Feeling Stressed

I'm not quite sure what's going on with me.  I've been very stressed out lately, I can tell by my gaggy cough.  I had a headache the past couple of days and I've just been so very tired.  This weekend my husband and I went to a birthday party for my son-in-law.  Now, to be honest, I thought my brother knew my daughter and her husband had moved.  After all, he's been complaining about the stuff of my son-in-laws that showed up in the back yard of my mom's house and I told him they had to move out unexpectedly and hadn't had time to get rid of some of the bigger items.  So I assumed he had figured out the moving part.  Maybe showing up at the wrong house ticked him off.  I don't know.  All I know is he showed up and suddenly blew up when my other brother made a comment to him.  He ranted and raved and caused quite a stir and said some things he probably is regretting now.  I figured out that evening after I got home that the anniversary of my mother's death was the next day and he is obviously still having issues about it.  He was her black sheep and caused her lots of problems.  I think he carries quite a bit of guilt about it.  But I still didn't deserve the comments he threw at me.  His anger has stayed with me all week and upset me. 

Work has been busy.  My job is crazy busy for 60 or 105 days, depending on the year, and then usually settles down to much less busy the rest of the time.  This week was a very busy week and I had to compile a bunch of reports late last night into a document to send to the printer so we'd have copies for a press release today.  I had such a headache I was afraid I'd make a mistake, so it was stressful.  Every thing went okay in the end but I haven't been sleeping well.

My son-in-law is laid off and trying to get a business started.  He is trying to do everything the right way, but I worry about them so much.  I just hope it works out for them.  My daughter is pregnant and they have the little guy.  I just want the best for them.

I had to convert my mother's checking account to an estate account in December.  My main reason for delaying is that there is a loan payment that automatically comes out every month and I didn't want to screw that up.  Sure enough, there has been a problem every month since we converted.  That has taken time on the phone each month to straighten out and has been rather stressful also.  Hopefully this month's payment will pull correctly.

I pray a lot.  I have a very strong faith in God.  But I am guilty of neglecting Him so.  I have been trying to be better about reading my Bible.  I am convinced that, as much as the Lord loves us, He also allows things in our lives to get our attention back to Him.  I've been having a lot of trouble lately just giving it all over to Him.

This is just a rambling post, kind of teary.  I'm grateful for my family and I don't know what I'd do without my husband, my daughter, and my little guy.  I'm headed off to bed as I think I am just so sleep-deprived it isn't helping anything.  Hopefully things will look better tomorrow. 

~Jane

Computer Game Fast

I've decided that I've been spending too much time on computer games.  I've decided to go on a computer game fast for the rest of the month.  These are not a real stand-alone games, they're Facebook games and require a lot of checking in to play.  Most of them require you to get objects from your friends on Facebook.  Consequently, I find myself playing late at night, early morning, on my lunchbreak, when I get home from work, because you can only ask for gadgets every so often and you need lots of gadgets.  I love them, but surely there are better things to be spending my time on?  Anyways, it was difficult tonight to not click on one.  I'll see how long I can last.  You have to admit, it's a dumb thing to be addicted to.  :)

~Jane

My Kindle

My husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas and, at first, I really couldn't think of anything I really wanted or needed.  Then Amazon announced they were making it possible to check out books for the Kindle through your local library.  This was exactly what I had been waiting for.  We went ahead and ordered one and I was going to leave it in its package and not look at it.  I knew I would be tempted to use it if the package was opened.  However, my husband decided he wanted to see it, and we opened the package and I started reading a little about it.  I realized you had to activate it by wi-fi and, since we don't have wi-fi at home, I told him I was taking it with me to the local Starbucks to activate it as I wouldn't be able to over Christmas and what fun would it be not to play with it on Christmas?  Then I found all the dozens of books available either through the library or through Amazon for FREE!  I started getting free books from Amazon, but then I had to take it to work with me (we have public wi-fi there) to download the books so I could read them over Christmas. Of course, then I had to try it out and started taking it to work to read.  I didn't want my husband to know I was already playing with it.  People at work discovered I had one and would come check it out.  I think I sold two more Kindles and a Nook before Christmas.  Finally my husband retrieved it so it could be wrapped (I guess he had figured out what I was doing all along).  I've read about 10 books on it since I got it.  I absolutely love it.  I wasn't sure whether I would like it or not, since I am such a book person.  But I love the fact you can adjust the size of the print, the Kindle itself is so lightweight, it's easy to read in bed, and there is always another book waiting.  It holds your place, so every time you turn it on it's exactly where you left off.  It's small enough to throw in your purse, even with it's little leather cover.  It's easy to take to work or an appointment.  I have just the basic model with screensaver and ads.  The ads only appear when it's off, so they don't disrupt your reading.  I don't miss having the touch screen at all.  There are lots and lots of free books available for it.  I probably have downloaded 100 already.  Try it, you'll like it!

~Jane

Is There Anything Sweeter Than a Grandchild?

