Evening Task

My task for the evening was to turn this...


into this...
Minus the pup dog, these are my personal belongings for the next 10 days. I think I did a pretty good job of getting everything I need (like clothes), everything that you just should carry (like a knife and duct tape), and a few things that are just nice to have (like snacks and a battery powered fan) into the backpack, a) in there in a way that I can find it again, b) in a way that is waterproofed because you just never know, and c) in a way that means I can get it closed. Good thing I had practice on the mountain, it's back to organizing my life into trashbags, and quite frankly I'm looking forward to it!

Wipeout

We lost all the TV channels that we normally watch with the switch to digital. It doesn't really make sense why we did because we have a digital antenna and so supposedly we should still be getting the channels, but alas, we are not. What this has done is significantly cut down on the number of hours in the evening when I'm sitting on the couch watching TV. While this is good, the bad side is I miss having something entertaining to watch while we are eating. I know, we shouldn't eat in front of the TV, but too bad, we do. So, we've started watching random things and since we eat at random times it's usually different every time.

Tonight we watched Wipeout. When I saw the previews for this show I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever seen. I mean how in the world was people banging into stuff entertaining...and yet. I found myself thoroughly entertained for the past half hour. I'll tell you something about complete strangers being knocked in the head with huge foam items and then falling into a puddle of mud is hilarious. Laugh out loud hilarious. I'm beginning to think I may need to get out more.

Speaking of getting out of the house, Panama is 4 days away! 4 days people! I've begun organizing my life by pre-Panama and post-Panama. Unfortunately packing needs to happen pre-Panama and watching the rest of Wipeout does not, which means, back to the bedroom I go.

This is what happens when you ask your coworkers as they are looking at the darkening sky if they think you can make it home on your bike jor if they should give you a ride.

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Weekend Synopsis

More detailed info on the weekend is to come, but in short...
I missed this...
but I got to see this...
You win some, you lose some. Emily turning 2 looked super cute, but Lisa and Mike's wedding was awesome!

Snowball heaven

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A New Kind of Morning Run

Today I ran to work. Yep. I didn't run and then go to work, I ran TO work. I knew that at some point my morning runs needed to ramp up to a bit more than 3 miles, and today was the day. It's 4 1/2 miles to work, so away I ran. Now that we are in the Marshlands house there are actual bathrooms that I can shower and change in, so it's a doable morning exercise regime. Granted it involves a lot of planning because unlike a bike you can't carry what you need to work with you...well I guess you could, but in this heat, it's bad enough just getting yourself there, let alone something on your back. So, yesterday when I biked in I brought clothes for that day and today, as well as shower stuff for today. I was quite proud of my thinking ahead! So, we'll be on the 4 1/2 mile route for a while, and then I need to figure out an even longer morning run route...but we'll save that for when I get back from Panama.

Pill Popping

This evening I spent 'packing' for Panama. We are going there for a missions trip, which means we are packing for a missions trip. With that in mind, can you guess what the 20 suitcases we are allowed to check will be holding? Medicine, medicine and more medicine. We are even packing toiletries in our carryons this year, which apparently in the past has been in a suitcase.

Now, in order to make the most of our 20 suitcases we need to remove a few obstacles, namely packaging. Let me tell you, there is a LOT of packaging. When I got up to the room I asked what I was supposed to do, the answer was pick a spot and start unpacking - and they weren't kidding. The room was full of every kind of medicine you can imagine, and we were making what used to take up a foot square box fit in a sandwich bag. It was really quite impressive. 9 people and 2 hours later we carried a lot of trash out to the dumpster, could fit a whole lot more medicine in the suitcases and my hands smell like a wierd combination of Prilosec, skin cream, antibiotics, and children's chewable vitamins. Off to wash my hands and eat some dinner.

The Breaking Point

Well, I believe the funk sitting over me has finally broken! I can just sense it - which I must say is a nice thing to sense. There is nothing like a 12 mile run to force you to sort out your issues and come to some sort of conclusion about how to move forward. Granted my legs ache, I'm going through the post-run chills (I'm not kidding, it's wierd, it's like my body goes on overdrive to cool down and takes it a bit too far), and because I made myself run into work so that I wouldn't have an excuse to lay down and take a nap afterwards, I'm still gross and salty from sweating, BUT, I feel immensely better than yesterday morning at this time. So, here is what I determined in the last 2 1/2 hours of my life while jogging along the side of the road:

I have way too many layers of stress going on which is why I'm feeling totally overwhelmed by them all. Once I deal with one layer for the day, there are 10 other ones there so I'm not really ever feeling like I'm getting anywhere. And I'm always feeling like something is bearing down on me, but I don't know what it is because I'm so busy that I'm not taking the time to think about what needs to be handled first. So, first to identify layers of stress and remove them...

