The Room

OK-
So below you see the components of my shopping frenzy over the past several months. it IS NOT, by any means, done. I am having curtains made out of a cream tone-on-tone geometric pattern fabric along with a black lining...you'll see. My Sister the Artist is supposed to creating me original works of art to go above the cream sofa, but I STILL don't think it's enough contrast. I definitely want to put a plant to the right of the sofa, but the way it's positioned right now, it's dwarfed by the huge wall...which begs the question: Should I paint the wall black? Should I separate the tables which are acting as a coffee table right now and place them on either side of the sofa? Is it too symmetrical as it stands right now? I know I need a slick bookshelf or something to go to the right, but I don't want to overpower the sofa. Needing some spatial orientating...

Weekend Report

So my separation from MMM lasted 2 weeks. That's it- I couldn't take him sleeping on the futon in the office another night. I admit it- the guy tugs on my heartstrings even if he is obsessive retentive. We are, however, still going to go to counseling. It absolutely has to happen, no question. It was nice to finally be close to him again, but we have a lot of work to do.
In other news, I went to confession on Friday night and let it all out of the bag. I feel relieved but at the same time I understand that I have a lot of spiritual work to do, as with every Lent. A few of the things I have decided to take on to implement change:

1. Go to church at least once a week. It might not be Sunday always, but I need to get back to my church family. After talking to Father JM, I saw the sanctuary as my home again, like I used to feel. No longer did I feel alienated and judged- but part of a very siginificant army of faithful who love and care about me, even if they don't all know me.

2. Get my IUD taken out. I know it's a little personal to divulge over the internet, but it has to be done. I started doing some reading online about the Orthodox church's take on "abortificient birth control" and it's a definite no-no. I had no idea, but it makes sense. I haven't felt like myself since I had it put in over a year ago, so I am going to get it taken out and we can figure out our birth control plan like we used to.

3. Make more efficient use of my time. I waste so much time doing meaningless crap, I really need to get myself on a schedule and stick to it. My weekends just fade away and I lose precious time which I then have to scurry around during the week to get stuff done. I honestly think my energy level and focus will come back after my chemical balance is restored. I mean, 3 years ago I was training for a marathon and now I'm barely working out once a week...it's time to get back on track.

4. Take care of my physical health with diet, exercise, etc. I am a vegan w/ shellfish during Lent, and I can truly feel the difference in my internal health. Sure, I'm less energetic for the first couple weeks, but it's always well worth it on the spiritual growth side. I'm considering severely cutting back on my meat and dairy intake even after Lent- I think it would help me to lose weight and not feel so sluggish during the day.

5. Make my marriage a priority. I keep hearing over and over again from MMM that he doesn't feel like I make him a priority whether because of school, work, my friends, etc. I'm not sure how to change the school thing, I would rather have a life between now and the time I graduate, but he seems to think that another year and 9 months is a lot to ask so he'll just "suck it up" as he "doesn't have a choice". I DO NOT want to give up my education but my marriage has suffered because of it. But, the fact is my marriage has never been spot on, there is always one issue or another...hence the counseling.

Other than that, I thought spring was here to stay but it's freezing and crappy today. I want partial sun breaks with spring showers! I want fun spring fashion with a sassy lightweight trench!

Ho hum...

-TT

Eclectic o no Eclectic?

Ok- enough sadness for the week. I am now into full vegan con camarones swing and loving life. Back to what really matters- how my prized black and white room is coming along. So...here are the pics of the things I added since last time:

2 Boca End Tables from Dania through Elite Mfg.

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Capiz Bowl from Z Gallerie

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Tangent Sofa Table from Dania through Elite Mfg.

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Mallory Pedestals
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Capiz Floor Lamp in white from West Elm (rear right)

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Como Me Mata el Dolor....

So I just realized I haven't blogged since New Year's Day. ¡Qué abuso! I tried to blog from the road but the old Blackberry wouldn't allow it...so here's a collection of short stories from the past 7 weeks:

La Muerte Precede la Vida
I was scheduled to go to Miami for a business trip on January 5. On January 4 I get a call from my suegra telling me that my cuñada's (MMM's sister 20 weeks pregnant) baby has died. Since it wasn't a miscarriage, she had to be induced. She lives in Virginia and her husband works in Louisiana on an oil barge and he wasn't sure he could get off work to see her, so I cancelled my business trip and flew out to VA instead so I could be with her in the hospital- no one else from her family could go. Thankfully, her husband WAS able to get off work and we were all there to support her through it. I have to say, I have never been through anything like that in my life. Waiting on a hospital bench for a dead baby to be delivered at any time was probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. You're pissed off because it's taking too long, but once it happens it's really over and it's time for reality to settle in. It finally happened at 4:30am on Sunday- we chose not to see the baby, but we did get the footprints on the birth certificate...they were about an inch and a half long....

