Thankful for Airpods

I spent quite a bit of today on my phone.  Meg called multiple times during the day to let me know how her first couple of days were going and which friends she had already caught up with since returning to Bloomington.  She also talked a lot about Run Rose Run, which she finished today.  She liked that it had a twist at the end, but thought the beginning was way too long for the quick finish.  I agreed with her completely.

Meg wasn't the only one that I talked to today.  Cameron called after his appointment with Dr. Phil.  It was the last one for him for awhile and Cameron felt very good about it.  I appreciate how hard he has worked during the fall semester on his emotional health.  I knew that it would be challenging, but glad to see him make so much progress.  

Doug called right after I finished eating lunch.  He had a really interesting situation happen at work which had kept him on the phone all morning.  It definitely wasn't the first problem that he had had to get involved with as a CFO, but it was unique.  Hopefully, it will be solved soon.

I talked to Brett for well over an hour this afternoon.  We had set aside this afternoon to go over everything that he needed to do for the cruise.  I can't believe how complicated it has been to follow.  With the directions on what to wear on which days, what to bring, how to set up an expense account, drink plans, excursions, and much more, I can see why Brett wanted someone to verify what he was reading.  We stopped after an hour when we realized that he would still need to contact Carnival about his boarding pass.

With all of the time on the phone today with the Heinisch family and a couple of phone calls with my parents, I was very happy to have fully charged AirPods to wear.  They have been one of the best purchases.  Wearing ear buds connected to my phone have freed up my hands to do other projects while talking.  Today with help from my AirPods, I could keep the conversations going which still feeding my birds, making beds, putting away photos and organizing all of the snowmen tubs in the basement.  I didn't quite finish everything before Doug got home, but definitely got a lot done.  

Thankfully, tonight, no one needed to talk to me on the phone as Doug really wanted to watch a 1955 French film entitled "Les Diabolique."  It had subtitles, so I definitely had to pay attention.  It was worth it as we both really liked the twists and turns throughout the movie.  It was compared to Psycho as they came out around the same time.  I could see that and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought that I would.  

Intrusive Thoughts

Cameron, Meg, Doug and I had some great conversations about intrusive thoughts tonight.  Through our discussions and research on the topic we found out that they can happen to anyone at anytime, although they tend to occur more when someone is already anxious.  That anxiety can be from a mental health disorder, a specific situation, lack of sleep or even too much caffeine.  As we were talking, we all discussed different ways that we know of to stop intrusive thoughts or to relax if we are having a panic attack.  I told them that my therapist of long ago had told me that everyone has intrusive thoughts, such as worrying that they will do something harmful, but very few people act on those thoughts.  Doug let us in on the fact that he never has intrusive thoughts which made everyone laugh.  I decided not to point out his obsession with checking and rechecking and checking one last time to make sure that the garage door is shut before we leave.

As the conversation turned to what to do when an intrusive thought increased our anxiety or made it challenging to sleep, I let everyone in on how I handled my irrational fears.  A few years ago I noticed that I had started to become scared around knives.  I was positive that someone would get hurt by one and I couldn't stop worrying about it.  Instead of trying deep breathing or another relaxation technique, I instead came up with my own.  I told myself that if all of the knives in our house were in the dishwasher or put in the knife drawer, then nothing ever bad could happen.  So now, I just make sure that all knives are put in their place before I go to bed.  Since I decided to do that, I have never had an intrusive thought about a knife again.  Of course, Meg, Cameron and Doug thought this was absolutely absurd and I am sure that my therapist would not have suggested it as a way to control an intrusive thought, but hey, if all I have to do is put something in a drawer to stop worrying about it, I'm all for it.  Now if I could just do that to get rid of my fear of dogs.  That would be an accomplishment.

Starting to Feel Motivated

I woke up a lot more motivated today than I did yesterday.  I don't know if I got more sleep or just felt better about being back in Indiana.  Today, I was able to cut Doug's hair, work on Cal's Lego for Ebay, finish all of the bedding and towels from Christmas break, and do Cameron's laundry.  I even had time to go to my parents and help them fix the driver's side door, overhead lights and set the clock in their car.  While I was busy, Doug was able to accomplish a lot for work as well.

Today wasn't all about working.  We did have time to watch the Seahawks vs Rams football game with Cameron.  Unfortunately, the Seahawks won in overtime, eliminating the Lions from the playoffs.  Cameron was disappointed, but thankfully Alina arrived just as the game ended.  That definitely took the sting out of the loss.  They enjoyed looking through the photo albums while watching the first quarter of the Lions vs Packers game.

I talked to Meg, Brett and Cal today as well.  Meg was busy getting ready for the start of her last semester.  She cleaned her apartment, went grocery shopping, organized her classes on Canvas, attended mass and hung out with Brett.  Brett enjoyed talking with Meg before going to 9 p.m. mass.  He had a lot to share.  Cal's work week went well and tonight he relaxed by watching the movie True Romance.  Doug and I took his suggestion of watching Gone Girl with Ben Affleck.  We realized while we were watching it that we had seen it before or at least parts of it, but didn't remember any of it.  It was really good and we made plans to finish it tomorrow night as Doug needed to get some sleep before starting his work week tomorrow.  

As soon as Doug went up, Cameron came down to finish the Lions game with me.  Detroit was up by 4 with less than four minutes to go.  It looked as though the Packers would have plenty of time to score the go ahead touch down when Aaron Rodgers threw an interception.  We were both excited to see that.  The Lions had to keep the ball in their possession for the next three minutes to secure a win and did so on a gutsy fourth down play.  Cameron and I were both thrilled to see the Packers eliminated from the playoffs.  He was already talking about the Lions' chances next year and where he will be able to see them play in person next year.  I loved his enthusiasm and will remain hopeful for both the Lions and Bears in the 2023 season as Chicago secured the first pick of the NFL draft by losing today.  

