Cars, Meds, and Other Exciting Adventures.

Near the end of last month, Tene got into a car accident while on his way to work. He'd been driving my car (it got better gas mileage than his), and there was a decent amount of ice on the road. He slid, and ended up hitting the sidewall on the on ramp to the freeway and spinning out. The airbags deployed, and, long story short, the Subaru (Rubiru, as it began to be known to me) that had served me since Senior year of High School - taking me back and forth between Salt Lake and Cedar City - was totaled, and Tene was cited with a "Failure to Maintain Lane."

The front license plate was torn off in the accident.

The good news of all of this is that Tene was completely uninjured in the accident, he was just a little shaken up by it (which I can certainly understand).

So, this all happened on December 29. Rubiru was taken from the accident to a towing yard, and I was unable to get it released until the next day - I so had to pay them some absurd amount of money for towing it and holding it for me. On December 30 I got AAA to tow my car from the towing yard to our mechanic. Then we got to play the waiting game. Because it was a holiday weekend, neither our insurance (State Farm) or the mechanic got around to my car until the next week (I think they finally got to it on January 5 ... ), and they called Tene and I about the fact that my car was totaled shortly thereafter. On January 11 Tene and I finally went and did all the settlement stuff, got our check, and handed the Title over to State Farm. Rubiru was officially no longer mine.

Well, we were thinking of buying Rubiru in the auction, but I didn't get around to looking at their website until today, and I can't find Rubiru on the site (which surprises me, but maybe they aren't going to auction it off until later in the month?). So now my job is simple: Find myself a new car that is affordable with regards to our settlement.

So, what else is new? I'm on a new medication. On Monday, before we went to State Farm, Tene and I went to a new doctor - a Psychiatrist. He was decently friendly, and I liked him. I'm a little wary about some things that were discussed, but we'll see how it turns out. He took me off of my Zoloft, and put me on my new medication - Citalopram, the generic of the medication Celexa. I was also told that I have to start going through what is so eloquently called "Sleep Reduction." It's exactly what it sounds like. I'm not allowed to sleep as much anymore (which is probably good, because I was sleeping a good 12-15 hours per day for a while there). I go to sleep when I go to sleep, and I wake up at 11 to 11:30 - and I can't nap during the day. Until today, that was just fine, but now the lack of sleep is getting to me - all I've wanted to do all day is curl up in bed and sleep. I've been good, though! I haven't given in to temptation. Haven't done anything very productive either ... but I haven't slept!

My current medications: yellow Clonazepam (taken very very rarely), blue Zoloft (off of it now), and the red/pink Celexa

As for the medication itself, I haven't noticed much of a change in my mood - but I am noticing a few side effects (which I'm curious if they're psychosomatic, so I'm trying to not give them much weight at the moment). I'm not sleeping as well (I feel restless, but I had episodes of that on Zoloft as well; I'm waking up in the night and having a hard time getting back to sleep; and I seem to be sleeping a lot lighter than I usually do - and yeah, these aren't helping how I feel about the sleep-reduction thing any), and I've been getting headaches, nausea, and other "I feel sick" type symptoms. Which could be from either starting on Celexa or from stopping the Zoloft as abruptly as I did. I've also been having some general aches and pains. Again: I am wondering if most of this is psychosomatic, and I hope it is, but it might be real, which would suck. Hopefully the side-effects go away soon, and I tolerate this new medication well.

My final "adventure" happened on Jan 8! I had two friends come visit me, who I hadn't seen in quite a while. One was Jekka, who has been on an LDS mission in Japan (I'm so envious of her) for the last year and a half. The other was Zoie, who lives in the exotic land of Tennessee (hey, I live in Salt Lake, anywhere else is "exotic" to me) and I only get to see her once a year - if that! It was fun to have them over. Zoie dressed up in my EGL dress, and looked excellent in it, we talked and caught up, and we watched the first episode of Doctor Who (the new seasons, I still have yet to see anything earlier than 2005). It was good to see them, and I already miss Zoie (who is back in Tennessee). Hopefully I'll be able to see Jekka once I can go to Cedar City and visit my friends there.

2009 Assessment and 2010 Resolutions!

So first, the assessment of the resolutions I made way back last January.

