Hot dogs. They're not allowed when you're pregnant. They go the way of all processed meats, like lunch meat. I think it's because of the nitrates. I've had 23 hot dogs in the last two weeks.
Pain. I'm not in any. At least not physically. Apparently being pregnant through fertility treatments is a very painful process with all the hormones going crazy and stuff. I was in pain up to a level 7-8 (on a scale of 0-10) anywhere from 2-4 times a day with each time lasting anything from 20 minutes to two hours. It woke me up at night, and kept me from working in the day. It hurt to sit, it hurt to lie down, about the only thing that helped was to get up and pace my house. Which I did. For HOURS. That stopped with the miscarriage. The doctors didn't seem to think it was anything serous. Hmmmm.
My husband gets to keep his car a little while longer. Not that he wouldn't gladly trade it in for something with a back seat. We're supposed to be going to the Atlanta auto show in a few weeks to look for a car that will allow him to have the new baby in the back seat. This takes the pressure off.
Basil. It's my favorite herb. It's thought to trigger contractions so pregnant women shouldn't have to much, at least until they're ready to give birth. Course when my sister-in-law was overdue we went out for Italian so that she could get all the basil she wanted to trigger labor. I gave it up while I was pregnant. I missed it. Tonight I'm having lasagna made with home made sauce. The sauce has a cup and a half of basil in the recipe. There's basil in the meatballs too. Mmmm, basil.
Vodka. It helps you forget. It helps you feel good. I'm trying not to drink to much because I have a feeling that I could EASILY fall into a depression if I had to much right now. But a little bit helps a lot.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
4 years, 5 doctors, where are we now?
Four Years.
That's how long it's been since my husband and I decided we were ready to start our family. We actually made the decision earlier, at his cousin's wedding. I remember lying in bed with him in the hotel that night after the reception. Talking. We always lie in bed and talk. It's the place we go to solve the worlds problems and our problems. It's hard to be mad at each other when you're wrapped in the other's arms, faces inches apart. It's intimate, both physically and emotionally. It's hard to fight in this position, and easy to cry. But there was no fight this night, nor any tears. We'd been married a year and a half, and loved our time together, but thought it was time to invite someone else into the family. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't apprehensive. We couldn't agree on much about names, we both vetoed the other's favorite girl names. I didn't know if I would be a good parent, but I knew I would try.
Five Doctors.
I knew heading into this there were problems. One doctor had suspected I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and had told me that I probably had never ovulated on my own. So when I went to her to tell her we were ready to try I was VERY surprised at her plan of attack. She wanted us to try on our own for a year. This seemed like a total waste of time to a person who'd been told only a year before that she probably didn't ovulate on her own. But we tried. For a year. And nothing happened, just as I suspected. So I went back and we tried fertility drugs. Three months I spent on Clomid, with migraines so bad I would come home and go straight to bed crying. I couldn't stand light, I couldn't stand movement. It's really hard to get pregnant when you can't stand for your husband to touch you.
So I went back, a glutton for punishment. She told me that sometimes women with PCOS need to loose weight before they can get pregnant.
800 Calories.
She suggested I try Weight Watchers or South Beach. I tried both, and gained weight on them. She insisted that weight loss is as simple as calories in & calories burned. I started out at about 1000 calories a day, but when that didn't have the results I wanted, I slowly found ways to cut down. 100 calories for breakfast. 200 calories for lunch. Maybe a 100 calorie snack in the afternoon, and a small dinner. I never got below 192 lbs. I went back to the doctor to tell her my results, and she accused me of lying.
So I found a new OB/GYN. This one was nice, but completely out of his depth. He suggested I try a reproductive endocrinologist, so I started looking for one. Of course our insurance didn't cover any much closer than twenty miles away, so instead I found a local PLAIN endocrinologist. On our first visit I told him my ultimate goal, to have children. He ran a great many tests. It was during this time that I adopted a new weight loss plan called "give the doctors all the blood they want." It was not unusual for me to give 11-12 vials of blood every few weeks, and for a few months I saw this doctor quite often. After a while I began to feel that tests were being run with little or no definitive results. So I sat down and specifically asked this endocrinologist if we were getting any closer to anything that would result in me being able to have children. His answer surprised me. He said, "I suspect you have PCOS, but if you want to know for sure then you should probably see a reproductive endocrinologist." I looked at him like he had two heads. He had told me pretty much what I knew when I started seeing him.
I felt like I'd just lost 5 months of my life, and we were no closer to having children than we were when my doctor accused me of lying to her. Then, upset, I went to see my chiropractor. Not for fertility issues, but she's given me good advice in the past, fixed my TMJ and we'd discussed in passing that I was trying to have children. We discussed how I was getting nowhere fast and she said that she knew two doctors, not specialists, but they focused on hormonal balance. I decided I was faced with two paths. I could drive twenty miles to a fertility specialist and use the brute force method of getting pregnant. Or I could go a more natural and hopefully gentler, closer, but also more expensive (not covered by insurance) way.
I spent a year and a half on the bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. I won't call it wasted time. We found that I had an underactive thyroid (no wonder I couldn't loose weight) and now I'm free to not obsess about food and I've lost twenty pounds. I'm healthier than I've ever been, but after a year and a half and still no sign of a baby (and a job change that resulted in better insurance) we agreed it was time to try the brute force method.
27 days
That's how long it took the fertility specialists to tell me I was pregnant. Of course it wasn't that simple. I'd been hurting for five days, and knew something different was going on. Horrible pains in my abdomen and lower back that would wake me up at night, or keep me from being able to sit at my desk during the day. When they came on there was no rest, no sitting, no lying, and no bending or stooping; just slow pacing in circuits around the house, sometimes for an hour or more at a stretch. On the few occasions I was stuck in meetings when an attack came on I would be completely unable to concentrate. I left meetings shaking and barely holding back tears for the pain. So when I went in for the blood test and mentioned it to the phlebotomist, and she said, "Well that's good, sounds like something's going on, you wanna talk to the doctor?" I said sure. I can handle pain. I don't exaggerate (I had someone at work ask) and I can work through almost anything and still be productive. I wasn't expecting a pity party or anything, but I did expect to be taken seriously. So when the doctor (it's a group, and I haven't seen this guy before) studied my chart and came in and told me that this was probably just PMS cramps and I haven't had them for 5 days before because my ovaries hadn't been working in the past, but normal women whose ovaries work go through this every month; I was a bit skeptical. Because I swear if normal women went through this every month we'd have a LOT more voluntary complete hysterectomies! I promise!
Still, I was reasonably prepared for them to come in and say the test was negative. They said they would call me with the results, but I wanted to stick around and find out, and they said it would only be an hour or so, and I'm not normally at work until 10:00 anyway. So I waited. She walked by and said the results are coming in now, and then I waited a while longer and wondered what was keeping her. She was in with the doctor, who was as surprised as I was when he heard I was pregnant, after just assuring me that I almost certainly wasn't.
3 weeks
That's how long I was pregnant before I miscarried our child. Our first child, the one I've been struggling to have for over four years. I keep telling myself we've made such progress. This is the first time there's been any evidence that I could conceive. I should be jumping for joy at the potential, shouldn't I? But I can’t find that in me. I’m raw, torn; I feel like my emotions have been tied to the back of a pickup and dragged down a gravel road. I find myself staring into space with an expression on my face, horrified, like I’ve just witnessed a gory murder. Well, I’m partially right.
1 miscarriage and I'm devastated.
