Time flies...
Well, it has been quite some time since I have written. I should not be shocked by this, but quitting the hospital has actually made my life more busy. The only difference is now I am (mostly) doing things that I actually WANT to do.
Since my last post (which was my last night at the hospital), a number of things have happened...
1. We bought a new car. It was sort of random. We had been talking about it for awhile, though Jon thought the process would take a good 6 to 9 months with us trudging out every few weekends to test drive a new car. I think his notion of car hunting involved a large spreadsheet comparing prices and stuff. Well, I made a spreadsheet of the cars we were sort of looking at, their prices, and the mpg. And then it sort of went to the wind.
Our friend Bill had semi-jokingly offered to buy Jon's car from us. He used to have a tC but it got majorly crunched in New York City and he had been living without a car for several months. A bit hard when you need to commute from New York to Philly for a job. Bill loved his tC and his OCD really helped us out in this case because he really wanted the same car badly. He even told us he would offer us the blue book price on it.
We had mentioned to my parents that we were kind of looking and my dad told us to head over to a particular dealership where he had worked with the manager several times. He called the guy and the guy told him flat out that it was year end and he needed to sell just a few more cars to pad his books. We headed over.
We first drove the Honda CR-V. The salesman there was very nice and handed us the keys and told us to take off in it. My kind of salesman! So we drove it. The seats were hard and the ride was a bit bumpy. It was louder than I prefer, and that was a complaint I always had about the tC. I am not very good at hearing stuff when there are a lot of competing noises. Road noise, in particular, seems to clog up my brain in such a way that I have to blast music or talk really loudly to really hear what is going on. So anyway, the CR-V was fine and it rode very similar to my old Jeep Cherokee. Fun to drive and all, but not quite what we were looking for.
We then headed over to the Subaru part of the Automall. We first took out the Forrester... along with 2 salesguys. It was certainly nicer than the CR-V with a bit of a smoother ride. You could tell, however, that it was built for utility. The front and area between the front seats was relatively open. There was not anything necessarily bad about it, but it did have a bumpier ride (less than the CR-V, but still bumpy). The seats were more comfy. Still, it just did not feel like what we were looking for.
THEN we took out the Outback. I pretty much realized that even if we left the dealership and looked at the other cars on our list, we were going to end up buying this one. However, it took Jon another 2 hours or so to decide this is what we were going to do. And that is okay... I mean, it was HIS car we were giving up.
It was decided though, and we have been thankful ever since. Hello winter snow!!! We have been very happy to have the outback. It is really great! The ride is smooth, the seats warm themselves, it is quiet, there is lots of room for hauling stuff. The gas mileage is still not what I would like it to be, but we can usually eek out between 24 and 26 mpg. We just took it to Maine this weekend and it was really wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that I slept for 2 hours on the way home!
We were lucky though... they offered us a fair deal. Our friend bought Jon's car. We had money saved up that we were able to put down on it. Our payments have ended up being pretty reasonable. Yay for us!
2. Jon turned 30. I held a surprise party for him that ended up being about 40 people strong with about 6 little kids as well. What we really cool for me was the variety of people that were there. We had d-town people, work people, altoona people, project people... it was just a really nice mix and I think everyone had a good time.
To get Jon out of the house, we had down our awesome friends D&S&D from Brooklyn. I told Jon that I had bought us tickets to see the Green Hornet in IMAX 3D before I knew that they were coming... so instead, he could go with D and I could stay home with S&D and have some girl/baby time. He gladly accepted and we rushed to get stuff ready. Jon is not exactly the most expressive of people when it comes to emotion. Do not get me wrong, he feels things deeply, but he does not really SHOW it. So yes, he was surprised. And it was good. :)
3. The twins were born. Jon's sister and brother-in-law had their twins on January 10th. They were alllllmost full term, though they had to stay in the hospital for about a week. Since then, it has been a rotating babysitting service up in NH with the parents pitching in to help. Jon and I finally went up last weekend and were able to visit and meet them. They were good! I know our relatives are feeling rather run-down and overwhelmed, but from our perspective, they were handling everything just great. It was rather impressive.
