And it’s here

Along with the beauty and color of spring comes something this little southern California girl is just not used to at all. Severe allergies.

I haven’t been able to breathe for a week. I’m congested worse that the 405 at rush hour with a Sig alert. I sneeze for hours at a time, rest a little, then start the sneezing again. My eyes water, my throat itches and I’m exhausted from all the energy this allergy thing requires. Even with so much beauty outside, I was too tired and allergy-ridden to go out and enjoy it. And that’s just wrong.

I wouldn’t trade the beauty of a Nashville spring for all the gold in the world. But I’d sure be willing to trade my sinuses in for a much less sensitive, much hardier model. Know where I can find one?

Living in a Movie

Is it real life, or is it reel life?

I don’t know when this all began in my mind, but I was very young when it did. I mean very young.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve lived my life like I was in a movie. It made life more interesting to play at home, do my chores, attend church 3-plus times a week, go to school — especially go to school — imagining someone was watching what I was doing at various moments of the day, to see life through the "eyes" of a camera lens — long before I ever had one of my own, I took in my surroundings as if I were a camera panning and zooming, tracking and rack-focusing. This propensity didn’t fade as I got older. Even now I will drive to work, sunroof open, music blaring, and take in my surroundings as if it were a scene in some movie, unfolding the drama of life with every mile, whatever cd currently playing becoming the soundtrack.

I watch movies and find msyelf captivated by the feelings and emotions they invoke. Just the simple pan-back, pull-out movement of a "happily ever after" type ending entices me to live, to have an adventure, to suck the marrow out of life. I see the beautiful sky, the vibrant colors, the joy, contentment, and rest our heros now enjoy and I want it. I want to experience it too. I want life to be like a movie. Adventure, drama, tears, laughter, love — especially love, the kind that fights for what is right, for what is best, no matter the cost — and happy endings. Especially happy endings. I could use one of those about now.

I guess I really am a drama queen…

Rebel Emerging

There are just times when I get sick of trying to live "right", when life’s crap has just piled up a bit too high and that little "ping" goes off somewhere in my soul and my rebellious nature kicks into overdrive.

I’m feeling it big-time today . Oh, yes. The rebel has come out, and she’s ready to fight anyone who dares get in her face. The rejection of my abilities from a professional — and, in essence, the failure/death of a large dream of mine —  pieces from a long discussion I was involved in last night, and a dream I had early this morning that reflected my sad, frustrated, rejected feelings from yesterday. Add all that to the complete frustration of daily life and you get one over-cooked Lu.

Stick a fork in me. I’m done.

Snark-o-Meter Warning: Exceeded Acceptable Limits

Dictionary.com
snark·y
Pronunciation Key (snärk)
adj. Slang snark·i·er, snark·i·est
Irritable or short-tempered; irascible.
[From dialectal snark, to nag, from snark, snork, to snore, snort, from Dutch and Low German snorken, of imitative origin.]
snarki·ly adv.

UrbanDictionary.com
snarky
(adjective) describes a witty mannerism, personality, or behavior that is a combination of sarcasm and cynicism. Usually accepted as a complimentary term. Snark is sometimes mistaken for a snotty or arrogant attitude.
Her snarky remarks had half the room on the floor laughing and the other half ready to walk out.
Source: A Gianotto (snipe), Oct 9, 2002

Lu the-walking-Dictionary/Thesaurus
Snarky
(proper pronoun) Yours Truly
…Especially when my boss calls and asks if I’ll come into work, and I DO — on my day off — and then he doesn’t even get me a vente Chai Latte when he has Starbucks delivered for himself. Oh, yes. The snark-o-meter is high today kiddies.

Heh. He just thinks he’s getting work outa me. Little does he know this little engine doesn’t run unless it’s fed copious amounts of caffeine… the more the chai the faster we goooooo…..

Snow & Sun Roofs

Jesus loves me! It’s snowing!!

