22 December 2013

Doctors and Do-littles

My time at home has not been going as usual. The main reason? I've been busy going to doctors' appointments: dentist, optometrist, physical, blood work, sonograms... 9 appointments in all, and two more to go. This is the trouble with not coming home twice a year anymore. :P And with all these appointments and all this running around (with winter driving thrown in the mix) I get home and am completely wiped of my motivation. It's sad: my purge has only managed to produce one full waste basket and one full box for the local goodwill, and maybe just a couple pounds or so of recycled paper.

But I am making a little progress, I suppose, bit by bit. It doesn't help that my Christmas presents still need finishing. Tomorrow will be my first time experimenting with a dremel drill, and trying to finish up my presents, along with finishing purging in my dormer. Goodness knows I need that space to look more open and less like a collection of piles of clutter, and despite my lack of diligence it's already looking much better than when I arrived. I've got half my Christmas presents wrapped up and ready to go (and out of the way), so that helps with the clutter, too.

I had hoped to be doing more on the exercise front while I was at home, too. Particularly on the yoga and cross-country skiing fronts. Well, the latter hasn't happened due to lack of time (and, since our latest weather craze, lack of good snow), and the former hasn't happened because I'm medically not allowed to for the moment. I had a mole-type deal removed from my shoulder and I'm not allowed to do any crazy stretching for awhile per the doctor's orders, lest I pop my stitches. Not to mention it makes wearing a bra terribly uncomfortable.

But it's not all humbugs here. Things are getting done, and they will get done, eventually. I've gotten to spend lots of time with family: my sister and her to little boys, my brother and his wife, my cousin Jeanette. I finally finished my fisherman's sweater - pictures will come when I get a chance, I promise. At least, given that I've been wearing it every day since I finished it, it'll probably show up in pictures sooner rather than later. Christmas is just a few days away, and in one week I will hopefully be bringing Jack back from the train station to meet my folks and family. But there's a lot to be done before then, so I'd better get crackin'!

Until next time!

15 December 2013

Michigan

My hometown looks like a Christmas card. Every time I look out the window: it's all so perfectly snowy, little flakes zig-zagging about, trees silhouetted against a perpetually grey, cloudy sky. I've seen both of my siblings now, reintroduced myself to my nephews, shared meals with my parents, spent an evening at my grandma's house, greeted the neighbor boys, and went to church to check in with that extended family. This weekend was all about relaxing and spending time with my family; starting tomorrow, the real work begins.

What work?

Come on, do you really have to ask? I could only be talking about one thing:

The Purge.

It's been about 6 years now since I first started the Purge, and I have to say that I've made an amazing amount of progress. But there's still plenty of work to be done. My dresser smells like unattended cotton, my dormer is still full of junk, there's papers from my last two semesters that I haven't gone through yet, I have books in excess of what I will read, and there's an closet half-full with my college apartment-living items that needs a hard looking-over. Yes, I've got my work cut out for me. Between that and doctors visits, family functions, finalizing Christmas craft-presents, and hopefully getting together with a friend or two, or at least chatting on the phone with some, I'll definitely be keeping myself busy this week.

The weekend has been nice, but tomorrow: the work begins.

08 December 2013

Snow.

 Beautiful, cold, crisp, and clear. I haven't seen snow in awhile. Granted, there have been little bouts of it during my time in Bodie, but not the real, sticky, snowman-worthy, slushy-drive snow that I would see back in Michigan and occasionally in Chicago. But that has changed. Our trip ended in snow. We stayed at Jack's friend Andy's house and enjoyed a good 4-5 inches of ever-accumulating snow. Perfect to pack, perfect for snowmen, dangerous for snowballs. The drive out of the Trinity Mountains was slow-going, but full of wonder - a true "winter wonderland" - as we coasted along the curves of an icy black river and snow-draped mountain canyons.
 Our epic road trip up to the norther portions of California is at a close. Now it's decompress, unpack, and pack for my trip to Michigan (where I will hopefully get plenty more snow!) and finish up Christmas presents for the holidays.
 The ocean in the north is beautiful and violent, but it gives good things. I want to see it more, and I think I will get the chance - a job at Humboldt Redwoods State Park seems imminent for the spring. Jack will hopefully be staying up in Eureka, and many more adventures will ensue once we both get settled again. For now, it's enough to say that we had a good trip, we're both tired, and we now have to buckle down for holiday travel. But in all the running around, there were still those still small moments of peace and beauty and enjoyment of God's beautiful creation, and those are the ones I'll be holding onto amidst the chaos and busyness of the next few weeks.
Until next time!

02 December 2013

Beautiful Things

 I'm on the road with Jack. We've hit up all sorts of places since we left the high desert. Venice, California, is a lovely boardwalk with lots of cheap deals on bikinis, shoes, sunglasses, and the like. Big Sur, the Slow Coast, and the entire Highway 1 up to Frisco was lovely, if not a little windy. Camp Meeker, as always was pleasantly beautiful, and the day trip to Point Reyes was an enjoyable little jaunt with some beautiful shiny blue mussel shells at the end. And now as we continue north, it's gorgeous. Mendocino County is rolling hills, big trees, and Fort Bragg's beaches gave forth something new and shiny: red abalone shells.

It's been a lovely trip so far, and unfortunately the last week of travel is upon us.

Until next time!