On Your Mark, Get Set...

November 30, 2009

This week marks the lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations. I’m enjoying the cooler weather we’re having (it’s not unusual here to be wearing shorts on Thanksgiving—sometimes even on Christmas!) and planning to make some potato cheese soup this week. Soon, we’ll take down our fall decorations in preparation for putting up our Christmas decorations. The Christmas cards and wrapping paper will get pulled out and evaluated. We will have houseguests over the holidays, so menus and activities must be planned. Any gifts we want to order and have shipped should be taken care of while we won’t have to pay extra for shipping. I’ll buy some poinsettias, decide which cookies to make for our wonderful neighbors and put the holiday collar on the dog. The pace of life will speed up, as I remember someone I should have a small gift for, or my son will suddenly grow three inches and require new jeans right now.

But for now, it’s enough to remember the turkey was juicy, the champagne was cold, and we had warm beds, and a fire, and each other to keep us warm. Hope your Thanksgiving was just as lovely.

gratitude

Thankful for the Little Things

November 25, 2009

There’s lots of cooking and cleaning going on at the Johnsons as we prepare for Thanksgiving. (Mmmmm, pie…) In between being thankful for the big things (good health, my family and friends, etc.), I’m thankful for the little things—those simple pleasures and everyday adventures that make up the details of my life. Here are five little things I’m thankful for this year:


Cranberry orange scones from my favorite grocery store’s bakery. I discovered these this year and I’m totally addicted. I break off a little piece to eat with my coffee every morning. Kind of makes waking up bearable.


A fire in the fireplace. Yes, in Florida. Now that it’s not 900 degrees outside, we WILL have a fire on Thanksgiving (even if we have to run our air conditioning at the same time).


Glider Rockers. There’s something so soothing about the rocking motion of a rocking chair—and gliders are the smoothest. We just refinished the one on our front porch and I’m looking forward to spending some time in it.


Water brushes. Laure Ferlita of the Painted Thoughts blog introduced me to these little wonders. Using them is like a hybrid of painting and drawing, and so much fun! I’m practicing with them so that I can take one of Laure’s Imaginary Trips next year.


My iPod nano. My husband gave it to me for Christmas several years ago, and I love it! My car is so old it only has a cassette player, so I use a cassette adaptor for my iPod to listen to music while I drive. (And I admit, I sing along. Sometimes loudly.)

Wishing you all a pleasure-filled, Happy Thanksgiving! And pie.  Lots of pie.

Horses

Horse Therapy

November 21, 2009

Dr. Tank, Horse Therapist
I indulged in some horse therapy yesterday. I spent several hours with my dream-come-true horse, Tank, and took a riding lesson where we made several small breakthroughs on things we’ve been working on. (Canter leads and cantering through cavaletti with no reins for any of you who are horse people.)

Tank greets me with a whinny when I come to take him from his paddock—and my spirits lift immediately. Horses don’t seem to have the same type of emotions or express love the way dogs do, but they do know who “their people” are. I think Tank greets me because he knows something nice is going to happen: he’s going to get carrots and a good grooming, or we’re going to do something interesting, like go for a ride, learn something new, or find a juicy patch of grass to graze on—sometimes all of those things. For my part, it gives me a lot of pleasure simply to look at him, inhale his scent, or lean my head on his shoulder. It does me good to be around him!

I hope you all have something you can do that cheers you up when you feel a little down. What do you love to do, what always lifts your spirits? Is it painting therapy? Reading therapy? Take-a-walk-in-nature therapy? Whatever it is, I wish you time to indulge today.

Chocolate

A Time for Chocolate

November 18, 2009


Today, my "catching happiness" philosophy is being tested. Today I received a rejection for a personal essay I submitted to a local newspaper two months ago. Today, this piece that I love, that I worked hard on and revised and optimistically sent out into the world came back to me--with a form email telling me "it does not meet our needs at this time."


Sadly, rejection for writers in general, and for me in particular, is nothing new. It's a heartbreaking profession.  My writer friends and I try to encourage each other, try to share any good news we get, and also try to find ways to gauge our "success" in ways other than pieces sold.  I have a file folder full of completed manuscripts to remind myself that I am producing work, whether it sells or not, and that is better than producing nothing at all.  Surprisingly, you can't become a better writer unless you write.  I keep all my rejections in another folder.  (And not because I plan to send anonymous hate mail to the rejecting editors.  Really.)

So how will I soothe my ruffled ego and regain a positive attitude?  Aside from initially questioning why on earth I think I can write anything, I'll remember that this is one piece rejected by one market.  I'll remember that even though I've been writing for a long time, the personal essay format is new to me.  I'm still learning.  Eventually, I'll look at the rejected piece again, maybe revise it and find someplace else to send it.  Because that's what you do when you pursue happiness.  You don't sit around and wait for it to come to you.

But first I think I'll eat some chocolate.

Pets

Happiness in a Blanket

November 16, 2009



Meet Scout, the happiest member of the household.  She's relaxing in her bed on her favorite blanket.  This is where she spends her time when she's not keeping the yard safe from squirrels and lizards--and the occasional snake.  Ah, life is good!