Regular Weblog Review

The Cast

Patrick F- 25 year semi-college student. In Spring 2004 he couldn't
pass his internship to Taiwan due to some misunderstandings there, so
he didn't graduate. Instead, he spent until Fall 2005 (present) working
at Circuit City, finding a solid church home (at Christian Life
Assembly, which was found this last Summer), building up his
relationship with his wife of 2.8 years (anniversary December 14!), and
seeing where God directed. This coming Spring he we will follow him
through Theology 2 and also getting through 1 remaining credit.

Kat F- Online for the first time, she met Patrick in an AOL chat
because he was a Christian and his screenname was Coroloro- similar to
where she was born, Colorado. They met face-to-face half a year later,
starting Christian courtship (for the purpose of seeing if marriage was
right) half a year later, and half a year later became engaged. After
2.5 years they married, and half a year after that (lot's of half
years) she moved from North Carolina four hours South to Columbia, SC
to live with her husband.

Kat had a full scholarship to NC State and majored in Religious
Studies- while her grades went down some at the end due to Patrick's
distracting influence (*evil grin*), she's brilliant and got top scores
on her SAT's that could have (combined with her having the 2nd highest
scores/grades in her high school class) gotten her into Harvard or some
such place. Her husband is inredibly proud of her! She kept choosing
places to work like restaurants, Win Dixie, Home Depot... but finally
found a slightly better job (a little more worthy of her brilliance) at
Blue Cross in customer service. She is Patrick's age (a little over
half a year younger)- but I won't say it! Ha ha.

Conor Ross F- Last anniversary (the two year anniversary last December),
after Patrick had hopped for being a Father eventually and finally
given it up as something that would happen years from then... This
acceptance, starting around when he began working part-time at Circuit
City, had become something of an expectation of the future. So he was
dramatically suprised when Kat unveiled the fact, at their anniversary
meal at a fine restaurant, that she decided that she wanted his parents
to see their grandchildren- that she had planned to be a mother around
when she was 25 or so, and since she was nearing that time, then in a
year we should start trying.

Patrick was shocked that she changed her mind so dramatically, but okay
with it. He had even stopped to plan a few times- as is his tendency-
what he would do if by accident Kat did get pregnant. He'd heard the
stories of men's poor reactions- so he pre-decided he would not do that
himself. Of course, less than half a year later- in March of 2005- Kat
came home and suprised Patrick with the good news. She was panicked, he
was shocked and yet hopeful, even delighted. Gradually, as the time for
birth came closer, Kat began to anticipate in her own way.

Conor is a happy little boy already, who is scheduled to arrive on the scene on November 25!

Patrick: "Guuuuuuuess what? In one hour the weeeeeekend begins! An end
to your long week is here- now begins your looooong anticipated chance
for rest and re-lax-ation! I just called to remind you of this FABulous
fact comin' your way, to make that last hour of work flllly by, my
beautiful darling! I anticipate seeing you soon!"

Later... Katrina calls back, just as I finish typing out the above in this said xanga entry.

(slightly editted by the mere fact if I typed out every side comment or
random phrase, it'd take forever and I couldn't talk well)
Pat- Hello there!
Kat- Um, there's a lot going on, I have a lot to do. Um, I'm thinking
I'm going to go check a couple stores before I go home tonight. I wanna
get a lap desk, for the bed. Like the one your sister has, the big
beautiful thing- you can read on it, put your laptop on it... I wanna
get one of those so I can work on writing my thankyou cards.
Pat- So you got my message?
Kat- Yes I did. I... thought it was silly.
Pat- Is that a good silly or a bad silly?
Kat- The kind of silly that makes me wanna have you strangled.
Pat- Is that a good strangle, or a bad strangle?
Kat- You're driving me insane.
Pat- I love you with all my heart, and embrace you with all the tenderness of my soul.
Kat- I'm going to use my birthday money, by the way, not our money. To buy the desk.
Pat- Okay, that's perfectly fine, it doesn't matter either way.
Kat- Your typing aren't you?
Pat- I can talk to you too.
Kat- While you type out your thoughts instead of say them?
Pat- I'd be just as quiet anyway.
Kat- Well, I've gotta go work.
Pat- Okay, I love you my darling.
Kat- Bye.

