I once had a green thumb. Friends would walk in my home and feel the beauty of the outside in the confines of whichever apartment I currently occupied. I even recall feeling a tad upset when I visited Utah for the first time after I moved across the country. My dear friend Adam asked if he could have all my luscious plants because there was no way they would survive the 1,800+ miles in the back of my U-haul. He promised to take very good care of them so I relented, but when I returned for my first vacation home, there were none left alive to visit.
I once had a green thumb. Give me any withering, growing thing and I would have it blooming in a short period of time. Eventually, the relocating and traveling so much in the corporate world took it's toll on my nature friends and they became fewer and fewer. Then one day I chose to settle and bought a house with many, many stairs and levels. I worked full-time, part-time, and worked diligently to finish my degree as an honor student. In my "spare" time, I didn't take care of plants (that required many trips up and down many stairs), but instead volunteered for various non-profit organizations that were near to my heart (or just happened to be short a few hands). It wasn't long before only one green friend remained.
I can proudly say this one green friend is still thriving in my home. It might have something to do with being on the same level as the kitchen or with the promise I made to my best friend that I wouldn't kill it. For fun, I periodically email her pictures so she knows I kept my promise.
On my balcony, however, there is a large flower pot. I must say it was blooming quite beautifully and for some time! Of course, the plant had long died and the bloomers were very lively weeds.
That flower pot, now trimmed of Seymour (sounds way better than Audrey II), still sits on my balcony filled to the brim with rich soil. It, unfortunately, does not hold anything more precious than some cigarette butts (etc., etc.).
"What is that?" asked my neighbor, Audra, to her husband. Gene picked up something from their yard as I balanced our other neighbor Christy's baby on my hip.
"I think it's a clump of deer fur," Gene replied, analyzing the mass.
With a sheepish grin, I piped up, "No, it's not deer fur. It's Zeusy fur." I was brushing him on the balcony and stuffing the fur balls pulled off the brush into my flower pot. Apparently with strong winds, cat fur travels! I would have been happier knowing it traveled on the other side of my house (to the neighbor I don't care for), but c'est la vie.
Tonight, my flower pot boasts a fancy blue pen. The damn thing is practically new but skips like Raggedy Ann on Raggedy Andy's face. So, I pitched it into the garbage abyss of my balcony flower pot.
And I just felt you all should know.
Showing posts with label Zeus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zeus. Show all posts
Am I Back Yet?
It is the day after Labor Day and my favorite time of year. Like the leaves on the trees, I feel the season changing. A new housemate, new test results, and a new air-rave box, I feel the solitary days of laying in bed are coming to an end.
I have missed blogging. I've missed the sharing of blogging that journal writing doesn't provide and have realized when I couldn't bring myself to cancel this blog that I need this. With school out, I need it even more as I'm still praying to God about His next step for me.
I've spent a lot of time alone this summer, a lot of time with God as my body has gone on hiatus from the abuse I've put it through over the last couple of years. I've spent days in bed with weakness, fatigue, and pain being my constant companions. No amount of eating raw has helped and as always, blood work and other tests I've been sent to do have come back negative (until recently). The rheumatologist trying to fix me with meds and more meds, I stopped seeing her and went back to my PCP and am now on almost half the meds I was on a month or two ago. I've also reached out to others for prayer and help and spent a lot of time reading the Word of God and journaling my thoughts and prayers to Him.
Am I healed? Not yet, but I feel more focused and less pained. I'm still fatigued, but not as weak. I have a new housemate. Her rent is free so long as she does the housekeeping for me and this is an answer to many months of prayer. She is a blessing to me and in return, I'm able to be a blessing to her.
She moved in yesterday and Zeus doesn't know what to think. Yes, Readers (if there are any of you left after my hiatus), I know the biggest question your inquiring minds have is wondering how Zeus has been these months. Let's face it, he's a celebrity! :0)
With so many aunties that come to Pittsburgh to visit us, he does not know her. He knows Auntie Pam and Auntie Deb, he knows Auntie Dijah, he knows Auntie Des who will be staying with us later this month from Seattle, and of course, Auntie Jane, Auntie Leslie, Auntie Kelly, Aunt P... the list goes on and on, but he doesn't know her and mom didn't run around like a crackhead scrubbing the house down like normal when we have guests so he's a little confused. Too afraid to go to sleep because he might miss something, he sat dozing by the bedroom door instead of sleeping in his basket-bed.
