Monday, December 24, 2007
Backwards Christmas
This month has been full of celebrating birthdays, going to showers, doing some Christmas shopping, and working with clients to help them cope over the holidays. It's amazing how for so many people the holidays are just crummy. I've had my share of crumminess, and it takes a lot of strength (usually the kind that comes from the divine) to get through them. I had my clients do a holiday safety plan that my supervisor recommended, which helps them to be aware of situations that could trigger grief and depression and then they write out their healthy coping ideas.
At this time of year I usually am filled with mixed emotions. I have a huge family that loves me that I will miss there in Minnesota this year as I will be on vaca '07 with Amy Mo, Christina, and Laura Rod in California. They are all turning 30 this month and wanted to do something fun. They're letting me go (I am only 28 and 3 months) if I pretend that I'm 30. I'm really excited to go on this trip and do something different. Getting out of the south. Seeing some new stuff. Meeting Jim Johnson a.k.a. Vicky at Alcatraz (10 pts to anyone who knows the movie reference). I've only been to L.A. so I look forward to seeing the new sights in San Diego and San Francisco. Tonight I head to the Morrison's to celebrate Christmas with them. I was telling my aunt Tanya about how my usual tradition was to go with her family for Christmas morning breakfast, but this year I am going with the Morrison's to Waffle House!! So it will be a fun but backwards Christmas since I will be full embracing the southern roots this year.
One of the highlights this months besides getting an opportunity to relax a bit and hang out with people, is playing on a flag football team. My friend Dan organized it. I was soooo stoked because it's a short season that last basically the exact period of time that I am off of school. It's been really fun getting to play outside and I've gotten to meet some fun new people. What a breath of fresh air. Quite literally fresh, when we played last week it was 40 degrees and super windy, but we still managed to win a game.
I've attached a view pictures here to capture all the activities of the past few weeks!
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Things to do now that my semester is over
1. Go to Savage Pizza for a celebratory meal
2. Get my resume up to date
3. Do all of my October/November/December to-do's in Navigator (MTW stuff)
4. Give blood
5. Read "Kite Runner" by Kahled Hosseini and "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl
6. Figure out my bank account
7. Do a word study on different emotions in the Bible
8. Spend time with friends and family
9. Get ready for my Christmas trip to California!!
10. Maybe buy a Christmas present or two
11. Clean the house
12. Exercise
13. Get my bridesmaids dress altered
2. Get my resume up to date
3. Do all of my October/November/December to-do's in Navigator (MTW stuff)
4. Give blood
5. Read "Kite Runner" by Kahled Hosseini and "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl
6. Figure out my bank account
7. Do a word study on different emotions in the Bible
8. Spend time with friends and family
9. Get ready for my Christmas trip to California!!
10. Maybe buy a Christmas present or two
11. Clean the house
12. Exercise
13. Get my bridesmaids dress altered
Friday, December 07, 2007
Thank God
My semester is now over. I feel like I barely made it.
My final today was for my research methods class which has been the nemesis of my counseling educational career. I have lost a lot of blood, sweat, and tears for that class. I know today we were all delirious. I kept telling people that today was Pearl Harbor. I even joked and told Trevor that he probably remembered Pearl Harbor because he was that old. Trevor is not that old. It was a ridiculously hard test, but whatever, it's over.
On my way home from my final today I was thinking, can it be that I only have one semester to go and then I'll have a Master's degree? Whaaaaaaaattttt?
My final today was for my research methods class which has been the nemesis of my counseling educational career. I have lost a lot of blood, sweat, and tears for that class. I know today we were all delirious. I kept telling people that today was Pearl Harbor. I even joked and told Trevor that he probably remembered Pearl Harbor because he was that old. Trevor is not that old. It was a ridiculously hard test, but whatever, it's over.
On my way home from my final today I was thinking, can it be that I only have one semester to go and then I'll have a Master's degree? Whaaaaaaaattttt?
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
When helping hurts
LOL- I always used to say to Gina "when helping hurts, Gina...when helping hurts!!" whenever she was trying to "help" or explain something to me at MTW and it wasn't making any sense. Hilarious. She would always get frustrated and laugh. I have no idea how anyone puts up with me.
