The spiritual crisis.... again....

I went to choir last night.  This should not be a radical move.  But it was the beginning of the end.

It all started when the choir director mentioned something about choreography with the song for Sunday.  I started saying No.. no no no no.  I could feel the panic rising.

About 20 minutes later, I mentioned that practicing this might be difficult, given that the sanctuary was set up with tables for a dinner.  The Religious Education Director, who set up the tables, got upset and left.  Great.... she's upset with me.

On the way home I chatted with my carpool buddy about this, and our own spiritual paths.

I realized

• that many of the problems in my last spiritual crisis are not resolved
• I'm about as deep as a puddle
• with push comes to shove, I prefer things of the religious nature to be done alone.
• that the 3 calls and emails about my church absence give me the INTENSE desire to not go back.  basically it's having the opposite effect.

I'm not awfully surprised about the being a deep as a puddle.  I get my spiritual inspirations from movies for crissakes!  How deep can I be?!?

I'm also not surprised about the being alone thing.  I've always been a "back of the church" person.  You know, the people that want to get in, worship, and get out.  I was a solitary when I tried the pagan thing.  I know that church should be all about the beloved community.  I get that.  I respect it.  I endorse it.  But I don't know if that's for me.

I still believe in everything that Unitarian Universalism stands for.  I admire the environmental crusading and the social justice.  I admire the community they foster.  I also know that the crusading and social-justice-ing are too much for me to do.  I also am not 100% comfortable in the community.

I guess I have some soul searching to do.

or it could be PMS....

Three's not enough wine to deal with today.

At 7:30 I received a call.

Furniture delivery is here at work.

Great!  Except one thing.  I get to work at 8.

I then run around like a maniac and proceed to set stuck behind every school bus in Christendom!

While at work I'm alerted that there were issues printing a confidential document, and to keep an eye out for it.

it was found.

In Chemistry.

Then I get a call from campus police.  My car was in an accident.  Yes, it was parked at the time.  

The damage is just cosmetic, but there is a mountain of paperwork involved to get it fixed.   

A grad student hit me.  Poor thing was terrified that I'd be mad at her.

Then I went to go eat my lunch....  I forgot the salad dressing in my haste to get out of the house.

I'm off to go buy lunch.  Is it too early for wine?

My physical, emotional and spiritual self-help plan.

Labor day has come and gone.  That means that I have a month until my next race.  What does that mean?  I have to get back to work.

My Physical Well being plan:

My fitness plan for the next month is based around the 21 Day Fix program.

I'm using their Upper and lower body fix.  I also plan on using the Pilates, alternating with Hip Hop abs and doing some sort of yoga.  I especially need to remember the yoga.  I've been lax on it and I can feel it.



Instead of the program's cardio days, I'm going to run.   I'm really enjoying the program.  It makes me feel powerful and successful.  I'll never run a whole mile without walking.  but this program plays to my strengths.




I'm also using their eating program.  I REALLY like the eating portion of the 21 Day Fix program.  It forces me to eat a more well balanced diet.  I also have Shakeology back in my kitchen.  (I know it's vegan..... but trust me, they just taste better!!)  It may be expensive, but I love having a smoothie for breakfast on the weekends.  (Maybe after Disney I'll be able to afford it more often.)  It fills me up and if I have a washed takeout cup in the house I can take my smoothie with me when we run weekend errands.




Here's a recipe I wish I had the Shakeology for!  I'll have to print it out so I have it on hand for next year.






My Mental Well Being plan:

First:  I have new books.  More importantly, I have books I'm excited to read.  (Or in this case, listen to)   I'm currently listening to this book.  I LOVED her last series.  This book is more suspenseful than the last.

I also have Carrie Hope Fletcher's book and The Bloggess's book is pre-ordered.

The Dark is Rising books are also on my phone.  I love those books!

Second: It's Pass member appreciation day at Busch Gardens tomorrow.  Depending on the weather, we might hit the park on Sunday as well.  I want to ride of rides, even if the roller coasters are too scary.

Third:  I cleaned the downstairs last week.  A clean house is good for my well being.  I need to keep it that way.  This week's plan, vacuum both upstairs and down and keep the downstairs picked up.

