Happiness is . . . I got nothing.

~ Jenny

Somebody else pick up the ball today, please.

What made you happy this week? All I’ve is a great brownie that I didn’t have to bake.

108 thoughts on “Happiness is . . . I got nothing.”

  1. Shades of Tell Me Lies! Of course, that brownie was frozen, but some things must be endured.

    Sometimes happiness comes from the smallest things. I’ve had the broken ribs for two weeks, and today I managed to get out of bed without crying “ARGH!” It’s the going from horizontal to vertical that stresses the chest the most, and I usually feel it in my breastbone the most. Today, not so much. (Of course, I only got about two hours of sleep but some things must be endured. I’ll nap later.)

    2. What do the docs say about food? I mean about what kinds of food improve rib reconstruction (if there are any with an impact). If so, Eat more of those foods! And also, do you have enough pillows behind your shoulders to make moving upright a little easier? Get more pillows! (Did your daughter ever get her Mazdamobile?)

      Wracking my brain to think of small things that could help out….

      1. I sleep with 1 large pillow and three travel pillows and a wedge. I have more travel pillows, should I need them. The thing is, I’m accustomed to sleeping on my right side, currently a total no-go. Last night, the pillows let me tilt to the left, which was better than laying on my back. The wedge raises my head and shoulders, a poor-man’s hospital bed. I have the other wedge for the legs, but it’s too high. I have used it, but it gets annoying.

        Nobody mentioned diet, so I’m just eating standard diet stuff. Fish, chicken, green veggies, chocolate (Atkins), water, tea, coffee (decaf), diet coke (decaf). and spiced-up potatoes.

        The dotter is in Nawth Carlina this weekend. It’s eldest Granddotter’s due date, and Jen hopes she’ll pop him out while she’s there. Me, too! She planned to look at a couple of Mazda 5s in the Tidewater area en route, coming and/or going. None are advertised locally.

        1. I am not any kind of dietician or doctor, so you should find a better authority for this, but this is what I’ve been told.
          Gary, since you’re restricting your calories, you may need to pay a bit of extra attention to still getting enough of the bone-building elements, like calcium.

          Spinach and rhubarb both leach calcium from your body (hence the rule never to eat both at the same meal – if you do it can make your teeth feel furry; and the usual recipe for spinach being creamed, which adds in the calcium without leaching it from the eater), so those are probably not good for promoting bone healing.

          Food rich in calcium may be helpful, such as milk or cheese, and people on diets tend to limit their consumption of these. Searching for other foods that are rich in calcium might be useful.

          A bit of old family lore: the old-style hard white powdery peppermints were good for that too, which is why, grandma’s doctor told her, she developed a craving for them when she was pregnant with my dad and couldn’t get easy access to milk, living in the tropics: the baby needed the stuff to build his bones.

          IIRC fish contains some useful stuff for building bones too, the same stuff that is good for nerve cells and brain development, but I’m less sure of that. The standard advice to eat fish or seafood once a week won’t do any harm, anyway.

          And an occasional banana for the potassium might not go amiss, though too many of them aren’t good for anyone on high blood pressure medication.

      1. All good ideas. I’m just getting mature enough that spinach isn’t that awful stuff mom liked – I ate a couple of UKROPS Chicken Caeser wraps in green spinach shells – and I do have one spinach plant out of six planted to contribute to salads in March, there’s been a lot of cauliflower in the mixed veggies, and I add half&half to coffee. Looking at the diet diary portion of the access diet program, I seem to be getting lots of calcium. It tracks vitamins and minerals as well as calories and carbs.

        The lift chair recliner would have been good for the last two weeks. I beyond needing it now.

        The dotter is home, and either the mazdas were sold before she got there, or she didn’t like station wagons after all. Tomorrow, she wants to look at a Ford Explorer.

        Eldest granddotter is now past due, and there was mention of an induction on Tuesday next. Is induction appropriate for “being induced?”

        1. Yes.

          I like baby leaves of spinach in salad. I’ve not heard of any disadvantages to eating it; in fact I thought it was good for you (cf. Popeye).

