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{kuh-myoo-ni-key-shuhn}

By Chelle on February 6, 2012 10:41 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Communication (in case you couldn't sound it out) as defined by the dictionary.com website:

1. the act or process of communicating; fact of being communicated.

2. the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.

3. something imparted, interchanged, or transmitted.

4. a document or message imparting news, views, information, etc.

5. passage, or an opportunity or means of passage, between places.

I don't think I have issues communicating with others, but some might think I do. I'm not someone who is going to call you, email you, text you or show up on your doorstep if I don't have anything exciting going on. I certainly would not show up to your door unannounced, even with people who are considered family. I hope they would be kind enough to give me notice as well, though they are the only ones allowed to show up unannounced.

I tend to get remarks like 'just thought I'd call to see if you were alive' and so forth. Uhm, well, you are a friend on facebook, so I'm sure you'd know I was dead as my daughter would so kindly update my status as to "Died of {insert cause here}". I'm also on Twitter, Myspace and Google+. I have one main email address that everyone who needs to know should know by now. I have a cell phone that people who are important enough to me have the number to. I am reachable by all of these things. But no, I don't make much of an effort to keep in touch. Why?

Well. I'm not much of a people person. Yes, there are those people who I care about, but I have to deal with people all day long. I hardly talk to them either and sometimes that upsets them as well. I won't apologize for my behavior, it's who I am. I don't want to know every nitty gritty detail into your life or about the skeletons in your closet. Unless you wish to share them, or need someone to listen, or if you have a question you want my opinion on then your life is your life. Sometimes I will ask questions and I'm always afraid that they may get upset with me. I make it clear that people can ask me anything at all and I'll do the best I can to answer honestly. The rule is don't ask me anything if you think that the answer is something that will offend you because I don't care. You asked, you're getting the answer. What happens after that, the nightmares it causes, the views of your world that get skewed, that's all your problem.

The clincher to this whole thing is that you are not me and you like to communicate with me. Just because I don't take that step to contact you first isn't a blatant disregard of your well-being. It simply means that I didn't contact you. If you call I will pick up the phone. Text me? I'll reply or forward back whatever crazy thing you forwarded to me so you know I got 'the message'. Emailing me isn't always the best way but it does come right away and I generally have access to it almost all the time (best to text me). If on some chance that I don't reply right away? I'm probably enjoying a hot steamy shower in all it's good steaminess.

Seriously though. It's not that I don't care. It's that I don't care for the drama. Everyone has drama, even I have drama. I don't care to spread my drama and I try really hard not to do so. I try to stay positive and in today's world that's very hard to do. I don't want to spread my negativity around. Though I do vent now and again about people and events that don't make any sense or drive me to wonder how on earth we are ever going to make it through whatever, if anything, happens on December 21st.

Alright, so I may text now and then, but does it always have to be me that starts a conversation? Am I the one who always has to make that first phone call? It's rare that I don't answer the phone or reply to a text or email and I'm always the one who is accused of being non-communicative. I'm here. I don't go anywhere or do anything. I know that each and every one of you have very busy lives with lots of things going on. You're welcome to contact me when you need me, or when you think of me, or when you want to ask someone a question who will give you an honest answer. I am who I am, not who everyone says or thinks I am. I'm just me and I'll be over here just 'being' the way I like it.

Continue reading {kuh-myoo-ni-key-shuhn}.

Refreshing Balance

By Chelle on January 21, 2012 1:22 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Saturday was not a day like any other. Friday night I had to go to bed as if it were a weekday in order to wake up quite early. I was perfectly fine with this however, as it was the most coveted day of all. SPA DAY. My first ever (real) spa day. The first thing I want to tell you is that if you do not have a decent tolerance for pain, don't get anything that includes deep tissue massage. You will be in pain. Even with my high pain tolerance I was sorely pressed at least twice. Surprisingly, there aren't any bruises.

I knew we were expecting several inches of snow, however I did not expect the plows to not touch anything other than the main highways. Which is kind of stupid since they haven't done a decent job yet since we've started getting snow that sticks to the ground. I wish I had taken a picture of our road. If there hadn't been anyone out before me on Saturday morning (I have neighbors that work odd shifts) then it would have looked as if we didn't have a road, the snow was that much and the road was that well covered. In fact, as I was leaving a truck passed up our road. The truck didn't have its blade down or the salt spraying from the back. It seemed like a huge waste of fuel to come wandering down to our little cul-de-sac just to not do anything.

