The NYT had an essay on happiness procrastination, the idea that people hold off on doing things they know will make them happy because (one reason) “it’s not the right time” or “I’m saving this for a special occasion.” They get a great bottle of wine and save it even though they’d get much pleasure from opening it now. They get a new dress and save it for a special party, and then wait for a special party to happen. (Do you know how many Easter Sunday dresses I wore one time as a child? Because I kept growing.) They’ve got a crave for birthday cake, but they won’t make one because it isn’t anybody’s birthday. (It’s always somebody’s birthday; check on Wikipedia and celebrate whoever was born now.) We’re withholding happiness from ourselves and don’t ever realize we’re doing it because we want the thing that makes us happy to happen at a special time.
If you think about it, that’s nuts.
What’s the solution? Just knowing that we’re doing it may highlight how crazy it is to conserve happiness. (AKA, this blog post.) Happiness isn’t like money, you don’t have to budget it. Look around at the things you’re not indulging yourself in because it’s not the right time and decide it is the right time. If you’re waiting for a special day, decide that this day is special because the sun came up, because the woods down the road did not catch fire, because you cleaned the bathroom, you special person, and then open that wine, put on that dress, go out to dinner, whatever is it that you’ve been putting off, stop punishing yourself and give yourself the happiness you deserve.
Me, I’m going to make brownies (sugar free) that I’ve been promising myself for weeks and eat them with vanilla ice cream (no sugar added) because this week was special: I survived it, and survivors get brownies.
How were you happy this week? And as long as we’re on the subject, what have you been happiness budgeting on and how are you going to rush headfirst into delight this week instead?
109 Responses
Books! I definitely postpone reading things I’m looking forward to. Sometimes it’s genuinely because I want to be in the right frame of mind or have enough free time to dive in, but sometimes it’s because I’m “saving” it for a rainy day. And then I can end up reading mediocre books and feeling like there’s nothing to read. I have to keep reminding myself to DNF those. Time is short, don’t postpone. Read the good books first!
This was my first thought as well! My “break in case of emergency” book vault. I should probably just read those…
I used to do this with clothing I loved, not wear it so it didn’t get worn out, which meant I had to not love it to wear it? I remember the exact moment I realized how crazy that was and stopped.
I am doing some extreme eating virtue which does make me pay attention in a good way to what I am going to eat. If one only gets a small snack, it better be the most appealing one allowed. And today is an “exception”day, so I had two cookies this morning which were delightful.
I used to get lobster for my birthday (at the end of April), but the last few years it has been too expensive, so I ate something else instead. This week it was on sale at the grocery store, so I got one just for the hell of it.
I also lost a simple leather bracelet when I was on vacation last month and went onto Etsy looking for something similar to replace it. Instead, I found a very cool one that wound around a couple of times and through a brass clasp, on which you could have anything printed that you want. So I ordered myself one. What does it say, you ask? “Nothing but good times ahead.”
Because current times are kind of sucking, and this phrase (said in Jenny’s voice) is often what I say to myself to get through.
That’s a great idea, Deborah! I bought a bracelet with the Metta prayer engraved on it, but it was too small, so I had to send it back. I like the idea of a hopeful engraving to wear every day.
I might also get one that says “This too shall pass” if I like the first one when I get it.
I have a little plaque that says that. I made it when I was in a calligraphy phase. It helps.
this obsession with happiness has always escaped me
in the human condition, the absence of misery is more likely the acheivable goal
the u s founders wrote somewhere about the pursuit of happiness and not its acheivement
dont think possible – or even good – to live in state of perpetual happiness
nyt like many other outlets are making a fetish out of happiness – kind of like what they and others have done to create the sleep fetish
but it is not terrible to note ephemeral moments of achieving some measure of happiness
i am enjoying umpeenth read of manhunting plus nice weather at moment
I’ve always thought of happiness as a by-product. At least since I was quite a young child, from the point where my parents’ unhappiness was very obvious to me and it was really clear that what constituted my happiness (stable home environment, two loving parents) was no longer a viable option. Of course, at 8, I couldn’t express it like that, but since that realisation, I’ve taken happiness to be those fleeting moments when life simply feels good: a cool drink on a shaded terrace on a hot day, the mew of a kite or a kestrel high above the woods and meadows, sharing a meal with friends, reading a good book for an afternoon without interruptions, listening to a favourite song. Happiness creeps up on us.