          1. according to chinese medicine, too much is tough on kidneys. Ditto for kale, nuts, blueberries, and probably something else I’m forgetting. Everything in moderation, I suppose

          2. Spinach is high in oxalic acid.
            If you are prone to kidney stones or have kidney disease your doctor may say to eat a low oxalic acid diet. Also the acid bonds to calcium so it may not be quite as great a source of calcium as it looks based on how much is in it. I’m seeing varying advice on whether cooking spinach reduces the oxalic acid.

  2. Happiness is being in Palm Springs for a mini vacay with my bestie. Visiting a friend who has a ridiculously gorgeous house. I have my own room and ensuite. Also, she has three adorable Italian Grayhounds. Yesterday we lounged by the pool and enjoyed the hot tub after a marvellous four hour hike in Indian Canyon. I may never leave.

  3. It was not a happy week for me; I had to have my beautiful Lily put down yesterday (she was a long haired, gray, and feisty cat who believed she ruled the house). She hadn’t been doing well for a few weeks and went downhill very quickly; the vet squeezed her in yesterday when I called, and we made the determination to let her go. I have been snuggling as much as possible with her little brother Fergus to try to alleviate the pain.

        1. Apparently my comment disappeared. I expect a cat who believed she ran the household would leave a bigger than usual empty place. <3

          We are missing our cat at work (vet clinic.) The bookkeeper's office, where she spent her hospice months, is so very empty, even though we have a new cat working the front desk now.

    5. I feel for you. It is wrenching to lose a close companion. Your house must be permeated with memories of her, and I hope you can savor those, even as you grieve. I’m glad you have Fergus to cuddle with.

    12. I’m so sorry. It’s a tough decision even when your pet is clearly declining. My SIL put her beloved cocker down yesterday and found herself lying in his bed this morning.

      1. I am so sorry for her loss; it’s so hard to decide to do it but it’s worse knowing your pet is suffering.

    14. Thank you to all of you here for your supportive comments; it helps to have a community like this to support one another.

  4. Jenny – you have a brownie! that you didn’t have to bake! That’s wonderful – especially if it tastes good.

    I saw my daffodils and camellias start to bloom on Friday. Today, they’re getting an all day rain. Not my idea of a great time, but they’ll enjoy it. Here’s a little spring brightness to make you smile.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CofjqBWplnO/

    2. So great! Thank you for sharing.

      I planted lots of bulbs in the fall, again in containers as they were successful last year, but the extraordinarily cold weather at Christmas seems to have killed them all.

  5. I had a good week overall. I mailed two valentines, and finally got a good idea for the last two I need to make. Also picked up some pistachios for DH to be a valentine treat. Also handed out chocolate volcano Hershey kisses (just goop inside, really, sounds more exciting than it is) to various people who sold us stamps, made us coffee, sold me chicken salad, etc.

    I had a day off my diet and ate many lovely things. Hopefully not too many lovely things, but it was fun. Only three more weeks to go before hopefully shifting to moderate virtue (and not reverting to holiday mode of Eat All The Things)

    I helped find a missing paper, made a form into a fillable PDF (took three tries, but I won) and had a discussion with someone that they found useful. It’s so pleasant to feel I am accomplishing things, especially those that make someone’s life better in even a small way.

  6. I took a friend out for a belated birthday lunch at a local seafood restaurant. We reminded each other how much we like going out for lunch together and decided to go more often.

    After a grey, wet week, we had a beautiful sunny day. The sun is getting stronger and it was great to be outside.

    I’m baking cookies this morning to give to friends as Galetine’s gifts. I had some frozen slice/bake dough leftover from Christmas and made a batch of Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal cookies. I have little decorated paper bags to put them in.

          1. Oh, that explains it. I don’t watch TV, and haven’t for 23 years. Except for minor losses in communication like this, I don’t miss it.

  7. I’m happy because we’ve had a lot more sun, lately. The silly little birds are already nesting, here, and the freezing weather is not gone, yet! This morning, I saw a Raccoon sitting above a hollow tree trunk, high in my neighbor’s yard, and watched as it crawled into the trunk. That solves one mystery. I’ve seen four Opossums, lately. A chipmunk came out of hibernation to hoover up the fallen nyjer seed from the finch feeder. My Ozark Witch Hazel bloomed. It blooms very early, and smells like cloves. Sweet! I agree with Gary that sometimes happiness comes with small things. I’ve had a whole pile of them!

