2022 Resolutions, Plans, and Let's See Where Life Takes Us

I was deleting clutter from my phone's pictures during the odd limbo of After-Christmas and Before-New Year's week, and started off by deleting screenshots since many of those had to do with my old job. The oldest screenshot I have on my phone is from February 6, 2015. It is a random paragraph from a random list on a random website I no longer visit (StumbleUpon), and the random paragraph says the following: 

Move towards what you want rather than away from what you don't: Make sure that your dominant actions are occurring because you want something to happen, rather than because you are afraid of what might happen. For example, call your Mom when you want to talk to her, not when you are afraid she will get mad at you for not calling. Moving because of fear creates more fearful experiences. Moving because of your dreams makes more dreams happen. Move mindfully. 

 This has been on my mind ever since that day. I never remember the full quote verbatim, but I remember the general idea to act because I want a positive outcome, not a negative one. I think it has given my days a little more spark than before, and that tense day-to-day, continuous buzzing in my head has definitely toned down. Of course, that could also have to do with the fact that I gave myself about 2 weeks off from work, and even though my household was plagued with some horrid, miscellaneous gastrointestinal virus for the last week of 2021, it was so refreshing to just be Mom and nothing else. 

As I buckle down to face 2022 and the intimidating dreams (ahem, plans.) I have for this year, I want the Move Mindfully adage to be my number 1 resolution. It helps even on the small stuff. Especially on the small stuff. Daily example: In about 15 minutes I will go wash my dishes because I like having a clean kitchen to work with and I deserve it. I will not go wash my dishes because they've been sitting there for 2 days and I'm disgusting. Mindfulness matters. 

I feel like life has me in a little bit of a limbo right now, and not sure where my plans are headed. This is the first year since I became a teenager that I don't remember having a set list of resolutions, goals, or even wishes to achieve, so I took a few minutes to think of how I'd like my year to go, strictly based on previous years. 

1. Move Mindfully
2. Read 42 new books
3. Pay off our new windows, $7,300 by November
4. Save between $10,000 and $16,000 depending on both of our jobs throughout the year
5. Declutter 1 room of my house each month 
6. Send at least 25 items to Amazon FBA every week
7. Drink 1 bottle of water with 1 meal each day
8. Blog at least once every quarter

Quick "How much can I type before my children wake up" Excercise

 Bro how do you even spell exercise? I used to be great at spelling until I started typing everything into a text instead of a Word file. 

Anyway, welcome lost and displaced reader, I don't know why you ended up on this blog, but it is in dire need of repairs. Let me begin by introducing myself with random bullet points because everyone loves lists: 

• Who, what, when, where, why-type of statements:

• I'm an almost-32 year old mom of 2
• #boymom
• #whereisthatsmellcomingfrom
• Other than motherhood, I also dilly dally on Amazon FBA and work in the solar industry
• #bossbabe? sometimes.
• #workfromhomehotmess
• #pleasebuysolarfromme
• Corpus Christi Texas! Love the endless supply of fast food, hate the humidity
• #alsopeoplehereareprettycool
• #letsgohooks
• #pleaseuseturnsignals
• Started this blog in the good ole days when I had no children and ample amount of free time
• #andthenlifegotbusy
• #andigotlesscreative
• #butimisstypingforfun
• Why did I decide to remove the cobwebs from this url and poke at my keyboard? My kids are asleep, I took a random mid-day shower out of boredom, and with no child fights outside my door to listen to, my brain had some free time to just wander, and arrived at this destination. 
• Not a useless hashtag, but now I'm finally realizing why I haven't blogged in so long! 
• I used to blog because I loved the feeling of typing on super thin laptop keys, and when I switched to a desktop, it stopped being physically satisfying to click at keys super fast. 
• Too bad, I'm committed now, I must finish. 

• Random things I love, collect, or hoard: 

• Laundry detergent
• Harry Potter Funko Pops
• Soups and sandwiches
• Scented candles
• but no vanilla-y scents, that's gross
• Comfy sandals
• Really dark sunglasses 
• Comfy joggers 
• with pockets!
• Jigsaw puzzles
• Monopoly games
• Notebooks, planners, and pretty pens
• Cherry sodas
• Books, ebooks, audiobooks, bookshelves, book quotes, book decor, & anything book related

• Random things I'd love to learn more about:

• HowToFileTaxes
• Phlebotomy
• cleaning hacks
• Kid-friendly dinner recipes
• Genetics
• When does a theory stop being a theory and become a law? 

• Random things I don't care for, don't know how to do, or intimidate me:
• celery
• interior decorating
• manual driving
• plants of any kind
• mint chocolate
• too much socializing
• shoes with heels
• earrings

Oh crap, kids woke up, I must leave again, peace! 

Goodbye Again

It's been almost 12 months of P working away from us, from home, and although the monthly goodbyes have gotten smoother, they have not gotten easier. A thought crossed my mind as I walked him out to his truck today, carrying his work boots.

It's like when you get a cold and your nose is all stuffy, and you have to breathe through your mouth at night to get some sleep, and it takes FOREVER to fall asleep because your body is like "Wait, that's not right, that's not how it goes. This is not the normal, perfectly measured amount of air we normally intake as we sleep, and I don't like it so I'm going to stay awake until it gets fixed."
Technically, everything is fine with your body. You're not dying. You're not asphixiating. Respiration goes as normal. The only difference is that your nose is clogged up and booger-y, so your mouth is open and drooly and your throat gets dry from the constant inhaling and exhaling. But thats NOT how it's supposed to go, dammit. Then you think about how ungrateful you've been every night of your life for never thanking your nose for supplying you with perfect amount of air to fall asleep to.

