introspective – Page 6 – In So Many Words

April 5, 2020May 21, 2025

April 5th Update

Michael and I are still staying at home. The order from the governor is currently going through April 30th, although schools and non-essential businesses are closed indefinitely. Joe’s work is considered essential, so he is still going to work. They take their temperature every morning, and they have to wear gloves and masks.

This week I have only gone two places – the pharmacy and Michael’s school. At the pharmacy, I got Michael’s meds and some acetaminophen. I wanted to get a thermometer but they were sold out. The reason we went to Michael’s school was to get a new charging cord for his school laptop. Baxter chewed through the old one while Michael was in the bathroom! They were very nice about it and gave us a new one no problem.

Speaking of school, Michael has been doing review and enrichment assignments this past week. On April 14th, they will start the 4th quarter with new instruction and assignments. The teachers will review the assignments and may ask for revisions if necessary. Students will be graded based on the percentage of assignments they complete to the teacher’s satisfaction.

I am still working 20 hours per week. The company is paying our health insurance premiums during the furlough, which is incredibly nice of them. I will get partial unemployment, including some additional money that is part of the stimulus bill passed by the federal government. We will also get a one-time stimulus check. I am very thankful that there is so much help available.

I’m having groceries delivered today. I’m trying to stock up a little but not go overboard. The main reason I ordered some extra food is that so many things are out of stock right now so you don’t know what will actually show up in your order. I did order a thermometer so hopefully that will be there.

Baxter is feeling the stress too. He is barking and whining a lot more than usual. Joe takes him for a walk after work each day, but I think he misses running around at the dog park. It’s hard for me to take him for walks because he pulls on the leash so badly. I think I’m going to start working on that with him and see if I can get him to walk more nicely with me.

So that’s my update for now. I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy through this time.

March 2, 2020April 4, 2020

Birthday Party – Check

birthday party

Yesterday was my son’s 18th birthday party. He will actually turn 18 next week, so we celebrated with a gathering of several of his friends at Dave & Buster’s. The food was good, and the kids enjoyed playing the video games. Michael had a great time.

I was a little bit anxious leading up to the party, wondering if everyone would show up and we would have the right number of people. We had had his party last year at the same place, so I wasn’t super anxious about how the event would go from that perspective. Everything turned out great. Michael enjoyed seeing his friends, the amount of food was perfect, and I had a great time socializing with the adults, who were all good friends of mine.

Afterwards I even remembered my other tasks for the day, picking up Michael’s prescriptions and calling my Dad for his birthday, and this morning I remembered to send a note to school excusing Michael’s absence on Friday for a stomach bug. Of course, I also woke up this morning worried about some other stuff that I haven’t thought about in a couple of weeks. It’s like my brain just focuses on whatever is most important, and when that is done, it picks the next thing in line to worry about. I’m not sure why my brain works that way, but it happens all the time so I’m sort of used to it.

I didn’t take any pictures at the party, but Michael’s dad did and said he would email them to me. So hopefully I will be able to add some pictures to this post soon. Edited to add: Pictures now included, courtesy of Michael’s dad.

birthday cake

February 25, 2020February 25, 2020

Settling In

It’s been a while since I posted an update on how things are going with Baxter. He is now 8 1/2 months old, and we have had him for 5 1/2 months. I am feeling much more calm about the whole situation now, which I think is partly due to the fact that I am once again taking my Prozac regularly. I had stopped and started it several times due to difficulties with the delivery method, but now I have figured that out.

Since I last wrote, Baxter has been neutered. That turned out to be an expensive proposition because the doctor was concerned about the way he was coughing and wanted to do blood work and an x-ray before sedating him. Everything was fine, but it all added up. The procedure went well, and he didn’t even have to have a cone. They said we could get one if he was licking the site excessively, but he pretty much left it alone.

Potty training is going much better. He almost always lets us know when he has to go out. Every once in a while he will pee or poop on the floor, but it is rare. He does still want to go out every two hours during the day, but I’m not sure how much of that is just because that’s just the routine we got into. It’s probably good for me to get up from my desk every couple of hours anyway, so that works out okay. In the evening, he will usually go every three-four hours.

