Contentment Day 23 - 20 Minutes

Today, for the first time literally in years, I managed to walk for 20 minutes on the treadmill.

I was not going at a fast pace. Just a nice even walk while I watched TV.

I used to do 20 minutes all the time. Then I had my gallbladder surgery in 2013, and everything went to hell with the pain in my midsection. Double-over and can't do anything but lie there kind of pain.

I had stopped physical therapy in 2019 in September, intending to go back after my husband had recovered from his ankle surgery.

Then we had a pandemic.

I have not been back to physical therapy except for a very short little period last fall. In the midst of caring for my husband, dealing with a pandemic, helping him with another surgery on his hip, taking care of life, I stopped walking on the treadmill.

I knew I needed to get back to it. So, about two months ago, I started back on it. I could manage about 5 minutes before the pain hit.

For about 10 days I did 5 minutes. Then upped it to 6 minutes. Then 8. Then 10. Then 12. Then 15. Last week, I was doing 15 to 18.

And today, I hit 20 minutes.

I will pay for it later tonight; I did 18 yesterday and was up in the middle of the night in pain. But I did it and I intend to keep doing it. My goal is 45 minutes every day.

I walked 20 minutes on the treadmill. Not bad for someone who could barely do 5 minutes two months ago.

 

Contentment - Day 16

I confess I'm having trouble with the contentment thing. I seem to be a bundle of nerves, having mild panic attacks every time I leave the house. A fellow made a dog toy squeak in the grocery aisle this morning and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

But, it's supposed to rain. We need it to rain. The dust is thick, the trees are already turning colors, or the leaves are simply dropping off. I think it's too late to save the foliage for a lovely Autumn.

The idea of rain makes me content. If I wake to rain in the morning, I will be very content.

Plus, the young woman who helps me with the house cleaning comes tomorrow, so there's that.

Contentment - Day 10

Today has been a bit frazzled, so contentment has been a bit hard worn, but perhaps that makes it all the sweeter.

I found contentment in playing video games. There, I said it. I like to play video games and I'm not the least bit sorry for it. It's a great way to break away from the trials of the day, shut my mind down into a narrow plane of thought, and regenerate for a while.

Contentment - Day 9

We're also having much cooler weather, which is welcome, but still no rain. Our drought is not yet over and it's too late to save the hay for this year. But we could sure use some of those water droplets to help raise the water level for the wells and such.

I finished my 50th book of the year yesterday. When I was younger, I used to read about 100 books a year, but my older eyes tire easier. I find audiobooks compelling because I can multitask while I listen - fold clothes, listen to a book. That makes the chores go faster.

I am glad I am getting in more reading/listening time.

Contentment - Day 6

I thumbed through old papers this morning, looking for a manual on a piece of machinery my husband couldn't find.

In doing so, I stumbled over an envelope full of photos. I pulled it out and began looking through them. They were pictures of me from school and a large picture of my grandmother as a young girl that I would have sworn was of my mother if not for the name written on the back. And there were pictures of my mom.

The envelope was one of the last things she gave me before she died.

It wasn't the pictures that got to me though - they were just images. What did get to me was the smell.

The envelope smelled not of old paper, but of my mother. A smell that I'd not thought of in many years, and one that even now I cannot describe.

Something like a cross between makeup, hairspray, and light perfume.

Nothing that comes from a bottle.

Just my mom.

Contentment - Day 3

Today I am content because I made it to Food Lion and back without incident.

You never know what's going to happen to you when you step out of your door.

While I was at the store, I saw my dear friend, and we talked later in the day (because who can carry on a conversation in the checkout line?).

Also, I got a great shot of a buck still in velvet but with the velvet starting to come off. I will share that tomorrow if I remember to get it off of the camera.

September Contentment

I enjoyed the August Happiness Challenge so much that I'm going to keep on doing it in September. But I'm going to call it September Contentment.

It helps me to remember the small things that bring joy.

Today I am content because I was able to get the house cleaned up this morning and most of the laundry caught up.

And I'm really grateful for the bleach toilet bowel drop-ins. They've become expensive but the off brands work just as well.

Happiness - Day 30

Today I am happy because I didn't break the camera.

Yesterday, we had a lightning storm. More lightning than rain, with lots of thunder. I could see bolts of lightning out of my office window.

