My current Roman empire.

Let's be clear: my Roman Empire is not the Roman Empire. There's lots of historical eras and events I could go on and on about, but that's not the point of this post. 

I suppose TRE could be something you think about more often that you do other things.

I bought this skirt in December in Pennsylvania.

I brought it back to Missouri with me. 

I unpacked it. 

I put it in a drawer. I may have put it in the closet. But then I decided the dresser was a better spot for it. 

And I haven't seen it since.

I am beyond frustrated. 

I bring it up to Scott at least twice a week. 

I have ripped the closet apart.

I have taken out dresser drawers, thinking it got wedged into that abyss where only socks go. 

I took apart Scott's dresser. 

I looked through the baskets of black PT clothing because that's all black and I thought maybe it got mixed up in there.

I went through Wells' dresser. Just in case. 

I drug out the suitcase I took to PA, in case I accidentally left it in there. Even though I knew I put it in that dresser. 

I am not Catholic and do not believe in saints but you better believe I start talking to St. Anthony when things like this happen. Someone taught me the St. Anthony prayer once and I've never forgotten it. (Usually it's me asking for some interceding on behalf of Scott and something he can't find.)

Last week, I lost a paper at work too. Like, an important one. I had it when I walked into my room. It got lost or mismatched with the wrong pile of papers (I had a lot of papers scattered about on this day) and I spent the entire afternoon looking for it. I am looking forward to seeing where I put it when I eventually come across it again. I did check the trash. It's in that room somewhere. 

In addition:

We own this Daniel Tiger toy. We own it. I have no idea where it went. It is on our Missouri property, house or barn. We own it. It came here with us from Kansas. 

I have no idea where it is.

I have looked. In the barn loft. In the tubs of toys I hide from Wells.

In the closets. 

I cannot find it.

I will not buy another one. I won't. You see, we got the trolley for free and then my parents bought the figurines. 

Iwillnotbuyitagain no matter how much Sutton loves Daniel Tiger.

I won't.

Back to the skirt:

I am thisclose to buying it again in a different color (just in case it reappears). 

To further my annoyance, I got it in a Christmas sale of sorts and it was like $25, instead of $45. 

I am out of places to look so I will, I think, just start checking and rechecking again at this point. 

To recap: if you see a black skirt, a class roster with information on it, or a Daniel Tiger trolley toy, let me know. 

Tell Me 3 Things...You "can't" live without.

Dinner last night. It was okay. 

I just finished the book Tell Me Three Things (it was also just okay).

But it made me think about a few things we've bought in the last year that have been life-changing in terms of oh-my-gosh-how-did-i-live-without-this. 

"Can't live without" is incredibly subjective, by the way. It's not a hard and fast rule and this list is not necessary for survival. These are just three items that make life EASY. 

This isn't like "my phone'. This is 3 random things that I use multiple times each day that I can't believe I made it this far in life without:

1. AirPods. These are the best invention ever. I use them to listen to podcasts around the house. I use one when I walk the dogs. I use one while I do yard work and Wells and the dogs play. I use one while I cook or clean or do any of those random things that used to not-quite-bore me but weren't stimulating enough to keep my attention. Previously, I'd just keep my phone nearby, but now I don't need to worry about trying to hear what I may have missed before, because of a child shrieking randomly (This wasn't an issue when he was a baby). 

Also, I connect to my computer when I do Pilates or barre so I don't need to try and hear the computer over the TV (because I almost always watch TV while I work out). I also can play a yoga video on my computer and listen on one AirPod while I do the workout in another room; I don't need to move the laptop. Same with my iPad. They connect to everything so easily! 

I'm finally realizing that I just seem to have the ability to listen to so many multiple sources at once. I can never not be visually, audibly, and kinetically engaged. I need all of that mental stimulation at the same time. It's very strange. 

2. Amazon Fire Stick, connected to the TV. To have allll of Netfix and alllll of Hulu and allll of Prime and the access to anything and everything if we want to purchase it...it's an amazing invention and I will happily be in Amazon's pocket for that first-world luxury. To think: we used to have to check a TV Guide or miss a show forever if we weren't at home, in front of the TV. And there used to be commercials. That's funny, right?

3. Black paper blinds for Wells' room. This is very subjective based on your season of life, but if you have a baby or small child, these are priceless. $23 for a pack and really are black-out blinds. If we were in a permanent home, I'd put curtain rods and curtains over the top to make it look nicer, but slapping these up has meant I don't need to worry about unwanted light this spring/summer and I don't have to use a towel like I did last summer. He has thick, white Venetian blinds on his bedroom window, but they definitely don't block out the light. 


So, tell me three things that you "can't" live without right now.

Why flying Delta is a terrible waste of your time

This is akin to the Carnival cruise story of 2012.

We left Denver on Friday evening on a Delta flight. We got to Detroit with half an hour to spare, before our next flight to Pittsburgh was supposed to leave. After 20 minutes of waiting, they told us the pilots were still in Indianapolis and we would have to wait for them to arrive. We were supposed to leave Detroit at 9:30ish pm, and we ended up leaving around midnight. We sat at the bar and I grabbed a bunch of the "complimentary" snacks and drinks that they brought out. Aside from the fact that I was a bit concerned we'd somehow miss this wedding, we didn't have another flight to catch, so we just talked to a fellow PSU graduate and enjoyed seeing all the people traveling back to PA for the PSU/Michigan game that was the following day.

