Missing F'Book? Not so much....Zombie Skin ewww

I made it through 1 day and I sort of kept it to 30 min.  Not having F'Book on my phone is noticeable but at the same time it wasn't too bad.  Whenever there is down time at school, that seems to be everyone's first go to so it was different not to do that also.
Now the big struggle is at home when I'm suppose to be doing school work.  F'Book is great for procrastinating! But it's pointless procrastinating!  There are things to be hung up on walls still!  It will be a good attachment to break.

The other day we took Sami and Tux to the vet for just a routine check up. I wanted to establish care with the new vet before something came up and it was an issue.  Sami needs to get some dental work done.  She has a pretty good crack in one of her back important teeth so I need to get her in to get that done.  That's about $600!  I am telling myself if I don't get it done then when it becomes infected (which is a matter of time) then it will cost way more than $600.  Tux was good except he's overweight.  I do not want fat pets! It's just so unhealthy for them.  So, he needs to loose about 5 lbs.  We need to give him more exercise time too.

It's starting to get cooler here.  Taking Sami out in the  mornings is going to require more prep than just throwing on a t-shirt and scrub pants.  I'm not ready for winter but then I never am.

Yesterday before my classes I went to a presentation a fellow student gave on blindness.  It was interesting.  Just like a majority of disabilities it's not one or the other but there is a spectrum of blindness and depending on how/why you are blind will determine what/how you see.  This classmate is also hearing impaired.  He has the cutest lab assistance dog.  Sometimes in class the dog will start dreaming and will bark a little.  Too cute!

Classes were good.  Social Justice and Diversity.  We went from Citizens United and what that means to talk about Ferguson.  A very mentally stimulating day at school :)  Those are the days I like!  Politics and law has always gone over my head but I have 2 classes that focus on those things.  Today I have Social Work and the Law and it's taught by a very interesting Judge.  She spent a lot of time working in Juvenile Court and she has good stories that pertain to what we are learning about.

This week I'm getting back into working out.  Doing the PiYo thing.  Talk about an arm workout!  I should have the best guns ever after doing PiYo!  Some of the moves are hard and I can't really do them but over time I expect that to be different :D

In my quest to be healthy I got into the essential oils.  I enjoy them but I've had to take a "break" from them.  Since May I've had this eczema type skin issue on my hands and it comes and goes.  It flares up more than not.  The dermatologist told me to stop everything.  Ummm yeah THAT's doable.  I'm getting a skin test done in a couple of weeks. What it is, is tiny fluid filled bumps that eventually merge together to make bigger fluid filled areas on my hands.  Oh and it's the palm of my hands, which makes it oh so fun!  These blisters will dry up causing hard itchy skin on my hands which crack and sometimes get infected.  It's been fun!  The derm doc mentioned dyshidrosis and she hasn't seen it as bad as what I've had (she took pictures).  When I mention the essential oils she was like stop everything!  I'm stopped my vitamins (which I am slowly starting) due to me stopping everything and a month and a half later I'm still having issues.  Here is one of the outbreaks.  Currently it's on the palm of both hands but this will give you an idea....

During the first flare ups I did try EOs to see if it would help.  The itching was decreased but it didn't go away.  Went to the doc, was given a steroid cream... didn't work.  Went to another doc and was given and anti fungal/steroid cream and oral steroids.  Went away :D  then came back.  Back to the doc, given more steroid cream and a referral to a derm  doc.  Went through the same gambit of treatment.  Reading about dyshidrosis, yes oral steroids clear it up but it will just come back once the steroids are out of your system, and that is what was going on.  It's been fun.  Looking forward to the skin test to hopefully get some answers!  I'm slowly introducing things that I stopped.  Nothing that I stopped seemed to make a difference with my skin.

Right path

I've been working at SLAB for two weeks now and due to that slim time I feel good about my decision in regards to my new career.  The military has changed over the years and it's not the same.  I do enjoy being helpful and hopefully I will make some positive changes while I'm out there and then the changes and organization will be maintained when I'm gone.
Shane decided on a realtor to sell the house :)  We had a garage sale yesterday to try to make some money and get rid of some stuff.  

