I have so many things that should have been done last week, last month, last year that I’ve been losing my mind, but I’m finally getting a little bit of a grip, some of it done, some of it closer. Mostly, I’ve let myself slow down because I was making myself crazy. (Two Happiness posts last week? Yeah, that was me.). So this week I told myself to slow down, and I actually accomplished some things. That felt great. Slowing down felt great, too.
Happiness is finally getting stuff done without making yourself insane.
What made you happy this week?
55 Responses
That’s very much my happy for the last month. I started a renovation back in late December last year. It was only supposed to be 10 days, but with a large amount of scope creep, almost 10 months later it’s still going, but it’s now so much closer to being finished.
It’s 2 bedrooms and a lounge + dining room reno, and it took me 200 days exactly to move back into the bedroom. I’ve been doing most of the work myself, and with a full time job the work has been slow.
But there’s been slow progress most of the time, which makes me happy.
It’s actually been a really good lesson for me, how to be happy with progress and not pissed off with myself with the lack of progress. This project has really cemented that for me, which has been a big change in how I treated myself for most of my life.
Congratulations! I would love to see before and after pictures if you feel like sharing.
I’m still feeling fairly insane. This is the last week leading up to our system change and our latest training was cancelled because the person leading it lives in Florida a d her power went out part way through the first round of training. Lots of overtime in my future.
But today, a friend and I are doing a bit of a day trip to the nearest in person large book store. Which happens to be in a plaza with a Goodwill and a Joann Fabrics. And we are going to get Korean food, which we don’t have in my town. The budget may weep, but life is good.
I love hearing that forward movement is enough. Doesn’t have to all be finished today on September 30. My publisher soulmate is closing its doors and all our books will be taken down. I have two that I need to put back up.
I have gotten my critique. I need to get back to my book. Feels like a lot of deadlines. But Friday, I also found out what the source of the pain I’ve been feeling is. I fractured the L1 disc in my back. So right now the most important thing is healing that, if everything doesn’t get done right away, it will get done at some point. I don’t plan to make myself crazy with deadlines. Yes I want to do all of these things, but it doesn’t have to be today.
I wish you joyful week of knowing getting some things done is great
Yeah, the point is to remember that every thing you get done today, doesn’t have to be done tomorrow. And that is always a win.
I feel this so much. My to-do list gets things added onto it much faster than I can take some off. So I am trying to focus on the priorities and not worry quite so much about the things I can’t get done right this very minute (you wouldn’t believe how long “mop the floors” has been on the list…I was waiting for the workmen to be done, and they’re long gone). Dead stuff in the garden than needs to be pulled is probably happening today, but if it doesn’t, well, it won’t get any more dead, will it?
Happiness this week is finding out that my stepdaughter is going to be able to visit from San Jose after all. She and her fiance were supposed to fly out last Thursday (she had one wedding to attend this weekend in Albany, and one next weekend here in Oneonta, and was going to spend time with me in between). But a week before that, she came down with a really bad case of Covid, promptly followed by her fiance, who had never had it before. But I talked with her last night and they’re clear to come–I’ve seen her every year in San Diego when I visit my parents, but she hasn’t been back here in 8 years. I’m on a completely different set of cats now!
Not so happy was talking to one of my best friends last night and finding out she has been really sick since Wednesday. Either flu or Covid, from the sounds of it, although her home Covid tests have been negative. She’s going to the walk-in clinic today to get the real tests (that’s what it took for me to test positive the last time I had it) and have her lungs listened to.
Be careful out there folks. This crap is everywhere.
More happiness is finally making progress on the current nonfiction book. Should hit the 3/5th mark today, and it’s still a slog but I have some hope of actually finishing by my deadline in November. As long as I don’t get sick!
Deborah, I once had a friend who claimed that once you started sticking to the floors, it was time to mop. I’ve used that as a guideline ever since!
As the third year of my retirement draws to a cloaca (no, autocorrect did not choose that word) I have learned that if my goals are unachievable, I can set other goals. I do. I have.
The dotter’s goals are not my goals. She just redid the main bathroom – SO Goth! She installed a new towel rack but you can’t see it because the black towel on the black rod against the black wall… and all her autumn decorations that display year round have been replaced by yet more pumpkins and skulls and ceramic ghosts.
Oh, well. My current goal is to live until I don’t, and do so with dignity.
I’ve been retired for seven years now and couldn’t be happier. Love having my own schedule to keep to – and no on else’s – and potter away at my own never-ending list.