I'm a little confused, too, as I keep wanting to run around and clean up after everyone. That Sicilian in me that sets the alarm off in my brain, "We have a guest!" I had to stop myself from doing dishes this morning and praise God she was leaving as I got up because I really wanted to feed her breakfast... And even though I didn't scrub the house down, I did overdo it cleaning before she arrived... and, well, cleaning most of the weekend. I mean, I had to scrub the toilets and you would've, too. I couldn't let her move in with them dirty. And I had to wash towels and blankets, change the sheets in the spare room, clean out the fridge... there are just some habits that never go away. I pulled something or activated something and my back hurt so bad yesterday I had to pop muscle relaxers and pull out the lumbar machine again. I hope I can get through a day of work before dying of pain. As long as I sit at my desk without moving, I think I'll be okay.
Anyway, I think I'm back blogging, at least for now.
I have missed blogging. I've missed the sharing of blogging that journal writing doesn't provide and have realized when I couldn't bring myself to cancel this blog that I need this. With school out, I need it even more as I'm still praying to God about His next step for me.
I've spent a lot of time alone this summer, a lot of time with God as my body has gone on hiatus from the abuse I've put it through over the last couple of years. I've spent days in bed with weakness, fatigue, and pain being my constant companions. No amount of eating raw has helped and as always, blood work and other tests I've been sent to do have come back negative (until recently). The rheumatologist trying to fix me with meds and more meds, I stopped seeing her and went back to my PCP and am now on almost half the meds I was on a month or two ago. I've also reached out to others for prayer and help and spent a lot of time reading the Word of God and journaling my thoughts and prayers to Him.
Am I healed? Not yet, but I feel more focused and less pained. I'm still fatigued, but not as weak. I have a new housemate. Her rent is free so long as she does the housekeeping for me and this is an answer to many months of prayer. She is a blessing to me and in return, I'm able to be a blessing to her.
She moved in yesterday and Zeus doesn't know what to think. Yes, Readers (if there are any of you left after my hiatus), I know the biggest question your inquiring minds have is wondering how Zeus has been these months. Let's face it, he's a celebrity! :0)
With so many aunties that come to Pittsburgh to visit us, he does not know her. He knows Auntie Pam and Auntie Deb, he knows Auntie Dijah, he knows Auntie Des who will be staying with us later this month from Seattle, and of course, Auntie Jane, Auntie Leslie, Auntie Kelly, Aunt P... the list goes on and on, but he doesn't know her and mom didn't run around like a crackhead scrubbing the house down like normal when we have guests so he's a little confused. Too afraid to go to sleep because he might miss something, he sat dozing by the bedroom door instead of sleeping in his basket-bed.
I'm a little confused, too, as I keep wanting to run around and clean up after everyone. That Sicilian in me that sets the alarm off in my brain, "We have a guest!" I had to stop myself from doing dishes this morning and praise God she was leaving as I got up because I really wanted to feed her breakfast... And even though I didn't scrub the house down, I did overdo it cleaning before she arrived... and, well, cleaning most of the weekend. I mean, I had to scrub the toilets and you would've, too. I couldn't let her move in with them dirty. And I had to wash towels and blankets, change the sheets in the spare room, clean out the fridge... there are just some habits that never go away. I pulled something or activated something and my back hurt so bad yesterday I had to pop muscle relaxers and pull out the lumbar machine again. I hope I can get through a day of work before dying of pain. As long as I sit at my desk without moving, I think I'll be okay.
Anyway, I think I'm back blogging, at least for now.
My Hiatus from Thinking
It's been forever since I've posted. My book review blog Beloved Books isn't any more active. As much as I think about blogging and writing, I've been on hiatus from anything requiring me to actually use my brain. I graduated on May 5th with a 3.87 GPA from Geneva College with a BS in Community Ministry. For those of you non-Christians, it's kind of like Social Work for Christians. :0)
Anyway, working full-time and taking classes part-time for the last 5 years took its toll on me and I have done a whole lot of nothing since graduation. I've watched a ton of Netflix on my new Nook tablet, played tons of video games on my Android, and have managed to finish reading a couple of books (that I haven't blogged about because that requires thinking...). Zeus is happy mom is home so much, although he has been caught giving the evil eye to my electronic devices. When he isn't glaring at them, he's trying to lay on them or knock them out of my hand with his nose.
