Domesticated

Before I get into this blog post, I want to start by answering one question: no, I am not pregnant. No nesting here, promise. Good, moving on.

With that being said, in the past weeks I've felt some, shall we call them, domestic urges. With the new year often comes an examination of one's own life, and I've been surprised with my results. I'll admit that I'm not the most traditional wife, and I'm okay with that. Mrs. Cleaver can keep her day job and I'll keep mine.

However, this year, one of my goals will be to spend more time on my family and our home and less time mindlessly browsing the internet and doing other things that don't really matter. I'm even considering going so far as to setting time limits for certain activities and cutting myself off. We'll see how this manifests, but some of the things I'm hoping to spend more time on include:

• Cleaning. Self-admittedly, I'm not the tidiest person. But I do love when things are clean and organized. I'm hoping to set some sort of chore cleaning schedule for us and stick to it. Thrilling, I know.
• Cooking. I don't hate to cook, but I don't love it either. It can be really hard to become motivated to cook when your other half is so good at it, but I'd like to like it. It's better for our bellies and our wallets. Plus I'm pretty sure it can be fun too. Hoping to find out!
• Budgeting. Once upon a time, we were overly organized about our budget but we've slowly found other, more exciting things to do (surprising, I know). I thought tracking every single penny on a weekly or even daily basis was overkill, but let me tell you, it works. There's no better way to cut unnecessary spending than by actually paying attention. That and couponing.
• Reconnecting. If you haven't noticed, I've been a little busy lately. The truth is, between running a million half marathons and learning Portuguese, I'll continue to be pretty busy. But that doesn't mean that I should spend all of my free time on Facebook. My last official mission is to hang out with the fam and pay more attention to their Love Languages (yes, this includes the pups. call me crazy); watch movies with Casey, take the dogs to the park, all of that good stuff.

I ran this idea past Casey the other day, and despite the fact that one can't really complain about these resolutions, he was quick to point out that people need to wind down. And sometimes that involves "meaningless" things like killing an hour on Facebook. My hope is for any of these items to become more apart of that process than things involving a computer. I could also stand to read a bit more.

Project Português

Some people think I'm not happy unless I'm overcommitted. They're right.

I've earned more degrees than I care to admit and often sign myself up for extracurricular activities I don't have time for... while working. Recently, I realized that despite all of the stress, I don't feel like I'm doing anything if I'm not doing everything. So, that's my self-awareness moment of the week.

Since finishing grad school and taking up running, it's become clear that I have a little bit of free time. The other day, Casey and I had a conversation that went something like this:

Casey: So, I figure you're going to need something to do.
Me: Well, I want to figure out how to crochet. I can make a blanket or something.
Casey: Yeah, I don't think crocheting is going to cut it.
Me: I'm not going back to school.
Casey: Sure.
Me: No really, I'm not!
(Let me just pause to say one thing: almost everyone in my life who knows me well will not believe for one second that I'm done with school. No matter how I insist that I'm not going back for a Ph.D. IF I do, there will be countless people waiting to say "I told you so.")
Casey: Okay!
Me: I should probably learn Portuguese.
Casey: That would do it.

I should explain that all of my students speak Portuguese. Quite a few of them speak English, but not all of them and I'd love to be able to communicate with all of them and answer questions from people who email me in Portuguese. I don't have to learn it, but if all of my students speak it and work will pay for classes, I figure it's kindof silly not to take advantage.

I'm using this opportunity to broaden my music horizons. Some of the radio stations I listen to play music from Brazil, but since it's such a great way to learn and practice a language, I've been looking for more. This lead to the discovery of Zeca Pagodinho. He's lovely and makes me feel like I should be in a little bar on the beach in Brazil sipping on a caipirinha. Here's to hoping that happens sooner than later. Enjoy!

Love Languages

If the concept of love languages is applicable to non-human intelligent life, I think I have the dogs pegged.

I thought about this when I came home from work today and Bear and Kitsune went through their normal routine. They peeked through the blinds as I came up the stairs, got visibly excited and then disappeared. I almost can't open the door because they're so close to it when I come inside. They greet me and then right away, they go into the individual plans of action.

