:sniffles:

Sooooo much sickness in my house right now. I have a bad cold and now so does Devon.

I guess they say misery loves company, huh? But if he doesn’t stop laughing at the weird noises I make when I clear my throat, I’m going to change his Robitussin to prune juice. Evil goober. His sneezes are so loud he could probably wake up the dead.

Anyway….

I guess with so many people I know being plagued with the flu I shouldn’t complain, but this is miserable. I had it in my chest yesterday and now my face is so stuffed up I can barely talk or breathe.

What has been a blessing and a curse here, is that it’s my winter break. So yeah I don’t have to go to work all week, but no one likes being sick on vacation. I had plans with friends, things I wanted to do, but none of it is getting done. My cat is greatly enjoying it though. She’s a snuggly cat so she loves that she’s been able to cuddle with her sick humans the past couple days. If she’s not curled up next to me on the couch, she’s snuggled on Devon’s lap while he’s laid out in his recliner.

I look forward to being able to get up and move around easily again so that I can Lysol-bomb all the things and get the germs out.

And that whole healthy eating thing? Not happening as well as I would have wanted yet. The problem with me and colds is that I eat all the things. And I mean all the things. I’ve tried to make better choices in my several time per day feedings but it could be better. I mean, I AM sick so I’m not being too hard on myself about it. I’ll resume my efforts once the house is well again.

I think I’m going to go take more cold meds now and fall I to into a short coma with my snuggle cat. Well….at least until Devon sneezes and likely scares me half to death in my sleep. (And yes, we’ve behaved like this for ten years now, it has never changed).

If anyone wants to send some health points to this house it would be appreciated. (Yeah, I’m the girlfriend of a gamer, random gaming references happen here).

I laughed

So, for some reason a little bit of a chest cold brought me down today. I had things I wanted to do but relaxing and medicating became a better idea. Luckily I’m off all week to make up for it.

Oh Wegmans, I love you.

Okay, so I’m weird. I really love going to the grocery store. I also really love going to Wegmans. I could spend all day in Wegmans. Part of my excitement in Devon and I moving to Columbia was that I now live super close to the Wegmans and don’t have to get on a major highway to go to one. It made me so happy.

Stop looking at me like I’m crazy.

I know for most people grocery shopping is pretty much equal to getting a root canal. These days. I’d rather go to a grocery store than a mall.

Again, stop looking at me like that.

I finally got Devon to go to Wegmans with me this morning (as he’s hopelessly partial to another grocery store chain around the Baltimore area). Once he saw the half of the store with the rotisserie chickens and the burger bar and all, he was happy. (And yes, we have gotten so domestic as to have Saturday be grocery store day.)

But we need to go back to eating better in this house. With the holidays and all, we sort of went away from it, but now those are over. I’ve admittedly put on a couple pounds and considering the forty pounds I’ve lost in the past few years; while a couple pounds may not seem like a lot, I don’t like them. I refuse to go back up in pant size, so the couple pounds need to go.

Neither of us are ones to stuff ourselves to the point that we’re so bloated that we can’t move or anything like that, but just the kinds of food we’ve been eating is heavier. Like we need to cut back on the fast good again, the ridiculously heavy sauces and things like that.

Devon and I are both off until after the new year because yay educators. So I think I’m going to try some lighter meals and recipes while we are home. I even have an entire Pinterest board on a Lighter Meals.

So, we bought a bunch of fresh vegetables and lighter foods (we did get some snacks that might not be so “light”, hey you can’t break everything at once). And there is going to be some recipe experimenting while we are home. Hopefully, there are some successes and if there are, I will share them here! 🙂

Cheers to a smaller waist line in 2015!

First Christmas…..kinda

So, depending on which mindset you associate with, last Christmas might have been mine and Devon’s first Christmas. But, as far as we’re concerned, this is our first Christmas.

We spent a couple hours together last year for Devon’s annual family Christmas celebration but that was it. So we don’t count that. Last year was actually the first time Devon brought a girlfriend to a a family event (ironically his brother also brought a girlfriend for the first time last year, as well), so this was a big deal to the family. I was nervous because it was such a big deal. I mean, I’d met his mom many times over the years prior, his brother, a couple cousins; but Gramma and Grandpa were making me nervous.