The garage sell wasn't a complete waste but it could have been better too.  The community does a yard sale twice a year and the HOA advertises so that was nice but it's for one day from 8-12.  We kept our stuff out longer while we worked on cleaning up the yard.  We pulled weeds and I planted some flowers (we'll see if they come up) and Shane fixed some dead grass spots. After all that work, it was close to 4 we sat out front and had a drink.  It was a good day, we even gave Sami a bath!  

I am starting to pack up my office and get things ready for the move.  We are able to move in on 1 June!  I'm excited to be in the city, to have a smaller living area, to be closer to everything.... it will be good.  

The other night I went to a doTERRA class put on by a coworkers wife, it's focus was on spa treatments.  We got a foot soak, hand massage, and neck massage. It was nice and I learned/realized some stuff.  The presenter was talking about how LLV helped her arthritis to where she is no longer in pain and when she stopped talking them for a little bit her arthritis started up again.  Before I started with these oils I would wake up at night due to pain in my hands with shooting pain.  I've been taking LLV for about 3 months now and looking back, that pain has not woken me up at night in while :)
I have also started trading out my face cleansers for doTERRA's face care system.  Right now I have been using the toner for a couple of weeks and I just received the tightening serum.  I was hesitant to change my skin care, I've been using The Body Shop's tea tree line and aveeno moisturizer.  It has taken me me a while to find something that works well with my skin and helps with breakouts.  
So far I am happy that I'm making the change.  The toner is light and smells nice.  I don't feel severe tightness after using the toner.  Also, the tightening serum smells nice and also is working well and is not over drying my skin additionally my skin is not going haywire with the change.  Sometimes when you change out skin care there is this weird adjustment stage, and for us with oily skin there can be a increase with icky oily skin.  None of that has been happening!  So,  yet again it's been a win for doTERRA.  A few times this week Shane has used the oils to help out with some of his concerns and they have helped him out too.  Shane's niece ordered the PastTense for her headaches that she's been struggling with for a long time.  She started to get botox shots and that has helped out a lot which is good.  When I asked about if the PastTense worked at all her response was "If my headache was at a 9-10 I'd use it with ice pack and by morning my pain was at like a 3-4. " :) Just like medications, oils can affect people differently. Being aware of this and listening to one's body can direct you into what can work for you. That's what I've been finding out for me. Maybe eventually I'll get into the selling portion of these oils, but until then I'll keep using them and finding out how beneficial they are for me and maybe that will help when I'm talking to others about the oils.

New Challenges

My week of being off of school and work is coming to an end.  I'm trying to get stuff done this week but at the same time enjoying some much needed down time.  I've been cleaning and did a little shopping for me :)  I'm not a big shopper so that can be stressful and frustrating but I bought some cute little things so that was nice.
Yesterday I went down to my next year's practicum sight.  Since it's a nonprofit and sort of with the VA there is a lot of paperwork, security clearance, special CAC card, to mention a few things.  I've been emailing with my new supervisor trying to get this stuff started prior to me going back to work so there isn't a delay when I want to start work in August.  Plus, I'll be doing a work study so I'll be getting a little bit of money (minimum wage little).  After a lot of back and forth we got a time and day settled upon and I went down to town yesterday.
Most of the time was BSing, and from what I can tell social workers are talkers.  I am going to school to talk story! ha ha ha  I am all for talking story but there are times when it's not feasible and at times it's hard for me to enjoy the talk.  Yesterday I had a headache all day, so it was hard for me to be engaged with the story talking.  Plus, the topic was politics.  These two, the current intern was there, were knowledgeable with the politics.  I'm not a big political person.  It is interesting to me, but I do not feel that I know all that I need to know to be a part of a conversation on politics.  I did learn a little something about my supervisor: he's in the Army guard or reserves, and he's done an LDS mission.  The other intern also has some history in the Army, couldn't tell if she was still in and I didn't feel the need to ask during the time I was there.  While I was there, and I was there for about 2 hours, I didn't see one client come in.  So, I'm going assume a lot of their clients come in later in the day (after normal work hours).  My last practicum was like that and it makes sense.  There was an older Army vet that volunteers there at the front desk.  I liked him, he was an helicopter pilot :), I would have enjoyed talking story with him for those 2 hours!  Anyhoo... I did not fill out any paperwork there!  Supervisor asked me a few questions, filled out a form, and emailed it off to whomever.  I was then given a name at the HR department at the VA that I needed to get into contact with.  I was heading to the VA anyway to apply for Voc Rehab so not a big deal.  But, while sitting there I was informed and told about how the HR dpt isn't the most helpful with the Vet Center, that I'm really going to have to nag them to ensure I get my stuff taken care of.  So with that impression off to the VA I go.
I check in at the front, tell the lady whom I'm there to see and she makes a phone call.  She'll be right up, this was about noon.  Ten minutest later the lady calls again and there is no answer so she "assumes" she's coming up to get me.  Another 10 minutes go by I ask if it's better if I just make an appointment.  She calls again and sends me back.  Apparently, this other lady thought I was coming back....
Anyhoo... the lady that I worked with was nice, helpful, and informative.  My time there wasn't too long and I left feeling like it was productive!  I thanked her for seeing me, since I was just a walk in, and off to the other VA area that was also quick and  productive.

