Taking It Down A Notch

It's not like I never get out of the house or anything.  I'm aware of stuff.  I have also been a wage-earning member of society for quite some time now and, as such, have had any number of interactions with financial institutions.  I'm all about the electronic banking and bill paying.  I have the ability to manage The Sheepish Financial Empire through both the stamping of envelopes and the clicking of keys.  I get it.

In fact, I am so much a part of the digital age, that I haven't actually dealt with a brick and mortar bank in a while.  I can't remember when I last received a check that wasn't directly deposited on my behalf. However, having recently acquired payment for services rendered, I was in need of depositing.  Since I was out and about this morning well before 9:00, I decided to deposit my check at the ATM instead of waiting for the bank doors to be thrown open in welcome.

I was unprepared.  Who knew that ATM transactions had become so simplistic?  In fact, it was so simple that I found myself utterly flummoxed.  It was sort of like when I switched from a PC to a Mac.  Everything was so easy to do that it seemed too good to be true and it all took longer under the influence of my disbelief.  Today's deposit became an exercise in over-thinking things.

I couldn't figure out how to insert my card so that the magnetic strip would tell the door to open for me. The detailed illustration above the slot wasn't helping matters one little bit.  I spent several minutes searching for an envelope under the sign that said, "Banking made simple!  No envelope needed!"  I jumped about three miles when the check-sucker took my money away from me.  I became so transfixed by the picture of my check showing on the screen in all its perfectly rendered glory that I narrowly made it to the "OK" button in time to let the machine know my check was acceptable for deposit as presented.  I ran out of hands to push all the buttons and praise the ATM for all its good work.  I had to put my wallet (which I'd taken out because I assumed that something in there would be needed for some reason) on the floor and almost forgot it.  Then I had to throw my body in front of the door before it closed and left my poor wallet held hostage until the bank opened for business.

It was all too much.  I needed to come home and slow things down a little bit.  The world of high finance is a very scary thing.  It was time to appreciate the simpler things in life.

Simple things...like some nice warm brownies and the fresh, almost-60-degree air as it wafted through the open windows.  

Or a snuggly blankie, a good book from the library and a little bit of sock knitting.  Yes.  I am aware of the fact that the sock doesn't look all that much bigger than it did the last time you saw it.  But it is.  A little.  I was enjoying all that simple stuff and couldn't concentrate...

Or how about kitties napping in various squooshy beds and baskets around the house:

Squooshy bed.

Basket.

I'd show a picture of me napping, but I was asleep so I couldn't take a picture.  Plus, I was just on the couch and that's not quite so cute as the squooshy bed or basket nappin'.  But, rest assured, I was all about the simple pleasures.

Tomorrow, I'll maybe churn some butter or raise a barn.  I'm feeling rather inspired by all this simplificatin'.  I don't have a butter churn, though.  I should probably go online to check my bank balance before I head on over to the Butter Me Up website...

SA