Catching up

No, I haven't written in a while, but I'm feeling chatty tonight, I guess.

Exercise.  Michael and I finally did it - we started exercising.  We found a fitness center not too far from home where we can go as often as we want for a very reasonable price.  We started going Monday night and plan to go at least three nights a week.  I like the place because they have lots of equipment, and on the bikes, treadmills and ellipticals, they have video monitors (with Comcast) and you can plug in headphones and watch and listen to TV while you exercise.  We have lots of reasons for going, of course - and one of my big ones is for stress relief.  And speaking of stress...

Work.  Work has never been my favorite place to be - mostly a necessary evil.  But now, it is far worse.  Not only is the workload staggering (and since I work in business development, we're always busy), but now I'm under fire from the president's daughter (VM).  For reasons I don't fully understand, I am being subjected to the same treatment that my friend Kristy received before she left.  VM does not like me - at all.  Everything I do comes under fire; even if everyone else thinks I'm doing a great job, she finds fault.  She tries to invent things and blame me for them.  She gets very jealous (best way I can think of to describe it) whenever her father (the head man) compliments my work.  Not only do I believe she's bipolar, I'm beginning to think she's just evil.

Blended Family.  There's one word for this - difficult.  Even when it's been at its easiest, it's always been a balancing act.  For the most part, we all seem to get along fairly well.  But then there's Jessica.  To hear her tell it - poor little Jessica; everyone else gets more than she does; everyone else is loved more than she is; everyone else's children are our favorites; she has a harder time getting through life than ANYONE else.  At the end of May, she told her dad that she didn't want to have anything to do with him ever again; by the end of July, she was needy again - so she contacted her dad again.  Now, as of last night, we are back to estrangement again - all because Michael would not respond to a particular situation the way she thought he should.  We're both really tired of the continual drama where she's concerned.  Life should not be about non-stop crisis management.  I'm not sure Michael wants her back in his life anytime soon.

Reading.  There is no such thing as too many books!  My latest reading venture has been the "Left Behind" series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Johnson.  I am currently reading The Indwelling (book #7).  I have the two books after that but I still need to get the last three books in the series (12 in all).  I have been fascinated by this series.  Along with that, I found a set of CDs - recording of the New Testament - at Garden Ridge for a wonderfully low price; so far, I have listened to the book of Revelation twice, which goes along with my reading very nicely.

Well, I guess I have babbled long enough for one post.  More another day...