Down and out in Merry-land

I have a few friends who knit and blog and we've decided to embark on a blog project that has nothing to do with knitting. We're going to take turns coming up with a topic every Thursday and we each have to blog about it by the end of that day and post links to each others' blogs so that people can see our different perspectives on the same topic.

Check out the backstory about how the project was conceived and how we all came together.

Here are the other blogs:
Froggie Knits Like Crazy
Charmingly Random
Desperate Madness

Desperate Madness asked: What is your favorite thing to do when you are down and out or having a bad day?

This may come as a surprise (or more like a shock to some) but I have bad days. I get into a funk from time to time. It happened a lot more often in my previous environment, but it still happens no matter where I go. These days it's often over trivial matters (like the untimely cancellation of "Ugly Betty" or not being able to get tickets to see Adam Lambert), but sometimes there are things that worry or nag at me, or things that I anticipate with dread. I also take on the stress of others and let it consume me. That's enough to put me in a bad mood for several days at a time.

I don't know that I have just one favorite thing to do when I get in one of these moods. My first instinct is to eat a bowl of ice cream smothered in Magic Shell. That's my favorite comfort food. However, I eat it when I'm in a good mood too. :) Other pick-me-up's include:

*Reading a good book, especially chick lit
*Listening to my favorite music (usually Adam Lambert, other times Alanis Morissette or Michael Buble)
*Watching a funny TV show (these days it is "Modern Family")
*Watching my number one favorite movie ("Where the Heart is"), which is also like comfort food, in a different way.
*Baking challah
*Going for my other comfort food: Chocolate!!!

Stuff you'd expect to see on the list isn't there, right? I left off being with my husband and kids and knitting. I love my husband and kids, but I sometimes take out my bad mood on them, which I know is wrong and I feel awful about. I'm a lot less lenient about letting my kids get away with mischief and I prefer to be in my own little world, lest I snap at my husband for something totally unrelated. Then again, sometimes his work-related stress is the source of my bad mood. He does watch "Modern Family" with me and we can joke about it afterward. Also, I just knit when I need a distraction from waiting (if I'm not in the mood to read at the time).

It doesn't take much to help me break out of a bad mood, since I seek happiness whenever possible. The stuff I lean toward when I'm sad or angry is the same stuff I like to do while I'm in a good mood, just like the ice cream and Magic Shell combo that works like a wonder drug.