We generally can't see lightning where we live. It tends to hit behind us where the power lines run. So when I realized it was streaking in the front of the house, I grabbed the camera and set it on "record" to see if I could capture a streak or two.

I have never photographed a lightning bolt. Doing it with the video recorder is not the way to go about it, but I wasn't thinking clearly.

At any rate, about 11 seconds into recording, KA-BOOM! I thought the lightning hit the house across the way, and I wasn't sure it didn't hit something on our house because I heard a weird noise.

When I played back the video, I didn't have the lightning strike. I had a green streak running across the video in the camera from where the electricity made the video a bit wonky.

Too close for comfort, that one was.

But it doesn't seem to have damaged the camera. Whew!

______________________

Happy August Happiness Challenge!

 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Happiness - Day 26

Around 3 p.m., my husband came rushing in the house to tell me he'd lost his cellphone. I tried to call his number, and it went straight to voice mail.

In the past when he's lost his phone in the field, we could call it and find it by the ring.

But there was no ring this time.

I jumped into the utility vehicle with him so I could be a second set of eyes and we started going over all the places he'd been on the farm.

About a half-hour later, we spotted it in some cut grass along the side of a bank.

It was so hot, it nearly burned him when he picked it up, he said. It had been sitting in the 90+ degree sun for almost 2 hours. (He has a flip phone, still.)

It also wouldn't turn on.

We returned to the house. After a recharge and a cool down, the phone began functioning again. Whew!

So today I am happy that my husband's phone is working, and I didn't have to make an emergency run into the city to get him something to use.

______________________

Happy August Happiness Challenge!

 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Happiness - Day 24

This should have been yesterday's notation, but here goes.

Last night we went to my father's to visit with my cousin and his wife who were in from California.

They live in Chico, near the Park Fire. They came in last weekend but went to Myrtle Beach with my father and stepmother, so I did not get to see them until last night.

We had a good time sharing memories of differing childhoods, one on the west coast, and my brother and I on the east coast.

Kids are kids though. I also heard stories about my cousins that I hadn't heard before. I have always been a little sad that I don't know my father's side of the family that well. They moved to California when I was 6 months old. My dad and mother stayed here.

At any rate, we all had tacos, made by my cousin who wanted to cook, and enjoyed an evening on the deck telling tales.

Everyone but me: from left, my cousin Steve, my
brother's girlfriend, Steve's wife Lisa, my stepmother,
my father, my husband, and my brother.

______________________

Happy August Happiness Challenge!

 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Happiness - Day 21

Today I went back to the dentist, having been there on Monday, so she could do her thing to create a crown for a front tooth.

I initially balked at this, because I didn't think the problem needed that kind of solution. I was having what I considered "high sensitivity" in a front tooth. I just wanted a little cement to make it go away. So, Monday she did what she called a "fluoride varnish," which wasn't cement, and it did absolutely nothing for the sensitivity issue I was having. 

I called late Tuesday and reported that the fluoride treatment had not helped. This morning the office called me back and said dental assistant said they had a cancelation, and I should come in this afternoon.

When I arrived, I made the dental assistant and the dentist show me all of the X-rays and explain to me like I was 5 why I needed a crown. She said all of the enamel was gone from the back of the tooth and it needed a crown to stop the sensitivity. The tooth had two fillings, one on each side, which I did not realize. I thought it just had one filling. She said the tooth could not handle more filling.

That knowledge made a big difference, so I stopped balking and let her go on and do her dentist work.

It took a very long time and at one point there was smoke coming out of my mouth, but the hard part is done and now there's nothing left but the waiting for the ceramic crown. I have a temporary crown in the meantime, and you can't even tell I had anything done. I can tell, but just to look at me you can't tell a thing.

I am happy that I have a dentist I trust and who is patient and good with me.

______________________

Happy August Happiness Challenge!

 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Happiness - Day 20

Happiness is a clean house.

Today the young woman who helps me with the heavy cleaning came and did the mopping and such that I have had difficulty with since my last abdominal surgery.

So the house is cleaner and smells nice.

That always makes me happy!

Happiness - Day 19

This afternoon following a dental appointment, I stopped in one of my old haunts.

I went by the newspaper office to visit with B.J., the woman who has always been the push behind the editors. The real news woman, as it were. Isn't there always a woman in the back doing the real work?

