Where My Head's At Today

I may be a little depressed.  Either that or I'm just running tired or maybe I'm coming down with something.  Do you ever have one of those times when you hope you're getting sick because then you've got something you can blame the grouchiness and listlessness on?

In other words, if I find I have a fever, I'll actually be a little relieved and say "well, that explains a lot."

Some of it may be stress, of course, but to a large degree stress is under my control.  There are always things I could wish were otherwise, but there are also always things to be grateful and thankful for, and I know God will shepherd me through even the toughest times if I just keep my heart on Him.  It's a matter of perspective.

But yeah, I'm a little cranky, and a little moody, and a little pessimistic, and I don't like myself like this.  Energy and creativity are definitely at a low ebb.  I should get myself moving--I'll feel better if I make myself be productive and active.

Unless of course I do have a virus or something coming on, in which case I'll probably go to bed with a book or maybe go watch some Mythbusters, cheerfully aware that it isn't really me and that I'm going to feel better.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

(Addendum:  I am running a low grade fever, which actually cheers me up tremendously.  I'm not depressed; I'm just sick and I can blame the attitude and the lethargy on a virus.  Plus, you get more sympathy.)

Face Time With Family

Adored Wife was telling me the other day that she liked to make sure that she got one on one time with all three of the kids, and I've asked her to elaborate on that a little more for a blog post.

She says there are three kinds of "face time."  There's the planned face time, where she deliberately takes one of the kids with her on an errand or intentionally makes time for a game of Farkle or something along those lines.  Then there's the "squished in" time, where you grab it as you can.  When she's taking both daughters to work (as happens sometimes with the schedule) she'll have Social Hurricane in the front seat and be talking to her until it's time to drop her off, then Basement Artist will move up to the front and she'll pick up the conversation with her.  Then there's the serendipitous time, when all of a sudden it'll just be her and one child and conversation or quality time will happen.

I suppose I do something similar with the kids, except that I have to deliberately make sure I'm getting "dates" with all three of them.  At this writing Basement Artist is the next one I need to catch up with.

We have to be very deliberate with this with our family.  Social Hurricane's various issues have in particular occupied so much time and energy over the years that we've had to be intentional about making sure the other kids weren't neglected, but SH herself is so much of an out-of-the-house extrovert that it'd be easy to leave her to her own devices unless we make an effort to stay connected to her.

Just one of the ways we do what we do.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

A Filler Post

Happy Thursday, friends.

I'm hoping to have something for you Mondays and Thursdays--that's kind of how the schedule is shaping up.

Unfortunately, what with one thing and another, it's been a very full couple of weeks and this is what I have.

There will be actual content on Monday. I promise. I shall get my self in gear.

Hope all's well out there, and God bless. If you find somebody who needs a reason to smile, try to help them find one, okay? Thanks.

Kinda Stressed Right Now

I'm dealing with some stress and anxiety right now and it's occupying a great deal of my prayer time.

It's mostly some issues in my financial and professional life. Interestingly enough it has virtually nothing to do with the family oddities that are the focus of this blog (except that the various medical things do add to the financial stress.) There's just too much month left at the end of the money and some things going on with my job that I can't seem to get on top of.

I'm sure you can relate.

I don't really have anything to complain about. I work with some great people, I eat regularly, and I have a roof over my head. I don't, when it comes down to it, have anything really to worry about. God has demonstrated that He intends to guide me and provide for me, and I need to learn to rest in that.

But everything has kind of come together at once, you know how it is? I was intending to make this a light-hearted post, maybe tell you some encouraging and entertaining stories about introversion or hospital waiting rooms, but I'm preoccupied by anxiety. Sorry. Kind of like the stand-up comedian who has to be funny even when he's having a bad day.

But James 1:5 tells us that if we ask for wisdom God will provide it for us and Philippians 4:13 says that I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me and 2 Timothy 1:7 says that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and sound mind. I just need to learn better how to trust in God in difficult times.

I appreciate your prayers, friends.

Hope all's well out there, and God bless.

Interviewing Adored Wife

Adored Wife has said that she wants to help with this blog, but she's honestly been so busy with her community theater show on top of everything else she has going on that she's not been able to get to it. Right now she's working in the kitchen and I'm surreptitiously interviewing her.

I've told her that I'm doing this. She says she can talk about what it's like to be elbow-deep in bacon because she buys it in bulk and puts it in plastic containers to freeze because it's cheaper that way.

She's currently rummaging around in her Tupperware drawer and says that one day I should do a blog on her infinite Tupperware collection.