I will always choose meaningfulness over happiness. Spell check changed it to meaningful mess; sure, I’ll take it.
I have a talent for happiness, apparently. Grief, anger, fear, these are all surface emotions floating on the deep strong current of the river that is my happiness.
I think contentment is more achievable on a long term basis than happiness. I do agree with Jenny that waiting to live until this or that happens is a waste.
Wants vs needs vs have to. I’m sitting in a rocking chair in the dining room thinking of getting new carpets for this room in stead of having them cleaned. Then I think of what should come first. Like painting the walls, but before that the fireplace needs to have the chimney checked before winter. And that’s just the dining room. Before I go down a rabbit hole of thinking too much I’m going to set it all aside because it’s Sunday.
Very wise! I notice all the things around the house that got out of hand while I was in a three-day baking frenzy for a church function (rhubarb pies and many banana bread loaves). I refrain from jumping in because it’s Sunday, and it’s the better wisdom to take rest. So I can leap up, okay, slowing rise, from my bed, and address the sticky floors and the backed-up recycling on Monday.
mmm, rhubarb pie … 🙂
Get the carpet!
I used to do that all the time–saving clothes, food and books. I still sometimes save the books, because I find that if I’m loving a book someone else wrote, those characters take over my imagination and it’s hard for me to work on my own writing.
Today I’ll be meeting via Zoom with a bunch of speculative fiction writers I know. Some of them will know each other, some don’t yet. Some I know fairly well, others I barely know. We’ll talk books and writing and whatever else we want to talk about. (Email me if you want to join for the next meeting.)
I often use tasks as a measure of accomplishment, rather than just allowing myself to be happy spending a couple of hours reading a book. I love reading! I’m lucky to have chunks of time to do it.
Gardening also makes me happy and although the extreme heat this summer has made it challenging to spend long periods of time outside, I’m going out 10-15 mins at a time. I’m still getting beans and tomatoes are starting. I also harvested a couple of white eggplants this week, as well as the first cukes.
DS has a staff banquet at summer camp next weekend. The theme is Glam and Glitz, which did not thrill him. We went to Value Village and he found a black shirt and pants which will work but he can also buy again. I was helping him look for inexpensive sequin jackets to wear but he burst into the master bedroom yesterday to announce he’d found the “perfect jacket”. Black with rainbow embroidery – definitely a statement. I’m happy that he allowed himself to have fun with his outfit and can’t wait to see him all dressed up.
I love the sound of that jacket!
Been working on not withholding reading certain books, or hiking, or doing certain crafts, or writing, even, because they feel like guilty pleasures and it feels bad to do them because chore xyz need to be done, and then I get sad and sleep instead.
I do wear clothes that I love, I use the fine China for special occasions and family gatherings, we finally drank a champagne that was gifted to us (because we finally remembered we had it, not because we were saving it), and I gladly do coffee with friends on a whim even when I’m too busy because that brings me joy.
Brownies sound like a solid happiness plan for the week. Or for just today. I ran out of carob brownies in the freezer on Friday and that is definitely not sparking joy… I’d like to find a slightly cake-ier version, though.
I’ve been working on booking the last few things for our trip to Iceland and France, which is both making me happy and triggering my flying phobia and travel anxiety. Meditation helps, but I haven’t been doing it because I haven’t felt great. Need to find a way through that this week. J has been away at a conference since Wednesday but comes back today, which should fix my equilibrium a bit, anyway. That guy makes me happy!
I’ve been planning a trip to a nearby college town that has several pagan shops, good food, and other fun things, but first, my truck had problems, then it was too cold, and now it is too humid and hot to walk the sidewalks. When there’s a nice day, I end up mowing or doing something else that needs to be done. I’ve been saving quarters for a long time, because they have parking meters. That hasn’t been easy, since I hardly ever pay cash for anything, any more. This fall, I’m going to do it!! It’s good to have something to look forward to, but this has gone on too long. Thanks, Jenny!