That's how long it's been since my husband and I decided we were ready to start our family. We actually made the decision earlier, at his cousin's wedding. I remember lying in bed with him in the hotel that night after the reception. Talking. We always lie in bed and talk. It's the place we go to solve the worlds problems and our problems. It's hard to be mad at each other when you're wrapped in the other's arms, faces inches apart. It's intimate, both physically and emotionally. It's hard to fight in this position, and easy to cry. But there was no fight this night, nor any tears. We'd been married a year and a half, and loved our time together, but thought it was time to invite someone else into the family. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't apprehensive. We couldn't agree on much about names, we both vetoed the other's favorite girl names. I didn't know if I would be a good parent, but I knew I would try.
Five Doctors.
I knew heading into this there were problems. One doctor had suspected I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and had told me that I probably had never ovulated on my own. So when I went to her to tell her we were ready to try I was VERY surprised at her plan of attack. She wanted us to try on our own for a year. This seemed like a total waste of time to a person who'd been told only a year before that she probably didn't ovulate on her own. But we tried. For a year. And nothing happened, just as I suspected. So I went back and we tried fertility drugs. Three months I spent on Clomid, with migraines so bad I would come home and go straight to bed crying. I couldn't stand light, I couldn't stand movement. It's really hard to get pregnant when you can't stand for your husband to touch you.
So I went back, a glutton for punishment. She told me that sometimes women with PCOS need to loose weight before they can get pregnant.
800 Calories.
She suggested I try Weight Watchers or South Beach. I tried both, and gained weight on them. She insisted that weight loss is as simple as calories in & calories burned. I started out at about 1000 calories a day, but when that didn't have the results I wanted, I slowly found ways to cut down. 100 calories for breakfast. 200 calories for lunch. Maybe a 100 calorie snack in the afternoon, and a small dinner. I never got below 192 lbs. I went back to the doctor to tell her my results, and she accused me of lying.
So I found a new OB/GYN. This one was nice, but completely out of his depth. He suggested I try a reproductive endocrinologist, so I started looking for one. Of course our insurance didn't cover any much closer than twenty miles away, so instead I found a local PLAIN endocrinologist. On our first visit I told him my ultimate goal, to have children. He ran a great many tests. It was during this time that I adopted a new weight loss plan called "give the doctors all the blood they want." It was not unusual for me to give 11-12 vials of blood every few weeks, and for a few months I saw this doctor quite often. After a while I began to feel that tests were being run with little or no definitive results. So I sat down and specifically asked this endocrinologist if we were getting any closer to anything that would result in me being able to have children. His answer surprised me. He said, "I suspect you have PCOS, but if you want to know for sure then you should probably see a reproductive endocrinologist." I looked at him like he had two heads. He had told me pretty much what I knew when I started seeing him.
I felt like I'd just lost 5 months of my life, and we were no closer to having children than we were when my doctor accused me of lying to her. Then, upset, I went to see my chiropractor. Not for fertility issues, but she's given me good advice in the past, fixed my TMJ and we'd discussed in passing that I was trying to have children. We discussed how I was getting nowhere fast and she said that she knew two doctors, not specialists, but they focused on hormonal balance. I decided I was faced with two paths. I could drive twenty miles to a fertility specialist and use the brute force method of getting pregnant. Or I could go a more natural and hopefully gentler, closer, but also more expensive (not covered by insurance) way.
I spent a year and a half on the bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. I won't call it wasted time. We found that I had an underactive thyroid (no wonder I couldn't loose weight) and now I'm free to not obsess about food and I've lost twenty pounds. I'm healthier than I've ever been, but after a year and a half and still no sign of a baby (and a job change that resulted in better insurance) we agreed it was time to try the brute force method.
27 days
That's how long it took the fertility specialists to tell me I was pregnant. Of course it wasn't that simple. I'd been hurting for five days, and knew something different was going on. Horrible pains in my abdomen and lower back that would wake me up at night, or keep me from being able to sit at my desk during the day. When they came on there was no rest, no sitting, no lying, and no bending or stooping; just slow pacing in circuits around the house, sometimes for an hour or more at a stretch. On the few occasions I was stuck in meetings when an attack came on I would be completely unable to concentrate. I left meetings shaking and barely holding back tears for the pain. So when I went in for the blood test and mentioned it to the phlebotomist, and she said, "Well that's good, sounds like something's going on, you wanna talk to the doctor?" I said sure. I can handle pain. I don't exaggerate (I had someone at work ask) and I can work through almost anything and still be productive. I wasn't expecting a pity party or anything, but I did expect to be taken seriously. So when the doctor (it's a group, and I haven't seen this guy before) studied my chart and came in and told me that this was probably just PMS cramps and I haven't had them for 5 days before because my ovaries hadn't been working in the past, but normal women whose ovaries work go through this every month; I was a bit skeptical. Because I swear if normal women went through this every month we'd have a LOT more voluntary complete hysterectomies! I promise!
Still, I was reasonably prepared for them to come in and say the test was negative. They said they would call me with the results, but I wanted to stick around and find out, and they said it would only be an hour or so, and I'm not normally at work until 10:00 anyway. So I waited. She walked by and said the results are coming in now, and then I waited a while longer and wondered what was keeping her. She was in with the doctor, who was as surprised as I was when he heard I was pregnant, after just assuring me that I almost certainly wasn't.
3 weeks
That's how long I was pregnant before I miscarried our child. Our first child, the one I've been struggling to have for over four years. I keep telling myself we've made such progress. This is the first time there's been any evidence that I could conceive. I should be jumping for joy at the potential, shouldn't I? But I can’t find that in me. I’m raw, torn; I feel like my emotions have been tied to the back of a pickup and dragged down a gravel road. I find myself staring into space with an expression on my face, horrified, like I’ve just witnessed a gory murder. Well, I’m partially right.
1 miscarriage and I'm devastated.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Take this job and... You can't pay me to do it anymore
I don't update my blog very often, or very well for that matter. I've been busy and I thought it was about time I caught you up with why.
About a year ago the tiny little computer company I worked for was partially acquired by a huge computer company. I was one of the acquisitions. Unfortunately the new company looked at me and pretty much said, "We don't know what to do with you. Why don't you train our people to do your job and then if you're lucky we'll give you a real job." So I've spent most of the last year training myself out of a job.
This is a very interesting position to be in. On one hand, you have a job to do and if you do it well they might give you another job, but if you do it well that also means you're making yourself redundant, and they might not need you after all. I've been asked by several folks how to handle this awkward situation. The only answer I've come up with, and the think I work for is to handle it "With Grace."
I don't know that I've always managed the grace. With this kind of situation comes a lot of bitterness. It's demeaning to be told, "These three jobs you've been doing for the past several years, you're not qualified to do them for us, but you are qualified to train our folks to do them. Forget that no one else in the world knows your products as well as you do. Forget that you're going to be training 30 or so people to do what you, one person, do. You just don't fit into our corporate structure and we're unable to bother ourselves enough to find or create a place where you fit. It's nothing personal!"