So that was a bit of a jumbled trip to the east coast.

But then, on the way (attempting to get) back to Denver...

In Pittsburgh, we went to the Delta counter to get our boarding passes and check our bags. Bag checks are free for active duty military and it said this on our email receipts. We weren't asked in Denver; she just took our bags. In Pittsburgh (Larayne was her name), she took our bags and said it would be $50. Scott said it should be free since it was in Denver and he handed over his military i.d. She barely gave us that free "benefit" and took the bags. Just the fact that she didn't do it without us asking was annoying, as it was right on our receipt/in our file/whatever.

Going through security, our boarding passes wouldn't scan, and I heard the TSA agents mutter about the "Delta passes". The man in front of us was told he'd have to go BACK to the check-in desk to get a new one if it didn't work! It eventually did scan. Ours did too, thankfully.

Upon reaching the gate, we learned that our flight was delayed because of "weather" in Atlanta. We heard later, twice, that it was a mechanical issue. Another flight in Buffalo had the same issue so I think we can agree that any airline besides Delta might save you some time.

I wrote my sub plans on my phone, asked our doggy baby-sitter to please stay another night, and put in for a substitute. Scott finished his math/statistics/hydrology homework, took pictures of all 14 pages, and emailed it to his professor, along with a picture of our rebooked tickets.

Since the flight was delayed more than two hours, they rebooked us onto a morning flight out of Atlanta while we were still in Pittsburgh. My friend sent me a text that said Delta is an acronym for Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport. Makes sense.

They also don't run red-eyes, apparently? I don't know. We only ever took red-eyes out of Alaska and that was usually on United. United planes were always kind of crappy but we never missed a connection. Anyway...

When we finally got to Atlanta, it was 11pm, much later than the time we were originally supposed to land in Denver. We missed our connection by over an hour but some people missed theirs by 5 minutes. That would've been much more frustrating. And by some people, I mean the line of hundreds of people that were waiting to talk to the ONE Delta representative. There were flights delayed all over the east coast (yet, only Delta) and I felt bad for this lady...she eventually gave up and just stopped answering questions, started crying or whatever (she might be in the wrong line of work). They brought in two more people. After half an hour, we got new boarding passes printed and everyone was told that there were no more hotel rooms. I'm taking this to mean that there were no more literal paper vouchers to hand out. They gave us a number to call and ask for reimbursement later, instead. (Yes, I'm sure that will work out just fine.) People around us were swearing and complaining out loud but we figured that wouldn't get us anywhere. This wasn't a representatives' issue anyway; I feel like Delta is going to go bankrupt sooner, rather than later if this is regular for them.

Please don't mind the random people. There were so many people snapchatting that I figure one picture won't make a difference. Also, we were toward the very front of the line. 

We didn't have a hotel room, I had never even been to this airport, and we knew we had to be back at the airport by 5am. This wasn't a time to be picky and take chances. They assured us our bags would "meet us" in Denver.

We made our way to Ground Transportation, found the hotel shuttles, and got on the one that said they still had available rooms. We were able to get a room at the Ramada for $70. I really doubt we'll ever see that money again. We slept for 4 hours, and we were back at the airport by 5:30am. Security was easy this time but then we sat and waited for 3 hours for our flight to leave since it was departing at 8:30am.

I am, admittedly, awful at flying. I get airsick,  can't read, can sometimes watch something, don't eat or drink, and just sit there and try to sleep. So while we did make it back to Denver, as did our bags, it wasn't any fun.

I understand that air travel troubles are literally a first world part-of-life problem and that's fine. My issue is that we've done a lot of cross-country flying....mostly Alaska- fill in the blank as a connection or two - east coast. We never had this happen before.

We had never flown Delta before because the best deals were always with American or United. We never had a problem. EVER. I couldn't even come up with something disgruntled to say about previous flying experiences aside from a general I don't like it. With the case of Delta, we had nothing but bad experiences. I can't say other airlines weren't affected by weather on Monday (ours was a mechanical issue so that doesn't count), but I will say that I've never been on a plane that "lost" their pilots.

Instead of complaining about terribleness of air travel, I'll just implore you to try another airline and let Delta put themselves out of business. I don't have a "big" voice, but I know we won't be using Delta anymore and we'll encourage others to avoid them as well, just like with Carnival.

You know how the airline always tells you at the end of a flight how they appreciate your business because they know you have a choice in your travel plans? You definitely do have a choice, so I would totally not choose Delta.

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So that was MONDAY and TUESDAY. And now it's Wednesday and I've got a lot to do.

Be sure you're mailing out your Pumpkin Swap boxes soon! (uh, totally going to do that this week)

Oh-em-gee: The Eye Doctor

I couldn't think of a title and ohemgee is the only thought I have after this experience. It's a nicer way to say WTF, I suppose.

I order enough contact lenses to get me far past that annual eye doctor exam. Prescriptions are only good for one year. After that, 1-800-CONTACTS will not send you any more. I frontload lenses for this reason. I'm proactive like that.