4. I have managed to stay on my gluten-free, dairy-free diet. Okay, so it is not TOTALLY gluten- and dairy-free, but I have drastically reduced my intake of both. I can say a few things about it... I did lose about 10 lbs. I am not sure if this was because right before I started the diet, I had the flu and then had my period, and was generally miserable, or what. But I lost it back in November and it has actually stayed gone. I cannot say it because I am not eating or anything, because I am. But I am now at this new weight. It is still kind of strange to me and I am not sure how I feel about it. I have been the same weight since high school - 12 years ago. And, yes, I had a bit of a chunky phase when I lived in Philly (because all I did was eat pasta, mmm! and be stressed out, boo!), but other than that, I have always floated between 125 and 130. And I am okay with that. Being at almost 5 ft 5, it puts me smackdab in the middle of the normal weight range according to my bmi. Right now, I am sticking at 117-118 and it just sort of strange. I feel BAD for saying that, because I know a lot of people would be really happy to be the weight I am. I am still in the normal weight range, just on the lower end. Think of it this way, though: I have been the same weight for all of my adult life and suddenly I am not. It makes me wonder if this is the weight I should be at or whether I should be up where I was. Either is totally fine for me, and it is hard to explain why it feels a bit uncomfortable, but it just IS. I do not want to seem like I am trying to draw attention to myself, but a lot of people have asked me if I have lost weight. The answer is yes, and it is weird. Should I be happy? I don't really know because I am not sure if I am healthy or not.
Anyway, other than the weight loss, I have noticed that I have more energy and I am sleeping better at night and not waking up to pee. Those are definitely good things. As far as my period goes... well, I can let you know later this week. Since I started the diet, I have only had my period once. This week will make it twice. Now last time, things were actually better. This time, I am not sure yet. It is taking it's sweet time coming after I took the ring out... so I am kind of like, what is going on down there? I am trying to stay positive and hopeful. Again, I am incredibly thankful that my school allows me to work from home on these days because the thought of sitting in my cubicle at work today is my idea of torture. Fingers crossed!
4. Turkey Wow VI is in the works for the end of March. I am not totally thrilled with planning it, but it has to happen, and we do enjoy it. I just feel like there is a lot of my plate, so I am not super sure I am ready to add this. Ahh well. Bring on the turkey and gluten-free stuffing!
5. We have not gone back to teaching bible study yet. The church has been a source of frustration on that side of the family for some time. The pastor, to be blunt, is NOT cut out for pastoring. His sermons rarely make sense (he tries to tie several stories together and make a point, but he never is able to do it), he is a slacker (they had to ask him to actually hold more office hours because he was only doing it once a week), and he communicates via email instead of actually talking to people. He also is very sneaky and goes behind people's backs. I have disliked him from day 1. Why they chose him is beyond me.
There have also been some issues with the youth ministry. No one in the church really wants to work with the youth, particularly the junior high set. I don't know why... because they are really fantastic kids. The guy who is working with the high school group is REALLY shady and he ignores the fact that the hs kids just try to argue with him for the sake of arguing because they do not respect him one lick. It does not take a seasoned teacher to see that. He also has a lot of "convenient" stories. Now, I believe God makes things happen... but this guy is a little too slick for me. What I feel deep down is that he is someone who was a troubled kid, became born again, and is trying so hard to cover up his unhappiness at himself, that he is FORCING the God stuff not only on the kids but actually on his own person... when deep down he is just not a settled person. And that, sir, is my FBI profile of you.
Recently we got word that the hs kids were bullying OUR kids for believing in God. Really? You want to make me give you smack down? Because I totally will. Our jr high kids are super awesome and they are struggling to figure out what they believe. Inside though, they want to believe, and I think many of them do. So when their older brothers and sisters are mocking them, it really makes me want to punch them. I cannot help but think this is partially the fault of the guy working with them. Since he is constantly at odds with them, the kids are just really really angry. I wish I could step in, but I am not sure I can. Maybe? Hopefully?
There are also two families who have seen the deficit in this church and have stepped in to make things go their way. And I applaud them for stepping up. The only problem is that their way is not really in line with the views of the church. I strongly feel that if you are going to teach (especially youth) in a church, then you should teach what the church views, even if it is at odds with your personal thoughts. There is nothing wrong with saying you have your own thoughts on the matter, but your job is to extend the will of the church, not extend your own agenda.
Meanwhile, Jon and I have been struggling with the example we set to our kids. As you can probably tell, I have NO interest in attending any service run by the current pastor. I get nothing out of it. But it is important for those kids to see us attending and learning and being part of the church community. So how do you balance that? How do you set a good example but at the same time, not be a total fake and liar? We don't know. Any suggestions would be helpful. We feel sometimes like we are the only sane people at that church who have the kids in mind and are not working our own agendas. So do we leave those kids to their fate and find a church we believe in? Or do we work with those kids and try to figure out how to set an honest example?
