ten things that didn’t suck this week

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10 things of thankful, friends, knitting, life, love, mental health, moods, motivation, projects, work

1. I made more progress with my Building Rome goals than I thought I would. (full update on Monday)
2. Yesterday was payday for me which means it was also haircut day. I now no longer look quite as old thanks to the amazing color talents of my lovely stylist. And Josh got a haircut, too.
3. I was able to finish the first, and most critical I think, part of one of my work projects – on schedule.
4. I found, and got registered for, a very interesting sounding conference at the end of June. Everyone on my team usually goes to at least one conference every year for “professional development” stuff. But I absolutely HATE to travel, particularly for work, so I found one that’s local and should be phenomenal. The best part is that I’ll be able to sleep in my own damn bed.
5. I was able to make time to do some creative things, just because I wanted to.
6. I have continued to be amazed at how much I really can accomplish when I put my mind to it, and how much easier it is to maintain my momentum once I get things rolling.
7. I was struck again by just how amazing my blogging friends are. Y’all might not realize how much your love and support really mean. Then again, you might.
8. I was invited to a birthday party for my oldest and dearest friend and I am absolutely going to go.
9. Not taking a class this summer means more time I can spend doing what I want to do. I was worried at first that I’d have too much time on my hands and get bored, but that really hasn’t been the case. I’m really kind of loving this.
10. I was struck last night by how lucky I am to have Josh. He was really rather a pain in the ass a lot at the beginning, but we’ve managed to make great strides in our marriage and I feel as though we’ve really grown up a lot, together. And I’m sure he’s not everyone’s idea of “dreamy,” but sitting at dinner last night with him I had this moment of “gawd damn that is one fine looking fella!”

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pay no attention to the Mama behind the curtain

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anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, hypomania, life, limits, mental health, mental illness, money, moods, motivation, pretty/shitty, projects, sick, stress, the world is full of fucking idiots, work

Judging by what I’m seeing on others’ blogs, this “not good” stuff is going around. And while misery does love company, I don’t like misery of any kind. Like I said yesterday, I try my best not to bitch, but I think maybe it’s time to share a little of what’s been going on so y’all know why I’m maybe not my usual perky self.

I’m still not really sleeping all that great. Not getting enough sleep is probably the fastest way for me to get in trouble. Not enough for long enough will drive me into mania. And the higher up I go the farther down I fall. It’s a gradual process, contrary to what that rotten ass “Black Box” show would have you believe, so there’s hope there – acknowledging that that’s where I’m headed means I can do something about it. And I’m trying, but it’s kind of hard and it mostly sucks. I haven’t reached a dangerous place yet, but there’s emphasis on that YET.

Josh made some particularly poor financial decisions prior to meeting me, like not filing income tax. The government has found him and would like their money. Now. This all started last year and I was able to setup a monthly repayment plan with one of the states involved and that’s been fine. Not exactly exciting coming up with an extra $300+ every month, but whatevs. When the IRS came calling he decided to try appealing. A year later and there’s been no real progress made other than them denying the appeal and saying he still needs to file and then pay. I’m no help with this at all because the reason he didn’t file was that he was self-employed and didn’t know how. Never been there so hey, useless. They’re wanting something in the neighborhood of $10k. And there’s still one more state that should be wanting to get involved at some point.

My GI system apparently hates me because damn near anything I put in my mouth comes shooting out almost immediately. Normally my body has the decency to limit this behavior to mornings, but last night I got hit right after dinner. That meant I didn’t go to sleep until later. (see above section about not getting enough sleep) But I’m not losing any weight because why should I possibly get something decent out of this misery.

Work is kind of terrible right now. 99% of the time I absolutely love my job. I’m good at what I do and I love doing it, most of our faculty are great people, and I have a few people I work with directly that I really like. But summer is always super busy for us. Plus my boss is crabby as fuck about a project that’s not going her way (that I’m not in on, thank gawd), there’s a new implementation to prep for (that I think the timing on is utter shit), and two of my teammates do less work combined than your average dead earthworm. My talents keep getting recognized, which is awesome, but all that really means is more work for less money than the dead worms, plus more meetings which means less time in my office to actually do all of the work I’ve been tasked with.

So I guess all of that to say that I’m wound a little extra tight right now.

How will I manage? By being weird, of course! The idea for this little gem comes from Rose. She asked me the other day if I put together the photo/quote things I like to share, which I don’t, but that got me thinking – why not? I haven’t quite come up with a good idea for this bit yet, but I’m leaning towards pretty/shitty. The photo was done by someone else (found with the “licensed for non-comm ok to reuse and modify” bit) but the sentiment is all Mama. Let me know what you think.

not even sure what to say

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bipolar disorder, friends, life, limits, love, mental health, mental illness, random shit that falls out of my brain

Here’s a few things you should know about me:

• I go by “Mental Mama” but I’ve never had any kids of my own. I am mental and I have some mama instincts. Seems appropriate.
• I try my best to give folks the benefit of the doubt and just assume that everyone else is a decent human being until they prove otherwise. Sometimes I let them get away with not being decent many times before I realize how not-decent they really are.
• The outside is solid wood, but the inside is under-done cookie. Feelings, I haz them.
• I try my best not to bitch and whine too often. I much prefer to make folks laugh than feel sorry. Sometimes though, yeah, sometimes.
• I express my empathy freely, but rarely dole out sympathy.
• When I’m hurting in my heart too much, I shut up and shut down.