I realized two weeks ago that I was about out of contacts. I can't wear glasses. Therefore, I called the eye doctor I went to at the PX on Ft. Carson since we've been in Colorado. No answer. I drove there after work one day. They were spontaneously shut down apparently and that was the end of that.

I called a place in Fountain to set up an appointment. I drive by it every day on my way to work and there's no need to make life exponentially difficult, so that was my reasoning.

I showed up on appointment day, last Wednesday, and they had double-booked or accidentally put me down for an appointment at another location or something like that so...no appointment for me. I re-scheduled for this past Monday. It didn't really bother me because I hate going to the eye doctor anyway.

I went in on Monday after work. Everything went smoothly enough at first. Then the doctor said I was likely overcorrected and he wanted to lower the strength. I get that; for the last few years, my eyes have stabilized a bit and my astigmatism corrected itself somewhere between Missouri and Colorado and that was fine and all. So whatever, lower the dosage. He lowered my right eye from -2.00 to -1.25, which he admitted was a big jump but he thought it would settle after a few days. It seemed alright at first. It was a little uncomfortable Monday night but I looked forward to it "settling" on Tuesday.

It did not "settle" on Tuesday. I spent the day in a blurry haze. This might be okay in some peoples' situations...but I spend my days reading and writing. I could give you the big long list of things that were not easily done, but I basically couldn't read my own whiteboard, blackboard, or charts from across the room. It was terrible. I would've taken those contacts out if I'd had any other options but my old contacts and glasses were both at home. There was a moment where I considered leaving at lunch, but sub plans are a greater evil than poor vision.

I walked myself back into the eye doctor after work. They said they'd take a look when I'd called to ask about adjusting things (which I did around 9:15am).

I explained that I had a headache, my eyes ached, I couldn't focus, or, you know, do my job, etc.
She (the tech) seemed to think that another brand of contacts would solve my problem. I said that would be an odd recommendation because I'd worn this brand for 10 years. She said she'd be right back.

She gave me two new contacts (while being all secretive about the process of what they could/would do to help this situation) and told me to put them in. As it took me two tries to get one in, I said After twenty years, you'd think I'd be better at this, mainly to get the point across that I've worn contacts for TWENTY years and I understand how contacts are supposed to work. I checked the power before I put them in...it was my old prescription: -2.00 on the right and -3.25 on the left.

She asked me how they felt and I said they were just fine because they were my old prescription and she said Are they? How do they feel? and I'm thinking B*tch, we don't need to play games here. She then asked me why my hands were red (as if THAT had anything to do with it...my hands either get red or they get pale and cold when I'm stressed out...the acupuncturist said it's a yin-yang balance issue...fun fact: it took three different people about 8 tries to get an IV in a few months ago).
I didn't take that question well.

Finally, she left and the doctor came in. He asked the same dumb questions she did and then said he'd like to give me a -1.50 to try on the right, and then a -1.75 if that didn't work. He admitted it might take some time to get used to a newer prescription and something something something.

I had stopped listening at that point. I said, idon'twanttodothis.
He said, Okay, we'll get you back in your old prescription.
I'm pretty sure I scared him into thinking I was going to cry.

Hopefully, by the next time I'm forced into going to the eye doctor (forced by an expired prescription), we'll live somewhere else.

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Linking up with Kristen today for What's New With You?

Here's some blog posts about all the new stuff that's been happening around here lately.

A series of unfortunate events.
Fall TV is a go
We're kind of moving to Wyoming
and a shameless plug for The #GreatPumpkinSwap (sign-ups end tomorrow night!)

What's new with you???

My issue with Instagram

The jeans are American Eagle and are amazing. They're not super high-rise but I can't remember what they actually are. I bought them last year. The tank is Gap and I would've bought ten had I known how much I'd love it, but they never sold another one after last summer. The Keds are from Amazon because they are cheaper on Amazon than they are anywhere else.

Oh Jett-Jett.

I did this thing where I dropped Instagram. I took it off my phone because it wasn't making me happy. It was making me feel awful, actually. I fully understand that this is a "me" issue and has nothing to do with anyone else. I needed a social media detox in a major way and it was very freeing to just cut that out for a bit. It was about 4 weeks that I needed to clear my head of constant connection.
To give you the lay of the land, I don't have Facebook on my phone and eliminating IG just meant that I was left with Twitter so I've read a lot of Twitter over the last month. Snapchat is something I'm just hoping will die sooner rather than later. I've never tried it.

I wholly understand that social media is the highlight reel and it's what people choose to show; something about people taking pictures of donuts and family walks on Saturday mornings when I'm doing outdoor chores and trying to make it to the grocery store just rubbed me the wrong way. Again, I'm still trying to sort these feelings out. I think that maybe if I were more present on IG, and even Facebook, I could help alleviate some of this pressure I feel. It's a funny balance to try to get to, because I don't want to put too much of myself out there after 2016-2017. I attempted to be very careful of my internet footprint.

I do know that part of the problem is that I have blog friends and real-life friends on IG and I feel awkward about posting things...I used to have a much less filtered view of life and social media but now I worry about what people think. Maybe this means it's time to move and start over ha ha ha. But really now. I don't worry about posting on my blog because I don't know who reads it. I can see who likes my IG pictures or FB posts. 

