New Year's Eve Last 2017 post

Here it is, my final post of 2017.  I'm sitting in bed still feeling miserable with a cold while the rest of the family goes off to a party.  The cold medication I took is not doing much or I would have gone too.  Instead I will be staying home and playing video games or sleeping or watching something on Netflix.  

This year has seen so many changes and plans gone awry.  When I began the blog a year ago I had expected that I would be hiking the Appalachian Trail for much of the year.  That didn't happen.  In no particular order other things did... I had a work injury and spent some time recovering and only working part time, then a new career presented itself.  My dog passed away.  I moved in with my daughter, son-in-law and grandson, emptying my home into storage.  I went from sleeping on the floor, cot or a couch to investing in a bed.  2 weeks ago I finally left the job that I had been with for 11 years.  My new job, as a para educator, will be my professional future for now.   

Will I hike the AT?  I sure hope so.  When I decided to apply for the job as a para I knew that if I got it my plans would have to change.  The time off I will have in the summer is not long enough to do a through hike.  Not returning in the fall is a possibility but I am already feeling like I will want to keep this job.  That feeling could change by the time June gets here, but right now, I like the job and people I am working with.  The kids are great, most of the time.  Sometimes I feel like I might be able to make a positive difference in at least one of them.  It could happen.  I don't mean that I will be remembered for all time by them, but positive influences can happen.  

The following showed up on the Facebook feed of a friend from high school (thank you):

It seems to be a paraphrase of :

“Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.”― Brad Paisley

As this year comes to a close I am finishing my 365 day Blog and making the decision as to whether to start a new one.  For whatever reason, this is my 366th blog of 2017, I don't remember why I blogged twice one day, it wasn't a leap year.  Anyhow, I am fairly certain that I found at least one thing every day to be either happy about or thankful for.  These are things that I have sent out to the universe for good.  This is not to say that I haven't been sad, or angry, or hurt or boring or any other number of more negative emotions in these blogs, but I always tried to find something good every day.  It has been an important thing for me and so there will be another year of blogging.  Writing this daily (more or less) for an entire year is a large accomplishment for me and is my happy for today.

My wish for the coming year is that people find peace, good health and happiness.  Acceptance and respect to all is something I also wish for everyone, it's a tall order, I know.   

Much love and peace.

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To begin tomorrow: 2018 Blog

Penultimate day of 2017--Just a happy and some pics

It has been another day fighting a cold with a killer cough.  So much for having a productive week off of work.  I did go through a bunch of stuff today for a while but most of the day was spent relaxing.  My happy for today is my current snuggle time with Gideon and selfies.  We would have made a Vlog tonight if I didn't keep breaking out in cough! 

 Need to move my finger!

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The 29th of December

Cleaning happened today!  So a fairly productive day.  Cleaned up some of the kitchen and my daughter worked on a new gown for me.  I went through a few boxes.  There is a complete set of Popular Mechanics Home Handyman books from 1961.  So much information.  At first glance they seemed like they would be very out of date and I am sure they are in some respects but the amount of information in them...  Things like how to build a pool, or a pool table; the best time of year to maintain parts of a house; tool use and maintenance; everything about radios of the time.  A perfect bunch of books to bury for after the apocalypse.  😉

There is a box with pictures that I went through as well.  More like scrap books actually.  There were pictures and wedding invitations, baby and graduation announcements.  One album was of my grandmother's retirement with newspaper clippings and pictures from her years as a school cafeteria worker and manager. 

These are all good things but my happy for today is the container half full of papers to burn.  Hopefully there will be more to add to that tomorrow.  Downsizing is the goal, I most likely won't be able to part with photo albums, but old paperwork is gone. 

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Thursday the 28th of December

Thursday, really?  Where did the week go?  I woke up feeling like I have been run over by another cold.  Normally I might get a cold once a year, twice a month is a bit different for me.  So I started the day off with cold meds and we all set off for my chiropractor appointment.  There was bad and good news concerning my bill.  Bad news was that both Workman's Comp and the insurance company denied my claim.  Good news was that since I had doubts that either would pay I have been paying a little extra when I could and so the office decided to give me a discount and I only owed $160 instead of over $800 to be paid in full.  When I first was injured I was going 3 times a week.  Originally Workman's Comp paid and then staff changed and they refused.  The insurance wouldn't pay because Workman's Comp should have.  As far as I know that means I will be beginning 2018 virtually debt free. 

We had a family lunch out today with my aunt, cousin and her son.  There are usually a few more of us but things didn't get planned far enough in advance this year.  It was still nice to see everyone and visit.  We are planning to try to get together during February vacation with more of the family.  For some reason I have mostly wanted to eat this vacation, I hope that is not the case next time. 

Our plan was to go to the storage unit on the way home.  About half way there I realized that I forgot my keys.  Perhaps it just wasn't meant to be.  All this leads to my happy for the day which is spending time with family. 

