Category Archives: Volunteer Work

Love/Hate: Chocolate, Spring and Overachieving

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It’s been awhile since I’ve posted some of my Love/Hate Relationships I’ve got swirling around in my  head…
(See previous Love/Hates here, here, here and here)

Love: That I’m likely five months away from finally finishing my Masters.
Hate: That suddenly it’s all I can think about and anxiety creeps into my brain, my stomach, my heart so quickly. I have to remind myself it’s just school and I don’t have to score perfectly on all exams and quizzes.

Love: That it’s so sunny outside this week.
Hate: That it’s not very spring like… yet.

Love: Daylight Savings is coming up! More time after work to run outside and feel productive.
Hate: Losing an hour of sleep. Seriously, it takes me a week to adjust.

Love: Having about 10 different ideas for blog posts.
Hate: Not really having the time to sit down and write them.

Love: Pandora during the work day. Best invention ever especially since I can’t use my MP3 player & headphones during the day.
Hate: That I get only 40 hours a month; that’s one work week! I’m learning to limit my usage so that it’s only one during super tedious projects when I really need the extra oomph.

Love: Getting involved with local charities and donation drives. My favorite one right now is a drive that collects shoes and turns the proceeds from the shoes into water pumps & filtration systems to provide clean water to Haiti.
Hate: That it never feels like enough.

Love: With Easter coming up, my favorite candy ever is in the stores: Cadbury Milk Chocolate Mini Eggs.
Hate: I can’t resist popping a handful into my mouth if they are in the house. However, I feel the need to stock up on them because in about a month, I won’t see them again until Christmas. It’s a slippery slope.

That's What I Said

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“I think I really do want to have a baby… someday.”
Said on Friday night and then again on Sunday thanks to seeing a mass amount of cute little newborn babies and then baby shower shopping for my upcoming trip to Florida. Shocked that I said. Shocked that it’s true. Some days totally shocked that I’m nowhere close to that fairytale. For now though, I’ll just spoil everyone else’s babies.

“I’m an adult and not ashamed to say I loved this book.”
Said on Saturday afternoon after attending a lecture by a local StL writer (Ridley Pearson, author of Peter and the Starcatchers series, The Kingdom Keepers series and many mysteries) on his book, the Kingdom Keepers. He autographed my book which made me all sorts of giddy and thanked me for reading the Keepers series since it’s not quite as well known (yet). I should also explain that his mysteries are for adults, the other books? Young adult fiction. I always feel slightly sheepish navigating into the young adult section at the bookstore but these books are just SO GOOD. I will even admit that Kingdom Keepers scared me a bit.

“Don’t eat me! I am NOT hay!”
Said on Sunday (early) morning as Darling and I started our first volunteer day grooming horses at the local Equine Assisted Therapy park. Note to self: Wearing a bright yellow jacket is not a good idea as the horses will think you are hay and constantly try to devour parts of your coat. Editor’s Update: I actually enjoyed working with the horses except for when one bit the other and caused the horse I was working with to freak the heck out and nearly run me over.

The Business

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The business of breaking up isn’t pretty.

After you get over the intial gut-wrenching pain and fear of being without someone you’ve known for a number of months (or years, as the case maybe) which always results in the infamous “Ugly Cry,” where your face is all scrunched up, red, oozing liquid from eyes and nose, tons of tissues strewn about, messy hair and other not-so-attractive characteristics, you have to get down to business. Business of moving forward, even if you’d rather not.

You know, things like deciding if you’re going to keep your Facebook Account. And if you are going to keep your Facebook account who do you need to purge from the list? It’s unpleasant to log-in and see a status update from the ex, or his best friend, or perhaps worst of all his family who you love and miss. Oh, and don’t forget about the cute couple pictures. DELETE; you have a copy on your computer anyway. Not to mention the obnoxious business of changing your relationship status which appears in two or three spots on your profile and potentially your friends’ walls if you have that box checked. It’s rather agonizing, really but two bonus points for you if you get through it without crying.