Jan, If desperate, you could request change in quarters at the bank or probably even a store. Until recently I was eating out in groups where we split the check, and I periodically had to stock up on dollar bills for that purpose.
Patrick, you’re right, but I had a good starter handful of quarters. I do go to the bank to get $1 bills for tips to groomers and hairdressers.
I find more and more that it is the small things that make me happy and I enjoy them more all the time. This week I learned that Canada Post will pick up a letter from your mailbox in our rural area where the cottage is located if you leave the flag up. I actually happened to have a letter that I wasn’t sure how I was going to mail and so I tested it and it worked! I was ridiculously chuffed over this very small thing.
It similarly took me a LONG time to learn the USPS will pick up outgoing letters from our cluster boxes if they’re shoved to the end with the stamped side pointing toward the back (where the carrier inserts the mail).
That’s very specific!
Tammy, Otherwise they could be incoming mail not yet picked up by recipient. Makes sense to me.
I have rural mail delivery and they will pick up both letters and outgoing packages, if you have printed a label for them. It’s wonderful.
When my mom died and we had to clean out her house we kept finding unopened and unused items that she’d been saving for a special occasion. I went home afterwards and started using all the things I had set aside for a special occasion. I told myself that being alive was a cause for celebration.
100% this.
What a good reminder to enjoy them now. I will admit I am afraid of the many food items my mom is keeping for special events —they will all have to be tossed eventually
Happy to be at my fav lake with hubby and both kids. With them being 20 and 17, that’s something to be cherished.
Holding out on something that would make me happy – the dresses thing rang a bell.
I’d love to dress how I want to feel (a la Stasia Savachuk’s Style School idea sp?), but I’m a comfort over style person. I’d like to dress fancy (the definition of which is different for each person, I’d say), but while working from home or spending time in the garden etc, garb in which I can move freely is more important (yes, clothes can be both, but my focus is on the comfort).
Traveling: this year, I didn’t hold back. Twice to Canada, who’d have thought this would happen? And for our upcoming anniversary, hubby and I will go on a short trip to see the development of Campus Galli (recreation of an 8th century idealized carolingian cloister blue print, being built with medieval tools and techniques, near Lake Constance). Easier to get to than Guedelon in France, a medieval castle built along the same ideas.
Thank you for heads up about Campus Galli and Geudelon. Either way, it is a 4+ hour drive, so definitely both worth considering for a quick weekend away.
Friends have been at G when it was already nearly completed, I’m following their insta account, it looks fabulous! The family, tjough, is hesitant of France as neither of us speaks proper French.
To Campus Galli is a 2 hours drive (on small roads, almost no autobahn). Our first time at Campus Galli was in 2018, then back in 2022 – sooo much had been built in the meantime. One can join as volunteer and become part of this world for eg the short duration of one’s holiday. I’m very tempted to do this some time in the future. Re-enactment of sorts. But I wouldn’t be sble to wear my glasses and contacts are no option… ah and so many more places are tempting me.
I bought a very colorful, multi-patterned shirt at my local thrift shop. I love color, but I usually wear very plain tee shirts and pants, and never remember to change my earring from the usual opals. Yesterday for the church bazaar (but no rummage sale, thank you Connie Willis) I put on the super colorful shirt, and even changed my earrings. It felt good. I want to avoid the “caretaker fade,” where all effort goes to keeping the cared one in good shape, but you forget to do the same for yourself. So, more color, and morning exercise.
Sometimes I delay listening to a particular piece of music, because it’s just so beautiful it’s painful. Which is kind of absurd, so Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, here I come.
I’m not one to postpone gratification well in books or, alas, high calorie food (if it’s around to tempt me). What I tend to put off seems to be things that I enjoy in the end but that involve unpleasant first steps.
