September 9

I really need a new keyboard, one that doesn't require movement from the shoulder to get the lower line of letters and the space bar to come through.

Today was the Tampa Bay presvyteres' meeting, which went pretty well. (Just the Greek Orthodox presvyteres from the Tampa Bay vicarship.) We had eight presvyteres and Teddy, and it was lovely to see the other seven presvyteres. Next week many of us will get together in Winter Haven for the patronal feast of St. Sophia.

Fr. Peter dropped me and Teddy off at home, and Teddy went straight to bed. (He'd missed a couple of naps.) I don't know what happened to the 2.5 hours before Fr. Peter came home from work, but I didn't rest enough and started getting symptoms of something. I took an antihistamine and drank lots of sports drink and water.

I started getting things done that I'd skipped in my morning routine (watering plants, making the bed, etc.), and realized that I wanted to skip swimming. I told my husband and then I got to look forward to some uninterrupted me-time while the boys went to the pool.*

*Teddy can swim to the wall from at least six feet away.

I did laundry. I put the Project 365 photos up. I worked in the yard. I cleaned the bathroom. I watched NCIS. (Aren't commercials little breaks so you'll go do housework?) I tidied the living room.

I still have a huge list of things to do, but I feel so much better.

Part of my morning routine is putting my hair up. It's really surprising how much more ready and efficient I feel just by doing that. Also, I love that I don't have to worry about it once it's up: two French braids and a clip, and it doesn't move.

September 5

At about five in the afternoon, I finished what I'd like to be my "morning routine." Of course, that doesn't usually include going swimming. (Forgot the camera again, dang it.)

Last night, Teddy slept through the night for the second time in a row since we had houseguests and went travelling and messed up his schedule. It was marvelous, and strange at the same time.

I worry that I spend too much time on the computer and in books. I'm not spending enough time doing the things around the house which need to get done, and I'm not spending enough time with my family. I haven't managed to plan meals in advance, so I've been mostly on a diet of hot dogs and pizzas. In addition to being really bad for me, health-wise, as well as for any weight loss, it's a horrible example to set for Teddy.

On the positive side of things, I did stick to my routine until I got it done, including exercises for my back. And, well, I'll keep trying tomorrow.

September 3

Today I managed to go to the family storytime at the library, even though we were late due to an unexpected poopy diaper.

I spent most of the afternoon on the computer working on presvyteres stuff. The article ("by Teddy") of the Atlanta Metropolis Clergy-Laity is still too large, so I will have to figure out how to reduce the filesize of each of the pictures, then resize them to what they currently are, and make sure everything works.

I decided not to go to the water aerobics thing tonight, but took about an hour to work in the yard some more. I didn't realize I was so long, since I started about an hour later than I usually do, and went until I couldn't tell dirt from leaves (and was trying not to think of bugs).

Still doing more cogitating than working on the presvyteres directory. I'm much better at looking things up than calling people I don't know. Oh, well. I'll see what I can do with a fresh start tomorrow.

New Year's Resolutions

It's that time again. The ecclesiastical new year** starts tomorrow, and over the past few days I've been thinking about what I want to start doing, and what I want to continue doing that I've recently started.

I want to keep working on ...
*menu planning, with the help of this site.
*water aerobics twice a week.
*gardening and working in the yard for an hour each evening.
*saying morning prayers each day.
*having our weekly "family sing."

I want to start ...
*taking a picture each day and posting it online.
*blogging at least once a week.

**I linked to the article on the Twelve Great Feasts because I love the way the Orthodox ecclesiastical year starts with the birth of the Theotokos and ends with her Dormition (feast of the Assumption, for you Catholic readers).

Sixtieth lunacy

Five years ago, we got married. The invitations said, "Vespers and reception to follow."

I'll never forget our wedding night: I had an ear infection, and my new husband sang and sang to me for hours. And we watched Brit Sits, as it was a Saturday.

It seems strange to have lost two parents and gained a son in that time. I've never known how to answer the question, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" I don't look back very well, either. But this does make me curious to see what will happen in the next five. Will I be able to weather storms more gracefully? Will I be able to give strength to my family?

Living

This baby thing sure is turning out to be a lot of hard work. Of course, I didn't really appreciate the 6:30am wake-up after having settled into a routine with a wake-up at 8am, but I got all the errands and the laundry done before lunch, thanks to my wonderful husband who took the baby almost all morning.

I have been struggling to keep the house in order. Any kind of order. As it is the first of June (Happy Rabbit Rabbit Day!), I am starting another month's worth of work. (I would have started planning this weekend, but on Saturday we had community clean-up day at church followed by basketball, and Sunday had a pan-Orthodox (non-fasting) gathering and a graduation party. This is also the reason Teddy-o's schedule is off.)