So I think this is probably enough for now... I am sure there is much more going on, but I need a break!
Since my last post (which was my last night at the hospital), a number of things have happened...
1. We bought a new car. It was sort of random. We had been talking about it for awhile, though Jon thought the process would take a good 6 to 9 months with us trudging out every few weekends to test drive a new car. I think his notion of car hunting involved a large spreadsheet comparing prices and stuff. Well, I made a spreadsheet of the cars we were sort of looking at, their prices, and the mpg. And then it sort of went to the wind.
Our friend Bill had semi-jokingly offered to buy Jon's car from us. He used to have a tC but it got majorly crunched in New York City and he had been living without a car for several months. A bit hard when you need to commute from New York to Philly for a job. Bill loved his tC and his OCD really helped us out in this case because he really wanted the same car badly. He even told us he would offer us the blue book price on it.
We had mentioned to my parents that we were kind of looking and my dad told us to head over to a particular dealership where he had worked with the manager several times. He called the guy and the guy told him flat out that it was year end and he needed to sell just a few more cars to pad his books. We headed over.
We first drove the Honda CR-V. The salesman there was very nice and handed us the keys and told us to take off in it. My kind of salesman! So we drove it. The seats were hard and the ride was a bit bumpy. It was louder than I prefer, and that was a complaint I always had about the tC. I am not very good at hearing stuff when there are a lot of competing noises. Road noise, in particular, seems to clog up my brain in such a way that I have to blast music or talk really loudly to really hear what is going on. So anyway, the CR-V was fine and it rode very similar to my old Jeep Cherokee. Fun to drive and all, but not quite what we were looking for.
We then headed over to the Subaru part of the Automall. We first took out the Forrester... along with 2 salesguys. It was certainly nicer than the CR-V with a bit of a smoother ride. You could tell, however, that it was built for utility. The front and area between the front seats was relatively open. There was not anything necessarily bad about it, but it did have a bumpier ride (less than the CR-V, but still bumpy). The seats were more comfy. Still, it just did not feel like what we were looking for.
THEN we took out the Outback. I pretty much realized that even if we left the dealership and looked at the other cars on our list, we were going to end up buying this one. However, it took Jon another 2 hours or so to decide this is what we were going to do. And that is okay... I mean, it was HIS car we were giving up.
It was decided though, and we have been thankful ever since. Hello winter snow!!! We have been very happy to have the outback. It is really great! The ride is smooth, the seats warm themselves, it is quiet, there is lots of room for hauling stuff. The gas mileage is still not what I would like it to be, but we can usually eek out between 24 and 26 mpg. We just took it to Maine this weekend and it was really wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that I slept for 2 hours on the way home!
We were lucky though... they offered us a fair deal. Our friend bought Jon's car. We had money saved up that we were able to put down on it. Our payments have ended up being pretty reasonable. Yay for us!
2. Jon turned 30. I held a surprise party for him that ended up being about 40 people strong with about 6 little kids as well. What we really cool for me was the variety of people that were there. We had d-town people, work people, altoona people, project people... it was just a really nice mix and I think everyone had a good time.
To get Jon out of the house, we had down our awesome friends D&S&D from Brooklyn. I told Jon that I had bought us tickets to see the Green Hornet in IMAX 3D before I knew that they were coming... so instead, he could go with D and I could stay home with S&D and have some girl/baby time. He gladly accepted and we rushed to get stuff ready. Jon is not exactly the most expressive of people when it comes to emotion. Do not get me wrong, he feels things deeply, but he does not really SHOW it. So yes, he was surprised. And it was good. :)
3. The twins were born. Jon's sister and brother-in-law had their twins on January 10th. They were alllllmost full term, though they had to stay in the hospital for about a week. Since then, it has been a rotating babysitting service up in NH with the parents pitching in to help. Jon and I finally went up last weekend and were able to visit and meet them. They were good! I know our relatives are feeling rather run-down and overwhelmed, but from our perspective, they were handling everything just great. It was rather impressive.
