So I had an idea for a happiness post, but it was grouchy. And then I got distracted by other things (like reading a novel that was kind of annoying but finishing it anyway) and fell asleep, only to wake up at 5AM and remember that I hadn’t put up a happiness post. And that made me happy because (a) I still had plenty of time to get it up and (b) I could sleep in as late as I wanted. It’s a feeling so luxurious that it’s almost obscene: I don’t have to get up tomorrow. Aside from having three dogs looking at me anxiously if I sleep til noon*, nobody cares. Ahhhh. Happiness.
What made you happy this week?
*I believe in Britain they call this a “lie-in.” Who says I’m not bi-lingual.
My boys were on school hols recently, and for those two weeks I stayed up til around 2am doing my own thing – reading, writing, having a bath, whatever – and then slept in. I spent those two weeks feeling actually human because I was feeling grounded by having time to think and create and getting enough sleep. And now I’m back to getting up at 6.30 to get everyone where they need to go, and trying to jam in everything I need to do before 10.30 so I can get to bed. Still, those two weeks were bliss.
I went to a beer festival with some “mom friends” yesterday. The husbands stayed home with the kids đ I like beer fine, but was mostly there to hang out and people watch. It was good to catch up.
Now I’m just happy to be up without a hangover (pacing myself and drinking lots of water) and doing laundry while everyone sleeps. Weird but true. I love laundry now that I make into a weekly ritual and it’s the only day I let myself “binge watch” TV. “Derry Girls” was a recent favorite.
You mean you donât have a word for âlie-inâ? Thatâs tragic.
Iâve been happy working on making my gardens, and also my meditation space and plans/dreams goals for the day job.
Had a new friend over for supper on the spur of the moment on Monday, which was fun. Discovered she used to be a professional garden photographer, in the days of film. Sheâs inspired me to have another look at the possibility of selling my photographs.
I rarely have to get up early, but still feel very guilty if I sleep until mid-morning or noon. It doesn’t fit peoples’ expectations, I suppose. Mum used to call me with a surprised/disapproving “AREN’T YOU UP YET?!” in my late teens/mid twenties, which has sort of stuck and made sleeping in a bad, baaad thing. I’ve always had sleeping problems for as long as I can remember, so getting up early has more often than not been a real pain, although sleeping longer than until noon makes me feel horrible as well. …Let’s just settle with that I’m weird.
Last weekend (Oct. 4-6), FiancĂ© and I went to Sweden for my brother’s wedding. So. Beautiful! I mightn’t be entirely objective of course since it was my brother’s wedding, but I’ve worked on a bunch of weddings since 2006 (solo vocalist) and never seen one as beautiful as this one. But yeah, like I said. Not super-objective. Anyway, everyone cried and was happy so it was a glorious day. I got hugs from my brother and his absolutely lovely bride, which was even better. Hugs are the best.
And last Monday he sent me a whatsapp to tell me they’re having a baby. An April baby. I seriously thought he’d be the last one of us kids to marry and perhaps never get any kids, and now he’s the first one married and 2nd to have a kid so yeah, I was wrong there. But happy anyway! Perhaps even happier because I was wrong.
Except that, blegh. But let’s forget that and remember the love of two newly wed people instead! <3 And celebrate No Bra Day with wearing No Bra. Ditching the bra makes me happy too.
Just wanted to say you arenât a weirdo for not being a morning person. About 20% of the population get up automatically at 5am ready to attack the day. Another 20% have difficulties getting up and likely would sleep in until mid morning or even noon and stay up until the wee hours of the morning. They tend to be more creative. About 50% naturally tend to rise within an hour of sunrise and go to sleep within an hour of sunset. All this assumes no outside forces, such as job expectations, children, pets, etc., changing when a person sleeps. The other 10% are insomniacs.
So, youâre no weirder than the people getting up before the sun, and in my opinion way less annoying. I too am a night person. đ my mother is a morning person.
