My first 30 years?

So this weekend I turned the big 3-oh.. bleh. My one friend said 'It wasnt till I saw the 30 on your birthday cake that I realized this wasn't another 20-something birthday and we hadn't discussed your feelings on turning 30.' I love her for knowing that I have feelings on turning 30.. I love her even more for volunteering to listen to me talk about it. The real truth is, I haven't passed the first stage of emotional adjustment on this one, and I'm pretty sure I'm happy being at this stage..

(denial).

Its not denial in the 'i hate being 30 and I'm ashamed of being 30.. I'm actually totally awesome with other people being 30, and I'm not upset that I'm 30. Its more complete disbelief that I have been alive for 30 years and what things I had pictured for myself by now are not in my cards just yet.

I dont know if that makes any sense , and this is not a knock on all of the things I have accomplished in my (first) 30 years. I am very blessed by the lessons and goals and successes and failures that have passed me by in the past years.

Perhaps its just a matter of perspective. When I was in HS a guy-friend of mine and I made a pact that if we were both 25 and unmarried we'd marry each other. Perhaps we had no concept of what 25 was like in the real world or like a child who guesses his parents is significantly older/younger than their real age cuz they have no concept of age,,, maybe we were lost. We're now both 30 and neither of us are married or have any intent of marrying each other (although still good friends)

The mere concept of myself having lived for 30 years is unfathomable and frankly deniable... like maybe 20,, maybe 25 even, but 30 seems like a lot of time. Right?

shrug

The View

The View from my window at work today!!! (Cuz its not snowing yet, its gorgeous..) Can you see the yellow and green and purple leaves? Its my camera phone and its thru the glass window so it might be less than desirable..

but now you can see what I see!

D

COOKING A WHOLE CHICKEN!!?

Gayle writes this awesome blog above and provided me with the interest and motivation to cook a whole chicken and do my best to make two dinners out of it.

So last nite I followed "whole chicken" day one,, and I wont show you the pictures because if you go to her blog, hers are much prettier!

But I totally did it! I totally cooked a chicken and when I woke up this morning it smelled like thanksgiving it was AWESOME! I'm so excited to eat dinner and get it ready for Day Two of Chicken!:)
whooohoo
D

Hair Parting?

Okay all you Type A personalities out there, I have a challenge for you!~. Today I went into the bathroom and my hair was parted on the wrong side. I started to consider that maybe I should spice up my life and 'move the part', even if nothing more than to keep the pulling even on both sides and therefore Maybe prevent further grey hair stragglers!

So I moved the part and have been doing my best to leave it alone...
(this is where the Type A comes into play)..
IT HAS BEEN SO HARD to leave it alone? what is that.. you get so comfortable with something that it actually eats at you and you cant change..

I think this is a very basic example of how you get so 'comfortable' with something that it is impossible to create change, even if the change is better for you.

In this case, I am not entirely convinced that parting my hair will be any better of a change.

But what other changes are we preventing because of our 'comfort levels'. I know that continuing education in the medical field has not always been required which caused many medical professionals to believe 'its not what I was taught so its not right'.... which clearly is no longer the belief.

I'm sure my parents hesitation to switch from 1%milk to FF is based on comfort levels. I bet our budgets, exercise levels, political opinions and probably even morals could be based on comfort.

If you can't leave your hair parted to the opposite side,,, how will you know what new levels or dimensions of growth are there for you? If you don't ever switch something up in your diet or relationship how will you never know if you couldnt have taken it to a 'better level'?

hmmmm

SO FLIP THE HAIR!~!

:)

Driving in the Dark.

Driving in the Dark is not at ALL as fabulous as Dancing in the Dark....or Dancing on the Ceiling for that matter.. or frankly dancing in general. As the seasons change and we inevitably will have to put our clocks further backwards,, the AM commute will become more and more dark. This morning was the first AM when I went to my car at 7:10 and it was dark (and rainy) outside. About a week ago it started to get dark when I left work (circa 6:15pm). So I knew the darkness was impending...

So I am sure there are studies (although unless I have to write another thesis I will not be citing journal articles if I can help it ever again)... that say that sunlight helps create healthier lifestyles, and something about circadian rhythm preventing disease and depression. I know I have read articles that say when you live in areas that are darker longer (read:Alaska) that they are at higher risk of depression and therefore medical problems.

Anyway,,, so I'm thinking... if I go to work in the dark, and come home in the dark... does that mean that the darkness is going to encroach on my mental health.

If I take Echinacea will that help? What if I turn all the lights on in the house and in the car while I'm driving?;) Okay those are both silly..

So instead I'll look out my window at work and see the nice day!!
(please note,, this pic was clearly not taken today as there is snow and we do not have snow yet..I know its buffalo and that may shock you but it is not here yet and I'm happy that it has not yet arrived)..

Budgeting

So here are a few questions of the week for ya'll to ponder and share your thoughts as you feel comfortable.


The topic: Money and Budgeting

Question #1: How much money do you budget for groceries per month (and in relation how many people live with you!)


Question #2: How much money do you budget for savings,, be it stocking into emergency savings or for other things.

Question #3: How many months of emergency savings do you have and/or working toward obtaining (whats the goal!?)

Question #4: How do you account for birthday and holiday gifting in your budget,, even things as simple as bringing a bottle of wine to someone's house for a dinner party.. where does that come out of?

Question #5: What are your favorite non-spending activities (other than the obvious,, be at home with my family).


Thanks for your answers and contributions. As suspected, I'm working on streamlining my finances. Member months ago when I wrote about the 'trifecta' and how I have trouble keeping all three working (money, exercise, food)... well I think I might be getting more on track so while the last two are under control... #1 is the new focus!

hugs
DC