  8. I had my knee replaced 17 months ago but didn’t have a good outcome. I still couldn’t walk without pain and certain movements were especially painful. Just walking through a grocery store was awful. After much research, I self diagnosed my issue and convinced a surgeon to do arthroscopic surgery to release (cut) my popliteus tendon. I had the surgery Thursday, and it was successful! I no longer have the pain and am getting my life back. The surgeon said the popliteus was inflamed and frayed because it had been catching on the implant. I can’t wait to be able to go for a long walk. I haven’t been able to do that for two and a half years. I feel so blessed.

  9. Happy for me is less than two weeks until I go see my brother and sis-in-law and my delightful, multi-lingual Swiss niece and nephew. We will go frolicking in the streets of Basel, hair covered with bio-degradable confetti, begging for candy and flowers from the Waggis (clowns). We will go for civilized lunches with small cups of European coffee, and at night my brother and I will venture down into the pop-up pubs in the cellars of buildings in the old city for beer and the hearing of itinerant verse-declaimers. I don’t understand their german but I laugh anyway.

  10. This isn’t really a “happy” and more of a vent.

    So, every since I started my job at the drug store, people in town have been asking me how I like it and looking surprised when I said it was okay. The longer I’m there, the more I understand their surprise. Yesterday I had a conversation with my co-worker and I said something about working the upcoming Wednesday while Manager is away. She told me I wasn’t, even though the manager had asked me back in December if I could and I’d said yes.

    She told me what happened was that the manager got mad at her about something and cut her hours. Co-worker told Manager that it wasn’t right to give the casual person (me) the hours and take them away from the permanent part-time employees just because. I think there might have been a comment that co-worker could quit at any time. The only people who are full-time employees are the store manager and the pharmacist.

    So, upshot is that Co-worker got her hours back but Manager never let me know. I’ve worked a lot of places and, maybe I’ve been lucky, but I’ve never had a manager do things like that or have I had one who expected people to check the schedule 6 weeks after it’s been set to see if they are still working. She makes the schedule up 2 months in advance. Co-worker said that day’s schedule had been changed 3 times.

    I told Paul about it when I got home and how I really didn’t like Manager’s behaviour. He said that the pay was nice but I could quit if I wanted. Since we are on the super accelerated mortgage repayment plan, quitting isn’t really an option, especially since I only work 12 hours a month.

    Paul’s taking me for lunch or supper, we haven’t decided, on Tuesday and that’s a happy.

    Fred the dog seems to be itching, scritching, and licking less now that he’s on an allergy pill, also a happy. It’s a happy for him as well since he gets his pills in a slice of cheese.

    Also, it’s Puppy Bowl day.

    2. It sounds like a good time to look for a new job. It is a shame that you have to get a new job because your manager is incompetent and inconsiderate, but I doubt if anyone that clueless will change soon.

    3. Always take a photo of your latest schedule, that way if you’re not in due to a shift revision she didn’t tell you, you can prove it. Yes polish up your CV and start looking around. If the manager and the co-worker are at war, the battle may spill over to you. The manager is using you to fill in for the co-worker, next time the co-worker might not tell you about the next shift change so when the manager is short, co-worker will get the hours

      1. The trouble is that in a town of less than 1000 people, there aren’t very many places to work. Working out of town is a non-starter because I can’t drive in the dark.

        1. You’ve probably considered remote work but it might be good to look again. More and more jobs are remote.

  11. My happy is that we did a contract with a wedding planner and now all the logistics are her problem. Since my daughter decided to do this on what I can only call a hobby farm, with minimal parking, outdoor lighting, etc, in England, and I’m in the US, this is a huge relief and well worth the cost. (Especially since she seems to know the reliable inexpensive wedding vendors so the savings may help cover the cost.)

    I’ve finally felt well enough to get back to walking several days a week.

    And I decided to weed the garden now to try to get ahead of the weeds in the spring. To my delight the first bed had lots of snowdrops and a few crocuses that I can now see. Two more beds to go once we get past the next couple of cold days.

    I’m also planning a trip to see my son (joy!), mom (must be fine) and best friend from high school (joy!) while my husband is in Nepal and India in March. This is tentative depending on the scheduling of my thyroid surgery which I hope I will learn tomorrow.

    More generally Im finally beginning to relax and unwind and feel less stressed after leaving my job of 7 years.

