October Wrap-Up

What a weirdly warm October. The leaves are just now starting to show their vibrancy, and the weather this week is the coldest it's been all year. I'm feeling slightly discombobulated going into November, kind of like I'm just going through the motions until the holiday breaks . . . I'm trying to find motivation in small doses where I can. (Just a side note, those first two pictures are from November, and the last two pictures are from September, but who's keeping track?)

Physical Lessons

I watched two documentaries on Netflix focused on adopting vegan/plant-based diets, and for the month of October, it seemed to be all I could think about. What caused it was me sitting down to take my blood pressure after two months of pretty consistent exercise. I've struggled with high blood pressure for at least the past year, and my doctors said, "With exercise, you should be able to get it under control." Well, lies. Because when I saw the numbers (after multiple readings), I wanted to cry. My numbers were not only higher than before, but also at hypertension levels. Consistently. This is concerning by itself, but given that high blood pressure, heart disease/CHF, and diabetes runs in my family, it's even more so. Most of my family is on medication to control their blood pressure, and I never wanted to be like that.

So I started doing some research on healthy alternatives to lowering blood pressure without medication. From my research, the three target areas revolved around stress, exercise, and diet. I had a decent grasp on exercise, and my stress was significantly lowered when I did. It was my diet that still seemed to be the main problem. The next step I took was looking into nutritionists and who was covered with my insurance. It turns out my insurance covers 20% of the total cost of a nutritionist, and the one who best aligned with my journey would still cost me $1500 out of pocket for three months. Needless to say, that's a *bit* out of my price range right now. I know I should leave it to the professionals, but I also know people who have access to a ton of reliable nutrition resources, whether it be through nursing school, or their own schooling in nutrition programs. So I reached out to those people and got a TON of suggestions for books and documentaries to check out.

Overall, my next step, or challenge, will be to incorporate more meals that are plant-based into my diet. I'm not aiming to go vegan or even vegetarian to be honest. But I am aiming to have more plants on a daily basis. I'm still working on my relationship with food, not viewing certain foods as bad and others as good. But I am trying to eat more of what the earth directly provides as my foundation for my meals, what is naturally the most beneficial for my body. Trying to take things slow and as simple as possible.

Relationship Growth

There was a point in October where I was frustrated and impatient. My husband and I decided to finally, finally paint a couple rooms in our home. Knowing how we were putting up a tent after a long, stressful drive the weekend before sort of prepared me for what teamwork would look like on this project. But I wasn't prepared to not finish the project after a full Sunday dedicated to it. Our bathroom, granted, needed a lot of work and I'm glad that my husband is the perfectionist when it comes to home projects. I am about cleaning, and things I'm passionate about, but he is 100% of the time if he's doing the work, regardless of if it's a project he's taken initiative of or if he was simply asked to help.

For this painting project, our house was torn apart as the contents of the guest room and the bathroom were strewn in the living room, dining room, and our bedroom. And, I just feel the need to say, that sort of chaos stresses me out. But I didn't think anything about it for that day because, in my mind, everything would go back into its place by the end of the day or by the end of Monday, tops.

Nope.

My mom and I finished the guest room, but the bathroom was only halfway finished and remained that way for another two weeks. We had to shower and use the toilet without blinds on the window that looked directly into our next door neighbor's living room. I was constantly tripping or tipping over things just to get to my closet. Every time I walked in the front door and saw stuff sitting on our dining room table, I wanted to cry. And so, one morning on a walk with my mom, I started talking about my frustrations. One thing I said I would never do because Robby and I's relationship is Robby and I's business. If I'm frustrated with him, and vice versa, we need to discuss it with each other - not other people. It was when my mom started to complain back to me about some of the things that happened on our painting day that I had to stop her. I immediately apologized for bringing her into it and changed the subject. I know everyone has moments of weakness, but I'm trying to create a positive family image without the drama. I grew up with it as a kid and I don't want that moving forward. It's so damaging to talk without thinking about issues that should remain in a husband-wife relationship to the other relationships in the family. It was a wake-up call, and something I have to have better control over in the future.

