Long days

The past couple of days have been physically, spiritually, and emotionally draining in so many ways. I had jury selection on Monday at the courthouse and was chosen for a sexual battery case that was held on Wednesday and Thursday. It was a long two days sitting for hours on end. I won’t go into all the details, but it was gut wrenching. My heart broke for two girls. Two girls who are now women and still live with the pain of something terrible that happened to each of them 17 years ago. One was repeatedly raped and the other ran to save herself and has lived with the guilt of leaving her cousin behind. Their testimonies were so real. . . and as tears ran down cheeks, I felt like I lived just a little bit of that night with them. So all I could do was pray. Pray that God would help me and five other ordinary people make the right decision when it came to this man’s life. . . and closure for these girls. In the end, I truly believe we did just that. We found him guilty on 4 counts of sexual battery.

Today I have very little patience. I have a headache and feel like I could be getting sick. My boss gave me a project to do, and I wish I could just throw it in the garbage. I think I deserve a raise for not giving in to my temptations. In the grand scheme of things, I am truly thankful to even have a job.

Whiney Jessica ends here.

Oh, Happy Halloween! It has creeped up on me this year. (Creeped, get it?) Tonight if I feel okay, we’re planning on going to the Drive-In to see a scary movie. Since I just recently found out that Kevin has lived in Lakeland 30 years and never been to the Silver Moon Drive-In. . . I’ve been anxiously awaiting our trip there. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend Halloween night!

It’s so beautiful outside today and all I want to do is enjoy it. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to do just that!

Weekend recap

Laying in bed with the laptop, typing a blog while my husband reads a book. . .we’re a modern family, I tell ya. We had a nice time over at his parents house tonight. We were able to eat the steak we missed out on a couple of months ago when we were on our diet, along with some delicious pecan pie I made. We’ve also been able to spend a little bit of time with Kevin’s brother, Keith, his wife Juda, and new baby Caleb. That has been fun having a little baby around! And look at Kevin. . .I’m thinking he’s a natural. This was a picture from his photo shoot with Caleb!

Saturday night we had some really good sushi at Amura with our friends Cassie, Richard, & Cale in Orlando. Afterwards, we stopped by Whole Foods Market and walked around dreaming about what it’d be like to shop there on a weekly basis. (Maybe not Kevin, but I definitely was!) It just has everything I need. Don’t get me wrong, I love Publix. I  love that each week I go I seem to find another new organic product. . . but it still doesn’t compare. It doesn’t compare to whole wheat organic pie crust, Seventh Generation toilet paper and laundry detergent, and 5 different kinds of organic apples to choose from. FIVE! Life would never be boring if I had those things just 5 minutes away.

Tomorrow I have the joy of waking up extra early to make it to the courthouse by 8am for Jury Duty. If you know me at all, you know I’m not one of those people who finds it very exciting to be around complete strangers and get get paid $15 a day instead of my usual wage. I’m sure it’s pretty safe to say that most of us probably don’t enjoy it though. I guess it’s just one of those things and I’m really trying to look at the positive side. I might be able to put a dent in the book I’ve been reading, there’s this awesome BBQ restaurant by the courthouse, AND I won’t be officially “working”. That’s just always a good thing. I’m hoping my update to follow will consist of only positive things to say about my day at Jury Duty.

Responsibilities

What is with today? Before noon I had already made more blunders then I usually do in a whole day. I’m sure it has to do with being the middle of the week, but I just can’t seem to snap out of this funk. I woke up in plenty of time to have a good head start on my always running behind-not enough cup holders for cereal, coffee, and OJ in the car-killed the Volkswagen battery, had to take the Volvo-rush. I showed up to work at 8:13. That’s my story for the past week or so. I was at the grocery store last night and I felt like everything and everyone was moving in slow motion. As frustrated as I was, I think I finally started to see that it’s not everyone else. It’s me. I’m going too fast. I can’t explain why I’ve been so busy lately. . . I just have. Maybe I don’t have THAT much to do. . . all those things just have to be done perfectly. Little, simple, day to day responsibilities. I like to call them responsibilities over tasks because tasks just don’t feel as grown up-ish to me. Anyway, at the store I bought a new cereal. I eat a lot of whole wheat things, but I’ve been feeling like I need more fiber in the AM, so I bought All Bran EXTRA Fiber. 50% of your daily recommended intake. Much healthier then the Honey Nut Cheerios I had been consuming the past week (but not nearly as good!).

In my morning mad rush to actually be on time, I set my cereal ON THE SEAT in the car since my cup holders were busy doing their job holding my coffee and OJ nicely. I got out to grab my ipod from the VW (knowing how much worse my morning could have been without tunes in the car), got back in and started backing out completely oblivious to my Bran Flakes still sitting in my passenger seat. It was a big fiber-tastic mess. Typing this story out also tells me I need to slow down. Eating cereal in a manual driven car probably isn’t the safest thing in the world. For once in my life I was thankful for my never been diagnosed, but am fully convinced I’m lactose intolerant, belly. Soy milk doesn’t smell anything like regular milk when it’s spilled and left to sit until you have something more then a paper towel from the bathroom at work to clean it up with.

So here’s to hoping that I don’t continue my day in this streak. Wish me luck!