AW: (Sigh) You can never find the right lid with the right container.

AW: (Sigh) I had this organized.

AW: WHAT are you writing?

I tell her I'm blogging and read her what I have so far.

Adored Wife shakes her head. She's used to me.

AW: I thought it was an interview, not a transcription. An interview would be much more interesting. (She hands me a big stack of bacon containers.) Here. Put this in the freezer.

I go and do so. Then I come back and ask her an interview question.

So, what's it like being you?

AW: Extraordinarily interesting. Hand me the potholders.

Interesting how?

AW: I do many, many, many, many things whether I'm proficient at them or not.

Such as?

AW: Ah, my brain's kind of, a little.....

It's okay, I get it. Whatever that is smells good.

AW: This is pasta. In the oven is quiche. Open the microwave.

I think I may try this again when AW's not making supper. Plus I'm hungry.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

Adored Wife's Show Goes On!

Adored Wife's show is up and running! What this means is that her job is in effect finished. After dress rehearsal the director officially hands over the reins to the stage manager. (In practice of course the director often stays involved with the production at the very least providing troubleshooting and moral support for the entire run of the play.) But I'm very proud of AW. She's been involved in theater, on and off, for decades in many different capacities, but this is the first time she's directed. She's asked for advice from a couple of good resources she knows, but this has all been very much her responsibility. And she'd done a good job, and she has a good show she can be proud of. And she's done it despite the fact that she can't recognize people's faces or often remember their names, and despite the fact that she can't always come up with the word that she needs when she needs it, and despite the fact that she's prone to anxiety and panic attacks. Add to that the fact that she had to have a bed in the rehearsal space because she can't be upright for more than half an hour or so without having to lie down a while to take the pressure off her spinal cord, and you've got an impressive amount of obstacles to overcome. Plus the play is hilarious. Congratulations, AW. I'm proud of you and I love you. Of course we're looking forward to the show being over so we'll get you back at home every so often. Community theater is a time-consuming hobby, isn't it? Hope all is well out there, friends, and God bless.

Adored Wife Panics

Adored Wife is subject, unfortunately, to panic attacks.

She knows they're not rational.  Her brain will latch on to some small thing, imagine the worst possible set of circumstances and outcomes leading from it, and go into an absolute whirlwind of worry, contingency plans, and near-hysteria.  Thankfully it doesn't happen often, but the only thing to do is to ride it out.  It does typically settle down after a few minutes when she has a chance to regroup and do some self-calming stuff.

It's just a little awkward when it happens at four in the morning and her loving husband is wakened from a sound sleep by a full-bore panic happening right next to him.

Okay, soothing noises, pats on the shoulder, talking her down from it until she can get herself under control, I can do this.

The only part about it that really bugs me is that when it's done she can drop back off to sleep in twenty seconds and I'M still wide awake.

Gonna be a long day.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

Social Hurricane Pushes A Big Wheel

It's not always difficult at our house.  Sometimes it's fun.  At one of our infrequent family suppers the other night we got to reminiscing about a funny story that had everybody laughing.  I thought I'd share it.

This was about seventeen years ago--Social Hurricane had just started early preschool, Basement Artist would have been in kindergarten, and Graphics Magician wasn't even around yet.  We were living in a parsonage in West Virginia, it was a warm sunny Sunday September evening, and I was talking on the phone to my mother.

Abruptly there was this screaming and hollering, and Social Hurricane comes running in the house, bleeding quite a lot from her face.

Basement Artist is right behind her, yelling "I didn't do it!   I didn't do it!"

I tell my mother "let me call you back," and hang up on her.

So while Adored Wife is tending to Social Hurricane's hysteria and significant facial abrasions, I try to get the story out of Basement Artist, who is still loudly protesting her own complete innocence in the matter.  I persuade her that nobody is blaming her for anything and we just want to know what happened.

What had happened was that the Artist was riding her Big Wheel on one of the church sidewalks and the Hurricane had taken it upon herself to run along behind her pushing.  Hurricane's foot got caught in one of the cracks, the Big Wheel kept going, and the Hurricane didn't.  She faceplanted on the sidewalk, losing quite a lot of skin in the bargain.  This was not atypical of her childhood activities.

The reason I can date the event so precisely in my memory is the next day was, of course, picture day at preschool and Social Hurricane looked like she'd washed her face with sandpaper.  We still have the picture.

But it was mostly the Artist's protestations of innocence that had us laughing at supper.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.