The Weight of the World

I'm feeling the weight of the world on my back and it's a struggle right now. Yes, I'm striving for quality. Yes, I'm looking for positive. Yes, I'm blogging to work through it all! :-)

1. My father-in-law is really sick. He had prostate cancer many years ago that was removed, but apparently it didn't go all the way away and it came back in his bladder. He had his bladder removed mid-week last week and was doing okay, but this weekend he ran into some complications and had to go in for emergency surgery. They are in Alaska which is a considerable distance from us in California. We are worried about him, and worried about my mother-in-law. They are each other's everything and this has been a tough road; my sister-in-law lives up there with them, but she is completely useless so my MIL really doesn't have anybody close by to support her emotionally. His kidneys are now failing and it's looking more and more like the fight might be gone. We are holding on but may need to fly my hubby up in a hurry depending on what the tests they run today come back with.

2. My hot water heater took a dump this weekend. We *think* it is the temperature control box that is the problem, but until we get the correct part we won't know and we are without hot water. The bright side is thank goodness it is summer and the heat wave is in full force so we are happy to take cold showers right now. If it was dead of winter we would be a group of unhappy people.

3. Dealing with multiple personalities at the home is proving to be quite the challenge. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have the kids around the house, but we are definitely blending a lot of different people and then when you throw in my daughter-in-law from Hawaii and her different cultural background and upbringing, it, like I said, is challenging. We are practicing a whole heck of a lot of patience these days. But when you go to work to get a break, there's something wrong with the picture! LOL I'll be happy when the birds start leaving the nest...again. Maybe this time the migration will stick. :-)

4. Work is really picking up steam right now. There's a large project looming and it is just reaching an overwhelming point. I am flying solo in the office this week so my mission is to crank up the mellow tunes and get some serious work done towards the project.

5. Speaking of work, I have one of my friends/co-workers coming back to the same campus as I am and as much as I love her, she's a difficult person to be around on a constant basis. She tends to be negative and likes to complain A LOT. When she is further away at the other campus, it is a lot easier to contend with. I will give her this - she's been through a lot of challenges and is leaving a position that she was very unhappy in...but there comes a time where a person needs to make the solid decision to find the bright side of things and she just isn't there yet. So when she comes back to campus and I am spending more time with her, I'm really going to have to establish some firm ground rules in order to keep from getting sucked into the negativity. But that takes a lot of energy and my worry is that it will be energy I just don't have. Sigh.

So yeah - it's kind of feeling like the world is conspiring against me at the moment, but I think I have a good plan figured out to work through it. I just need to keep making sure I'm taking care of me; eating good food, exercising, getting sleep, finding time to take care of me in the midst of it all. I'll get there! I will, I will...(see the positive reinforcement at work...if I keep telling myself it will, then eventually it will come true!)

Hope that life is offering a little more of the quality for everyone else out there in the world!

Today's Picture:

Source: This is another original by Melissa and is the pier in Oceanside, CA taken at night. I should note that my daughter is 17 and has been practicing her craft for the past year. She definitely has natural talent and I can't help bragging about her! I'm sure you can see why... :-)