My Sunday list:
A relaxing morning.
Beating the rush of foot traffic for a great breakfast.
Spices. Lots of them.
A weekend away without mishaps. Or arguments.
Dogs that get along.
Fresh vegetables and dip for supper.
Resisting the leftover Halloween candy.
Early bedtime.
Last winter I went to see Stone Sour, one of my favorite bands. I’m especially fond of The lead singer, Corey Taylor. I actually think he has a great voice. Well tonight I saw Slipknot, a band that also has Corey Taylor as the lead singer. It’s a much harder rock band, so it’s a different vibe, but they put on a great show. Lots of pyrotechnics and lights and moving stage parts. I hadn’t seen them live before, nor I had I seen the opening band, Korn. They were fantastic too. Not as big of a show but their music is a lot of fun on its own. I just simply love seeing live music. Most of the time it gives me a greater appreciation for hearing music on the radio when I can see how much effort goes into performances. That was definitely the case tonight. So I’m thankful my boyfriend got us tickets. And I’m thankful we had good seats without too many crazy people around us. It was a good evening.
It’s been a long day. I took our speech team to another tournament and thus it was a 13.5 hour work day for me. Even though most of that time was spent sitting for one reason or another, it was still tiring. But it was fun to see how much improvement the students have made since the last tournament just a couple of weeks ago. I also find it interesting in a couple of ways: first that they made a lot of progress in a short period because they were motivated by the competition, and second that their exposure to watching others perform made a much greater impact on their improvement than any suggestions I made previously. As an educator, it makes me wonder how to bring that kind of learning to the classroom, if it’s at all possible. At any rate, I’m thankful today that my students had a good time at the meet and that we made it home safely. Tomorrow they go with another instructor because I have a conflict. More on that later…
I’m thankful for a day at Starbucks, writing a paper for class and drinking a latte. I’m almost finished with it. The paper, not the latte. That was finished long ago. (One day I hope to take time off of work for fun stuff.) I’m also thankful for the laughter provided by the interesting character, Eric Greenspan, on Cutthroat Kitchen. Seriously, the guy is hilarious. I now want a lolliplop. Finally, I’m grateful that dinner tonight with the math group was mostly politics free, as I requested. It has been an interesting and politically heated week in Illinois and I just couldn’t handle any more commentary on the elections.
I’ve written about my car before. It’s an MUV (minivan/SUV combo). I’ve had it forever and because of some poor decisions (not all mine, Btw) I ended up basically buying the car 3 times. Don’t ask. It’s not a fun story, but at least it ends with me finally paying it off last July. I’d suggest if you’re going to pay for a car thrice, get yourself a really nice one that you don’t mind having for a long time, maybe forever. The reason I still like mine is its ability to haul something the size of a small elephant. Or a couple puppies. And it’s to the point of me not being so particular about spills or scratches. It still looks decent, but it’s got some wear, if you know what I mean. I can park in tight spots because, eh. I’m more concerned with walking a few less feet than an extra ding in my car door. At any rate, while I’ve come to terms with my MUV, I’ve kind of been thinking that it would be nice to have a real car. Like an actual car. And I’ve also been fretting about the Stinkin Lincoln (’96 gold Continental that my parents gave me for my daughter years ago) that has been sitting dead in my driveway. The battery keeps draining. And the emergency brake is stuck so a back tire won’t turn. It’s been dead in my driveway for months. With the threat of snow, I knew I needed to do something, either invest money in the Lincoln or replace it if possible so Emma has a car to drive. So I’d been looking for a cheap car. Well, cars are not cheap. Even the old ones with upwards of 150,000+ miles on them are still in the $3-4,000 range. Ugh. that’s why I’m thankful tonight to have stumbled on a (fingers crossed!) good deal. I found a car in great condition with relatively low miles at a price I could afford. A black Chrysler 300m. I now have a legitimate car! And it’s pretty! And I didn’t have to give up the MUV for it. Unfortunately, I still need to figure out how to get rid of the Lincoln. Anyone need a large driveway ornament?
Chance is getting pretty good at not being too obnoxious anymore. He doesn’t try to chew on people all the time, although he still LOVES to chew. On bones. And sticks. And blankets. And brand new rolls of duct tape. And the corner of a chair one naughty afternoon. He has no more accidents in the house (fingers crossed once the weather gets freezing) and sleeps through the night. He is getting slightly, and I mean the slightest of slightly better at allowing us to eat food around him. And he can hang out and chill when we are watching tv. As long as there is something appropriate to chew on. But during the times I’m most in a hurry or stressed or really needing to focus on something, that’s when he throws a fit. I know he wants attention, and I can’t always give it to him as much as he wants. That’s why I’m thankful tonight for the fact that my boyfriend is as willing as I am to let the puppies play on an almost daily basis.
I really wish I were an early morning person. I do. I hear about these people who get up at 5:00 and have time to drink a leisurely coffee and check the news, even work out before they begin their day. I get jealous. They seem so productive and adult and somehow more in charge of their life. That is, until I hear that they go to bed at some ridiculous time, like 8:00 pm. Eight. PM. And then I think, nope. I just can’t do that. It seemed unjust and unfair to have to go to bed at 8:00 pm when I was ten years old. Now that I’m (mumble, mumble) years old, going to bed that early seems like the fast track to old age. And I’m not going there. Yet. Not until I’m really just exhausted enough not to care. My normal routine is that I’m up by 7 and in bed around 10:30. Maybe 11:00. The problem is that although I’m awake plenty of hours, I’m finding myself not working out like I should be. So I have to resign myself to one of two things: working out late in the day or shifting my routine one hour. If I could get up at 6 and go to bed by 10, I should conceivably fit in a workout before I go to work. That’s a big if. I’ve done it a couple of times, but I’ve not been able to do it consistently. Maybe I should be using daylight savings to my advantage before my body gets used to this “extra” hour it had to sleep. I’ll let you know how that goes, but don’t hold your breath. In the meantime, I’m thankful for being an active person most of my life. After two days of Halloween candy, it’s probably the only thing keeping me from gaining too much weight.
Another Sunday finished. Here’s what I was grateful for today:
that extra hour
sunshine and warmer than supposed to be weather
a Mediterranean lunch amid errands
fixing the fence so the puppy can no longer escape
a fire in the fireplace
pumpkin soup that actually turned out yummy
a warm shoulder for my headache head to lie on
completing my student-led online discussion for class
The Walking Dead
I cannot believe it is November. We have only 59 days left in the year. If you’re counting…
My day started relaxed, with an amazing breakfast at a newish restaurant in town. They use local ingredients and an unusual mixture of items. I had something like a puffy quesadilla topped with fabulous ham, a hard fried egg and melted butterkase cheese with a very tasty fried sweet potato side dish. My boyfriend had a similar dish, only his was topped with chorizo and avocado and other yummies, including a soft fried egg. We agreed that it was a place necessary to visit again. The downside to the wonderful food was that it made us feel lazy, so the rest of the day contained minimal accomplishments, but did include a nap, culinary knowledge via reruns of Good Eats, and part one of the Dr. Who finale. Overall, a good start to the new month.
Happy Halloween! I spent the evening with some friends at my boyfriend’s house. We ordered Indian food and watched him hand out candy to the children brave enough to trick or treat in the cold, windy night. I always feel bad for the excited kids who spend time on costumes only to have to cover up in winter coats. And I’m usually more into the holiday than I was this year. I have tons of spiders (huge ones even) and talking witches and black lights and a plethora of other ghoulish decor that I normally decorate with. But not this year. Outside of placing a few pumpkins and fall flowers out front, I didn’t really decorate my house at all. Part of that was knowing that the dog wouldn’t leave stuff alone, and part of it was laziness. I simply have enough going on.
It’s interesting to me how Halloween has its roots in Christian traditions. Today is All Hallow’s Eve, the day before All Hallows (All Saints) day when saints are honored in some protestant but mostly in the Catholic Church. November 2 is All Souls Day which is a day of prayer for the dead. I’m sure this succession of death related holidays helped foster suspicions and gave rise to a lot of the spooky Halloween traditions we now know. In fact, according to a guy named Prince Sorie Conteh, people believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints’ Day, and All Hallows’ Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes to disguise their identities. Of course, if that were really true, I’d say a lot more adults should be wearing costumes instead of kids. Yet the idea of kids trick or treating also came from a Christian practice during these few days called “souling” when poor children would go door to door collecting cakes in exchange for praying for the souls of departed loved ones.
I love how a lot of our traditions and customs often come from rather unexpected sources. Today Halloween seems pretty far away from anything Christian. However, I don’t mind the spookiness of the holiday. It’s fun to be scary. And get scared. I’m disappointed I didn’t make it to a haunted house this year. But I’m thankful I spent the night with some friends and shared in some fun and good food. Although I’m still debating on whether or not I’m thankful there’s a lot of candy leftover.
melissagratitude 