B.J. started with the newspaper sometime back in the 1970s and has stayed with them ever since. She is past retirement age and works there part-time now.

We spent a little time reminiscing about big stories we both remembered - court trials, political issues, and other things like a long-ago wedding of Batman and Cat Woman. It's hard to believe that the two of us sitting there encompassed a good 60 years of county history. I expect that we both know things the other doesn't, and between us we could probably tell a lot of tales that many may not want told.

I also met the current editor. I'd spoken with him on the phone many times, but we had not formally met in person. He'd been on a break, so he was hustling to beat a deadline. I tossed him a story idea or two.

The office is a lot cleaner these days than it was back when I was a reporter. The editor I worked for had papers piled high everywhere. Actually, the newspaper office used to look a lot like my office looks now, with piles of paper and books and general stuff hither and yon. But the news office has been cleaned up and all of the piles of paper are gone. (I need to follow suit and make mine look less full of junk.)

The computers looked new, too. I think they were Macs. 

I am very glad I stopped in to say hello. It made my day!

______________________

Happy August Happiness Challenge!

 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Happiness - Day 18

Today my husband took me to lunch. We had salads.

Then we went to Roanoke to Target. I seldom shop there but we picked up some things we needed, like paper towels.

Happiness - Day 15

Today I am happy my husband was around to get the wayward calves back inside the fence.

Chasing cows is not my strong suit, though I have done it before. He is better at it and they are more familiar with him, so he has an easier time of it.

When I chase cows, they look at me like, "Who do you think you are, crazy woman?"

So, yay for the hubby being around this morning. Before he retired, I would have had to call around and find somebody to help me run them back into the field.

Happiness - Day 14

 

My fingertips are blackened with ink! 

This makes me very happy.

I have been going through old newspapers, looking at articles I wrote 30 years ago. I doubt I saved every word that was printed, but I saved a lot.

I also saved letters to the editor that spoke highly of my work. There aren't many - people aren't free and easy with compliments - but it was nice to know that for a little bit, I made a difference.

And my goodness, I wrote about everything from the school board to new businesses to zoning to history. I even wrote columns.

I found a picture my nephew drew when he was 7 years old amongst the newspapers. It was featured on the back of an advertisement insert. I didn't remember it, but he had signed his name.

The review is for a personal project I'm contemplating, as well as another with one of the local historic societies that I've sort of agreed to help with when I can. Double duty.

The ink makes me happy. Better times.

______________________

Happy August Happiness Challenge!

 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Happiness - Day 13

Today I am happy because I finally have a short way of saying what I tend to be long winded about - what it is I want from government.

I heard this from Heather Cox Richardson during one of her Facebook talks today.

Here are the four things:

1) Regulate businesses

2) Provide a basic social safety net

3) Promote infrastructure

4) Protect civil rights

And that's it. Everything else, even the military, falls under those four categories (you can't provide a basic social safety net if no one's safe because we don't have a military, right?). 

Now I am going to memorize these four key items so I can spout them out next time someone asks me what I think government should be doing, or why I am in favor of a strong government.

Happiness - Day 12

Today it's back to school for the little kiddies. My great niece is starting her first day of kindergarten. Her younger brother headed off to preschool.

On those slate boards that parents use now to show what the little ones are doing on that date, my great niece said she wanted to be a farmer.

The great nephew said he wanted to be a firefighter.

Me thinks the great uncle has been quite an influence upon these two little ones. Their daddy was like the son my husband never had, so no wonder.

It makes me very happy to know that these two little ones love their great uncle so much they want to be just like him.

(I do not see these children as often as I would like; the family has dogs so I can't go up there with my asthma and allergies. But they see their great uncle several times a week. I am happy that he is part of their lives.)

Happiness - Day 11

This morning, I showered and then sat down to watch the women's basketball game in the Olympics. It was a nail-biter with the USA taking the gold medal by a single point. France really gave it their all and it showed.

I do not normally watch TV during the day, even on weekends.

Best of all, I sat there with my husband, and we watched the game together.

Happiness - Day 9

Today I am happy because we had rain. We did not have flooding rain, at least not here (some of the neighboring communities did), but we had the rain we needed that hopefully will bring back the pastures and maybe give us some hay for the cattle.

The drought isn't over, but it helped put a little dent in it. We were starting to really worry.

______________________

Happy August Happiness Challenge!

 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.