February 5th

There has been a lot going on lately. And in order to not overwhelm myself, I figure I might just tell you guys our current weekly schedule and relate from there. There's just been a lot lately.

Let me start by saying MY HOUSE IS CURRENTLY A MESS due to this crazy always-active lifestyle! My poor boy never gets a chance to sit down! Okay- schedule.

I'mma start with Monday. Monday he works all day, I work at noon, he picks me up at five, we go home. It's our only day so far that we have actually had a chance to chill when people aren't asking when we're available. It's the day for grocery running, for pickups and for meetups. This Monday we're having our first family book club. Atlantean and I have been really speeding through this 400-page book, and it's been hard to set aside time, but being the good sport he is, we made it work!

Tuesday he works all day, I work at noon, he picks me up at five, we go home. We have about two hours to ourselves before he has to go to school and stays til 8-9. I stay home.

Wednesday he works all day, I work at noon, he picks me up at five, we go home. The exact same thing - that night he has school at 7:00, we have two hours, he comes home late. I stay home.

Thursday he works all day, I work at noon, he picks me up at five, we go home. This night is actually rehearsal for the Joseph play we are currently in! Our first rehearsal was this week, and we learned disco moves for Go, Go Joseph! Being a soprano in this play is really rough...

Friday he works all day, I work at noon, he picks me up at five, we go home. Friday is D&D night! I am actually currently going to DM soon!!!

Saturdays we  have our self-reliance class at 10 - and we were going to take ballroom dance classes at night, but I realized we needed a night to schedule things with, and he's already doing this play for me. So I guess we'll drop that unless we have the time, energy, or think about it on some Saturday night (so never)

That is our SUPPOSEDLY USUAL schedule. But things change. Like how I have play I want to go to on Friday that I want to go to, so we have to move D&D to Saturday this week, or how I want to be in Potiphar's court rehearsals which are on Tuesday which I'll have to look into getting a ride to. This Friday we had a funeral, and I had to work all day Thursday to be able to go. Just stuff like that.

Dinner has been a fiasco! I had three meals planned for this week! And I don't understand how preserving/freezing food works, so I accidentally froze the chicken before I pulled it out to make my chicken sandwiches! So I had to reschedule all my meals and then forgot other ingredients and just Ai chihauhau. I want to be a good wife and cook meals, but time and knowledge are required! And I'm not very good at improvising when things don't go perfectly yet with food. So we'll see how that goes. I'm still  just going a recipe at a time through my old Campbell's book (my first cookbook I got for Christmas years ago when I was very concerned I wouldn't learn to cook) so far I've done okay. For D&D I made chicken sandwiches and while the bread was super crumbly and crunchy and I learned how to grill chicken for the first time! (Using Jinn's stovetop grill!) I actually think the boys enjoyed it quite well! And that's what I like to see :) (because I love those boys) But just making up meals for Atlantean can be hard sometimes. It's rough.

We also helped Pixie's family move this Saturday! But instead of actually being helpful, I helped organize Pixie's room and then laid on the floor with her and nearly took a nap! Turns out their ward had already helped them a lot and we had very little to do. We walked out of their with a full blown shelf, two bags of freezer food, two tins of muffins and NINE bags of new clothing, some of which I'm wearing today. It's been my new hobby this week to sort through all those clothes! New FREE clothes! I've been thanking Pixie over text now and again. I'm just really glad to have some new stuff and not to have to go buy it! But this is definitely going to call for a serious revamp of my closets, etc. I don't have the space for all of it. After I get basic chores done, I'll start working on that huge project (cuz like I said - my house is a MESS and needs some love)

For Atlantean's project in school, we went and interviewed the guy who runs the escape room across the street, since I like simulations and want to know the market. It was cool. We got to watch him set up the room as we chatted with him and he told us some pretty confidential stuff. I don't know if I like/trust him, but it was a cool experience :) My family might want to go there, but Atlantean and I are concerned the owner won't let us go into the room since we've seen some secret compartments, etc.