Also, kids up until puberty tend to be morning folks and teenagers into college tend to be night people.
A book I really enjoyed on the topic of chronotypes is âThe Power of Whenâ by Dr. Michael Breus.
Thank you! I had read that too somewhere. I guess growing up among farmers and other types of early risers was the actual problem. If you weren’t up and out and about when the sun rose, you were lazy and people looked down on you. I actually don’t have anything against mornings as a thing, it’s just that (apparently) having a sleeping disorder kinda screws your nights up and thus mornings are…the time when you have probably just managed to fall asleep and then you sure as hell don’t want to wake up again.
Feels good to not be alone. Thanks for your reply. <3
I don’t have a word for lie-in. That’s my normal state of affairs.
I get home from work between 12:30 AM and 1:00. I spend the next few hours decompressing as needed after work. Read my email. Watch a video. Read books. Then I go to bed some time between 3:00 AM and 5:00 AM – but usually around 3.
Nobody is depending on me to awaken them, nor make a lunch, nor carry them to school if they miss a bus. Oh, I’ll probably wake up once or thrice to wander to the bathroom, but then it’s back to bed. The only limits to my lie-in (a lovely word) are if the next day is a work day… I need to leave for work around 3:00 PM.
It’s Sunday. No work. Woke up at 8:00 AM and can’t go back to sleep. I may take a nap, later. Nap is such a lovely word, too. Maybe the dotter and I will go out to eat around 4. That’d make me happy. đ
Gary, Are you still planning on retiring soon? You had not said anything more about it so I wondered if you decided that the timing might not be good right now.
I’ve started drawing my Social Security – SS Paydays are the third Wednesday of the month. (SS Paydays sounds like my ship has come in, dunnit?) I also enjoy my retirement checks from long naval service – they arrive on the first.
But no, I still have the health to perform my duties at the Infrastructure and Environmental Management Unit Power Plant at Sussex I & II State Prisons, and I have no complaint about the generous leave policies – though the pay itself is atrociously low – so I think I have a couple years left before retirement… maybe.
Should the work change, become onerous, I can retire at the drop of a pin. I have sufficient age, years of service, and so forth. Right now, it’s the state income on the First and Sixteenth that pays for my New Ford Fiesta and Jenny’s Books on my Kindle.
Happy to have survived a gruelling start of term – last week had two big meetings to present/chair and a huge project to finish, all now done. New Head is a fantastic person, really looking forward to developing the school with her warm, ambitious vision for our school. Absolutely thrilled to have finally stopped coughing after nearly a month of sickness.
And this afternoon Minion 2 and I are going to check out a puppy….Portuguese sheepdog. Not sure it will work, and a colleague has a wheaten terrier who is likely to produce puppies in March…but am moving closer to persuading DH that a puppy is what we really really need.
I always call it a sleep-in. Not sure where it cones from. Probably we Aussies making up our own language again. đ
Anyway, I sort of had one yesterday. Woke at my usual 6 am then because of a sore back, sat in the recliner with the heating pad on. Woke at 9am wondering what the hell was happening.
I had my best friend (of maybe 45 years?) and her daughter in town. Daughter is taking a gap year and trying to figure out what to do (she worked on the Cape all summer); she may come live with us as we have a lot more jobs for young adults in our area than in a small town in upstate NY.
This is a great year to find short term jobsâthe Census, tbe campaigns, and a very tight job market.
And the Nationals won two games on the road and could really go to the World Series after being down 19-31 in May which I think may be the biggest comeback of all time.
I got up early to see them off and will now take a nap. And I still have a cutting garden in October.
Also DH is on a 3 week road trip. While I miss him I get to cook my quirky dinner favoritesâthe ones he thinks are strange or wonât eat. Tonight is a plum appetizer and maybe turkey pesto meatballs with lentil pasta (as an Italian American he believes pasta should be semolina).