Going from a military get things done mind frame a social worker mind frame can be a challenge.  Switching from talk talk talk to let's get down to work and handle this situation makes my head spin, especially when it happens like it did yesterday!  On Saturday it's back to boots and uniform.  I'll be working with my unit over the summer to help out.  I need to switch my view point, my attitude, and my mind frame.

Another thing that came up during talk story time was essential oils!  What the hell?  I guess I shouldn't be surprised due to Utah have two of the major EO sellers.  My supervisor's wife uses doTerra for some issues she has and he was talking about the overwhelming smell at night when she uses it (and how expensive it is).  The other intern talked about how people just dump them on when they just need a drop to do the trick (which is true).  I didn't say anything about my usage of doTerra.  Not that I was embarrassed but the vibe wasn't an open one.
I have noticed an improvement in my own well being in regards my usage of essential oils.  They have helped my well being mentally and physically.  If people become curious about who I am and how I maintain my health I will tell them about the oils but I don't jump in with "there is an oil for that" if someone starts to complain about something.  I do find it interesting that people are quick to "trust" an over the counter medication with all it's side effects but questions the benefits of essential oils that have been used since the beginning of time and are more natural than all the drugs that people are putting into their bodies!  We put a lot of faith into the white lab coats, and there are times where they need to help out but initially why not try a more natural remedy to aches, pains, illness, mental health, etc.?  If the oils don't work out, see that doctor!  It's been working for me, and since I've been using the oils, I haven't gone to the local pharmacy or to the doctor when I've gotten ill.

1/4th Done!

On Monday I took my last final.  All papers are turned in and I'm DONE for about 3 weeks!  I have this week at my internship and then I'm on break for 2 weeks :D

I CANNOT WAIT!

As of right now my grades are 5 A's and 1 B.  That's not the final but I'm not expected any crazy surprises!  I already got some of my books for next semester.  Thank you Amazon rental!  I've saved more money this semester already on books :D  

My practicum is always interesting, mainly because we are being thrown into the fire and given a lifeline after we have already started to burn.  I've learned and am practicing the Four Agreements and I've used those in my Substance Abuse Group that I run on Mondays.  The Four Agreements are a great tool to live a happier life.  By Don Miguel Ruiz, the Four Agreements are:

1) Be Impeccable With Your Word

2)  Don't Take Anything Personally

3)  Don't Make Assumptions

4)  Always Do Your Best

We've gone over one of the agreements in the group for the past four weeks.  Sometimes it's hard because it's an open group but having these focused topics have helped with the discussions so hopefully they are able to take some of these back home in their daily life with them.  It's a small book and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it :D  

I'm still stumbling running groups but I feel that each time I am doing something better than before and the group discusses among themselves more.  Next semester we have a BIG book all about group psychotherapy so that is going to be really beneficial!  