Oh, joy!! They finally finished the street paving project! I had called the city and told them about a problem with a puddle at the bottom of our hill at the corner, where water freezes in the wintertime, causing a hazard. They promised to grade it to drain better. It’s raining today, and I went out to look, and it is draining perfectly!!!! My sump pump also drains to the street in winter, so I really wanted that fixed. I felt guilty every time we had an ice pond.
My whole life is built around stress reduction, because it’s hard to be happy or even contented when I’m stressed out. Unfortunately this has meant, as the world gets more difficult to deal with, that my life has gotten quite small – which also makes it hard to be happy or content. The whole getting-ready-to-move process has revealed exactly *how* small my life has become and also exactly how limited is my partnership with DH. 🙁
It’s a case of “if this, then that” – or, more often, “if this, then NOT that.” We’ve had to make a lot of limiting choices due to distances, finances, family needs, and the reality of aging without children. Nobody is going to take care of us but us. Meanwhile, we’re having to take care of other people. And of course, I still work full-time (and will indefinitely because I have no faith left in the US govt) and he’s not fully retired until after the move.
Reading is key to my contentment, so I don’t limit that. If I find an author I really like, I read all their books … even if I have to pay full price. 🙂
I too tried to reduce sources of stress, of course sometimes they’re impossible to avoid. Most of my unavoidable stressors have gone away, so I’ve finally got to the point I’m starting to add back in to see if I can cope. Hence volunteering for a committee or two.
My friends are going through bad times at the moment – ill relatives, ill health themselves, bad break-ups, and I feel very lucky that I don’t have any of those things at the moment. In the past, yes, and in the future too I imagine, but for right now I’m lucky.
I was sorry to see you say that you’ve realized how limited your partnership is with your husband. Feeling helpless to say anything useful so I’ll just send a 💜.
Talking to someone who hasn’t read the last 2 Tiffany Aching books… because once I do sigh. Soon soon. At one point I was waiting to be a motivated (not exhausted person) to do things. Then I started craft classes, I am still tired, disorganised, behind, but also someone who made myself get up early and go somewhere I’ve never been to spend a couple of hours learning something new that I have always been curious about, because if I don’t make the time to go… I never will
I just watched a reel of someone talking about seeing a woman driving by eating a double-scoop ice cream cone AT 8AM, and she looked so happy.
Everyone else driving by looked miserable.
New morning goals right there.
Natasha, I just love that!
Unless it came from home, I wonder where she got a double scoop cone at 8 am. But no more unhealthy than a frosted breakfast donut or other sugary things we eat for breakfast.
I remember that in Moscow in the dead of winter (probably not at 8am, though) in the 1970s you could buy an ice cream cone in some metro stations. It was good ice cream too. My own winter urge for ice cream is low these days, though.
…I’m doing the clothing-thing, absolutely. I’m getting better, though! I have also realized that I’m doing it with music. It’s not so much holding off on it because I want to save it for a special occasion, but I want to have the time, peace of mind, possibility to sit down and enjoy it fully, and I am very bad at doing that lately.
My happy this week was finding another store with alternative clothing where they, among other things, have a LOT of great t-shirts. I’m sure a lot of Arghers would love them, too. Liz’s “Everything’s Fine”-t-shirt, for instance, is part of the collection. Pity it’s in white 🙁 There’s also one that says: “Nope. It looks like bullshit from this angle too” including sceptical kitty, which I’m thinking of getting. And there’s another one with a jar printed on it, and the jar is full of tiny cats, and it says “Anti-depressants”. DEFINITELY getting that one! …when I can climb over my aversion to shopping. Pfff. Argh.
Shass, I would definitely get the cats one, too!!!
Rushed enjoyment can be better than none at all. If you don’t have enough time to devote to your music, a quick run through of a song can be enough to remind you that the pleasure it can bring is worth putting off things that seem more important at first thought. And the increased oxygen in your bloodstream can improve your mood.
I do listen to music, so there is still music… albeit more of a background-thing these days. but I also still buy actual CDs and I keep having the intention to sit down and listen to them from start to finish, as they are intended to be listened to. But you are right: I could start with one song and go from there.
