Tag Archives: relaxation

My weekend of relaxation is here!

9 Sep

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That’s what I will be doing this weekend (except with a much less impressive view).

Against all odds, I have made it to my first free weekend in two months, and my second free weekend since the beginning of June. Woohoo!

I know that I said I was going to lay around and do absolutely nothing, not even clean my disgusting house. Yeah… that’s not really going to happen. Mostly because there are things that I would like to do this weekend that do not involve watching TV (and because I would feel disgusting if that’s all I did for 2 days… trust me, I’ve tried it).

So what is it I want to do this weekend? In order of importance (because free days fly by faster than I realize!):

1. Recharge, which means:

  • Sleep in. No alarm clock for me! (Except Sunday morning when I have to be at church by 9:15.) And if I feel like a nap, by all means.
  • Get in the Word for an extended period each morning with a cup of coffee. This is the thing that I have missed the most. I seriously haven’t done this in 3 months.
  • Read! I am currently reading Managing God’s Money by Randy Alcorn. I’ve really enjoyed it so far.
  • Take a walk outside in the cool(er) fall(ish) air with the pooches.
  • Drink a Pumpkin Spice latte from Starbuck’s.

2. Get caught up. Specifically:

  • Clean the house
  • Buy more dog food (and decide on which new food to buy) and treats
  • Organize all the mail, race stuff, and miscellaneous crap I’ve thrown in a pile in my office
  • Write Thank You to the Normans for a great Labor Day
  • Grocery shop
3. Train. I would gladly cross this one off my list, but alas, I have paid money for these races and would like to turn out a decent effort. My workouts look like:
  • 10 mile bike, 2 mile run tonight
  • 6 mile run + strength training tomorrow
  • 15 mile bike on Sunday
4. Go shopping. I need would like to buy:
  • Housewarming gift for friends
  • Shirt for my cousin’s wedding to go with the cute new skirt I got at the thrift store Tuesday (I’ll post my other great finds later)
  • Cute decorations and fabric for curtains for various areas of our house
If you think it’s weird that Travis isn’t involved in any of these plans, it’s because he’s going up to Wyoming antelope hunting this weekend. And then he’s going back out to Utah to count cacti next week. I’ll see him for a couple of hours Sunday but that’s it. I’m actually disappointed that he’s going to be gone so much (insert evidence of God’s grace in marriage here!).
Regardless, I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend! I may post tomorrow or Sunday but I forgot my phone in NC so I have no internet at home (gasp!). No phone and no Internet! What’s a girl to do?
See above.
Have a great weekend friends!

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Two Tickets to Paradise

22 Jul

Today Travis and I leave on our road trip to Minnesota. We will be gone 9 glorious days. Here’s our itinerary:

Friday: Leave work at 2:00, drive home, load up the pooches, get on the road by 3:00. Stop at Cabela’s in Sidney, NE, to buy Travis’ dad’s 60th b-day present. Continue on to Nevis, arriving around 8 a.m. (it’s a 16-hour drive).

Saturday: Spend time in the middle of nowhere (aka Nevis where Travis grew up). I will read and bum around while Travis shoots stuff, creates trails on their property of 180 acres, and goes 4-wheeling (not in a Jeep but on an ATV for all of you who use 4-wheeling incorrectly 🙂 ).

Sunday – Monday: Go to Grand Rapids where Travis’ parents currently live (they still have their house in Nevis, but rent it out – long story). Their house in GR is on a lake so we’ll probably do some fishing (I personally like to do tangling instead), boating, and sitting on their amazingly awesome wraparound deck. This will be the first time I’ll see their house without 5 feet of snow and negative temperatures. Yay for summer! Yay for a regular job!

Tuesday – Wednesday: We’re going to head up to Travis’ family’s cabin in Voyageur’s National Park in extreme Northern Minnesota (near the Boundary Waters). Trav’s great-grandma or great-great-grandma bought the property before it was a National Park (back in the 40s or 50s) so it’s very secluded (no phone or Internet) and you have to take a boat to get there (or a snowmobile in the winter). It is absolutely gorgeous up there.

