Music

My Top Three Stress Busters!

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I was just reading a great post about dealing with stress from Truth and Cake* (don’t you just love that blog title) and was about to post a comment but decided to share my recipes for stress busting here instead. So, without further ado, this is my list of top 3 stress busters:

Slamming kitchen cabinet doors:

Whenever I had a stressful day (I was an HR Director so it happened a lot) I’d come home and go through my kitchen opening and slamming shut every kitchen cabinet door. Besides eradicating my stressful day I learned things, too. For example:

  • Upper cabinet doors slam the most satisfactorily;
  • Don’t stand too close ’cause they can bounce back open and jam your finger; and
  • It pays in the long run to invest in solid wood cabinets with good hinges.

Cursing while driving:

Why let all that frustration from dealing with traffic build up and explode all over everybody at work or home. Go ahead and let loose with a few of your favorite expletives directed at the Neanderthal who just cut you off on the interstate or freeway. After all, he or she is the one who deserves it. One caveat, though, keep your windows rolled up … way up.

Breaking ridiculously inane rules:

Some rules are just made to be broken. For example, your employer moves everyone into a new office space and some admin-type dispenses rules about keeping the red and gray (z-z-z-z) decor pristine. One rule is that nothing can be tacked up on the cubicle walls … no phone lists, no pics, nothing! That lasts about a month then a new rule comes from on high that says “things” can be posted on cube walls as long as they’re neatly placed … and only clear push pins can be used. So, what’s the stress buster? Yep, you guessed it … multi-colored push pins.

So, there you have it. Don’t let stress ruin your day, much less your life. Deal with it — head on. Bite the bullet or wring the neck instead of your hands. And then, as The Eagles so wisely sang …

*A big old THANKS to Truth and Cake for inspiring this post! You can check out her blog here.

Work Commute (aka: A Mini Rant)

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I really shouldn’t complain because I can work at home a many as four days a week if I choose to. Instead I work at home, on average, two days a week. The other three days a week, I have a one hour (give or take a few minutes) commute to work and then, of course, another hour back home.

I have a love hate relationship with my commute.

On the one hand, I get to listen to great music and I get a Sausage Egg McMuffin, too. (Don’t knock it ’til you try it.)

On the other hand, there’s traffic.

I’ve never gotten along very well with traffic. I suppose I’m just too impatient. I don’t curse much except when I’m driving and then can make a sailor blush.

I could drive my 30 plus miles on the interstate but, as a general rule, prefer the scenic route. It’s about a mile longer, but doesn’t take any more time at all. And, there aren’t four lanes of one and a half ton flying objects to make me crazy.

There are, however, a few things about my route that bother me just a tad. For example, it’s pretty much a two-lane road all the way and the places where I can pass a slow-moving vehicle are few and far between.

Ever been behind a pickup pulling a landscaping trailer full of mulch that’s going 40 miles an hour in a 55 mile an hour zone and you’re late for work? It’s not pretty. I mean what goes on in my car, not what’s on the trailer. Though, that view does leave a lot to be desired.

Then there are the folks that plan to make a left turn and start slowing down about two miles before they get to their turnoff. And they don’t give a signal. They just start slowly slowing down until you begin to wonder if they’ve fallen asleep.

Oh well, it could be a lot worse and, besides, I get to enjoy the scenery a lot more at 55 miles an hour than I would at 70 or 80 miles and hour. All I really have to keep an eye out for are the state troopers and the sheriff and the skunks. Dead skunk is just not a pleasant way to start your day.

So, what’s your commute like? What pushes your tick-off button when you’re on the road?

So what exactly are the willies?

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I wonder, do we use “the willies” instead of just coming right out and saying something makes us queasy? Why would “the willies” be more acceptable than queasy? What does “the willies” mean exactly?

To find out, we do what every good old girl with an Internet connection does — we Google it!

Here’s what we found:

The definition from Wiki is about the record album so let’s take a peek at the def from Dictionary.com:

wil·lies

[wil-eez]  Noun ( used with a plural verb ) Informal. nervousness or fright; jitters; creeps (usually preceded by the ): That horror movie gave me the willies.

Origin:
1895–1900, Americanism ;  origin obscure; compare -s3

Well. I guess that pretty much sums it up!

But the big question is — what gives you the willies?