Truth Time

Health: I am back up in weight.  160 again on the scale.  It is very disheartening.  This winter has been pretty darn cold and so I haven't been taking the dogs out so much.  I had to buy another headband wrap for my ears last night. That wasn't what I wanted, but it's all they had at the store and I was desperate. The night before my ears were ringing and aching, making it hard to sleep. My hats just seem to let the wind blow right through and into my ears.  Which then leads to me being sick and miserable and not wanting to take the dogs out for walks.  Trinity, when it's really cold, will do her business and book it back to the house.  It's cute, because it's how I feel about the cold.

Relationships: I'm still feeling pretty lonely.  I'm sure once I start my new job, I'll have lots of new friends and faces and I won't feel so lonely.  I probably won't mind alone time once my job comes around.  I am also thinking of starting up a book club again.  I miss it! 

Career:  I had a massive set back this last month.  I was supposed to start my new job on January 23, well now it's pushed back until March 6.  I am ridiculously bummed.  By March I was supposed to be getting health insurance and having my savings getting bolstered.  The hold-up was my background check from France.  It's honestly a piece of paper with a line through it.  Meaning I didn't do anything wrong and they blocked off the free space so nothing could be added in the blank space. The background check company responsible for finding all of my background information, I guess forgot to do the French one.  Until the company I am starting with reminded them.  Then they sent me a link to request my background check from France.  It was 19 days before I was to start training for my new job.  The request says it takes 2-3 weeks to process the request (if the form, in French, was properly filled out).  That was cutting it close!  Then, the French government doesn't email it, fax it, or overnight.  They slow posted from France.  The company gave me a few days extra (the orientation day and safety instruction days were ones I could make up at a later date, while the other training I could not); but alas, it arrived the following Monday.  I am trying not to be upset or want to sue the pants off the background company (at least for the pay for the 6 weeks of full-time work I would have had from January 23 to March 6). Now I have that background check fully submitted to the company, I retook my DOT drug screening on Tuesday, now I just need to start!

Spiritual: I joined a DGroup (discipleship group) in the Fall of 2015.  It was a great idea.  We've gone through several studies: Hebrews, Revelation, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah.  We are starting one now, called The Truth Project.  It's a DVD lesson/book discussion study and we've only covered one lesson so far.  I was blown away by some of the things.  I never thought of prayer as walking into God's throne room and Him leaning His ear towards me. (*Mind Blown*).  Another thing that was said that hit me in the feels was: our beliefs will dictate our feelings and actions, it is faith and hope that help us overcome
our feelings (fear, anger, sadness, loneliness, etc.).  If I believe that my Almighty God has me and knows all the plans HE has for my life, then why should I fear or be upset when something like a late background check keeps me from doing what I thought I should be.  There is a plan and a purpose to all.

Words Power

So I really like studying lexicology.  I like learning how words and phrases came into being, but it is really concerning when television shows, with unlimited retakes, get sloppy in using phrases and correct word order.  I was watching HGTV's Dream Home 2017 today and the lady talking about the local culture, describing a church from the 18th century, called the windows "glass-stained windows." I don't know what color glass is or how you can stain something with it; because that is how she stated it.  It is stained-glass windows, because the glass is STAINED with color.  Another designer talked about putting art on a wall from "ceiling to floor." It just seems sloppy to me.  I love other languages melding with English, I like phrases developing over time, and morphology of language; but come on!

On the other side of the spectrum, I was reading a document that used the word "albedo."  I had to look this up.  It comes from the Latin word, "albus," which means white.  I kind of geeked that the implications of this would mean Albus Dumbledor was like Gandolf the White.  Anyways, albedo means the whiteness and reflectiveness of the white object.

COOKIES and Tests

So I had the pleasure of going back for my second drug screening today.  My drug screening lapsed because my background check didn't arrive in time; thus, I was unable to start my job at the scheduled time.  So I drove 30 minutes to the clinic and submitted my second sample.  The lady that was taking my sample today was explaining the process and training someone new.  It is definitely interesting having two people stand over your pee and discuss it.  Also, incredibly awkward.

Anyways.  I had found a recipe on...you guessed it, PINTEREST! I made up a batch of Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies.  We took some over to a family friend.  The few we had left disappeared!  My mom immediately requested that I make some more.  It took me a few days before I finally got around to it.  This time I made a double batch.  My mom giggled, and said, "so we have enough to last us tonight." I took a plate over to a friend that is eagerly awaiting her baby's arrival; nothing like cookies to soothe that anxious soul when your baby is a week over due!  We still had plenty for our house.  The recipe is really easy to follow.  The first time I made them, I forgot to scoop the dough into balls before refrigeration.  It didn't make it impossible to scoop, but doing it before hand made it a lot easier. 

 

Barefeet in the Sand to Heal the Soul

I am currently making my way through my Cultural Intellectual book.  I am not much for one single page of reading at a time, the way this book is set up.  I love random knowledge and facts, so I like reading this stuff.  I like reading in chunks.  So I'm about halfway through this mountain of knowledge. It's got 7 different categories from politics to music, from sports to literature and film. 

Anyways, I recently read a novel called Barefoot, by Elin Hilderbrand.  I really enjoyed this reading.  I was another gym book exchange pick-up and another one I stayed up all night to finish.  It's really been a while since I've just wanted to dive into books and escape.  It is so much more refreshing than scrolling endlessly through Facebook.  Which, side note, I was trying to stay off Facebook from Monday through Friday and last week was the first time breaking it since the start of the year.  It is bad.  I broke again today.  Excuses, excuses, my phone has been acting up and messenger kicks me out all the time and acts like I just downloaded it.  So to get my messages, I go in and then I get sucked into the vortex.  I just need to not. It really is amazing how much time you have for other things. Back to the book.  It was one of those "gets to your heart" novels. It's a multi-person perspective novel, so you see the story from everyone's point of view.  I like novels that give you the story from many different angles.  It just makes the story feel broader and well-rounded. 