When P is home, I can finally use my nose again. We fall into completeness, and we get to living. And the days pass by so damn fast that I forget to be grateful that both mouth and nose are available to breathe.

And then the weekend is over, and it's time to say goodbye again, and time to settle down and re-learn how to live without a nose. Life goes on pause, existing but not truly living. Of course, E makes it much livelier than it's been in the past, but he misses daddy too. One day, hopefully sooner than later, we will all live in the same zip code and it will be amazing.

Sincerely,
Perpetual Mouthbreather

The Woes of Psychological Triggers

So I've been a little more absent from blog writing than I meant to be, especially with my goal of keeping a pregnancy journal and all. I am almost at the end of my first trimester, and several of my worst symptoms are becoming less uncomfortable as the days go on, therefore I can finally bring myself back to writing. Here's why:

During the first two-ish months, I felt so sick, congested, tired, and nauseated all the time that I internally came close to hysterics and secretly wished I was not pregnant and didn't have to carry this baby for a whole 9 months. I actually hated any thought that had to do with babies, and truly felt like the worst person imaginable, like a monster who wouldn't love her baby.
Time has passed, and so have several symptoms, and now I am clearheaded enough to realize what was going on... it was all in my head. For several seemingly never-ending weeks I associated everything that had to do with my pregnancy with the feelings of sickness, nausea, and overall disgust at almost everything imaginable. My usually very logical brain got it's butt kicked by a storm of hormones and could only make one (most irrational) connection:

baby things = bad, sick feelings

Yeah, I thought I was going crazy. I sort of was, a little... it was just a psychological trigger. For weeks on end the sight of the toilet, the kitchen trash can, raw meat, and eggs triggered something which instantly made me throw up. We have a vanilla-scented Glade plug-in in our bathroom, and I associated bathroom with nausea so much that now the smell of vanilla also triggers nausea... crazy huh? So the reason I've been away from my blog is that reading the words "The Prego Diaries" also triggered that sick feeling! It doesn't so much any more, so I think I can safely return to my writing and venting without endangering my keyboard with violent vomiting... hopefully. 

In conclusion, I am becoming more rational and less hormonal by the day, so I am assuring myself that I love this baby more than I can express, and that baby things DO NOT equal bad, sick feelings. That phase is almost over, thank goodness. Turns out I'm not a monster after all, I was just crazy. 

Change is Coming...

Alright, so I've decided to tweak my blog here and there because I've fallen out of the habit of posting anything, and I'd really like to pick it up again. Some things are leaving and BIG things are coming, but it will be at least a month before most of them get published.
For now, we can say good bye to the following:

• the deal with dale : Work has become so routine and mind numbing that I really can't find anything funny to post about anymore, sad but true. Life outside of the office is still wonderful though, no worries. I'm a bit sad to let this one go, since it was the initial inspiration for blogging, but it's time to cut ties. 
• couponing : I know I sometimes get pretty excited about my shopping trips, but the fact is that I have gotten so proficient at couponing that it is now second nature and not that big a deal anymore. I have a continuously growing stockpile purchased with minimal out of pocket money, and no longer see the need to post things up. 
• Quote of the Month page : I love quotes and they are everywhere I look, so I think I want to change this page into something called In My Bookshelf. This will be a page dedicated to a book or books that I am currently obsessed with. No more than 5 at a time, probably. It depends on how booky I'm feeling. 

And we can welcome at least one new blog topic:

• a life of adventures : Ok so my life isn't that adventurous, it's gotten a bit boring, actually. But I do know that once in a while something crazy happens and I just need to write about it. Usually I'm living vicariously through my husband's work travels, but some other times I'm really doing something fun! Something tells me that 2015 is going to be a rather venturesome year. 

I know posts that don't have anything but words kinda suck, so I'm posting this picture to add some visual. It's the cover of a book of an author I recently discovered and fell in love with. 

Moving Furniture: A Need For Newness

     For the past few days, P and I have woken up to a rather horrible doggy smell all over our living room. I didn't know what was causing it until I saw just how often I was emptying out my vacuum, and then realized Venom must be shedding. Ewww. Dog hair everywhere. Literally everywhere. 

     As soon as I got home yesterday I began a vicious attack on every surface in our living room, set our air purifier to working overtime, and lit some scented candles. As often is the case, as soon as I started cleaning, I couldn't stop. I vacuumed, and vacuumed, and vacuumed. Then I single-handedly moved our extra-heavy sofas and my book-packed shelves and vacuumed underneath those. I ripped the covers off all of our sofa cushions & pillows and threw them into the washer, and then vacuumed some more until my faithful little Dyson could go no further. By the time P arrived home from work, everything we owned was out of place... but it was clean.  

