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Happiness is Work That’s Going Well

We still have a lot to do on The Honey Pot Plot, but I really like what we have so far. My house is still a mess, but I’ve finally figured out where I want everything to go. I was making a Christmas stocking and realized it was going to be Hulk sized, but I like the pattern so I’m going to keep going. I love it when the things I make–stories, houses, crochet–are going well, even if the stocking is ridiculously large, the house is still a mess with potential, and the story still needs a lot of work. Going in the right direction is really all I need. It’s the journey, not the destination, right?

How did you move toward happiness this week?

117 Responses

  1. I got colour added to my tattoo. Some pink and green shading so the peony really stands out. I’m really happy with it.

    I finished knitting my hat. This is the first knitting project I’ve finished in many years so I’m proud of myself for sticking with it, even when I had to pull out rows. I was going to give it to my nephew but gave it to DH because it’s a nice colour on him. It’s a bit big but a friend suggested washing it and blocking it which will shrink it a little. I bought myself a little fabric basket for my to knitting. Prettier and more durable than the paper bag I’ve been using.

    I mulched my garlic and planted my tulips so garden tasks are finished for this year.

  2. Bit lame but finally got the mobile phone handset I’ve wanted for well over a year, always been out of my price range, I do like amazon’s black friday sales cos at long last I have it, like I said bit lame, bit consumerish but hey, it made me happy lol

    2. Lisa, You should not feel the least bit uncomfortable about posting about getting something that you obviously plan to use all the time. That’s not consumerism as commonly understood.

    3. Deferred gratification (as in the case of your phone handset) is supposed to be gratifying! It is supposed to make you happy!

  3. I feel like I am losing my mind a little bit with all the things I want to do vs the things that I need to do. The struggle is real. I can’t seem to get myself started today because of the indecisiveness.

    I did watch The Lady Eve last night for the first time and that was a lot of fun. And I made tiny Christmas trees out of book pages. I always feel better when I am making something, which I seem to forget regularly. It’s a strange sort of amnesia.

    1. It’s the opposite of that form of amnesia that makes you forget how terrible certain things are, like moving house, and then you do it again and think to yourself how did I not remember how terrible this is??

  4. Happiness is taking my stepdaughter and goddaughter on our annual Christmas shopping trip. Usually we go to the big mall but this year we’re going to my favourite jewellery store to get grown-up jewellery (nothing too expensive but a cut above costume). I predict they will take an hour to pour through every piece in the store, an hour to try on almost every piece and then an hour to agonize over which piece they should each buy because they LOVE everything and can’t possibly choose. I’m bringing my phone with my Kindle app of course.

    1. That is such a nice thing to do! I had an aunt and uncle who would take us to a local shop for good silver jewelry. It made up the majority of my collection for years and I still have most of it.

      I have two nieces, aged 4 and 5 respectively and I started a time capsule of jewelry for them this year. I got some pretty little cards and I write them a note and put a piece of jewelry away for them tied to a life event. I have a tendency to pick up sterling silver pieces when I find them thrifting, regardless of whether or not it is to my taste and then I hoard it.

      1. That is a lovely idea! I wish I’d started doing that years ago. Instead, even after a clear discussion about maximums, my stepdaughter zeroed in on a necklace that was $1500! Um, no.

        1. She has good taste. I wish that I had thought to start this when they were born, but maybe for the next one. And I am going to follow your example once they are old enough to choose for themselves. Also, expensive tools. My aunt bought me a real metal jewelry making set that was very expensive when I was small and it sparked a life long passion. She also put a camera into my sister’s hands, and she went on to go to school for photography.

  5. In October I spent two weeks on a ship in the Arctic with 29 other artists. We bonded really solidly, and I had not realized how much I had been missing them until we had a big zoom call yesterday and 2/3 of us made it. I was so pleased to see them, to hear them, to be able to talk about our experiences with others who had also been there. I’m not generally a hugely social person, but the one group chat I have is these people that I knew for all of two weeks. We’re doing it again in Dec, and every one is flooding the group chat with heart emojis and videos of their pets. This whole thing is very new to me!

    3. It sounds to me as if it might not be the voyage experience as such so much as discovering a community of people who actually share your not-widely-shared interests (here, artists who care enough about an Arctic experience to make the trip). I can think of analogous accounts of discovering community and have had some myself.

