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An Actual Update
Jan. 5th, 2009 01:16 pmOK, this is the "obligatory" 2008/what-I-did-on-my-vacation post.
Did the Christmas with the family thing, which was fun. No adverse weather/road conditions at all, but there was snow on the ground and ice on the trees when I got there, which was nice to see. By the time I left, it had completely melted, but still...
It was nice to see my family, and I had an even more enjoyable time than usual, even though I spent a day with the gastrointestinal bug that went like wildfire through the entire family in the course of 3 days. Luckily, no one was in the throes of it on Christmas day, which was cool.
This is the first year EVER where I've only gotten ONE article of clothing. This was VERY cool, since clothing has always been my least favorite gift to get. Somewhere, that apparently finally sunk in. What I did get was this multi-colored turtleneck sweater, in all my Rex colors, so even that turned out to be a kick-ass gift. I did get a gift card from Lane Bryant, which the Beastie and I went and spent the other day. I wasn't too eager, 'cause I really hate shopping, but I'd heard too many scare stories about companies going into financial distress and no longer honoring their gift cards, so I wanted to use mine up as soon as possible. I got one shirt, and completely replaced my entire bra/panty collection with matching sets that will go with my clothes, including two white sets which I plan on dyeing. So, that was actually quite cool.
I also got a Crock-pot, which came with a little mini-thing for dips and whatnot, which was good, since I'd left both my old Crock-pots at a Samhain festival at Hard Labor Creek a few years back. Lots of other little things... the usual scented candles and various kitchen goodies, a blanket, that sort of thing.
I was frighteningly responsible, though, and used my Christmas money to keep our bank accounts in positive numbers. Which means that, while the Beastie was able to score an iPhone for his Christmas present, I went online and found a free upgrade phone (a BlackBerry 8820), which is currently being shipped. So, very soon, we'll both have reliable phones again, which is a Very Good Thing for job-hunting.
By far, though, my favorite gifts were a bunch of Vera Bradley items that my sister got me. Now, keep in mind that I had this vague idea that Vera Bradley was some pricey accessory-type stuff, and I didn't pay much attention. One of the guys I worked with actually thought my old purse was one (it wasn't), but him bringing it up kinda piqued my curiosity, so when I happened to walk by a Vera Bradley store a while back, I looked around, and wasn't all that impressed. But, for whatever weird paradigm shift I've gone through, I absolutely adore the stuff she got me. It's all in the capri melon pattern, which I've discovered is discontinued, but that's fine with me. Turns out, I find, that she got all the stuff dirt cheap, 'cause I was all kinda overwhelmed that she'd spent that much (after saying they were cutting back on presents). It would seem that Ms. Vera Bradley herself lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is like maybe an hour's drive from where my family lives, and that every May, they have this huge-ass sale in the Fort Wayne Coliseum. Of course, there's no control over what's available, but I guess Naia just saw that pattern, thought I'd like it, and had her Vera-Bradley-crazy friend who always goes to the sale pick me up everything in that pattern. I'm allsortsa delighted with it. I changed out my old purse for the new backpack-like one and the accessories on New Year's Day, which I thought was a nice symbolic touch, and I also have some other pieces that I'm not quite sure how to incorporate into my life. One is clearly a laptop case. Must manifest laptop. :) Anyway, I'm totally squeeing about that. The Beastie is appalled. :)
So. 2008.
What can I say about 2008? I'm mostly on the same page with everyone else regarding it.
I finally got a couch, via Freecycle, with the invaluable help of
Dai_Syn and 
ToguSpyder (and 
BlckwngdOrcl, of course), which is nice to have. We still haven't ever built a fire in the fireplace it sits in front of, but I have found it to be a fabulous place for curling up with a book, and it was also an awesome place to curl up with BlckwngdOrcl and just talk on whatever day it was when there was supposed to be an hour of turning off all your electric stuff, which we did.
I participated in a fundraiser for the Atlanta Animal Alliance, which included a mile-long walk. I'm so terribly out of shape, that was a difficult thing for me, but I was pleased that I did it, and pleased that it went to help a good cause.
