Such a hard question. For the past year or two, or even since we lived in DC, I’ve been itching to move. Not because I’m unhappy with our current location, really. I love Pine Lake. Our city of 700 people is an amazingly creative, friendly, unpretentious oasis in Atlanta. I’ve come to appreciate it more…
Category: live
pine puddle – 21 apr 2011
Pine Lake is being empties do that it can be dredged. It is not very attractive. And as it gets hotter, how will it smell??
windows – 20 apr 2011
It kept threatening to rain all day. Finally, in the middle of the night, the storm came through. And kept me up. *Yawn.*
Happiness Project: May – Diet
Yesterday, I declared the start of my Happiness Project. For May’s topic, I chose “Diet” as that has been an area I’ve been concentrating on recently anyway. Since I’ve already started working on it and I’m getting anxious to get going on my project, “Diet” is going to start right now. At the moment, my…
My Happiness Project starts today.
Actually, I’m sure it started even before I started reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. This year started out with me deep in my mid-life crisis. What did I want to do with my life? What matters to me? What is my life about? Is this really the life I’ve chosen? As the year…
What would you do in a Happiness project?
It has now been a couple weeks since I read The Happiness Project for the first time. While I can recognize that I have, in fact, been doing my own version since turning 40 in January, I think I’m ready to give my project a little more structure similar to what Gretchen did in her…
another goodbye.
Today’s goodbye is being said to soda. Diet coke and Fresca, I will miss you. I think I had the equivalent of FOUR (or was that FIVE?) cans of diet coke today alone. At lunch today, the topic of soda came up. I admit, I drink far more than my share of diet soda. I…
goodbye gold stars
I’ve never been a fan of gold stars or constantly saying “great job!” to the kids. If you’ve read any Alfie Kohn, you’ll understand this. I’m all for not only “natural consequences” but also for avoiding false praise. I see these as being two sides of the same coin. I know that I’ve been considered…
“Happiness Project” setbacks
Setback is a bit premature, I suppose, as I haven’t even figured out how I want to approach this project other than to know that I would love to incorporate many bits and pieces of The Happiness Project into my life. In her book, Gretchen (I have a hard time calling her Ms. Rubin, as…
threw in the towel
The pain in my knee not only didn’t get better overnight, it got worse and kept me up quite a bit tossing and turning. Although one of the issues I am forcing myself to deal with this year is my “white-coat syndrome”, Rob called his doctor for me and made an appointment for me, then…
knocked out
I had grand plans for this weekend. Room of the month for April (a weird set of smaller rooms) was going to get done. The monthly “family” newsletter I enjoy writing was going to be written and sent out. Some new recipes were going to be tested. Not a bit of it got done. Last…
being authentic – step 2
my first step in “being authentic” was to give up saying that I don’t have time. I’m not ready to declare success on this yet, but I’m getting better at it. The next step is to stop doing things to try to impress or get a reaction from others. I do it FAR more than…
the grass is greener
Thinking more about the book I’m really, really digging … The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin. Despite trying to always give other people the benefit of the doubt, I find myself…
Being authentic vs. Acting like the person you want to be
Are the goals of being authentic and acting like the person you want to be contradictory? Or are they the same? I’ve been reading The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin recently….
an apple a day
The girls went to our pediatrician for their annual checkups. Dr. B was surprised to see us — it had been so long since she saw us last that she was sure we had moved away. As it goes, I can’t remember the last non-annual visit we made to the pediatrician other than the one…
barbara’s birthday – 28 mar 2011
Barbara pulled out photo albums at her birthday party to show Chloe …
Barbara’s Birthday Missions
If you have tuned in to the Absolutely Mindy show on Sirius/XM Kids Place Live recently, you are likely to be quite familiar with the birthday missions that are loved by all her fans. She comes up with some doozies, sure to make your whole family laugh and remember the birthday for years to come….
Nervous, Anxious, Happy
Chloe has been a ball of uncontainable energy for the past couple of days … A few weeks ago, she was invited to tryout for the gymnastics team. Or pre-team. Or training team. Obviously, I have no idea what any of this means. Since I was sitting on the floor at the gymnastics center when…
weathering the weather
Today, despite being it being Thursday, I am surprisingly content and relaxed; the Thursday run-a-round isn’t bringing me down for a change. Perhaps this is because I am feeling healthier than I have in a long time (fish oil? blueberries? low-carb?). Perhaps this is because I don’t feel behind at work (though I will be…
trees – 21 mar 2011
I love this trees sculpture. I bought it at a non so fun place, the Signal catalog, I think, but I still like it. It was on the wall by the front door inside our old house. Here, out on the porch…weathering well!