Day 16 - Kicks

My kicks - I hate wearing shoes, any kind of shoes.

I am known to drive barefoot because when I started driving I would speed when wearing sneakers! I usually have two to three pairs of shoes sitting inside my truck because if I can slide the shoe off when I get in, I do.

Due to my new job, I need to wear closed-toe shoes and tennis shoes are the best ones for the job. I pretty much wear them all the time now but within 2 minutes of getting home this is how they end up.

Living in a hot climate pretty much ensure that I always wear shoes when leaving the house and I miss the freedom of being able to go more places with no shoes on. With many searches you can actually find out that it is not illegal to enter stores, restaurants, and drive barefoot. Most places frown upon it but unless they have posted signs all they can do is request you leave. If you ever push the issue there is usually no policy about it however.

Sometimes I wish I lived near or on the beach because going barefoot there would be something so common that people would not look at you funny when you do it.

Ah well, I wear shoes because I need to for work - but at home I am barefoot all the way.

Day 15 - I'm Pretty

I don't really do my nails, wear makeup, or do my hair. This is not something I enjoyed as a teenage girl and would rather get going in the morning as an adult woman. I often wonder how 'female' that makes me.

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy dressing up every once in awhile but putting on makeup and doing my hair every morning is SO NOT going to happen. I am not a morning person and feel only the desire to get dressed and leave to get started on the things I need to do that day.

I often don't even wear my contacts every day because this is an extra step in the morning. I use contacts I can sleep in to help avoid this issue but since they often get dried out and leave bags under my eyes I often avoid this as well.

Because of this I decided to take a picture of something that is along the lines of "Spa Day", a nice long soak with water, candles, a book, and a tub full of hot water. The results usually leaving me feeling relaxed and feeling "pretty."

To top it off, a locked door ensures that my husband has to deal with any issues and nobody gets to bother me. What could be better?

Day 14 - Junk drawer

I racked my brains for a junk drawer in our house and can honestly say - we don't have one. I however do have a junk corner - and not really junk either. I cleaned out my craft room hoping to get organized and cleaned up - and this is the pile I still have to go through. My craft room is back to it's trashed state as well - but as this craft room is also my office and my daughter shares the craft space with me, it is even harder to clean up.

Let's put on top of that, I have a hard time cleaning and papers are a bane of my existence. Slowly over the last few months I seem to be making a dent in some of it as my goal is now to scan it all and trash the originals! I'm becoming a CD hoarder instead of a paper hoarder!

I hate the stress level that goes with looking into that corner and often find myself walking into another part of the house to avoid it. I am trying to remember that each little bit I get done slowly helps things move forward. One of my hardest tasks is not in getting involved with a new task while I'm trying to complete the ones I already have. It's a daily struggle to move past my avoidance and procrastination tendencies.

Day 13 - Grief

What causes me grief - this answer jumped out to me immediately from my desk top - bills... bills... bills. I hate dealing with money and making sure things get paid on time. This is a task I have often struggled with and often have to remind myself daily...weekly...monthly to deal with this.

I have been working hard over time to battle this avoidance tendency of mine. Thanks to technology available today, I have alerts sent to my cell phone and I use e-bills. I have to battle the nature to ignore these by NOT doing some things automatically. I have to personally enter and reconcile my Quicken accounts instead of doing their automatic download. I have to personally save and attach my bills and statements. I track the change in my purse - ever two weeks along with entering my paycheck.

It is still a struggle to make sure things are paid on time, but by using these features and making sure my bills are due at the end of the month and paying half of the bill from each paycheck it gives me a little extra money in my pocket and a little more going to the debt I am trying hard to lower and get rid of.

Day 12 - A Treat

I didn't think I would find this particular prompt difficult but even knowing about it all day it ended up sneaking on me at the very end of my day. I often do things for others and often have others do things for me; however, today seemed to be a passing and gossiping day more then anything.

I thought I would take a picture of the dinner my husband made for us tonight - a wonderful steak with vegetables and pasta meal, however I was already finishing it when I realized I never took the picture. The thought of taking a pictures of my clean plate crossed my mind but I moved past that one as well.

It wasn't until I was in the middle of doing something for my daughter that took me a long time to do and was starting to frustrate me beyond measure that I suddenly realized I had it. The treat for the day. I was doing something I generally don't mind doing, playing with Legos; however, due to the fact that my husband encourages my daughter to throw every piece in the same bin without any organization it took me over an hour to make the piece she was asking me to make while I shifted through the seemingly thousands of small pieces. With so many different sets in her box I was getting ready to throw it across the room although I knew I was almost finished with it.

