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November! You Only Got Two Blog Posts!

Sunday, November 30, 2014

We can't have that!!! 

Quick, a 10-minute "I Want" Freewrite.

I Want:

  • To feel healthy. No more coughing, no more neck pain. 
  • To have a healthy husband. No more listening to HIM cough. 
  • To get this house tidy after a whirlwind last two weeks, with Noah's birthday party and a trip out of town for Thanksgiving. What a mess! 
  • To feel like I can slow down in many ways after a crazy November and let things drift to the sidelines so I can enjoy Christmas season joy with my family. 
  • To be more present, more joyful, and more peaceful. 
  • My sewing setup to be in the TV room again. I never sew nowadays because its set up way far away in my bedroom, and Joe goes to bed two hours before me. 
  • A really REALLY long hug. 
  • A really good massage. 
  • A better haircut. 
  • New boots. 
  • A fresh-air cleansing walk. 
  • Ten things OFF of my to-do list without me having to do them. 
  • The basement not to be stinky. 
  • To go to a movie. 
  • A cathartic cry, weirdly. 
  • A really long footrub. 
  • To be a kid again for just a little while. 
  • To be in Hawaii with my sis for awhile. 
  • To curl into my bed with a book for a full day. 
  • Some cider. 
  • To laugh until my sides hurt. 
  • To paint something. 
  • Someone to wrap this year's gifts for me. 
  • New bedding. 
  • Really long wooden dowels. Two of them. 
  • One afternoon each, to go back in time hold my babies when they were newborns.
  • Clarity. 
  • To be able to laugh things off better. 
  • To be caught up. 


Okay, November--- I'll miss you, busy as you were. You were good. Full. Bustling. Crazy. But I'm ready for the green and red of December now. Goodnight.


Wave of Blah

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Sometimes it just hits hard-- that huge, oppressive wave of BLAH. Things will be humming along--- a day well-spent, time for work, time for play, time for rest, kids relatively happy, content....home relatively tidy, ordered..... Things under control, sunshine shining, feeling rested and optimistic and even, dare I say it, balanced? when WHAM---one thing (or another) tips that balance. Without warning, a bill in the mail, or an email, or some news, or an unexpected mess or injury, or a disruption to the routine HAPPENS and the wave of BLAH crashes into me. Is this just me? 

When it hits, even if the "thing" that caused it is really quite small, suddenly EVERYTHING is thrown off-kilter and all the problems and messes and undone things and issues and self-doubts and even self-loathings rise to the surface and suddenly all that good stuff fades to almost invisible. All I can do it feel rotten, and less-than, and anxious, and BLAH. Perhaps it's a bit of bad financial news. Doesn't matter that it's about money, suddenly even my laundry pile is in cahoots with the money problem and both team up to take me down. What was, before the "thing", the sound of kids playing and goofing off happily suddenly becomes the most grating and awful noise in the world, like nails on a chalkboard, and I no longer have any tolerance for those little loud voices. The to-do list that was humming along suddenly gets at least fifty things added to it, things that have lurked just beneath memory, things that should have never gotten forgotten in the first place- a signed slip or a thank you card or a client request or a promise to a friend. 

That wave of blah is ugly. UGLY ugly ugly. Because it inevitably starts up that inner self-critical voice. And that inner critic is not very nice. "You should've...." "Why can't you...." "You never....." "You always...." "You're such a....." 

*sigh*

(insert that face Charles Schultz perfected in his Peanuts comic strip where those simple dot eyes suddenly convey total inner angst with just the addition of some parentheses marks.)

Yeah. That's the one. That's me when that wave of BLAH hits. 

Tonight, it hit for the DUMBEST REASON. Like, so junior high. I was skimming along, reading Facebook like everyone does.... Reading this snippet and that, when I saw a comment on a random friend's post. The commenter was another friend of mine, a newer one. And I realized we weren't "Facebook friends". And that, dear readers, was it. The "thing". SO DUMB. SO JUNIOR HIGH. But that inner critic dove in with the "Why wouldn't she be your FB friend? Maybe she doesn't like you like you thought she did. Maybe lots of people don't like you like you assume they will. WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?" *nag nag pinch pinch*

*sigh*


This is depressing for two reasons:
1. Because man, that junior high feeling of wondering if you're not liked by people DOES feel gross. 

2. But also, man.... how lame that it is a FACEBOOK FRIENDING ISSUE derailing me tonight?! I'm almost MORE derailed by the lameness of this junior highness than the original issue. 