No one person ever spoke these words to me, but this attitude is what I have been working with since last February. All the folks I worked with directly loved me, thought I was fantastic, and if I had been willing to relocate they probably could have found me a job. Not that they ever actually offered, but they often expressed their regret for the situation as they found it. Forget that I've just bought a house and that my husband who works for the same company is told he has to be in the office and that relocating is not an option. Forget that I'm perfectly willing to travel, that this company prides itself on being a global company, has offices worldwide as well as s huge number that work from home. Forget that I'm willing to work all sorts of weird hours, and have done ever since I started working with customers. Forget that my customers love me, have sent me cheese for Christmas, and many have my personal IM or cell number, just in case something happens when I'm not in the office. I've been point of contact for every single support issue for so long that most customers don't even bother with their account manager when they know I can answer their questions with a few minutes on the phone. So by getting rid of me and not allowing me to assist with a smooth transition of customers, you're alienating those customers. That's OK, it shows how much you care.
Sorry for letting this turn into a rant, I didn't mean to. I should probably go back and clean some of this up so I don't sound TO bitter. After all, my husband works for the same company, and I don't want them to be biased against him. He's great, and does a good job, and I'm sure he puts up with a lot of BS from them as well.
So I wanted to update you on where I've been. I was traveling half of October, busy doing an excellent job of training myself out of a job. While I was spending time in airports my brother-in-law was spending time in the hospital. He almost died, but that's his story to tell. I'll just say he's doing fantastically well, much better than I think any of us expected after multiple surgeries, and was back to work as soon as the doctors let him. He got out of the hospital and I got back from work travel just in time to move into my new house November 1st.
On a side note, my FANTASTIC mom stayed with us two days after we moved and organized our kitchen so we could make dinner the rest of the week. It made me realize not only what a wonderful mom she is, but that you should never let anyone organize your kitchen without you there. I spent the next month calling her asking where such and such was in the kitchen. She answered me every time.
We managed to get the upstairs of the house organized before Thanksgiving, bought and rearranged furniture with the help of good friends, and had both our families over for Thanksgiving dinners. I won't talk about the basement. It's still not done, but at least we're making progress. The TV is set up, and the treadmill, both of which have done a lovely job gathering dust since the move.
I had a bit of a break in December, except that I was sick. I got the flu the day after Thanksgiving, and then had a cold for three weeks. I went to the doctor and got antibiotics for a brief respite. Then my mother-in-law and Grandpa went into different hospitals at almost the same time for pneumonia, the week before Christmas and stayed through Christmas. I think they were racing to see who could get out of the hospital first. My mother-in-law won, but then my Grandpa's 95 so I wouldn't want him to rush it anyway.
It snowed Christmas day. I don't know that it's ever done that before in Georgia. Someone told me the last time it did was in the 1800's. It's only the second time in my memory that we've had snow that stuck before New Years. My sister was in town for Christmas. She used to live in Illinois but recently moved to Texas and confessed about a month before that she missed the snow. I told her we brought it in just for her. I discovered that even though she's older I still can't keep up with her. We were on the go a LOT, and I drank entirely to much coffee (which I gave up several years back, but that's another story) so I didn't sleep well either.
After my sister and her husband (we like him) left on vacation we were able to get together with my in-laws for Christmas. It was low key, and my mother-in-law apologized for ruining Christmas (she really didn't), but it was a nice get-together.
I thought things might calm down a bit, just in time to get my cold back. Oh well, at least I had a respite from Christmas Eve to the day after New Years. My contract at work was up at the end of the year, but no one seemed to be able to tell me how to complete it, or when I would have an exit interview. So I went in Monday, dealt with a new support case, made sure I was organized for my last day, had a list of things to do, and then my e-mail access was cut off. It would have been nice to have a bit of warning and to make sure someone was monitoring it in case any customers e-mailed, but I'm sure it was on some one's list of things to do. I guess that's one way to tell me I don't work for you anymore.
About a year ago the tiny little computer company I worked for was partially acquired by a huge computer company. I was one of the acquisitions. Unfortunately the new company looked at me and pretty much said, "We don't know what to do with you. Why don't you train our people to do your job and then if you're lucky we'll give you a real job." So I've spent most of the last year training myself out of a job.
This is a very interesting position to be in. On one hand, you have a job to do and if you do it well they might give you another job, but if you do it well that also means you're making yourself redundant, and they might not need you after all. I've been asked by several folks how to handle this awkward situation. The only answer I've come up with, and the think I work for is to handle it "With Grace."
I don't know that I've always managed the grace. With this kind of situation comes a lot of bitterness. It's demeaning to be told, "These three jobs you've been doing for the past several years, you're not qualified to do them for us, but you are qualified to train our folks to do them. Forget that no one else in the world knows your products as well as you do. Forget that you're going to be training 30 or so people to do what you, one person, do. You just don't fit into our corporate structure and we're unable to bother ourselves enough to find or create a place where you fit. It's nothing personal!"
No one person ever spoke these words to me, but this attitude is what I have been working with since last February. All the folks I worked with directly loved me, thought I was fantastic, and if I had been willing to relocate they probably could have found me a job. Not that they ever actually offered, but they often expressed their regret for the situation as they found it. Forget that I've just bought a house and that my husband who works for the same company is told he has to be in the office and that relocating is not an option. Forget that I'm perfectly willing to travel, that this company prides itself on being a global company, has offices worldwide as well as s huge number that work from home. Forget that I'm willing to work all sorts of weird hours, and have done ever since I started working with customers. Forget that my customers love me, have sent me cheese for Christmas, and many have my personal IM or cell number, just in case something happens when I'm not in the office. I've been point of contact for every single support issue for so long that most customers don't even bother with their account manager when they know I can answer their questions with a few minutes on the phone. So by getting rid of me and not allowing me to assist with a smooth transition of customers, you're alienating those customers. That's OK, it shows how much you care.
Sorry for letting this turn into a rant, I didn't mean to. I should probably go back and clean some of this up so I don't sound TO bitter. After all, my husband works for the same company, and I don't want them to be biased against him. He's great, and does a good job, and I'm sure he puts up with a lot of BS from them as well.
So I wanted to update you on where I've been. I was traveling half of October, busy doing an excellent job of training myself out of a job. While I was spending time in airports my brother-in-law was spending time in the hospital. He almost died, but that's his story to tell. I'll just say he's doing fantastically well, much better than I think any of us expected after multiple surgeries, and was back to work as soon as the doctors let him. He got out of the hospital and I got back from work travel just in time to move into my new house November 1st.
On a side note, my FANTASTIC mom stayed with us two days after we moved and organized our kitchen so we could make dinner the rest of the week. It made me realize not only what a wonderful mom she is, but that you should never let anyone organize your kitchen without you there. I spent the next month calling her asking where such and such was in the kitchen. She answered me every time.
We managed to get the upstairs of the house organized before Thanksgiving, bought and rearranged furniture with the help of good friends, and had both our families over for Thanksgiving dinners. I won't talk about the basement. It's still not done, but at least we're making progress. The TV is set up, and the treadmill, both of which have done a lovely job gathering dust since the move.
I had a bit of a break in December, except that I was sick. I got the flu the day after Thanksgiving, and then had a cold for three weeks. I went to the doctor and got antibiotics for a brief respite. Then my mother-in-law and Grandpa went into different hospitals at almost the same time for pneumonia, the week before Christmas and stayed through Christmas. I think they were racing to see who could get out of the hospital first. My mother-in-law won, but then my Grandpa's 95 so I wouldn't want him to rush it anyway.
It snowed Christmas day. I don't know that it's ever done that before in Georgia. Someone told me the last time it did was in the 1800's. It's only the second time in my memory that we've had snow that stuck before New Years. My sister was in town for Christmas. She used to live in Illinois but recently moved to Texas and confessed about a month before that she missed the snow. I told her we brought it in just for her. I discovered that even though she's older I still can't keep up with her. We were on the go a LOT, and I drank entirely to much coffee (which I gave up several years back, but that's another story) so I didn't sleep well either.
