The Lesson Plans of Tomorrow
Maternity Leave
So begins the countdown for maternity leave. Our first child has a little less than 2 months while its kind of scary and exciting–I am definitely getting close to more doctors appointments (3-4x/week) and trying to get rest.
So as my leave approaches, my OCD-persona has started to kick in trying to figure out a schedule that will keep my brain going but not stress me out. So I decided I’m going to make a “home school” for myself so I can spend some time each day readings/writing and learning something so I don’t get mental bored. Or tired of the TV. Or sucked into a whole show like Game of Thrones for three weeks or something.. (Not saying those are entirely bad…) plus being diabetic a schedule such as this will keep me on track with eating and sugar monitoring.
So, here it goes:
Between 7a-9am: wake up, doing morning tests and have breakfast (what’s nice is I won’t feel rushed and can make whatever I want but at the same time need to be ready.I only have one appointment during this hour so it will free up my day for other things and keep me on track.
9a-12pm: religious studies. Yeah, I know most people are like “what the hell?” but-what I mean by this is get out my Greek and Hebrew and get back into my theological studies topics. I have several doctors appointments during these hours, including “sitting” appointments where I can do some reading.I also might go searching for audio books and alternative methods of learning during this time.
11a-2pm; lunch, more monitoring and general relaxing. This will be the most flexible time since I have appointments during these hours and will have need the time to eat. Also, t is possible Shawn will have lunch himself so we shall see what’s going on.
1pm-4pm:Book Stuff. Either spending an hour writing in my book or reading our book group’s choice for the month. Trust me–I will have plenty to do. I wanted flexibility here too because of my appointments (I have several at 1:15-2pm)
evenings: spending time with shawn and working on meals. That’s pretty much not going to change.
Now I know you previous on leave mothers are laughing and giggling–knowing I may never get to any of this depending on my appointments and my level of energy. I may clean one day instead… in spurts of 20-30 minutes and take several breaks as we need to do some deep cleaning around the house. I also need to finish Kiddo’s room. I might spending 2-3 days just working on laundry. And I do NOT plan on stressing myself out so if one day I do nothing–that’s perfect fine too. I’ve realized getting too stressed out is not a good idea.
But’s its nice to be optimistic, right? 😀
Going local
Being from California and having gone to school in the Midwest, I have had the very unique experience of having access to locally grown products. I am a huge supporter of the local business, will pay extra to enjoy something I know was handmade or conjured nearby and am trying to find ways to support the local economy.
So I thought I would share some of finds in my new local area of Rancho Cucamonga:
1) Breweries: there are two breweries in Rancho near our house and they serve different kinds of beer so I can enjoy each location equally. Plus no one needs an excuse to drink more beer 😉 Rancho also is the home of CA’s first winery…yes, look it up, Napa’s got it all wrong- we were here first. (Joseph Fillipi.)
2) farmers market: one day I will make it but Terre Vista near my house has a Saturday market, which is unique. And the garden shopping mall has one on Thursdays that includes a local bakery.
3) local business: I meet someone at one do the brewery who not only makes natural soaps and lotions but she buys dog food locally from Redlands residence that sells grain free/healthy dog food for less than Petco or Petsmart. And he wants to do this as a business model–sell to local feed stores and pet stores. And the cost is cheaper to support a local guy. Can’t beat that, right?
4) Local restaurants: I did try to eat at the local places more in Orange County, but Rancho Cucamonga has several more options than Anaheim. Including a high quality diner walking distance from our house. While a fast restaurant and a major chain are good every once and a while, I really love the couple pizza places (including Sam Biaggo’s) and local dives better.
5) Rancho has a community garden. Grant it I have issues with the way community garden is organized, choosing to not support this feels wrong.
6) The local courts and community offices are not in a downtown area that no one travels to. They are actually very assessable from Classic Route 66. By the way–the history of the area is par none. And doesn’t including eliminate orange groves to fill in a mouse house 😉 I can go to jury duty 5 minutes away (which is a good thing), and when I had to file a police report, i didn’t have to go to an unsafe area of town to do it. The county offices are also available nearby because we’re in a more populated area.
7) mountain towns: Rancho is near big bear, mountain high, and mount baldy. We’re also a short drive from Yucaipa for apple picking and closer to Vegas and downtown LA without having to take the dreaded 5 north. In fact, we can go to universal studios in less than an hour. Pleasantly fun even though I am a Orange County never go to Los Angeles if I can help it person.
Creative Juices following
It has been a while since I have felt creativity. Maybe yes because this week I went back to church choir or maybe it’s because I connected back with my spirit and with God. Who knows.
You see, I used to be a traditionalist. The one who only read original books, original story lines and wanted to buy every original piece of art. To put it in Star Wars terms–I idolized episodes 4-6 while loathing 1-3. But all of that is beginning to gradually change.
First, I have realized how intermingled cosplay and creativity are. It’s not about duplication what has already come out, but building and forming something completely and uniquely new. And this has always been my guide since I was a child–to want to invent or create something completely new. Which is why is started in traditionalist creative arts.
