Welcoming Back a Social Life

Yes, I have been away the online and social life for a while, for a few good reasons. I been raising my children, working full time, and going to school. I have been beyond swamped! I like it that way though. I like to be busy, to be constantly doing things that I enjoy. I thrive on learning. I love every minute I spend with my family. I enjoy working in higher education.

Who has time for a social life with all that? Well, truthfully, I have on and off. I have always tried to make time for those who are important to me. This would mean visiting family when I have the time and money to do so, having a girls' night out with friends locally, and visiting with friends in Topeka after Logan's Saturday football games during the fall. My sister Betsy also got to visit us for a very inspiring weekend at a women's conference and for Shane's birthday dinner.

I believe I have learned to defy the limits of time. I have made time to enjoy life while doing everything that I need to for my children and completing my education, both of which are very important to me.

Now I am done with school. YAY! I completed a Master's of Science in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution from Creighton University School of Law in December 2011. You would think this would give me some "extra" time. Not really. Actually, not at all.

You see, after graduation came the holidays which meant parties and a short vacation to Texas to see my mom and Lester and my grandparents. My grandparents sold their home so we helped them decide what they would be taking with them to move... to our house! Yep! This past couple months we have been preparing for my grandparents to move in, helped them move in, and are trying to help them settle into our crazy lives. We are all enjoying each others' company. The boys and Shaun love having them there. I especially love having them there. I have not had family living in the same state as me, besides Shaun's parents who are our neighbors, in about 14 years. It was hard for me to have my family so far away. It still is but now I have my grandparents, who are absolutely wonderful. I still hold on to the idea that more of my family will move back to the state or at least within half a day's drive so we can visit each other more often.

Over the past couple months I have regained a bit of social life. I have had game parties at my house, had friends and family (Shaun's) over for dinner, had time to have lunch with friends, been able to read for fun, helped throw a last minute bridal shower, attended a baby shower, and had time to chat with friends over the phone or internet. There have also been a few baked goods appearing in my house; my sons reminded me how much I love to bake. I have stayed just as busy as before but in different ways.

A social life, to many people, includes online interaction, such as blogs, Facebook, Google+, and other similar sites. For me it has included Skyping with my sisters. I rarely get online to Facebook. This is the first blog entry I have done in a year. I figure if there is anything important happening in the lives my friends or family my husband, other family members, or friends will tell me directly. It is not that I am avoiding Facebook or Google+. I simply do not "need" them to help me live my life. I have enjoyed the freedom of not checking friends' statuses regularly. Yes, I like to know what people are up to, what excites them or upsets them, but I am not going to take time to browse Facebook for lengths of time like many people do. If I am on Facebook it is usually just long enough to respond to a message or check up on my son's activities online. While there I may "like" or "share" something someone has said or occasionally share something happening in my family's life.

I am now spending time enjoying life. I enjoy the quiet moments I have to play a card game with my grandparents, read a book, bake bread, shuttle my sons to their various activities, or simply clean a room in my house. While I am busy I am pacing myself so that I enjoy these moments more.

Social life? Sure, when I make the time to do something with a friend, or have dinner alone with my husband at a nice restaurant. To me having a meal with a friend means more than reading their status online. Having time to enjoy my grandparents, Shaun, and my sons at home means more than anything to me. I plan to spend this weekend at home. Most likely I will be found cleaning, organizing, baking, playing a game, or reading. (Oh, and hunting for a couple more baby items to send to my sister Golda!)

This is how I am welcoming back the life I have had to arrange around school for the past few years. Now I have time to relish in the time spent being me, not being a student, but being a mother, a wife, a granddaughter, a friend. This is what keeps me busy these days. I LOVE IT!

Take time to spend with those whom you love now. You may not have the time to do so later.

Tidbits of Today's Thoughts

It has been a while since I blogged. Oops! Life took over as usual. It's been a crazy month. Here are a few of my recent thoughts:

1. People who get lost in K-State's new parking garage make me laugh. Seriously people? It's not that big! I'm still trying to decide if the price is worth parking there. We'll see.

2. I'm pregnant, not broken. I'm pregnant, not dumb. YES this pregnancy was planned. NO I'm not regretting it. YES my children's ages are very spread out. YES I am cute with this protruding belly; I don't mind saying so and I don't mind hearing it. WHY do I feel like I have to complain when I am asked how I'm doing knowing full well that random people I don't know that well ask me and are referring only to my pregnancy. I'm a person too you know! My life contains many aspects, pregnancy just being the most obvious at this point. Overall I am doing wonderful and loving it! YES I have some discomfort from pregnancy and YES my back aches. NO I'm not bloated, yet.

3. My boss is great! Today she decided we needed to have an ice cream social so that I could show off my 3D baby pics to some friends working down the hall. She announced this to me as she was walking out the door to a meeting. I had the small ice cream social while she was gone. :) I guess that was her plan. It was fun. She had provided the ice cream. I provided the pictures to look at. It was me and three others. What a nice late afternoon break!

4. YES, the 3D sono pics and perhaps the video (if I can upload it) will be online, probably tonight since I'm procrastinating on watching an online lecture!

5. My kids are aggravating me a lot lately. Probably because I'm always tired and therefore moody. They seem to be very loud. Logan fusses too much and doesn't think he has an "indoor voice." Shane isn't applying himself, anywhere, at times. Otherwise they are wonderful boys who just want to hug and cuddle with me A LOT. Yes, that annoys me at times but I deal with it. I love their hugs and cuddles too much to let it annoy me for very long. I'm very blessed!

