Five things that made me happy today – 12/31/19

The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things. – Hans Christian Anderson

1. It was 49 deg. with rain and breezy when I got up, but it felt colder because of the wind. It’s 48 deg. in the middle of the afternoon, and still pouring rain with gusty wind. It’s supposed to warm up to 51 deg. after dark, but then drop back to 48 deg. by morning. I’m afraid the Fireworks from the Space Needle won’t come off this evening, because of the wind.

2. 7th Day of Christmas – the Gift of Memory

3. I finished my “Intentions Review” for 2019. I did pretty well on most things. I’m working on deciding what my intentions for 2020 will be. Top of the list will be to remember that I can’t do it all, and that I can only really influence the people around me. (I tend to forget that and start thinking my phone call, or my text, or my vote, even, will be the one that tips the balance. I have to remember that while I matter, I’m not the only one who does.)

4. So far the PAC-12 is 3-2 in Bowl Games. California, Washington, and Arizona State have won, Washington State and Southern Cal have let us down. Utah is playing tonight, and Oregon plays tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

5. Because of the torrential rain, I went to the Wellness Center to get my steps done for the day. I made my 10,000 steps and treated myself to a mocha from Starbucks.

BONUS: Happy New Year to all my gentle readers. I really appreciate all of you.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Intentions Review for 2019

Finish every year and be done with it. For manners and for wise living it is a vice to remember. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. To-morrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

My Star Word for this year was “Empathy”. The internet defines empathy as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Merriam-Webster says, “Empathy is similar to sympathy, but empathy usually suggests stronger, more instinctive feeling.”

Here are my intentions for 2019.

Physical Health

• Continue to eat real food, and, hopefully, lose about 20 more pounds this year. – I’ve lost 6.5 lbs this year. Since my colonoscopy, on the recommendation of my gastroenterologist, I am trying to eat a minimum of 25 grams of fiber every day. Since fiber is usually paired with carbs, I’m not losing as quickly as I probably might, but I’m eating real food, not fast food.
• I did well over Christmas. I went a little crazy over some of the cookie and candy exchanges, but all in all, I lost the Thanksgiving weight, and a little more.
• Continue to average 150 miles a month on my Fitbit. – done. This week I’ve dropped my step count target back to 10,000 steps a day. The guilt wasn’t worth the extra steps.
• My personal trainer has scheduled me for 3 days a week and I’ve been trying to walk a little bit, even if it’s only around the grocery store, every morning. Walking outside is not fun, now that we’ve entered “the Big Dark” of cloudy skies and/or fog almost every day.

Emotional Health

• I AM trying to remember “empathy” in my interactions with people I meet.
• I have continued posting Five Things that Made Me Happy Today every day here on this blog. I don’t do it for other people – I do it for myself – to remind me how much I have to be thankful for.

Intellectual Health

• Expand my leisure reading from fluff mysteries to more substantial novels. – Books read this year.
  1. The Library Book by Susan Orleans – finished
  2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – finished
  3. Becoming by Michelle Obama – finished
  4. Womanish Midrash by Wil Gafney – finished
  5. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah – finished
  6. The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor – finished
  7. Entering the Passion of Jesus by Amy-Jill Levine – finished
  8. Silent Night by Danielle Steele – finished
  9. Autumn by Ali Smith – finished
  10. Winter by Ali Smith – finished
  11.  A Good Year by Peter Mayle – finished
  12.  Magnolia Nights by Ashley Farley – finished
  13. The Tale Teller by Anne Hillerman – finished
  14.  Wife of Moon by Margaret Coel – finished
  15.  Cleaning the Gold by Karen Slaughter and Lee Child – finished
  16.  Beyond the Garden by Ashley Farley – finished
  17. Everything is F*cked – a Book about Hope by Mark Manson – finished
  18. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd – finished
  19. The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford – finished
  20. There, There by Tommy Orange – finished
  21. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf – finished
  22. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd – finished
  23. Calico Joe by John Grisham – finished
  24. The Nickle Boys by Colson Whitehead -finished
  25. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green – finished
  26. Kindred by Octavia E Butler – finished
  27. The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck – finished
  28. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – finished
  29.  No Winter Lasts Forever by Fran Tilton Sheldon – finished
  30. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates – finished
  31. Blue Moon by Lee Child – finished
  32. A Redbird Christmas by Fanny Flagg – finished
  33. Mood Signs by Helen Haught Fanick – finished
  34. Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman – finished
  35. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood – reading
• Continue to read the Washington Post and the New York Times for reasonably non-biased reporting. – I scan the headlines and read articles that interest me.
• I subscribe to Medium, and read articles of current interest.
• Continue to watch the Rachel Maddow Show to feed my angst and resolve. – Check
• Creative Writing will resume early next year.

