Wow! It blows my mind that we are already 15 days into December!! Where does the time go? I want everything to slow down so I can do a better job of enjoying the holiday season, family & friends, time off, and good food! I have been meaning to blog sooner than this but life has been busy the last few weeks. Me trying to dig my way out of mounds of paperwork/backwork from taking several days off at Thanksgiving, trying to get my house decorated for Christmas (that is taking way longer than I have wanted!), Christmas shopping, parties, making Christmas cards, and trying to not get more behind in work so I can take a week off for Christmas!
Though it's December and the "Christmas Season", I'm going to back up and share about our Thanksgiving so those who keep asking about it can get an inside look at all the fun that was had. I posted some pictures on Facebook yesterday (finally) and will post some of the same ones on the blog for those of you who don't have a Facebook.
We had an absolute blast! Some of James's family flew out and stayed with us for about 5 days. One of his sisters flew in from Chicago, his mom/step dad, brother, nephew, and another sister/fiance/two kids flew up from Florida. Over the weekend we also had four other family members come up from Arkansas and stay for two days as well. Lets just say we had a packed house and lots of fun and food!! We had tons of food on Thanksgiving with football, of course. We ended Thanksgiving with some games. Friday we all just relaxed and attempted to recover from the day before (by eating more food!). Friday evening we had a huge bonfire with hot dogs, s'mores, and hot chocolate.
Saturday was a lot of of fun with church, tons more food, and we went to the Little House on the Prairie homestead a few miles from our house. It was a good day with the sun shining and warmer weather than previously in the week. We ended the day by going to Braum's, a local ice cream shop, and then came back to the house to play some games.
Sunday we headed to our local park and zoo to see the animals and have some more fun! It was another gorgeous day and everyone had a blast playing at the park and acting like little kids :)
Here are some photos from our Thanksgiving!
We had such a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend and it was amazing having family come out and see us! Seeing close loved ones really helped me make it to the Christmas season. But it definitely made me realize how much I miss everything and everyone from back "home" on the east coast. I can't wait to travel to Tennessee in a week and see the ones I love and miss!
Sheesh. For about two weeks I thought I was on a roll with this whole blogging thing (a new record with more than one post done in a week span..lol), then I went away for a week and I go back to no blogging..
I was able to go up to Topeka and attend the annual Governor's Conference for work. I was one of the two lucky people from my office to go (due to the state not having money to send everyone. Sad day for everyone else!). Not only did I get to enjoy some awesome workshops focusing on the prevention of child abuse and neglect but I got to have a week away from the office (though, after this week I am somewhat regretting it...I've been trying to dig my way out of a mound of paperwork, emails, phone calls, and interviews). Thankfully I've made it to the weekend and I am enjoying a relaxing Sabbath evening with my husband.
I must say, the conference helped to energize me to stay passionate about social work, find new ways to do my job, and also keep me aware of what I really want to be doing with my social work degrees. But in some ways it was depressing to realize I was not really doing what I'm completely passionate about in the social work field and that I don't have a lot of opportunities in this part of KS to do those things. Don't get me wrong, I am passionate about keeping kids safe, advocating, and doing everything that is part of my job. But I miss doing therapy, having timeto be creative and involved in multiple areas of my community, seeing progress in my clients' lives, working not only from a micro prospective but also a macro prospective. The work I do sometimes seems pointless (as mentioned in this post) and as much advocating and educating my co-workers and I do, there are really no signs of change in the community or with law enforcement, county attorneys, schools, etc. Children are still unsafe in their homes/with their parents, parents are still not able to find resources in the community that will help their situations, and the professionals are still overworked or too lazy to do anything about it. If only I had more time to be able to do and be involved in half the amount of things I did during grad school. I miss doing research, community development projects, working on implementing non-profit plans,being involved with coalitions, various clubs and organizations focused on helping others, and planning international trips. Now, I get home late from work each night, barely have the energy to make dinner/clean, and then I crash onto the couch or bed to fight off a headache that has hung around for the last five hours. If it wasn't for James and Verena to give me some sort of push to do more than sit and stare off into space, sometimes I wonder how I would make it.
Anyways, enough of that. My post was supposed to be about the Governor's Conference, so not quite sure how I ended up ranting about all of that...my point was, along with the depression of knowing I was not able to completely do everything in social work that I want to do, it still got me excited again about the whole field of social work (Wow, could that sentence be any longer???).