Been retired 8 years. It’s been great! There’s always something to do but it all eventually gets done! And some of it’s even fun.
Such a whiney post I made. I, too, couldn’t be happier. If anything, I should have retired five years earlier. My schedule is no schedule at all. No. The whineyness is entirely due to being a Home Moaner with rising taxes, rising insurance premiums, rising electric bills, and all the other costs of Home Moanership.
I attended the annual symposium our non-profit does and it was wonderful, though attendance somewhat small. Came home and tested positive for Covid which was unfortunate in terms of timing; though I don’t feel that bad, just coughing and tired. Has one negative test so presumably will be able to go back to work Monday in time to do payroll. Know at least three others who are sick, including the person who was first, so hoping it’s no worse than that. My main complaint is that I had 3 extra days at home, but not the energy to accomplish anything. Going to try to put up Halloween lights today, which will be a huge happy. Sorry, my happies sound like complaining but really, it could all be so much worse and I am enjoying all the time to read
Covid is everywhere right now, and most of the people I know who are getting it are really sick. I’m glad your case isn’t too bad.
I hope you’re feeling v better. I know a lot of people who have or have had Covid in recent weeks.
Our Victorian era house in Toronto is so starved for closet space that I finally gave in and asked our handyman to convert the old wardrobe which has been acting as office shelves back to a wardrobe, completely with a rod for HANGING CLOTHES on. It’s been life altering.
Ikve been back in this familiar loop, too. Ikve been trying to cut the list down by deleting big things, like fiction writing and the lost rights of way research. But I haven’t found anyone to take on the latter, and I still want to find a way to do some writing, so my list is no shorter. Slowing down would probably be good, but I’m still at the pushing-myself stage.
Had a good time with my photographer friend the other day: it’s lovely to talk to someone who gets it. And I loved my plant-buying spree. Planning improvements to the garden & allotment makes me happy, too, although I know some of them are long shots.
Yay for taking it slowly!
There’s a great saying in Spanish that reminds me of that:
“Vísteme lento que voy de prisa”
Literally: ” dress me slowly because I’m in a hurry ”
I remember it when I am rushing and making mistakes or missteps.
Happiness this week has been going through the dreaded dentist appointment.
It’s over! Phew.
My big happiness is mostly relief — that I did NOT catch covid from a friend I visited two weeks ago. She’s someone who takes solid precautions against getting exposed because she lives with someone who’s immunocompromised, and she masks religiously and tests pretty much daily if she’s been in crowds, so I feel safe being around her without a mask. She’d been exposed the night before I visited and didn’t know it because the person who exposed her didn’t know and didn’t have symptoms. She found out from the person who exposed her just as I was getting ready to leave her house, and then, two days later, she develops symptoms and tests positive, which meant that when I visited, she was just on the cusp of the 48-hour pre-symptom period when a person can be contagious. Fortunately, I didn’t get it (waited ten days before I was completely sure!), and her case was mild and the immunocompromised person in the house didn’t catch it from her. The worst of the experience was that it overlapped the start of allergy season, so I kept panicking that the sore throat I get from allergies was the sore throat of covid (but the allergy sore throat goes away with a sip of tea, and more serious sore throats don’t).
The other happiness-as-relief is that I’d been feeling overwhelmed by all the stuff I need to do (like so many others here; must be the peak season for that as well as allergies), but I’ve come to a state of acceptance that I’m not going to do it all, and that’s okay.
Echoing the overwhelm season – and my mini vacation just means things have piled up even higher and I can’t imagine it getting better.
But this is a good reminder to take a deep breath and be thankful for what I have – memories of an amazing trip – and the important things will get done eventually.
Veronica
I am also happy for doing less. Being signed off with stress didn’t seem to stop me trying to do it all, including getting fit after my hip replacement. All that happened there was I worked myself into a standstill and pain! So I stopped, slowed down and feel much better. That said I can now walk without sticks (even without having to have a collapsible one in my backpack – so the gym and physio are definitely working. It’s just better if I don’t go quite so full on with it and give my body time to rest as well.
Being off work helps enormously too – and only one week to go before my annual leave starts and that is swiftly followed by retirement. Hopefully my GP will sign me off again for that last week – there is literally nothing that I can do that will help them OR my mental health. I have been working at this employer for 16 years, and working for 47 years in various employment positions (according to the Governments track of my National Insurance contributions)! It is no wonder I am exhausted and finding the transition to retirement daunting, but very very exciting. I’m looking forward to what Elinor Knechel has!