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The sunsets up there are amazing and you can often see the Northern Lights (aka Aurora Borealis). Another perk, Canada is just right across the lake. Oh yeah, dontcha know.

I’ll also get to see a lot of this:

And I think we’re going to throw Katy off the dock. Because she hates water. And we like to laugh. No but seriously, we’d like to expose our dogs to some water on this trip so that they stop being so scared of it.

Thursday – Friday: Time with my family at my parent’s cabin near Pine City (an hour north of Minneapolis).

There will be time for this:

(although right now I’m not feeling the whole getting-thrown-off-a-tube-careening-around-the-corner-at-20-mph thing.)

And this:

My oldest brother, Jeremy, and sis-in-law, Jen, will be coming up from Evansville, IN, on Friday too. I’m not sure what my other 2 brothers and SIL (who live in the Cities) are going to be doing but I’m sure I’ll get to see them Friday too.

Saturday: Lunch with college friends in Minneapolis, then my cousin Ben is getting married! It will be fun to share in their special day and see all of my extended family on my mom’s side.

Sunday: Early breakfast with immediate family and drive the 13 hours back to Denver. I’m always extremely sad when we leave after trips like this, mostly because I miss our family. It’s just a matter of time before we move back…

Since I will be enjoying all of these wonderful water-filled festivities and decomposing (Decompressing!) during the summer of Kathy (Seinfeld references), I won’t be blogging. I actually won’t even touch a computer (unless forced). I will be soaking up sunshine, lake time, and humidity that melts your face off, and being eaten by bugs the size of a small child. And it will be glorious.

I do have a couple of guest posts lined up so stay tuned for those. Have a great week!

 

 

 

 

 

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The Simplicity & Difficulty of Connecting with God

4 Apr

Last Friday and Saturday, I didn’t want to get in the Word. I really just wanted to read a good book, one with new ideas and words I hadn’t read before. I didn’t want the usual formula of my morning: read the Bible, pray, meditate. So on Friday, I took a walk. It was a beautiful morning and I reveled in the sunshine and warmth, very thankful to God for His creation. “See?” I said to myself. “I don’t need the formula. I can connect with God many different ways.” But a little voice said that if I didn’t read the Bible and pray for others, my time with God was incomplete. Sure, I could connect with Him in nature but it wasn’t sufficient.

Saturday, I read The God Hunt by Karen Mains for a couple of hours in the morning, then some more in the afternoon, then some more at night. I felt my childish rebellion welling up inside in response to the responsible voice that talked about reading the Bible and praying: “I want to just read a book! Why can’t I just do what I want to do?” Reading The God Hunt was in some way, a rebellion, a way of staking my claim to how I wanted to spend my day. I wanted to read a book, not the Bible. I wanted to sit in silence, not pray.

As I was reading the book before I went to sleep Saturday night, Karen Mains was talking about setting up “ducks,” what I have normally called cairns, rocks stacked on top of one another to delineate a path and keep a hiker on the right track. But instead of setting up physical ducks, she was setting up spiritual ones to keep her on the right path with God and reminding her to look for Him. Her spiritual cairns were Bible study, prayer, personal liturgies, memorizing Scripture, etc.

Instead of being a curmudgeonish chore, studying the Bible is a way for me to “keep the object I am hunting within my spiritual sightlines,” to remind myself that “as I moving forward…what I am looking for is God’s work.” God’s work. His touch and presence in my life. Him seeking and finding me. Was I basing my relationship with God on how much I pursued Him?

Then on Sunday morning, I awoke with the cold I had felt developing the previous night. It hadn’t gotten as bad as I expected; I was still well enough to go to church. But I was groggy, sleepy, and short-tempered. Even the bagel crumbs falling to my skirt in the light breeze outside Panera irritated me. As we arrived at church and sat in our usual spot, the worship music started. The first song was one I didn’t particularly like, then second song was a new one that I “didn’t have the energy to learn.” I stood there lamenting how tired and sick I felt, worried about who I would talk to during the five-minute break, and worried about meeting Ana Helena after church to talk to Gerry, a new member who had just moved from the Congo, about teaching him ESL. I heard my usual voice of self-pity, “I’m just so tired. I don’t feel well. I can barely even concentrate on singing. I can’t wait to go home.”