I don't remember if it was this year or last year that we joined a gym, although it wasn't until my birthday that I really went and did anything with the membership. I got as far as doing the personal assessment thing, after I'd been there a few times latenight, and was basically told (not quite in so many words) not to come back until I got some decent shoes, or I was going to hurt myself. Sadly, when your feet are as wide as mine, that's easier said than done. He gave me a couple of places in town that he said were reputable for sizing people wanting to work out, able to recommend good shoes for what you're wanting AND carry wide sizes. I haven't been able to make that a financial priority yet, so working out at the gym, sadly, has been on hold. And, I admit it, I'm a total slacker when it comes to working out on my own.
I've made great strides in my eating. Thanks to several really helpful LJ communities, I've learned a LOT about nutrition (and I thought I knew a lot already!) and even better, I've had a lot of resources to pursue questions, get advice, etc.. I've used my Vita-Mix a lot more, and have come to find it so invaluable that I took it with me when I went to visit my parents. I've cooked a lot this year, discovered the (mostly) joy of spending a day cooking and putting it all in portion-sizes in the freezer. I've discovered that, much to my "unrepentant omnivore" husband's dismay, that I've reached that point where cooking meat myself now makes me nauseous, so I've had to try a lot of recipes that are omnivore friendly. I'm also struggling with the idea of wanting to minimize eliminate soy and wheat from my diet, and trying to figure out where that leaves me with meat substitutes. I've made so many changes over the past year, that one's kinda on the back burner, although I'm making tiny little changes here and there. It's all a process, and I'm learning more every day, and incorporating more as I go. The Beastie has a few issues with the diet changes going on in the house, which are understandable. (In my attempts to make sure I was accurately describing his position while making this post, we ended up having a long-ish discussion about it, which, as it turns out, would take up a whole 'nother entry to clarify. For simplification, we both have valid points, we essentially agree on pretty much the principles of the whole thing, and it's just going to be a matter of learning to incorporate that, too.) So, we're working on that, too. It's a good thing. :)
I'm currently eating something I made from the Veganomicon, which I made for the Beastie before I left. It was one of those, sounds-interesting-let's-try-it kinda recipes, and I was kinda dubious about what resulted. Apparently, buckwheat groats are, as noted in the recipe, an acquired taste. I forget what it's called, and it's hard to describe the flavor, other than it evokes Greek to me. It's not quite as dubious this time around, but that may also be a function of being broke and not having too many other choices, and not wanting it to go to waste. *shrug* I've made some REALLY good stuff from it, too, though, including some stuff I made while I was visiting my family, that turned out really well, even though they don't have all the ingredients. (I mean, OK, I know it's a small town, but to not have tempeh??) I'm actually enjoying the cooking, for the most part, although I have bouts of not-in-the-mood. It's difficult to determine if these are specifically related to the cooking, though.
BlckwngdOrcl has been under- or un-employed most of the year, even to the point of me telling him to move out if he didn't have a job by [whatever date it was]. Luckily, his seasonal work at Pike came through for both of us, but it was only seasonal work, after all. He's still looking, and every day I watch the news, I see another report on the increasing unemployment, some company closing, laying off, enforcing furloughs, etc., so it's hard to be hopeful about him finding a job with very few specific skills and no college degree. Other people do it, though, so... he keeps looking, and we keep carrying on.
By far, my job situation has been the most trying thing for me this year. At the end of July, I stopped working for David in the office. Basically, I just agreed one of the many times he fired me, after having ignored it all the rest of the times. I gave him a month's notice, and really really thought that being a nurse would make it ridiculously easy for me to find a ton of jobs in a very short time, etc., and I even figured I could pick and choose. Turns out, LPNs aren't particularly popular lately. There are cycles like this all the time, where certain companies (usually hospitals) decide that they want the best possible care for their patients, so they're only going to use the most highly-trained nurses (RNs, rather than LPNs) blahblahblah, and they're going to do away with LPNs altogether (and grandfather experienced LPNs into being RNs), etc.. Of course, a few years later, they realize how expensive this is, and hire LPNs again, until someone gets another bright idea, and the cycle starts all over again. So, it just so happens that the Atlanta area is in one of those anti-LPN cycles, which sucks for me. I already had two jobs, although I was "inactive" in both - I updated my paperwork, and was fine to take clients... there just weren't any to be had. Ditto the two new homecare jobs I've found. They just don't have the work. So, I keep applying, and checking, etc., but I'm not having any significant luck, either. My only steady job has been working with David at night, and I'm completely grateful that Kathleen just kinda pays me on demand, as I've earned it. Some days, I just need the gas money. I've had a few bites in the last few days, so maybe things are looking up.
