eiblyn | State of the eiblyn Address

Pregnancy:
I am currently 32 weeks pregnant. And I'm tired of this. The lack of sleeping and continuous feeling of constantly being exhausted have run me ragged. Not to mention the fact that my entire body feels *ridiculously* cumbersome. I feel bad for all the women who carry twins or more. I can barely handle any more of this with only one baby kicking it up in there. But, 8 more weeks to go and I will have a beautiful squalling bundle of need. *smiles* I'm largely teasing there. I'm excited about having her in my arms...much less so about the birth, but you take what you can get right?

Army Stuff
I'm anxious about upcoming events. I've been watching news reports on the down-shifting economy like no one's business.

elvnsword is seriously contemplating getting out of the army in the beginning of 2010. So that means watching to see how badly the universe explodes. Hopefully it will be small. He and I have tabled discussions on the merits of both getting out and staying in until he comes back for leave. That gives us a chance to both think things through and to talk face to face. And we both think we should wait until Sylvia is born because we know that our feelings on lots of things will change, so it makes no sense to try and make concrete plans now when our priorities are about to shift and we know it.

Investing and Money
I've been toying with the idea of investing some money. We have a CD and a Money Market Account. But I have this little nest egg that will soon be approaching $1000 and I'm tempted to take half of it and see about investing in something or other. There are ways of doing that, and if I largely use my money, it makes me less nervous about losing it. It's not something we've been banking on, so it's not hard for me to see myself playing with it.

We've upped our savings amount for the next year. Although I may want to just stay at the $500 a month savings plan for six months. Then I can cut that back and apply it to credit cards more easily. Right now, our APY on our savings is higher than all of our interest rates (I know...hate us...I understand). But that is only a temporary thing. Our highest interest rate goes back up to 13% come January of 2009 so I'm going to pay off our highest interest rate card with our tax return. There were some things I was thinking of getting with the tax return, but frankly, I can get them largely piecemeal by saving up and that is a better use of funds.

Stuff to Acquire
I've been considering the things I'd like to get to make the house a bit better. Those things are: dining table and chairs (there's a gorgeous set made of real wood I can get for $330 at the furniture store...just gorgeous), file cabinet, computer chair, new mattresses and a set of stainless steel pots and pans. Although I am debating the pots and pans as I can use the cast iron I have. The benefit to the stainless steel is that they weigh less. Plus, I'm in Germany and they make some *damn* fine cookware here that is hard to beat in price. As far as the dining table, I can buy the table, which is $150, with no problems and then buy a chair a month until I have all the chairs I want. That gives me the option to pay cash and not accrue interest. Plus, sometimes, if they have unmatching sets of chairs, they put them on discount at the furniture store. I may end up getting some of them much cheaper that way. The mattresses are a big expense. I'm thinking we may buy them right after

elvnsword gets home with his per diem money. I can live with crappy mattresses; we need more support though.

Spirituality
I've had quite a lot going on for myself with spirituality. I'm craving more books to read. I keep coming back to reading about birth though as it is pre-occupying my mind. I have put things in place to start reading and studying more, both now and once the babe is born. I'm not following the Druid studies I had started. Frankly, I've been more drawn to Wicca and witchcraft than I have been to druidry lately. Druidry is interesting and what has always pulled at me before, but I'm finding that what I really want, and what I really practice, is much closer to Wicca and witchcraft. I wrote earlier about my ravenous desire to read better texts on Wicca and witchcraft. I think that is part of the pull I felt for druidry because I had found a clear teaching curriculumn with quality sources picked out for me. All the responses I received really helped me see that there is better scholarship than I had thought on Wicca and witchcraft and helped me to figure out how much work I really need to do; I am not as well-versed as I had hoped. Frankly, it made me feel more than a bit embarassed. So I have rolled up my sleeves, acquired some resources, and set out to un-embarass myself. I am hoping that someone will come along willing to be my teacher in the next year or so as I *really* crave the wisdom of the Elder-types. I am in a much more humble place now than I have been in past years and I am much more ready to learn. Beyond that, I know that I learn most from interaction and that there will be fifteen million "why" questions that books just can't answer, being rather undynamic. Thankfully, I do feel like there are people I can turn to when I truly have questions who will help me. Maybe I just have a skewed view of what a teacher is.

Overall, the

eiblyn is well. Life is good. I am moving forward and thinking of the future. I wish I had more companions, but things are never as bad as they seem. Hope everyone else is doing well out there in LJ-land.