    4. Congratulations! You now belong to 2 tribes: Argh and Arctic Artists! These are the kind of communities that help us remember who we are and why we enjoy that. May you all revel in your sense of connection and keep the group chats up as long as you still feel the ties, ideally for years to come.

  6. I’m doing some more DIY electrical work, so yay me!

    I’ve taken out a Cornish Game Hen to thaw for DankeFest., which falls on Good Book Thanksday this year. The dotter will be in Nawth Carlina with the Firstborn Male Child again this year. I don’t travel, so I’ll be cooking my own feast.

      1. My nephew does a mean turkey, but then I have to wrestle my niece for my share of crispy skin. I’m staying home. I had to look at some old posts to remember what I stuffed the hen with (Some Kind Of Rice). I have some Bob Evans mashed potatoes for side dish with green beans and carrots. I’ll harvest my green onions to garnish everything.

        It’s not too late to prepare my family’s French Canadian Pork Dressing. It’s a slurry of meat and potatoes that was designed to make dry-assed turkey palatable. These days, most turkey is a lot moister than in “the good-‘ol days.” The pork dressing can be eaten as a separate dish, or spread on sandwiches. Maybe.

  7. I am readjusting my recipes to have better texture and flavor, after adjusting them to have no fat, whatsoever, and no sugar. The diet book is from the 90’s, so some theories have been debunked. I’ve been following the Mediterranean/Pescatarian diet, so I already was almost there on the Pritikin/Ornish diet. Plus, walking is easier for me in the cold weather.

    Happiness is seeing Opossums, and figuring out when they will come by, now that it gets dark earlier. There was a darling little black one last night.

    Next up is really getting down to sorting, and clearing, “stuff”. It’s depressing seeing dusty “stuff” everywhere. It used to “spark joy”, but no longer.

    My eldest grandson is in town for Thanksgiving with his new Lab puppy. I”m going over soon to see them. Puppies do spark joy!

    1. You probably know more than I do about this, but I’ve heard from several different doctor/nutritionist sources that we still need some healthier fats in our meals even if we want to cut back on fats altogether, so just be sure you’re getting all the nutrients/substances the body needs in your diet (I don’t know what all of these are, but surely someone has compiled a list somewhere).

      1. You’re right Zoe. I read up on all this, and am following guidelines and recommendations, and I put a little olive oil on my salads, because that makes the greens usable by the body. Take zinc with little copper, and B’s, and potassium.

  8. My yellow plastic electric kettle finally broke, so I could get myself a stainless steel replacement in a Black Friday sale. It lights up sapphire blue as it boils, and I can see the water bubbling up. Very pretty.

    Also photographed the surprising number of flowers still in the garden just before the temperature took a nosedive & we had four inches of snow. (https://www.instagram.com/p/DChLTxWs8cp/?img_index=1) And had several good catch-ups with friends, especially a morning with an old schoolfriend. Plus a film night & open studios chat with my photographer friend and her sister.

    1. Plus, just been able to buy another year’s subscription to Lightroom Classic (and Photoshop) half price on Amazon, which makes me very happy – I was worried they weren’t going to offer the deal this year. I so want to immerse myself in my photography and writing, and they keep retreating another step away. But this should be an incentive.

    6. Curiously, I fairly recently replaced my malfunctioning stainless steel electric kettle with an inexpensive plastic one (what I could quickly find) and have been pleasantly surprised at how well it works. Greater visibility of the water level, and a lid attached to the kettle and raising at a button press. True, I don’t know how long it will last. (I think the steel one might have made 20 years.)

      1. I just gave my mom a steel one we’ve had since the kids were in elementary school, so at least 15 years. I’m thinking closer to twenty. She needs a bigger one, though (the alternative is apparently drinking less coffee, which would not bring my parents joy), so I’ll be shopping for a new one for them.

      1. Yes: though it’s not warm enough here for it to fruit. It’s been very late flowering this year – I cut it back rather savagely since it was swamping several other plants. Pretty good going for a supermarket bargain that I didn’t expect to survive beyond my first summer here.

        1. I have a Passionflower that has had so many babies that I have to pull them up when I mow. They cover the old clothesline pole and the fence near it every spring and summer.

