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Life update
Dec. 11th, 2010 04:51 pmIt's been an odd few days, but things seem to be going in mostly the right directions. First of all, apparently one of our neighbors is gone! There was a childcare center next door to us (well, sort of up an alley, but close enough), and we just noticed this week that their sign is down and there's a pile of crap outside the doors. Huh. Can't complain, since the woman who ran the place was always all sorts of snippy and nasty with us, despite repeated attempts to do pleasant neighborly outreach sorts of things. Depending on what we can arrange with the property owner, it's likely this may mean we'll have offstreet parking for a while, too. Handy. Oh, and we had our first major snowstorm of the winter this week, and also a half-hour power outage, although they seemed completely unrelated. The power grid in our neighborhood is screwy as all hell. Good thing we hauled that box of half-burned candles back up from Alabama in all the stuff we got from Mom and Dad last year.
Also, Caleb's been helping me sort the finances, which has been both freaky-stressful and hugely stress-alleviating. My weaknesses in that arena are one of my big embarrassment points, and this is the first time I've let someone else directly into that, so I spent a few hours practically hyperventilating after I sent him off with the paperwork, but since then we've gotten a lot sorted out, and it's having exactly the impact I'd hoped in terms of helping me pull things back together, and helping us sort things out better as a household. It's sort of like that old "it's always easier to clean someone else's house than your own" thing -- he's not fighting the same anxiety block that I am at the moment. And him making the move on that is helping me get moving again, too. I'm using the chink in my paralysis to get a lot done here at work today, too. Scrips and FMLA paperwork and payflex totals to spend and all that fun stuff. Mostly medical, with a bit of bill-paying thrown in. This is excellent, since it's not helping a damned thing that I'm out of my psych meds *eyeroll*. Also, note to self, must stop cancelling household meetings. Even when there's not a lot to discuss, it makes a difference in how well we're all coordinating. I've really been noticing the effects of household interdependence and mutual support recently, too. Even when I'm having trouble keeping my shit together, I get home and find that Becca's shoveled, or Grafton's built bookcases, or Liv's brought groceries, or Caleb's organized our lists and spreadsheets. We're still sorting and settling, but in general it feels like it's getting more stable, not less. That's a good feeling. I'm nervous about some of the bigger projects we've got looming (replacing the cracked bathtub in the back house up, rewiring the back house down, drywalling the kitchen, etc), but we're slowly sorting things through. It's actually feeling like this could truly work out as a long-term home at least for most of us, rather than crashing and burning in some sort of drama explosion (as must be half-expected out of any major group endeavor). And it's made a huge difference that I can say "hey, I'm failing to cope here, and need a hand", and that I can get one.
I'm very glad that I see my family in mid-January, and that the household does "blue Monday" instead of Christmas presents. That extra time lag sure helps a procrastinator like me (why no, I haven't gotten a thing purchased yet, why do you ask?)
And on that note, time to take a break, call Mom, and come back to do some linketies and watch some Max Headroom.
Also, Caleb's been helping me sort the finances, which has been both freaky-stressful and hugely stress-alleviating. My weaknesses in that arena are one of my big embarrassment points, and this is the first time I've let someone else directly into that, so I spent a few hours practically hyperventilating after I sent him off with the paperwork, but since then we've gotten a lot sorted out, and it's having exactly the impact I'd hoped in terms of helping me pull things back together, and helping us sort things out better as a household. It's sort of like that old "it's always easier to clean someone else's house than your own" thing -- he's not fighting the same anxiety block that I am at the moment. And him making the move on that is helping me get moving again, too. I'm using the chink in my paralysis to get a lot done here at work today, too. Scrips and FMLA paperwork and payflex totals to spend and all that fun stuff. Mostly medical, with a bit of bill-paying thrown in. This is excellent, since it's not helping a damned thing that I'm out of my psych meds *eyeroll*. Also, note to self, must stop cancelling household meetings. Even when there's not a lot to discuss, it makes a difference in how well we're all coordinating. I've really been noticing the effects of household interdependence and mutual support recently, too. Even when I'm having trouble keeping my shit together, I get home and find that Becca's shoveled, or Grafton's built bookcases, or Liv's brought groceries, or Caleb's organized our lists and spreadsheets. We're still sorting and settling, but in general it feels like it's getting more stable, not less. That's a good feeling. I'm nervous about some of the bigger projects we've got looming (replacing the cracked bathtub in the back house up, rewiring the back house down, drywalling the kitchen, etc), but we're slowly sorting things through. It's actually feeling like this could truly work out as a long-term home at least for most of us, rather than crashing and burning in some sort of drama explosion (as must be half-expected out of any major group endeavor). And it's made a huge difference that I can say "hey, I'm failing to cope here, and need a hand", and that I can get one.
I'm very glad that I see my family in mid-January, and that the household does "blue Monday" instead of Christmas presents. That extra time lag sure helps a procrastinator like me (why no, I haven't gotten a thing purchased yet, why do you ask?)
And on that note, time to take a break, call Mom, and come back to do some linketies and watch some Max Headroom.