One of the workshops I was able to attend focused on self care (that was a blast sitting in a workshop for 8 hours making cards, playing games :), getting creative on how to eliminate stress out of work <---yea right!). I even got to be on Topeka's evening news! During the workshop each table had to come up with a theme, intro of everyone, and tie it into social work and what we do. My group did some sweet acronym for DEER Social Workers and I happened to be the "deer" in our intro skit. My co-worker told me I should do a flip or something at the end when I introduce myself. Luckily I had some dress pants on so I was able to, though a little difficult due to the pants being somewhat tight. ha! Anyways, the news people came in to record part of our workshop. Another group was doing their introduction in front of the camera and asked if I wanted to be a part of their group so I could do the backflip at the end. How could I turn down the offer?? Here is the LINK to the news clip. Sorry, for some reason the site wouldn't let me upload the actual video. During the Self-care workshop we did some laughing yoga (yes this actually exists!!). I had never heard of laughing yoga before, and honestly it is somewhat awkward at first, but it is so awesome! I loved the emphasis on not only yoga but laughing. Two things that I know work to eliminate stress and make things so much better. If you've never heard of it or want more info, let me know and I will hook you up with some interesting facts, etc.
Another workshop I really enjoyed focused on keeping kids safe online as well as child pornography. It was really cool because we had law enforcement, an FBI agent from the child exploitation taskforce unit, and another lady from an agency that helps to prevent child pornography and works with the FBI on these issues presenting on the issues. It amazed me how much people in the workshop did not know about the dangers of social media and child pornography. Now that is an area we need to do more education on people!! One thing I am thankful for about my job is that I am made aware of laws/legal topics and procedures, and too many other things that a normal person does not know about...it's a little disturbing some of the things I know or talk about on a regular basis that is somewhat traumatizing (and if you don't believe me, just ask! I've got some stories to share). Anyways, if you need me to educate your child on child pornography and give them the talk (that includes sexting), let me know and I'll get on it! :) A funny thing about this workshop was that the FBI agent who was there used to work with another FBI agent who is now a police chief that we work with who is in one of the towns my office covers. She told a hilarious (but disturbing) story about our police chief that my co-worker has assured me she will be sure to use at a future time.
The two workshops on the last day of the conference were amazing! We started the morning off with listening to one of the most amazing motivational speaker ever (and he's half famous!), Derek Clark. Ever heard of the rapping dad? He has a few youtube videos that have been going around. If not, check out this video.
I videoed him on my phone during his presentation but the video was too big to email to myself so this video will have to do!
He's an author, singer/songwriter (has over 100 songs on iTunes) has been on the Oprah show, performed his music for the president, represented "People who Roar" clothing with Brad Pitt, Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, Johnny Depp, etc. He was on the Ricki Lake show, in multiple radio, tv, newspapers. His story is remarkable. He was in foster care for 13 years after his mother dropped him off at a psych hospital at the age of 5. He's passionate about life, shows how everyone has potential to become whatever you want, and promotes never giving up. I would highly recommend looking him up, buying one of his 6 books, or going to one of his events that he speaks at. He's a fantastic singer/songwriter and he's hilarious so don't worry if you have a short attention span!
The last workshop I went to focused on using yoga in a therapeutic setting. It really made me miss doing play therapy. I could think of a hundred ways I would have been able to integrate yoga into a session! I am determined to use yoga in my sessions once I have time to get back into doing therapy. I thought it was really perfect timing to go to this workshop now that I am really starting to get into doing yoga for relaxation. Therapy focuses on the mind, how the brain is thinking and working. Yoga focuses on the body as well as connecting what the brain is going through. Therapeutic yoga. How cool is that, right?
So...my career is a little bit on the stressful side (understatement of the year...). Along with that I have a husband and daughter/house to take care of, five churches to work with, and the list could go on and on. On the days I get home from work at a reasonable time I am usually mentally and physically exhausted and want to shut the world out. But, I also come home a little stressed and anxious and it can take me several hours to unwind and concentrate on other things outside of the kids I had taken into custody that day, the long meetings that zapped the life out of me, or wondering if a child I had just interviewed was really indeed safe...
