Sick days

Ok, so I thought I just needed to rest. I thought I had a measly little cold and needed to sleep it off. Nope. Turns out I have the flu. Yay! I haven't had the flu in like 12 years so I kind of forgot what the symptoms felt like. But after sleeping for almost 36 hours, I decided to have Mr. W drive me to the clinic to get checked out. They decided to do a flu test, and when the doctor came back in wearing a mask I knew it was positive. She prescribed me cough medicine, a Z-Pack, and an inhaler. The Z-Pack and inhaler are to help combat the bronchitis that is know to hit those with asthma when they get the flu. Awesome x2! She also gave me a sick note through Friday. Part of me is sorely tempted to use it, but I don't have the personal time to take a week off now when I'm also leaving for the Bahamas in 30 days(!!!) so we'll see. I'm forbidden to go back to work until I'm fever-free for 24 hours so that may make my decision for me.

I'd like to say I'm doing pretty well with my resolutions so far. I wouldn't even be lying if I did say it! My main resolution is to get more organized this year, and I've done ok. G gave me a journal for Christmas, and I've been using it to make to-do lists. Putting my tasks in writing seems to be helping me focus. Some of my tasks have been put on hold this week, but I'm hoping to go back at it this weekend. One thing I really, really, REALLY need to focus on is my meal planning. I found a few planners on Pinterest, now just to put them into action!

Ok, my cough syrup is kicking in, and I'm starting to get loopy. Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday!

Rest

Every once in a while I need to be reminded to slow down, take time to rest, and just relax. Today was one of those days. I have been feeling exhausted since... well, probably since Thanksgiving, really. I've been going going gone all through the holidays and apparently not sleeping well, and it finally caught up with me. I think God decided he'd had enough of my not listening to his commands and knocked me on my butt today. Especially since it was the Sabbath. I have slept nearly all day. I got up at 8:30 this morning to tell mom I didn't feel well enough to drive to church. I pulled up the internet campus on the computer and watched services from home.

Thank goodness for technology

Then I promptly went to sleep from 10-2, ate an orange, slept til 7, then took a shower. I took the shower hoping it would make me feel better so I could mom on an errand. Ha! I was so exhausted from my shower that I didn't even have the energy to get dressed. At that point I decided to get my shift covered for tomorrow. I'm feeling better, but I think another day of resting will help. Sadly enough, I keep thinking of all the things I can do tomorrow since I don't have to work. No! I need to rest! We'll see what actually happens.

I know my posts haven't been very significant lately. I'll work on it. But right now, I'm going to get back to resting. Good night!

Fits of Sleep

Mr. Wonderful got me a new Fitbit for Christmas! I kind of figured he had, but I wasn't sure until I opened it. Anyway, last year he got me a Fitbit Zip, but this year he upgraded me to a Force... I'll try not to run it over with my car. I'm super excited about it and have been trying to get all of my steps in each day. But additionally, this Fitbit tracks my sleep! I think that's what I was most excited about. I haven't been sleeping well since... I don't know when, but it started getting really bad in November. I wanted to see if I noticed any patterns in my sleep cycle that I could address. Really I thought maybe a neighbor was leaving early for work or something. This is my reading from the past week.

I forgot to log Sunday... oops. 

No real pattern that I can see yet. Friday night looks odd because I set the sleep mode, then turned it off to go do something. I don't remember resetting it around midnight though, so I don't know what happened there And apparently I slept like crap last night. Less than 5 hours total sleep? No wonder I feel exhausted most of the time. I'm going to keep tracking my sleep for a while and see what I can come up with. I may have to look into cutting back on my caffeine in the afternoons or something. It's never bothered me before, but something's gotta give here! Speaking of sleep, I guess I should head that way. Rest well!

I've got the joy...

Joy, joy, joy, down in my heart! (What?) Down in my heart! (Where?) Down in my heart! (Oh!) I've got the joy, joy, joy joy down in my heart, down in my heart to stay! Ok, so maybe that's not the absolute correct way the song goes, but that's how I always sing it. And I sang it quite a bit today. It was my weapon of choice against wallowing in my annoyance. Every time something would happen that would get on my nerves, make me frustrated, or in some way bother me, I'd start singing that song to myself. It worked rather well, actually. It's hard to stay annoyed when you've got that tune in your head. And just in case you don't just yet, here you go.

You're welcome. :-)

I'm pleased to say that my first official Joy day went pretty well. I don't count yesterday because I didn't have to work and I didn't do much that tested my joy... except waiting until 2:00pm for my first cup of coffee. It was actually kind of funny. I couldn't figure out why everything seemed so bright and harsh, or why it hurt to have my eyes open. About 2 minutes after my first sip of caffeine the world righted and I was good to go. You'd think after 25 years of being a coffee drinker, I'd have figured that one out. Oh well. 