    It’s also giving me a little more emotional distance on my mom, whose capacity for denial should be legendary.

    Me: Mom, it’s your decision how much you want to risk breaking a hip but you are falling once a week now and I really think you should ask your physical therapist if she has recommendations for avoiding falls.

    Mom: (who takes a broom when she takes her dog for walks instead of a cane, which I think is because she doesn’t want to look old) well I think all the work I did to strengthen my bones and the drug I took worked because I haven’t broken a hip.

    Me: Mom, you just got diagnosed with a collapsed vertebrae so it clearly didn’t do the whole job.

    Yes of course everyone immediately points out to me that taking a broom makes her look like an old witch instead of an old lady.

    1. A broom may not make her feel as old, but even a push broom can’t add much stability. Can her doctor threaten her with a walker of she doesn’t use a cane? It sounds like a walker would be a good idea any way, because it doesn’t shift your weight to either side the way a cane does, which might be better for the vertebrae.

      1. This is why I want her to talk to the PT. I’m hoping the PT will tell her to use a cane or walker. She won’t listen to me. Her neurosurgeon didn’t tell her to. She is about to see a new primary care doc and a sports medicine doc and either might tell her. She probably won’t listen .
        Her 12 lb dog routinely pulls her over . She really needs at least a cane. She can’t get up by herself and has had to call a neighbor. But her stubbornness matches her denial.

  12. The couple I bought a greenhouse from last October have agreed to pay someone to move it to my allotment at last – a week on Wednesday, weather permitting. And I’ve finished clearing the plot and am halfway through finishing making the paths on it. It’s going to look amazing once they’re done – well, for a few weeks at least.

    Had a couple of photography outings, which were fun. Got together with a fellow photographer and his artist wife: it was great to connect with them. And I’m enjoying the sunshine and the buds everywhere.

  13. I’m happy I’ve read all Argh-posts and replies this week. 🙂

    I’m happy the vet that came to see Matcha on Thursday was a real sweetheart. Thanks to everyone for the ideas/suggestions to what the bumps/lumps/thingies under her chin and behind her ear could be. Turns out the vet didn’t know either. They feel like large peas, very round and firm and he said he’d never seen anything like it on such a young cat. He decided to take some cell-samples and send to the lab, so hopefully we’ll know more the coming week. It’s possible it’s some kind of cyst, he said, and that they might have to remove the ones on her neck if they grow bigger. It’s possible, he said, that since she was born with one eye there might also be other… flaws in the system, but that is of course impossible to know without further examinations. We’ll have to wait and see. I asked if at least the ones behind her ears could be the sign of some allergy, but he did not think so. I will ask about reaction to plastic though when he calls this week, just to make sure. Since she still seems to be fine otherwise – eating, drinking, playing, cuddling as normal – I guess there’s no need to worry for now. Oh, and he also cut her claws when we asked, so now she doesn’t get stuck in everything she plays with anymore.
    Matcha was NOT happy about the medical attention, and I can understand why. It’s horrible to be held fast while a stranger stabs needles into your flesh. I thought she’d hate me forever for helping with that, but 10 minutes after the vet was gone, she came to headbutt me and purr and lick my hands, so I think we’re good. That’s a happy, too.

    Question: Does anybody here have any experience with catnip spray? I was considering buying it to spray on the cat-tree’s scratchign posts to make them more appealing to the ladies. Internet says it works a treat, MIL says it leaves ugly stains. I suppose the latter might be depending on the brand/quality of the spray? And what about the former? What are your experiences with this stuff?
    Lots of thanks in advance!

    1. I just buy catnip and put some in my hand and rub it up and down the cat tree. It sticks, and some falls off, but the scent remains, I think. The cats lick what falls off, from the bottom of the stand of the cat tree, so it’s a win-win. Probably much cheaper than a spray, too.

      1. Ah! I will have to try this. Does indeed sound cheaper than the spray (which I’ve already got now because when I asked in the store if they had it as a prelude to ask more about it, the cashier got it for me directly and I didn’t dare say I just wanted more info…), but I can use the latter for toys in any case and try the “real deal” for the poles. Another customer in the shop said she always spray her stuff outdoors and recommended I do the same, and that’s all good for toys, but I can’t drag this monstrosity down the stairs to get it outside for a spray-round: https://twitter.com/shassmusic/status/1617548673264533505
        At least other customer said this one shouldn’t leave stains either, so I guess MIL’s experience is with…another type of spray.
        Anyhow, thanks for the tips!

