Chinese

Dinner was fantastic. We went to the 'nicest' Chinese place in town - and found it mobbed on a Wednesday night. A bit surprising mid-week. We ordered all our favorites - way too much food. Or it would have been way too much food, but we had B. with us. B., who up until the past month or so doesn't even LIKE Chinese food. He devoured everything in sight - the only thing he didn't try (which was great 'cuz there was more for me and J.) was the Sizzling Rice Soup. He ate fried asparagus, orange chicken - oh, we had honey walnut prawns, too, and he wouldn't try those. Again, fine with us. It was a great dinner and we have leftovers for lunches, which is a good thing. Boys are home now (well, just B. at the moment) and they eat a lot!

J. is working at home tomorrow and I'm glad 'cuz tomorrow will be another incredibly long day - but I'm done with budget (shout for joy!) and just working on stuff for our Board meeting. I am actually thinking I might be able to NOT work on Saturday - the first day off I've had in 4 weeks. Literally. I've worked most of the past 40 days straight - which is not good. Still planning to take a couple weeks off starting the week of the 23rd. Though already, there are mentions of 'oh, if Majah were here...'. I usually leave the conversation at that point. I need a break. Badly. Though a part of me kind of fears being away that long - my troops are restless enough without me present. So I'll probably pop in now and then and surprise them. Oh, they'll love that. Just love it!

There's a new jjill store in Stockton now and I think I'll drive there to return an item. It's not 'close' but not as far as the next nearest jjill in Pleasanton.

I know this is a boring post. I have nothing profound to say except this: trust your instincts. It's not easy to do and it's downright hard when you're faced daily with challenges that make you want to hurl yourself away from a situation as quickly as possible. But in the end, you know when you're in the right place. I didn't feel 'good' about where I'm at for a long time - and there are many days I still don't. But for the first time in my life - and I'm 48 so that's a long time to have taken to 'get' here - I am learning to not worry about what other people think. I can't control them. I can only control me. My reactions. My fears. Just me. I am still not really all that good at doing that - but I am infinitely better than I've ever been in my life. In my role, it's not about popularity. I am starting to 'get' that, though it's hard. I have a huge fan base - and then a huge non-fan base and I can't really spend time worrying about the 'non-fan base' 'cuz it's their issue(s), not mine. I just have to keep plugging away at doing what I need to do - doing what I'm good at doing - and hope the rest of it sorts itself out. And that simple mind-set change has helped me be more confident, more focused and infinitely happier - though still not 'blissful' - but happier is exponentially better than where I was 6 months ago.