Going Up
Janice and Lexy are both doing great. Lex's partner is poised to join the military soon, should all things keep going in the right direction, and Alexandra herself is doing quite well with Janice's post office kiosk, acting as manager when Janice isn't around and handling everything equally, if not better as Janice would tell you. I think there are better, brighter things in Lex's future, though - work that she doesn't find so stressful every day like that p.o. It looks like we live in a neighborhood that's a high-crime area when it comes to the crazy stuff that goes on at that store, like Alexandra being physically assaulted a couple of years ago. Dealing with aggressive clientele on a daily basis is something that will harden any person. In my opinion, neither of them get their due for the services they provide. The two of them are so brilliant at that stuff that I just see better things peeking on the horizon. For both of them.
Health-wise, all is excellent. Janice's weight is steady, as is mine in the low 170's, and even Lex and Nicole are working on bettering their health, going to the gym regularly and steadily changing their dietary habits for the better. That's a big relief to me, because I want everyone to be healthy and happy. Janice, really, is re-setting the standard for how to recover from such adversity on a physical level.
For me, my own mental health is doing absolutely fine these days. I'll run into a crap day just like everyone else, but I'm definitely looking up. Although, I have noticed more and more that I needed to be removed from the workplace to properly deal with what is my disability. I'm an admitted slow learner, and that doesn't make me less smart, but it may try the patience of many employers; and of course, I wind up coming down on myself in the process. That being said, I've learned to accept life outside the workforce, rather begrudgingly.
So, there's space to fill with this free time. I wound up falling in love with baking bread, inspired by none other than my daughter, who's a passionate cook herself. I stumbled upon this multigrain bread recipe on Gemini that has turned out to be quite a game changer for us here. There's no sugar added, except a little honey or maple syrup, whole wheat flour, and lots of flax seed, sunflower or pumpkin seeds, and oats. This bread is best as toast, and Lord, is it great. It's quite heavy because of all the grains, so it takes a bit of a longer time toasting than store bread, and it's loaded with protein too. What we've made a daily thing of, is Janice coming home from work around 2:30 everyday and we'll have toast and coffee. Yup... coffee. I like having Tim Horton's instant coffee with International Delight - Vanilla Toffee Caramel for me, and Janice likes her Hazelnut flavor. I have my toast with raw organic creamed honey and butter (we've tossed margarine for good), and Janice likes hers with butter only because she loves the nuttiness of the bread. I'll microdose a 10mg pot gummy to offset any jitters from the caffeine, and it sets me up great for the day ahead.
We've begun to go for our pot walks outside a few times, though we're not particularly fond of the cold air at all, so if it's sub zero, we'll likely stay in. But Janice aims to get in her minimum 10,000 steps if it takes the gym, more often on our walks she winds up with over 20,000. One thing that's been missing from winter are these walks. We go out on those, with these 30mg gummies, and have our marathon walk-and-talks that's really been our therapy. Fun therapy, though. There are a lot of laughs, memories, and problem solving going on. Janice will say the "smart flows right out" of me when I'm high. I certainly feel more confident when I am, and chill, so I guess the inhibitions fall by the wayside and I can just be who I really am. I'd like to record, audio, one of our walks sometime and maybe post it somewhere so folks who don't see us much can tune in and catch up with us. I'm an admitted introvert, but when I'm on the gummies, that changes dramatically for the better. It's weird though... I'll say things that I would never be able to say if I was straight. Also, it's kind of conditioning me how to be when I'm not on them, so I take them less these days, actually. I realize it's not for everyone, but let me say this - alcohol is even less so. And we go dry every Lenten season to clean ourselves out. Next Sunday is Easter (Chris Bledsoe prophecy time... LFG!), so we'll be having one or two then.
I guess we still identify as Catholic, although with everything I've been learning about in the last couple of years has made me pivot somewhat. Janice, too. A turning point came when I did a reading at our church last summer, when I read a passage about God striking someone down or something. I don't believe in a God like that anymore. I don't believe in an ego-ridden entity that gets pissed off if you don't do everything perfectly. Nor do I believe in God's sexuality. If God has no ego, which God shouldn't, then God shouldn't be male or female. And too many Christian religions subjugate women more than they care to admit. There is a distinct lack of divine female energy in the church, in my opinion, and I think that will begin to change in the coming years. Anyway, I've stopped readings at church. And I'm wary of communion rituals or any fall-in-line orders from the Vatican. Although I'm actually quite encouraged with the last couple of popes that have been appointed. All that being said, I'm still a loving Christian, but of a different kind of Christ than we've been force-fed over the centuries. I refuse to be spiritually governed on a fear-led basis.
Our kitty Marvelous Marbles Haglar is slowing down these days, as he approaches his 20th birthday in June. That little guy has been the MVP around here since Crocky left us 11 years ago. It costs a little more to take care of him, but it's entirely worth it. He hasn't been to a vet in ten years, and we've stopped getting him shots right around then after finding out how unnecessary they are after their younger years. He's an indoor cat, so it's just not necessary, and he's been thriving all through those years. I talk to Gemini about him and how to deal with him, and Gemini refers to him as "King Marbles". That's about right!
One crimp in our lives came this past weekend when we took Big Red (our pet name for our Elantra) suddenly began making this horrific grinding noise while we were driving to the grocery store. We got home, barely, and checked the wheel assembly on the passenger side in the front, and it looks like the support for the engine area broke or snapped, and so now we're car-less for the foreseeable future, at least until we figure out how to get this taken care of. It'll have to be towed somewhere, but we have to determine where, because this is beyond what a regular garage can fix. Rallye Motors is not particularly good to deal with, but apparently there was a recall a few years ago about this very thing. I know they'll put up a fight about liability, but Janice will be on the front line there. I'm admittedly a pacifist that doesn't like any kind of confrontation and will crumble in the face of it a lot. I've always been that way. But anyway, we'll have to figure this out. We're in a financial situation like we haven't been in our lives, though, with no debt and nine months left on our mortgage, so we can afford to fix it. We just don't quite know where yet.
As crazy as the world has gotten, at least summer is around the corner. Longer days and warmer temps, barbecues and outdoor time. There's a lot to look forward to.
Should you be reading this, I hope you and yours have a great summertime. And I hope we see you!
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