Sometimes I think that I should have certain songs qued up by the emotion that listening to them triggers. Feeling unseen? Play “Nurds”. Feeling like the bad guys are winning because you are becoming someone you don’t respect? Play “Everyone Is Good”. Want to feel like part of something big? Play one of the big choruses you sang in college. Just want to release some frustration? Sing loudly (sorry, neighbors) with Janis Joplin.
But for now the neighbors are safe, because the only functioning electronics I own are my laptop and a very small and tinny sounding clock radio. I think that singing along to my laptop might feel rather forced, but since all of Tom Lehrer’s recordings were released for free, that might be a good place to start.
I would definitely get the “Nope” t-shirt! Where is this magical shop?
Here you go, this is the international version of the shop I’m browsing:
https://www.emp-online.com/
There are SO many good, cat-related shirts! Including some that don’t really apply to me (like this one https://www.emp-online.com/p/i-don%E2%80%99t-like-morning-people…/553983.html), but still make me laugh.
Let me know if you end up getting some great shirts! Or other things 🙂
The link to the cat shirg was broken, Shass.
I’s irdered a star trek shirt from EMP some years ago, it held out nicely.
Oops, my bad. I just needed to copy paste, not click on the link.
Deborah, I have posted the link, BUT it’s in moderation. If it doesn’t show up around tomorrow or so, I’ll go throw it at you on your socials, if that’s all right with you?
My fault! I didn’t check but all in moderation comments are now live. SORRY!
I mentioned at the bottom of GBT that the Dotter’s Significant Other baked some Cannabis Chocolate Chip Cookies (C4) AND GAVE ME THREE. I also mentioned that I have never imbibed. So I gobbled one down.
Some observations. Pot does not make me see music or hear colors. Pot makes me dizzy and sleepy. Really, really sleepy. There was an hour where I was a bobblehead, jerking my head up and having my eyes slam shut and my chin rest on my chest. I eventually (around 8:30 PM) staggered to bed ten steps away and stayed there until half past noon.
I still have two C4 cookies left, but as the first did not blow my mind I am unsure. I could double down and eat both to see if a stronger dose will gen some hallucino. It may just be that California Dreamin is not my thing. If I can’t induce artificial happiness, I’ll have to settle for the real thing.
At least the room didn’t start to spin, Gary! The first, and only, time I had a pot brownie, that’s what happened to me. It was awful! Not doing that ever again.
Pot isn’t supposed to give you hallucinations. There are other drugs that do that (primarily LSD and mushrooms). It is supposed to make you high and relaxed…which is sounds like it did all too well.
If that was high and relaxed, I’ll save the cookies for chemo.
I’ve had hallucinations from pot – many years ago – and so has my mother…yesterday…
Gary – just FYI eating pot is a completely different experience than smoking it. Smoking it mellows you out literally. Eating it is like tripping. I wasted some time in my younger years doing both but frankly to me it’s boring. & there is nothing more boring than waiting until the drug deal happens to go & do something. My humble opinion only, of course.
Gary, C4 cookies making you sleepy sound quite nice to me 🙂
I inadvertedly got cookies from our study center vending machine once – I’d been very hungry, no lunch at hand, saw the sign “cookie”, had enough coins, got the package and only belatedly realized that I’d got cannabis ones. I’d NEVER have expected to find those in our school study center’s vending machine!!! Never saw them since. In short: I ate one, then saw they were out of date by quite some time. This one cookie didn’t make me sleepy nor high but I felt sick for a week (mildly yet very annoyingly) .
Almost the same experience with c-cookies brought as a souvenier from Asterdam. Either that’s how my body reacts to the stuff or I managed to get off quality both times. I’m not in the mood to try a third time.
I am assuming that C4 will affect me the same way every time. I returned the two remaining to the dotter with thanks, but not my thing. I was/am never going to smoke out, so brownies or C4 would be my delivery system of choice, if I ever need the weed. I’m feeling that I never missed out.
