Currently & the Happiness Challenge

I'm feeling relaxed and ready for Monday after having a 3-day birthday weekend. We didn't do anything super exciting on Friday, my actual birthday. We'd wanted to go to the big flea market in Rodgers, OH, but between my bum leg and the temperatures reaching the low 90's...we decided to skip it. Instead we spent the day together, doing this and that, having lunch with my mom (who has the same birthday) and stepdad, swimming with the grandchildren, and going out for dinner with our daughter's family.

Tim worked both Saturday and Sunday so it was no big deal that I went grocery shopping for the blind man I take care of and prepped a few meals for him on Saturday morning. It took a while as I really have to put some thought into it these days. He was already on a low salt, low sugar diet due to heart problems and diabetes. This past week he was diagnosed with throat cancer and for now has to be on a diet of soft and chopped foods.

Saturday afternoon I watched our grandchildren and took them swimming. Our son-in-law's grandmother passed away that morning and the kids were close to her so they needed to get away from the sadness and do something fun. It gave the rest of the family a break, too.

Today I picked up a grocery order at Walmart, did some laundry, watched TV, and my daughter and I spent the afternoon making things for this coming Saturday's craft show. I also signed us up for another in October and one in November.

Anyway, on to Currently!

The weather... is a humid 74 degrees.

I'm reading... I just finished Wrapped Up in Christmas Hope and haven't decided what to read next.

I'm watching... I've been binging Warehouse 13. I'm nearly done. Only a few more episodes to go.

I'm listening... to a lot more country music again.

I'm thinking... about what to teach this Wednesday at work and about getting everything ready for Saturday's craft show (actually, we'll be selling our stuff at the opening day of the midget football season).

I'm celebrating... now that my birthday is over, nothing for a while.

I'm grateful... that everything went smoothly with that troublesome client I have to be a one-on-one with when my co-worker goes away. That's encouraging since he's going away for another whole week in September.

I'm happy today because my leg hasn't been too bad and life is just good. I'm blessed and I know it.

I'm giggling... 

Saturday 9: Shout (1985)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

This month we're going to recall Summer Songs. These will all be records that topped the charts during August.

1) Number 1 on the charts in August 40 years ago, the lyrics to "Shout" encourage us to "let it all out." When is the last time you raised your voice?  My leg was hurting so much Thursday evening that I'm sure I raised my voice a few times when I tried to stand up.

2) This week's featured artists, Tears for Fears, were a duo -- Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith -- who met as teenagers in Bath, the largest city in Somerset, England. Bath has been named one of The Great Spa Towns of Europe. Popular spa treatments include massages, facials, body scrubs and wraps, mineral baths, manicures and pedicures. If you could treat yourself to a spa treatment today, which would you choose?  I'm in need of a manicure, but the mineral bath (if it's warm) would likely win out due to my stupid leg.

3) When they first met, one of the things Roland and Curt bonded over was that they were both raised by single mothers. Who was your best friend during your teen years? What did you two bond over?  Dana was my best friend all through our teens. We bonded over our love of sports and a shared goofiness. 

4) Curt's wife, Frances Pennington, has had a long career in marketing, beginning in the record business and transitioning to fashion. Which industry do you think you'd enjoy more -- music or fashion?  I'm not sure I'd enjoy either, but there's a better chance it would be music than fashion. At my age I'm more about comfort than fashion.

5) Roland married his childhood sweetheart, Caroline Johnston. They were together for 35 years, until her death. Do you know whatever became of your childhood sweetheart?  I never really had a childhood sweetheart. I had a few crushes, but that was it until my teens.

Let's look at the summer of 1985.

6) That summer, Chicago teenager Balu Natarajan won the National Spelling Bee. Are you a good speller?  Most of the time.

7) Tinker Bell took her first nightly flight at Walt Disney World in Florida. Do you recall which Disney movie introduced us to Tinker Bell?  Peter Pan

8) Derek Hough was a baby in the summer of 1985. In 2007 he became a regular on Dancing with the Stars, acclaimed for his ballroom dancing. Are you good on the dance floor?  I was back in the 80s. At the moment I'm lucky I can walk, let alone dance.

9) In 1985, Michael J. Fox became the first actor to have the #1 movie at the box office and the #1 TV show in the ratings. The movie was Back to the Future and the TV show was Family Ties. Have you seen the movie? Were you a fan of the show?  I've seen the movie and I did like the show back in the day. I recently watched an episode of it and didn't think it stood the test of time.

August Happiness Challenge - Day 8

Today my heating pad made me happy. Y'all know the trouble and pain I've been having with my leg. Last night I took the elderly blind man I take care of to his Lion's Club dinner meeting. By the time the meeting was over it was all I could do to stand up from my chair and walk out of the country club. The pain was excruciating.