This is a weird issue to be concerned about, right? It is the ULTIMATE in first-world issues. I suppose a hiatus from anything can be good for a person, though.

I think Instagram is a great way to share, to learn about others, and to communicate and stay in touch. Aside from the "social media influencers", I don't think anyone needs to use it to make money. I've actually had Instagram since 2011. That's waaaaay before the general population and clearly I have blogging to thank for that.

I think that when you are in a place of feeling "less than", Instagram is a horrible place to be. Whether that "less than" comes from difficulties, strife, or just not feeling good enough, it's somewhere I've found as not a good place for me to hang out and spend my time.

On the flip side, I don't think I've ever just dropped the ball on IG. I've done that with Facebook plenty of times. Then, I realized that Facebook, even if I post little to nothing (EVEN SCOTT POSTS THINGS ON FACEBOOK), is a valuable tool for keeping in touch with people. I do this mainly through messages because I get super weirded out by the fact that just about anyone can search for me on Facebook and find me, even if I have my privacy settings locked down.  This is also why I took my Instagram to private. I don't want people I work with or know too well in real life to find me. It's unprofessional on some level, I feel. Plus, if I worked in an industry where social media was a thing, that would be totally different. Social media is not part of public school on the teachers' end and the fact that I am scrutinized for every other word I say verbally means that I don't want to leave an imprint. It is shockingly obvious to me, writing this, that this problem came about when we moved to Colorado. I never, ever feared this before when we were in Alaska and Missouri.

Scott. Posting on Facebook.

ANYWAY. Lots of thoughts.

What do you think? Instagram? Facebook? Private? Public? 

Breakfast suggestions, please.

I've been told (repeatedly by doctors) that I need to eat a certain way in order to reap the benefits of feeling good and maintaining the best physical state for me. I know this. I mostly ignore it because I don't like it. It's science, though, and it's just something I don't want to do because it's unpleasant.

Because I've discovered (through the forcible prescription of a high-protein diet) that I operate better on high-protein, low-carb, it's something I need to get back in the swing of doing. You see, back in May and for part of June, I was more or less forced to eat protein and only protein. I did this through protein bars and protein shots and protein smoothies. It was more or less awful and I hated it. I haven't been able to look at a smoothie since.

Since I was medically allowed to quit that diet and go back to normal life, I've been all over the place. In addition, my skin has been all over the place (I'm working on some changes on this front too) and I feel like I can't make good choices anymore about what I'm supposed to eat and what I'm not supposed to eat. So it's been a carb-fest for the last six weeks. And we won't even talk about the literally hundreds of Sour Patch Kids I've consumed this summer.

My plan was to go back to what I've been doing for the last year and just strayed from recently:

Protein smoothies
Greek yogurt
Cheese sticks
Bars with a lot of protein
Etc.

The problem is arising in the fact that I drank a protein smoothie every day for almost an entire year, and now I can barely choke them down. I don't want to make them, I don't want to smell them, and I certainly don't want to drink them.

I need a new breakfast option, something high in protein and more or less easy. What do you eat for breakfast? Any suggestions? I don't do hardboiled eggs so that's always a roadblock when asking for this kind of advice.

Any help is appreciated!

Tire Stuff and Things

Getting tires fixed is literally the story of my life. I'm not exaggerating.

Since we live on a dirt road, we get nails in our tires often. This results in tire pressure warning lights coming on and then me driving whatever vehicle it is to the tire place, Big O Tires.

One Friday a few weeks back, my light came on. Since Scott was away hunting, and it was 2 degrees outside, I took his extra truck to school and then the next afternoon, he and I took my SUV to the tire place on our way to run errands. They said they couldn't fit us in that day but they believed it was the back passenger tire and that it was a slow leak and they could top off the air and I could come back Monday.

Scott checked all the tires himself when we got home. and said there was nothing wrong with any of them (the reason why I usually insist we use the tire place is because it's free since I have a warranty plan there and I really hate adding to Scott's to-do list).

The tire light went off. Four days later, it came back on again. Scott was using up the last of his block leave on another hunting trip, so I drove to the tire place after school. They asked me which tire it was and I repeated what they'd told me the week before. I waited for half an hour and they said it was good to go. The next day, the pressure warning light came back on.

I whined around to Scott for a few days, asking him to look at it. He was busy. I had after-school obligations and couldn't make it to the tire place.

Finally, he left work and came to my school, took the back driver's side tire off and said there was a giant nail in it. He put the spare on and, since we had an army obligation after work, said I could take it to the tire place the next day. I *kind of* complained about this. I mean, I know he's absolutely swamped at work all of the time, but unless it's a meeting or something, I usually assume he can leave the office. Like, I WISH I could do that just a little bit. My whole day is one long meeting. I relayed my thoughts on this to my coworker, as the truck sat in the school parking lot with my deflated tire in the bed, waiting to be taken to get fixed after school.

Then Scott sent me a message saying he came by and picked it up and dropped it off at the tire place. It'd be ready for me to pick up after school.

Done and done. I may be the most predictable person around, as I'd already let her know. And Scott never fails to make himself look good.

I went into the tire place after work and they're all How can we help you? and What can we do for you today? and Oh, yes, your husband dropped off a tire? Was it round? Ha ha ha Yes, we'll get that right out.