I had mentioned wanting to get a trainer in my last post. When I talked to Joe about it, he wanted to try the intermediate and advanced classes at PetSmart, so we are now doing that. We have had two classes so far. The first one was starting to learn heel and settle. Settle went okay, but heel was not good, and I couldn’t get him to do it during the week either. But when we went to the second class, he did much better with heel. We worked on heel with sit and down as well as wait and stay. I really need to make sure to practice with him during the week so he will get them down.

Leash pulling is still an issue, so I need to work on let’s go and this way as well as look at me while we are walking. So many things to work on, it feels a bit overwhelming.

We are planning a vacation in July, so my friend Kim is going to come and watch Baxter for me while we are gone. She is bringing her dog (a husky), so Peanut Butter is going to go stay with Bob (along with Michael who isn’t interested in going with us because it is a lot of historical stuff) during that week.

Speaking of Michael, he is doing well. He picked his classes for his senior year, which will be Inclusion English, Financial Algebra, Chemistry, Blue Print Reading, and Economics. Of course he will also have his electronics shop. He will be 18 in a couple of weeks, so we are applying for SSI for him. Hopefully he will get that and will be able to keep his Medical Assistance. This Sunday we are having a birthday party at Dave & Buster’s for him. I told him this would be the last big party we would throw him and that we would do something special for his birthday in the future but just not a party. He was a little disappointed to hear that and we talked about how people sometimes have a party on special birthdays, so he felt a bit better about that.

That’s about it for now. This winter has been quite mild so far, and hopefully will continue that way. I have been enjoying my new schedule of 7:00-3:30, although my boss had mentioned me switching back to 7:30-4:00 once it gets past daylight savings time. I guess we’ll see how she feels about it then; maybe she will change her mind.

Until my next update, take care, everyone!

December 25, 2019April 30, 2020

Mixed Emotions

It’s Christmas Day as I write this, and I am officially 50 years old. Seems like I should have a better handle on life by now, but I still feel like I am struggling to get through the day sometimes. My son will be 18 in a few months, which seems impossible to believe, but is true.

Life with the puppy continues to have its ups and downs. He is six months old now and growing bigger everyday. Sometimes I look at him and am filled with regret that I got him because he makes me question my sanity, but other times I am overwhelmed by love for him and thankful for the joy he has brought to my life already. On a sleepless night recently, I went so far as to read the surrender information page on a rescue website and found myself sobbing at the painful thought of giving him up, although I still don’t know how I am going to make it through puppyhood.

A lot of the day is okay. He still takes frequent naps, and a marrow bone will keep him occupied for up to an hour. He gets hyper around 3-4 pm and usually enjoys a trip to the dog park as long as it isn’t raining. It’s hard for me to take him places because he pulls so hard on the leash and jumps on people as well. I took him to the pet store recently and it was a disaster!

Potty training is still hit and miss. He sometimes whines at me to take him out, but other times will just do his business on the floor in the kitchen or the family room. If I catch him, I tell him to stop and then take him outside immediately. I know I should keep him with me at all times, but it is difficult to do that. It would help if we had a way to put a gate at the top of the stairs between the kitchen and family room. But that would require replacing the existing half-railing with a pony wall, and I’m not sure if my husband is interested in doing that.

Other issues include chasing the cat sometimes (although sometimes he will leave him alone), barking incessantly when he is tired of being in the office with me or wants me to play with him instead of eating my dinner, and more recently peeing in his crate when we go out. We don’t use the crate for sleeping, only for when we are out of the house, and it’s not going so well.

I’m sure most of these problems are due to my lack of ability as a trainer. I am considering a private dog trainer to help me learn the skills I am missing and get things under control. We did a group class at the pet store for puppy skills and he did learn a few things but it was difficult to concentrate because he was too distracted by the other dogs. I’m thinking some one on one time with a trainer would be helpful.

So that’s my update for now. I still have hope that I can make it through and keep my sanity intact.