Luckily, I made it safely to Casal's de Spa. When I walked in I liked the fact that they have the salon and spa completely separate, but in the same building. I was a little weirded out that you don't pay ahead of time, but after you leave. I mean they are a service industry, how can you take back a massage and facial? Anyway. From what I've read the prices at Casal's are reasonable and the service is absolutely amazing. When I arrived I was seated and served my choice of refreshment. After that I changed into a robe and came back to a nice hot bubble-filled foot bath. Right there I felt as if I found a new home. I filled out a form and had another drink, then shortly after that I was introduced to my massage therapist. Since I had requested the Chakra Balance Massage it's a bit different. She had tried to explain what chakras are to me, but luckily I already know since things got a little loud with laughter and discussion on other massage services in the waiting room. She brought out these cards with words like insight, wisdom, nourishment and so forth on them. I chose wisdom, insight and harmony. From those choices three scents were chosen to be used during my massage. I didn't ask which ones, unfortunately.

The massage was an hour of bliss, minus the couple of moments of intense pain from the deep tissue part. I lived and breathed through it. I felt really bad about how twitchy my back is. From muscle issues to nerve issues my back is not the best thing to touch. The lovely lady who performed my massage was very patient with me. I would really like to go back to her again in the spring. If I start couponing maybe I can start getting a massage every 4 months (that would be FanTasTic).

The facial was just as fabulous. It was 25 minutes of more massage on my face, neck, shoulders and upper arms. She explained the different things she'd be doing on my face due to dryness (winter...) and went to work. It was fabulous. My face never felt better than that day. The skin was so soft that I couldn't stop touching it and the scent of jasmine followed me for the rest of the day. If I can't go back for an hour long massage, I think a facial would definitely be a good alternative.

So, if you find yourself in Northeast Ohio or Western PA, feel free to hit Casal's De Spa up for a massage, facial or any of their services. Although, you'll want to make an appointment at least two weeks in advance. Or you can always pamper yourself wherever you happen to live. Enjoy!

Continue reading Refreshing Balance.

Vicious Mindset

By Chelle on January 10, 2012 5:31 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

This post is not something I would normally post here due to the amount of anger and irritation boiling inside of me. I'm drinking at the moment though so I'm slowed down just enough that I won't do anything stupid. I know, most people who drink and write do stupid things, but I tend to do them in anger, like the rest of society. Feel free to continue now that you've been warned.

Continue reading Vicious Mindset.

Welcome to 2012

By Chelle on January 2, 2012 12:32 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Welcome to the year 2012. The year in which so many people believe the world is going to end or have some other global disaster changes. Some people believe that this is the year if we don't all come to peace with each other that we'll end up missing out on some cosmic transcendental energy change.

Little Lady's best friend tells us all the time that she doesn't believe the Mayans could have predicted anything like the end of the world since they believed people were made of corn. That's right, you heard it. You are what you eat, right? Right.

However, there is the possibility that if we don't find a way for all of us to get along there will be a global change, we'll all be glowing in the dark or melting into puddles of goo thanks to nuclear radiation. There are so many reasons that people need to learn how to accept each other for who they are and what they believe in. I strive to do this every day. If someone is jumping down my throat about their beliefs it's really hard to not yell at them to shut up and leave me alone. While I am not a very religious person in a secular way, I do have ideas about what might be next for us. After this life ends for me, I sure as hell hope I get to choose the next one because that sure would be fun. If there isn't anything else after this life.. well it was fun while I was here. Somewhat anyway.

There are so many things I refuse to discuss. Politics, for one, because I don't feel well-informed enough to do so. Religion, because I have too many things against organized religion to follow it. I feel therefore I am. I don't feel that I accomplished much more than reading a ton of books and then not taking the time to review them here. That just means I get to read them again, much faster, and then write down all the wonderful things they make me feel. I also have a friend and coworker who is interested in doing book reviews, so I may restart up the book reviewing blog with a whole new name and look at some point. She reads completely different sagas than I do, so you'll get to experience a whole new type of reading without having to buy the book first.

