Something I thought about:

I decided to change this category from “worried about” to “thought about” to give me more options and not be so focused on negative thoughts. A lot was on my mind this week: Work. Weight. Weather. Wishes. Wants. (with a nod to “World of Mine Wednesdays.”)

Work: Struggled through some tough weeks and I’m trying to figure out how to mitigate the stress and struggle, because I have to keep doing it another 3 years. No solutions have come to min

Weight: My initial return to exercise and eating well has not paid off as much as I’d hoped by now. I am re-examining how I’m going about things, to try to maximize the benefits of my efforts.

Weather: It snowed a lot here, recently, and I worried about damage to our roof, our trees, and the rest of our property. So far, there are no signs that anything was damaged, other than a few falling branches, and the snow is beginning to melt. WHEW!

Wishes: I’m wishing for time to pass quickly to May 13th sooner, so I can start my vacation. I really need a mental break from work.

Wants: I am trying to change/control my buying habits. As a collector with access to thousands of sites filled with things that titillate me, there is no shortage of things I want. I have succumbed too often to buying things on a whim just because I can. I am trying to stop my impulse buying. I have so much already, and owning these things aren’t going to make me happier or fulfilled. Instead of buying these things, I make a note of how much it would cost me to buy it, then I will take a look at all the money I didn’t spend at the end of the month, money that could be put towards trips or household needs or helping others, and I hope that will be an incentive to keep curbing he urge to splurge.

Something I saw:

An Irish comedy called “Dating Amber.” Two classmates, a young man struggling with his sexuality and a young lesbian who is ostracized for her suspected sexuality, decide to date to appear heterosexual to their peers and stave of accusations and harassment at school. While it deals with the serious struggles of feeling different, it is, over-all, a light hearted take on coming out, with a happier ending than most movies dealing with similar themes. We enjoyed it very much.

I also watched this amazing video on Youtube, when a friend posted the link on Facebook. The dancing is amazing and it was incredibly fun to watch. According to the interwebs:

This is the hook step dance scene involving N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan – the lead actors of “RRR.” “Naatu Naatu” became the first song from an Indian film to win Best Original Song honors at the Academy Awards, and at the Golden Globe Awards, as well as the first song from an Asian film to win the former.

I also came across this cool Merman pic on the web. I need to see if I can find the artist and purchase a print of it to hang in our dining room with the Merman stuff.

Something I heard:

Random songs I “used to love” from my past will pop into my head from time to time, out of the blue. This week, one was “Is There a Place (Where I Can Go)” by Bobby Vinton. I do not think I’ve heard this song in decades, and yet when I played it, I remembered every word of it and loved hearing it again.

Something I tasted:

Kielbasa with Mustard Sauce. This is an appetizer the BFJs hubby often makes at their holiday and dinner parties, so we decided to make it as the main course for it for dinner one night this week. The sauce is simple: a blend of mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and Horseradish.

I also had a Gin Martini this week that was slightly different from my usual – Indigo Gin and Dry Vermouth – but I instantly fell in love with it: Tanqueray 10 with Dry Vermouth, with lemon peel rubbed around the rim of the glass. It really elevated the experience for me and it’s my new preferred way to make a martini. In the interest of full disclosure, I learned about this version when watching an episode of “Be My Guest with Ina Garten” featuring Stanley Tucci (*swoon*) as her guest. This is how he made it (allegedly the first time Ina ever had a Martini) and I had to try it to see if it was any better than my usual – and it WAS!

Something I learned:

I listened to an episode of the Smartless podcast featuring Author Sam Harris and I am an instant fan. His writing and public lectures cover a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation practice, human violence, rationality—but generally focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live. I’ve subscribed to his Podcast Making Sense purchased a couple of his audio books to listen to during my commute to and from work.

Something I accomplished:

My mood has been spiraling and my outlook turning very negative lately, so I needed to try to turn things around. To that end, we sat down and made a list of places we want to visit or re-visit on vacation. We then started to map out a plan of two, week-long vacations a year, over the next 3 years. This has really improved my outlook. Now we have more to look forward to than just the daily chores and several more years of work. Instead, we will be looking forward to vacations every 6 months, with a few long weekend trips peppered throughout. While some of these trips may not happen, it’s still exciting to think about them and have something to plan and work towards/on. And, if I can work out seeing/meeting a few blogger buddies along the way, even better.

Additionally, we have made a list of potential places we might like to move to after retirement, and we will start researching property, cost-of living, tax implications, amenities, safety, gay-welcoming, proximity to our favorite places and people, etc. Once we have a solid list of places we think we could/would want to live, we will make plans to start visiting them and exploring them.

Added benefit: this has all made three years seem a much shorter time span than they do when I just think about how much longer I have to work.

Something I bought:

I said I am trying to change/control my buying habits. I didn’t say I’ve succeeded. My goal is to be able to say “nothing” more often than not. Until then:

Need purchase: A citrus juicer. Although I have a lemon and lime press, I did not have an orange juicer. I have become a big fan of using freshly squeezed juices over bottled juices for ingredients in my cooking and cocktailing, and my recent efforts to juice blood oranges resulted in a sticky mess and wasted juice (that sounds dirty AND DIRTY!). I located and purchased an inexpensive plastic, lightweight juicer that works wonderfully, keeps all the mess inside, works great, and is easy to clean:

Want purchase: An action figure set of 3 Marvel super-hero characters that make up the team of “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” (Peter Parker/Spider-Man; Bobby Drake/Ice-Man; Angelica Jones/Firestar) a favorite superhero cartoon of mine from the 80s. Angelica/Firestar had a dog, Ms. Lion, as well. This was a made for TV cartoon, and was not based on an existing comic book team. While Ice-Man and Spider-Man were existing comic book characters (although not established friends in the comic book universe) Firestar was created explicitly for the cartoon. The premise was that they were all college friends, roommates, and a super-hero team that lived with Peter Parker’s (Spider-Man) Aunt May, and had a secret headquarters in their shared loft in Aunt May’s house. It was a silly and fun cartoon and I loved watching it, especially because it often featured other Marvel comic heroes and villains.

After watching the cartoons again recently (than you, iTunes,) decided I wanted a representation of this team in my collector’s display room in the basement. Upon researching these characters, I discovered there was a single set of all 4 figures released that goes for $75-100.00, but that seemed steep just to own a small and silly piece if nostalgia to display. Instead, I chose the cheaper route: I located much cheaper version of the characters sold individually, and spent a total of $25.00 putting my set together. I had to purchase Ms. Lion as a single piece from a game (Heroclix):

Fun Facts about the cartoon:

And that’s my Sunday Seven, folks. Stay safe, all!