La Ansiedad por los Ansianos
Because I was going to be on the east coast for my Miami trip, I had already planned on going up to New England to see my grandmothers. My yia yia (grandmother in Greek) has had failing health for sometime. My uncle and cousins informed me that I should go to see her as soon as possible because they don't know how long she has to live. I flew straight from Virginia to Boston to be with her- she needed 24-hour care which my aunt had been giving her, but she is raising 2 young children at home and needed a break. BTW- a nursing home isn't an option. The 1st night I'm there she is up every 15 minutes hallucinating because she isn't getting enough oxygen to her brain. She thinks she's in the grocery store, her hands are dirty, she makes me get her pocketbook so she can pay for her sandwich. Unfortunately she remembers everything in the morning and is totally mortified. "I feel like I'm cracking up!" she says. I reassure her that she's not, it's only at night. We make the decision to put O2 on her at night and she starts to sleep until morning with no hallucinations.
Jan 16- Mom and sister arrive in town. Since neither of them has a full time job at this point, they have agreed to stay with Yia Yia until she doesn't need them anymore. It took a lot of tooth and nail action to even get my mother out there, but my sister who is 24 y.o. didn't even question it. She moved all her stuff into my house so she wouldn't have to worry about paying rent to anyone while she's out there. At first, Mom was fine. After I left, however, she decides to go frickin' CRAZY. All she does is complain about how she has "no social life" there, and she misses her boyfriend. He came out to see her recently- which we thought might settle her down for a while, but it only made things worse. She constantly talks about how much of a burden my yia yia is on her, and how she "just wants to go home". Needless to say, my family is ready to kill her. She is totally self-centered and immature. She is acting like one of those Goth kids who complain that no one understands them but she does her best to piss everyone off so she can stand self-righteous in her claim. So here's her brilliant plan:
She wants to go for FOUR or FIVE weeks so she can "do her thing" and then go back to New England for four or five weeks. In the meantime, the only person who can take care of my yia yia is my little sister who is working part time at the Y Daycare Center (note: she has a BA in Design and used to be the Marketing Director for a real estate company). She would have to quit her job to stay with Yia Yia full time...so guess who asked me if I could cover part of her living expenses? You got it! Mama. I told her I would ask MMM, but upon thinking about it decided that I would not support her selfishness. I called her to tell her about it and she hung up on me. My sister calls me on a daily basis for mental support. I am ready to disown the person who gave birth to me y mandarla al trabajo.

Matrimonio Mudo
You guessed it! In the midst of dead babies, dying grandmothers and sociopathic mothers, I separated from MMM. I didn't move out, but we are living in separate rooms. The funny thing about it is, we are nicer to each other now than we were before. Basically, his lack of emotional support for me (he really tore me down when I was at my lowest point back east) and our mutual ignorance of each other turned into a downward spiral that finally hit rock bottom. Ultimately the last straw was when I decided to go temporary internet file snooping and found lots and lots of unsavory images that made me more than disgusted. (No children, animals or bondage- thank GOD.) Yes, I understand that all men look at it (I don't know any that don't). But I have to draw the line somewhere. If that's the case I can stand on my own two feet and move on. He has incredibly high standards he expects me to live up to, and when I don't- his obsessive compulsion comes down on me full force and I'm left without a defense. Instead of being a victim or continuing to wallow in bitterness, I finally stood up for myself and my marriage. My original plan was to move out and get a 6 month lease, but he made a deal that if he went to counseling with me I would stay in the house. We are giving each other our space, but we are talking and more respectful to each other than ever before. My basic premise is that I want a FRIEND. If we can't talk to each other about our lives, our dreams, our feelings- how is that a relationship? I refuse to "exist" and feel broken and defeated. He knows if I don't get it from him I would be just fine on my own. I finally admitted to him that I had swept things under the rug because I didn't want to leave my beautiful home that we had both put so much work into. The main reason I wanted to move out was to prove to myself that I would be OK in a 500 sq. ft. apartment with a futon and a couple folding chairs and if I moved back it would ONLY be because we were on the right track in counseling.

The good news is Orthodox Lent started yesterday. I'm going to confession on Friday which should be a huge weight off my chest. I need some spiritual guidance...seriously.

-TT-