Loving my family

Today was a low productivity day, but I’m okay with that. My brother is stationed in Iraq until next summer. He was on-line this morning and really wanted to play games. We spent almost two hours playing an on-line version of Pictionary. How fun!

After he went to bed, I washed the dishes and picked up around the apartment. I spent an hour learning Japanese this afternoon and then took a nap. Hubby’s receiving emergency work calls almost every night and we’re both really tired.

So all in all it’s been a very quiet day. I’m trying to remember that relationships are more important than feeling like I’ve been productive enough. I have a hard time relaxing when I feel like I should be doing something. But taking a nap with my husband or spending some time playing games with my brother (who I won’t see for another year!) is way more important than a pristine house. Now if I can just learn how to actually relax!

Bad choice

I snapped at my husband tonight while we were at the supermarket. He wanted me to pick a spaghetti sauce that I would like and I just wanted him to make a decision. I should be thankful for a husband that cares more about my preferences than his own instead of getting aggravated.

I am thankful.

But all those verses in Proverbs that speak of the importance of taming the tongue have obviously not taken root in my heart.

Regular posting

I really want to return to regular posting, at least 3 posts each week. I have things to write about and I’ve been thinking about a number of issues (homeschooling, health, homemaking, leisure time, etc). My husband has been having a very busy and stressful week at work and that somehow rubs off on me. When he’s harried and rushed, I stress. I wish I could be a peaceful island in the midst of his busy storm but I become stressed as well. Hence, no posting this week.

In lieu of a deep post, I am leaving this quote. It has spoken to me and continues to challenge me to bigger and better things. May I always continue to learn and strive toward betterment!

“Conviction is worthless until it converts itself into conduct.”
~Thomas Carlisle

Missing a day

I’m not exactly happy about it, but I’ve decided to skip my Bible reading today. The schedule allows for two miss days but I haven’t missed anything thus far. I’m at my brother’s house until tomorrow and there is no quiet here. The house has been full of people all day, sometimes up to 30 at a time.

My dad, his friend, and myself went to church this morning. I’ve been begging to attend church here each time we visit, but I’ve never been able to get anyone to take me. Thankfully, my dad decided that we would go this morning. The church service was really nice. The church is small, as this is a tiny military town. The people were very friendly and I was happy to spend an hour worshiping God in the middle of this crazy day.

I’m really glad to spend time with my brother, but I miss my husband. I love the life we have together and I like the routines, our time together, and my own bed! Sometimes I feel silly missing him so much when I’m rarely away from home and usually only for a weekend at a time. But we’ve been married only four years and I still want to spend every single day by his side.

Disappearance

I didn’t mean to disappear for over a week. Last Tuesday, we were notified of a family emergency. With less than two hours notice, I was on my way to Texas. After a harrowing 22 hour drive (a good portion in a snowstorm with almost 0 visibility) we arrived in Dallas.

Christmas did not go as planned. I find this especially ironic because I was struggling just over a week ago with plans with my hubby that had fallen through. Hubby and I had guests visit over Christmas, an old college friend and also my sister-in-law. We were eagerly anticipating their visit but I had to leave 12 hours after our first guest had arrived. I never even saw my SIL. Oops.

I arrived home late yesterday afternoon. Our friend left early this morning. At least I got to see him before he left. Hopefully we’ll be visiting my SIL this spring to make up for my missing her visit.

Now I feel like I’ve fallen so far behind. I missed a week of cleaning. I have tons of laundry to wash. I was planning a couple of blog posts for the holiday season but never wrote them. Hubby and I haven’t finalized plans for New Years. Because of the emergency, I missed my weekly call with my grandparents (it totally slipped my mind).

God protected myself, my brother, and his wife on our long drive to and from Dallas. My father is doing better and hopefully will not have another trip to the ER. Hubby had a good visit with his friend and sister while I was gone. I have much to be thankful for, even though things did not go according to my plan. Funny how that works.

Blessings of the financial kind

God is so very good and I am so very proud of my hubby!

Hubby met with his boss today to discuss his job performance and how hubby feels about the company thus far. He walked away with a raise and a bonus! Praise the Lord!

Hubby’s boss also gave him a $50 gift card to the Olive Garden so that hubby can take me out on a date. It’s the boss’ way of saying “thanks and I’m sorry” for taking up a good portion of our evenings and weekends in October. Hurray! We’ve never spent that much money at the Olive Garden. This means we’ll be able to get an appetizer, two entrees, and dessert! What a treat!

