2022 Happy To Be Here

With care, we hung the stockings by the chimney -that no longer works- in the living room.  Winston by the fire. Happy Christmas Eve!  Here are some happy highlights from today: What we are using as a Christmas tree this year is finally ready. Keziah had this idea and yesterday she put it together. Today it got decorated and the presents were placed nearby. She created a "tree" out of the empty boxes we've been receiving deliveries in. Unfortunately, many things came in bags instead. The "tree" is perfect for the safety of the cats. Nanni is under the "tree". Not only did I get myself a laptop with money I've been saving, I got myself a Kindle Fire tablet with my overtime money from this month. It arrived today. I don't know when I will have the time to start using my new toys.  I may have gone overboard on myself this year. We watched three holiday shows this evening. The first was my favorite, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas . Gideon s...

The long day of travel yesterday after a day of packing and travel left me very tired today.  I wish I could say that unpacking happened, but I had an errand to run.  My morning went slow and when I went to leave, some things happened that got me very frustrated.   Thankfully I got a call from TF.  We didn't talk while I was gone so it was really nice to hear her voice.  Other happy things from today: --After my errand I went for a walk.   This helped improve my mood even more. --The woods were pretty today.  I mostly followed a 5K marked trail. --Someone, maybe the library, placed book pages along one of the trails. ☮️ Thank you for being part of my happy things.  Stay safe. 

My children… okay, adult children, have found a book to enjoy. It is a murder mystery that is put together in the wrong order. Bel is scouring through it with post-it notes and a notebook.  The book is made so that the owner can cut out the pages to rearrange them into the right order. If only I could have found homeschooling materials that were so interesting when they were kids! Other happy things from today: The milkweed has started growing the seed pods. They are so cute! Wild sweet William is blooming amid the weeds of the flower garden. Today I reached day 1300 on DuoLingo. One of the things I forgot to mention about the GNEW is how wonderful it was to see so many of the activities sheep themed. There were sheep on the fighting fields and I think as thrown weapons targets. My favorite was the archery target that had little sheep dangling that were to be protected from the wolf just beyond them. The objective, of course, was to hit the wolf while missing the sheep. ☮ Curr...

 This morning I finished reading Faith Hacker , by Jim Wilcox.  After finishing this book I contemplated many things, one was writing a review.  I decided not to, although I will put something below here on my blog.  I decided to update my Goodreads and I found a few things that I had forgotten to update and say that I was finished and one that I hadn't entered that I started.  The result is that I am in the middle of five books currently.  One of them is a daily reader with meditations and perhaps shouldn't count.  Anyhow, five books and yet I started looking for other books to read.  Thankfully I stopped myself.  In the last two months I have already added three more books that I haven't started yet.  That said, I like having paper, audio, and digital choices at the same time.  I also like having fiction and non-fiction at the same time.  These allow me to choose depending on my mood or time constraints.  Non-fiction ten...

 When I am at work and the end of the day is closing in and work offers to let people go home early, I often do.  It is self care.  Sometimes I regret this choice when my paycheck arrives, but then again, not really.  There are huge benefits to living with my daughter, her husband, and my grandson.  Financially, rent is cheap.  The biggest and the best benefit is that I am with my family.  Do I want to move sometimes?  Sure I do!  Mostly, it is a wonderful experience.  Keziah suggested I start watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix.  I like to sit and watch something when I come home from work, it keeps me from using my feet.  After the episode Keziah and I ended up having a brief but sort of deep talk about our growing up.   It was a special moment that I am grateful to have had the opportunity.   Keziah was snuggling with Aesop. Other happy things for today: Keziah also suggested a book that she thinks that T...