Monday, March 7, 2022
Moments of Joy, Part II (Works of Art)
Saturday, January 29, 2022
Moments of Joy
I recently had a debate with a friend on life and our expectations of happiness. I told her I didn't believe it was realistic to expect a life of happiness. Good things happen and bad things happen. It's a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. It's the bad experiences that give balance and help us appreciate our good experiences. All we can hope for is a life of overall contentment as we negotiate the ride. However, MCS is on a whole other level and to mitigate the negativity of this ongoing experience, I search and revel in moments of joy no matter how small or mundane. Sometimes this is a challenge, but I persist. Every day.
I was thinking about this today as I did a basic household repair. One of my wall heaters started blowing cold air. This is not good on a 30 degree morning when all outdoor surfaces are thick with ice. Four years ago another wall heater refused to work. I called the local furniture store for advice. The heater was only a few years old. The woman on the phone said she'd ask her repair guy and get back with me. I waited. A week later I figured they forgot so I headed to the nearest hardware store and bought a new heater. I installed it myself rather than hiring electricians at $80 hour, because I'm just that kind of woman (cheap). But I hung on to the old heater in case the repair guy would contact me.
He did! A few days later he told me it could be dust clogging the electrical points causing it to just not turn on. Hmmm...if this is the case, it would be a horrible waste of money to throw it out so I cleaned it the best I could, put it in a box, and stored it in the back of my closet until the next heater dies.
Here it is 2022, four years later. I dug the box out of the back of the closet, cleaned the heater with an electronic duster which released a whole litter of giant dust bunnies I must have missed with the first cleaning, electrified it, crossed my fingers, and turned it on. IT WORKS! OMG! I almost threw this old heater away not understanding it was just taking a little rest. Such a joyful feeling to not only save money, but be self-reliant.
Another moment of joy this month...2022 is starting out very joyous! This is a good sign.
January 20th...IT ARRIVED! Two months later, but IT ARRIVED! I was so shocked I accused her of lying to me just to make me feel better. LOL! (Sorry, Girl Alive!) So in January, a month kind of blah for joy, my friend received some surprised joy! I felt such overwhelming happiness for something so simple and random. So wonderful.
I love moments of joy. They make life...content.
Thursday, December 30, 2021
White Christmas!
I really love snow! It's so clean. The air is so crisp and fresh. When it falls, the world goes silent. I love it when it's new.
Unfortunately where I live it rains year round and that makes for some soggy snow. When it does snow it rarely sticks. If it does stick, it turns to slush as soon as it hits the ground. Cars and people start milling around and the landscape is a big cesspool of slippery, cold mud.
But I still love snow. I also love how it stops the world. I personally won't drive in it until the roads are totally clear. I've seen enough cars uncontrollably sliding into each other. Most of the time I won't even go walk in it. I'll watch it from the warmth of my house gazing out the window at the miracle of it all.
This year was different! The snow started falling on Christmas day and by nightfall we were covered! I woke up the next morning to eight inches!
Sunday, April 14, 2019
I FOUND A ROCK!!!
Below is a photo of my treasure. Although my ownership of it was short-lived, the ecstasy of the find has lasted now for twenty-four hours. After coveting this gift closed to my bosom for barely a half an hour, I re-hid it to spread the joy.
I keep calling it "my rock" but I only found it. I hope the artist identifies herself and takes credit so I may thank her for the happiness she contributed to my day.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Hawaii Snafu
Still, if it were my last moments on earth, I'd like them to be in Hawaii.
Monday, December 18, 2017
I Wear Speedos
I saw this parody on it and thought I would die laughing. It's hilarious:
Laughter is good...
