I get it now!

Crazy girls, I'm finally getting it. I get why you blow off your friends to spend time with the person you married, even though you see them quite a bit. I totally am understanding it. Currently I am ecstatically happy and obsessed with my husband. We have not spent this much time together the entire time that we have been married. I am more in love with my husband today than I was when I married him. He is amazing. I can tell that we are spending more time together too because we have been doing crazy things out in public that an average observer would not understand. I can't really give examples, but know that we look like crazy people everywhere we go. We are both enjoying each other's company, and that's wonderful because we ARE married to each other. I can tell that he's enjoying spending time with me as much as I am with him. We are finally learning how to sleep in the same bed together. I'm sure glad that we can mark that goal off our list after 1 1/2 years of marriage.

Here are some more updates on my life:
1. School is sucking the life out of me. Can I have a fast foward button please?
2. I need to be a better manager of my time. Do you think that has an affect on Number 1?
3. I am really excited about the 4th of July because I'll get to watch an AWESOME fireworks show.
4. My aunt who was so supportive during my mom's chemo has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
5. Daughter of said aunt (cousin) is due any day now with baby #2. I can't wait to meet him!
6. A good friend of mine in B-Town is preggers, Yay!!
7. I miss my bestie.
8. It's too HOTTTT in TN!
9. I'm taking the music minister's bride-to-be to a sex store on Friday. Can't wait!
10. My boss got a breast reduction, and I'm so excited for her because I want one SO bad!!!

Contentment

On Sunday nights, my Discipleship Training class is doing a study on contentment and learning how to be content with things in our lives. Yesterday was one of those days that I found difficulty in finding contentment. I have been the only one in my office for about 2 and a half weeks now. That means that I can't get my visits done, I can't sit in my office, and I have to answer every daggum phone call that comes through. Yesterday, I almost unplugged the phone and threw it out of the window. If there was a way to silence our phones, I would have. I am not exaggerating when I say that as soon as I hung up the phone, another call would come through. At one point, all three lines were ringing and I just had to let them go because no one else was here. I am not a switchboard operator!!! Then I had to leave early to go to class. Even though I was extremely grateful that he let us out early, I felt like curling up in a ball and crying for my momma. The fetal position is exactly the position that I got into when I got home. I was in a crabby mood! I ended up in bed by 8:00pm. I would have been in bed by 7:30 but it was still too sunny outside.

I need to go to my happy place. My happy place consists of water, warm sun, and silence. And no, a bathtub outside won't cut it. I need a beach or Potato Lake in MN.

Constructive Criticism

Growing up, I have never ever been good at hearing that I was wrong. I don't like hearing that I'm not perfect. I'll admit that I'm not perfect, and I'll even be able to tell you what I need to change. Don't YOU dare try to tell me that something I said or did was incorrect.

Today Shawn Smucker wrote:

Here’s a thought: let someone disagree with you today, and don’t let it affect your self-worth. Consider listening instead of persuading.

“You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do” (Ann Lamotte)

When’s the last time you changed your mind about something you are passionate about? Never? Ever consider that the odds you are right about EVERYTHING is probably nil?

Ummm...was he in my head today? That Ann Lamotte quote hits home for me. This semester I am taking a Religion and Spirituality Class and how it affects the social work profession. Basically, social work is an holistic profession. When we are addressing a situation with a client, we look at them biologically, mentally, socially, and on top of those: spiritually. I have to be able to listen to what they believe and try to see how their beliefs fit into their life. Are you telling me that I have to put my belief in God aside regardless of their faith? Yeppers. I have to educate myself in their beliefs, even if they are deciding to wearing a red string around their wrist for Kabbalah.

We have to be willing to listen and hear what people are saying they believe in and not shut them off because what we believe in is different.

Hot in Herre!

A wise man once said, "It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes."

I wish that I was able to live by that saying, because it's HOTT in TN!! It wouldn't be so bad if my office had AC. The downstairs does, but not my lair. I'm sitting as close to my window unit as possible which is causing the left side of my body to be cold and my right to be HOTT. Yesterday, I realized that my right side of my body smelled like BO while my left was flowery fresh!