So today, I had another "incident" with helping....hurting, I guess. I went to CFA on my lunch break from MARR. The guys are all off-site on Wednesdays, so typically the day is more laid back and you have choices about how to spend your time. I had to make some late-afternoon phone calls that would put me over my hours, so I took an 1 1/2 and went to CFA to eat lunch and work on my take-home final that's due Friday. I had a great lunch and got the final done- score. I got another refill on my Coke Zero (the CFA on Buford Hwy has Coke Zero, how about that) and left.
I was parked really close to the door. As I walked to my car, there was a guy sitting on the ledge outside of the CFA. In hindsight, he may have been sitting on a tipped over newspaper stand. But anyway, I caught his eye and he asked "can you buy me some food?" I was shocked he didn't ask me for money. But he did look homeless. Or poor. Actually, he kind of looked like Brent, with a worn out backpack. Anyway, I said "sure, what would you like?" And his eyes lit up. "Chicken salad." I said ok, and went inside and ordered him a chicken salad sandwich and a water. I realized after I ordered that he may have meant an actual salad. But I comforted myself by thinking he's probably just hungry and would take anything. So I get the food and bring it to him, saying:
"I realized that after I ordered you probably meant the salad and not the sandwich, but I figured it would probably be ok."
He says: "No, I can't eat that, I would throw up."
I say: "You're sure you don't want to eat it."
He says: "No!"
I say: "Do you want the water at least?"
He says: "No"
I say: "Ok, that's fine. Well, I guess I'll keep it and eat it myself." I head into my car. He proceeds to get his stuff and walk into CFA. With what intentions, I don't know.
On my 6 min drive back to MARR I contemplated this situation. I had a $2.45 sandwich and a water and a full Coke Zero in the car. My stomach was already full with my number 2 combo. I did not make a poor person happy as planned. I am not poor, but am happy to eat the sandwich later, now that I have it. I also thought a lot about Kenya, and how the kids there were so happy to get any food, even worm medicine tablets.
It's possible he may have been ill, or not with it cognitively. I don't know. I don't want to judge. But I know that it does happen, with a variety of explanations I'm sure, that even the poor in this country can feel entitled.
Oh well. I left the sandwich accidentally in the fridge at MARR, so I don't know what that makes me. I just hope it's still good tomorrow.
So today, I had another "incident" with helping....hurting, I guess. I went to CFA on my lunch break from MARR. The guys are all off-site on Wednesdays, so typically the day is more laid back and you have choices about how to spend your time. I had to make some late-afternoon phone calls that would put me over my hours, so I took an 1 1/2 and went to CFA to eat lunch and work on my take-home final that's due Friday. I had a great lunch and got the final done- score. I got another refill on my Coke Zero (the CFA on Buford Hwy has Coke Zero, how about that) and left.
I was parked really close to the door. As I walked to my car, there was a guy sitting on the ledge outside of the CFA. In hindsight, he may have been sitting on a tipped over newspaper stand. But anyway, I caught his eye and he asked "can you buy me some food?" I was shocked he didn't ask me for money. But he did look homeless. Or poor. Actually, he kind of looked like Brent, with a worn out backpack. Anyway, I said "sure, what would you like?" And his eyes lit up. "Chicken salad." I said ok, and went inside and ordered him a chicken salad sandwich and a water. I realized after I ordered that he may have meant an actual salad. But I comforted myself by thinking he's probably just hungry and would take anything. So I get the food and bring it to him, saying:
"I realized that after I ordered you probably meant the salad and not the sandwich, but I figured it would probably be ok."
He says: "No, I can't eat that, I would throw up."
I say: "You're sure you don't want to eat it."
He says: "No!"
I say: "Do you want the water at least?"
He says: "No"
I say: "Ok, that's fine. Well, I guess I'll keep it and eat it myself." I head into my car. He proceeds to get his stuff and walk into CFA. With what intentions, I don't know.
On my 6 min drive back to MARR I contemplated this situation. I had a $2.45 sandwich and a water and a full Coke Zero in the car. My stomach was already full with my number 2 combo. I did not make a poor person happy as planned. I am not poor, but am happy to eat the sandwich later, now that I have it. I also thought a lot about Kenya, and how the kids there were so happy to get any food, even worm medicine tablets.
