Confession Friday? Already? Crap!

I confess that...

... it wasn't until I saw someone else's post about Confession Friday that I realized it was Friday and I needed to do mine.

... I felt pretty mentally crappy this week, but am over it now.  At first I didn't know exactly what it was that was bothering me, besides "everything".  Literally, everything seemed to be a bother to me and I couldn't figure out any particular reason for it.  Then, it hit me.  It was the realization that there is no boundary between my work life and my home life.  There is no separation.  Given my job I cook, clean and parent 24/7.  As a stay-at-home mother, I would find this role more satisfying, rewarding and also have the ability to tell them to leave me alone / go play in your room / or take a lazy pajama day telling them to slack off and watch movies or something.  As a child care provider, my parental and legal obligations do not allow that.  I am a homeschool teacher to my son, and a teacher to many other children.  Although not certified, I teach educational stuff, but more importantly, I teach life skills and social skills etc.  Add to that the most annoying dog on earth this week, I felt overwhelmed.  And because all this happens where I live, I can't go to work to get away from home responsibilities or to have some adult conversation.  And I can't go home to get away from work.  I live and breathe a combined work / home life.  I don't get "mental health days".  Once the realization of needing a breather in my day hit me, I felt immediately better about everything.  Just knowing made me better.  And since that moment, I've been making a conscious effort to take even just 10 minutes to shut the world out, my family out, my pet responsibilities and relax.  It was so rewarding the first time, all I could picture in my mind was the photo of the cat.  And then I found it on google and smiled!

... during my week of lacking happiness, Oprah puts on a show about happiness.  I never watch Oprah and it happens to be the one I turn on.  I couldn't watch it as I had to get Mikiyas out the door so I taped it.  I watched it this evening.  Tidbits: 

      - you need to earn an extra $40,000.00 a year to make up for commuting 1 hour each way, each day;

     - having children is a second full time job for woman and therefore makes it harder for woman to be happy;

     - 34% of happiness can be gained by knowing your neighbors [I better get on that!];

     - 50% of happiness is genetic;

     - 40% of your happiness can be learned;

     - taking even 10 minutes each day, starting at 1 minute a day and increasing it as you can, improves your happiness and you can see a difference within ten days;

     - the four happiest careers are clergy, special education teacher, fire fighter and travel agent because of social interaction.  On average, not one of those four jobs earns more than $50,000.00 a year.  They are happiest careers because the happiest people spend minimum 8 hours a day socializing;

     - for a family of four you do not need to earn more than $75,000.00 a year.  More money causes more frivolous spending and buying things that won't give you long term happiness.  It also increases your debt load;

     - life experience gifts bring more happiness than material things.

... I was absolutely elated to order more books from Chapters.  They're all kids books, but they're kids books I want.  I did it the afternoon I felt crappy.  I just love books.

... I think I'm almost over my Coke withdrawal.  It's been eleven days.

... I love that my MDX gets amazing gas mileage in comparison to the Expedition.  I get more kilometers on a tank of gas that's half the size of the Expedition's tank.  And even though it takes premium gas, the mileage is so amazing for mind set that I don't care.  Plus it helps that Costco's premium price is cheaper than the regular price at every other station.

... my stitches in my mouth annoy me and I can't help continually playing with them with my tongue.

... Pugsly jumped onto our bed at about 3:00 am the other night.  He laid down in Carmin's spot, right against my leg.  It brought back a beautiful feeling.