December 8, 2019December 8, 2019

A Little Less Blue

It’s been two weeks since I shared about the puppy blues and how overwhelmed I have been feeling. Things have been a bit better since then – I haven’t had another meltdown, which is a good sign.

I changed my work hours slightly so it would be easier to take Baxter to the dog park after work, and that has helped. He enjoys running around with the other dogs, and I appreciate how tired it makes him afterwards. 🙂

Potty training is continuing to improve as well. Although he has still gone in the house occasionally, there have been several times when he clearly signaled to me that he needed to go out. He is still going every 2-3 hours. I thought the time would be increasing by now, but at least it is getting easier to handle.

He is definitely still in the chewing phase, but he doesn’t seem interested in chew toys very much, unless they are brand new so the novelty is there. He will spend a good chunk of time with a bone that has some marrow on it though. My friend Kim shared with me that after her dogs are done with a bone, she puts peanut butter in it and freezes it to extend its life as a treat.

One good thing is that having to communicate my feelings and needs is helping me become a little more assertive, which is something that has always been a problem for me. It’s still not super easy, but I am forcing myself to speak up so that I don’t get completely overwhelmed again.

October 21, 2018April 7, 2020

Am I a Minimalist?

I think the answer ultimately is no, I am not a minimalist, but I have to admit the idea is very appealing. I do find myself looking at things differently now and recognizing when something has moved from useful to clutter, and then taking the steps to get rid of it. But there are still things I am definitely keeping just in case or for sentimental reasons which I don’t strictly need.

This month, I attempted the Minimalism Game, where you get rid of 1 thing on day 1, 2 things on day 2, and so on until day 30 when you get rid of 30 things. I made it to day 19 and got rid of a total of 190 things but then I just ran out of ideas on what to declutter. Having just finished the KonMari process on my whole house, I had already gotten rid of the obvious stuff I no longer wanted or needed.

I don’t feel bad about not finishing the challenge though. Instead I just feel good that I was able to do as many days as I did. It helped me refine my ideas about what things are important to me and what stuff is no longer needed. I also find myself getting more joy out of the items I have kept.

My biggest challenge now is getting into a better cleaning routine. I do tend to be a minimalist when it comes to expanding effort in cleaning my house, and I would like to do better in that area. Decluttering has definitely helped because there are fewer things in the way, but I still have room to improve.

How about you, are you a minimalist (or an aspiring one)?

October 8, 2018October 8, 2018

Decluttering, Part Two

I shared the beginning of my decluttering journey in part one of this series, including my introduction to the KonMari method.

After working my way through about half the categories, I was pleasantly surprised when my husband expressed interest in decluttering his things. We went through his clothes and he easily discarded at least 30-40% of them. One of the bags was so big it barely fit into the donation bin when we went to drop them off!

Given our success with his clothes, I asked him to help me tackle the pile of electronics that was in the family room. Again, I was shocked by how much he was willing to let go of. The items we kept easily fit into an empty basket we had on a shelf of the TV stand.

Since then, I have decluttered and organized my craft supplies as well as all the stuff in our little storage area – Christmas decorations, luggage and bags, and sentimental items. I even put my childhood photos into an album after having them lose in a box for many years. The only thing I really have left to go through is my son’s keepsakes.

I have been so amazed at how easy this method was and how much of a difference it made in my life. I am much more motivated to keep my house tidy and to clean more regularly.

Since (almost) finishing the KonMari process, I am much more aware of the items in my house and find myself noticing things that don’t spark joy and getting rid of them. I have kept watching videos of people decluttering on YouTube and even started watching videos on minimalism.

Minimalism is a fascinating topic. I’m not sure I will ever be a true minimalist, but I do feel I can continue to pare down my possessions from what they are. I also want to be more intentional about the things I bring into my life. Right now I am playing the 30 Day Minimalism Game. On the first day you get rid of one thing, on the second day you get rid of two things, all the way up to the thirtieth day when you get rid of thirty things.

I’m curious, what’s your experience with decluttering? Do you enjoy it or dread it?

October 7, 2018October 8, 2018

Decluttering, Part One

I have been on a big decluttering kick lately. It started with me breaking down and reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I have the kind of personality that resists things that are popular but I’m glad I finally picked this one up.

