I have quite a few topics I want to journal and once again have ignored my blog. I'm so busy I ignore my own self! Actually things are calming down quite a bit. I had a mandatory quiet weekend this past weekend and it was great! After an amazing event at WFP with some of our field staff (Muthi, Sherina and Claudia) on Thursday night Dane and I went to a late showing of Machete Kills at SoS, that was fun. Friday I got to chill out with Dane (who was feeling sick) and watch After Earth - good movie. Saturday I went to boot camp then spent the afternoon searching South Broadway for my Halloween costume. I'm going to be Alice as part of Steph's Alice in Wonderland theme. Got everything but the shoes, stockings and apron. I might just wear my black casual shoes if I can't find good heels for cheap. Stockings I might have but I might also buy. And I'll make the apron. Should be easy, right? :-) Stopped by my couzeen's house for a bit then moved on to home for a quick nap before I picked Jamie up. We went to Punch Bowl Social and had a great time talking and drinking and bowling. Then we cabbed to Cowboy Lounge and had a great time dancing (even though my feet hurt) then cabbed back to PBS and decided to go to Boyz Town - too much fun! Just had a few drinks all night so I wasn't all wrecked Sunday which was nice because I wanted to put up the Halloween decorations and knit some more mustaches for Tara. Broncos won (again, 6-0!!).
Now for the updates:
Janet Crawford brain/biology: I still need to dedicate an entire blog just to this. Coming soon, I promise!
Basement clean of 2013: Okay - Dane and I spent the better part of 2 weekends and some weekdays completely cleaning out the basement. We bought a bagster and got rid of all the boxes we've been hanging on to and donated a TON of stuff that has been lying around for years! Then we moved EVERYTHING and dusted and vacuumed all the surfaces - it was craziness. Then we organized everything into categories (need to access throughout the year and storage/seasonal) and put it all away in a manner that makes sense, not just wherever it landed. We even made a nice little library nook with the chaise cushion and big green chair. It's much better now. All this was done to prepare for Dane's mom and sister.
The visit of Dane's mom and sister: I don't really want to talk about it. It didn't go all that bad, but it was tough in ways that I just can't prepare for. They don't plan anything, his mom is sooooo sensitive to smell we had to rid the house of all smells (it's only smellz!), they are both passively antagonistic, I feel like no matter what nothing I do is good enough and I know that's probably my own issues and not so much real life but it contributes to the stress. The highlight was going to the Wild Animal Sanctuary - a place that is a haven for wild animals born in captivity. I was so moved that I "adopted" a tiger for $30/month. Can't wait to go back.
Work - relationships: Work is going really, really well. I've been having minor anxiety issues about a "certain salt rimmed Mexican beverage" returning to work, but have also been supported by other folks. It will be okay. Not sure why everything has to be so hard with the Beverage, but at least I'm not alone in my thoughts or struggle. In other news, things are on the mend with Los Otro. Small things have happened to help the relationship and I think the biggest challenge will be on me to keep it at a level it needs to be at and not fall for any bait. In a way, they brought it on themselves - they pushed it all on my claiming it's all mine to manage and be the expert - well guess what - momma's been getting educated and now you all are going to have to refer to me as the expert and follow my recommendations, even (and especially) if they are different from your opinions. Tee hee hee. Coping mechanisms!!
Work - New hire: So Kat has decided to move over to a job share with the Office Manager, still holding onto 10 hours in accounting for as long as I can make this happen. Because of that, I need a full time spot in my department. We posted for the job and a LOT of good peeps applied - I was not expecting that! I was thinking I'd have to settle. After a systematic narrowing I found 12 candidates to phone interview. Of those 12, 4 seemed promising to bring in. Of the 4, 2 especiallly seemed promising so I brought them in and settled on the one that stood out in every way. His name is Mark and he is really passionate about WFP and even spent time in the Peace Corps in Mozambique. He handled all our questions with grace and style, including my mad libs, checking app and superhero questions. He's a good guy. He was so excited to start that he met me the following night at Hamburger Mary's to talk logistics. We stayed till close (with Kat and Pyz) and had a great time. He started on Oct 7th and hit the ground running. I did not make a mistake in hiring him. He will report to Tara which will be good two fold - gets me out of HQ and gets T some good experience.
