Fahrenheit 451

Okay... so, this book scared the shit out of me.  I loved it, but it scared the shit out of me!!

Hats off to you, Mr. Bradbury.  You nailed it.  IPods, earbuds, 3D TV, reality shows...

Work it, make it, do it, makes us, HARDER, BETTER, FASTER, STRONGER... 

It made me think.  And that's good.  It made me put my phone on the charger and read. It makes me think twice when I reach for it out of habit.  And we talked about the book.  My teenager will be reading it soon, before the end of the year in English.

We are now actively teaching our 5 year old to read. He has an endless appetite for books.  We have read to him since he was a baby. It's time for us to pass the torch to him.

Changes...

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven




The Byrds - Turn, Turn, Turn!



I am about to change jobs after 4 years.  I am just transferring to a different department, but it is a change.

I think this is good.  I think that it's something that will lead to more. 

If I stay where I am am not going anywhere, stuck, stressful, not what I signed up for...  Three job description changes in 4 years.  (not that I'm not thankful for the opportunities I have in this current position)

Turn, turn, turn...

I just have to hope that this was meant to be.

I'll miss my co-workers, but I'll still see them.

I also think I get itchy feet.  I never seem to stay at one job for than 5 years.

Turn, turn , turn...

I just have to trust my instincts that I made the right decision.  I interviewed for a different job a while back in a different facility.  I didn't get that position. That's why I think that this is the one that's meant to be.

Trust my instincts...  that's the ticket.

My new favorite bedtime story...

I love this book!!  This is fairly frequently read at bedtime at our house.  Both boys really enjoy the story, being that they both do enjoy their video game time.  The 15 year old comes in a listens to it every time I read it to the 5 year old.

It's a story of a little boy who loves to play video games all the time, until a storm knocks the power out.  He panics and doesn't know what to do!!!  He fusses and frets and tries to steal the batteries out of his baby sister's doll and makes her cry...

He then realizes that he made a bad choice and makes up with his sister by playing hide and go seek, her favorite game.  One thing leads to another and they have played all day without electronic toys, just using their imagination.

When the power finally comes back on he is happy, but thinks that he might just play make believe with his sister again, too.

We really try to limit the technology time at our house.  We adults are guilty of it, too, with Facebook and such. We don't watch a lot of TV and the boys are limited to two shows on week nights. There is also no gaming during the week only on weekends.  Hopefully this helps some, but it is a battle at times.

Anyway...  the point of the post being, what a cute book, with a very good message!!

(and it rhymes, too)

How do you teach generosity and graciousness?

As we approach pass Thanksgiving and enter the winter holiday season I was really struck by how lucky I am and we are as a family to be where we are.  We don't have as much this years as some, but we have plenty.

I have a great job (it has its challenges, but that is another story), that allows us to be comfortable and also allows my husband to go to school full time to finish his PhD.  It also allows me to continue my education towards completion of my BSN once and for all.  It is time to move past my good old ADN and finished my degree once and for all.  So, this rambling background story leads to where I am really headed with this story...

I know I do not take time to appreciate and be thankful and grateful for all that we have.  I in turn need to take the time to teach the kids about thankfulness and to not take it for granted that we are comfortable.

I am trying to focus on how we can share our good fortune this season and I am also using this as a learning opportunity for the kids to share and absorb the fact that we have plenty and it is a duty to share with those that are not as fortunate.

I will digress again for a moment.  I just completed a nursing class dealing with public health and care of vulnerable populations ex: the elderly, those without health care, migrate workers, people below the poverty level etc.  I focused my research for this class on the town and county that I live in.  A particularly affluent area in North Texas and was shocked at what I discovered.  There are so many services that are lacking and people living without the daily necessities that live on my back porch.  Shocking! (I suppose I probably knew this deep down, but didn't really think about it)

So, this season we have taken some of what we have an shared it with those less fortunate.  It started with my oldest, who is 15, who on his own used his own money to contribute to a charity project in his English class involving a less fortunate child and furnishing the child's wish list.  He did this on his own with his own money from his birthday.  Mail ordered a specific, odd request from the kid and delivered to the gift basket at school.

This then led me to contacting our local community outreach and participating in their Angel program and taking the youngest, who is 4 to buy the gifts on the list.  As we were shopping we talked about generosity and sharing.  And also about the fact that this little Angel Boy would not get gifts without our help.  My son was very concerned that our Angel Boy, as he named him, asked for a coat.  He couldn't understand why Angel Boy didn't have a coat when it is so cold out.  He told me, "I have lots of coats, I'll give him one of mine!"  So again, teaching moment I hope, I reminded him how fortunate he was that he had lots of coats and that many people young and old do not.

I also shared with the family about how instead of a gift exchange at my work, it was decided as an office to each donate $20 to the local food bank.

