Five Minute Friday: Friend

Deep and wide. Deep or wide.

I'd say I have rotating friends syndrome. Growing up at camp meant that friends entered in for a season, you grew close, shared life and developed bonds only to watch them leave and go back to their "real life" each year.

And I did the same. I said goodbye to my school friends for the summer to focus on my camp friends and then rotated back when the leaves turned and I traded flipflops and swimming pools for desks and books.

So I've been a wide friend, but not necessarily a deep friend.

I know a lot of people and a lot of people know me, but do many know me deeply?

Friendship has always been seasonal. I'm working to break the cycle.

There's the friend who has known me since sandbox days and the only one to earn the "best friend" title. Now we live 3 states apart and talk once, maybe twice a day but when we do it's sweet. We literally pick back up where we left off and our conversations have grown deeper over the years. Our history binds us together.

College brought me deep friends. Each year we retreat and try to keep in touch in the in-between. They are my people and I don't want to rotate out.

After college friends are hard. I think it's worth it so I'm doing things and putting myself out there. Watching tv shows that may not normally be my choice, attending parties and trying activities, sending text messages, cards and offering up meals, prayers and laughs. There's risk and there may hurt, but there's also reward.

So now I'm redefining my friend-style. 

I will be DEEP, diving into the pain, the heartache, asking the questions and really listening.

I will be WIDE, inclusive of others, willing to open my arms and my heart to possibilities.

I will be SEASONAL, standing by my friends through whatever season they be journeying through and inviting them into my season.

 

Joining in on the Five Minute Friday link up with Lisa-Jo Baker and also shouting out to Katie, a great friend who has stuck by me through many seasons and has gone into the depths. Go visit her, too, would you? 

How To Survive Losing Your Wisdom (Teeth)

A few weeks ago I had my first every surgery, first every anesthesia and lost all four of my wisdom teeth. Let me preface this by saying that I've heard stories from a lot of people ranging from eating pizza and shopping the next day to dry sockets and months of painful recovery. Unfortunately I fell somewhere in the middle.

All four of my teeth were impacted and a major nerve was totally exposed when they removed my tooth. It took me about 2 1/2 weeks to feel back to normal and even now, a month later I have some lingering side effects. I'm still using that gross little syringe to wash my mouth out and when I went to enjoy a juicy cheeseburger from Five Guys I had trouble opening my mouth wide enough to fit it in. Rough life, I know.

My sister had hers out yesterday and she didn't even get put under. What a champ! She's looking and feeling normal while I didn't eat solid foods for about 10 days!

Here are my tips for surviving losing all your wisdom (teeth)!

Stock up on entertainment- Netflix, baby, Netflix. I watched Parenthood, Hart of Dixie, Call the Midwife and a few movies.

Bathe at least semi-regularly- Common sense, right? On day 3 of recovery I decided to take a bath and the hot water felt so, so good for my body, soul and developing odor.

Ask a handsome young man to take care of you- I decided to go with my husband. Give him permission to take videos, you'll want to know what you said and did later. That being said, yes, I do have coming out of anesthesia videos. I was convinced we had gone snorkeling and then insisted I must have seen a fish tank, watched myself eat smoothie very methodically and deliberately and continually poked and named all of the numb areas of my face.

Buy soft foods and have some ideas before you go in - The last thing you'll want to be doing is trying to figure out what you can eat so have a plan. A few of my favorites were meal shakes, smoothies, sherbert, nightly milkshakes, mashed potatoes, tomato soup, jello, yogurt and pudding. ESPECIALLY pudding. I don't know why but man that stuff hit the spot!

Pro tip: Use a sundae spoon or maybe even a baby spoon. Seriously.

Have a comfy, cozy nest to hibernate in- 3 nests are even better! I rotated between my actual bed, our guest bed and the couch just for a change of pace and scenery. It helped me from becoming too stir-crazy.

Do what the doctor says! Rinse with salt water, ice and hot compresses, medicine, lots of sleep.

Selfies, everyday- Document those chipmunk cheeks! Be wise about who you send them to, you never know when that text or snapchat might come back to haunt you!

Trust me, in comparison, this is flattering. And those ice packs? Ziplocks, ice cubes, bandanas and a curtain tie, courtesy of the creative handsome hubby.

Have a friend to commiserate with. Find someone else who is sick so that you can be pathetic together. My sister Emily is serving in the Peace Corp in Africa and got sick the same week I was recovering. We were able to FaceTime and she cracked up at the size of my cheeks while I laughed at the red spots on her face. Maybe that only works with sisters? We also watched 2 episodes of New Girl on FaceTime together since she can't access most American websites that stream tv or movies.

You'll make it! Try and enjoy the time even if it hurts and you don't make it back to work when you thought you would or you start to go crazy from the time alone. It'll end, promise. Look on the bright side; endless hours of Netflixing with no guilt, milkshakes every day and you may even lose a few pounds from that liquid diet! And if you need to commiserate, I got your back.

Clumsy Crafting: Shoe Redo

And now, for another edition of clumsy crafting! Other clumsy crafts have happened on frames, circle scarves and key boxes, and envelopes.

Once upon a time, (literally, only one time) I went to a golf course. Oh wait, technically I worked at a country club one summer and there was a golf course there. But this was the one and only time I actually set foot on the green. How'd I do, you ask? Well, I wasn't even golfing, I was staffing a fundraiser.

Since I was a total golf newbie and had no idea what to wear my friend LJ and I decided to invest in golf outfits so we donned polo shirts and khaki shorts then headed to Target and bought matching $8 white tennis shoes. We spent the day calling one another Victoria and Veronica and speaking in British accents. Obviously that's what golfers do.

Anyway, a few years later and those shoes have spent way more time in the back of my closet than on my feet. Part of my spring fever has involved cleaning, sorting and getting rid of junk! When I came across these old shoes it was either update and change or pitch.

I found this tutorial on Pinterest and used it almost exactly. The Hobby Lobby staff didn't know what crochet tape was so I just bought a normal spool of lace which was only $1 and worked perfectly. I struggled to get the soles out so I just left them in. They aren't as cute but I figure when my feet are in the shoes you can't see them anyway. Mine are also quite a bit darker than hers but I wanted them to hide the dirt a little better.

Basically all you do is remove the laces, boil a huge pot of plain black tea, let the shoes steep for about 15-20 minutes, rinse, dry, throw in the washer and then thread lace instead of shoelaces.

This was surprisingly a really, really easy project for a pretty awesome result! I wore them today to work and they were the perfect spring shoe. It's good to get those creative juices flowing!

What do you think? Would you ever boil your shoes in tea? Would you consider drinking the tea after the shoes had been in it? Yeah... me neither...