Fourth:  I'm trying to keep myself from getting over-extended.  This is happening with varying success.

My Spiritual Well being Plan:

I've decided to start collecting quotes, pictures, and passages that mean something to me.  Make sort of a personal bible of sorts.

More on this later... I'm still working on it.

But today's Friday.  Happy Weekend everyone!!

Damn! I'm productive today!

This morning, I was up by 7.  The kitchen disguested me so before I ate breakfast I:

• rearranged some things on the counters
• emptied the dishwasher
• refilled the dishwasher
• cleaned the sinks, counters and stove

Then I had breakfast.  And because I decided that the house needed to be decluttered (mainly because it was gross, also because kittens get into EVERYTHING) I:

• swept and mopped the kitchen and dining room
• gathered up a HUGE bag of random trash
• washed a load of delicates, including every bra that I own.
• changed the sheets on the bed
• hand washed the rest of the dishes
• tidied up my sewing and the living room
• put away the PILES of clean laundry that I've been avoiding forever.
• planned my workouts for the week.

And I haven't even had lunch yet!

Later on the agenda:

• Make a cake
• Cook other food for dinner (we're having company tonight)
• eat lunch
•  if the upstairs toilet replacement hasn't happened yet, dye my hair

And maybe a nap!

Happy long weekend everyone!!!!

I somehow turned into a teenager for a minute...

It is no secret that I subscribe to WAY too many YouTube channels.

I subscribe to channels from expat vloggers.

I subscribe to channels from Disney fans.

I subscribe to channels from Irish Vloggers.

It's way too many!

One of my favorites is Carrie Hope Fletcher's channel.    I love her optimism, and her love of music, musical theater, books and all things Disney.

I recently purchaced her book....

and a shirt....

I'm 40!  and I could legitimately be her mother!

*headdesk*

So the truly sad thing happened the other day when she posted this to Instagram:

Yeah....  guess who else is going to Florida next February?  Me.

I seriously had like 10 minutes there where I was all maybe I'll meet her in the park!!

From her Instagram

Then I gave myself a mental slap.

1.) I'm 40!  40!!!
2.) There are 29 days in February!
and
3.) Disney is HUGE!

*sigh*  And there you have it.  Sometimes I'm 13.  In all its teenagery glory!  *facepalm*

I'll be over here paying bills and adulting all over the place.

It's all Greek to me!

I just walked back from the Post Office on campus and saw no less than 10 students in shirts that advertised one Fraternity or Sorority or another.

It brought me back to my undergrad days.  I went to a school that had a handful of Fraternities.  No Sororities.  We didn't see letters of sweatshirts and t-shirts.  The fraternity boys generally wore navy blazer, khaki pants and ties.  There were things that you knew.  You knew that Chi Phi was responsible for the International students being moved to a smaller house.  You knew that pledging Kappa Alpha required writing a HUGE check.  You knew that when Sigma Chi was rushing you'd get stopped and serenaded.  A lot.

You also knew that if you went to a fraternity party there was a better than average chance that your drink would be spiked and you'd be raped.

There's no other way to put it.  It was popularly known.  And it happened.  Often.  And as far as we knew nothing was ever done about it.

from www.washingtontimes.com

These days hte news is full of fraternities and sororities trashing things, fraternities with rapey signs,  and batshit crazy sorority recruitment.





I drive past the stately sorority building on campus here and wonder what these organizations are really like.  Because of where I went to school they weren't an option.  Are they as awful as the media says?  Other than finding lifelong friends (as the recruiting pitch goes) why would you join one?  Did I miss out on someone special because they were allowed on my campus?  (Apparently for some people it's never too late)

I'll never know.

And thus is life.

Itty Bitty Kitties

On Saturday we ventured out to the Peninsula Regional Animal Shelter to see if they had any kittens.

We ended up getting take out!

Our new additions!!

We have two additions!

Mulan, who is shy and very watchful.

And Merida, who is adventurous and VERY loving.  She loves to give head butts and rub all over!

Misty wants so desperately to play.  But she can't play fight like the cats do.  She she tries to poke and get them to chase her.  Poor puppy.

What am I doing this weekend?  Cleaning.  The cats get into EVERYTHING, so everything must be cleaned.