Ha. Blah. Boo. Sniff. 

Anyway.

Point is. I've been derailed, which then makes me feel like:
1. why am I so lame? 2. Why can't I be fully content with the bounty of friends I DO have? RIGHT?!?! 3. Maybe I'll blog-vent. 4. Why have I not blogged since November 7th?! 5. Why can't I get my crap together in that regard? I love blogging! How hard is it to be more consistent? 6. Oh yeah, because I feel that dumb need to have PHOTOS for any and all blog posts and 7. I am 100 years behind on sorting, editing, hell, TAKING personal photos so 8. of course they're not ready to blog so 9. That's why I am doing so badly on the blogging front. 10. which reminds me, I am ALSO behind on 11. dresses for Jess's kiddos 12. prepping prints for x,y and z clients to deliver/mail 13. emailing x, y, and z clients back 14. and oh CRAP I *did* manage to complete my bookkeeping to determine sales tax for MO owed, but I STILL HAVEN'T PAID THAT TAX! 15. and wait, I might be out of money if they need more than I think I owe 16. I need to email a, b, and c potential clients to follow up to see if they want to book, because if they do, I could use that money for the taxes and 17. wait, I also have that one idea for that one friend I really have meant to do for, like, TWO years now, and suddenly its almost Christmas again and I have STILL not done it and 18. why don't I sew for Lucy as much as I used to? one day she'll be way too cool for mom-homemade, so I'm WASTING this window of opportunity and 19. oh gosh, her evaluation today. Is she going to always be shy like this? How will that affect her LIFE? Her self-WORTH? 20. Will she throw up tonight, since Quinn threw up last night? 21. I hope if she's gonna get sick, it's tonight, so we are not worrying about germs when Noah has his birthday party on Saturday 22. I have about 25 things I need to do for that party. Dang it. 23. Why am I still blogging? 24. I have a client minisession I have GOT to crank out tonight before I can even THINK of stepping away from the computer to work on party things and 25. I suck at everything. 

See?

This headspace is ...................well, it's exhausting, if not downright toxic. 

So anyway. 

Dear Facebook girl that never added me as a friend: 
I hope you like me. But if you don't, I don't have any more space in this head for thinking about it, and it's not worth the energy anyway. It makes me feel like a doofus for worrying about it. And I am exhausted from the wave of BLAH that ensued. So I am putting it down here on "paper" and then setting it free and then I am going to get to work on that minisession and listen to some Alison Krauss and I am going to tell the inner critic to shut her face, maybe list 5 things I like about myself, then move along. 

Dear Wave of Blah: 

I got some skillz and I can push back. You can't have me tonight. 

Love, 

Em. Who might be a loon. And is definitely a doofus. But can never be accused of not being real, yo.

Some October Moments in IPhotos

Friday, November 7, 2014


October in Instagrams/iPhotos
(Left to right, starting with top row) 

1, 2, 3: Noah's first grade field trip to Purina Farms. Quinn and I tagged along, and Noah got to milk a cow. (Fun fact: I sprained my neck and it has only just now begun to feel better. Five weeks later.) 4: Quinn needed a haircut. I kind of liked his ponytail days. haha. 

5. Lucy at her 3-year-old screening. I'm a little worried about her expressive language, so we're moving forward with more evaluations. 6. Jamberry Regional Conference- long, fun, inspiring day! 7, 8, 9: OLW Hootenanny in Indiana with 15 other mama friends.Soul-filling.

10, 11: Lucy's preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch. Gorgeous day, in spite of the mud. 12: Leaves are falling in abundance in our yard, and the kids have loved some good leaf pile playtime. 

13: Noah's leaf heart. 14: We bought 2015 Season Passes to Six Flags in Sept, and they were good to use the rest of 2014's season. Noah got to go three times! Once with all of us, once with just Dad, and this time with just me. Halloween decorations were in full swing. So fun! 15: Noah's pumpkin drawing for the Trunk-or-Treat. They drew his name and he won a 1-lb Snickers bar as a prize! 16: Lucy at the trunk-or-treat. She was like the almost the whole first half. *sigh* Three-year-old-ness at it's finest. 

Not shown-- my sister Beckie's awesome visit here from HI. My repeat visits to dr., chiropractor, massage therapist for my poor neck. Various photo sessions and other work. Lazy days. Bad hair days. Joe, though he is so important to us! (Note to self: take more iPhotos of Joe.) Etc. But these are a good smattering of October moments for now.... :) 

Happy Friday!

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