After my sister and her husband (we like him) left on vacation we were able to get together with my in-laws for Christmas. It was low key, and my mother-in-law apologized for ruining Christmas (she really didn't), but it was a nice get-together.
I thought things might calm down a bit, just in time to get my cold back. Oh well, at least I had a respite from Christmas Eve to the day after New Years. My contract at work was up at the end of the year, but no one seemed to be able to tell me how to complete it, or when I would have an exit interview. So I went in Monday, dealt with a new support case, made sure I was organized for my last day, had a list of things to do, and then my e-mail access was cut off. It would have been nice to have a bit of warning and to make sure someone was monitoring it in case any customers e-mailed, but I'm sure it was on some one's list of things to do. I guess that's one way to tell me I don't work for you anymore.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Dear Bath and Body Works,
This new lipgloss is crap. I know it was on sale for like a dollar, and I said at that at that price I just couldn't pass it up, and I collect lipgloss like... well, like a person who has a LOT of lipgloss. Possibly cause I use it like pretty lip balm, and I have constantly chapped lips, so I use a lot of lip balmy type things. But neither lip balm nor gloss should be so goopy that I have to have a mirror to put it on. I use this and am afraid of all the stuff it could rub off on, like my husband. I won't use it around my husband, and I spent an INORDINATE amount of time with my husband. And still like him. So not using your lip balm around him kinda means I might find time to use it once a month. Maybe. I urge you to rethink your formula for Mentha Lip Tint, less goopy please!
Thanks,
An obsessive lip balm user
Thanks,
An obsessive lip balm user
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Following the First Profession (no, it's not what you think)
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 1:26 (NIV)
I recently watched a video in which many people in places of leadership in many Christian organizations spoke out against what they called a great evil. In this short three minute and eight second video "Radical Environmentalism" is credited as being the greatest spiritual battle we face today. I sat in shock surprise and revulsion as I watched presidents and pastors and directors from organizations I normally respect. These leaders, one from a denomination of which I am a member, spewed derogatory and judgemental names for people who's greatest crime is trying to take care of this earth that God has given us. These associations, whose publications I read regularly and whose radio shows I listen to, used names like:
"tree hugger"
cult
"radical environmental agenda"
"own morbid, pessimistic fears"
"exaggeration, myths and outright lies"
"so-called global warming science"
They accused environmentalists of promoting humanism, and then went on to contradict their own statement by saying that environmentalists are "consigning the poorest people around the world to grinding poverty, to disease, to premature death." Yet it is the humanist movement that works to raise the level of human condition. Not only are these so-called Christians sitting in condemnation of some stereotypical environmental group, but they're contradicting themselves while they do it.
But my visceral reaction to this video didn't start when I read the article this morning. This is something that I have spent the last several years studying and trying to understand. How can so many Christians seem to have a complete and utter lack of compassion, and more personally what does God want me to do with my life.
I have spent much time in my life wandering, looking for direction. While my sister seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do from early high school, straight through he PhD, I took the eight year plan flitting through four majors before finally eking out a BS. And even then I hadn't found my direction in life. It was more a matter of wanting something to show for all the years I'd spent in college. I often say I have the best liberal arts education you can receive from a technical school because that's just how convoluted my journey in life has been. So I continue searching, and what better way to find the will of God than by reading the word he has given us.
I'm holding it open right now, to the very beginning, day 6, the one where we're first mentioned. Man, and the charge God first gave to us. God said of man to "...let him rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” I've gone back to the very begging. I can't find anything that takes precedence over this charge, to take care of the earth that got has made and it's animals. Does God charge us to take care of the poor and diseased people on the earth? NO! Possibly because they did not exist yet. After all, this predates the fall of man. We didn't know that we were poor and naked yet, and I assume no one had caught the common cold.
God goes on to reinforce the idea that we should care for his creation only two verses later. "'Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'
Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.'" Genesis 1:28-29 (NIV) Here we're told to take care of not just the animals and the fish, but we're supposed to value the plants as well. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that this is a direct order to go around hugging trees, I also thinks this is a strong indication that we are charged to take care of ALL of God's creation.
I want you do notice here that we're still on the sixth day. This wasn't on the seventh day where God was resting. No, this is the job that God has laid on mankind. The first 9-5 task that God has ever given to people. I take this to heart. I accept the charge that God has laid on me and I still think that this is the most important job that we can do. To care for God's creation is to show our reverence for God.
This is reinforced in the second chapter of Genesis, "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Genesis 2:15. Here we have the first name given to the first profession. We are to be gardeners, not yet farmers, there's a difference. Farmers toil in the soil and eat what they grow. Gardeners tend the living plants. This makes it clear to me that it is my job not to re-shape the earth to fit whatever idea I have of it, but to tend it the way God has given it to me. I am to preserve it, not to strip-log it and build condominiums.
The Bible continues to honor those people who take car of Gods creation rather than resorting to violence. The people of the bible understood farming. Cain and Able learned it from their parents, and Jesus knew that it still applied to the people he was talking to when he told the parables of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-8) and the Tares Matthew (13:24-30).
The all important job of caring for God's creation, of being God's constant gardener if you will, resonated with the people of the Bible. They understood that we are so closely tied with nature, and that if we hurt it we are ultimately hurting ourselves. Why does this seem to be so lost on people today? Is it because we are so insulated from nature? Most of us in a post-industrial society spend all of our time indoors, or on pavement moving from one roof to another. We go days without actually touching a plant other than our house plants. We're more likely to kill an animal as we run over it with our vehicle than to take into account the source of all that nicely pre-packaged meat in the grocery store. Most new neighborhoods that are built start with clear cutting the trees and leveling the earth to the point where it becomes unrecognizable.
We are very disconnected from our environment, but I don't think this is the actual cause of our misunderstanding of God's greatest calling. I think our disassociation stems from something much more insidious, something more evil than the love of money (though one may cause the other and vice verse).
Lack of compassion.
I believe that lack of compassion in many of the most influential and out spoken Christians is the biggest stumbling blocks to people today. Compassion is what makes us realize that when we over exploit the earth we're destroying it for those who come after us. Compassion is what makes us aware of needless destruction. And those of us that have compassion notice these things and hurt. I hurt when I see a squirrel dead in the middle of the road. I hurt when I drive by a sign for new development, and stretching behind it a bare scar of red Georgia clay. I hurt when I hear one more self entitled prig's needlessly inflammatory remarks. They lump together a diverse group of people and play the blame game. What makes it worse? They accuse the others, whoever the others are at the moment, of fear mongering, yet that's exactly what I hear when I listen to them.
Is this one of the cases where it takes one to know one? I'm a Christian, a devout one, but one with diverse beliefs. I don't fit the stereotypical conservative, and I'm not really liberal. I find that what I abhor most of all is extremism in either direction. Extremism doesn't lead to understanding. It leads to opposing sides screaming at the top of their lungs loud enough to make anyone undecided deaf. It doesn't lead people to see wisdom, it blinds them to the true need. I won't say I'm all that in touch with nature, and I definitely don't want spiders in my house. But I also want children, I want them to see the gifts that God has given us, to value them; and to see that the first profession, the most worthy profession, is the one that God gave us on the sixth day.
