Happiness

Today is International Day of Happiness so I asked my daughter what makes her happy.

When the cat gives me love, was her off the cuff reply (he is being difficult at the moment and is aloof with her and loving with me).

She picks him up for a cuddle and he sits in her arms and does not rub his head on hers.......

Hmmm, not so happy today then.

 

On the way to work she puts a on a song, Mr Brightside, and we sing along together.  She starts dancing and then I get in trouble for over emphasising some word as we sing.  As I sit there and we laugh together I realise that among many other things our car journeys each day are pockets of happiness for me.

Happy Happiness Day to you all!

My Desk

Last week one of the lads was going round and taking photographs of us all.

It made me think....

I have spent years sitting in this office of mine and maybe I should capture a bit of it.  So this is one part of my desk (this is by my right elbow and is clearly a bit of a dumping ground).

I decided just to take the photo exactly as it is, without moving anything.  These are some of the highlights of this corner of my space....

 

The smiling green round-headed chap moves his head from side to side when it's sunny

 and was a 'calming' present from my Dad

 

The Minion came from Maccy D's (I love minions)

 

The postcard was bought from the Chantry Chapel in Wakefield which is opposite the Hepworth and is the oldest and most ornate of the surviving bridge chapels in England 

 

The pebbles, that you can just see, are there because I have pebbles everywhere

 - they are Suffolk pebbles

 

The Hubba Bubba was bought from Lucy Sparrow who did a complete corner shop in felt

http://sewyoursoul.co.uk/tag/felt-cornershop/

 

The biscuits are my stash from the coffee van.

 

It is going to be a nightmare moving out of this office, as I have soooo much stuff here.

I suspect many trips to the bin will be required..........

Counting Sheep....

What do you do when you can't sleep?

 

A combination of age and circumstance mean that I am not sleeping.

 

I asked around......

 

Sally counts sheep

Brenda steps into the en-suite for 5 to re-set her head

Sue makes a cup of tea

Elaine reads her ipad

 

None of these are working for me.  But I read somewhere that

regulating your breathing with a sleeping person helps, so that was my plan.

 

I'm awake, husband is obviously asleep.

Ok, here we go

 

In..out..in..out..in..out............................

 

Hang on he's stopped breathing?

 

I do a further 4 breaths in and out before he breathes again.

 

So now I'm even more wide awake.  Bother. 

And now I'm concerned about him. Double bother.

 

Not such a good idea then..........roll on 6.30 am.

 

 

 

 

 

Now for something more uplifting

One night  last week when I got in the car I was a bit cross and the Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars song came on the radio and I LOVE that song.  I like to sing along and jig about to it even when driving.  When it finished I felt better.  I hope this link to the song on You Tube works so you can jig and sing along as well.  It works well if you are feeling just a bit ticked off....

"this hit....that ice cold......Michelle Pfeiffer.... that white gold......"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0YbXqDm0

Then at the weekend we went to the mill at Saltaire.  This is the chimney you pass on the way from the car park.  Magnificent...

I particularly liked the section at the back of Home where they had display cabinets of china and tableware that I remember from childhood, Hornsea Pottery being something we had a lot of.  Nostalgia and lovely items all in one place, bliss.

We had lunch in the diner.  Salts Diner food is fab.  So is the latte, and the locally brewed Saltaire Blonde ....

If you are ever anywhere near Shipley / Bradford or even Leeds Bradford Airport it is definitely well worth a visit.  And if you like David Hockney it is an absolute must.

Edited to add: new Hockney exhibition has just opened at the mill.  Our timing was a bit off, we will have to make another visit!

It's all gone a bit Pete Tong

Visiting blogland is tricky right now.
 

The place I have worked at for 19 years is closing.
 

It is playing on my mind a bit.
 

I am very busy at work.

I am pre-occupied at home.

Sometimes it seems like a great opportunity.

Sometimes I feel like I never want to work again.
 

I'm lucky in that we no longer have a mortgage to pay. 
 

It is not the case for many of our employees and I worry about them, all 101 of them.

However, I did find a CV that I wrote about two years ago and it looks pretty good.  It needs updating but thank goodness I actually wrote one then because actually putting one together now, when my head is a shed, would be hard indeed.

It is times like this that I am thankful for crochet and knitting.  The counting and rhythm of these pass-times is just enough to take me away from all this.

Just Do It....

In the spirit of 'just bloody do it' I have:

• Cleared the washing basket that was on top of the washer for two years with a pile of clothes in it.  My husband has five more t-shirts, I found a top that I thought I had donated and the charity shop has a bag full of teenage girl clothes as a result.  Happy days

• Emptied the medicine basket and chucked out ALL out of date medicines (oldest was a tin of muscle heat spray from 1997 and there was Sore mouth Gel from 2004 that I used recently.  And there were some herbal sleep-aid tablets that smelt like cheese - urgh).  Now we can dose ourselves without fear of making ourselves even more ill.

• Sorted my wool projects, thrown out ball bands galore and written details in a book of which yarn I have used for each project.  Even my husband was impressed with this one.

• Put photos onto a memory stick (just purchased) that we took on holiday so that I can give them to my daughter's friend who came with us.  We went on holiday in August...

• Taken the trousers that I have been moving about the bedroom since September to the dry cleaners and then hung them back up in the wardrobe.  They are summer trousers but at least they are ready to wear now.

• Sorted out my scarf box - I have LOADs of scarves and they were all mashed and wriggled together like sleeping snakes in a fabric storage box.  Now they are sorted in order of wearing - popular ones at the top, less popular at the bottom, all folded.  Quite smug about that one.

• Walked for 20 - 30 minutes each day.  Well, almost every day, but more than I thought I would when I started (so not beating myself up is working as well).  Really appreciating the local church on this route and the gravestones against the skyline.  It is at the highest point of the walk so nice to stop for a breather.

Finally....... I have bought my summer sandals.  I have small feet and usually by the time I get to thinking about sandals all the best little ones have gone so this year I have just done it and bought some..... and it's only January.... and there's snow on the way.  But my sandals are looking lovely in my shoe drawer (don't ask). 

The thing I must just do is just keep doing stuff......  Now where was that To Do list?

(I would have put in more photos - before and after type thing - but I was so busy sorting and doing I forgot to take them)

My Daughter - Theatre Critic

Last night my daughter went to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time in York.

I am going to see the same production tonight and so when we picked her up I asked:

 "So how was it?"

"The first half was boring, the theatre was boiling and there was a puppy.  You'll love it."

Marvellous.........

(at least I know to wear layers).