summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Thursday, January 8, 2015

miss procrastination

Miss Procrastination. Since I am a psychologist, not, although I certainly should be, I will say this: there is a good explanation for being a procrastinator. Or rather, a litany of good excuses for putting things off. It isn't just laziness that makes me postpone making a phone call I don't want to make. Because if so much as the thought of calling Kim enters my mind, I am on that phone. But straightening out an insurance matter, or rescheduling a doctor appointment, ugh. I'll do it this afternoon!

Sometimes when you put something off long enough, it becomes an obsolete problem, and you never have to deal with it. Or sometimes it snowballs, and the more days that go by, the more embarrassing it becomes to come to terms with something you should have done a while ago. For example, we have this big van in the driveway that hasn't been driven in a few years. A 15 passenger van. Paul took one of the tires off and had me bring it in to the car place in town to get fixed. And...I didn't pick it up for...weeks. I would think of that tire, and be so embarrassed that I took so long to go pick it up. So I left it there for like a month. When I brought our minivan in for inspection, I just acted all casual and said I may as well pick up that tire now, too.

The big van is a whole other story. I bring it up to Paul every once in a while, and he gives his classic, "I don't know.", which means he doesn't want to think about it right now. Ha, he is extremely responsible about most things, but getting rid of the big van just isn't on his priority list right now. I told him it could be a trip to Florida and maybe Jamaica too if we sell it....:)

He has to have a heart "procedure" done next week. Emily said I should't call it surgery, because it technically isn't. It is a coronary catheter ablation, in which the part of the heart that is sending faulty electrical signals will be frozen or tied off, so a regular rhythm will be re-established, getting his heart out of A-Fib. He has been on a heavy duty blood thinner for a while to prevent stroke...a blood thinner that scares me a little because there is no "anecdote" for it, should he cut himself or fall and have any bruising...Aaron said he had a patient who was on it and fell off a ladder, and had internal bleeding and was in critical condition...having four nurses in the family is interesting, to say the least. Anyway. Paul has been on a medication to get him out of A-Fib, but it stopped working, so he is having this done. He had this procedure done a few years ago, but now a different part of the heart is misbehaving.

He goes in next Wednesday and has to stay for one night.

Ten days later, he will be on a plane to France, for a two week work project.

So he has a lot going on.

And should I even mention how hard it is for me to see him go through any medical procedures? I would rather have a hundred I.V.'s myself than see him have one. He had to have one in each hand last time, just in case. He is in extremely good shape, he exercises and eats well. In fact, he drives me crazy with his ongoing research and experiments. Lately it's all about the gut. Good gut bacteria - eating fermented food. So he bought canning jars and ferments carrots and cabbage, keeping them all covered up, taking them out and burping them. He made bone broth in the crockpot, cooking cauliflower and onions in the broth to add nutrients. I told him it smelled like a Russian apartment, no offense. Anyway, I love him more than life itself. I look at him and see him get all animated about these things, and it amuses me and makes me love him more. I don't always share his enthusiasm, but if he wants to mess up the kitchen and smell up the house, I don't mind. I took a sip of the bone broth, and well, it's not for me. It's enough for me to stay away from sugar and carbs, I don't feel the need to be so radical.

Anyway. I love him. More and more. I sat next to him on the couch last night, he had that razor stubble and mmm, he's still so cute. I think it is absolutely hilarious when we snuggle a bit or have a kiss and the kids say, "EWWW, Gross!", because I know they secretly love it that we still like each other so much.

It was cold here this morning, zero. With a wind chill. It is up to ten now, and the sun is shining. Paul and I went to town, to pick up the Bravada, which he drove to work. The truck is now in the shop, and the minivan is in the driveway, which means I can go to the store. We need peppermint tea, yogurt, bananas. Joe says we need veggies and meat, which is all he will eat.

Anyway, the procrastination thing: the car mechanic/shop owner told Paul that we should have gotten the Bravada in for inspection sooner when it was due, so Paul called me Miss Procrastinator. hmph. Where was he? Ha, probably in France. And then we didn't need it as much because we had just gotten the Sentra back from Mali, who bought her own car. And besides, what difference does it make if we waited to get it inspected, does that make the problems with it worse? It is fixed now, so all is well, but jeepers. Now we don't have to inspect it until January next year, so we get two more months. never mind.

The kids are doing school work, the dogs are napping, the space heater is humming. I shoveled the driveway, does that count as my work out?

The sun is shining now, the snow has stopped coming down, but the roads are packed ice. The snow squeaks underfoot in the extreme cold. The little girls wanted to go out and play this morning, but I told them to wait until later, it should be warming up to...19. They were afraid the snow would melt. nah, not today.





2 comments:

Martha said...

I laughed at the Russian restaurant comment. That is way too funny. My laptop tells me it's 13 degrees out now. I'm rather glad I don't have to venture out anywhere until after dinner. Then I am going over to my friend's house for our little Bible study. Hot tea and girl talk.

I am attempting another gluten free stint. Makes me just want to eat a cookie, I tell ya!

Jana said...

Yes shoveling your driveway should definitely count as your workout. I'm sure you burned quite a bit of calories :)