And I barely had time to come to a stop before I was turning around and following my tire as it was rolled out the door and put in the bed of the truck.

Obviously, when Scott got home, my first question was What did you do at Big O? Because they were awfully nice and efficient. 

Scott said it took him all of a minute to get everyone's attention because he walked in and said he did the hard part for them and the tire was off the car and he put a piece of tape over the hole and Should I wait or should my wife pick it up? They said I should pick it up and he said She'll be here at 4:15 and just left.

So anyway. Fixed for now. Until next time.

Also, is it really only Thursday? Like, really?


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A Tale of Two MacBook Cases

The other day I decided I needed a MacBook case. If I'm going to be traveling this summer at all, I just need more protection. I mean, this is what happens to it in my own living room.

So, I get on Amazon and find a case and put it in the cart but, as I'm apt to do, I wait before I order. I like the anticipation of having goodies in the carts on various websites more than I actually like ordering the various items. Two days later, I went back to order it and it was gone. I put another one in the cart and ordered it. Bam. Done.

That night, Scott and I were Skyping and he said he'd been nice and ordered me the things I had in the Amazon cart.  That made me do a double-take and say Oh! That's where my stuff went! No wonder it wasn't in the cart when I went back.

And then I told him that I ordered the case too. I looked at the return options and it would cost me almost as much to return it as the actual price of the case.

He told me to get my own Amazon account. I DO have my own account for Kindle and Audible purposes, but his has the Prime attached to it. I'm not giving up free shipping by utilizing my own account (uh, or my own credit card).

When I told my coworker I had two MacBook cases now, she said that was good in case I lose one.

As I mentioned, I don't lose things.

Why I really needed a new phone

I was eligible for an iPhone upgrade in November.  I wrote over two years ago (I can't find this post but I know it exists somewhere) about about how I was apprehensive to give up my 4S to get a new one back then because of all the memories my first iPhone and I had together.  We'd been through a lot!  However, I do still have it, in a box in the basement.

With this phone, a 5C, I couldn't wait to get rid of it.

I told Scott that I wanted a new phone because I wanted a new phone.  It wasn't broken, cracked, or scratched. I just have very few positive memories attached to it.  I told him I wanted to get rid of it because it reminded me of Missouri and Missouri was hard.

He thought I was crazy (and on some level, I'd agree) and said, You had a lot of friends in Missouri.  True.  The people I knew in Missouri were wonderful.  But Missouri was the year where my skin decided to betray me and that really colored my experience in a negative way.  It was the year I went to doctor's appointment after doctor's appointment, starting with my skin and leading to them trying to figure out an underlying cause.  Then we found out we were moving after 11 months, I had to quit another job, I had to apply for another job, we moved into a unicorn-adorned remodeling project in the desert and it was hot and there were moths and....It was a stressful year full of being unsure of myself.  I had no friends in Colorado, Scott was gone a lot, I knew nothing about the place, and I'm just now (18 months later) feeling like I finally have a footing. 2014 and a giant chunk of 2015 were HARD.

So I got the 5C phone right as all this was being set into motion in November 2013 and, ever since, I've felt like I've been carrying around a weight.  My phone, obviously, wasn't not pulling me down but it was like this abstract symbol of all of that heaviness and I needed to get rid of it because I didn't want that feeling anymore.

Therefore, when the Apple Store offered me $200 for it, I jumped on that. They made me sign a form saying that I would not ask for my old phone back because it would be shipped off to California to be refurbished as soon as I watched them destroy the SIM card.

I didn't even hesitate.  That $200 bought me my new iPhone 6, an Otterbox, and a screen guard. And I got money back on an Apple giftcard (maybe I need a new iPad...you never know).

If you had asked me to give up my 4S a few years ago, I wouldn't have. It means too much to me. I can be ridiculously sentimental, but I was not even wavering in handing over my 5C.  It was a definite non-decision.

Do you use phone upgrades right away? I tend to sit on them for a few months, which is dumb because 2 years is 2 years. Sometimes it takes awhile to adjust to the change of a new one, I guess.

NYE 2015 Stuff and Things

Oh, the last day of the year.  Where did the time go?

So last year, I chose two words for 2015. Persevere and Abide.  I never really followed up on the initial post where I proclaimed this, but I did think about the words.  Persevere, for instance, is what I say to kids who give me helpless shrugs.  Don't tell me you "can't". Persevere.  It's really just an educational way of saying Deal with it. I think, if it's said in the right context, it can also mean Bye Felicia. In the nicest way possible.

So anyway, I did persevere this past year.  I dealt with deployment, NTC, and all the complications that go along with life in general pretty well.  I think I can shelve perseverance for 2016. It's just kind of part of me now. In reality, it's been part of me since 2009 when this whole army thing began.

Moving on to Abide. This is kind of a different story. I'm not good at it, so it makes sense that I chose to work on it in 2015, but I don't think I actually worked on it that much.

The definitions for abide that I feel apply to me:

And you'll notice that a synonym for abide is none other than persevere, so maybe I did work on abiding. After all, it says nothing about patience in the definition of abide and patience was what I was attempting to work on. However, do I believe that I really accepted things as they are? No. I try to put my earthly hands into the cog of the machine as much as possible, in an attempt to control.  So abiding is something I might table for a future year.  Definitely not 2016.