    9. Your flower photos are such a delight during these gray days! As for the new kettle, it sounds like the one my sister has, which her family has been enjoying this year. I hope it fits your needs.

  9. We finally got a decent snow, and the colder weather required to keep it around!

    K2 is turning 12 tomorrow. It’s a non instructional day at school so I booked it off work, too. We had family over for dinner last night, and he’s got some friends coming for a sleepover tonight. Best part? There is snow, so I can kick them out to go sledding. 😁

    I got clever with the cake, too, by making a square layered cake and cutting it in half, and icing two rectangular (irregular quadrangles) cakes so that I have a fresh one for each party.

    My house has been fairly clean and tidy all week, and DH and Kids got it ready for this weekend’s company. It is not showroom level, but I love that.

  10. I have been on a bit of a spending spree, which I can’t really afford, but I’m trying to replace things that have been on the “I really should get a new one of these” list before tariffs get put in place in the new year and everything is more expensive.

    I bought a new simple drip coffee maker (after experimenting with an expensive fancy one and deciding I really didn’t need it to do more than make regular coffee), which has just enough improvements in the design over my ancient one that it made me happy to use it for the first time this morning. And ordered some amazing chocolate from a shop called Soma in Canada that a friend turned me onto years ago. It’s not cheap, so I only do it every few years, but it is the best chocolate in the world and it has been a rough month, so I decided to treat myself. Besides, if the Canadian dollar is 1.33 to the American one, than surely there are less calories in Canadian chocolate, right? Right?

    I’m happy that my new vet (for the last year and a half, maybe) is only 5 minutes from my house, since I took 2 cats for yearly exams and other stuff two weeks ago, and the other 3 last week, and Koshka has to go back next week for his ears AGAIN. And it makes me really happy that everyone who works there (all women, again with the happy) is always happy to see me, and tells me how much they like me and my cats. Of course, I’m paying for their new addition, but I think it’s really my sparkling personality.

    We got 7+ inches of snow on Friday, and I was happy with how beautiful it was, plus we really need the moisture, since we’re having a drought. It was very heavy wet snow, so I was super happy the power stayed on, and it didn’t keep me from having lunch with good friends I hardly ever see. Happy for everyone that the days around Thanksgiving look to be reasonably okay, weather-wise.

    1. I checked out Soma; wowsers! I thought my $5 Zazubean bars were expensive, LOL. I will have to keep it in mind for next year!

    2. Deborah, I’ve been thinking the same thing, in lieu of coming tariffs. Your post gave me a couple of laughs. That many cats certainly is making a good contribution to the new addition! I postponed my cat visits till January, as December has a birthday, and other presents to buy, in the budget.

      1. A number of my friends are stocking up on things like cat food and toilet paper that were tough to get during the pandemic, as well as canned food that will keep well.

    3. I will to try Soma. I found so many lovely chocolates while in Canada. My favorite was Qantu.

      Someone showed me worldwidechocolate.com. it is mostly for baking but they have cool bars there as well.

    4. My vet put up a new building and demolished the old one. The building is nice but it’s the improved parking lot that makes me happy.

    5. I’m doing the same thing, especially with the Black Friday sales rolling. I got some bras from small, female owned companies, which I needed. I am trying to think of more, practical things since I was depression spending pretty hard this fall, but I may splurge on some luxury things as well, and some paper copies of must have books, all with the eye to tightening my belt severely for the next few years.

  11. I can’t believe thanksgiving is this week, which is odd since it’s so late. Turkey is ordered, guests confirmed and who is doing what food item nailed down. I used to fuss more but we have done this so many times with mostly the same cast that there is nothing left to fuss about. Bliss.

    My debit card and I had a lot of fun buying holiday food items at a store I don’t go to very often. Then both my normal grocery stores had things I couldn’t resist so there is SO much sugar in the house!!!!! Feels festive

  12. I’ve been cheerier than expected because my mind has been preoccupied figuring out how to scale down a version of Julie Brooks “Firestacks” and I figured out for the waves I could use an aquarium wavemaker. That made me so happy. I want to use that firestack concept in a new moon ceremony on December first.
    I i broke the toaster, which made me happy only when I realized we could replace it with a red one to match the red microwave and the red electric tea kettle.
    Last but best I am on paid day off tonight and I don’t have to go back in to work until late Thursday evening. Working on Thanksgiving,
    as I work, every holiday makes me happy because I get double pay. Taking off now means I have a nice long stretch before I have to work again and I have a variety of fun and not fun things that I want to accomplish.

