Day Thirteen, January 18th, 2010

What's better than getting an order on your etsy shop! Buying the yarn with a 50% off one regular price item at AC Moore! I printed out the coupon, cut it out and raced to AC Moore. There is was, my Boucle Bernat yarn, sole ingredient for my own creation, my dark baby cocoon, regular price $3.99, use of 50% off coupon, cha ching, $1.99!!! Plus it counted toward my AC Moore Awards! I love AC Moore, I love yarn, I love a bargain! Good day for happy!!!

Day Twelve, January 17th, 2010

My husband cracks me up. Now that we are empty nesters, he has gotten used to having all my attention devoted to him! Poor man, he waited 38 years for the last little bird to leave the nest so he could jump back in his spot! Very patient so he is. Well, today, we were planning a big exciting trip to Lowes when my daughter called. I was chit chatting for a while and he was kind of giving me "the look" like he wanted me to get off the phone. I said, you can go without me if you want. I knew what his answer would be, because these days he doesn't want to go anywhere or do anything without me. He says he is lonely and he misses me! Hey, we even moved the computer back upstairs so I can be a little closer to him while I am playing bejeweled blitz and tracking everyone's updates on Facebook. I told my daughter I better go because Dad gets lonely and wants me to go with him to the store. He said, "yea, your mother is my arm candy!" Arm Candy! I am still laughing!!!

Day Eleven, January 16th, 2010

When I tried to evaluate the joy quotient for today, I found a thread that ran through the whole day, neighbors that have become life long friends. I have lived in my house for almost 32 years, and forged friendships with other young moms, that have lasted to this day. Anna, Peggy, Kathy, Ronnie, Janet, and Sandy moved on, Cathy and Frances passed away much too young, but from the old crew, Joanne F, Bonnie and Pat and I remain. Newer neighbors just as dear are Sharon and her mom, Johanna, Joanne W, Renee, Julie and Julia. Today I rode with Joanne F to the wake for Julia's daughter who died after a courageous battle with cystic fibrosis. Before we left, Sharon and Johanna offered a ride as well. In the parking lot, Joanne and I met up with Pat and her daughter Lisa. I drove Pat to the hospital when she was in labor with Lisa with the emergency brake on all the way, a fact that we love to laugh about to this day. Pat's daughter Lori was on her way down from NY with her new baby, Victoria, and I hoped to stop by to give her a little cuddle. When I got home my husband told me that my daughter had called and was meeting up with her old friends from the neighborhood, Melissa, Jessica and Colleen and before going out for dinner she would stop by. The friends grouped at my house and the little girls now have babies of their own. My grandson didn't want to go out to dinner with the girls and the babies since his bestest friend from when he lived with us in our neighborhood was over to play. So Rebecca and Damien hung out, ate dinner, made cookies and explored my junk room with their hard hats. Rebecca was proud to tell my daughter's friends that Damien was her oldest and best friend, that they had been friends since they were three. Damien corrected her and said, no Rebecca, I think since we were two. Big seven year olds with a lifetime friendship. Just like me and my good neighbors, just like my daughter and her neighborhood pals. Someone once wrote that you can't go home again, in our neighborhood, that just isn't so, it will always be home and always be the place where lifelong friendships are formed and last. And that thought is what brought me joy today.

Day Ten, January 15th, 2010

Todays joy is not mine, but belongs to my cousin, Kevin O'Brien. Kevin O'Brien is the ultimate Jets fan. Hey, his email address is KevOJet! (That's Kevin on the far right in his Jets uniform with his buddies!) I know absolutely nothing about football. My husband has tried to explain it to me hundreds of times, I must be dense. I can understand every aspect of baseball, but football floors me. Anyway, the last few days or so I have been noticing a lot of excited posts from Kevin on Facebook about the Jets. He usually posts about his tailgate parties and if you look at his photos, there are some delicious looking foods that he makes at those shindigs. Kevin is in San Diego now for a Jets game. My husband tells me it is an important one, and I am guessing for a Jets fan this game pushes excitement to the top of the meter. Even more awesome is that my cousin, Susan, Kevin's sister, just happens to be in San Diego too for a nurses conference. My husband tells me the Jets have been waiting a long time to get back into the SuperBowl, and I think this game has something to do with that. I just realized that Joe Nameth played for the Jets, and I guess he was around the last time they won a Super Bowl which was in 1969 or something like that. (Boy I am football ignorant!) Anyway, today's joy is for my cousin Kevin, he is a great guy, and a devoted Jets fan, and if they win this game in San Diego, I don't think there is a camera with a wide enough lens to capture his smile! Kevin, enjoy the game, and if they win, you can have a sit down with me and explain the game of football - Jets Style!