I was hyper organized during my high school and college years, probably to the annoyance of my roommates. But marriage to a person who liked to hold onto everything and also struggled with organization made it very hard to stay that way. Once I was divorced, I found that my standards regarding clutter had relaxed somewhat. I still wanted to be organized but was a bit overwhelmed with my new life, so things weren’t always as put away as I would have liked.

When I picked up this book, I was two and a half years into a new marriage and had moved from an apartment to a house about six months earlier. We had mostly unpacked and had developed some good routines for running the house, but there were definitely some areas that needed help. My clothes had just been shoved into the closet any which way, my craft cupboard was empty while the supplies sat in boxes, and a pile of various electronic items lived in one corner of the family room.

Kondo’s advice to declutter by category rather than location and all at once rather than a little at a time was intriguing, as was her instruction to hold each item and ask if it sparked joy to determine its fate. I didn’t try it out right away though; first I looked up the KonMari method on YouTube and started watching videos of other people who were decluttering using it. After a few of these, I sat down with my little jewelry box and took everything out. I was surprised by how much was in there and even more surprised by the amount that ended up in the discard pile. I felt so good putting just the items I loved back in the box and returning it to its spot on my dresser.

After that, I started decluttering different small categories of things. Each time I was very pleased with the results but it still took me a while to tackle my clothes, which is where Kondo recommends you start. But I finally opened my closet and it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. After that I was pretty eager to keep going.

One of my favorite transformations was where we keep our linens. It was piled high with sheets, towels, blankets, and pillows. I had been thinking we needed a better storage solution for that area, but once I was done decluttering, the space looked just fine as it was. Another area that I am especially happy with is my baking cupboard. It had gotten completely out of control and now it looks perfectly organized and clutter free.

Click here for part 2, where I share more of my journey with decluttering and the KonMari method.

May 17, 2018May 20, 2025

A Motivation Update

Motivation

I sometimes find it interesting to look back at what I have posted here and see how things have changed. In September 2016, I posted Unmotivated = Overwhelmed and shared about how life was basically kicking my butt.

Things are much different now, partly because of the progress I have made with my medication and therapy, as I posted in My Journey with Psych Meds a few days ago. Here are the things that were overwhelming me back then with an update on where I am now:

Adjusting to being married again – Joe & I have been married for 2 1/2 years now and have bought a house. I have really settled in to the relationship and feel much more comfortable being myself around him.
Continuing existing friendships while being married – Of my three close friends, I still have two of them and those relationships are going very well. I seem to have lost the other one, who stopped responding to my attempts to connect a few months ago. I was really upset about it for a long time, but now I am moving on.
Getting used to a new church and trying to make connections there – We are now going to a life group connected with our church that meets every other Wednesday night. There are two other couples in the group, and we have really bonded. We are all friends on Facebook, and we have good conversations when we are together. Currently we are reading the book The Purpose Driven Life together and discussing it.
Trying to participate in group conversations at lunchtime (can handle 1 person or maybe 2, but more than that gets tricky) – I work from home now so almost all my communication is through email or Skype IM. I rarely have to talk to anyone at work, and then it is always one-on-one. I still find group conversations difficult and mostly stay quiet during them, although I am comfortable speaking at the life group I mentioned.
Parenting an autistic 14-year old boy – Michael is 16 now and just about to finish 9th grade. We spent 8 months in Family Based Mental Health Services, and it was very helpful in dealing with his depression and anxiety (along with medication that took a while to figure out). Now he is back in the regular services and sees a mobile therapist once a week. I feel our relationship is a lot stronger – we talk more and play games together. He is also more sociable – going to Smash Bros tournaments and having a friend over to play video games occasionally.

All in all, life is good. We are talking about getting a dog sometime in the next few months. Joe & I are going to Boston for a few days this summer, and next year we are planning a trip for the three of us to Illinois to see both my parents and possibly some other family. We have a few unexpected home repairs to deal with, but Joe is very handy and will probably be able to take care of them himself, which is a huge blessing.

So, how are you feeling these days – motivated or overwhelmed?