Feeling better today, though still a bit queasy.  One of the guys made homemade noodles & mashed taters for us today for lunch, and it is SOOOOOO good!!!!

My boss gave me a new daily task today.  I'm not sure if that's good or not, but I think I'll like it.  I've done this task before, but only when one of the guys was on vacation.  It's not that hard, just kinda monotonus (sp?).

I'm so badly craving a Diet Coke.  I know that caffine is bad right now... but I want one SOOOOO bad!!!!!!

Kathryn gave me a link to a knitting site, so I'm gonna attempt to make a scarf this weekend.  Well, I don't mean I'm gonna FINISH it this weekend.  I'm gonna start.  Or maybe I'll start with making one for my little cousin's Barbie dolls? LOL That I could finish this weekend.

Other weekend goals:

Laundry.  I have got to get it done!
My living space MUST get cleaned before my sanity suffers!
Must read the rest of the AW intro and post wise thoughts.
Finish my first project for Mixed Media Memoirs
Be at church Sunday AM for Breakfast. Maybe even ON TIME!
Start AW Morning Papers tomorrow, when I wake up, VERY late in the day! *grin*
Take down the Christmas junk and find somewhere to put it!
Love on my cat.  She's sad.
Make a new banner for my blog.  I'm bored with this one.
Take pictures!!!! (No real reason... just cause I can! hahaha)

Found my glasses!!!! They were in the pile of laundry just as I predicted.

My stomach is still queasy, but not too bad.  Course that's at least partially cause the only thing I've eaten since 1PM is umm... some fudge, and a few nuts.  LOL yeah, definately a meal of champions right? 

I think I'm gonna head to bed, so hopefully I'll be back to bloggin' in the morning.

Uggg... well my day certainly got un-boring quite quickly.

(For the males among you, you might want to stop at this point, and skip to the next blog post.  Yep.  It's about THAT.  hahaha)

Anyway.

I got up this morning, took my little motrin first thing like a good little girl.  Packed myself a little snack to eat with my next dose (drugs without food is a very bad thing), and went off to work, happy as could be. 

Realized about 12 (the time the other office worker went to lunch) that I was late taking my next Midol.  Ate my snack, and went on. 

Ate my lunch.  Went on.

Suddenly, about 1AM, as my stomach was suddenly turning into a churning mass of pain and nausea, I realized I hadn't taken the Midol.  Too late!

Went home from work early, (about 1:30?) after frantically begging my boss... praying that I wouldn't puke in the parking lot, or have to pull over and puke... walked into the door of my home and immediately into the bathroom, where I couldn't puke.  *sigh* made several trips back and forth to the porcelain god's little shrine, but never could give him an "offering." (hehehe)  Finally decided to just lay down... tried to read, but couldn't get past this one page of the book.  Usually if I can get myself deeply into a book, I relax and fall asleep.  I fell asleep anyway, eventually. 

Woke up at 5:30... feeling very very queasy but otherwise okay.  Cannot find my glasses anywhere. *sigh*  I think in my hurry to get to bed, I tossed them into the pile of clean laundry I'd dumped on my bed... so guess I'll be searching those soon.  I can only go without my glasses for so long without problems arising. 

Oh, and I'm glad I couldn't read on in the aforementioned book.  I did a few minutes ago and it was describing a recently-found decomposing body in way too graphic detail.  Had I read it earlier, the porcelain god would DEFINATELY have recieved offerings.  *still kinda grossed out*

So, now what to do this evening?  I want to knit!!! But I can't remember how to start the first little stitches on the needle.  *whining again*  So, instead I think I'll read the next section of AW, the "Basic Principles" section, and then get to reading "East of Eden" for my bookclub.  And of course, gotta do the laundry, cause both these books have some TINY print for a person who can't really see.  LOL  Hopefully I'll find them, just wrapped up in a clean sock or something... if not, I'll definately be back to rant, cause the computer screen will be the only thing I can see!!! Hahaha

Since I'm new to the AW group and not connected to any of the other participants... I thought it might be good to introduce myself.

