Nancy’s Life

I barely even have the energy to write this post, so just a quick note to say I am still alive. When I came back from vacation my boss scheduled me for 8 days in a row. I have been exhausted the past few days. In retail you don’t get to sit at a desk all day. So, I’m taking some me time before I get all social and busy again.

The month of June was alternately busy and not busy. I was finally free from school, but the last week was spent getting ready for commencement. I also tried to quit smoking, which didn’t work out as well as I had hoped. A trip to the doctor, some prescriptions and some renewed motivation should fix that. My reading time was spent on fun books; rereading an old favorite and finding something new. I also spent some time playing a game that I am very far behind on. So here is my very short list for the month of June.

Reading:

• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. This is an old favorite. I absolutely adore Jasper Fforde’s books; all of them.
• The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson. I picked up the advanced copy of this book at work. The premise seemed interesting, and I wasn’t disappointed. A women in the 21st century is given a parting gift by her lover; an old book of embroidery patterns. She finds inside the book, in the margins, a diary of sorts. It is no ordinary diary, but the diary of a women from the 1600’s. As she reads the book, the reader is taken back and forth in time, following both women in their search for meaning and love. There is a romance aspect to it, but there is also much adventure. I really liked this book and recommend it.

Watching:

• The Gilmore Girls Season 2. Finished season 2.
• Backyardigans. Been watching The Backyardigans with Baby G, a lot. He loves this show. We have High Flying Adventures, Tale of the Mighty Knights, and Movers & Shakers. I highly recommend this series for toddlers. The music and dancing are well done and don’t drive me crazy like most kids shows.
• I’m sure there is more I’ve been watching, but I was bad about keeping track and can’t remember everything.

Listening:

• Nutsie I found a new place to listen to music online. I stumbled across the 1988 (the year I graduated from High School) top 40 list there and stayed around to listen to other lists.

Playing:

• Final Fantasy XII. I’m finally getting closer to the end of this game.
• Cate West: The Vanishing Files. This is a fun game to pass the time and exercise your seek and find skills.

(I spent three mornings in a row sitting by that fire with a cup of coffee, it was so relaxing and peaceful)

I took a much needed vacation last week. I went to Oregon for the 4th of July; to my father’s ranch. I haven’t had a relationship with my father for 20 years, so this was a trip that I never thought would happen. Things started to change for us about two years ago when my step-mother died. There is a chance that my father and I can repair the relationship, and my trip to Oregon this weekend was a step in that direction. I had a lot of fun and got a whole day in that actually felt like a real vacation. Baby G came with me; going on a vacation with a toddler doesn’t really feel like a vacation y’know.

Anyway, I have tons to catch up on. I missed posting RWLP for the month of June and I have a new Clutter Clearing post to put up; Aaron did a fabulous job clearing out and baby proofing the living room. Tons to do today, must away….

I am now officially done and graduated. I finished school over a month ago, but had to wait all this time to go through the commencement ceremony.

The ceremony was in San Jose at the HP Pavilion. My sis came all the way from Sacramento to be with me.

I was nervous until I found my place among my fellow Bachelor of Science in Business Management graduates. Then I just sat back and enjoyed the day.

It was a long, stressful 4 years. Family and friends were neglected (but thankfully understood) and good times were put off too often. It was all worth it in the end. I now have a degree.

And now, what do I do next? Heck if I know. There are a lot of things I would like to do, but until I get myself organized and put a plan to paper, I’ll just enjoy the time with my family and friends and have fun for now.

Time for some gratuitous pictures of the babe. Aaron took these yesterday.

Here he is practicing drinking out of Daddy’s cup:

Making silly faces:

A happy little boy:

Loves:

• The Backyardigans
• Disney’s Robin Hood
• Throwing balls
• Playing peek-a-boo
• Drumming
• Dancing
• Chasing the cat
• Going to the park

He brings his Mommy and Daddy tons of joy and happiness. Happy 18 months G.

We don’t get to go out much as a family. With both Aaron and I working and not being able to afford daycare, we work opposite shifts and never have time off together unless one of us is on vacation. I’m on vacation right now, and Aaron had the day off yesterday; so we all left the house, had lunch and went to the park We had a great time. Here are some pictures from our day yesterday.

We went to Applebee’s for lunch. The one where we live is actually pretty good.

Then we went to the park. We blew on some flowers first, Baby G (not really a baby any longer, should we call him The Kid, Child Unit, ???) loved this.

Then we played on the swings.

Then we played tag.

Finally it was time to clean up and go home.

(He looks like he has a sun burn here, but he doesn’t. Us people with super white skin get red easily when we rub on our skin. I had just put sun screen on his face. It may be that he was hot too, I also break out in a heat rash.)