But tonight I read this comic. Yes-_I mean seriously took a moment to read and understand all the pictures. Originally what caught my attention in this series was the tombstone to the left: it shows characters I know to be from other universes. Other stories. At the most 50 years ago. But definitely not 1872. So I decided to indulge a little….and discovered the wonder that is fan fiction/ unique creativity.
Trust me–the names are just coincidental. But it’s not the first comic or storyline. In fact, look at Star Wars, Star Trek, or even Shakespeare. There are themes, repeats, reorganizations and bonds between some of our most beloved characters. And yet we consider them all different, original, unique.
So the next time you see a sequel, prequel, a whatever-quel, dig a little deeper into your mind and explore the world in a new way, maybe with a little more creativity under your belt.
Thoughts…
tonight shawn and I saw the movie Tomorrowland. It’s a beautiful movie with a great message. But I would just like to leave you with these thoughts:
1) dreamers rule the world. Think outside the box!!
2) why is the future lack emotion? Haven’t they figured it out that emotional-less always gets distracted and emplodes on itself? Just saying (my alternative universe is based on the premise that emotions are valuable and reveal true humanity. Technology is used to advance the stabilization of the emotional well-being.
3) its 2015…where are our flying cars people? (Shawn said this best) that being said-where are the jet packs for everyone and the automated travel?
4) what’s with robots? Seriously-haven’t we learned robots can rule the world? Geez….
February follies
Sunday begins a new month-February. A month of jammed holidays-including the candy inducing and card exploding Valentine’s Day, sometimes Chinese New Year, President’s Day and (occasionally) a leap year. However, the season of lent typically begins this month-with Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday leading through the Palm Sunday, the first “last” Supper, Good Friday & Saturday and finally with Amazing Easter!
February for me starts with some new items on the agenda to go along with lent. I have decided to dedicate my lenten time to a Truine God by structuring things into three main ideas. I will be working on my over well-being (which equates to weight loss, feeling whole both spiritually and mentally as well as general overall “goodness” if it can be explained that way.) Here is how its going to look on paper:
1) Weight Loss–work on losing those 10-15 lbs by Easter. Actually, this will go with the original idea of Lent and “giving up” something for Lent. I am contemplating giving up the bad stuff–the highly processed sugar, soda, sugary juice, stuff like that. But i have two weeks to define this. I have also considering see what it is like to go Gluten-Free or Vegetarian (no vegan, sorry-I’m worried about its affects on my medication.) I know several of my friends who are on strict diets and for some reason, acknowledging that they have a dietary restrictions is where I feel I can walk with them for a bit. A few years ago (2013) I decided to go Kosher mostly because of a discussion I had with a messianic Jewish friend. It was not easy. Shawn and I traveled to Walt Disney World and he had reservations at the Seafood Restaurant “The Coral Reef.” We also ate at a fancy French restaurant in Epcot (the little one up the stairs…the expensive one.) Both of these places had a lot of shellfish-something definitely NOT Kosher-and I struggled with picking something that still sounded appetizing yet was appropriate. It gave me new appreciation for that diet. And it helped me eat better. So that’s step one.
I will also be tying in “doing something for others.” A fairly new but definitely appropriate Lenten practice. This may sound silly-but Scout and I started dog training. Yep-you can teach an old dog new tricks. Scout is 5 years old, learning that yipping and jumping in circles is not acceptable behavior and hopefully getting some lessons in manors. This helps everyone, right? (If you have been to my house you may say yes.) I’m also trying to figure out where to get back involved with rescues. And that circles around back to health and walking. I also want to give a little more, pray a little harder, and loves my friends a little deeper. ;-). I also want to be able to stand against wrong doing, love justice and yet know what Gods patience and timing looks like.
2) The next idea is more along the lines personal development. To work on yourself. An idea that Lent is supposed to be a time of self-reflection, spiritually speaking. I want to work in daily readings, studies, something. I have talked about this before, talked about doing it. But suddenly I have an urge to do this. It’s something I would love to practice with any children if we are so blessed to receive any.
The second item is thinking about my career and my life. I love working for Auto Club, but many people know I have a degree in Theology and while it can relate to the world of customer service and insurance, both are not my dual passion. I believe more so that God is calling me somewhere and yet calling me to be the best at whatever job I am in-which he has made clear is currently claims adjusting. Hence why I work hard in insurance. But every time I look at my books, think of my love for theology-i get depressed and go right into the rut I felt before attending seminary. If some of you don’t know–I struggled for close to 2 years on deciding if I should go to seminary and when I should go back. I missed everything about being theological. So my personal goal is to get started on looking at related jobs to this field and what it takes to get there. Thanks to my choir director at church I got a lot of encouragement to start looking and I realize that every position I wanted to apply for requires a Ph.D. (deep sigh). But I will leave that for another blog.
3) the last item is staying connected and devoted. I want to make it to church more often (I live 45 minutes from church so it’s actually a serious commitment.) I wanted to be a perfect attendee but I’m trying one week at a time. Also it’s about attending and prioritizing the right things.
So-its written down.
I am writing parts of this during church but the pastor just mentioned something that I think definitely goes with this whole blog
Jesus is Lord, and i AM all in! I am yours!
He will be your bucket and bring the rope He will give you life!
Musings of An AfterThought 