I called off work today in the hope that rest would help. I even skipped the ibuprofen and took the meloxicam. It really wasn't getting any better. Then I thought I'd try my heating pad. I don't know why....everyone has always advised me to ice my leg.

Heat is my new best friend! I kept the heat on for a couple of hours and my leg felt a lot better. Not healed or anything miraculous like that, but better. Better enough that at 4:00 I was able to head to my client's home and prep his meals for the weekend (fortunately I had done the shopping yesterday before going to dinner). 

I hope this new discovery will help me manage until next month. My PCP referred me to an orthopedic doctor and the first available appointment was September 8.

I wonder what work would say if I bring my heating pad with me?

Happiness Challenge - Day 6

Every day on my way to and from work I pass a small field, someone's long, sloping front yard, really. This year whoever lives there planted the entire space with sunflowers. The flowers bloomed in the past week. So now I get to see their little faces tipped up to the sun every morning...a whole sea of them. It makes me smile every time I see them. It makes other people happy, too. I've seen several people pulled over to photograph the scene.

Happiness Challenge - Day 5

Today my co-worker's kindness made me happy. He cares deeply about our clients...co-workers, usually not so much. We've gotten to know each other better over the past few months and while he can be cold, even callous, to others...he's been helping me out a LOT as I deal with my leg pain. I appreciate it so much.

*And no, there is no danger of romantic entanglement. One, I'm old enough to be his mother, and two, he is married. To a man.

August Happiness Challenge

It's August. The annual August Happiness Challenge has begun. I forgot until I saw some other posts today. Oops.

Feel free to join in. Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Our daughter makes me happy. As we've been going through health things she's stepped up and been a big help when we needed her.

Mowing grass is a big job around here. Between all of us, we mow our yard, my mom's yard, our daughter's yard, and a neighbor's yard. It had been a while since anyone had done the trimming and it was showing after all the heavy rain we had last week. Today our daughter got out the walk-behind trimmer and cleaned things up. It looks so much better. That and her helpfulness make me happy.

Currently Stealing Like a Sunday Morning

It's been a quiet, but productive weekend. Tim has worked both days and our daughter's family has been busy. Left to my own devices I've been doing some decluttering, as in I sent 5 lawn and leaf sized bags of clothes and nearly as much miscellaneous junk off to Goodwill. Every last bit of it had been stored in the three main closets in the house. Yikes! I love how much room is in them now. I can actually get to things without a tsunami of "stuff" falling out on me.

I plan to be just as busy today, but this morning I'm giving myself a bit of a break...at least until I go to pick up the grocery order at Walmart. What better way to pass the time than with Currently and Sunday Stealing? So, here we go!

Currently...

The weather... is a cool 64 degrees with sunshine. We should see a high of 82 this afternoon.

Reading... I just finished The Little Bookstore on Heart Lake Lane and started Wrapped Up In Christmas Hope. Three days in and I'm doing well at my pledge to read everyday for the American Cancer Society's fundraiser.

Watching... a lot of new (to me) things on Prime. At the moment I'm watching Almost Paradise, a show about an ex-DEA agent who retires to the Philippines only to end up fighting bad guys on behalf of the local police.

Listening... my own heart at work rather than the negative garbage flowing from some of my coworkers.

Thinking... about the things I want to accomplish today.

Celebrating... we celebrated our daughter's birthday on the 25th of July and our granddaughter's on the 29th. There's nothing now until Mom's and my birthday on the 15th.

Grateful... for a quiet weekend and that my leg is cooperating in letting me get things done.

Sunday Stealing

This week's meme is swiped from If By Yes, a Canadian blogger who describes herself as a "left wing left hander with two left feet." It's a shame she doesn't update her blog anymore. Anyway, she participated in a meme that she tells us was popular way back when.

About Blogging

1. When are you at your blogging best – a.m. or p.m.?  Probably in the a.m., but due to work and other obligations blogging usually happens in the p.m. That may explain why I don't post very often these days. I'm just too tired to think about it when I have time.

2. How many blogs do you have? Please include the links in your answer.  Just this one. Some others from the past may still be floating around, but they aren't in use.

3. Do you prefer silence when you compose your posts and write your comments?  No. I have always preferred to have music or the tv on when I am working.

4. What's the grossest thing you've ever spilled on your keyboard?  I don't think I've ever spilled anything on my keyboard.

5. Ever posted while intoxicated?  Nope and no chance of it happening, either. I haven't had enough to drink to be considered intoxicated since long before blogs existed.

Now to leave you with what currently has me giggling...