As I stood there, half singing the songs, I remembered something I had read in Practicing His Presence:

One of the mental characteristics against which I have rebelled most is the frequency of my “blank spells” when I cannot think of anything worth writing, and sometimes cannot remember names. Henceforth I resolve to regard these as God’s signal that I am to stop and listen. Sometimes you want to talk to your son, and sometimes you want to hold him tight in silence. God is that way with us, He wants to hold us still with Him in silence.

If I didn’t feel up to singing, could it possibly be God’s way of telling me to just listen, to just enjoy His presence? If I didn’t feel like searching for God and straining to uncover God’s word for me that day, could God be reminding me that He will meet me with rich blessings?

I stopped singing and closed my eyes, listening to the harmony of voices lifted up to God. Then it became clear: I had been basing my encounters with God on how “up to” the Christian life I felt, how much I felt like I could handle, how dedicated I felt, how ready to obey I felt. I was still trying to find the strength and stamina for the Christian life in myself. Why else would being sick and tired feel like a setback or hindrance to God’s work in my life? If I were truly relying on God for everything, I would be just as ready to obey God in sickness as in health, in bad times as in good. My circumstances would have no sway on my readiness to see or respond to God, because the ability to do so would be bound up in Him—and He never changes.

I was once again reminded of my alternate translation of 2 Corinthians 16:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in humility.” It is true that my self-pity is the reverse form of pride, the opposite of humility. The cure is finding sufficient grace and power in who Christ is for me. Instead of worrying about who I was going to talk to during the break, I could wait and listen for God to speak to me in the moment. And He did: once the break rolled around and Travis went to the bathroom, I saw Renia sitting alone and was actually excited to go over and talk to her. God’s leading. After church, I found Ana Helena and while she went to get her kids, I tracked down Gerry and talked to him about the ESL lessons and furniture for their apartment. God’s leading. It is after situations like this when I am humbled yet again by God, for doubting His goodness to me. I am like an Israelite, who continues to doubt and question God even after all of the times that He has so obviously proven His track record.

God showed me yet again that I can rely on Him for everything. There is nothing I need to live out my faith authentically for His glory besides His constant sufficiency and supply of grace. Even in my intimate daily walk with Him, I don’t need to find the stamina and motivation in myself to seek Him; I need only to ask Him to produce it in me. When I have found myself wanting in spiritual desire, instead of running to God, I have lamented my lack and tried to make up for it in my own actions—or conceded defeat and turned away to do what my flesh wanted to do instead.

Anything that takes me away from intimacy with God, whether sickness, fatigue, or desire to relax, should put up a red flag. Why? Because the idea that it is work to spend time with God, or that I have to choose between rest and Him, or that it takes a lot of striving to connect with God are all lies. God is the epitome of relaxation (Psalm 23:2-3); I find rest in Him (Matthew 11:28); and I only have to draw near to God for Him to draw near to me (James 4:8). As Roy Hession says in We Would See Jesus:

God has made Him as accessible to us sinners as He possibly can…We see the standard of the victorious life above us, and we are quite sure that if we can attain to it in this or that particular we shall be in fellowship with God and filled with His Spirit. But it is the attaining to it which all the time defeats us. And all the time we are climbing so hard the Lord Jesus stands immediately available to us as our Door, open on street level, and we could so quickly enter in if we were willing to bow our heads at His Cross.

Bible study, prayer, worship, memorization—all of these are means to connecting with God, not ends in themselves. How Satan loves to heap guilt on us when we declare that! He knows their power, their use, their effectiveness. He knows that if he can pervert their use and purpose in the minds of believers, we will become in bondage to them and they will lose their beauty, freedom, and glory in aiding us to discover the God who we so long for.