*clearing throat*
Umm... hi everyone. 
*hands beginning to shake*
My name is Jana.
*microphone squealing*
It's nice to meet all of you.
*looking out at an audience full of creative people*
*eyes widening in fear of strangers* 
I guess m-maybe you'd like to know who I am?
*knees beginning to shake* 
Well, I'm 25 years old, and I live in Indiana.  I just moved to a bigger town from a teeny tiny place. 
*taking a deep breath*
I am single, childless, and in debt, so I am working two jobs at the moment.  The first is a 40-hour a week office job, doing Accounts Payable and answering phones. 
*beginning to relax*
The second is for a tax office.  I teach classes about how to do taxes in Aug-Nov, and then I work preparing tax returns from Jan-April.
*hands no longer shaking*
Yes, ladies and gentelemen, you did hear that right.  I do accounting and taxes.
*nodding head wisely*
Do I sound like a person needing to get in touch with her creativity or what?? Hahaha  I'm actually just a crazy young woman trying to find out who she is, and where she wants her life to go.  I've done a little of everything.  I love drama actually (as in the kind on stage, though I seem to have plenty of people trying to get me involved in their personal kinds of drama LOL), and I've written a little.  I'm trying my hand at artistic stuff (as in like collages, things like that) at the moment.  

Half of me is absolutely terrified of this new adventure, and the other half is so excited I can't hardly contain it.  Afraid of all the new people. Afraid of failure. Afraid I won't fit in.  But excited... so many possibilities! So many prospective new friends! So much support! Wow!

Now for all of you experienced AWers, I have some questions.  Are you all using your regular blog for your AW posts, or did you create a seperate one?   What made you choose to do it that way? 

Today is just a blah day.

It's 9:19AM here, and I've completed all of my daily morning tasks.  The net is running slow here, the phones are quiet, the filing cabinets organized, my desk clean, and I am absolutely bored out of my mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I joined a group called Blogging the Artist's Way. We're all reading a book (The Artist's Way) together. So, for the time being I'll probably be putting any posts having to do with that on this blog.  If it looks like my blog's getting to "artsy," I'll make a seperate blog... but after skimming the book, I think you'll all actually enjoy my posts.  I found one question in the book that looked especially neat, it basically asked how your life would have been different if you'd had the perfect childhood.  So, it's got warm-fuzzy-make-ya-all-wanna-bond questions in it, as well as creativity stuff. :)

It's actually not just for the kind of artists you're thinking of... just for anyone who wants to get in touch with their creative side. 

So now I'm going to go try and finish fixing my issues with blogdrive & Technorati (which I'll show you all what Technorati is once I have it joined with my blogdrive), work on my website, and get to know my fellow Artist's Way people.

I almost forgot my most important announcement for today!

I'm wearing a hat!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I, the plain jane of my job, decided to be trendy today, and am wearing a hat! Slightly too big and kinda lopsided in a faschion-concious way.  It's very cute and I think I may become addicted to hats!!

It's been a lovely week altogether. 

Monday I accomplished about half of my impossibly long list of things to do.  The dishes got done, the bedroom's a smigon cleaner...

I have now crocheted 5 scrunchies, but I have 3 to Denise yesterday cause she liked them and it made me feel good.  :) 

I finished my banner for Melba's new blog.  It was oddly liberating... just sitting, watching Stargate, surrounded by a table full of artistic supplies! Realizing that I was having enough fun that even if everyone hated the things I was making, I'd still want to make more!

Got tired about 3:30 Monday and was going to just sit and read... but it was SOOOO nice outside temperature-wise!!! I couldn't stay inside, so I put on walking shoes, got my camera, and embarked on a journey to the park by my house.  The first time I'd ever walked there actually.   Took pictures of whatever caught my fancy, and happened to see a really cool tree root! That's where the inspiration for my SPT came from! :)  Saw all sorts of interesting people... saw a man walking his dog, a business woman in her business clothes (how uncomfy!), and a family with their kids.  Also was followed by some male college students.  *shuddering at the thought* 

Last night I had nothing going on, so I went to the library.  I picked out 5 new books, all totally different.  I choose The Ice House, which I saw on Shelly's Book Shelf Blog, East of Eden by John Steinbeck and Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (both for bookclubs I joined),  one book I choose just because the author had my same last name lol, and one is a sci-fi book about a woman sucked into a parallel universe. 