1) my mom - I don't think I've actually posted that 2 months ago during one of my mom's post cancer check-ups they determined that her bone marrow is showing signs of leukemia - a not uncommon thing for people who had major chemotherapy, but a major deal nonetheless. It was pretty minor at the time so we started the process for checking Brandy, me, and my aunt's marrow for matches, running her marrow through the bone marrow bank, and overall just waited to hear the news from the next appointment which was 2 weeks ago. News, was not good - the leukemia is progressing faster than they thought and they had waited almost 2 months on the appointment because they didnt' think it was progressing fast, so needless to say I was less than excited with the doctors. One thing after another has been happening that is either frustrating, not clear as to why it's being done, not communicated as to what is going on, or all around just plain annoying, and it leaves us at this week when while I'm not worrying about it because I honestly believe God's got it in his hands, it is on my mind and just a general undertone to my life. Yesterday I finally realized that I was saying it wasn't bothering me because I wasn't worrying about it, but it was frustrating me, which put it on my mind. And then this morning when I stepped out of the house for my run the very first song I heard was 'Through the Fire' which I NEEDED to hear so badly, and I honestly don't even know how it got on my shuffle because I didn't have it downloaded at the time I loaded that up, but, there is was, and all the sudden I felt the stress over my mom break. I knew with my head that she would be ok, but there is a difference between knowing with your head and knowing with your heart, and all the sudden I knew with my heart. So on that topic, I leave you with a verse my mom called me with this week. I'm generally not superb at memorizing verses, but I just felt like I needed this one and low and behold when I heard that song, this verse popped into my mind - Deuteronomy 31:8 - The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged.

2) my second layer of stress was this marathon - I don't feel like I've been very good with my training, which is making me a little concerned over whether I can really run this thing. I mean, I've been running, but I've been skipping runs because of this or that, or needing to shorten it because I was here and didn't have time. It's just a matter of actually having a life, and marathon running not being it. So, I realized I just needed to take the situation for what it was. I wasn't going to stop life to train for the marathon, but I was going to try to do the best I could. And if I didn't make it, I didn't make it. What was the big deal? I realized that was one of the stressors at about mile 4. I hit mile 7 and my legs started hurting rather badly and I pushed through, and then I hit mile 10 and they really really started to hurt and I pushed through, and then I hit mile 11.5 and I felt like I was going to puke and I figured I should maybe walk the last half mile, and I lived. So, marathon training will no longer stress me. I'm going to do what I can do, and if I'm not trained well enough, then I'll run what I can and walk the rest. Done. By the way, I am starting to not feel like I just walked through the arctic and my legs have stopped the continual aching feeling so we are doing pretty good. Soon I'll be able to actually stand up at which point I need to get unpacking, so I better finish up here...

3) speaking of which, stressor number 3 was my office. I don't do well in clutter and while I now have most of what I need on a regular basis unpacked I didn't have it all. And knowing that I have an entire closet full of stuff that needs unpacking and no time in which to do it didn't really ever make me feel good. So, here I am on a Saturday. Kinda sucky way to spend a Saturday, but I need extra hours before I go to Panama, and I might as well use them to make my working situation a little more manageable. The finally got my phone fixed (well I'm not positive about the voicemail, but the phone at least), and my computer can now be plugged in my side, in addition to some other plug items that I'll find once I start unpacking in earnest. I'm also going to attempt to make an organized list of what needs to be done next week so that I don't have to come into the normal Monday morning 'ugh, I can't believe I have so much to do, I don't even know where to start!'. Stressor three -check.

4) Panama. it's really soon, and getting sooner every day, and I don't feel like I'm prepared. So, thought through what I need to get prepared. I got my yellow fever shot yesterday morning, so I'm all vaccinated up. I've got my passport, and I talked to Pastor and Megan yesterday about what I need to pack, which I can start working on next week. AND I realized that I was thinking that I had 1 week, but I have 2. So, that one was actually just a matter of thinking about it for a while!

5) having two jobs - I am definitely still getting used to this, and once I really thought about it, it's just going to be that way until I settle into it. Without all this other stuff going on the settling time may have taken a little shorter, but I'll just need to keep on keeping on. And, yesterday I had my meeting with Pastor, when I went through what I've been working on which I must say made me realize I've done more than I realized. Again, just needed a little thinking time!

