Happy Little Moments 1/26/17 Edition

A few more happy little moments.  Life's simple pleasure often go unnoticed. 

 TRUTH!  This is me every morning in winter!

 Book, puppy, warm blanket.  Trifecta.

 Mugs. I love mugs. Especially ones that tell people to shhhh.

 A baby goat calendar? Thank you Barnes and Noble gift card for Christmas!  And baby goat is wearing a sweater... the cuteness is unstoppable.

Shannon petting Margo, I literally thought this day would never come.  Perhaps Margo is recruiting her in a secret alliance against Hank.

Happy Little Moments

I've had all kinds of ideas for serious blog topics lately... but this is what I can muster... and what makes me smile at the moment.  So here are some little glimpses of peace and happiness from the last few days ...

 Sleepy Puppy zzzzzz

 Crazy kiddos!

 Just plain cuteness!

 It's hard to knit with a hankerdoodle snoozer.

 It fills my heart that they tolerate each other :-)  

 Coloring and sewing in one!  WHAT?!?!?  How did I not know about this!

Proud Cat Mom! Meow!

Stay-cation All I Ever Wanted

Points if you get the song reference in the blog post title :-)

I'm on day 5 out of 9 days off (that includes the weekends on either end) and I just now feel like I'm relaxing a little into stay-cationing.  I had plans to get many things done but the fur kids are trying their best to derail those plans with their cuteness (and craziness).

Here are a few snapshots from a day in the life of a librarian stay-cationer.

 Ukulele playing with a puppy in my lap for an added level of difficulty :-)

 Delicious green smoothie that I usually rush out of the house in the morning without making...must get up 5 minutes earlier on work days!

 Spent some organizing the laundry room...this is actually enjoyable to me...I'm way less stressed and anxious when everything is in it's place (this might make the rest of the inhabitants of this house a little crazy.  Hank is excluded from this statement... he herds his toys every day into his doggie bed.).  This is a midway picture - I should have taken one when I was finished but Hank was barking to go out, and when the puppy wants to go potty - mommy moves with a quickness!

Tried my vegetable noodle maker contraption.. the zucchini was delish -- however it cooked way down and we all just got a little taste... must spiralize many more zucchinis next time!

Reflections on 2016

2016 certainly had it's ups and downs.  I suppose part of being a well adjusted grown up is coming to the realization that all years have their ups and downs and that no stretch of time will be blissfully relaxing and perfect.

I had some really broad overarching goals for 2016 and I have more room to grow in them but did make some headway...I thought before jumping into thoughts about the coming year it would be nice to take a trip down memory lane and look back at my goals from this time last year.  Here are some highlights...

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In 2016...

I'll work on being a healthy version of me. 

Reflection: I haven't quite mastered this one yet.  I did manage to get better about taking some maintenance medications regularly instead of just when I managed to remember and surprise surprise - it helps :-) Also after a rough winter of foot issues I'm much more aware of taking care of the tootsies.  Good shoes are now a must - gone are the days where my feet were young enough to wear whatever was cute and on sale.  Now to just get on the eat better and exercise bandwagon!

Give myself time to read. 

Reflection: It was a pretty low number for me this year of books completed.  I read 29 books and I had a goal of 48.  I did read a good mix of fiction and nonfiction and a variety of genres and age levels so at least my reading was well rounded :-)  I also did a bit of blogging about books so that counts for something.  Mostly I just want to read things that I find interesting and enjoyable and that expand my knowledge and understanding of the world. I set a more reasonable goal of 36 books for 2017.  We'll see how it goes.  Part of the issue is that I used to be able to stay awake very late at night and read (mostly because I had insomnia).  I sleep better now and often feel myself falling after just a few pages... darn sleep is getting in the way of my reading.

Write more. 

Reflection: I need to figure this out because I enjoy writing, I find it good for the soul but I didn't manage to make it happen very much in 2016.

Be in touch with my creative side. 

Reflection: I've been steady working on this one (well playing at this one is more like it).  I've done some painting, some yarn crafts, lots of coloring, and some jewelry making.  I've also started taking a few days here and there as stay-cations without any plans and find those to be great times to let myself play.

Settle into my family. 

Reflection: I must say I think we are settling in quite nicely :-) We have our moments but our moments are just like any family, not because we are new or a blended family.  We are a normal family that has ups and downs but loves each other through the tricky times. We also added a new puppy to the family in December and as crazy as he is, Hank makes our family feel complete.

Here are a few photo highlights from the year :-)

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays

The actual day of Christmas might be over but lucky for me I have a few more days coming up this week and a few more family holiday celebrations that span into the whole first week of January so I don't have to settle into an after holiday slump quite yet.  Hopefully no one else is in an after holiday slump but I know I sometimes find myself there when Christmas is over and the majority of winter is looming.  I love many of the things that come with winter: hot beverages, warm blankets and sweatshirts, cuddling by a fire watching a movie, spending days off reading or crafting because it's too cold to be outside... but it's that last part, the too cold to be outside part that really gets to me.  In fact it overshadows all of the rest of the lovely, cozy, things.  Add in some snow or ice and I am particularly unhappy.  My new years wish is for no snow, unless it's for certain it will cause a snow day and I will not have to drive with any flakes falling, AND my wonderful husband will not have to go to work and will be willing to do all of the shoveling and take the dog out in it while I sit by the window with my feet snuggled into fuzzy slippers under a warm blanket with a cup of hot tea and my book.  I don't think that's really too much to ask for.

I got a little off track there so here are a few cute holiday snapshots :-)