     Our extra-heavy sofa ended up against a different wall, so rather than push it back to it's original location, I voiced the idea of leaving it be and rearranging everything else. P seemed creative and willing to help, so after much shoving, pulling, doorway maneuvering, and Hulk-like roars, we got everything in place. And it feels wonderful. I know it's the same old stuff we've always had, but something about new layout and the clean state of everything just invigorates me.      I was almost sad that I had to leave the living room and go cook dinner while P wrestled the sofa covers back on, and that we only had 1 hour of sitting in our "new" living room before it was time to go play some volleyball with our friends. Isn't it great what a small change of scenery can do? Here are my thoughts on why it's a good idea to switch things up a bit now and then:

• Ergonomic opportunities. I've been living in a semi-annoyed state for an entire year because our previous setup didn't have any surfaces for us to place the TV and Xbox remotes, so they were always lost between the couch, or tossed on the floor. I couldn't get P to ever pick them up, so now our set-up is such that there is always a table close by, no matter where you sit. Yay for more neatness.
• Breaking the habit. Oilfied jobs are going downhill these days. P has been home A LOT in the past month or so, and I had grown tired of coming home to him laying in the exact same position on the same couch every day. Thankfully, he now has a job... and a couple of other options of where to sit should he ever have that kind of free time again. 
• The "New" Mentality, without the price. You know how when you buy a new car you try extra hard to keep it clean and fresh and don't-you-DARE-eat-a-hot-dog-in-here? Same principle. I'm excited to just sit and enjoy my living room because it feels new, but it's really just my same old stuff. I want to keep it looking neat, keep the cushions off the floor, and rearrange the pictures on my walls. Above all, I'm downright happy that I created such an atmosphere so easily. 

Please Hear What I Am Not Saying

A short time ago I had a deep talk with a friend and I opened up about many things that were troubling me. This person thanked me ardently for speaking up and allowing them to help, and they said "when I see you, I see a person SCREAMING inside and nobody listening, and I'm glad you finally opened up and told someone about it." 

I didn't realize my emotions showed up that much... I suppose I'm not as masked as I thought I was.
Anyhow, those words remind me of a poem I once read, and I wanted to post it up here so that I don't have to go hunting it down again later. It's very powerful, please read:

Please Hear What I'm Not Saying
Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
for I wear a mask, a thousand masks,
masks that I'm afraid to take off,
and none of them is me. 

Pretending is an art that's second nature with me,
but don't be fooled,
for God's sake don't be fooled.
I give you the impression that I'm secure,
that all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well as without,
that confidence is my name and coolness my game,
that the water's calm and I'm in command
and that I need no one,
but don't believe me.
My surface may seem smooth but my surface is my mask,
ever-varying and ever-concealing.
Beneath lies no complacence.
Beneath lies confusion, and fear, and aloneness.
But I hide this. I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness exposed.
That's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant sophisticated facade,
to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows. 

But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only hope,
and I know it.
That is, if it's followed by acceptance,
if it's followed by love.
It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself,
from my own self-built prison walls,
from the barriers I so painstakingly erect.
It's the only thing that will assure me
of what I can't assure myself,
that I'm really worth something.
But I don't tell you this. I don't dare to, I'm afraid to.
I'm afraid your glance will not be followed by acceptance,
will not be followed by love.
I'm afraid you'll think less of me,
that you'll laugh, and your laugh would kill me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing
and that you will see this and reject me. 

So I play my game, my desperate pretending game,
with a facade of assurance without
and a trembling child within.
So begins the glittering but empty parade of masks,
and my life becomes a front.
I idly chatter to you in the suave tones of surface talk.
I tell you everything that's really nothing,
and nothing of what's everything,
of what's crying within me.
So when I'm going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I'm saying.
Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying,
what I'd like to be able to say,
what for survival I need to say,
but what I can't say. 

I don't like hiding.
I don't like playing superficial phony games.
I want to stop playing them.
I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me
but you've got to help me.
You've got to hold out your hand
even when that's the last thing I seem to want.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes
the blank stare of the breathing dead.
Only you can call me into aliveness.
Each time you're kind, and gentle, and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings--
very small wings,
very feeble wings,
but wings! 

With your power to touch me into feeling
you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to me,
how you can be a creator--an honest-to-God creator--
of the person that is me
if you choose to.
You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble,
you alone can remove my mask,
you alone can release me from my shadow-world of panic,
from my lonely prison,
if you choose to.
Please choose to. 

Do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.
A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach to me the blinder I may strike back.
It's irrational, but despite what the books say about man
often I am irrational.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls
and in this lies my hope.
Please try to beat down those walls
with firm hands but with gentle hands
for a child is very sensitive. 

Who am I, you may wonder?
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man you meet
and I am every woman you meet. 

Charles C. Finn
September 1966

2014 Year In Review

January

• Watched The Hobbit; The Desolation of Smaug 
• Philip returned from SA... made decision to live in CC
• Besties annual gift exchange (a little late, but still fun)
• Philip began first "new job" of the year
• Chris went through the temple
• Chris' going-away party, tons of crying, and also my birthday.
• Drove Christ to the airport. Cried the rest of the day. 
• Got philip and mom a new phone
• Moved out of our first apartment, Kingston Port

February

• Watched Lone Survivor
• San Antonio Valentine's Weekend
• Lizzies Birthday
• Took Venom to the beach for the first time
• BYU vs UTSA baseball game

March 

• Paid off 3 credit cards!
• phone call from Chris at the airport!
• moved into our new apartment, Walnut Ridge
• visited my parents and went to Ruth's wedding
• Got addicted to 2048 game (thanks a lot, Taber)
• Watched Pompeii 

