Happiness is.....

Ah yes........happiness. That emotion that sometimes eludes us but cannot be easily or simply described because it IS different things to different people.

Some facts in my life.

Happiness is......sleepily getting up in the morning to sit on "the throne", doing a "courtesy flush" while still sitting and discovering that your grandchild has once again plugged the toilet by using too much paper and even though your bottom is wet you're happy it did not spill over onto the floor.

Happiness is.....having a co-worker invite you to a picnic at their place for the first time and discovering that her entire house is carpeted in WHITE plush and discovering that your grandchild, you or any of your family didn't spill a drop of anything anywhere.

Happiness is......composing a document for the boss that he needs desperately that day and after a test print, the only color printer in the building literally falls apart and breaks before you can print it on parchment but your test print page will do nicely once framed.

Happiness is.....observing the obnoxious young woman who nearly killed herself running to get in line for the ATM ahead of me discover that she left her ATM card in her car.

Happiness is.....breaking the strap on your purse and after more than a few cuss words manage to locate another purse at the back of your closet and discover a $20 bill in one of the pockets.

And finally..... happiness is......taking your 10 year old granddaughter to a farm to pet some horses and feed them carrots and have her hug you later that night and exclaim that it was the most "life changing" event that had ever happened to her.  (what can I say, she does lean toward dramatic descriptions).

Hope you, too, can find some happiness in everyday events.....that's what it's all about.

As the days turn into weeks......

I can't believe that so much time has passed since I last posted. One day has melted into another

My daughter and granddaughter came here on Memorial Day and they have not left yet. My daughter was not well at all and it did give us a scare. Her blood pressure was dangerously high and her legs and feet were swollen horribly from water retention. With medication and careful rest, that has almost entirely cleared up. We are very relieved  about that.  Now that the weather has returned to almost normal for this time of year, I think they will be going home soon.  Believe me, I've been very grateful for central air on these hundred degree days and humid nights.

Looking at things from my daughter's perspective, it's hard to move back home when you're used to doing things your own way. From my perspective, it's hard to have someone living with me again when I've been alone for so many years.  We've have had some spats but we've also had some good bonding in which I've enjoyed having them here with me.  Probably we could get used to co-existing, but it would take some work on both our parts. She likes to stay up late and the TV is on until 5 in the morning most times. I go to bed earlier (by 11 pm or earlier) and am used to a dark quiet house. I have gone for a week and longer without even turning the TV on.....so you can imagine how different it is with her here.  No, I can't hear the TV from my bedroom but I fret over the electric bill.

Speaking of which.  I just paid a $280 electric bill.  I know it was mostly because of the horribly hot weather which kept the AC going 24/7......but it still hurt to have such a chunk coming out of the budget.  But I have to tell myself.....if I didn't have the AC I would have been tremendously miserable and probably sleepless.

I had to get new glasses. My bill was over $700 for two pair of glasses and one pair of contacts and that was just my part......I have optical insurance that took care of the rest. The total bill was $1350. I was very glad to hear that all the problems I had with my left eye did not hamper the vision. My prescription changed very little.

Today is my granddaughter's 10th birthday. We did have plans to take her to a friend's farm so she could interact with the horses but my ex called and said he would be by with a present for her so now we are stuck waiting for him. I guess I won't post my true feelings on this at this time, especially since we haven't heard from him since Christmas!

Remember the problem I had with the power company and my email address? Remember they sent me an email  to inform me that my email address wasn't working? Anyway I contacted someone a couple of rungs up the ladder from the customer service reps who answer the phone and asked if she could please fix this.....she promised she would. A month later I AGAIN received notice from them that my email address was not a good one.  I gave up.  I changed my email address with them, giving them one that I only use for shopping and/or less important things than bills.  Hopefully this will fix the problem.

Then I tried to reduce the cost of my ever-increasing phone bill (landline) and found out that they stripped away almost all of the features that I LIKE. I called back and asked for someone a couple of rungs up the ladder from the service reps (who messed me up originally) and she promised she would fix it.  Well, yeah, she did....but now my phone bill is $15 MORE than it was before.  I should have just left well enough alone.

This is one of the reasons why I won't complain about my property taxes.  I think they are a bit high but fear if I say anything, they will end up higher than they are now.  So I'll just shut up about it.

My son hurt his arm at work and will be off two weeks at least. At first they thought he'd have to have surgery on it, but thankfully, it's a torn muscle which popped up like a golfball was under his skin, and he will have to have therapy instead. He's worried he'll lose his job over it because he's classified as part time working full time hours. I'm really hoping he doesn't. His job consists of intense manual labor....he works for a disposal company.  Yep....not a pretty job....but it pays very well and SOMEONE has to do it.  Right?

Today is the day the people vote for millages, renewals and for who runs against who. I know a lot of municipalities are nervous asking for millage renewals because people are just fed up with everything costing more money.  I'm glad I'm not working today as voting day is a real mess at work as far as parking is concerned and then there are the lines in the hallway to contend with.

My daughter told me she was quitting smoking. I can't begin to tell you how proud I was of her. She lasted one week, then started sneaking them. This is a non-smoking household so no one was tempting her because they were smoking. Neither neighbor on each side smoke, so she wasn't smelling it. Nicotine is a horribly addictive drug and apparently she's not strong enough to kick it, which I thought she would be.  I'm disappointed and mad all rolled into one.  And yes I know how hard it is.....I quit smoking myself 22 years ago.

I'm going to try and get back into posting more often......and I want to really thank any of you that have stuck with me and continue to stop by to see if I've posted. You mean the world to me.  You guys are true blue!  Keep smilin'.