        1. Thank you for the descriptions in the image description. Even though I can see the image, the description has more information, and I loved it.

          (My hobbyhorse: accessibility features aren’t just useful for people without the targeted ability!)

          1. I always try to write descriptions, since I need them myself. I feel I can not expect others to write descriptions if I don’t write them as well. Want to present a good example. 🙂
            If someone else has snapped the picture, I ask them for details so I know what to write. If I have taken the picture myself I try to make an approximate description of what SHOULD be on it, or ask a sighted person for help. I’m happy it makes a difference for others, too! I usually ask someone sighted to double-check the quality of the pics I snap to make sure I did capture what I wanted to, and they can confirm and add details I mightn’t know about.

    2. I haven’t tried catnip spray — I’d recommend just getting the powdered stuff and sprinkling it on the scratching post. Probably cheaper and definitely won’t stain anything. Also, if you have a patio or balcony or porch with good sunshine, you can grow an infinite crop with a starter plant or a couple bucks worth of generic seed. Catnip grows like a weed (and can become a weed if it’s allowed to self-seed in the garden).

      As to the cysts, if that’s what the lumps turn out to be, that is good news! I had a cat who got one next to her ear, and it was very much like you describe — pea sized, hard, but didn’t seem to bother her at all. The vet had me keep an eye on it, in case it grew (and then it could be drained or excised, depending on what it turned into), but it never did. It probably annoyed me more than it did her, because it was in a spot where she liked to have her head rubbed, so I always noticed it when I was patting her.

      1. We have a back yard with some unpaved patches on the sides that are meant to be flower beds. Right now, they’re mostly beds for random weeds. We also have a small balcony outside the kitchen. Perhaps it’s easier for me to keep it in check if it’s potted, at least for starters. I’ll do some research. Thank you!
        On the cysts: We haven’t heard back from the vet yet, but that sounds promising, then. As long as she’s not in pain or bothered by them, and if they’re not dangerous, it’s all good. Thanks for the reassurance. 🙂

    3. I use catnip spray, but only to refresh the catnip stuffed toys. I have not noticed any stains from it.

      1. Excellent! Thank you for chipping in. I’ll try this one on the toys first and see what happens. I’m also thinking, perhaps I could spray some on a piece of cloth or paper towel and rub that on the scratching posts instead of spraying directly on the posts? Hmm.

  14. Hmmm. If I can’t access happy, I am aiming for equanimity.

    So while things are bad with work – I had to carry the class enbloc from grade 1. 39 grade 2s down from 42 grade 1s, there were 7 transfers out and 4 transfers in. The work hoard is at level 1½, but the home hoard is level 3, somewhat “messy”. These are actual categories from Squalor Survivor’s site. I have sensory overload daily at work. It really feels like torture.

    Happy:
    * realising that my friend’s daughters really do like me the way their mum says that they do! Sometimes parents say what they think us non-parents want to hear, but in this case (Thursday) the girls were enjoying the playlist I’d shared and telling me how much they like it and me! 😉 When 16-year-olds tell me my playlist is “giving” there’s a sense of glee mixed with pride. Lol!

    * My elder friend’s delayed from December 70th birthday party today;

    Pleased:
    * getting a hair trim on Friday to fix the bad haircut as it grows out;

    Satisfied
    * Going to support my friends at their religious event last Sunday;
    * Me setting firm boundaries and not letting lies stand.

    Not bad, emotionally speaking. I was too reactive and got angry far too often. But I am re-working my lesson plans to catalyse change.

  15. Our Concerts were wonderful. The Belgian resturant was good but the home brewed ginger beer was the best thing we had there.

    We have a week off from concerts because I have to go back for another set of scans. She didn’t like my ones in November so I have additional ones later this month.

    The unhappy was we had to replace our HVAC system which was expensive enough we can use the points to upgrade the trip to Argentina next year.