On that note, I couldn't be more grateful to and humbled by my father, who's been helping us out during this time with the rent/utilities, and sometimes groceries. I'm in tears every month when I need his help yet again, and I know that I'd be out on the streets if it weren't for him. I have the best father in the world, and I hope to someday feel like I'm worthy of both my fantastic parents.
So, 2009 rolls in. No change as of yet with the job situation, at least nothing concrete. We're still planning on moving to Illinois. I kept hoping for the Universe to allow us to stay here, but I'm getting clear messages that the move will be the best thing. Via some of the international-membership LJ communities I'm a member of, I've already started to set up a network of like-minded people in the area we'll be moving to, so that's definitely a step in the right direction. Wherever you go, there you are, but all the research I've done indicates that this is a very GOOD financial step, if not a good step for a lot of reasons. And, y'know... SNOW.
I'm also finishing my Core Energetic classes this year. I bit the bullet and took the optional fifth year, or we would have been moved already. I'm grateful for that to some degree, because the upside of not really working the past few months is that I've been able to reconnect with a lot of my friends here. To some degree, that's been bittersweet, since now that I've had that experience, I'll be going away from them physically instead of mentally. But I'm grateful for all those experiences. Having said that, I'm not sure about the last year. I'm supposed to have a client that I'm seeing once a month, and no one has volunteered for this. To be fair, I haven't recruited much, either. I haven't had all the required therapy sessions. I suppose not having all the required individual supervision sessions doesn't quite count, since there's nothing to supervise. I've seen a client a couple of times in class, which has been interesting. But honestly, I'm just wanting the classes to be done. Come May, I'll have no further excuse to stay here. I absolutely love Atlanta, but it's time to go. I have a lot of long-term goals that just can't be met here. (Writing that sentence prompted another long discussion with the Beastie about how it would affect his long-term goals and to make sure I wasn't dragging him there kicking and screaming. We've had these conversations before, but I know this is a huge deal for him, being a Taurus and all, and I keep going back to make sure that he's not feeling coerced in any way. Seems bottom line is, we're both scared, and we both have hope. And that'll do.)
So. That's pretty much where my 2009 stands so far. I made only one New Year's Resolution, and that was to go to Alchemy. I still have a pending post along those lines, but I need to stop typing and thinking for a while. :)
Did the Christmas with the family thing, which was fun. No adverse weather/road conditions at all, but there was snow on the ground and ice on the trees when I got there, which was nice to see. By the time I left, it had completely melted, but still...
It was nice to see my family, and I had an even more enjoyable time than usual, even though I spent a day with the gastrointestinal bug that went like wildfire through the entire family in the course of 3 days. Luckily, no one was in the throes of it on Christmas day, which was cool.
This is the first year EVER where I've only gotten ONE article of clothing. This was VERY cool, since clothing has always been my least favorite gift to get. Somewhere, that apparently finally sunk in. What I did get was this multi-colored turtleneck sweater, in all my Rex colors, so even that turned out to be a kick-ass gift. I did get a gift card from Lane Bryant, which the Beastie and I went and spent the other day. I wasn't too eager, 'cause I really hate shopping, but I'd heard too many scare stories about companies going into financial distress and no longer honoring their gift cards, so I wanted to use mine up as soon as possible. I got one shirt, and completely replaced my entire bra/panty collection with matching sets that will go with my clothes, including two white sets which I plan on dyeing. So, that was actually quite cool.
I also got a Crock-pot, which came with a little mini-thing for dips and whatnot, which was good, since I'd left both my old Crock-pots at a Samhain festival at Hard Labor Creek a few years back. Lots of other little things... the usual scented candles and various kitchen goodies, a blanket, that sort of thing.
I was frighteningly responsible, though, and used my Christmas money to keep our bank accounts in positive numbers. Which means that, while the Beastie was able to score an iPhone for his Christmas present, I went online and found a free upgrade phone (a BlackBerry 8820), which is currently being shipped. So, very soon, we'll both have reliable phones again, which is a Very Good Thing for job-hunting.