Saturday, October 28, 2017
The Laundry Goddess
I've had one, cheap, used washing machine for the last 12 years. I've never really liked it. It was incredibly small, didn't clean the clothes very well, and lacked in choices. I've never had a dryer. They are energy suckers for sure, but more importantly they will damage clothes forcing the owner to shop too often. However, going to the laundromat to dry comforters, blankets or pillows that won't air dry fast enough is a health hazard. To survive the laundromat experience, I have to take a little plastic bag with a towel soaked in vinegar and wipe down the dryers in hopes of removing any fabric sheet or fabric softener residue. It usually worked...a little. I vowed if my washer went out while I'm still in this house and there is no hope to move in the near future, I'll buy myself a dryer along with the new washer.
| Tiny Lone Washer Perfect for Tiny Laundry Room |
I started going to a laundromat that always had few customers and was rather clean, but I had a problem with a faulty machine which gave me pause. And then a friend was telling me her friend is very susceptible to athlete's foot and every time she uses a laundromat she gets it. Eeeeewww! Unless you are running the machines on hot water or filling them with bleach, you can get any kind of bacteria...or bed bugs. So I collected piles and piles of dirty clothes in the kitchen for a month. I was more than excited to get a new washer and dryer set, and the piles of dirty clothes motivated me. However, shopping always poses challenges for anyone who is chemically sensitive.
Living beyond civilization is the first challenge. No one wants to deliver. They won't even take bribes to deliver. They just don't want to deliver to the edge of civilization. I finally did find one store willing to venture out of their area for a price, but dealing with Home Depot is never a good experience. When I ordered from the stinky salesperson I was told it would take 7-10 days for it to be delivered to the store. Don't count on it. None of their customer service emails were managed, the "track delivery" didn't work, and most of their phone lines wouldn't let me push a department number. What a hassle!
I CAN'T WAIT TO HAVE MORE DIRTY CLOTHES!
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Bumper Sticker of the Week Award
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Happy Story
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
My Kind of Exercise...
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Where, Oh, Where is My Master Gardener?
Crazy ass dog. The definition of pure joy.
Friday, November 28, 2014
A Love Letter
It reads:
Baily,
Will you please come to my house? Let's play together. I think you are pretty like a horse or a ladybug. I'm not sure which. You should come to my house and eat cheeses with me. I love you and I lost a tooth last night. I think I would like to do a magic trick for you and then let you watch me battle robots.
Love,
Bennet
Thursday, November 13, 2014
My Dream House! Truly!
Today I found the coolest house on the planet! It's an old, remodeled farmhouse in High Falls, NY, owned and designed by Kat O'Sullivan (her art company is called KATWISE) with her partner Mason Brown. She is my new idol! I'm stealing photos off the article because it's so outstandingly beautiful a mere link is not good enough:
Saturday, August 30, 2014
My New Joyful Theme Song
Happiness is good. So are ice cream-colored pastels. And girl power!
In Search of Joy
I was listening to a radio show the other day and the host asked, "If you could know the exact day and time of your death, would you?" Half of the people in the studio said, "Yes" and half said, "No". The "No's" explained it would cause them to worry too much. I'm a "Yes" girl. I want to know. As it is I worry too much about dying anyway. I worry about not only when it will happen, but how. Will I end up with a disease that destroys my body and crushes my spirit. Who will take care of me? Will I drive to the store tomorrow and collide with a logging truck? Will some psychopath break into my house next week and murder me in my bed? I worry if die alone at home, how long it will take for someone to find me? I worry if I die while camping out in the woods will anyone find me? I worry about what will happen to my house if I die. I worry about who will get my things when I'm dead. Not knowing when I will die makes the future an unknown. I worry about money, security, stability, and health. I worry about the choices I make and whether they are good ones that will sustain me for the rest of my life. I could live another 50 years. How does one plan for that if there is a chance I could die next week?
So I started thinking about life. I think this is what we do as we age. Mortality trumps youthful immortality. How would I live differently if I knew the exact day and time of my death? For starters, I could plan the rest of my days and know how much money I might need for survival. Knowing would reduce the stress of work. I could get rid of everything I own and no longer worry about who is going to get it. Or sell my house and make it available to the new owners the day before my death day so I still have a place to live. Heck, I could spend every cent I have and not worry about who will get it! I would travel more. I'd be more adventurous with life because I already know when I'm dying. No worries.
My brother was in a coma once. He was on a motorcycle and swerved to avoid hitting a kid on a bicycle coming up the hill on his side of the road. During that three week time-out from life, God spoke to him and told him he would die from smoking. Did that make him quit smoking? Heck, no. He claims when God discloses this kind of information, He won't be changing His mind. There isn't a choice so changing his bad behaviors now would be useless. I don't know if knowing how you would die would be helpful, although I think if God told me I'd die from being eaten by a shark, I wouldn't be swimming in the future. I'd rather know the date and time I plan to die. I'm a planner.