My stress over our move was mainly related to the huge financial transactions and money spent during this process. My husband’s stress is related to getting everything done for the new house right away.
My goal is to get us to slow down a lot and just unpack and settle in.
I’ve found that if something doesn’t get done in a year, and nothing dire has happened, I can drop it off my to do list.
Happy? There’s no happy in writing. It’s a grind. We get up. We get to it. We suffer.
Hmm. I got the barn partly organized. That’s a sentence I’d never thought I’d write. Hauled a lot of cuttings out on the trailer from the gardens.
Another unique sentence.
We almost have the cottage and the cabin ready for occupants.
Nothing but good times ahead.
I am finally finally finally headed north, to Svalbard, to take part in a two week artist residency on a big sailing ship with 29 other artists, writers, musicians, educators and scientists. This has been in the planning stages for 18 months, and I have made it above the Arctic Circle just today on a big red ferry bound for Tromso. From there I’ll fly further north, and then we all join the ship on October 3.
The program is the Arctic Circle Artist Residency (http://thearcticcircle.org) and I am even listed as a participant for this fall’s session.
Wow that sounds adventurous and fantastic!
That is beyond cool! Pictures when you get home please!
DH bought an Expresso machine and has been making me oat lattes almost every morning this week. I have my own mug and DH brings it to me. This is my version of decadence!
I dug out and repotted the avocado plant that was growing out of my compost bin. It was a messy job but I wanted to try and save the plant before we get a frost. We’ll see it survives.
I’m on my last day of a four day virtual card making event. It’s 12 hrs+ per day and I take lots of breaks. Learning lots of new techniques and making lots of cards. First time doing this event in my dedicated craft space rather than my kitchen table. As the event has gone on, crafting space has shrunk and more equipment has landed on the floor. However, it’s worked out well and I gave everything close to me so much less running up and down the stairs. Plus, I’m sitting in my old office chair which is far more comfortable than the kitchen chairs.
I got a desk that hides all the cables and new power leads to fit it and finally everything is hidden away. Very satisfying.
I got two big tasks done to get our taxes done and since for the first time I’m taking an office deduction I had to calculate what we paid for the house —normally easy but we bought a house, tore it down 20 years later and built a new one, so not so simple. But it means I could take a task off my to do list that has been there for a decade because I knew we would need that number if we ever sell the house. So that feels really good. And I also tracked our medical expenses—so was able to make sure that they all in fact got submitted and processed by insurance . This has been DH job but he tended to submit them and not check…
I’ve been slowly working on other long term to do lists too. Went through all the office papers (see taxes) so the study/library is nearly cleaned up. I just have a little more filing to do. I got DD an accounting firm in London that knows both British and American accounting and we can get her taxes done. Next are two tasks I’m actually looking forward to—cleaning and labeling my grandmothers silver and sewing a holder for a rod on the back of two Navajo rugs so we can hang them up.
Now I have to spend the rest of today finishing a work project due by Sept 30 because tomorrow I need to spend all day at a meeting.
But it will feel so good to have all that done, —it was for a big grant that ends sept 30 and I was supposed to do very little of it but first one person left and then another went out on paternity leave.
And then I have a plan. Every time DH travels for work I will get rid fo two boxes od papers from the basement storage. DH struggles with trying to get rid of all the storage clutter so the kids won’t have to. It’s fear of getting old, not attachment to the things (well that too but I won’t touch those.) I realized while I was down there for tax purposes that we have a LOT I can just toss like papers from two jobs ago. And I have 24 boxes of kid school papers (More or less—1/kid/year) that I think I can consolidate without upsetting anyone. I think if it’s just two boxes per trip it will feel doable. Mostly they don’t need much sorting .
I’m also trying to do one election thing every day. Either make a donation , spread tbe word about fundraising events, or make calls to get likely democrats to register and make sure low frequency democratic voters have a plan. I do that through two orgs—do the most good moco and nope neighbors (nope we won’t let you take our democracy). In case anyone else is looking for places to do election volunteering. Both groups are focused on PA.
I’m feeling really really productive . This is really unusual for me… I attribute it in part to left overs. It saves a lot of cooking time.
We also had a long time friend over for brunch. She was here for three hours and we spent the whole time catching up. That tells you both how much was going on in her life and ours and how long it’s been since we caught up…
And I now have a semi tradition of tea with my neighbor most weekends which makes me happy.