So, words for 2016...any ideas?  I can't really come up with one and I don't even know that I want to, but Gretchen says it's a good idea to hold your focus...sometimes I don't know that I WANT a focus because too many focuses (let's face it, this is what happens) lead to too much much stuff happening and that equals stress and burn out.

Maybe balance. Or retreat. Because lately I've been thinking about going back to the roots of what makes me happy, not constantly trying to become someone I'm not. Or maybe amend or ameliorate.  That's what I'll do...pick a super obscure word like ameliorate.  I might have to think about this for a week...

Did you pick a word for 2016? Did you follow through on any words for 2015?

What do you do when something doesn't work?

This saying has been around for awhile, but I came across it on Pinterest and started reflecting on what it meant.

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I didn't immediately start thinking about what Scott would do; I started thinking about what I do when the internet doesn't work.

I try to problem-solve.  I disconnect from wi-fi, I reconnect to wi-fi.  I don't want to get up to check the router/modem if I don't have to.

If it's not my laptop, I go to the router.  I make sure all the lights are on. If they're not, something is really wrong and I disconnect, wait 30 seconds, and reconnect.  While I'm waiting for lights to come back on, I usually load the dishwasher or something because staying busy is key in a situation like this.

If the lights don't come on, I call CenturyLink.

If the lights do come on properly, I try my laptop again.  If it does work, problem solved.

If it doesn't work, I try the router one more time.  Again, I might fold some clothes while I wait for the results because, say it with me, "staying busy is key in a situation like this".

If it still doesn't work, I call CenturyLink.  If it's before 8am, they're closed and I'm generally pretty annoyed but I try to go about my business because the internet will, I swear, come back on eventually.

So that's how I solve the problem: I go about a route to fixing it.  I literally drop everything to solve the problem.  I've found that this is what I do no matter the problem: paperwork issues, car problems, school issues, dog problems, etc.  I will find a way to fix it, and I won't rest until the world is back in proper order.

This happened with our cell phone signal booster last month.  The lights just didn't come on, which meant I had little to no cell phone service out here in the middle of nowhere.  I tried different methods of plugging it in and reseting it to figure out if it was the cord, the box, the outlet, etc.  I drove down to the mailbox and get phone service so I could call the company.  After 3 dropped calls, they said they'd send me a new cord.  I got the cord a week later and the booster worked again, so I now know the cord was just defective.  I spent 2 hours, at least, on this Saturday insistent on fixing the problem and I wouldn't rest until I had an answer of some sort.  When I get into these frenzies, the dogs are not happy with me: their playtime gets cut down drastically and I usually am just shoving them out of my way and I walk from place to place trying to fix whatever's wrong.

Anyway, that's a lot of information I just learned about myself from a Will Ferrell quote.

What do you do when something just doesn't work?

If I'm allergic to ice cream, I can probably just end things now.

The title may seem over-dramatic, but I don't really think it is.

For the last few months, my skin has been clearer than it has in the last 2 years.  I thought maybe I was just allergic to Scott (ha ha ha) because it was after he deployed that I really noticed it.  Then, 2 weeks after Easter, I went to Culver's, bought a few pints of frozen custard, and enjoyed an embarrassing amount of it over a 2 day period.  That was Sunday and Monday.  By Wednesday, I had a cluster of pimples on my cheek.  By cluster, I mean 4 large-ish pimples that needed to be popped in order to get them to heal and go away.  I haven't seen pimples like that since...January?  Maybe before?  I don't know.  They were the kind of pimples I had plaguing me last spring.

These pimples lasted for about 5 days.

Then I thought about something: I'd given up ice cream for Lent.  Lent had, coincidentally, started around the time Scott deployed.  I hadn't had any ice cream for at least 8 weeks.

Then I started thinking about dairy...I don't eat much dairy.  I don't drink milk, except for the occasional splashes of cream in coffee.  Most days, I use the preservative-laden non-dairy creamer. I also, more or less, stopped drinking lattes within the last year because they didn't do much for me, caffeine-wise (I have a high tolerance). I always sort of had this theory that lattes were causing breakouts, but I never really put it to the test.  There's so many variables and the most likely cause has always been hormones.
Moving on...I don't eat yogurt.  I never got the appeal. I do like plain Greek yogurt mixed with cereal but it bothers my stomach so awhile ago I decided it wasn't worth it.  I only really eat cheese on pizza.  Occasionally a quesadilla.

So, I didn't eat dairy for a week after the ice cream feast and the pimples went away and no more popped up.  That was always my biggest issue: I wouldn't get one pimple.  I would get 15 at once and they would never go away.  But these went away and that was it.  Aside from cheese once or twice a week, I haven't had dairy since then.  And I haven't had anymore issues.

Which leads me to believe that large, concentrated amounts of dairy aren't good for me.  Like the large concentrated amounts found in ice cream.

I would really really hope that I'm wrong.  Like, this is awful.  But honestly, nothing is worth bad skin.  Not even ice cream.  I've learned that over the last year for sure.  However, the only way to test for an allergy is to take away a food and then reintroduce it.  So, I'll probably just avoid it for the time being.  Of course, I do wonder about the psychological effect of this.  Will I expect ice cream to cause problems in the future?  Will it be some kind of backwards placebo effect?  I don't know.  This is terrible.

