The Meh-iest Meh That Ever Did Meh

There must be some sort of karmic debt or repercussion that's provoked whenever anyone has a good Monday. 'Cause let me tell ya, God or Life or Nature or Murphy certainly felt the need to kick both me, and the rest of the week, in our collective asses. It was all downhill after that first night. It was, simply, a week of "Meh."

Personal electronic devices malfunctioned, bosses got cranky, people said pissy things about the nurses who took care of Ebola patients (if you ever want to destroy your own faith in humanity, read the comments in a CNN news article), and it was a long workweek, too, with both a Saturday shift and a Wednesday evening. By Wednesday, I was starting to drag. By Saturday...well, I got through the day with only a small amount of blood and tears, so we'll count that as a win.

Tomorrow, I've got the day off for having worked Saturday. I'm hoping that a day of errands, Christmas shopping, getting my nails done, and stalking the delivery status of my Apple products will bring the week to a quietly auspicious start.

Until then? Meh.

The Melmeister on this Monday morning...

I'm fairly certain there are some laws against such a pleasant Monday, and against being so open to having such a pleasant Monday, too. But I guess the grumps and haters will just have to press charges, because goddamn, this was a pretty damned decent day.

The fact of the matter is, I recently changed up my beauty routine, and now I shower and dry my hair at night. This means I can sleep in like I always do the next morning, while still having fairly put-together hair. (The alternative is me hopping out of the shower at 7:15 in the morning and putting my wet hair up into a bun or ponytail or clip. And I just don't have the facial structure to look attractive with that.) And because my hair is already styled in the morning, I feel ready and willing to put on some make-up, too. And when I head out the door feeling prettified and put-together, well, I just feel good. Or at least better. 

Plus, I used a new (to me) beauty product this morning: L'Oreal Magic Lumi Primer. While I'm an enthusiastic shopper for beauty products and cosmetics, I'm also rather skeptical. So color me illuminated when I realized this morning that this primer actually does seem to brighten my face!

So, anyway, going forward into this Monday, I had a decent attitude. I tried very hard to maintain an attitude of "be kinder than necessary." I smiled a lot. I called a patron who had lost his wife the previous week. I quietly pitied the homeless guy who borrowed our scissors to cut his hair (and I used hand sanitizer, too.) I chuckled at a practical joke my colleagues played on our accounting guy, blocking his entire doorway with boxes. I urged people to eat my pie (actually pie, no crude euphemisms here.) I got shit done. I spent an hour at the gym. I'm exhausted, in the good way. And I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

I lived this day right.

The Bourgeois Bohemian: Bedding Edition

For about eight years now, I've been in search of the perfect bedding ensemble. And for eight years, I haven't quite hit the target. And, while my tastes are often a bit of a moving target (curse of the Gemini), in this, I haven't wavered in my goals: I want something colorful, sensual, unusual in design. I think I once dubbed it "gypsy global boho funk."

Since living in California, I've had five different bedding ensembles (okay, just typing that, I realize how absurd that sounds), but none of them really blew my skirts up, not even when we moved to Casa de Cricket and I tried to make the bedroom itself feel like a gypsy caravan. But I'm still hoping...still saving money every paycheck for the next attempt...still looking for the best fit for me and my weirdo (middle-class bohemian) tastes.

Chelsea Paisley Quilt and Accessories from JC Penney: Right now, this is one of my top choices. There's maybe a little more lime green in it than I care for, but the paisley, purple, and turquoise make up for it...

Bethenney Paisley Reversible Comforter from JC Penney: This has a lot of purple in it, probably too much. But I can't say no to it completely, not yet..

Tracy Porter Bronwyn Quilt Collection from Macys: I'll have to probably rule this out strictly on the basis that it's from Macys, and I don't have a firstborn child to sell in order to afford it. Still, this might be the most "bohemian" of the lot...

Viola Comforter Set from Kohls: This one may be a bit too understated for me (I read somewhere that bedroom colors should be soft and soothing and light, but I say nonsense! Give me bold and sensual) but it is still in the running. The delicate combination of greens, white, and blues is a bit mesmerizing...

Home Classics Skye Comforter Set from Kohls: This one might be a little too monochromatic for me, considering my preference for a riot of colors. But if I have a hard time getting Mr. Melissa's buy-in, I reckon this one will be a good fall-back option...

Magical Thinking Medallion Ophelia Comforter from Urban Outfitters:At this point, this is the one I am favoring, even above the first one, from JCP--I quite love the colors and design. Let's just hope it's available by the time I've saved up for it!

Magic Mondays

My space (MySpace! ha!), my special space, is rarely in any kind of order. It's a small space, filled with books on crafting and Wicca and DC and Marvel comics and Victorian History and self help, and also filled with about two dozen craft projects and the supplies for twelve dozen more. It's got a lot of stuffed animals and other paraphernalia from my childhood, too. And amidst all this chaos is a certain recurring motif of paisley and peacocks, stemming back from the days when I actually dreamt this could be a decorated and functioning craft room. 

