A Simple Woman's Daybook~January 18, 2012

Taking a Moment to Contemplate the Journey!

Just For Today...Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Our lives pass swiftly by!
I want to do something to remember
the everyday moments and my thoughts.
That is what this daybook is all about.
Focusing on the little things that become my life.
One week at a time.

Outside my window...It was 32 degrees a few minutes ago when I checked. Jim tells me it is going to rain like crazy this coming week. We sure do need it. So it's a good thing. Right now there is not even a breeze. Perhaps it is the quiet before the storm? The sky is looking mysterious clear...hmmm. Maybe tomorrow....

From the learning room...the longer you are married the more similar you seem to become to your spouse. This is an odd thing when you usually start by being quite different. I always have thought of Jim being the hyper one, the one that does everything 200%, the one that is never idle, the one who rarely lets his fanny touch a couch. Hmm, just the other day when I was saying I have gone over the top crazy with Pinterest, our oldest said, "Well Mom you rarely do anything halfway." Moi? Wow, that shocked me. I usually feel like the lazy, laid back one when at his side. OCD+OCD=Frenzied Life! Gotta love the evolution of it all.

I am reading...all day long...most days.

From the kitchen...I am getting ready to go shopping to prepare some yummy stuff for our son's visit over the weekend. I am going to make beef stroganoff and serve over wide egg noodles, some kind of a dessert and some Red Lobster copycat biscuits for our dinner guests on Friday night. Of course we will have a veggie and a wonderful salad also.

I am missing...Robert, Sweet Robert. I think of him and pray for him everyday hoping the guardian angels are watching over our boy in Afghanistan. All prayers on his behalf gladly accepted!

I am hearing...My favorite playlist. Have you heard Micheal Buble's, "The Best of Me" yet? Such a bittersweet song. ♥

I am wearing...Jams but not for long. Friends coming over at 9:00, racing to get this done and be ready.

I am quoting... "Success~To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Somethings that made me especially happy this past week...Meeting our new neighbor, walking more days than not for exercise. Working at the Family History Library last night and talking with one of my really sweet new friends, Carol. Do love that lady! Had a wonderfully spiritual Sunday and it got me all motivated to be a better me. Love it when that kicks in, don't you? I feel like the excitement of a new year, a new beginning, etc. has finally sunk in for 2012. I feel like I am finally organized again after all the upheavals (albeit wonderfulness) of the holidays and traveling and and being exhausted. My energy is returning...woohoo!

I am going...to do all my 'to do' list with the enthusiasm of the Energizer Bunny today.

One of my guilty pleasures...I hate to keep repeating this but Pinterest.com. It is the perfect medium for a retired designer who loves photography, arranging things to create something fun and beautiful, is renewed by the beauty around her and who love the computer and staying home. And its free. Wow, whoever came up with it, hit all my buttons on the first try! When I have been doing a lot of black and white writing or researching family history it is the five minute commercial break time my eyes and body need to then get back to work. I can pin so many awesome things in record time. If I see it I know immediately if I will pin it. No dillydallying around...I have always been like that. I know what I like and I don't go back and forth on it.

Pet Peeve...I saw a cute quote on Pinterest this week. "I don't have A pet peeve, I have a whole kennel of them!" Haha!

One of my favorite things...Billy Joel's song, "Just The Way You Are." It is a sermon in a nutshell.

An enjoyable movie I have watched lately...Seems I haven't been watching a lot lately. Still trying for War Horse..has anyone seen it yet? I want to see the new Meryl Streep movie about Margaret Thatcher too. Gotta get to that soon.

I am curious about...where the country is going politically right now. Interesting and paradoxical and curious.

If I could change one thing it would be...what burns calories and how. That brain activity counted as much as physical activity in this department.

A few plans for the rest of the week...the big event of the week is Chris flying home on Friday for our nephew, Nicholas' wedding on Saturday, so I am getting the guest room ready, cooking, cleaning, and anticipating his arrival. Cannot wait to see him. It will be a fast trip but a fun-packed one. Today and tomorrow last minute stuff and then tomorrow night we are going to the rehearsal and the dinner. We have been asked to do a reading in the ceremony. They are getting married in a Catholic Church on Saturday midday. Mara, Nick's soon-to-be-wife is an absolute doll and has the biggest dimples on a girl I have ever seen. She is a beauty inside and out and we are just thrilled about this union. Jim has been working fourteen hours a day at the Temple this week on a special construction project. So I am on my own. Monday I am going to the Doe Library in Berkeley for our cousin, Stephen, and looking through old newspapers for some obituaries. Challenging to go without my mechanical husband, but I am sure I can figure out those dang film readers.

A photo and thoughts I'm sharing this week...Finding joy in the simple things.

This is the cupboard where we keep our everyday dishes. I want Jim to take the wood door off of it and replace it with a framed piece of glass. I also want him to replace the shelves with tempered glass so we can put in a light at the top and all the areas of the cupboard and its contents can be illuminated. I will admit it straight out..I am weird but I love these dishes and they bring me joy. Why? Not too sure, but when I was emptying the dishwasher the other day I just wanted to take a picture of them. I have a thing for glasses and stemware and I love this set of glasses. They make me happy every day. I know...I'm nuts but they really are a point of glee for me and I want to see them when I am just passing through without having to open the door. This might be a clue as to why I love Pinterest. I just love looking at pretty people, places and things. I am a visual person. Yep...I am. What floats your boat and makes you happy that is just simple, pleasurable and relaxing? Go ahead and tell me, I won't think you're weird, I promise.

With Love,