Journaling

I've been a bit remiss jounaling lately. I've been between classes the past week and have been enjoying the free time! Yay! Makes me long for the day when I'll be done with my studies.

On Saturday, SO and I went to a going-away party for a friend of mine. She recently finished her graduate studies and is headed to Thailand for a year for an overseas work/study program. It's a good time in her life to be doing this; she's in her early 30's, not yet married, currently unattached, no children. The adventure will be great for her.

Sunday I got to spend the entire afternoon babysitting grandson #2! He was such a good baby, although not particularly interested in eating or sleeping, which is fine. He only napped about 45 minutes (b/c Nana couldn't leave him alone and kept covering him up when he kicked the blanket off! ). The kids had an award ceremony to go to for my DIL's work. Anyway, he only fussed once, and that's b/c I wiped his nose, which he HATES! I learned to just wipe it with my thumb/finger, which he didn't mind at all.

SO is off dad duty until Sunday evening, so we've been spending a good bit of quality time together.

Between SO, work and my studies and just normal life stuff, I'm finding it difficult to get to the gym more than once or twice a week. I so love going, though, so I just keep plugging away. It is such a wonderful stress-reducer. I love weight-lifting, and I know in about 3-4 weeks I will really start noticing the difference. It is so hard not to get flabby in your mid-40's! Unfortunately I have not been able to keep the typical 10-13 lbs. weight gain from quitting smoking at bay. At least it's not any worse than that, so it is manageable. I know lots of people who have quit, gained 40 or 50 lbs., only to start smoking again, putting themselves in a much worse place than they were before. I occasionally still have the urge to light up, but everytime I smell one, or stale cigarette smoke, it just smells nasty. So, I know I'm well-past the tough parts. Now I just have to work on my little friend, the Spare [tire]!

SO still speaks often about when we get married and after we are married, but no proposal yet. I'm not pushing it, and I'm not worried that he hasn't yet. I just let him lead the conversation. I also work really hard to keep the duct tape handy whenever he brings up the usual emotional manipulation by his XW and/or D16. He really is just biding his time now, and the best I can do is to be supportive of him.

This weekend we have a conference we will be attending together with a group of our friends. It's all the way across the state, about a 5 hour drive, so we're all pitching in and renting a van to travel together. It should be great fun!

Things have been a bit of a struggle at work. I really need to learn to apply DR techniques to other relationships. We are trying to implement some changes in our operations, and we are/I am meeting a lot of resistance from the rank and file.

That's it for now. I go back to having a little more time to myself Sunday night, so hopefully I should be able to hit the gym 3x's next week. I ususally spend 60-90 minutes, lifting weights, then doing 1.5 mi. on the tread mill. <sigh> Life is very good right now, and I am extremely grateful.

Every Day a New Day