My word for 2012 is Motivation. Now, if I could just find out where I put it, I'll start doing all kinds of things I want to do this year. The top one on that list is to take more photos. To carry my camera with me at all times and just to snap whenever I happen to see something. The camera on my phone isn't bad but it isn't all that great either. The second on my list is to actually write those book reviews in a way that they are enlightening without being spoilers. Third is to seriously start exercising more. Not to lose weight, just to be more healthier and to gain more muscle. It's also to help me be more energetic because I'm also getting that 2:30 feeling at 8:30 in the morning. (Either that or I really do need to rid myself of a psychic vampire.) Fourth is to start blogging at least once a week. Even if it's just to recap that nothing really happened or what I made for dinner, it's got to be done. I was doing the 750 words a day at 750words.com for awhile. While I didn't have a problem doing it every day, it was finding the time to do it. I would always get distracted and end up forgetting. There's another thing for my list, be less distracted, make a list or some kind of alarm so that I do the things I want to actually accomplish. I feel better when I've put on a load of dishes or laundry and written a paragraph or two.

One of the major things I need to do, there's no getting out of it either, is to be more communicative. I am one of those people who, in general, just hates people. This doesn't include my family and friends, and there are people who are non-blood-related that I consider very close family. The problem is that even with these people I hold dearly in my black ice cold rock of a heart I don't communicate with them very often. I tend to wait for people to contact me first. Which doesn't always happen because they are busy with their lives, work, family, drama, other friends who are constantly in contact. I just don't feel I have all that much going on and talking about the same thing going on each and every day is less exciting than beating a dead horse. The people who are physically in my life... they don't read the same books. they don't have the same interests, they are more into reality television and the Kardashians than reading the latest installment of the Hollows Saga or watching The Vampire Diaries. I've always has a fantastical outlook on life and I have a fairly vivid imagination (if only I could get it out of my mind and onto digital paper... ).

So here it goes 2012. Motivation Required. Read and Review. Write a weekly post. Take more photos. Be better about Exercise. Communicate with the people I care about even though we don't have all that much in common other than loving each other like family. I have a whole year to accomplish these items, give or take a couple of days. Let's see how well I can do it.

(Graphic created by me, Creative Commons says you can use if you give credit - ie: link back.)

Merry Christmas 2011

By Chelle on December 24, 2011 1:17 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I hope everyone has a happy, safe and warm Christmas. May all your wishes come true this year.

Continue reading Merry Christmas 2011.

Photo of the Day

By Chelle on December 1, 2011 9:22 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I didn't take this photo today. I took this photo before the Little Lady took the test for her license when we were driving around ~~getting lost~~ having an adventure. I told her just to drive, drive anywhere she felt like going. It was mid-afternoon, the day was chilly and we were driving down this one road where there weren't any posted speed limit signs. She always asks me what the speed limit is. There's no sign, how am I supposed to know? We take a guess and we are usually slower then what the actual speed limit is. Luckily there haven't been any officers around to stalk us and figure out what's going on. We ended up all over the place on this day. It was a good day for driving. Traffic didn't seem too bad, though people tend to ride on her ass regardless what speed she is going.

It makes me laugh that there weren't any posted signs regarding the speed limit since on the way to work there are an excess of speed limit signs every where you look. Sometimes I think the signs have actually procreated because when you see them in a really stupid place, such as behind a utility pole (Yeah) where you can't see it until you're right up on it, or stopped at the light at the right point, kind of makes it a bad spot for a sign.

One of our more favorites though is the Reduced Speed Ahead sign after the speed has already been reduced to 25. That's right, there's a sign literally 2 minutes after saying that the speed is about to be reduced again, yet it isn't, it's still 25 because it would just be stupid to make it any lower than that.

The same week the ~~child~~ Little Lady got her license she was gone most of the week. Wednesday she went to church, then Thursday she had something else going on. Friday she had friends stay the night and they went to the mall and Wally World. (Which reminds me, dear Wally World employees. There's no need to stare and glare at my responsible teenager and her friends when she's buying things like eggs and toilet tissue. *I* made her buy them. So don't do it again.) After that they came home, played games, half-watched movies and then passed out somewhere in the wee hours of the night.

I've had more alone time in the past week than I have had in a year, but that is mostly because her friend's parents tend to be ... well I am not sure, they tend to sleep all day and not pay attention, they don't work and I tend to get stuck lugging their kids around when there is a group project going on and no offers of returning such favors.