1. I want to be posting in each of my blogs at least once a week
2. I want to do at least one new thing each week
3. I want to be posting on Kyoot! and Storyline at least once per week
4. I want to have new site layouts set up for both Kyoot! and Storyline
5. By the end of the year I want to be cooking regularly and be comfortable with cooking often

So, how did I do? "No" to #1 (although I did improve near the end of the year), a big no "no" to #2. An even larger "no" to #3 and #4 ... and ... another "no" to #5. Five "nos" and no "yesses" ... that doesn't really paint a nice picture of me.

But, in the last year I have improved in ways I didn't list. I brought Criss Cross Asterisk out of the dark, and I'm more public about my beliefs and views on things. I have played around with cooking and baking, and I am more comfortable with it. I'm less crazy than I was this time a year ago - still crazy, but less so. I'm still depressed, and I still have anxiety issues, but ... they aren't as bad as they were, and I have better control over them. I am in a much better place than I was a mere 365 days ago. I am, in general, happy.

So, what are my resolutions for 2010?

• Again: Posting to Criss Cross Asterisk once every 5 days, and to Rats in Pants, Kyoot!, and Truth in Lies once every 7. Storyline should be updated once every two weeks, once I get the site up and running appropriately.
• Kyoot! and Storyline should both have their websites recoded, completely, by the end of the year. Kyoot! should also take a new direction.
• I want to be writing every day. Even if it's just a page, or even just a sentence, I want to write every day.
• I want to settle into a housewife-type routine. I want to be cooking at least two meals a day (or making two meals a day), and I want those to be healthy. I very well might attempt a rotation diet later in the year to find out what exactly has been making me sick. I also want to be keeping my apartment clean and well-organized. I also also want to be a proper little baker - I want to try out cookies and brownies and cakes and cupcakes - all done from scratch. I want such things to be posted to 3 and 20 Blackbirds.
  
• I want to change my wardrobe to cuter, more feminine and airier clothes. This means sundresses and skirts, mostly.
• I, again, want to try something new every week. I have some extra motivation to do so, as well: Another blog, Sprouting Bulb, will detail my adventures in this area, with 2-3 posts per adventure (so, per week).
• Common resolution: I want to get into better shape. I want to try out yoga again, and maybe something like bellydancing or a type of martial art. I'm also considering running. This also includes eating healthy.
• I want to declutter my life. I have so much junk in my life, and so much of it I don't use. I've already started this process - cutting down my number of books by a decently large number (anyone want a whole bunch of fantasy books? I've got some nice hardcover editions of a few of The Wheel of Time books, barely used ... as well as quite a few others. Planning on putting them to good use through Freecycle if possible - but perhaps I'll give my friends the first go at them ...), but I want to do more. I would much rather have a few nice, well made things (say, a Kindle - which I bought, used, with Christmas money, hooray!), than a whole bunch of less-nice, badly made things.
  
• I want to become a better-rounded person. I hope by this time next year, I'm on a medication that helps me. Or that I don't need medication anymore (unlikely, but a girl can dream, right?). I want to be social, and happy, and doing well in the things I want to do.

More than last year, yeah, and I know there's a few others nagging at the back of my head, but it's late and I need sleep. Maybe I'll add to this later? But then again - maybe I won't. Only time will tell.

Hope you all have a great year!

Merry Christmas!

When I was little - five or six - my brother's room was right next to mine, and he had a bunk bed. He always slept in the top bunk, and the lower bunk was usually empty. But on Christmas Eve he would let me into his room, and I would sleep on that bottom bunk. We did this for years, even after he moved downstairs, and the bunk bed was abandoned. Once those days come we would sleep in the living room - on the couch and floor. But, until we got into our mid-teens (his late-teens), we would spend Christmas Eve together.

...

My maternal grandmother always, always had her family Christmas party a week or two before Christmas. At first she and my grandpa would have the party in her home - until the family got too big! Now she has her party at various churches and assembly centers, but some things stay exactly as they were.

She still puts on the Nativity with the little kids - everyone dresses up and you've got Mary and Joseph, the shepherds (one year a big group of my cousins were shepherds, and one of my cousins was a sheep - he donned an old sheepskin my grandparents got from Australia years ago, and baaaaah-ed the entire time), the wise men ... and an entire slew of angels. Most years we even had a Baby Jesus! Grandpa will read the nativity story out of the New Testament, and my one cousin, Shanda, will read the part of the angel. She always got the part growing up (I believe she is the oldest grandkid, but I could be wrong), and now that she's an adult with kids of her own - no one else wants it! So every year she dutifully dons a halo and reads: "Glory to God in the highest!"