It was also Oni's birthday this weekend (Atlantean's friend) so he came over on Friday night (when I was expected to be gone at the funeral til late in the night) and came over and played some games (card and video) with Atlantean. I felt like Atlantean had a good time, he was joking and laughing. I took a nap, and he woke me up to ask if he wanted to go somewhere. I suggested an Asian/Korean sandwich place across the street and Oni didn't mind. We went there, and Atlantean bought two things while Oni bought one, and I nibbled off Atlantean's plate. Unfortunately, this meant that when I nibbled (or in this case, took a huge bite out of) a jalapeno in Atlantean's sandwich! I didn't realize for a while why it was so spicy until the owner came around filling our cups with water and explained curtly to me about the jalapeno. He showed me where it was and how to take it out, and I just sat there with my tongue out, panting for the next couple minutes til the fire subsided. His timing was almost comical, but perfect and well-needed. I am not a fan of spicy food, but I totally took an entire bite out of a jalapeno, and while this may be a small feat for many of you, that was my first time. Even when Atlantean ate the rest of that half of the sandwich, he admitted it was much spicier than the half he'd had.
That night, we went and saw The Greatest Showman. And if I'm honest - I WAS impressed. I'm learning things bout Atlantean though that I'll discuss in the second paragraph from this one. We listened to the music the next day. I really enjoyed the look of many of the scenes, the dancing was good, and the music was modern, and I think it's about darn time that we embraced modern music into musicals, not that it already hasn't been happening. Oni just complained that Hugh Jackman can't sing, but I really don't think he did bad at all! I could even point out a few bands that have lead singers that sound very similar! I enjoyed myself very much and would like that show for Christmas. I also appreciated how little conflict there was, as weird as that sounds. I liked the plot - as simple as it was. Entertaining and pleasant show :)

At church, we went into the nursery for the first time last Sunday, and we think we did pretty great. It is a pretty cushy calling, I'm realizing, but I think it's great practice and exposure. We did have some fighting over toys, but the lady who runs the nursery is not only really nice and my Visiting Teacher, but is also really good with kids, and I learned a couple things just watching her. Atlantean is concerned because he swung a little girl around, and heard her wrist pop. The parents said they had to pop it back in and that there was nothing to worry about, but Atlantean's still worried she'll be scared of him, or have permanent damage in her wrist, bless his heart. Then this next Sunday - not only will be in the nursery again, but we will be talking AND singing in sacrament! Ai chihauhau! I don't know if I've ever performed a 15-minute talk in sacrament meeting and I'm a little nervous since my practical assignment skills from school might be getting rusty.

The shows I've been watching lately are Little Shop of Horrors this morning (I got to the part where Seymour gets eaten. I don't know if that's where it ends, but I paused it so I could walk to work. This morning was so pathetic. I got up with Atlantean, so pretty early, tried vainly to start a different DVD which refused to go to it's main menu, and then started watching Little Shop of Horrors because I'm a musical buff and I've never seen it before. So I watched it for a little bit, crawled into bed, and fell asleep for more than an hour when I intended it to be a mere 20-minute nap. Why am I always so tired??) and Chocolat with Atlantean. I thought it would be a passionate romance, but there was only one minor sex scene and then the rest of the main plot had to do with the people she influences with her chocolate, and overall it's a really good show! Atlantean wanted chocolate afterward (as I predicted) and he made brownies. But he also got extremely aggravated at the main badguy and all of the twisted perversion he uses in his reasoning with the church and religion. I thought his end was fitting (he went crazy since he was fasting and attacked her chocolate decorations in the store, but started eating them when he realized how hungry he was) I really kinda like it when Atlantean gets mad. It's kinda ... attractive to see him so protective of people. And he's realizing lately why he likes superhero movies more than dramas - it's because he knows the superhero will win and he doesn't get worried (or dare I say, as invested) in the characters.

Regarding school - I'm not sure I want to go back. Or even think about going back yet. I'm putting that on hold. I missed it at first, but I'm getting used to life without it.

My new years goals are doing thirty sit-ups everyday and reading the Book of Mormon everyday, and so far I have been successful!


Things that have been rough:
Preparing dinner
Getting through library DVDs without wasting my life or getting fined
Keeping on top of Self-Reliance class, not to mention other time-consuming goals that can only be performed at home
Not killing Atlantean or giving up on this play
Even thinking about helping Atlantean get through his homework.

So yeah. That's my life.
~Nymph