flora margaret

photos
1. red and white paper straws
2. will’s 5th birthday cake, taken and made (both the cake and the boy) by my dear sis
3. pug shaming

Another cold, gray week, with snow always floating in the air. Nothing serious, in fact sometimes it’s so light and fluffy and purposeless that it blows upward, just riding the air currents in front of my window, as if to say, in a creepy, sing-songy voice, “Flooooooraaaa, we’re still heeeere.”

So again, CRUCIAL to focus on the happy!

What’s making me happy this week:

1. Red and white paper straws…I was shopping for lightbulbs.

2. My nephew’s 5th birday cake! I want that NOW!

3. Doing an image search for “pug shaming” and reading the photos—thanks to my dear daughter for this.

4. Family party. I have a big family with several siblings who live too far away. So when one of our prodigal siblings return to Michigan, as happened last weekend, we have a party with my mom, food, sisters and brothers and in-laws and food, cousins, food, nieces and nephews, food, Apples to Apples, food, Just Dance on the Kinect, food, showing each other funny youtubes and food. Plus more food. It is best to avoid politics and religion at these gatherings, so we eat.

5. Flight of the Conchords “Feel Inside (and Stuff Like That)” video. If you don’t know Flight of the Conchords, you NEED to buy their show on DVD (sadly, only 2 seasons).

6. Joy the Baker podcast. Oh these women make me laugh. And a bonus, they help expand my vocabulary— for example “blazing” is a term for wearing a blazer, as in “I am blazing today, so I hope it will be warm enough not to wear an additional coat.”

7. Linoleum block printing. So fun! I’ll post photos tomorrow.

8. One day this week, at my request, my son unplugged from his earbuds, plugged into the car stereo and played this most excellent choice of songs to perk us up (warning it will be in your brain for at least 5 days). Turn the volume up to 11!

9. …which reminds me of the poem, More than a Woman, by Billy Collins, which I just listened to him (BC) read, also making me happy. Reading it here is faster, but taking a minute ot listen to him read it is pretty fantastic.

10. Looking at my blog makes me happy.
Sometimes throughout the day I will just type in this URL and say to myself, “I made that.” It feels good. It is something I wanted to do for a long time, but I wanted to have everything figured out, every piece in place, a plan, a strategy. One day I thought, you will never have time for all that so just jump in and learn as you go. So I did and I am. I just haven’t told too many people yet…

I hope you are able to find something that makes you happy this week and especially today. If not, google “pug shaming”…