If I find myself feeling condemned by desiring one day to connect with God through nature instead of His Word, it doesn’t take me long to see that I have turned reading my Bible into an end, instead of a means. The only thing that should grieve my spirit is losing my connection with God and I should seek to amend the situation however I can at the moment, instead of promising myself “I’ll get in the Word again tomorrow.” God is available now, in the moment I so desire Him! Don’t tarry, don’t make excuses. Go to Him now. Your small desire is enough. Like Brother Lawrence says, “Just a little lifting up of the heart to God is enough. A little remembrance of the Lord, one act of inward worship…will be fully accepted by the Lord.”

So often when I come to God, I think I need to be in a spiritual mindset, to feel ready to accept truths from God, to be dressed in my spiritual armor, ready for any battle God calls me to. While that does sometimes happen (no doubt God preparing me for His revelations), those are not prerequisites to time with God. I can come to Him when I feel groggy, lazy or grumpy; I can come to Him when I don’t feel like reading, or do feel like reading, or want to take a walk outside; I can come to Him when I am anxious, self-pitying, or short-tempered. He will never acquiesce to my sin or pity but He will always speak to me gently exactly the words I need to hear and show Himself to be the way to peace and joy. God’s dedication to His own glory is the most reassuring thing in the world.

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Construing days of rest

13 Feb

I like the idea of a Sabbath. Taking time to relax, recharge, read and spend time with family is always a good idea. I’ve tried in the past to observe a Sabbath – I once had the idea of a Silent Sunday, during which I didn’t listen to the radio, watch TV, or do anything on the computer. In essence, unplugging. It was a great idea, one I would still be inclined to do if it weren’t for having a little something called a husband. He was not jumping on the bandwagon of my idea so the notion fell by the wayside.

Other times, I have been just plain lazy on Sundays – taking a nap, reading, watching TV, pretending to think about exercising but never really planning on doing so.

But I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been really that intentional about setting aside a day for rest.

Maybe it’s because by my very nature, I already take plenty of time to relax. I need to relax or I’ll implode. Taking one more day for rest would seem like overkill. I guess now, with my current state of unemployment, I’ve practically got a season of Sabbath on my hands.

It’s kind of like date nights for me and Travis. I definitely see the value of them for couples who have kids but for me and Travis, who see each other every day and night, and spend a lot of evenings just the 2 of us, they seem somewhat superfluous. Why plan a specific night to hang out when we spend every night together?

I am not a person who can handle go-go-go. I can be busy for a couple of days in a row before I need a breather. Ideally, there would be a constant balance: busyness in the morning, then rest in the afternoon, and a casual evening. Here’s a sample Saturday: getting in the Word when I get up, going on a 3-mile run, attending a baby shower in the morning, stopping by the bank and grocery store on my way home, lying on the couch with a good book, taking a 30-45 minute nap, making a delicious dinner with Travis, having a glass of wine, and watching a movie from Redbox. I do also enjoy relaxing in the morning, then being busy at night but I much prefer to enjoying my relaxation time after getting productivity out of the way.

Today, as I was painting our new front door, I was thinking about the whole idea of a Sabbath. The Bible talks about there being 6 days for work and 1 day for rest. Yesterday, Travis and I bummed around on the couch all day, watching movies, doing crosswords, eating cookies. Then today, we decided to paint our front door and finish a windowsill. Isn’t that kind of backwards? Shouldn’t we have done the whole door/window thing yesterday and then used today to be bumcakes, as we say?

But I feel like doing more work on a Saturday, after a long week of work (or non-work in my case, which is surprisingly exhausting), is asking a lot. Usually by that time, all I have the energy for is reading a magazine or doing the previous Monday’s crossword (the day they’re the easiest). But Travis, on the other hand, is often freakishly productive on Saturdays. Especially the days he goes duck hunting or flyfishing. He gets up at the awful hour of 3 am, hunts or fishes for 8 or 9 hours, gets home around noon, and then instead of taking a nap like I expect him to, he gets to work cleaning up the garage, putting in windows, vacuuming out cars, and changing the oil. No matter what I’m doing those days, I always feel like a slacker compared to him.

