Thursday, April 16, 2009

On A Quest For...


Relief from this abominable depression I have had the last few months... I looked at my 'to do' list the other day and man, was that depressing! Instead of exciting entries like my lists of 'to dos' past which may have included: study for anthropology test...swim with the dolphins...Vegas this week end...get a combo (manicure and pedicure)...save the world...My present day list activity included: pick up Rx at Walgreen's...mail Dr. Shaw a check...call Monica to set up an appointment for annual pest inspection...call Mother. It's like I've confirmed Dr. Pity and Mr. Boredom as my new best friends on Facebook. Yet, again in another hideous rut!


Depression has run rampant through my life. Having a psychiatrist for a husband(#2) didn't help matters...like the dentist's kids never getting their teeth fixed. Anyway, when somber times would inhabit my body and soul, #2 would suggest that I "shrug it off." What happened to the counselling and drugs...couldn't I get some of that...especially at wholesale prices? Not really, because you see, #2 was concerned about his peers in the health care industry and how they discussed people's problems among each other and we surely did not want details of our unhealthy marriage to get around the community! Heaven forbid people think that a well known psychiatrist had troubles in his own home just like everyone else. Ugh...OK, I guess...

But, I must say, #2 was probably correct (as he usually was about almost everything). Because thru the years, I have found that usually after a long, hard, depressing winter (and that we have certainly had this year) I always experience a wonderful euphoria in April or May called spring fever and all is well in my life again. So, instead of being a depressive in need of drugs and therapy, I've self diagnosed myself with a condition called SAD or seasonal affective disorder which is a type of depression triggered by the seasons that may be related to changes in the amount of daylight during different times of the year. This explains why it comes on in the winter (shorter days - less sunlight) and leaves in the spring (longer days - more sunlight). According to http://familydoctor.org/ about 1/2 million people suffer from SAD and it is more common in women than in men. Also, this disorder decreases as you get older (yea). Some of the symptoms include craving starches (for sure), drop in energy level (a little), irritability and anxiety (#3 can vouch for this), increased sensitivity to social rejection (duh...who isn't), and avoidance of social situations and a loss in the activities you used to enjoy. So right on.

I do miss my exciting past activities that I so eagerly enjoy planning...and I am beginning to feel a tinge of motivation to make plans as spring and summer begin to creep in. Just today I noticed Kenny Chesney was coming to Alltel Arena...I think #3 and I will plan to go. And, I'm really going to work hard at spicing up my 'to do' list...because we all know that it's not what you have done in the past, but what you are doing in the now that matters! In fact, I'm promptly putting 'save the world' back on my list along with 'get a combo'. And Dr. Pity and Mr. Boredom are really gonna have to go!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

On A Quest For...

A Beautiful Day...Anyone living in the NWArkansas area knows that everybody, in these here hills, has been on a quest all winter long for a beautiful day! Finally, yesterday on April 8Th, we had a normal, sunny, beautiful, spring day. But, today on April 9Th we are watching and bracing for more BAD weather which includes isolated storms, tornado watches, and high winds. What is it with this crazy weather, especially the last few of years?

The Ice Storm of 2009 was hard for all of us to handle. Many people would go without power for weeks...ten days for me and #3 at the Turquoise House. The City of Fayetteville has yet to clean up all the storm's debris a couple of months later and is negotiating on having tons of tree mulch disposed of in an environmentally safe way. Good luck with that! The City of Springdale is just going to burn their debris to get rid of it. No tree huggers here. And, I read in the Fayetteville Morning News that the City of Bentonville was presented a $1.5 million bill for their debris removal much to the horror of city officials. Just a slight misunderstanding between these elected officials and the company they contracted with to remove the tree limbs. Nice to know elected dignitaries (unfortunately at the taxpayer's expense) get screwed over too, just like the rest of us happy homeowners...but, shouldn't elected officials or board members or the like be held to a higher standard of knowledge to avoid little mishaps such as these or something like that?

And it was just a year ago, to this exact date, that the Fort Smith/Van Buren area got hit with that really bad hail storm. And then another hard hail hit just a short time later for those poor folks. Although, Fayetteville was spared the baseball size hail, we did not escape the wind damage especially at the Turquoise House, where high winds and Hurricane Ike brought down plenty of 100 plus year old trees throughout all of 2008. Fortunately, no damage to house, cars, animals, or me and #3...must be living right.


Then yesterday, as the temperature rose to the 70s, and I noticed the coalescence of the bright, yellow sun with the newly, budding green foliage, I quickly called #3 and requested that he bring home margarita makings of which we promptly enjoyed on our big deck overlooking the hills of the Ozarks. Glad we got that out of our system...because tonight we could be carried away Todo and Dorothy style! So you see why it is, that all of us up in these here hills just wanted one nice day. And that appears to be all we are gonna get. Cheers!



Wednesday, April 1, 2009

On A Quest For...

The Perfect Latte...it was not so many years ago, I recall, that I was the perfect, little housewife who always got up early with her perfect, not so little, husband and made a perfect pot of coffee before #3 went to his perfect little job and I settled into my perfect little daily housewife routine. Disastrously, these days I have become a shameless, careless, stop at nothing maniac until I get out the door and secure my daily fix...a twenty ounce skinny latte at Arsaga's Espresso Cafe in Fayetteville. Where did it all go wrong? Why am I leaving the house looking really bad with hair tangled, no make up, and frantically plotting (legal) ways to get a jump ahead of the school bus that stops well over a hundred times on Hwy 16 every school day morning? Well, maybe not that many times, but close to. What happened to my perfect little life and that cup of homemade coffee shared with my perfect husband? Hello, my name is Dianne and I'm addicted to skinny lattes.


The girls at Arsaga's relieve my habit at this phase in my life, but it has not always been an easy road to travel. In the past, I resorted to wandering into many coffee shops in the Fayetteville area in the wee hours of the morning to see if they were able to concoct a delicious, creamy, blend of two shots of espresso (perfectly pressed from the perfect fair trade coffee bean) and perfectly steamed low fat milk which is finally topped with about an inch of foam...preferably with an artistic design on top of the drink which is created from pouring the white milky froth over the dark colored espresso. This zany necessity and my road to perdition all started about three years ago when I thought it would be a neat idea to complete my bachelor's degree at the UofA.
Yes, I blame it all on the need for higher education and that 7:30am Spanish class required for my degree plan! Up at 5am, out the door by 6, to the University in heavy traffic (darn those school buses), and spend about 30 minutes on the shuttle bus that would take me from the 6Th Street Parking Lot to the Hill. How could I possibly make a pot of coffee at home with this kind of schedule? So the quest began...first coffee then I started doing the regular latte and ultimately the skinny latte...never ending, always on the move for my latte which kept me alert and kicking as I pursued my degree. #3 would now have to depend on his cup of Joe at the office and as for me, I would get my latte anywhere I could at that hour. Sometimes at Razzi's (UofA student union), or Les Maison Tartes, or a place called Gloria's on Dickson. Then they came to town...Starbucks...and they made a pretty decent latte, but one day I tried Arsaga's and here I am forever hooked! The best around in all the town of Fayetteville!

I have since completed my degree and do not have to get up so early to out maneuver the school bus, but I continue to be dependent on my early morning latte compulsion. At least I am able to couple it with my morning workout routine and all is not too bad a start for the day...if only I could manage to put on some make up and do my hair at that hour...life might almost be perfect again.