Spiritual Health

• Continue to participate in weekly Bible study, and weekly Worship.
• I have encouraged Bethany to become an Earth Care Congregation, and I’ll be writing articles for the newsletter and doing Minutes for Mission regularly to help fulfill our requirements for that designation.
• Try to carve out time daily for intentional prayer and meditation. I’ve subscribed to several email “prompts” that arrive in my inbox every morning. The Upper Room has a couple of short reflections and/or devotionals every morning, and A Network for Gratefulness (the tag at the top of this post is from these folks) also gives me something to think about as I go about my day.
• I’ve missed the last couple of meetings with my Interfaith Group. I’ll try to get back to it next year.
• I post Morning and Evening Prayer on Facebook in Casa – An Experiment in Doing Church On-line on the 23rd of every month.

Social Health

• Tend the relationships I have at Franke Tobey Jones. – I still regularly attend the Gazebo Group (the folks who meet on Monday evenings for Happy Hour.)
• Tend the relationships I have at Bethany Presbyterian Church.
• Tend the relationships I have on Social Media. I’m making an effort to avoid posting or reposting political articles. I’ve removed Facebook from my “always open” on my desktop, and moved it out of my homepage on my phone and my iPad. Next year I will continue that.
• It’s nice to have my younger son and his family in the same time zone. Unfortunately they are on the other side of the mountains, so travel there is not easy once the snow starts.

Miscellaneous

• Participate in Town Halls and face-to-face meetings with elected officials.
• Attend GA Nominating Committee meetings, both face-to-face and virtually. We are scheduled for a face-to-face in March.
• Support #BlackLiveMatter, #Me,Too, #ThePoorPeople’sCampaign, #ClimateAction, and other social justice movements. – I donate regularly to MoveOn, the ACLU, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. I attend rallies and marches if I’m available.

 

Five things that made me happy today – 12/30/19

The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things. – Hans Christian Anderson

1. It was 44 deg. and cloudy with wet streets this morning when I got up. By mid-afternoon, it had clawed it’s way up to 48 deg. More of the same forecast for the evening and night.

2. 6th Day of Christmas – the Gift of Celebrating

3. All the washing, drying, folding, and hanging up of the laundry is done!

4. We have new equipment in the Wellness Center, and I got an orientation today from my Personal Trainer. It’s (hopefully) going to make me work hard, and give my weight loss a kick in the butt.

5. Gazebo Group tonight. It will be fun to hear about everyone’s holiday celebrations and their intentions for 2020.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 12/29/19

The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things. – Hans Christian Anderson

1. It was 44 deg. with showers this morning when I got up. It got up to 48 deg. and we could see blue skies and snowy mountains when we looked up the Sound towards Seattle. Alas, the clouds hung on in Tacoma all day.

2. 5th Day of Christmas – the Gift of Sharing

3. Two really good football games for the National Championship semi-finals yesterday. The first was great because my favorite (Geaux Tigers) won, handily. The second was good because, even though I didn’t have a dog in that fight, the outcome was basically decided by two major penalties against the team who was more rough than skilled. (Sorry, I’ve not liked Ohio State since the days of Woody Hayes because they were and still are bullies on the field.) I would rather see skill in passing, running, and play-calling than brute force.

4. We got our Star Words in church today (Star Words are paper stars with a word on each of them that you can use as your “guide star” for the coming year.) The word I got is ENCOURAGE. I have realized that there’s a fine line between “encouraging” someone and “nagging” someone to do something helpful or healthy. I will need to remember that as I go through the year.

5. The Cowboys had a really great game today against Washington, but it was too late, as the Eagles also won their game against the Giants. I may watch a little of the Seattle/San Francisco game later tonight. I’m almost beginning to think I should maybe start to move my loyalties to Seattle. Or maybe not…

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 12/27/19

The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things. – Hans Christian Anderson

1. It was 38 deg. and drizzling this morning when I got up. It crawled up to 44 deg. through the day, and it didn’t rain any. But it was a gray, old day.

2. 3nd Day of Christmas – the Gift of Thankfulness

3. Safeway sent a text this morning that the renewal of Big Al’s antibiotics was ready. His abscess is still draining, so I’m glad he got the drugs.