A year later I’m coming back (to Grammas house, no less) so clearly I didn’t do too bad there. She also keeps calling me his fiancée, so really must have been okay.

But, I digress.

As far as either of us is concerned, this year is our first Christmas. We get to start some new traditions and continue some old. Best part is we get to be together for all of it, which is what we both wanted most last year.

I hope everyone has a great holiday. 🙂

Food is love.

So, I like to eat. A lot. The good part is, I also really like cooking. Even better, I love and appreciate when someone cooks for me.

Devon also likes eating, and cooking and appreciates when someone cooks for him. We’re a little similar there, In Case you hadn’t noticed.

Because of this, we take turns cooking for each other. I cook one weekend, he cooks the next and so on. It let’s us both enjoy our loves of cooking and laziness. Because as much as I love cooking, I love the weekends I get to just sit on the couch and enjoy the kitchen aromas, too.

This weekend is Devon’s weekend to cook and I will admit, he has some serious chops in the kitchen (and not just the pork ones, which are also good). He gives me a run for my money in there. And as most women will tell you there is almost nothing more attractive a man who knows his way around a kitchen.

Mrs. Banks, according to USPS

I totally thought this was Devon’s cousin or someone being funny.

Apparently we left quite an impression on our furniture salesman when we moved this summer. He actually sent us a Christmas card. He’s just one of the many people who think were already married.

We stopped at Sears Monday night because Devon needed a new car battery (another story for another day), the guy says “your wife can sign it if you want”. We are at the stage where we still start laughing when people say it. Like “lol no”. We don’t really outwardly correct people anymore. We just go with it, whilst laughing. We know it’ll happen so it’s not like people are being overly presumptuous. It’s just not happening yet.

His Gramma always refers to me as his fiancée and gets upset when he corrects her. She’s like well what are you waiting for? Nothing, really. But it’s not 1950 anymore, just because we’re both in our late twenties doesn’t mean we have to be married yet. And in fact a recent article from The New York Times says we’re following the current trend in dating/marriage.

Studies are showing a drastic decease in divorces because people are doing, essentially, what Devon and I are doing. We’re getting married later (meaning we aren’t married at 21 anymore), having kids later, and living together first. It’s almost like a test run of marriage but without the worry of divorcing if it doesn’t work. For traditionalists, this is appalling. But it’s realistic. I’d rather know now that it wouldn’t work because I only want to get married once.

As far as Devon and I are concerned, we live as a married couple just with different last names. We cohabitate as married people, we own property/things together as married people, we have invested in this relationship as if we were married. The legality will come later. It’s not like either of us is planning on going anywhere.

So for now; while I’m not Mrs. Banks yet, I will still usually answer to it, if for no other reason than for practice for when it is my name all the time. Not being married by 30 is okay; I have my partner in life regardless of whether there is a ring on my finger signifying it or not. That’s all that matters to me.

Whata Wednesday…

Wednesdays are my least favorite days of the week. It’s the middle of the week so the beginning of the week energy is gone and it’s not the end of the week so the excitement for the weekend isn’t there yet either. It’s just blah.

Then to add insult to injury, I usually spend all day on Wednesdays in meetings; IEP meetings, to be exact. It’s so hard, sometimes, to sit in 7 of them, back-to-back especially when the parents start saying things like “you aren’t doing enough for my child”, “my child is failing because you aren’t doing your job”. Is that ever entirely true? No. Is there ever some truth to it? Yes.

I have 634 kids all to myself as the counselor. Studies have shown to have optimal efficacy, counselors should have 250 kids per counselor. I’m almost triple that. It’s hard. But you can’t say that to parents, it’ll be seen as an excuse and you’ll be told that you’re clearly not fit for your job. And honestly, no, I’m not fit to have 630+ (and growing) kids all to myself, no counselor is. There is no way to give individual attention to every student when you have that many (and have one day a week that you are in meetings the ENTIRE school day). You do the best that you can, but you eventually have to accept that your best will never be good enough for some people and move on, which is hard.

