from him, but figured we will see what happens tomorrow. I'm not sure right now if I will be joining the guard or not. The thing that would definitely make it seem to be a very nice option would be if he said that they do want me to join, and offer me a nice chunk of a sign on bonus. Extra money is always a plus, and receiving however many thousands of dollars in a bonus would help with paying stuff off. At this point though, I'm not counting on anything. I figure, if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, then it doesn't. I had long since decided that I didn't need to try to join the guard as of a few months ago. Speaking of extra money, this afternoon my employer called and asked if I was free to work an extra shift tonight at the hospital. They were going to be having extra guards on duty, each one sitting with a patient that needed extra observation.
Well, I was working on my English paper, and this is my long week coming up, so I really did not feel up to taking on another shift. When I mentioned it to Erin, what she said was "Hey, it's more money hon." I was like "Yeah, I just don't feel like it." When I first started with my employer, in the first month I worked so many hours because they called me every week about multiple extra shifts. I pretty much took every single one of them. Although my pay checks that first month were really good, I was really tired too. Then I was able to at least change my work schedule from 30 hour work weeks, to rotating. I work 30 hours one week, and 40 the next. I'm happy with that. Especially with also going to school. I figure as long as I never miss work, I am happy about my schedule. Would the extra shifts help? Of course! I can't explain really well the reason why I have not felt up to offering to take extra shifts too often lately. Mostly probably because of everything eles going on in life. What can I say? Busy Busy Busy.
So in closing I will say this. Yes I love making extra money whenever possible, but some times it doesn't seem worth giving up a night with the family, or letting my school slip any more than I already have. Sometimes, if I have been home not needing to do anything at all during the day, then yes I am willing to take extra shifts. But there were quire a few times when they called me, and I was either out doing something with the family, or we were getting ready to head out somewhere, and I had to stay home so that I could go into work. Those nights suck! I love my job, but when you are there working because the other guard called in or whatever, especially on fairly short notice, its definitely a sacrifice in order to be willing to work extra for the boss. So, I'm willing to do it. I just wish they would let me know ahead of time. In a few weeks there are extra days that both myself and the other guard will be working. The boss called me two weeks ago and told me the dates and asked that I include them in the schedule when I write it up. That is perfectly ok. I know in advance when we will be working extra and when it happens it will feel perfectly normal.
So, I guess the lesson for today is go with your gut. When I say that, I mean as far as being employed. If you have absolutely nothing going on and would like to, take the shift, help them out. If you have big plans, spending time with your family, or anything else that you feel would just suck to not be there because you worked extra, then go with your gut. If you really need and want the extra money, then do it. If you are happy with your regular hours, and it isn't the most important thing, then go with your gut and spend time with your loved ones. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Day 18
Good evening everybody. I got pretty close to the same amount of sleep today that I did yesterday. If you asked me today if I slept more today or yesterday I wouldn't have the answer for you. Yesterday my sleep was an hour nap here and there. Today, I went to bed at 6:30, and got up just after 10. Ally's soccer game was scheduled for 11:30, and I wanted to get there 15 to 20 minutes early. Mainly what my plan was to talk to the team before the game, making sure they remembered what they practiced on Tuesday. I was planning on us all being there, but Erin felt sick to her stomach and asked if I didn't mind going myself. I did mind. Being really tired because of the little sleep, I didn't want to go with the girls by myself. However, I agreed to go. We got to the fields just around 11:15, and when we pulled into the complex the entire complex was completely empty. I'm talking no cars, no parents, no players, nothing at all! I instantly thought "oh shit. They cancelled the games because of the rain last night."