For the holidays we are heading home to MO and OK to visit family.  We are flying so hopefully it will cut down on some of the stress and allow us more time with family.  Today (yep it's 17 Dec) I am going to try and get some Christmas shopping done :( ugh.  This is the only day that I plan on doing this.  I'm heading down to SLC because I have to return a school book so hopefully I'll find everything that I want to get!  One of the things that I am SO looking forward to being away with family is sleeping in without worrying about the animals, not having to get up to feed and take care of the animals, sleeping in, no responsibilities, reading whatever I want for pleasure, oh did I mention sleeping in ;)  I love my furry kids but sometimes..... oh wonderful sleep is needed!

I actually got a classmate interested in essential oils. Well, he was interested and said he was going to buy some via my website but so far he hasn't :(  I've been happy with them and during this season of cooties going around I feel that the On Guard has been really helpful.  I've been utilizing the On Guard EO on the bottom of my feet in the mornings with Balance, and then taking a On Guard capsule once sometimes twice a day if I feel something coming on and I've been using the On Guard toothpaste!  I'm so bringing these with me while we travel!  I need to maintain my health and my sanity!  

End of Week Three

I still feel as though I'm keeping my head above water.  I have yet to figure out a good balance between my personal life (up keep of house/laundry/relationship), school work, and my internship!  There is so much reading.  I'm writing a minimum of 1 paper a week and it's going to be bumped up to 2 a week here shortly, don't even ask me how many papers I'm reading on average!  I have 7 books for my 6 classes and a lot of teachers have you read articles/essays/watch movies/etc.  I'm enjoying most of my classes.  There is one that is torture to sit in, basically lecture style, but we have group assignments/presentations starting up soon so that should break that torture!  There is SO much to learn and I'm drinking from a fire hose!

My internship is no different.  I'm blessed in that the person I spend the most time with loves to teach, she is a fountain of knowledge and we have a lot of conversations on practicing Social Work.  There is so much and I want to do right by the clients that I will eventually have.  I'm still trying to figure out my foundation and I'm leaning toward the Humanistic foundation, big surprise right?!  I'm still learning about all the foundations out there, but that one speaks me to more than the others.  We will see where I will be once I start working with clients!  

Last weekend, Shane joined me for an evening lecture about "Atheist In Foxholes" given by the president of MAAF (Military Assoc. of Atheist and Freethinkers).  It was pretty interesting it was about bringing awareness that the military is not just your mainstream religions and that society puts out messages like it's unAmerican to be unChristian and what does that tell nonChristians serving in the military?  Military members can put Atheist on their dog tags but you cannot put Humanistic, it's not an option.  I asked if I could put Spiritual on my dog tags just a year or so ago and I was told I could put Atheist, well I'm not an Atheist so I just put something :(  People that are Atheist or Humanist don't have a venue for their belief to where they can talk with like minded people.  You can request a Wiccan service so why is there such a block on Atheist being able to meet with others to talk about their views?!  Pretty interesting stuff.  One statement that really stuck with me was when the speaker said something to the effect of: Evangelism is cultural suicide.  Think about that!

Shane is in MO right now for his niece's wedding.  I was suppose to go but with my internship and work it just wasn't good timing :(  I'm looking forward to pictures!  Being home alone this weekend has been relaxing and I've been able to get a lot done but I'm missing my man.  Sami has been limping pretty bad all weekend (been carrying her up and down the stairs).  She was out front and it seemed as if some boys were teasing her by riding their scooters in front of her.  By the time I got outside they were down the street and Sami was limping :(  It seems to be getting better but if she's still limping pretty bad then we'll be going to the vet tomorrow.  

I'm still using my essential oils.  I just put in my last big order, from now on it's going to be an oil here and an oil there.  With no real income coming in I need to keep and eye on that :(  I did buy their vitamins and I'm looking forward to try them out.  I've been doing pretty better on maintaining that part of my healthiness routine.  I was doing well with maintaining my T25 this week.  It's a new day, so I'm not going to focus on that!

Having a struggle...

