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By kilax, January 26, 2016 6:49 am

I’m in training at work this week and we have some group activities (joy). During our afternoon activity yesterday, someone in my group (politely) told me I talk too fast. Then everyone else chimed in that they agree.

Huh.

I told them, “that’s funny – in the last training class I took, my group also told me I talk too fast.”

Oops.

So am I talking fast in these groups so I’ll be heard? Or do I talk fast all the time?!

^^^Not how I feel AT ALL, but it made me laugh!!!

The funny thing is, Steven and I were listening to a book on tape (well, MP3, ha) and at first, I struggled to keep up with listening when we played it at 1.25x speed. So, I can’t listen to fast talkers well (but really CANNOT deal with slow talkers – it’s a huge pet peeve of mine)… but apparently am one?

Eh, at least they didn’t tell me I talk too much. I will never forget the time that an unwanted acquaintance told me that… confirming again, that I didn’t care for them, and that they didn’t for me. But I have to thank them for reinforcing a belief of mine – if you show your true self to someone and they are unkind, don’t bother with them. I’d rather have relationships where I don’t have to be guarded (I have a few of those as is, and I don’t care for it).

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By kilax, January 21, 2016 6:23 am

• Hmm, so much for a no chip manicure. My thumbnail chipped on the fourth day. It has a crack in it though, so maybe that’s why? The other nails are still doing great.

• Ha ha, I am such a liar!!! I wanted to give the MBP bracelet to Mom or Christina when I saw them last weekend, but I didn’t want them to suspect it, so I asked Bobbi to text me when she was checking in on Data that she saw him playing with the bracelet at the house. Only, I sent her that photo and actually had the bracelet with me the whole time. Ha! My mom and snis were totally tricked when I showed them the text from Bobbi, and I laughed really hard when I got a text from my snister when she found the bracelet in her purse on Monday at work. Buah ha ha. Ha. Ha.

• Still no close date on the house! It’s all dependent on when the appraisal comes back, if it requires any repairs, the seller signing some clause, then a request for clear to close. And all those timelines are up in the air. I kind of feel like we’re just going to get an email that says “Your close date is tomorrow!” and I am going to respond with “I can’t go tomorrow, I’m in training/with a client!” Sigh. But we’re moving forward with some stuff, like deciding on appliances. And getting quotes from movers. Whatever. I am chill about it. It is what it is.

• This tiny little pink hat didn’t even fit Bobbi’s youngest daughter’s head! Gosh, I really messed that hat up. Bobbi’s daughter said she’d like a hat, in purple, if possible, so I made her one, in hopefully the right size. Look how fun the yarn pattern turned out!

• The super awesome thing about our new house is that it’s 5 miles/a 10 minute drive from Bobbi’s house. We’re practically neighbors!!! YAY!
• Did you guys see this article (pdf here) about the new Mio trackers that will track your steps, as well as your heart rate and give you a combined score they call PAI – Personal Activity Intelligence? The idea is that people need more than a goal of 10,000 steps a day (did you know that goal is from a campaign from Japan… from the 1960s?!) – they need to focus on getting their heart rate up, too. So these Mio wearables track both and give you the PAI score, which you want to keep above 100. It’s cool that you’ll actually get credit for things that don’t include steps (like riding a bike). I am not surprised to see something new from the wearable/trackable industry. I see so many people wearing these things, it makes me wonder when the bubble is going to burst, and people will lose interest. Gotta come up with something new to track, to keep people engaged!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 82

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By kilax, January 20, 2016 6:47 am

I love the sentiment behind this image my friend Pete posted to Facebook last week (and I am so happy I stopped to read it – I usually skim by the pretty pictures with words on top images, ha!):

Facebook image source

This image spoke to me because I consider being able to be happy for others (and also, sad, mad, and so on, for them) a very important personality trait – I distance myself from those people who can’t appreciate someone else’s joy or be empathetic. Life’s too short to deal with that!

Someone’s happiness shouldn’t make you miserable, just as their misfortune shouldn’t make you happy. Think about it this way – being happy for others means MORE happiness in your life. It’s a win/win situation! (And, er, being really close with your friends and family mean their pains are your pains too, but it all evens out, I swear!!!).

We all know people who can’t seem to be happy for anyone, so I won’t get in to examples (though, wouldn’t that be fun?!). I’m lucky enough to have a core group of friends and family who have my best interests (and happiness!) in mind. I hope you do too. Find those people, if not. And be that person!!!

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By kilax, January 18, 2016 8:39 am

Just finishing up a little holiday gift knitting on the car ride to see my family for Christmas, no biggie d…

Ha ha! I ended up liking the yarn I used so much to make this hat, that I got a few more skeins in different colors to gift them to family members for our Christmas celebration this past weekend.

