January, a Start of Good Things

So 2013 flew by faster than 2012.  How embarrassing.  Enough said.  People who know me know that I'm still alive, and for those who don't know or care, I am still here anyway.  Moving on.



, http://www.delanceyplace.com/index.php, describes itself as "a brief daily email with an excerpt or quote we view as interesting or noteworthy, offered with commentary to provide context. There is no theme, except that most excerpts will come from a non-fiction work, primarily historical in focus, and will occasionally be controversial."  It is a delightful thing to find in your IN box, and I was especially delighted to see yesterday's selection,  from Flourish by Martin E. P. Seligman.  How can you resist the offer that starts out with, "You will be happier and less depressed one month from now. ..."?

I'm still working on the first suggestion - the gratitude visit - but the second item seemed to beg attention: "Every night for the next week, set aside ten minutes before you go to sleep. Write down three things that went well today and why they went well."  So I am going to try.

1. Yesterday, I had breakfast with my BFF, then errands, then visiting a friend at home from the hospital, all done pleasantly and efficiently because I allowed enough time and didn't over-schedule.  Yay!  When I dropped off two huge bags of stuff at Goodwill, I even had time to shop a bit ( found "new" pillows for the couch,  baskets for wool, and necklaces for me),  and take a nap.  Why?  Because we had left-over Chinese food for dinner and I don't have to cook.  Yay!

 2. Had a delightful speakerphone conversation with grandchild #7, a charming and precocious 3 year old.  We often chat like this when mom picks her up and they are headed home after teaching and day care.  Fridays are especially fun, because all are in good spirits.  I thought of some good questions to ask: "What are you wearing?" invited a many-minute rundown of every single color on her, from toes to nose.  "What did you do at school today?" resulted in a detailed description of painting her play dough creation, which I thought was going to be a pancake, but apparently had become a dead bear.  "I just decided to change my mind," she explained.  Then gave it some thought and decided that maybe it could be a pancake after all, since it was painted purple, red and black, with some blue.  So it could be a blueberry pancake!  Mom interjected that they had blueberries at home, and could make pancakes for Saturday breakfast.  "Oh, YES!" she shouted jubilantly.  "We haven't had those for quite some time!"  These moments of sweetness happen because my daughter is a wonderful mother, and take the time to bring us together.

3. I did the evening chores on my own, since ML had to work late, and things went quite swimmingly.  Why? Because I started early and moved with deliberate intent.  Loaded two bales of hay into the 'Gator and didn't screw up the winch, fed, watered, etc.  All went well until I was coming out of the chicken pen with four eggs in hand, and gave the steel pipe gate a hefty swing to close it.  The latch missed it's mark, and the gate slammed into my face.  The pipe-to-cheekbone contact was so painful I had to sit down for a bit while tears ran down my face, then stumbled back to the house muttering and swearing.  Only later did I discover that I wasn't wearing my glasses any more.  By the time I got back down there to look, it was getting dark, and it is hard to find your glasses when you aren't wearing your glasses.  OK, for the good ending?  No eggs were broken, my cheekbone was not only intact, but barely bruised, and when ML came home he got his 10-million candle power light and found the glasses rather quickly.

And we had left-over Chinese food for dinner.