Then there’s the issue of the various reminders hanging out in your room. Picture frames. Little cards and notes. Stuffed animals. Paintings. Sculptures. You don’t necessarily want to throw them out because they still mean something to you, with or without a relationship. Best to box ‘em up and save them for a day when you can face them.

Don’t forget your stuff! If you lived together or practially lived together there’s a good chance that you amassed a fair amount of stuff at his place/your place. It’s easiest to approach the exchange of stuff via text or email and agree on a drop-off point or time, preferably not face to face as that could totally set you back about two weeks in the recovery process. If a drop off isn’t feasible, ask a friend to go get it for you or at least, go with you. This can be just as challenging as declaring your singledom to the world because I bet you forgot about that particular gift/note/memorabilia that he gave to you and you accidentally left at his place. When it shows up in the box(es) or bag(s) of stuff that’s been returned to you, be prepared for a return of the “Ugly Cry.”

Lastly we have the reconnection to the life pre-relationship which can be quite tricky. It’s not that the relationship was your whole life but you have to retrain everyone in your life to think of you as YOU and not “You + boyfriend.” This can be tough especially in your mid-twenties when 95% of your friends have already taken the engaged/married plunge, married + kid plunge, or are about to be one of the three. Their weekends are sacred, which is something you know well but the weekends are such a large expanse of time. Time to be alone. Time to reflect. Time that can be dangerous. Staying busy as a bee is the only way.

Your friends and family will marvel at how organized and clean things are. You’ll send more emails and snail mail. Your Google Reader will be clean. Your gym membership will finally get it’s money’s worth. You’ll investigate new areas of interest. You’ll try out various volunteering jobs until you find one that you really like. You’ll spend more time with your Gram. You’ll plow through your “to be read,” pile. You’ll add sexy new clothes to your closet. You’ll earn frequent flyer miles as you traipse about the country in search of the next big adventure. You’ll have momentary setbacks, biting back the tears or letting them fall, but you’ll put your head down and move forward. It’s the only way.

And best of all? You’ll find that you can survive.

The Horse Phobia

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I’m not afraid of a lot of things. As a matter of fact the list includes: heights (namely in terms of flying in planes), roads with no sides (as in there is no guard rail), being alone when I’m old and horses, which I mentioned in yesterday’s post.

I’ve had three bad experiences with horses and as far as I’m concerned, that’s three bad experiences too many. It all started in sixth grade, at a friend’s birthday party which included a trail ride for all of us. Sounds fun, right? WRONG. I managed to get one of the only horses in the group that didn’t want to listen to the commands. So rather than enjoying a nice, relaxing trail ride with my friends, my horse took off into the woods after the one in front of us did. My best friend and I were stuck on these horses, screaming, limbs and leaves smacking our faces, terrified out of our minds. I don’t even remember how in the world we were rescued.

Fast forward about six years and this time I’m at Sixth Grade Camp as a Counselor a school district-wide week where we went to a local YMCA camp which is a pretty fun week except for the horseback riding event that all students and counselors must do. And guess what!? They give me the bad seed horse again. Doesn’t listen to commands. Doesn’t respond to the reins. Either stands there and doesn’t move or takes off into a run. So once again, I’m running wildly through the woods (though fortunately on the trail for a change) much to the enjoyment of my charges. This time I at least didn’t get any scrapes or cuts from the woods.

You’d think I’ve learned by now, but alas, not so much. I was a camp counselor twice because it really is a rewarding experience and so I had to ride the darn horses again. And would you believe they gave me the same horse the second time? Yup, they did. Same thing, only this time the horse was a tad more wild and decided to stand up only two legs while I’m on him and I really thought I’d fall off him and break my back.

