Foggy

Happy things from today:

• TF called today so we were able to catch up on all the things that happened over Christmas.  It seems to have been good all around.
• Gideon had a friend over today.  It was nice to hear them playing together.
• The day was wet.  Most of the day held either rain or fog.  The fog can be pretty.  Where the sun shone on the trees yesterday, today those trees were veiled with fog.

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Currently listening to: Robin, by Dave Itzkoff.  

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve things:

• While preparing gifts for people Gideon said, “I'm filling secret stockings with secret things for Christmas time. Hehehehe”.  I love my grandson.

• TF and I had a nice Christmas Eve conversation.  She will be busy all day tomorrow with family.  
• We didn't put up a regular Christmas tree this year.  The time for that just didn't happen.  Instead, Zed made a wreath and we all added a little something to it.  It is perfect for our busy selves this year.  There is a little silver tabletop tree that also went up as a decoration.  

• The only tradition that I know was started by my ex-husband and myself is the giving of a holiday book on Christmas Eve.  I have nothing to do with it anymore, it is all Keziah, Zed, and Gideon.  My youngest, Bel, doesn't do this.  Whether that will change or not if they have children, only time will tell.  It is something fun to open Christmas Eve that also has the potential to relax a small or excited child before bed.  We all have fun opening our books and reading before bed.

Some gifts are wrapped in fabric this year. 

• The book I received this year was a children's book picked out by Gideon.  The book, The Twelve Hours of Christmas, is written to match up with the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas".  At Gideon's suggestion, we sang the book together as a family.  That was fun and may just be the highlight of my Christmas 2023.

Merry Christmas!!  Happiest of holidays!

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Read/sang: The Twelve Hours of Christmas, by Jenn Bailey

Currently listening to: Robin, by Dave Itzkoff.  

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

DIY

Happy things from today:

• The early part of the day I spent mostly at DIY Craft & Thrift.  Spending time with family and friends is always important.  Today I got to do that, and help at the store when they had other places to go.  
• Keziah has a new sign hanging in her shop that I think says a lot about the store.  She got it from one of the popup artists that are sharing the building she is in.

It says,  "We are a no kill shelter for craft supplies."

• Also at the store, the door was painted for the holiday season.  It came out well. 

Hard at work.

• At home in the evening we had dinner together and watched some Star Trek Voyager.   It is so nice be around a nice, fun family.

☮️

Currently listening to: How to Win Friends & Influence People, by Dale Carnegie.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Change of Plans

Sunday's happy/good things:

• Yesterday, I had plans for today.  I had expected to write about seeing a Christmas performance and spending time with friends.  Instead, I decided to give myself a covid test.  What I thought were mild allergy symptoms turned out to be mild covid.  Or, maybe I caught it super early?  Whichever, I'm isolated in my room again.  The only good part is that I did the test and didn't spend the day with friends and didn't infect them.  
• Last week I wrote about my long phone call with TF.  Today, it was longer.  She let me vent my frustration over having this virus again and we found things to laugh about.  Laughing is a wonderful thing. 
• When I had covid last time (three weeks ago?) I was tired and felt miserable most of the time.  That is not the case so far.  I used holiday romance movies on Netflix to keep myself from climbing the walls.  I miss my family.  I've been working so much, and so have they, that we haven't seen much of each other.  It turns out, that is also a good thing.  Hopefully, this virus will stay contained with me.
• The world outside my bedroom window this afternoon:

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Currently listening to: Ridgeline, by Michael Punke.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Communication

Happy Sunday things:

• Communication has changed over my lifetime and even more over that of my parent's. My mother was a switchboard operator (this is apparently still a job, but updated) for a while. She would direct calls by talking with a person and then plugging their line into the right outlet. I'm sure there was more to it than that. As a kid, one place where we lived had a party line. Somehow different numbers went to the same line and the phone rang differently for the different homes. The phone bills were based partly on the service area. A person was charged if the phone number wasn't local based on how long they talked. Today, many of us use cellular phones and we pay one fee and can talk with anyone in the same country as long as we want and pay the same price (usually high). It depends on a person's cellular company and plan. The point I am trying to make with this very wordy section, is that I was able to talk with TF in Texas for over two hours today and it won't change how much my bill is. It can make budgeting easier and conversations more relaxed. I remember watching the clock so my bill wouldn't be too high. TF and I were able to catch up since our last call, a week or two ago? 😄
• Today was mostly a day of rest for me. I snuggled in my warm bed and finished listening to my book and played games on my phone…and talked on it.
• While watching things this evening Winston, the orange tabby, curled up on the blanket on my lap. He let me pet him for close to an hour. This is odd for either of our cats. It has been almost three years and I think they are finally getting more cuddly. Perhaps it is because they are getting older?