It's possible he may have been ill, or not with it cognitively. I don't know. I don't want to judge. But I know that it does happen, with a variety of explanations I'm sure, that even the poor in this country can feel entitled.
Oh well. I left the sandwich accidentally in the fridge at MARR, so I don't know what that makes me. I just hope it's still good tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
It works
Sometimes when I'm writing in my clients files at the end of the night I want to write NEWSFLASH: my client is getting better!!!
Monday, December 03, 2007
Zap
As I have previously reported on this blog, you can find anything having to do with dealing with cats on the internet.
My third main trial with my cat Sox continues to be her crazy drive to run out the front door. I thought I had her pretty well trained by yelling "no" at her and then squirting her radically with water from the spray bottle. But it seems like none of these tactics have had long lasting effects.
I spent last weekend relaxing at Amy Mo's cabin. When she dropped me off on Sunday afternoon, Jamie was coming out of the door to go with Nathan somewhere. Sox immediately ran out and ran down the sidewalk. This has been like the millionth time this has happened in the past couple of weeks so I was pretty frustrated.
When I got inside I immediately googled something to the effect of "cats running out the door". One of the links that came up was for the "Scatmat" which is a battery operated, clear-plastic mat that you lay in any problem area. When the cat steps on it it delivers a mild shock similar to getting shocked by static. A.k.a it's more frightening then painful. I thought it was awesome. I called the Tucker Petsmart and sure enough they had two of them. I ran over there and got it, came home, and laid it across the landing right by the front door.
For a long time Sox just sniffed it but didn't step on it. Then Jamie and Nathan came home. Sox went over to the door, stepped on the mat (I didn't witness it, but they did) and she freaked out, ran around the house and then bolted up the stairs. After a while I went to my room and called her name and she came out from under my bed looking happy to see me. So she wasn't permanently traumatized. I think Jamie and Nathan were though. But they witnessed her reaction firsthand.
Now, one day later, she just c-r-e-e-p-s by the door with a ton of paranoia and no sign of her darting out. Once you train them the mat instructions said you can roll up the mat and you won't need it anymore. I'm pretty stoked. I did step on it myself just to check it out. It does shock you, but it doesn't hurt. With shoes on you can't feel it at all. It's just the anticipation of the shock really freaks out out. Exactly the point!!
My third main trial with my cat Sox continues to be her crazy drive to run out the front door. I thought I had her pretty well trained by yelling "no" at her and then squirting her radically with water from the spray bottle. But it seems like none of these tactics have had long lasting effects.
I spent last weekend relaxing at Amy Mo's cabin. When she dropped me off on Sunday afternoon, Jamie was coming out of the door to go with Nathan somewhere. Sox immediately ran out and ran down the sidewalk. This has been like the millionth time this has happened in the past couple of weeks so I was pretty frustrated.
When I got inside I immediately googled something to the effect of "cats running out the door". One of the links that came up was for the "Scatmat" which is a battery operated, clear-plastic mat that you lay in any problem area. When the cat steps on it it delivers a mild shock similar to getting shocked by static. A.k.a it's more frightening then painful. I thought it was awesome. I called the Tucker Petsmart and sure enough they had two of them. I ran over there and got it, came home, and laid it across the landing right by the front door.
For a long time Sox just sniffed it but didn't step on it. Then Jamie and Nathan came home. Sox went over to the door, stepped on the mat (I didn't witness it, but they did) and she freaked out, ran around the house and then bolted up the stairs. After a while I went to my room and called her name and she came out from under my bed looking happy to see me. So she wasn't permanently traumatized. I think Jamie and Nathan were though. But they witnessed her reaction firsthand.
Now, one day later, she just c-r-e-e-p-s by the door with a ton of paranoia and no sign of her darting out. Once you train them the mat instructions said you can roll up the mat and you won't need it anymore. I'm pretty stoked. I did step on it myself just to check it out. It does shock you, but it doesn't hurt. With shoes on you can't feel it at all. It's just the anticipation of the shock really freaks out out. Exactly the point!!
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