Confession is the First Step

It's industrial.  It's plain.  It's nothing at all like some of the neighbors' deck areas or sunrooms.  We really tried to live without it.  Last winter, when some serious wind gusts took down our last canopy, we thought about our neighbors who had to look at it every day.  We thought about how it cut some of my beloved morning light into the kitchen.  We thought about upgrading or simply doing without.

Last week-end, we put another one up.  We sat in the shade on our rockers, listened to the fountain, watched our boys try to kill each other on the trampoline, and finally admitted the truth: 

we really are canopy people.  

Perhaps our neighbors will be speaking to us again by the end of the summer.

Whimsy

At some point in the last couple of months, this tiara found its way to the bananas.  Ever since that fateful night, each new bunch of bananas to join our family gets a crown.

I now find myself feeling a little sorry for any fruit without such adornment.

What images make you smile today?

The Happiness Project

April 18, 2011

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

-Alexander Pope,
An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733

Your turn!

Plumbed

I spend a lot of time thinking about toilets. I think about all those generations of people who had to brave blizzards, or snakes, or odors just to go. I think about all those families suffocating in tenements with more than fifty people sharing one broken toilet. I think about women carrying and emptying chamber pots - sometimes on the unsuspecting heads of people in the street below. I think about the masses moving westward with only an empty prairie as a sewer. And I think about all my intimate encounters with IBS as Checkered has sped through the hills of West Virginia or Colorado or Kentucky while I prayed for just one open rest stop.

Trust me, there is nothing that makes me quite as happy as my own indoor toilet.

What overlooked elements of your life make you happy today?

How quickly can I get another appointment?

My herniated disk and I have lived together for many years now in relative peace. Occasionally, it gets upset and says a cruel word or two to me, but other times it has a full-blown temper tantrum and screams and threatens to take hostages. A variety of doctors have given me their best advice, but truthfully? Nothing much helps. It's just a waiting game for the disk to get its temper back under control so we can go about our lives.

Then yesterday happened. An impulsive call to a chiropractor near our local 7-11. I figured if the treatment didn't work, I could at least console myself with a Slurpee. I sat in the waiting room second-guessing my decision. Our insurance doesn't cover it. Heavy-duty pain pills really can be lovely. I was almost ready to leave when it was my turn. I allowed that very nice man to push me around and pummel me a bit. He even strapped my ankles to a table and bounced me. I felt marginally better. And then I met the water table.

It looks just like this one, and it's one of the greatest gifts technology has given us. A water bed, a heater, rolling massage thingies. It was almost as good as warm, sunny April day with a gentle breeze. It may have only been ten minutes that I was allowed to use my new favorite friend, but if I could have moved quickly enough, I might have punched the chiropractor for telling me I had to leave.

I don't think my back was any better after I left the table, but those ten minutes?

Pure bliss.

What is making you happy this week?

Revenge can be so sweet

All year there has been division between the varsity and junior varsity choirs at our high school. I suppose the division is easy enough to understand, but much harder to accept - especially when the division gets snarky and my daughter is in the j.v.

"I'm having a party this week-end. Oh sorry! It's for varsity only."

"Hey, all the choir kids should eat lunch together. Oops! I meant varsity."

But despite the us and them mentality, both choirs had vocal ensembles which made it to the state finals last week. The varsity ensemble went first and received a second class rating. In all their wisdom, they lectured the junior varsity:

"We got only a 2, so since you're only the junior varsity, be prepared to get a 3 or even the lowest score: a 4."

Now don't you just love it? The junior varsity ensemble got the highest rating: a 1.

And to make it just a little sweeter, the junior varsity ensemble was ranked 4th in our division of the state. The varsity? Unranked.

When the varsity group posted on Facebook that their lives were ruined because they had lost to the "lesser" ensemble, well, I shook my head. But I have to admit, I smiled like a maniac, too.

To read about what makes other people happy, go visit Leigh.

Westward ho! (and keep your mind out of the gutter)

What has brought me happiness?

The blue ski blessing us as we fly across the prairie to kiss the wind.

That there is a pop-up camper following us is another matter...

Maybe it's just my poor pronunciation,

...but does this seem like the most promising name for a restaurant?

For other reasons to smile, go see Leigh.

Guess which one...

My Happiness Project entry ~ my girls, one of whom is NOT allowed on the furniture.

