Fighting the Lonelies

In my mind this should be a Berenstain Bears story: 'The Berenstain Bears Fight the Lonelies'. Megs and I have been battling this foe for over a year now...the lonelies...

After my very blue, longer then expected winter suckfest, I spent a lot of time reflecting on solutions to fight the lonelies. I still can't say I have any friends here. I know a few people. I have some acquaintances. But I don't think there is anyone I can call up and invite to do something or call when I am having a rough day.

So...I decided a few things I would do to try to meet people. I took a French class, and plan to sign up again in the fall. I started volunteering to teach English as a Second Language classes a couple times a month. And, very recently I found a group of older folks to play string quartets with.

I still am on the hunt for some friends, but for now at least I have increased my social circle, get out of the house, fill my days a little and am getting exposed to new people and places regularly.

I also am trying to fill my day with gardening, yoga, some cooking when motivated and too much internet browsing. I putz with my creative hobbies now and then too. I just made a neat vest out of two thrifted scarves. I think it's pretty neat but still need to wear it out of the house to see how people react.

Any tips for fighting the lonelies? We'd love to hear them in the comments! 

Checking in...after a LOONGG Hiatus

Well folks, I survived the never ending winter. The trees did not leaf out until very late June/early July...eek. Very late spring for my taste and compared to what I am accustomed to. Summer is finally here, the weather has been perfect, my parents came to visit, I picked up some part-time internet based work and I have finally had enough with my excess cushioning and am trying a new fitness routine.

A horrible bout of the blues kept me from...everything for too many months. I have been wanting to run away from my life. Many days I have searched for the cheapest airline fares from this city to any other city in the world that sparked my interest in that moment. I don't have the money to purchase one of those tickets, but I can dream.

The 20-minute walk project fizzled out very quickly once I realized winter refused to end. From there I did nothing. I tried to rollerblade once the snow melted, an activity I used to love, but found I have lost so much muscle I felt too unstable on the rollerblades and was afraid I would hurt myself. So then I did nothing for a while again.

In the last month or so I have been extremely lucky to pick up some part-time, work from home computer work. After each block of time I complete I am doing a session on my yoga videos. It helps the posture and pain issues I am feeling from sitting at the laptop for several hours, and it is helping build muscle...with the goal of burning off some of this squish I and my pants disdain.

So new goal is to maintain the daily yoga practice, contribute to this blog more regularly and generally feel like I am accomplishing more than I had been before. Game on!

Working on my Creative Space and crocheting....

I have been working on crocheting a throw blanket for a while now and I thought I was on the home stretch.  After looking it over, I realized that some of it was not even, so I'm contemplating undoing a chunk of it and reworking it so it is not so lopsided.  Thankfully, it will be an easy fix, but I was hoping to be done with this throw blanket and move onto another project, probably another throw blanket, but with different colors.  I'll be posting pictures once I'm finally finished.  I'm hoping to have it done before I leave for MN next Wednesday.  It probably won't happen, but that's my goal.

A while ago, I decided that I needed to create a creative space for myself in the house for me to write and do other projects as I desire.  Sitting at the dining room table with my laptop is not my idea of a creative space, so I have commandeered a room in the basement to make my creative space.  I bought a few things to hang on the walls and to decorate the room with and it is coming along slowly.  I will post pictures of different views of the room as I get further along in decorating it.

I am completely failing in the walking outside challenge.  It has either been too windy or too cold to walk outside.  It doesn't help that Fairfield doesn't believe in proper snow removal, so when the weather gets warmer, the roads are basically lakes, occasionally a small pond.  So I've been using our treadmill and finding other ways to work out on a daily basis.  I started doing yoga once a week, but I haven't been able to go the last two weeks, which I'm not thrilled with.  I'm going to make sure I get back into it when I get back from MN in March.

Preston and I are getting better after being sick most of last week, but he is still teething, which is unpleasant for everyone involved.  That's about all that's going on here.  I think today I am going to work on the throw blanket and look up some more healthy snack ideas and recipes on pinterest that Jason and I can make for meals.  I will probably read a bit too.  I only have the time when Preston is napping to do these things so I have to prioritize.  Looks like working on the throw blanket will be the priority today.  :)