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Monday, March 21, 2011

Accomplishments

Today has been a good day. David has been coming home after almost no time at work, which is good but a bit annoying, because I think that some reintegration training would be good for both of us. It might start next week, according to David. We are expecting a truckload of furniture on Thursday. We went to American Furniture Sunday for the last day of their big tax refund sale and bought a house full. This means that we need to make space for the new stuff. The tricky part is that we need the furniture to put away the stuff that is in the way of where the furniture needs to go. David was very helpful with Hunter today though, and I was able to get all the clothing piled in our bedroom sorted. Granted, a lot of it is in the laundry right now, but David and Hunter both have laundry baskets and David also has two hanging clothes boxes for temporary storage. It is such a relief to have those clothes away! They've been taking up so much space, I cannot wait to have Hunter's dresser and David's wardrobe arrive.

Also today I finished painting the trim on the window in our bedroom, took Hunter for two walks, and worked out on the Wii. And for the last hour David and Hunter have been asleep and I have been using the opportunity to finish cleaning our white plastic drawers, run some laundry, clean out the front hall closet, empty the dishwasher and the sink, finish hanging my scarves, clean the bathroom, clear and clean the kitchen counters, and enjoy a nice cuppa tea.

Tomorrow I plan on going to Babies R Us and maybe Lowes, depending on how much I get done in the yard. The weather is supposed to be cool and windy, but I hope to rake the backyard, pick up the dog poo, and remove the rocks and other things that would prevent us from mowing. If I can get all of that done I will feel very happy with myself. If that is done with enough time to spare that it makes sense to go to Lowes and pick up yard waste bags, the necessaries to start reseeding our lawn, and perhaps a grill, then that is fantastic, but could probably just as easily be put off until Wednesday, when I have two appointments to go to anyway.

Alright, well I need to finish above mentioned chores and get to bed. I have 17 minutes before I was hoping to be in bed (it is now 2313) and I spent the last ten writing this blog. Shannon, I know this isn't a baby blog, but it will have to suffice for now. I just don't have enough time to upload any photos or videos right now. À bientöt!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Utopia

Yesterday I decided that I needed a book to read during my bath. For unknown reasons I selected Thomas More's Utopia, and since then it has been difficult to put it down. Admittedly, I am only on page 20, but that stems from the demanding tasks of being a mother and the less demanding but no less time consuming task of having guests in town. I am absolutely enamored with this book. What baffles me about this is that I "read" this book for a class in 2006 and I have no recollection of it whatsoever. Did I read it at all? I believe I was particularly bad about reading my assignments for that class, and somehow managed to muddle through. Did I try to read it? Did I get stuck? Did I give it a chance? I don't remember.

The question in my mind is whether I would have enjoyed it just as much back then or am I a different person with different literary tastes than I had back then? This was a great class that I squandered, in retrospect. It was an Honors class, which meant that our curriculum was entirely what our creative teachers wanted it to be. Our whole class was focused on the concept of Utopian societies. We read (and in my case I use the term liberally) Plato's "Republic," More's "Utopia," Atwood's "A Handmaid's Tale," and Orwell's "1984." I remember the last two! That is disgusting! Where was I for those first two books? If I didn't know better I'd think I was stoned through the first half of the semester! But no, I just didn't do the work. Slap a llama! Our semester project was to write a paper describing our own Utopia. At the time I had just joined the LDS church and did my project based on the existing structure of the church. Not that there is anything wrong with their religion, but it's not mine anymore, and it was a great assignment with a lot of potential that I just did not fully apply myself to. I really missed the point of engaging my brain creatively. I look back on the class and think about all the different ways I could have designed my Utopian society. Probably would have gotten a better grade too.