Busy, busy bee

I think the craziness has already started. Yesterday was busy, busy, busy.

I woke up at 7:30. That’s really late, even for me. I usually wake up between 6:30 and 7:00. The temperature dropped 20 degrees overnight. I had to wear jeans, socks, and a sweatshirt all day! Ate breakfast, sent hubby off to work, and talked to him during his 45 minute drive.

After hubby arrived at work, I settled into work. My contract assignment took two hours. Then I washed all the dishes, vacuumed, ironed clothes, made lunch, ate lunch, and washed more dishes! I washed and hung up a load of laundry. I took a 10 minute break to talk to a friend on the phone. Made dinner when hubby called to say he was on the way home.

Hubby had a last minute work assignment so I curled my hair and then talked to my mom on the phone for a bit. When he was finally finished with work, we left for our date. We stopped by the mall first to spend a $10 gift card I received for my birthday. I found some really pretty lipstick for $10 and the store was nice enough to not charge me any tax. Free!

We drove over to the Phoenix Art Museum and attended a lecture on the newest photography exhibition, a survey of portraits that covered the entire history of photography. The lecture was okay. We learned a bit about the thought process of the curator when she designed the exhibition. We also learned about the history of the most famous Winston Churchill photograph. After the lecture, we browsed through the European painting section and visited all of our favorite paintings. Then we drove home and crashed into bed!

The day was very busy, didn’t slow down from start to finish. I had wanted to work on my Nano prep a bit but never had time. Now it’s almost 3PM Thursday and I still haven’t worked on it!

Tis okay. Making peanut butter cookies for my hubby was way more important. Now that all my chores are complete, the cookies are baked, and the laundry is hung, I need to get to work. Nano starts in three days!

Celebration!

Today is my hubby’s birthday as well as our fourth wedding anniversary. Hubby and I became engaged in September 2005 and the following month we decided to elope. I had already requested hubby’s birthday off work to surprise him. When we started seriously talking about eloping, I spilled the beans that I had scheduled a vacation day on October 14th. I’m not sure if that’s considered romantic, but it worked for us!

Thank you, darling, for four amazing years together. I praise God that you have enjoyed another year of life and that He has given us a wonderful year together. I pray that we will have many more years together growing in God and closer to each other.

Second schedule attempt

I attempted another scheduled day. It is going fairly well… Before my schedule started this morning, I wrote my three Morning Pages, exercised, took a shower, ate breakfast, and had Bible study with hubby.

10:30-11:00 – Housework
11:00-11:30 – Research
11:30-12:00 – Housework
12:00-1:00 – Lunch/Free Time
1:00-1:30 – Update prices/add items for sale on Half.com
1:30-2:00 – Read blogs/Check email
2:00-2:30 – Housework
2:30-? – Play Scrabble with hubby 🙂

The only thing left on my schedule is some character building for my novel. I was doing really well with the schedule but hubby is home and he was very agreeable to playing a game of Scrabble with me so I decided to toss out the last hour of my schedule. I’ve accomplished everything on my to-do list for today.

Tomorrow will be a return to unscheduled days. I should have contract work tomorrow morning and that’s always a priority over everything else. My contract work is first come, first serve so I watch my email very closely and drop everything else when work is assigned. The faster I can finish the initial assignment, the more work I am assigned until everything has been completed for the day by all the contractors. I like having the ability to work more hours than the initial assignment but it makes planning hard as I’m at the beck and call of my emails!

Work, bathrooms, and other distractions

Change of plans. My goal today was to clean both showers and toilets. I’ve scrubbed at the window above the shower in the main bathroom and cleaned the shower walls. I started scrubbing the tub but it’s going to need a lot of work. I’m really sweaty now and my arms are tired. That’s what I get for not giving it a really good cleaning in ages.

I think I’m done with the cleaning aspect of today’s six most important things list. I have the opportunity to put in several hours of paid work today and I’m going to jump on that chance. My paid work is sporadic and today I have the chance to get a few hours in, whereas I normally only get a few hours each week or two. We need the money so I’m going to concentrate on that today.

Hubby and I are going on a date tonight! This plan assumes he gets off work on time as he’s working in the office today instead of at home. We’re going to the Phoenix Art Museum to see the Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement and Charting the Canyon exhibits. Wednesday evenings are free admission for the general public.