2022 Happy To Be Here

When I consider the training course that I am trying to get into, I feel excited. Then starts the anxiety where I think of all the ways that I am lacking. One of the things I started doing today is to take an online free typing tutor to help me increase the speed at which I type. When I have taken free online tests for speed I only type around 32-35 words per minute (WPM).  According to the internet, 40-45 WPM is the average but 65 WPM and higher is where to aim for a job with typing.  I’m hoping that the typing tutor that I am using will help to increase my speed and accuracy. I’m happy that I thought about doing this. The big question is whether I will remember to practice daily when I can. Generally when I decide to do something daily, I’ve been pretty good at it. Other happy things from today: Keziah made a delicious baked French toast that I had when I got home from work. The possibility that I might be getting this training has inspired me to get other things don...

Yesterday's activities left me with very little energy this morning. To be fair, I also wasn't able to stay awake when I wrote yesterday's blog and was up and down most of the night trying to finish it. Whatever the reason, energy was lacking today. Eventually I did pull myself out of bed and was occasionally productive. Here are some happy things from today: Since I knew I would have a hard time getting my step count I started walking to the department store. I left about 45 minutes before Keziah did and she picked me up on her way to the store. Between the walk and department store I had around 8500 steps by lunch time. There was only a little pacing in the evening for me to make my 10,000 step-a-day goal. Along the road I kept seeing a flower. When I finally took a picture of it, I realized that I have seen this flower in other places but forgot its name. The Lens app was no help this time, probably because my picture wasn't very clear. It is a pretty lit...

Thursday should be a nap day, but I wasn't able to stay asleep today. Eventually I gave up and joined Keziah at the studio. She has been there most of this week working on award scrolls that are due this weekend. Time at the studio is almost always good. Here are some other happy things from today: The whorled tickseed are blooming in the front yard. These flowers are supposed to attract butterflies and be native to North America.   Small yellow daylilies are also blooming in the front. The exciting news of the day is that Keziah has made steps forward with her business venture. She is hoping to open a craft related store and today she stumbled on some stock for the store. She still has more steps before things are official, but it is looking very promising. ☮ Currently reading: Pocketful of Miracles: Prayer, Meditations, and Affirmations to Nurture Your Spirit Every Day of the Year , Joan Borysenko. Currently listening to: The Will to Battle , by Ada Palmer Thank yo...

They play music at work and sometimes they take requests. Out of the blue someone requested they play sea shanties, and they did! It only took about four songs before there was mutiny and the music switched back to rock and other more popular music. Other happy things from today: A small step was made to go through one of my many boxes. Last year I got better at getting rid of things, there is still so much more that I need to say goodbye to. When I realized that today wasn't the day to do so, I stopped. A small amount has been added to the burn pile though, so some minor progress was made. More geraniums have bloomed and there are a bunch of new buds. There are also seed pods growing so I may get to try again next year. Orange daylilies are also starting to bloom. I feel like I have much better luck with flowers than I have with fruits and vegetables. ☮ Currently reading: Pocketful of Miracles: Prayer, Meditations, and Affirmations to Nurture Your Spirit Every Day of t...

Happy Summer! Honestly, this month has been flying by so fast that I totally forgot that summer was about to start. Here it is, summer. Some happy things from the longest day of the year: When mowing some of the yard I got covered with pollen from the flowers on the privet bushes. The flowers are pretty and they smell nice too. At work I was given a pin to commemorate the one year anniversary of working there. It was a nice gesture.  The manager who gave me the pin is one of my favorites.  She often has a smile and is enthusiastic. I wasn't going to start reading more books until I finished other ones.  Over the weekend I started reading Live Your Bucket List .  It is on the Kindle app which made it an easier book to bring over weekend camping than a paper one.  I haven't read much yet, but I am liking where it is leading so far. ☮ Currently reading: Pocketful of Miracles: Prayer, Meditations, and Affirmations to Nurture Your Spirit Every Day of the Year ,...

