A Shout Out

Today, I had a meltdown. Not just a minor "I'm really busy" moment, but a major 'run-to-the-bathroom-and-bawl' meltdown. A 'don't-look-me-in-the-eyes-or-I'll-cry-again' meltdown. The words "I'm giving my notice" were actually on the tip of my tongue when I was talking to my supervisor today. I still feel like walking down to the office manager's office and throwing my water in her face and screaming at her. I've been in tears off and on since about 2:00 this afternoon; I've managed to make three people feel guilty, and a fourth feel bad for me. The fifth person, who gave me some much-needed advice, is who I need to give a shout out to.
Emily "The Mug" (http://emilythemug.blogspot.com/) came to my rescue. After taking a quick look at my red eyes and hearing my quavering voice, she said, "Get your coat on, we're going to Starbucks."
So she listened and I talked... and talked... and whined... and complained. And she just listened and offered some excellent advice. She gave me a hug and just let me cry. She pointed out that stuff at work seems like a big deal because I have so much other crap going on in my life right now. DUH, how come I didn't see it that way? She's right! I feel like I've lost control over my social life, my health, my home life, and my spiritual life. So naturally I lost control over my work life. She helped me understand that I don't need to do everything, and do it alone - it's okay to ask for help and involve other people. She also bought me a vanilla bean frappuccino, which makes EVERYTHING better. (No lie - if you've never had one, go get one. No coffee in it, just pure sugary goodness.)
Anyway, thank you Mug, for being there when I needed you. You are the GREATEST. :)

Welcome December!

I woke up this morning to an appropriate December 1st:

I wanted to crawl back in bed, but I had a gut feeling that I'd be the one shoveling the walks. Score - since I was obviously not going to go running in this crud, I'd shovel the walks and let THAT be my exercise for the day. But no sooner had I shoveled two rows of snow, than a neighbor came over with his snow blower, and two of the neighbor kids brought their shovels over... needless to say, I was done in 10 minutes. Well, I have awesome neighbors, but I didn't get much exercise! So, that left me with two alternatives: I could go back up to my room and do Pilates, or...

Yeah, these guys won. They wanted to go out and play in the snow so bad, that I didn't have the heart to keep them in. The backyard isn't that big, and they can only run up and down the yard so many times before it gets boring, so I put their leashes on them, and off we went! Just a mile or so was all we walked because it was snowing pretty hard. But man, I got some exercise! It's tough to walk in the snow! Most people hadn't been out to plow or shovel, so we didn't have a lot of clear spots to walk. Indy and Bo didn't care - they jumped in the big piles of snow anyway. So we trudged through a lot of snow. It's like walking in sand! I was as winded after one mile of walking in the snow as I was after having jogged at the gym last night! It's pretty, though... I like it when I can just LOOK at it, not have to haul it around or drive in it, hehe.