Little Things for Which I am Thankful

 

1. I took the day off on Monday as comp time for having worked six days in a row the week before at my full time job. We have this really cool option to rent cars in Boston through something called ZipCar. You don’t have to pay for the gas you use (you use their gas card and enter in some information) and you get 180 free miles per day. So I used it on Monday and drove around to five different RV dealers to look at all different types of RVs. It really helped me to figure out some priorities as to what I want in an RV. Also, I had the help of two very good online friends who are more knowledgeable when it comes to RVs than I am.  D and R, you guys know who  you are. Thank you!! (I’ll save the particulars of what I discovered for another post, because I really want to talk about it in more detail than this type of post will normally allow.)

2. I no longer have to regularly open up the gym on weekday mornings, and what a difference it has made in my energy levels! I am now back to my normal routine of being able to work out every day before work. And what a difference it has made to my morale and self-esteem. I’m happy to again be doing some of my harder “Terri workouts” that I use to put myself through. God, I cannot tell you how much I have missed working out hard! (If you’re one of those people who hates to work out or sweat, well, then you can just consider me a weirdo. No offense taken!)

3. The weather has returned to being cooler, more autumn-like in New England. Lots of leaves have fallen, which makes me kind of sad, because I know what is following in its wake (the dreaded winter), but it also creates such a homey, nesting type of atmosphere. Osito loves the cool weather for our walks, I can tell. She has an extra spring in her step, and Wednesday night, she even appeared to be running!  When your dog is 13 years old AND blind, and she starts running, you can’t help yourself but be happy. I just get such a huge smile on my face when I see her doing that. I usually yell out “You’re running, Baby O! You’re running!” (To which she is probably thinking, “duh…Mom, I know that already!”)

4. I’m feeling good enough about my moods that I have asked my doctor if we can start weaning me off of one of my anti-depressants. I take Prozac and Wellbutrin. Why two different pills? Well, they go to different receptors in the brain. Prozac has a very long half-life so that means that if you were to stop taking it cold turkey (which you really shouldn’t), it would stay in your system for about 5-6 weeks. The half life for Wellbutrin is much shorter, so I was told I could even start taking it every other day, since the one I have been taking is a tablet with timed release. I was a bit nervous to do something that seemed so drastic, so we are just cutting my dose down slowly, and the pill I am now taking is only 75 mg, and it’s not time-released. So we will see how it goes!

I think I am past that point in my life when I needed the wellbutrin. I started taking it to help me with the side effects of Prozac when I was on a high dosage for Prozac. (High doses can sometimes make you feel very “flat” – in other words, you just don’t give two craps about much at all. Everything is very “meh.”)  Whatever stressor was bothering me at the time is no longer there,  so wish me luck! It is my hope that by next fall, I will not be taking any medication for my asthma (something else we are slowly weaning me off of), and probably down to just one prescription.  It will cost me a lot less if I am successful, and also, I’d like to just take as few medications as I possibly can.

5. This weekend is the final weekend of the Topsfield Fair, and you know what that means!! (Well, actually, you don’t, but you’re about to!) That’s right, folks, think of it….Deep Fried Oreos!!! Seriously, the best thing ever in the world. It’s good enough that I salivate all year just thinking of it. 🙂  The fair also means I get to pet lots of farm animals, and see the Guiness World Record setting pumpkin – that’s right, they judge that every year in this little corner of MA.

6. Oh, I almost forgot!!! I paid $750 on my LAL loan earlier this week since this is one of those 3-paycheck months at my full time job!! So now the balance is down to $14, 017 and some change. With the next regularly scheduled payment on the 16th, that bad boy is going down below 14K!!!! Die, bastard, die!!!

7. At my part-time job, we made our sales goals for the past month, so I’m hoping to wake up to a bonus in my savings account as a result. I’ll update this post if it happens!

Have a great holiday weekend (if you’re reading this in the US and are one of the lucky ones to get Columbus Day as a holiday.)  If you’ve liked this post please hit like or subscribe! Or drop me a line below!