    1. I’m curious if that’s actual double pay (normally no pay for the holiday) or the pay that you would have gotten for a paid holiday, plus straight time for actually working. We used to discuss this when I was on shift work, and I and some others contended that Sunday differential was actually better, even though it was only (I think) 25%, since we got that plus a day off (or overtime) later in the week.

  13. As I planned and posted then, I did get chili made on Wednesday, using canned beans since all of my dried ones on hand turned out to be various white kinds plus lentils.  I ate about half of it and froze the rest.  I generally use ground turkey breast, but this time I had bought 93% lean ground beef, since it was on sale.  Nutritional score is only slightly worse.  Since I wasn’t feeling too energetic by Wednesday evening I didn’t add as much minor stuff to the chili as usual (I think it just had chili powder, beef, onions, tomatoes, and beans) and it required more doctoring in the serving, especially more cumin than had been in the powder.  It still came out short in umami, despite the meat (low fat equals less flavor) and the tomatoes.  I’ll likely adding MSG and maybe miso to the rest.

    On Thursday, I did execute my plan posted on Wednesday of going to the library, mostly to pick up a hold but also to return an audiobook.  For unclear reasons that plus earlier chores at home wiped me out pretty badly.  On Friday, still unenergetic, I made an effort to at least get things requiring standing done in shortish intervals while mostly sitting, and that was the Saturday program too, although with more getting done on the chores.

    This morning (Sunday) I finished loading the washing machine and ran a load.  The final problem was finding enough large safety pins to pin together pairs of socks.  Practically every dark sock I own seems to be in that load! Only the largest size of pin is optimal, since smaller ones can get stuck in the grille over the dryer’s lint filter.  I ended up trying pinning two pairs of socks (the two different enough not to get confused) with one pin.  Large pins go on the shopping list!

    The dishwasher is also about loaded, and should run again today, which will still, alas, not completely solve the kitchen mess.  Online advice about the energy balance of dishwasher versus hand washing is pretty inconclusive.   It’s mostly based on the most energy-efficient washers and generally assumes water-wasting methods of manual washing and rinsing.  I’m trying to get fully loaded top racks plus at least half-full bottom racks.  Manual washing is reserved for large pots, a few delicate items, and some easily washed plastic items that will save space in the top rack for items with more fiddly bits.  How well all this works out depends on what I’ve been eating, cooking, and defrosting.

    I may post more later.  Brunch time.

    1. Clarification: Yes, I ate half the chili, but it took me the day of cooking plus 3 subsequent days to get that far, and *then* I froze the rest since I was at the safe fridge storage limit and anyhow had had enough chili for a while. Back to tofu, chicken breast, and maybe lentils until Turkey Day. (Turkey breast and other makings are on hand.) And maybe bean soup soon. I do have ingredients for that.

    2. I don’t pair up my socks. I prevent sock loss by putting them in a lingerie bag with a zipper. That keeps me from getting stabbed by pins that opened in the washer or dryer.

      2. Gary, My issue is not sock loss but mispairing. I have many sock pairs that are all theoretically the same color, but that may have different degrees of wear, or slight color variations from how many times washed or other factors. And lately a lot of socks of the same brand as previously have been “improved” by using thinner yarn and I don’t want to confuse them with their better predecessors.

      3. I have no trouble recognizing my black and gray knee socks after more than thirty years. I bought several different pairs in the 80s. Then there are the black and gray pairs, one each, my aunt gave me in 1966. If only shoes lasted that long!

    3. I ran three dishwasher loads yesterday. Perhaps less energy and water is used for hand washing baking gear, but it gave me time to rest by throwing in the mixing bowls and food processor & mixer parts that can go in. I still had lots to wash by hand.

      Some weekends I’m happy to get my laundry done, and will happily nap in between loads.

    4. It is a real balancing act when you have low or easily-depleted energy. I try and prioritize the things that must get done, and sneak in one or two that really should get done if I haven’t run out of steam yet.