  16. I noticed today that the tender perennials that I overwinter indoors (rosemary, sage, and scented geraniums — well, the sage is hardy, but I like to bring it in for fresh sage during the winter) are looking good, not as transplant-shocked as when I first brought them indoors and not leggy as they usually are this time of year. Unlike Gary, I don’t give my indoor plants any supplemental lighting or food or, really, much attention at all. I figure they’re lucky they got brought indoors and repotted instead of being left outside to literally freeze to death. Very much survival of the fittest for plants at my house. They probably wish they could pack a bag and run away from home, preferably to Gary’s house. (Which makes me think of my favorite scene from an odd little British comedy I watched last night, which also made me happy — a character who used to be a cat but is now a human, decides to run away from his new home, and he packs his three possessions — a spoon, a bowl and a toy, I think — in a handkerchief, ties it to a stick and heads on out. Show is “Extraordinary” and warning, extremely NSFW. It’s described as the same sort of over-the-top characters as the British comedy, “The Misfits.” Not entirely sure I’d recommend it, but it had some funny moments, just not sure they outweighed the cringe moments.)

    The overwintering plants have also started to put out new growth, which tells me that spring really is on the way, which makes me happy. I’ll post a pic on Working Wednesday. This is the first year that I thought to transplant them all into a singe, compact, plastic window box instead of having a bunch of pots that needed to be watered separately (and I invariably missed one, sometimes for the whole winter), and I’m pleased with how well it works.

    1. The difference between the dotter’s plants and mine is that hers mostly live in a windowed sunroom or under large windows, and even she uses the occasional grow light. ALL of my plants live in a basement with four tiny slits of basement windows, three of which have a view of the carport. The fourth is occluded by that sunroom above. Grow lights aren’t a luxury, they’re a necessity. I’m looking at adding my last Harvest and three amber mason jars.

  17. Happiness is..putting color on paper. Search “plastic bag monoprints.” Watching Alisa Burke is fun, but the happy comes from actually doing it.

    1. Happiness is daydreaming a trip to the poetry slam that happens almost every Tuesday in San Antonio, TX. Don’t know if I can make it reality but I’ll try.

      Happiness is pulling what I have so far of the first novel from a planned contemporary gothic romance trilogy out of hibernation and still loving it.

      The protagonist Emily Dickenson Barlow is a slam poet. Had great fun writing a slam poem. Am having more fun listening to the amazing Harry Baker to improve my performance of that poem on Tuesday for critique.

      Happily wrote a blogpost re the above.

      Bob Mayer is making me happy posting possible covers for his and Jennys upcoming book Lavendar’s Blue. And posting links to the first 2 scenes.

      I’m getting off here and happy dancing. Bring on Liz Danger!

  18. I’m happy that you’ve got more books coming soon! Also happy that the spring weather is glorious and I’ve been out in the garden doing all the things. The lime tree flowering and the avocado trees growing in the greenhouse make me happy.

  19. I caught up with 2 people over the weekend who I’d lost touch with lately. It was great catching up with them and they’re both keen to keep up our friendship. Very happy making.

  20. I’m happy because I’m visiting my brother and SIL after a long covid-break. So far the visit has involved delicious food and a successful shoe shopping expedition. As a plus, my brother updated the iOS on my iPad and I can now access functionality that had stopped working because I was so far behind the times.

    Looking forward to the remainder of my visit—and not just because there are more appetizers and desserts to come 😉

  21. Happy was two extremely productive days of writer business. Rewarded myself by writing 2K words of a new thing.

    Also, husband is on his way home from seeing a client, and he’s bringing junk food (cheeseburgers, we get them about twice a year), and then we’ll watch Wakanda Forever.

  22. I survived another week and hope to get through next week as well. I have something going on everyday-doctors, meetings, errands-and most of them not really fun. The weather looks good though. And the days are getting longer.

    No brownies but a great iced shortbread cookie.

  23. I saw some excellent plays this weekend, took a knitting class, did karaoke, and auditioned for a dream show. I probably won’t get in it, but it’s an honor to get to try for it.

    That said, I think I’m in the funk with Jenny because The Depression Has Kicked In and I am going to have to sit through an hour and a half (at least) of hearing about my friend’s nightmare horrible life on the telephone tonight.

  24. Hey all – FYI Bob Mayer’s book New York Minute is free on Kindle until 2/15. This is the first book in his latest thriller series. Hero is former Green Beret Will Kane. Setting is NYC which Bob knows very well.