New shoes and such

I went to Fit Niche to buy new running shoes last night and of course couldn’t wait to get home and try them out. What a difference! The Asics I’ve been wearing were purchased online for a good price in hopes that they’d fit okay but ended up being incredibly too tight and had very little support. The Mizuno’s I just bought make my feet feel like the road beneath consist of fluffy clouds that consumed too many yummy marshmallows. Maybe now I’ll be able to finish 3 miles without feeling like my toes are broken and my shins are split into tiny little pieces. . . that’ll be nice!

My friend, Anna, just completed the Chicago Marathon in 4.5 hours. I’m not saying I could ever push myself hard enough to be able to achieve anything like that. . . but it is definitely something to strive for. Right now, I’m just trying to become a runner. Running until I feel like I’m going to die. . . and then not stopping. I don’t really have anything to stop me now. Just me and my Mizunos. Oh, and the overly perfect fall weather we’re getting right now. I think with that combination, it can be done!

Fall day

What a lovely day it has been! Unfortunately, we had to spend a good chunk of it getting the duplex ready for our next tenant. . .but I was still able to enjoy the cool breeze coming in through the windows.

Right now I’m sitting in my living room chair looking around my house and feeling this huge sense of pride. There’s not a clump of hair or dirt to be found and it smells of cinnamon brooms and fresh laundry. Unfortunately, the yard didn’t get mowed and Milo didn’t get a bath. . .ohh, and the toilets didn’t get scrubbed and the weeds didn’t get pulled. . .but we do what we can. I take a whole lot of pride in my house though and I think Kevin would say the same. Even when I rented an apartment, I tried to respect wherever it was I called home. I’d say the biggest downfall to having rental property is seeing how disrespectful people are of their “home”. What’s even worse is having to clean up that disrespect. Uhhhh. I am very thankful for Kevin though and his decision to buy the duplex back in the day. It’s a good source of income for us that I never want to take for granted, and I will always do what needs to be done (with small amounts of whining) in order to keep that running smoothly.

Now my favorite day of the week is slowly coming to an end. . . and there’s still so much more to be done. Groceries to be bought and clothes to be hung. . .but I guess there’s plenty of time for that stuff. Tonight I will relax with my husband and watch Sarah Palin impersonating Tina Fey on SNL. Thank God for Tivo!

Ouch

That’s how my head has been feeling ever since I went to the chiropractor this morning. I know it’s going to help things long term, but it didn’t help how I feel TODAY. I have a terrible headache. Everything is too loud, overly bright, and incredibly annoying. The doctor said my neck spine doesn’t have quite the curve that it’s supposed to. He said it could be due to my car accident a couple years ago, or something that just never really fully developed when I was a child. It’s a good thing I’m getting it fixed now, seeing how it could have gotten much worse. It’s nice hearing that there has been a reason for the headaches I’ve been getting. . .but it’ll be even nicer when they go away with treatment. I really liked the chiropractor I went to. He was very friendly, explained everything in great detail, and calmed my fears of chiropractors stepping on my back and crushing my spine to pieces!

Oh man, I love my husband! Just as I was writing this he came in and surprised me at work with the sweetest card. It’s kinda-sorta-exactly what I needed today. He can always manage to put this huge smile on my face and make me forget all the bad things going on in the world. He makes me love love.

And now I’m about to go home and put an ice pack around my neck and take a couple extra strength Tylenol. Maybe I’ll even eat bad and not exercise. That will make for a relaxing, fun night! (I’m so old!)

We’re a mess

I’ve been having a not so fun time with my back and neck. It feels like I’ve been in a car accident where someone hit me from behind, but as far as I know. . .that hasn’t happened anytime recent. I can’t figure it out. I’m going to make an appointment with a chiropractor next week, despite my nervousness about doing so. Maybe it’ll help. I’m desperate for some relief, so I’ll try anything at this point.

Today I started going through our guest bedroom closet. Some things got thrown away, some stored away in the attic, and others just stayed put. I guess that closet is meant to store things, but I just can’t handle not being able to walk in to our “walk-in” closet. Tonight I was helping Kevin put some of the stuff away in the attic, when a 20lb dumbell fell on his shoulder. He was standing on the stairs to the attic when the dumbbell rolled right down on him. Poor guy. He’s been icing it ever since. So now, we’re both sore and pathetic watching Saturday night fights.

As I was going through our closet, I came across my wedding dress (and a ton of other wedding stuff!). I’m so confused on what I’m supposed to do with it. I love my dress. It didn’t take very long to find, but when I saw it I knew it was just perfect. It was so me. The bottom is completely dirty and just might have a small red velvet cake stain, but it’s still beautiful. Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with. . .

1. Sell it. That would mean me having to get the dress cleaned which I can’t imagine being cheap. As is I didn’t pay very much for my dress, so I really don’t feel it’d be worth the hassle and money.

2. Make something out of it. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to make things.

3. Store it. Who knows if I’ll ever have a daughter, and chances are the trends will be completely different by then anyway. Why would I really want to spend the money to have something saved in a box? I don’t think so.

4. Trash it! This is my favorite option so far. I’d like to hire a photographer to do a fun photo session of me in my dress jumping into a pool, playing on the beach, or rolling in the mud. How cool would that be? Maybe I’ll do that soon!

I’m open to any other ideas seeing as I don’t really have the extra money right now to do a random photo shoot!