I am not the best at this profession, but like any career path I get better at it as I gain practice and knowledge. Sometimes I think the extreme right is afraid of knowledge, they see it as humanism. But I would remind you that God gave you that brain, and he expects you to use it. Use it to think of ways to internalize compassion, and use it to find ways to care for the plants, animals, and world that God has given us.
I recently watched a video in which many people in places of leadership in many Christian organizations spoke out against what they called a great evil. In this short three minute and eight second video "Radical Environmentalism" is credited as being the greatest spiritual battle we face today. I sat in shock surprise and revulsion as I watched presidents and pastors and directors from organizations I normally respect. These leaders, one from a denomination of which I am a member, spewed derogatory and judgemental names for people who's greatest crime is trying to take care of this earth that God has given us. These associations, whose publications I read regularly and whose radio shows I listen to, used names like:
"tree hugger"
cult
"radical environmental agenda"
"own morbid, pessimistic fears"
"exaggeration, myths and outright lies"
"so-called global warming science"
They accused environmentalists of promoting humanism, and then went on to contradict their own statement by saying that environmentalists are "consigning the poorest people around the world to grinding poverty, to disease, to premature death." Yet it is the humanist movement that works to raise the level of human condition. Not only are these so-called Christians sitting in condemnation of some stereotypical environmental group, but they're contradicting themselves while they do it.
But my visceral reaction to this video didn't start when I read the article this morning. This is something that I have spent the last several years studying and trying to understand. How can so many Christians seem to have a complete and utter lack of compassion, and more personally what does God want me to do with my life.
I have spent much time in my life wandering, looking for direction. While my sister seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do from early high school, straight through he PhD, I took the eight year plan flitting through four majors before finally eking out a BS. And even then I hadn't found my direction in life. It was more a matter of wanting something to show for all the years I'd spent in college. I often say I have the best liberal arts education you can receive from a technical school because that's just how convoluted my journey in life has been. So I continue searching, and what better way to find the will of God than by reading the word he has given us.
I'm holding it open right now, to the very beginning, day 6, the one where we're first mentioned. Man, and the charge God first gave to us. God said of man to "...let him rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” I've gone back to the very begging. I can't find anything that takes precedence over this charge, to take care of the earth that got has made and it's animals. Does God charge us to take care of the poor and diseased people on the earth? NO! Possibly because they did not exist yet. After all, this predates the fall of man. We didn't know that we were poor and naked yet, and I assume no one had caught the common cold.
God goes on to reinforce the idea that we should care for his creation only two verses later. "'Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'
Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.'" Genesis 1:28-29 (NIV) Here we're told to take care of not just the animals and the fish, but we're supposed to value the plants as well. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that this is a direct order to go around hugging trees, I also thinks this is a strong indication that we are charged to take care of ALL of God's creation.
I want you do notice here that we're still on the sixth day. This wasn't on the seventh day where God was resting. No, this is the job that God has laid on mankind. The first 9-5 task that God has ever given to people. I take this to heart. I accept the charge that God has laid on me and I still think that this is the most important job that we can do. To care for God's creation is to show our reverence for God.
This is reinforced in the second chapter of Genesis, "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Genesis 2:15. Here we have the first name given to the first profession. We are to be gardeners, not yet farmers, there's a difference. Farmers toil in the soil and eat what they grow. Gardeners tend the living plants. This makes it clear to me that it is my job not to re-shape the earth to fit whatever idea I have of it, but to tend it the way God has given it to me. I am to preserve it, not to strip-log it and build condominiums.
The Bible continues to honor those people who take car of Gods creation rather than resorting to violence. The people of the bible understood farming. Cain and Able learned it from their parents, and Jesus knew that it still applied to the people he was talking to when he told the parables of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-8) and the Tares Matthew (13:24-30).
The all important job of caring for God's creation, of being God's constant gardener if you will, resonated with the people of the Bible. They understood that we are so closely tied with nature, and that if we hurt it we are ultimately hurting ourselves. Why does this seem to be so lost on people today? Is it because we are so insulated from nature? Most of us in a post-industrial society spend all of our time indoors, or on pavement moving from one roof to another. We go days without actually touching a plant other than our house plants. We're more likely to kill an animal as we run over it with our vehicle than to take into account the source of all that nicely pre-packaged meat in the grocery store. Most new neighborhoods that are built start with clear cutting the trees and leveling the earth to the point where it becomes unrecognizable.
We are very disconnected from our environment, but I don't think this is the actual cause of our misunderstanding of God's greatest calling. I think our disassociation stems from something much more insidious, something more evil than the love of money (though one may cause the other and vice verse).
Lack of compassion.
I believe that lack of compassion in many of the most influential and out spoken Christians is the biggest stumbling blocks to people today. Compassion is what makes us realize that when we over exploit the earth we're destroying it for those who come after us. Compassion is what makes us aware of needless destruction. And those of us that have compassion notice these things and hurt. I hurt when I see a squirrel dead in the middle of the road. I hurt when I drive by a sign for new development, and stretching behind it a bare scar of red Georgia clay. I hurt when I hear one more self entitled prig's needlessly inflammatory remarks. They lump together a diverse group of people and play the blame game. What makes it worse? They accuse the others, whoever the others are at the moment, of fear mongering, yet that's exactly what I hear when I listen to them.
Is this one of the cases where it takes one to know one? I'm a Christian, a devout one, but one with diverse beliefs. I don't fit the stereotypical conservative, and I'm not really liberal. I find that what I abhor most of all is extremism in either direction. Extremism doesn't lead to understanding. It leads to opposing sides screaming at the top of their lungs loud enough to make anyone undecided deaf. It doesn't lead people to see wisdom, it blinds them to the true need. I won't say I'm all that in touch with nature, and I definitely don't want spiders in my house. But I also want children, I want them to see the gifts that God has given us, to value them; and to see that the first profession, the most worthy profession, is the one that God gave us on the sixth day.
I am not the best at this profession, but like any career path I get better at it as I gain practice and knowledge. Sometimes I think the extreme right is afraid of knowledge, they see it as humanism. But I would remind you that God gave you that brain, and he expects you to use it. Use it to think of ways to internalize compassion, and use it to find ways to care for the plants, animals, and world that God has given us.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
More wonderful things...
Ok, so I started this a month+ ago and I'm just getting around to finishing it.
I am a bad blogger.
BAD, BAD BLOGGER!
i'm sorry.
i'll try to do better next time.
So lately I've tried a variety of new products/beauty tips. Some have been fantastically successful, others not so much. Tip: Avocado in your hair does nothing but leave a green ring around the tub.
So let's get started. I went blond this summer. Not a fantastic blond, more of a do-it-yourself-from-the-grocery-store-discount-cart blond. It was...interesting. It also left my hair dry, brittle, and moderately fried. I read somewhere about mashed up avocado in your hair, but that didn't seem to make any difference at all. I tried a variety of conditioner and repair products without seeing any difference at all, then I wandered into Sally Beauty Supply.
Now I've had mixed-bag results with Sally Beauty supply in the past. There was the time where three customers and the clerk inside the store decided to close early and stared at me as I tried to open the locked door. There was the time when the purple hair dye turned my hair temporarily hot pink. But this time, I don't know what it was. Maybe the sales clerk looked particularly empathetic, maybe it was the purple in her own hair, maybe it was the fact that she followed me around the store like she thought I was going to steal something. I don't know what it was, but I unexpectedly turned and asked:
"I tried a blond and it kinda fried my hair a little, do you have anything you'd recommend to help?"
