Quelfing, Oral Hygeine, and 12 Months of Resolutions

Well, Tim and I are back in Dallas after a much longer than anticipated Christmas trip. We did finally get to spend Christmas (a day late) with Tim's family. I'm so glad we were able to see them for Christmas, and it sure didn't seem like it was a day late - all the family was there, the tree was up, we had stockings to dig through and presents to open, and a wonderful home-cooked dinner. It was fabulous... until my stomach flipped out, and I had one of my horrible stomach aches that I get a few times a year (yes - they are SO bad that I can actually recall the specific times it's happened).

I ended up sitting out of the newly beloved Proffitt family board game - Quelf (aka: worst name for a game EVER - because don't EVEN tell me you don't think of something else when you hear the word "quelf"). Its appeal is that it's a very... interactive game (an example in a moment). This did not sound the least bit appealing to me, so I sat in the recliner and watched. If you know me at all, you know that this must have been one hell of a stomach ache to keep me from playing a game! Quite the bummer. The one plus of this, was being a spectator after someone drew an "everyone plays" card that stated that anytime someone's phone rang, everyone had to stand up and yell, "Pizza Party!" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they realized all their phones were on silent... so I proceeded to secretly call the house phone - they all jumped up and yelled, "Pizza Party!" immediately on command... while I sat back and cracked up laughing as they realized what I'd done. It was pretty classic and very entertaining. :)

On to other news - today was the most terrifying day I have had in who knows how long. I have not been this anxious, fearful, - okay, downright scared - in a really long time. About 8 or 9 years to be exact. For today my friends, I went to the dentist. I know, that's a ridiculously long time, and I find it quite embarrassing. I have been avoiding, dreading, and putting this day off for, well, 8 or 9 years. Blame it on the fact that I spent all my formative years going to the dentist at a crappy little Indian hospital in downtown Tulsa that was absolutely terrifying, especially as a little kid. They don't use nitrous oxide for crying out loud!! Dr. Lecca was wonderful though - not even scary! Turns out I have three small cavities. Now this might be terrible for many people, but for my track record (going to the dentist growing up meant, "going to see that I have another cavity" - I honestly can't remember going to the dentist as a kid and NOT having a cavity... and no, I haven't always gone 8 or 9 years without seeing a dentist, so it wasn't that either!) it was the most amazing news I've gotten in awhile. It was glorious even! No teeth rotting out of my face, no root canals in my future, no gingivitis (which I was just SURE I had developed by now)... just three (small!) cavities in almost 10 years. YAY!!! Now I will be going faithfully every six months and I plan to finally overcome my fear and dread of the dentist. Hooray!

And now for my last tid-bit. (By the way, if you're still with me at this point, then bravo to you! I'm impressed - this post is long and getting longer by the second!)

I've decided on something different for my New Year's Resolutions this year. See, I have issues with starting new things and actually following through on them for any meaningful amount of time. Sure I'm good for awhile... you know, about 4 or 5 days. And then I'm back to my old habits, berating myself for how much I suck because I can't stick to a simple plan (you know - the kind where you overhaul your whole life - mind, body, and soul - and must do it for the entire year... a simple little plan like that).

NEW PLAN!!
12 months of resolutions! I am going to pick different resolutions for each month of the year, and try to do that ONE thing for ONE month, and then move on to the next. Hopefully, if it is a meaningful and fruitful resolution, I will find that I want to carry it over to the next month - even if only partially.

For instance, some ideas I've come up with... a month of spending at least 15 minutes outside EVERY day - doing absolutely anything: reading, going for a walk, jogging, or just sitting on the porch doing absolutely nothing. I realized there are so many weekdays that I simply walk to my car, drive to work, walk inside, work in a room with NO windows all day, walk to my car, drive home, go inside... and proceed to stay there the rest of the evening. How awful and wasteful of the beautiful outdoors! Now, after my month-o-outdoorsy fun I may realize that that's not necessarily feasible to do EVERY day... but maybe it will be a part of me enough that I crave being in nature more than I do now - and maybe I will appreciate that time more.