Turns out I could only choose one. Guess which I went with?

Anyway, so it's cluttered and chaotic and a shrine to consumerism, but it's my happy place. 

Unfortunately, it's on the west end of the house, and every summer, from about May through September, I am exiled from that room because it simply gets too motherfucking hot in there. But October obligingly brought in some abating temperatures, and so I have roosted in here once more. I'm surrounded by my books and my clutter and my history and my half-realized dreams and brainstorms. It's still messy and poorly organized, but it's my lovely, lovely happy place.  

And tonight, I caught a tiny corner of orderly magic in my happy place.

Week in Review

Well, the black dog is still lurking, but he (of course it's a he) isn't any worse than he was at this time last week. Is it better? Hard to say. What I do know is this: I was able to move through the week taking comfort in the fact that I did things to take care of myself.

 In fact, I managed to hit most of my goals over this past week: I went to the gym three times, I abstained from drinking from Monday until Saturday evening (and one of those nights, it was very difficult to remain sober; do you have any idea how hard it is to be the only sober person in the house?), I took my vitamins and meds every night, used my various lotions and potions and beauty supplies. I did do lunges, but didn't do core. I didn't write in my journal, but I did do some blogging. I drank a lot of water and I read two books and I didn't cry at unexpected times, or any time, really.

Here's what I've observed with my self-care

Drinking: When I don't drink, I don't go snacking on crappy food. When I don't drink, I'm not as sluggish. When I go several days without drinking, it takes less for me to get tipsy when I do drink again (more cost- and calorie-effective). All of these things are good incentives for me to keep up with this curtailing of the drinky-poos.

"Me" Time: Anyone who knows me knows that I need a hell of a lot of down-time, unscheduled times where I can just putter and do my thing, whether it be reading or straightening up my never-ending clutter or folding laundry or accomplishing world peace. Going to the gym after work really bites into this time. I'm going to need to work on thinking of gym as me time, or I'm gonna end up resenting it so much I never go.

And here's the goals for the coming week:

• Go to the gym a minimum of three times
• No drinking Monday-Friday
• Continue taking vitamins and medicine
• Do core and lunge exercises
• Continue using various lotions and potions

plus some new goals...

• When I step on the scale tomorrow, and when my trainer measures me, I promise NO MATTER WHAT not to berate myself but simply do better in the week ahead.
• Eat breakfast every day
• Read three books
• Keep blogging on...

Magic in the Mundane, Issue 1

Today feels like one of those days that are absolutely blah. Filled with mundane nonsense and obligations, and all around just feeling like another day in a workweek that just doesn't seem to end. So, time to dig deep into the day and recall some of the hidden gems...

• Closing the front door this morning, I saw a great big black spider decoration hanging at eye-level. Apparently, one of our housemates decided to help contribute to the seasonal fun.
• I did all my arm-and-shoulder circuit training at the gym today without my trainer, for the first time! Although it doesn't feel like I worked as hard...I was barely sweaty. Still, I silently cheered myself through each of the machines, and rightly so. 
• It's Opposite Day here at Casa de Cricket--everyone but me was tipsy tonight. Weirdest damned thing I've seen in a while.
• One of the tipsy housemates decided that tonight was the perfect night to demonstrate how he's mastered the percussion for the Def Leppard song Hysteria. Gotta admit, I enjoyed sitting back in the chair and listening to Win jam out to this beloved song.
• Mr. Melissa keeps the parakeets' birdseed on the dining room table. Several times, I've caught my marmalade cat Indiana tearing into the bag and eating the seed.

Now, it's off to bed with me, and here's hoping tomorrow is a little less on the blah side. And if it's still blah, here's hoping I can still find some sparkling moments of loveliness.

Rocktober!

Here at Casa de Cricket, we're ready for October. The fall decorations have been up for a month, in order to fool ourselves into thinking that it was autumn. (Verdict: Fail). But it IS October, and I no longer sweat like a hog on slaughter day when I step outside, so I'm gonna call it: IT'S AUTUMN.

It's also the beginning of a new month, so it's time for new goals! Here's what I've got on tap for the month to come:

• Go to the gym 15 times
• Read 12 books
• Do something for my boss on boss's day
• Reorganize my desk
• Get better at applying eyeliner
• Consistently take my iron so that I can start donating blood again
• Learn how to sew a button
• Schedule an appointment with my GP
• Move back into the Craft Room
• Make a Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie
• Have a picnic in Oak Glen and get some of their lovely cider
• See The Judge

I've got lots of other goals on the agenda, but these are the Big Ones. I'm going to do my best to make this a ROCKTOBER. What about you? Now that we're on to the best time of the year, what do you have for your goals?