Twitter Highlights

Professional Skills

To kind of go along with how I started this post, I feel like my work life has suffered the most this past month. The work has been slow, making the commutes difficult even if the traffic is light. I love and am forever thankful that I get one day a week from home, but when my agenda is mostly empty, making that 150-mile round trip to and from work every day is really hard. Especially the days when the dishes are overflowing in the sink, the weather is bad, the laundry basket is overflowing, or the house is looking a little dingy. So October has been hard to find the motivation of looking forward to coming into work.

But, the break to Tennessee in the beginning of November really helped. I came in on that following Monday feeling refreshed and thankful that I have such a great working environment, and an understanding boss. This was the first time I had felt in a serious slump about my job after just over a year of working here, and everyone I talked to about it said it was a phase that is normal to go through. One that I had to push through before it got better. We're day two back from vacation and I'm still feeling pretty good, so I'm hoping it keeps up. I am fortunate for the work environment I have, but sometimes it can be hard to see that. I just have to remember on the days when I'm low to count my blessings and look on the bright side.

Books I've Read

I read the book of Romans and the book of James from the Bible, and solely because of my devotions every morning. But I think that counts, right? While I can't pinpoint specific lessons without my Bible in front of me, I can say that every time I've read these two books in the past, I always finish feeling uplifted and rejuvenated. Romans especially emphasized the importance of living within the limits that God has given me so that I can thrive to be the person He's made me to be, a concept I've been working on since the summer. It was nice to see that in God's word, and something I've been trying to keep in the back of my mind since reading it.

Monthly Mantra

"Just because you took longer than others doesn't mean you've failed."

October Reflections

As I had wanted to do at the end of September, I made more soups this past month. The Cream of Crab recipe, while deceptive in its instructions, turned out tasting pretty awesome. The only fault was that my husband trusted me, a novice crab-picker, to pick the crabs we used in the soup. Needless to say, there were a lot of shells. Every bite was kind of a gamble. Lol, but it turned out pretty delicious regardless. I also made a vegan Thai Curry Sweet Potato Lentil soup that was divine. My husband loved it, the Ron Swanson in my life, so it was a big accomplishment. I may have only made two (I don't remember at this point), but I have a pumpkin soup and a tortellini soup on deck that I'm excited to make in November so I'll keep you posted. I also made a lot of pumpkin things this past month, which was a great stress reliever and also not helpful in lowering my sugar consumption. Haha!

I'm trying to be better at actually watching the things I have saved on my Netflix list, so the things I watched for the first time this month included the live action Beauty and the Beast and Milk. I didn't dislike either of them, but I wasn't completely sold on Beauty and the Beast. It felt a little silly to watch when it wasn't a cartoon. Lol. Milk was good, but it was a little uncomfortable for my husband. I had wanted to see Milk when it first came out because it was right after Into the Wild, and Sean Penn, who had directed it, and Emile Hirsch were in it. That being said, I knew next to nothing about Harvey Milk and the work he did in San Francisco in the 70s as the first elected gay man into public office. I still felt like I learned a lot, though, and it gave me a deeper perspective on the struggles of the gay community during that time period. Robby and I also finally started TURN, about Washington's spies. We both have been wanting to watch it for a while, and I have to say, five episodes in, I like it a lot. It's just hard to wait for a time when we both can and want to watch it - any other couples know that struggle??

We visited a couple national parks this month for Robby to collect stamps in his passport. The first was Valley Forge, a place I have always wanted to go but had never visited. I had forgotten that the place was significant not for a battle but for the change in morale it brought to Washington and his men. It was cool to see his headquarters and picture talks between him, Hamilton, Jefferson, and others who aided during that time. I also got to take Robby (and Chip) on their first hike to Cunningham Falls - Maryland's tallest cascading waterfall. Catoctin Mountain Park is the national park, but it was a beautiful fall afternoon and we had a great time walking in the woods. He, with his class, went to Antietam and Harpers Ferry, so he got a lot of stamps this month! I'm so happy he's found something that he's really enjoying - it gives us an excuse to go to new (or favorite) historical sites, and gives my brain something to chew on too.

Things I was grateful for in October:

1. Camping and time with my best friend

2. Walking more than in September

3. Making progress on new project

4. Carving pumpkins with Rob and Mom

5. Preparing to have Thanksgiving with the family this year

Thanks for reading! I won't promise anything for November, but I'll see if anything presents itself and we'll go from there! :)