Small Things That Made Me Happy

This past week I found joy mainly in the small things, but this week things should change from small to grand. Well at least grand in my small life way of thinking. The week should begin with a whimper, but end with a bang.  We are leaving to go visit the most beautiful girl in my world, and I can't wait to see her.

Monday: I really do like to start the week with a pretty thorough refrigerator inventory, since food loses generally originate there, mainly in the produce drawers. Everything looked good, and should last through the end of the week's menu plan. And with grocery prices being what they are, that is a true joy. 

Other than doing a ton of weekly organizing, laundry and food prep, my biggest joys were talking with all three of my sons, plus my granddaughter.

TheHub was tired and went to bed early, so I (who had not seen but one movie nominated for an Oscar) watched Poor Things. After watching it I understand why Emma Stone won the best actress award, but the movie itself was definitely not my cup of tea. The movie style reminded me of The Grand Budapest Hotel, but the subject was vastly different.

Tuesday: I woke to a drop dead gorgeous day. My favorite, and only, handyman was at the house by 9 a.m.  We had a list of chores for him and he is excellent at what he does, but will only accept jobs for things he is good at.  I have yet to find anything he does not do well.

I asked him to paint the stairs (built last summer and had time to age before staining). Our deck is in three parts, covered and screened, covered and unscreened, and the third part is open to all the elements with a southern sun exposure. It does require a bit more care than the other parts. When I looked out he had stained that entire part of the deck, because he thought the new stain on the stairs made the rest of that portion of the deck look dirty.  He is a jewel!

I also got to talk with Sluggy, which always means laughs!

Wednesday: This was another gorgeous day. I had my normal Wednesday class, did a little shopping, talked with Sluggy again (laughs aplenty) did a little reading, and then realized I had a few more grocery items to buy. 

The deck was bone dry so the steak meal was on go! For the first time in eons, I had none in the freezer and headed to Publix. My mistake! We usually share a Porterhouse steak and they had none. Instead I bought a New York strip, and we found after grilling it there is a reason I try and buy meats exclusively from The Pig. Lesson learned!

Thursday: My Beloved Sister went with me to Independence Place for our volunteering day. Since it was pi day it only made sense to have them make individual pies. Chocolate was a no brainer and we did a little experiment making peanut butter pie using instant vanilla pudding as a base. The pb pie was a success and  pi day was a hit!  We might do something similar in the fall with pumpkin  or apple hand pies. The days I volunteer there are the very best days I have. When I call it my happy place I am not exaggerating. 

When TheHub came home we took my car to Costco to fill it up. Their gas price still beats everyone else in town. Once the tank was filled we drove to our favorite neighboring restaurant for dinner,

.

Friday: Friday was a rainy and overcast morning, and even though the rain stopped mid morning I was able to stay home all day . My one disappointment of the day? I forgot to call My Beloved Sister, disguise my voice and say "Beware The Ides of March"

TheHub and I watched Alabama basketball get trounced. Oh well, no more basketball until March Madness begins.

Saturday:  We had a "dolottle" Saturday. Each of us had some things we worked on separately around the house, then we came together to watch Alabama softball (they were killed by Georgia) and finished the series "Masters of the Air". We really did enjoy watching it. 

Sunday: It was a gorgeous but much cooler morning when we headed to church. Neither of us have green clothes so as our bid to St. Paddy's Day, TheHub wore green socks and I wore a green necklace and bracelet. We are both mutts, and I am sure we both have some Irish hidden somewhere in our family trees.

Once home we messed around with separate projects, set down and planned some activities and trips for after TheHub's retirement, watched the selection show for March Madness, then sat down to eat the American traditional St Patrick's Day meal. 

I had never corned a brisket at home before and it was a delicious experiment. I will be doing it again. When I bought the whole brisket and butchered it, the flat was so big I cut it in half and froze them separately. There is still one in the freezer along with the point I froze for smoking.

We have been streaming "The Chosen" nearly every night during Lent. Because we will be out of town most of next week and have most of season 3 left, we watched 2 episodes. By our calculations watching it this week and once we return we should finish the last episode on Easter Eve.

Look for your joys, they are always out there.

May all your weeds be wildflowers.

Anne

March Reading:

The Girl Who Lived Twice

Remote Sympathy (I have been reading this between library books and it took a while to finish)

North Woods 

The Things We Keep