Boarding the Happy Train

Yesterday was an interesting day.  It was the first time I went grocery shopping as a married woman.  I know this sounds pretty silly (what difference does it make that she's married?).  But it really was different. Somehow I walked the aisles with a whole new perspective.  Buy the $5.99 jar of fancy salsa or the $2.99 jar of generic salsa?  Generic.  We're on a budget.

Once I purchased my bag of mostly-generic or on-sale groceries, I drove home, to find my new husband mowing the lawn.  Another first.  The sight of my hubby pushing the lawnmower up and down the backyard helped me to feel a tiny bit more at home with our new home.

I went inside to prepare dinner and decided I'd start making note of all the little things that were helping me feel good about the day.

1.  Left over cake.  Need I say more?

2.  New pot to cook the potatoes in.  By habit, I grabbed an old pot out of the cupboard to use for dinner prep, and then it dawned on me... "you have NEW pots!  Use them!"

3.  Lots of sunshine - at least for a couple hours.  There really is a link between my mood and the amount of sun in the sky.

and, 4. Dinner served on our new plates, with new knives and forks.  It wasn't my best meal in my collection of throw-together meals, but it hit the spot.  And after mowing an acre of yard, I think my husband would have eaten spam and been happy.





During dinner last night, my husband and I talked about my current job and things I need to do to be happy up here.  I'm going to start looking into new art classes....maybe a knitting course at the local yarn shop in town.  I also need to either find a fitness class or gym to start using regularly.  In Chicago I saw a therapist for a short time during a bad period of my life.  She literally wrote me a prescription for happiness.  It read as follows:

1.  Plan a vacation
2.  Exercise every day

I did both of these things and probably felt better faster than I would have if I did nothing.

I guess it's time for some more medicine.