April

• registered for summer and fall classes at TAMUCC
• last session of General Conference at Alexanders'
• watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier 
• first bonfire of the year with YSA
• celebrated Easter with San Antonio Wyeths (I love my niece!)
• Mini Golf with The Burkes (Rob & Makenna)
• made Kit Kats Cake for Phil's birthday

May

• Star Wars Day
• Watched Spider Man 2
• learned how to make pot stickers with Lan
• went kayaking at the Alexander's
• Philip got a great job! (Turner)
• I got an extra job (Schlitterbahn)
• Watched X Men: Days of Future Past
• Hooks Game with The Kings (Chris and Heather)

June 

• started school again 
• watched The Fault In Our Stars
• watched 22 Jump Street 
• lots of dentist things 
• Schlitterbahn Opened! #bahnlove 
• Venom's 1st birthday

July

• Our 1st Anniversary! <3
• tried scuba diving and almost drowned 
• went to Schlitterbahn at SPI
• went to Megan's quincenera
• found a legit taco stand in Corpus!
• Elder Zuniga is 6 months on a mission! 
• promoted to supervisor at Schlitterbahn 
• Philip -> new job -> Dynamic -> offshore!!

August

• Philip went to work offshore
• temple trip and apartment searching with Tabby 
• out to lunch with Grandma Wyeth
• Philip went to work in Newark, NJ
• started Fall semester at TAMUCC
• finally bought a Macbook Pro

September

• Elder Zuniga's birthday
• Angry Birds Live!
• Weekend @ home with mom & dad
• P came home after 6 weeks away!
• Watched Let's Be Cops
• New-er laptop! (turns out Macs aren't my thing)
• Paid off 3 (other) debts!
• General Women's Meeting

October

• P came home for a week!
• Kaleb came home from his mission
• went to visit San Antonio Wyeths
• Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch
• Watched Fury
• Walking Dead Season 5!
• watched Maze Runner
• dance lessons started
• midterms >:(
• dressed up as a bunny

November 

• Mom and Dad showed up for a random Saturday visit
• P came home for a week!
• disgusting cold front
• crashed a lot of YSA events out of boredom
• released as 1st Counselor in YW's
• Loni came to visit! 
• Philip officially back from New Jersey
• Watched Mockingjay
• Thanksgiving weekend at Zuniga household 
• Tania's 25th birthday party

December

• Upgraded to iPhone 6
• Purchased a Dyson vacuum and became obsessed with it
• Philip left for Houma, LA
• Insane 2 weeks of final exams
• Road trip to Fredricksburg with Loni and Mark
• Philip officially home (working locally)
• got adopted by Alfredo the Cat
• Dinner party @ Nicole's
• Watched The Hobbit; Battle of the Five Armies
• Elder Zuniga Skyped home!!!! 
• bestie gift exchange
• got sick -.-'

It's Like Muffins

When I was in High School I took a class called Nutrition and Food Science where we learned about cooking healthily. The first time we ever made anything we baked banana nut muffins following a simple recipe, and to this day I remember an important phrase my teacher kept on repeating: "with muffins, it's all about the quality, not the quantity." She meant for us to avoid making multiple batches of tiny, lifeless muffins and instead focus on making around 6 very good, fluffy, large muffins.

I have never forgotten those words and I constantly apply them to multiple aspects of my life... focus on the quality of it, not how much of it you can have.

So... to the point... I decided to apply that to blogging too. Remember that 30-day blogging challenge? I just got rid of it. Most if not all of those posts were incredibly boring and pointless and they took no skill in writing. Instead of overcrowding my page with nonsense I am going to go back to the mostly thoughtful, long-winded posts. Writing makes more sense that way :)

I just wanted to say...

I have always sucked at all flavors of math, ever since middle school when they decided to add the alphabet into the numbers. Ugh.

But I have to say... Trigonometry might be my niche. 

Things might have gone easier had I just GONE TO CLASS and paid attention like everyone else, but considering I figured this out by myself... it didn't go so bad.

3.5 hours, 1 blog post, 1 bowl of cereal, and 3 Pandora stations later... I finished my homework! Yay me! 

Charges My Batteries

A couple of months ago I met a person at Schlit [water park job] who is literally the opposite of me personality-wise. He is super outgoing, full of confidence when meeting new people, and an extreme (to everyone's slight annoyance) morning person. We got along pretty well, and in our free time as we walked the park he told me that he hated being in the office doing "officey things" (which is my favorite part of the job) because it drained him. He loved being outside and talking to literally every single person he saw, and told me that doing that "charged his batteries" and gave him energy and enthusiasm. I was awed, because talking to people is mentally the most exhausting thing I can think of... customer service jobs aren't really for me.