My daughter and her family had to move rather unexpectedly.  Since her husband is laid off right now, and they didn't want to have to move into just whatever they could find and be stuck with a lease, they are renting a house from my sister-in-law for six months.  They've been doing a lot of packing and moving of things.  I thought my little guy might be upset at all the commotion, but he seems to be taking it in stride.  He loves his new room, which is  much bigger than his last bedroom and is able to have some of his toys in it.  While his mother was unpacking boxes the other night, I sat there with the diagram and put all the track back onto his train table.  He got it for Christmas and just loves it, but it is rather a pain to set up. 

His new phrase is "What doing, Grandma?"  Since I called from work tonight right before I left for home, I told him I was going home to Bapa, which is what he calls his grandpa.  To which he responded, "See me!"  I explained I couldn't come see him tonight but gave him kisses and hugs over the phone to which he responded back with kissing the phone.  Oh, how I love that little guy!  His abilities and speech change almost weekly.  He is growing up so fast. It is amazing how much you forget about the toddler stage.  It has been so much fun going through it again with him.  And I just can't wait until the new little one gets here in June.

~Jane

Time Flies By When You're Having Fun!

I can't believe its been a couple weeks since I blogged about anything.  Work has been very busy and it was complicated all last week by the weather.  We had about 14" of snow and ice and trees down everywhere and getting to work was accomplished only with my husband's four-wheel-drive truck and a lot of back-tracking to find roads that you could get through on.  They closed the church where my husband works, so he was available every day to take me to work and take me home.  He also provided taxi service to one of my co-workers.  It was very nice getting driven to the door each day.  Work was warm and dry and well-lit, at least until Friday when the power went out and we had to go to generator power.  Now generator power fuels some of the lights, but the pumps to the toilets weren't working and neither were our computers.  We were sent home.  We were without power at home for a couple days, but my daughter and her family were without power for 126 hours.  The first couple days they spent at home since they had heat and water.  But after a couple days the little guy was tired of no power and no baths, so they came to stay at Grandma's house.  That was a real treat.  The little guy is in a very cute phase right now.  He says, "Grandma, what doing?"  When I explained I was getting ready to go to work he replied, "I work!"  When I explained he was staying home with Mommy, his little shoulders slumped.  He says, "I fix it!" to everything.  He sings the tune to Twinkle, twinkle to himself all the time.  He can turn a really good somersault.  Grandma loved having him and his mom to spend a couple days, even though I did have to go to work every day.

~Jane

Session

I work for the Washington State Legislature as a Committee Legislative Assistant.  I support seven other people and help supervise a dozen clerks during session.  Life is really busy during session each spring.  This year session is 60 days long.  I work long hours during session.  Mostly when I get home I just want to zone out and watch TV or read a book.  :) 

We had to have some work done on our well a couple weeks ago and had a new water filteration system installed.  Our experience has been that they last about 10 years and then they need to be replaced.  You can have them recharged or buy new, but the recharging is almost as expensive as just getting the new system, plus you usually get an improved system.  My husband has decided that, in order to stretch all the life we can out of the new one, we needed a high efficiency washer that cuts the water useage in half.  Not only would it help the well, the filter and the septic, but the laundry is supposed to be dryer so it will save electricity also.  So, for the first time in my life, we went out and purchased a new washer/dryer set.  I've had new washers and new dryers, but never a set.  We found a good buy on a set at a local appliance store and I am very happy with it. 

The only problem will be getting it in to be installed.  Because I've been dragging stuff home from my mom's, and because I'm just a packrat in general, there is a lot of STUFF floating around the family room where they will have to bring the appliances through.  So every night, after I get home, I've been sorting through boxes.  I've put some things out for the Goodwill, and organized the rest.  I turned a few boxes around so there is more clearance around the door and now all my scrapbooking stuff is in one place.  My husband is happy we'll be able to get the appliances in, but would really like to have some more of the boxes disappear.  Maybe later.  :)

~Jane

New Year's Resolution #12





The Baked Potatoes

So the last item on my resolution list was "Get Serious About Freezer Meals."  Honestly, you'd never know we've been married over 30 years.  Dinner is as much a struggle now as it ever  has been.  Session starts in a week and I figure I'd better start getting ready.  Many sessions I've gone into with a whole freezer of meals prepared, not so the last few years.  I bought 15 pounds of potatoes at Winco for less than $3.00.  I washed them all, stabbed them, and baked them for an hour at 350 degrees.  Then I took them out to cool.  I wish I had just let them cool a little and then proceeded, but I didn't.  I let them cool overnight and they were much more difficult to work with today.  I finally put the bowl in a warm oven for a few minutes to warm them up as it made scooping out the insides much easier.  I scooped out the insides, mixed them with some milk, sour cream, butter and a little salt.  Whipped everything together in the mixer and restuffed them.  Then I wrapped them in wax paper (I don't like putting plastic next to my food, and bagged them four to a bag.  Then I put the small bags into a large freezer bag, so they won't get lost in the freezer, plus its an extra layer that helps prevent freezer burn, and both plastic bags are reuseable since no food actually touches them.

The Stuffed Potatoes



To use, let thaw and baked in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  You can top them with all kinds of good things:  chili, cheese, meat mixture, taco meat.   Yummy!

The only thing I'd do next time is prepare less potatoes.  Ten pounds would have been plenty and I ended up putting some whole potatoes in the frig for my husband to fry up for breakfast instead.  Not that he will probably complain.

~Jane