I also realized at that time that I really hated putting the pieces together when I couldn't find anything and that a toy, a past-time that should be enjoyable was made only frustrating because I couldn't find the piece I wanted when I wanted it. I almost pulled out a box of baggies and started sorting.

I am not a neat person but I have come to learn over the years that I have to see everything or nothing will get done. I need open shelves and boxes or projects would never happen. I need a system and priorities that my husband disagrees with to get the things I want done, done. I will let dishes slide because I would rather scan my daughters artwork and make a memory book. I will forget about laundry so I can sit and cuddle with my family on the couch and watch a movie. I will be lackadaisical about what is for dinner because I honestly couldn't care and my husband insists that every meal must include a meat when I could be happy with a salad so I struggle to make the meal.

I have become better over the years, getting rid of objects, trying various systems to try and find something that works for me. Scanning objects so I can then trash the original but 'have it' if I want it. I am fighting my border-line hoarding tendencies and can only hope that I will not pass these tendencies on to my daughter. I try to make sure she learns better habits and that I show her better habits and follow them myself. A daily struggle.

Day 11 - What Fun

It was nice to get a prompt that took me almost no time to find an answer too. Some of the funnest things I do are online - chatting, scrapping, web surfing, shopping, facebooking, and gaming.

I found this game, Runescape, through Facebook and eventually turned my husband and mother-in-law onto it. I don't play it often anymore, but it is a great escape and I can spend hours improving my character and doing a quest or two!

I would have taken a picture of a book - however that escape is often very short lived for me and provides an escape for only as long as I'm reading the book which as I've mentioned before doesn't really take me that long! I play many computer games and this is the only one I play live online.

I have found one of the downsides is the fact that most of the players, at least that I run into, are under 20 and therefore I tend to keep away from most other players.

I find I do the same thing offline too and it is a big struggle for me to reach out and encourage interactions with others. That is one of the things I love about new job, I was already friendly with my now co-workers and making the change from patron to co-worker has been easier then any other position I have ever had. I have already gone to a couple of parties and will be joining them on one of their "Ladies Nights" and I've been there less then 5 months.

A huge change in my life since I am usually in a position for a couple of years and still find it hard to socialize with my co-workers outside of work.

Day 10 - Introductions

This prompt gave me pause, my life is pretty run of the mill nothing new really happening, especially on the weekends, and especially to me personally. I have not been introduced to a new hobby - I have reawakened old ones. As I sat on the couch and thought about what I could picture instead of something new I decided I would be creative and introduce you to ... my feet.

They have been with me from the beginning - I have one left one and one right one. My right leg is actually an inch shorter then my left leg so I often have problems with my feet. They cause me pain when standing for long periods of time and are located just below ankles that also speak up with pain upon occasion.

My feet have walked thousands of miles and will take me a thousand more by the time they stop. They prefer not wearing socks or shoes - no matter how cold it usually it. Although, as they have gotten older they have recently grown to being very cold most of the time and love wearing socks and fuzzy rainbow slippers to stay warm.

My toes enjoy wearing shades of nail polish and the more out there the better. Think dark, bright, shining blue/green - neon yellow! A love a good foot rub and are willing to hike a bit to get it!

My feet enjoy driving barefoot and walking through green grass and wet mud. They enjoy soaking in a hot tub and rubbing against each other to help me fall asleep.

Thank you for taking the time to meet my feet. :)

Day 9 - My Day

The weekends are basically the same around here and I usually do not get online (so do not be surprised if you see photos in the album but no blogs until Monday or Tuesday appearing, as I upload the photos via my cell phone.

My husband works nights and most Saturday mornings - and as I've mentioned before I dedicate most of my time to my daughter which means I do not get online usually while she is up and about - therefore online time on the weekend usually doesn't occur.

The prompt was summing up your day - my weekend days are lazy days and I spent most of the day with this prompt rolling about my brain. What could I take a picture of that shows a lazy day. Then it occurred to me, the past few weeks I've been having fires, smore's and curling up on the couch - how much lazier can you get!?!

So, this shot shows our fire and a plate of smore's ready to go! Nothing better in the world then a lazy day!