I could write a hundred things here right now, but they all sound kind of whiney and complainy. So instead, I'll tell you a what I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful God doesn't always give me the things I ask for. He knows so much better than I do what I need, what I can handle, and what will turn into a curse pretty quickly. I mean, I can't be the only one who mentally spends $280 million every time I drive past the PowerBall billboard.

 And I'm thankful that even though I live sort of in the city, I still get to see pretty things every day.

Zzzzzzzzz . . .

Why yes, as a matter of fact, it IS 11:38 p.m. and I am still up. I figured while I was at it I'd just go ahead and make this day an even 18 hours long.

I don't have anything to say, just wanted to make sure everyone knew how long I was awake today, without any kind of rest or nap or break of any sort, and with no extra coffee either. Not even a cup of tea.

One of the things I do every night before I go to bed is check the weather forecast for the next day. It doesn't really change my plans since I know I'm going to work anyway, but I feel like I can at least mentally prepare myself for either crummy weather or being inside while it's nice out. Tomorrow is going to be sunny and 51°, a lovely mild day for January. It will be doubly awful since I have to work and THEN have a dentist appointment.

Oh, and here's a picture of that time five years ago when we got 18 inches of snow.

I feel better now.

Hmm.

I just spent an hour looking through old photos and I am more determined than ever to run regularly again. And do planks and squats and push-ups. And eat less. Wow.

In other news, I spent the afternoon cooking and meal-prepping for the coming week.

Does anyone else see a problem here?

Saturday happenings.

This day. Whew! I'm pretty sure the only time I stopped moving was in savasana at the beginning of the Pitaiyo class.

(In case you didn't know what savasana was.)

I started by making a list on the white board in the kitchen last night. More on that later.

First thing this morning I scrubbed both bathtubs since that's the chore I hate the MOST. But WOOT they're both sparkly clean. Did the rest of both bathrooms, vacuumed up dog hair, did all the laundry, ran two miles, did a Pitaiyo class, made copies for an insurance appeal, put together a pot of spaghetti sauce, and now I'm getting ready to iron 15 shirts (second-most-hated chore).

Here's the thing I figured out about to-do lists today: If you write something general like "clean the house" on them, then you only get to cross one thing off when really you've been working all day. So from now on I'm going to write "take sheets off bed," "wash and dry sheets," "re-make bed." Like that. Think of all the things you could cross off!

My OCD list-making self will be so happy!

So here I am at the end of the day feeling all productive and sweaty. And enjoying the sunset from the deck.

Also, you will notice all the pictures in the sidebar are gone. They were old and I felt the need to move the furniture so to speak, so I just got rid of it all. For now I'm enjoying the minimalist look.

Thoughts for a Friday.

1. My computer's demise has been slow but steady and it's nearing the end. A new one will be ordered this weekend. Is it crazy that the thing I am most excited about is a built-in SD card reader? I think it's going to change my life. No more searching for the camera cord and waiting for the computer to recognize the camera. Just pop the card in and you're there. It's got to be the time-saver of the decade. Heck, it will probably save me, oh, five or six minutes a year! It's the little things, right?

2. I used to think converting PDFs to Word documents was terrible, but then I had to deal with a PDF that was made with InDesign. Today I wanted to shoot myself. Between all the people in the office, we wound up with seven copies of the Word file, all made different ways, none of which will work completely right. I'm currently copying/pasting from two different files and the 278-page PDF into a new Word document. Next week is going to be a long one.

3. The photo above shows what I ate for dinner because Friday!

4. I have bought two pairs of comfortable shoes in the last two weeks. It's a podiatric miracle. ICYMI, I have bunions, which makes buying shoes that fit ridiculously hard. I've learned to look at shoes wherever I go even if I'm not in the market for them and that's exactly what happened when I was in DSW with Abbey the other day. I saw a big yellow W on a box, tried them on, and *ka-ching!* Like bedroom slippers.

5. This past week was the week of the very bad resume. We got about 50 applications for a position teaching ESL part-time with my company, and I was in charge of reviewing them and putting them in No and Maybe piles. We should have had an "Are You Kidding Me?" pile. First let me say that just because you speak English does not mean you can teach it, least of all to people who don't know a word of it. Second, here are a few pointers about resumes:

• Send your resume as a Word document or a PDF. Do not use NotePad. That's the equivalent of texting it to me.
• Use a spellchecker. Have a friend proofread it. Use capitalization and punctuation. Especially if you are applying to teach English.
• Keep it short. I actually got one that was 16 pages and I didn't think that was possible. Two pages max.
• If the ad says the job is IN Fredericksburg and you live in POLAND (the one in Europe), do not apply—the commute is wicked.
• Make sure the cover letter attached to your resume is actually for the job for which you are applying. We got letters this week for a law firm and a nursing position. We are a translation company.
• If you graduated from college with honors, spell them correctly. Sum Cum Lade sounds like Chinese food. (Hat tip to Leah for that joke.)

Happy weekend!

Six and a half months

I'm sitting here trying to remember what has happened in the last six and a half months that has prevented me from writing, and because there is no nice, neat way to write it all out with smooth transitions and all that jazz, I'll just list it all.

1. Work. That's the biggest thing. Even though I usually get home by about 3:30, I insist on cooking actual food from real ingredients for dinner, so there's not much time for anything else.

2. Leah and I spent a week in Atlanta in early August, where she had surgery for endometriosis. There were some highs, like when she was so hopped up on the after-effects of anesthesia that she couldn't find the button to press for morphine-on-demand, and she whined to the nurse that she felt like she had to hit the button with a hammer. And there were a few lows, like when she had a dystonic reaction to the morphine and her whole left side cramped up and twisted her like a pretzel.

3. Also in August, Mansquared left for his junior year of college, which will forever be known as "the year God made it clear he should not play soccer." There were several injuries, one of which involved a knee, but the mother of all junior-year injuries was when he was moving forward with great speed, planted his left foot, his left knee locked, and all the forward momentum of 192 pounds centered on the back of his hip socket, which did not react favorably. At 21 years old, he broke his hip. We joke that we're going to buy him a cane and a membership to AARP. So now he's walking around with a small chunk of loose hip socket held in place by the ligament. The specialist at UVA Sports Medicine says it will heal itself if he will just take it easy for 6 weeks. (Ha!)

And may I just comment on the wonder of a CT scan? The below photo was taken at UVA in about 6 minutes. The doctor pulled up this 3-D image, and with a click of the mouse, he was rotating it in different directions, showing us the break from multiple angles. It's the oblong piece just to the right of the femoral head, about 3 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. Amazing.

4. Multitudes came to my house for Thanksgiving, including the beautiful grandbabies, four of the five children (one with husband and aforementioned babies), brothers and sisters-in-law, parents, nieces and nephews with spouses and children, and a few extras we picked up along the way. It was loud and crazy but so fun and a wonderful break from work. So wonderful, in fact, that today at my desk I had a very hard time concentrating. It will take a few days to get back in my groove, I think.

And now I'm wondering how four things can take up six and a half months.

Here's hoping I remember to write before next June.

This weekend has consisted of way too much eating, from the church lunch today to the homemade shortbread and my mother's lemon pound cake. Tonight I feel like I never want to eat again, even though I know I will change my mind before tomorrow morning. 

I had a good visit with my mom and dad today to celebrate Daddy's 79th birthday, and then spent the afternoon making pierogis with my sister-in-law for an upcoming graduation party. Now I'm finally home lying on the couch and enjoying the quiet and hoping for a non-stressful week. 

Hope your weekend was productive and happy. 

Be thankful~