ups and downs

we have a new light at our house. with a motion sensor! it is a wonderful addition to our home. my dad and sweet p hooked it up. go handyguys!! not much thanks to lowe's. they're kinda dim there. pun intended. i love the light. you can't tell from the picture, but the globe looks, to me, rather retro. it totally belongs on this 1920s house. the curly-q light bulb inside is definitely modern. ;-) and green... as in environmentally. not like glowing radioactive waste green.

i was just starting to shop for a new sofa (or get the current sofa reupholstered) when sweet p lost his job. so the sofa will wait until we're in the cash flow again. he is job hunting. and/or trying to get back into school. again. this is stressful, but at the same time i feel peace about it. he was so, so stressed at the elementary school. it just wasn't working out like it should have. and now it is over and he can move on to something else. i think that is where the peace is from. there was much more tension before.

i do have some concern about job prospects in general with the state of the economy and how many companies are closing their doors and laying people off. just constant. my heart aches for the people like us who don't get to choose, just get told "it's over". my heart aches for all the dads who are looking for work to feed their families. and probably moms too. and my heart aches for my country, which is the best one in the world, but is operating in such a wounded stagger. will she be able to regain her former glory? knowing a little of bible prophecy, i fear probably not. i fear our days are numbered.

and i fear i should be chatting about more of the ups instead of all the downs lately, eh?

the other thing i want to work on in the house is curtains. i hate mini-blinds, but i know i will never change sweet p in that regard. he has valid reasons for using them. i just don't like them. and he won't change me in that regard. he probably finds curtains superfluous, but i think adding curtains in some rooms will make them feel cozier & homier. the curtains & sofa are relatively simple things that i think will make a nice difference in the house. if anyone wants to help me with colors/textures/styles, come on over. i'm totally a novice. the other side of this problem is that he might find a job out of the area and we'll be moving. so, you know, i'm not in too much hurry to do anything. i'll look for the right items at the right price and do a little at a time. or wait and do the work on a new house in another city. i'm flexible... it's all in God's hands, really.

so my weight is up, which is frustrating. and my activity level has been down. i need to work out more, but i've just been feeling so frazzled and tired. but working out generally helps me feel more energized, so even though it seems counter-intuitive, i really need to get my butt in gear and get running more. today i didn't run, and it was a wise choice because it was raining and temps in the 40s. no, i didn't know when i was laying in bed being lazy that it was raining, but i felt justified once i became aware. ha. hmm.

school is going ok for me. i was pretty lost in accounting class this week, which is probably because i skipped last week to work the elections. maybe that was a bad idea. i hope i can re-read the chapter and plow through the homework and grasp it better than i was on tuesday. ugh. so far so good -- i hate to "lose it" at this point! only a few weeks to go in the semester!

that's all for now. time to go pay the piper. i have no idea what that means. i have to go stand on a scale and 'fess up to how i've been living and try, starting right now, to make better choices. this beautiful girl from NYC posted an amazingly inspirational blog recently. even if the meeting tonight is not inspirational, i did get a good dose already from reading her post. so i'm going to hang in there and keep working on my goals.