      1. Deborah, Long before long covid, my aunt had a sufficiently large energy problem that she was even receiving Meals on Wheels, for which she had formerly been a volunteer driver. The best medical guess at the time was that she had had undiagnosed very mild polio as a child and this was a delayed reaction. But then after several years her fatigue level went back to normal, and she lived fairly healthily into her 90s (despite emphysema from formerly smoking). I hope your energy problem similarly improves. My own problem should, they tell me, be over within a matter of months, with slow improvement in the meantime.

  15. Nearing the finish line on the sweater I’ve been crocheting all. All that’s left to finish is the ribbing at the bottom and weaving in a few ends. Well, finish the ribbing again. I already ribbed it once, and decided it was too long. This one needs to ride just above the swell of the hips to work with the white skirt and pants I made it for. But it’s only seven rows, and I’ll be done in time to wear it at holiday celebrations, which makes me very happy indeed.

  16. Heading into our US Thanksgiving week, I’m happy because we had a rain shower last night that lasted at least an hour, and while it wasn’t exactly a soaking-in sort of downpour, it means everything in the yard got a decent drink & bath. Including the plants that I haven’t watered much (if at all) this year, like the bougainvillea, the Canary Island sage, the feral rose, and the nasturtium.

    Our annual smoked turkey is due for delivery on Tuesday. DH has picked up some fancy cranberry sauce from the fancy deli. For sides, I have no idea what we’re doing – today’s priority is to eat some leftovers so we can spread out the refrigerator contents and spot the true gaps.

    I have a four day ‘weekend’ coming up since my office is closed both Thursday & Friday. Have one outdoor project to tackle (plus I assume some weeds will be celebrating the rain) and am aiming to read at least four books.

    On the writing side, happy because my awesome sibling + tech guru + designer has delivered beautiful new covers – one to replace the Art Nouveau-style cover on my Edwardian novel ‘Sextette,’ and one for a holiday-themed story that was in an anthology last year and which I’m now releasing as a standalone title. I spent a chunk of yesterday preparing the text for the ebook release & update and over the THX break will prep a new paperback text for ‘Sextette’ (since I have new artist and image credits to include). Maybe this should be a Wednesday comment! But really, they’re gorgeous, and I’m happy. 🙂

  17. I roasted a chicken for the first time or, if not the first time, at least the first time in a long while! The house smelled divine, but I overcooked it a tiny bit. Does anyone have any good advice for knowing when to check it? I have a meat thermometer, but I don’t want to be pulling it out and stabbing it ever 10 minutes once it hits the 30- or 40-minute mark. Either way, it still hit the spot and the leftover make for an easy meal. I also took the cast iron pan I had roasted it in and while the chicken was rest, added some asparagus and roasted that in the schmaltz, then pulled the asparagus out and deglazed what was left into a quick and easy pan sauce with chicken stock, lemon, and mustard. It’s really nice with rice!

    1. I don’t generally roast mine, so no advice there, but I do mine in the crockpot, and it doesn’t seem to matter how long it’s in there because it’s always falling off the bone and moist. Maybe a little dry in the breast once in awhile if it sat on keep warm for hours, but not usually.

      1. ooh that sounds delicious! Do you have a link to a recipe? Although I do love the crispy skin of a roast chicken…I’ll just have to make both haha

        1. I just googled it once for times, and to be honest, I season it on whim every time.
          Always butter or oil the Crockpot.
          Line the bottom with carrots if you have them (and a big enough Crockpot).
          Always garlic.
          Sometimes I’m in a sage/savoury/poultry seasoning mood.
          Sometimes it’s rosemary.
          Sometimes it’s curry.
          But generally, if it’s thawed, 6-8 hrs on low is good.

    2. I don’t remember having had much of a problem with ovedoneness back in the days when I was roasting whole chickens, but that might just be my low standards. Cooking shows say that the core temperature continues to rise for a while after a bird is removed from the oven, so it might be feasible to take it out when the thermometer is a little low and then keep measuring for a few minutes afterward.

      Nowadays I’m mostly roasting family packs of skinless, boneless chicken breasts. (And freezing most of the meat.) I have taken to brining those beforehand, since it makes them more tolerant of overcooking. I still occasionally get a tough breast, and my best guess is that it just came from the chicken that way. In one extreme case, I ended up “pulling” the breast with two forks (as in pulled pork barbecue), and I think I did add BBQ sauce. It worked, anyhow. I have also found that, against my expectation, the breasts are often done at the minimum of the range set by the cookbook. Possibly chickens are now raised differently somehow?