Day Nine, January 14th, 2009

This has been a tough day. Not much to be happy about. It started off a little good when Nancy brought in Dunkin Donuts. She used a gift certificate that she got and treated the office. I asked her whose birthday it was, but there was no reason, just being nice, which Nancy always is. Turns out it was someone's birthday, Cathy D., but I didn't know that when the donuts came. I had a half of a blueberry one and those little crunchy sugar crystals on top made me pretty happy, or as happy as you can be at work on the day you get your paycheck with the new health insurance premium amount deducted. Yikes, there were a lot of gasps and tears when that happened. Nancy brought me a tissue, that was nice of Nancy. Maybe that's why she brought in the donuts, she knew we would need some cheering up. So on the way home, I was thinking that was probably going to be the only joyful thing that happened today, but there was another one coming, probably equal in joy to the donuts. This one like the other day, came in the mailbox. Grabbing in the dark I felt a small package, something the size of the box of checks you get from the bank. But this was a little soft and squooshy. So I saw the return address and it was from my sisterinlaw's daughter, I guess that would be my niece, its a little complicated, you see, oh well, let's just say she is my niece, Donna. She had emailed me a few weeks ago to ask me if I got the new Ann Rule book yet. I introduced her to Ann Rule and she is hooked, just like me. Ann Rule is probably the best true crime author out there. She wrote the Stranger Beside Me about Ted Bundy, who unbelievably she knew personally when she was a Seattle policewoman. In better times, I would rush to buy her newest book in hard cover, as soon as it came out, but these days we are all watching our pennies. When I told Donna that I hadn't read it yet, she said, I will send you mine. And that was what was in the mailbox today. Donna hasn't had it easy, she lives with many medical problems, a tracheotomy, and has lost two siblings in the last year. I was really touched that she sent me her book, and I have to remember to pay that forward. So a low joy day, but joyful nonetheless because two very nice people shared. Thanks Nancy and Donna.

Day Eight, January 13th, 2010

I have been looking forward to today for quite a while. My grandson, Damien, entered his first science fair. Tonight was the actual event and I asked to leave work a half hour early so I could get there in time. The judging of each project was done and the doors were set to open at 7:15 for the public viewing and presentation of awards. Damien was right in the front, at the first table, and he was beaming. He demonstrated his project, which was static electricity and gathered quite a little crowd. His favorite example was rubbing a balloon on his head so that his hair would stand up. He did such a good job that the balloon stuck onto his head! After viewing all the projects, which were awesome, it was time for the judging. Each child got a nice plaque, a certificate and a green ribbon. Damien was the only entrant in the second grade, so he easily won first place for the second grade with a nice certificate and blue ribbon. The other grades were presented with their winners and it was time for the overall prizes. Damien won fourth prize overall! He looped all three award ribbons around his wrist! It was a great evening, and I am so proud of Damien! He worked very hard on his project and presented it beautifully. He also had a very good grasp of the science behind static electricity. Just before I left, he was telling us that next year he wants to do a project about the earth's natural resources! When did he get so big! Good job Damien, you were the happiest part of the day!

Day Seven, January 12th, 2010

Letters, we get letters! When I got home from work today, in the dark, carrying four plastic shopping bags on one arm, and juggling my purse and lunch bag in the other, I jabbed the mailbox open with one elbow, grabbed the mail, tucked it under my arm and tripped through the front door. Feeling the urgency of that 5:00 cup of coffee, I almost didn't take the time to look at the mail. But when I threw it on the table, the first upright envelope had the familiar handwriting of my cousin. I have been waiting for this letter for about six months. I tore open the envelope and carefully unfolded the single yellow legal page crammed front and back with his combination of cursive and printing, blue ink, familiar style. We have had quite a correspondence going for the past several years, often exchanging letters weekly. I have them all saved, in a box, in their envelopes. Life got busy for me, although it rarely changes for him, and slowly the weeks became months, and for a reason that I know very well, he has not answered many of my last letters. He apologized for that, but I know that for him there has been little joy and little reason to seek the door to happiness which opens out, even if that door doesn't really let you out of anything but your mind. But for me today, his letter, that I can fold and unfold, read and re-read,was my moment of joy, and I hope for him it was the beginning of rediscovering joy. Gotta go, I owe my cousin a letter!