I think I just have a lower level of energy than most people. Sometimes even just thinking about what Travis accomplishes in a day exhausts me and I’m ready for a nap. All I know is that I’m too tired by Friday night to wait for a Sabbath on Sunday. I need time to rest on Saturday.

What about you? Do you use Sunday as a Sabbath, some other day, or do you do something else altogether?

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Our Colorado Christmas

27 Dec

I love Christmas and I’m kind of sad it’s over. To me, it means family, friends, cozy feelings, sparkling lights, and delicious food. I especially enjoy decorating our house for Christmas. Here are the decorations I put out this year:

In the kitchen

Closeup of the ornaments - can you tell that I love green and blue?

Closeup of the snowflake tree - I bought these at Target. Love them!

I don’t care about the presents (though I did get awesome presents this year!). And even though this Christmas was different than all the others of my life, in that I did not celebrate Christmas Eve or Christmas Day with any family except for my wonderful husband, it was still a great time.

On Christmas Eve, we slept in and then went to see True Grit at the 10:55 am showing (it’s a goode movie, btw). Then we made chicken wild rice soup and watergate salad for our special dinner that night. We opened our stockings, attempted to do a really difficult crossword, went on a walk, and watched a cheesy Lifetime Christmas movie. Around 5:00 pm, we had our Christmas Eve dinner, just the 2 of us. We had chicken wild rice soup, crescent rolls, green beans, watergate salad, and pumpkin pie. Then we went to the Christmas Eve service at our church and we’ll probably come home and watch another cheesy Lifetime Christmas movie.

On Christmas Day, we also slept in (gotta love that!). And by slept in, I mean we got up around 9:30. We made monkey bread for breakfast (it’s like sticky cinnamon bread) and then opened presents. I got a gorgeous, sparkly scarf and Target gift card from Travis’ sister, a new wallet and necklace (that I love!) from Travis’ parents, and then we received Starbuck’s coffee and Scattergories game as joint gifts. Travis got new work gloves, a fly-fishing vest, a gift certificate to Gander Mountain, and a fish knot booklet. After gifts, we watched yet another cheesy Lifetime Christmas movie, made sugar cookies, went on a walk, and then went to our friends Ahren and Lauren’s house for Christmas dinner. It was Ahren’s family, Lauren and us. It was very nice for them to let us be a part of their family Christmas. We even played 12 rounds of Scattergories!

Then yesterday, I made myself be a bum. I am learning that my constant activity comes from a lack of trust in the Lord. I feel like I constantly have to be productive because bad things will happen if I’m not on top of things. So I fought the urge to be productive and I was completely unproductive. Ok, I did do the laundry, take Katy on a walk and work out. But I mostly read and watched movies all day. And I reminded myself – I am not lazy. I am choosing to rest today. And it was great.

Hope you all enjoyed your Christmases! On to the New Year! 😉

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Home for the weekend

30 Oct

Enjoying time in the Word

I realized this morning, as I was enjoying a cup of coffee and reading the Bible, that I haven’t been home on a weekend in over 6 weeks. Holy cow! No wonder I’m exhausted.

While I wish Travis and I could just go do something fun, we’ve both been so busy lately that we have to use at least part of this weekend to catch up on housework, chores, and unfortunately, do some work.

I have had time, though, to figure out who and what I’m voting for (which was a long process, since I knew practically nothing about any candidates or amendments). Travis and I are also talking about checking out Costco (for fun and to see if we want to join) and going out for sushi.

Katy wanting attention... is she not SERIOUSLY the cutest dog EVER?

Tomorrow, we are finally resuming our Panera-before-church tradition. Travis and I had been doing that for 2-3 months but once I got this job, that was pretty much out the window. We’ve started reading Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller together but we’ve only actually discussed a chapter once because of our crazy schedules. SO needless to say, I am VERY ready for some routine! And who doesn’t love Panera? Mmmm…

I have to admit, though, that remembering how much I enjoy weekends – and how much I don’t have them anymore – just reinforces my feeling that I don’t want to do this job next year. In fact, there is a position opening up in the church office that I’m going to apply for. I’ve already told the current administrator that I’m interested and I’m going to bring my resume when I go to volunteer on Monday. I’m really trying to trust the Lord with the outcome and timing but I can’t help getting excited about the idea of a real office, a regular schedule and no more volunteer coordination or timing.