Do you allow your loved ones to sit on your furniture?

Green Dreams

My thumb is as green as my attention span is long. What does that mean? There's not even a hint of green on my thumb. Fortunately, that doesn't stop me from trying. Each winter when the first seed catalog arrives, my hopes are renewed, my enthusiasm recharged, and my garden plans ridiculous.

I'll order. I'll plant. I'll even water - for a while. Then I'll spend the rest of the growing season feeling guilty about my dying, weed-encroached garden.

Then January will arrive, and the process will start all over again.

I couldn't be happier!

What makes you happy today?

Phone Apps

So Leigh wants to know what makes me happy this week. Forget the organizers and shopping helpers and news links on my phone. My current favorite app is:

I canNOT stop playing!
Do you have a favorite phone app? Tell me! I will need something else to do when I beat this game :)

Who Says It's Not All About Winning?

I see my parents and sisters and their families only a handful of times every year, so each moment with them is important to me. We talk and eat, but the part I love best is that when these guys are doing this:

some of us are doing this:

What makes you happy about family reunions?

Throwing Caution to the Wind and Surviving

After twenty years of making apple pie the same way, I got brave and tried a new recipe.  A little too much nutmeg for me, but that didn't seem to matter to anyone else in the family.

The Happiness Project: Soaking

Every morning, before the sun crests the neighbors' house, these two stumble down their bed ladders and drag themselves to this ancient hot tub.  They slowly awaken and warm-up and what begins as a quiet journey to the backyard soon becomes a laughing fest. That old vessel was a good investment after all.

My Middle Name is NOT Fundraiser

I like Scouting.  Really.  It provides my sons with terrific experiences and learning opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have.  That's why I volunteer my time with our local pack.  That's also why I pay dues.  And it's why we pay for summer camp and any other field trips.  I even like the mom who volunteers her time to coordinate fundraising for our pack.  BUT I HATE SELLING POPCORN!!!!

Go on now.  Tell me all about how much of the popcorn sales come back to the local level.  Tell my boys what marvelous prizes they can win if they sell but $600 or $1100 or $12,000,000 worth of the stuff.  Tell me how it's my duty as a leader and parent to support our programs.  I get it all, but that doesn't change the way I feel about fundraising.

So why am I happy??

Unbalanced bottom line or not, this fundraising popcorn is leaving my house tonight. 

Wouldn't that make anyone smile?

What is it that's making you smile?

Happiness in Detroit

Why am I happy?

It's not because the Detroit Lions lost every.single.game in 2008.

Nor is it because they won only two games in 2009.

They've even lost every game this season...until Sunday, when they won.

They won!

And I was there to see it.

Go figure.

It's big stuff even for a non-sports fan like me.

This 44-6 victory brought to you by:

Happiness IS a Choice

I detest grocery shopping.  Abhor it.  Despise it.  It involves having to plan (not a good thing in my book) and spending lots of money for something I can't even wear.  But yesterday, on a perfectly gorgeous fall day, I decided to choose happiness to accompany me on that odious task.  Why happiness?

• Because we are employed and therefore able to pay the bill,
• Because my back is strong enough to push the full cart,
• Because we will have 48 hours where no one will say, "There's nothing to eat in this house!"
• Because we have 3,000,000 grocery stores in a one mile radius from our house- which is good
• Because I will have to go back tomorrow since I never use a list,
• That is why I choose happiness (okay, maybe not that last dot.)

Now what makes YOU happy today?

The Happiness Project: Medic!

What makes me happy?  Camping with friends who are also paramedics. It is very handy when:

Child #2 decides to break rocks between his bare feet and cuts his ankle nearly to the bone.

and

Child #4 is bitten by a dog.

Poor Lt. Matt.  He may have to vacation with us for years to come.

Now fly over to Leigh's place, and tell us what makes YOU happy.

The Happiness Project: Summer School

You know what makes me happy this week? Getting the closest parking spot at work.

Now go spread a little happiness of your own!

The Forgotten Title Happiness Project Post

I have no idea if they're healthy or not.  However, I do know that if I slice a banana on top of Chocolate Cheerios, I don't even miss not having an Iced Capp from Tim Hortons.  Okay.  That's a stretch, but I do love this little chocolaty gift.  It's an almost perfect reward for getting out of bed. 

For more happiness, go here: