For the first time in several months (6, maybe?), we went hiking!!! It was a gloriously sunny day with snow even in Seattle! We had a dusting of snow on the rooftops, cars, and sidewalks. Justin and I met up with my friend Sara for a hike to Annette Lake. As we approached the mountains, the snow was deeper and the sky seemed more blue than ever. We even saw what Sara and I think were 2 caribou or elk on the roadside. The parking lot at the Annette Lake trailhead had only 2 cars, a mini-igloo, and a bathroom with bullet holes in the door. We didn’t really see anyone except for in the parking lot, which I will describe more in detail later…

Our hike was to be a 7-8 mile hike, but it didn’t turn out that way. First of all, Justin is recovering from pneumonia. Second of all, there was at least 3-4 feet of snow all along the path. The people who blazed the trail in the fresh show had skis, and we wouldn’t have been bad off with at least some snowshoes. The first 2/3 of the way there wasn’t bad–Sara commented that it was like we were in Narnia, except that the sky was more blue. The sun glittered through the trees and a light wind powdered us with snow from the trees. Everything had been freshly dusted with snow the night before. As we crossed bridges with snow as tall as a toddler on them and meandered along the trail, we enjoyed ourselves. We then came to sections where our feet would crash through the snow, covering our legs up to our thighs! This kept happening up the trail into what I thought was clearly NOT the trail, but the path that the hard-core cross country skiiers somehow decided to blaze.

As Justin’s cough got worse and as his toes got colder, we decided to turn back at mile 2, creating a 4 mile hike for us. Down was much easier and included a bit of butt-surfing on the snow (some intentional, and some unintentional). We finally reached the parking lot–home free!!! Except for the car. Our tires wouldn’t get us anywhere—not with twigs, not with pushing, not with chains lodged beneath them. After half an hour of trying everything we could think of, we got the car un-stuck and followed the monorail-type path back to I-90. I say monorail because, if you look at the illustration below, you can see that there was snow on either side of the car’s tires and in the middle, there was close to a foot of snow.

I II I
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Pictures to come eventually :).

So far, my break has been….plain. Painting, laundry, cleaning, eating, working out, sleeping, showering, cooking, homework, TV and movies, driving and groceries…it gets old, even on a break. So today I decided to do something new. Instead of getting a haircut like I originally intended, I got highlights in my hair for the first time ever. I’ll take pictures and post them sometime. Now I’m doing homework, but after this, Justin and I are going to the Seattle U’s graduate student night at Garage on Broadway. There is free bowling, pool, and snacks. Yippee for free!

Is this me, or not?

the Helper
Test finished!
you chose CX - your Enneagram type is TWO.

“I must help others”

Helpers are warm, concerned, nurturing, and sensitive to other people’s needs.

How to Get Along with Me

* Tell me that you appreciate me. Be specific.
* Share fun times with me.
* Take an interest in my problems, though I will probably try to focus on yours.
* Let me know that I am important and special to you.
* Be gentle if you decide to criticize me.

In Intimate Relationships
* Reassure me that I am intersting to you.
* Reassure me often that you love me.
* Tell me I’m attractive and that you’re glad to be seen with me.

What I Like About Being a Two

* being able to relate easily to people and to make friends
* knowing what people need and being able to make their lives better
* being generous, caring, and warm
* being sensitive to and perceptive about others’ feelings
* being enthusiastic and fun-loving, and having a good sense of humor

What’s Hard About Being a Two

* not being able to say no
* having low self-esteem
* feeling drained from overdoing for others
* not doing things I really like to do for myself for fear of being selfish
* criticizing myself for not feeling as loving as I think I should
* being upset that others don’t tune in to me as much as I tune in to them
* working so hard to be tactful and considerate that I suppress my real feelings

Twos as Children Often

* are very sensitive to disapproval and criticism
* try hard to please their parents by being helpful and understanding
* are outwardly compliant
* are popular or try to be popular with other children
* act coy, precocious, or dramatic in order to get attention
* are clowns and jokers (the more extroverted Twos), or quiet and shy (the more introverted Twos)

