Minty Fresh Denture Cleanser

The other day I purchased an 120 count pack of effervescent denture cleanser. I don't have dentures at the moment and I hope to avoid getting them in the future. I just received from my dentist my very own, custom-made, incredibly expensive, slightly uncomfortable night bite guard, which can really only be cleaned using bubbly denture cleanser. You see, I'm a teeth clencher. I take out every bit of stress, worry, doubt- large or small- on my poor little jaw/ teeth. At night, and now during the day more and more, I clench my teeth together. In an effort to save the surfaces of my teeth and correct any crooked biting, my dentist urged me to get a bite guard. I finally gave in and dumped most of my tax refund into this little piece of plastic that has a funny looking reverse imprint of my teeth. Over the past week, I've noticed I wake up a little less sore in the jaw from my nightly stress relief.

You might look at my life and think, "Gosh, what does she have to be stressed about? That girl needs to just relax." I agree completely. The unique thing about me is that I live in what is described as a "rich inner world". I'm a daydreamer, a thinker, one of those quiet types. I contemplate, wonder, process, analyze, and mull and mull and mull. I like to marinate my mind in situations and ideas. As I'm realizing more and more, I'm probably marinating too much lately. In my defense, this season at work has been the busiest, and the most mentally exhausting since I started the job. Also, as I look at my calendar on my computer for the month of March and then for April, I see a sea of pink squares spayed all over each day of the month- each square represents somewhere I must be, something I must do, some meeting I need to be at, some person to meet with, all in addition to the rest of my life; work, friends, family, boyfriend, alone time, hobbies, etc. All I enjoy a great deal. What am I getting at? Well, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. I have very little to complain about, and a whole lot to be praising God for giving me without deserving one speck of it. He has given me more than enough. I'm blessed beyond measure, let that be known and proclaimed. The problem I'm seeing and facing through daily physical pain goes something like this...do I internalize too much? Do I take on too much responsibility? Do I care too much? Do I carry the weight of things I shouldn't? Do I not spend enough time with God to find some peace of mind? Yes, yes, and more yes? I don't know, except for that last one- that's a yes, period. What I want to avoid doing is turning something that is a strength for me- the power of my mind to process things- and turn it into something negative. I wasn't created for that. I was created for good.

What will my next steps be?
Step 1. Make and spend time with God daily, no excuses.
Step 2. Write, talk, or pray out my daily contemplations- get them out of the inner world!
Step 3. Continue to protect Monday, one of my two weekly days off, as a Sabbath, a true day of rest and delighting in God (no laundry, no lists, no places to be, no expectations except those of unhurried, unscheduled, free time.)
Step 4. Take a few days off from work. Completely off. Go somewhere, change the scenery. Have fun. Laugh.
Step 5. Check on status of jaw for relaxed muscles.
Step 6. Repeat.

Guatemalan Laundry Poetry

I had a nice afternoon yesterday. I crashed my parent's place with 3 loads of dirty laundry. I sat on the couch for a few hours with my sister Emily. We ate mac n' cheese, watched silly reality shows, drank coffee she brought back from Guatemala, and looked up secret things on the Internet. Good times.

I've been meaning to post this for a while and now is the perfect chance. I hope this is legal. My grandpa on my dad's side was a poet. He published a bunch of books filled with poems on many subjects. This was always one of my favorites.
--

True Love
by Clem H. Block

Tenderly she kissed me,
She said she loved me, too,
And here I am a married man
Now, what am I to do?

Tenderly, I kissed her cheek
And showered her with more,
It was the least I could do,
My granddaughter is just four.

--
This happens to be about my sis Emily, who is now 24 and nearly a doctor. :)

Squeezing probably a bit too hard...probably in late 1983 the year Em was born...I was five.

N-I-C-K

Joe Fox: You're crazy about him...
Kathleen Kelly: Yes. I am.
Joe Fox: Then why don't you run off with him? What are you waiting for?
Kathleen Kelly: I don't actually know him.
Joe Fox: Really?
Kathleen Kelly: We only know each other - oh, Gosh, you're not going to believe this...
Joe Fox: Let me guess. From the Internet.
Kathleen Kelly: Yes.
Joe Fox: You've got mail.
Kathleen Kelly: Yes.
Joe Fox: Three very powerful words.
Kathleen Kelly: Yes.
---
Random post. Yes...
One of my favorite movies is You've Got Mail. I try desperately to fit my story with Nick into the story of Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox. Let's see what I can come up with...so far on my list I have:
-Nick's apartment is (was- it closed a few months ago, much like in the movie!) 'around the corner' from a cute children's book shop.
-Nick and I met on the Internet.
-Nick brought me a flower when I was sick just like Joe Fox.
-Nick quoted from You've Got Mail without prompting one day as we passed the book shop (this was before he knew of my You've Got Mail obsession). I nearly lost my footing.
-Nick is a powerful business man. :)

That's all I can come up with at this time. Please stay tuned. I WILL discover more.

Oh, I almost forgot....here's a photo of the book shop just before it closed, courtesy of Nick.






Ok now, here's our random-day-off-let's-do-nothing-absolutely-nothing photo shoot. Too much fun. Too much.

Running Just Got More Fun

I have found a fantastic replacement for running with my iPod. It can provide music if desired, jokes, silence, encouragement, laughter, Kodak moments, and just an overall fun-factor that my iPod simply can't measure up to... sorry it's not an 'IT', it's a Nick! We've been really enjoying running together lately, as the weather has been quite agreeable for such an outing. Yesterday we hit the streets (and lots of hills) near downtown Rochester. Despite my tiredness and tummy ache during our run, I haven't enjoyed running this much before! We decided to bring along a camera. Nick did a great job snapping photos without us actually having to stop running. We're both really looking forward to running in warm weather though...only a few months to go...