This is the card that came with my ice cream necklace a few years ago...it shows how deep my devotion runs.

Inadequacy and Simplifying

I posted about my organization challenge for November.  I didn't have grand hopes or aspirations of greatness.  I just wanted to organize the corner of the basement.  Putting all of that stuff into plastic tubs and throwing out the cardboard and throwing other stuff away felt good.  Stacking up those boxes made me feel like I had something together.  The organization challenge for December is Simplify.  Perfect for this month, right?  Perfect for believing that we are enough and we don't need to bake all the treats and go to all the parties and buy all the presents.  For believing that not going overboard is okay.

Last week, we went to a Christmas party.  It was Friday night.  I'd just put in 40 hours of Sit. No. Yes. Hurry up. What are you doing? You need a pencil. Get out your [insert any random word here].  I was exhausted and practically coughing up a lung because of this never-ending half-cold I seem to have.  Scott had made a dip because, at 10pm on Thursday he said we should probably take something to this party.  We still had to stop at the store for chips though.  And the auto part store so he could get wires to fix my car.  We didn't know where the house of the party was necessarily and I had never met any of the people who would be there.  A recipe for disaster, right?

Anyway, seeing how "together" some people have it can sometimes bring you down, you know?  Pinterest inspired gallery walls, brand new everything, things unpacked and in their perfect place (even if you just moved in a month ago), more than one perfectly decorated Christmas tree, etc.

So I needed to remind myself of the Simplify resolutions I'd already decided on for December.  

1.  I don't need to bake all the cookies.  In years past, I've gone overboard.  This year, we're not going anywhere for Christmas and we don't have any guests either so there's no need for me to spend two whole days baking.

2.  I don't need to buy presents for every person I've met in the last year.  Oh, I thought about it.  And it's not really a cost issue.  It's a take-the-time-to-pick-out-something-meaningful-wrap-it-carefully-and-mail-it issue.  I truly don't have time.  And I know that sounds awful.  I did send Christmas cards though.  And I got the boxes mailed out to our families.

3.  Do not Pinterest a gift for everyone I know here in Colorado.  I did this one year in Alaska and dang, it was stressful.  Actually, I did it two years in a row.  I made hot fudge and chocolate covered pretzels one year and cake pops for everyone the next year.  "Everyone" is coworkers.  However, my building is small enough now that if I made stuff for one person, I better make it for the whole hallway (like 8 people), plus office staff and…inevitably I will forget someone and feel terrible.  Best not to worry about it.  I also didn't print enough cards from Shutterfly (because expensive) for every acquaintance I have, so I can't hand those out.  However, do people really want a picture of me (who they see everyday), my husband (who they've never met), and my two dogs?  Eh.  Probably not.

4.  Don't go overboard buying presents.  You know how easy it is.  You see all the holiday displays and stuff just falls into the cart.  I'm 100% guilty of this.  Tis the season, right?  I finished my Christmas shopping 2 weeks ago.  Scott's gifts (little things he'd never buy himself) are under the tree.  The dogs each get a toy.  In years past, I've bought myself gifts but this year all I picked up were new pajamas, slippers, and a travel mug.  There's no need for me to wrap and unwrap presents to Kristin, from Kristin.  I think I'm outgrowing that.

Is there any way you're trying to simplify December for yourself and your family?  More ideas are welcome!

Back Your Stuff Up

I lost everything on my phone the other night.  All I wanted to do was plug it into my computer so I could download all my music onto it and boom.  Everything gone.  It restored to June 2013.  My old phone.  I'd gotten a new one in November 2013 and was told then that none of my stuff could transfer because it "wasn't backed up the right way".  So I started with a clean slate last November and I was a little disgruntled about it.

So, back your stuff up.  If you listen to anything I ever write, this is it.  I'm sure there was some clicking and not reading things through on my part when I plugged my phone into my MacBook on Monday night…of course this happened on a Monday…but regardless, all.  gone.

In an attempt to fix it (funny), I downloaded the new OPS 8.  Which just led to me staring at my phone for 2 hours while it updated.  

Back your stuff up.  If it's not on Instagram or my blog, it's gone.  So many dog pictures.  Sniff, sniff.  Thank God for iPhoto and this blog.  Thank. God.  

However, let's talk about what I gained.  While I may have lost everything from the last year, including contacts and photos, I did gain something besides a lesson learned.  I got all my old pictures back.  When I switched phones last year, I lost everything from 2011-2013.  Those last 2 years in Alaska, gone.  However, when my phone restored/reverted to the old version, I got it all back.  All my pictures.  

This is the first picture I ever took with my iPhone.  September 2011.  

We're on a Parking Spot shuttle at LAX.

This is a project I did with my class in September 2011 to show fault lines in Alaska. Pudding and sugar cookies.

JoePa's last Penn State game in October 2011.  The only picture I took that night.  The weather was terrible.  See the snow on the steps?

Seward. May 2012

Temperature pictures. There were about 25 of these in that old camera roll.  All nice and blurry because I took them in the dark.

I was nearly in tears as I looked through all the hundreds of pictures.