4. I fixed cabbage, apple, and onion sauté to go with the pork chops for lunch. Very tasty.

5. I hurt my Achilles’ tendon somehow, so I did very little with my Personal Trainer. Right now I’m sitting with my feet up, waiting for the USC game to start.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 12/26/19

The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things. – Hans Christian Anderson

1. It was 33 deg. and cloudy this morning when I got up. The sun came out about noon, but it still never got warmer than 39 deg. Brrrr

2. 2nd Day of Christmas – the Gift of Creation

3. This morning I went to the grocery store and got fresh fruit and fresh veggies for the time between now and New Years Day. Apples, pears, cabbage, red potatoes, and sweet potatoes. I think we have plenty of meat left from our trip to the Commissary a couple of weeks ago.

4. I’m starting to think about my Intentions for 2020. We’ll be getting our Star Words in church on Sunday. I don’t want to hurry or force anything.

5. College Football Bowl Season starts up in earnest tomorrow (I know, they’ve already played a couple of bowls last weekend.) This time of year is bitter-sweet for me, because I’m excited to watch the games, but I also feel a splash of nostalgia with every one, knowing it’s the end, until August – eight long months. #GoDucks

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 12/25/19

The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things. – Hans Christian Anderson

1. It was 36 deg. with wet streets this morning. It’s been hazy/cloudy all day. It’s warmed up to 42 deg., but it is forecast to go down to 33 overnight. A little frosty at dawn, but no real ICE!

2. Merry Christmas!

3. Phone calls with all the siblings in the last couple of days. It’s a pity we don’t talk oftener, but life gets in our way.

4. Santa brought lots of clothes, and a new set of Corelle dinnerware. The stuff we have was at least 30 years old (maybe 40), and we were getting low on bowls. If this lasts as long, we’ll be eating off of it on the way to our funerals.

5. Christmas dinner at the Lobster Shop. They always do a great job.

We both had Lobster Bisque, and the Filet Mignon & Lobster Tail. I had Peppermint Mocha Crème Brulee, and Big Al had the Pear Bread Pudding. YUM. It was a splurge, but, HEY, it’s Christmas.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 12/24/19

The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things. – Hans Christian Anderson

1. It was 33 deg. and clear this morning. The clouds thinned out, but the sun never showed it’s face. Now it’s cloudy and 39 deg. with light rain forecast through the night.

2. My Advent Word of the Day is CHILD.

For unto us a child is born, unto us, a son is given…

Big Al with his mama, 79 years ago in the middle of January.

3. I survived a trip to get my hair cut and run by the grocery store. I have no idea what possessed me to go to the grocery store, except we needed milk and a pastry to have on Christmas morning.

4. I finished the last of the tagging of packages (very little wrapping this year, mostly bags, and left over boxes). It’s just us, and we decided that the landfill didn’t really need all that paper.

5. We choose to go to the kids’ Christmas Eve service. It’s fun, with lots of singing and a retelling of the Christmas story – and it still ends with Silent Night by candlelight.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 12/23/19

The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things. – Hans Christian Anderson

1. It was 40 deg. and the streets were wet when I woke up this morning. The sun came out early in the afternoon, and we have puffy clouds in a blue sky, but it’s still cool – 43 deg. at 4 pm.

2. My Advent Word of the Day is WORD.

Mark 13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

3. I finished up the wash that I started yesterday evening by 10:00 am and then I washed all the sheets and towels because the housekeepers came today. We have a clean house to greet the Christ Child.

4. I went to my Personal Trainer and she gave me a good workout – walking inside, up and down stairs, and a circuit focusing on balance and strength. Whew.

5. Gazebo Group today is being held at one of the member’s houses. She wanted to do a holiday open house, so we took advantage of her kindness.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 12/22/19

The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things. – Hans Christian Anderson

1. It was 39 deg. and cloudy when I woke up this morning. By the time we got out of the church this evening, it was 42 deg. and raining after a high of 43.

2. My Advent Word of the Day is LOVE.

Mark 9:7b “This is my son (and daughter-in-law), whom I love.”

These aren’t my only loves. I couldn’t begin to list all the people, pets, things, and places I love. Family, friends, memories, great books that moved me, churches that nurtured me, trips that inspired me. Love is almost too small a word to contain my feelings for the world.

3. We had the Christmas Pageant in church this morning. Highlights were the camel (a 1-year old boy) who almost escaped, an angel (a 5-year old girl) who had figured out how to flap her wings, and the angel Gabriel who forgot her lines, but laughed it off while somebody got her a script. Also there was the 2-year old angel who shed her wings and stole the Baby Jesus and carried him to the back of the church before one of the Magi caught her and brought the baby back.

4. Big Al and I decided to do Feliz Navidad and went to Moctezuma’s for lunch.

5. We had a carol sing this afternoon with Loose Cannon, our church’s mountain gospel band. Good fun and a shot of Christmas spirit.

How about you? What made you happy today?