It's really hard to be romantic with a pregnant woman at work, is my conclusion, methinks.

*laughs*

-Patrick

PS- She called shortly after work, and had decided NOT to get the desk.
Why? Because she thought that the reason I was typing out my thoughts
was because I wasn't happy with what she was doing and wanted to vent-
thus my being nice and loving was a front. I laughed and explained to
her I was typing a xanga entry, unrelated to anything like that! She
seemed baffled. She's been so worried about potentially negative
meanings or feelings lately- but I don't mind so long as she doesn't
get really hurt over it without talking and listening to me first.

I think it is interesting to share a picture of an everyday conversation, just so you could see a glimpse of what life is like.

"Back, ye demons from Hell!"

Says the one spoken to: "Keep it down, will yer? We're in a church. "

-Patrick

The quote "Wise man say: forgiveness is divine, but never pay full
price for late pizza" is from the lean, grean, fighting machines-
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the Movie. *grins* And I'm surprised it
was recognized! Of course, the person who recognized it (you know who
you are) now gets to admit that they saw this movie! Of course, I'll
freely admit my sister and I were really into the turtles when we were
younger- the movies in particular. Of course, I bet with computer
animation they could do a good job too. But now that I'm grown up a
bit, I can look back and laugh- but I still enjoyed them. And I'll
always remember that quote!

-Patrick

"Wise man say: forgiveness is divine,

but never pay full price for late pizza!"

-Patrick

(PS- Anyone recognize which movie that is from? It'd be very
interesting to find out if anyone did. I know my sister would recognize
it. Wonder if any of you guys would)

"Optimists believe that we live in the best of worlds,

Pessimists fear that this is true."

-Patrick

Purple Puddling Pleth

This is my second day back on the full track towards FLYing the FlyLady
way. I was on track but started to flutter, and meanwhile got onto
making regular dinners with FlyLady's companion the "DinnerDiva". Gosh,
all these fancy cutesy names are beginning to wear on me. "I've been
FLYing (Finally Loving Yourself) but started to flutter, and purple
puddles (tears) came to me as I thought of it and my DH (dear husband)
helped me to get off my franny (bottom)..." Aaaaaaah! What is the
psychological motivation behind wanting to create all these "inside
terms" that are "cutesy"? It must be a generational thing, not a gender
thing. I know for a fact my wife and sister BOTH would scream and run
before they were forced to use those terms. Perhaps it has to do with
having kids and thinking in their level? Or maybe my generation and
below have become a little more cynical? I'm not sure. I accept, and
even use, them- but I cannot help but find myself embarassed. Then
again, our generation is rather embarassed at the idea of genuine love
and affection too- so I'm just trying to "get over it".

The Mission

Anyway, today my "special mission" was to clean off the nightstands
(and I went ahead and did the dresser top as well) in my zone (this
week, it is the master bedroom). I cleaned them off, dusted them,
cleaned the objects on them (my own little addition) and then
rearranged them. In the process, I realised there were things we needed
to keep on them- but just TOO many and nowhere else to put them. So I
realised that, want it or not, we need to start storing things and
rotating them on occasion. So I started by putting a lot of candles up
in a box and moving around some other objects. I'm also planning on
trying to buy some organizer things- boxes, plastic containers for
under the crib, other various storing things.

The Response

Kat came in on her lunch break in order to set up a turkey for our
guests tonight. I didn't even think they'd be eating here, though even
then I would have made something simple. She considers an entire
roasted turkey "simple" since she loves doing the r-something (don't
you ASK me to spell that long word) with her "set it and forget it"
machine. Anyway, I let her do her thing- though, just as with my Mom,
it usually ends up becoming more pressure on her and I have to step in
lest she go bonkers.