By far, though, my favorite gifts were a bunch of Vera Bradley items that my sister got me. Now, keep in mind that I had this vague idea that Vera Bradley was some pricey accessory-type stuff, and I didn't pay much attention. One of the guys I worked with actually thought my old purse was one (it wasn't), but him bringing it up kinda piqued my curiosity, so when I happened to walk by a Vera Bradley store a while back, I looked around, and wasn't all that impressed. But, for whatever weird paradigm shift I've gone through, I absolutely adore the stuff she got me. It's all in the capri melon pattern, which I've discovered is discontinued, but that's fine with me. Turns out, I find, that she got all the stuff dirt cheap, 'cause I was all kinda overwhelmed that she'd spent that much (after saying they were cutting back on presents). It would seem that Ms. Vera Bradley herself lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is like maybe an hour's drive from where my family lives, and that every May, they have this huge-ass sale in the Fort Wayne Coliseum. Of course, there's no control over what's available, but I guess Naia just saw that pattern, thought I'd like it, and had her Vera-Bradley-crazy friend who always goes to the sale pick me up everything in that pattern. I'm allsortsa delighted with it. I changed out my old purse for the new backpack-like one and the accessories on New Year's Day, which I thought was a nice symbolic touch, and I also have some other pieces that I'm not quite sure how to incorporate into my life. One is clearly a laptop case. Must manifest laptop. :) Anyway, I'm totally squeeing about that. The Beastie is appalled. :)
So. 2008.
What can I say about 2008? I'm mostly on the same page with everyone else regarding it.
I finally got a couch, via Freecycle, with the invaluable help of
Dai_Syn and ToguSpyder (and BlckwngdOrcl, of course), which is nice to have. We still haven't ever built a fire in the fireplace it sits in front of, but I have found it to be a fabulous place for curling up with a book, and it was also an awesome place to curl up with BlckwngdOrcl and just talk on whatever day it was when there was supposed to be an hour of turning off all your electric stuff, which we did. I participated in a fundraiser for the Atlanta Animal Alliance, which included a mile-long walk. I'm so terribly out of shape, that was a difficult thing for me, but I was pleased that I did it, and pleased that it went to help a good cause.
I don't remember if it was this year or last year that we joined a gym, although it wasn't until my birthday that I really went and did anything with the membership. I got as far as doing the personal assessment thing, after I'd been there a few times latenight, and was basically told (not quite in so many words) not to come back until I got some decent shoes, or I was going to hurt myself. Sadly, when your feet are as wide as mine, that's easier said than done. He gave me a couple of places in town that he said were reputable for sizing people wanting to work out, able to recommend good shoes for what you're wanting AND carry wide sizes. I haven't been able to make that a financial priority yet, so working out at the gym, sadly, has been on hold. And, I admit it, I'm a total slacker when it comes to working out on my own.
I've made great strides in my eating. Thanks to several really helpful LJ communities, I've learned a LOT about nutrition (and I thought I knew a lot already!) and even better, I've had a lot of resources to pursue questions, get advice, etc.. I've used my Vita-Mix a lot more, and have come to find it so invaluable that I took it with me when I went to visit my parents. I've cooked a lot this year, discovered the (mostly) joy of spending a day cooking and putting it all in portion-sizes in the freezer. I've discovered that, much to my "unrepentant omnivore" husband's dismay, that I've reached that point where cooking meat myself now makes me nauseous, so I've had to try a lot of recipes that are omnivore friendly. I'm also struggling with the idea of wanting to minimize eliminate soy and wheat from my diet, and trying to figure out where that leaves me with meat substitutes. I've made so many changes over the past year, that one's kinda on the back burner, although I'm making tiny little changes here and there. It's all a process, and I'm learning more every day, and incorporating more as I go. The Beastie has a few issues with the diet changes going on in the house, which are understandable. (In my attempts to make sure I was accurately describing his position while making this post, we ended up having a long-ish discussion about it, which, as it turns out, would take up a whole 'nother entry to clarify. For simplification, we both have valid points, we essentially agree on pretty much the principles of the whole thing, and it's just going to be a matter of learning to incorporate that, too.) So, we're working on that, too. It's a good thing. :)
I'm currently eating something I made from the Veganomicon, which I made for the Beastie before I left. It was one of those, sounds-interesting-let's-try-it kinda recipes, and I was kinda dubious about what resulted. Apparently, buckwheat groats are, as noted in the recipe, an acquired taste. I forget what it's called, and it's hard to describe the flavor, other than it evokes Greek to me. It's not quite as dubious this time around, but that may also be a function of being broke and not having too many other choices, and not wanting it to go to waste. *shrug* I've made some REALLY good stuff from it, too, though, including some stuff I made while I was visiting my family, that turned out really well, even though they don't have all the ingredients. (I mean, OK, I know it's a small town, but to not have tempeh??) I'm actually enjoying the cooking, for the most part, although I have bouts of not-in-the-mood. It's difficult to determine if these are specifically related to the cooking, though.
