Yard Work, Adulting

Hello!

Okay, my programming friends - please tell me how far away we are from having Snapchat filters be our real life daily face options.  I'm sitting here without a single lick of beauty product on my body and went to this:

Awesome 50's Labor Day look w/complimentary duck lips

from this:

Ack!

I mean, for real...  Snapchat is working miracles around the world.

Okay, moving on...

All of my plans were thwarted this Labor Day weekend, but for the better, I'm sure. I ended up getting a lot done!

Saturday, I did yard work for hours and hours.  I am quite sure that my neighbors are convinced that I am a vampire.  I never go out in the sun or on hot days - the only time they ever see me doing yard work is when it is overcast, pouring rain, or, as in one case, watering my lawn at 11 PM.

I have talked about my neighbor, George before.  You guys, we love George.  He's the best.  He watches over me, and additionally, can attest to the above.  He's also adjusted to my unusual yard work behavior.

Once, I was power washing my front railings, and it started to pour rain and thunderstorm.  I decided to put the electric tool away while the lightning storm was going on, so I popped a squat on my front stoop, and George came out and yelled at me,  "HEYYYY!!!  GET BACK TO WORK!!!"

Now, they always shout something at me if I am working out in the pouring rain.  It's funny.

Anyway, I got a little bit of poison something from the yard work I did Saturday, and I've been rubbing VapoRub on it (it's all I have in the house) and it's been working.  Fun fact for you there.

I accomplished a lot, including washing everything, completing an entire 8 hour Golden Girl marathon (thank you, TV Land,) sorting through the formidable Pile Of Stuff at the top of the stairs in my attic, painting my front door, and now I have so much yellow paint in my hair, so, colleagues - I am counting on you to help me get it out.  Thanks in advance.

Smidgen is absolutely exhausted from this weekend.  He's out like a light, and it's only 8:30.

Note that Smidgen also has yellow paint in his fur. The apple doesn't fall far.

Adulting

  

Getting older has so many perks.

I do not take for granted this life, being able to wake up in the morning and swing my legs out of bed, hitting the ground running. And I may be biased, but I'm really thankful that I don't have kids yet (or other pressures,) because I've noticed that one of the many, many differences between myself and some other adulting adults  is that I live a relatively unapologetic life.

I am aware that the next few sentences are annoying, and it's stuff you probably already know:
I can do pretty much any darn thing on any day of the week.  I can sleep till whenever I want to on the weekends. I can decide at any point to take a road trip, or heck, even max out my credit cards and head to Australia.

I often say that the main reasons I don't have kids is because of about five main facts:

1. I drop things *
2. I have a terrible attention span and lose people/things/myself in crowds or other visually overwhelming places
3. I fall a lot
4. I like to sleep
5. I am seemingly incapable of regularly grocery shopping or keeping food in my house, or regularly eating

*Update: I was recently cutting a piece off of a large wheel of delicious, warm brie cheese, and the brie started falling off the table.  I dropped everything, including my plate of food and the knife I was using to cut, and this is a prime example of why I don't currently have kids.  If faced with saving falling brie cheese versus holding on to a child, I'm not sure it would go well.

These are all the jokes I use to pass off the awkward, "why don't you have kids?" moments I experience often, but I am actually about 68% serious with those reasons.

A hidden shadow of a possible sixth reason to that list would be that I have developed a strong muscle of resisting guilt.  I know so many parents whom are absolute powerhouse parents and are really nailing this adulting thing.  I sometimes just sit back and wonder how the heck they do it, and still remain so awesome... so plugged in, while remaining so normal, so human.  They've got this.  They were born to be great parents.

I also have a few friends who just can't seem to find that perfect balance/niche/feng shui of life.  Nothing will make me aggressively love on you more than if you start being unjustly self-guilt ridden.  I'm not having it.

I'm going to fight you in the battle you wage against yourself in matters of guilt.  You know how in novels and movies, the sidekick, or the parents, or the best friend always have their thing to say to snap the hero out of their funk?  Well, you can come to me for that.

I've expressed here before that I am an aggressively complimentary person to the point beyond awkward, and right before: "okay, clearly she is in love with me."  Don't worry, I'm like that with a lot of my friends.

In fact, until they get to know me, most of the people who end up being my good friends in the long term think that I had a huge crush on them in the beginning.  This is par for the course for friendship with me.  

Or, the exact opposite happens.  Just this past week, one of my friends/colleagues caught up with me and some other friends/colleagues in the hallway at work.  I was introducing everyone, and my friend said, "Yeah, I wasn't very nice to Veronica when we first started working here, I wasn't sure that I liked her," and we all laughed just a little too hard.  (Actually, now that I'm reflecting on it, wth!?!  I didn't know she didn't like me...)

I am oblivious to people liking/hating me. It makes flirting a real joy - I am oblivious if people are flirting with me.

This would be my attempt at flirting

Anyway, I digress...

One of the awesome things about getting old is that you learn to say "No."  Not just out loud and not just to other people.  You can learn to say no to letting other people or scheduled events boss around your life.  Not to sound like a pompous American, but some of us need to be reminded each day that you have the choice to do almost anything. Many battles are mind over matter.  And for things that are beyond our control, do try to choose the best perception, please.  Fight the good fight.

Reminders:

You can choose to lay in bed all day and feel sorry for yourself.  You can choose to lay in bed all day and feel fantastic about it (but don't - it's really bad for your health.)  You can choose to eat a dozen donuts.  You can choose to call out of work and drive to Niagara Falls. You can choose to spend a whole day with your best friend or your spouse, just the two of you, all day, doing something fun. You can choose to drop the kids off at daycare or at friends/family house and go to the mountains, just to be in the mountains all day (or heck, pull them out of school for the day and go together.)  You can choose to ride your bike from one end of the trail to the other.  You can choose to do a nice thing for a stranger.  You can choose to call a family member with whom you  have not spoken in a long time, even if you might feel like the only person interested in investing in that relationship.  You can choose.  You can choose to act like a tourist for a day in your own city.  You can choose to forgive.  You can choose to wake up next to someone else tomorrow.  You can choose to wake up alone tomorrow, if that is what you really actually need.  You can get out of town.  You can start over.  You can make a plan.  You can say what you mean to say.  You can kiss the girl.  You can cry.  You can break free.

A friendamine recently said to me, 

I've learned that when a friend asks you to have fun, you say, "Yes."

Give forgiveness you've been denying

Question your assumptions

Choose the happy