4. I have managed to stay on my gluten-free, dairy-free diet. Okay, so it is not TOTALLY gluten- and dairy-free, but I have drastically reduced my intake of both. I can say a few things about it... I did lose about 10 lbs. I am not sure if this was because right before I started the diet, I had the flu and then had my period, and was generally miserable, or what. But I lost it back in November and it has actually stayed gone. I cannot say it because I am not eating or anything, because I am. But I am now at this new weight. It is still kind of strange to me and I am not sure how I feel about it. I have been the same weight since high school - 12 years ago. And, yes, I had a bit of a chunky phase when I lived in Philly (because all I did was eat pasta, mmm! and be stressed out, boo!), but other than that, I have always floated between 125 and 130. And I am okay with that. Being at almost 5 ft 5, it puts me smackdab in the middle of the normal weight range according to my bmi. Right now, I am sticking at 117-118 and it just sort of strange. I feel BAD for saying that, because I know a lot of people would be really happy to be the weight I am. I am still in the normal weight range, just on the lower end. Think of it this way, though: I have been the same weight for all of my adult life and suddenly I am not. It makes me wonder if this is the weight I should be at or whether I should be up where I was. Either is totally fine for me, and it is hard to explain why it feels a bit uncomfortable, but it just IS. I do not want to seem like I am trying to draw attention to myself, but a lot of people have asked me if I have lost weight. The answer is yes, and it is weird. Should I be happy? I don't really know because I am not sure if I am healthy or not.
Anyway, other than the weight loss, I have noticed that I have more energy and I am sleeping better at night and not waking up to pee. Those are definitely good things. As far as my period goes... well, I can let you know later this week. Since I started the diet, I have only had my period once. This week will make it twice. Now last time, things were actually better. This time, I am not sure yet. It is taking it's sweet time coming after I took the ring out... so I am kind of like, what is going on down there? I am trying to stay positive and hopeful. Again, I am incredibly thankful that my school allows me to work from home on these days because the thought of sitting in my cubicle at work today is my idea of torture. Fingers crossed!
4. Turkey Wow VI is in the works for the end of March. I am not totally thrilled with planning it, but it has to happen, and we do enjoy it. I just feel like there is a lot of my plate, so I am not super sure I am ready to add this. Ahh well. Bring on the turkey and gluten-free stuffing!
5. We have not gone back to teaching bible study yet. The church has been a source of frustration on that side of the family for some time. The pastor, to be blunt, is NOT cut out for pastoring. His sermons rarely make sense (he tries to tie several stories together and make a point, but he never is able to do it), he is a slacker (they had to ask him to actually hold more office hours because he was only doing it once a week), and he communicates via email instead of actually talking to people. He also is very sneaky and goes behind people's backs. I have disliked him from day 1. Why they chose him is beyond me.
There have also been some issues with the youth ministry. No one in the church really wants to work with the youth, particularly the junior high set. I don't know why... because they are really fantastic kids. The guy who is working with the high school group is REALLY shady and he ignores the fact that the hs kids just try to argue with him for the sake of arguing because they do not respect him one lick. It does not take a seasoned teacher to see that. He also has a lot of "convenient" stories. Now, I believe God makes things happen... but this guy is a little too slick for me. What I feel deep down is that he is someone who was a troubled kid, became born again, and is trying so hard to cover up his unhappiness at himself, that he is FORCING the God stuff not only on the kids but actually on his own person... when deep down he is just not a settled person. And that, sir, is my FBI profile of you.
Recently we got word that the hs kids were bullying OUR kids for believing in God. Really? You want to make me give you smack down? Because I totally will. Our jr high kids are super awesome and they are struggling to figure out what they believe. Inside though, they want to believe, and I think many of them do. So when their older brothers and sisters are mocking them, it really makes me want to punch them. I cannot help but think this is partially the fault of the guy working with them. Since he is constantly at odds with them, the kids are just really really angry. I wish I could step in, but I am not sure I can. Maybe? Hopefully?
There are also two families who have seen the deficit in this church and have stepped in to make things go their way. And I applaud them for stepping up. The only problem is that their way is not really in line with the views of the church. I strongly feel that if you are going to teach (especially youth) in a church, then you should teach what the church views, even if it is at odds with your personal thoughts. There is nothing wrong with saying you have your own thoughts on the matter, but your job is to extend the will of the church, not extend your own agenda.
Meanwhile, Jon and I have been struggling with the example we set to our kids. As you can probably tell, I have NO interest in attending any service run by the current pastor. I get nothing out of it. But it is important for those kids to see us attending and learning and being part of the church community. So how do you balance that? How do you set a good example but at the same time, not be a total fake and liar? We don't know. Any suggestions would be helpful. We feel sometimes like we are the only sane people at that church who have the kids in mind and are not working our own agendas. So do we leave those kids to their fate and find a church we believe in? Or do we work with those kids and try to figure out how to set an honest example?
So I think this is probably enough for now... I am sure there is much more going on, but I need a break!
posted by FireWithin at 12:47 PM
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