It's all about perspective

To quote the local weather guy, "the bottom dropped out". It was a chilly 36 degrees on my walk from the parking garage this morning. I think the wind chill added to that because I had to catch my breath after I came in the door. I'll note my complaint about 36 in a few months when it's below zero.

Anyways....I went for a quick walk/errand trip at lunch. On my way out the door, I asked a person coming in the building if it had warmed up at all. She hesitated and then said, "It's a beautiful, sunny day outside." I stopped for a moment and said, "that's a great positive attititude."

It was beautiful out and I took long deep breaths as I went for my stroll. Thanks to the person in my building who gave me the dose of positive perspective to enjoy the beautiful aspects of the day, rather than dwelling on the dipping temps.

The art of a lunch hour

1 hour - 60 minutes. There seems to be great possibilities for that length of time. However, I'm beginning to question the capacity of a lunch hour. Perhaps it's more of an art. In the past couple of weeks, I've done a variety of things with my 60 minutes and I'm still debating what was the best/most efficient/most productive/most rewarding use of time.

It takes me about 10 minutes to walk from my office to the parking garage and get my car out of the garage. This same time must be allotted on the return to my office. This leaves about 40 minutes to do anything that requires traveling by car. A few weeks ago, I managed to shop at the Halloween store and still spend $70.00 at Kohls. That was one of the more productive days. (Note - lunch didn't occur until I was back at my desk.) However, last week I went to pick up a prescription and just wanted to drop in the mall to go to Gymboree. At 12:50, I still needed to grab lunch (a couple tacos at TB). Crap! How did that happen? Apparently I haven't mastered the art of shopping/erranding at lunch hour. In fact, it just stresses me out but I don't always have other options, needing to get home right after work. When it's 20 miles back to town, I'm not willing to make a trip back on $3.20 gas.

So, I'm not so good at erranding but I have had some "good use of time" lunch hours too. Take today for instance. I went down the hall to get a cup of soup to eat with the salad I brought with me from hom. I ate my lunch at my desk while checking local and national news on the web. Then, I went for a short walk (got stuck in the rain) to get some fresh air on a unseasonably warm day. I've been taking 30 minute walks with Joanna and still having time to eat/surf/etc. That's been a great way to get a little activity in daily.

Although I must say that my lunch hours at home seem to be the most productive. While working at home last week, I went to the grocery, baked cupcakes, made lunch and did laundry all on my lunch hour. I guess when there are tasks around me to accomplish and I want to use the time efficiently, I can really crank out some work. That's the true art of a lunch hour.

What's your favorite or most productive way to spend your 60 minutes?

Reflection and irony

I've been in deep thought for much of the day today. Where was I at this very moment a year ago? This has been the question in my head for about the past 24 hours. At 6:19 a.m. one year ago, I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy. Nearly every element of that day is extremely vivid in my head and I've been reflecting on the amazing thing that happened in our lives a year ago. I can't believe it's been a year already.

I cried last night when I put Jeremiah down because I felt like I was putting a baby down that would wake up as a big boy. I know it doesn't really happen that way but it was symbolic for me. Perhaps that's my main reason for thinking about his birth so much today. My memories of that day will be what I have to carry forward even if he is a "big boy".

Now to the irony - I picked up my new birth control today. Granted, I'm not at all ready for another baby right now but it was another movement towards not being trying to conceive, pregnant or breast feeding. It felt like I was somewhat going against my maternal instinct. I could have picked any other day this week to pick up my pills but I did it today when I was already reflective and somewhat depressed (not really but I'm not sure what else to call it) about my son no longer being the little baby I brought home from the hospital. I guess that's the irony part, when I just wanted hold a little baby I was getting new pills to prevent that. I can't imagine what people feel like when they make the decision for permanent sterilization. That seems huge to me right now.

Not our proudest day

I love the state of Illinois but today is not our proudest day.

Our headlines today:

Former Governor on his way to the big house - George Ryan is going to federal prison in Wisconsin.

Illinois was on the Today Show - for the missing woman in Chicago who is missing.

This is not exactly the way we prefer the other 49 states to know us.

uhhh....