  25. Sorry I’m late. This didn’t show up in my inbox until today, and I forgot to look yesterday.

    Happiness is the 4-season porch finally being finished, except for a few electrical touches, and some shelves my handyman is going to build for me. (Not happiness is the final cost over-runs, which went a full third over budget, or the futon couch I ordered that isn’t nearly as nice as I’d hoped. But you can’t have everything.)

    Also sun, which we’ve hardly had any of lately.

    2. Hooray for the end of construction! I’m sure your life will improve without all the dust and noise. As for the couch, this is why I will not buy a chair or sofa without sitting on it first. No picture can convey the touch of an item or how it fits your body, which makes it difficult for people living in small towns.

  26. I read lessons in chemistry and it was extraordinary. I would’ve said it was not my kind of book until I read it and then I couldn’t stop. I’m still thinking about it. https://bookshop.org/p/books/lessons-in-chemistry-bonnie-garmus/17422983?ean=9780385547345&utm_id=D1054_7345_44963&utm_source=Bookshop_Ads&utm_medium=Dedicated%20Email%20Single%20Image&utm_campaign=LESSONS%20IN%20CHEMISTRY%20%28&_kx=fsowIhSJT6_GoCT640wo3cz36J4m1CHvUECgDp2yg5c%3D.RBxUNF#2)+&utm_content=12571
    Also, I get to work on the Disney show tomorrow the villains of valley view. And I had to good auditions I’m not as far along as I would like on my edits, but so much else is going on so I’m going to take what I can get my son‘s happiness is mango ice cream at Baskin and Robbins. He lives in Michigan and drove 50 miles to find a Baskin-Robbins just for that ice cream wishing you a week full of unexpected, delightful surprises.

  27. I unpacked and washed the last bag of dishes from the counter replacement and I am very happy to see them again. I will still have to do some rearrangement because some of the cabinets are too crowded while another is too empty, but that will become clearer as I use the new cabinets and see what dishes I can’t reach.

    My biggest happiness last week was a complete surprise. My pharmacy kept sending me emails saying that they were waiting for a new prescription to be sent from my doctor’s office even though I couldn’t remember requesting one. When I finally hauled my ass over there for the third time in a week I discovered that the allergy pills that had been unavailable in any form had come back on the market, but my prescription had expired. The pharmacy requested a new one from my allergist and now I am back on the pills that actually do something. It is taking a few days for the total results to show, but now it is only my eyes that are running uncontrollably instead of my eyes and my nose. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the difference.

    1. Also, I had the fun of showing my husband Tom Holland’s umbrella. He’s the one who follows pop culture not me so there was both the fun of watching it and of being one up on him on pop culture for once.

      Thank you Arghers. I learned about it here

  28. The hunt for a replacement vehicle is over, which also makes me happy. I made the dotter my co-owner and principal driver, so we used her 2011 VW Routan as a trade-in, added my leftover insurance settlement money, and bought a dark, dark blue 2015 Ford Explorer with black cloth upholstery and trim (which suited her Goth sensibilities) and drove it home in time to collect the grandkinder after school. The VW’s check engine light was permanently on and had added codes since the last time it was hooked to a diagnostic machine, so we needed a reliable alternative. She loves it, and I have no plans to drive it, so it works for us both. 🙂

    1. Thanks for asking! It’s nice to have arghers caring. I’m in the south island and it’s the north island that’s been clobbered, so yes, I’m fine. I’m rather shocked by the damage it’s done up north but grateful to live so far south.

        1. Allanah’s from near me, so she’ll be fine unless she’s on holiday in the North Island. But I think Georgia’s from the North Island. I hope she’s okay.

  30. Well, the grandkinder have done it again. Some months ago, I had to replace the power cord to my Acer Chromebook because they lost it. I contributed a computer carry bag and told them each and severally that when not plugged in, the cord was to reside in the bag.

    So, they lost the new cord, too.

    Laptops is wuthless without the ability to charge them. The newest cord arrives today from Amazon. I seriously considered keeping the cord with its inline transformer in the Owner’s Suite and making them bring me the laptop for charging. Alas, I am an old softy. Bah. Humbug.

    1. Get some shiny silver tape or bright pink acrylic paint and make the cord both embarassing and gaudy. Even if they don’t say “eeww, Grampa, don’t make me touch it,” it will be glimpsable by your daughter when cleaning.

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