It's still Fjebruary, Right?

I have been bad at blogging the Elisabeth's Figs (Finding Joy in Gratitude) this year. I am feeling grateful, but also not very organized. On the positive side, I haven't been able to make any terrible jokes about the tortured acronym yet. 

I am grateful for our friends. We have a funny friend group, most of you know this. On Monday morning when I woke up feeling queasy I texted our WhatsApp to ask if anyone else was feeling unwell, because I had only been with that group in the past few days, for our Valentine's Day Guys Cook dinner party. Everyone said they were fine. Collette asked what was going on with me and when I hadn't answered in ten minutes said if I was dead she had dibs on my shoes. Margot and Janet asked if I needed anything. I said I thought it was just a stomach bug and I would be fine and Collette said 

Eve had tried to Facetime me while they were loading me in the ambulance. Matt answered and told her I had the stomach bug and talked to her for a few minutes - we knew she would freak out if she knew the truth, so he wasn't going to tell her anything before we knew what was going on, with which I was in total agreement. When we were back in the waiting room waiting for the CT, so hour 10, I said "okay, but once we know that I'm okay or I'm dying you have to tell everyone this happened so they worry about me and Collette feels bad for what she said" - kidding, you know, mostly. I mean, I would have preferred to be languishing pale-ly and attractively or perhaps have been lightly stabbed, rather than being there with something diarrhea-related, but you get what you get. This was pretty much the first time I could sit upright and put a coherent sentence together, so although he rolled his eyes, Matt was relieved.

(Collette came over with soup and flowers the next day. Not because she felt guilty but because she likes to pretend to be a hardass while actually being warm and squishy.)

I have been reading Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning - am still on the part where he is in the concentration camp. I had already said that there was nothing like our ER episode to make you appreciate your dumb, normal little life, but I was aware that one night of excruciating pain was not that huge a deal compared to what some people are dealing with. Reading about all of the daily pains and humiliations that occurred in the camps, on top of the whole fact of the whole terrifying, dehumanizing phenomenon hammered that home even more. 

I was exhausted and achy for two or three days, and only doing gentle stretches. I looked up some 'yoga for fibromyalgia' etc. videos, and came upon the suggestion to try lying on my back with my legs up on the wall - something I had seen but never tried. I figured it was worth a shot.

First of all, HOW does one get that close to the wall? I feel like I would need handle grips installed in the floor. There is only so much scooching you can do, you know? I got as close as I could, and put on some spa music and covered myself with a blanket and used Eve's corgi Oodie for a pillow. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply and it felt pretty good. Then I heard some tippy-tappy paws and felt a little whump beside my head.

It was quite relaxing until the alarm I had set to make sure I did at least ten minutes went off and scared the hell out of me. 

I thought cool, not life-changing but feels good. 

The next day I got up and rearranged the entirety of the kitchen. 

I always forget to take Before pictures which is really unfortunate because the contrast is significant but also fortunate because if you saw the Before pictures any respect you presently hold for me would be in grave danger of disappearing. I have come to the conclusion that traditional kitchen cabinet design is useless. There's no point in putting anything behind the first row (if you have ADHD) because it might as well be gone forever. I don't feel like I am using the space efficiently, especially in the spice cupboard, but at least I can find Mexican Chili Powder or Cumin without having to pull out literally everything. Also, everything has to be in a jar, not in a package, or I will forever be buying packages of onion powder and paprika while I already have fifteen packages of onion powder and paprika already. 

I am grateful for being pain-free for now, having a pretty deep bench in terms of support (because my husband is in Korea and Japan and California for the next two weeks), weird spring-cleaning energy in February, and the amusement I am feeling at thinking about Matt coming home and cursing my name when he can't find a single thing in the kitchen

Five For Friday (and Figs)

 1. My sister's birthday is February 1st. For the past two years I've managed to get her birthday present to her on the exact day or before, which caused her to ask who I was and what I'd done with her sister. I like February 1st because it's her birthday and because it means January is gone. I have had a rough time mentally and sometimes physically in January for as long as I can remember - it was with my last doctor a few years after I'd moved to Ottawa that I figured out what a cycle it was (pre-blogging life, less chance to re-examine my life by season). Of course the January depression does creep into February, but it's still a sign that less difficult days are coming.

2. I almost cancelled my weekly date with my friend Jody (HI JODY) (fun fact, my sister is also named Jody!) because I did squats on Tuesday and then was on my feet all day at work Wednesday and then forgot to take my Gabapentin before bed and was awake most of the night with restless legs and nerve pain and felt absolutely wretched. But I did not cancel our weekly date - The Gilded Age and Edo Japan takeout - and we almost didn't make it through two episodes because we kept pausing the show to talk and laugh really hard, and it was medicinal.

Double Jodies! Sister is the tall one.

3. Monday I had slept badly and was a bit late leaving for work, and Matt was also disorganized and not ready on time (I drop him and the dog at my parents' house, he leaves the dog and either walks to work or borrows their vehicle) and then we got out to the first corner and the long slow train of snowbank-removing vehicles was there and I knew I was irredeemably fucked for getting to work on time. I just started laughing because really, it didn't matter. I don't have classes until a half hour after I get in, and I can easily stay a few minutes at the end of the day, I just don't like being late. Then my first class of grade ones came in and they could not have been more lovely. On the way out most kid in line thanked me individually (after their chorused group thank-you) and then the last little boy said "have a nice day!" Like, do you mind kid, I am TRYING to maintain a bad mood here.

4. Nicole's book finally got here, and I read it in one day and was almost late for bar night, and it was awesome. I don't read a ton of romance, but if I do I want it to be quirky and have humour and seem at least a little bit realistic, and this had all of that (the moms from the mom-and-baby yoga class! The lentil lasagna! Natural deodorant! I LOVE EGGPLANT). A lot of good relatable stuff about parenting also. I am so happy and only a tiny bit jealous.

5. Angus was contacted by someone from the Cleveland Guardians (formerly Indians) at the beginning of December who just said he'd been given Angus's name as someone who would 'be awesome to get to know', and he asked if they could set up a phone call. This led to many phone calls, some over the break while he was at home. Apparently in baseball this is a thing that happens, and you don't really know if you're in a job interview or what the job might be, and you just go with it. After so many phone calls that I was wondering if somebody was looking for a good husband for their daughter, they flew him out to Goodyear Arizona (just outside Phoenix) and there were more interviews and some practice stuff and he got gear.

Then nothing for a week and a half, and then a notification that they were going to make an offer for something. I talked to Suzanne (HI SUZANNE) and she was like omg, there are the Akron Rubber Ducks not far from me! But we thought the position was in Arizona. But we didn't know! But I really wanted a reason to go to Ohio! Then he thought there was one position in Akron and one in Arizona, and I was like oh right, like he's going to pick Ohio. THEN it turns out that the position is in Ohio AND Arizona. He is going to be an assistant pitching coach for the Akron Rubber Ducks, so he'll be living in Akron and traveling with the team from, I don't know, April til fall sometime? And then he'll be in Arizona working at the spring training facility for fall and winter. I feel like those are the proper times to be in Akron and Arizona, respectively

The Akron Rubber Ducks! Who knew all those times he sang Rubber Ducky You're the One in the bathtub would be so prophetic! Also, the Rubber Ducks are the double-A team for the Cleveland Guardians. When he was at the Little League World Series the announcers on TSN called him double-A! 

He texted yesterday and said he spent the warm, sunny day watching big leaguers play catch and putting mud on baseballs and he was loving life. He works for the MLB! And they called him!