The story is of three ladies that move out to Nantucket for the summer (which I just learned where that is the other day while watching the weather channel...nerd, I know; but it was on at the gym. I also learned where Montauk is located).  Two of the three women, sisters, and owners of the house their family has held on the island for generations.  The third is a friend of the eldest sister who has come to escape the city and some troubling relationship problems.  All of  them are dealing with issues and trying to solve them with "a little Nantucket sand in their shoes." The first day arriving on the island, they meet Josh.  He is going to school to be a writer.  The moment he sees them, he knows there is a story.  His path keeps brushing up against theirs and he eventually becomes the babysitter for the eldest sister's two small boys.  The story continues from there.

Nantucket and Montauk on the map, because I know you wanted to know

Friyay Updates

Favorite Song(s) of the week:
Favorite Quote(s) of the week:
"You have an aggressive need to lick." - vet about my dog as he was licking his head, and ear, and hands, and face 😏😄

Favorite thing done this week:
Puppy cuddles
Making yummy cookies and dinner tonight

Favorite show/movie of week:
Split was really interesting. 

Favorite thing read:
I've been hopping between a couple books.  I really enjoy my intellectual devotional.  I like random trivia knowledge.

Favorite event:
I got a job. I start training tomorrow at 7am!

Most inspired moment:
Yoga and lifting at the gym; feeling strong.

Thought(s)/Epiphany (ies) of the week:
Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming.

Weirdest dream:
I had one where I was three different people; well not different, we were all me, there were just three of us.  I was told I couldn't leave the house or I'd never be let back.  So I went back into the house instead of leaving.  I (all three of me, one of whom was mentally handicapped) went to the bedroom, the man that had told me I couldn't leave was apparently my partner/husband.  We all crawled into bed, but I was in a single bed adjacent to him and my other two selves. Then the light over me blew up!  He was going to try and fix it/stop it, but couldn't in time.  So then I was picking these long slivers of glass out of my feet.  End of dream.  SO WEIRD!

Juggling Act

Lately, I have felt like my life has been a juggling act.  One performed by a very poor juggler.  I seem to find a rhythm and think things are going well and then BAM! All the balls come crashing down on my face.  I was supposed to start a new job last Monday, but the background check company didn't submit my French background check until to late; it arrived this Monday.  BAM.  My finances are a mess. BAM.  It always seems to be one thing after another with the dogs needing to see the vet. BAM.  Workout multiple times a week, yet gain 10 more pounds. BAM. I'm trying my best, but it never seems to be good enough.  I keep waking up every morning, just putting one foot in front of the other.  I know someday it will all make sense and get better.  Heck, I want to go back to school to be a life coach and counselor , so I guess I better know what it's like to be kicked down by life.  Even if the rest of my life is like this, I am secure in the promise that what is coming next is way better than this life.  God's got a plan, I just need to trust.  I will praise him for my trials and my successes.  All of them are making me a better person.
These pities are keeping me going and give me a good reason to keep waking up.  They give me a reason to smile and laugh every day.  I love them so much!

 

Playing Twister with the Truth

It's so hard in these crazy times to not have something to say. I am slightly concerned that all this drama at the forefront of the news is a cover-up for something going on behind the scenes.  A nice slight of hand trick to keep us looking the other way.

It really is scary to see people twist and turn things to say/show exactly what they want to believe.  These are not "alternative facts," my friends.  Refugees and veteran care shouldn't have to be an either/or when billion dollar planes and wars continue and we suddenly seem to have money to commence building our "huge" wall.  Today I read something, written by a woman, saying other women were disrespectful for demanding equal pay because she didn't mind making less than her husband.  Her husband did manual labor while she was a nurse.  Equal pay for women is not that every man and woman make the same despite what career field in which they were working.  It is if I, a woman, have the same job, started at the same time, and my performance is equal to my male contemporary, we should be paid the same wages.  Not making a fraction of what my male coworker is making; even if that fraction is 9/10.  Don't change the context and don't say others are being disrespectful when stating that they deserve to be treated fairly.  I was never offended or jealous of my husband making more than me when I worked as a hostess and he was the chef.  I know he was in the kitchen busting his butt to make the most delicious and beautiful sushi I have ever seen.  My job was to smile, seat people, and wipe soy sauce off the menus.  But I would expect if he started the same season as I did as a hostess, that he'd be making the same as I did a night. 

I also saw a clip of someone calling into a show to ask why America didn't/couldn't vet Puerto Rican people coming into the United States.  IT'S BECAUSE IT IS PART OF THE UNITED STATES.  Seriously people! I admit that I have been ignorant in the past, am now, and will be in the future; however, there is this thing called RESEARCH!  Do some.  Learn.  Ask questions.  The only problem will be that "alternative facts" may become the truth in history.

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." - Matthew 7:12.  I wish as many people who claim to be "Christian" would follow this rule from the Bible.  I was devastated to see someone post that they have actually become scared to practice Islam in public because America is the land of religious freedom, only for Christians.  I am a Christian and I love America for our diversity and freedoms to practice whatever religion we choose. Christians are supposed to concern ourselves with changing hearts with forgiveness, mercy, and love; not judgment and forcing laws into place to try to remake paradise on earth.  In all you do, do it was love and kindness.