How Time Gets Away

Sometimes I really don't know where the time gets away. I spent a few weeks being extremely homesick, a few days being incredibly frustrated about not having a job, every day interacting with the guests in our home, and most days filling up the time somehow or another. The days of homesickness were difficult but the husband and I have had some good conversations and his support has been wonderful. It's definitely been a challenge continuing to adjust to this area with minimal resources, but somehow I'm just not up to the point just yet of pulling on my shoes and forcing major change in this area. However, I am starting to get there. Case in point: coming from Oregon I seriously thought that styrofoam was pretty much only used for packing materials sometimes. When you move to Louisiana you discover that take out containers, disposable plates, etc are all made of the evil styrofoam. One more Sunday of after church fellowship and I'm pretty sure the question will be leaving my lips "Why in the world are you still using styrofoam?!"

The dog, while adorable, has proven to be quite the handful. We now have to know where she is constantly and even then she still takes a mile when we give her an inch. The same morning my husband found her digging a hole in the backyard and chewing on the neighbor's cable wire, she also broke off his habanero pepper. Several days prior she had dug out the flower box that was blocking the opening under the fence so she couldn't access the neighbor dogs. And after two "accidents" on the living room carpet, she resides in a baby-gated area of our kitchen. Although that area shrank when we discovered her chewing on the kitchen cupboards! She definitely is trainable (she's already picked up a few commands and is doing much better on our walks) but she also likes to push the limits for sure! However at 10 months and in a second home, much of this is to be expected and hopefully she'll age out of some of these behaviors too. For now, we keep her in the kitchen or outside and make sure that we can see her, and 8 new cinder blocks don't allow her access under the fence. The beauty of the blocks is that we hope we can plant flowers and veggies in the openings......well, as long as the dog doesn't eat them!

I've been getting stressed lately about the debt load that I am now carrying due to my student loans and still trying to pay off my/our car. While I'm very good with money, I also don't like to place my financial burdens on my husband's shoulders and the transition to currently being financially dependent on a man has been a struggle. However with the house now being settled, a regular financial schedule is able to be implemented especially as we get into more of a routine together. I'm still anxiously awaiting a decent job though so I can contribute something more to getting out of debt, and I'm seriously wondering why I didn't get an education in a more technical health field---as the jobs there are consistently available.

However I've also been pleased to see some major strides here in our household. My darning thread and needle has come back out (albeit to fix the dog's toys and make them last longer), our housemates come home seeking praise everytime they make a new stride in the organic/sustainable/natural department, the husband and I have been attempting evening walks with the dog when he's not working which have become some of our favorite moments, we finally settled on and hung my old drapes up in the bedroom, and we're consistently talking about how to make more strides here (ahem, I'd love a way to compost!!, let's cook more from scratch, and how about another laundry line in the garage?!). And ironically, while I hate using plastic from a health standpoint, here in Louisiana I'd almost rather prefer buying plastic over glass because at least we can recycle the glass.

Additionally after my morning run today, the dog and I went on a decent walk and finally checked out a trail that heads at the start of our neighborhood. The dog did the best she'd ever done running the trail and being surrounded by woods and that earthy smell did my soul some major good. Add onto that the fact that I've re-engaged with one of my devotional books....and I'm starting to really feel like I'm doing well again. Now if only....I actually could blog with some consistency! ;-)