Love Dare Day 9

Today's Dare:

Think of a specific way you’d like to greet your spouse today. Do it with a smile and with enthusiasm. Then determine to change your greeting to reflect your love for them.

I had to skip Sunday because we'd been out of the house for 2 days in a row - snow Saturday and zoo Sunday. So this morning, instead of my usual grunting good morning (did I mention I'm not a morning person?), I greeted The Dude with a hale and hearty "Good Morning Dear!" He didn't react at all. He was still half asleep, and I think the time change is getting to him. He called and I answered the phone cheerily, and he responded in kind. We'll see how it goes this afternoon.

When he came home, we had people here and I kissed him and gave him a big hug. He was tired from working on a remodel all day and went to take a shower. He had to leave before our company for a Biology test. He just got home a couple of moments ago and I cheerily greeted him again. He was looking run down, but after asking about the test and cheering him on about how he did, he's in a good mood now!

Sunday Stills Self Portrait

This was a Challenge I was not looking forward to. There is a reason I am behind the camera all the time. None the less, here I am in all my red headed, freckly glory:

And this is what I think of the challenge in general (HA!)
These were both taken at my desk in the office/playroom in my home. I placed my camera on the printer/fax machine, and used the remote.

Love Dare Day 8

Today's Dare:

Determine to become your spouse’s biggest fan and to reject any thoughts of jealousy. To help you set your heart on your spouse and focus on their achievements, take yesterday’s list of negative attributes and discreetly burn it. Then share with your spouse how glad you are about a success he or she recently enjoyed.

I burned the negative list, and congratulated The Dude on almost selling the listing he has. I also thanked him for doing the dishes again.

Here's the Church

Patty at Crisfield, Maryland was kind enough to invite me to participate in her and Reggie Girl's weekly challenge. This week is churches, and I ran around at near sunset tonight capturing the churches of Dublin, CA. well at least the most photogenic ones.

This is St. Philip Lutheran Church, built between 1962 and 1964. I love the stained galss and was actually hoping for a night shot from outside while the lights are on. Alas, timing and weather were not on my side this week.

This is the original St. Raymonds Catholic Church built in 1859. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and holds the honor as the oldest Catholic Church building in Alameda or Contra Costa Counties. It is now used for weddings and city events, and the old school buildings are now the Heritage Center. The old cemetary is still the only one in dublin, and has the graves of the three peopl who dies while building the church, as well as recently departed residents.

This is the new St. Raymonds. It was build between 1976 and 1977 and also houses a school for Kindergarten through 8th grade. Interestingly it was dedicated by Bishop John S. Cummins who I met and had worked with my parents.

This is John Knox Presbyterian Church. This church was named for the Scottish reformer. I'm sure it was built in the 1960's or 70's, though I could not find information pertaining to its history on line.

This is Resurrection Lutheran Church - that's right 2 Lutheran Churches within about 10 miles of each other. This Church houses a Preschool and infant care center. I thought this photo looked nearly black and white to begin with, so I removed what little color there was, and I think it's rather striking.

This is Church of Christ. I had to shoot this across the freeway, as there is no way to get the entire place in a shot in front of the church. I would guess this was built in the 1980's as I remember it going up, when I was old enough to notice.

There are a few other churches in Dublin, but I either did not like my shots, or they are behind gated entryways, and thus inaccesible.

The Love Dare Day 7

Today's Dare:

Get two sheets of paper. On the first, write out positive things about your spouse. Then do the same with negative things on the second. Place both sheets in a secret place. At some point during the remainder of the day, pick a positive attribute from the first list and thank your spouse for having this characteristic.

Questions to ponder:
Which list was easier to make? What did this reveal about your thoughts?

I'm not going to post my lists here. It isn't fair to The Dude. I am willing to bare all, but he never agreed to have my perceptions of him aired here. He doesn't actually read my blog, but still. That having been said, the easier list initially was the negative list. However when all is said and done, the lists are about equal in length.

I did thank him for doing the dishes, which he did today, and does fairly regularly. There was a special circumstance around today's dishes. When the sink was overflowing from last nights and today's dishes, he began and soon clogged the sink. When he ran the disposal, the pipes under the sink came apart (as they do frequently for me), spewing what looked like vomit all over the floor, and the contents of the under sink cabinet. This all happened while I was out, and I returned to a pile of towels on the garage floor, and the distinct smell of vomit. When I got in the house, The Dude was sitting in his chair, earbuds in, music cranked, and arms crossed. Evidently the item that caused the massive backup and ensuing explosion was the week old, rotting salad that I had placed in the sink when he was assuring me that he would be doing the dishes yesterday. Added to that was the oldest's experiment in dough making which consisted of all the flour in the house and water. It dried into wheat paste and was difficult to scrape off the cookie sheet he'd placed it on. Of course, when I left the house none of this had happened, so I can only ascertain that this all took place under the ever watchful eye of The Dude.