Not Moving Very Fast

I had no desire to do much of anything today.  I was so incredibly tired from the drive home, our time in Florida and all of the activity of the past month.  I also developed a headache midway through the day that took some time to go away.  

Even though I didn't feel the best, I was able to get a lot done.  I put away the outside Christmas, washed the bedding and unpacked everything from our trip yesterday.  We talked about going to mass in Goshen and to dinner, but I decided that staying at home sounded like the best idea.  Doug didn't mind as he had a lot of work to catch up on this weekend.  In fact, he worked pretty much from when he woke up until 6 p.m. this evening.

Our schedule didn't affect Cameron at all today.  He was up early to attend Samuel's senior recognition for swimming.  He was then home long enough to eat lunch and to register for Chemistry 103 through Goshen College.  He left again at 4 p.m. to attend Bethany's boys and girls basketball games.  It was alumni night and he enjoyed seeing all of his friends from last year, especially Austin.

While Cameron was busy, Doug and I played Ticket to Ride.  We hadn't played in several weeks and had a lot of fun.  Doug made chili dog casserole for dinner, which was very good.  Afterward, we watched The Glass Onion.  It was the sequel to Knives Out and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  Edward Norton was in it which was very surprising since we hadn't seen him in quite some time.  Overall, it was a quiet day here in the Heinisch home, but a nice one nonetheless.

Best Drive Time Ever

We left Ocala this morning at 5:40 a.m. hoping for an easier trip than the one we had on the 29th.  At the start it said that we would be in Bloomington at 6:10 p.m.  From our previous trips, we expected that number to grow.  For the first time ever, it really didn't.  We added some time to it when we stopped at the first Buc-ee's, but not much.  As we closed in on Atlanta, our travel time jumped up an hour.  I checked my phone and there was an accident blocking I-75.  Once the GPS rerouted us, we were right back on target with an estimated time of 6:22 p.m.  We never really wavered from that the rest of the trip.  We did stop two more times.  Once at the second Buc-ee's for lunch and one last time at a gas station at the Kentucky/Indiana border.  Everyone was exhausted when we arrived at Meg's apartment, but thankful that we had pushed as hard as possible to get back.  Meg and Nick were ready for a quiet night, and Doug and I were glad that we would be able to drive the rest of the way home this evening.

Before we dropped Meg off, Doug ordered breadsticks from Pizza X for us.  We picked those up on the way out of town.  We were bummed to miss Brett, but he had an office New Year's party tonight so it wouldn't have worked anyway.  As we left BTown, I realized that this was the first time that Doug and I had really been alone in over three weeks.  It made for a nice ride back as we were able to talk about everything that had been going on this past month.  We made plans for Cameron's last semester at Bethany, talked about what we had next on the agenda, reviewed the list of projects for getting the house ready to move, made plans for how to handle future expenses and came up with our favorite characters on Law & Order that would have been great in a spin off show.  We did stop one more time in Peru, but we were still home by 10:30, just in time to see Cameron and my parents before heading to bed.  It was definitely a long day, but we didn't mind.  We were just incredibly thankful for the light traffic on the way back and the safe journey.  

City Council & Busy Season

While the rest of us have been in Florida, Cal and Brett have been busy themselves.  Brett went to Monroe County’s Election Central to file to run for Bloomington City Council District 3.  He was very excited about it when I talked to him yesterday.  He said that it would be challenging to win as BTown is largely Democrat, but was thankful for the experience.  He already had deadlines and dates in his phone.  He didn’t know how much he would campaign, but was very happy to see his name in the paper already and to be contacted for a short written interview as well.

Cal eased his way into Busy Season this year starting yesterday by working at home.  He was glad for the short week and to begin with an easy assignment.  I was happy to hear that.  I remembered how Doug felt when busy season started - like there was a never ending pit in his stomach.  Hopefully, Cal’s smooth start will continue through the next few months.  At the very least it will keep him busy and make the winter go by faster for him.  

What a Difference a Day Makes

After Cameron’s plane left for Indiana, I went back to Port Orleans Riverside to lay down for an hour or so.  Meg and Nick were just leaving for Epcot and I told them that I would meet them there at noon.  When I arrived, I was absolutely floored at how packed the park was.  We had been there many times over the past year and had not seen it like it was today.  

Meg and Nick had only ridden Frozen and Living with the Land in the three hours that they were there before me.  They talked about heading home after lunch.  Since I had just arrived, I really wanted to stay.  After bratwurst and pretzels in Epcot, we decided to check out the other rides and plan from there.    It was a long afternoon, but we still had a lot of fun.  We rode Remy and Spaceship Earth.  Nick also got to try the different types of sodas at Club Cool and Meg found a gorgeous sweatshirt while shopping.  Doug didn’t beat us home by much as he worked a fourteen hour day at Winco.

Today’s experience was way different which surprised all of us.  Magic Kingdom was crowded, but nothing like yesterday.  We rode our three favorites - Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion - all before lunchtime.  We enjoyed the Friar’s Nook with its choice of macaroni and cheese entree.  Afterward we rode Small World.  We then picked Mickey’s Philharmagic and the Carousel of Progress next.  

We talked about ending our day with The Tiki Room and The Country Bears Jamboree.  Doug called, however, to let us know that a storm was coming and would hit Ocala at 7 p.m.  We decided that we’d rather leave early and avoid it as we knew that we could save those shows for the next trip.  Plus, we were all exhausted from a busy three days at Disney.  

Thankfully, we all made it home safely.  Doug treated us to Tijuana Flats for dinner.  The food was delicious as always.  Nick enjoyed trying all of the sauces.  It was also very nice to relax and get off our feet for awhile.