I spent a good 25 minutes on my special mission (supposed to be 15, but
I added on at least ten more) not to mention extra time figuring out
how to rearrange things and put things elsewhere. She walks in, having
had some warning I would be moving a few things, and the first thing
she says is "Where is that horse statue!!" Well, I try to calm her,
telling her it is right there on my nightstand- I'd just moved things a
little. She, rather frantically, refuses to calm and explains how it
was a gift and how valuable it was- it should be safely in the middle
of the dresser top to avoid it being knocked. "I know that it is
valuable, and just like anything else we have I'll be incredibly
careful with it. It looks beautiful there- by itself, it draws the eye.
If we arrange everything based on how breakable it is or worried we
are, we'll never really be able to comfortably make use of what we
have." It's like burrying everything underground because your afraid to
use it. Anyway, she moved on, but angrily.

I was rather deflated. Here I'd spent the first part of a second day up
at 7:30 AM, starting to do my routines and begin to keep the house up
just like she'd desired- and the first thing she focuses on when she
enters is "Look what you did wrong!" It was dissapointing. I realise
that, being used to the idea of arranging the house- the fact that I am
now beginning to do that, and in a different style than she's used to,
will take some time to adjust to. I'm beginning to realise that even
though she can't keep the house organized (though she'd like to), she
is in tight control of that disorganization *chuckles* and has trouble
letting go of it to another style of organization. Yet when I gave up
not long ago, she strongly asked me to start up again.

When I start taking initiative and actively begin to clean/organize
things- I begin to make the place my own. When I'm not- I take a very
passive seat, and have trouble manuvering and finding things. I don't
take pride in the place as much, nor do I really take a hand in it. Now
that I am, though, I realise just how much Katrina did herself- but
rather than be relieved that I am taking that from her to help, she's
beginning to feel upset at loosing that control.

Thoughts Welcome

Advice and thoughts welcome *chuckles* but I imagine the best thing I
can do is continue as I am- and try to reasonably work with her. The
fact is, my goal is making the house look nice and eventually organize
the less visible parts as well. I want the house to be cleaned and
lovely by the time the baby is about to arrive- ready to go for baby,
ready to go for guests, ready ready ready. Already things are neat, I
just need to begin doing the deeper cleaning and organizing that will
start to get below the surface.

Organized? Bah

I told Kat that I am actually VERY organized, to the point of
perfectionism- she never believed me. She sees me as a rather inactive,
disorganized person. I explained it was just my lazy perfectionism- I
had to get STARTED to do it, and if I couldn't do it right I rarely
bothered. Yet when I was younger I would get going, and FWOOSH I would
reorganize an entire book room in a day- one that was PILED with stuff
would suddenly become reorganized, and I was only twelve years old too.
To me, it was fun- and it made the room become more "mine" in a way, to
fit my vision. Kat has NEVER seen me do this- and refused to believe it.

Well, now, it is beginning- more gradually because of FlyLady's system,
of course, but gradual is probably good. Because my level of
organization not only is contrary to her "easy going" organized and
intuitive style- but it is very exact. And the style in general is
different than her preferences.

I've been advised by several household organizers- that is, stay home
Mom's, and the one in particular who got my FLYing (Janalee, our
Bradley natural birth instructor) says her rule at home is this- since
she cleans it, and keeps it, things go her way. That includes her
husband. Now, I don't plan to take quite a militant approach, but I
realise that if I want to be able to take care of this whole house- and
eventually a baby- by myself, without having Kat there to say "this
goes there, this goes here, do this like that" I'm going to have to do
it my way, my style, etc. She is already 1 day behind on the "1 Day
Bin" I made *laughs* Designed to be emptied every day, it was a place I
could put things for her to review and place, or let be given
away/thrown out. This way she has a part in organizing/cleaning things
that are uniquely hers, since I cannot bother her (justifiably at
least) during the day with those little things.

So these are the random concerns of a FTD to-be who is trying to take care of the home and prepare to raise a child in it.

-Patrick

I realised a few days ago I'd missed the release date of the newest
Wheel of Time book!! So I hurried out to the store a week ago and
grabbed it! Woo woo! I'm still 'chewing' on it. I don't want it to end!
Though I wish, like his previous books, he might move some of the
larger events a little faster.