Because of all of this, Wednesdays exhaust me. Probably more than any other day of the week. All other days, I get to be with the kids and I don’t have to be reminded all the time how much I’m not giving to the kids.

I’m one person. I know this. I accept this. I do everything in my power to try and change it because I would love to see every child able to receive adequate mental health care in schools. The world is scary and they need someone they trust that they can talk to when ever they want. If it were a perfect world, my school would have two full time counselors and a part time. But it’s not. And I do the best I can. I know that my best will never satisfy some and I accept that.

I just wish Wednesdays weren’t so tiring.

Co-dependency.

For a living, I try to understand and analyze human behavior and cognitions. The way the brain works and how our actions are formed as a result has amazed me my whole life. I admit that there are many things I still don’t understand even after studying this for almost a decade. But one thing I can’t seem to comprehend is codependency in relationships. Conceptually, I get it; I guess I just don’t understand why it’s necessary for some people. This probably has a lot to do with my overly independent nature but it baffles me.

Case in point: Yesterday.

Devon and I go to The Hobbit marathon. One of Devon’s best friends of forever comes with us. Perfectly fine. Shows up late, but that’s normal. Shows up alone, at that. After the first movie ends he says to Devon and I: “yeah so R (his gf) called out of work because she was super sick yesterday, I mean sick enough to go to work”. Were like “alright, hope she feels better”. Then he follows with, “she’s going to make it by the third movie tonight”.

:blinks: Now I preface by saying; Devon and I live five minutes from our theater that was doing the screening. Said friend and his gf live almost an hour away. So she’s driving herself, while sick, an hour away to see a movie, a third of a full showing, and will have no idea what is going on because she admittedly hadn’t seen the first two. I’m just like…..why?! It’s not like they never see each other. They’re together daily. Now, I love Devon dearly, I love spending time with him but even when we didn’t see as much of each other we do now, no way would I have done that while sick.

And it’s not like this is just a random occurrence. It’s always like this. No matter what, she is always with him no matter where they are going. The boys had a “guy night” a month or so ago; she was there. It’s like they don’t exist outside of the other. I guess I just don’t understand that mentality.

Like I said I love Devon, he’s my favorite person in the entire world, I love spending time with him, but I don’t wanna see him every second of my life. He’ll drive me crazy. I appreciate that we can go out with our respective friends by ourselves. I know I’ve said before we’re sometimes inseparable and we are. But not every second. We’re still individuals at the end of the day. We don’t sulk because the other one isn’t around (like someone was doing until his gf showed up yesterday). We enjoy our time together and alone.

I’m not tying to say that there is anything wrong with being this way; to each their own. I just don’t understand it. And I think it’s one of those things I’ve tried to wrap my head around and it’s just not tying into a bow at the end. Any and all explanations are welcome.

Who gets to watch Hobbit-athon today???

This house does!!

So there might be some hooky playing going in (for at least one member of this house today; not me) because Hobbits.

In select theaters nationwide, they’re marathoning all three (yes, including the new one that doesn’t come out until Wednesday) Hobbit movies.  For people who REALLY don’t like Lord of The Rings, Devon and I both really got into The Hobbit.  So we’re meeting a couple of friends and going to spend a day in a dark theater watching all three movies.  It shall be awesome.

Lazy Sunday

I’m being about 10 different kinds of lazy today. It wasn’t until I looked at the DVR clock and saw that it was 4:15 before I realized I did almost nothing I wanted to do today. I was going to be productive; make a pasta salad for lunch this week, make some deviled eggs that I wanted, go through books in the guest room, organize my closet. Yeah….no to all of it. At this point I’m kinda happy I remembered to take chicken out of the freezer for dinner this morning. It should have been taken out last night, but you get my point here.

Devon’s not helping my lazy. He’s been playing Assassins creed most of the afternoon. Shoot even my cat, Maya has been asleep on the couch most of the afternoon. Yes, I do have a gamer on my hands. :sigh: Support groups are welcomed. It’s amusing to watch him play though. Laughing is therapeutic.

Still, though, I really do feel like I should, you know, do something today (other than play with my shiny new blog). I don’t know if it will happen, though…….