I hope this makes an impact on them.  I also explained that because I spent money on gifts for our Angel Boy, that meant I had less in the Xmas budget to spend on them.  They were okay with this.  I know it makes me feel good to do it. I hope it was a learning experience for them and that I taught them something by example. 

Pay it forward...

I do love a good cup of tea...

http://houseonthefreeway.blogspot.com

P18X - In the home stretch...

Almost finished!  Home stretch! Bottom of the ninth! The final count down! Last lap!

Holy crap... this is monumental, but I am ready to move on to something else.  90 days of the same thing over and over is a long time.  I have been recently grumbling to myself about the hour it takes, but that is stupid.  It take a lot longer to go to the gym.  this is done at home in the living room any time.  I need to remember that part.

On a completely different note.  My resistance band snapped the other day which has forced me to move on to doing pull ups with the pull up bar.  I can do it!  I didn't thnk I could, so I never tried before.

Sweet!!

Not sure where we are going next. 

We have 18 days to think about it. 

Microbiology and the Art of Knitting...

http://houseonthefreeway.blogspot.com

Blarg!

Double blarg!!!  We missed a day of the P90X.  I wanted to do the whole thing and never miss once.

 But... between seasonal allergies, homework, grading, a preparing for a job interview, a bike crash, trip to urgent care/pharmacy, the hour and a half work out didn't happen. The irony is after all that we probably needed and hour and a half of yoga to chill out.

Back on track though, that whole mess was Tuesday and the work-outs got done on Wednesday.  It's another rest week, this week, so the work-out order is switched up.  I'll be glad when we are finished.  It's getting old!!  But, it is definitely making a difference in both of our fitness levels.  I'll really see if it's made a difference next weekend.  We are going to run a 5K.  The husband will have no problem.  He's done them and is/has been a runner.  I am not a runner, so we'll see.  It'll be fun though.There is a 50 yard dash for the kids and they get a t-shirt at the beginning and a dog tag necklace after the race.  They also have childcare for the kids during the actual race, so the little booger will be able to hang out and play while we run. I hope the weather is ice.  It's cooled off, now for Fall, so it should be nice and mild.

Now to not obsess about the job interview!!!  I hate waiting.

Agree to disagree...

People are weird.

That weirdness really rears it's ugly head during times of political debate.  There is always an undercurrent of weirdness, but nothing like an election to bring the radicals out of the woodwork.

So, no big secret, I lean to the left. Pretty far to the left, by most people's standards.  I'm open minded about it though.  I am completely open to agree to disagree.

But...

Do not judge me if you don't know me...
Do not condemn my beliefs and I will not condemn yours...
Do not witness to me or my children...
Keep religion out of the science classroom and put it into humanities where it belongs...
I'll respect your opinions, if you respect mine...

And we'll get along just fine.

Radicalism is a very scary and nasty thing.  No matter where it comes from.  And it can come from the left as well as the right. 

Everyone just needs to smarten the hell up and be open minded.  Ha ha ha!  Like that will ever happen, as I watch society become more and more segregated in their beliefs.

In that case, I guess we just need to find like minded people and stick together. But then again, I will circle back around to saying that I am willing to hear your opinions and respect them, if you are willing to hear mine and in turn also respect them.  I will agree to disagree, until you cross the line. Until then, we'll get along just fine.  Unfortunately it seems that no one can control themselves and the line just gets bulldozed.

Very disappointing.

Halfway through...

Okay, almost halfway through.  I think we are on day 42 or something like that.  This week is the halfway point.  It's getting a little repetative, but you have to look for the humor in the work-outs.  Tony is like the Michael Scott of exercise videos. "Blam Pam!!" and "Coca COla, that's right, I said it!!"  Corny and annoying, but there is gold hidden in there.  We just tough it out and laugh at the stupid stuff and the cheesy music. Once again, I can proudly report that we have not yet missed a work-out.

Moving right along...

We are still at it.  I can proudly say that niether of us have missed a day of P90X, yet.  The kids are getting used to seeing me jumping around in front of the TV.  The little guy will get in there and do it, too. It's pretty cute.  He was being a terror while I was doing the yoga work-out on Friday, which is challenging when you don't have a four year old running back and forth under your downward dogs that you hold for the longest 5 breaths in existence.  I have to say his form is great, though.  I'm jealous.

Keepin' on truckin'!

Recovery Week, that's a joke!!

We made it to the recovery week in P90X.  Scary thing is that it is harder than the non recovery week!!

We have also discovered that it is not getting any easier, we are just getting better at it.

I still can't do eveything in all the work-outs. I really have to modify and baby my knee for some of the work outs.  I also pulled a muscle in my hip/butt.  That is slowly improving.  It sucks to get old! I have not even tried to do a pull up.  Maybe I should, but I don't want to, yet. 

But.....

We are actually doing this!!!  and I am actually keping up with my husband!!!

2 weeks in and still moving...