I loooove watching the snow fall. Especially this this kind. The light, soft, sometimes big, sometimes small flakes that just lazily make their way down from cloud to ground. Se peaceful and beautiful.

The flurries started while I was still in church and as I sat chatting with some of the tech guys, someone came in a told us it was snowing. I had planned to hang out some and check out all their various sound equipment and rooms, but once I heard about the snow, I decided to go outside and check it out. You never know how long snow will last around here, so ya gotta catch it while you can.

I called Nina on the way home, chattering excitedly about the snow, which was coming down a little faster by then. Once I got home, I realized it was much prettier outside, so I went for a long drive. Hunger was the only thing that was able to convince me I needed to go back home.

Now I’m sitting in my bedroom staring out the window, watching the snow fall and listening to music as loud as I can crank it on my headphones.

I had a dream early last week about snow. I dreamt that it started snowing, the delicate, dreamy flurries like we’re having now and I was so amazed and excited that I opened up the roof of my car (took the roof off, really) to better see it all. I knew other people around me had to think I was nuts to be driving around in a "topless" car in the snow. But I didn’t care. It was too beautiful to not experience it as fully as possible.

I thought about that dream again today as I drove around. I opened up my sunroof about 10 minutes into my drive and took every moment I could, at stop lights and stop signs — and occasionally stopping at dead end streets — to stare up at the sky and watch the snow flakes fall over me. I know there were some Nashville-ites who thought, "this crazy Californian is driving with her sunroof open! They really are nuts out there!"

Know what? I didn’t care. I was having the time of my life, cranking the 90s tunes to the max, dancing in the car, and enjoying the snow.

There are days when God just kisses you on the cheek. Today I got one… or two.

Thank you, Jesus! I love You, too.

Percolating

I have thoughts simmering in my mind.

Like good Ethiopian coffee, they have to percolate till they’re just right. Then they’ll be ready for consumption. Often I don’t completely know what it is they are cooking up back there… I just know they are.

I know because I’m preoccupied… I’ll have these moments where the world will suddenly disappear and I’m staring at nothing while a thought will dominant my attention. Then it will fade back into the fringes of my mind again, to perk some more.

This sort of thing isn’t ideal when driving on an Interstate. Especially one as riddled with construction as I-40. One tends to come out of these stupors to find themselves nose-to-trailer-hitch with the back end of a semi. Not a fun place to be. But it does tend to wipe any residual sleepiness from the system (not to mention flushing a few other things out…).

Hopefully, some of these thoughts will be fully brewed soon. Then perhaps we can sit together and have a cup or two….

Resolutions

I haven’t had New Years resolutions per se in many years.

Instead, what I do is to declare something that I’d like to learn in the new year, something I want God to teach me, something that I can discover, or rediscover or continue learning…

Then at the end of the year I summarize what I’ve learned (in my personal journal, the one no one will see until after I die) during the year. Often I realize that what I declared I wanted to learn is what I did indeed learn, but its almost always in ways I never expected the lessons to come. I’m almost always surprised to discover this fact. Life seems to sweep me along so much of the time, even though I determine to go "that-a-way," I so often find myself swept in what seems the opposite direction than I want to go. So, like "Much Afraid" in "Hinds Feet on High Places" I despair that I will never reach the high places I long to because my path is headed in the wrong direction, only to find myself closer than I ever dreamed when December 31st rolls around.

However, this year I’m breaking my no resolution tradition…. perhaps just for this year. We’ll see.

This year my one resolution is:
To Get Healthy.

There are four parts to that:
1) Physical — by losing weight through eating less and exercising more.
2)Emotional — by acknowledging and dealing with my emotions as I experience them
3) Spiritual — by spending significant time with God every day
4) Mental — by continuing to take my meds until my doc says the depression has been eliminated

I’ve already adjusted my grocery list to eat more veggies and fruits, but I refuse to go on any diet or deny myself the stuff I love. I know myself well enough to know I will never stick with such a thing. And what I do this year must become a permanent lifestyle thing so it has to be realistic and workable.

I once lost 40 pounds through the Weigh Down Workshop program. When I talked with my doctor a few weeks ago, what he described to me was pretty much what Weigh Down is: eating only when you’re hungry and stopping when your satisfied, which is a different feeling from full, and exercising three times a week for a half hour. Weigh Down also adds on that we often eat out of a spiritual, not physical, hunger. I can say a huge "Amen!" to that. 2004 was the year I ate myself sick trying desperately to simultaneously fill the holes mom and dad left and stuff down the grief and pain that daily threatened to swallow me whole. It didn’t work. All I accomplished was to add 30 pounds to my small frame. Weigh Down’s solution is to pay attention to what kind of hunger you feel. If you’re stomach isn’t growling yet you want to eat, that’s probably you’re spirit crying out for God. So feed your spirit instead of your stomach…

I believe with all my heart that Weigh Down provides me a great frame to lose that 30 pounds, along with another 20-30, in a healthy God-glorifying way. After all, it’s worked for me before — and not only did I lose 40 pounds, but my relationship with the Lord deepened greatly. That time was an amazing growth period for me, more than ever before.

But I’m also getting older. And I’ve realized this year that I need to start taking better care of me by exercising as well. It’s not so much about getting svelte for me, at least not this year, as it is about keeping my body flexible and healthy as I enter my 4th decade on this planet. I had to take a hard look at my past exercising experiences and admit that I’ve always taken on far more than I can handle, and done things that I mostly don’t enjoy, because I thought that’s how this physical fitness thing is done. That always ended badly, with me quitting after a while, frustrated, bored and discouraged.

I’m taking a more realistic route this time. Walking around my neighborhood, hiking some on the weekends (mild hikes to start with… I ain’t at Larry’s level yet!) and short visits to the gym in my complex. They have an elliptical machine — and I love those things! I also want to try rock climbing. Nashville has two climbing gyms. Helen climbs, or used to, and I’ve always thought that was very cool. I’ve wanted to try it for years but never lived near enough to a climbing gym to make it practical. However, the costs are rather high, so I may not get to heavily into it this year.

So why am I telling you all this? Well, I’m hoping ya’ll will help me with these resolutions. It would be great if every once in a while you could check in with me, ask me how I’m doing, help me stay on track and just generally encourage as I go along. And I will post updates as the year progresses — both good and bad.

I also hope that someone somewhere might get some encouragement on their own journeys to get healthy through reading about my journey. I’ve read through many different blogs over the years, and have gotten great encouragement from some of them as I read of their courageous determination to push through the pain in their quest to get healthy. I loved reading their stories and celebrating their victories. It gave me hope for my own life. That’s why I got into blogging in the first place; to bring hope to someone else.

So here’s to New Year’s Resolutions May we all see them through this year!

Happy New Year

Well, it’s official. I’ve now entered the year I turn 40.

Yikes.

That thought didn’t occur to me until a few days ago. And I started getting nervous. Nervous of all things! Me. The kid who’s always wanted to be older than she was. Always looked forward to her next birthday, couldn’t wait to turn 30, and usually starts saying she’s the next older age about six months before her birthday.

For the first time in my life (besides 2003, which doesn’t really count ’cause that was my first birthday after mom and dad died) I so do not want to reach my birthday.

Whew…. I’d planned a much happier, more positive post for this particular moment. But… well… here we are.