Found this meme when going through my Google Reader and thought it would be fun to do. I found it at slackermama but could not find the original meme.

1. Nancy through my eyes, 2. Care for a shrimp?, 3. Sunset On the Lighthouse of the End of The World I HDR, 4. Pink and Purple, 5. John Rhys Meyers, 6. WIRED, 7. Damrak - Amsterdam, 8. coffee and chocolate mousse cake, 9. Renegade Craft Fair - MY GOODIES!, 10. bless from above, 11. Drowning in a Sea of Grass12. Not available

The following are the instructions:
What you do:

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page, pick an image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker).

My Answers:

1. What is your first name? Nancy
2. What is your favorite food? Fettucini Alfredo with shrimp
3. What high school did you go to? Sunset High
4. What is your favorite color? purple
5. Who is your celebrity crush? John Rhys Meyers (Originally it was Tom Welling but I couldn’t get anything to come up in flickr.)
6. Favorite drink? Coffee
7. Dream vacation? Europe
8. Favorite dessert? Chocolate
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Crafter
10. What do you love most in life? My Kids
11. One Word to describe you. Overwhelmed
12. Your flickr name. ladyrhowan (this did not bring up any search results so I left that square blank)

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No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks! School is out, and for me it’s out for good; at least for now. I am now graduated. So that means I have more time to actually read, watch, listen, and play. I’ve only been out of school for two weeks, and right now I am focused on something very important; quitting smoking. So May’s RWLP post is all about that.

Reading:

• The Tao of Quitting Smoking by Joseph P. Weaver This book focuses on the spiritual aspects of quitting smoking. There are many exercises throughout the book, including meditation and changing your thought patterns about smoking. I have to admit that I haven’t followed all the exercises in the book, but it has been beneficial in inspiring me and helping me to focus my thoughts on the negative aspects of smoking, and the positives of quitting. The author says that if you follow the exercises throughout the book and do not deviate from them that by the end of the book you will quit.
• The American Yoga Association’s Beginner’s Manual by Alice Christensen This is a step-by-step guide to safely and effectively learn yoga. Exercise has been shown to be beneficial when quitting smoking. Yoga is a type of exercise that helps you to gain awareness about your body and breath. My hope is that as I continue to practice and become more aware of how my body feels, my lifestyle will change and I will not want cigarettes to be a part of it.

Watching:

• Gaiam’s Yoga for Beginner

Listening:

• You: Breathing Easy by Roizen and Oz This cd includes information about how our lungs work and how breathing affects the body. It also includes exercises to help practice better techniques for mindful breathing and breathing that will help increase lung function and just be healthier.
• Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn This audio book is all about mindfulness. In my view, being mindful can help with stress reduction and over-all quality of life. It makes sense that if I can keep my focus on what I am doing and feeling at the moment, I can overcome my negative thought patterns that are keeping me a smoker.

Playing:

No quit smoking related games that I have come across as of yet. Though sometimes for me, just playing a game can be quite a stress reliever.

If you are thinking of quitting smoking, or know someone who is, or are in the process now, come visit me at my quit smoking blog: My Smoking Files

I share there my experience with quitting, links to places that can help you and much more.

Well, how long has it been since I last posted a clutter clearing update? Hmmm, let’s see. hang on one moment while I search through my files…. Oh yes, here we are; I last posted a clutter clearing post on April 28th 2008. So, it’s been an entire month. I was a lot busier than I thought I would be through the middle of May. I finally completed school last week (yay!) and have been enjoying some free time. Now, it’ s back to clutter clearing.

I have a couple little pictures to share with you of one area of my dining room that I uncluttered on, I believe, Friday night. I was trying to get motivated to get some cleaning done. I decided I would do some dishes. We’ve been having problems with the dishwasher for awhile and, to make a long story short, I got a good kick in the butt to get moving on the cleaning since I now have to call to have someone come in and fix the dishwasher and the pipes under the sink. I managed to clear out a good chunk of junk from the dining room and create a workspace for myself again there. Here’s the pics of before and after:

The pics are a little blurry because I can not for the life of me take non-blurry pictures with the new camera. Maybe because I wear glasses? I don’t know, but anyway, here is a close-up of the new, temporary workstation:

Now, my plan is to pick-up the clutter clearing and cleaning with the Eight Step Home Cure. I’m focused this week on trying to start a yoga routine and some breathing exercises in preparation for quitting smoking, so I may wait on the Eight Step Home Cure until I’ve got that stuff down. Who knows though, I may get ambitious and go all the way.