I've been Posting for a Year, and Boy Are My Arms Tired.

My first post was thrown up here at 12:01 a.m., February 19, 2008. What a good opportunity to look back and see what the last year has brought. (Yeah, yeah, the rest of the world did this a month and 19 days ago. But I never really did.)

I think I can safely say it's been the most up-and-down year I've ever lived through. I'm trying my damnedest to stay positive and helpful, but I've never had so much difficulty keeping it together. I'm on edge most of the time, and I can't count the number of times I have to consciously take a deep breath, knowing the next little stretch of time will be stressful.
But at the same time, wonderful things have come. And at the end of every day, I snuggle up to the person I love best, and look in his sparkly eyes and his happy grin, knowing he's mine. That's worth it all, as far as I'm concerned.

Last year, I started listing good and bad things about the day. I liked that; especially the 'goods,' it consistently makes me realize there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for, even on the worst of days. I learned about it from Oprah a decade ago--even though I really, really don't enjoy her show, I thought her 'Grateful Journal' was a pretty neat idea. I kept one during one miserable summer working tech at Arrow Rock.

So...I might start up again. Shall I tack it onto my already-bursting Faux-Lent list? Speaking of--for the past few days, I've begun some of my habits. It hasn't been a major adjustment at all--and I forgot how dang good that Water-Pik feels on my gums.

At any rate, here are 5 Good Things About Right Now...

1. Citrus is in season. The only fruit I really have passion for, and it occurs during the worst months of the year...making them a little better.

2. Things I've already blogged about: how February isn't terrible this year. I love my co-workers; they laugh at every little stupid joke I make. Having good friends back in my life. That Neil, Meme, and Paul are slowly coming back from their setbacks this year.

3. American Idol's on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which means the beginning of the week flies by--always the slowest part, right? It's almost--ALMOST--like when Gilmore Girls was on Tuesday nights and it was the best day of my week. Miss you, Lor... :(

4. Neil cleared off the tall bookshelf in our bedroom yesterday, so it's no longer a hodgepodge of differently-sized large books, yearbooks, huge 12x12 scrapbooks, maps, magazines, and cd cases. We've yet to box up what was cleared, but I am loving the change. I think it's pretty necessary to change things up at least once a year or so, and I didn't realize how much I *didn't* like the messy bookshelves until he emptied them. He displayed our UglyDoll collection on three shelves (including yours, Em--we named him Amiba! Neil's favorite Ugly is Abima, so it's just the same name with the consonants switched. And his little extra growth is a bit amoeba-like anyway!)

5. Okay, this may seem lame, but you don't even know how excited I was when I saw that Hot Pockets/Lean Pockets are now on sale at Gerbes for $1.59 through March 2. I am STOCKING UP, yo! I even have ANOTHER $1.50-off coupon I can use, making one of them free!



The wind chill put the temperature down to 2 degrees this morning, but it's going to get better fairly quickly. Everything else is just trucking along...my boss at Stephens is worried about budget cuts and how that may affect staff, and while part of me thinks I should be panicking and looking around for other half-time work, another part is like "So for the next three months I wouldn't have to work so much? [since Stephens part-timers don't work in the summer anyway]...aw, that would be TOO BAD. *grin*"


Oh! Oh! You know how I've talked about how I'm Death to Magazines? Two more just kicked the bucket, thanks to my Subscription Power: Figure and Simple Scrapbooks. I just KNOW ShopSmart is next.

I'm having trouble focusing today, so it probably wasn't the best day for a post. But I'd planned to post today ever since I thought "Hey, didn't I start this about a year ago?" last week.

Anyway...thanks for reading my blather, y'all! When they say to me "don't sweat the small stuff"....I AM the small stuff, baby! IT ALL MATTERS!