The Saturday 7

1. Tomorrow marks one month since I reduced my depression meds from 150 mg a day to 100 mg. I didn't notice any difference when I dropped from 200 to 150 a couple months ago, and I didn't originally notice anything with the next 50 mg either . . . until this week. I've definitely been more irritable than usual, and I've been plagued with restlessness. I am constantly bored, but nothing entertains me. I don't want to watch tv, I don't want to read, I don't want to play the same dumb games on my phone over and over, I don't want to scroll through facebook. I just want to eat and sleep. I actually got out some puzzles this week to try and still my restlessness. And I took on the huge project of cleaning/organizing the very deep/awkward closet under the stairs. But as soon as I'm done, I'm bored again. I'm really hoping it's not because of the meds. I want to be done with them! I was going to drop to 50 mg this week, but I think I'll hold off a little while longer and see if something else is affecting my mood.

2. I'd like to blame the weather for my irritability. Remember last week when I posted that my kids spent all day outside enjoying the 60 degree temps? Well today, we had a high of 18 and a windchill around zero. Stop toying with my emotions, spring. I can't handle it.

3. This was supposed to be my last week working "full-time" in the library, but Mrs. Miller isn't quite ready to come back yet, so I'm going to do one more! Woohoo! I'm going to be sad to go back down to one day, although my family will probably appreciate it. My freezer meals, while sufficient for their purpose, haven't actually been that great. Apparently fresh really is better. Who knew?

I sent that pic before we started eating. It was followed by another snapchat saying, "This is disgusting! Why am I such a bad cook??" I followed the recipe exactly. I don't know why it was so bland and gross. Of course, I splurged on that stupid beef and it made a huge portion that's going to sit in the fridge until it grows mold.

4. This has been a very whiny entry. How about some positivity? I'd like to take this moment to publicly thank my wonderful parents and sisters who have taken on watching Levi while I picked up hours in the library. He only goes to school Monday, Wednesday, Friday and I work Monday through Thursday, so I've needed care for him two days a week. First, I should thank my parents for giving me multiple siblings and secondly I should thank my parents and siblings for living so close to me and/or school. But I also have to thank them for being willing to watch him anytime I need them to. He's not always the easiest kid, and he certainly has some quirks, but I'm so blessed to have a variety of people I trust to take care of him. I'd also like to mention that if my sister-in-law wasn't hobbling around on crutches with a busted ACL for the past two months, she would've been right there in the lineup - even though she lives soooo far away.

5. Speaking of Levi, here's his 6 year birthday interview, just a couple weeks late.

6. And for the record books: gas went up over $4 on Sunday. The highest I saw it was $4.25, and it's currently hovering around $4.18. Everyone's saying it's going to stay consistently high and get even worse than it is right now, and I'm trying not to stress about money. With prices this high, it takes over $100 to fill Justin's truck. 😳 Plus, they're saying as gas prices rise so will grocery prices, and then there's inflation . . .

I just keep telling myself that God has consistently provided for our needs (and beyond!) and I need to trust him over the experts who are predicting poverty and pestilence. (Confession: I don't actually know what pestilence is. I just like alliteration. But then I decided to look up the definition. Apparently it means epidemic or plague, so I guess we've already been there, done that. 🤷)

7. I only took one picture this week (other than the beef stew snapchat). 😲