I’ll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, have a great, relaxing weekend!

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Still recovering.

27 Oct

Last week was quite possibly the longest week of my life. From Sunday to Sunday, I worked 115 hours. Isn’t that ridiculous? I did nothing except eat, sleep and work. And as my last blog post described, I was really looking forward to a break this week.

No such luck.

We are announcing our 2011 race calendar on November 1st and I am supposed to have all of the race logos designed and ready for posting by then – in addition to answering all of the post-race emails from athletes and vendors, creating the 2011 marketing strategy, designing all of the t-shirts and medals, and contracting new timing clients. And that’s just work. I was also greeted by a kitchen piled high with dishes, a laundry basket overflowing with 5 loads of laundry, an empty fridge and a dog needing a trip to the vet.

After getting a good 12 hours of sleep Sunday night, I got up on Monday at 9:30. I spent some time trying to pray but just found myself getting frustrated at the full day I had ahead, instead of the relaxing day I had hoped for. Then I worked for a bit, took Katy to the vet, worked a bit more, and volunteered at the church. Travis called me and said he was coming home from hunting a day early so we ate dinner together and watched a movie.

Tuesday, I jumped out of bed with the ambition to get the house in order. I can only take messiness for so long (and it’s not even really that long). So I gathered all of the laundry and started a load, put away all the other stuff from my suitcase, did the dishes, ate breakfast, cleaned up my office, and answered some emails. Around 12:00 noon, I called it quits and went on my first run in 2 1/2 weeks. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I can indeed still run 5 miles. I’m hoping I can run quite a bit more, considering the half marathon in Malibu is just 2 1/2 weeks away. After my run, I showered and went to the church to volunteer. When I got home, I had a phone date with my friend Brittany, then Travis made dinner, we watched a couple episodes of The Office, and he went to a hockey game while I talked to my mom on the phone. Finally, it was time for bed.

This morning, I spent some time in the Word and then edited the New Members class content I have been working on for the church. I answered some more emails (they just keep coming!), then went to my last physical therapy appointment. In the car on the way there, after feeling frazzled, rushed and stressed ever since getting home, I realized that I just needed a break. I just need to catch up on all the housework and take a breather. Then I can dive in tomorrow.

So I did. I took the afternoon off. After my appointment, I went grocery shopping, finished the laundry, and then read a magazine and watched some Desperate Housewives. I would be taking a nap right now except I am not really physically tired – just emotionally tired. And I wanted to read the blogs I follow, as well as post on mine. In 10 minutes, I’m going to go on a nice little 3-mile run, then shower and go to Care Group for dinner and discussion. I can’t say that I feel quite recharged yet – that will probably take a few weeks. But this afternoon definitely helped.

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The eye of the storm.

15 Jun

The past few weeks have been pretty relaxed with my job, compared to the first 3 months of chaos. We don’t have another one of our events until July 17th, so we have a little lull here in the crap-ton of planning and prepping that goes into putting on our own race. Which means I am left with just having to prep for, travel to, and work timing events every weekend. Still a lot of travel for me (every weekend until the last weekend in July – I’ll have been traveling for 11 weekends straight) but less stuff during the week, which means I get to take advantage of a little downtime.

This is definitely one of the major perks of this job – getting to structure my day how I see fit, going on a run at 11 am, grocery shopping after lunch, taking a nap if I need it. I don’t have to sit at a desk pretending to do work when I don’t have any work to do. Instead, I can go sit outside and read a book. Or I can watch 4 episodes of Desperate Housewives in a row. It’s absolutely wonderful.