Some of Gideon's presents he got today.

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The 27th of December

When I left to move my car this morning it was around -7 degrees F.  Thankfully it is only about a 10 minute walk to the parking garage.  Tomorrow we will be out most of the day so I won't need to worry about on street parking.  I do miss having a driveway.  There are aspects of living in the city that are nice.  Being able to walk to many things like the grocery store is one of them.  Not having a driveway to shovel is good, not having a place to park a car can be problematic when the snow falls or when the closest parking has a 2 hour limit. 

Some sorting of my stuff happened today, but not a lot.  I was looking at the empty box and realized that not enough of what came out of it is leaving my possession.  Things got put away, which is good, but I need to concentrate a bit more on removing some of these things from my world.  For whatever reason all I want to do is eat.  This has to stop as I think it is my brain trying to avoid getting rid of things.  Something I saw somewhere discussed how the brain doesn't like change and will create obstacles. 

Today my happy is that my son has a new job.  He interviewed today and starts tomorrow. He will have some health insurance soon.  Very happy about this.

Peace and good night.  'PS

Happy Boxing Day! Just a Happy.

Nothing was boxed today by me (Boxing Day Wiki), but I did unpack and put together 2 lights for my room that I had purchased a while back.  Errands were done and general relaxing.  More should have been done perhaps, but a mostly down day can be good too.  One of my errands was buying some fabric that I hope to make a skirt out of for next Christmas.  If I stay with being a para educator next year I want to have something...different for the holiday.  My happy for today is that the creative side of my brain had a bit of a spark today.  With a little care and feeding I hope it will grow into a creative fire.  🔥

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Merry Christmas!!

 It's Christmas.  That will be my happy for today.  Let's see if I can tell today with pictures.

The stockings sat upon the chair

All stuffed full of goodies with care

 Happy Gideon.

Favorite Candy for Dad. 

 The loot from my stocking.

 It isn't very clear but my daughter is wearing Totoro earrings with cuff.

 Me with a Princess Leia pin.

She got a bunch of calligraphy and illumination supplies 

And dubbed today Inkmas, instead of Christmas.  

 Warning: This video (if it will play) contains screaming,

My son-in-law's favorite past-time/investment. 

 We headed off into the elements!

 Snow!

 Snow!

Snow! 

 Second Christmas celebration with my daughter's in-laws.

In the afternoon the snow stopped and the skies cleared.

I went out for a walk.

 Tinkle, tinkle

A big house after the walk. 

There were presents, games and laughter, the best part for me?  the laughter.  😁  I am so thankful for being able to spend time with family and friends.

Merry Christmas!  Happiness to all!

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Happy Christmas Eve

When my children were very young my now ex-husband and I started a tradition of giving them a Christmas book that they could open on Christmas Eve.  This gave us good holiday reading material before bed.  We wrote something inside and dated them.  My daughter has continued with the tradition.  I believe she never stopped it, that even before they had Gideon they exchanged a Christmas book on Christmas Eve.  Two years ago (maybe 3) she wrote a Christmas book for her husband.  Today after all the wrapping and last minute Christmas gift making and such we sat down to open a few gifts and the Christmas Eve books.  This year my book is Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas by Russell Hoban.  As stated in my December 8th post, this is one of my favorite Christmas movies.  I had never read the book and I am looking forward to finishing it tonight before I go to sleep.  I cried when I opened it.  This is today's happy.

The inscription:

I cut some of her hair this morning. 

The tiniest present.↴

 A key.↴

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🌎

December 23-Saturday

This morning my daughter told me that there is supposed to be a snow storm on Christmas.  I have been planning to hike part of the day and she doesn't want me to because of the snow.  There are 10-11 miles that I have planned out on rail trails that will have to wait.  Most likely I will not go hiking but I am hoping to still walk around the city some.  Unfortunately she is most likely right about not doing the rail trails with the weather bad.  I still haven't found all of my winter things that could be useful in the snow.  I was also relying on them to drop me off and pick me up and don't want to be the reason they are on the road.  There will still be driving, but it won't be because I am cold and wet on the side of the road and someone is rushing to get to me.

Several years ago (sometimes it feels like a different lifetime) I lived in Texas.  There is one friend that we try to call each other around this time of year.  She called me on my birthday and left a message and so I texted her yesterday on her birthday and called her tonight.  Almost 2.5 hours later and my cheeks are sore from laughing so much.  I really should try to get to Texas sometime.  Catching up with old friends is my happy for today.

Poor pictures of the ice and snow tonight.

I was the passenger.

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Friday the 22nd of December

The holiday break is here
School is out until next year 
Made a list of things to do
To see the vacation through

Snow is falling to the ground
Down it falls without a sound
Covering the earth with white
So even the dark seems bright

No parking along the street
Garage then home on our feet
No more tonight will we roam
For now we are safe at home




Today my happy things are school vacation, being home safe, laughter and Gideon snuggles.

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