A New Sense of Accomplishment

I just finished putting together two new nightstands from The Christmas Tree Shop (an awesome place I just discovered - super cheap and convenient and a total misnomer as they only have a few Christmas things). It took forever and my hand is sore from the screwdriver, but the directions were easy to follow and polite. Yes, polite. The directions actually said "please" and "kindly". I've never seen anything like it. Doing something like this always fills me with a sense of accomplishment and purpose, which I've been lacking lately. I have had writer's block for about a month now, but after putting those nightstands together all by myself, I feel inspired.

For the past week, I've had off from work and I have to say that I'm completely restless. I can't relax. I think I'm so used to constantly working or running errands that I don't know what to do with free time anymore! Yesterday, I went to the gym and took a spin class (and as a result am in a lot of pain right now), cleaned a little, tried to write, watched Confessions of a Shopaholic and met up with friends for coffee and dinner. All day, instead of relaxing, all I could think about was how to fill my time. Maybe I need to practice relaxing more often.

This week, the week after Christmas, is always a little sad for me. Christmas came and went too quickly as it has for the past few years and now I'm a little sad. We'll soon take our tree down and the magic will be over. How depressing. I'd actually compare it to a sort of postpartum depression, without the hormones and baby. I try to focus on the memories from Christmas and look forward to the next few days off. At least I won't have to go to Walmart every day for a week like I did before Christmas.

I loathe Walmart. I loathe everything about it: the lighting, the sparse, disorganized shelves, the angry salespeople, the angrier customers intent on ramming my cart with theirs. I walk into Walmart and am instantly anxious. All I can think about is leaving. I've come to realize that Target offers better quality things at almost the same prices without all the anxiety and stress. I could live at Target with all its organization and color coordination. I want to buy everything because it all looks so pretty. I read an article a few weeks ago about Target and how the new marketing strategy is to emphasize the low costs instead of the high quality. In other words, they are taking a cue from Walmart. Personally, I think Walmart should take a cue from Target. Give me some organization and pretty colors and you've got me for life.

On my *new* nightstand:

I'm reading Jodi Picoult's Change of Heart for my book club. Honestly, I think the cover is lacking. I would never have picked it up had it not been the book club pick of the month. The book itself, however, is amazing. It's about the murder of a young girl and her stepfather and is told from the point of view of various people affected by that murder: the wife and mother of the victims, a juror from the trial, a man from the murderer's neighboring jail cell, the murderer's lawyer. It is extremely well done. The differing voices are distinct and each tell a different side of the murder and murderer, so you're never sure what to think. I'm about halfway through and it's hard to put down. Do yourself a favor and pick it up.