Napping...Not Always Such a Great Idea...

So I've been working on my blog...writing my first post and spending most of my time on the layout. If you know me, you know I am a perfectionist. Anything I make/create/do has to be perfect. I wouldn't say it's the best characteristic to possess. Especially when you're in graduate school and you spend hours on a project, not because you're making the content better, but because it has to "look" perfect and professional. Therefore what might have only taken a day or two to accomplish would take me more several more days. Perfectionism also kicks in when I am not good at something. If there is something that I cannot do well or at all, I get very annoyed with myself and this often turns into a bad mood. All this to say, sometimes I wish I wasn't a perfectionist.

Anyhow, you are probably wondering why on earth I am writing a second post on the same day. Well the answer is, I took a nap today. Usually it doesn't matter how much sleep I get, I can ALWAYS sleep some more. I always said a good night's sleep is when I get 12+ hours of sleep. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I have always needed more sleep to function. However, the older I get, the more naps seem to be affecting me and as such I am wide awake.

Okay so I watched the movie "Julie and Julia" this weekend. Chad went to our brother-in-law's house to participate in "Man Week" since Brett's wife and kiddies are in Ft. Walton visiting her mom. Since Chad was going to be gone I figured it was a good opportunity to go to Redbox ($1 dollar movies, yeah!) and get a movie that I knew he would never watch with me. It was a great movie!! I really enjoyed it and it made me want to do some more creative cooking. For those of you that haven't seen it, the character Julie goes through the Julia Child's cookbook and makes every recipe in the span of one year. So I think it was about 542 recipes in 365 days. I think that would be a little much for me, not to mention expensive, but I liked the idea of tackling a challenge within a certain timeframe. I am getting extremely bored with our menu options and I always am looking for new recipes, so I have decided that I will make one new dish and one new side/finger food/appetizer a week. Now for a goal. As I stated earlier, I am great at starting things and never finishing them. So I have to make a realistic goal for myself. A year is a little too long and I know I will not carry it out if I give myself such a long-term goal. So I think I will say 4 months. That will be February-May (before the craziness of summer starts). Every week for the next 4 months (starting in February) I will make 1 new dinner dish and 1 new side/finger food/appetizer. I am not really sure at this point where I will get my recipes from. I'm always skeptical of personal on-line recipes, especially if they don't have a picture. But, I guess that's part of the challenge. We may not especially love every recipe I try, but at least we are actually trying something new instead of sticking with what we know because I'm too afraid to make something I may not like.

Okay so I have made 2 new goals: to blog (at the very least twice a week) and make 2 new recipes a week for 4 months. I think I will post pictures of the new recipes I try every week for several reasons. One, I love to take pictures. Two, it will keep me more accountable. Three, you can see what these tasty meals look like and ask me for the recipe if you so desire.

Since I am on the topic of goals, I might as well keep going. There are two other specific goals I have in mind. Most importantly is spending time in the Bible. Yet another thing I start many, many times and then discontinue. And how can I being a youth minister's wife encourage these kids to be spending time in the Word if I am not myself. We have been talking a lot about spending time in the Bible in Sunday class, Sunday sermons, Camp, Youth Retreats. Maybe God is trying to tell me something?

And finally, my last goal. As most you probably know, I work with babies and toddlers with hearing loss. I received my master's degree in Deaf Education and as of last month, I am now employed through Florida's Early Intervention program. I LOVE my job. This was my dream job and I waited 8 months and and went through several hoops to obtain this job. It was my dream job, so it was worth it. And I'll talk more about it in another post as I know people are always curious as to what I do exactly. Anyways, so I work with children who are deaf and hard of hearing and thus use sign language quite frequently with these children. I LOVE signing. This is why I got my degree in Deaf Ed. in the first place. I love the smooth, fluid movement of the hands, the expressiveness that sign language brings and the fact that you can communicate with people (children and adults) who may have otherwise felt alone in the hearing world. Not that those who are deaf don't have any one else (hearing or deaf) to communicate with, but I would think it's nice to know that there are hearing people who are willing to learn a new language and reach out of their comfort zones just to communicate with someone. Now, I am not in any means trying to give myself a pat on the back or trying to fish for compliments. I'm just expressing why I love my job and why specifically I love to sign. So, back to my goal. I want to improve my sign language skills, I want to use it more, and I want to have fun with it. Therefore, I have decided to work on a song a month. I will pick a song every month, learn the signs to that song, and work on it throughout the month until I can sign the whole song perfectly. Remember, I am a perfectionist, so yes it has to be perfect. But signing songs isn't anything new so I know it's something I can accomplish if I just stick with it.

Well it is now 12:30 am which is waaay past my bedtime. The laptop has now warned me that the battery is almost dead and I am getting pretty sleepy, so I think this is a good time for me to close. I have 4 goals to work on so I need my beauty rest :) Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!