BlckwngdOrcl has been under- or un-employed most of the year, even to the point of me telling him to move out if he didn't have a job by [whatever date it was]. Luckily, his seasonal work at Pike came through for both of us, but it was only seasonal work, after all. He's still looking, and every day I watch the news, I see another report on the increasing unemployment, some company closing, laying off, enforcing furloughs, etc., so it's hard to be hopeful about him finding a job with very few specific skills and no college degree. Other people do it, though, so... he keeps looking, and we keep carrying on.By far, my job situation has been the most trying thing for me this year. At the end of July, I stopped working for David in the office. Basically, I just agreed one of the many times he fired me, after having ignored it all the rest of the times. I gave him a month's notice, and really really thought that being a nurse would make it ridiculously easy for me to find a ton of jobs in a very short time, etc., and I even figured I could pick and choose. Turns out, LPNs aren't particularly popular lately. There are cycles like this all the time, where certain companies (usually hospitals) decide that they want the best possible care for their patients, so they're only going to use the most highly-trained nurses (RNs, rather than LPNs) blahblahblah, and they're going to do away with LPNs altogether (and grandfather experienced LPNs into being RNs), etc.. Of course, a few years later, they realize how expensive this is, and hire LPNs again, until someone gets another bright idea, and the cycle starts all over again. So, it just so happens that the Atlanta area is in one of those anti-LPN cycles, which sucks for me. I already had two jobs, although I was "inactive" in both - I updated my paperwork, and was fine to take clients... there just weren't any to be had. Ditto the two new homecare jobs I've found. They just don't have the work. So, I keep applying, and checking, etc., but I'm not having any significant luck, either. My only steady job has been working with David at night, and I'm completely grateful that Kathleen just kinda pays me on demand, as I've earned it. Some days, I just need the gas money. I've had a few bites in the last few days, so maybe things are looking up.
On that note, I couldn't be more grateful to and humbled by my father, who's been helping us out during this time with the rent/utilities, and sometimes groceries. I'm in tears every month when I need his help yet again, and I know that I'd be out on the streets if it weren't for him. I have the best father in the world, and I hope to someday feel like I'm worthy of both my fantastic parents.
So, 2009 rolls in. No change as of yet with the job situation, at least nothing concrete. We're still planning on moving to Illinois. I kept hoping for the Universe to allow us to stay here, but I'm getting clear messages that the move will be the best thing. Via some of the international-membership LJ communities I'm a member of, I've already started to set up a network of like-minded people in the area we'll be moving to, so that's definitely a step in the right direction. Wherever you go, there you are, but all the research I've done indicates that this is a very GOOD financial step, if not a good step for a lot of reasons. And, y'know... SNOW.
I'm also finishing my Core Energetic classes this year. I bit the bullet and took the optional fifth year, or we would have been moved already. I'm grateful for that to some degree, because the upside of not really working the past few months is that I've been able to reconnect with a lot of my friends here. To some degree, that's been bittersweet, since now that I've had that experience, I'll be going away from them physically instead of mentally. But I'm grateful for all those experiences. Having said that, I'm not sure about the last year. I'm supposed to have a client that I'm seeing once a month, and no one has volunteered for this. To be fair, I haven't recruited much, either. I haven't had all the required therapy sessions. I suppose not having all the required individual supervision sessions doesn't quite count, since there's nothing to supervise. I've seen a client a couple of times in class, which has been interesting. But honestly, I'm just wanting the classes to be done. Come May, I'll have no further excuse to stay here. I absolutely love Atlanta, but it's time to go. I have a lot of long-term goals that just can't be met here. (Writing that sentence prompted another long discussion with the Beastie about how it would affect his long-term goals and to make sure I wasn't dragging him there kicking and screaming. We've had these conversations before, but I know this is a huge deal for him, being a Taurus and all, and I keep going back to make sure that he's not feeling coerced in any way. Seems bottom line is, we're both scared, and we both have hope. And that'll do.)
So. That's pretty much where my 2009 stands so far. I made only one New Year's Resolution, and that was to go to Alchemy. I still have a pending post along those lines, but I need to stop typing and thinking for a while. :)