Two thumbs up for me for getting up at 6:15 this morning to go running. I really enjoyed it and I plan on doing it tomorrow as well.

I have found a new best friend.

I'm not dumping my old one, but I found another one. Her name is Annie Parsons and this is her blog http://hootenannie.com/.

This is why I love her:
1. Her blog is called hootenannie! How can you not love that?!?
2. She's very random. Her blog is more about daily thoughts.
3. She is funny! Check out this vlog: http://hootenannie.com/2010/05/road-trip-recap/

She lived in Nashville, but decided to head back to Colorado when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. We have a lot in common, not really. But I'm a firm believer that we are kindred spirits and we would be really good friends if we lived closer. I have decided to stalk her until she is my BFF! Not really, but I would if she still lived in Nashville.

How many of us are jaded to the war? I know three people that are deployed right now. Do I hope that they are safe? Yeah. Do I want them to come home? Yeah. But how often do I pray for them? How often do we pray for our troops? I honestly don't do it as much as I should.

Now that one of my good friend's husband is deployed, I am praying every day for him specifically. A few days after he was deployed, I got word that a boy that I had gone to school with had been killed in Iraq. It home real quick for me after that. I didn't believe it. I had a crush on him at some point. It wasn't anything major. In fact, if I had to sit and make a list on all the boys I had a crush on, I probably wouldn't even remember him for my list. I remember him being very sweet. When he attended UTM he would come into the food court to see my friend Justin and my Andrew. Since the last time I saw him, he had been deployed twice, gotten married, and had a one year old son named Tucker. My heart goes out to his wife. Can you even imagine being a widow that young. Please pray for our troops, and if you get the chance please listen to this Tribute to Israel "Izzy" O'Bryan. It really is worth it.

Should I feel guilty?

Only three more days until husband begins working first shift. I am so excited about being able spend time with him.

I have to confess that I have always had a problem with guilt with husband/boyfriend vs. friends. I know, I know, I know that husband goes first blah blah blah...but really, I do have an issue with it. For example, yesterday I hadn't seen or spoken to husband all day long. I left for work before he woke up and he spent the day helping my mother get a new couch from Memphis to Dburg. (How sweet was that?) I also had my first night of class for my summer school that night. I got home around 9:00pm and he got home around 9:30pm. We were exhausted and we had very little time to talk before we fell asleep.

What was I doing during this time where we could be talking about our days and sharing new information with each other?
Well....I was on the phone with the bestie. The night before we had talked for 2 hours before we got off the phone at 11:00pm, and by the time I got off the phone with her last night we had talked for an hour and a half. I was actually laying in bed beside my husband with the lights turned off just chatting away. He had the TV on, but he had it turned down in respect for my phone conversation. He didn't even roll his eyes at me. I would have thrown him out of the room if he had done that to me. I honestly had talked to my bestie longer in a 24 hour period than I had my husband. Is that wrong? I feel incredibly guilty. He didn't express any frustration with me, but I still feel guilty. Here is where I struggle:
My friend lives 7 hrs away and lives by herself. I think if I don't talk to her then she will be moping around her lonely apartment where she doesn't know anyone else except me. I also want her to know that I am interested in what she has to say and if I shut her down when she's not done telling me about whatever adventure she had for the day then I show that I'm not interested. In all honesty, I know that if I don't answer the phone, then she will just call the next person on her list and she will spend her entire evening on the phone with someone regardless of if it's me or another listening ear. I just am so scared to turn into that person. You know, that person who makes her friend,mom, sister feel so unimportant compared to their spouses. But am I alienating my husband who doesn't really have any close friends to call and chat up the wind with about his day. I am my husband's person (insert Grey's reference here). I am the one and only person that he shares his thought and dreams and discouragements during the day. My hubby is not the only person that I share mine with and I'm not the only one that my bestie calls throughout the day either.