So now you know the story of Nora & the horses. And why standing in a stall with a large horse (a Quarterhorse to be exact) was such a feat for me on Sunday. His name was Scott and he was quite interested in his hay + water combo he had going on so he paid little attention to me. That and I was very careful to move slowly, quietly and always stay within his eye sight. I confess, I even enjoyed it for a few moments. (Most of the stalls were empty as the horses were in pasture while we were there, but only females on Sundays it seems.)

I moved onto another stall where there’s a 25 year-old pony named Vera. The sign on her stall says she’s afraid of people and recovering from a bad broken leg of some sort so I approached her cautiously. Much to my surprise, she warmed up to me and even let me pet her. I instantly fell in love with her, for whatever reason and kind of hope she’s there when I go back. (Though really, it would be better for her if she’s adopted. Anyone need a pony? She’s only $100! She’s beauitful, too.)

I guess the next step for me would be to ride a horse but I don’t think that will happen anytime soon. Baby steps are just fine with me!

Tell me, do you have any animal phobias? If not, what are you most afraid of/do you wish you could overcome it?

Weekend Adventures

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This weekend was…

… driving 102 miles to see my brother and partake in the Homecoming festivities.

… walking all over campus and my college town realizing that it looks nothing like when I went there yet somehow still the same

… realizing that I’m NOT young anymore. In bed by midnight on a Friday after two beers? Yes please, and thank you.

… laughing at the wave of bad cologne that hit me when I walked into one of my favorite college bars.

… laughing even harder when there were a few guys I know who are still there. In the same bar. At the same table. Looking exactly the same.

… a reunion with one of my nearest and dearest BFFs, her husband and her parents.

… eating fried food with reckless abandon and being thankful that we walked a total of at least 3 miles in less than 24 hours.

… cheap beer and food, one of the many benefits of being in a college town.

… feeling giddy when I was carded over and over and over again.

… reflecting on my life and resolving to figure out a few things that have been nagging at me.

… taking the first step towards figuring out the issues and instantly feeling better.

… watching Saturday Night Live Halloween specials with my parents.

… waking up at 6:30 am on a Sunday to pretend to be a ranch hand.

… having doubts about being a ranch hand after a 55 minute drive out into the country.

… mucking stalls for four hours. Four hours.

… conquering my fear of horses as I was alone in a stall with a giant horse for 30 minutes while I cleaned up his poop. I lived to tell about it.

… laughing with Darling as we were the only ones who followed the rule to wear our volunteer shirts.

… laughing with Darling four hours after we were done mucking stalls because we were both so tired and sore.

… deciding that we will go back for more ranch hand-ing in the hopes that we can do something other than muck stalls for four hours.

…  spending a tad too much money at Michael’s on Christmas Card supplies, a few little gifties and prints for the bathroom rennovation I’m working on.

… slurping delicious taco soup with warm bread for dinner.

… falling asleep on the couch at 8pm due to sheer exhaustion.

… memories, laughter until my sides hurt, new experiences and adventures, hope and love.

The 26 List

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As corny as it sounds, I believe John Lennon. It seems to be that way for me: I make plans and somehow at the end of the year, I look back and only a few of the things I’ve hoped to accomplish have come to fruition. It’s not for lack of trying or setting my mind to it but as is true with life, other things come up that need my attention or that challenge me and I try to never back down from a challenge. I’ve learned to go with the flow more, the importance of not having every moment of my day scheduled. But I often wonder, how in the world I will actually do all the things I’ve dreamed of accomplishing?

After reading Nilsa’s post on Life Goals, I realized that I am more of a small picture person which I like to think makes me more present in the now and perhaps explains why I like the Lennon quote so much. (Not to say I don’t think about my future because I do, but I want to enjoy the here and now and then enjoy later when I get to it.) Rather than making a Bucket List, I came up with a list of things I’d like to do to make my 26th year another great one. Some are life changes, other personal challenges and others are things that I’m amazed I haven’t yet tried.

Here they are, in no particular order:

* Run one 5k Race a month, preferably ones for a charity. (The hope is that I could work up to “bigger,” races as the year goes on.)