One thing I was taught all through undergrad and graduate school (as well as the information I gained through a 10 month long graduate research project!) was self care. Since starting in the social work field, I have been able to identify what my triggers are to stress and what specific things I can do to reduce that stress. During undergrad and graduate school/work I was able to do gymnastics and other sports to keep me in shape and stress free. Since moving out to the middle of no where without my beloved gymnastics gym readily available, I've had to get creative. Other than the last two weeks (I have been a little on the lazy/exhausted side, opting out to going to bed as soon as I'm done with dinner..) I am pretty good at keeping up with a work out routine. I have multiple work outs that I do through the week to help me stay in shape and stress free. I usually will work out for about 40-50 minutes and then end the work out with 20 minutes of yoga. Up until a few months ago I never really got into yoga. I would do it from time to time but didn't get serious about it. But let me tell you! In the last 6 months I don't know how I could keep my blood pressure down and the grey hairs away without my yoga! The best part is, is that I can do it from the convenience of my home and wear anything I like when I'm doing it :)
Below are three of the yoga videos I use. Each of the videos are approximately 20 minutes long. The thing I like about these videos is the people demonstrating the yoga give you a modified version. If you are looking for a more challenging or easier way to do the poses, they have people demonstrating this. The person leading the yoga videos has a calming voice and helps you focus on your breathing. The three videos below are from the same person who uses vinyasa yoga. Vinyasa yoga is a vigorous yoga exercise that focuses on strength and flexibility. I don't always do this lady's yoga videos but I like that she gives options on what type of yoga to use when you want to focus on specific parts of the body. I was unable to find and upload the video that I use frequently. For some reason my Blogger could not find the video! It's one of my favorites that focus on core and quads. If you are interested in doing more of this lady's videos I would suggest going to youtube and finding them.
This yoga session focuses on the arms and glutes
This yoga session focuses on deep stretching
This yoga session focuses on hamstrings and the muscles on the side of the body
If you would like more suggestions on other videos or workouts I do, just leave a message and let me know.
I have never been a fan of Halloween nor will I ever be (explanation for another time). However, I have to post about Neewollah (Halloween spelled backwards..on purpose!). Neewollah is a celebration/festival which our small town of Independence hosts every year. For nine days each year, this small town grows to about 60,000 people! People come from all over the state as well as different parts of the USofA to take part in the festival and carnival fun. Independence has been hosting this large festival since 1919 "as an effort to replace typical Halloween pranks with positive activities for the youth in town. The celebration was interrupted by the Great Depression and World War II, but in 1958 a group of four local businessmen revived the celebration, building the foundation for an event that brings out the best in volunteerism and community support". It's such a significant event that the schools shut down for the first day of the festival and all of the county workers (including the sheriff's office, county attorney, etc.) get a half day off just for the kiddie parade (that is one out of the three parades).
About a week and a half before Halloween each year, the carnies come rolling in with all of the rides and game booths. Tons of food and art vendors make an appearance on the main streets, parking gets very limited, and the whole town works together to clean up the streets and storefronts for the masses of people who will soon appear.
Some of the main attractions include a theater performance the first weekend of Neewollah. This year was the Young Frankenstain production which had a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday showing. The weekend usually starts off with a chili cook off in the park where they also give the first clue to the medallion scavenger hunt. This scavenger hunt is a big deal too! They give out a new clue each day and the medallion is somewhere hidden on the city property. The prize is $250 or $500 if you are wearing a specific Neewollah pin to go with the medallion. For over a week I would see people (kids, adults, professionals, etc.) looking in bushes, tress, coming into the police department, looking around city buildings, etc. Not going to lie, it was a little funny to see a business woman all dressed up looking in trees and bushes hoping to be the lucky winner!
Other attractions included three different parades: The doo dah parade--an adult parade on Thursday, a kiddie parade on Friday, and then the huge parade on Saturday morning. I so wished we could have gone to one of the them but I had to work very late on Thursday and the kiddie parade was in the afternoon Friday (when I was working...). I wasn't as fortunate as the county employees who had a half day off work...And of course the huge parade on Saturday was when we were in church. We had to drive towards down town to get to our second church and the place was a zoo! There was no parking within like a mile radius of downtown (and downtown is not very large!). Tons of people walking everywhere, floats, etc.
Neewollah also has a whole bunch of concerts and live music, a Neewollah pageant to crown a new Neelah queen, 5k/10k run and fun run/walk, high school band competitions (bands from schools all over the area come and compete), arts and crafts show, and other events/entertainment at the bandstand. So yea, it's somewhat of a big deal :)
I was able to go two different nights and enjoy the concerts, food, etc. with James, Verena, and friends. Check out some of the pictures!
Little Laylee!
Jaffle sandwiches are so good! A pocket of goodness somewhat similar to a pizza with red sauce, cheese, and veggies inside
Yummy food vendors everywhere. It smelled so good!
Pretty much fried everything (everything you could possibly imagine!)
One of the many bands performing
Fried snickers!
Laylee and Regan
Laylee was so excited for the carnival rides
We went back Saturday night to have some more fun. This huskey was beautiful! I couldn't resist taking a picture
Fresh cinnamon rolls!
My delicious funnel cake! I love me some funnel cake :)
Verena hung out with her parental unit and had some fun too!
Long lines to the carnival rides
Pink Floyd tribute band
And we finished off the night by going to CherryBerry to get more sweets (just what we didn't need!)
If you ever want to come out to the midwest and not be bored out of your mind, this is definitely a good time of year to visit!