Kitsune takes off and appears to have lost interest. Then she reappears with some sort of offering: her favorite bone, a tennis ball (or whatever the favorite item of the day is) and drops it at my feet. It seems like she deliberately chooses this item, because if it's in another room, she'll pass up other toys to find the one she's looking for. She's also not generally interested in doing anything unless there's something in it for her. Receiving Gifts. check.

Bear, on the other hand, physically bombards you. Tries to do headstands on my feet, follows me around so closely I can barely move. It's like he can't get enough of him to touch enough of me. All he wants is for me to stop and give him all of my attention. That and to pet him until the end of time. He his clearly a Physical Touch kind of pup.

This might sound a little crazy, but I think it might have some validity. Please expect that, until we have children, I will continue to apply concepts of human behavior to my dogs without shame.

[half] Marathon Monday - New Year's Edition

Remember last year when I said I don't do New Year's resolutions? I might have suggested it's "the time to set a lofty goal that will never be realized." The truth is, that's exactly what I said.

So, about setting ridiculous expectations for myself in the new year - I decided to take it up. Well, technically Sadie decided, so you can send your comment cards to her if I lose my mind in 2013. You remember her, the one that convinced me to run a half marathon at a point in my life when I could barely handle a mile. As much as I hate to admit it, I think we all need Sadies in our lives to set us up for things we never would have done on our own free will.

I know you're just bursting with excitement to hear what craziness we're up to this year so I'll just come out with it: 13 miles 13 times in 2013. That's right, we're going to run a half marathon each month of 2013 and figure out how to squeeze one more in on top of it. However, don't expect to see pictures of us with 13 medals and official race results. That would be awesome, but it would also be a crazy financial commitment. But you can expect to hear all about it, so stay tuned!

Here's a re-cap of last year's half marathons:

LIVESTRONG Austin Half Marathon, Angie's Half Crazy, AthHalf

if it looks like a fox and sounds like a whale

It must be a Shiba Inu?

If we could have had the dynamic duo Bear and Kitsune for a while before naming them, I probably would have lobbied for Radar and Sonar. Don't get me wrong, they have great names. I mean, what's better than calling one animal by another's name? (For the record: Kitsune means fox in Japanese.) Even though I don't actually intend to re-name them, sometimes I like to think about what their personalities suggest they should be called.

It doesn't taking knowing bear and his super-awesome, super-huge ears for very long before you're tempted to call him radar.

Kitsune has a unique way of communicating when she wants something, which is usually one of three things - food, space on the couch, or outside time. This morning when she was complaining at chatting with me, I thought, "she's the sonar to his radar!" This seems to be a Shiba Inu thing, so I found a video (not of Kitsune) to give you the general idea. She's not quite this vocal, but it's pretty darn close!

 

Solemn Sunday

Today is a grey, rainy day that matches the mood.

This week has been extremely difficult for a lot of people. Between a mall shooting and a school shooting, most of us are dazed, unfocused, and just plain devastated. I've been reading a lot about friends that cry at the sight of children (both their own and others), absentmindedly leave their homes without stopping to check if they're properly dressed, and are made to address extremely difficult topics with their families.

I have found myself thinking about the victims' families first thing when I wake up in the morning - hoping their loved ones were able to sleep and feel rested when they first open their eyes. My heart breaks knowing they will have to remind themselves that it was not a dream, especially in the beginning. She's not in her bed down the hall, he's not going in to work on Monday, we're a family of 4 and not 5. I pray they have as many of those peaceful moments as possible and that crashing back to the ground one day turns into a controlled landing.

Unanswered Prayers

A wise man once said:

Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

Ok, so maybe it was Garth Brooks.

Just because he doesn't answer, doesn't mean he don't caaaaare! 

Precicely.

Every once in a while you learn that your master plan isn't working out as you plotted it, and you have to come to terms with the fact that you might not have the whole picture. Casey and I were just talking about the valuable experience of learning to look back on frustrating moments and closed doors as blessings that made way for something better. That doesn't mean that you stop looking or stop trying, only that you accept what happens and use it to keep moving forward.

Swimming in cream, churning it into butter.
(if that didn't make any sense to you, take a peek at this)