On a happier note, I talked with Nina shortly after midnight here and things are going very well at her home. We laughed over a shared memory both of us thought of a minute or so before we each entered the midnight hour…

When we were kids we used to go as a family out on our porch at midnight on New Years– regardless of where we were living and the temperature outside — and bang pots and pans as loud as we could and yell "Happy New Year!" at the top of our lungs. Usually everyone else in the neighborhood were in their own respective yards doing something similar

We always had so much fun on New Years eve. Eating popcorn, left over Christmas candy (my mom made the most awesomely fantastic Christmas candy ever!!), and left over turkey and fixin’s from Christmas dinner, laughing, playing games, and often watching family slides — family slides were like a huge treat for us. I can’t think of anything kids have today that could compare to that sort of treat. Pity. They have so much they can do right at their fingertips that nothing is special anymore, nothing is a treat. Pan-banging was the climax of the evening. Usually once that was done mom and dad were ready for bed. As Nina and I got older we’d usually stay up much later, but I probably would conk out not long after the banging in the new year. I say probably because I can’t honestly remember.

I do remember one particular New Years where our new neighbors were not so keen on our chosen way of "ringing" in the new year….. We were living in Casper, Wyoming. It was our second New Year there. We lived in a new housing complex and the house behind us had just recently been built. As we were banging away on our pots and yelling out to all the world to have a Happy New Year on our back porch, our neighbor in the house behind us yelled out his window that nobody cared and for us to shut up. Dad and mom were really upset. I was embarrassed at being yelled at, and a little confused. Why weren’t these people ringing in the new year like the rest of the world?

The last couple of years I’ve had a strong desire to grab a pan and big spoon and bang the crap out of ’em on New Years’. I think that’s in part to keep mom and dad alive in some small way. But I’ve always been to scared to do it, for fear of upsetting the neighbors and getting yelled at again.

Isn’t that weird. Nearly 40 years old and I’m still intimidated by my neighbors. Maybe that’s something I should change in 2005….

Still Cranky

But Nina would be proud. I’m not taking it out on anyone… just sitting quietly in my office, and occasionally banging my head against the wall for fun…

Pilfered this from another blog’s archives…

last cigarette: early ’80s… I tried it, but couldn’t make sense of it so I quit trying
last car ride: this morning
last kiss: oh, let’s just don’t even go there…
last good cry: a few weeks ago, I’m due for another
last library book checked out: I haven’t checked out a library book since I graduated from high school…
last movie seen: The Incredibles with Nina and Toby
last book read: Egads! I can’t seem to finish a book these days…
last cuss word uttered: sh@#, or some variation thereof
last beverage drank: water, but I wish it was diet coke
last food consumed: mac ‘n cheese
last crush: Phil, in LA
last phone call: Wendy (on voicemail), Jamie – live and in person!
last tv show watched: West Wing
last time showered: this morning
last shoes worn: cool black boots I got last year at Norstrom’s rack
last cd played: Rita Springer
last item bought: Harry Potter 3 dvd from Target
last downloaded: updates for my Mac
last annoyance: my alarm clock this morning
last disappointment: Sunday night
last soda drank: diet coke
last thing written: blog post
last key used: car key
last word spoken: Bye
last sleep: midnight to about 7:30am
last im: Don’t use ims…
last sexual fantasy: hmm…
last ice cream eaten: Wow, I can’t remember!
last time amused: earlier today, as I broused a few Holidailies blogs
last time wanting to die: about a month ago
last time in love: too long ago… thanks for the reminder
last time hugged: A few weeks ago, by Nina before I left her house
last time scolded: a couple of weeks ago, via voicemail
last time resentful: See above
last chair sat in: nasty work desk chair… hate this thing
last lipstick used: Mocha Blast
last web page visited: India Tourism Site

Crank-o-Meter – Extremely High

I’m so cranky today, you don’t even want to get in my space. If you have something against me and you’re looking for a fight, now’s the time to bring it on. If you want a sensible discussion, however, you better wait a few days…

I’m so tired, I just want to go back to bed and sleep for a week. I have a monster migraine, I can’t think straight, all I want for lunch is a small bag of chips but I don’t have enough change and all my usual change-hiding places are empty, and now in the course of hunting through my purse I somehow pushed the magic button my cell phone that made all the letters and numbers on the screen HUGE and left myself a voicemail full of scuffling sounds to boot.

Can I just go home and skipped the rest of the year?