She got this surprised look on her face like she didn't often get to be very helpful, led me to the next isle over, pulled a bottle off the shelf and handed it to me.
ion
Repair Solutions
"This works?"
"yes"
"Is this the shampoo?" I asked, pointing.
"yes"
"Should I get the shampoo too?"
"Up to you."
I got the shampoo. It wasn't shampoo. It was an even deeper conditioning treatment. I went back the next day and got the shampoo. I've been using them about a month now, but I noticed a difference after the first shampoo and condition. My hair doesn't make near the crinkling sound that it used to. Crinkling hair = NOT GOOD! I would strongly recommend this to anyone who had dry crinkly hair no matter the cause.
Ah, almost done you thought. Nope, not even close. I'm also very cheap. I'm so cheap that instead of buying new mascara to replace the old one every quarter, I buy sample sizes in bulk. OK, maybe not in bulk, but I do buy it in batches. For the last few years I've been working my way through a box I got from Sephora, one something like this. I started a new one recently, Cargo Lash Activator. It's fantastic!
So let me explain how I wear mascara. I generally don't except for special occasions. I have long eyelashes anyway, so all I really need is something to darken them. If it promises to make them longer and thicker looking I'll look like I'm wearing fake lashes. I work in the tech industry. Most guys (if they notice) will think you're a flighty bimbo if you wear to much makeup, so I rarely bother unless I'm trying to impress someone with my flighty bimbo-ness or I'm doing something outside of work.
Generally I'm looking for something that'll just make my eyelashes dark and even looking, and something that won't smudge. That's right, I don't know what it is about me but it's pretty common for me to come home after a day of wearing mascara and look in the mirror to find it looks like I have two black eyes. Mascara runs down my face without me having to shed a tear, but this mascara is the exception. I gave it a try one morning and was surprised, that's right, I looked in the mirror when I got home and was surprised at what I saw. There was NO mascara under my eyes. I wore it again, and again. I had to wash my face or go swimming to get this mascara to budge. There was next to no flaking, even after hot sweaty yard work. I was so impressed that I googled it to find out what this stuff I was and found out it's supposed to be good for you! Works great, good for you, I'm sold.
Lest you think I'm turning into a commercial I want to tell you about the latest beauty concoction I came up with in my own kitchen from stuff I already had. I'd been noticing my nose was turning red from all of those pore strips that I use, and other parts of my face were dry and flaky. I was trying to come up with a mask of some sort that would help to calm the redness and even things out, and if it did a bit of exfoliating all the better. So I made a fantastic mask that works wonders for my skin.
Here's what to do (all measurements are approximate):
I am a bad blogger.
BAD, BAD BLOGGER!
i'm sorry.
i'll try to do better next time.
So lately I've tried a variety of new products/beauty tips. Some have been fantastically successful, others not so much. Tip: Avocado in your hair does nothing but leave a green ring around the tub.
So let's get started. I went blond this summer. Not a fantastic blond, more of a do-it-yourself-from-the-grocery-store-discount-cart blond. It was...interesting. It also left my hair dry, brittle, and moderately fried. I read somewhere about mashed up avocado in your hair, but that didn't seem to make any difference at all. I tried a variety of conditioner and repair products without seeing any difference at all, then I wandered into Sally Beauty Supply.
Now I've had mixed-bag results with Sally Beauty supply in the past. There was the time where three customers and the clerk inside the store decided to close early and stared at me as I tried to open the locked door. There was the time when the purple hair dye turned my hair temporarily hot pink. But this time, I don't know what it was. Maybe the sales clerk looked particularly empathetic, maybe it was the purple in her own hair, maybe it was the fact that she followed me around the store like she thought I was going to steal something. I don't know what it was, but I unexpectedly turned and asked:
"I tried a blond and it kinda fried my hair a little, do you have anything you'd recommend to help?"
She got this surprised look on her face like she didn't often get to be very helpful, led me to the next isle over, pulled a bottle off the shelf and handed it to me.
ion
Repair Solutions
"This works?"
"yes"
"Is this the shampoo?" I asked, pointing.
"yes"
"Should I get the shampoo too?"
"Up to you."
I got the shampoo. It wasn't shampoo. It was an even deeper conditioning treatment. I went back the next day and got the shampoo. I've been using them about a month now, but I noticed a difference after the first shampoo and condition. My hair doesn't make near the crinkling sound that it used to. Crinkling hair = NOT GOOD! I would strongly recommend this to anyone who had dry crinkly hair no matter the cause.
Ah, almost done you thought. Nope, not even close. I'm also very cheap. I'm so cheap that instead of buying new mascara to replace the old one every quarter, I buy sample sizes in bulk. OK, maybe not in bulk, but I do buy it in batches. For the last few years I've been working my way through a box I got from Sephora, one something like this. I started a new one recently, Cargo Lash Activator. It's fantastic!
So let me explain how I wear mascara. I generally don't except for special occasions. I have long eyelashes anyway, so all I really need is something to darken them. If it promises to make them longer and thicker looking I'll look like I'm wearing fake lashes. I work in the tech industry. Most guys (if they notice) will think you're a flighty bimbo if you wear to much makeup, so I rarely bother unless I'm trying to impress someone with my flighty bimbo-ness or I'm doing something outside of work.
Generally I'm looking for something that'll just make my eyelashes dark and even looking, and something that won't smudge. That's right, I don't know what it is about me but it's pretty common for me to come home after a day of wearing mascara and look in the mirror to find it looks like I have two black eyes. Mascara runs down my face without me having to shed a tear, but this mascara is the exception. I gave it a try one morning and was surprised, that's right, I looked in the mirror when I got home and was surprised at what I saw. There was NO mascara under my eyes. I wore it again, and again. I had to wash my face or go swimming to get this mascara to budge. There was next to no flaking, even after hot sweaty yard work. I was so impressed that I googled it to find out what this stuff I was and found out it's supposed to be good for you! Works great, good for you, I'm sold.
Lest you think I'm turning into a commercial I want to tell you about the latest beauty concoction I came up with in my own kitchen from stuff I already had. I'd been noticing my nose was turning red from all of those pore strips that I use, and other parts of my face were dry and flaky. I was trying to come up with a mask of some sort that would help to calm the redness and even things out, and if it did a bit of exfoliating all the better. So I made a fantastic mask that works wonders for my skin.
Here's what to do (all measurements are approximate):
- Put one quarter cup of oatmeal in a coffee grinder (pulls oil out of your skin and exfoliates)
- Add one tablespoon of dried rosemary (has astringent properties)
- Grind until fine
- Combine in a small pot on the stove with one one half cup of water and cook on medium low until the oatmeal is cooked. (I just followed the directions on the oatmeal packet here)
- Add one tablespoon of oil (I've done this once with grape seed oil and another time with vitamin E oil. Just pick something you like that's a good moisturizer for your skin.)
- And One Tablespoon of honey (for calming)
- Stir, mixing thoroughly, and slowly add up to a quarter cup of water. Stop when you have an even, sticky but spreadable consistency
- Test it to see if it's to hot for your skin (I did this like checking the temperature of baby milk on the inside of the wrist.) It may need to cool before applying it to your face.
- Apply an thin, even layer over face, neck, whatever areas are your problems (I did my elbows too) and let dry.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
This is not a post, it's really just me bragging.
I really can't get away with calling this a post. It's really more a commercial for things I like, so if you don't like that sort of thing you probably shouldn't read very far. What makes matters worse, some of the things I'm going to wax poetic about, you can't have. That's right, you can't have my husband, but maybe you can train yours.