This got me thinking though... what "charges MY batteries"? What are the things that give me energy and enthusiasm? I made a list, of course, and here it is:

• researching & planning for vacations (I can literally do this for HOURS and not notice)
• going to the zoo or aquarium
• creating anything artistic digitally (photo books, blogs, GIS maps, etc.) 
• making lists (duh) .... and checking things off to-do lists
• listening to super cool instrumental music (Lindsey Sterling... look her up, ya'll)
• organizing files on my computer (gosh I'm so boring. but yeah, so true)
• reading cute blogs by people so much more creative than myself
• reading a good book. alone. in quiet. 
• going to the movies with P
• going to the beach
• cleaning or reorganizing my house
• trying out new recipes (but only when the food is for someone else) 
• looking at "dream houses" online 
• searching for cute baby names. or cool pet names. 
• making next month's calendar of when bills are due
• reading and replying to an email from Chris
• driving while listening to a really good song
• days when it's both sunny and raining
• talking about a subject I know a lot about
• making a .pdf of my next semester's schedule
• spending time on goodreads.com adding books to my to-read list
• taking personality tests
• listening to people talk in southern accents (I love it, idk why)
• the first cool, crisp day of autumn 
• wearing a favorite outfit I feel confident in

Well... this list goes to show how much of an introvert I am. Hanging out with friends is fun and all... but man it's tiring, haha. My goal for this week is to do something that energizes me: 

try out a new recipe and blog about it

When P's Out On A Hitch

A compilation of  things to NOT say to an Oilfield Wife:

1. "Don't you miss him?" ... No shit, Sherlock. He's my husband and he's been gone for 3 weeks. Of course I miss him.

2. "So how is he doing?" I get to talk to him for about 3 minutes out of the day, if I'm lucky. All I know is where he's at and that he's alive. I wish I knew more, but I don't... so maybe quit asking.

3. "Isn't that dangerous?" Yes, it is. I worry for his safety every second of every day, but thanks for bringing it to the front of my mind, that's very thoughtful of you.

4. "Will he be home for Christmas/Valentines/your Anniversary?" The schedule is 3 weeks on, 1 week off. That's it. If it falls within that schedule, then he'll be home. If it doesn't, then he I'll be on my own.

5. "You're lucky you get to have the house all to yourself and have some alone time!" I don't know what kind of sad, crappy relationship you have with your guy, but I'll never be glad our home is half empty, and I'll never be glad to be away from my hubby. I miss him every second of every day. I married him because I love and want to be close to him, not because I want to use him as an ATM.

6. "Isn't oil like... bad?" First off, if you're telling me that, get the hell out of Texas. Secondly, no, oil isn't "bad". It's what keeps our family afloat and living comfortably. Actually, it's what keeps entire cities afloat. And it's a necessity for the lifestyle we have in the US of A, and basically everywhere else in the world. We can't get rid of it, so don't get all "go green" on me because I happen to hold a Bachelors degree in Environmental Science and I actually know wth I'm talking about.

7. "So what do you do when he's gone?" Distractions. Lots of distractions. I do whatever I have to do to keep my mind off the fact that I won't see him until next month. I pay the bills, binge watch crappy Netflix, clean maniacally, re-arrange furniture, go to school, study, work 2 jobs, exercise the dog, pick up new hobbies, spend hours at Barnes and Nobel, keep myself fed... But really, most of what I do is constantly glance at my phone to see how long I have until the possible 3-minute phone call of the day. And maybe find funny pics to send to my hubby to try and brighten his day.

8. "Oh, you'll get used to the schedule. And he'll be home before you know it." Try this: Go an entire 3 weeks without using your right hand. Just drag it around limply and pretend it's not there. You can still survive, right? And you can still live your life normally. And after 3 weeks you'll be able to use your hand for 1 whole week! You can make up for lost time then.
... same principle. It's a life we have chosen, but it's not always easy, so stop undermining our feelings.

So...disclaimer. Life isn't quite as miserable as I make it sound, I'm pretty dramatic in writing, lol. P and I have been separated due to work before and this time around isn't even half as bad as that was. I blame this sassy blog post full of sarcasm on the "writing bug" that hit me at midnight tonight because I took a 4 hour Sunday nap, haha. I love my hubby and I can't wait to have him home again, 17 more days! 

Empty Nesting

Is this what empty nesting feels like? Because if it is, then I'm about 25 years too early. Philip left this morning for a job in Newark, NJ and our little apartment has never felt bigger. He's been out in the GoM working at an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana for the past 2-ish weeks, and now he's gone again! He was only in Corpus Christi for about 16 hours, and 8 of those I was at work, 4 were spent sleeping, 2 were spent stuck in traffic, and 2 were spent packing. It kinda sucked, but at least I got to see him.
I dropped him off at the airport this morning; he will be working in Newark, NJ for the next 3.5 weeks! Ugh, being an adult isn't fun sometimes.
BUT, on the other hand... here are the things I get to do in his absence:

1. drive his truck. seriously, I don't think he is ever getting this truck back. finders keepers. 
2. cook foods i love, but he doesn't. like spaghetti and all kinds of soup!
3. decorate like crazy and move furniture around
4. plan for super fun holiday trips like Christmas in New York :)
5. read more books! (I read 3 during the 2 weeks he was out at sea, it was great)
6. spend more time at Barnes and Nobel and less time at Lowe's
7. visit more people everywhere; the Valley, San Antonio, and I might even get wild and show up in Houston, Loni! 
8. give the TV/Xbox a much-needed rest
9. not feel guilty about takeout on the nights when i'm just not hungry enough to make dinner
10. have a fantastic week every month of having my hubby home with no other obligations <3

Ok, coming up with 10 good things about being lonely was more difficult than I thought it would be, but I think this schedule is something I could really get used to. I have tons of things to do while he's away, and I will always have something to look forward to. 