      1. Gotcha, thanks for the advice! I’m a big fan of brining, too! Yeah, condiments definitely work wonders. For any meat that’s too dry, slap it on a sandwich with mayo and ketchup and it tastes great haha

    3. Don’t suppose this helps with timing, but I’ve always tested for doneness by sticking a fork or skewer into the thickest part of the thigh – if the liquid that comes out is clear (not bloody), it’s done. This only takes a few seconds. I’ve used a (German) chicken brick for years – it’s really idiot-proof, but you don’t get crisp skin. I tuck fresh herbs everywhere and squeeze a lemon over it, putting the squeezed halves & some more herbs inside the bird.

      1. If you stick it and the liquid runs red, will there be enough liquid to run this test again, or do you only really get one chance per thigh?

    4. A whole roast chicken? I check for somewhere after an hour. And usually it needs longer.

      Your dinner sounds delicious.

  18. This week’s happy is one of unexpected anticipation: our family Thanksgiving (not hosted by me this year) was going to have one addition, a person who was going to be alone. Well, every day since the invitation to this additional person, they have added another relative (“could my daughter come too?” “could we add my adult grandson?” “oh, my son is going to come to stay, okay if I bring him too?” etc) to our feast. This has now escalated to over 8 people and counting, none of whom are known to any of us! At this point they outnumber us. 🤣 And no one dares say “enough!” cause Spirit of Thanksgiving Day. Not sure why but this has totally hit my funny bone; I find this whole situation hilarious and I have been chuckling about it all week. Even if the day itself turns out to be totally awkward, the whole situation has provided me one long extended happy.

    2. You’re a very tolerant person. I’d be like, “OK, but they need to bring their own chair and contribute something to the table.”

    4. That’s the subplot of my book, Deadly Thanksgiving Sampler! Dinner for two becomes dinner for sixteen (or more; forget the exact number) in a house that doesn’t even have a dining room table yet.

  19. Hulk sized stocking sounds wonderful! I love the small presents in stockings: an orange, some gum, trinket toys, chocolate of course!

    This year’s Thanksgiving is Not at my house! Yay! I get to waltz in with seven layer salad, potato salad and some garlic cobblestone bread.
    The kids sent the menu made by all the invitees it looks like there will be leftovers for all!

  20. We celebrated my dad’s 86th this week and it was lovely. Just dinner at a restaurant followed by cupcakes and presents at their house, but he and my mom were in good spirits and enjoyed the day. We ate at their favorite “special occasion” restaurant and met the waiter they like so much. Nice guy, for sure. My husband and I joked we’d better get ready to share my inheritance. I was able to order a bean, cheese, and rice burrito, even though it wasn’t on the menu, and it was really good. Didn’t make me particularly itchy afterwards, either—win! Dad got some books he’s looking forward to reading.

    Kid 1 comes home tomorrow for six days—huge yay!! We need to switch out her bed frame (she chose to take the nice oak one that was up at my parents’ cabin when they put it on the market) and remake her bed before she gets here.

    We’re going hiking later today. It’s sunny and cool after a few days of rain. Maybe there will be some water in the creeks.

  21. It’s been tough at work and at home, but happiness resides in the dog. She is the consistent beating heart of happiness, love and a reminder that all shall be well. I have found happiness in the work of colleagues to make our school more sustainable – we are nearly at net zero carbon footprint and small changes can eventually make big differences. Number 2 son who has experienced severe mental health challenges in the recent past is back at university and seems to be really positive, thriving and ready to ask for help when he needs it.

    I have taken risks this week and challenged unkindness and disrespect when I have seen it. That isn’t easy, and it hasn’t made me happy, but I have a bit more self-respect. So not so much happiness but hopefully another step in detoxifying aspects of the place where I work.

  22. I’d better get back to chores soon (Sunday notwithstanding), but here is one last post, a follow-up on said-bookism.  On GBTh, I mentioned that there was no guideline against them in Russian fiction.  I later did some searching on the internet, and the same proves to be true in many other foreign languages,  but not all.

    At the below link …

    https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/25766/why-is-there-such-strong-objection-to-the-use-of-said-bookisms/47562#47562

    … one of several answers is below.  A different answer added Spanish to the list of languages where said-bookisms are okay.

