Just One of Those Days

Hi all,

Today was just one of those "off" days, and I knew it would be a long one. I found myself feeling anxious, jittery, stressed, tired and my back was hurting. I read somewhere that if you laugh for 7 seconds within the first 3 minutes of getting up that it will help your mood for the day. While I've been doing it lately, this morning's attempt was rather feeble.

Today's skit was hilarious. They performed "The Selfish Giant" by Oscar Wilde. The neighborhood has some very musically gifted house parents, who provided background music and great sound effects. The acting was wonderful, and one small mis-speak made for a hilarious moment (the Giant said he was going to knock down the trees with the children in them, instead of the fence!). Also, there was lots of fluttering around, and one of the male co-workers really got into it. Surprisingly graceful, I must admit.

However, this cut the morning short and made it more miserable by raining steadily all day. I hate being wet. Ugh. We had time for a quick potato run, and then I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies. A little baking therapy to try to throw the funk I was in. Housemom told me to make myself a nice glass of tea and relax, after some deep breathing I was definitely in a better space.

Lunch was at the cafe for me today, and was essentially leftovers from Friday night. Which means that they charged 20 a plate for that food (which mainly consisted of white rice). Insane.

I had a doctor's appointment today, which probably caused some of the stress. Because, really, who likes going to the doctor? I'm curious to try some natural supplements for skin and digestive health and so I'm now taking various things. I've had such mixed success with antibiotics that I'm willing to keep an open mind and give it a go.

Afterwards I was at the co-op, where I managed to work through the day. I knew my patience wasn't doing so hot and felt kind of shaky and fragile (emotionally and physically) the entire time. By keeping busy and limiting my exposure to Connie (and some good co-worker support) I made it through. I've also had some good downtime tonight because most of the house is at a gathering.

I'm not sure what brought on the funk, but I'm sure the rain isn't helping. I'm getting enough sleep I know, so that's probably not it. I suspect it's a build up of allergies, a slight cold, juggling the house with 3 co-workers, some internal changes, the work situation stress and the annoying gloomy and ever-present rain. However, I know that the sun has to shine sometime and that this week with the festivities will pass as well.

I'm concentrating on looking forward to making the fish for this Friday (hurrah for restaurant experience), the promised sunshine, performing our skit, stitch 'n bitch tonight, and hanging out with people I like.

Additionally, everyone should watch "Food Inc" it will blow your mind.

Hope all is well,
Steph

Language Discombobulation

Hi all,
During the 7th grade I made use of a new word I'd learned over the summer "Discombobulated" (confused/mixed up). I used it casually (and with the correct pronunciation, Nate) in conversation and endured a day of hell from a classmate who at first thought I'd insulted him, and then couldn't find it in the dictionary and then accused me of both making it up and (?) reading the dictionary. Ahh, junior high. However, I have digressed...

I Dreamed a Dream...
Last night where I found myself back in Regensburg. It was confusing with people dropping randomly, and going to random events. I think my poor brain is so overloaded in hearing all this Turkish, that it's sending me back to Bayern, where I couldn't understand Bavarian. Or, it could be that I'm so excited to go and visit Regensburg that I'm escaping to it in my dreams! Could be a long time until December...!

Language Abuse
Today I was working with K with some flashcards. His mom told me they're learning about school things, so she weeded through a flash card set they have and gave me about 15 to work on with him. He didn't really want to at first, but gained interest when I told him he could teach me the Turkish word equivalent. His eyes lit up and for the first 10 minutes he was hooked. However, one time, after failing again to correctly pronounce the Turkish word, he got an evil gleam in his eye. On the next word, he couldn't keep a straight face as he told me the Turkish word...and then he told me a different one. I said "I don't think so..." and he collapsed giggling. His mother agreed that I should probably double check words with G from now on...lol.

As American As...
Chocolate chip cookies! HM managed to find the ingredients (or as close to as possible...their chocolate chips are shaped a bit differently and they use vanilla sugar instead of extract, and a dry brown sugar...) except the baking soda. Never fear, I brought my own! I did forget measuring cups, but I'm on that. Anyhow, I made the dough today, and so they're ready to bake tomorrow. (It's a trick I learned from a great nytimes article. Using butter gives it the best taste, but usually causes them to be really runny. Refridgerating them at least 24 hours - though 36 is optimal I think - causes them to absorb the butter better and gives a better texture!)

Anyhow, that's about it for now...
Hope all is well,
Steph