6) then there were the normal things of life, that on a normal day wouldn't really have sent me over the edge, but because of the three major underlying stressors listed above I realized they were kinda they push that sent me over the cliff, and then right when I would get to the top of the cliff again, they would step on my fingers. Most of them I really can't do anything about - partnerships at work (I'm beginning to hate that word - in essence think of group projects in school, that is what partnerships at work are), unexpected bills, last minute things people need, random things breaking or not working, or people not answering my requests of them...the list goes on. None of it can be controlled in any way by me, so, in the interest of my sanity, I say 'get thee behind me, Satan'. Seeing as how two of my major stressors just needed time to think, I realized that these little things were making me feel so cluttered and busy that I never took the thinking time that I know I need to do.

So, now that I have feeling back in my legs I'm ready to tackle the rest of the day - and with a far better attitude than I've started the day off in a long time. Can you see why I always score in the middle of the introvert-extrovert scale? While I like groups of people, I don't gain energy from them - I do, however, gain energy from a little (well, in this case a lot - 12 miles takes a LONG time) of time well spent with God, myself, and the open road.

Irony

Does anyone find it ironic that my husband reads my post about how much I disliked this week and his response was 'your post is full of grammar mistakes' and then lists off a few to me. Wow, that really seals the deal on the week.

La Semana Pasada

Ugh, this week! I don't know what it was about this week, but I was not a fan and I'm glad it is past. Granted I have Saturday left, which includes a 12 mile run and a full day of work to get some extra hours in before going to Panama, but at least the work week is done, so I've got something going for me. I pretty much felt like I was running in place all week - I can't list very much at all that I got accomplished, and yet I know there are about 18 random sheets of paper with things like 'send FSB announcement to listserve', 'practice Spanish', call Ruth', 'write check for... you get the picture. All the million things that didn't get done, and at some oint need to get done. Compounding the frustrations was the fact that the cubicle installers didn't do my electricity right and so I had to set my computer up so I could slide my cord around to the other side of the cubicle, the phones were not working until about noon today and I found out at 3:30 that if you call my phone and I miss it, it goes to some random person's voicemail, whom I do not know (even though you are calling my number because that is whey they dialed), I still have boxes everywhere and can't find random things like envelopes and sharpies so I need to find someone else that has them, the whole not seeing Maia thing is WAY worse than I thought, and Louie's chocolate bowl bottomed out WAY faster in the Marshlands house than in the Admin building (this, by the way, is going to be a big problem - we are considering putting a wildlife camera on it so that it takes a picture everytime someone walks in and takes a piece of candy). And that is just the frustrations at work, I won't even launch into home. So, I'm going to go do my bible study and head to bed because whether I like it or not I need to fit a dozen miles and 8 hours of work into the next 24 before the week is REALLY past!

Dogs, Dogs, Everywhere

This week I am dog sitting Dudley and Dina while Brandy and John are at the beach. Let's just say it's rather intense. 3 dogs is a lot to handle. First of all, there is really no good way to take 3 dogs outside at one time when one does not have a yard - thus you need to take them individually. Dudley feels the need to pee on every bush or tree or every spot any other dog has peed and thus you can't just take him out, have him do his business, and bring him in, it takes a bit longer. Then you have the situation of the food. Dina is allergic to grain so she has a special food, but the food is super expensive, so Dudley gets Purina like Kaylinn. Dina only wants to eat the Purina, and Dudley and Dina only want to eat the Canidae. Dina also wants to drink any drop of water located in any water bowl. Which means you need to actually make her stop drinking so that the other dogs have water to drink. And then add into this mix the fact that the cats are highly confused, not all that much concerned because they are dogs they know, but confused as to why they are still here. So, I'm going to finish blogging and begin what may end up being a half hour process to take all the dogs out and get them ready for bed...oh, but they are so cute!

Goodbye Harbor Office

The chicken and I said goodbye to the sweet harbor office view yesterday. Maia had to give him a little pep talk that I was only a 5 minute walk away and could come visit.

Today is the first day in the new office...it's not really that bad, I just feel like being dramatic because I can.

ACE Basin Hostel

Well, today is the last day of the ACE Basin hostel, which is what we affectionately call my office as it has transformed from a one person office, to a three person office. When you have three people in any given space originally intended for one you tend to have space limitations. Thankfully I love the two people with whom I'm sharing the space, but it is space limited none the less. Usually at any given point in the day someone has someone visiting, or someone is on a call, or someone gets an e-mail that is funny and reads to to the others, or someone had something happen that morning and comes in late which restarts the normal morning talk all over, or someone is hanging out on the couch, or someone walks by and mentions the fact that there are so many people in the office, or someone asks directions to somewhere because we are at the end of a hall...you get the picture. In essence, there is not a whole lot of productive work going on. And so while I am very excited to have my little cubicle space in which I can actually get a good day's worth of work taken care of, I will miss the coziness of the ACE Basin hostel. And I will miss our view of the harbor, which I can honestly say I never did come to take for granted. And I will miss having Maia downstairs and being able to run down to tell her something funny. And I will miss the afternoon chocolate breaks which generally ended up happening here because there were so many of us already here. Ok, I'm going to stop now or I'm really going to cry.