My academic successes and failures are by both counts monumental. When I've applied myself I've done excellently, receiving As from professors that didn't even average one A per class. When I haven't I've gotten Bs and Cs. And when I was sick I couldn't finish a class. I believe I've attempted three semesters that have resulted in dropping because I couldn't make it through the class, I was just too sick. Now that I'm trying to get back to school I have been mentally reviewing my academic history and find myself desperately hoping that I can regain the glory years, so to speak, when I wanted to be in school and applied myself. Here's to a summer semester. I hope I don't wuss out.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

I'm Vindictive

I keyed someone's car today. I've never done that before. We were at the Garden of the Gods and, after our hike, were putting Hunter back in the Jeep. I had already put the stuff in the car, David was getting Hunter snapped in, and I was sitting in the front seat waiting for him finish putting the stroller in the trunk and this little, beat up, two door sedan parked next to us on our left side and the passenger opened their door into our car. There was no gentle, there was no awareness of my car, there was no attempt to not hit my car. The door was opened with as much force as you would open it if there was nothing there at all. And then the passenger kept eyeing me like, "Are you going to say something?"

Well, lucky for me, my car has big, solid, plastic bumpers and siderails. However, this person had no idea where their door was going to hit, a different car would have been dented, and I don't care if they did know they wouldn't damage my car. I have certainly been in parking spaces that were tight enough that my door touched the car next to me, but I always set my door against their car. I never just opened my door into another on purpose, with no appreciation for the car next to me. And I guess my anger got the best of me, after watching him continue to glance at me. So after they walked away I grabbed the keys out of the ignition and swiped them down the entire length of their vehicle. I got back in the Jeep and we drove away. Their car was pretty beat up, they may not have noticed, but I hope they did, and that next time they'll think twice before abusing someone else's property without apology.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Blowing off steam

I find it really annoying when you make a suggestion to someone, or give them advice, or recommend something that helped you and that someone dismisses the idea as if it is of no value. You don't have to use the idea, but don't assume that you know all that it has to offer without even checking it out. "Oh, I don't need that, I already do x, y, and z," is only acceptable when x, y, and z actually have something to do with the suggestion. Maybe, just maybe, instead of being defensive and acting like you're the only one with good ideas, you could at least consider the thought that someone else might be able to teach you something you didn't already know.

In this particular case I'm forced to wonder if it's a me thing, and if some weird sense of pride won't let this person accept any suggestions I make simply because I'm making them.

And saying thanks after being snide doesn't make you sound sincere. This isn't the first time this particular person has sneered at an innocent, helpful idea either.

Friday, March 4, 2011

For those with bets...

I managed to get the laundry done, and the dishes, and clean my stove, and clean the floor of both bathrooms and the kitchen, I looked at my clothes long enough to realize the purge was going to require trying everything on, I made my bed for the night, I put coats away, and I cleaned a pillow. I probably did some other stuff, but it's after midnight and I'm ready to crash. Time to move us both to bed.

For the record

I have done nothing today. I went and visited Karen and Breezy, ate multiple times, and am now watching the Land Before Time with a cat in my lap and a baby asleep in his swing. I keep thinking that I should get up and do something productive, but for the life of me I can't think of a single thing to do in this house full of stuff to do.

And, also for the record, the Land Before Time is apparently a movie only moms cry at, because I don't remember being so affected by it as a kid.

What to do, what to do? I suppose there are dishes. And there's the usual laundry. I could clean the bathroom floor. I could check and see if the cat in my lap has food. I could start the great clothing purge. I could go through a box or two. That's plenty of stuff for after 9PM, right?

For years my goal has been to have six of something to name Littlefoot, Sara, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and Chomper. Horses maybe. Or kids nicknames. "And Chelsey enters the ring on Chomper." Has a certain ring to it. Probably better than, "Chomper, please report to the principal's office." Not nearly as amusing though.

I'm offering 1:1 odds on my actually getting off the couch and doing something productive. Blogging and commenting on other blogs is so much more fun.

Mountains Before A Storm





Five to ten minutes after I took these videos it became a complete white-out. I couldn't see the mountains at all and there was visibility of about 200m. I was on my way to my friends Karen's. By the time I left it was so warm I was uncomfortable in my turtleneck. Welcome back to Colorado!