Uninspired with Inspiration

Normally, I am fairly easy to inspire or motivate to do something. Not so lately. I am in a funk. There are so many things that I need to do; would love to do...but I can't seem to get the energy to do them. Some of the problem is the weather, I am sure. I require sunlight, and lots of it. My body and psyche need the precious  serotonin to help fight off the tendrils of depression that tickle at the edges of all aspects of my life. Yes, I have medication for that...but it only treats the surface symptoms, so every little bit of help I can get, I'll take. It has been very dreary around here lately. Rain, sleet, or snow 4 days out of every week for the past six weeks or so. The rest of the problem...who knows.

So what is it that I want to do? What should be inspiring me to create and grow and sparkle? Well let's see...

Crafting with these awesome, bright colors
that are patiently waiting for me in my craft room.

Breaking through the plateau that I have hit with
my weight loss. Twenty pounds, and no more will
come off...gonna hafta hit the gym! :-(

My garden...currently referred to as 'The Swamp'
Potatoes and onions are beginning to sprout, and
it is so wet down there that I can't even go look!

A clean house! Spring break was for spring cleaning, and now
we have room for more stuff!

Lefty getting to go to prom with her boy bestie.
He's a senior, she's a sophmore...he better be good!
Oh, and prom means...school's almost out!!!

On the upside, sort of, I stayed home from school today due to pink eye. Don't judge, it's a hazard of the job. Kinder teachers come into contact with more goo and bodily fluids than I care to think about. Apparently I came into contact with conjunctivitis. Gross. ANYWHO, while home, I actually felt like doing things. Not fun things, mind you. I worked. The master bathroom is sparkling clean, all laundry is done and put away, 'pit stop' surfaces are cleared off and dusted, the carpets are clean, and all of the household garbage is empty. I even had time to work on my coupon collecting. So maybe, just maybe, this weekend, I might feel like digging into that abyss of a craft room that is bursting at the seams with beautiful blingy things begging for me to use them. I'll be sure and show you what I manage to come up with.

Several Updates!!!

First off, I am so not self-disciplined. I wish I were. Then I could get things done like a machine, whether it was school work, house work, or LOSING WEIGHT! I wasn't able to truly do the Body by Vi all week. During the summer months, my schedule is virtually non-existent, and in order to do a shake diet, I think scheduling is a must. Of course, I could just be making excuses again! I actually gained weight this first week. One pound was lost by Tuesday, but today's weigh-in showed that I had gained that pound back plus one more. No bueno. I believe that I will just count calories until school starts. It seemed that I had more luck with that anyway. Once I am back into the routine of school time, I can start the shakes. I did make it to the gym three or four days this week. Next week I will have to go more! Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that Monday will be out of the question because I will have this little guy all day (have you ever seen a little boy as totally cute as this?!?!).

Photo courtesy of BNBauman Photography

In other not-so-good news, it has been so dry here. There have been several fires close to home...more closer to my school than my home, but there was a hayfield fire about 25 miles away that destroyed almost 600 acres. 150 homes were evacuated and it took over two days to contain it. Scary business.

15 minutes or so from my school...

25 minutes or so from my home...photo courtesy of the Arkansas Forestry Commission

The fire in the above photo caused our water company to empty its lines in attempt to fight it before calling in other avenues of water support. Due in part to that and the fact that it has not rained more than ten drops (which happened today) in my area of town since early May, the water company has implemented a mandatory restriction of unnecessary water use. Included in this restriction is ANY AND ALL outside watering unless it is for the purpose of providing sustenance to animals and pets. In other words...don't water the vegetable garden or the decorative landscaping or the yard that you have invested countless dollars in maintaining for the last ten years. Needless to say, all of our gardening and green stuff is turning yellow brown dead. I have been doing my best to pick what I can as soon as I can to salvage as many veggies as possible.

Canned a jar of pickled jalepeno peppers! YUMMY GOODNESS!

The first of nine of these guys :-)

A billion zucchini it seemed, but I think they are done now.

And picked 12 of these beauties today, with 15 more ready in a day or two. Salsa, anyone???

We need rain...badly...but I can't wait to put next year's garden out and see what happens!!! I have already drawn out a 'blueprint' for how I want it to look! Always (never) prepared.

This Bear Needs a Cave!

Or just a hole to crawl into. I know it's the Weekend Wander, and there will be blog traffic...so my post should be peppy and upbeat. but. i. don't. feel. like. it. I feel like burrowing head first into a hole and not coming out. It has been a shitty couple of weeks, and sometimes, shit really does stink.

Two weeks ago today, I felt the beginnings of a sinus headache. Immediately, I trotted right down to the pharmacy and grabbed some Sudafed...the good kind that requires a license to purchase. It worked for a day. So a week goes by and I get more and more miserable. Work sucks...wild kids and the like...things just not going right...On Friday, I went to the doctor. She said, severely impacted sinus infection. Great. Like I didn't know that already. Then, meds didn't work. And the doc didn't bother to return my TWO calls when I was throwing up from the drainage and so dizzy I couldn't sit upright three days AFTER meds were finished. Thank God I have a good pharmacist. She recommended ZyrtecD...the good kind. Antihistamine + decongestant. Dried that snot right up! 

So yesterday I felt human again. And then I fell. Someone's lovely child (a multitude of them actually) squirted a puddle of GermX on the stained concrete floors at school. GermX is clear. Invisible on stained concrete. Down I went. Bashed both kneecaps and wrenched my back (the back that had previously been broken, and is iffy on a good day). Perfect. Battered and bruised, just the way I prefer to be. Today, I am in pain. Not to mention emotionally worn down and just flat exhausted. 

I might be back tomorrow. 

Or I might have found a damn cave.

The Challenge is Over,

and what do I do, but miss the first day after? Haha, it figures! Today brought me home before lunch with an upset stomach, so after a long nap here I sit, trying not to move (or else I will hurl). Even sitting completely still (other than my rapidly tapping fingers), I am still horribly nauseated. Ugh. Last week and all weekend, I had a severely impacted sinus infection that required medicine which kept me loopy until Monday. It still isn't totally gone either...I am so ready to feel good again!

Anywho, on Monday, I did feel half normal...so I got mah hur did! It was supposed to be red, blonde, and brown chunked (normal for me, but with bigger chunks...er, stripes). This is what I got...

Notice the black in the front?!?! I think I like...

On Tuesday, fall blew in after a storm in my neck of the woods. Temps were in the 90s over the weekend, but after the rain, we have windy highs in the mid-60s. It feels like October...sweaters, boots...and these guys falling everywhere (this is just two days after Hubs cleaned them up the first time)...

And finally, our first glimpse of fall color, which I love!

OH, and THESE guys...they are from last year's buckets of mums on the front porch! We put them in the burn pile when they 'died,' but they were only playing dead. Turns out, in the spring, they had buds on them! We pulled them out of the buckets, put some Miracle Gro on them...and stuck them in the ground. What do ya know? They grew!

*Wednesday weigh-in = 171.7, down from 173.4*