Work was INSANE today, just an overwhelming amount of emotions, highs and lows. But I'm too drained to do that post tonight.

Love Dare Day 6

I really don't know why, but I needed a change of scenery from the stone heart.

Today's dare is:

Choose today to react to tough circumstances in your marriage in loving ways instead of with irritation. Begin by making a list of areas where you need to add margin to your schedule. Then list any wrong motivations that you need to release from your life.Questions to ponder...Where do you need to add margin to your life? When have you recently overreacted? What was your real motivation behind it? What decisions have you made today?

OK, quite a bit of thought involved, but I'm up for the challenge!

So, the biggie, and the first thing to mind is money. I know I am not alone in this subject being the one item we argue about, really to the exclusion of all others. I am not really on a timeline for money at all. We have none. I do need to respond in a more loving manner to The Dude's difficulty in obtaining a job. I know the economy is horrendous, and that he really is trying to get a job, I just find myself responding in a snide and decidedly unsupportive manner. I need to be more understanding, and supportive of his career decisions, and if he chooses not to listen to the advice of those who have tread the path before him, I will not point this out, but allow him the room to discover his own path.

My most recent overreaction came in a public setting, when I discovered The Dude had 2 pictures of an ex gf on his iPhone (the one I bought for him), One from their prom date, and a recent one. He had NO pictures of me, his wife. I tore into him at dinner, in a restaurant, with a bunch of our friends. It bothered me a whole lot. And they all tore into him as well. That was probably a less than loving way to handle the situation. I'm still not sure what I think of it at all. I haven't had time or energy to process it. Add to that the fact that they spend time each day texting, and e-mailing each other and talk on the phone, and I think it isn't right. There is something about this that feels wrong. PLUS there are people in my life dealing with similar issues right now, and I see how it is affecting them, and I'm a bit weirded out and paranoid. On the other hand, if The Dude were doing all of this with a buddy, and not an ex gf, then I think I wouldn't be as bothered. I've been having the "what does she have that I don't" thoughts, which is no emotional state to be in. not ever.

Also, I know that if he truly had feelings for this person, he would tell me. We are brutally honest in our relationship, much to the surprise of every therapist I've ever seen. There have been people I have been attracted to over the course of our life, and he knows, but never an emotional attachment to the point that I would choose any other person on this planet.

In news of the boys, they had Tae Kwon Do today and both did well at sparing. The oldest didn't work himself into a cry (an improvement), and the youngest minimized the Power Ranger/Ninja moves (also an improvement). The youngest had baseball practice, and this was the first one The Dude could attend, and agrees that his catching is getting better.

I was supposed to go on a field trip with the boys tomorrow, but I have to go to work because I a0 have an interview and b0 need to do the last day exit interview and final check disbursement with one of my employees. Today a few of us went to lunch, and had a good time visiting, which we do not usually get to do.

Yesterday's interview went OK, I thought one comment the interviewer made was odd. She said her biggest concern is that we work on opposite sides of the country. I think it's odd because it's been nearly 6 years since I had a boss that was in the same location, and I supervise people all over the US. I've never really had a problem with it, and it really sounded to me like a anti California vibe. Of course, I may be totally wrong on that, but that's how it came across to me. I have another interview tomorrow, and the supervisor sent a spreadsheet today for me to fill out and self identify my skill set, base don what she's looking for. I had to identify on a scale of 1-5 my experience on a whole host of things. The weird one, that makes me pause and seriously consider whether I want the job was, "Work - over 8 hours per day; weekends". This was coincidentally the only one I put my rating as expert because I have managed to juggle my time early morning, late night and weekends as my job has required in the 12 years I've been with this company. One of the questions I will be asking is what the supervisor's expectations are around this particular question, on a daily basis. I honestly do not want to work 20 hour days indefinitely. I've been there and done that and have the ravages of wrinkles, grey hair, and a large ass to show for it. We'll see how it goes though.

Blogger's Commuinty Photo Challenge - Birdhouses

This week's Photo Challenge is Birdhouses. I knew where I wanted to do these shots - the boys school. These are all near the front of the school, and at least one is in use.