So I'm thrilled that the Little Lady got her license. She ever passed her test without missing any points on driving or maneuverability! I hope everyone has a responsible teenager like I do. Although I worked very hard to make her that way.

Continue reading Photo of the Day.

(Non)Working Relationships

By Chelle on November 29, 2011 7:02 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I'm sure some people out there have experienced some of the things I have when it comes to relationships. Such as having someone you're with or a parent who says something along the lines of "I just can't sleep when there are dirty dishes in the sink!" and literally have a conniption fit about it, but they won't personally do anything about it. Even after you've worked 8 hours, stopped at the store for shit they needed and (of course) didn't pay you back for the purchase. They whine and cry how messy something is but they don't think that if they utilize that energy to help out around the house instead will be much more productive than complaining to someone who (perhaps hasn't been on their feet all day long) has been dealing with customers yelling or calling repeatedly because they ~~are too stupid and lazy~~ absolutely refuse to leave a voice mail for their contact.

Not all of the positions I have had in the past have been extremely stressful each and every day, but it always seemed on the days that were particularly trying those would be the same days where I needed to stop somewhere on the way home or as soon as I got home I was also expected to start dinner, do dishes and whatever other chores needed doing the moment I walked in. These things got very trying, especially since there were three adults at the time and one child. I felt as if I had three children and no help whatsoever.

There were (obviously) some volcanic blow-ups over this as well. I got so stressed out that I ended up causing myself physical pain. Pain that ended up becoming much more severe after doing 10 loads of laundry one weekend (no help!) and seriously straining my left shoulder to the point that I tore some muscle and pinched a nerve. Oh the nerve!

Unfortunately, I still suffer from that injury and if I overtax myself, even after starting a ~~somewhat~~ very random exercise regimen. I feel it when I pick up grocery bags that are too heavy for me. I feel it when I pick up a container of kitty litter. I have to make sure that I don't do anything after I feel the indicator signs that I'm overdoing it, otherwise I wake up unable to move in the morning. If you've ever woken up unable to move and in serious pain, you know how awful it feels to get up and go get ice and then try to lay back down with the ice in the proper placement (because it's just no damn good if it isn't in the right place).

I've tried following FlyLady and while I'm supposed to just 'jump in wherever' it doesn't always work for me. It's a rare day where I walk in the house and feel like I want to continue to move. Even though I sit all day long, other than walking to see the supervisor or see someone about a project, or walking around the warehouse on break so that I can get some movement in, I come home and sit. And sit some more.

One habit I have accomplished of achieving each and every day (minus a day here and there, like my birthday) is making my bed. I love, Love, LOVE having my bed made and crawling into it at night. It makes me feel good. I get seriously discombobulated when the Little Lady crawls into my bed (because she just couldn't resist since it looked SO COMFY) and then doesn't remake it. There was one time she made an attempt at remaking it, which is more than she usually tries, but I noticed because I could see the sheet underneath practically all balled up and lumpy. It's very hard for me not to want to strangle her.

I am not a perfectionist or even OCD about anything. If you walked in here (which you better have called before coming over depending on who you are) you'd see clutter and probably a glass or three in the living room depending on if they got taken into the kitchen before bed. I keep trying to form good habits but it doesn't always help and when there's only one adult who is gone around 10 hours a day and one teenager who has a ton of homework after school (and tends to pass out shortly after getting home) things tend to get a little behind. Every day I try to load the dishwasher but it doesn't always happen. Laundry gets done on the weekend unless I ran out of time due to running errands. Grocery shopping gets done on payday Wednesday (which we all know is almost better than a Friday).

I feel that if I try to do something one day, such as today I put on a load of dishes, cleaned off and scrubbed the counters, shined the stove and sprayed the microwave to get it ready to be scrubbed (it's still waiting on me) then I swept the floor. Tomorrow I'll probably come home and collapse into the chair or onto the couch because I'll be putting in extra time tomorrow and Thursday to get a project done and make up hours. Should be interesting to say the least.

Still, coming home to a house that is a bit cluttered, or on really heavy duty days down right dirty, is a lot easier to deal with then walking in the door and being berated about the state of the household, the bills, the laundry, the cat puking (but we didn't clean it up because it's not our cat) oh and you need to make dinner because I'm starving as of ten minutes ago issues.