The other staple of the Steadman Christmas Party is our talent show. Every year at least one person (this last year we saw 3 talents) gets up in front of the family to share their talents with us. From piano playing to singing, from stories to jokes - we have a very talented family.

...

Every Christmas my maternal grandmother gives out two things to all the families that make up our family - a calendar, and a Christmas book. Everyone also gets a named-and-dated ornament for their tree (I now have 22 of the things ... ). But the books, I think she starts planning the book a year in advance. Some past books have been: The Legend of the Candy Cane, Because I Love You, and The Tale of the Three Trees. She always, being the dramatic one of the family, reads the story to all of us. It's a nice tradition.

...

A tradition that started (for me) after my dad and stepmom married is that of opening a present the night before Christmas. I could, of course, be wrong, and we've always done this, but I don't remember opening presents on Christmas Eve before I was nine or ten. The Christmas Eve present was always the same (although, this year it was changed up a bit) - pajamas. Every year I've been able to expect to have a comfortable pair of pajama bottoms. This year, however, we got slippers. Mine are nice and fuzzy and brown.


...


Something fun my mom did for my brother and I up until a year or two ago was hiding our "big" gift. Christmas Eve she and my stepdad would hide the gift somewhere in the house, and my mom would make up a whole list of clues - the first of which was always in our stocking. The treasure hunt that followed was always fun, and sometimes the clues were hard. I think I got stumped at least once a year over something simple - but when the house has 5 or 6 beds in it (or a large number of chairs ... ) - how am I supposed to know which one the clue is talking about?


...


Christmas has always been special with my family - in lean times and in more extravagant ones. I've always looked forward to Christmas morning, and the time I get to spend with my family - all of my family. Now I'm married, and things are different. Tene and I did exchange gifts this year - but I didn't even get his started (let alone finished). We had a tree, but it was a tiny, cute thing that I got from American Girl ages ago. He and I don't really have any Christmas traditions yet. I hope, though, as time goes on and we grow together that we'll build some strong traditions - not just for Christmas, but for every moment of our lives together.


Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Failsaur

 He's supposed to be a dinosaur. Obviously he didn't turn out quite as hoped.

That .... creature .... was going to be a Christmas gift for one of my nephews (who I will call "Mouse"). He's a T-Rex, although you can't really tell. He looks more like a rooster. I was also going to make a blue long-neck dinosaur for Mouse's little brother (who will be called "Little Brother" on this blog), and a green stegosaurus for my other nephew (who will be known as "Alaska," yes these names have meanings, but they're for me to know). Neither of those dinos even got cut out.

I haven't used a sewing machine since seventh grade, where I made a really really ugly pillowcase. I've never followed a pattern. I've never made a pattern. I've never made a plush.

I decided, two days before Christmas, to attempt to do all these things.

Obviously it ended badly.

I did learn some things: (1) I kinda suck at pattern making, because I don't know what I'm doing, (2) Plushies are hard, and (3) I really, really need to make Christmas presents a few months in advance - just in case.

The nephews will be getting dinosaurs, they'll just be getting them late ... Probably sometime in January or February 2010. I'm glad I bought waaaay more fleece than I needed for these guys ... I think I'll be using nearly all of it.

Christmas Packages: Take One!

OMG Christmas is on Friday! I'm running out of time! Wheeeeeee!

So, for our gifts to friends and Tene's coworkers, I'm making rainbow cupcakes. Same recipe as I used for the last ones, except I didn't measure quite so precisely on the vanilla.

Tene took in the first batch of Christmas cupcakes to work today - only six of them, though. Most of his coworkers are done for the week, those who are in the office will be getting the cupcakes.

Today, though, I'm not showing the cupcakes themselves - but their boxes. These boxes were once regular pint-sized wire handled takeout boxes. I removed the handles (I have a whole box of extra wires now), measured and cut out some cute scrapbooking paper, then simply glued the paper to the unfolded boxes. They're being held together by tiny white brads that I got at Joann. The tags are also made by me, using leftover scrap paper, some cardstock, and plain old glue. On the other side I handwrote the "To" and "From" information.

All in all I'm pleased with the result of my boxes. I hope that their recipients enjoy the cupcakes inside!