We have now completed two weeks and we are starter week number 3 this morning.  I t is feeling easier, not so much muscle stiffness and I am seeing progress in how much I can do of the exercises.  We are both determined to beat the yoga work-out.  It is our nemesis!!  We will conquer the yoga routine unlike any yoga I have experienced before.... 

I still did pushups till my eyes bled this morning, but it was easier.

P83X

One week down.  There were a couple days last week it was painful to move.  I have muscles I did not know I had. I think at one point my eyelids were stiff. I did pushups and situps until I thought might eyes might bleed, all at 0500 in the morning.

 This morning was easier, just a tiny bit!  My pants are looser.

:-)

We did it!

We both dragged ourselves out of bed at 0515 and did our 2 workouts.  It was hard, but managable.  I'm going to be sore tomorrow.  I'm now trying to convince myself that this energized me for the rest of the day.  In reality I'm kind of in a jello-ish stupor.  I still made it in to work by 0800!

It's all good.

We may have lost our minds....

So, the husband and I are going to attempt P90X.  It should be interesting.  I'm scared we might seriously die of exhaustion, but if we don't it should be pretty cool.

We were trying to figure out when to fit in the workouts.  The evening is out since we would have to do it after we got the little boy to bed and that's when we do homeowork.  Plus the husband will have evening classes to attend and teach in the Fall.  So...  It's going to have to be early in the morning.  Really early!!  Because I need to be on the highway to work by 0700 or traffic is a nightmare.  The good thing is that will force me to go to bed early, which I  never do.  Which again means....  that homework time is going to be early evening and that means no TV time.  Not that we really watch much anyway, but when we do it's in the evening.  Oh well....not a big deal.  Totally worth it to not look like a giant fat ass any more.  One of my co-workers did the program and she said she went down 4 dress sizes!  She looks great.  Not super skinny, just good!

We both passed the prereq fit test, without too much trouble, so one day off today and we start tomorrow.  We even took the GOD AWFUL comparison pictures. Yikes!!

I'm going to try and post regularily to keep myself honest, ha! 

More Knitting...

http://houseonthefreeway.blogspot.com

I finally got blogger working again.  Technical issues...

Posted about another knitting project at http://houseonthefreeway.blogspot.com

Trying my hand at Bartering....

http://houseonthefreeway.blogspot.com/

Unsettled....

I am feeling unsettled lately.

There are changes on the horizon and I need to be patient and just wait and see what happens, but I am not doing very well. I want to know how things will roll, so I can prepare.

Things will changing signifigantly for our family. In a good way. This is something that was meant to be and happened for a reason and will be great for us all. Yet, I'm a little apprehensive, but we will all work together and work it out, but the next year will be a tight one. All this means, though is that we need to start to prepare in adavnce and we are.

There is another siutation that is effecting me and the spouse, but we have already decided that we need to just let it go. We have talked alot about it and it is dragging us down. We are becoming negative and a little spiteful and we need to stop that right now before Karma runs us down. We are better than that. It doesn't mean we arn't a little hurt by it though. But again, it is really not important in the grand scheme if things. If it was meant to be, it would already be and it's not, so we need to let it go.

I seriously need to get out more. A friend of mine had asked "where is her tribe"? That is a good question. Where is my tribe? I need to find it. Keeping up with my old friends on Facebook is nice, but they are not here with me. Virtual friends don't cut the mustard. I need to get out there, I know that there are ladies with similar thoughts and interests. I hope, anyway. Surely there must be??

Hmmm.... Still unsettled. I feel like I need a game plan. I thought I had one. But, I don't think it's good enough. I need something, but I just don't know what it is.....

Giving up meat for Lent.... a year later

Lent is earlier this year, than last year. I believe my post last year was March 21, so it has not technically been a full year.

So, here I am a year later and I am still not eating meat. I had a brief time in December where I did have a little, but I really was finding that I was having a hard time even making myself eat it and that my default was to not.

I don't miss it. In fact it kind of yucks me out a little now, depending on what it is. I do still occasionally eat fish, sushi is one thing I am not giving up and also fish and chips. Sorry. Also, if I am presented with the opportunity to have french fries with brown gravy, I am not guaranteeing that I will not have to have them.

It is interesting at my house, now. Hubby is not eating meat at home and neither is the big boy. I will make chicken nuggets for the little guy, because he is picky and I don t want him to starve. Yes, I know, if he is hungry enough he'll eat and I do make him try new things, but I can't take away his chicken nuggets. Big boy did make an attempt to give up meat completely for his own reasons and found that it is difficult and that there are often not a lot of choices without meat in the school cafeteria and so on. I'm curious to see where this is going with him.

So, a year later, I am happy with the decision and not feeling deprived. I am also getting to be a little more vocal about not eating meat, as well. After a year, I feel I've earned the right to discuss it now and not feel like a silly teenager indulging in a silly fad.