On a related subject, look at these pictures of him working out in the middle of the ocean! 

the basket that lifted them onto the platform

hardly working

and working hard

an almost-sunset 

Seven Lists of Seven Things

I'm bored and I feel like typing. Plus the typing keeps my fingers occupied and away from those pickles and Takis, so I've decided to pick a random number out of my "Prompts for the Future" list and write about that. This is an easy one:

Seven Lists of Seven Things:

1. 7 Things I Like To Eat
1. little mexican bistec tacos
2. baby carrots out of the bag
3. baby back ribs from Rudy's
4. grapefruit in every way possible
5. all kinds of soup
6. lemon pepper wings
7. cream cheese wontons
2. 7 Things I Don't Like To Eat
1. celery
2. mint chocolate
3. avocado
4. pineapple on my pizza
5. milk
6. cherry tomatoes
7. papaya
3. 7 Things I Like To Talk About
1. pets
2. books or movies
3. religion
4. baby names
5. bucket lists
6. consumer electronics
7. psychology
4. 7 Things I Don't Like To Talk about
1. how was work?
2. politics
3. LGBT issues
4. sports
5. what to do after college
6. "best way" to raise kids
7. clothes/fashion
5. 7 Things I Hoard
1. notebooks
2. books
3. Burt's Bees Lip Balm
4. laundry detergent
5. coupons
6. scrapbook paper
7. handwritten letters
6. 7 Movies I Like Quoting
1. Pitch Perfect
2. Nacho Libre
3. Harry Potter 1-8
4. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 
5. The Hangover
6. The Princess Bride
7. Napoleon Dynamite 
7. 7 Songs That Played on Pandora While Writing This
1. Really Don't Care, Demi Lovato
2. Let It Go, Tim McGraw
3. Bailando, Enrique Iglesias
4. Waka Waka, Shakira
5. Bartender, Lady Antebellum
6. Rewind, Rascal Flats
7. Wasted, Tiesto

Actually, I Can

Why hello there, sad and lonely blog! Sorry I've neglected you for so long, let me dust the cobwebs off you. 

that's a programming joke... in case you don't get it

A couple of hours ago I took my final exam for my C++ class. Wheew, what a load that's taken off my mind! I'm glad its over, and I'm also glad it happened. Summer classes can be a little daunting sometimes because there is so much material to cover in such a short span of time, and this one was no exception. Actually... it kind of sort of was a little different; this class was 8 weeks long instead of the usual 4, so we had more time to cover the material, but it still felt like a race against time. It was a HUGE learning curve... my Post-Bacc Certificate is in GIS, and that C++ has really nothing to do with it, but it was required anyway. The great majority of the class were computer science majors that already knew the language, but it was completely new to me.
Most of the time I always felt like the slowest student in there (I wasn't). We had 15 scheduled lectures, 12 labs, and 3 exams. I love writing notes, and I'm an extremely visual learner, which means I learn material best by writing it in my own handwriting and then seeing it in my mind's eye later. I managed to fill up a 3-subject notebook in 8 short weeks, all color-coded and with exam reviews included. That took a lot of my time.
I also managed to stumble my way through the labs and I surprised myself at the end of each one. It's something that I've given a lot of thought to over the last couple of weeks...

You see, the material covered in the lecture was all well-defined and theoretical... but it was the kind of stuff you don't understand until you actually apply it. At the start of each of those 10 labs, soon after reading the assignment, I thought about giving up. Everything seemed so impossible! There was absolutely NO WAY I could figure this program out and complete it in the next 24 hours!
Soon after every moment of panic, I would painstakingly open Notepad ++ and start with the only thing I knew how to do... the bare basics. Name, lab name, class number, date...
Then I would move on to writing out the Purpose of the program... what it was meant to do. That cleared things up A LOT. Sentence by sentence, it all started making sense. Now I knew what to do, just not quite how to do it, although the end result seemed clear.

So I took it one line at a time. I typed out what I knew was right... I asked the professor A LOT of questions about what I was unsure of, I read and re-read the directions, I tested and changed the program more times than I care to remember... and I still came up short. Each one of those labs had a tiny section of it that nobody could do without our teacher's help. The kind of help where she literally did it all for us and told us step-by-step which keys on the keyboard to press so it comes out right. I could not have done it without her.
Some programs were easy... some were hard. The easiest one I wrote was only 150 lines of code, took me about 45 minutes, and just all made sense. I later came to find out it was the shortest anyone wrote... some people's were over 2,000 lines long!
The hardest one was the time I sat in that chair for 6 hours. Everyone else (teacher included) had already finished and left, and I was left alone to fix my own mistake and I worked sooo hard to get my program to compile and run... only to get an 86 on it for all that work. (I never got anything below a 93 besides this one).
So lesson learned... I was surprisingly good at some things, and I was surprisingly mediocre at others. Still, it all balanced out to give me the grade I wanted and felt I deserved in the end :)

Hardly Working after Working Hard

So here's the thing: 5 years ago I got a summer job at this amazing, awesome, fun, crazy place called Schlitterbahn. Amazing, awesome, fun, crazy places tend to require a lot of energy out of you, and that's how my summer routine of exhaustion all began. I worked in the Admissions department for two years, and the third year I moved to Corpus, so that tradition didn't last too long. Well... it so happens that the mother of all Schlitterbahns is currently being built here in my beloved Corpus Christi!

