The right decision

Well, I've been back home for a month now, and I feel great. No regrets whatsoever. The decision to come back here was agonizing at times, but I think I realized at some point that the fact that it was an agonizing decision was the answer in itself. I knew inside that coming home was the right thing for me. I just had to find that answer.

Still, I may have given up some unique and exciting opportunities. But I suspect that now that I've proven myself (twice) to the high mucky-mucks at my company, they'll give me other opportunities in the future. Though, I doubt I'll be agreeing to move away from Ottawa for any long periods of time again. I really want to settle down, even if, for me, settling down doesn't mean marriage and family. Maybe a cat *grin*.

Another reason I know this was the right decision is that I've been feeling great. Not sure exactly why, but the only things that make sense are that I've been sleeping really well since I moved into my own place, and I've been eating well. Therefore, I have more energy than I'd grown accustomed to having. Which is wonderful.

My old creaky, lumpy mattress is still with me, even though I'd sworn I was going to get a brand new, king-size bed when I came back here. I have the room for it, so I may still do that eventually. But it amazes me that I'm sleeping so well. I even sleep through the night now - no more waking up at two or three in the morning to go pee. Granted, I can't sleep much past 7am before I have to get up and go, but that still gives me a good seven or eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, which is devine!

As for eating better, I'm really, really proud of myself. I'm not on a diet or anything, but neither have I been eating mostly junk/fast food like I usually do, especially while I was living in Nova Scotia. There, I had no proper kitchen, no oven, and no real desire to overcome the obstacles of a tiny, ill-equipped kitchen and low energy.

A couple of weeks ago I bought myself a medium-sized slow-cooker and as I write this I'm doing my third recipe in it. The first was something called Island Beef, which didn't turn out as good as I thought it would - but I'm still eating it. Also made a 40-clove chicken which was also a little disappointing, but quite edible and makes good sandwiches. Today I'm making Chicken Taco Soup, which I think will be really yummy...and holy cow, it was easier to put together than a ham sandwich.

All this slow-cookery is to provide lunches. Yep, folks, I'm taking my lunch to work these days, and I'm sure I'm saving a mint. Right now groceries are expensive, because I have to buy EVERYTHING that the recipes call for...my kitchen was completely unstocked when I moved in here. But once I've worked up a good pantry, all I'll need to purchase will be the main items, the meat etc, and cooking will be very economical. No more $10-15 lunches means I should be saving myself at least $50 a week. And the bonus of all this is that I spend "downtime" with my staff, developing our relationships and building department morale (not that it was low, by any means).

Along with my improved diet and better sleep is coming a very welcome amount of energy that has been disturbingly lacking for much too long. Because I have more energy, I enjoy the cooking and the shopping that is required for it. And I've even been keeping my place relatively neat and tidy, which is really unusual for me. I wash the dishes every day and keep things pretty organized, so that I probably wouldn't be alarmed to have an unexpected visitor. That alone is unheard of for me.

I do need to vaccum though, and I don't really want to. It's hard on my back, which, since my last horrible experience in early November, has been quite good. Gotta do it though. I guess I'll do one room at a time and take it slow and easy.

Overall, I'm tickled pink to be back. Work is going well, home is going well, I'm soo delighted to be with my family and friends once again.

Speaking of friends, we had a nice potluck last night. I made my famous Greek ribs, the girls brought salad, dessert and munchies. Mmmmm. It was great. We were having such a good time, we even spent much longer together than usual for these things and they didn't leave till after 12:30 am sometime. We're already planning our next girl's night...a pyjama party! Woohoo! Can't wait!