So Much Change!

This is the week I've been dreading for about a month now. Knowing that it was coming just meant that I tried to pack more into the week, which helped to some extent, but also made the transition harder.

Monday was a typical day, work at school and at Sylvan in the afternoon. And then I hung out with a friend after work which lead to plenty of thinking. Not being able to sleep afterwards was quite frustrating. I went into Tuesday running on about 5 hours of sleep, which made for a very interesting day. Tuesday was my last day at school. Then I went to Goodwill and donated 3 large bags worth of clothes, and bought a pair of capris and a super cute dress for only $12 total (both from Gap too)!! Then I started laundry and went grocery shopping because I cooked dinner for people. Then I started cooking, around 3:30. People came over around 6:30, and I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen. As much as I enjoy cooking and feeding people, when I don't prepare enough ahead of time it stresses me out. This was one of those days. Had I started an hour earlier I would have felt significantly better about the whole day, but nothing seemed to be going right. I mean everything worked out fine in the end and people enjoyed the food, but I felt tense the whole night. But nevertheless here are the recipes I made:

Porcupine Meatballs:
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2/3 cup uncooked rice
2 tsp. oil
2-3 cups V8

Directions:
1.) Mix ground beef, salt, pepper, onion, and rice together in a bowl. Use your hands to make sure everything is incorporated together well.
2.) Form into 6-8 balls.
3.) Heat oil in a pan and brown meatballs on all sides.
4.) Once meatballs are browned at V8, cover pan and simmer 45 minutes.

Brown Rice Herb Salad (Similar to Tabouleh but Gluten Free)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups brown rice
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup fresh mint
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1/2 seedless cucumber cubed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Direction:
1.) Cook rice as directed on package. Let cool at least 1 hour.
2.) Chop herbs and vegetables. Mix together with the rice.
3.) Wish oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper together. Mix into salad and refrigerate at least one hour before serving to let flavors marry.

I also served apple crisp, and that recipe can be found on a different blog post, if you search under the recipe tab.

Wednesday was the start of my summer, which isn't too different from regular "school year" life. I did get to sleep in a bit which was nice. I didn't have to wake up to an alarm which was wonderful! I relaxed a little and finished cleaning up from the night before. And then I tutored for an hour and went to work at Sylvan. After work I dropped leftovers off at a friends place and ended up staying and talking for a while. It was definitely a good thing to do, I needed to relax and actually feel safe and be able to be myself, which doesn't happen often at all.

Thursday was wonderful and long and busy and stressful. I woke up, started to get a few things ready for the day, and then tutored for 2 hours, and then packed and drove to Schoharie, NY about 3 1/2 hours away from here. The drive was easy, nothing to worry about. The reason I was going was to meet with people there to work on planning for a day camp that I'm helping to lead there in mid-July. I was also going to have the chance to see some people from camp who I hadn't seen in close to a year and plan with them about the day camp that I will be helping to lead here in Rochester in a week. It was wonderful to see people and I got more hugs in a few hours than I had gotten in a few months of being here. Real hugs too, the kind that mean something! It was so good! I miss these people and it made me really wish I could be working at camp all summer, despite how illogical I know it is. The stress camp from talking to the people who are coming to work at the Rochester day camp. They are new to doing camp/day camp so its putting a lot on me to plan and organize. I have a lot to get done! Luckily I know what I'm doing, it's still terrifying to think that it starts in a week and I don't have a lot planned yet.

I did spend Thursday night catching up with a great friend that I met working at the Schoharie day camp the past few summers. She was in charge of it for the 4 summers I worked there and she is just an amazing person. It was wonderful to spend the night talking with her. Despite the age difference and the differences in our lives in general, I can honestly say we are friends and that there is genuine caring behind our conversations. We gossiped like school girls about some things, and had serious conversations about others. It was beautiful and amazing in every way possible and I feel truly blessed to have people like this in my life, even if they are hours away from me.

Friday I drove home, stopped at the outlet mall and found a few cute things for me, and for my brother that he asked for. Then came home, had an interesting conversation with a friend, and then grabbed dinner with my brother. I hadn't seen him in close to a month and a half or so. It was good to catch up with him. Then I worked 6:30-10:30 at Old Navy. I am not a fan of that shift at all. Closing just gets boring and its late!

Saturday was busy in the morning but the afternoon and evening were quite nice. I had to tutor in the morning and then I ran a bunch of errands and made basil lemonade. It was a productive morning/early afternoon but ran much later than I planned. One of my friends was having us over to her parents cottage for a day out on the lake to go tubing and just to relax. It was a beautiful day, highs in the mid 80's and sunny and I wanted to get out there as soon as possible but nothing was working as I planned. Things always work out in the end. I had a good time out on the lake! We had great weather and a delicious meal. Good times all around!

I've been spending a lot of time listening to various people talk about different things in their life. I love listening and it's reminded me of how different all of our lives are. Each of us has a very different set of circumstances facing us. Not to mention that at any given time things can change very drastically, making life significantly more difficult to deal with. Listening has reminded me how self-centered I can be. I don't know if it shows outwardly, I hope it doesn't, but if it doesn't someone please tell me. I feel as if I tend to worry about all of the things going on in my life, or all of the problems I'm having, on repeat in my head, and feel as if they are just as "bad" as everyone else's but that I shouldn't talk about them because it isn't my place. Maybe it is the people in my life, or just the situations I'm in, but in most cases I feel guilty for even wanting to talk, bringing me back the being self-centered. I spend plenty of time listening to my friends because it makes me happy and I like to think that in some little way I can help, or at least make whatever it is they are dealing with a little easier. But maybe that is just my selfish way of justifying it.

Today was spent sleeping in, teaching my last algebra 2/trig boot camp class and then cleaning my room and apartment up a bit and just relaxing. I'm hoping to spend tonight relaxing and not doing much of anything so that the rest of the week can be productive between work, planning day camp, more work, and a visit to the neurologist.