Before I talk about the funny part about that, I want to talk about something else that is some what related. When I was in soccer not that long ago, to have games cancelled or post poned, etc, it had to be very bad conditions out. If it was just wet and muddy because of rain, we played. If it was tons of snow, then yeah, they delayed the game. So here's the funny thing. Are you ready? Today the grass may have been wet because of the heavy rain last night, but that was it, and yet, they cancelled the games! I parked for a few minutes, and called Erin. "Hello?" "Hey hon," I said, "is there anyone we can call to find out if the games were cancelled? There is nobody here at all!" "I don't have a number for the coach," She said to me. She mentioned that maybe I should wait until closer to 11:30 and maybe people would start showing up. Well there was '1' car that pulled in a minute or so later, and after another minute or two, it pulled beside me, rolled down his window and he told me that he just got off the phone with someone and found out that the games were indeed cancelled.
"Son-of-a-" I said, "Thanks man, I appreciate it." So drove home, and I made a late breakfast. I scrambled up some eggs, diced up ham and cheese and mixed it into the eggs. I cooked the little hashbrown patties that I told you all about in a previous blog entry, and cooked up some bacon. All in all, fairly cheap breakfast, but really good and filling. I'm a sucker for bacon any day. One of the things, food wise, that I am thankful for Erin about is bacon. With my ex, she hated bacon, so the only time I was able to have it myself was anywhere outside where we lived. That included things like if we went out to eat, and I ordered breakfast, 9 times out of 10 I would order a side of bacon. Had to get the bacon fix somehow right? Yeah, well that was what I did. Thankfully now it is different. The whole family likes bacon so I don't have to leave the house to enjoy it.
When I got home from work this morning, I wrote down a list of things I wanted to do this weekend. It was anything from clear out furniture, work on my english paper finally, mow the lawn, get out and exercise by walking or whatever, etc. I believe there are a few other things I wrote down that I could think of off the top of my head. However, I can't remember the extras.
So on the list, a few things did get done, which makes me feel pretty good. Some furniture got moved where it needed to go, which was good. I completed 2 pages of my paper for English, so I am able to put a check mark on that one on the list. I would have mowed the lawn but it was still pretty wet so I didn't get to that yet. So, other than the fact that I didn't get much sleep, I am happy with how today went. One of the biggest things on the list was I planned for us to go to Aldi's today to grocery shop. I had set part of my paycheck aside as the grocery budget, to get us to the end of the month. Good ol stamps hit on the 1st.
So, I will close with this. Last night at work, an older lady brought her son up to the hospital for mental eval. He said he knew that he needed help but was more afraid of being locked up with the key being thrown away. He left a few times to go smoke, and I had been posted outside. I made it very casual looking, definitely as though I was just "there" but not necesarily to stop him. I chatted with his mom while the doctor was in there talking to him. His mom left the room and was out near where I was. She was just worried about him and obviously didn't know what she would be able to do with him the way he was. After a while, he eventually did just get up and walk out. She talked about things that he did, such as hunting and stuff like that which he really enjoyed. Things that made him happy. I left out the specifics, but told her that it is definitely important to enjoy the little things. That if there are hobbies or whatever that make you relax and feel good, that it is good for him to do those things. It was weird, I felt like I should be a psychologist (not a psychiatrist because that requires way too much freaking school). I'm not going to go to school to be a councelor, but it was interesting to be feeling as though I was giving advice.
So in closing, I will say the lesson for tonight is this. I believe this saying was off of a movie, but I really beleive in it. It makes sense. The saying was "To make a difference, and change the world, all it takes is 1 random act of kindness at a time." When you try to look at it from God's perspective (which is difficult for us since none of us really truly know what His plans are), it makes sense. So, there you have it. Random acts of kindness. It could be, randomly giving someone a $20.00 tip, helping someone with something randomly, giving someone a gift unexpectedly, etc. You'll be amazed at 1) how they react to the random act, and 2) how it will make you feel. For me, when I tried it, it made me feel lifted up. I hope you all enjoyed what I wrote for you today. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
Before I talk about the funny part about that, I want to talk about something else that is some what related. When I was in soccer not that long ago, to have games cancelled or post poned, etc, it had to be very bad conditions out. If it was just wet and muddy because of rain, we played. If it was tons of snow, then yeah, they delayed the game. So here's the funny thing. Are you ready? Today the grass may have been wet because of the heavy rain last night, but that was it, and yet, they cancelled the games! I parked for a few minutes, and called Erin. "Hello?" "Hey hon," I said, "is there anyone we can call to find out if the games were cancelled? There is nobody here at all!" "I don't have a number for the coach," She said to me. She mentioned that maybe I should wait until closer to 11:30 and maybe people would start showing up. Well there was '1' car that pulled in a minute or so later, and after another minute or two, it pulled beside me, rolled down his window and he told me that he just got off the phone with someone and found out that the games were indeed cancelled.