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Finished listening to: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Small Business Saturday

Happy Saturday things:

• Despite staying in bed for hours after waking this morning, I couldn't get back to sleep.  I've decided that my sleep is enough of a problem that I am going to look for and apply for a different job.  I'm ready to have a daytime job again and, oddly, I'm a little excited for this possibility. 
• Today was Small Business Saturday.  Keziah's store was busy, but not as busy as she expected.  It is really good to see fabric selling so well at the sale price.  I helped put out a bunch of scrapbooking and other supplies today.  At the end of the day she decided to “pay” herself and brought home some lovely natural fiber fabrics.

Keziah sorting in the backroom.

Filling the shelves!

• Some friends were also at the store today and it was good to get to visit with them.
• When we got home from the store, Gideon brought my attention to the night sky.  There weren't a lot of stars visible, but the moon was shining and lighting up the thin clouds.  It was very pretty.

☮

Currently listening to: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain. 

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Monday Walk

 Happy Monday things:

• This morning I had another appointment with the physical therapist.  I have some more new stretches to add to the ones from last week.  The good news is that there are some he isn't having me do because I don't need them.  
• My errands were completed.  I'm in a bad phase right now.  I love edible cookie dough. 
• This afternoon I had a really nice walk out with friends.  We had great conversation and lovely views around Dorrs Pond.  

☮

Finished reading: Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Crown

Happy things from today:

• It was an SCA event day.  Keziah went to an Arts and Sciences event in Connecticut.  Gideon and I went to Massachusetts.  The three of us left very early and got to see a beautiful orange sky as the sun rose.  We drove together to Nashua, NH.  Then Keziah went with a friend to Connecticut, and Gideon and I picked up a friend to go to Massachusetts. 

• Gideon, our friend, and I went to breakfast next.  I decided to be good and ordered an omelet instead of French toast.  A good breakfast was the right way to start off our day.
• The event we went to was Crown Tourney.  Last month the new King and Queen stepped up.  This month their successors were chosen by winning the day's fights. In this case a man fought for a man so we have two Princes.  It was a good day with good friends.
• I met someone today who is a metal craftsmen.  He gave a buckle he made to me and one to my friend.  He also showed us a spur that was made in the 1350's or thereabouts (I think).  He had this spur in a box with the things he made.  It seemed like it should be in a museum, but we all got to hold and look at it.  Pretty cool.  I should have taken a picture of it.  Here is the buckle he made:

• Gideon came to the event with me so he could be there when some of his friends got Tiger's Cub awards.  It was a long day for all of us, but he was especially ready to leave when the event was over.
• After dinner we dropped off our friend in Nashua and picked Keziah up.  On the drive home we all got to share stories from our event experiences. 

More pictures from the day:

☮

Currently reading: Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Howl

Happy things from today:

• This morning I helped Keziah at the store by decorating the photo booth. I think I did okay.  The animatronics were leant to Keziah by her nice neighbor at the Candle Tree store.

• Halloween Howl was long and I wasn't there the entire time (I had a meeting).  It was great to see the costumes.  Keziah gave out a huge amount of candy, stickers, and snacks.  I took some pictures at the photo booth for people.  One rather unique costume I saw was a washing machine.  One person had red contact lenses to make their costume that much more striking.
• The Inktober prompt is Beast.  

• The moon was lovely again tonight.  Here are some other pictures from today:

Sensory bin

☮️

Currently reading: Year of the Griffin, by Diana Wynne Jones. 

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.

Celestial

Happy Monday!  It was a pretty good day, here are some happy things:

• Yesterday I did quite a few word games, mostly Sedecordle.  When I fell asleep I was still trying to complete the 11 letter, 16 words within 21 tries, Sedecordle.  I was able to complete it when I woke up this morning.  It was the first time I tried that particular version and I was thrilled to get it done.

• There is a little plot of land that I have had covered to kill the weeds.  I covered it, then forgot.  I uncovered the area today, dug it up and planted a bunch of crocus that I bought and three iris that someone gave me.  Because it was covered for so long I had pretty much killed the soil. So, I fertilized it and added potting soil as well as covered it with mulch.  Hopefully, come spring, there will be crocuses. 

• While walking to the backyard to dump stuff into the compost area I saw a deer bounding away in the back.  
• Another time walking to the back I followed a butterfly so I could get a picture of it on a dandelion.  

• In the afternoon I went for a walk with my friend, Amy.  We saw ducks, crows, and pretty fall foliage.  It is always good to walk with her.

• The Inktober prompt for today is Celestial.  I had a hard time with this one.

It is supposed to be an ocean horizon with the moon rising on one side and the sun setting on the other.  Again I say that I am not an artist.  I am enjoying the creativity involved though.

☮

Finished listening to: Dark Lord of Derkholm, by Diana Wynne Jones.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.