Yep, I’m having “afternoon coffee!” I’ve been on a real coffee kick for the past few days, which kind of stinks because the coffee here at work tastes like it’s been brewed through old, musty underwear. But, it makes my afternoons much more productive, even though I know it’s not all that good for me.

I’ve also been cutting back on salt, nothing too drastic, but I can already notice how EXTREMELY salty most processed foods are. I’ve been using this new salad dressing, Ken’s Light Caesar, and it’s so salty that I think I’m going to try to cut it with olive oil or something to reduce the salt. And, last night, I had some pasta with the Buitoni pesto, and it was uber-salty too. It’s just funny, you hear that you’ll be more sensitive to salt once you cut it out, but I never really thought it would happen. Makes eating lower sodium stuff easier, now.

It’s been a rough and dramatic week for me, most of it in my own mind, but stressful nonetheless. I had to make a hard decision that made me feel like I was in a no-win situation…let other people down, or do what’s not really the best for my sanity and for my family. After my most recent bout with the anxiety flaring up and an impromptu-visit to my psychiatrist, he made me realize that I’ve really got to sit down and physically write out my priorities, and then keep the non-negotiables and then maybe the next one or two after that, but try to let the rest go. When I did that, I saw how full my list had gotten and how divided my attention was becoming, which I’m sure contributes to why I’ve been feeling so out of balance and out of control these past several days.

I found myself thinking about last year, and about how I didn’t really enjoy the holidays at all because I was so busy and how I had to miss or be late to some very important events this year because of other things, and I realized that I don’t want that kind of stress. I don’t want to feel guilty for wanting to see a friend before she moves away. So, I’m slowly working to remove extra things from my life to free up some time.

Frightening? Yes. Sad? A little. But reliving and liberating, too.

Dr. Arnold posted all of the information for my upcoming Ethnic Lit course in the fall so that we could get a jump on reading if we wanted to. I’m pretty glad for that because I really plan to do my best to get a little ahead. One of my self-disappointments from last semester was that I didn’t do as much as I could have to stay ahead in my classes, and I found myself feeling like I was barely hanging on. School is one of the TOP non-negotiables (right behind Family and Work), so it has to come before many of the things in my life that I’d rather be doing.

Ok…enough rambling from me. The reign of pictureless posts will end soon. We’ve got some times upcoming soon that will merit pictures, and then, life will have to become very structured. But, there’s comfort in routines for me. They make me feel like there’s some semblance of order in my life;)