Preparing for NaNoWriMo

I would save so much money if I didn't enjoy shopping so much. . .

This is the lovely ivy I got for work - in the ivy basket I found for it. 

And this is the orchid I got for my apartment, because of course I can keep an orchid alive.

Here is the pretty pitcher that I found at the thrift store, along with a new picture from the dollar store. 

And here is my latest project, quotes for my writing wall (that would be the wall against my writing table).

The left side. . .

Doesn't it just make you want to write?

The headaches have been pretty decent lately.  They flare up on some days worse than others, but I've had a lot of good days recently.

Work has been stressful.  Yesterday I determined before I went into work that I needed to stop being so negative about a fellow supervisor.  I realize that it's unbecoming and unprofessional and needs to stop.  I got into work knowing that I had one employee on vacation and another gone for a funeral (meaning it was going to be a potentially bad Friday) to get a message someone else was calling in sick for the third day in a row.  And then someone from the other team left early.  That would be after getting permission from this supervisor that I had specifically asked earlier in the week to please not let any of his people leave early on Fridays anymore.  My resolution did not survive.

Today while I searching for containers for the plants, I found a basket that I really liked, other than the pink ribbon wound through it.  I figured I could just replace the ribbon, so I carried the basket around until I found a glass bowl that I liked better, at which point I put the basket back.  When I got out of the store I noticed a convenient fabric store nearby for the replacement ribbon that I needed.  I found a nice aqua satin and bought it.  I was actually driving away and picturing how nice it would look now before I realized that I hadn't bought the basket!  At least the ribbon was priced half off. . .  Yep, that is my life.

Books

Here are a few of the books I've read recently(ish) and enjoyed:

Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku
How We Choose to Be Happy by Rick Foster and Greg Hicks
The Art of Extreme Self-Care by Cheryl Richardson
Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Libraries are awesome! 

Happiness:

And yes, I'm shallow and find happiness in things.  I enjoy my car and my new apartment, too.

My management style:

Ideals

I went through and threw out some stuff today - found a bunch of old school papers I hadn't realized I still had.  This is the closing from a paper entitled "The Renaissance Ideal" that I wrote in 1994 that made me laugh:

Accordingly, the ideal man was free to roam, and fight, and debate, and study arithmetic and geometry, and throw his whole heart and soul into whatever task he was engaged in; while the ideal woman, bounded by her training in religion and morality, and further restricted by the limits that she dare not cross, was confined to such humdrum duties as has always been the poor lot of women - taking care of the house, having and raising children, taking care of the men, and beautifying herself.  The lines were very clearly drawn.  Of the two goals in this new age, glory and morality, the men took the glory and the women took the morality.  (Obviously, the men chose first.)

What amuses me so much about it is that my professor was quite the feminist, and she totally didn't catch the extreme amount of sarcasm that went into this paper.  One of my highest grades ever. 

The search is over. . .

I finally have my very own knight in shining armor.  Check!

Enough

I've been reading some personal finance books lately, and came across something last night in Your Money or Your Life that I really loved.  When talking about the fulfillment curve, they described the peak:

Enough is a fearless place.  A trusting place.  An honest and self-observant place.  It's appreciating and fully enjoying what money brings into your life and yet never purchasing anything that isn't needed and wanted.

That resonates with me. 

Bronchitis

So, I've been feeling sickish for the last few weeks off and on, but it hasn't been too terrible.  Until Thursday, when I spent all night at work coughing so hard that if felt like I'd bruised my ribs.  I got a couple of hours sleep but when I woke up at 7:00 and couldn't get back to sleep because I was coughing so hard and my ribs hurt when I breathed, I decided to go to the doctor.  I got a 9:30 appointment, so I was up and around much earlier than usual.  The doctor said it was bronchitis and wrote me three prescriptions.  I told him that I needed to go to work that day, and he said I really didn't and wrote me a note.  I did think about just taking the not so drowsy cough medicine, but the kind with the codeine sounded a whole lot better with all the pain, so I called in to work and spent the day sleeping inbetween coughing spells.  I'm supposed to take the cough syrup every six hours, and it seems to wear off around hour four or five.  Still better than nothing, and my ribs aren't nearly as painful today.  I got the Zpac for antibiodics, so three more doses of that.  I assume if I sleep through this weekend I should be good to go back to work on Monday.  This is really no fun, just for the record.

Ow! My thumb!

I managed to rip my right thumbnail off today, like halfway down.  It bled, and it hurts like the dickens.  I would put a picture up, but it's covered by a bandaid right now to keep me from getting grossed out.  I never knew I used my thumb for so many things in life. . .work is going to be super fun tomorrow!  My nails do grow fast, but this is seriously going to take at least a month just to cover the nail bed.  Yuckers.

For those asking how it happened (thanks for caring!), I was pulling a tray off a shelf and jammed my thumbnail into the shelving.  It was one of those where you're scared to look because it felt like it broke something, but it seemed fine, other than hurting.  Then a few minutes later, I tossed a tray into the bin and snagged it on something and apparently it was weakened enough it just split.  After a bad night, since it's throbbing a lot, I've learned that toweling my hair is painful, as is zipping up my boots, brushing my teeth, and trying to manipulate any kind of container. . .   Just another lesson in gratitude, as in I've spent my whole life not being grateful enough for two operational thumbs. 

Back to school. . .

