Juggling Life

Why I Never Say Never . . .

I had an experience recently that I've been mulling over and wasn't sure if I wanted to blog. Then I (finally!) had time to read this post by Mrs. G. not long after I read this article a friend shared on Facebook. 

It seemed a little bit like the universe saying "you write about what happens to you and it happend to you, so what's up?"

To which I responded, "good point."

I'm going to paint in pretty broad strokes here; the gist is that I was recently told that a collective of people--none of whom know me in real life, and whose names I still don't know--were "gravely concerned" with and conversing at length about my "manic" online presence and therefore my mental health.

I've had time to process both the exchange and my reaction to and thoughts about it. I've been able to run the scenario by some people I really admire and trust. 

In the end, I've decided that whatever and whomever the amorphous "concerns" are, they nothing to do with me and I choose to not let it take up real estate in my brain. I'm calling that a win for maturity. I control the way I feel, I don't let somebody else do it. 

The fact that I am a high-energy person who moves fast and covers lots of ground is not a liability to me. Nor is it to most people I live, work, play and advocate with both IRL and in the online circles in which I travel.

What I do have to ponder is why I let this knock me off my rhythm and I must admit it has. Things tend to happen in our lives for a reason, though, and I've had some positives come from this--that's what I choose to focus on. 

I will busier than normal for the next few weeks--I am rewriting curriculum at work, my program is expanding and I get to have someone I really enjoy working with (I dig working with guys--straightforward is their m.o. and that's mine as well. I have no time for veiled communication--too much to get done) on my team for the foreseeable future. Danger Boy and Social Butterfly come home in a week. I have a friend and her family coming to stay to go through the UCSD program. I am really enjoying writing my blog for UCSD and spending more time on Twitter. Been working the #truthinads hashtag pretty hard, as well as #MAEDvocate and #IEDAction. I lurve social media as a tool for activism.

I took a trip to Flagstaff last weekend with my friend Michele and her daughter Iris (10) to visit Social Butterfly and visit a college campus. Our plans went a little cattywampus due to snow--a lot of snow to me! Iris was dazzled by the snowfall and that was pretty amazing. Cards were played and fun was had and a wonderful MartAnn's breakfast was eaten. Of course, we drove a lot (learn from me: if you play Pandora for 15 hours through the desert you will lose virtually all your data for the month. Oy!).

Oh, yeah, this happened.

SB's drawing and the artist's rendition. This is the last of my 50th birthday presents. The flower inside the compass rose is a stephanoitis which means marital happiness. The kids' initials are at the four points. I am very happy with it. Oh, and unlike in insulin syringes, a smaller needle is not less painful. Holy razor blades, Batman!

 

 

 

In Which I am (Blessedly) Random

I'm not even going to bother telling you how busy I am and what I've been up to; you know. I don't want to let this space and y'all go though, so I'm just going to do a slice-of-life story. 

Jury Duty. Nobody likes it, but you have to go. So, of course last week was getting prepared so if I did get picked . . . Tuesday is first day of a new mod, so LOTS of prep. And two classes. Oy. But I got ready.

Last year (yes, just last year!) I did this and rode in with my friend, Heidi Brown the attorney (I also have Heidi Brown the teacher) who works near the courthouse. I got released pretty early though and if I hadn't bummed a ride home from a woman I recognized from around "The Ranch," I would have been stuck for a good while. So I decided to drive myself this year and, in the interests of killing two birds with one stone, getting both exercise and cheap all-day parking, park a mile away and walk. I even wore my oh-so-comfortable, black, Born, wedge-heeled sandals (may they rest in peace) because they are dressy enough to wear to court (I feel you should not shlep to jury duty), but still walkable.

I am sure you can see where this is going. About one block in, the thong thingy broke. That combined that with the fact that even WITH a GPS I went in the wrong direction at one point (my directional deficit is so pronounced as to be a disability) made for a VERY long walk that was both decent exercise and led to some stoplight-waiting-conversations about how I looked young to have had a hip replacement. 

I had lunch plans with Heidi who thankfully offered me what she described as "ugly mules in a size-too-large." Sold! I added two blocks to my hobble to her office by once again taking a wrong turn. Seems like I should have realized I wanted the blue dot to be getting closer to the red dot rather than further away, doesn't it?

The mules were serviceable and a good reason for choosing function over form, which made the walk to the cute little cafe with the delicious quiche actually enjoyable. After FINALLY getting released (it should not have been such an annoyance that the wi-fi reset hourly, but it was). Also, I saw this Deputy being very respectful as he dealt with this clearly mentally ill man--though the man did have some spot on complaints about racist police departments. I do think this deputy was a good guy, though--he had a very calming, de-escalating demeanor. 

I finally got released at 2:15 and In a miraculous turn of events, I not only found my car, but the Ross downtown that I'd made note of in the morning. 15 minutes later I had four potential shoe replacements and an adorable crocheted blouse, all for $97. 

So that was jury duty.

I could use some good juju for this cutie.

Beaux--she is a month past 13.

We seem to have had a recurrence of the Evan's Syndrome she had four years ago. This time we knew her wobbliness was serious and Mr. Fix-it took her in first thing this morning as soon as we noticed. They've started her on steroids and she'll go back in a couple of days for bloodwork. We are prepared this time that we might have to make a tough decision, but it's still sad. She responded well to medication last time, so fingers crossed.

That's the snapshot from today--now off to visit you all. Sorry about all the snow!

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Wonderful, time-consuming things are happening at Casa Juggling. My first post for UCSD is up! I am a hashtagging (#MAEDvocates), tweeting fiend over on the Twitter. Never anticipated having a long and fruitful exchange with these gals, but it happened--and 20K people or so had it on their timelines. If I have to change the perception of eating disorders one conversation at a time, I am willing to give it a shot.

The Barbi Twins

#TruthinAds is what started the conversation and though I don't think airbrushed images "cause" eating disorders, I think they warp ALL of us and make most people dissatisfied with their bodies and THAT is bullshit in my book. I really hope this legislation passes at some point. 

As I tweeted, it's one thing to sell us a fantasy, it's another to convince us it's reality. 

Back to the keyboard! Guest post on social media for F.E.A.S.T on deck!

I believe I will go for sheer nonsense or non-ED rant on my next post--y'all deserve a little of that for sticking with me! 

Happy Weekend, All!