This coming weekend I’m off to Rapid City, SD. Then it’s SLC, UT. Then Colorado Springs. Then Helena, MT. Then Price, UT. Then back to SLC, UT. Then a weekend off!!! But Travis and I will probably go camping somewhere so I still won’t be home.

But I actually don’t mind not getting to spend the weekends at home. I’m usually back Saturday night so I have the whole day Sunday here and then I’m working from home during the week so it doesn’t feel like I’m gone all that much. Like this past weekend, I left Friday morning and came back Saturday night. It was a whirlwind of a trip but definitely worth having the extra time at home to see Travis.

So I’m really enjoying my job lately, despite the hectic pace and stress of actually being at the timing events. The event this past weekend went pretty well – some technical difficulties while we were at the race but everything ended up working out in the end, so I feel like the race is one of the best ones I’ve done yet. Definitely the best a race has gone when it has just been me timing with an intern. So there’s that.

And when things do go well, I am left feeling incredibly blessed by the Lord, knowing that He is behind all the tiny little details, orchestrating everything.

But I know that this peacefulness is just temporary – come mid-July, we will be putting on one of our own races every 2 weeks until the end of October. This is really just the eye of the storm. It’s going to get worse – in fact, worse than it has been the first 3 months of this job. So I’m really trying to soak up and enjoy this lull, this break because soon, it’ll be go time.

But it’s not go time right now. 🙂

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An anomalous day

5 Oct

Today is strange. I don’t have anything that I have to do…and yet, I feel like I shouldn’t just spend my time lying on the couch watching TV. It’s a weird feeling really. This doesn’t usually happen to me… usually I have lots of stuff to do or I don’t want to do anything but lie on the couch and watch TV.

So far, since coming home from church, I have cleaned out the coffeemaker with vinegar (something that was LONG overdue!), watched our wedding video (for old time’s sake), painted the wooden box I’m going to hang in the bathroom when Trav gets home, and folded the laundry. I have a canvas that I want to paint our wedding vows on but I feel like I should have a stencil instead of just doing it free hand. I could work on my memoir but I just really don’t feel like it. I think I will read…and possibly take a nap 🙂

Meanwhile, here are the pictures of our wonderful new patio furniture–that we have yet to use since it’s cold here already! We also have an orange umbrella that goes with it but we haven’t taken that out of the box yet…

We chose the lowest maintenance furniture we could find.

We chose the lowest maintenance furniture we could find.

But the chairs are actually really comfy!

But the chairs are actually really comfy!

The chairs rock--literally

The chairs rock--literally

The lone tree in our backyard is finally turning yellow!

The lone tree in our backyard is finally turning yellow!

That’s it for now. I’m off to read The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever.

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Relaxation

7 Feb

Last night was the most relaxing night I’ve had in a while. When I got home from work, I cleaned up the kitchen for about 5 minutes (so Travis wouldn’t come home to a dirty kitchen). Then I read the Bible for about 20 minutes and took a 20 minute nap. I really could’ve gone to bed right then but it was only 7:00 and I had other things I wanted to do.

I think that I am severely sleep-deprived because I can’t read a book or watch a movie without falling asleep within 20 minutes. I try to sit up straight and concentrate but it doesn’t work. I end up falling asleep anyway. I read about 5 pages of a book each night and there is a list of movies that I’ve only seen the beginning and end of. I keep telling Travis it’s because our bed is too small (we just have a my full-size from pre-marriage days) but we really don’t have the extra cash to spring for a bigger bed right now. Maybe if we buy a house, we can roll one into our mortgage…

Anyway, after my power nap (as my mom calls it), I did Pilates and then took a bubble bath while singing along to Christian worship songs. I like taking baths but really wish I had one of those clawfoot tubs that were actually made for taking baths in. The bath/shower combos today really aren’t made for adults to relax and take a bubble bath. It’s too short for my 5′ 6″ frame and my neck has to stay rigidly straight because of the wall. Why do they even make tubs like that? I guess if you wanted to give your kid or your dog a bath it would work well.

After that, Travis came home and we fell asleep reading in bed, me about 20 minutes before him. What a great night.

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