One of my young relatives is working for the Census. His mother and I went to dinner some weeks ago, and she said that she’d always wondered what a youth spent on gaming could possibly prepare him for, but interpreting government regulations has turned out to be a snap!
Having returned from a wonderful 2 week trip to France, my sleep schedule has been off for most of the week. Took the rest of the week off and the whole family voted in the advance polls (Canada’s in the midst of a federal election). This was DS’s first time voting and I was very proud. My garden is sputtering to the end of the season but a few more tomatoes and jalapeno peppers to harvest. Having visited several different types of formal gardens in Normandy and Paris, I have lots of ideas for laying out the garden for next year. I met a lovely woman at the local monthly flower market and she’s given me several sources for heritage seeds. Came home from the last flower market with a arrangement in a tiny pumpkin and a lovely late fall bouquet. Long call with my brother yesterday afternoon – nice to catch up with him. Today is sunny and gardening is on the agenda.
Happiness was buying all the food for tomorrow. Instead of a whole small turkey, bought two turkey legs (thigh and drum stick), a dark and light meat turkey roll and half a breast. Theory is all tastes will be covered and no carcass to deal with. Found all the vegan requests too. Going for a walk to the shop to get peanut butter and jam. Trying to walk everyday.
Buying new to me authors on BookPub today. One free. Woohoo
Going to research dogs today. Time to get another dog. Granddaughters will be over the moon.
I am also a fan of the lie in, but I don’t get to do it very often and sometimes it’s annoying as shit. Sometimes it’s just annoyed when you wake up at 1 or 3 or 5 a.m. and take 3 more hours to go back to sleep and then it throws you off even later for day starting because you wake up three hours even later than you expected. Such as yesterday when I knew I had to leave my house by 10 a.m. because the Lawn Guys come every Saturday and are loud as fuck, but I was so freaking tired I did not want to get up.
Anyway: I did a storytelling performance last night and it went really well. Great, sympathetic audience. I also did some shopping and went to a Maker Faire. Today I’m going to another storytelling festival. That’s not for another 2 hours but I still need to get off my ass and get ready for it…and hit the grocery store beforehand because this may take awhile.
Friday evening we attended a birthday dinner for a long-time friend. Great food, great company.
And today the guy volunteers with the city and this is one of the two pruning days: In the spring, they prune park trees: In the fall, they prune street trees in the neighborhood on trees that need it (they check with the home owner first. Lots of people do their own or hire a commercial outfit. You can tell those. They rarely need work done). So I have most of the day on my own. I am already on my second chocolate bar.
I got the first half of the halloween decorations up today, but it took 3 hours. Closer to the day I will put up the inflatable things that would kill the grass if I put them up now, and all the accessories of fence bits, ghosts, and….uhm…. whatever is still in my basement.
Also putting off making my treat bags until later, so the Jr Mints don’t make everything taste mint. This year’s bag will feature jointed plastic spiders, but no ‘mail order only’ halloween themed candy because not worth the shipping for the small number of TorTers I get these days.
And now I am going to put my feet up and read.
Researching soccer players for a wip made me happy. Yum!
Jenny I have a questionable and I don’t know where to ask it so it’s going here. Move or delete if needed.
I have written a novel and I am having trouble determining genre. It’s a romance for sure. It has suspense for sure. But it also has ghosts. No other paranormal elements- just ghosts. It doesn’t have that goth somber flavor.
Is paranormal romantic suspense a genre? If so can it be paranormal when the only thing supernatural is ghosts?
About six weeks ago, I’m not sure why, but I got into a late-night pattern (go to bed between 3 & 4, get up around 11), and I was fretting about it until I decided it was silly to give in to social expectations of early rising, when this schedule is working for me, except on the infrequent occasions (no more than once a month) when I have to be somewhere before noon. I expect the end of DST will bump my schedule back an hour automatically, but even if it doesn’t, I don’t care any more. It helps that I’ve turned my phone’s ringer off, so I don’t get woken by robocallers.