Twos as Parents

* are good listeners, love their children unconditionally, and are warm and encouraging (or suffer guilt if they aren’t)
* are often playful with their children
* wonder: “Am I doing it right?” “Am I giving enough?” “Have I caused irreparable damage?”
* can become fiercely protective

Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele

The Enneagram Made Easy
Discover the 9 Types of People
HarperSanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages

You are not completely happy with the result?!
You chose CX

Justin finally went to the emergency room last night. He has had a fever since Tuesday (yesterday was Sunday), and he started to get a bad cough. They took a flu swab and a chest x-ray and said that he had pneumonia. Great. They gave him heavy-duty antibiotics and said he’d start feeling better today. I can tell he has more energy today–I just hope he fully recuperates soon.

I am painting the bathroom downstairs, and I think I paint like I did math in high school. In both cases, I made a few mistakes, I got to the end of the task in my own way, I had some fun, and I probably made the task more difficult than it really should have been. At any rate, the bathroom is now a beautiful “vivid blue” color–one of my favorite colors. Now I am sore in places I didn’t think could be sore–like my hands. My knees are sore, too, but that is due to a nasty fall onto gravel yesterday when I was bringing the paint cans into the house.

My next project is the hallway and the stairwell. we’l need a pretty tall ladder before I can tackle that task, however.

Wahoo! I am now officially on midwinter break–the glorious Presidents’ Day meets Ski Week meets Quarantine that is this week I get off. The sun is shining brightly on this chilly day. Justin still has a fever. More to come later.

Justin’s had a 103F fever for 3 days now. This is his 2nd day home….Please pray that he feels better soon and pray that I don’t get sick for my upcoming break!

He still has to go to class tonight with me for grad school. Zero-tolerance attendance policies stink.

It snowed this morning just enough to keep my spirits up for school today. I spent most of last night driving around from my school to Justin’s to the UW to Costco to Whole Foods to the UW to home. Most of that driving was so I could get lab materials for my bio class–onions, filters, distilled water, corn syrup, eggs, and vinegar. I was jealous of the people buying fruit snacks and interesting cereals in bulk.

First, I must say that I think that it’s odd that Costco does not sell corn syrup in bulk. It doesn’t sell corn syrup at all, in fact. No–I had to go to Whole Foods and spend $45 on corn syrup and water. They probably thought I was the craziest, least healthy woman among them. I thought it might be cheaper to boil down some Sprite than to drop that much money on the most ubiquitous substance in North American foods.

Second, I had to front the almost-$100 for my labs this month. The other $45 I submitted in receipts for reimbursement was from stamps I have used for attendance notifications, letters, and invitations to parents. At least I’ll get that back (hopefully).

Tonight consists of much bundling-up in preparation for this cold front that is coming, of grad school homework, and of laundry management. That means folding and ironing of laundry while watching some TV for an hour, I think.

Justin is doing OK–he just recouped from a nasty fever. We got home and he had a headache and body ache, as well as a 103.2F fever!! I gave him some NyQuil and Ibuprofen and he napped for almost 2 hours. Now he’s down to a 99.7F and feels almost clammy compared to before. Time to feed him dinner.

When I tallied up my work hours from last Monday to this Friday, (Jan. 30-Feb 10) I worked 136 hours. That’s 50 hours overtime without pay. That’s a lot of time put toward chaperoning, meeting, grading, planning, and calling homes.

This weekend, in contrast, was pure luxury. Not in the satin sheets, chocolate-dipped strawberries, fur coat-sense, but in the spontaneously productive relaxation that I enjoyed. Yes, I exercised, did laundry, grocery shopped, cleaned house, worked on school stuff, did grad school homework, and cooked, but I also enjoyed my walks with Justin in the sun, learned how to knit a hat, listened to Garrison Keillor, made tasty, healthy food, went to church, watched a couple of movies, socialized, and went on a 10 p.m. light dinner and dessert date with my hubby in downtown Seattle.

I deserved it.

On to lesson planning and laundry folding, with Gray’s Anatomy in the background!