There might not be much here the next few days. I have some things which need taking care of, and I need some time and space to do that. My intention is to be here sometime this weekend for the Ten Things of Thankful, but I can’t even say that that’s a for sure thing. There are a few posts already scheduled to drop next week and those will still go out as planned.

Know that I think of all of you as my “kids” – even though many of you are older than me – and I care about you.

coming soon to a blog near you…

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7 weeks of weird, challenge

As promised, there will be a challenge this summer. I don’t have quite everything setup yet (mostly this interesting link up thingyjigger), but here’s what I do have.

• We’ll start on July 2 and do one post per week for 7 weeks on Wednesdays. (post whatever the fuck else you want when you want – the more the better, I say)
• I’ll make a page dedicated to the prompt info and links to the participants’ blogs.
• Feel free to steal the banner. Or make your own. Makes no difference to me.
• I’ll setup a “link up” to make it easier to hop to all the posts – as soon as I figure it out.

That’s basically it. Here are the prompts:

1. Weirdest food/food combination you like that everyone else thinks is nasty
2. Weirdest thing about you that other people don’t usually know
3. Weirdest thing you do to relax
4. Weirdest habit/routine you have
5. Weirdest thing you collect
6. Weirdest way you’ve ever earned money
7. Weirdest random fact about yourself (something you’ve done, something you like, somewhere you’ve been, etc.)

If you’re interested, leave me a note in the comments. I’ll put up a sign up form on the page (that I still need to create, fuck) just as soon as I get off my macaroni-salad-eating-dead-ass.

don’t sweat the petty things and for gawd’s sake do NOT pet the sweaty things

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kids, life, limits, mental health, mental illness, moods, random shit that falls out of my brain, stress, the world is full of fucking idiots, work

I’m relying on y’all today to keep my ass on the straight and narrow today

Do you ever wake up with that feeling that getting out of the bed was the easiest thing you’re going to do all fucking day, and that the rest of it will be an uphill climb? Yup, that’s where I am right now. THIS SUCKS.

I’m trying, dude, really I am

An email came through at 7:30 from my least favorite cow-orker saying that one of her spawn has learned to ride a bike, but not well, so they’re off to the ER for x-rays. Ok, you have the kids so you have to take care of them. But for fuck’s sake, is it really normal for a kid that doesn’t ride a bike well to go off and try that early in the morning? This particular cow-orker tends to be absent from the office at LEAST one day a week. Whatevs…

I’ll try to be good today, promise. It’s just hard sometimes. Being the delicate flower that I am, people expect certain things of me. Like not saying “fuck you” to everyone who calls, or pointing out precisely what an asshat that one fucking student worker is. No, I need to be a good kid, much as that sucks.

I know, I used this one before, but today it’s even more applicable – D the Douche better watch his fucking back or he will end up wearing very fashionable shoes and spending some time at the river, capiche?

I should probably just go eat some breakfast, seeing as that’s about the most appropriate use for my mouth right now.

nope, I fart

a mostly real post, with mostly real content

Tags

challenge, life, mental health, mental illness, motivation, projects, work

Oy, what a weekend. Every time I have a long weekend I go into it thinking “this will be the most awesome thing EVAH!” But when it’s almost over, I’m chomping at the bit to get back to work. And then when I do get back to work it’s all, “someone get the shovel, I’ve got a plan for the tunnel out of this joint.”

The tunnel moment happened at approximately 7:23am. I didn’t get here until 7:20 this morning.

Anyway, it was a good weekend. We got tons of shit done and the space looks phenomenal. I tore apart the bookshelves, got the entire music collection cataloged, cleaned out my pj drawer, organized some of the cupboards in the basement, organized some files on the laptop, made some excellent pork roast, and brought some things to the office. This morning I cleaned out and organized the one remaining cupboard in the office that hadn’t been touched and went through my paper files.

I’ve got a fuckton of ideas for future posts, some of them already written. I’m totally grooving on this whole “write now and schedule for the dumping later” business. Totes phenom.

Speaking of working ahead, I’m just about ready to unleash the idea for the challenge I’m going to host. Here’s the sketchy details:

• start July 2
• one post each Weds for 7 weeks
• something about random and/or weird facts about you

I’m still working on the name and the banner-esque thingy for it. Suggestions are welcome.

