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Thread: Easing back in

  1. #1
    Senior Member
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    Easing back in

    To posting, to my house, to my job, and to my life in general.

    i have spent the last few days with my parents. No alarms, no schedules (no checking the clock), no food related duties of any kind, no laundry, going to bed when I was tired, getting up when I was ready, walking 2 miles every morning with my mom, staying away from the scale, eating whatever I wanted of what was put in front of me (bounty!) and cleaning out my mom’s attic.

    the attic is empty except for:
    two huge suitcases in case my parents go to Europe again
    the original box and packaging for the sewing machine my brother got mom for christmas
    old curtain rods original to the house
    several small pieces of vinyl flooring in case patching is needed

    i gained one pound.

    i thought I would return rested and motivated, but the last night I couldn’t sleep, and then I drove ten hours and got home exhausted.

    today it is pouring rain, dark, and gloomy.

    i did my chores.
    i am catching up on dishes and laundry
    and I am going to unload my car and get together the things I need for my class tonight and go to that.

    those are the things that need to be done today.

    tomorrow I need to add school prep.
    specifically:
    i can get into my classroom, so I need to go start set up
    i need to get paperwork done for our recycling program
    i have ten days to open house, so I need to start on syllabi, lesson plans, and displays

    i also need to buy some food.
    and exercise.

  2. #2
    Moderator Float On's Avatar
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    Sounds like you had a great visit! Good to have you back.
    Float On: My "Happy Place" is on my little kayak in the coves of Table Rock Lake.

  3. #3
    Senior Member beckyliz's Avatar
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    Impressive!
    "Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. But accumulate for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, your heart is also." Jesus

  4. #4
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    CL, you are so very lucky to still have your parents. Glad you got to visit. Wow the summer went fast.

  5. #5
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Does your husband take care of all your animals when you are gone?

  6. #6
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    No,

    My husband takes care of the cat. I pay someone skilled to take care of everything else. Dh could fill water buckets, open and close gates as directed, and put measured amounts of feed in buckets, but he would hate it.

    The sitter is able to configure gates and adjust types of fodder based on weather. She spots any health or injury concerns and addresses them. I am able to leave instructions like “watch this guy, he’s been getting out”, and “this pen needs to be gaining weight”. One goat was halfway through daily shots for a nasty tooth abscess and not eating well when I left and is fully recovered now. I never worried for a minute.

  7. #7
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    Welcome back, Chicken Lady! I don't post often but I am glad to see you here. We're just getting ready to go away for a month -- a month! This has never happened before!! -- leaving our two dogs, one cat and one alpaca, plus garden, in the care of my brother-in-law. It is a blessing for you to have a good critter sitter! I think everything will be ok here but I know I will worry a bit.

  8. #8
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    Thanks Mary.

    a month is a long time for a garden! Hopefully your bil likes to garden.

    is the alpaca happy without another herd animal?

    dishes and laundry are better. Unloaded the car and went to class.

  9. #9
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    Today was the first really hard day in a while. I don’t know, maybe this should go back in my mental health thread. I feel hot and tired and overwhelmed and discouraged and grumpy and like I want to peel my skin off - as if I am trapped in a thick rind that is prickly on the inside and too tight and if I peeled it off I would feel light and cool and flexible.

    objectively my day was pretty good.

    did all my chores, picked and cooked food from the garden, did more dishes and laundry, exercised, showered, took mom’s tapes to the used book store, got a few groceries, and stopped by school - where I discovered that the wax (varnish?) job on my floor doesn’t look particularly good, is spattered all over my shelves - (it’s dark brown, you can guess what it looks like) and some of my materials and equipment, some if which may have to be thrown away.

    also I have to put all my rugs and furniture back myself.

    but I met with an administrator who was able to answer a lot of my questions and help me advance my paperwork.

    there are waves of stuff being removed from the building that I just have to try not to see - there was a copier in the dumpster that could have gone to a recycling drop 15 minutes away. I brought home the bag of batteries that was collected last year and not recycled because the woman collecting them lost her drop location. (Her dh was just in a car accident, so nobody wants to bother her) my Dd is going to take them when she borrows the truck next week because she has a place to drop them.

    so anyway, I did most of the things on my list. The things I didn’t do can wait or are simply the slow grinding of bureaucracy . And I made a small positive impact on my environment. I can’t see anything in my say (except the disruption of my classroom?) to account for how I feel. I had a glass of wine with dinner, and a cookie after. but I don’t think that’s it.

  10. #10
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    Well, CL, as I read your post, if I were in your place, it would be the lousy wax job that was also splattered all over my shelves, materials and equipment that would be a downer for me. It would feel very disrespectful. And I would feel resentful because, hey, I consciously chose to keep those things when I cleaned up from last school year. Then add to that not having any help for placing the rugs and furniture, that would make me a little bit angry and then I would try to talk myself out of it, i.e. everybody is so busy right now, I don't want to start out angry, I will just take care of it... I think the "thick rind" is the turning ourselves inside out that we do in order to make the rest of the job work out.

    Can you enlist a couple of parents to help you with the rugs and furniture?

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