My husband has been raising the bar quite high of late. In fact, I don't think I've ever loved him so much as I did Monday evening, but it took him the whole day to get there. Monday was Labor Day, so what better way to start it than by laboring in the yard. There was a lot to do, too. Not only did we have mulch that's been sitting in the garage since Christmas, but we had bushes growing up over the windows, and weeds... OH the weeds. There were vines growing up the side of the house, briers (there was bleeding), and I swear some of them were starter trees.
One was a maple, so I got out the shovel and tried to dig it up thinking I could transplant it to the back to hide the compost pile. Of course the root was thicker than the tree, so I couldn't get through it with the shovel. Not even when I stood on the shovel; and jumped!
So lots of yard work was being done, and about half way through I realized I was really thirsty and a bit light headed so I went in for a drink, and sat down for a couple minutes then went back out to help. About three minutes later I was back in and on the couch with more ice water feeling light headed. And when my fabulous husband was weeding three feet from me on the other side of the window did he look at all put out that I was being a lazy bum? No! In fact when I came back out he was mulching away. And when I apologized for being a lazy bum he was completely understanding and said he'd felt that way before when we were doing yard work too.
I guess that just goes to show we're both wimpy computer nerds who make our living sitting down in air conditioning. We were not made for yard work in Georgia in summer. It's HOT.
So after we finished mulching (five bags left for touch ups) and showering (separately, I like cool showers after yard work) we were discussing appliances. We need them. We're getting a new house (well, new to us) and it doesn't come with appliances. The lady who's selling it is taking her refrigerator and washer with her, and I don't blame her one whit, she has a NICE fridge. And since our fridge occasionally sounds like a gray whale has taken up residence in our kitchen (Oooh! I have a story I should tell about that sometime) we decided we'd be nice and offer it to whoever buys/rents our house (if you want a freshly mulched house in Woodstock, GA talk to me). So we decided to go to Lowe's to look at refrigerators and washers and the like.
Appliances are nice, I like appliances. I do not like pushy sales-ladies who insert themselves into your conversation and start throwing numbers around. There were model numbers, pricing numbers, capacity numbers, efficiency numbers, and all sorts of discount numbers. She kept following us around, and it's not like the store wasn't busy. It was LABOR DAY! We first met her in the laundry section where she tried to sell us the washer and dryer on the end. I know 20% off is a great deal, but I know a little about store placement. The truly great deals are NEVER on the end cap. It's true about grocery stores, and it's true about Lowe's.
We thought we'd escaped when we told her we weren't planning on buying for at least a month. We don't have the house yet, so we have no where to put them. She said sure, they could store them until we need them (which is actually a nice service) and we went off to look at refrigerators. We slipped in between rows of stainless steel and had no more than commented that one didn't have an ice maker in the door when she snuck up behind us and said that what we were looking for was the next isle over. Again, the next isle over was on the main isle, where the most expensive refrigerators were on display. I'm not saying they weren't pretty, I'm not saying we may not eventually buy a refrigerator from that row (though I don't think they we will, they were all french door styles with very limited freezer space) but she popped up to show us something we hadn't asked about. Only when we wandered over to the really cheap old style refrigerators (freezer on top like my parents have) did she leave us alone.
And this is where the second great thing my husband did came in to play. We were hiding in the refrigerators and he said, "So what do you want to do about the washer and dryer?"
No, that wasn't the great thing. The great thing is what came next. I asked him if he thought we should get them from pushy lady (we were still hiding in the refrigerators) and he said, "Um, yeah. She really tried to help."
I looked at him incredulously, but was struck by his compassion. He wanted to help out this annoying woman who'd followed us around for nearly 30 minutes, despite the fact that she'd reminded us that she works on commission (something I could have figured out from how desperate she was acting). I would not have been so charitable. She was not the first person to offer to help us, just the most persistent. But my wonderful husband recognized that persistence should be rewarded (even when it is annoying) and that everyone's time is worth something, even when it's not the best way to spend it.
Long story short, we ended up not getting the washer and dryer because she couldn't find the right model number for the gas dryer, and then she started trying to up-sale us to the model number she had. And then we went home and found a similar dryer that was a Maytag instead of a Whirlpool that got better reviews and wasn't even displayed in the store (if you have to special order it, that's always a good sign). So we went across the street to Khols and this is where my husband became super human.
Now, first you must understand that he needed nothing from Khols. He was only there for me, and I was trying to ACCESSORISE a dress I got not to long ago from Land's End on a really good sale. So once we're in the store I make a beeline for the accessories. It took me maybe three minutes into the store to pick out a scarf. I want you to note that the scarf was the ONLY thing I bought Monday. I picked up the scarf and browsed through the rest of accessories weaving in and out of handbags, commenting on this one or that one, occasionally picking one up to look at, then putting it down.
After I was fairly sure I had seen every available handbag I moved on to the shoe department, which for some unknown reason Khols hides over in the middle of menswear, nowhere near the handbags. Khols is the only department store I know, aside from maybe WalMart, that doesn't keep their handbags near their shoes. In fact, there is a wall between the handbag and the shoe departments, and much weaving around racks of clothing was required to get there. My fantastic husband kept up. As I was agilely traversing the obstacle course of clothing racks I was reminded of our teenage hood.
To tell this story I'll have to give a bit of background. My husband and I met at Chick-fil-A where we both worked when we were in high school (different schools) and long before we ever thought of dating we would often go to this nearby church playground with friends. It was after dark, and we would go just to swing on the swings. I don't know if we ever saw anyone else there, if we ever did I don't remember it, and I don't recall any sign posted that said this particular church playground was off limits to no good teenagers looking for a place to hang out after dark.
We usually just swung on the swings and talked, but occasionally one of us would get adventurous and start exploring this large, sprawling, ill-lit playground. Eventually it became a game where the person in the front would navigate a convoluted path as quickly as possible, trying to shake those following behind. Well, walking through Khols, occasionally checking to see if my husband was keeping up, I realized it felt like I was playing follow-the-leader as a teenager with my husband following. He was always there. I never had to pause to let him catch up.
So after Khols I looked to see if there was another shoe department available, and on to Famous Footwear. Then on to PayLess. My husband followed me through accessories and shoes at three different stores in less than an hour. Commenting on the shoes I pointed out, never complaining, never getting left behind. This feat of superhuman agility and patience has, I'm quite certain, never before been accomplished by man!
Well, nothing could surprise me after such a display of super human perseverance, yet when we got home he continued to surprise. He grilled; hot dogs, bratwurst, and ribs; and all were cooked to perfection. In fact, I don't believe his ribs have ever been so fall-off-the-bone perfect. At this point I'm beginning to wonder whether he's been replaced by a robot, but he left the turkey out yesterday so I know he's still human.
I was going to write some more about other things I've found recently that are fantastic, but I've already written much more than I had planned. I'll have to save my commercial for non-husband things for some other post.
So in summation:
Husband = Good Shopper = Grill Master --> Very Happy Me!
Yes Dad, I know this isn't a good equation, but it gets the point across.
You'll notice in this post that I tried to make the paragraphs a bit shorter. You have Allie over at Hyperbole and a Half to thank for that. You can add her to my list of good things. I'm in the process of reading through all of her archives, and she had a post on what makes a good blog. Apparently massive piles of text are bad and should be broken up into smaller paragraphs. I'm not good at that, but I'm trying. And hey, if I like big piles of text I should be free to have them! It's MY blog!
