April Joy List Update

Each month I create a list of things I believe will bring me joy. Some months I almost hit the mark and other__well, sometimes life messes around with my list. No matter what happens time marches on and completed or not a new month appears__at an alarming rate! Here are the results of April.

1. Continue expanding my horizons
a.  Try a new recipe each week Done
b.  Try a new food each week Done
c.  Read articles from 4 magazines I do not usually read GQ, Essence, Popular Mechanics, O
d. Wear a color I never wear (orange or yellow, which mean buying something since I have none) Bought a blouse that is somewhere between tangerine and salmon. I tried on a couple of what I call true orange things and I just can't wear it.
e. Try a different hair color (I am thinking one that does not grow in nature, teal maybe?) Life got in the way of this one.
f.  Listen to an opera, symphony, spoken word, and lecture. completely and totally uninterrupted.
Heard  a fantastic lecture on code switching.
Listened to Shostakovich's Symphony
Jam Poetry 
No opera


2.  Go to a museum Nope

3.  Go to a craft fair or art show Nope. It is hard to do when we were at the lake nearly every weekend.

4.  Have Mom up to eat weekly Did this plusI did have her here overnight and served her dinner and breakfast. (She had no power for a few hours during the night and was scared)

5.  Send a thinking of you card to someone Done

6.  Take food to someone having a hard time Done, but I hate it was funeral food.

7.  Visit with relatives I have not seen lately. We were supposed to go to TheHub's cousin's surprise birthday party, but her health would not allow her to travel on the planned date. Hopefully we can surprise her in May when she will be in Alabama for a family wedding. Other than that I did not see any relatives I don't see on a regular basis.

8.  Do something for someone expecting nothing in return (anonymous is best) Done, unfortunately not anonymous this month either.

9.  Visit some small town nearby and find something unique about the place. Nope

10. Create something besides food 2 times this month Created one time only, bummer!

11.Go to the lake and spend the weekend Spent 3 , but they were working weekends and although everything was beautiful, getting the outdoors ready for regular use is a lot of work.

12. Read a traditional mystery,  preferably with a gumshoe detective (I am not a big mystery fan)
Read it and would put the title here, but I got if free and have already deleted it from my kindle library. It was a mystery and I figured out whodonit!

13. More than half ass learn a new song on the piano Nope. I don't think I even played more than a few times this month. Did I mention every time I play it, Shelby, the dog, sings along.

14. Try something I have never tried before (action or trade) Kind of. I tried but couldn't/ didn't do it properly

15. Whistle  I have done a lot of this lately both intentionally and unintentionally. I got a new retainer and am wearing it  (24/7 ) to gently realign what braces fixed years ago. I have found if I hum sometimes I can whistle at the same time. It's weird but also kind of fun. When I whistle on purpose right now I can seriously whistle.

16. Draw, paint or charcoal sketch Did some things with charcoals that I really like.

17. Volunteer Boo Hiss No. 

18. Meet Son3 for lunch (will require traveling on my part) He was in Atlanta so we rode over and met him at Fox's BBQ.

19. Sit in the sun and listen to the birds sing (early morning is best) With a cup of steaming hot coffee this is so easy to do.

20. Listen to  and watch small kids playing  (I can only do this in my neighborhood without looking like some kind of creep, so this is subject to my small neighbors playing outside)  The kids a couple of doors up have been on their play set several times. When they are on it they are above fence level and they wave and yell to me while they play. The kids across the street have been playing basketball and I have watched them a few times. They are either terribly unfriendly or incredible shy.                      

21. Buy lemonade from a kid lemonade stand. Haven't seen any this month

22. See a play or concert Saw Motown the Musical. Very entertaining!

23. Find and enjoy some free live music Done. It is always easy to find some free music around town.

24. Go to Vulcan and take a picture of his bare butt (now it sounds like fun) I completely forgot about this one. Moving it to May.

25. Have a small dinner party Done

26. Bake cookies and brownies and invite  neighbors  friends for a snack I decided to invite friends instead of neighbors

27. Plant whatever veggies we intend to grow this year. Partially done since we spent so many weekends at the lake.

28. Plant zinnias and marigolds Marigolds are planted but not zinnias I will plant some seed tomorrow

29. Take flowers to someone Nope

30. Practice kindness Trying every day

31. Listen actively to TheHub when he talks to me. Most of the time, but I will admit to tuning out occasionally, especially sports talk.

32. FaceTime weekly with the most beautiful girl in my world  Since this is subject to her availability it does not happen exactly weekly, but it does happen at least 5 times a month.

33. Get in touch with someone I have neglected or "forgotten" Had about a 3 hour phone conversation with my best friend from college. have not talked with her in several years.

34. Keep a list of unexpected joys
I am just seriously sucking at this. Daily joyous things happen all the time but I forget to write them down, but trust me, I experience something joyous even on my worst days. Occasionally dealing with mom drives me to chocolate__nuff said about joy in the midst of chaos.

Farewell April 2018. We will not meet again. Now, Hello May!