* Read at least seven books. One must be a memoir. Another historical non-fiction.

* Get down to my goal weight and stay there!

* Go fishing. Learn to bait a hook.

* Meet two more bloggy buddies.

* Start a real pen & paper journal.

* Volunteer 60 hours at the Rescue Ranch. I can’t wait to get started even though I know I’ll be working through bitter cold and sweltering heat.

* Cook one new dish and bake one new recipe a month. Ideally the bulk of the recipes would come from the old school cookbooks I’ve inherited from my Gram and the Martha Stewart Cupcake book.

* Take piano lessons (again).

* Travel to another baseball stadium, preferably the New York Yankees.

* Learn how to knit, courtesy of my Gram. First project: afghan.

* Finish that darn Masters of mine and leave formal schooling behind for good.

* Get back to nannying/babysitting. (I used to babysit all the time and lately I miss it.)

* Catch up on my scrapbooking/photo printing, sending pictures to the appropriate friends and family.

* Start Yoga and become a regular. This goes hand-in-hand with learning to meditate and getting to my goal weight and staying there.

Any recommendations for things that absolutely must be included in my list?

-aholic

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I’m a…

….bookaholic. Shopaholic. Cheeseholic. Sleepaholic. Pictureholic. Animalaholic. VictoriaSecretaholic. Struggling to be a runningaholic.

Normally these “addictions,” don’t cause me a lot of problems since I’m pretty good at keeping them in check. (Unless there are amazing sales, coupons for Barnes & Noble in my email, my favorite cheese in the fridge, or a rainy day.)

Well, that was until this past weekend when I was browsing dogs from various rescue shelters online with Darling since they are ready to begin the search for a new addition to our family. There were big dogs, little dogs, puppies, middle-age, old-age, short, fat, tall, skinny dogs. All for ADOPTION!

Some were for free (oh, how I want to go rescue that 12 year old dog who has limited time left, just so she can be loved for the remainder of her days. Oh, the heartbreak), others were on special since they are black and have a stupid societal stigma associated with them, and others yet were close to $200 to take home.

Darling and I diligently got up early on Saturday morning to visit a PetSmart adoption event to view some of the dogs we’d been keeping tabs on.  And I fell in fast, insane, puppy love.

I made the mistake of holidng a three month-old terrier mix pup who was white, with black spots on his back, floppy ears, blue eyes and a brown/black face. He licked me. He put his head in my hand. He followed me to the other side of his cage after I put him down.

I fumbled for my phone to get Irish’s opinion of the pup but forgot he was at a bachelor party and couldn’t talk so I had to deal with sporadic texting and realized I can’t make a decision like this without his input. I walked away, mopey, but told myself that if he was there on Sunday morning, he was meant to be mine. (He wasn’t. A family with kids adopted him, or so they tell me.)  Unfortunately the puppy bug has been planted firmly in my brain and despite the obvious obstacles and challenges to being a Dog Momma again, I can’t quite turn off the thoughts of adopting another one soon.

For the time being Darling and I are turning our backs on our animalaholic tendencies and instead attending the volunteer orientation that will hopefully allow us to be Ranch Hands, once a month, at a nearby animal rescue farm where there are thankfully no dogs. We’ll be surrounded by horses, donkeys, pigs, goats, geese, ducks, chickens, roosters and any other possible farm animal that needs to be rescued. We’ll be cleaning stalls, feeding and watering animals and leaving covered in mud, poop and straw I’m sure. We could have opted for a position at the various dog and cat shelters in the area but we would surely wind up with more dogs than we could handle, so farm animals it is! I’m excited to see and work with goats & pigs; Darling loves horses and donkeys. I have no idea what this adventure will hold for us, but I’m excited to support an organization I believe in.

Oh, and it helps that we receive some perks like discounted adoptions which we had no idea where were eligible for.

Confession time: What’s your biggest addiction and what sets it off?