I got the yarn on the 8th and gave myself seven days to finish three hats before we left on the 15th. Accomplished! (with a little work in the car, ha)

I’ve used the same pattern for six hats now. I asked my snister to bring the other two hats I’ve made so I could get a photo of everyone with their hats together.

Aunt Sue, Snister, Grandma Tiger, SiL Amber, (Future!) SiL Alyssa, Mamba

I’m going to make two more hats with this pattern and yarn then move on to something else (hopefully, if I have time with the move!).

It was great to see my family this weekend! It’s rare that I get to spend time with all of my siblings and their partners together, so it’s a treat when it happens. I hope it happens again before we all go to Alaska in June!

My snis, my older bro, me and my younger bro

Us with James

My nephews

Matching scarves! (We needed those scarves! The high on Sunday was -4°F!!! My family said the hats are VERY warm. Ha ha, good!)

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By kilax, January 14, 2016 6:23 am

• Last night was our first time playing Powerball! We didn’t win. Ha ha. But it was fun to get a ticket and watch the numbers (which I struggled to stay awake for).
• I’ve been posting much more frequently. Why? It gives me something to look forward to first thing in the morning (hitting publish!) and throughout the day (receiving comments and responding). Writing makes me happy. I hope I can keep it up.
• I get to see my newest nephew this weekend! The last time I saw him was November 1!

My hair only looks nice because Christina did it for the family photo

• I’m redeeming a Groupon for a no-chip manicure tonight! It’s my first time getting one. I hope it actually does NOT chip. I am constantly repainting my nails because they get so chipped doing strength training (and other things). On Sunday, the side of one of my thumbnails started to break. I’ve been trying to keep it from breaking more and I hope the no-chip helps it stay together.
• When I switch up my diet (to eat healthier) it can mess with my sleep. So a few times in the past couple of weeks I’ve been awake for an hour or two in the middle of the night. Blah – makes for some tired afternoons! But it will all even out soon (it has before).
• Ha. So, it turns out “Netflix and chill” doesn’t mean what I thought it did… good thing I looked it up on urban dictionary.
• We’ve been forwarding mail from our old townhome to our rental address. Since we’re only at the rental for a short period of time, we decided we didn’t want to change anything officially to that address – we want to wait until we’re at the final address. But many places have figured out the rental address and changed our information to it. It kind of creeps me out when I log in to things and see the rental address show up. Anyway… now we’ll have to forward mail from two addresses when we move, I suppose.
• We don’t have a garage at our rental house. No biggie D, but I have to remember to leave time to clean off the car and warm it up before going places… which I’ve obviously forgotten to do, several times. Ha.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 81

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By kilax, January 13, 2016 3:17 am

Steven and I did some major adulting last year, and actually took the time, during open season, to switch our health insurance coverage.

It was intimidating and overwhelming to me. I’ll be honest – I didn’t want to put in the work to review it (even though the website makes comparing plans somewhat simple).

But then I heard how the premium was going WAY up on the carrier we use, and decided to look in to it.

Sigh. Turns out, I should have done this MUCH sooner.

When I first started working for the government, and got to choose from 30+ providers (yes, that many!) I just went with the big name I knew. And apparently I signed up for a premium plan. Then didn’t look in to it for, yeah, seven years?

Bad, Kim. Bad.

I was paying out the wazoo and hardly using our benefits at all (I mean, they were good ones, but we didn’t use them). I am NOT thinking about all the money I could have saved with a smaller plan with a different carrier FOR SEVEN YEARS.

That’s what we’re doing now – we switched to a simpler (less expensive) plan with a different carrier, and so far, so good! I was able to easily transfer a prescription… let’s hope things go as well at the doctor and dentist offices!

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By kilax, January 9, 2016 7:16 am

Gosh, I cannot express how nice it’s been to have some FREE TIME since Christmas! Hallelujah!

From October to December, we were focused on selling our house, moving, unpacking, finishing things up at the old house, traveling to Dallas, then prepping and hosting Christmas. We were constantly on the go. Ha, one night in early December, we set up our DVD player, put in a movie and sat down to watch it, then when the previews were over, said to each other “Do we actually have time to watch a movie?” NOPE! We shut it off and went back to the office to work on things. Ha ha.

But since Christmas, we’ve had free evenings, and weekends again. What a treat! We’ve actually gotten bored at night. I know, whuuuuuut?

(Seriously though, after doing so much in the evenings for so many months, I feel weird sitting down and watching movies again.)

I am deeply cherishing the quiet now, because I know it’s short-lived before we pack up and move again (we still don’t have a close date, but I am getting estimates from moving companies, anyway), then have to unpack again. And begin house projects at the new house. Just in time for some busy days at work, too, if things stick to the made up schedule in our heads. Schweet. Ha.