I have no idea what made me do it... maybe it was nostalgia, maybe it was the lure of working at a water park, maybe it was the desire to be more active, maybe it was the promise of more money added to my bank account, or maybe it was a combination of all 4, but I applied. Not only was I hired 2 minutes after meeting with my manager, but I was promoted to my old position of Admissions Lead about 20 minutes into my first day there. That was 8 days ago. And since then, I've become a bit of a nut due to a combination of 5 factors:

1. I have a full time job that I am committed to (Great Sage)

2. I have a full time job that I am committed to (Schlitterbahn) 

3. I have a full time job that I am not so committed to, but am responsible for anyway (housewife)

4. I am a full time student and I've become very anal about grades dropping below a 95. 

5. I have just been called as 1st Counselor in the Young Women's Organization 

Looks like I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew, huh? I think so, too. Today I am extremely grateful about the fact that for some unknown reason my subconscious has refused to let me sleep in past 7AM every day for months now, so even when I'm exhausted and I try to go back to bed, I cannot fall asleep. This used to be annoying, but now it's great news! It means that I'll have no option but to get out of bed and go do the things I'm responsible for. 

Yesterday night as we sat in an office doing Admission-y things, my manager broke the silence and said "Dang girl, did you know you've worked 60 hours??" I said "yeah... I know..." and finished my act with a sincere yawn. 

If you think those 60 hours have been over the course of 2 weeks, you are WRONG, my friend. Those 60 hours have occurred during 8 days. Two of those days I was Off. Two of those days I only worked from 6PM to 10PM. You do the math. Want me to do it for you? I worked 40 hours in one weekend, and that's only because I asked for Sunday morning off so that I could go to church. 

Of course, that's only counting one job. I have not yet taken into account how I've also worked 30-some hours at my year-round job, or how I've sat for eternities in classrooms at school. 

Isn't that crazy? I worked about 93 hours in ONE WEEK!!! 

Student loans: Beware. My paychecks and I are ready to make battle! 

So what was the point of this whole blog post?? A few minutes ago I was thinking about how great it would be to lay my head down on my desk and close my eyes just for two seconds. Then, I was rudely awoken by a knock on my office door while I was dreaming about "how I really shouldn't leave my head down for longer than 2 seconds". I bet I was asleep for 10 minutes haha. 

This is how terrible I look like today. My hair is untamed and untamable. My eyes have forgotten what mascara feels like, and the hot, heavy, humid July weather has attacked my facial skin like only summer in Corpus Christi can. After years of a clean face, I have now sprouted 4 pimples and a lavishly decorative collection of freckles all over the place. 

You see them? They're all in a line under my nose. Wonder what's up with THAT. Haha. Whatever. 

Drawbacks to my current life: 

1. Sun damage to skin

2. Tired all the times

3. Hair is forever unruly

Benefits of my current life:

1. Never have trouble sleeping!

2. I wouldn't be surprised if I've lost 5 lbs in a week.

3. Extra money = death to credit card debt 

So my point is: I'm tired. But I'd also like to mention how great I feel. This morning I woke up thinking about how you never really know how much you can do until you're pushed past the limit. It feels awesome to feel tired after a long weekend and know that I did the best I could in every aspect. And so that's my story for today. =)

Apples to Apples: First World Problems

So I've wanted to purchase a Mac for about... 8 years now? Big purchases scare me because I'm always afraid I'll make a mistake and regret it for a long time afterwards, but big purchases that involve consumer electronics scare me even more. I depend on these things too much! What if I can't get used to it? What if it's not what I imagined? What if what I REALLY wanted was that OTHER thing that I didn't get? As I'm typing this out, I am reminded of a personal favorite show (OK, who am I kidding, I'm addicted to TBBT) The Big Bang Theory's Season 7, Episode 19 (The Indecision Amalgamation) in which Sheldon cannot decide between two gaming systems.

The time has finally come to where I'm actually GOING TO BUY a Mac. But a few things frighten me:
1) Why is the Air suddenly $100 cheaper? Is it because there's a newer version coming out in the near future? If so, I don't want to get stuck with the old version...
2) I wanted an Air because its so small, but really... it's only a pound or so lighter than the Mac. I can handle an extra pound in my backpack. Oh but I forget: it's so light! and thin! and Air-y!
3) Alright, so what if I go with the Pro? Well, the Pro is slightly more bulky (but still lighter than anything I've ever owned), it's much more expensive (because I go for top-of-the-line stuff), but just feels so... powerful. And I'll be taking a TON of computer-y classes for the next 2 semesters (at least), so shouldn't this be my best choice?
4) But, I've also been wanting an iPad. If I were to buy an Air, I'd be able to afford that iPad along with it... Two new toys!
5) But wait, aren't I waiting for the rumored iPhad to come along? The next generation iPhone, the iPhone 6, the combination of iPhone and iPad... same thing. Whatever it is, and whenever it comes along, I'm getting it. My faithful little iPhone 5 has been going strong for a long time now, but (as the persistent golddigga AT&T keeps telling me) I'm much overdue for an upgrade. So if I'm getting a bigger iPhone... what do I want an iPad for?
6) And so if I really don't need an iPad, why would I choose the Macbook Air over the Pro?
7) Well... because the Air is cheaper, lighter, and looks prettier.
8) Hey! Who said we are going for looks here?
9) It's Apple... it's always been 80% about looks.

