10 Things I Think I Need to be Truly Happy

I once in a while look at this thing called the "Imagination Prompt" and it yields some interesting food for thought. This is what came up today.

10 Things I Think I Need to be Truly Happy (not really in any particular order):

1. Enough money to get by and enjoy life - I'm not talking about excessive cash here, just enough to pay my bills, purchase some really nice groceries and ingredients for recipes, some to save every month for emergencies, and some (like a couple hundred) for entertainment. That is all.

2. Immediate family - although sometimes I want to strangle them, life would be pretty empty without them.

3. Extended family - I really love large family gatherings.

4. Friends - The best and closest all the way down to the acquaintances and those who live far away. We connect on Facebook, and lots of people give me lots of great advice, and I can help people also with advice and encouragement.

5. Reading material - sometimes I'll read almost anything to get my fix. I do love words on paper (or the computer screen).

6. Basic clothing - I think I'd miss it if I had to go without it. I'd be pretty cold a lot of the time at any rate.

7. Health - anyone who has been in ill health can attest that it can really ruin your shit.

8. Food and Drink - I love it and I also need it to live, so win-win, right?

9. Shelter - even if it was just a car to live in. Or a sturdy crate. I could make do. I'm creative. I just don't like the elements. Seriously. Wind pisses me off the most, probably followed by rain. Or maybe equally. I'd have to give that more thought.

10. Errrrr, having trouble thinking of a #10. Nope, I got nothin'. So what would YOUR list look like?

A tank for all seasons

I love tanks tops. Plain ones most of all.

Do you know WHY I love tank tops?

Because I REALLY get my money's worth!

I can wear a plain tank top all year round. Yes, most people use tank tops for layering, and I do too, but you know what else I do?

Since I refuse to wear bras (shocking, yes), I use them as undershirts! That not only means that I don't purchase bras ($$ anyone?), but it means I can wear thin weight shirts throughout the winter as well.

I use tank tops as such:
- Layering under lighter weight shirts during colder seasons
- as undershirts (bra substitute)
- underneath a blazer or cardigan for the colder months
- just as a tank top in the summer

I've recently discovered (last couple of years) how important PLAIN pieces are in the wardrobe. SO versatile!

Another thing I have that I REALLY love is this lightweight blazer I got umpteen years ago. Plain black, comes to about my upper thigh/mid-butt (?) area. I can wear it with almost ANYTHING - love it!

I have this terrible habit of HATING to try on clothes, so a lot of times it's hit or miss when I purchase something. I missed on one of the shirts I bought this weekend, and I'm ready to trash it. I could almost kick myself for not sticking to my rule of PLAIN, GOD DAMMIT! The shirt itself isn't too bad, but the sleeves are ridiculous. Like you'd have to be anorexic for the darn things not to rub a rash into your underarms. You probably know the kind of sleeve I'm talking about - shorter than a short sleeve, but longer than a sleeveless.

Abysmal, I tell you. I'm ready to chuck it in the damn trash. I don't care about the $6 I spent on it!

On the flip side, I bought a plain $1 blue tee by Abercrombie that I just put on with a yellow tank under it (being a bit cooler today and being that I'm at work), and it's really soft and comfortable. So, I'm chalking the $6 mistake up to the fact that I would have spent the extra $6 on this t-shirt.

Me talking about fashion? You probably never would have thunk it! You know what, neither would I - I'm going to stop now ;)

Accomplishments of the Day

Once in a while, I will post a list of my accomplishments for the day if I'm feeling somewhat useless.

Sun, Oct 18

• made dinner (including sauteeing mushrooms to go into the sauce)
• put in 2 loads of laundry (finally including that comforter I wanted to wash!)
• obtained more shirts AND washed them (see laundry note)
• monitored Cleo and got her some more activity (if you can call it that)
• took friends to lunch
• modified and printed Bobby's lunch menu
• went through Bobby's school bag and signed his reading book
• re-filled my google calendar that I unintentionally deleted (oh man, this is a big stomach-dropper for me! I live off that thing!)
• Renewed an audio book from the library that was due tomorrow but Bobby wants to keep, plus 2 books we want to keep (for another 3 weeks).
• Set up and event invite for Nov 21 (yay, Salsa dancing!)

I suppose I normally would have accomplished more, but it was sort of a short day and I had a "situation" (of which we shall not speak) this morning.

My cat needs to lose weight

Seriously. She's massive.

Imagine this multiplied by 1.5 and that's what she looks like now (she's currently hiding under the shelf in the kitchen, so I can't get a current photo).

She has been living in the basement with her brother, Leo, for a couple of months due to one of our other cats, Pinky, picking fights with her plus her inclination to PEE ALL OVER EVERYTHING due to some kind of chronic never-going-away-ever UTI. She's done 3 or 4 courses of anti-b, and it keeps coming back. The vet seems to think we're doing something to her, but obviously we're not.

We made the decision to put her and Leo downstairs because we thought maybe the aggression between Pinky and "the twins" (Cleo and Leo) was causing her to hold her urine when she had to use the bathroom, plus we were tired of our stuff being peed on. So, we set the downstairs up like a little half-living room with a TV, some dish chairs, and a VCR. We even bought videos for when we go down and visit them.

The problem is, since having been relegated to the basement, she has gained weight. She doesn't like to move - AT ALL. She sits on her little pillow on her dish chair like little Ms. Muffet on her tuffet and she refuses to chase any type of string, play with any type of toy, or otherwise be enticed to move except for when it's eatin' time. Then she'll climb the stairs and wait for us to come down with her food. This is her only real form of exercise.