I've decided that, while I may be falling to some marketting scheme of
sorts, Amazon.com has the best solution for Christmas. I'm putting my
wish list up there- and rating each item in priority- so people have an
idea of what sort of things they could get me for Christmas. Better and
easier than just writing one out- and quick access too. Just look for
my email (pat@sc.rr.com) if you want to take a look for my wish list on
Amazon sometime. AND, you can make one yourself too!

-Patrick

Tuesday's Child

Today, Katrina called from work and was worried- because Wednesday our
birth-helpers Sean and Gina (my best man and his wife) were coming over
to look at the birth plan, and we had not written it yet or planned for
dinner. You see, she was very worried, because she thought today was
Wednesday- not Tuesday. It was not until after work that, when she told
me she thought I would be going out for errands soon (Thursday is my
errand day) that I said "Not for two days". Then she realised her error!

I think that Tuesday is a neglected day. It is a stagnant day- not
horrid as many see Monday, yet not the "beginning" of anything either.
It is not the halfway rest point, as Wednesday can be. Churches don't
have gatherings on Tuesday nights like on Wednesday, and Thursdays are
at least important because FRIDAY is around the bend! I felt that
Tuesday was a neglected day, so I thought about it, and decided to
search for great things that have happened on a Tuesday. My first
attempt turned up a very interesting Wikipedia entry. Let us look at
something we may have rarely pondered over, perhaps not even cared much
about, but find ourselves now eager to know: Tuesday's greatness!

Tuesday is considered either the second or the third day of the week, between Monday and Wednesday. The English and Scandinavian names are derived from the Nordic god Tyr (in Old English, Tiw, Tew or Tiu. In Swedish, Tisdag, Danish: Tirsdag, Finnish: Tiistai).

Quakers traditionally refer to Tuesday as "Third Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the English name "Tuesday".

Shrove Tuesday (also called Mardi Gras - fat Tuesday) precedes the first day of Lent in the Western Christian calendar.

Tuesday is the usual day for elections in the United States. Federal elections take place on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November; this date was established by a law of 1845 for presidential elections (specifically for the selection of the Electoral College), and was extended to elections for the House of Representatives in 1875 and for the Senate in 1914. Tuesday was the earliest day of the week which was practical for polling in the early 19th century: citizens might have to travel for a whole day to cast their vote, and would not wish to leave on Sunday which was a day of worship for the great majority of them. Many American states hold their presidential primary elections on "Super Tuesday".

Black Tuesday, in the United States, refers to October 29, 1929,
part of the great Stock Market Crash of 1929. This was the Tuesday
after Black Thursday. The crash is said to have marked the start of the
Great Depression.

In the Greek world, Tuesday (the day of the week of the Fall of Constantinople) is considered an unlucky day. The same is true in the Spanish-speaking world, where a proverb runs En martes, ni te cases ni te embarques (On Tuesday, neither get married nor begin a journey).

In the popular rhyme, "Tuesday's child is full of grace".

-Patrick

Our son's name is a family name, Conor, with Irish roots. Go to some
baby name search and it will tell you it has Celtic roots, and means
"much wanted". However, it is a bit more complex if you go into its
original meaning.

The closest I have found to its exact older meaning seems to be the following-
Conor - "wise aid";
also can be Connor.

If you want to go into potential legend names it derived from, you get some more creative meanings.

Connor - (KAW-nor) Old
Irish=Conchobar: cu (con) "hound, wolf" + cobar "desiring." In Irish epic The
Cattle Raid of Cooley, Conchobar mac Nessa was king of Ulster. Modern Irish form
Conor, Conchobhar (KROO-ar).

I think I prefer the more simple and understandable meaning of the
second definition, "wise aid". I'd imagine that hound/wolf had some
sort of significance then that is different than now. I started
thinking on this since Kat asked me, while at work, to find out the
meaning of the name. I gave her the quick answer, but searched more to
find this.

-Patrick