As I am packing up my home for moving, I keep finding all the lovely things my mother left. She thought everyday was a valid excuse for the good China, the antique glass, or the fancy jewelry. My grandmother died at 52 and my Mom decided waiting to do stuff was not a good plan.
I get so anxious about decisions that I miss out on things because I am scared of making the wrong choice.
Thus week I am happy about moving. My new job is going well and the new house doesn’t seem to have too many hidden problems.
I bought a dress; a beautiful to me, navy dress with a bugle beads on the top netting, very elegant, sort of a 50’s but not, Dior dress shape. I love it. I bought it for a cruise about 2020. I am wearing it to the family wedding in Edmonton on Sept 20.
I’ve been trying it on with different accessories. Small heels, silver shoes with pink hand bag. (Maybe wear the fab pink hat for the ceremony.) The silver shoes with my mama’s silver bag. Crystal beaded flat sandals with blue beaded bag.
Last Saturday night, I went to an after party of a sweet young couple. I put on another party dress and the flat sandals and the cool BC/BG hand bag from years ago. I was very happy.
I have a black dress, still haven’t worn bc I have to wear a certain undergarment which makes me hot. So out of the four party dresses…only one not worn by the end of September.
Books saved for a rainy day. Check.
The heck with it, I’m going to have champagne in a crystal glass, wear the black dress and crack open the Murderbot novel I have not read yet. Cheers. (Raising my glass to you all.)
Sometimes I wear a dress ti work on Casual Friday. 😁
Note: will wear the dress without “sucks it in, makes me hot” undergarment. Comfort above all.
Good plan, Carol!
I had a really funky vintage dress that I could just barely fit into. When my friend came to take me to a party, I asked him if he thought it was okay for the party. He said, “Yeah, if you don’t laugh too hard.”
When we got to the party my friend went off to see all the people he hadn’t seen since he moved for graduate school and I went in search of anyone I knew. A few hours later, someone told me a very funny joke. As I was guffawing, I heard a ping, ping, ping and felt a burst of fresh air. The side steam had ripped open, just as Bruno had predicted. Fortunately, the dress had a set-in waist and and I was wearing a bra, so unless the sight of a few inches of my dingy bra’s side grossed you out, there was no problem as I wasn’t taking the bus home. But the whole thing struck me as hilarious.
And that is the last time I chose style over comfort.
Thank you for that laugh! <3
That’s hilarious, Aunt Snack, and it’s wonderful that you can tell it without embarrassment.
It is easy to not be embarrassed when the story is over 35 years old.
I still miss that dress. The older and fatter I get, the fewer clothes I can find from my favored eras. Too bad I can’t sew. My older sister had a girlfriend who was 6’3″ and one summer my Mom paid her to try to teach me to sew. Unfortunately, I never really got it, but it wasn’t my teacher’s fault. She and her older sister had to learn to sew in self-defence, but I was not similarly motivated.
I’ll start with what made me happy this week. I attended the Global Leadership Summit and I was happy that diversity was still a message that was being shared as a positive thing and something that organizations need to do. I also was happy that they modeled it by having a variety of races, ages, and genders speaking. I was very happy I was able to attend. The messages of the speakers were also timely and good to hear.
I certainly don’t use my china and I’ve considered actually trying to sell it. Same could be said for the crystal. They were wedding gifts 24 years ago.
I typically postpone doing things that brings me joy and happiness because I do the things I should or ought to do first. I use what would make me happy as a reward for accomplishing the thing I didn’t want to do. The problem with this is there is always more to do that I should do so that I never reach a point where I get to do what I want to do. A great example of this is I would like to watch the newest season of leverage redemption, but I’m not sick. It seems that I have come to believe that I need to be sick in order to lie on the couch and watch TV. I’m not sure where that idea came from because I grew up in a household where the television was on all the time and I watched TV from afternoon until bedtime. Or I need to do the dishes and clean the bathroom and start the laundry before I can work on a quilting project and even then, I need to do the customer’s quilts before I can work on my own project.