Wow, yeah, that’s all I’ve got.

top 10 tuesday

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top 10 tuesday

Morning, kids, Mama’s got another new feature for you to feast on. Welcome to Top 10 Tuesday. Every Tuesday morning about this time I’ll be dropping a new Top 10 list on y’all. You’re welcome. Keeping with the 25 songs challenge some of us just finished, I present…

top 10 songs to brighten your mood

1. Because I’m Awesome by The Dollyrots
2. No Hablo Ingles by Bowling for Soup
3. If I Had $1,000,000 by Barenaked Ladies
4. Calling You by Blue October
5. You’ll Accomp’ny Me by Bob Seger
6. Hanginaround by Counting Crows
7. Red Dragon Tattoo by Fountains of Wayne
8. Raise Your Glass by Pink
9. I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers
10. All Star by Smashmouth

If you have an idea for a future top 10, hit me.

organizing with Mama, #2

Tags

life, life hacks, money, motivation, organizational skills for little squirrels

Welcome to this week’s installment of Mama’s Organizational Skills for Little Squirrels. This week we’re going to focus on inexpensive ways to corral your crap because, chances are, you’re like me – not exactly shitting Benjamins on a regular basis. Anything we can do to live the champagne lifestyle while making beer wages is more money we can spend on actual beer. Mmmm, beer….

Ok, so here are some of my favorite little inexpensive tricks.

Over the door shoe organizer

I like this one for several reasons. One, it’s not that expensive and is fairly well made. Two, it keeps me from buying more shoes. My shit has to fit in there, period. I cheat like a mothafucking fiend by putting a pair in a single slot whenever possible. Still. And three, it makes it quite easy to find both shoes when I want them. Saving time is almost as good as saving money. On the other side of the door is a hook that fits over the top and has room for several hangers plus a regular old hook at the end. I use this to keep my shirt for the next day easily accessible and out of harm’s way. (Evie likes to sleep on clothes)

Baskets

I’ve got a tiny basket on my nightstand to hold misc bits, Josh has one on his dresser for bits, there’s a big one on the counter for my current craft projects, there’s a small one under the basement bathroom sink for misc medical supplies, there’s a medium sized one with a lid on top of my desk that holds extra pens and markers – you get the idea. They’re great for little things that tend to get lost easily or don’t lend themselves to other forms of being corralled.

Speaking of pens, this is the pen holder I have on my desk at home. In a former life it was a candle holder. I needed something to put my pens in, I couldn’t light a candle in this where it had been living, so voila. The moral of this piece of the story is “get creative.” Just because a container is designed to do one thing doesn’t mean it isn’t totally suited to doing something else. Time to literally think outside the fucking box, kids.

Greeting Card Organizer

I know, who the fuck sends cards anymore? Me, that’s who. And for a time when I was in college (the first time) I worked at the Hallmark at the mall. And I bought one of these. It’s a spiral bound book with a pocket for each month and places to write people’s names and birthdays. You could totally make your own with a 3-ring binder. Or use a shoe box with dividers. Or keep making fun of me because I’m the only fucking idiot who still sends paper cards.

Segregation (in the closet) is an awesome thing

That’s my closet, part of it anyway. I separate my dresses from my skirts from my work shirts. Sweatshirts and t-shirts are folded on the shelf. Shorts I can wear to work and all capri pants I can wear to work come next. The rest of the shelf is Josh’s – 2 stacks of t’s and 2 stacks of long sleeved shirts. My work shirts are sorted by color. When I decide that today is going to be a purple day, I know right where to go. Does this make me a touch neurotic? Ask me if I honestly give a rat’s ass. It takes me next to no time at all to find what I want and it’s super easy to see if what I want is clean.

Well kids, there you have it, five of Mama’s least expensive organizational tips. What are your best budget friendly organizing tips?

building rome – mama’s week 1

Tags

building rome, goals, motivation

I’ve decided that I’m going to try doing this Building Rome thing that Green Embers has organized to see if I can push myself to start getting some things which are not cleaning/organizing done in my life. Hey, it could happen. Anyway, the theme this week is “pushing ourselves” and that is exactly what I need to do. Since I’m just starting I don’t have any goals from last week to report on, so I’ll just jump in for this week.

1. Walk on the treadmill at least 30 minutes, 3 times.
2. Finish the washcloth I have started AND make another.
3. Now that I have gotten our living area cleaned up and organized, keep it that way.
4. Make the bed every morning.

I think that’s a good start.

If you’re feeling in need of help with setting and achieving goals, this whole Building Rome thing sounds like great motivation. I’m going to give it a go for awhile and see if it helps me.

day 25

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25 songs, music

25 Songs in 25 Days Challenge – Day Twenty Five – The Final Day

A song you could listen to all day without getting tired of

Welcome to our final 25 Songs post. What a long, strange trip it’s been kiddos. Over the last 25 days you’ve been given a taste of my musical preferences, odd as they are. I like to try to keep things upbeat, so let’s go out on a high note.

Imagine Dragons “On Top of the World”

This is a great mood boosting song, and the video is so quirky and fun. I double dog dare you not to smile.

Thanks for sticking with me kids, I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride.