Friday, October 7, 2011

Day 7 - You Should See Us

Day 7 of 31 Days of Happy with Fringe Girl


Happy Weather


I know it's uber boring to blog about the weather, but I just have to say that the past week in Iowa has been sunny and warm and breezy and simply DIVINE.  Blue skies, changing leaves, combines in the field.  


It makes me love this place.


Remember I said that...because come January I'll be cursing the frigid tundra.  But for today...it's bliss.


If you're from Iowa, or have been to Iowa, you obviously know we're pretty much the nicest people around.  I'm not even exaggerating.  The nicest.  Even in January.  But with THIS weather, you should see us.  We're skipping and holding hands everywhere we go.  Sheer giddiness.



Thursday, October 6, 2011

Happy Hooligans

Day 6 of  31 Days of Happy.


You know what you do if you're a lazy blogger?  You get tired of linking things.  So today, in honor of my laziness, you'll have to go back to yesterdays post that includes a link to what 31 Days of Happy is, or means, or whatev.


Today I am happy to have hooligans.  


What fun would life be, without the antics of a toddler?









The real question though...how long is it going to take the parsonage family to finally remember that things on the table are no longer safe?  We have dozens of spilled cups to prove we are either slow learners or in complete denial that baby Lucy is actually no longer a baby.  







Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Day 5 - Happy Foodie





Day 5 of 31 Days of Happy

Pinterest makes me happy.  Recipes I've found on Pinterest really make me happy.  So, I thought I'd make you happy too...by sharing them with you.  These recipes are ones I've made myself...and they're delish.  (click on the link after Source to go to the actual recipe)


Sorry the pics and links are a little wonky...I'm not sure why Pinterest doesn't cooperate with me.








               



 Source: annies-eats.net via Sarah on Pinterest
           




Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Day 4 - Happy Painting

Day 4 of 31 Days of Happy - Happy Painting.


Painting makes me giddy.   It's not that I love doing it.  And it's definitely not that I'm even remotely good at it...because I'm messy as all get out.  BUT...I love that it's quick and changes things so drastically.  


For someone with my attention span, that's perfection.


The past couple of days I've been working on painting the doors to the new part of the house, and also decided I'd give the church doors an updated color.  So now the parsonage and the church totally match.  Oh, and I painted the side door to the garage too, so it also matches...I mean who wants their garage looking all left out?!?



The weather here in Iowa is gorgeous this week.  Look at the reflection of the changing leaves in the window.  Perfection.



The space on the 2nd floor, where there's no window is where our ginormous closet will be!  So yeah, it looks a little unbalanced from the outside...but it's a necessary sacrifice. ;)


Church doors.  They were robins egg blue before.  Very 1999...literally.  I said to Ben, we'll find out who loved the blue doors and who didn't by their reaction on Sunday.
  • What happened to the blue doors?!?  = loved the blue
  • Wow the gray doors look great!  = me ;)



Eventually, the older part of the house will get new windows and siding...just in case you were wondering.  I'd hate for you to lose sleep.

It seems that the more I paint, the more objects I find that need to be painted.  This little cradle was mine when I was a wee one.  I'm sure the wood stain was all the rage in 1977.  Who knew I'd grow up to be one of those weird people who actually likes everything to be painted...including wooden objects .





 Ta Da!  I'm gonna sand it a little and add some stain to it so it looks a little "old."   Oh Happy Day!


You know what else makes me happy?  Our make-shift sidewalk.  It kills me. I literally chuckle about it all the time.  I'm sure there's other ways to make a temporary sidewalk...but could they be any more classy  klassy?  I think not.
  


I'm curious...what makes you happy today?


Oh, and FringeGirl has a great post today on Happy Spending.  Go visit...good stuff.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Happy Kicked My Butt

Day 3 of 31 Days of Happy.  Not sure what I'm talking about?  You can go here for more info.


hap·pyAdjective/ˈhapē/ (according to Wikipedia)

1. Feeling or showing pleasure or contentment.
2. Having a sense of confidence in or satisfaction with (a person, arrangement, or situation).

Wouldn't it be grand if happy and thankful were the same thing?  All day I've been trying to come up with a post for this blog and I kept coming up with things I'm thankful for...and then I'd stop and think, yeah...I'm thankful for that but am I happy about it?  I'm talking "Happy" from the definition above...not happy as in la la la everything is perfect kinda happy.
Hmmm.  Sort of revealing.  Sort of don't like what I saw in my heart.
It started this morning.  
Children (who wake at the crack-o-dawn) yipping orders at me as I stumble down the stairs barely awake.  Thankful for my kids...less than happy with them.
The house is a mess.  Thankful for a home to clean...not exactly happy with doing it.
Off to Menards to pick out storm doors and look at kitchen cabinets.  Thankful for the new addition...not happy with customer service or myself when it comes to picking out stuff.
Home to cook supper.  Thankful for food to fill our bellies.  Not happy about making it...or cleaning up.  And really not happy with my children's reaction to the food.  
You get the idea.  Should Thankful and Happy coincide?  Not necessarily...not always.  But should they, more often than they do?  I kinda think so.  
I kinda think they should.  If I'm truly thankful, then there should be a sense of satisfaction.  Happiness really is a reflection of satisfaction.  
Today...31 Days of Happy, kicked my butt.  And I'm going to learn to be happy about that.  

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Day 2 of Happy



I'm joining FringeGirl for 31 Days of Happy.  

Day 2:  Happy New Year

I know it sounds weird, but I tend to evaluate years by the school year calendar rather than the traditional January 1st to December 31st deal.  In my head, it looks like this:

School starts (beginning of year)
End of Summer = End of year

Don't judge me, it's how my head works.  

So fall (in my head) is like a new beginning...school starts and it's off to new things.  

Every year we have a fall party on my husbands side of the family.  

Last fall:





This fall:



We do have other kids...it's just that the others are much harder to nail down for pictures...they protest relentlessly.  Even Lucy is beginning to rebel against the camera.  Hooligans.

It's crazy how much changes in a years time.  

And yet, so much stays the same.  

It's what makes life, life.  I'm thankful for the gift of it.  Makes me happy.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Day One of Happy


I'm going to be joining one of my faaaavorite bloggers, FringeGirl, for the next 31 days.  31 Days of Happy.


I like happy.  It seems like everyone should like happy.  But honestly, I think a lot of people like unhappy better.  Or they've just been in unhappy mode for so long they don't even remember what happy is.



hap·pyAdjective/ˈhapē/ (according to Wikipedia)

1. Feeling or showing pleasure or contentment.
2. Having a sense of confidence in or satisfaction with (a person, arrangement, or situation).
(I just copied and pasted that definition from FringeGirl ;)

Here goes:  DAY 1 of Happy
I really like these people...

I'm happy to have them.  To take care of them, pick up after them, and make them meals they don't always appreciate.  I'm happy to share this journey with them.

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