My husband has been raising the bar quite high of late. In fact, I don't think I've ever loved him so much as I did Monday evening, but it took him the whole day to get there. Monday was Labor Day, so what better way to start it than by laboring in the yard. There was a lot to do, too. Not only did we have mulch that's been sitting in the garage since Christmas, but we had bushes growing up over the windows, and weeds... OH the weeds. There were vines growing up the side of the house, briers (there was bleeding), and I swear some of them were starter trees.
One was a maple, so I got out the shovel and tried to dig it up thinking I could transplant it to the back to hide the compost pile. Of course the root was thicker than the tree, so I couldn't get through it with the shovel. Not even when I stood on the shovel; and jumped!
So lots of yard work was being done, and about half way through I realized I was really thirsty and a bit light headed so I went in for a drink, and sat down for a couple minutes then went back out to help. About three minutes later I was back in and on the couch with more ice water feeling light headed. And when my fabulous husband was weeding three feet from me on the other side of the window did he look at all put out that I was being a lazy bum? No! In fact when I came back out he was mulching away. And when I apologized for being a lazy bum he was completely understanding and said he'd felt that way before when we were doing yard work too.
I guess that just goes to show we're both wimpy computer nerds who make our living sitting down in air conditioning. We were not made for yard work in Georgia in summer. It's HOT.
So after we finished mulching (five bags left for touch ups) and showering (separately, I like cool showers after yard work) we were discussing appliances. We need them. We're getting a new house (well, new to us) and it doesn't come with appliances. The lady who's selling it is taking her refrigerator and washer with her, and I don't blame her one whit, she has a NICE fridge. And since our fridge occasionally sounds like a gray whale has taken up residence in our kitchen (Oooh! I have a story I should tell about that sometime) we decided we'd be nice and offer it to whoever buys/rents our house (if you want a freshly mulched house in Woodstock, GA talk to me). So we decided to go to Lowe's to look at refrigerators and washers and the like.
Appliances are nice, I like appliances. I do not like pushy sales-ladies who insert themselves into your conversation and start throwing numbers around. There were model numbers, pricing numbers, capacity numbers, efficiency numbers, and all sorts of discount numbers. She kept following us around, and it's not like the store wasn't busy. It was LABOR DAY! We first met her in the laundry section where she tried to sell us the washer and dryer on the end. I know 20% off is a great deal, but I know a little about store placement. The truly great deals are NEVER on the end cap. It's true about grocery stores, and it's true about Lowe's.
We thought we'd escaped when we told her we weren't planning on buying for at least a month. We don't have the house yet, so we have no where to put them. She said sure, they could store them until we need them (which is actually a nice service) and we went off to look at refrigerators. We slipped in between rows of stainless steel and had no more than commented that one didn't have an ice maker in the door when she snuck up behind us and said that what we were looking for was the next isle over. Again, the next isle over was on the main isle, where the most expensive refrigerators were on display. I'm not saying they weren't pretty, I'm not saying we may not eventually buy a refrigerator from that row (though I don't think they we will, they were all french door styles with very limited freezer space) but she popped up to show us something we hadn't asked about. Only when we wandered over to the really cheap old style refrigerators (freezer on top like my parents have) did she leave us alone.
And this is where the second great thing my husband did came in to play. We were hiding in the refrigerators and he said, "So what do you want to do about the washer and dryer?"
No, that wasn't the great thing. The great thing is what came next. I asked him if he thought we should get them from pushy lady (we were still hiding in the refrigerators) and he said, "Um, yeah. She really tried to help."
I looked at him incredulously, but was struck by his compassion. He wanted to help out this annoying woman who'd followed us around for nearly 30 minutes, despite the fact that she'd reminded us that she works on commission (something I could have figured out from how desperate she was acting). I would not have been so charitable. She was not the first person to offer to help us, just the most persistent. But my wonderful husband recognized that persistence should be rewarded (even when it is annoying) and that everyone's time is worth something, even when it's not the best way to spend it.
Long story short, we ended up not getting the washer and dryer because she couldn't find the right model number for the gas dryer, and then she started trying to up-sale us to the model number she had. And then we went home and found a similar dryer that was a Maytag instead of a Whirlpool that got better reviews and wasn't even displayed in the store (if you have to special order it, that's always a good sign). So we went across the street to Khols and this is where my husband became super human.
Now, first you must understand that he needed nothing from Khols. He was only there for me, and I was trying to ACCESSORISE a dress I got not to long ago from Land's End on a really good sale. So once we're in the store I make a beeline for the accessories. It took me maybe three minutes into the store to pick out a scarf. I want you to note that the scarf was the ONLY thing I bought Monday. I picked up the scarf and browsed through the rest of accessories weaving in and out of handbags, commenting on this one or that one, occasionally picking one up to look at, then putting it down.
After I was fairly sure I had seen every available handbag I moved on to the shoe department, which for some unknown reason Khols hides over in the middle of menswear, nowhere near the handbags. Khols is the only department store I know, aside from maybe WalMart, that doesn't keep their handbags near their shoes. In fact, there is a wall between the handbag and the shoe departments, and much weaving around racks of clothing was required to get there. My fantastic husband kept up. As I was agilely traversing the obstacle course of clothing racks I was reminded of our teenage hood.
To tell this story I'll have to give a bit of background. My husband and I met at Chick-fil-A where we both worked when we were in high school (different schools) and long before we ever thought of dating we would often go to this nearby church playground with friends. It was after dark, and we would go just to swing on the swings. I don't know if we ever saw anyone else there, if we ever did I don't remember it, and I don't recall any sign posted that said this particular church playground was off limits to no good teenagers looking for a place to hang out after dark.
We usually just swung on the swings and talked, but occasionally one of us would get adventurous and start exploring this large, sprawling, ill-lit playground. Eventually it became a game where the person in the front would navigate a convoluted path as quickly as possible, trying to shake those following behind. Well, walking through Khols, occasionally checking to see if my husband was keeping up, I realized it felt like I was playing follow-the-leader as a teenager with my husband following. He was always there. I never had to pause to let him catch up.
So after Khols I looked to see if there was another shoe department available, and on to Famous Footwear. Then on to PayLess. My husband followed me through accessories and shoes at three different stores in less than an hour. Commenting on the shoes I pointed out, never complaining, never getting left behind. This feat of superhuman agility and patience has, I'm quite certain, never before been accomplished by man!
Well, nothing could surprise me after such a display of super human perseverance, yet when we got home he continued to surprise. He grilled; hot dogs, bratwurst, and ribs; and all were cooked to perfection. In fact, I don't believe his ribs have ever been so fall-off-the-bone perfect. At this point I'm beginning to wonder whether he's been replaced by a robot, but he left the turkey out yesterday so I know he's still human.
I was going to write some more about other things I've found recently that are fantastic, but I've already written much more than I had planned. I'll have to save my commercial for non-husband things for some other post.
So in summation:
Husband = Good Shopper = Grill Master --> Very Happy Me!
Yes Dad, I know this isn't a good equation, but it gets the point across.
You'll notice in this post that I tried to make the paragraphs a bit shorter. You have Allie over at Hyperbole and a Half to thank for that. You can add her to my list of good things. I'm in the process of reading through all of her archives, and she had a post on what makes a good blog. Apparently massive piles of text are bad and should be broken up into smaller paragraphs. I'm not good at that, but I'm trying. And hey, if I like big piles of text I should be free to have them! It's MY blog!
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