Half of the 2020 Joys Are Done

The year is halfway over. Can you believe it? And what a year it has been! And I mean that not in the
best way possible. I do not like to hurry time, but I am glad we are on the downhill side of this year.
When I look at the daily joy posts for the year 2020 I hope I will see a dramatic difference from the first half of the year to the later part.
 I am still busy looking for the daily joys that occur knowing that each day has something joyous but also knowing some days I might have to look really hard to find it.

Wednesday: Talk about a tiny joy! I was outside on the front stoop dead heading a hanging impatiens basket when I saw something move. I am so glad I had my phone in my pocket so I could capture a picture of a lizard that was less than 2 inches long from the top of it's snout to the tip of its tail. I watched it watching me for several minutes.

                                For scale this blossom is slightly larger than a silver dollar.

Thursday: I have mentioned before, four absolutely darling girls  live 2 houses down the street from me. A lot of times if I am on the screened porch having coffee, I can hear and see them playing. I don't think I will ever live in a retirement home unless one day I am forced into assisted living. I love the sounds of kids playing, the thump of a basketball on a driveway,  the giggles when a group of kids ride by on their bikes, or the sounds of the toddlers and babies who are out for walks with their parents and asking a million questions. Fortunately I live in a mixed age neighborhood so I get to see people my age, older than me, younger than me, and children on a regular basis.
I found a snow cone machine at the lake place when I was cleaning it last weekend. It has outlived its usefulness for our home, and needed to live elsewhere. I asked the girl's Mom if they could have it, and she said they would be very excited to get it.  I also found 2 nearly full reams of copier paper at Mom's that had been shoved into a cabinet and the ends  were curled. Since I could not use it to copy,  I figured it would make great art paper for  the girls. Later in the evening  I received  pictures, sent to my phone, of them having snow cones while drawing. Made me very happy!

Friday: My cousin  was coming to Mom's to pick up the furniture her neighbor needs for his transition into assisted living in the early evening.  It was a small joy, but it meant my sister and I could wait until later to go to Mom's. I was able enjoy a couple of cups of coffee without rushing and get a few chores done at home without having to leave to run to Mom's. An added joy? In addition to the things D. had asked about, she took a toaster, a few wind up toys,  and most importantly a table that had belonged to my grandmother. Neither of us wanted it, but we wanted it to stay in the family, so now that is done and we are happy!

Saturday: I spent most of the day working in the house to get things in order before Son3 and DIL3 escape from NYC to have a couple of weeks lounging around the house. I can't imagine being quarantined in a 2 bedroom apartment since March with my main escape either dashing to the grocery store or sitting on the fire escape. Here, they can swim, hang out in the yard, grill food, and have friends over for a distanced patio visit.
I guess my biggest joy for the day was getting the laundry room fridge completely cleaned out, and making a huge dent in the rest of the room. I have too much stuff!

Sunday: After watching our online church services, I started tackling the kitchen. I needed to completely clean out the cabinets and drawers, fridge and pantry. Things look really nice now and that brings me some joy. We also watched a couple of episodes of The Man in the High Castle. We finished the series because we wanted to be through with it when our Son and DIL arrive. That makes me happy, but I do admit the final episode was pretty unsatisfying.  I am not crazy about story lines that are portrayed as important and vital to the tale which are dropped when a hurried ending is needed.

Monday: I spent the day cleaning, but I have find something joyous to do when I have tasks. I take my tablet and pull up a Netflix documentary. I turn the volume up and just listen as I clean. Works like a charm and I don't feel as isolated, except when vacuuming of course.
I had one other very small joy but it was a true one. I love to go to sleep reading with classical music playing in the background. TheHub has always needed complete darkness and silence in the bedroom. (I don't understand it because he falls asleep every night in his chair in the den with the lights on and the TV going) Now with my iPad set on the black screen I can finallynread in bed without disturbing him, but silence has been a must.
I always go to bed much later than he does and. make as little noise as possible while I am getting into bed. Last night I  was brushing my teeth and came out of the bathroom to the sounds of a thunderstorm. I was not surprised because we had them a few times during the day and evening, but it turned out that he had found white noise on the Dot, so I got to read then fall asleep listening to thunder and rain. I loved it!

Tuesday: My sister and I finally tackled the walk in closet in Mom's finished basement. Now the room is nicely displayed and looks like a Christmas shop. I knew Mom had a lot of decorations, I just had no idea how many. I am pretty sure she was over the legal limit for Santa's. There were a couple of finds that thrilled my sister and I beyond belief.  We found two old molded light bulbs that were on the tree when Mom was a young girl. Of course they no longer burn, they never have in my lifetime, but I was overjoyed to find them. We will each have one for our tree this year. We also found some ornaments that hung on every tree I can remember from childhood on, and an ornament from Mom and Dad's first tree. Priceless!
Added bonus? We emptied about 90 percent of the closet. Next stop is the unfinished part of the basement and Dad's workshop. Thankfully the basement was dad's domain and Dad was very organized so everything is neat and neatly labeled.

Hope you all find some joys this week. They are out there if we just look for them!