Hmmm. There were three or four other thoughts that I'd tried to share however blogger has been giving me problems. Here's the short version of those:

6. Shaun has been great, most of the time. :) He's been spoiling me with meals in bed once in while and has been very understanding when I am tired and grouchy. He knows when to avoid me. He has also helped me to complete a couple photography assignments for an online class. I have a hard time being inspired for this class just because I am tired and don't want to do things by deadlines. He helps me to meet the deadlines though and has been having fun learning along side of me.

7. I have started the application process for graduate school. I am still planning to go to Creighton, in Omaha but mostly online, for Dispute Resolution and Negotiation with an emphasis on educational institutions. I tried to link this earlier but that was what started my half hour of blogging problems so I'm not going to do it again! Shaun "mentally clapped" his hands for me Monday when I called to inform him that I have decided to go ahead with the August enrollment for my application. The admissions rep assigned to me suggested that since this is a very competitive application process and only 15 people are allowed into each class that I should apply for May or June instead of waiting for the August class due to the number of students who apply for the more traditional start dates. I was told that my GPA and career goals will be a great fit for them and that I should have no problem with being accepted so I decided that I, and my family, deserve a few months break before I continue my college career. Summers are hectic enough around here and I really want to have a short time without coursework. Adding a baby to our summer baseball schedule will be enough to handle! I decided if I am not accepted in the August class then I will apply for a later class whenever offered, most likely the following January, May, or June. As long as I get in eventually I will be fine.

8. I use contractions too often so I'm cutting back.

9. There was something else... Oh well! I'll do another post if I remember and deem it important or random enough.


These were just a few "thinks" I thought I would share. :)

The End.

Update on Life in the Linenberger Home

Hello readers! It's been a while since I felt up to updating my blog. I've been feeling pretty under the weather lately. Here are a few "little" updates:

1. K-State changed a policy on work release for classes taken during the day effective immediately (around June 10th I think) so I had to figure out when to work more hours at the office so that I could complete my June course. UGH! That caused a lot of stress but I did work it out and am now done with the course and back to working my normal 8-5. I'm still hoping this policy change does not affect my graduation date of next May! There is one class that I have to take next Spring that is only offered on campus and during the day. Part of that semester (at least the beginning couple weeks) I'll be on maternity leave, which might help. We'll see.

2. June 17th was mine and Shaun's anniversary. The boys and I had dentist appointments late that afternoon so I called Shaun and we planned to meet at Chili's for dinner (nothing fancy for us as we'd already had a "date day" a week or so before which did include a fancy dinner and massages...ahhhh). Unfortunately shortly after arriving for dinner (without eating a bite) I realized that I was having horrible cramping. Luckily I knew that these were not baby related. It was obvious... I ended up staying in the bathroom for 20 minutes in pain and cold sweats. Shaun had my food boxed up (he ate it the next day) and paid for the meal before I could even tell him how bad I was feeling. Finally I sent someone to find him and he brought me right to the ER, where we spent the next three hours. I was in so much pain that I told him it was worse than labor! Ouch! I was later diagnosed with either food poisoning or a bacterial intestinal virus. Still haven't heard back on the results from all the tests they did that night. Still have bruising on my arm from where the IV was inserted for fluids. Waiting to hear back from my Dr's office today about results after I've called two or three times and they haven't had them.

3. Morning sickness and lack of any energy whatsoever is still sticking around. Dr's office is having my try antacids. I really hope this helps! I don't like to take meds unless absolutely necessary. Also taking allergy meds for congestion and sneezing. Ugh, again!

4. Classes have had me very stressed (see #1 above). Last week I finished my daytime class which included two tests within one week. I got a B in the class. I wasn't happy with this but the tests were the only grades and they really stunk. The grammar, spelling, and wording were all horrible. Class #2 is online and requires lots of reading, one assignment every two weeks (so far) and one test every two weeks. Not bad, but it's family economics which is not fun for me. I can't stand economics/financially related courses. So far I'm getting a B. Class #3 was supposed to be my daytime July class, but because of the policy change I'm taking it online all summer and started it a week late. ARGH! I was more than a week behind until Saturday. I somehow found a way to do nothing but study all day. I completed two weeks worth of reading, homework, and quizzes for this class and then decided to get a head start on this week's work. I'm now done with this week's work in that class and have only one homework assignment for the other online course. Wahoo! I feel sooooo very relieved. I now have much less stress this week from my courses. I'm very pleased about this.

5. Shane was at scout camp all of last week! I didn't talk to him for a full week and that was hard, but I was busy and tried not to think about it. I missed him terribly. Just getting his hugs and seeing his smile usually makes my day. Everything bad and stressful disappears. So, during this most stressful week I was missing my boy on top of everything else. Logan spent lots of one-on-one time with us which was nice but we all missed Shane. Having less baseball games and practices did soften the blow a bit. :) Shane arrived home at noon on Saturday and was all smiles and very talkative. He had a blast and can't wait until next year! He earned five merit badges, a lobster-like sunburn, and had tons a fun. He also got a bit homesick (I think it was caused by the sun and 100-degree heat all week). We're happy to have him home and back with us every day. Now if only the boys could get along for a full day!

6. Overall I'm feeling much better today than I have over the past couple rough weeks. I'm hoping the antacids and allergy meds kick in soon and that I can get some energy going so that I can keep up with my crazy life again. Do you think that if my life wasn't so chaotic that I'd have more energy? I'm doubtful. I think everything we have going on may the only reason I get out of bed each morning. :)

Take care and give your kids and hubbies lots of hugs this week! This way they will take care of you when you get sick or are too stressed to see the beautiful world around you. Later this week- Fourth of July!!!