Preparing for NaNoWriMo

I would save so much money if I didn't enjoy shopping so much. . .

This is the lovely ivy I got for work - in the ivy basket I found for it. 

And this is the orchid I got for my apartment, because of course I can keep an orchid alive.

Here is the pretty pitcher that I found at the thrift store, along with a new picture from the dollar store. 

And here is my latest project, quotes for my writing wall (that would be the wall against my writing table).

The left side. . .

Doesn't it just make you want to write?

The headaches have been pretty decent lately.  They flare up on some days worse than others, but I've had a lot of good days recently.

Work has been stressful.  Yesterday I determined before I went into work that I needed to stop being so negative about a fellow supervisor.  I realize that it's unbecoming and unprofessional and needs to stop.  I got into work knowing that I had one employee on vacation and another gone for a funeral (meaning it was going to be a potentially bad Friday) to get a message someone else was calling in sick for the third day in a row.  And then someone from the other team left early.  That would be after getting permission from this supervisor that I had specifically asked earlier in the week to please not let any of his people leave early on Fridays anymore.  My resolution did not survive.

Today while I searching for containers for the plants, I found a basket that I really liked, other than the pink ribbon wound through it.  I figured I could just replace the ribbon, so I carried the basket around until I found a glass bowl that I liked better, at which point I put the basket back.  When I got out of the store I noticed a convenient fabric store nearby for the replacement ribbon that I needed.  I found a nice aqua satin and bought it.  I was actually driving away and picturing how nice it would look now before I realized that I hadn't bought the basket!  At least the ribbon was priced half off. . .  Yep, that is my life.

Books

Here are a few of the books I've read recently(ish) and enjoyed:

Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku
How We Choose to Be Happy by Rick Foster and Greg Hicks
The Art of Extreme Self-Care by Cheryl Richardson
Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Libraries are awesome! 

Happiness:

And yes, I'm shallow and find happiness in things.  I enjoy my car and my new apartment, too.

My management style:

Ideals

I went through and threw out some stuff today - found a bunch of old school papers I hadn't realized I still had.  This is the closing from a paper entitled "The Renaissance Ideal" that I wrote in 1994 that made me laugh:

Accordingly, the ideal man was free to roam, and fight, and debate, and study arithmetic and geometry, and throw his whole heart and soul into whatever task he was engaged in; while the ideal woman, bounded by her training in religion and morality, and further restricted by the limits that she dare not cross, was confined to such humdrum duties as has always been the poor lot of women - taking care of the house, having and raising children, taking care of the men, and beautifying herself.  The lines were very clearly drawn.  Of the two goals in this new age, glory and morality, the men took the glory and the women took the morality.  (Obviously, the men chose first.)

What amuses me so much about it is that my professor was quite the feminist, and she totally didn't catch the extreme amount of sarcasm that went into this paper.  One of my highest grades ever. 

The search is over. . .

I finally have my very own knight in shining armor.  Check!

Enough

I've been reading some personal finance books lately, and came across something last night in Your Money or Your Life that I really loved.  When talking about the fulfillment curve, they described the peak:

Enough is a fearless place.  A trusting place.  An honest and self-observant place.  It's appreciating and fully enjoying what money brings into your life and yet never purchasing anything that isn't needed and wanted.

That resonates with me.