I applied to Utah Valley University today.  Which I really should stop telling people (even though I can't because I'm so excited about it) until I actually get accepted, because it will be all sorts of embarrassing if I don't.  Thanks to Andrea, for figuratively and literally driving me there!  I'm going to try and get my four year degree finished in the next two years.  That would mean 22 years for a 4 year degree, which does seem a little ridiculous.  Then again, is it ever really too late to be who you want to be when you grow up?

Check this out!

Surprisingly enough, 3:30 this morning did not find me scrubbing my bathroom sink with a wet pumice stone like I've been doing the last two days. . .instead, after writing over my word goal for the day, I decided to indulge in a little creative tinkering.  I'm so excited with how this turned out.  I think I'll call it Inspiration in Green.  Melissa, because it's your birthday, it's yours if you want it.  If not, anyone else can claim  it.  :)

And Tragedy Strikes

I lost a story.  It's missing.  I've searched every computer file on both computers, and looked through every flashdrive I can find.  It's gone.  How can it be gone?  I distinctly remember the witty dialogue, the engaging characters, the convoluted plot.  It was all sorts of fun.  This is tragic. 

Finances

I just got my power bill, and I am now sitting in candlelight.  According to the digital meat thermometer, my apartment has been a comfortable 64 degrees (that's sarcasm - I'm freezing), and the power bill was still twice what I had budgeted.  I've been coveting a pair of wicked good slippers from LL Bean, but they are ridiculously expensive, so I found a cheaper pair on Amazon that have good reviews.  Now I'm just waiting for enough Power Play points from people at work to trade in for another Amazon gift card.  And I'm thinking that I should exercise more.  Like my dad says, "If you're not warm it's because you're not working hard enough."  While I'm whining, my rent renewal is going to be an extra $25 a month, and they raised the laundry prices.  And I just got my car's cracked windshield replaced.

The headaches have been pretty manageable lately, though.  Frequency has gone down, intensity up.  Always a price to pay.  The diet is still effective, although I've been too tired to eat a lot lately, so I've been dropping weight again.  Which I didn't notice, until three people brought it up in the same week.  Maybe that's another reason the cold is getting to me so much.  I've started taking a bath every night just before bed so that my feet unthaw enough for me to get to sleep.  Life is so tricky sometimes.  Luckily, I enjoy candlelight.

Facebook

I don't Facebook a lot.  Every now and then it's nice to cyber stalk someone - just to see what they're up to.  I have a friend or acquaintance (not really sure how you classify some of the random people that become "friends" on Facebook) who I just unfriended.  Not something I normally do, mostly because I'm too lazy, but also because if I unfriended all of the random people then I would barely have any friends left, and then what would be the point of Facebook?  It wasn't so much her stance on gun control, although she's wrong, but that she's constantly inciting flame wars with political statements.  The gun control one was just the last straw.  If the best argument that she has is a photo of a child holding a handgun, I'm unconvinced.  There's my rant for the day.

Frustrations

My sewing machine loves to wad up the bobbin thread.  This is why I only sew every few years.

I've been hating my job. . .

So, I just applied for a bunch of new ones.  Which will probably come to nothing - but I actually like going to job interviews, and one was for a library clerk, so how could I resist?  I'd totally just quit my job, but I have a car to support.

Sick of Being Sick

Going on over a week now.  This morning I woke up before eight with a bad enough cough I couldn't get back to sleep.  Veggie broth sounded good, so I made some.  It is good.  And now I really need to get some more sleep so that I can actually function today. 

Decluttering

One of my goals this year has been to declutter everything I own.  It's a pretty ambitious goal considering I have an amazingly large amount of stuff.  One thing that I finally went through this weekend was a large tub full of stuffed animals, dolls, and various decorations.  There were a lot of things I just got rid of because they had been so well loved they were a bit raggedy.  But I took pictures, so here's some of my childhood:

 These are pillows that I made a long time ago:

 And this lovely purse is NOT a decluttered item.  This was made by my sister and given to me when I just visited her.  And I love it!  It's the perfect size to just pop in my keys and cell phone and go, which is so much nicer than the huge purse I normally lug around (but of course for work I need everything in there).  I just had to show it off:

My Keto Diet

I've been trying to maintain a state of ketosis since I left the fasting clinic.  So far, I've been pretty successful.  I'm basically eating all of the things I decided I never would again, at the clinic.  Meat, dairy, oils.  I eat creme brulee, salad with meat and oily dressings, artichokes with mayo/balsamic vinegar dip, celery with either sunflower butter or flavored cream cheese, eggs (scrambled or fried), frozen veggies heated with butter, and for snacks I eat cheese and tons of nuts.  Obviously not that healthy of a diet.  Major reduction of carbs.  No fruit, which makes me really sad.  I'm never hungry, which is nice.  I've started supplementing with a spoonful of coconut oil twice a day, a green drink powder I mix with whipping cream and almond milk, and fish oil pills.  Recently I added a really expensive multi-vitamin, and suddenly I've had some energy.  I can sleep again, and actually get out of bed and get stuff done.  In August I started exercising again, and so far I've done at least three times a week, usually more.  Mind you, just fifteen minutes or so at a time, but my arms aren't as flabby, so that's nice.  And the headaches?  Much better.  The frequency is really reduced and even the intensity has dropped a point or two.  The diet still sucks, though.

Good news, Bad news

Good news: not waiting anymore
Bad news: "Symmetric, reactive and well organized EEG while awake and drowsy."

So, why does my completely normal brain give me completely abnormal headaches?