Showing posts with label Nampa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nampa. Show all posts

Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Power of Friends


Last 2 nights in Nampa in my cute blue house with 3 bedrooms, new carpet, new kitchen appliances, new bathroom vanity and cabinet mirror. Nampa with family and friends and neighbors near by, and a dog park. Moving to Twin Falls to ugly, 2 bedroom, old kitchen appliances and cabinets, strange carpet and layout, and more rent, but a garage when it snows and a temple that is open, but no friends.

I've been crying a lot lately about this move. Being away from people and the change in houses are my NOW issues. But of course their is also the other eternal stuff. Am I a looser? Why is my life going like this? Why can't I have my righteous desires? Will I ever be with anyone else or just stay single and alone for forever. I've been telling Heavenly Father that if I still have blessings of a husband and children allotted (Alma 29)to me, if it's at all possible, even though I messed things up, can I please have them. Please. I know I'm overweight, and have ugly legs and arms and a fat stomach, but my insides are pretty good most of the time. The being alone is the worry part of my being right now.

I read this earlier today via E-mail. It feels right, so I'm sharing it.

They Teach It at Stanford :

"I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman, whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends. At first everyone laughed, but he was serious. Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality "girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely. Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym. There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged - not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky. So let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health."

Instead of coming home to my place of boxes, that my mom has been packing I went straight to my friend Beverley's. It's been over a week since I've seen her and we used to call or visit daily. She has 2 dogs too, and a cat. I hung out with her for 2 hours, watching Gray's Anatomy and Dr. Oz and eating apple slices and bagels with melted cheese. When I drove away I felt so good. So filled up. It was so good to hang out and be and talk about men and their diseases. When I read that little email it felt right. Right and good. And then I had an experience with it and it's true. It's really true.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

More NEW

I'm totally stressed out. I've been in tears a few times today and yesterday. It's conference weekend, but right after all the sessions I have to be up to Twin Falls, to start my new job for 4 days, then drive to SLC to attend my nephews wedding, then back up to Twin, for another 4 days. During the 8 days in Twin I hope I can find a place to live that is acceptable for me and the dogs. If I do, it's down to Nampa to rent a U-Haul again, pack up and re order my life once again. I've had so many changes in the last 2 years, I'm looking for some easier times ahead.
Shoshone Falls

Just when I'm getting comfortable in Nampa I have to move. I love the place I live. It's perfect for me and for the dogs. The job- not so much- way too much dysfunction- WAY TOO MUCH. I find it impossible to not get involved. The ward- It's OK. I make my self heard in gospel doctrine and relief society. I have a friend- Beverely T. who I speak on the phone with daily and has 2 dogs like me. The Bishop finally (after his talk I'm sure with the Stake President) asked me to speak. Of course there is to much in the way to have that happen (see the above paragraph) You snooze, you loose.(The Perrine Bridge over the Snake River you have to go over to get to Twin)

I gave my resignation notice on wed the 28 over the phone, the letter on the 30, and my last day is Oct 1st. The 3rd will be my second day as I was paid on Thursday the 29th, 16 dollars an hour! Yep, if I'm working with a student age child in school with them, I make 16, If I work outside of school with anyone I make 18 an hour!
What will I be doing, you might ask. Here in Idaho it's called PSR work, which stands for Psycho-social Rehabilitation. I will be working with people with mental illnesses. By law I have 30 months to take classes and a test and then I will be have letters behind my name. CPRP. Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner (I think). Washington State does not use this method at all. When I ask- does this person have a case manager, a state social worker, they don't know what I'm talking about, but many states use this method.

My thoughts during the drive there for the interview were negative, but the interview went amazingly well. Then a temple session and on the way home I was feeling great about it. The next visit- a days work I was realizing how my life has seemed to almost lead up to this. Like it was a path.

1. A college education in human development
2. A practicum at USU at the Bear River Mental Health Day program.
3. A care giving job with people with disabilities and mental illnesses in Bellevue that started my "career" with the DD population.
4. A one on one position with G. at Children's Institute for Learning Differences on Mercer Island in 1999. G was violent- tried to hit me with a large stick and got naked once!
5. The last year of learning the appropriate way to handle conflict and stress maturely.

As much as I've told people I don't like Idaho (for many reasons) I will miss Nampa. I really will. It's starting to feel like home. I know the streets, I love the views of the animals I drive by all the time. It has Costoc and Winco! It has my family! It has a great dog park (which at first I thought was so lame). It has my friends (can you believe that is plural) that I will miss! Twin is just a 2 hour drive to Nampa.

But maybe this will be great! If they get me 40 hours of work, I can get out of debt in about 8 months. It will be a new start, one where I'm not in crisis mode as I was almost 5 months ago.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Tree Down


Back on May 26 we had a rain storm complete with lightening and thunder. This tree in my neighbors yard came down in between us both. Here are the pictures.

It just missed the old clunker of a truck of the people who live above me. Lucky for them.
I like taking pictures of natures handiwork.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Welcome to my new home!

Parker and Coco sitting out side on our driveway enjoying the weather.
Pull in, there are a lot of room for cars.


The gate that keeps the dogs in during the day while I'm gone. Enter here.

The entry way to our down stair basement apartment place. Coco brought this dog bed out.
We call it his 'mommy' cause he nurses on it. As you can see this is a perfect place for the dogs.
They have shelter when it's hot and when it's cold.

Through the door and the kitchen is to your right. The place got new stove, dishwasher and fridge and carpet just days before I moved in.
This is my dinning area, usually filled with papers. There is nothing dividing this from the living room, so I put up the quilt to make it seem like a different place.
This is my living room. I inherited this sectional from mom. My pet rats from a few years ago would crawl all over it and chewed parts of the ribbing, so mom didn't want it anymore. I got new pillows to bring some color to the place.
Another view of the living room. To the left is a closet with a washer and dryer hook up, but I use it for food storage. I go to my mom's to visit and do laundry.
The place has 3 bedroom. One that is mine and 2 that are filled with shelves and boxes.
It's been a great place for the dogs and I. When Mike drove me around looking for place to live, we ran into this one accidentally. He said he felt really good about this one. I was to numb at the time to feel anything. I was thinking why 3 bedrooms. But now I know.
Parker for the first time in almost 5 years I've had him as scratched at the door or barked to go outside. He would NEVER do that before.
I leave the door open when I'm home so they can go in and out when they want. I get flies in, but little black flying things is the least of my worries!