It has all been perfect timing, however, because I've been up to my ears in summer staff hiring paperwork. I think we've had about 50 new hires come on in the last month. My title at work finally got changed from "Support Coordinator" which only managed to confuse people to "Human Resource Generalist." I had to find a title that would include the many other projects passed on to me because HR is only a piece of my job (although a very large piece!). So I have had to think since graduation, but anyone who works with me can probably tell I'm on this brain/thinking hiatus. Normally the one who knows everything, follows up with everyone, and gets back to people right away, I am living in a fog. People are actually having to follow up with me, which of course makes me feel like a big slacker.
I have kept up with my Healthy for Christ blog. That also requires me to think because I'm usually researching whatever I write about for the week.
Speaking of writing, I started attending a writing group that I'm SOOO excited about! These people are
A.) Writers! and
B.) Working writers!
People that are actually published and continually working on getting published. Like, some of them have even gotten paid and stuff (no joke)! In Virginia, I wrote almost daily and hung out with writers, active writers, and it was really good for my flow, you know? With school over, I needed something like that here. I was apprehensive to find a writing group because let's face it: there are A LOT of weirdos out there that call themselves writers, but I am happy to say I love this group. Making writing part of my daily life again is one of my goals for this summer.
My other goal is to just focus on getting healthy again. I really need to eat better and take better care of my body. I am being treated for rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia, but I claim neither of these diseases. I'm in week two of a class called "Treasures of Healthy Living" and I couldn't be more excited about it. This class is taking us through Scripture to show you how God wants us to be healthy. He designed us to be healthy, He calls us to be healthy, and He has given us all the tools we need on this earth to be healthy. The Bible is our instruction manual for being healthy, but as Christians, we never look at it that way. So, I know I will learn a lot through this course and think I want to teach it next semester. We'll see how it goes. By Labor Day, I want to be off of at least 4 of the 7 prescriptions I take on a daily basis. I want to get healthy again, and as I slowly come out of my brain/thinking hiatus, I hope to be writing about my health in the months to come. :0)
Anyway, working full-time and taking classes part-time for the last 5 years took its toll on me and I have done a whole lot of nothing since graduation. I've watched a ton of Netflix on my new Nook tablet, played tons of video games on my Android, and have managed to finish reading a couple of books (that I haven't blogged about because that requires thinking...). Zeus is happy mom is home so much, although he has been caught giving the evil eye to my electronic devices. When he isn't glaring at them, he's trying to lay on them or knock them out of my hand with his nose.
It has all been perfect timing, however, because I've been up to my ears in summer staff hiring paperwork. I think we've had about 50 new hires come on in the last month. My title at work finally got changed from "Support Coordinator" which only managed to confuse people to "Human Resource Generalist." I had to find a title that would include the many other projects passed on to me because HR is only a piece of my job (although a very large piece!). So I have had to think since graduation, but anyone who works with me can probably tell I'm on this brain/thinking hiatus. Normally the one who knows everything, follows up with everyone, and gets back to people right away, I am living in a fog. People are actually having to follow up with me, which of course makes me feel like a big slacker.
I have kept up with my Healthy for Christ blog. That also requires me to think because I'm usually researching whatever I write about for the week.
Speaking of writing, I started attending a writing group that I'm SOOO excited about! These people are
A.) Writers! and
B.) Working writers!
People that are actually published and continually working on getting published. Like, some of them have even gotten paid and stuff (no joke)! In Virginia, I wrote almost daily and hung out with writers, active writers, and it was really good for my flow, you know? With school over, I needed something like that here. I was apprehensive to find a writing group because let's face it: there are A LOT of weirdos out there that call themselves writers, but I am happy to say I love this group. Making writing part of my daily life again is one of my goals for this summer.
My other goal is to just focus on getting healthy again. I really need to eat better and take better care of my body. I am being treated for rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia, but I claim neither of these diseases. I'm in week two of a class called "Treasures of Healthy Living" and I couldn't be more excited about it. This class is taking us through Scripture to show you how God wants us to be healthy. He designed us to be healthy, He calls us to be healthy, and He has given us all the tools we need on this earth to be healthy. The Bible is our instruction manual for being healthy, but as Christians, we never look at it that way. So, I know I will learn a lot through this course and think I want to teach it next semester. We'll see how it goes. By Labor Day, I want to be off of at least 4 of the 7 prescriptions I take on a daily basis. I want to get healthy again, and as I slowly come out of my brain/thinking hiatus, I hope to be writing about my health in the months to come. :0)
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