Stumbling on Happiness

More like Stumbling on Crappiness. This book was the shits. Pardon mon francais. I almost never set a book down in the middle of it. I have OCD about finishing things, but when I was in the middle of this book I thought of something that I had read on the happiness project blog which was: if you are reading a book you hate, stop reading it. There are far too many books in the world and you are wasting your time. So, I stopped reading it and didn't look back. Surprisingly I stumbled into happiness by not reading this book.

Here's the thing that I hated about it. Over-generalizations and no explanations. I thought the book would be more, here's the problem and here's a solution to find your happiness. Instead, I found the book to be all our minds will make us forget what makes us happy or unhappy and why. So, it's virtually impossible to actually try to be happy because our minds aren't built that way. Ummmmmmmmm, thanks.

I don't buy it. Our minds may not be able to predict future happiness, but that doesn't make us unhappy. And I think there is a good purpose for our minds forgetting things. Like right now, with my new puppy, I forget that he can be a nipping little monster while I am away from him and only remember him cuddling against my lap last night. But that helps me to miss him and helps me to be excited to see him. Which does in fact make me happy. So suck it Daniel Gilbert and your dumb science experiments.

I also didn't like the writing. It was all here's what we think will happen, here's a science experiment to refute it and here's the doom and gloom of how we will always be wrong. It didn't flow and felt like the exact same thing being said over and over again.

This was the worst book I have read in a long ass time. Possibly the worst book that I have read ever. 0 stars both because I hated it and because I did not finish it. If I could give the book negative stars I would.

Quote of the Day

Since I have been a bad blogger, I'll throw a quote of the day out there for good measure. "When I was a teenager, my parents were so worried that I was going to get myself pregnant. So, every summer they forced me to go to Iowa for the entire summer." This sums up what my dad always says. Idiots Out Walking Around.

Busy Little Bee

I have been delinquent on posting. But, it's for good reason. You guys, I AM TIRED. And busy. This past Saturday, Mike and I were being pretty lazy. I was catching up on Real Housewives of Orange County and Mike was playing video games. I finally needed to get outside so told Mike, can we run to Hoodbury to look at new tennis shoes. Absolutely was his answer. Then he said, let's stop at The Humane Society out there and see the dogs. Little did I know that we would come home with this:

He is precious. But, he's also a puppy and although his training is going well, I'm still following him all around the house worried that at any moment he could squat. It's way more exhausting than I would have thought. It's also way more fun.

In other April busyness...work has been nuts (no pun intended), I've got birthdays galore this month, I'm working on some house projects and doing some major spring cleaning. I can't even tell you guys how happy I am that spring is finally showing itself. The weather has been beautiful and my tulips are even starting to come up. Color me excited!

Good One April!

April Fool's. You will have one more month of winter. Resolution of the month: Create a cleaning schedule. I've been a lazy mofo these last few weeks and need to get my rear in gear to open the house up for spring. I wish my resolution could be to create sunshine out of puppies farts or something like that. But, that violates one of my rules for resolution making.

March On March

I have to keep telling myself that I will be as hot as I was in the above photo again. Because don't I look hot as in warm? Well, I was. And I will be that way again someday. In the meantime, I'm just going to say what is on every one's mind...This Spring (all eight days of it so far) has been the shits! I always try to stay really positive about the warm weather coming, but right now I'm a negative nelly. Here's some reasons why I'm about to go off of the deep end:

1. My socks. I wind down the sock/tight wearing around April 1. The weather is usually just nice enough to justify it. But not this year. I'm betting I will be in my socks and tights through that first full week of April. Problem is that most of my tights have holes and for some odd reason I have very few matching socks left. They must have fled for warmer climates themselves. I'm refusing to buy new socks or tights because I won't need them in a couple of weeks, but these interim weeks are going to be problematic.


2. My weight. Lord, the winter has not been good to my love handles. I decided that I was going to be really productive after the holidays about shedding some pounds and then got tendinitis in my knee and could barely walk for two weeks. Now, I want to go walking but either the temperatures are too cold or the sidewalks are too treacherous to go. Normally by this time I'm in a pretty good walking groove. But now my stomach is starting to bust out of my clothes. Oy Vey!


3. My coats. They need to be dry cleaned and put away until next year. Plus, does anyone else hate driving with a coat on? I HATE it, always have. But I put up with it for awhile because I understand it's necessity. In late March, I want to shed myself from the wintery layer of hell, but I can't because I don't want to get a cold.


4. My sidewalks. I never knew what a luxury it was to just walk up to the passenger seat of a car parked outside your house and jump on in. Because there's been a constant snow bank between me and the car, I've had to walk around the snowbank and either squeeze myself in between the bank and the car to get in or just wait for my ride to pull out a little bit and pick me up. It sounds so trivial, but it really is becoming a pain in the ass.


5. My winter boots. I have been wearing the same pair of shoes everyday since mid-November. They are standard, low heel, knee high black boots. Perfect for tromping around in the snow and ice, but also boring and plain. However, every time I put on a pair of heels or flats thinking they will be safe to wear, we have a snowstorm. I feel like I'm in a marriage from hell with these boots.


6. My hair/skin/nails/lips. The dryness of all of these things is at an all-time high. I've been moisturizing like crazy, but to no avail. I need some true air moisture to turn the tide. Mother nature, help a girl out!

I could go on and on, but I won't. Mostly because I've got work to do. That's another thing that I'm not doing, going on a spring vacation.

My Ass Hurts

When I was a little girl, I used to lament about getting older and getting "Secretary Ass". It's a real thing. Look at women who have spent their careers sitting in chairs. Them's some flat asses. So, I really used to worry about that and think that when I had a career, I was going to make sure my ass wasn't in a chair every hour of every day.

Well, then the internets happened.

Anyhow, the last week I have been sitting a lot. I've had a lot of writing stuff to do for work and there hasn't been much of anything else going on. There's only so many times you can fake an errand or go to the bathroom just to get out of your seat.

All of this sitting has lead to a sore spot on my bum. Does anyone else ever get this? It's right where my tailbone would meet the seat and it's super sore. Like, I can't effing sit down anymore sore. What is that? I look at other women that I work with and they love being lazy POS' and sitting down for the majority of the day. Do their asses not hurt?

But my biggest problem right now is I'm starting to get the fear back. You guys, I might be getting a serious case of Secretary Ass. Help!

My Underwear Could Be Anywhere

You guys, I am having a shipping problem. Here's the story.

A few days ago I was at work and having one of those days where I was just annoyed at my outfit choice. I was wearing this shift dress and true to it's name it was shifting. Although, shifting in places I didn't need it to be shifting. I was super uncomfortable and totally stuck in the dress because I couldn't go home to change. Finally, I had this moment come over me where I realized what would help this situation...a new bra.

Women will probably be able to understand where I'm coming from, but, having a good bra is everything. And the real problem with my dress was not the dress, but the bra. The straps were falling and things weren't hanging where they should be...so to speak.

In my complete impatience, I decided that I needed to online shop for a new bra right at that moment. I logged onto Nordstrom and found a bra to buy. I also found a couple of pairs of underwear. I quickly (and hastily) hit the "SUBMIT ORDER" button and beamed at the thought of getting the bra sent to me quickly via mail.

However, my moment of glee was cut short as I saw that I hadn't ordered anything from Nordstrom in a couple of years and the shipping address was 3 houses ago! Horrors. I immediately hit the "CHAT WITH AN ONLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE REP" button and began an online chat to explain the problem.

Basically she said that she could fix the problem as to the underwears, but that the bra order had already been sent to the store, so she might not be able to fix it. Of course, the thing that I actually really wanted. Also, WTF? I had literally ordered it maybe 2 minutes prior to the conversation.

So, today I get an email saying that the order has been shipped. But the shipping address is to my old address. I again chatted with someone online who told me that the new address wouldn't show up on the forms they send out and since it was already sent he can't change the address it's sent to. He assured me that if someone had previously told me the address was changed, then it would be. I don't know that I buy it.

So, basically, my underwear could be anywhere. And I'm sure that the new owner of a house that I lived in over two years ago will be really happy to receive a Nordstrom box with two pairs of underwear and a bra inside. The best laid plans...