Not sure what it is...the change of season/temperature, influx of allergy crud in the air, me getting my self in order with acupuncture, over stressed at work... who knows, it's like a perfect storm of stress crap and thus it's an open door for my depression :(  It's been a hard couple of weeks.
In saying that I've done better than usually during this type of time in working out, I believe that has kept me from going off the deep end!  At a minimum I've done my work outs in the mornings prior to work, just the 30 minutes on the treadmill.  This weekend, I've forced myself to work out and it's helped pull me out of my "funk".  My allergies have really kicked in and usually that will bring me down too, making me feel lethargic and tired.  Fortunately, in the latest doTerra magazine it talked about allergies.  It mentioned in a capsule put in a few drops of lavender, peppermint, and lemon.  I've done it the past two days and it WORKS!  Amazing!
Today I did Cardio Extreme of HHAs and it totally kicked my butt but I stuck with it!  I need all those work endorphins I can get at this time.
Depression sucks!  It sucks the life from you, makes you self conscious, withdrawn, paranoid, tired, bitchy....need I go on?  :( ugh It's a perfect storm of crap!  You need to work out, eat well, and be active to keep the depression at bay but once it starts it's the quick sand of blue sludge because you don't want to and don't have the energy to exercise, eat healthy, and be active.
I'm doing better, obviously since I'm blogging ;)  Too bad it's in the middle of a long weekend...in other words I feel like I've wasted have of this long weekend in my funk :( and there is so much to do!  
As I sit here, Shane and I are planning an August vacation to an island :D  Beach, white sands, tropical drinks with umbrellas in them.... it will be lovely!

Moving Right Along

This past Friday I had an interview with my practicum coordinator so I can see where I'll be working this first semester.  We sat down and talked for about 20 minutes or so.  She even commented that I came prepared!  Is that NOT the norm?!  Anyhoo.... I had to give her a list of 5 places that I'd like to work at and after talking with her I just changed 2 of them, so I thought that was good picking on my part!  At the end of June I'll get an email stating what place she got for me, I call them and set up an interview to see how it will work out for me!  Shane had Friday off and we planned to go to the museum to see a special exhibit on Mummies! It was cool!  While I was in my interview, he checked out the bookstore and got me some Ute swag :D

I'm looking forward, yet nervous, to start into school again.  It's amazing how quickly it will be here!  Some days at work I'm thinking it's just a matter of months and I'll be done here and back to being a traditional guardsman!  I can't wait :D

My workouts have gotten cut back because of my acupuncture appointments.  Last week I started getting up even earlier so I could do more than my 30 min on the treadmill.  I did it a few mornings but it's hard.  In the morning I was o.k., but by the afternoon I was dragging ass!  I'll try it again this upcoming week and see how it goes.  

My acupuncture is going well.  It's amazing how one's body reacts to things.  If I show up stressed and irritated I feel EVER needle going in.  But if I'm relaxed, had a good day, and not feeling stressed... smooth as butta!  I'm also still liking my EOs.  Shane has even tried the lavender at night.  I asked him about it once and didn't push it but I know he's used again since then so it may be helping him out too!  I've had a couple of girls at work buy some and one of them has seen an improvement in her condition due to the EOs!  The other one just ordered the starter kit, it comes with 3 of the main oils and there is 101 uses for them.  I think it's a good deal.  

I haven't done much with the TBB coach thing, my main thing was the discounts :P  I have no problem talking about what has helped me and what I enjoy about the Shakeology stuff, but I'm not a sales person.  It seems to me that a majority of the coaches on the site either don't do much but workout and work or they don't have a regular job.  I want to enjoy my life and yes, exercising is a part of that which allows me to enjoy life but I also want to do other things and not rotate my life around working out.  I think today I'll start a hybrid workout of the Shakeology work outs and HHAs.  If I do it in the mornings before I leave for work, I keep it to the 30 min workouts any more than that I'm getting up way too early!  With doing a 30 min workout in the morning that has me getting up around 330! ugh

Work is work and it's going to get crazy.  We have a big exercise in July that we are going to start gearing up for, we already started so that will be fun :P  My motivation at work is hard to maintain and I've been getting "short" with coworkers.  I'm tired of some things at work, it IS time for me to move on to something else.   In the past month I've heard from 2 different people that they see me as being Chief!  Really?!  Isn't that some crazy stuff?  It makes me feel good to know that people see what I'm doing and that I am doing my best to care for my peeps.  We will see how things progress but crazier things have happend!