"Son-of-a-" I said, "Thanks man, I appreciate it." So drove home, and I made a late breakfast. I scrambled up some eggs, diced up ham and cheese and mixed it into the eggs. I cooked the little hashbrown patties that I told you all about in a previous blog entry, and cooked up some bacon. All in all, fairly cheap breakfast, but really good and filling. I'm a sucker for bacon any day. One of the things, food wise, that I am thankful for Erin about is bacon. With my ex, she hated bacon, so the only time I was able to have it myself was anywhere outside where we lived. That included things like if we went out to eat, and I ordered breakfast, 9 times out of 10 I would order a side of bacon. Had to get the bacon fix somehow right? Yeah, well that was what I did. Thankfully now it is different. The whole family likes bacon so I don't have to leave the house to enjoy it.
When I got home from work this morning, I wrote down a list of things I wanted to do this weekend. It was anything from clear out furniture, work on my english paper finally, mow the lawn, get out and exercise by walking or whatever, etc. I believe there are a few other things I wrote down that I could think of off the top of my head. However, I can't remember the extras.
So on the list, a few things did get done, which makes me feel pretty good. Some furniture got moved where it needed to go, which was good. I completed 2 pages of my paper for English, so I am able to put a check mark on that one on the list. I would have mowed the lawn but it was still pretty wet so I didn't get to that yet. So, other than the fact that I didn't get much sleep, I am happy with how today went. One of the biggest things on the list was I planned for us to go to Aldi's today to grocery shop. I had set part of my paycheck aside as the grocery budget, to get us to the end of the month. Good ol stamps hit on the 1st.
So, I will close with this. Last night at work, an older lady brought her son up to the hospital for mental eval. He said he knew that he needed help but was more afraid of being locked up with the key being thrown away. He left a few times to go smoke, and I had been posted outside. I made it very casual looking, definitely as though I was just "there" but not necesarily to stop him. I chatted with his mom while the doctor was in there talking to him. His mom left the room and was out near where I was. She was just worried about him and obviously didn't know what she would be able to do with him the way he was. After a while, he eventually did just get up and walk out. She talked about things that he did, such as hunting and stuff like that which he really enjoyed. Things that made him happy. I left out the specifics, but told her that it is definitely important to enjoy the little things. That if there are hobbies or whatever that make you relax and feel good, that it is good for him to do those things. It was weird, I felt like I should be a psychologist (not a psychiatrist because that requires way too much freaking school). I'm not going to go to school to be a councelor, but it was interesting to be feeling as though I was giving advice.
So in closing, I will say the lesson for tonight is this. I believe this saying was off of a movie, but I really beleive in it. It makes sense. The saying was "To make a difference, and change the world, all it takes is 1 random act of kindness at a time." When you try to look at it from God's perspective (which is difficult for us since none of us really truly know what His plans are), it makes sense. So, there you have it. Random acts of kindness. It could be, randomly giving someone a $20.00 tip, helping someone with something randomly, giving someone a gift unexpectedly, etc. You'll be amazed at 1) how they react to the random act, and 2) how it will make you feel. For me, when I tried it, it made me feel lifted up. I hope you all enjoyed what I wrote for you today. I will write more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for being here.
CB
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