Came home, watched NCIS with my roomate, and she taught me how to knit! So now I know the basic knitting stitch! How cool is that?!

Now I'm at work, with PMS.  And to top that off, the men's toilet is broken so they may use ours. 

I swear, if there is even a SPECK of urine on that toilet seat, someone will die!

Okay, I found this meme last week and I've decided to start subscribing to it... so every Wednesday you'll find something spiritual on my blog.  I still have this deep uncomfortable feeling when I post spiritual stuff on my blog though.  I'm guessing it's a leftover fear from the childhood days when I was going to the ultra-traditional "First Church of the Hypocrite" (the kind the Mississippi Squirel song was written about).  I have this horrible fear of becoming one of the women from that church... the kind Jesus would have called a "cutely decorated tomb... beautiful on the outside but full of dead decomposing yuck." 

But yet, the spiritual part of me is really what DEFINES me.  I want people on my blog to know me, to connect with me! But they can't really know me, or connect with me, if I'm hiding who I really am.  I want to be whole and in balance, and I want the people in my life to see the whole person.  So...  in the spirit of transparency...  Here's today's meme:

2 Corinthians 5:17 Click on verse to read in a seperate window.

1. In your own words what does it mean to be in Christ? To me, it means to live your life connected to him, to be a part of him. It's really hard sometimes, and I consider it a constant process... to be and stay connected to him.  Not to put anything in my life to where it seperates me from him.  Does that make sense?

2. Do you remember at what point you became a new creation? Daily... I'm constantly being made new.  I didn't suddenly become new, because I was still holding on to the old junk in my life.  But little by little I trade the old in for the new, and become less of that old person and more of the new.

3. What are some of the old things that you had to give up when you became a new creation? What are some of the new? Well, I gave up a lot of things... but by far the ones that were the hardest for me were my alternative music, (the songs I listened to when imagining myself murdering someone, & the ones i listened to when contemplating suicide) and my porn.  (Well, aren't I just the transparent one today?! Hahaha)  Through my life though, I've continually found things that I've had to give up... some forever, but most temporarily... either because I've begun doing them in excess, or because they are distracting me from the truly important things in life.  
New things?  Well... joy and peace have replaced depression & thoughts of suicide.  Patience is slowly beginning (notice the word SLOWLY) to take the place of all-consuming anger. 

I'VE BEEN TAGGED :
1 - The tagged victim has to find 8 points about what their perfet love would be like.
2 - They have to mention the sex of the target.
3 - Tag 8 victims to play the game and drop a comment on their tagboard saying they've been tagged.
4 - If tagged a second time, you don't have to post again.

Target : Male
1) He has to be short.  Or at least medium height... but not tall! I don't want to be stared at every time we go out in public!
2) He has to be energetic.  (Okay, was gonna use the word "passionate", in the context of a passion for life and a passion for God... as well as the obvious implications... but then figured that'd be taken wrong...but energetic isn't much better... so... I give up! Hahaha)
3) He has to challenge me.  Not pressure me to grow, but challenge me to grow. He can't encourage my bad habits!
4) He has to love to laugh, and get my wierd sense of humor.
5) He has to like to travel and/or hike. He has to be decently in shape.
6) He can never ever, for any reason, make fun of me.  Not in a teasing way, or a serious way, or especially in a "serious but pretending to be joking" way. Or he will die.  *eyes narrowed menacingly*
7) He has to love people, especially kids.  I want a big family.
8) He has to be "The One"... God's chosen man for my life.  Without that one seemingly small detail, all of the other qualities are worthless. 

I'm supposed to tag 8 people but good grief... I tag Toria, Bekka, Romi, & Lawrence... I don't know any other single people do I??  Well, at least none who aren't dating anyone lol  (Except now I'm sure I've forgotten someone!)  And I'm lazy, so I'm not looking for anyone new to tag.

This week's Self-Portrait Tuesday's theme is "Personal History."  I decided to make this collage because I'm really into geneology, and in a lot of ways it's helped me to heal & work through the issues from my past.  It's given me a way to connect with my family, and helped me to find that although I may be different than my family members, I still do have a place in my family that no one else can fill.