    》》It’s more or less an idiosyncracy of language, I believe. I am a translator from English to Czech and one of the things I have to deal with — constantly — is INSERTING said bookisms to replace the plain English language. It’s funny that the arguments I see on this page are more or less the reverse of what holds in my native language. In Czech, there is a huge number of dialogue tags that can be used, and frequent re-use is frowned upon.

    And so, “said” is like a spice here, used sparsely. Characters can proclaim, mention, offer, hesitate. If a character blinks while speaking, you are allowed to use the BLINK as your dialogue tag.

    “What did you say?” blinked Bob.

    Sounds terrible in English, but it’s perfectly acceptable in Czech. 《《

    Someone else added:

    》》True. Not only in Czech – in French and Russian too one expects variation, using “said” all the time is considered poor writing. Hebrew, on the other hand, follows the English example. 《《

  23. My show is going well. Robin Hood is a HUGE SURPRISE HIT, sold out the first night and seems to have gotten even more people the second night, people are wishing they’d do longer than 2 weekends, they want it extended, etc. It’s a very cheesy show (think Spamalot) so I’m surprised it’s caught on like it has, but let’s just say riding out on stick horses and fake food and fidget spinners Has Caught On. So that’s very impressive. Never been in a sellout before!

  24. Okay, one more posting while I rest between chores. I was listening to more of Bradley. Lucy makes a joke that I thought was funny because I’m old enough to remember the TV show Naked City, or at least the exit line, “There are eight million stories in the naked city ….” But Lucy is in her early thirties circa 1994, hence was barely born when the show went off the air in 1963. If the show was in syndication for reruns, it’s not mentioned in the Wikipedia for the period in question, although one station in NYC was said to be showing it in the 1980s. There are still routes by which Lucy could have learned the line, for instance from a 1948 movie that might have shown up on late night TV, but I’m a little surprised that the Harlequin editors thought that it would pass for their demographic. Maybe that demographic skewed older than I would have guessed.

  25. We have had some highs and lows this week.
    We spent Friday night at the emergency vet since my dog had blood running out of his butt. He just ate something that really didnt agree with him. We came home with 3 meds and he is doing much better. I take it as a good sign when the vet doesn’t get too excited over things.

    The very good news. I have had no change in my cancer for three years and they will be removing my port. I’m thrilled and slightly terrified. The port has become a bit of a mental security blanket. I keep thinking “What if I need it again? What if it all comes back?” I also have a deep hatred of IV’s. If a nurse tells you the IV won’t hurt, they are lying. I will only get scanned twice a year now. I have mixed feelings about that as well. Mostly a deep down belief that it all will come back and we will have to start the whole mess over except I am no longer a good surgical candidate, too many operations.

    1. Phred, Congratulations! I suppose there are IVs and IVs, and maybe nurses and nurses. Mine did not significantly hurt for my operation last month (despite the impressive bruise it left), nor the one back when, for the one time that I donated blood before they decided I was ineligible because of possible exposure to Mad Cow prions. (By British standards, the US is ludicrously overcautious about that.) I can’t remember if I also had them during colonoscopies.

      I’m glad the dog is improving.

      1. ¹I’ve had too many IV and now my veins are irritated by an IV. Now they all hurt. I can’t remember if the did at the beginning.

    4. Phred, sometimes cancer comes back, but only in significantly smaller and milder ways. My friend Harriet’s ovarian cancer came back a few years after they removed her port, but as a tumor on her bladder. They were able to remove the tumor while leaving her organs intact and she needed no further treatment, and therefore no iv. Since then all her semi-annual scans have been clear.

      I know it can be hard to believe that this could happen to you, but sometimes the cancer responded well enough to the initial treatments that it isn’t strong enough to turn into a different type of cancer on the other organs.

      In the mean time, celebrate the removal of your port and concentrate on not thinking about your cancer for the 12 months until your next scan. You will always be a cancer survivor, but you can think about it a lot less.

  26. Took myself for a hike this morning, which included a sighting of a new life bird for me. A winter wren — tiny, spherical, skipping perkily through the moss. Some of my other favorite birds were there too (golden-crowned kinglets, pygmy nuthatches, brown creepers, chickadees), making for a very happy interlude in the frosty mountain woods.

