Thursday, May 12, 2011

Brainstorm Overload

Tomorrow is my last day of this clinical rotation in O’Neill, Nebraska. I was here for four weeks. I tell my patients that it went by so fast – and in some ways it did, but when I think about it, it seems like a VERY long time ago that I was home. With my bed, my stuff, my closet, my kitchen, and my husband. Everyone talks about me-time and such, but frankly I am over it. 1 month with me was long enough! Haha.

Since my somewhat voluntary exile to the peaceful rural Nebraska setting, I have basically wished that I was at home. Leaving to come here the morning after we moved to our new house didn’t go well (as predicted). I usually get off work at the hospital between 4:30 and 5, so I have about 6 hours each night to do whatever I want. Thanks to Microsoft Word, I have an 8-page list of things I want to do…at home. Stuff to clean, things to buy for our new house, plans for our anniversary (1 year Sunday!), to-do’s before we can move the garden plants outside, projects I am eager to start, and food that belongs in my belly. The last two categories take up most of the list.

And this list only includes the things I am looking forward to doing! No laundry, no buying textbooks for summer classes (which start on Monday), and no grocery lists (although I have another document with 2 weeks of meal plans. And a third document with a food plan for a future BBQ.) Ching! (That was me awarding myself a housewife gold star).

I can’t adequately convey how frustrating it is for me to simultaneously experience more free time than I have had in the last 6 years, more energy and fun to-do’s than long before wedding planning, and zero outlet. I feel my brain quivering. I count the day over as soon as I get out of bed to shower. I run loops around the little town. I have eaten 2 jars of peanut butter. I lay awake at night while my mind talks to itself in Spanish.

I coped by brainstorming MORE things to eat, paint, build, buy, make, or do. Enter vicious cycle, resulting in increased frustration and the 8-page word document. And exponential pinterest pins. Pinterest is a website that essentially functions as a “favorites” center to collect pictures. My favorites menu was approaching stress-fracture level of overuse; I like a lot of stuff – guilty. Now I can click “save to pinterest” from any website to save a picture into any category I create on my account. I have categories (called boards) for food, clothes, gift ideas, house ideas, yard and garden ideas, craft/DIY ideas, and a junk drawer category for things that don’t fit anywhere else. It’s a brainstorm photo-list! Other people can look at what I pinned and save it to their own boards if they like it. People I know may be able to creep on what I am considering buying for their babies, but that was unavoidable.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:37 am

    Ca-Ching! We give you a gold medal, too, for being such a great (and honest) daughter, homemaker, and wife. We laughed and cried over your recent post. We hope you enjoy your new home and yard, your new semester, and your (relatively) new husband, and not necessarily in that order. HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY! ! ! ! !
    Love, Mom & Dad

    ReplyDelete
  2. :) so happy you're finally home! i'm going to go creep what you are buying for my baby now.

    oh wait.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...