Bring on '14

It's that time of year again! Everyone's making New Year's resolutions and vowing that this is the year to stick with it. Working at a gym, the "Resolutioners" can be the most stressful part of the job, so I've been a little adverse to making resolutions the past few years. That being said, I decided to make one this year. There is a lot of stuff I need to work on, but I made one all-encompassing resolution: Be More Organized. I figure if I can be more organized with my spending habits, I will save money. If I'm more organized with my meal planning, I'll eat healthier and probably lose weight. If I'm more organized with my time, I'll feel less stressed. Being more organized will help with a multitude of sins.

I have also chosen my Word of the Year. Last year my word was Love. I wanted to love everyone more. It was definitely difficult. I did great for the first few months, then I ran headlong into a wall. That being said, I think I was able to love people more than if I hadn't been trying to work on it. I was more compassionate and understanding, to the point of annoying others who wanted to be mad. Oops. This year, my word is Joy. Amy and I were at the book store the other day and I kept seeing books about finding hope. Finally I said "I don't need hope, I need joy!" and I realized I had my word. I do have hope for my current situation, but I need to be able to find the joy in the midst of it. I think my theme verse for 2014 may be Philippians 4:4-5.

If you're interested, there is a 4-day devotional available here about having a word for the year. I like having a word of the year. It gives me something to focus on. 

I have so much more to share with you, but I'm starting to get exhausted. I hope everyone has had a pleasant start to 2014. Stay safe!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

And all through the house every creature was stirring, but I hope I don't see a mouse. I can't believe that today is Christmas Eve! I feel like I've been pulled in 87 different directions this month and I haven't really been able to soak up the season. That makes me sad. I'm going to try to relax and enjoy having tomorrow off. I have most of my time booked, but hopefully I'll be able to veg out and enjoy spending time with my loved ones. I have to be at work at 5am on Thursday, so that kind of puts a damper on any real evening plans, but maybe that will encourage my resting. Anyway, I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful  and blessed day!

Click here for the link to the printable!

Lucky 13

I have always said that 13 is one of my lucky numbers (along with 3, 7, and occasionally 87), and that is also true for Friday the 13th. I'm not saying that every Friday the 13th is rainbows and unicorns, but generally they turn out to be a good day overall. I'm (sort of) happy to say that today was no different. But I'm also happy that I got a reminder that luck and good fortune don't always look the way we might expect.

Today, my car sounded it's death rattle. It was kind of sudden actually. I went to work without a problem, and even went on a coffee run with no issues. But when I tried to go on my lunch break a few hours later the engine wouldn't turn over. Now, I've left my lights on more times than I care to admit, so I knew it wasn't a dead battery, but it definitely was not starting. I waited a few minutes and tried again to no avail. So I called Amy. (Not that I thought she could physically help me, but I needed to freak out to my bff, yanno?) While I was on the phone with her, I got the car to start, but it was shuddering really badly and made me nervous to drive. Needless to say I turned it back off. Amy kindly agreed to meet me after work and follow me home to make sure I got there safely.

Then I called Greg and cried. I know, emotional manipulation, but I couldn't help it. (Did I mention I woke up at 4:30 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep? My nerves were already fried). He talked me down, then started looking at cars online and calling around. After a bit of back and forth, we decided to go car shopping tomorrow.

The whole drive home I was incredibly nervous. The car shuddered and jerked and jumped. When I finally got home, Amy told me my car was sparking the whole way. Actually, she said something along the lines of  "it looked like you were chain smoking and throwing them out the window." Awesome. God bless her, she's coming to take me to work at 5:30 tomorrow morning, and Greg is picking me up after my shift. I truly am blessed in my friends.

So, how do I consider it  a lucky day? Well, I don't normally leave work during my break. If I had stuck to my usual routine, I wouldn't have known anything was wrong with my car until close to 6pm. At that point Greg wouldn't have been available to call dealerships for me (he had plans to see The Hobbit tonight), and Amy might not have been able to follow me home. Finding out early gave me time to mentally prepare for the idea of buying a car, making car payments, and so on.

It also gave me time to remember to trust God. He has been calling me to trust Him for a while now, and I just haven't been able to do it. No, I have trusted God. I haven't trusted that I was accurately listening to what He was telling me to do. This is a pretty blatant sign that He wants me to trust in His provision. Yesterday, I was sending verses to one of the girls in my small group, and today I was reading them myself. I'll leave you with one that is echoing around my heart today.

Ha... as I posted this, I realized the verse number is 13... Told you it was a good number.