I got fed up with that today, and frankly, I'm a bit irritated with her stubbornness! I made the decision to have her stay up here for a couple of hours a night and monitor her feeding, and then have them go back down during the overnight, so that we can sleep without fear of being pissed on, and without fear of not having a couch (because it was pissed on) come morning.

Frankly, I think the bit of aggression should get her moving at least a little, and the food monitoring will help her lose weight. Granted we don't give them a lot to begin with, and they don't free feed, but as it is, it's obvious she doesn't need as much as she's getting.

Here's hoping to 1/2 less cat fat in a couple of weeks!

Work and Walmart Style Lighting

I'm totally bummed out that I can't stay home and still, you know, survive.

I want to work from home, damn it. It just doesn't seem to be possible. I know I could probably do some form of "customer service", but I HATE the phone, so that's not for me. I also hate being in offices, however, due to the Walmart style lighting and the fact that it's always freezing and my fingernails turn blue.

Is it too much to ask to be able to stay home all day with my feet in front of the heat vent?

Ok, maybe.

I am NOT opposed to working AT ALL - I want to be productive. I want to do... something. Just not on someone else's terms, and NOT in an office all day.

I can not STAND having to worry about attendance and all that GARBAGE (yes, capital garbage) and I believe in the ROWE or Results-Only-Work-Environment a.k.a. Results-Oriented-Work-Environment (3 different links there). I wouldn't MIND going to the office if it was that kind of environment. Instead, you always have to worry about somebody WATCHING YOU - THEY'RE WATCHING YOU. That's complete bullshit. Living that way CAN and WILL make you paranoid and resentful. I can't even begin to grasp WHHHYYYYYY companies don't get that.

NEWSFLASH, COMPANIES! You're NOT getting more for your money by making "employees" sit there all day, sometimes having nothing to do. Don't give me that BULLPLOP about being proactive and preparing shit and finding new ways to innovate in your downtime. THERE IS ONLY SO MUCH OF THAT YOU CAN DO!

Do you know what I'd like to do in my down time? Here's a short list:

• Grocery Shopping
• Spending time with loved ones
• Laundry
• Cooking
• Organizing
• Cleaning
• Bettering myself
• Oh, I don't know, NOT paying for daycare when I have another child?

Yeah, so... if everyone knows how to reach me and CAN reach me, what is the problem with me not being face to face. Fun fact: people rarely come looking for me in person! Fancy that.

Ow, my kidney?

So, uhm, does anyone know how high up your kidneys are in your... backish area? I have this weird dull pain on the right side of my back off and on.

Also, I HAD A HUGE HOLE IN MY SHIRT ALL DAY! Like, huge. Not small. at all. AND it's the arm I like to prop up on the arm of the office chair in a completely unprofessional and completely unintentional way, so EVERYONE with like a 2 mile radius HAD TO SEE THIS GOD DAMN THING. Gee, glad it was 4PM before I noticed! Funniest thing is that when I was putting the shirt on this morning, I thought to myself "ha, I thought there was something wrong with this shirt. Guess not!"

Check your underarms, guys. Check your underarms.

To illustrate my MASSIVE HOLE (pun partially intended):
 

Oh hey guys, like my new coat?

Yes, I'm standing like that on purpose. Sammy says I look like "Uncle Fester's experiment in transgenderism"

The slightly more conservative version:

Changing this shit up

Seriously. I tried to keep up with useful shit, but that just doesn't work.

So for starters, here's me like I really am, taken mostly from recent Facebook status updates. They sum me up pretty well (* = my name):

* just put a shirt on under my shirt.

* Just finished a 18-19 minute workout for upper body/arms (bit of cardio thrown in), but instead of small dumbbells, I used soup cans.

* I have decided it's not an EXTREMELY good idea to keep 36 ...dark chocolate Hershey's Kisses in your pocket, but it certainly is a TASTY one!

* has her mind set on some tortilla chips, possibly with cheese. It's fair to say I'm addicted to cheese.

* 3 main life goals: HELP people/animals/the earth, be the best me I can be, Entertain people.

* BONUS #4 and #5 - Have a large and happy family (including friends), and KEEP BEING ITALIAN!

* feels very liberated being off all medication. Not every day is easy, but I feel confident that I can handle the hard ones.

* how bad would it be to eat pasta with a different sauce, like, 3 or 4 times a week.... ? I mean, I REALLY love pasta sauces!

* reset. Holdin' it down. Striving to think before reacting and BREATHE DEEPLY! Darn Orthodontist making me miss an advantageous modeling session :(

* needs to stop yelling into the phone!

* oh lord, fundraising. Shoot me.

* Bedtime can be the most stressful part of the day if you're lying in silence and anxious thoughts creep up on you.

Generally speaking, I don't know what the hell I'm doing in life. Yeah, I'm pretty good at shit like finances and looking like I make a lot of sense and planning shit, but I keep fluxing back and forth with where I want my life to be, where I want to be in other people's lives, etc etc.

Basically, I want to be entertaining and I want to have more kids because, er, I don't even know why anymore, but I do.

So what if it's because it's exciting? I like exciting shit, even if it might ultimately stress me out. DON'T JUDGE ME, MAN!

I don't have friends who are moms from my son's school. I don't really WANT to have those friends, but I do worry that hurts Bobby's friendships. Oh well, he'll just have to fend for himself.

I have impossibly high standards for myself and others - but mostly for myself, and I'm always haterade-ing on something I've said or done.

I'm pretty much a dom, but not in the "SEX" way - I just like people to DO WHAT I SAY, DAMMIT!

I don't like to go out alone and I always feel like someone is staring at me. YOU! STOP LOOKING!

Oh, by the way, once in a while, I take my clothes off for money.

I was probably going to say something else, but as per usual, I forget!

So this is more or less your intro to my random blogging again - welcome back to my head.