    When I got home, it was time for dog baths. I love how happy my girls are in the tub. Not because they started out that way, but thanks to years & years of getting Very Good Treats with every single bath. Now they are damp, smelling much better (until I let them outside, when they will absolutely find something rotten to roll in), and petitioning me to do it all over again.

  27. Happy to get through a second-look mammogram and find everything’s fine. Also happy to realize that the recent advent of tinnitus may be due to a medication I started taking. I can deal with life without the medicine, but I was having to try to maintain a non-self-pitying attitude about the tinnitus. I hope that I’ll be rid of it quickly.

    Having the three other siblings with spouses, and kids, including a few little kids, coming from around the country for Thanksgiving. Today I made some cranberry chutney, cranberry sauce, and the creamed onions ahead of time. My halo is glowing. Sister in law will bring and be responsible for the turkey, and the pies.

  28. I’m happy to have finished the proposal for a new mystery series this past week, and my agent loved it and sent it out, so now I’m deadline-free for the foreseeable future, which means I can happily write whatever I feel like writing. At the moment, it’s the brainstorming and first draft of the new Helen Binney novella that I’m hoping to publish next summer.

    1. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by day job work. But I’m happy to be making progress on DDs taxes, helping DD buy a house, our financial planning. I booked our Christmas trip to London which involved four separate flights. And the prices are more than double any other time of year. But DD and her partner can’t come to us because of his job (musician playing in a pantomime) . We will have to figure out how to manage the costs better next time.

      And while I’m not enjoying the prep for tomorrow’s routine medical test I’m glad I will be done with it in…15 hours. And presumably won’t have to do it again for years.

      I’m also mostly done with holiday shopping—partly because all my nieces and nephews are getting the same thing, the book that just came out about interpreters at the Dachau trials with a chapter on my dad —their grandfather.

  29. Moving towards happiness?
    Well, I didn’t much move at all this weekend.
    But I’ll join my son’s gym soon: he assured me that many “old” folks (i.e. older than his mum) train there.

    Apart from that, happiness vmcame from reading good books.
    I absolutely LOVED Hannah Henry’s new title (out sinvmce Nov. 19th) “In every universe”. Such a gentle, kind book. I even loved the sex scenes!
    Audiobookwise, I’m into the 3rd book of Lily Morton’s Black and Blue series, “Something Wicked”. I love this series best if her books. The snark is there, but since psychic Blue and his boyfriend, cartoonist Levi, are usually very busy with horrific ghost/murder mysteries, the focus is not just about the romance. But in all books so far, they grow in their telationship and each their personality matures. Also, the sense of communitynis great and more “diverse” than in most of her other books imo.
    However, the third one has quite ghastly crimes: and somehow listening puts me more intensly into the (toture) scene. It’s easier to skim those bits when reading.

  30. My sauerkraut is coming along nicely. I don’t eat a lot of it but it’s fun to make.

    No plans for Thanksgiving; but, that may change. I am hoping to stay home alone. It’ll be a change from all the people and election stuff from the past 3 weeks. December is bringing a number of parties so I need a break.

    Got some snow on Friday which made the roads very nasty. The snow’s gone now. And it probably helped alleviate the drought conditions.

    Next week I will tackle the leaves that are finally off the trees.

  31. I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday two hours away from home coaching at a fencing tournament and I am very happy to be home. Also I’m happy that we had a lot of people do very well at a large regional tournament. Not just kids this time we had some adults do very well too 🙂

    I’ll have one day at home and then we’re driving to Arkansas to visit my parents for Thanksgiving. It’s thirteen hour drive so we’re breaking it into two days (my wife hates flying if she can avoid it). So I’ll be happy to see my 84 year old parents again in a few days as well.

  32. Happiness arrived for me this week by way of Daniel, the Home Depot delivery person who brought my new washer and dryer and installed them without any issues. The old dryer died about 2 weeks ago and—being old—could not be repaired due to non-existence of repair parts.

    I had been drying laundry in the backyard, but with the recent onset of rain, that was no longer an option, so I’m glad to have a functioning dryer once again. Since the washer was just as old as the dryer, I replaced them both. I hope that means I won’t have to think about either one of them for a long time. I also hope none of the remaining appliances get any ideas—replacing three major appliances in the last month is more than enough.

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.

Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com

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