I remember learning from his letters or a biography that CS Lewis (at least at one period of his life) used to enjoy getting the flu (which evidently happened pretty much annually) because it gave him the excuse to drop his scholarly and household duties and just read for pleasure. That seemed to me to be overdoing it. I think perhaps you yourself are now musing that maybe you could dole out smaller bits of TV or other pleasures as a more regular incentive to yourself (and for their own sake).
Yep
I’m watching it right now, and it’s great. Come watch it with me.
Excellent! Thank you for the invite!
I just said yes to an offer of a week of Prime so I could watch the last two episodes of Leverage Redemption — I’d seen the rest before my previous, month-long trial ran out and was too cheap to extend it for just two episodes, and I don’t need Prime for anything else. I figured I’d get another chance eventually, and I did, right when I needed it (heat wave this week, so I’ll be hiding in the a/c with the tv at night). So I’ll be watching this week too! Anyone else want to join us?
Shoulda’ said “last two episodes of the most recent season.” Fingers crossed there will be more seasons.
You and I are very similar – do the chore first before the fun stuff. I know exactly where that came from for me – my mother! Saturday mornings were a chore first day, so no cartoons until the chores were completed. I don’t know what was on earlier, but I did get to see Fat Albert and some Bugs Bunny later on in the morning.
I’ve started using time, rather than accomplishment, to help move me on to my fun stuff. 15-20 minutes of outdoor yard work before it gets too hot gives me carte blanche to spend the rest of the day doing my quilting. I figure multiple 15 minute increments will eventually accomplish the task!
I’ve decided to enjoy the lazy days of summer rather than try to be productive – especially as we’re going to have yet another mini heatwave this week. So lots of vegging under my lemon-yellow umbrella in the garden.
My recent foray into making pink quilts (not a color scheme I’m usually attracted to) was something of a reaction to feeling like I was always finishing UFOS (or commitment quilts — ones I’ve promised for a specific event) and saving the “new” (and therefore “special”) projects until later. So I took a brief break from finishing old projects (no commitment ones on the agenda at the moment) to make a couple quick baby/lap-quilt-sized tops. And now I’m back to finishing some old projects, but it doesn’t feel like a chore anymore, like I’m being deprived of new projects, since I just indulged in new projects.
I experience this too! I’ve been working on the mystery (for several years), but I can’t complete it until the final steps are released. I’ve had the Nearly Insane going for a couple of years . . . and it will continue to be insane for a while longer. And then there is the quilting, which I need to get inspired by.
But I had the colorful quilt stuff sitting on my table staring at me for over a month. I finally caved, set everything else aside and worked on those blocks. I’m close to putting it together and then I can go back to the other stuff more refreshed.
My minister said constantly use the good stuff. And I do. But I still heard books. I have the next book in the accomplice series, but I’m holding it for my trip to Seattle next week because I want a great book to read on the plane. I think that’s reasonable.
I hoarded a bottle of champagne made from honey that I got at a Oscar gifting suite waiting for a special occasion. And that occasion was my son’s wedding in June. Worth waiting for. Plus the box that it came in now becomes a jewelry box. I should put up a picture of it on Pinterest.
I hoard the series Murderbot until all the episodes were out. And that was so worth hoarding. Yesterday and today my best friend and I watched all of them and it was such a glorious experience.
On the other hand, I don’t whore the happiness. Looking around me there’s so much to be grateful for. Also, I made chocolate chip cookies yesterday.
After I dictate, I really really should look at it before I send it. I wonder what whoring happiness means? It should have been hoarding happiness.
Yes, but on the bright side, it made me laugh very loud.
I enjoyed it!
I like the idea of whoring happiness. I’m just not sure what it means. Ebay?
It’s funny that you should write a post like this, Jenny! I’ve been thinking along the same lines and realizing that the truth is I have very few treats these days- not necessarily because things aren’t good, but because for the most part the things that make me happy are all a natural part of my day that I don’t even think about incorporating anymore.
I really struggled to think of a thing that makes me happy that I regularly deprive myself of and finally realized- taking days off of work. My job is very generous with time off and I almost never take off-days without having some sort of emergency, so I have quite a lot of time built up. As much as I enjoy my job, I always enjoy a good day off (even though I feel irrationally guilty for taking the time off when I don’t need to!)
This is making me think I should go ahead and schedule a day off to just enjoy and do absolutely nothing, perhaps next month sometime, and make absolutely no plans so I can just relax and enjoy the day.
I have been pushing myself to use good dishes since I realized neither of my kids is likely to want them or indeed much of our “good” stuff since one lives across an ocean and the other is a minimalist. I have also been pushing myself to use all the goodies in the pantry since I cleaned it and had outdated stuff I had to throw out.
But I think my big happiness comes from seeing my kids and I do try to do that a lot now that I’m working part time.
Also … reading the books I wrote about what they said and did when they were little.
Tinker Taylor, at my work place we’re technically not allowed to accumulate more overtime than our regular weekly working hours. That’s not always possible, in some departments nearly impossible.
At the end of the year we have to have taken all our vacation days, too. Just the other week got the reminder that I still had some days not planned/been approved of yet (I rarely plan that much ahead, that was in mid-July!!).
The upside of this: No bad feeling about actually taking this time and taking days off every now and then. My last trip (8 days to fetch kiddo from BC) was actually just burning off my overtime. Felt fabulous.
Sounds like a very sensible policy!
That does sound like a good policy! We’re allowed to accumulate it almost endlessly, and it will get paid to us whenever we leave our job. I’ve heard stories of long-time employees with a year’s worth of leave built up!
We’ve had several days of heat and sun (several accompanied by smoke from the Canadian wild fires). I have managed to walk every day despite the heat, but the best part of each day has been setting up my hammock swing in the shade of a tree and lazing in it with a beverage, a book, and my iPad in case I want an ebook instead of a hard copy.
Oh, and I had a pint of very rich chocolate ice cream that I nursed over a few days too!
My play is going well.
Yay! I so admire you for pursuing your roles in plays!
Woo Hoo!
I put off spending money on things that would make life more pleasant. Comes from being raised by parents who grew up during the Great Depression. I’m getting better at just buying the things.
Latest case was the inflatable mattress. I was sleeping on my ground floor during Pixie’s recovery. And, while the floor was comfortable, it was hard to get vertical. Just bought the mattress, on sale, very comfortable, and 18″ high. May never use it again but it made me happy.
I need to visit my favorite perennial place and my favorite antique store. Brousing them makes me happy and I keep putting it off.
I have been procrastinating buying a sewing machine until we move but since the move is taking forever maybe I’ll start looking for 1. I want to pursue making quilts. When I lived in rural KY 45 minutes from the National Quilt Museum in Paducah KY I used to help my grandkids design & sew a quilt block for the School Block contest every year & I really enjoyed it.
It makes me silly happy to think of the red mini waffle maker I recently bought for ten dollars. Can’t wait to make some soy flour waffles!
Take a look at Juki sewing machines for quilting. I love mine for both piecing and machine quilting. They’re real work horses too. A bit pricey, but worth it in my experience.
You can also sometimes get great deals on Ebay.
When I saw the title for today’s post, all I could think of was Dana Carvey as the Church Lady saying, “Well, isn’t that special!”
Jenny, what sugar-free substitute do you use?
I’m still accumulating them, so I can’t make recommendations, but I’m thinking maybe monk fruit. It seems natural.
I’ve been enjoying the daily harvest of cherry tomatoes from my gardens. They’ve dressed up my soups and salads. I can recommend Orange Hat Tomato seeds from SeedsofMindsGarden on Etsy. Actually, you can get Orange Hat Tomato seeds from lots of places. I especially like that the plant is compact – my best bush fits with an AeroGarden Harvest, and they only have 10″ or so under the lights.
Peppers, OTOH, are not sprouting all over. I have one (1) pepper from a highly recommended pepper plant – Patio Fire & Ice Peppers. “Starting off on a smaller foot, this tiny plant grows up to a measly 10″ tall and produces upward-growing clusters of colorful peppers that ripen from green to yellow, and finally to red.” One lone pepper makes a very small “cluster.”