Ten Things that Made Me Smile Recently

If you know me in real life or have been following along with this blog for long, you will probably not be surprised to hear that sometimes I struggle to see the bright side of things.  I came from a family of worriers and I think my brain's natural way to see the world is with wariness, lest anything bad is just about to happen. This is not my favorite part of my personality, but it is how I'm wired, so I have to work really hard to maneuver my way around these tendencies and keep from being a Debbie Downer all the time. 

One of the things I try to do regularly, though probably not regularly enough, is to record some things in my life that are going well and that are making me happy.   My favorite way to do this is to keep a daily gratitude journal where I can write one thing from each day that I'm grateful for.   I go in spurts with it, where I'm really good at it for a while, then I get out of routine and it takes me a while to get back to it.   Here are a couple of my daily logs from earlier this year that show you how random I am with it!  

I haven't kept up my daily gratitude journal in a few months, since it, like many of my other good habits I sometimes keep up, seem to fall by the wayside in the summertime.   Lately I've been feeling like it's time to start it back up again, but, first things first, I want to share a few happy things in my life here with all of you!    Blogging is good for my mental health and I like that what I share here gets preserved for future generations, as well as being an outlet for me to get down what's in my very muddled brain!  
 
TEN THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

1.  We just returned from Labor Day weekend in Atlanta and got to spend time with everyone but Adam (on his mission) and Spencer (no luck finding care for Kiwi, his pit-pointer mix).   It was a wonderful weekend exploring,eating good food, and just savoring our time with Cami, Garrett, and Lucie who drove 2-hours to meet us there!  Family time makes me incredibly happy!  Stay tuned for a more detailed blogpost coming soon.

2.  I am grateful that our garden is starting to produce like crazy!   As mentioned in this post, gardening is something I'm not that great at, so I'm always extra happy (and honestly a bit surprised) when we start to reap the harvest in our overgrown and late-planted garden.  Yay for fresh fruits and veggies! 

3.  Speaking of gardening, I went out to do a little weeding the other day (the first time all summer) and I wore my pink overalls and listened to a good audiobook.   Every time I looked down at my happy pink outfit, I would think two things #1--how much I like pink, #2--I should probably just embrace my love of pink and  go see the Barbie movie

4.  On a recent walk, I found this big fancy house with a statue/fountain of Charlie Brown dressed as a Greek god.   It totally made me laugh out loud!  

5.  My 94-year-old grandmother just moved out of my parents' basement  to an assisted living center.  I think it was a very difficult move for her, but with her late-onset dementia and my Dad gone, it was definitely time for a new arrangement.  We stopped by to visit with her the other day and she was so happy to see us.   We brought her her favorite cookies and just chatted with her for a bit.   I am grateful that she has found a place that is nearby and that will meet her needs more fully! 

6.  I know it's a bit weird for me to have taken up sourdough bread baking again (since I can't eat it), but I was really proud of how this recent sourdough pizza crust came out.   The gluten eaters of the family very much approved and the bruschetta topping straight from our garden was absolutely delicious!   I had mine on a gluten free "cauliflower thin"! 😋

7.  I was introduced to the goofy .5 pictures by my niece, McKenzie, but it wasn't until my 2-1/2 weeks in Thailand with 21 young people that I realized how obsessed teens are with them! 😂 Here are a few Ellie recently took, though somehow she "forgot" to take one of herself, so the photo of her in the collage is from Thailand.  

8.  If you knew me from Virginia, you probably know that I'm mildly obsessed with making church programs.  It's an ongoing skill/passion of  mine that makes me laugh because of how utterly useless it is.   I'm not sure anyone  looks at them anyway, but it is a weird little thing that makes me incredibly  happy (and provides a creative outlet for me), so here I am doing them again!    Our ward here in Utah didn't do paper programs at all and refused my offer to make them several times before finally giving into my requests.  I was told, though, that it wasn't the paper program they were wanting, but something for the young women to do at church.  So I make them and the young women distribute them. Haha.  Someday I'll find something to do that matters, but in the meantime I'm happy to give the young women a job! 

Another thing that you probably know if you knew me in Virginia, is that I don't like to use any old art on the cover of the programs.  I like to get the ward members involved and use their original art.   In Virginia, I always had a steady stream of art being submitted to me and I only occasionally had to ask for it.   Here in Utah, however,  I have had a really hard time getting  people here on board with my vision.   I was putting my request in the program every week, sending notes to the primary president, asking people with lots of kids, etc. and getting almost nothing.  Finally, I had the great idea of bribery.   I started adding a note in the program that every person who gave me a picture for the program would get candy.  It took a few weeks to catch on, but I am now officially  the candy lady and I usually have a steady stream of kids bringing me their artwork after sacrament meeting--some of it usable and some not.   And I LOVE IT!   I'm happy to be the weird program making candy lady of the ward! 

9.  I know I mention this a lot, but I love that my body is strong and fit and can walk a million miles.  I've gained some weight since my hysterectomy in December, but it's not for lack of exercise!  My daily walks are a HUGE part of what keeps my mental health on the plus side and I'm thankful to live in a beautiful area that means even my neighborhood walks are scenic!  

10.  Speaking of beautiful morning walks, here are a few things I saw on my walk this morning.   A cute little wild turkey family crossing the road, an apple that fell off a tree inches from my face, a deer that totally froze until I was only a couple feet away from it, a horse that peed so loudly I turned around to see what was making all the noise, a cute baby deer just chilling in someone's yard, and fields of wild sunflowers.  

So there you have it...10 things that have made me smile recently!   Now time to get back to the daily gratitude log!   Have an amazing day! 

{Click here if you want to see some of my other gratitude posts from over the years}