SIMPLE LIVING IS WHERE IT’S AT!

I think I’ve freaked out the people in my office. :-) We were talking the other day about stress at work. I mentioned that I used to have a LOT of stress because I worked in management and how I prefer what I am doing now because I can leave work at work at the end of the day and just enjoy my family when I’m at home. Yes, I’m making a lot less money than I was before, but money is not the most important thing in life – relationships and happiness are much more important. SUB had such a stunned look on her face. She’s single, lives with two cats, and probably makes close to three times what I do in a year. I can understand the shock. I’ve just realized that my sanity is much more important to me than a bigger paycheck. I don’t need a lot of “stuff” to live my life or to live a happy and full life.

I used to be such a bitch when I had a lot of stress on me (yep, I just admitted it). Now I just go with the flow and enjoy life. I get to spend my evenings with H and Dickens (our Bichon Frise) and the weekends with my niece and nephew without guilt and without worrying about whatever happened at work last week or anticipating and dreading whatever might happen the following week. I even talked H into staying in our 1276 sq. ft. 3-bedroom, 2-bath home because we really don’t need anything bigger than that. We’ve got a huge backyard (our lot is 125’x96’) so the dog has plenty of room to roam and run and there is still plenty of room for us to build a deck when we get the chance with plenty of room still left for whatever.

Other stuff…
For the past 4 weeks, I’ve been getting allergy shots every other week. I no longer think that is such a good idea. Each week that I do not get my shots, I have been having massive sinus headaches that turn into migraines. I guess whatever is out and about in September is something that I am highly allergic to and, sadly, I need to keep getting shots every week. :-(

I am currently the only person in the office. There is a BIG football game tonight on campus and everyone else has some sort of job function they have to perform. Me, I’m just the secretary, so I get to go home at normal time or go to the game if I choose. WooHoo! I have decided against going to the game tonight because it is the first home game and it is going to be crow.ded. Have I ever mentioned how much I don’t like crowds? I didn’t think so; but I don’t. Having the bigger paycheck in this office means you have to work quite a few nights and weekends including games. Being the secretary in this office, I work a few of those events, but I get compensation for it where it is just part of the job description for everyone else. There are also times that I get to choose the events I work instead of being told which events to work (that suits me fine). The majority of the time, I get to go home at 4:30 and leave work behind me until 8:00 the next morning. Simple living is sooo where it’s at.

After everyone left the office (around 2:45 for game day events), I took the time to finally organize our office products. I have wanted to do that for quite some time. We just got the plastic containers today, so I was finally able to get the cupboards looking the way I’ve wanted them to look for the past 9 months. Everyone is going to be shocked the next time they open the supply cupboards. I even put sticky notes on the doors that tell the majority of what’s behind that door. Yes! I’m anal about stuff like that.

In WWAWP news, I have made a conscious effort tonight to stay within my “Weight Watcher points” by deciding to make quesadillas at home instead of going out to a Mexican restaurant tonight. Mexican food is my downfall. I just love guacamole (my grandparents had two avocado trees in their backyard while I was growing up and we got bags of them free each year – I have an extremely hard time buying them in the store now. They’re outrageously priced), chimichangas, rice, and beans. No Mexican meal is complete without tortilla chips and cheese sauce. I’m still going to have the guacamole on my quesadilla (gotta have it), but the quesadilla will be made of chicken and I’ll know exactly how much cheese is in it. I’ll still get my Mexican fix, but without the guilt and knowing that I am doing something to help my health instead of hinder it.

It’s amazing how much healthier I’ve been eating because of Weight Watchers. In the first week, I realized that I had completely taken fruits and vegetables out of my diet. Those are food groups that I absolutely loved until life started moving too fast for me to keep up. This is just one more reason that simple living is the way to go.

Until later...