At 4 I will talk to my mom for the first time (aside from finance and health logistics ) since March. I don’t know if that will be a happy. But she isn’t driving so that’s a relief.
Still not driving! I am relieved for you.
Ditto! That’s great news.
Thank you! She is apparently trying to sell the car which is good but has unrealistic expectations of how much she should get for it based on what she paid for it so I don’t know if it will happen.
Writer happy: finishing that first draft, compiling my morning-after book-hangover thoughts and letting them sit for a few days, then getting down to business on the tweaks.
Garden happy: grooming the front yard to the point of respectability again; enjoying the tidied-up state of the backyard, especially the hummingbird corner.
Work happy: uh, no. It’s gonna suck till my co-worker gets back from vacation.
Family happy: also no. DH and I were due to fly to western North Carolina next Saturday. That trip is, haha, rather up in the air because western North Carolina was absolutely hammered by Hurricane Helene. As of today, the county my sister + SIL + aged parents + others live in is mostly out of power, phone, and cell service. The sheriff’s office says the county doesn’t have fuel or food shortages, and it seems city water is working; most through roads have at least one lane now open, and my people all lived in town, not out in the country (to the extent that a small mountain town can be said NOT to be out in the country). I had one voice mail Saturday morning from sis, saying “we’re okay;” not sure when the call was placed. Concerned, worried, anxious, trying to use that energy productively (e.g. addressing the front yard and edits) because there is absolutely nothing I can do from here about my people there.
I guess I’m happy none of them actually live in Asheville, which is a disaster area. 🙁 The Asheville airport is open (our destination) but most incoming flights have been cancelled. Will be keeping an eye on the news, grateful I got trip insurance, because we may have to reschedule.
My friends in Raleigh have friends in or adjacent to Asheville. They have heard from them that they’re all right. I hope your folks are, too.
Turns out the parents are in much better shape than most, because they have a whole-house generator that’s connected to the gas line vs a propane tank. Thus they are the neighborhood’s shelter, charging station, shower, etc. Still no grid power, cell service, or internet, so our visit is definitely off (also by the time they get all comms back, they may not want to see another human being for about, oh, six months). My sister found a parking lot up in the Pisgah Forest where she could get cell service to call this morning and tell me they’re all fine. 🙂
What a relief for you! And yay whole house generator—probably not what they were thinking about when they had it installed.
That is such good news – despite the disappointment of a canceled trip. Whew.
So glad to hear that! I keep thinking I need to get a generator or some solar cells, just enough to run the refrigerator and the freezer AND the sump pump. (It is making me so happy the last few days to hear the sump pump run. When it can’t run, water gets several inches deep in the basement.)
Jenny, I have a very colorful tile on my fridge that says “We live in a rainbow of chaos.” Cezanne Every now and then, I look at it for reassurance. Life is chaos. Other people are Chaos. Machines are chaos. Electronics are chaos.
I am happy that I got a new credit card in three days, after I scanned a box full of little squiggles to check in at the pharmacy where I was getting my flu and COVID shots. That had been hacked, and I found that out when I got home and found a message saying there was an international charge on my card. I called the bank and the card was cancelled, and there was only one more charge. I had all my recurring payments and donations on that card. It was a mess. I love UPS Express!
I had to fill in my name and email in order to post that comment. That’s odd. And chaotic.
Today, I blogged for the first time in 5.5 months. I didn’t say a lot of things, just celebrated our first autumn in 3 years, but as I was writing, I realised that I feel I have come home. I wasn’t really suited for life in the tropics. It was a brilliant adventure, I would not have been ready for my current job without the experience, but I am glad we are back in northern hemisphere.
This weekend was also the first one where I felt we were settled: we moved in July, built a lot of IKEA furniture and did a lot of catching up in August, I began working, and now, I have survived my first month of school leadership with live children, staff and governors, and I am beginning to get the measure of the job ahead.
And biggest happiness, I took Minion 2 to university last weekend, and he is in a good place one week in. This is his second attempt. In 2021, we had left the country so couldn’t take him in person to settle in, and he was already depressed and, unbeknownst to all of us, on a pathway that led to severe mental upheaval, involving in-patient stay in clinic and many many months of meds, therapy and slow steps as part of the recovery. To see him having a fresh start and talking positively, in charge of his life is a total joy. My fingers and toes are crossed, but he is so open and ready for independence, and this time, he seems to have made it through the threshold.