Other ideas... a month of:
- blogging everyday (even just a few lines)
- not buying anything that is not a necessity (I'm guessing Schlotzsky's and wine are not necessities, so this could be quite challenging)
- reading x number of minutes a day
- eating out only on Mondays (when Tim and I have our Orthodox inquirers class downtown)
- praying/reading the Bible everyday
- a photo a day
- doing something nice for someone everyday
- abstaining from Facebook (ouch!)
- spring cleaning projects... one small thing each day until it's all finished

So... those are what I've come up with so far. Obviously I need to come up with 12 total at some point, but I'm okay with having some of them come to me as the year goes on. Any ideas are welcome, though!

We'll see how I do with my 12 months of resolutions. It might be just as dismal as every other resolution I've made over the years... or this year I just might have figured out the key to being successful at it. I'm going to choose to be optimistic and go with the latter.

Now, I better go to bed - in a moment of weakness (or strength?) I promised Tim I would wake up with him tomorrow (since he finally has to go back to work) and make him eggs for breakfast. Hmm... maybe I should start my "good deeds for someone each day" resolution early? :)

Merry Christmas from the EconoLodge!

Merry Christmas!! We are in Wichita Falls still - looks like we're going to be here another night... can't even get out of the parking lot!

We got up this morning and had breakfast over in the main lobby... it was pretty meager, but I'm not definitely not complaining! While we were there, we met some really nice people - one family that is actually traveling from Dallas to somewhat near where we're trying to go. We traded numbers and have been kinda looking out for each other (mainly on the food-finding front!). We figured it would be good to be in touch with someone headed the same place as us. We've all decided to check in for another night (and we've made some other friends too), so looks like Christmas at the EconoLodge for us!

Tim and I trekked up to the nearest gas station in search food (as we had none). I sucked it up and put on my Uggs for the march over (it was about 10 minutes in the snow/ice there and back). I felt sorry for them the whole way there and the whole way back (crossing my fingers they're not ruined). They did their job though - my feet were snug and warm for the whole trip. We got back with our $35 in gas station food just in time to find out that Chili's is delivering to stranded motorists! Bah humbug!! Actually it's okay... I think we might be doing that for dinner tonight, and then we'll have our gas station food for the drive tomorrow as our "in case of emergency" food.

Still not sure if we're headed to Dimmitt or back to Dallas tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure we'll be headed somewhere... which is an improvement from our current situation! I will say that we're making the most of it though. We've maintained good attitudes, have had plenty of relaxation, made some new friends, and have been thankful that we are stuck in this situation together. We can handle pretty much anything as long as we're together. Cheesy yes, but still true.

Cross your fingers for us to be able to make it to see Tim's family tomorrow - we (and they) are really bummed we are missing Christmas with them. I figure that a late family Christmas is much better than no family Christmas, but even that's up in the air. Still hopeful though!

Alright, well I think I'm off to do some more scrapbooking... I must say it is a great way to pass the time, and something I always feel like I don't have "time" for!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good... afternoon. :)

A Very Memorable Christmas Indeed...

Well, since it's been over two months since I've updated, I guess being snowed in is as good a time as any to finally post something!

So... Tim and I are stuck in the EconoLodge Motel in Wichita Falls. We've been here since about 10am because of the blizzard (and no, I am not exaggerating - they actually said it was a blizzard on the news!). We were supposed to leave Dallas yesterday (you know, when it was 70 and sunny?), but didn't because some of our packages hadn't arrived yet. One of the packages was a re-send (thanks Amazon!) because the delivery people left it at the door... either it wasn't our door, or someone stole it, but we never got it. So I was NOT going to miss this (free) re-delivery. We left about 6:30 am this morning... thought we were doing great. Then about the time we got to Wichita Falls, we realized there was no way we were driving all the way to Dimmitt in that kind of snow storm.

I'm glad we didn't continue on - it was snowing like crazy ALL DAY until about 5 or so. I'm still kinda worried about getting my poor little car out tomorrow - there's about a 3 foot snow drift next to it! I'm reeeeally hoping we're able to get out and drive to Dimmitt tomorrow, but I'm not positive we'll be able to. Crossing my fingers - I want to spend Christmas with family... not stranded at a motel in Wichita Falls!

Okay, so here's what I've been up to today!





The first two are my original ideas (I especially like the 2nd one - it took me awhile, because everything is kinda spliced together from lots of different pieces). The last one was a "quick page," meaning it was basically finished. I just added pictures, some journaling, and some little tidbits here and there. I love them, but they're not as much "mine."

Whew! Well I think I'm going to relax a little now. It's not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon!

Hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas Eve - a white Christmas in Oklahoma and Texas - this hardly EVER happens!!