I feel better when I write about the things going through my head.
Yesterday I made plans to get up at five. This morning I laid on the
couch for a while before heading into the kitchen. I didn't have big
plans for the morning, but I went on a steaming spree so now I have
cauliflower, cabbage, asparagus, zucchini, yellow squash, parsnips, and
peas ready to go. I made chicken, stuffed peppers, I roasted a batch
of cauliflower, and I made sweet potato fries that didn't really turn
out the way I expected them to, but were still very good.
Last week a girlfriend of mine had sent me an email. We set up today
as a time we could chat, and I had a wonderful conversation with her
that spanned some new topics for both of us to follow up on. This woman
is a former veternarian. She's from Mexico, and she's being taken
advantage of by the company she currently works for so I'm glad she
applied for an opthamology fellowship. She said there were about thirty
applicants for the spot, she was a bit intimidated by some of the
younger women who seemed more poised, and prettier. We talked about
going to the gym, how we both used to do it, we talked about
vegetarianism, her family still eats a plant based diet, and how we both
tend to make excuses for ourselves rather than taking action.
Although I had sunscreen on during soccer, sitting through two
games was a bad idea. My left arm is the color of rare steak. I have
other red parts as well, overall it was enjoyable to watch my children
play. My youngest is much better on offense than she is on defense, and
I'm glad she got some playing time in that position. She really wants to
be the MVP, it's been frustrating for her because there were probably
games that she could have gotten it, she's timid, and I think that
hampers her ability to play better. My oldest had a pretty good game
too. Both girls have told us that they don't really want to play soccer,
they'd rather do other things, but we told them that they can do other
things when we see them putting forth a good effort and having a good
attitude about soccer.
There's a YouTube video that reminds me of the girls. In in, a
character is given outrageous things to do, and whenever he complains,
he gets more ridiculous commands. Eventually he accepts the things he
has to do, and then no more orders are given. Life is full of things I
don't really want to do. I read something about flexibility and the
ability to change being a characteristic that people want in an
employee. When kids complain in After School Care, I tell them I'm not
really interested in whining, and try to redirect the conversation
because life is fleeting, and the small things we complain about could
be replaced by scenarios that are much worse. We have the capacity to
change our attitudes, and I'm trying to become more aware of how my
attitude has been negative in the past with an eye to improvement.
I had a lot of really neat Twitter conversations last night. Today a
pharmacist wrote an article that I particularly liked, it seems I
stumble across people who write incredibly well, and I'm humbled that I
have some of the friendships I do because I'm not really sure why some
people are bothering to interact with me. I talked to my mom this
morning about the situation with my step-brother and my daughter. She
was a bit chilly, but I thought that the conversation went better than I
had expected it to. This morning I made a bag of mixed vegetables. I
also steamed a bag of green beans, and I served those for breakfast this
morning along with salt, pepper, and butter. I'm really tired of the
junk my kids are exposed to. I can't do anything about the food when
they leave home, so I'm making nutritious food available to them when I
can.
The girls didn't do their dishes last night so they ended up having
to ride their bikes to school. It's supposed to rain later on, I'll have
my bike too, but we're all washable, and we dry well too. My youngest
left her soccer uniform top in my car along with her cleats, shinguards,
and socks. I'm leaving it there for her to worry about because she's
not learning anything when I pick up after her. Yesterday we were ten
minutes late for church because we were waiting for her to get ready.
She has a tendency to procrastinate, and from now on, that's her
problem, not mine.
I feel really good about this summer. The girls aren't
signed up for any programs, so we have the summer to ourselves, and I'm
hoping that we can do a lot of swimming, reading, biking, hiking, and
getting together with friends. In my opinion, things I've done in the
past are starting to transform our lives at home. Most of this change
has been for the better. I thought the girls had taken some money from
me, then I realized that they could have, but there was no way to prove
that they had, so I'm going to have to return the money I took out of
their accounts earlier. That was a good experience for me. I feel a bit
foolish now, but I learned from my mistakes, so hopefully I won't repeat
it again.
This morning my daughter went to sit on the couch. She does that
sometimes, as if she needs a few minutes to sit there before she can
start her day. She put her hair in braids last night so this morning it
was full of kinky curls. She looks so different with her hair pulled
back, she has a very small face. It's delicate, and feminine. Both of my
girls have very long lashes, their eyes are a neat color, and they've
picked up some color from being outside this weekend. After soccer we
played a family softball game. I hit an out of the park home run which
was unexpected. My youngest was pitching, she's actually quite good,
better than my oldest who plays softball. My youngest is still afraid of
the ball, but her courage has grown. I was nervous about her getting
hit with a ball. She stood in front of a tree to pitch, and fortunately
the only injury was to my oldest daughter's ego after her little
sister's team won.
Since my oldest had been cooperative, and gotten her chores done, we
took her out for mini golf Saturday night. She beat her father, she was
proud of herself, and I was proud of her. My father-in-law golfs, and
I'd like for my oldest to be able to spend time with her grandparents
doing something they both enjoy. A while back a friend of mine asked
about a bobble head day at Miller Park. I said he could have mine if he
bought me a ticket to the game. Today I saw the envelope with my
tickets, my oldest daughter is going with me, and I'm super excited for
her to see our seats. My friend spent extra so we could get nice seats,
and I think she's going to love being there even if she has to give up
her bobble head figure.
I have a long ways to go, but it's nice to see that I'm trending in
the direction I want to be moving in these days. I'm calmer, less sad,
less angry, less easily upset, there's a lot of things that I just can't
really care about right now. I have to scale back, take good care of
myself, and that means making better decisions. Yesterday I was very
hungry at soccer even though I had packed a substantial lunch. I
borrowed money from my youngest, and I was tempted to grab candy, but I
bought an apple instead. I was still hungry, but that took the edge off,
and now I can feel good about modeling the kind of judgement I want her
to have in front of her. I have to work today, I'm really looking
forward to seeing the kids after a long weekend. Last week was horrible,
this week is already starting off on a better note, and I'm going to
keep setting my alarm for five until I don't need the reminder anymore.
More on my mind, but it's lunch time here.
Take care,
jess