I guess I should be more considerate to my husband, but it really is a constant struggle in my mind because I don't want the friend to feel unloved. To be honest with my blurkers (blog stalkers) out there (which include the bestie), I don't think she would understand if I have one of those moments when I am on the phone with her and I haven't seen the hubby all day long and I am about to lose him to sleep. She does not like to feel put on a back burner. Does anyone? If I was in the middle of a story and sharing my heart with someone and they interrupted in the middle of a sentence and asked if they could call me back later because they needed to talk to someone else more important, I would not be happy. If I did it once, then she might understand, but if I did it all the time where would that put our friendship?

When your husband works 3rd shift, you have to schedule time together. I know that might sound crazy to some people, but you really have to. If it's not scheduled, then it is assumed that he will be sleeping during that time. If you don't schedule the time, then you will not see each other. I'm not talking about everyone being busy with errands or everyone getting things done around the house. I'm talking about daily not seeing the person that you love more than anything. It's Good morning, I'm going to work and then Good night, I'm going to work. Do you understand my excitement with him switching? I will be able to see him enough that I won't feel guilty when I run back to the bedroom for a gab fest on the phone.

This blog actually turned into something a lot more different then what it was planned to be. I wanted to make a list of amazing things I was going to do once my hubby started first shift, but it turned into something completely different.

Who has 2 Thumbs and is Really Proud...

THIS GIRL IS!!!!!!

If you have followed my blog at all, then you will know that I have been doing to Couch to 5k training. It hasn't been as steady as I would have hoped. I have had to press pause several times due to rain, business, sickness, and vacations. I have been stuck on the same intervals for about a month now. It consists of Warming up for 5 minutes, Running for 90 sec, Walking for 90 sec, Run for 3 minutes, and then Walk for 3 minutes. Repeat.
I continued with this interval for so long because I haven't felt that I have mastered it yet. I would do find at the 90 seconds, but I would struggle on the 3 minutes. Sometimes I would be able to run the 3 minutes, but I would be gasping for air at the end. This week has been wonderful for me. I have gone running 3 days in a row and I'm enjoying it. I can tell that the 3 minutes of running has become easier and easier each time. Today my calves are sore after running so much, but it's a beautiful day and I really don't want to jinx myself by not running. My plan is to continue these intervals until I feel as comfortable with the 3 minutes of running as I do with the 90 seconds. There is a big difference in 90 seconds and 3 minutes. I want to be able to not look at my timer and wish away the seconds.

Self Talk has been very helpful for me. Even though I might be dying, I'll look at my timer and see that I have only 30 seconds left and I have to really push myself to continue running. I drug Andrew out with me the other day and even he said that he couldn't remember me ever running that long. That meant so much to me because I am working really hard to be able to run.

I know I look like a crazy person while running my neighborhood because there are just certain songs that come on that you just have to dance to while running. I might wave my hands in the air or clap for a while. Another thing about my neighborhood that I have noticed is that there aren't many people who walk it. We have a great neighborhood, but very rarely do I see anyone walking their dogs or enjoying the outdoors. When we lived by the Country Club, I was always in great company with bike riders and other walkers.

Next week will be 5 minutes. I KNOW I have never run 5 minutes. One of my boyfriends (well the only other one I've had besides my husband) used to run a 5 minute mile. I'm quickly on my way to running a 5k!

I need the Hallelujah Chorus right NOW!

There are so many updates for my blog readers. I went on a great vacation to see great friends. But today, this morning, my husband accepted the 1st shift position at Walmart. Even though it's going to be a $.5o decrease with every paycheck, at least he will be home every night and he'll have Sunday's off. When he called me this morning to tell me that he was able to still take the position, after he had told his boss that he would not take it, I had a reaction that was unexpected...

I went into Oprah's Ugly Cry. I was literally sobbing in my office. Andrew has been working 3rd shift since we got married. We had our honeymoon and then it began. I didn't like it, but it was just something that we did and tolerated. I honestly didn't know how much I hated it until I heard that we weren't going to have to do it anymore. He will be home around the time I get home and he will have Sundays off. This will definitely make things more bearable since my bff left and I have to be creative to not be bored on the weekends and while Andrew is looking for another job. He won't start until next Saturday, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel and I will finally have to learn to sleep with another person in my bed.