The day started well, I worked on mowing the lawn and pulling some weeds. It was a good new beginning for the yard care. Then I found out that one of the people we went to see the fabric store with last weekend has Covid. So the rest of us (who were still basically symptomless) tested. Keziah and I are negative, but the other person also tested positive. I've canceled my plans that involve being with people outside of the household for the weekend. But, here are some other happy things from today: Keziah and I went to the studio. We were the only ones in the building and she had some things to finish up and bring home. One of those things was to sew some things on the machine so she would have hand sewing to finish them up. She asked me to help by sewing them while she worked on something else. Unfortunately, the sewing machine didn't want to work properly. I decided to check and see if some thread or something was stuck inside. It turns out, what was stuck insid...

The day started with me being lazy. Eventually I was able to put myself together and get out of the house to run errands and go for a walk with my friend, Amy. Here are some happy things from today: Talking with TF this morning I learned that Texas was supposed to have a high temperature of about 101 degrees. I sure am happy that I live in New England where today's high temperature was supposed to be around 79 degrees. Sorry TF, I hope your AC is working well. Along the trail Amy and I walked we saw some blue herons. Another thing that caught my eye was a lovely pink flower. Lens identifies them as sweet William, but I don’t remember the sweet WIlliams in the yard last year looking like these. My memory isn’t the greatest though. It also is a similar type of flower as the ones I saw in a neighbor's yard down the street, the dianthus. More research…if I can make the time… is required.  There were more than just pink colors too. In our yard some roses have bloomed and th...

May is almost over and I feel like I should have done more or something. The month seems to have flown by. Every day I look for things to be happy about. Today that included pushing myself to make phone calls that I didn't want to make. This was a small step that I need to follow-up with later, but the first step is behind me and that is good. My other happy things for today are more normal: I took a nap. I don't tend to sleep much on Thursdays and it means I'm tired on Fridays. I need to work on this by napping more on Thursdays, but the nap was good. I mowed some of the lawn. We have six or seven areas to mow and it is harder for me to keep up with it lately, even with Gideon's help. Whenever parts feel done, it is a good thing. Earlier this week I wrote about getting a Bluetooth speaker that I can wear on my wrist. It worked perfectly while mowing. I could hear the music over the sound of the mower and groove to a beat while I pushed. There is a plant ...

After work I took a short power nap. I thought it did me good but I am still really tired. Hopefully that means I'll fall asleep once I finish this up.  I feel like I have been tired for days.  Some happy things from today: Gideon found a book about plants that are edible and decided to look for some in the yard. We ended up identifying what we think is thyme-leaved Speedwell. That variety of Speedwell wasn't in the book he had, but we have a new plant identified. We are trying to press it and I hope that he will find a way to preserve what he is learning. Gideon and I also did some mowing and weed whacking a little of the yard. ☮ Currently reading: Pocketful of Miracles: Prayer, Meditations, and Affirmations to Nurture Your Spirit Every Day of the Year , Joan Borysenko. And Tracking & The Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Sign , by Paul Rezendes. Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

When I was a kid, we lived on the outskirts of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. I remember falling asleep to the sounds of crickets and a whippoorwill. Instead of falling asleep, last night I left for work and heard a whippoorwill in the woods outback. For a moment, I was four again, lying in bed imagining some great big bird making that trilling whippoorwill sound over the chirping crickets.  We had a bird identification guide and the picture (drawing) made me think the bird was rather large.  According to the internet , it is a medium sized bird.  Other happy things from today: Another thing that can bring back memories of time gone by is seeing the moon. I seem to have a vague memory from childhood of seeing the moon out during the day and thinking it was a silly time for the moon to be up.   Yesterday I mentioned the smell of the lilacs, today it is here. Many of the blossoms have opened and the tree is spackled with floral splendor. From a distan...

 The temperature outside is a little over 70 degrees and mostly sunny.  There are more signs of flowers to bloom soon in the yard.  The lilacs are already starting to open up.   Soon the sweet fragrance will be carried on the breeze and people with lilac allergies will be dismayed.  To my knowledge, that is not an allergy I suffer from and I will enjoy this.  Other happy things today: I noticed one paper white (narcissus) bud and some lily of the valley buds. Here is what some might consider an odd thing to be happy about; I paid some bills.  They weren't regular monthly bills and so I have been forgetting that they existed.  Now they are paid and I am happy that is DONE. For Weaving Wednesday I found the pattern and did a very small amount of weaving.  Only one repeat of the pattern and I didn't take a picture.  I'm glad I picked up the loom again and worked on it.  Every little bit is closer to done.   ☮ Currently ...