Missouri was really hard on me for a few different reasons.  I didn't grow there.  I didn't really thrive (other than as a teacher…as a teacher, it was an experience). While I will always cherish the friends I made there and I hope I run into them again, maybe it's best that that year of pictures is just gone.  I mean, do I really want the billions of selfies I took of my own face just to see what my skin looked like each day?  No.  I don't.  The best thing, for us, that came out of Missouri was Scout and I have still have plenty of DSLR pictures of him.  Jett too.  Though I'd hardly call him the best thing to come out of anywhere…kidding.  

I do regret that there's a lot of Colorado pictures on there, but there's a lot of Colorado pictures on my DSLR too.  Such is life I suppose.  I'll have to take another picture of our new microwave to demonstrate that we do have a microwave now for the first time since May.

Seriously though, back your stuff up.

Breaking up with Carmex

Yesterday's best effort…

I've been die-hard Carmex user since 2004.  It was thick, felt almost-medication like, and made my lips feel fabulous.  Tastes terrible, of course.  But I got used to that.

I've tried other chapsticks and lip balms in the last few years and they've all left my lips dry and gross feeling.  EOS, Burt's Bees, etc.  I haven't had any luck.

Lately I've found myself using my Carmex (I keep several tubes around the house) somewhere around 6 times a day.  Inconvenient.  If I don't use it, my lips feel awful and then I'm in a bad mood. On Tuesday, I lost one of my Carmex tubes and then I forgot my spare on the bathroom counter and I was pretty miserable all day.  I was constantly using another kind of gloss/balm and it was doing nothing for me.  Of course, I had that one laying around in my purse.  

So, I come to you all.  Tell me your favorite chapstick, please.

You might notice…

Things have been a little sparse for me in the social media world lately.

That's because I managed to use up 90% of my phone's data plan 6 days into the new billing cycle.

In case you're curious how you, too, can achieve this: Watch several episodes of Mad Men and Friday Night Lights on your Netflix app while not connected to wi-fi.  I guarantee you the same results.

I especially hate that Scott gets the warning text messages too, instead of them just sending them to me, when I'm at my data limit.

Actually, what happened was that I used up 75% of the data just a few days into April…then I said, "No, Kristin.  You must stop."  And I did.  For a few days.

Then I started up again.  I thought, "It can't possibly use that much data", somehow forgetting the fact that I burned through 75% of it in less than 5 days.  

And that's when I (and Scott) got the 90% warning.

So then I deleted all the fun apps.  Seriously.  Gone.  Netflix, Pandora, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook (which I had *just* re-added), etc.  I did not delete Instagram but I did stop posting on it and checking it every half hour.  Also, I would delete Safari if I could.  I'd been reading blogs on my lunch break.  I guess that draws data too.

For those of you who wonder why I can't just connect to wi-fi at work, I can.  But all the good websites/apps are blocked on the school's wi-fi.  Even Gmail.  So.  There's that.

I'm using my phone for texting and talking only.  It's quite the change.

However, all you've really missed out on are IG-filtered pictures of coffee, moscato, my dog, and the recent warm temperatures.

One last trip to Bass Pro…

May the force be with me:  12 more days in the billing cycle.

An iPhone saga

I bit the bullet and went to the Verizon store on Sunday.  Surprisingly enough, here, in the middle of nowhere, we do have one of those.  1 point: Missouri.

The 18 year old girl who helped me actually made much more work for me than I'd ever intended on putting into this new phone.

Me: I'd like an upgrade.

Her: What phone would you like?

Me: What do you have?

Her: 5S and 5C.

Me: Which is cheaper?

Her: 5C

Me: I'll take the 5C. Can I see the colors?

Her: Yep!

(She brings out blue, pink, yellow, green, and white.  They are all pastels. I don't like pastels.)

Her: I love the coraly-pink.

Me, thinking: That's not coral.  If it was coral, I'd consider it.

Her:  You should get the pink! 

Me, thinking: The last thing you'll ever catch me with is a pastel pink phone. Also, I'm not a 13 year old girl. A pink phone is a big commitment.  This is 2 years we're talking about.  Now, if you had a plaid one…

Me: I'll just put a case on it anyway.

Her: We have clear cases!

Me, thinking: Yes, for $49.99 I can get a small, clear plastic sheath that offers almost no protection.

Me: Do you have Otterboxes?  

Her: In black.

Me: Never mind.  Screen protector?

Her: We're out.  They never sent us more.

So then I was in a frenzied, almost fearful, state to get to a store and get an Otterbox on that phone as soon as possible.  3 stores later, I found one at Wal-Mart.  They have shockingly few 5C cases on the market.  Apparently people want to show off those pastels.  That to me is irresponsible and asking for trouble.

As I'm checking out, she mentions that unless it's backed up on iCloud, my contacts won't transfer.  It hasn't been backed up on iCloud since like June, because really, who backs up their phone consistently?  (I'm sure you all do. Sigh.)

So I lost everything.  EVERYTHING. Notes, Photos, all of it.  Gone. 

Bleh.  

I briefly considered asking if we could halt the process, I could run home, back it up, drive back and THEN make the transfer, but I decided against it.  She didn't really offer it as an option, but I'm sure I could've made it one if I wanted to be difficult.  

The woman in the line next to me squealed, "This just made my life!" when she saw the lime green phone.  

I got the white one.

Me, downloading Instagram again