But anyway! I started writing this whole post to say I’ve had time to read at night, and on the train, and that it’s relaxing and fulfilling for me. I love how reading a book or magazine (as opposed to anything online) makes me slow down and ensure that I fully understand what I am reading. I am almost done with How Bad Do You Want It? and pulled The Rise of Superman out of storage to start next. And I asked for a few books from my family for our late Christmas (which is soon, yay!).

I hope you are having a relaxing start to the year, too!

Data is having a relaxed January… except when he remembers there is a ceiling fan in the office

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By kilax, January 7, 2016 6:07 am

• We’ve been in total limbo with the new house purchase. We know it’s moving forward, but we’re constantly getting new information as inspections are (now) completed (this week’s: “Hey, you need a new septic tank!”) and we don’t have a close date. All typical home purchase stuff, right? But then throw in the fact that the house we’re renting is under contract to close on February 5th, and things get a little interesting. Ha. Surprisingly, I am very calm about all this. I’m someone who typically struggles with the unknown, but with this, I’ve been okay. Steven and I are working really well together as a team (going through this has brought us closer together), and I know we can get done whatever we need to. We’ll make it work. I have faith in us. (And I hope that by saying we don’t have a close date, the universe will do what it usually does, and provide me one, making me a liar).

Scwheet gate in front of the entry doors to our hopeful home

• When we took Steven’s dad and brother to see the house, I realized that I was wrong about something. There isn’t one ceiling fan… there’s FOUR!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Sorry, Data.

OMG SUPER SCARY FAN IN GUEST BEDROOM!!!!

• And for all my complaining about the rental house kitchen (and other things that I haven’t mentioned here, but you’ve probably heard if you know me in real life, ha), we’re so much happier in the rental than we were in our townhome. We felt on edge in our townhome for many years, because of noise and other disturbances. It’s peaceful where we’re living right now, and it’s wonderful. We’re not stress-free, but THAT stress is gone.
• This post is all house, house, house. And it continues. Our new home is in (the unincorporated part of) a town where ,when we tell people we are moving there, they say “you’re moving WHERE?” with cat making home alone face when you tell them… and not in a good way. Ha. And yesterday, I was buying a train pass to get WAY out there, and the agent was like “All the way to there?” Yep! Ha.
• One more house thing – it’s so weird to think of someone living in our old townhome! I hope they’re liking it!
• Buah ha ha. I spoke too soon when I wrote this post about being back at knitting and remembering everything. I apparently forgot how to read, because I made the hat way too short, despite having made this pattern before! Oops! I am hoping it will fit the head of Bobbi’s youngest daughter. Luckily, I had purchased two skeins of the yarn and finished hat #2, on skein #2, last night. Ha.

Hat #1 – At least the yarn is making it turn out cute!

Hat #2 – this one may be TOO tall. Ha. I will get it right, eventually.

• My older brother is getting married in Alaska in June (!!!!!!), and Steven and I, and most of my immediate family, purchased our flights for the trip on Sunday!!!! YAY!!! There aren’t any races where I will be, but I obviously plan to run there. Big thanks to my parents for covering the flight costs until we can pay them back after we close on our house (because the close costs about a zillion dollars).

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 80

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By kilax, January 6, 2016 6:09 am

I wonder if I should take the mug Kelly gave me to the office to use?

Nah, seems like a bad idea.

Somebody would probably steal it so they could use it.

Ha ha ha.

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By kilax, January 4, 2016 6:26 am

How to knit! Ha!

After two+ months off, I finally picked knitting back up! And I remembered everything, yay! And knitting is just as relaxing as it was before. Ahhhhhhh.

I’m knitting something for a family member I’ll see when we do my family’s Christmas celebration in mid-January. Technically… this means I DID make a homemade gift for Christmas 2015… even though I am making it in 2016! Right? Right?!?! Ha.

A few people asked me why we aren’t seeing my family until January to celebrate Christmas. Well, geography. And sanity. Most of my family lives in Iowa. Steven’s lives in Missouri. While we could do one big week-long celebration to see everyone (and we have, from time to time), we prefer to spread it out. It’s less stressful that way (hence, the sanity mention above), we don’t have to take huge chunks of time off work (keep in mind Steven runs a retail business that is HELLA busy in December), we get to see family in January and… we get to buy (make?) presents for people after the holiday!

So we* rotate each year. Surely… other people must do this as well? I think of it as fair, to switch who we spend Christmas with each year, but the way some people react… well, they thought the fact that I wasn’t seeing my family meant something was wrong. Nope! That’s just how Steven and I do it!

*Just Steven and I rotate – our families still get together for the holidays even though we aren’t there, ha ha.