Ugh. I'm just going to adopt Sheldon's practice: 

I'm Online!

So we've been without internet for a very long... month. Two days ago I got a text saying I had used up over 65% of my cell data (which is 10GB) and since there's still 3 weeks to go until my month is up, I decided we couldn't put it off any longer. AT&T came out today and... now I'm blogging again.
It's only 1pm and I'm already exhausted! This morning we woke up in a torn up tent next to Lake Corpus Christi, packed up our stuff and our dog, and drove into town to be here for internet installation.
After a few loads of laundry, putting up wall decor, vacuuming, and watching a couple of Big Bang Theory Episodes, I'm ready to get off this couch.
Next on today's agenda will be to fix up my "home office", which means I am taking over our dining area (I discovered we used our table more for homeworky stuff than for actual eating) and it's going to be my craft room/office place. I have so many plans for it! There's all kinds of stuff on my Pinterest boards that's bursting to appear in there.
Now I'm off to Lowe's to get all kinds of fun stuff, I hope this weekend continues being great!

Back To School Time

Yesterday I was finally registered for classes at TAMUCC! My goal is to obtain a GIS Post-Bacc Certificate (GIS = Geographic Information Science) and then do everything in my power to obtain a Masters in Geospatial Surveying Engineering. I might have to get a second full-blown bachelors in GIS before I can move on to that step, but I don't believe it will stop me. GIS is one of the best majors offered at TAMUCC and they're online program is very good, so even if other things come up in life between now and then, I can still do it.

I am sooo excited! The semester right after I graduated I felt a huge relief about no more exams and endless papers to write and scientific journals to read, but soon after I discovered I really missed the classroom. I think being a student is just my element; nothing feels more natural than sitting in a classroom frantically taking notes. 

Weird, huh? 

The truth is, even though I just called myself weird, I consider it a personal blessing to have been born and raised with such a love for learning. Not many people enjoy this as much as I, and so I think of it as a talent that shouldn't go to waste. The first line in my patriarchal blessing mentions how important my education is and always will be, so I'm doing myself justice and accepting the blessing that I was rightfully meant to have. 

So here are the classes I'm taking: 

This Summer is going to be pretty yucky. These are both two-month long courses, and I had to sign a paper which literally said "I understand I will have no life due to my classes" before being allowed to register.
Calculus II
Problem Solving w/ Computers 

And then Fall is going to be insanely busy! I will be working full-time and running back and forth to classes during lunch breaks. (15 hours, and labs are the looong computery kind of labs)
Geospatial Mathematical Techniques
Geospatial Software Systems I
Remote Sensing
Geospatial Plane Measurement I

So even though this looks and feels insane, I know I can do it. Past college years have shown that I am more motivated during difficult semesters because I know I can't slack off. I can do this, I can do this!

Living with In-Laws

Due to some rather unfortunate circumstances which were out of our control, Philip and I were left without an apartment for a month and a half. Thanks to the wonderfully giving nature of his parents, we were able to live at their house during this time (about 7 weeks). It was a lot tougher for me than it was for him, and although I am eternally grateful to his parents for letting us stay there, I can't say I was always 100% comfortable not having my own house. Nevertheless, I did learn some insightful things from this experience:

1. Doing laundry is much much simpler when you only have 1/5 of all your clothes available to wear. 
2. No flat-ironing, curling, or chemicals for a 7 weeks does wonders for my hair. 
3. Having more than one dog in a house is nuts. Although I'd love to one day get Venom a lady Labrador, it's definitely never going to happen until we have a house with a large enough back yard for them to terrorize. 
4. You can never have enough dog kibble and bathroom tissue... Venom consumes copious amounts of both, to our wallet's extreme annoyance. 
5. Since Phil and I now longer have the freedom to hang out in separate bedrooms, we either get along or life sucks. Having just one room to be together has done wonders to our problem-solving and discussions. 
6. I learned how to share a bathroom. Sort of. Although I never stopped getting confused with all the shampoo and conditioner bottles, it really wasn't that bad. I suppose normal people from large families think nothing of bathroom sharing, but I've always had my own, so it was new to me. 
7. Even if I had my entire array of church clothes, I'd probably still stick to the same 2 skirts. I didn't even notice the heavy depletion of my wardrobe on Sundays. 
8. Having 2 pairs of shoes will not kill me. By the end of our stay I didn't even remember what the other 28 pairs looked like. 
9. Being 24 years old, holding a Bachelor of Science, and a full-time almost professional job does NOT make me any less scared of dark hallways and open closets at night. 
10. TELEVISION SUCKS! I have always seen TV as something you do only when there's nothing else to do, but in mom and dad Wyeth's household, a TV is on at any time when people are awake. I can see why it's so entertaining to some people, but not to me. And it was a challenge finding a quiet place to read a book. I think the lack of quiet accounted for about 60% of the challenge of living in a house besides my own. 

I'd like to again mention how utterly grateful I am to his parents for giving us a place to live during our time of need. My largest struggle was to swallow my pride and allow someone to help us out, but all that means is that I have issues with humility, which I am trying to improve. I'm looking forward to our new apartment and will keep my fingers crossed that we only have to move ONE more time (into a house) for the next several years. Good luck to us!