Planting all the flowering things in the triangle part of the driveway was a brilliant move last year.  There are more tulips blooming as others fade and I can see what I think are the irises and paper whites coming up for when the tulips are no more.  I have plans for taking another section of the yard by the road and filling it with bulbs/tubers/pips/rhizomes/seeds to bring joy next year. Other happy things from today include: -The lights have finally been removed from the Christmas tree we had out front.  We thought the lights were broken, but they are working now that they are coiled up and ready to be stored.  The tree is in a burn pile and all that left me the room I needed for the raised step bed I put together yesterday.    -The geraniums that I have been trying to grow for over a year now look good, but they aren't producing any buds.  I placed them outside next to the raised step bed in hopes that more sunshine will help them flou...

 When I got home from work I decided to watch a little more Gilmore Girls .  A few hours later I had completed all there was to watch and was in tears from the show.  I am happy that I have finished this series.  It was good to have something to sit down and watch, but I think I have been less productive because of it.  Other happy things from today: I have slept.  Probably not quite enough still, but I napped and then fell asleep on the couch after dinner while Gideon and Zed watched things. Keziah is away this weekend being an assistant to a friend at a convention.  They arrived safely to their destination after driving all day. I'm really enjoying coming home to the tulips and other flowering plants that I put into the ground at the triangle in the driveway.   ☮ Currently reading: Pocketful of Miracles: Prayer, Meditations, and Affirmations to Nurture Your Spirit Every Day of the Year , Joan Borysenko. And The Middle Ages: A Graphic Histo...

Today was spent mostly at airports.  TF drove me to the Austin Airport super early.  There was a four hour layover in Baltimore and I got back to NH around 3 PM.  Keziah picked me up and we went home.  Then laundry and it is time for me to go to bed to get ready for work tonight. Bye, Austin! Bye, Baltimore! Hello, Manchester! Happy things from today: TF has cats.  I forgot to write about them.  Instead I will just share a few pictures of the cuteness. During the four hour layover I walked back and forth along the concourse and got all my steps for the day in! The flowers at home are much closer to blooming.  There are some that I forgot what I planted. ☮ Currently reading: Pocketful of Miracles: Prayer, Meditations, and Affirmations to Nurture Your Spirit Every Day of the Year , Joan Borysenko. Currently listening to: Seven Surrenders , by Ada Palmer Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

It was a rainy day with passing thunderstorms in Texas. During a lull between the storms I went for a walk to help me get some steps in. I didn’t make it back before the rain started again, but it was close. This was the first time in the four days of being here that I haven’t had to get the rest of my steps in after dark walking the neighborhood. Yay! Other happy things from today: The Blue Bonnets are starting to turn to seed and are still very pretty. I got some pictures of some other flowers while out walking too. There was a section of trail with slightly gnarly trees that were dark from the rain. It was only a slightly eerie feeling so I proceeded. At one point while it was raining steadily, I went out to just listen and take a picture of the water falling onto the trampoline. Someone not too far from where TF lives has a Tardis for a gate door. ☮ Currently reading: Pocketful of Miracles: Prayer, Meditations, and Affirmations to Nurture Your Spirit Every Day of the Year ,...

Today TF and I visited Bel, Folke at my ex-husband and his wife's place. Bel and Folke are making a recreational vehicle out of an old school bus. We helped them out. It was so great to see them and be able to take part in some of the build.  Today's other happy things: Today I almost said goodbye to my 10,000 steps a day streak. I had hoped to finish getting my steps once we got back to TF's house, but the car broke down. My fitbit didn't move to Texas time like I did. I changed the settings on the Fitbit so it will follow whatever time zone I'm in now. We got back to the house in time for me to get the steps in. As mentioned earlier, the car broke down. We called Bel and they came to the rescue with Folke and my ex-husband. Family can ve a wonderful thing.  We managed to break down across the street from an auto supply store.  That made getting parts easy.  Unfurtunately, the fix didn't quite fix the problem.  It did get us back to TF's house ...