Work - Capacity: Now I have the capacity to really focus on the things I want/need to at WFP like the nonprofit trap, impact memos, grant management, rolling budgets/forecasts, financial analysis, etc. Plus spend more time with the field accountants - they need it so much and I'm happy to finally be able to provide it. Good changes coming down - I'm happy with WFP for now. Tis the cycle. :-)
Paleo "diet": Part of the Janet Crawford post will explain my recent research on the paleo diet but suffice it to say that I have concluded that I need to do my best to eliminate grains, sugars, dairy and processed foods from my diet as much as possible. Our bodies just aren't built to digest this stuff and especially not at the quantities I consume them. So time for whole foods that my ancestors would eat - mostly meats, veggies, fruits and nuts/seeds. In the short time I have been somewhat following this plan, I have seen differences in my appearence, weight and overall state of health. I can even tell when I have eaten grains (more that than dairy or sugars). I am working on slowly transitioning into this type of diet while eliminating the grains/sugars/dairy/processed foods from my pantry. Don't want to waste anything and don't want to go to crazy and cause shock to the system. I'm not giving up alcohol though. But trying to stick with wine when I can. I think I am stronger, healthier and in the best shape that I have ever been in my life these days. That didn't come without a price though - seeing Andy (now 3 times a week) definitely costs a pretty penny but with the results I've seen I'm not willing to give up on it. These days it is more about being/living healthy than just weight loss. Same with the paleo - this isn't just a fad, for me it's a way of life.
Floods: Colorado experienced a 1000 year flood in September - crazy. Boulder, Longmont, Lyons - a bunch of towns destroyed by the waters. We volunteered with Brandon (and his trailer) to help folks clean up their destroyed homes. It was rough but folks were in surprisingly good spirits. It felt good to help out, even in the little way we did.
Getting old: Dane and I are getting old. He just recently celebrated his 35th birthday (to put it in perspective, we met when he was 22 and I was 21 - we are only 1.5 years apart in age). I found a blog entry that I wrote back in 2006 maybe where Dane was quoted saying "I can't believe I'm turning 28 tomorrow - I might as well be 30!!" When I mentioned that to him all I got in response was a forlorn "FML" from his side of the bed, clearly under the covers and (probably) sobbing. Okay maybe not sobbing but definitely with a hint of perspective. Now let me tell you one possible good thing about getting older. All the young bucks like the idea of flirting with a "cougar." Now I'm not anywhere near....CORRECTION - according to Urban Cougar's Cougar 101 a cougar can begin around 35 but this is not necessarily the standard or norm. In fact UC introduces the Theory of Cougartivity which expands on the idea that being a cougar is more of an attitude of a sexy, confident woman who knows what she wants and is willing to teach than an age range or number of years of age difference. In example, a 15 year old boy might look to an 18 year old as a cougar just as much as a 23 year old looks at a 35 year old and so on. It's all relative, I guess. So with that - the nice thing about getting older is there are a lot of young bucks, or "cubs" as I have now learned is the term (though that's weird - that implies a mother-son relationship whereas buck implies a prey [cougar's perspective] or a budding male [dude's perspective]). I told Dane that now I get attention from men simply because I'm old - HOORAY!! Dane rolls his eyes. Whatever - he dated a 33 year old when he was 17!!!! I think I get to have fun with this. Go cougars!!
Peck: I seem to be on the long, slow road to recovery with Peck, which is good. It will be on me to maintain a distance that is sustainable for both of us and not bend to her every beck and call. I miss the old Peck, can't say I miss the new Peck and I'm sure she feels the same about the Crazy Work Crystal. Time to hit the reset and find a common ground where we can have a great time but still lead our own lives. It will be a challenge for me not to give in to her or let her take advantage of me but a challenge that I am willing to take on if it means we can get back on track. We are bonded together and will never, ever be able to exist without being involved in each other's lives to some extent so it is worth our time to make sure that influence is positive and healthy for us and not negative or mentally draining. Hoping this recovery will help her back off our mutual friends and not put them in awkward positions where they feel they have to choose between us, join in on the gossiping or just sit and endure a monologue where they can't/don't want to participate in the conversation. I'm looking forward to this.
South Africa: Dane and I finalized our trip to South Africa. We will leave Feb 15th and return on Feb 28th. Going to a 6 day safari then go on a 2 day hike sandwiched between some time at the beach. It has been a nightmare dealing with the travel agent but we are hopeful the end result will be a great vacation. It will be an adventure no matter what, that is certain!
That's all for now, hopefully I can work on the Janet/Brain/Biology post next before the bachelorette party, Couzeen's wedding and my parents visit.