A lovely autumn day. I took a Lyft to a pleasant area, walked six miles, encountered a farmers market, bought some stuff, had lunch, actually considered adopting an amazing puppy at the adoption van, but a young couple got her instead, then came home to my cat. Cat has no idea about the close call. As I sit here reading instead of frantically puppy-proofing, I can only be glad that the energetic and happy couple adopted her and that I can take a nap without worrying about destruction in the house.
Ha! I am considering keeping one of the kittens I’m fostering and keep looking around the downstairs (which is reasonably cat proofed, but in no way tiny energetic kitten proofed) and thinking about the potential destruction…
I continue to be amazed by the inventive destruction of three kittens last year (who are adolescents now). I thought I was prepared, after adopting two kittens about ten years ago (rescued from my yard), but the new ones are proving themselves to be diabolical geniuses.
I don’t regret giving the kittens a home (or TNR-ing their mom and adopting out their two siblings), but I must say I’m looking forward to their getting a wee bit older, so, inter alia, I can keep toilet paper out in public. I thought I’d outsmarted them by keeping it on the counter inside a plastic, lidded storage box. But no — if the lid is closed securely, they toss it onto the floor, which then sometimes causes the lid to pop open, so they can then drag the roll around the house.
Don’t mean to discourage you. One kitten is much less destruction than three! And they’re definitely worth it if you can outlast their adolescent years. There’s a reason why I always adopted adult cats, until the two litters came into my life sort of involuntarily on my part, and I felt responsible for them!
Putting the roll on the roller so that the free end falls at the back should at least minimize their ability to unroll! That is minimize, not eliminate . . . .
The last batch I adopted was 4 months old and two 5-6 months old. They quickly taught me that the house I thought was cat-proof wasn’t.
When Wendy (at 1.5 or 2) found the roll in our bathroom and unrolled it all over the floor, I was not amused. My husband, on the other hand was very proud of his girl. As a result, we keep the door to the separate throne room closed. Meanwhile, the equally available, but much less attractive roll in the guest bath goes unmolested by feline attention.
Wendy does have a bit of a thing about carrying around drapes of material. Usually it is a scrap of batting, which I pick up from various locations and put on the dining room table for the next time she needs a security blanket. Yesterday I came home to various socks and undergarments that had been drying on a rack in the bath room distributed throughout the house. I guess she needed a familiar scent. this time.
I find cats are much easier on the house than dogs. But cats are more enigmatic and apt to scratch me for no reason. Good luck with the kitten proofing!
We had a beautiful day here too. It’s the first day of my vacation and the first day of my birthday week. I do something every day as a celebration from something as small as a chai latte from B&N to a hike in the Adirondacks or a visit to a museum or place I’ve never visited before. Today, I got a pedicure and went for a walk along the canal where I encountered a number of wooly bear caterpillars and some garden snakes sunning themselves along the pathway. Tomorrow I am meeting an out of town friend,who is here for a funeral, for lunch. She moved away a number of years ago so it will be nice to see her again.
I’m a morning person so rarely sleep later than 7:30. Beautiful day for walking the dog and drinking coffee. I was surprised to see one more cone flower in bloom. Also put the air conditioners into hibernation for the season. And did some emergency stitches to Tantaka’s favorite plush tug toy. This one is nearing the end of it’s life; I have 2 more in storage. Keeping the dog in toys makes me happy.
I’m a night owl but have to be at work between 8:30 and 9 most mornings, sigh. This means I’m tired most of the time. So hard to go to sleep before midnight.
Happiness-wise, I went for a walk yesterday on a track that I last did about eight months ago. It felt a LOT easier this time. Like, “I can’t possibly be there already, let’s keep going” easier. Very satisfying to find that kind of proof that I’ve got fitter.
And I went looking round the garden at what needed to be done (answer: lots) and found a 6-leaf clover! The plant has lots of 4 and 5-leaf clovers on it too. That plant’s not getting dug up as a weed.