I am currently reading Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson, and am struck by how funnily and well she writes as well as the very idea that ... she likes keeping house. And that I might, too, once I figure out what I'm doing. I've already noticed that I don't stress about our laundry or shopping, since I know that happens on Mondays. (Oh, drat, as does cleaning the bathroom, which hasn't miraculously done anything on its own.) I laugh at some of her ideas, but at the same time realize that if I did get on a schedule, I might actually do some of those crazy things, like taking out the trash and sanitizing the trash can every day. But at this point, anything is better than nothing.

I like sitting down with my husband and talking about what he wants and what I want and how we can get there. (Sometimes the first two vary widely from the second, and we need Jeeves, alas, who is nowhere to be found.) I like making lists and knowing what's going to happen before it's on top of me. I am getting better at realizing that after a month, if I don't, the lower-priority tasks (dutifully copied onto the next day's to-do list) can simply be relinquished to the overall to-do list. (I have two separate steno pads: one was started after I could think again after giving birth ... although most of the time I'd find the pad and realize I had no idea what the idea was, two seconds later; the other is a to-do list which gets, usually, longer and longer as the month goes on, although occasionally I do cross things off. The main to-do list has the left-hand column for repeated daily tasks (weigh, water plants, exercise) and the right-hand column for specific tasks for that day (and lots snowballing from previous days). The right-hand column is divided into broad priorities: things which should happen today and important; tasks of medium importance; and other things I'd like to do sometime but thought of today so I should put them down before the thought leaves entirely. An example of the latter I completed today: research velcro. (See? How many times would your mind tell you to do that?)

I am also putting together a husband-and-wife-generated wishlist of what things should be accomplished each week, attempting to establish actual daily and weekly routines. Then there's a sheet of paper with all the days of June listed in the middle: on the left are feasts and birthdays and whatnot, and on the right will be various cleaning tasks. (Today, for example, I am cleaning behind the refrigerator; evidently the previous tenants had dogs, as that is what the vacuum cleaner smells like now. I will have to make a second attack on the remnant sludge. ugh.)

On a somewhat related note, putting my hair up does wonders for how I feel, and what I feel I can accomplish. It's just two French braids, twisted and secured with a large clip, but it's cool (temperature-wise, though others seem to like it as well, or at least better than my previous non-style) and, my favorite part, it STAYS PUT. This means that I do not have to feel self-conscious about taking out a scrunchie and putting my hair back in it (in church, oh, cringe) or worrying how quickly I can do that and whether Teddy will reach whatever exciting piece of something before I have my hands free again.

I am looking forward (still) to the Metropolis of Atlanta Clergy-Laity Conference. I am only in charge (and only somewhat in charge) of the ice cream social for the presvyteres. Yes, that does mean Blue Bell. And yes, I bought it on sale. And there's a good chance that there will be more half-gallons than people attending, but you can never have too much Blue Bell. (Well, okay, but I haven't eaten any since February. I have been Very Good. It's starting to hurt a bit now.) I am excited at the prospect of seeing friends from seminary, and introducing them to Teddy and vice versa, and seeing how their little ones are not so little any more, and just being with them.

I'm a really horrible correspondent, but I think about people almost all day long. I wish there were a program or a method or something-involving-lists to improve my correspondence skills. I can do thank-you notes (there's another list on a steno pad, and a note on my regular to-do list), but somehow I am intimidated by just emailing back. What if the other person thinks I'm irritating, or pushy? (I'd probably get told so, and wouldn't have to worry about it.) And then I move on to other things rather than respond right away ... And then it's later and I realize I never responded to the email and it's three months gone, and the guilt simply piles up.

Well, there are dishes in the sink, and my skin is telling me to move the thermostat so it's below 80, and I need to take just one more little peek at my little fellow who hasn't made a sound for a few hours now. Please keep me in your prayers.

Birthday 29

Now I'm in my prime.

I just wanted to say how nice my birthday was. Thanks to facebook (early) and my sisters (late), I got to extend my birthday sense of festivity beyond the usual 24-hours. (A la pre- and post-feast, as Emma points out. Hmm. Her husband is in his prime, too. A different prime, but still.)

Fr. Peter and Teddy and I, after breakfast, went to a middle school whose music program was having a rummage sale. (Yay to checking craigslist!) For about twelve dollars—I was spending, not counting, so that's Fr. Peter's estimate—I bagged (literally, because Fr. Peter was smart and got the tote bags from the trunk of the car) about two feet of books, a popsicle-making kit, and a penguin marionette. Most of the books are at least nominally for Teddy, although when we came home I plowed through four of them, and am in the middle of the fifth.

Aaaahhh. Books.

I think I will have some more of the lenten (so I can share!) applesauce cake (new-to-me-recipe from Khouria Virginia Massouh from last Sunday's pan-Orthodox vespers) I made on Friday and rest my feet up. I will stop posting before I run out of parentheses (horrors!).