Life As of Late

So I hope to get a few blog posts done in the next week or so...because I've been thinking of several things I want to update/share. But for now I'm just going to do an overall share "update."

--The term is over at my old institution--woohoo! After an especially rough term, I debated shutting the door on that original position, but an appreciation luncheon a few weeks back led to multiple refreshing and encouraging conversations with my current and prior supervisors at that college; which made me remember how much I truly do love the student body and the institution. I'm staying on but cutting back to one class each term next year.

--Two more weeks at the new institution and I've been working on scheduling an event for student presentations, grading assignments, some program items, responding to emails and concerns, setting up the next placements, prepping for Tanzania, and the lists go on. I have my official interview for the full-time slot next week and then we'll see...

--I bought my tickets for summer work travels...and ended up in this fiasco of a situation due to one of the links/bookings I went through via  re-route from kayak.com. It took five hours on the phone and multiple calls between my credit card company and the booking company to more or less rectify that situation and I'm still not sure if I totally have one ticket or where the charge for it went.... but in good news...I'll be in Tanzania for 3.5 weeks total, will spend a weekend in Munich with my host sister, and then will spend a week in Ireland! I was debating between Italy, Greece or Ireland. I decided to go with Ireland cause it's the one place in Europe that I definitely would like to see in my lifetime AND when I checked prices it actually was the better deal (even with an additional connecting flight!). I still need to plan the week that I'm there...but I'll get to it.

--I took care of the tire rotation.....only to discover that I needed to replace a part...that had a cost of almost $1700. Oh man....so yea, that car will still get paid off by the end of this year, but that part is delayed for a bit...and I'm hopeful this sucker lasts me another 100k miles at least :) I'll also have to replace the spark plugs at some point later this summer or fall, but everything else "seems" to be running alright. :)

--I'm not looking forward to this half marathon. :) I have no doubt that I CAN do it. I'm just starting to realize that I don't know that I WANT to do it. Running isn't as fun for me as it used to be, but I'm still glad that the half is motivating me to get back after some longer distance. Ironically I just sent a link to my gal Christina about running a half next spring in a National Park I've been desiring to get to...so maybe I'm not totally done juuuuust yet :)

--I also finally went in to see the doctor. Really I had a list of about 6 items I wanted to touch on but I went in for 4. After a week of trying to get malaria pills, I was able to finally get the prescription. I had my wrist x-rayed because I'd been battling with pain for about a month and couldn't put weight on it. I had a PAP cause it'd been waay too long since the last one. And then I also had two wonky moles on my back looked at. I'm also still coughing after getting sick in DC...but I've had issues with "weak" lungs most my life so this is pretty standard.

--One of the other issues I had thought about talking over with the doctor was just a general lack of energy & motivation, but over the last 2 weeks things have been a bit better. I spent a few weeks granting myself down time and I had a mini-staycation over the Memorial weekend. I've been getting better about shutting work off...and I'm soaking up these next few part-time weeks as much as possible. I also was given an antibiotic for another issue they discovered at the doctor's appt and that antibiotic didn't permit alcohol use. So I also stopped my coffee habit and decided to stop eating excess sugar all at the same time. Tomorrow will be two full weeks without any of the three items. I also added in drinking extra water, cross training with some yoga and walking the dogs, monitoring my sleep hours, eating solid meals, AND daily supplements: Vit D, calcium, fish oil, and b complex. During these last two weeks, I've had a MUCH better mood, more overall energy, increased motivation levels, my skin has cleared up, and my mind is just operating better in general (both mood wise and with things like processing & recall). I'm hopeful this keeps up because it would be great to go into this summer's travels already feeling full & restored!

--Oh and the other big thing is that last month I was doing a 30 days of prayer challenge....that I'm continuing on with for the most part into this month. I'm truly finding that when I spend time just talking to the dude upstairs for a bit every day...that life just goes a bit easier. It's not smoother per se, there are still unfortunate things in this world and still bumps to life (like $1700! :)), but I also just trust a little bit more that things will work out. He's got this...we've got this...and I also am realizing yet again, just how blessed that I have been...and continue to be.

--And I also have a summer houseshare set up! Ironically after the surprise costs, I'd thought about just subletting for full or half price in order to input some more money....but then I decided to go ahead with my original Plan B....so the student who stayed here for a few weeks last summer post-Tanzania will be here in two weeks (as his current lease will be up). He'll stay on through the summer taking care of the house, yard, plants, and Major while I'm gone...and then he can decide once I'm back at what point he wants to transition back downtown. He's a pretty quiet guy so I don't forsee any issues and I'm just so grateful to have someone to look after the place (and cat) while I'm gone. I also know that he'll enjoy the raised beds...and having a full house to himself.

I'm sure there is more....but some of those will be covered in coming posts!