I am so happy for your newly delivered student! May he find lifelong friends, intellectual passions and a sense of belonging at his new school.
I just read “Rocky Start” while eating a box of Milk Duds. That was my weekend happiness. When are the next two books coming out? I am so thrilled that Jenny and Bob are writing again…their books are the perfect first read and the perfect pick me up read whenever Murphy comes calling! Stop moving heavy furniture! Dead authors have a hard time getting published and readers need you!
We’re finishing up VNF now and HPP is about a third of the way finished, so soon! Kinda. Thanks for the kind words!
I read a book and didn’t paint the baseboards. Did other stuff, like sorting through monthly telephone/internet/cable bills for a good friend. Saved her over $120 per month. Her husband passed a few years ago. He did all that stuff. She is feeling better and capable now.
I’ve got my to do list for the next 2 weeks-mostly little things like get the air conditioners out of the windows. The one big project will be moving my houseplants back inside. That’s waiting on lower night temps. Taking it easy in October because November is election month.
I went to a brunch today that my state rep was having. Bought too many raffle tickets and ate too much. But, actually circulated. My problem is I tend to sit and stay seated. I’m really trying to do better at touching base with people.
And I learned something. There was an exhibit of psanky (those fancy eastern European Easter eggs). My grandparents came from Poland and Ukraine (depending where the borders were when they left). I remember my aunts decorating eggs but they did it in a completely different way and with different results than what you usually see.
Turns out there are different styles of psanky and my relatives use the Lemko drop and pull method. It was great to find this out.
I spent yesterday helping clean up storm damage. A guy kept walking by saying the everytime he looks, the 3 foot hole in his boat does not look any better
I have some friends just north of Asheville NC that we are hoping are okay. There is no power or service so we just have to wait. We were just in that area last weekend for a wedding and it just breaks my heart for those people. Fall is often a big money-maker there.
I went to a writer’s conference, which was inspirational, and go to spend social time with some members of my Zoom critique group, which was a blast. I met Beverly Jenkins! And then I got to come home and take a long nap, which was pretty darn wonderful as well. Also: progress on the shawl I’m crocheting. I may even finish it someday.
Retired now for a few years, I find most happiness in meeting with friends for lunch or coffee, which I did this week. Also did some writing, which is coming more slowly, but still coming. Not having the pressure of goals/deadlines is a wonderful thing.
I went to Pagan Pride and a Renfaire this weekend. Busy, fashionable, fun.
Spent the weekend at Capclave, our local SF con. Hung with a lot of friends. Found some grand new restaurants. Drove home on a dry Beltway–a first for this particular con. Then I came home and recorded a panel for Con-Tinual populated by long-time Horror Writers Association members. (I’m a very new member. Discovered after my collection was published that I write horror. I didn’t know. Honest!) The discussion continued after the panel ended. I laughed so hard and learned so much. All these things made me very happy. 😀
I renewed my nursing license and Critical care certification. The certification is a pain and I always realize I need alot of education the month before. I realized I turn 62 in less then 2 weeks and I might not do it again. It felt strange. My daughter in law left for school, my son left for a travel nurse gig and my youngest to college. The house feels quiet. I have almost finished my film’s old dresser. It looks better then it did although kind of damned with faint praise. My to do list gets longer, but fortunately I lose them. Except for the important stuff which is written on my upper thigh with a sharpee.
I write the must do as soon as I get home on my left hand thumb pad in ink. I may have to add the sharpie in the thigh.
…on the thigh…. You all knew what I meant.
Two of my dearest and funnest friends of my life came to visit, and stayed in an AirBNB in town. I haven’t laughed so much in a long time, which would be the last time I saw them. New England was lovely for them, and the one from LA really enjoyed the cloudy days, and the rain. We’ve had lobster rolls, mussels, salmon, cafe lattes, and shopped and found 2 beautiful evening dressers for the friend married to someone in the music business in LA. Having spent her adult life as a humanities teacher, switching up the glam is challenging. We hit the jackpot by chance while walking around a pretty nasty political rally on the corner of the main street. Apparently Queers for Palestine = Chicken for CFC. Took me a while to work that one out.
What a world.
After I take them to the bus, we have my dad’s brother coming for a short trip to celebrate his 94th birthday, so I’m going to vacuum.
I write the must do as soon as I get home on my left hand thumb pad in ink. I may have to add the sharpie in the thigh.