1.30.09 - Yay Friday!

I don't know if I have always been this way, but I think I am turning into a "rut" type of person. Between my various internship experiences and now my contract job, I see a certain set of patterns that emerge within my week. I grocery shop on Monday, I fill my gas tank on Thursdays, take the dog for a good walk on Saturdays.

On Fridays we usually get a late new patient at work. By the time I finish doing the new evaluation on that patient, they are tired, I am tired, and it is late. I go home from work, I pack my car, run the dog around a bit, and head for Colorado. So on Friday I generally have no motivation to make dinner. There is a great little sandwich shop just a block from my house where I will sometimes get a turkey and swiss sandwich with a delicious cookie. This Friday however, I was the lucky recipient of the leftover bowl of salad from a lunch ordered in for a work meeting. For a change I actually ate something that didn't require any effort but was actually somewhat good for me!

New Project - 806pm

I will first be honest and say I am borrowing this idea from a story I heard on NPR. I cannot find a link to the story, but the idea behind it was to snap a photo each day at the same time. In this way, a person could capture the day-to-day memories throughout the year. A main point in the story was that most photos are staged, capturing special events like a birthday, a sporting event, a holiday party... But with these daily pictures one could see the more mundane, but not necessarily less significant moments that make up a year.

I know I will not be diligent about posting my pictures each day...and I am not sure if I am going to post a week's pictures at a time, or just a few with short explanations. But at the very least I figured this might be a fun thing to try.

My appointed time will be 806 pm. Tonight at that time I was laying on my couch, watching a dvd, and petting my dog, Mattie.

Patterns

I am buried deep within the quest to organize my life...

Despite having lived in Cheyenne for two months now, I am not unpacked. I promised myself I would unpack with purpose - with a critical eye to examine what I have, why, and what I can pass on. Slow slow slow this process has been!

Among my slow unpacking, I came across an old journal. While reading through some of the passages (from only a year-ish ago) I saw two startling things:

1. I am not a very regular journal writer (or blogger as you can see!).
2. Much has changed in just a year or so

Inconsistent though I may be - I will not give up!

As far as change, I find it both encouraging and discouraging all at once. While, of course, there are many things that should and must change, it is difficult to see those things that have, but I never wished to. There are countless examples of prayers answered: marriages, families growing, jobs secured...but at the same time, a year ago there were friendships in my life that I could never imagine being any different. In such a short time I feel I hardly know how these friends are doing anymore.

Fortunately, a lot can change in a year....

Update

I'm long overdue for an update - but I am low on energy and will keep this brief for now.

I have a dog - Maddie, my new little corgi, has been mine for about three weeks now.

I have a job - I am working a contract position in a rehab hospital in Cheyenne. So for 13 weeks this is my home.

I am living alone for the first time - ever. It is a strange combination of comfortable and uncomfortable. I have to get used to being around only me. The dog helps. I decided not to get tv. There are so many things that I've said I'd do "when I have the time." So far, I've been unpacking boxes....but presumably I'll do some of those things soon.

And I am still searching for what I will do once these 13 weeks are over.

I'll fill in details later, but for now at least there is something!

How much?!

I have seen the most recent numbers for the total amount that I now owe to the federal government for my student loans.

Part of me wonders now, had I known when I started college that this would be the total (growing total) that I now owe, would I have still done college?...grad school?

So at my current monthly payment, I should have the loans paid off by the year 2019.

.........sigh. Tara, maybe I'll be taking that $75/hr job in Alaska now.

craft-cocaine

I was in a discount store and saw discounted blank scrapbooks, and discounted papers, and discounted stickers and so on. For a very reasonable price I was able to purchase a book, papers, and a few embellishments - all coordinated to eliminate the need to buy more later.

I have come to learn two things:

* Scrapbooking takes FOREVER
* There is always something more that you think you might need to make the perfect page.

I am sticking to the discounted items....but let me confess that the checkers at the craft store know my name.

I've been tagged!

My friend, Tara, tagged me! Here are the rules as well as my responses:



1. I love to read. I really enjoy starting a book and being completely wrapped up in it. But I am terrible about finishing a book. Perhaps part of my problem is that I don't want an enjoyable book to end! So I have a bookshelf filled with books I've read - most of the way through!

2. I start a new job in a few weeks and am terribly nervous about being on my own. I am afraid that I will end up walking the halls of the hospital without a clue as to what I should do with my patients. I know this won't happen, but it is still my fear.

3. My most silly pet-peeves are drivers who drive with their blinker on, but don't turn or change lanes; and drivers who like to declare how big of a fan they are by placing a team logo sticker on their car - but are not fan enough to know how to put it on straight.

4. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. One reason is because many of my family members have November or early December birthdays. So Thanksgiving becomes a mini reunion as well as a great meal! Also, while many other holidays have become commercialized and involve the potential for gift-giving-stress, it seems that Thanksgiving is still about reflecting on all that there is to be thankful for and spending time with friends and family.

5. My friends are amazing. We all used to live reasonably close to each other, but the past few years have found us geographically scattered. Michigan, Utah, Hawaii, Louisiana, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota....it is weird to think that most of my friends don't live near me anymore but thanks to cell phones (I love the Verizon in-network calling!) we are still involved in each others' lives!

6. I have a fear of bears/mountain lions that has no real cause. I know it is good to have a healthy respect for natural predators, but I have never seen a bear or lion. I love camping and backpacking - so when I am in my tent at night listening to the sounds of the forest, I convince myself that it is a bear lurking.

7. I started knitting a baby blanket for a friend of mine when I found out she was pregnant. Her baby is now 7 months old. When I had another friend become pregnant, I thought I'd finish the blanket and give it to her. Her baby is now 4 months old. I have another friend who has carried and birthed her baby. Still no blanket. Knitting a baby blanket on size 7 needles takes a long time! I might not be fast, but I am persistent!

I am tagging: Bob, Megan, Andrea, Kami