But I have no idea when I'll die. With that in mind as I look into the unknown future, one thing I do know is I need more joy in my life. More joy, less stress. More joy, less worry. More joy, less disappointment. More joy, less anger. More joy, less hate. More joy, less work. Lately I've been considering joy with every decision I make. I ask, Will this contribute more joy to my life right now?
Joy is relative, however, to each individual's circumstances. What might bring joy to one person would create hell for someone who is chemically sensitive. I can't decide to go to a party or a restaurant without un-joyful consequences and I also can't treat myself to a day at the spa or go to an indoor concert or theatrical presentation. I can, however, have a garage sale and get rid of the junk and clutter in my life. So joyful!
My new Joy Plan involves making a grand effort at fixing my health. We'll see how far I can get. I'm trying not to give up which I tend to do. I figure if I can feel better, joy will be easier to attain. Unfortunately, this involves spending (wasting) a whole lot of money going to useless doctors and this frustration and stress could be the exact opposite of joy!
Lately my joy decisions do tend to revolve around financial choices. Spending money has always been difficult for me especially now. Chemically sensitive people often suffer from what someone coined as the PTSD of MCS. Once you've been disabled and unemployable, nearly homeless and in financial ruin, you tend not to want to spend money frivolously. Or at all. Even for basic necessities.
So my new Joy Plan is all about finding a balance between frugality and ecstasy. Who knows how much longer I will live, but it's time to starting enjoy my life more. Spending money is really fun as long as I can push aside the feeling of stress it creates. It's fun to treat myself with new things! Like new organic sheets. New clothes. New closets. New heating system. What else can I buy for some joy? Yes! Joy can be bought!
After my foot injuries, multiple doctor visits, and house remodeling, can I afford to go on vacation? Nope. Do I care? Nope. I'm going anyway!!!
Monday, March 3, 2014
Happy
Or you can listen to the song over and over again and watch different people dance to it 24 hours a day:
http://24hoursofhappy.com/
And then you can watch people all over the world dance to this song!!!
PARIS:
Sunday, February 23, 2014
One Year Closer to Death
So I celebrated by buying myself some new BIRTHDAY SLIPPERS! Healthier than cake and ice cream and cheaper than plastic surgery.
There is nothing more cheerful than new birthday slippers with cheerful, artsy designs on them. These are from the Haflinger collection and the style is called Calypso. Perfect name for the design because they are happy slippers made for dancing! So new and just out of the box they still have tags on them.
Here is a photo with my feet in them feeling happy:
I ordered them off the Zappos website. I so rarely order anything online for fear of screw ups, but the shoe store I normally go to didn't have my size or my normal color. In fact it didn't have hardly any sizes and only one color! With all wood and tile floors in my house, I need slippers to provide cushion to my feet. Most brands are made out of synthetic petro-based materials and manufactured in China. Chinese slippers make my feet sweat uncomfortably and if I'm ever caught in a house fire, they would melt on my feet. Gross.
Haflingers are Polish and made from natural boiled wool, not sprayed or treated, non-smelly without any chemicals, warm, and so comfortable. The last pair I bought were Haflingers, too. They had hard soles so I could walk around outside if I wanted. Well, I never go outside with them because I have no desire to contaminate the inside of my house with outside dirt. Unfortunately, those hard soles were noisy and left black marks all over my floors so I was hoping to find something less high maintenance.
Although the store failed miserably at making a sale, I feel very fortunate. I came home, got online and found them not only in my color, but in these wild colors! And this wild design doesn't have hard soles instead nice soft-ish ones with skid dots.
For those of you who might be interested in buying all wool slippers, they do wear out especially in the toes. My old ones are about three years old and they lasted that long only because I kept sewing the holes closed.
| Thankfully I live alone or I'd be embarrassed! HA! |
Now I want some matching pajamas and bathrobe....strawberry colored.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
"It's in your mother's anus..."
For "The 30 Most Hilarious Autocorrect Struggles Ever" click HERE
























