There has been a bluebird trying to fly into my office window for nearly a week now. She spent more than 20 minutes repeatedly flying into it this morning, chirping at it, and flying into it some more. I finally had to ask Google wtf she was doing and it told me that she was attacking her reflection in the window, defending a nesting site nearby. Which makes sense since we have two nesting boxes hanging on either side of my office window. Google went on to tell me that bluebirds are notorious for this behavior and will continue for hours a day and for weeks on end if left without intervention. It told me to do something to break up the reflection, so I soaped the outside of the window to leave a film over it and she immediately relaxed. I’m so relieved, because her anxiety was causing me anxiety. And, who knows, maybe in a couple months we’ll see some baby bluebirds out there.
Author: peanut7312
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February 2
Finally back to work today, my first day teaching. It felt pretty good. I am woefully underprepared for this class, but we’re gonna get through it anyway. I blew my hair straight the other day because it was too cold to go out with wet hair. I liked it so much I did it again today. I even got a compliment on it. I don’t know how long I will have the patience for this, but, I can say that I’ve been shaving consistently for more than a year now and THAT is something. So there is hope.
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February 1
Busy day. Took the girls for haircuts. Robin went for a big change and it looks amazing on her. She was really happy with it, but didn’t want her picture taken, so we have this. Then we went food shopping and out to Target so Christina could buy some birthday gifts for her friends. We bought a cake on the way home, mostly because Billy asked for one, but also to celebrate Mom’s birthday. It was pretty yummy. I wish I could describe our parents to the kids in a way that they would appreciate, but the truth is it’s hard to get to know someone who’s already dead. It makes me sad that they’ll never know the special people who raised us. I’ll just have to pass on as much of their legacy as I can through my own actions and interpretations of the love they showed me. Hopefully some of it rubs off on them.
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January 31
Not quite feeling 100% yet, but I did get a lot done. Three loads of laundry washed, dried, folded, and put away, my first cup of coffee from Panera in over a week, cleaned the kitchen, designed, engraved, and hung my medal rack, fixed the keyboard issue on Robin’s iPad, did some coloring, did light food shopping, played Trivial Pursuit (and lost)… Hunkering down now for what will be a pretty cold night. Temps are expected to drop to the low 20s. The wind chill now is already 17 and it’s not even 10pm. These are facts, not complaints. As a New Yorker, I understand cold and this is not it. But it is unusually cold here this weekend, and unusual is always exciting. As long as it warms up again soon, because there’s a reason I now live in Florida and not New York, and this is not it.
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January 30
I feel like I have finally turned a corner on this flu. I made it out to pick up my new sunglasses and even worked half a day. It never felt so good to be at work. It feels so good to be alert again.
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January 29
I had about six or seven minutes of blissful clarity in little 30-second bursts over the course of the day. There may be hope for me yet!
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January 28
I tried to work today. Made it about three hours before I thought my brain would implode. I’ve already decided to take tomorrow off. There has to be an end to this coming. The exhaustion is overwhelming.
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January 27
If I could take a picture of the inside of my brain, it would be compressed to 2/3 its original size and filled with a combination of cotton balls and spider webs. All the muscles in my body are tied in tight red knots. Opening my eyes takes monumental effort. I am such a wuss. I have been far more sick than this and not complained half as much. I have no choice, though, I have to go back to work tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes. I’m literally leading back to back meetings all eight hours of my day. I’ll just have to give it a shot and if I can’t do it, throw in the towel. At least I’ll have tried.
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January 26
I took the day off from work and hardly ever opened my eyes. I’m being a baby, but I haven’t been sick in years, even just a cold. I’ve forgotten how to deal with it. I may take tomorrow off too. Today was just aches and pains, but I can feel congestion settling in now. So I am phoning this one in, guys. It’s time for (more) sleep.
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January 25
Christina wrapped up her competition and did ok. Not the showing she was hoping for, but she had a great weekend with her friends and had fun dancing. We spent seven hours sitting in our seats to watch three performances and didn’t eat or drink anything during that time. We couldn’t leave our seats because there were about 600 people watching and only about 25 seats (or so it felt). By the time we left, we were all mostly melting. Now we’re home and I’m achy and my throat feels scratchy and I’m sad because I thought I’d evaded Robin’s flu. Apparently I got it by way of Billy. I don’t know what I’m going to do if I’m sick and can’t do this training tomorrow. I’ve literally been working my ass off for a month to prepare. I guess a day or two delay won’t be the end of the world, but it still sucks. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow.
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January 24
We scratched off another card and took a kayaking tour on the river near Rock Springs in Apopka. It was beautiful! The kids were not interested in the least, although Robin did say on the way back that it was peaceful, which I think was positive. Our tour guide, Nigel, was great. I feel like I’ve been paddling enough times at this point that I should be better at steering, but apparently not. I’m glad we had the day free to do it and that the weather was so perfect.
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January 23
We decided on a whim to go to Toothsome Chocolate Factory at Universal City Walk for lunch, and it was pretty good. A little too much sweet for me, but that was my own fault for ordering dessert for breakfast and then dessert after that. Christina’s trio did ok… she felt really good about it, but it didn’t place well. She always manages to stay positive anyway, which I so appreciate about her. Day one in the books!
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January 22
I got as much done at work as I could before hitting the road for Christina’s dance competition. I’m at least mostly ready for the first day of training. There is still so much to do after that. Trying to disengage for the weekend and accept that whatever happens, it’ll still better than the last few classes. Traffic was amazing tonight and we made it in almost an hour less time than usual. I know the ride back will be different, but I love it on these rare occasions when I can make the whole trip without having to crawl. Our room is pretty nice. We all, individually, announced the presence of a truck in the parking lot with the competition logo on it. Clearly our observation skills are good. Listening? Not as much.
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January 21
My brain is overflowing. I have an impossible amount of work to do in less than one workday. All I can do is shrug and shake my head and hope for the best. I had an eye doctor’s appointment today and ordered new sunglasses to replace my battered pair. I finished watching season 1 of “Stranger Things.” I like it even more the second time through. It helps that I’m not missing huge chunks of the story this time. I’m tired. I haven’t been sleeping because I’m so stressed about work. And I’m not coping as well as I normally would because I’m not running. Things are a little topsy turvy. Maybe I’ll get some sleep tonight.
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January 20
We went out to eat again tonight. Robin wanted to go out for Colombian food, and who are we to say no? It was delicious. I got some reading in while Christina was at dance. Right now I’m reading Once A Runner, by John Parker. He writes in my language. Otherwise just trying to stay awake and alert around here!