Dina vs. the Screen

When fireworks started up last weekend Dina seemed to be fine. During a break in the fireworks John went to take Dina into the house where the rest of the dogs were cowering in fear. Unfortunately while they were walking into the house the fireworks started up again, and Dina decided that this time she was afraid of them. Very afraid.

And so, in the war between Dina wanting to get inside and the screen which happened to stand in her way, Dina won.

Filing Methods

So, as I mentioned before I have a bit of an OCD gene in my that I repress to the best of my ability, but it tends to be exhibited in things such as my organized desk and my many lists of things to do. One of the very major ways the OCD gene is expressed is through filing. I file e-mails and papers in a similar manner so that I can find things in a relatively easy fashion at work. One of the problems with this office move that is presently going on is that my files are moved and one of my desk has been transferred to Phil's office, which leaves me with a totally new and completely horrible filing method ...the pile method. I have one pile, upon which all papers are placed. When looking for something I need to go through the pile, if I dont find it I need to determine when it was filed prior to the move and then determine which box that might place it, and then go find that box, and then go through that box. The pile, however, is really what bothers me. I don't do well with one pile, but such is life when you have exactly the size of one piece of paper on your remining desk...oh, the cubicle installation cannot finish soon enough!

Welcome to the Family

This weekend, Sandor and I took another 10 hour trip up the east coast - this time to welcome Helen, Rediet, and Abel to the family. Unfortunately at the last minute my aunt could not travel to Ethiopia to get Helen (she is officially in Ethiopia right now and hopefully the paperwork is finalized because she said someone may need to fly over there and bail her out of jail if not!). But, we did get to meet Rediet and Abel, who I must say are the cutest things in the universe.

As is expected of Walker festivities much fun was had by all...except perhaps the dogs, which were very unhappy that they were being kept in the bottom of the yard.

There were crafts, trampoline jumping, a very impressive soccer game between the boys and two adults who were fairly beaten, swimming, bike riding, eating of all sorts of delicious items, a fire after dark, and of course, since it was 4th of July after all, some fireworks. The boys had more energy than I think the rest of us combined, so they sailed through each of these activities with flying colors and still had energy at the end!

Dina looking longingly towards the pool. I swear the dogs were pathetic.

headed off on the bike ride

Ordering at the snowball/ice cream store, which was the goal of the bike ride. It makes you feel not nearly as bad eating a snowball with marshmallow on top when you biked 5 miles to get there! (and I don't want to hear anything about the snowball and marshmallow - don't knock it until you try it! And snowballs are not those hard packed ice things people think of as snowcones, these are FAR superior!)

mmm...delicious!

smores and a fire to finish off the night

It really was such a fun weekend. While my body on Monday morning felt like I had done a 20 hour trip in the span of 3 1/2 days, I really didn't feel like I was all that rushed when I was there. Rediet and Abel were so adorable taking in everything new and meeting everyone. When they were watching fireworks they screamed 'I like that' after every single firework. It was hilarious. I can't wait to meet Helen when she gets back from Ethiopia. We just got three awesome additions to our family!

Have dog, will travel

The pup was all about a second bed in the hotel room which she claimed as her own.

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Simple Addition

The jury is back. We know what the Kaylinn dog is made of. We got this Wisdom panel thing done on Kaylinn to find out what breeds she is. I know it sounds superfluous, but we don't have kids so we don't have much to dote on, and it didn't take that long to save up for an answer to the 'oh she is so cute, what kind of dog is she'. So, without further ado...

This

plus this

plus this

equals this

Yes it seems that Kaylinn's black mask and need to protect us may be a result of a Belgium Malinois Shepard, her playfulness and energy from a boxer and her fuzziness from a miniature poodle. All I have to say is thank God for those miniature poodle genes, otherwise we would have one very large dog - shepards and boxers are big! Unfortunatly the poodle may also be the reason for the barking!

Now we need to get Brandy and John to test Dudley and we can determine what was from their mom and what was from their dads. I'm betting the poodle was on the dad side seeing as how Dudley is far from fuzzy. At first I didn't think he was the shepard either until I came across this picture of a Belgium Malinois mixed with a Rhodesian Ridgeback. It's Dudley right down to the eyeliner...

random dog

Dudley dog

Ok, I need to stop looking up dog pictures and go pay bills...