Happiness: boyfriend’s schedule will shift to 8-5 come time flip, which means he lines up with me again! Carpooling again! Off in daylight! No juggling the car! We can exercise together again and eat at regular times! Wheeeeeeee!!
And, total lay in. It was fabulous. It’s 4:30 and we at just starting cleaning and errands, but happiness aaaaaall morning! Happyhappyhappy!
I got the garden put to bed, which is always a bit bittersweet but also immensely satisfying. Spent today making applesauce from the golden delicious apples on my trees (crock pots are bliss), putting up a few other “last of the crops” things, and remembering how much I like doing that.
Tonight one of my circle and I did a small full moon ritual complete with fire pit bonfire and it was really good for my spirit. Lots of happy there.
I may have found someone to adopt the mama foster cat, which I thought very unlikely. A friend of a friend is coming into town to meet her next weekend. She’s really sweet, and if nothing else, this taught me that I would be happy to keep her. So it is a win either way–she either gets a new home with someone who lost a cat also named Freya and really needs someone new to love, or I can stop asking myself if I am keeping her and just do it. So happy/sad, maybe, but mostly happy. Now I just have to make up my mind about the crazy kitten, and find the one remaining boy a home too.
My sleep in this morning was unexpected and problematic. I woke up at 3:50am, turned off my alarm and then woke up again half an hour later. Iâm not quite sure how it happened but it left me with no time for breakfast. At least I made it to work on time for 5am. People are being dicks today though, so I might have been better off sleeping through work.
Happiness will be taking a shower and a nap after work.
I wake up at 6:00 AM even though the kids left years ago and both my husband and I retired.
Yet I love to watch the light this time of year. I seem to rise in total dark — or, sometimes, moonlight — and watch the woods and yard and sky slowly lighten.
The huge difference is not having to go anywhere.
This week’s happies are all about shifting perspective:
Rain made the fallen leaves even lovelier.
Cold made today’s afternoon nap even snugglier.
Darkness makes my lamp-lit desk even cozier.
I call cold wet windy days “appreciate my office job” days
I went to a ladies’ group meeting on Friday morning (so could not, unusually, sleep in) and just as it was about to begin, my phone chirped with a text message. Turned out to have been from the daughter of my parents’ best man, attached to a picture of HER parents’ wedding, with the couple and wedding party, asking whether my father was one of the men. He was, and since he was standing next to the groom, I presume he was the best man at this wedding! We’re trying to find her parents’ marriage certificate, and since my father is in naval uniform, I can confidently date this picture between 1943 (when he graduated from university and was promptly whisked off by the Navy for officers’ training) and March 1946, when he married my mother and the couple in the picture, then married, signed their certificate as the witnesses. We’re still trying to work out where, as in what jurisdiction, the wedding took place. She doesn’t really know, since her father died when she was a newborn and her mother remarried a few years later. We’ll work it out.
Then the program at the ladies’ meeting was a Pearl Harbor veteran talking about his service, and it turned out that he spent the war on my uncle’s ship, the USS Pennsylvania. Until Uncle Jim died this June, he’d thought he was the last Pennsylvania survivor, but apparently not quite. Passed this tidbit on to my aunt.
I set up a playdate for my daughter with 2 friends. One is being homeschooled for 6th-8th grade so K and her other friend hadn’t seen her since June. Guess I get to be more proactive.
I have worked evenings or nights since I was 17. I’ve always been a night person. Now ,(like Gary), I come home from work around 1a.m, maybe get to sleep 3-5. My husband keeps waking earlier and wakes up between 3-5. One of us is always tired and neither can sleep. I guess if we had a newborn it would work but since we’re in our late 50’s, that seems unlikely. Maybe a puppy…
Happiness is waking up at 3 a.m. with a hot flash and getting back to sleep promptly (rather than lying awake cursing whoever designed this f**ked up system for 30-40 minutes).
This is just the BEST feeling.